Home again, home again, jiggetty jig

I took the Olde Ladye to her beauty shop appointment at 10:00 this morning.  It’s sort of funny that she goes to see the beautician every week.  She’s 91 years old and is getting close to being bald.  When the light is behind her, her head looks like a light bulb with a halo.   When she comes out of the beauty shop, she looks in the mirror and starts picking at her hair.  I think she goes to the shop every week because she really loves her hair dresser, Lynn, and she loves to catch up with what has been going on in the world since the week before.  Once she gets home, she always recombs her hair.  Why she doesn’t tell Lynn what she’d like to have her do is a mystery to me.

I packed up my stuff and headed home a bit after noon.  After a stop at Winco, my most favorite grocery store, I got home and settled back in by 2:30.  It is so good to be at home, with all my toys and in my own kitchen.   It always amazes me how nasty the kitchen counters get when The Boys are home alone, and how they don’t even seem to notice.   Before I can unload groceries or cook, I have to wipe down all the counters, and I try to do it in a way that won’t make The Boys feel bad.  Which is silly, really, because it would be wonderful if they realized they should wipe up after themselves.  I’m just thrilled that they get their dirty dishes into the sink.

Tonight for supper we had collard greens and ham hocks simmered in chicken stock, macaroni and cheese, and a salad made of our home-grown tomatoes, onion wedges, artichoke hearts, and bleu cheese dressing.  The smoke ham hocks I get at Winco are wonderful; they are almost all meat with very little fat or rind, and the flavor is excellent.  I used vinegar along with the broth, even amounts apple cider and balsamic.  I’ll make cornbread tomorrow for another go at the greens.  They were really good tonight, and should be even better after they’ve had time to mingle their flavors.

I’ve finished all the but the border quilting on the baby quilt for granddaughter Faith and Shane’s little boy, Grayson.  He’s due to make his appearance in early October, and we just might be back at Chigger Ranch then.  It would be pretty exciting to be there for the birth.  This baby quilt is one of my favorite ones so far.  If I’m counting right, this is the eighth baby quilt made for a great-grandbaby. I wonder how many more I’ll get to make before my makin’ days are through…

 

The Care and Feeding of the Elderly

The Olde Ladye had a rough time of it with the aftermath of yesterday’s shot in the eyeball.  After the pain-deadening drops wore off, she was in constant pain until 11:00 p.m.  She didn’t moan or complain, but I could tell she was hurting from her set jaw.  Her insulted eye wept continually and copiously, and so did her nose.  I tried talking her into taking a Vicodin, just to see if it would help, but oh no.  Not until 10:20 did she finally cave and take one, only to be amazed at 11:00 when the pain subsided.  That’s when we headed off to bed, rather on the late side for this old gal.

I had trouble turning off my mind until close to 3:00 a.m.  Then I spent my dreamtime trying to perfect a new type of long jump.  It appeared I was pretty good at the jumping part but abysmal at throwing the little squash racket into the box before jumping.  I woke up to full daylight, startled to find it was close to 9:30.  The Olde Ladye was still asleep, so I rattled around quietly, amusing myself until she appeared fully dressed and pushing her walker an hour later.  She is in just a bit of stinging pain this morning, hardly enough to even notice in her opinion.

I’ll be doing her grocery shopping today.  This is always one of the highlights of my visits with her.  It is one of my favorite activities anytime, anywhere, and her grocery lists tickle the hell out of me.  They are works of OCD art.  If she makes a “boo-boo” in spelling or placement of an item in the wrong part of the list, she starts over.  While some of my siblings find this more than annoying, I think it’s kind of funny and sometimes keep one of her lists in my purse for awhile to enjoy.

She has decreed we will have Subway for supper.  Tuna sandwiches, lots of onion and black olives.  I’ll have tomatoes and jalapenos on mine, and at least half a bottle of Toad Hollow white wine. 

Life is good.

 

Hanging with the Olde Ladye

Yesterday I left the Rescue Mission in the hands of Bro, Morgan, and Jake and headed to Vacaville for a visit with my ancient mother.  This was on a Sunday afternoon, about 2:00 p.m., just in time to hit massive traffic heading the same direction.  The trip usually takes me about an hour and fifteen minutes.  Yesterday was double that time, and the temperature was hovering at 104 degrees, according to my dashboard.   I actually had a pretty good time, since I had plenty of opportunity to people-watch while we did the stop-and-go shuffle, I had snacks and water, and Telemann on the cd. 

The time of this visit is based on the Olde Ladye’s monthly eye doctor appointment.  She gets an injection in her eyeball to stay the encroachment of wet macular degeneration.   They seem to be working, and she doesn’t mind the shot at all.  The hard part is when the pain starts up an hour or so after the shot.  She says it feels like there’s a splinter in her eye.  I’m on hand to commiserate and put in the eyedrops when she wants them.  The commiseration part mostly consists of watching cowboy movies with her, and bringing her more oreos to ease the trauma.  This is not a difficult duty, and leaves me plenty of time to knit and quilt.

Last night, the Olde Ladye had a hankering for take-out from Mary’s Pizza Shack.  We like that place a lot.  They have great minestrone which seems to have curative powers for the Olde Ladye, and their portions are beyond generous.  As is standard practice, we ate supper in her study, our food on metal lap trays while watching cowboys on her TV.   Her appetite has seemed to pick up in recent months, which is a relief to us all.

Meanwhile, back at the Mission, poor Mr. Morgan ate a bowl of cereal for his supper.  I’m pretty sure that’s not all he ate before bedtime, but that’s all he mentioned to me when I called to say goodnight.