Busy Saturday

Well, it's Saturday. Yesterday we did go to Independence to take Leslie to lunch and took Scott went with us so he could visit with his sister. This afternoon, we will go out to the new house and see what progress this week has brought.

Last night we rented the movie "W" and saw the Oliver Stone rendition of George W. Bush. He portrayed him fairly accurately, I believe. Kind of a ne'r do well son who couldn't get anything right....even this endless war....Cheney and Rumsfeld's war. They hoped to build an Empire like Rome with oil as it's axis. And they needed a kind of dumb stooge to do it since neither of them was electable. Well, the American people are not that stupid. They finally figured it out. Weapons of mass destruction! Sure...we all know how many were found.

We also rented "Milk" but none of us could watch it. It was just too explicit.

Tonight we will take Scott to Tavern on the Plaza...his favorite restaurant here. He then has a date over to Caney at Short Creek with a Tulsa girl from Caney.

On an entirely different note, day before yesterday I had a call from the nursing home that Ivan is now living in. Ivan is an elderly member of our church. They had taken him to Fredonia last week for a "mental evaluation". He is 88 and pretty fragile. They brought him back from Fredonia Tuesday and told him his very best friend, a woman named Nadine, could no longer visit him. Nadine sometimes came to church with Ivan before he was put in the nursing home by his stepson.

So when he was returned, Nadine was no longer going to be able to visit him. She had even received a letter from the doctor who evaluated him telling her that. Nadine is his only connection with his reality. Plus they also took his telephone away from him. He hates living in the nursing home. He has a mute roommate there and he values his privacy. It must be a nightmare. It would be for me. So, he had them call me. When I learned the situation about Nadine, I told them that he would never be even minimally happy in that nursing home if Nadine was denied access to him. They have been friends for years. I was horrified that they would do such a thing. Bob and I went right up there. We told them to call that doctor and tell him what I had told them on the telephone. They said they had a call into him but did not think they could reach him until yesterday. So, after lunch yesterday Bob and I went out there. I asked about the doctor and they said Nadine was there with Ivan right then. We went right down the hall and visited with both her and Ivan.

Then I went in to see the administrator and thanked her for taking care of that for Ivan. She told me not to blame the stepson. She said the stepson had gone the second mile to take care of Ivan.

When I got home, I found I had a call on the answering machine from Ivan's niece. She told me a lot of interesting things about the stepson. I knew Ivan wanted to change his power of attorney and that's why they ordered the "mental evaluation". Ivan is sharp for 88. His stepson has told others that he has Alzheimer's Disease and that simply is not so. He knows me and everyone else and he has a lot of telephone numbers in his head. He may be getting a little dementia from old age but he is sharp.

She told me that Ivan's stepson does not like Nadine. He fears that she will get some of Ivan's money. When Ivan had surgery several years ago, she and Ivan's stepson waited together in the surgery waiting room and the stepson said to her, "You know Ivan has nearly $100,000 and that will be mine when he is gone". She said she told him they needed to pray that Ivan came through the surgery all right and not be worried about his money.

So, this is an example of just some of the things that can happen to us as we get old. I told my kids that no one had better put me in a nursing home or I would cut them out of my will. (like I had anything to cut)

A power of attorney is appropriate for someone who has lost their ability to make their own decisions. Ivan is not in that shape. He does need to be in a nursing home somewhere. He can no longer care adequately for himself. But I think he needs to be in one where he can have his own room and some privacy.

Friday

Well, Scott got in late last night. We got up early this morning and I fixed his breakfast. He is down in the back and needed some food in his stomach so he could take meds for it.

Leslie, our daughter, e-mailed me some new pictures and I will post some of them here. These bottom two are of the east side of the house where the fireplace is located The one above them is the front door area where they have been laying brick on the north side of the garage. The top one is the decorative front door Then there is the one of the decorative tile in the master bath room. Above that, you can see where they have begun laying the hardwood floors in the breakfast room and it meets the tile in that kitchen. Then there's the one of the half bath in the utility area.

Then there's the ceiling in the great room with the ceiling fan in place. The hall upstairs is also laid with hardwood floors. You can see them in the top photo.

The blue painted room is Sage's, our great granddaughter. The beige room is the front upstairs room, When we want to tease our son-in-law, we say it is Bob's. He looks shocked when we say that. The other photo is the hall upstairs where they also put hardwood floors.

That's all she sent this week.

The House

This is a picture of the house our daughter and son-in-law are building. Some of you have seen these pictures but Chuck Fu hasn't. The middle one is the south side where the garages are located. The lower one is the back of the house where the fireplace is located. The upper one is what the house will look like finished but the brick is buff colored and the cement board is cream colored. Also, they flipped the house over so the garage is on the south side of the house instead of the north as this picture depicts it.

I spent most of the day getting their scrapbook up to date...until she sends me last weekend's photos, that is.

Scott Coming

Today is the day Scott will be coming. He has not been here in awhile. He has been busy dating every weekend. I believe he intends to come after work. He will spend Friday and Saturday with us and then he is going to drive 5 hours to Memphis to find another woman he thinks may be ideal. I have told him I think that is foolish to try to date someone who lives 3 1/2 hours away from his home in Missouri but he doesn't want to hear it.

Tomorrow we will go back to Independence to take Leslie to lunch again so he can see her while he is here and then Saturday morning we will go out to show him the progress on the house.

Today, I hope to scrapbook and get her book caught up to date. This is the first day I've had free since I caught that cold last week.

I still think it will be another month before the builders get the house finished. They never stay with one project to it's finish. They skip around and do not finish anything before starting a new project. We were out there last weekend on Sunday, while she was painting the blue room, and they had the hardwood floors down in the upstairs and finally got the trim down and around the windows up there.

Now to complete the upstairs, they need to get the carpet laid up there in the two bedrooms and get a mirror in the upstairs bath and grout the tile up there.

Downstairs, they need to lay the foyer tile, and put down the hardwood floor in the breakfast room, great room and dining room. Then they need to get the carpet laid in the master bedroom and walk in closet.

They still have to finish the lower half of the painting outside and the bricklayer needs to finish laying the brick outside and around the fireplace in the great room. They are waiting for that to put down the floor in the great room.

The kitchen is finally finished if they got the sink installed this week. They also need to trim around the tile backsplash and hang the light fixtures.

John has had a run in with the old man builder who owns the business but no longer does the work. Leslie has more patience with him. He wants the last payment before the house is completely finished but the contract says that payment should not be paid before the house is completed. That is the only leverage the homeowner has.

IMA Day

Today was hair day. My hair was an absolute mess. I was sick with a cold all last week and that left me with a bad cough. Anyhow, I had my hair done this morning and that made me at least look better. Afterward I spent some time visiting with a friend.

Then I met Bob and we went to Independence Ministerial Association. There we shared our committee's plans for the Palm Sunday service.

Bob and I then came home and I read most of the afternoon. It turned cold and I just wanted to stay in. Bob went to attend a Red Cross class this evening so I may just work on reading my book. I have been reading John Dominic Crossan's book, "In Search of Paul". It is a very interesting book. It's amazing how much different the story of Christianity becomes when you are aware of the cultural background of the Roman world.

On a different note, Slinky was outside and barking periodically wanting to come in. It's 6:15 and 40 degrees. When it got colder this evening I let him in. He can't handle very cold weather.

Sister Morning

I went in early this morning and stayed and visited with my sister while her husband went out to breakfast to eat with his friends. I had a good visit with my sister. Afterward, I went to the bank and then picked up Bob and we went to Independence to my board meeting. He picked up our daughter and we took her to lunch then.

We had a nice visit. I guess she got her room painted over Sunday evening and also the builder got quite a bit done on their new house. She wants to put another coat of paint on the room we kiddingly call her "father's room". It is painted a lovely dark beige. The room she was working on Sunday was great granddaughter, Sage's room. John picked the paint for it and he picked blue. Instead of being sky blue, it's ocean blue...a little bright for my taste but this is not my home. If they like it, that is their business.

We came on home and found Slinky was very cold out on the covered patio. He wanted to come in and I gave in and let him in. I ran his bedding through the dryer to warm it and now he is in the kitchen lying on it and enjoying the warmth of the house.

Missy also wanted in. She is lying on the daybed behind me among the stuffed animals enjoying it. The rain is very cold this afternoon.

House Cleaning Day

Monday around here is house cleaning day. I didn't clean last week while I was sick so the house really needs help today. I waxed the kitchen floor a little bit ago and will soon vacuum the throw rugs for that area and run the dust mop around the laminated floors and bathrooms. Bob will vacuum when he gets around to it and I will clean both bathrooms thoroughly. I love the way the place looks when it's shiny and clean.

I went through the "junk drawer" in the kitchen this morning and organized it. Lord only knows how long it will stay that way. I hope to go through all the drawers in the house when I finish cleaning and get them all cleaned out. I hope my energy holds out.

It turned nice enough that I ended up working in the yard after I got the house clean instead of cleaning out the rest of the drawers. I cleaned grass and weeds out of the flower beds in the back yard. Then Bob and I took two plastic bags and picked up all the dung Slinky has left in the yard. What a mess!

I will go to my sister's home in the morning and stay with her while her husband goes to breakfast. Then I have a board meeting at 11:00 in Independence. After that, Bob and I will take our daughter to lunch.

They came to church yesterday. She used her walker. It was a struggle but she managed. She was angry with her husband because he wouldn't bring in the wheel chair. She wants to use it for that kind of thing and he wants her to walk. She avoids walking as much as possible. She is very afraid of falling. She sits in her chair all day except when she goes to the bathroom.

Spring is Nearly Here

It has been a lovely day. We went to church this morning and afterward went to eat out at a Chinese restaurant with our daughter, son-in-law and four friends. Then I spent the afternoon working on my letters and the article for the newspaper for Friday's church page. I preach next Sunday and afterward we will have a small lunch for the ministry of our church and a meeting afterward to plan the quarter's schedule. In our church, we have seven elders and we take turns preaching and presiding. The pastor is actually an administrator. We are all self sustaining.

Bob took Slinky for a walk at the park awhile ago. I imagine he loved that. Now Bob is making a trip to the market deli to get a couple of pieces of chicken. That must have sounded good to him.

This morning before church I went out to take a photo of the daffodils that are in bloom in the west flower bed. I love it when everything begins to bloom. I love spring when the flowers all begin blooming. I have tulips too out there but it's a little early for them yet. That particular bed also has iris so something blooms right along. The clematis is beginning to come up and so are the peonies. I can hardly wait to get dirt under my nails.