A year later............

Well, it's been a year now that my mom has died. Still so much to do. I miss her everyday.
I closed out her estate on Saturday. That is done now, and I am thankful for that.
I still have half a garage of her belongings to go through. I will do that this spring and summer. My
daughter will help me with that. But it's still hard to go through her belongings. I feel as though I am
intruding on her privacy. It makes me sad.

My arm is almost fully healed. It still hurts sometimes.
My husbands knees are doing well!
My boy is doing well in his new school.
My daughter is doing well.

Grief..................

My sweet mom died on April 24, 2016. I am so sad. Losing a dad is hard but losing a mom is a

million times harder.  

It's just the most awful thing I have ever been through. Going through her stuff feels like I am invading 

her privacy and snooping. It's a horrible feeling.

Mom had not been well for a while, and I brought her to the Dr. on a Wednesday for results of an echo

on her heart. The cardiologist sent her right to the hospital. The wonderful doctors got her fixed up in 

the hospital, but really, it was only a band aid.  She had congestive heart failure and kidney failure.  The doctor told me and one of my brothers that she likely would not make it til her birthday in July.  

She wasn't ready to die right then anyway. She was sent to rehab to gain strength and she died in rehab. 

I was fortunate enough to be with her when she drew her last breath, and all of my siblings and sister-

in laws and nieces and nephews were able to visit with her.

I am just so sad.......

Mom is 87!!

This is a picture of my mom. She turned 87 on July 1st. She's doing well!!

My mom

This is my mom on her 86th birthday (July 1). I took her out to eat and she chose Perkins. We enjoyed our lunch.
Mom moved in August and she is very happy in her new place. It is such a change from her other apartment. It's bright and airy!
She fell in October and hurt her head, she needed two staples to close it and she hurt her neck. She doesn't know how or why she fell. She did go to the doctor and he didn't know either. I think she was exhausted, because she had been on a short trip and then right after that entertained in her home. I think she was just very tired and it all of a sudden hit her and she fainted.
She is doing well now, fully recovered, and I am thankful.

It's been a while

And I loathe bloggers that post and say they will post pictures later, but, I'm saying that again. I do have pictures to post, but something happened where I can't download from my camera anymore and it seems like such a hassle anymore. I have pictures of crochet stuff and pictures of the shoes I handmade.

It's been somewhat of a busy summer again. My mom moved at the end of July and I spend a couple of weeks getting her unpacked quickly so she would feel at home. She moved to a senior apartment and absolutely loves her new place. It has a great feel to it, and it flows well, and is bright and airy! She is extremely happy there and that makes me very happy.  Mom also turned 86 on July 1 and I have a birthday picture of her I will post. (hehehe)

We went up to Grand Marais this summer. The boys went fishing and I took a shoemaking class and made my very own custom fit/made shoes! It was really an incredible experience and I hope to go again next year.  The boys had fun fishing, and we would all like to go back to visit again. It is a very peaceful town. I love that we can walk anywhere in town too.

I registered for school. I will be taking Spanish and Philosophy. Both classes fill requirements for me to obtain a degree, and I signed up somewhat late, so this is what fits with my schedule.

My boy starts a new school in a couple weeks. I think he is excited and a little nervous and that is understandable.  We could use prayers for all of that.

The daughter is here visiting and it's been nice. She returns home on Wednesday. She is spending some time with Grandma and helping her finish unpacking. They work well together.

We are still trying to find a church home in our community. We like the church attached to the school, it's an Assembly of God affiliation and we are comfortable with that. Could use prayers for finding a church home as well.

For the second year I attended The Global Leadership Summit .http://www.willowcreek.com/events/leadership/  It was incredible and each year I attend, I learn so much, and I learn so much about myself as well. This year it is all about communication. Not just communication, but effective, leadership communication. And I learned about forgiveness. That is a huge one for me right now because I am carrying a lot of unforgiveness and it is a burden. But I am working on that and I know the release will come.

Finally got my yarn under control. We cleaned the extra bedroom/storage  in anticipation of the girl coming home and it took us 6 hours to get the room under control. We did it. I have a very clear picture of the yarn I have and I know exactly what I have to work with. In this process, we also gave SIX large garbage bags of clothing and jackets to our local family services. In addition, there were also a grocery sack of books and household goods, rugs, even a working vacuum cleaner. It is refreshing to donate items we are no longer using.

Looking forward to fall, and what the new school year has in store for us.

July 1 2012

Today my mom is 84 years old. She is doing well after her hip replacement surgery.

She also moved into a new condo. One with no stairs!!  We are still trying to get her settled after the carpet incident. Her brand new carpet came with a flaw and had to be re ordered.

Update on mom

My little guy and I went to visit my mom today.

I think this knee has been harder for her. She said she doesn't seem like herself. That she feels a little off.

And she wasn't happy with the room they gave her so she switched rooms.

I hope the rest of her rehab goes better.

My Mom

Yesterday afternoon my mom had her second knee replacement surgery.

She did very well. She will go to rehab and be there about 2 weeks or so.

I'm very glad she is doing so well.

Garmin

This is Garmin. Garmin is a GPS for driving directions.

I am pretty good with directions and I don't really need Garmin around here.

My husband bought Garmin last year and we have used it a handful of times.

My Mom and I took a quick trip to her hometown.

I have driven this road to her hometown hundreds of times, but my husband had me bring Garmin with.

We both got a laugh from Garmin when we veered off the directed path.

To both of us it sounded like Garmin was exasperated that we went off path.

It would say in the robotic, exasperated voice "recalculating" to give us a new direction.

We looked at the house she was born in and a house where she lived with her family.

The owner of her home was gracious enough to let my mom and me into the house to look around.

My mom told the owner how the house looked when mom lived there. The owner was interested in hearing how the house used to be.

It was a good, quick trip and my mom is glad to have gone and that I brought her.

It brought back a lot of memories for both of us. Some sad and most of them good fun, family memories.

We will likely never go back to this town since we have no family left there.

Mom update

My mom is doing very well with her re hab.

We go to see her about every other day.

She should be coming home soon.

Then we can do this all over again this winter for her other knee!!!

My Mom

Today my mom, who is 80 yrs old, had knee surgery. I was very apprehensive about it for some reason, but it all went very well.

I will visit her tomorrow to see how she is doing.

I am thankful it all went well today.

My sister in law was there at the hospital with me and we got a chance to chat for about three hours. I enjoyed that very much and she said she did too!

She also taught me how to do Soduku!!

ETA: Saw mom this morning ( Tuesday) and she is doing well. She was even up walking!

Wednesday--Mom is going to rehab tomorrow!! She is doing great. Has a bit more pain today.

July 1

Today is my Moms 80th birthday.

We all saw her on Sunday and gave mom her cards and gifts.

It's hard to believe she is 80!!!!

Today my son and I are having lunch with Mom.

My Mom

My mom will be 80 years old this summer. I am her only daughter. She has four sons and then me.
Last year sometime she started talking about moving out of her condo. she loves her place. Had it redecorated finally and it's her home. She has lived there about 16 years. My dad lived there too but he died in 1996.
Mom started to talk about how expensive it would be to move to another place, like really really expensive considering her condo is totally paid for so all she pays are association fees and utilities. After some more talking and a bit of prodding, it came out that she is having a hard time cleaning her place. You know, scrubbing floors and vacuuming, dusting etc.
So, I immediately told her I could come every two weeks on a Saturday to clean her house, more often if she needed it, and I could see the burden lifting off her shoulders! Really, she heaved a sigh of relief because she didn't really want to move.
So every two weeks I go over there and clean. She does her bathrooms and dusts and I do the rest. It doesn't take long and it's fun. Sometimes my daughter comes with and helps and my husband stays home with the boy.
We talk, sometimes we have lunch, and lately I have been there all day while we identify very old family pictures and the people in them.
It's been fun too. It's absolutely no big deal for me to do this and I get a few hours of "me" time. It's a good thing I don't mind cleaning. And I am glad to be able to do it and help her stay in her own place. Se's in pretty good shape for her age too, which I am grateful for.

Of wills and my mom

What a very unpleasant but very needed topic. My husband and I really need to make some provisions for our family too.
My mom is nearing 80 years old and her will is dated from 1981. My dad died in 1996.
She has five children. She needs to update her will.
I go to my moms every two weeks to clean her house and we usually have lunch and go through some family pictures. It's been interesting.
Today after cleaning we read her will and talked about some changes she would like to make. I wrote down the changes and additions she would like. I will type it up and she will take her will and the new things to her lawyer and have a new will drawn up.
It's just something she knows needs to be done and I am just trying to help her.