maison rustique

I am still smiling over the very nice physical therapist I met with this week for my Prehab appointment. From their office in the medical building, it is a bit of a walk down a long corridor to the hospital admissions desk (for my scheduled tests). Not bad if you are in good shape but he was so concerned about me walking it and offered to take me in a wheelchair. I assured him I would be fine and do want to use my muscles as much as possible. So, I went and had my tests and xrays and was trekking back to the medical building where I was parked. He came running out of the cafeteria where he was having lunch to offer me a ride again. Above and beyond!

My food-gifting friend showed up yesterday with a ton of Mexican food. He was doing a segment for one of the local TV stations on the KC Taco Trail and I got to enjoy some of the benefits. I already had Italian leftovers from Saturday night, so I now have enough food to last me at least a week and maybe even more. I gorged myself on this last night.

My neighbor's daughter who has a pastry business got married this weekend. Neighbors had lots of people around all week and I told them to use the half of the driveway that isn't used. So, they did. As a thank you, I got a lovely gift of Rai's Bake Shoppe macarons--vanilla bean, matcha, raspberry and my very favorite honey and lavender.I AND, I had asked on our neighborhood Facebook group if any of the kid's groups or classes were having a car wash fundraiser because I really needed a car wash. Another neighbor showed up and detailed my car. I have the best neighbors here. I will really miss them when I finally get out of this house.

My sister and her hubby were here yesterday afternoon/evening and took me out for an early supper at Osteria Bianchi a local place that is very good. It was a perfect weather day so we sat outside. The only photo I took was of my sis, her husband and wine. Everyone thinks my sister and I are the same person or twins, so it is almost like seeing me, except that I just got my haircut so hers is considerably longer than mine. Ha! I always love that since she's 9 years my junior. Anyway, I got so involved in enjoying the weather and wine that I forgot to take pix of food. We shared many things and had a couple of specials not on the menu--Little Gem Caesar salad, an eggplant pizza, a rolled lasagna noodle thing and the corn/mushroom pasta. And olive oil cake. My fridge is full of leftovers, so I'll be feasting all week.

I need to drag out the crockpot and cook some beans or lentils. You guys are making me hungry!

Lots of music memories. RIP

I'm reminded of a piece in the Wall Street Journal many years ago that referred to Meat Loaf as Mr. Loaf.

Well, that, too.

Blue folders matter.

Bacon & onion? It looks fantastic!

Grilled brie and home-grown tomato.

For anyone who would like to know more about my husband before his illness.

Thank you all so much. I have been grieving in various ways for at least 2 years, so it isn't completely overwhelming for me. I will figure out what I want my life to look like now and work toward that. I'm thankful that we chose a new financial advisor (friend of my sister who I already knew a little) a year or so ago and he hooked me up with his estate/tax attorney. They have been godsends. Since we already knew what we were dealing with, much of the legal stuff has already been done or is set to go. We moved everything out of his room yesterday (I do not know what I'd do with my sister and her husband.) so now the garage and house are full of "stuff". Tons of laundry to do so I can donate all the clothes. My nephew wants a couple of chairs and I'll try to work on him to take a few other things, too. Lots of phone calls to make. Those are the hard things.

I needed this today. 🤣

Might be a strange place to post this. Not really cheerful, but thankful. My husband finally escaped the hell that is dementia. He passed this morning around 1:30. I'm so happy that he isn't suffering any more.

Back when I lived in Boston back in the late 70s/early 80s and worked in advertising, one of the publishing companies had a lovely lunch followed by going to the game on opening day every year. Tons of fun.

I saw my husband yesterday for his birthday. Nothing could have prepared me. He isn't really alive--eyes closed, can't really speak or move, he has mostly stopped eating and drinking. Hospice says his vitals are still OK, but he is gradually shutting down. Just a matter of time. A day? A week? Hard to say. I thought I was prepared. I almost think it would have been easier if I hadn't seen him. But I will go back today/tomorrow. I cancelled my EGD and colonoscopy on Tuesday.

I had no idea! All this time I thought it was some guy named Abe. I'm so disappointed. Is there anything that Amazon, Google or Microsoft doesn't own?

A quick note to say that the hospice case worker said she's taking care of the bed (I don't want or need it back). I need to take some twin sheets for the hospital bed and some sweatpants for him because it is too hard to get him into/out of jeans now. They are ordering him a reclining wheelchair because he is too restless and won't stay in the regular wheelchair and unless someone is literally at his side constantly, he keeps trying to get up, which means he goes down. We worked out a plan that when I take his BD cake and supplies tomorrow, I will have them whisk me straight through to the courtyard, and then bring him out so we can visit outside for a bit.

Hugs for all. Must be something in the air. My husband is also going through a bad spell, which is not to say that you ever have a good spell when you have dementia. He is falling a lot. While I was at the orthopedist setting up my hip replacement, hospice was calling me, asking me to get his bed out of his room because they were bringing in a hospital bed for him. And the surgeon does not want me to visit the facility before surgery with so many active COVID cases and god-knows-what-else floating around in there. One of the night nurses (I think she must be a contract worker.) keeps calling me during the night to tell me he fell. She doesn't expect me to do anything about it, just wants me to know. Well, thanks for waking me up and insuring that I'll never get back to sleep. I think I need a bionic body and super-human abilities for at least the next year or so. So much for ever getting this house down-sized and listing it for sale. One step forward, ten steps backward.

@StephanieL, you just described one of my all-time favorite meals. Nothing like a S.M. tri-tip and pinquitos. I'm drooling!

The epitome of cool.

My food-gifting friend brought me smoked Italian sausage and country-style beef ribs because I mentioned I was craving BBQ. So I had a bit of both last night with some potatoes, arugula, tomato, butter and German potato salt.

Yes, it was a battery issue. I didn't think to ask if it might have been prevented, but the design of the thing had the disk drive next to the battery. As the battery got hotter and hotter, it damaged the drive and the case of the laptop was literally expanding and breaking apart. It looked like there was an alien trapped inside that was trying to break out.

I had no idea that the battery in a laptop could overheat to the point that it melted the PC. I learned this the hard way. The guy at the Geeks said he needed to get it in sand immediately and was afraid it would catch fire if he didn't. The laptop was toast. Data lost. It was only about 3 years old and a really nice HP. Geek could not believe it and naturally it was just out of warranty. I have my previous Dell and am trying to get it updated and going. It hadn't been started since I got the HP so it has been nothing but MS updates since I turned it on a day and a half ago. I'm thinking of just biting the bullet and getting a new one, but I hate setting up new computers. I'll think about it tomorrow.