I have managed to go the entire month of November without posting - shame on me! So it's now December 2nd and here I am with weeks of catching up to do.
Last time I was on was October 30th, following Erin's Halloween party - I'm now planning for her Christmas one, how bad is that!! At any rate, Halloween was a hoot this year. Erin was definitely into going door to door and getting heaps of candy! She was dressed as a scary kitty this year - check out the pic of my scary kitty!!
November came in without too much fuss. Work is busy for both Gord and I as usual. I still love my new job by the way. Hmmmm, can I still call it new anymore? I've been there 5 months now!!
November 9th saw Dee's birthday come along. There's actually a pretty funny story about that evening. I stayed in Brockville and made plans to take my 'old' pal (I'm older than she is, I guess that doesn't count!!) out for dinner. So we headed to a favourite pizza place of hers and had a great dinner. I go to pay the bill and pull out my debit card. The gentleman at the counter politely told me they didn't accept interac payments. Strange, but okay. So I pull out my mastercard. Nope, they didn't take that either. Well, that's the only credit card I had, and well I just never carry much cash, so Dee was left to pay for her birthday dinner on her own!!! Nice friend aren't I?!!!!
Erin was busy at daycare with fall crafts and Remembrance day activities. I'm very jealous as on November 10th she got to have a pyjama party! I picked her up some cozy fleece pj's and I guess the kids had a blast. It was pretty funny picking her up that afternoon, and seeing all of the kids playing outside in their pj's and winter coats!
Sunday November 12th brought Lloyd, my father-in-law's birthday. He turned 88 this year. Wow!! For those wondering, he's still having his challenges with memory - but I'll tell a bit more of that story a little further on. Most of Gord's family was over to bring gifts and well wishes to Lloyd. Actually, that week also brought Gord and his 2 brothers together - big deer hunting week (they only ended up with one - I think we have hit them all with our cars by now!!), so it was nice to have a few visits with Gord's brother Douglas who lives up in Elliot Lake for his winters and in Pickle Lake (the end of the northern road in Ontario) for his summers, along with his family.
I honestly don't remember too much more for the week of the 13th. Minnie continues to get LARGE and tries to break into the house almost daily!! I never imagined goats were quite this witty / pain in the butt-like.
So, fast forward a bit now. As anyone who keeps up with my blog knows, my father-in-law has been deteriorating in terms of his memory over the past few months - I am still amazed at how fast it has happened. He is at the point where he really can't take care of himself any longer, and my mother-in-law Jean (more to come on her story), isn't able to care for him either. Everyone in Gord's family knows that it's come to the point where alternate living arrangements have to be made. In the interim, and until a more local space is available, Lloyd has moved in with my sister-in-law Eleanor and her family. Eleanor doesn't work outside of the home, so is able to provide more attention and care for him. As well, right next door is Gord's brother Andrew, so there are few more hands to help. The arrangement seems to be working out okay. We all just want to make sure Eleanor gets some breaks periodically because I can't imagine it is easy. Lloyd has pretty fair heath at this point, it is just some of the smaller tasks we take for granted that he needs help with.
So now I turn to Jean's story. Last year Jean was diagnosed with breast cancer - right about the same time my sister-in-law Patricia was as well. Jean went through a tough bout of treatment and either late this spring or early this summer, underwent a clean bone scan - meaning the medical folks said at that point she was considered cancer-free. Well, a few weeks back Jean went to the hospital with troubled breathing. The doctors took a bunch of fluid off of her lungs. The fluid was biopsied and the cancer is back. On the 20th, she found out she is terminal with only a few months to live. She is in Ottawa now with my sister-in-law Elaine, getting care. She starts to receive chemotherapy in another week or so. As you can all imagine, it's been a bit of a tough ride for Gord and his family.
So, in trying to keep things going, we figure out how to move on, don't we.
Erin picked up quite a bug in the month too. She ended up with a stomach flu and an ear infection. Thank goodness for a brief go of antibiotics! She was back to herself in a couple of days.
On the 25th, my work hosted a kids Christmas party at the high school in Prescott. Erin got to catch an early visit with Santa and he even brought her and the other kids presents! Erin was thrilled with one of those magnetic drawing tablets. Erin and I went to see Happy Feet at the theatre in Brockville on the 26th. The animation is fabulous and the baby penguins adorable. The story line was a bit mature for little ones, but Erin liked it just the same.
This week came and went faster than the speed of light! I wrote my accounting challenge exam on Friday - I think I did okay - never have I aimed for only a 65% before!! I guess it's good to aim low when you don't get accounting!! Today Gord is out pheasant hunting. Erin and I went on a bit of a tour this morning - post office and to a fabulous furniture store in Richmond - I am having a pine cabinet made for the dining room! Today is my neice Anestasia's 19th birthday. Gord is taking Erin over for dinner - we are getting her a case of beer (now that she's legal of course!!) and I am going to take Dee out for the make-up birthday dinner tonight!! We are then going to tour through Merrickville - it's Christmas in Merrickville today, so all of the shops are open late, warm apple cider, etc. It should be fun. Erin and I started to do a bit of decorating around the house yesterday and today and will continue again tomorrow.
There is a pile of stuff coming up for the month. Next Saturday we are meeting some of the folks from Gord's work, families and all, and going to lunch and having a kid's present exchange. That should be fun! The next day, Erin is hosting a cookie decorating party for a few of her friends. We are going to have nothing but desserts! On the 13th, comes Aunt Elaine's 50th birthday! On the 14th is Gord's birthday. On the 15th, North Bay grandpa comes down for a visit. On the 16th, we are going to the Santa Claus parade in Merrickville, then into Ottawa for Christmas dinner at Jo-Ann and Chris' place. It keeps going.... On the 21st is our 10th wedding anniversary. Then we hit the weekend before Christmas. We have nothing planned - except wrapping presents and relaxing!! We are all off for the holidays, so hopefully we get a bit of snowman making snow and some time to spend at home with the ones we love.
Until next time....
1 comment:
Post a Comment