Taking Care of Business...

Well, Sunday, May 6th, was my first time out of my home in a week.

My plan for Saturday was to arise early, finish my Sunday School lesson preparation, then invite Papa out for the afternoon and dinner.

What actually happened was, I woke up with an ache in every joint in this old body. I stumbled into the bathroom and found some extra-strength Tylenol. Took the stated dosage. Curled back up in my bed to play a few Sudoku puzzles while the medicine took effect. (I am NOT a medicine taker. Just don't care for that process at all. The fact that I did this first thing is a direct indication of the pain my joints were in.)

Claude came in after the second Sudoku puzzle and I told him I thought I might try and rest a bit more. I snuggled back under the covers. When I woke up it was NOON. I couldn't believe it. Half my day was gone. So much for the 'best laid plans'.

Instead, Claude and I compared our Blackberry calendars through December 2011. Hayden and Bailey Skyped us. And I finished my Sunday School lesson. Thus ended Saturday.

Sunday was a delightful day, exhausting, but a delight nonetheless. I enjoyed going to Church for my first outing in a week. I was able to teach the gospel doctrine class in Sunday School. The horseness in my voice added a certain flavor to the class.

Then I went to visit my mom. Mom was curled up in a little ball sleeping. The nurse came in to take her vitals. I was going through her clothes, matching them into outfits and pairing her socks. After the nurse left I took my Ensign magazine and curled up in the chair by my mom and read with my hand on her little head. I was amused by the fact she would talk out while she slept. It was incoherent but something was happening in her head and she was talking about it. Alzheimer's is interesting. I sometimes wake up hearing myself mumbling out loud. I sat there and thought how alike my mother and I are on many levels. If you looked at my  hands, you would be looking at my mothers hands 20 years ago. The need to keep those hands doing something all the time is exactly like moms. She always had a project going. I'm in process of trying to finish all these little projects I've created for myself without adding any more new things until these are done.

Even though Mimi slept most of the time I was there, I marveled at the closeness you can feel between you and someone else, even when they aren't alert to share. It reminded me of when Jake was born. I distinctly remember holding this new born babe in my arms, close to my heart, and trying to share from my heart to his all the love I felt for him. I just had the strongest feeling I wanted us to create that bond before I took him home to a busy house with big sisters vying for my attention. I remember feeling him respond to those thoughts and feelings I was trying to silently share. I was sure he knew what was in my mother heart and that he was feeling the same about being a part of our family. Sunday, I know my mom knew I was there for her. I just know that.

I visited Papa next. We picked out music for our Wednesday performance. It seems to me that when he and I have throats that aren't right, we sing most of our songs in A. When we are in better voice we sing lots of stuff in C. Then we gave Papa a haircut before I headed back to Sadieville.

By the time I got home after 4pm I was worn out and ready to curl up and rest. I worked at my computer for one hour and then walked away from it for the rest of the evening. Claude and I curled up in the living room. I pulled out my crocheting to relax and Claude searched the TV for something to watch. BONUS!!! Claude found the 25th anniversary program of the music of Les Miserables. It was done in October 2010 in a London venue named O2.

Les Miserables is my all time favorite play. Of all the plays I seen and totally enjoyed and could highly recommend, Les Misrables is hands down my favorite. I've been privileged to see it live at least 5 times.

This performance was just the music. The performers wore costumes and the lighting and placement of them on the stage gave the effect of the scenery and effects.

Every performer was excellent. The weakest one was Nick Jonas and he was still very good. His only drawback was that everyone else had better projection and volume naturally to their voice. They could all just sing louder than him. But his voice was great and he did an excellent job.

My favorite was Javert. He was a person that God has touched with beauty. Did you ever look at someone and think, "What great bone structure and features!" That is what you thought when you looked at this man.  Norm Lewis is an African-American.  Les Mis always uses many ethnic backgrounds in their roles. But I've never seen an African-American Javert and this was a perfect fit.  With Mr. Lewis' beautiful bass voice, he flawlessly performed and sang his way through this role. Never once did I feel like he was working at either of those roles (acting/singing).

Valjean had an amazing voice and gave a grand performance. However, my favorite vocalist for Valjean has always been Gary Morris. His voice just fits that part.

The role of Eponine in this production was a lovely round-faced Filipino lady names Lea Salonga. She is best known for her role as Kim in Miss Saigon. I've never seen her in person but Jake has on the New York stage. He said she was wonderful there and she was excellent in this rendition of Les Mis music. When I worked at the Courtyard Marriott in Gaithersburg, Maryland, one of our front desk clerks was singing one evening as I went to check on my front desk crew. Her voice was lovely and I commented on it. She told me that Lea was her friend and they had studied together. Lea is the one that made it to the big time but they remain very dear friends. Just a nice little aside about Lea. 

The treat with this program was at the very end. They brought some of the stars from the original cast of Les Miserables on stage. They sang a song from the role they played with some of the stars from the current casts and the cast for this special program. It was great. The show ended with a kids version  of the finale song that has been created so kids can perform Les Mis in school theaters. It made for a wonderful end to our Sunday.

Monday I went visiting teaching early in the morning. Laundry was the project for the day. I managed to get Papa's laundry and our laundry finished and the linens on the bed washed. Don't you just love crawling into clean bed linens?  I do. 

Today my morning was mine to accomplish some to do list items. This afternoon Papa and Tiny came to spend the afternoon with me. We worked all afternoon on transcribing the cassette tape of the interview with my Gramma Duck (Papa's mom). It is fun for Papa to go back and remember his family history. There are places I just can't understand what is being said. Sometimes we have to listen several times to get what we think is said. Then we'll continue with the cassette tape a little further and go back and correct a name or city. It will eventually be done but it is a slow process.

Claude had meetings in Georgetown all afternoon. He called me when he finished and we invited Papa to stay for dinner. Claude brought us KFC and we shared a nice meal before Papa headed home.

I'm slowly getting strength back and working hard at getting back to normal without overdoing and relapsing. I'm not sure what illness this was this time but I know I'm sick and tired of being sick this winter.

Today I watered my indoor plants. I end with this picture of my Christmas poinsettia. I have NEVER had one last this long. It is beginning to lose a lot of the middle leaves and I know it won't last forever, but I'm so happy I'm still enjoying this splace of red in my kitchen/breakfast room.