OSCAR - A PART OF OUR FAMILY SINCE ONE YEAR AGO TODAY

On this date one year ago, the grief of losing
our George was too much for me.
My husband suggested going to Petsmart to look.
There in his cage, the oldest cat there looked so sad.
Called his name and he lifted his head a little.
Pet his head through the cage.
My heart knew he had to come home with us.
Not making my decision right away,
we came home and I called the place
doing the adopting.
I called my friend and she said "Go for It"
Out the door we went
I gave up a new computer desk chair to get him
for my Birthday gift from my husband.
So glad I did.
Still have my old computer chair but got pillows for it to make it more comfortable.
In love with our wonderful cat Oscar who has given all of us much joy and love.

MY SON PRACTICING GOLF IN OUR BACKYARD

My son and a couple of friends have decided to start golfing
Beyond the challenge of learning, my son is left handed
It is impossible to find left handed clubs at the golf courses,
so here he is with one that he purchased and the thing he got to practice.
It is so nice to see him getting out and doing new things.

TESTING TO SEE WHY

I did not know one could suddenly suffer so much. Since my testing for seizures, I have had so many problems with burning from my mouth to my stomach. Last Friday I woke at noon from my nap with pain that I could barely handle in the pit of my stomach and up the center of my chest and severely nauseated. The only thing that I had done differently was take a teaspoon of prescribed by my Dr to coat my tummy in the morning, called Gaviscon. I called the advice nurse and she said to see a Dr. My Dr is on vacation, so I saw the one filling in for him with my husband. He had me lay down and barely touched the pit of my stomach and I screamed in pain. He and my husband helped me sit up and the pain radiated upwards. He said he had only known me for 10 minutes so wanted to give me Vicodin and I told him it makes me throw up so he prescribed what I could take, Darvocet a low dosage. Said if I was not planning to take it for the pain, to go to the ER. His MA got a wheel chair and got me to our car and we left for the ER. I started to black out at the ER, so they got me into a room right away. Tried to find a vein to hydrate me as I was severely dehydrated. I got a great ER Dr and he had the male nurse give me anti nausea medication and swallow some lidocane for the pain. He prior to this did an EKG because of the chest pain and that was fine. By this time, I was doing better but weak. He spoke with us and told us he had called a GI Dr and gave us his name and phone number to call on Monday morning. He said what he gave to me should hold me till Monday and I was already taking the same anti nausea medication at home and added the Maalox before and after my Cream of Wheat and water, so I was able to eat a bit of food. He said my bloodwork and urinalysis came back fine. He gave me literature on Gastroesophageal Reflux and said I needed to be scoped down my throat (Endoscopy) and to start working on getting it done Monday as they do not do it at the ER. Hoping when I have it that it will show what is going on and I have an easy road to recovery.

FINALLY REALLY MOVING FORWARD

I ran out of my tummy medication, and tried the OTC stuff per my Dr. without success. Dr office hurried and got it approved through my new insurance today and I took my first one tonight. Lost a bit of weight, but that was the plus in this. Feel ok, but will have to be careful with foods for a while. I can now get some strength back being able to eat simple foods and build myself back up to more foods.

Best news of all is that we are having the most mild Summer we have had in a very long time. Breezy morning and night. 50's in the morning, and 80's in the afternoon. Loving it so much.

WHAT A DAY

Last night there was a slight smell of burning coming from our refrigerator. Dan finally heard the terrible noise it had been making on and off that I had mentioned to him. The temperature of the digital drawers was going up and all of our food was getting warm. The freezer was fine. This morning we woke to the temp of the drawers going up more. Then the freezer started defrosting. I located a company that sells refurbished Refrigerators, so we got lucky and got a great deal on a refurbished and like new, Refrigerator and a badly needed washer and dryer. We have a small refrigerator in our garage, and somehow, Dan managed to put everything in it. All appliances to be delivered tomorrow.

NICE TO GET OUT

Last day of my husbands vacation and I decided that I felt well enough to take a drive. Our cat Oscar climbed in my drawer and watched as we got ready. He knew we were leaving and did not want us to. Felt bad having to leave his sad face.
We did not go far, but to get out was really nice. What a beautiful day. Picked a road we had not ventured before. Lots of beautiful homes on the river, some with yachts docked. We stopped at a beautiful boat launch area shown in this photo. We also passed a beach area and went back to it to sit, enjoy and to eat lunch we had brought from home. We stayed for a little bit and headed home where we were greeted by our very happy cat, Oscar. It was so good to get out. We both needed today.

CONTINUING TO MOVE FORWARD

I have learned a lot about medication and reducing it and adding a before dinner one. I made a chart to keep tract of it last night as I was forgetting to take one and setting my alarm to take the other, and I am in the midst of changing my time to take it when my hubby goes back to work next week with earlier hours than our vacation week hours.

Chatted and laughed on the phone last night with a good friend. Today seems a bit better for me. Introduced one turkey burger last night for dinner, and Oatmeal for breakfast this morning. I am getting better.

Great news, our wonderful pool guy just arrived and will put in our new pool motor today. I am so happy.

OUR GEORGE - GONE FOR A YEAR

How could I forget, yesterday our George was gone 1 year.
We all miss him so much.
I wrote a note to my husband to pick up something for him
at the store. I re-read my note and
I realized that I meant to write Oscar and not George who remains in my heart and soul.
5 weeks after George passed away we rescued 6 year old Oscar, whom in some ways
I think was sent to us by George and gives us so much joy each day.

OUR POOL

We could not swim in our pool during vacation as the water was too cold.
Turns out that the motor had stopped, so no warm water
was coming from our solar to warm it up.
Still more summer left, so will be able to get into it soon.

MOVING FORWARD

I saw my regular Dr. today and he reduced the dosage of my Valium for my Vertigo, and has me taking Zegerid instead of Pepcid for my tummy as I have only been able to eat Cream of Wheat and Tea for several days. I lost 4 pounds. He gave me my preliminary hospital report which is difficult to understand but shows no seizures and shows a little something on it that my Neurologist will explain to me next week. He hopes to figure out why I get such severe Vertigo attacks. I am so glad I have my hubby home this week to help me through this.

FIGURING IT OUT

Went in for testing on Monday and I was released on Thursday morning after being told that what happened previous to my stay and a very scary episode in the hospital were not seizures. So very glad, but still no answers. So, back to my regular doctor to see what we check for next.

GETTING READY

My doctor loves color and so do I, so
Somethings to keep comfy and

Something to keep cozy

CUTE AND COLORFUL

I was told that I can bring things to brighten up my room
while I spend time in the hospital to have some testing done.
I picked up this colorful, cute little guy on a short venture out last weekend.
This weekend I hope to get out to find a few more things to bring.
I get to bring my Laptop, so I can keep in contact with friends and family,
and follow my favorite Blogs.

OUR 4TH OF JULY FIREWORKS

Erik brought out his Juke Box
cranked it up and played John Philip Sousa
4th of July music

Dan laughed watching Erik try to light each of our fireworks

Erik got the job of lighting each one
and had a few problems, but a lot of fun

The last of our Fireworks
We all enjoyed watching all of them

And the last one went out with a huge cloud of smoke
Hope you all enjoyed your 4th of July 2010

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY 2010 TO ALL FROM MY HOUSE TO YOURS

I got the hat out to put on Oscar's head

I think he knew what was coming
and refused to let me put it on him
I will not bore you with all of the photos I took

I thought I would share a bear I decorated many years ago
for July 4th
She even has a music box that I attached to her
HAPPY 4TH OF JULY

GOOD MORNING FROM OSCAR

We got through the 100 plus degree temps over the weekend,
now I can enjoy our nice cool house this morning.
Hope you all had a nice cool weekend.

DAN AND LISA'S FAMILY VISIT - 6/17/2010

Dan, Lisa and their 4 kids arrived after a long drive.
The tv was put on to watch the Lakers game.
The older boys played some video games.
We ate Papa Murphy's Pizza.
Dan and Dan watched the game.

Sarah wanted to check out Oscar

Lisa and I ended up outside with the kids in the pool.
Started trying to get a good photo of Bryan jumping in

Wow, it is hard to get a clear shot but it was a lot of fun

The pool was a hit with Michael

Chris and Sarah enjoyed being outside

Bryan really enjoyed the pool

Chris just out of the pool and warming up

Sarah is adorable and had fun with Lisa holding her so she could put her feet in.
The Lakers won and it was really loud in our house.
Back to camp for Lisa, Dan and the kids. I bet the kids slept all the way.
A fun evening. It was 7 years since we saw them. Hopefully sooner next time.

JACK - A FAMILY FRIEND IS GONE

Jack and his wife Jo met my parents when they were first married living two doors apart.
They were Uncle Jack and Aunt Jo as we grew up.
They had 2 daughters and my parents 3 daughters.
We spent a lot of time together.
They moved to the country, so we saw each other less, but as much as possible.
My Dad passed away in 1998.
Jack's wife, Jo passed away in 2002.
Twelve hours ago Jack's life came to an end,
June 15, 2010 at Noon
So glad we made the trip to see him and his daughters in October 2009.
This is the last photo I took of Jack.
He will be missed so much.
Rest in Peace.

MOTHER'S DAY DESSERT

Early this morning, my husband went to the store
to pick up my favorite dessert, Boston Cream Fresh
Strawberry cake. What a great husband to make today
so special for me.

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY WEEKEND TO ALL

Tulips from my husband for Mother's Day.


Also for Mother's Day, my husband and son set up and surprised me with a Blu Ray player that plays DVD's and Netflix movies and shows. Since I have spent a bit of time in bed with severe Vertigo recently and continue to do so quite a bit, this is a great gift. Much love and thanks to my wonderful husband and son.

HAPPY 31st ANNIVERSARY

Dan brought me these beautiful flowers

I had a mug made for Dan with a bit of our 31 years together

This is the other side of the mug

I have a wonderful husband

A DAY TO GET THINGS DONE

Today I got things started for our Elementary School Summer Gathering. It was so much fun last year, that we decided to do it again this year.

I posted photos to my High School Blog from our reunion a month ago. I finally got past being so sick and wrapped it up. All Classmates can view the photos now. A big thank you to my good friend, Carol for telling me of a short cut to post my photos. It saved me a ton of time. I feel so good getting so much done today. I even got some laundry done.

Hope you all had a good weekend. It was 80 degrees here in CA today. Gotta love this weather, not the wind though.