Sigh...one week of freedom left, and I can't sleep late.

But Things Were Done! Items were put away, I washed the towels, tossed things into a recycling bin. Willow ate the remainder of the chicken, but ignored the chicken and rice and the scrambled egg, so I tossed both, emptied the dishwasher, cleaned around the sink. Unbagged the Christmas gifts from Saturday and Sunday and put them under the tree. Indexed some new cross-stitch magazines. Put some of James' things up. Read Happy Christmas and had some chicken soup for lunch. Had Christmas music on all day for Snowy; the Dish stations end tomorrow at midnight. For the rest of Christmastide I'll go back to relying on my own stuff.

James did not get off early today, so I took Juanita's gifts and the little Christmas tree I made for her to the hospital this afternoon. I meant to take a picture of it, but never did get the chance: cute little cuss, frosted, in "sacking" at the bottom. I bought a box of eighteen glass ornaments in various colors, matte and glossy, a bead garland, and put a little star at the top and dotted about four snowman ornaments on the front. Hope it will cheer her up, for she certainly needs it. When I got there, Betty helped me gown up and put on gloves.

Sadly, although Juanita is off the IV antibiotics (due to an allergic reaction; she has to take it orally, which hurts her) and her white count is about half of what it was when she went into the hospital, she was not in good shape today: she had a fever of 102°F and was freezing although the room was very warm. She perked up enough to open the gifts (a basket with some scrapbooking things and a package with more), but then I put them aside on a shelf with the tree so she could rest again.

Apparently the hospital is overcrowded and getting someone to respond takes forever. Betty called the nurse to see if Juanita's fever was higher and it took someone 20 minutes just to show up, and at least 20 more to bring a thermometer! The container with ice water fell and although we asked to have someone come mop it up (we didn't want anyone falling, especially a nurse or a doctor), we had to clean it up for ourselves. Betty said they waited over six hours for more toilet paper to be put into the bathroom. Because of the drugs she is taking, Juanita's mouth is always dry, but they are feeding her dry food, and, worse, they are short of supplies. They have had to bring in their own pudding, peanut butter, fruit, juices, etc. (She coats her mouth with the peanut butter or the pudding to minimize the pain from the antibiotic.) And this is in one of the best hospitals in Atlanta!

(Oh, she no longer has any dietary restrictions, except, of course, for the items she has food allergies to. Betty mentioned to the sous chef—yes, they have a sous chef nutritionist!—that the chicken they had brought her was very dry; could they perhaps provide some dark meat instead. The nutritionists said they had to comply with some U.S. nutrition guidelines and they aren't allowed to cook dark meat, only white! Can you beat that? I wanted to rush home, thaw some turkey thighs, and cook 'em up with gravy so the poor woman can get some decent food.)

Headed home via Cumberland Mall to get my watch battery replaced. The guy told me it would take twenty minutes at first; say what? I've always just walked into It's About Time and had them replace the battery as I watched. I asked, "That long? I'm just here to get my battery replaced; I don't have any shopping to do," and he changed it to ten minutes. Shop in Cumberland Mall? Where? They don't even have a Radio Shack anymore. The only good stores left are the Hallmark shop and the Bath and Body Works, and I'm good with ornaments and don't need cologne.

James got home seconds before I did, and we had pork chops and mushroom rice for supper. I cut the centers out of several of my pork chop slices, to get the seasoning off, and fed them to an appreciative Willow; however, even though she crunched a couple of kibble this morning, she refused to eat the ones I spooned chicken broth over. We're just going to have to find her a new dog food.

Continued "kringly" programming tonight: "Dear Dad" and "Dear Sis" from M*A*S*H and "Lassie's Gift of Love" and "The Little Christmas Tree."

Labels: chores, Christmas, dogs, food, music, organizing, sickness, television

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 11:13:00 PM

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