After three days of having no hot water, I was ecstatic to return home today to a dishwasher full of CLEAN dishes and the ability to wash my hands and have them come really clean. In our 2-year-old home, something went awry with the water heater and we have been without that luxury since Saturday evening.
Thank heaven Mom and Dad have three showers in their home and generously let the four of us in at any hour of the day or night to use one. I was watching the dirty clothes hampers fill without much relief in sight, and I was not looking forward to returning home from the doctor visit and shopping and needing to boil water in order to wash all the dirty dishes in the dishwasher.
Joe the Plumber came highly recommended, but after leaving him a message two days in a row without hearing from him, Jeff took matters into different hands and found the name of a repairman who had helped install the generator at my parents' house. He was here within hours and with minor adjustments to the fancy shmancy pilot-less gas water heater, it now functions perfectly again.
I've never been so grateful to empty the dishwasher as I experienced just now putting away clean silverware. And I just wasn't looking forward to 29 people in the house without hot water. Is there anyone out there who can relate to my jubilation?? We have become spoiled indeed, with the conveniences we take for granted.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Grandma is Improving
Sorry, no photos this time. I spent 8 hours with my mom today--driving her to Quincy to see the eye doctor. She scraped up her glasses pretty badly and we wanted to be sure her eyes were not injured in her fall. She really thought she'd be ordering glasses, but the opthamologist suggested waiting a few more days so that the swelling around her eye would not affect her vision and cause her to get the wrong correction.
"Grandma" is doing much better. She had the stitches removed from her lip yesterday and last night was the first night since the fall that she had been able to wear her C-PAP machine and use her oxygen. This morning she felt S*O M*U*C*H better. We jaunted into JC Penney, had lunch at Hardee's, got Father's Day cards and a gifts for Dad, and then did a MAMMOTH shopping trip to Sam's Club. No driving trip to Quincy is complete without ice cream from DQ. I had Jeff's Highlander with the seats flipped down for maximum cargo capacity.
Mom was just ahead of me at Sam's with her one purchase: a 6 foot folding table.
I followed her with two carts full and merited extra help from a young man who helped me put the frozen chicken breasts into the cooler on top of all the ice cream treats for our reunion next week. Then we stacked piles and rows of paper products, pasta, cheeses etc. Wow, we have great meals planned for the next few days. We will all waddle home from our reunion. The kids start arriving in just five days, and then the real fun begins.
And frankly, I can't wait!!! Let the fun begin!!!
"Grandma" is doing much better. She had the stitches removed from her lip yesterday and last night was the first night since the fall that she had been able to wear her C-PAP machine and use her oxygen. This morning she felt S*O M*U*C*H better. We jaunted into JC Penney, had lunch at Hardee's, got Father's Day cards and a gifts for Dad, and then did a MAMMOTH shopping trip to Sam's Club. No driving trip to Quincy is complete without ice cream from DQ. I had Jeff's Highlander with the seats flipped down for maximum cargo capacity.
Mom was just ahead of me at Sam's with her one purchase: a 6 foot folding table.
I followed her with two carts full and merited extra help from a young man who helped me put the frozen chicken breasts into the cooler on top of all the ice cream treats for our reunion next week. Then we stacked piles and rows of paper products, pasta, cheeses etc. Wow, we have great meals planned for the next few days. We will all waddle home from our reunion. The kids start arriving in just five days, and then the real fun begins.
And frankly, I can't wait!!! Let the fun begin!!!
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Poor Grandma Grimshaw!
We had quite a wild time with Mom last night. Kathy had grandchildren in town and we all met at the Adventure Zone to "play" together. We walked out to the Go-Kart track to see the three little people taking rides on those exciting cars, when Mom fell into the track--she didn't see the step down and was without her cane, trying to turn her camera on. Immediately she was lying on the concrete in a growing pool of blood.
We called the paramedics, got paper towels to apply pressure on the cut lip, and eventually waded through her disorientation to a sitting position with two adults holding her up. Jen got the little ones inside and we waited. I shoved my YW responsibilities off on a counselor (yes, it was a Mutual Night!) and drove to the hospital 20 miles away, beating the ambulance there.
We had a very nice doctor and wonderful nursing care, but darn--Emergency Rooms are just not speedy places to visit. FOUR HOURS later, we drove away, with stitches in the lip, and x-rays and CT scan which revealed no broken bones other than a probable broken rib among the shadows of previous broken ribs.
This morning this is what Grandma Grimshaw looks like:
I think she should be in the running for the heavyweight prizefighter, don't you? She is at home, using a walker (which is not ideal, since there are many changes from hardwood to rugs to carpets and back again). She is able to drink through a straw: hot chocolate, cream of wheat, tomato soup, etc. She is in pretty good spirits considering.
BUT--I don't think she will be running any races very soon. Her left knee is about the size of a cantaloupe. She slept last night without her C-PAP machine, but will probably try it tonight, since she will heal much more quickly with better sleep.
Our prayers are with her. So are yours, I hope!
We called the paramedics, got paper towels to apply pressure on the cut lip, and eventually waded through her disorientation to a sitting position with two adults holding her up. Jen got the little ones inside and we waited. I shoved my YW responsibilities off on a counselor (yes, it was a Mutual Night!) and drove to the hospital 20 miles away, beating the ambulance there.
We had a very nice doctor and wonderful nursing care, but darn--Emergency Rooms are just not speedy places to visit. FOUR HOURS later, we drove away, with stitches in the lip, and x-rays and CT scan which revealed no broken bones other than a probable broken rib among the shadows of previous broken ribs.
This morning this is what Grandma Grimshaw looks like:
I think she should be in the running for the heavyweight prizefighter, don't you? She is at home, using a walker (which is not ideal, since there are many changes from hardwood to rugs to carpets and back again). She is able to drink through a straw: hot chocolate, cream of wheat, tomato soup, etc. She is in pretty good spirits considering.
BUT--I don't think she will be running any races very soon. Her left knee is about the size of a cantaloupe. She slept last night without her C-PAP machine, but will probably try it tonight, since she will heal much more quickly with better sleep.
Our prayers are with her. So are yours, I hope!
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