Nundu · Art

j_forias

After a frantic several weeks, I got my entries in for hp_holidaygen and hp_canon_fest . (It seemed like a simple thing when I signed up for them months ago, but didn't count on the usual insanity that is the run up to the holidays compounded by my father-in-law's hospitalization and now...jury duty.

Today is my last day of work for two weeks. I am a 'temporary' employee (have been for 6 years!), so I have to have a one week layoff every fall. Next week is it. On top of that, I received summons to jury duty (federal district court!) the following week.

On top of that, I am on the employees association at work, which means I am one of the committee of four that organizes the employee Christmas parties. The adult party usually has about 200 folks (employees and guests), but it is taking place the night of the SEC championship (Alabama vs Florida), so we're not sure of our turnout. Today I'm meeting with a couple of volunteers to finish the table centerpieces. We've spent months running around to businesses begging for donations, so every person attending will receive a gift envelope, containing anything from a coupon for a free sandwich to $100. We've also gotten some large prizes donated. The grand prize draw will be the two 32" LCD TVs on which we will be showing the game during the party. This party is a big deal! The following Saturday we host a party for the children and grandchildren of the employees. Each child will get gifts from Santa. We will have activity stations set around the hall where they can make ornaments, color Christmas pictures or play games for prizes. They will have a light meal and then head to the 3D theater for a showing of 'Polar Express'.

Now you know why updates have been few and far between!

My father-in-law is improving, it seems. He has been moved from ICU to an intermediate care room. The doctor says he can go home as soon as we arrange around the clock care, as he still has the feeding tube and breathing assistance. Now we have to convince my 86 year old mother-in-law, who is 4'10" and weighs maybe 85 pounds when soaking wet, that she cannot provide that 'round the clock care! Furthermore, their house is not condusive to a wheelchair bound person! We cannot convince her they need to move to an assisted living facility. There is a very nice one near my brother and sister-in-law, but she says she'll stay in her house until her vision won't let her. She is a stubborn old bird!

I am leaving today to spend next week with her. I am going to do a through clean of the house, shampoo the carpets, take down the drapes and have them cleaned, etc. She is so frail she can't handle the regular vacuum cleaner anymore, and she certainly doesn't climb around dusting the high places! I'll get the house cleaned, take her Christmas shopping, take her to her eye doctor appointment (she's having amazing treatments that is holding her blindness at bay) and cook the family Thanksgiving meal, which is eaten at her house. They do not own a computer, nor do I have a laptop, so I'll be completely out of touch till next weekend, if I'm lucky!

Then, beginning the following Monday, I have to go to Birmingham every day for jury duty. It's the first time I've been called. I've been a registered voter since 1972, so it's about time, I reckon.

The long and the short of it is, I'll be out of the loop for two weeks. See you on the other side!

Now a bit about our Hawaii vacation.

We landed on the Big Island (Hawaii) at 9 PM in drizzly rain. The Kona airport is so cute! It's a grouping of little buildings made to look like grass roofed huts. We picked up our Jeep and were on our way. Within 2 miles of the airport we were diverted off the main road. The Iron Man Triathelon was still going on! We got really lost, but wound up in downtown Kona and saw the last of the runners plodding along. We had a hard time finding our bed and breakfast in the dark and rain, but it was worth it! It was more than just a bedroom, it was a little apartment! Our hostess ran out to greet us with umbrellas and that set the tone for the week. She was more than gracious, a great cook and we can't quit raving about the view! The house is set on 4 acres (!!!) on a 1,500 ft cliff overlooking the famous Kona coffee plantations and the coastline beyond. The property is covered with tropical flowers and plants. Everyday we had fresh bananas off our hosts tree and she made us banana-macadamia nut bread for breakfast every morning to go with the coffee she grows herself and has roasted at one of the local plantations. Need I mention the smell on the air every afternoon when the plantations started their roasting of the days harvest? Yum!

View from our lanai: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v670/nundu/IMG_0091.jpg

The only thing we would recommend you do when visiting Hawaii is arrange for two different places, one on each side of the island. We didn't realize how big the island is! We spent a lot of time driving to see everything we wanted to see. We visited a coffee plantation, we went deep sea fishing, we saw a steaming volcano and saw lava flowing into the sea (and exploding!), we went horseback riding in a valley that is a step back into old Hawaiian life and contains hundreds of waterfalls. We bumped over really rough trails (which is why we needed a Jeep) to secluded beaches, one of which was green. The sand is made of my birthstone (peridot AKA olivine), so it was a place I'd wanted to see all my life. We went to a black sand beach and saw turtle nests, but we saw an actual sea turtle sunning himself on a golden sand beach. We saw stretches of the northern part of the island that looked like west Texas, complete with cactus! The landscape changes so much! The one island has every major climate! You can go from tropical beaches, to rainforest jungle, to arid desert, to active vocanoes that are topped in snow in the winter! You can go from downhill skiing to sunning yourself on the beach in less than an hour! We loved it!

The black sand beach: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v670/nundu/IMG_0196.jpg

The people are amazingly friendly. You would think they would get tired of tourists, but if so, they hide it well. Everywhere we went people greeted us with genuine smiles. For instance, when we went to the laundrymat the attendent gave us her card to operate the machines so we didn't have to feed it quarters. What generousity! We collected addresses from a number of folks who enjoyed talking to us about Alabama and were intrigued by our bounty of pecans and black walnuts. We promised to send them some this fall.

In the next few days I'll tell you about Kauai!

Aloha!

Current Mood:

calm

Daughter #1 moved into the new apartment on Saturday.  I've not had any phone calls of 'Mom, she....'  I count that as major progress!  We moved her out of the old apartment just in time.  She and her roommate had been having colds, sinus troubles, and general sickness since mid-summer.  We didn't think much of it except for telling her to get rest and see her doctor.  We didn't connect it with the persistant leak that kept appearing by the fireplace.  A couple of weeks the leaky area began to mold.  Big black round splotches of mold.  Additionally, black gunk appeared on the heating ducts.  Of course this was reported to the apartment complex, but they told the girls the ducts were dirty and it was their responsibility to clean it.  They sent a contractor in to tend to the wet areas on the wall.  Whole sections of the sheetrock were removed and sprayed with chemicals.  The living room was left littered with their tools and mess. When she told me about the mold issue, I told her to immediately turn off the heat so the mold in the vents would stop being blown into the apartment.  Within 12 hours she could speak and breath again and quit the wracking coughing.  Friday night when we arrived a spray bottle (unlabeled) was sitting on the hearth.  I picked it up to figure out what it was and some liquid dribbled on my finger.  Within minutes my finger was burning.  I quickly washed it with cool water and liquid detergent, but the skin had turned white!  It was the mold killer, left sitting there over 5 days!  Thank goodness her dog didn't mess with it.

I promise soon I will post some of my Hawaii pictures and tell you a bit about our trip.  It was awesome and we had a great time...but it's bedtime now.

Unfortunately, the Monday of our second week we got a call from Daughter #2, informing us that my husband's 87 year old father had fallen and broken his hip.  They did a hip replacement on him, but by the time we got back to Atlanta on Sunday he had been put in ICU because of breathing difficulties.  He has fought asthma for the last 20 years.  His health was fragile prior to this, as he has had insulin dependent diabetes for 40 years.

We drove straight from the airport to their home in central Georgia and spent Sunday evening, Monday and Tuesday morning taking care of details and relieving some of the burden my brother-in-law and wife had been carrying since the accident had happened.  Dad has been lucid and in full control of himself from the start.  He is most worried about Mom, who is showing signs of dementia, which runs in her family.

Hubby drove the 5 hours back there last night to join his brother and sister and meet with the doctor this morning.  The news is not optimistic.  Dad's breathing is becoming more difficult.  He is aspirating as he eats, causing congestion in his already weak lungs.  The doctor offered three choices today.  The doctor wants to take him off solid foods and have a feeding tube and ventilator placed in him.  They would have to keep him unconscious all but about 1 hour a day because it is so uncomfortable.  This would last at least 3 or 4 weeks to allow his lungs to heal.  This is under the supposition that the surgeon would do the  surgery required with Dad in his weakened condition.  The doctor said this would give him about a 50% chance of recovery.  The second option is intravenous feeding with an oxygen mask.  This would not give him sufficient nutrition nor satisfy the mental need for eating, but it would allow the lungs to heal, but more slowly.  The last option is for him to continue on a soft diet and use the oxygen mask and he probably won't survive very long.

Thankfully, he is completely lucid and was able to partake in the discussion and ask questions.  He said he will think and pray about it tonight and come to a decision tomorrow morning.

Please keep all of us in your prayers tonight and going forward.

I don't normally like stories written in 1st person, but this one is extremely well written and engaging with a believable voice of a pre-teen boy.  He just got to summer camp.  Thankfully I've got the first three volumes, 'cause they're going in the suitcase with me!

We're almost completely packed.  Hubby is disgusted because we're going to have to check a bag.  The reason?  His SCUBA gear.  Those fins are enormous!  If he wanted to do the carry on thing it was a choice between that and clothes.  Now he doesn't need a lot of clothes, but he does need some (just to avoid arrest).  This will probably be my last entry till we get back, late the evening of the 26th.  I'll have no access to a computer, as we're staying in B&B and condo type places; so I'll see you in a couple of weeks!

Aloha!

The county fair closed yesterday, so today I went to collect our entries and prizes.

 

genesse

The first five people to respond to this post will get something made by me! My choice. For you.

This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:
1- I make no guarantees that you will like what I make!
2- What I create will be just for you.
3- It'll be done this year.
4- You have no clue what it's going to be. It may be a story. It may be poetry or an article on properly cleaning your face before a masque. I may draw or paint something. I may bake you something and mail it to you. Who knows? Not you, that's for sure!
5- I reserve the right to do something extremely strange.

The catch? Oh, the catch is that you must repost this on your blog and offer the same to the first 5 people who do the same on your blog. The first 5 people to do so and leave a comment telling me they did win a FAB-U-LOUS homemade gift by me! Oh, and be sure to post a picture of what you win when you get it!

Come on folks...this is loads of fun!  Join in (PM me your snailmail address) and get a surprise in your mailbox when you least expect it!

We've entered 'fairs and festivals' season around here.  Last weekend we thought we'd go to the Sweet 'tater festival that was advertised nearby.  We drove and drove and drove into the real boondocks and finally arrived at a crossroads even smaller than Eva.  We found a parking spot and headed for the festival, mouth watering at the idea of a baked sweetpotato with cinnamon, or perhaps some sweetpotato chips, or a sweet potato pie.  With the exception of one truck selling sacks of sweet potatoes, we found absolutely zero sweet potatoes at the 'Sweet 'tater' festival.  It was just your usual carnival foods and around 25 booths of the same old craft items that hold no appeal if you are not an Alabama or Auburn fan.  I can think of no where in my house to hang a picture of Bear Bryant smiling from the clouds over the Alabama stadium.  All he lacked was a halo.

Next week is a plethora of choices.  It is opening weekend of Eva Frontier Days, opening with a Bluegrass concert.  On Monday are the beauty pageants, which I've been asked to judge, given my experience as a pageant mother.  Additionally next weekend is an LP sale at our local NPR station.  They've been asking everyone to donate old vinyl albums to the sale and I hope to find some old favorites that I've worn out! (I really, really want a copy of Chuck Mangione 'Feels So Good').  Add this to a giant arts and crafts sale in the city and a all breeds pet gathering...it's hard to choose!

I've been busy making baby presents lately.  Everybody seems to be having little girls!  My clerk at work had a little girl last Tuesday.  I gave her an afghan I'd crocheted.  Another co-worker was absent on Friday, so I suspect she had her little girl.  I made her a cute quilt to match the nursery (undersea motif).  idislikepenguin has a gift on the way for her little girl, due to arrive in 10 weeks.  Another co-worker is due in mid-November.  She's expecting a (wait for it)...girl.  The girl who does my nails is due in late November...also a girl.  I'm finishing a darling afghan tonight that will go to one of them.  Two more co-workers have just found out they're pregnant.  No idea what gender yet...

I don't think I've mentioned that we got a new dog.  We didn't plan on getting another 'outdoor' dog until we got back from Hawaii in October, but this one literally fell into our laps.  We felt it was fate that we take her.  We found her through Daughter #1.  A co-worker of hers was in Seattle, visiting her parents, when her husband of 10 years texted her to tell her he was divorcing her and had moved out of the house, leaving their 3 dogs and cat alone in the house.  She rushed home to find that he had emptied the bank accounts, had not paid any bills (including the mortgage) and almost six months!  Being a school teacher, she didn't have the money to recover the mortgage and accounts.  He had basically bankrupted her.  She allowed the bank to foreclose on the house and had to move in with friends who are allergic to pets, so new homes had to be found for her 3, 6 and 13 year old dogs and the 11 year old cat.  The six year old dog was a mixed breed.  She thought the dog was a cross between a black lab and a border collie.  Daughter #1 contacted me and I met up with her to meet the dog.  I fell in love...but then I usually do!  She is a large dog with short black hair, white paws, a white chest and stripe on her head.  She is a lovey thing who had been tagged with the name 'Glottis'.  Hubby and I discussed it and decided we'd take her, but had to change her name.  We brought her home about 6 weeks ago.  She immediately got along with Katie-bell and it only took a couple of days for Cisco to warm up to her.  We decided 'Gabby' suited her.  She actually answers better to Gabby than she did to Glottis.

This weekend was the first time we left her on her own for the weekend.  Jeff had been gone all week and Friday afternoon I loaded the car up and headed to Atlanta and points south.  When we arrived home this afternoon Gabby was laying on the front steps and came bounding accross the front yard barking like crazy.   When I stepped out of the car she performed all her tricks (she dances!) in high speed, she was so excited.  I spent a couple of hours sitting on the porch with her as I crocheted.  She was so happy we were home. 

I was going to post a photo of her, but I can't photobucket to cooperate or LJ to load one direct from my computer.*huff*

Now, I'm never going to finish this afghan if I don't quit playing around on LJ and crochet!

Daughter #1 was confirmed into the Catholic church last night. Yes, she's a bit old for that, but she grew up a Southern Baptist, but found her home in the Catholic church. It was a lovely mass in a gorgeous cathedral, but it was a long drive home last night! We'll be falling to bed early tonight!

I was eliminated from rwhg_ldwson this past round. Thanks to all of you who supported me and even voted for me! It was fun and did what I was aiming for...writing again.

I thought it'd be fun to post all my drabbles here, but I want to save your 'flist' windows and give you the option of reading them, so they're under the following cuts:

( Spots and Spats (prompt: two wrongs don't make a right) )

( A Leap of Faith (photo prompt) )

( A Not Very Secret Secret (challenge: other POV) )

( Bubble, bubble, toil and ahhhhh.... (prompt: Hermione's hair, 100 words) )

( A Life of Words )( A Life of Words (song prompt) ) 

( A Broken Heart (prompt: broken) )( Bringing Up Daddy (2nd person challenge) )
( That Little Button (Challenge: Ron very involved with a Muggle object) )</u> 

 </div>ETA: Edited so there are breaks between the drabbles and you aren't scared by the one massive, incoherent story. 

Edited for the 87 billionth time: I'm about to say words that would make Mrs Weasley frown, but I'm having major coding issues tonight.  On three of the stories, if it puts it properly under an LJ cut it underlines the entire story and I can't make it go away.  AAAAGGGGHHHH!!!!! To *#%#(@# with it, the stories are staying underlined.

Current Mood:

chipper

So if you haven't voted yet....

Go read and vote!
Challenge 8 Drabbles | Challenge 8 Voting

Current Mood:

anxious

This week I knew straight away what Ron's obsession was going to be. The trick was narrowing it down to 300 words.

Now I'm going to attempt, once again, to make the little linky thing so you can go straight to the LJ and read and vote. Hold your breathe....

Go read and vote!
Challenge 8 Drabbles | Challenge 8 Voting

ETA: IT WORKED!!!!! *does happy dance of shock*

Current Location:	Icebox Office
Current Mood:	cold
Current Music:	The copier

( Details to follow... )

With all the driving time, sitting around at the convention center and a few hours in hotels, I got 3 books read (summer trash reading), a baby afghan finished and half way through another!  Woo-hoo!

Now I have to get busy and finish my drabble for this week.  Ron and Muggle items.  Hmmm....

Current Location:	'busy' at work
Current Mood:	chipper
Current Music:	silence

I made it through another round of rwhg_ldws.  I was rather low in the scoring in the end.  I'll have to do much better next week to stay in.  I think it's based on aggrigate scores, so I'm still somewhere in the middle, but lower middle.

 

Now I'm off to vacuum the house and salvage the kitchen (from yesterday's marathon of canning).

rwhg_ldws

I'm a bit nervous about my chances this week.  So far my ranking is quite good, but frankly...I think most of the others are much better.

I filmed my scenes for the TV show on Monday.  I got to the set at 3:30 and we didn't finish up till after 11 PM.  Since it's an hour commute for me, I decided to crash in town.  After all, I had a back seat full of clothes (costumes) and my makeup case.  I headed for the Marriott that is on our camp property and snagged a room at the discount they only offer if they're in a good mood.  Unfortunately, they failed to give me my 6 AM wake-up call.  I woke up on my own at 6:40.  So even though I was sleeping less than 1/4 mile from my office, I was still late for work!!!

If you haven't read this, do so immediately!  I about busted a gut!  My favorite line: BELLATRIX, WE DO NOT HAVE TIME FOR MARSHMALLOWS. *giggles*

Finally, my drabble in rwhg_ldws was recognized as 'Mod's Choice'.  *happy dance*  I got this awesome banner as a prize:
www.box.net/file/313960540/encoded/30237204/7fb2d861cddb099309f0b3f17b6cb352

rwhg_ldws;

mollywheezy

It's Saturday.  I'm making more spaghetti sauce.  It's looking like it might make up to about 20 quarts today.  Seriously good haul, and Hubby is out in the garden picking more.  These might become salsa, as a lot of peppers are coming in too.

Tonight we're going to the baseball game.  Our city has a minor league team and we've never attended!  We're meeting up with our best friends.  It will be their first pro baseball game, ever (!).  The adults immigrated to the US from Vietnam in the 70s and spent a lot of time educating themselves, bringing their family over, having children (2 delightful teens now) and just making a wonderful life for themselves.  We occasionally get to introduce them to something they've not experienced.

Can I just say this week has been a delight with the weather?  What a wonderful reprive from the normal July furnace.  The highs stayed in the 80s and at night it touched the 50s!  I turned on the AC today because of the heat in the kitchen from cooking/canning...otherwise the windows would still be thrown wide open.

Riiiiiiight

The temperature here has been so wonderful since Friday!  Highs in the low 80s and at night, down to the high 50s!!!  I could live like this.  The cool weather made my Saturday chore much more comfortable.  I took the 20+ pound of tomatoes Hubby brought in, peeled them, ran them though the processor and cooked them down with peppers (also grown by Hubby), onions, garlic and a bunch of spices.  The result?  11 quarts of spaghetti sauce that I then canned.  Add this to the 20 pints of green beans I've put up in the last two weeks, 6 quarts of blueberries, 10 quarts of peaches and 25 pints of peas that I've prepared and frozen this week, we're starting to fill the pantry back up.

( Cut for girlie TMI... )Yesterday I finally got my scripts for the TV episodes I'm filming.  Today the call sheet arrived.  I was supposed to be on set at 2:30 this afternoon!  That coincided perfectly with my doctor's appointment at the same time, 55 miles away.  I called the director in a panic.  It turned out okay.  The actor I'm playing against had also called with a conflict.  We'll film both scenes on Wednesday.  That will give me time to memorize my lines and rehearse a bit.

Meanwhile there's another pile of tomatoes in the frig.