Saturday, February 21, 2015

Confessions of a Former Redhead

It started out sort of strawberry blonde, and got redder and redder . . . until it stopped!

John informed me a while back that my hair wasn't red any more. Like I didn't already know that on some level.

Well, the other day Mar told me the same thing. When your friend of nearly 40 years (wow!) tells you something like that, it is true. Mar, with much thought: "You know . . . there is no red left in your hair." Like I didn't already know that on some level. I used to have a tortoiseshell cat, Eleanor (aka Nelly Belly), and when you brushed her the wad of hair left on the brush was this weird sort of non-color, sort of indescribable, a little bit of everything. That is how my hair is now. Will tortoiseshell even fit on your driver's license? I guess I'll have to go with brown. Or brownish-gray. I'm not sure that will fit on a driver's license either. Nothing against brown hair . . . but after you have had pretty red hair, it is kind of boring. I have two boxes of hair color here, but I'm not ready . . . yet. Between my hair color being incorrect, and my weight being way off (WAY!) on my driver's license, who am I?

With all the stuff going on with Dad, I forgot my annual "woo hoo for colostomy reversals" on January 24th. Belated WOO HOO.  After the reversal I had a colonoscopy and the doc said, due to one weeeee tiny polyp that I should have another one in 3 years, and it is here already! I already set it up, not dawdling about, went for other annual things that needed to be checked out, and everything is just fine, I say when you are going to meet your deductible, MEET YOUR DEDUCTIBLE, and meet it in one month lol! But what are the odds that someone would have a doctor's appointment . . .  I mean 364 days out of the year a girl gets her underwear on right side out . . . the one day she doesn't  . . well . . . never mind.

Still doesn't seem real that Dad is gone. Even Mom said that. Mom, who has hermit-like tendencies, has barely been out of the house. She hates the cold. She doesn't mind not going out much, she gets to the library for her books and stuff, and some of Dad's estate stuff has gotten her out.  But Tuesday I have the day off and we are going up to the Social Security office for an appointment. And then we plan on going to visit Aunt Kay. Big outing for mother. Will be good for her. 

I'll be glad for a warm up in the weather. I'm tired of this cold. And the cats are driving me bonkers. Seed catalogs are rolling in, and spring is on the way.

Kay :)






Sunday, February 8, 2015

Missing Pieces and Dollar Bills

Dad loved puzzles. I wanted to put this pic on the photo board at the funeral, but I couldn't find it. I remembered tonight that I had put on a calendar I gave Dad for a gift a few years back. This pic is a favorite of mine. Look how wee Finnegan is in the puzzle box! LOL  If a puzzle was missing a piece Dad would look and look and look for it, and make comments about the missing piece maybe being in another puzzle box, or he could make a replacement piece, or it might turn up  . . . better leave the puzzle up for a while, don't hurry to take it down. He was ever optimistic! See how he is leaning on the puzzle? In warmer weather the pieces would stick to his arms and he'd carry them everywhere! Not just around the house either, I even found one in the driveway one time. Dad found them in his bed, up his sleeves, in his pockets, in his car! LOL  And often in or around his chair in the living room.


Well, yesterday Mom made a lasagna and John came home for dinner. I was sitting in Dad's recliner, and it has seen better days (the chair is a hand-me-down from John! lol), and the footrest was askew, so I tilted the recliner on its back to see if I could finagle the footrest back in. John was watching and he said, laughing (and rather bepuzzled), "Look! Money and a puzzle piece!"

Dad never carried a wallet. He'd always reach into his pocket and pull out a wad of bills folded just like this.
I took this photo on my new used vintage TV tray from an estate sale. Bernie would have loved it too, he would have thought it quite pretty, as do I. We love all things flowered.

Looking forward to a short week. Thursday is a court holiday, as is next Monday, so I went ahead and took Friday off and will have a nice long weekend.

Kay :)

Sunday, February 1, 2015

Snow!

Heap big snow! Big winds coming later too.  Bernie would be "scairt" by this weather! It's nice to think that he has no worries now. Since the dementia onset, every single night was his first night in town! How disconcerting that would be, for anyone. I'm thinking that the night of January 10th was the best first night ever for Dad! Aunt Joan's family said that when she was near passing they heard her say "Mama". That is so comforting to me, I'm glad they shared that, because for the last couple of years Dad has longed for his mother. He spoke all the time of how good she was and how much he missed her.

We all miss him. It's funny when it pops into your head. I get chilly and stand over the heater at work, and see a barge on the river, and whenever I see a cardinal, and I've been seeing a lot of them lately! They seem to come out of nowhere. Or I'll be at the store and see something and think to myself that Dad would enjoy that. I'll never get that feeling that someone is looking at me again, and look out the window to see Mom and Dad going by, stopped by my side window, with Dad looking for a wave! Smile and wave at the old people, you might make their day! Teach your kids to do it too. Nothing tickled Dad more than getting "a wave" at the bar, and gosh, once in a while, if we caught the red light, one of his buddies would rush to the door and yell "Hey Bernie!" That always made Dad's day, what a hoot it was. He would have the biggest smile.


Mom and Dad, from my window at work. I'd feel eyes on me, get up pronto, go to the other window, pull back mini blind and wave like crazy! Dad would be peering and looking, and he'd see me, and smile, and wave harder. Sweetness. And gosh what did other people who saw me doing that think! LOLOL

I know what to do in a winter storm, soon (1 hour and 45 minutes) to be a blizzard! Which came first, the chicken tortellini soup, or the cookie?


The cookie of course!

Kay :)