I Have Not Dropped off the Planet

But is sure must have seemed that way. Here's why, numbered so I don't forget what I'm saying once I've said it.

1. Ray has been home since early last Sunday and seems to be doing well so far. He just settled in for the night. I took a nap earlier so now am wide awake.

2. I took Carol back to the facility yesterday. She did fine for the first three days but as usual she tends to overdo and between that and the general hubbub around here with the kids it was too much for her. She's made a lot of friends there and she kept calling it "home". The director said if Medi-cal declined it she'd resubmit with even more information until they approved it. It was obvious after a few days that she needed to be there.

She's mine and I love her but I told another friend earlier that if I say the sun is shining, Carol will insist it's pouring rain. Elcie is very like her and it makes me want to pull my hair out. She wants to be in charge of herself which is fine up to a point but she overestimates her strength (mostly a result of the medication) and then crashes. At the care facility, that doesn't happen.

3. My refrigerator gave up the ghost last night. We cleaned everything thoroughly and hoped by morning it would be okay but no such luck. I spent much of today buying another refrigerator, offloading both parts of the old side-by-side, throwing some things away, and stashing everything back in the new one. I lost a little freezer space in the deal because I no longer have a side-by-side but gained on the refrigerator section. I don't need that much freezer space because I have a tendency to overshop when things are on sale just because I had the space to do it. I have a 15' freezer and once I did a little reorganizing, everything fit with a little room to spare. I'll go through it and clean it out better at some point but may wait for a little warmer weather or a decent pair of work gloves. I was burning my hands from the cold and potholders are too awkward.

In a way it was good. We were forced to take down the Christmas tree from the living room table so we could bring the new fridge through the front door. Now almost all the Christmas is at least boxed except for the piano decorations which I'll deal with tomorrow as well as the bookcase in the front hall which we had to empty and move (fridge once again).

4. I took Elcie to the doctor yesterday. She's been having foot problems and one toe became infected. I've sent her to school in slipper socks since Tuesday. She now has them wrapped in gauze, soaking them in a peroxide solution, and will be taking antibiotics for the next ten days but she'll be fine.

She's 91 lbs now, 5'2&1/2" (you'll have to do the metrics - I'm feeling lazy - 6-1/2 stone, Alice?) and that's most of the problem. As she grows, she puts more weight on the front of her feet which in turn forces her toes up against her shoes (no matter how good the shoe or the fit). Once her feet heal up, I'll try her in shoes for school when she's in her chair most of the day and put slipper socks on her when she's on her crutches. We can't have her in pain from blisters. Also, she has a hammer toe which may require surgery (again because of her growing - it hadn't caused problems when she was smaller). Poor kid.

If it comes back, I may check on special shoes for her. There must be something out there that will keep the pressure off her toes. We'd like to keep her upright at least when she's not in school as long as possible. The more she depends on the chair, the less independence she has. She's very good on her crutches and I don't want her to lose that or what strength she has in her legs.

5. My car keys disappeared just as I needed them to pick Tim up from Amtrak tonight and reappeared in the dryer. Ray had tossed my jacket in to warm before I left (surprising the difference that can make) and the keys were in it.

6. My camera seems to have disappeared from my computer desk. I'll track it down tomorrow. Wanted to take a picture of the fridge because it will never look this organized again. And yes, I checked the dryer for it (the camera - I hate pronouns; it sounded like the fridge might be in the dryer) as well. No, it wasn't there.

7. Rochelle and Rebecca are in trouble for teasing Elcie during school breakfast about her "boyfriend". He's just a friend Elcie has known for years from class and the bus. A good kid and very shy. They were both humiliated of course and the girls were grounded. I told them if it happened again, I'd call the Principal just as I would if anyone bullied one of them. It's emotional abuse, not teasing, and I won't allow them to do it to anyone.

I asked Elcie today if it had stopped and she said yes and her friend was talking to her again. The girls apologized to him. Rochelle then said that someone had been teasing her and it almost made her cry. Middle school can be a horrible place. Those kids think they're so smart and clever when actually they know nothing. In some ways it's worse than high school.

8. Their report cards came today. All their grades are either the same or a little higher so all is not gloom and doom around here. Rebecca went from a C+ to a B in her math intervention scores. Rochelle is struggling with fractions and I finally found a little time yesterday to sit with her and teach her how to add fractions with a common denominator. It's so easy and the textbook makes it so complicated. They go into a lot of theory instead of just saying to add the numbers on top across but leave the bottom numbers alone. (She was adding both of them). Then they can teach the theory if they want to but meantime she'll be getting some correct answers.

Anyhow, that was my week in review. By the time I reached the end of each day, I couldn't string two words together, let alone try to write anything except a few short comments.

Welcome to the new visitors.

Maven a mom of three from Canada (Ontario?).

Lushgurl the mom of a teenager, also from Ontario.

Carin from somewhere in Canada. I'll have to go back and read more of her posts. She's very funny, I discovered that much.

Kimberly is an old friend with a new blog and url. She has two little girls and is also Canadian.

Canada seems to rule here tonight, doesn't it. Someplace I have a new visitor from Australia and Diane's sister in Arkanasas. I'll keep poking back through the comments. (Found a couple more while I was backtracking).

Spadoman from Wisconsin, USA. He's been commenting for a while now but I don't remember introducing him. Lovely, gentle, man in the best sense of those words.

ZZtop from Arkansas, Diane's sister. I became acquainted with Diane when I noticed she lives about 5 miles from where I did in Arkansas back in the 70's. Her sister's blog is brand new and I know she'd appreciate y'all dropping in to say hi and welcome.

Rosa is the mom of two sons from Nashville, TN, USA.

Lee-Ann from Victoria, Australia. Lee-Ann is a mom of four, granny of eight, a volunteer in a thrift shop. Not all my Australian visitors are grannies (or granddads - hi Lindsay), but many of them are and we enjoy writing back and forth.

And finally from Merced, CA

David Burke. I hope the link will get you to his MySpace blog. I'm going to give him a post of his own soon with a link to the rest of his journal.

David is a journalist and retired teacher as well as my Tuesday morning coffee "date" I mention from time to time. We met when I commented on a piece he'd written for the local paper, we met for coffee and became friends.

I know he's commented on a few of your blogs about the cross continent trip he's been planning and, now that my lips are unsealed, I'll write more about it as soon as I have time to do it right. In the meantime, if he comments on your blog, please welcome him. He's not spam, honest he's not.

Wow. I should have done a separate post just for the new visitors. Welcome to all. If I missed anyone, please let me know. I'll try to get you on my blogroll but it's been cranky lately. Keeps telling me when I try to save and republish that I must sign in to do that. I am signed in. I think it's a ploy to drag me kicking and screaming over to the new, improved, Blogger.

Thanks to all for the comments over the last two or three posts. I hope I responded to most of you.

Take care everyone. I'll try to get back a little more often.