Last Post of the Year

This has been SOME week!

You'll remember we had Christmas on the 24th, because I had to work the 25th.  What I didn't tell you was that we got a phone call right in the midst of unwrapping gifts on Friday.  My youngest brother, the black sheep of the family, was found dead Christmas Eve morning.  The best we can figure is a heart attack, since nothing else seems out of whack.  He had been living with my mother and stepfather, helping them out, and when he didn't wake up early as usual, she found him.  With the holidays, arrangements were in limbo for a few days, and I wasn't sure whether we'd try to go or not.  I won't go into the weird family dynamics (I'm sure you all have some of those), but I hadn't seen him in over 20 years, and hadn't seen or spoken to my mother in even longer than that. 

Saturday it began snowing--and snowing and snowing!  We got a total of 8 inches where we are, and I wrenched my arm coming out of a skid trying to get to work.  I first tried to drive DD's car, since Jack's was unreliable, but got stuck twice, and had to be pushed up a hill by 4 neighbors.  I transferred everything over into the SUV and made it in early, but my right arm became increasingly more painful as the night went on, and I couldn't lift it more than about waist high.  After getting off work Sun, I went down to the ER and got it checked out.  It's probably a strained deltoid, but since it was a re-injury of a strain from lifting patients several weeks ago, I'm to see an orthopedist if it's not better in 7-10 days. They gave me a sling, which has helped considerably.

Mon. we got the word that my brother's funeral would be on Tues, so after talking it over, DD and I drove down to Birmingham to stay with my other brother and his wife.  Jack stayed here and kept the dog and DD's cat and just held down the fort.  DD hadn't seen her cousins in years, so it was good for her to visit with them, despite the reason.  Tues. night after the funeral, they all went out for Thai food and had a great time! I got to spend more time with my other brother and my sister as well as all the nieces and nephews--that makes twice in one year! 

Wed. we left there and drove back here to NC, and Thurs. morning DD left here headed for HER home.  That's a lot of driving in just a few days, but she's young and beautiful and she can do it.  lol  Yesterday I had the mandatory mammogram done, and last night came down sick with what is probably a sinus infection. I had chills and fever, with a temp of 101.4 and a very sore throat, but the worst seems to be over for now.   However, the Christmas stuff is going to stay up for a while longer.  Lifting is still difficult, and I don't even feel like playing with my "new toys" for now.  I plan to continue vegging out on the couch and may not see 2011 come in.  I will have to work this weekend, so conserving energy seems to be the best option.

Here's hoping 2011 will be a wonderful year for us all, and if you're making resolutions, hoping that they'll last more than a week! 

Anybody Home?

Sorry I've been out of commission for the last few weeks--seems like I would never get caught up.  And I almost didn't.  We had our Christmas this morning, since I have to work Christmas night, and didn't really want to get up, have Christmas, then go back to bed before going to work, and then come home to DD leaving on Sun. morning.  At 10pm last night, I declared the tree finished, even though only about a third of our ornaments were on.  When DD went off to bed at 11pm, I began wrapping gifts.  By 2am I had lost 3 gifts, one pair of scissors, and all my creativity. Found the gifts, got to bed by 3:00, but haven't found the scissors yet!

Here's what I ended up doing for ICU/Telemetry decorating this year:

These were repeated over all the doors in both units.

One wreath over a wrapping-paper covered bulletin board in ICU, one in Telemetry.

A little tree behind the nurses' station in Telemetry,

and a bigger one in ICU, because they had more space.

And wreaths for the glass doors on the rooms in ICU.

My sewing room is a wreck.

DD came in on Monday, and we've had a really good time with her and the animals (she brought both the dog and the cat.)  She set her alarm and we got up at 3am to view the lunar eclipse, but it was overcast, so we hurried back to bed. We've watched Sleepless in Seattle, Scrooge, other movies, finished shopping, cooked a little, and just hung out.  Wed. we all went to a very entertaining Christmas play and then out to eat. It's been good family times here at the Scraps  household.

There have been a couple of glitches, though.  I remembered my car registration hadn't been renewed and needed to get my emission test done first as well as an oil change, so I swung by on my way to the store and had them do it all, including rotating my tires, which was also overdue.  One of the mechanics came in very apologetically to tell me he'd broken off the stem under one of the lug nuts.  It was stripped and just broke off, and I don't even remember who rotated them the last time.  I've been so busy, I forgot to call the place the next day so they could make arrangements to fix it. They said it would be okay to drive with 4 lug nuts/stems, but it would need to be fixed soon.

Then Jack's car has been haunted.  (You'd think it would have been mine, right?) It's been locking and unlocking itself, and sometimes the inside lights go on and off.  He was going to take it in next week to be checked, but last night it apparently stepped up the pace, and when Jack went to make a trip to the grocery store for me, the battery was all but dead, and the security alarm was making weird noises.  Our roadside assistance service sent out a repairman, who managed to jump start it, but said we really need to get a new battery.  Right.  5pm on Christmas Eve.  Last year on Christmas Eve, there was snow and ice on the ground and I scraped my daughter's car as I backed out of the garage.  I think we are going to refuse to drive any car on Christmas Eve ever again.  As it is, I'm supposed to work tomorrow night and of course, it's supposed to start snowing tomorrow.  Keeping my fingers crossed either the roads won't be bad, or we'll be able to start the car.

Oh, and one other thing: I went to see my doctor last week, and my A1C, the 3-month compilation of blood sugar averages, has come down from a moderately dangerous 8.6 to a high normal of 6.5 in the 4 months I've been on the South Beach diet. I've also lost 35 pounds and lowered my cholesterol a little.  Still got lots to work on, but the progress is encouraging!

Hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and that you all make wonderful memories tomorrow!