Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Tuesday, Snow, Christmas.....

It's Tuesday, you know that day after Monday which is supposed to be a much better day because Monday's just always seem to be hectic. I'm sitting at work --yes I know I should be working---looking out on a cold, icy, snowy landscape. My head is in a fog. The kind of fog where you know you are coming down with something but you are not quite sure what. Everything just seems fuzzy, my brain is not quite clear, my nose feels stuffy and my shoulder/neck muscle is still not quite right.

Yesterday we woke up to icy roads and VERY cold temps. Tim called to let me know that he was picking me up for work in about fifteen minutes. I had just gotten out of the shower so I was scrambling to finish getting ready. I grabbed my coat and when I did I turned just the wrong way and pulled the muscle between my shoulder blade and the base of my neck. All day it hurt, sometimes to the point where I was tears, most of the time to the point where I just felt like I was going to throw up. When I arrived home from work, Momma was sitting at the table eating a leftover mashed potato bowl. She seemed fine and I went to change clothes. Of course, I was moving slow and she asked what was wrong and I told her. When I came back out of the bedroom she was on the couch and she asked for a pain pill. She said her ribs were hurting---which I think is actually her lungs. We watched "I Want A Dog for Christmas Charlie Brown"--her laying on the couch and me sitting on the floor trying not to move my head. We were a pair let me tell me you. At the end of the program, I left her laying on the couch watching TV while I went and laid down in bed to watch Monday Night Football. There was no comfortable spot but I ended up dozing off until Jeff came home around 10:30PM.
Today is transfusion day for Momma. She did not want to go because of the weather but she has to. Tracy drove over from Union, MO to go with Jeff and Momma. They were supposed to be at the hospital at 10AM. However, Jeff called at 10:30 to see if Momma had boots which meant that they hadn't left yet. I was on the phone with Momma's doctor at 8AM this morning trying to sort out a confusion over numbing cream that Christie had the doctor order for Momma but I didn't know about. This led to great frustration and tears on my part, a heated discussion between Jeff and I and then a heated discussion between Christie and I. Why are some days SO hard? I also asked the nurse to have the doctor stop by the hospital and listen to Momma's lungs. I'm afraid that she may be going into pneumonia again--what with the pain in her "ribs", her shortness of breath and her coughing.
Christmas is next week and I don't feel at all ready or "in the spirit" or anything. I have wreaths on my outdoor lights but the wreath on my front door is still an Autumn one. The tree is not up, the stockings are not hung, the presents are not wrapped or even completly purchased. Which leads me to the devotion today on Proverbs 31 Ministries which asks if we have gotten so caught up in the season that we have forgotten the reason. Yesterday's devotion spoke about Mary and Martha and the importance of sometimes just "sitting in your mess". The devotion spoke about how Martha was critical of Mary for sitting at the feet of Jesus when there was so much that needed to be done. Jesus chided Martha for this. The author of the devotion talked about how last year during the holiday season she just sat at her table in the midst of the mess and pretended that Jesus was sitting across from her. This refreshed her spirit so much that she plans on doing it again this year. I must admit that I am a Martha type as well. I can always find things that need to be done and often feel overwhelmed at the tasks before me. My "stress free" weekends always end up full of stress when all is said and done. SO I try---try to be more like Mary. I try to focus less on mess and more on spirit. Sometimes I accomplish this and sometimes I don't. However, over the last few days I have found that watching this segement from "A Charlie Brown Christmas" brings it all back into focus.


This show aired on TV last week. In a time where prayer in schools is prohibited and no one wants to mention God, I was happy to see that this is still airing on National Television.

So even though today is a melancholy day for me I still have much to be grateful for.
1. A boss that cares enough to pick up me for work so that I do not have to drive in this weather.
2. A new baby for our friends Sandra and Jaime
3. Parents that understand and allow me to vent when I need to
4. The freedom to hear about God on National Television

Monday, December 1, 2008

Happy Holidays!

I cannot believe it has been a month since I posted. Time sure does fly. First of all, a happy belated Thanksgiving. I had a wonderful Thanksgiving at my brother and sister-in-law's. I started the day out as Loretta's sous chef helping with the turkey, stuffing, cranberry jelly, cranberry salad and the clean-up that goes along with it. She was referred to the rest of the day as "master chef".

We had a nice Thanksgiving lunch with Tracy, Floyd, Luke, Spring, Big Momma, Loretta, Randy and Sofie. Loretta set a beautiful table, we started the meal with a champagne toast to all that we were thankful for, ate until we were stuffed and then watched some old family videos.

We had two drama's which was not too bad considering all that could have happened. The first was the explosion of the water dispenser. Loretta had planned to serve Spa Water which is water mixed with fresh strawberries, lemons and mint. I cut up the fruit, filled the water dispenser with ice and water and placed it on the table. As soon as I set the dispenser down, the side burst and "fruit fall's" occured. Water, fruit, ice and glass rushed all over the table and the floor. Luckily it was just Loretta and I so we cleaned up and moved on. The second was that Loretta's turkey was not done at 10:30AM like we thought. Loretta had splaycocked the turkey and cooked it in the convection oven for faster cooking. At 10:30AM, the meat thermometer said that it was done. At 12:30 when we were preparing to eat and she cut into it, we found out that it wasn't. Floyd to the rescue with his deep fried turkey!!!

Fred, Christie, Melanie and her kids joined us that afternoon for dessert and karoke. We even had Big Momma singing karoke--"That's Amore!" by Dean Martin. It really was a wonderful day with much to be grateful for.

I woke up at 2:30 the next morning with a slight case of the stomach flu. Luckily I was off work that day. Big Momma and I spent Friday in our jammas, taking naps and being lazy. On Saturday, I had lunch with a college friend that I hadn't seen in over five years. I was able to meet her husband and son and we caught up on what had been going on in our lives and all of our blessings. Yesterday was another lazy day. We woke up to a dusting of snow and VERY cold temps.

Big Momma has had a constant nose bleed since Friday and tomorrow is a transfusion day. It was back to work for me today but thankfully it wasn't too busy. I treated Big Momma to a mashed potato bowl from KFC for dinner and she went to bed early.

Well, the Monday night football game is entering the fourth quarter. So I need to see who wins.

Till later....