The Seasons of Life

I had a pretty yucky flu before/during/after Christmas.  With the cough that was one of the last "stages" of this flu, I was affected for almost 8 weeks.  It was a doozy and many people I have spoken with have also been down for several weeks with this one.  My 81-year-old father lives with us in a mobile home on our property.  He is able to be independent and we each have our privacy, but are close enough if need be. 

Well, the nasty flu bug caught up with Dad.  He went downhill pretty fast once he caught it.  He also has prostate cancer, so is somewhat immune compromised with the meds he is on.  Well, within 10 days, I ended up having to call an ambulance for Dad. He had pneumonia. It was a particularly snowy night and he had fallen and was not altogether coherent, so I called because I certainly was NOT comfortable taking him into the hospital by myself.  He was in the hospital for six days and never left the emergency department of the Abbotsford Regional Hospital the entire time he was there.  That is how BUSY our hospital is!  After six days, he was released.  My sister, Karen, brought him home in a very weakened state.  I was out of town that weekend helping a friend move. 

Long story short, Dad is recovering, albeit slowly.  It turns out that he has never been truly sick in his 81 years on this planet!  Can you believe that?  He was nauseous in the hospital for several days and had never experienced that sensation before - almost impossible to comprehend for the average person!!! He is NOT a happy sick person (of course, who is??).  We have HomeCare coming in to assist him once a day with dressing and bathing.  I am helping where I can with meals, meds, etc. and my wonderful sister, Karen is helping me when she can.  She lives 45 minutes away, so it's difficult, but she is always there for me if/when I need her whether it be for physical or mental support!! Thanks, Karen!! Y

So, my life is not quite my own right now.  DS turned 16 on Saturday the 4th.  DD is 13 and they both are really becoming mature young adults.  I guess that's why they call us the "sandwich" generation - finish with the kids and then help care for the parents.  "Seasons of life".  I'm certainly not complaining, but it's not easy!

My dear friend, Connie, lost her Grampie at the age of 91 years on Saturday.  I will forever remember that date as that was DS's 16th birthday.  I had the priviledge of meeting Connie's Grammie and Grampie in 2008 when she and I went back to visit with her family in Ontario.  My thoughts and prayers are with you & your family, my dear.  I know how much you loved your Grampie and how special he was.

Blessings to all!  Have a great day!

Hot Water, Weather & Hockey....

So, here it is June 5, 2011 and I still have no hot water in my kitchen from this unplanned demo.  It's sure a lot of work schlepping hot water from the bathroom to fill the kitchen sink to do dishes by hand.  AND still no washing machine either.  I've been taking loads up to my Dad's place (he's in a modular home on our property) to wash and then drying them in my dryer.  DH hooked the dryer up again, so that is nice and makes it a wee bit easier.  The good news is that we will have a new hot water tank this week sometime.  Things are being REconstructed now and the tearing apart part is over.  Thank goodness!  Will try to get some pics up when I can.

My washing machine and upright freezer are in the family room.  The big wall shelving unit sits in our foyer.  Boxes of cans from underneath the counter are sitting in the living room.  Contents of the laundry room are in our bedroom.

My personal favourite (speaking of laundry room contents) is having the cat litter box in our ensuite bathroom.  Amazing what we have suffer with during times of upheaval!!!

I am not complaining, though.  I know that this could have been MUCH worse and we could have lost everything to a fire or something similar, so this is nothing, really.  I do still have hot water from our other tank that feeds the bathrooms.  All this makes me realize how much we have and that we take for granted.  Think of the old days when everything was done manually and water was heated on the stove.  Those poor women with lots of children and all that laundry.  Can't even imagine doing that all by hand.  Mind you, they wore clothes a lot longer than we do nowadays.  I am grateful for what we have.  The final tally for cost is not in yet, but that, too, could have been much worse.  Of course, it would have been nice if insurance covered all of this, but we can't have it all, can we????  LOL! 

The weather has been absolutely gorgeous the past couple of days.  We haven't seen weather over 20 degrees (Celsius) since October 1st - heard that on the weather yesterday - can you believe it!????  October 1st, by the way, is my and my sister's birthday (no, we're not twins, but she was born 5 years before me), so I remember just how long ago it was.  Hard to believe!

On the hockey front, our home NHL team, the Vancouver Canucks, won the second game of the final series (against the Boston Bruins) for the Stanley cup last night.  Woohoo!!!  What a game!  The score was 2-2 and Alex Burrows scored 11 seconds into the first O/T period.  The Canucks have NEVER won the Stanley Cup in their 40-year history, so it would be nice.  They are playing well this year and quite consistently.  They've battled hard to get this far.  Go, Canucks, go!!!

Have a great week, everyone!

Happy Birthday Connie!

My dear friend, Connie has a birthday today!  Happy Birthday, my dear!!!!  She also just became a Grandma on Saturday!!  Hard to believe she can be 29 AGAIN!  LOL!

Happy Birthday!!!!!  You deserve the very best that life has to offer!

By the way, this photo of Connie and her DH is a couple of years old (I don't really have a current one) - she looks MUCH older now and she just became a Grandma on Saturday, May 1!!!!  Just kidding, dear!!!!  LOL!!!  But congrats to Connie & her DH on the safe arrival of their new grandbaby, Jace James.  Parents JJ and Karisa are so proud and doing an awesome job as new parents.  I will be "Oma Audrey" - we are all as proud as can be!!!

Catching Up!

A lot has happened since I posted last.  I had another birthday yesterday too.  Can't remember now how many times I've hit 29 AGAIN!!  LOL!  Since having had cancer, I figure that each and every birthday now is a bonus!  Sounds a bit grim, but unless you've been there, you won't understand.  Each day is a gift.

So, yesterday was my sister's birthday as well as mine.  She's five years older than me.  Yep, I was born ON her fifth birthday!!  Imagine being a five-year-old and having to share your birthday - not only that day, but all the birthdays for the rest of your life!  I must say that my sis, Karen, has been very gracious about it - she is never anything less than gracious and I thank her for that.  DH and I and the kids and my Dad met Karen and her DH last night at a restaurant in Langley and we had a yummy dinner at the best fish & chip joint around.  It was just nice to spend time with family - another thing some people don't appreciate until faced with a life-threatening illness.  Karen quilted me a gorgeous table runner and gave me a beautiful tin mini pie plate to keep the little dried miniature pumpkins in that she also gave me.  Thanks, sis!

My friend, Connie also gave me a wonderful gift yesterday of an autumn spray of pip berries, mini pumpkins and primitive stars - just beautiful.  She also gave me a lovely autumn dishtowel and a bowl of my favourite chocolate/butterscotch and marshmallow squares that she baked.  Mmmmmm!  I don't really have to share them with my family, do I????  She had me stop by on our way to dinner last night to pick up my birthday gift and between when I spoke to her in the morning and when I stopped by, she had picked up a gorgeous flower arrangement for my sister!  Talk about thoughtful!  Thank you, my dear!  My sister was thrilled  and the flowers were just gorgeous!

DH and the kids got me a beautiful pot of Chrysanthemums - my favourite flower - especially in the fall!  What a great birthday it was!!!

Smokey, our new kitty!

Oh, I almost forgot!  I gave myself a kitty for my birthday!  That's right!  A KITTY!!!  In March of 2009, we lost Thomas, our last remaining cat.  It was a horrible accident, and a horrible time because I was going through chemo and really not feeling well.  Losing him was very difficult.  He was an awesome cat, and we miss him so much.  He really was one in a million PLUS he didn't mind the birds.  It's not easy to find a cat that is OK with birds.  I mean, it's REALLY NOT EASY!  Our cats were here BEFORE our birds, so they just kind of grew to accept them.  Yesterday, Smokey the cat was brought here by her previous owner.  I posted an ad that I was looking for a bird-experienced cat.  I posted an ad three different times over the past six months.  I got some strange responses.  I ended up not responding to any of them until....last week.  A lady responded to my ad for a bird-savvy cat.  This lady has birds and said this cat was very good with all their animals.  They have several types of animals in their home and she said the kitty is great with all of them.  To make a long story short, we now have Smokey.  She is a sweetheart and even Lucas seems to like her.

So, Smokey is a little shy and will take a while to warm up to everyone.  She hides a bit, but has been out quite a few times to visit with us.  She just needs to get used to the sounds and smells of our house.  She's an indoor kitty and knows where the litter box is, so that's the biggest thing.  She seems like a lovely, clean, well-mannered little girl.  She certainly loves attention and head scratches!  She will give you a head butt in the hopes that you will give her a head scratch or two.  She even does it to Lucas, who just doesn't know what to do with that!  So funny to see the surprised looks in his eyes when she does it!!!  I'll have to try to capture it on video!

On a bit of a sad note, my foster bird, Lucy, will be leaving us probably next weekend.  The beginning of November marks THREE years that I will have had Lucy.  Her mom and dad moved to New Zealand for a work stint, but were unable to take their three birds with them because of New Zealand regulations regarding their native birds.  No outside birds are allowed in.  So, all of the birds were placed in foster care.  I took Lucy.  Lucy's mom is a fabulous lady and I love Quakers, so it seemed only natural.  Seems like we haven't had Lucy that long, but it IS almost three years.  It's gone really fast and Lucy has been such a joy to have here.  Yes, I've gotten my share of good bites from her, but really, when you have birds, you are going to be bitten.  No different with Lucy!  So, we shall all miss Lucy when she goes to live with her mom again.  I'm happy for her AND her mom, though, as they belong together and I know Lucy's mom has missed Lucy terribly! 
So, while we are thrilled to welcome Smokey the kitty, we will be sad to see Lucy leave us.  Such is life and especially life with critters.  Each one holds a special piece of our hearts that can never, ever be replaced by another one.

Speaking of kitties, have a look at my OTHER sister's blog to see their new kitty.  What a face!  Her name is Izzy - is she not THE cutest little one?????  And to think that she was DUMPED by somebody!!!!!

Fall has arrived here - on the calendar anyways.  We've had beautiful weather and very warm - almost like summer all over again!  It's been warm and humid.  I'm sure that fall and winter will be here soon enough, so we'll enjoy this nice weather while it's here!

Love,