 Nostalgia, DVDs, old movies, television, OTR, fandom, good news and bad, picks, pans, cute budgie stories, cute terrier stories, and anything else I can think of. Contact me at theyoungfamily (at) earthlink (dot) net . . . . . . . . . .
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» Thursday, January 07, 2021
The Lost Christmas
I pulled the lights last night.
Usually I get a little choked up about this. I love Christmas: the colors, the conviviality, giving gifts, the music, the colder weather, the activities. Of course, this year none of the activities happened. There was no "opening volley" like the Georgia Apple Festival or the fall library book sale. I wasn't feeling well for Thanksgiving, so we stayed home for that. No Apple Annie craft show, no Marietta Home Tour, no Candlelight Tour at the Atlanta History Center, and we never even got to the Lights of Life display. The Lawsons cancelled their Christmas party/game night, we missed Christmas dinner at the Butlers, Bill and Caran cancelled their New Year's Eve party which has been going on for years now, and we also cancelled our Twelfth Night party.
But last night I was just numb. I pulled light after light until I was done, shut off the lights out front, and even replaced the candoliers with the welcome lights with little emotion. I feel we lost Christmas. There are decorations still up, but I haven't really taken joy in them in days. Only the tree, shimmering tinsel magnifying the lights, can managed to make me smile. On New Year's morning James' medication showed up as promised, and I watched the instructional video for the infusion that Coram provides. The actress playing the instructor was very soothing and reassuring, but there are so many ways for this to go wrong. The main way would be a germ getting into the intravenous line, which would happen if I didn't stay sterile enough. There can also be air gaps in the line which could cause an embolism. However, later the nurse (Elisa) showed up and she walked me through everything. I was extremely nervous, but of course James followed along and we did checks and balances on each other later on when we actually did the process (we waited until nine o'clock because it needs to be done every twelve hours). We got through it, but my hands were shaking! And the infusion took so long. It was supposed to take an hour at a 100 "opening" on the flow dial, but it was more like two hours. We were exhausted by the time we got to bed. I called the infusion people back and they said we could up it to whatever opening got us to an hour infusion. Let me tell you, it was never the same time period twice. One day it was forty minutes, another day, on the same setting, it was an hour and twenty minutes. Bizarre. Of course I've gotten more comfortable with it in the last seven days. As expected, since James was discharged from the hospital, he now has lots of doctors' appointments. We saw the podiatry doctor on Monday, and he showed James the hospital photos; where the big blister on the arch of his foot looks dreadful to me, all full of fluid and black and blue as if it is bruised, it doesn't look anything like it did in the hospital when it formed. And his toes are definitely more pink than red now. Wednesday we saw another doctor at Cumberland just for a general followup (I'm guessing Dr. Mobley was not available). Today he had his first checkup at the infusion center at Kaiser TownPark. We got this incredibly cheerful nurse named Susan who really did brighten our day. She (or someone else in infusion) will be changing the dressing on the PICC line once a week and making sure it is working properly. She says I'm doing a good job so I'll take her word for it. (And we felt lucky, as someone was in there getting their chemotherapy. I hope whomever it was does good on it and gets well.) Last but not least we got a call from the doctor who attended James in the hospital. He said they had identified positively both things that were infecting him: one was strep (which can be hideously dangerous; Jim Henson basically died from streptococcus) and the other was anirobes, which I had never heard of. So they were changing his medication to something that was only to be infused once a day—thank goodness!—and came pre-mixed. He had the first dose of the new medication given to him by the nurse just in case he had an allergic reaction. She was the chirpy type, but very nice, and she showed us, just in case, what to do if he had a very rare reaction on the second dose (basically epinephrine and call 911!). That made me nervous, but the first infusion went off without a hitch. It's also quicker, thirty minutes, it's supposed to be, instead of an hour. In non-medical news, we had Aaron Lawson come over to help us with some household chores. He is on vacation from his pharmacist college in Wyoming. He put LED lightbulbs in the garage door openers for us (there were "pigtails"—icky compact fluorescents—in there, and James's side was burnt out and mine had a bulb and a half on), and replaced the light bulb that was out in the overhead in our bedroom. (I usually do this, but lately when I put my hands over my head like that I get a little lightheaded.) He also dragged James' old desk chair downstairs for us, and the old microwave cart that was supporting the television and DVD/VCR in the guest room. After he left I set about assembling the new little cart I had bought at Ikea to replace it. It looks so much roomier in there now (the two front bedrooms are pretty small). Now it's time for me to start taking all of the Christmas things down. I'm not going to hurry. We had hardly enough time to enjoy it... Labels: chores, Christmas, Epiphany, friends, health, sickness  » Wednesday, January 08, 2020
Rhythm Found and Lost
And then came 2020 (whose song should be "I Can See Clearly Now") and Bill and Caran's New Year's Eve party, and the Tournament of Roses Parade now being ruined by performances at the beginning and end, and they actually stopped the flippin' parade in the middle to have another musical performance—are you kidding me? And then came cleaning the house for the party, and then The Party, which was a blast.
And so came Twelfth Night, and so came Epiphany, and Monday night, with the usual regret, I pulled all the plugs on the lights—except for the Christmas tree, which we shall enjoy at night until I take it down, and the airplane tree, which is in the spot opposite the door to the garage that provides James light "downrange" (so to speak) when he leaves for work in the morning. So when I got up Tuesday, where to start? Upstairs? Downstairs? In my lady's chamber? I ended up doing a little bit of everything: herding things in corners out to where they will be found when I pack up (for instance, the red wire tree in the master bath or the gingerbread decorations on either side of the kitchen window), taking down all the indoor door wreaths and candoliers in the windows, packing up the couple of Christmas pillows and a throw and most of the Christmas stuffed animals. What I definitely wanted to get accomplished was taking down the airplane tree and putting back the usual light source there: the lighted autumn-leaf tree we bought at Cracker Barrel in Knoxville on our way to vacation in Pennsylvania in 2009 (so it was 10 years old in November). Got not only that done, but took down the library tree and packed up everything downstairs. I took the opportunity to put a few things into the donation box: some candles I've never lit and don't intend to, three of a set of nine small ceramic houses, as only six fit under the library tree and there's no real room for them. I got almost all the boxes upstairs to start packing that stuff up, but fell victim to the allure of designing a new web page. Thought it was high time to do that tribute to Kate Seredy I'd always intended to do; I'd already screencapped some of her art, but had not assembled all of it, or put together a biography and a bibliography, so I spent around three hours working on that throughout the day, then had to lay off since it was time to cook dinner: made steak and buttered potatoes. Today would be different. But trouble was brewing: James came home Tuesday night complaining about a pain in his right lower back. It had come on him suddenly around five o'clock, and, had it been ten years ago, he would have just suspected he turned wrong. However, since the pain was near one of his kidneys, we were now more suspicious. He had to forego his Ambien to take a pain pill and then says he didn't sleep most of the night for the pain. By the time five a.m. came he was groaning audibly and said we might need to go to Urgent Care after breakfast. Needless to say, that was enough to keep me awake until first light, not to mention wreaking havoc on my digestion. James called in sick and we decided to eat breakfast first, because once you get to Urgent Care, you could starve to death or eat the dreadful pre-made ham and cheese sandwiches they keep back there. Kaiser keeps advertising these Express Clinics at each of their facilities, so I wondered if we just couldn't go to the one at Cumberland. So we went there first, thinking all they could do was tell us to go to Urgent Care at Town Center. I went in to see if the Express Clinic was actually open, as it wasn't last week, nor was it today (so why keep promoting it, guys????), but they had available appointments, and James could either go to a strange doctor at 9:20 or see his own doctor at two. We chose to come back at two; James swigged another pain pill and planted himself in his computer chair with a heating pad, and I frankly fell asleep on the sofa for over an hour. Then we both had something for lunch and went back for his appointment. The doctor thinks James might have spinal stenosis (he has all the symptoms, including the pain lessening when he leans forward) in his compressed discs, and is arranging for an MRI. Oddly, we had an appointment arranged with the doctor for tomorrow after we got back from Southwood to see James' urologist, so he let us roll tomorrow's appointment into today: James needed four prescriptions renewed, asked what to do about a minor problem, and got a "prescription" to see if we can afford to get him a new power chair (he is apparently allowed one every five to six years, and he is going to have to replace both motors on the old chair anyway, which will run about $600). I just realized he forgot to ask for a referral to the podiatrist so he can get new orthopedic shoes; his are two years old and pretty scuffed up. Ah, well, we remembered most of it. We got home in time for me to take down the net and bush lights outside, pack up the outside decorations, banner, wreath, and mailbox cover (since it's supposed to rain like crazy starting Friday), and put up the winter banner and wreath, and then come inside for supper, which was leftover egg rolls from the party and not very appetizing. I am irritated with myself for getting so nerved up I couldn't do anything during the time we were at home this morning and just lost my rhythm. (I did take the decorations down in the hall bath—but that takes like ten minutes, tops—except for the snowman soap dispenser which will get put up once it's empty.) But I could have managed more today with a lack of sleep and a dicky digestive system. Really enjoying the Jeopardy "Greatest of All Time" tournament! The questions are really challenging and it's always fun watching these three guys play, they are so good. Man, is anyone else staring when the date pops up on a screen or a paper somewhere "January 2020"? I mean, it's 2020. When I was a kid, that was supposed to be the super future. We were supposed to have cured cancer, defeated racism, had flying cars, and Picturephones. Of all that only the last has come true via Skype and Facetime, and really, who cares? Labels: chores, Christmas, decorations, Epiphany, health, sickness, television, website » Saturday, January 12, 2013
Can't See the House for the Trees
 James said to me Thursday night, "What are your plans for tomorrow?" I answered: "Deforestation."Let's rewind a bit. Christmastide and Epiphany being over, it was time for the melancholy to commence and for the decorations to return to hibernation (I tell Schuyler this with a straight face: if the Christmas tree doesn't hibernate until next year, it loses its Christmas magic). Monday I was back to work and it took me two hours just to wade through accumulated e-mail. (Eighty percent of it was junk mail, too.) Tuesday I teleworked, and, although there was plenty of work to keep me busy, there was lunch hour and after work to accomplish taking down and boxing the ceppo, plus the small things on the kitchen shelf. Then I took a few things off the new dining room shelves and containerized them. Next I boxed up the Rudolph stuffed figures and the "Peanuts" band and the few other knicknacks on the TV stand with the mantel garland, deer, Christmas card string, and berry wreath, and then containerized the woodland tree ornaments and its surrounding decorations (the tree itself goes in the box with the library tree and the airplane tree). Finally, I boxed up the Christmas stuffed animals, two pillows, and the throw. This sounds like it would really take a long time, but putting away is much easier than putting up because you must make them look pretty when you set up. Putting away is just folding, rolling, and tucking! I did do something at lunch I had needed to do. I had five village figurines that had grey bases instead of white ones, like the rest of the figurines, so I painted them with Plaid white and then sprinkled them with a glitter that has the look of snowflakes. They were tiny bases and my brush made quick work of it. Wednesday I was back to the office with some calculation to do: since the President had given us Christmas Eve off, anyone who took leave on that day got the leave back. I had five hours of "use or lose" (literally—you either take the time off or you forfeit it) left, and had thought about taking it Friday, with three other hours to make the day. Instead now I had eight more hours to contend with. But for my "deforestation" project, it was perfect. I submitted a leave slip for Friday, then had to decide to do with the rest. In the end, I donated two hours to the leave donation program (people who are out on emergency leave and have run out of leave days of their own) and took the other three Thursday afternoon. This gave me time to get the Rudolph tree down and boxed (also Schuyler's decorations). I'm a lazy bum with the Rudolph tree; now that it's decorated all I do is wrap bubble wrap around it tightly and tape it, and then lay it in the box. Next year I just put it up, unwrap it, and straighten out what's come loose. Next I took all the decorations out of the spare room and put them up, then started on the long haul, clearing the kitchen and dining room. This takes time because I must divest the feather tree (1950s ornaments), the "1910 tree" (little one with vintage looking but plastic ornaments), the gingerbread shelves in the kitchen, all the little odds and ends put up (like kitchen magnets), the pass-through "prim" decorations, and the decorations on the table and the console. The hard part is getting it all to fit back into the box! I also took down all the door wreaths upstairs and replaced them with the usual fall-themed wreaths, and took the window candles down, then took that box downstairs and did the same thing downstairs. Finally I boxed up the village while James was cooking. Again, hardest part is taking the buildings down and separating them with bubble wrap. The little figures are then set in the space left in the center, and the trees gathered up and put in another pile. Friday I slept in as late as I dared. I threw caution and my arthritis to the wind and just did it. Started at nine and ended at five, taking an hour break for lunch. It wasn't the most pleasant of days to be taking down decorations, as a warm front was moving in. I already had most of the windows open. This is why I started by taking down the decorations down in the foyer first, since it would be the warmest there later on. Every time I went upstairs, I would get to the third step from the top and the humid, warm air would hit me in the face like a wet washcloth. Upstairs my slippered feet were sticking to the carpeting. Ugh. In progression, I took down the space tree (literally, since it was mounted to the wall!), putting the ornaments into boxes and putting all those boxes into a larger box that I use simply for decoration, thereby making use of it twice. Then, whoosh, I flew through the airplane tree (well, not that fast, as some of those ornaments are pretty fragile) and put the little candlestick lamp back on that table and reset the timer, which I have on when we leave for work and again when we come home, as it's pretty dark down there on those early mornings and on rainy evenings. Finally it was time to tackle the library tree and library decorations (and manage to fit them all back into the same boxes...LOL). I was actually astonished that I managed to do this at all, since the airplane tree and the woodland tree also go in that box. At noon I decided to eat something and take a break, and decide whether I wanted to take down the main tree. I had some toast (I see A Discovery of Witches still has me under a spell), then took three Ibuprofin and lay down for a half hour, and decided at 1:45...let's go for it. I got done at five o'clock. It took me a bit longer than usual because I put new hooks on every single ornament (about 215 of them). Some of the hooks were awful, cheap ones I got...somewhere, really thin wire, less than 26 gauge, I think—I have stronger floral wire! The new hooks were green, bought at Walgreens after Christmas at half price. The longer ones were so-so, but the short ones appeared sturdy. At 4:30 I was finally at the back of the tree and gave James a call, wondering if he would pick up Chinese at Dragon. By the time he got home with the Sa-Cha beef (his) and the pork fried rice (mine), I was finished, and pretty exhausted. I would have quit there, but the job's not over until it's over. After dinner, James helped me lug all the boxes still upstairs downstairs to the storage closet and put them up on shelves in their proper order, then struggled with getting the tree down the stairs and through that narrow closet door. We covered it with its plastic cover, and then pushed it into the corner, where I'd already propped up the space tree and its corresponding extension cord and timer. (With the tree down, I could also finish removing the decorations that were on the divider to the open foyer and the garland hung underneath with "Bandit's angels" on them. These were tucked away in the space left in one of the boxes, and put away before the tree.) We had ice cream for dessert to reward ourselves, and then I pulled out the vacuum cleaner and at least vacuumed the living room area so we could put the rocking chair back into its place in the corner where the tree had been. And when James brought the big white board that sits on the mantelpiece to hold the village downstairs and put that up in the closet, we were done, done, done! Of course the rest of the carpet was still a wreck, with "pine needles" and tinsel and bits of glitter everywhere. I dispatched that early this morning, starting upstairs with the bedrooms, then the dining room, then the stairs, working my way down to the foyer and then the hallway, and finally down to the library, where I moved the rocker and hassock and end table back into place, and vacuumed, vacuumed, vacuumed until it was all done. Now to put up the winter decorations...LOL. Labels: chores, Christmas, Christmastide, Epiphany » Sunday, January 06, 2013
So Long Until Tomorrow
So the lights go out at the end of another holiday season. I'm now ready for my post-Christmas depression.Of course this year I never got over last year's Christmas depression... End of season summary in Holiday Harbour. » Friday, January 06, 2012
And So Christmas Ends...
» Thursday, January 06, 2011
Moppin' and Movies...
 ...Holiday Harbour-style!Something odd happened this afternoon. While I was watching The Perfect Gift, I was eating two wine biscuits. I had just chewed the last bite of the second one when a salty, bitter, really nasty taste filled my mouth. It was so horrible I had to run in the bathroom, spit what was left over into the sink, and brush my teeth and tongue hard! I have no idea what happened! (No, they don't spoil. Maybe some of the salt didn't get totally mixed in in this particular piece? But...ugh!) Holy cats, they are talking snow again... » Tuesday, January 06, 2009
Endings
A bit of doggerel for the end of the season:
"Christmas is over,And a few closing words in Holiday Harbour. » Sunday, January 06, 2008
Twelfth Night, Epiphany, and All Those Plastic Bags...
...partying, shopping, and seeing out the Christmas season in Holiday Harbour.
Labels: Christmas, Epiphany, Holiday Harbour, Twelfth Night |
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