July

I know. It has been ages. Here is what is happening around the ranch . . . 

John had a birthday in July. For his treat he chose a lime cake . . .? Interesting. No german chocolate to be found, no carrots, something different. Well, it was delicious.  How bad can something with cream cheese frosting be? He came home for a nice meal (Naf Naf Grill, yum!) and cake, and a good time was had by all. 

I had a birthday in June and received this from my lovely coworkers. 

Poor Misty had a lump removed under her front leg. It cost $900. She just got her stitches out and the lump was benign, yay! That is her, taking it easy. Misty likes to get high. She is always looking up at the top of the fridge, or high shelves, anywhere she can get high and look down upon us lol. 

I got a new car in May. I really wasn't in the mood, but the plan was when mom's car bit the dust Joe would drive my 2010 red Rav and I'd get a new car. I'm 61 now, and gosh I thought it would be nice to have a newer car when I retire, all paid off, as opposed to a 20 year old car. Well it happened, mom's car bit the dust. Here is to 0% financing on Hyundai Tucsons. John has had  a Hyundai forever and had great luck with it, and 2 of my sort of OCD friends bought Tucsons, so I have to figure they did some research and stuff, so what the heck. I just make that assumption because I do not want to call them and hear about the decision.  The very fact they purchased the vehicle is enough for me.  Despite my protestations about buying a gray car I did, indeed, buy a gray car. Amazon Gray. I don't know what it means. Getting a colored car is harder than it should be. Everything is white, black, gray or silver.  Fine to look at but I do not want to own those colors. The only other color the salesman had at the Hyundai dealership was red, which I do not object to, but a little change sometimes is nice. We were walking to the red car and I saw this one. I said what is that weird color. He told me it was Amazon Gray, and that it was unusual in that in certain light it had a greenish tinge. I said, "Wow, kind of grayish green, like a zombie!" To his credit, he didn't seem too alarmed by that observation. I like the car, though it is a trifle fancy pants for me. I'm still getting used to all the buttons and features and it really wants me to keep my hands on the wheel. Last week I realized there is indeed a gas gauge, and I don't just have to use the "120 miles to empty" words. Whew. 

Yesterday, after Friday night's storms, I woke up to this:

Somehow the car appears unscathed by the heavy falling branches. How that fell between the car and the fence and didn't ding up my new wheels I do not know! That sucker was heavy! Joe and I were dragging it to the curb, ugh it was hard. Esp when you are lazy and way out of shape. This man and his son driving by saw us struggling. Hopefully he didn't hear me cursing. He stopped his truck and he and his son popped out and  picked that thing up and carried it to the curb. Bless them! Good people. 

John went off on another his adventure in July, so I checked up on his kitties while at the same time keeping an eye on my good friend's cat over by Coal City. I was a multi-county cat sitter there for a while. Anyway, it was nice for John to have an adventure not marred by some unfortunate event, like a drunk roomie or food poisoning, or altitude sickness, any of that stuff. Until it was time for him to come home, and it was stormy weather here and his flight got canceled and he had to stay overnight in NY on his own dime.  Could have been worse, but still. So close to a troublefree adventure. Maybe next time. LOL He did get to fly home first class from Washington though. John's cats pretty much ignored me the whole time I was at his house, but they are cats and I totally understand. I know they were happy to have me there tending to them, fluffing their blankets and important stuff like that. 

Mom is holding steady. Love the nurse and bath aide from hospice. I found out the other day about respite care.  It hasn't happened yet, because there is no space at the hospice in Joliet, but mom can spend 5 days, and get all her meals and stuff.  All we send with her is her clothes and meds. She could do the respite care at one of the nursing homes here in Morris, but the hospice in Joliet is very nice, according to everybody, so we are waiting until she can get in there.  Mom is looking forward to a change of scene too, and will be a nice break for Joe and me. Joe especially, since he gets up in the night with her since I need sleep for work. So mom's "vacation" as we are calling it hasn't happened yet, but hopefully will be soon. This all came about because I was asking the bath aide about extra care in case I take a vacation. My friends are renting a house in Florida in February, so we shall see. 

Joe has cataracts and needs to have those taken care of. He had a birthday in March. But I think that was on the last blog post? God forbid I should repeat my exciting news  . . . lol. 

The historical society came to take some old school records off our hands, and I found Uncle Jim's high school scores.  Kind of hard to read, but in case anybody needs more confirmation, the Mallaneys are not only good looking but intelligent as well. 

Best to all.

Kay ☘