Mini Magic...

School's out for the summer!!! At least for the Mini's it is. That means another visit to Ma and Pa's cool house in the country. So Sunday, May 27th Andie piled the Mini's in the Marx-Mobile and headed to Sadieville. They would visit Monday and return home on Tuesday, May 29th.

I was a pitiful photographer this visit. Just totally off my picture takin' game. I only took pictures of one thing and that was the painting of new birdhouses. Some time back Claude found birdhouses at Michael's that he thought would fit the bill for the Mini's. There was a rocket one for our space lovin' Hayden and a horse barn one for our horse lovin' Bailey. They have been in the basement for a long time and this turned out to be the right time to pull out the paints and get these birdhouses painted.

We painted some on Monday and again on Tuesday. They both said they still want to add some more touches so Claude is saving them for another visit to finish off. Once finished he'll clear coat them to protect them when outside.

Here are a couple of pictures of Hayden and Bailey being birdhouse artists.

Monday was also Memorial Day. We invited Papa out and Claude smoked a brisket. He also made potato salad, Andie made a salad with cabbage and ramen noodles, we had corn-on-the-cob and cheese toast. It was a delicious meal and Papa loved watching the Mini's play.

I watched two new-for-me movies with the Mini's, G-Force and another that I can't remember the name of.

Andie brought a recipe for a new dip. It was made with white beans and something that tasted a lot like cilantro but wasn't cilantro. It was delicious.

I marveled at how the playing is changing for the kids. Usually the toy cabinets and drawers are emptied and all over the basement floor and moved up the stairs. Not so much this time. We seemed to pull out something to play with and then put it back when we were finished. I was amazed.

Bailey and I enjoyed the new colors of play dough I had in the play dough tub.

Hayden brought two new games for me to play. They were Triaminos and Blockus (I think that was the name). Both were delightful and I may add them to my game collection so the kids won't have to bring them each time they come. I'll enjoy having Hayden play them with Aubrey, Paul and Katelyn.

Bailey even enjoyed a little Diego while she was here. With an older brother she has moved quickly to the shows that he enjoys watching. I pulled out my Diego DVD and popped it in for her and she totally enjoyed watching the three movies on it. You could hear her calling out answers and playing along with Diego's adventures. She also pulled out the little flip book of paint with water pictures I keep in the dining room drawer. This filled her time happily while Hayden was playing the games he brought.

When it came time to color, I printed Hayden a Spiderman picture and a G-Force picture and gave Bailey the huge Diego coloring book I have.

We even managed to squeeze in a haircut for Andie on Tuesday morning.

At one point Bailey was climbing all over Claude's lap and talking a blue streak. I can't remember the exact sequence in the conversation but Claude must have asked Bailey a question about what he was. Bailey proceeded to tell him he was 'who-man' (human). Claude got that grin that he must of sported as a child and it was all he could do not to laugh out loud at the little dear. While this was transpiring Hayden and Andie were in the kitchen doing something and Hayden was explaining things in great detail. As Claude and I chuckled about being 'who-man', I commented about how quiet this house is after the Mini's visit. Claude said something about Bailey being off in La-la-land (she is great at playing and making up make-believe games right now) and Hayden being in college (he is a very deep thinker) but, Claude added, he was glad to know we both now are sure we are 'who-man'...and we broke out laughing. I just love family times!!!

It was a lovely visit. Thank you Andie for coming all that way with the Mini's in tow and building beautiful memories to last a lifetime.

Mimi Update...

Well, it turns out my mother has shingles. This means she must have had chicken pox as a child. She is past the contagious stage now. Papa is back to feeding her each day. He was able to go a few days and wear gloves to feed her. Now they bring her to the multi-purpose room with all the other residents and he feeds her there.

Papa has gotten the blood test to see if he ever had chicken pox. I need to schedule that for me and didn't get that done last week. Once we know if Papa ever had the chicken pox we'll determine about him getting the shingles vaccine so that he will not ever get shingles. It is entirely possible Mimi could get them again the future.

While speaking with one of the nurses about my mother, she said, "You can get them from stress. I don't know how your mother would get them from stress since she is the MOST laid-back person I ever met." We got a chuckle out of that.

The silly thing is I find myself itching more and I'm sure that is psychosomatic. That and I now have a few spots of poison ivy from working my flower beds. That is country livin' for you.

Today, Sunday, June 3, went with Papa to feed Mimi lunch. She is not eating well. She is listless and wants to sleep a lot. Her color is paler than normal. I'm sure this illness has taken a toll on her. It could also be medication given her to deal with the shingles. But Papa was able to get half her lunch in her and most of her milk and all of her prune juice.

While it feels like she is fading a bit more, I have seen her rally from very bad illness before. She is a strong lady. My prayer is for this to take its normal course for her. If she recovers I'll enjoy additional time to hug her and have her close. If not, then I will appreciate all the time I have had and all the lessons I have learned on this particular journey in my life. And, I'll look forward to the time after this life when she can tell me in her own words what this journey was like for her. That will be an interesting conversation.

Poor Mimi...

My mother is in the late stages of Alzheimer's.

Last night my father got a call from the nursing home. The CNA that was caring for my mother noticed an unusual rash on her. She went to the head nurse and asked her to come and check this rash out. The head nurse looked at it and felt it was probably chicken pox. The doctor was called and he was to come in to the nursing home today and check Mimi to be sure of the diagnosis.

Today Papa called the nursing home after church to see if the doctor was in and what he found. Dr. Weckman said it is definitely chicken pox. Good Grief!!!

Papa and I have been told not to visit Mimi until they call and tell us she is not contagious. He was also advised that we have both been exposed to chicken pox now and have the possibility of contracting the disease. Yuck...on two counts...no Mimi visits and a potential disease in our future.

Papa and I neither remember or know if we have ever had chicken pox.

I definitely know each of my kids had the chicken pox, one right after the other, and I was in the house for several weeks as we went through the process with each of them. During all this care I never contracted the chicken pox. I feel pretty safe about me.

But Papa...who knows what to expect. I know there is some connection in adults between chicken pox and shingles. I tried to read up on it last night but I need to go back and study it again.

My mom is far enough along in the progression of her Alzheimer's until she can't even control her hands enough to find an itchy place to scratch. We can count that up on the blessing side of this process.

So on goes the adventure...

Can you hear me now???

That ad campaign for Verizon cell service is just apropos for our Friday.

Claude received one of 'those' mailers which he happened to open and read. You know, the kind that promise you a wonderful gift 'if' you'll just visit them about something. This one promised a free vacation if you would come in for a free hearing test.

Claude showed it to me and we both agreed we wanted the free hearing test.

I was sick several years ago in Maryland and it affected my inner ear and balance. It lasted about two weeks during which time my hearing was impaired and my balance, well, let's just say I couldn't walk anywhere without holding on to the wall. After I was well, my doctor was concerned about the effect on my hearing so he sent me for a hearing test. The diagnosis was that I lost my ability to hear the really, really, really high sounds. Since I am not a dog and can live quite well without those sounds, I was sent home and told not to worry about the hearing loss. For this reason, I felt another hearing test might be a good idea to see if there was any change.

We had the appointment scheduled for several weeks ago but the audiologist was ill and we had to change the date to get the testing done. Friday, we hopped in the Jeep and headed to Lexington for another exciting old people's kinda date.

I noted immediately that the receptionist talked very loudly like Papa. Now, Papa is nearly deaf and that is why he talks that loud. I found it interesting that the receptionist in the audiologist's office talked that loud. Hmmmm...

We filled out our paperwork which was quite fun. You are given two sheets of paper with the same questions on them. We filled out the first sheet answering for our own hearing. The second one you fill out answering for how you feel about your spouses hearing. We were not allowed to share our answers but we both chuckled at appropriate times.

Paperwork was finished and Pat took the papers back to the audiologist. (We learned later they are husband and wife.) He reviewed it and then called us back to start our visit with him.

Gotta love living at this time. He had an enormous monitor on his desk. It was as big as the TV screen in our living room. With his computer he brought up an image. Then he took out a little scope and put it in each of our ears cleaning it carefully between each ear. When the scope was in our ears we could actually see inside our ears. There are a lot of little hairs inside your ear. I didn't realize there were so many hairs. We could see that our ear drums were still translucent which is a good thing. We could also see only little bits of wax which are quite normal and the kind of thing that works itself out of your ear. Bottom line after having our ears scoped is that they were physiologically in great shape.

That accompished we were ready for the hearing test. Dr. Chapman showed us the chart he would use for each of us and how he would record our responses. There were shaded areas on the chart and if your responses fell into that shaded area there was cause for concern. The test is administered in two phases. If you pass the first phase (a series of beeps at varying decible levels) with flying colors there is no need for the second part of the test (a series of words and sentences that are muffled or have background noise making them harder to discern). Your hearing is in good shape.

Dr. Chapman took Claude first, gave him instructions, and closed him up in the sound proof booth. I felt like I was a kid and watching an early game show. I sat in one of those for my hearing test several years ago. But today I saw it from the outside. There were several games shows when we were kids and TV was just getting going that had the contestants go in a sound proof booth. Claude was the first contestant.

Outside the booth I could hear all the doctor was doing and could tell when Claude was hearing and responding. When Dr. Chapman finished the first test on Claude he was concerned. This meant Claude went to the second series of testing. After finishing that series of testing Dr. Chapman did the first phase of the testing on me. Then we followed him back to his nice office with the big TV for our results.

I still have the difficulty with the really, really, really high notes. But it doesn't seem to have changed so we are not to worry about me right now. I'm to just get my hearing checked again in the future to keep track of any increased hearing loss.

Claude on the other hand is definitely beginning to loose hearing. Dr. Chapman asked me between the phases of his testing if I had noticed him not hearing me. I told him I just thought he didn't want to listen and tuned me out. We both laughed. I think Dr. Chapman hears that a lot.

All of Claude's responses were below the line and in the shaded areas. He is definitely loosing hearing. Hearing aids were the suggestion. The big TV was now displaying models and colors. Then it displayed large costs for said hearing aids. Dr. Chapman produced several models of hearing aids so we could see them. Then he showed Claude the ones he recommends. They are little buds attached to a thin transparent plastic cord to the hearing aid. You put the bud in your ear, wrap the cord over your ear and the hearing aid fits behind the ear. You couldn't even see anything except that little thin clear cord. If you weren't looking for that, you wouldn't even see it.

What I was seeing was a look of dismay in my poor hubby's face. We went in there to be told our hearing was fine. We were going to walk out with Claude placing an order for hearing aids. My hubby needed time to absorb the shock of that diagnosis. I don't know that will happened until he gets the hearing aids and gets used to them and the increased ability to hear.

We picked the hearing aids for Claude that we both felt best about. They are top of the line and about half the size of the ones he tried on in the office. Claude will pick them up next week and get them adjusted for his hearing loss.

While he was finishing up with Dr. Chapman, Pat came and sat down by me. She is so Southern, friendly and comfortable with that friendliness. She said she wanted me to be the one she discussed this with. She pulled out a pamphelt about a free vacation. I honestly completely forgot about the vacation part of this. I truly wanted the hearing test and completely forgot the vacation. I listened and took the pamphlet. Claude and I have already picked out what we want to do and I'll take care of that next week.

We also got a free Kindle Fire with the hearing aid deal this month. We were able to get some help from our insurance company on the cost and we got a discount for being old (translated as AARP members) and Claude being in the military.

Now, we learned some things while there that we both never knew before:

• If you start to lose hearing the little hairs in your ear become brittle and fall out. This leads to permanent hearing loss.
• You should always wear two hearing aids. If you are only wearing one and it is picking up the sound, your brain will use that ear and leave the other ear alone. This allows the hairs in the unused ear to become brittle and fall out and you lose your hearing.
• A study released this year shows a connection between hearing loss and Alzheimer's.
• One lady put a Q-Tip in her ear to clean it out and pulled out her ear drum and the three bones in the ear. She ended up with major surgery to repair this. Yike!!!

It was an interesting date, an expensive date, but an interesting one. Can Claude hear me now??? Next week there should be no question...

Touring with Bonnie...

Friday, May 12th, we pointed the red Buick north to take Claude's mom, Bonnie, to see her grandkids and great-grandkids that live in Michigan. We made great time and the ride went very smoothly.

We met Jake at his apartment in Chelsea in the afternoon and headed west to Muskegon. We only had one stop and that was a deliberate one in Grand Rapids. There is a Krispy Kreme there and a purchase was in order. We arrived when the light was on. That meant hot doughnuts right off the cooking and icing line. The neat thing about this timing is they give out free samples. Now you just can't beat that for a nice treat during a long drive. Doughnuts purchased we headed on the last half hour to Muskegon.

We checked into our hotel. Katelyn came over with Paul and Aubrey with swimsuits in hand. A quick change and we were at the pool for some swim time. This began with some silly antics in the hot tub with Grampa. Aubrey is 'hear no evil', Claude is 'see no evil', Katelyn is 'speak no evil' and Paul is 'just pure evil'.

Sunday was to be Mother's Day. It seemed like a good idea to let the kids have some fun with their mom for Mother's Day. Nissa was sure she did not want to celebrate Mother's Day on Sunday. Her family was going to honor that request and surprise her with Mother's Day today (Monday). But I suggested to Claude that we take the kids over to the Dollar Tree, let them each buy five items they thought might be funny or nice for their mom, then we would buy a basket and put all the items in it.

So Saturday morning, after a swim in the hotel pool, we headed to Dollar Tree. While the kids roamed the store, I picked up a package of tissue paper for wrapping, a checkers game, two 500 piece puzzles, and two decks of cards. The kids had great fun picking out interesting things. They each picked out a snack for themselves as well.

We went to Katelyn's work, Office Max. She had a copy project she wanted done for school this summer. I picked out a Solitaire CD for Papa's computer. The last crashing of his computer lost his Solitaire game. I found some for him on the AARP website but this CD will have others that might amuse him.

Then it was back to the hotel to wrap the gifts. We set the kids on corners of one of the beds in the hotel room and I handed out the color of tissue paper they wanted for each of their gifts. Quick as a wink the gifts were wrapped and in the basket. Bonnie purchased a Happy Mother's Day balloon and a card (which everyone signed) and our surprise was ready.

Nissa and Todd were supposed to have worked Saturday. They ended up both having the day off. Yippee!! They could join us for lunch at the Pita Place. We carried our Mother's Day gift basket and surprised Nissa at the restaurant. She chose to open the gifts at their home after we had lunch.

It was fun to hear the kids tell her, "I picked out that one."

We spent some time that afternoon enjoying the musical abilities of our family. Katelyn accompanied Aubrey while Aubrey sang. Jake accompanied the girls while they sang. Jake sang and played the piano. Jake accompanied Nissa while she sang. I got it all on lots of video way too big for this Blog. But these will be treasured memories for many years to come. Jake cracked us all up when Katelyn & Aubrey got behind him to sing something from Phantom of the Opera. They were all primed and ready and Jake started play 'The Stripper'. This is one of my favorites but not one which you would sing along.

Claude amused us by singing the theme from the television show 'The Big Bang Theory'. Katelyn also sang with him on the theme from the television show 'Monk'.

Okay, Todd has two deer heads mounted and hanging on their living room wall. This was a must picture of two deers or two dears...you decide. 

We had a little more time back at the hotel for swimming. Katelyn and I managed to get most of one of the puzzles finished. Then we all piled in cars and made a run to Golden Corral for dinner Saturday night. I believe that made Saturday night a three Tums night for me.

I went back to our hotel after dinner and retrieved the puzzle from Bonnie and Jake's room where Katelyn and I worked on it. As we moved it on the poster board (I had the presence of mind to purchase in case we had to move it), Bonnie commented that she thought we dropped one piece. We didn't see it so we continued to move the puzzle from her room to Claude and my room.

After a bit there was a quiet knock on our door. I went to open it and found one sheepish looking Jake at the door. He was holding out one puzzle piece and he said, "Honestly, I didn't keep this. It was dropped on the floor." Poor Jake. When he was a little boy and the girls and I were making a puzzle, he took a piece and kept it until the puzzle was all finished except that one piece. He really wanted to put the last puzzle piece in. Even after all these years, whenever we pull out a puzzle and Jake is around, he is immediately told not to hold on to any pieces so he can put the last piece in. He has not done that since he was a little boy but he still gets teased about it. I assured my son that Bonnie thought we dropped a piece when moving the puzzle and I was sure he didn't keep it.

Sunday we spent Mother's Day at the Tyler home. The guys grilled burgers and brats for us. Yum!!!  Katelyn and Aubrey taught me to play Garbage. The first hand for me was a great one. Here are my teachers, Katelyn and Aubrey Anne, and here is me winning the first hand. I did lose the game but it was fun for the first few beginner's luck hands.

Sadie, the Tyler family pet, found this house full of new people interesting. She especially found Jake a good friend as he gave her water.

After a wonderful Mother's Day, it was time to take Jake back to Chelsea. But before we left we wanted to get a few family pictures. The first is Bonnie with her Michigan family (Jake, Bonnie, Aubrey Anne, Paul, Katelyn, Nissa and Todd).

The second is Bonnie with Claude and me.

When we got to Chelsea our first item of business was to stop for ice cream. Then we took Jake to his apartment. Then we checked into the Holiday Inn Express. Then Jake joined us at the hotel where we watched Men In Black II.

This morning we slept in and headed south toward Kentucky. We made a pit stop at Cabela's in Michigan and Chipotle in Kentucky. Then we parked that Buick and came inside our home to rest. Whew!!! It was a great trip and a nice ending to Bonnie's visit. She will fly home tomorrow afternoon.