I have a proposition for you

So began a recent text from our 12 year old (going on 35) granddaughter. Hmmmm. What in the world does she want? I was trying to keep an open-mind while a little voice (thankfully I don't hear THOSE all that often) was whispering....remember she's a tweener.

I thought I'd crafted a generic response to any "proposition" she could throw my way. Wrong. I was not prepared for, "I found a purple viola on Amazon. Can I buy it?" WHAT?! She has a loaner from school but apparently wanted to purchase her own instrument. What 12 year old wants to do that?

I opened a bank account for her when she was 6 years old and we've been tossing money in there that she's earned. She has withdrawn small amounts over the years but never did I imagine she'd want to use her money to buy a musical instrument.

I told her we'd think about ordering it. Her final statement on the subject? "Gram, remember it's purple." Enough said.


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Apparently it's contagious

Our neighbor has a greenhouse which he uses for everything except plants though he graciously allows us to start our seedlings in it. Yesterday we walked over to water our plants and heard a shout of "hello" coming from inside his garage, which he uses for everything except cars.

He came out and immediately inquired about my husband's bandaged digit. While injured husband told him about our trip to the ER I noticed a square of gauze on the back of our neighbor's hand. Apparently he had just experienced the same phenomenon (aka stupid move) which caused my husband's injury. He obviously didn't make a trip to the ER though. How did I know this? Because the gauze was held in place with a piece of ELECTRICAL TAPE!

Oh, did I mention he's a retired orthopedic surgeon?

They say everything comes in threes

That was certainly the case in our house over the last couple of days. Monday dawned dry and sort of warm. I'm pretty sure I could hear my flower bed calling my name. So I whipped out my gardening gloves, spading fork and went to work. 

As mid-afternoon approached I headed toward the house. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Tucker dog stretched out in a sliver of sun munching on something. On closer inspection that something was rat poison!!! (if you live near water rats are a part of life) He had dug a huge hole under the woodpile the reach the stuff.

Construction Bruce stopped his current project and loaded Tucker dog into our SUV. Off to the vets. Meanwhile I grabbed my smartphone (I love this thing) and looked up the active ingredient. Before he even got to the vet's I had sent a text with the info. I'm happy to report Tucker dog is fine. Apparently he would have had to consume a huge amount of the stuff for it to cause damage. Lesson learned. What a way to end the day.

Tuesday I drove home exhausted after putting in 9 hours at my Mom's. I had oral surgery scheduled for early Wednesday; the first part of the process toward a dental implant. Great, just what I need....more titanium in my body. Of well. All went well by I was still exhausted.

About two hours after we got home I heard construction Bruce call my name. I didn't have a good feeling about this because he was using his table saw. I rushed down the steps and found him leaning against the wall holding his abdomen with a bloody hand. Needless to say I laid him down on the floor so I could ascertain the extend of his injuries. He had a nasty abrasion across his abdomen but it was the left hand that definitely needed medical treatment. I grabbed an icepack and loaded HIM into the SUV and took off for the emergency room. A couple of hours and 14 stitches later we were home.

Boy, I'm counting on the rest of the week being uneventful.

I won, I won....

Sort of. Our ATC (artist trading card) group sets themes for each month's cards. Sometimes I have a flood of ideas; other times not-so-much. This month's card definitely fell in the latter category.

The theme "eggs" just didn't conjure any ideas. After spending 2 weeks pacing and thinking (to be honest there were probably a few profanities muttered along the way) I threw my hands up and admitted defeat. Step two in the search for a solution involved asking Mr. Creativity.

Yup, that's right. I asked my husband. His idea was a bit out there but at least he HAD one. Idea in hand I ran up to my studio and within a couple of hours had a prototype.

What came first: the chicken or the egg

So do you know what it says? 

Then it was on the our "challenge" ATC, as if "eggs" wasn't enough of one. This card's theme was "April fool". Again I had zip, zero, nada. You get the drift.

I hit the jackpot....my husband AND our granddaughter Chloe tossed ideas around. When the winning idea was announced I headed back to the sweat shop. This time there was no prototype. The meeting was in 24 hours.

Think of the theme "April Fool". Can you figure this one out? No? Neither could anyone else which is why I was given the "most obscure" ATC award. Hey, I'll take it

     Ape-reel-fool

A Moment of Introspection

Unfortunately it's been way more than a moment. I have been beating myself up for hours.

I am known for having endless patience. Very little ruffles my feathers. But yesterday I felt my patience literally drain away.

The weekend caregiver called in sick and the agency couldn't fill the slots. That left the task to me. After spending all day Friday with her I rose early Saturday morning so I could be at her home when she woke up.

The day was a series of commands; sometimes conveyed pleasantly, sometimes not. I put in 6 hours. Sunday was a repeat.

By Monday I was exhausted. Tuesday morning no caregiver so back I went. I usually spend Tuesday with my Mom but the day doesn't typically start so early. I recognized from the get-go that I was still tired so I knew the day would be a challenge. What I didn't realize was the enormity of the challenge.

There are days when her memory fails her. Tuesday was one of those days. I smiled and answered her questions like she'd asked them for the first time...not the third or fourth. There were requests and commands. It was mid-afternoon when I realized I was exhausted and my patience were waning.

Of course I was never impatient with my Mom but it was the first time I was thankful for her hearing loss because I muttered to myself many times. Seven hours later I was wrapped in the husband's loving embrace and in that moment all was right in the world.

Let It Go....

While you read this you might want to sing the theme song from the Disney hit movie Frozen. Though I have to admit singing wasn't the first thing that came to mind when I opened our freezer to get out a couple of ice cubes. Ok, I admit it, it was the second. First I shouted for my husband.

Everything in our freezer was covered (perhaps buried is a more fitting description) under a mountain of ice! We dragged our ice chest up from the basement and went to work. When we closed the drawer (it's a French door style) while we washed the components, we noticed it didn't close tightly on the left side. Hmmm. Not seeing any reason for this my husband made a b-line for his workshop. Let's see, what tool will he come back with?  While I pondered that question he came back with his 5' level. And guess what? It was level. Dang. So back together it went.

While loading all the items back in we talked about our next step. Call a repair technician. (What? I'm pretty sure you don't call them repairmen anymore). When we finally closed the drawer my husband said, "That's weird. The drawer closes perfectly now." Really?

Well, that was one way to get help cleaning the freezer out.

Off with his ears!

Do you know the protocol for eating chocolate bunnies? No, me neither. So I  consulted an expert in all things chocolate. My husband.....our resident chocoholic. Apparently nibbling is discouraged. You should chomp the ears off with authority.

I have his daughter Molly to thank for the example. We certainly know where she learned the proper etiquette to nosh her chocolate bunny don't we. I wonder if its hereditary?

 

Bull's Eye

Clever husband decided to build a new cabinet for our back porch. Hurray. The plan was to build a box, hang it on the wall, add a couple of doors and presto you have a cabinet!

All was well until he got the box built. Did I mention you could hide a gorilla in this thing. Oh yeah, it's HEAVY too. How were we going to move said humongous box onto the back porch and into position on the wall? Hmmm

Clever husband sheepishly asked if I could pick up giganta box with him, maneuver it through the backdoor and up on the brackets. Sure, I think. As we were moving it into place I leaned on the washing machine control panel. No big deal EXCEPT the lights didn't come on. On closer inspection we realized there was no power. Great.

Out came the reciprocating saw (you've got to love this tool). After cutting 3 holes in the wall in search of the electrical wires clever husband (who didn't feel all that clever at this point) realized he had to access the electrical from outside. Of course it was raining.

Three days and half an inch of rain later he pulled 4 panels of the sidings off the house, gingerly folded back the tar paper and whipped out the handy dandy reciprocal saw again. This time he cut a significant hole in the sheathing. When he opened the wall he exclaimed, "I really nailed that sucker!" Yes, yes you did.