Upgrade on Ms. Imazo

Hey, Y'all,
I heard from Imazo's daughter-in-law last evening that she was taken to the hospital when Jeff came over to check on her. He immediately saw that she needed to go. She told him she wasn't going, and he said, "You can either go by ambulance or in my car, take your pick." So I assume that she went by car.

When they got her over there, they determined that she was dehydrated, and after a while in the emergency room, checked her in for a stay in the hospital. She protested saying that she had out of town company coming on the morrow (today, now). The doctor said, "Well, they can either come over here to see you, or wait till later in the day." That was before they did the tests that they have conducted.
Imazo was hooked up to an IV to get her hydrated, and she had finished her breakfast. (She had not eaten a lot of it, by the way).

This morning, they did an x-ray or ct scan and discovered she has a bunch of gall stones in her gall bladder. That was what had caused all the pain in her midsection on Saturday evening and Sunday morning.

This morning, I headed out to Knoxville to check on how she is doing. When the nurse came in, I asked what kind of procedure they do with someone of Imazo's age. I asked if they dissolve the stones or remove the gall bladder. She said, "Oh, they remove the gall bladder and remove it laporiscopically through the belly button."
Hmmmm. It makes me hurt to think of how sore the belly button could get from that.

I helped her fill out her menu for meals tomorrow and we sat there (rather I sat there, and she lay there in her bed) and we chatted for awhile. Then it was time for me to leave and get back home to Gramps.

Upon arriving home, I put some fresh green beans on to cook, also a pork tenderloin to cook in the crock pot. This was in preparation for our supper tonight. I am also going to cook some sweet potatoes, and some corn bread muffins. I am hoping to get some more work done on my quilt this afternoon. Last night, I cut out the wonder-under for the last 20 flowers and am hoping to get it pressed onto them this afternoon. I also have clean laundry to fold. Will I get it all done? Maybe so, maybe not. It doesn't really matter, does it?

Well, this is Blabbin' Grammy signing off for now. Much love to you all. Bye for now.

She's Feeling Crummy

Hey, Y'all,
We had a wonderful church service this morning, beginning with four people being baptized. We had plans to pick up Imazo and Mae to go out for lunch. When we arrived at Imazo's, we had to wait several minutes for her to answer the door. She opened the door, and I immediately knew that she had not been to church this morning. (The clue was that she was still in her gown and wrapper).

As I entered the house, she headed for the couch and almost fell. She sat back on the couch and was breathing hard. I thought, "oh, my Lord, she is having a stroke or something", so I immediately called 911. After they told me they would dispatch an emergency vehicle, and I hung up, she headed for the bathroom. She was just leaving the bathroom when they came. They took her blood pressure and checked her oxygen level, and she checked out okay. She told them she did not want to go to the hospital emergency, so they sent the ambulance on and then they left (the fire engine emergency vehicle).

She told me that she had been sick and throwing up during the night, and that she was feeling better. I got her some sprite which was all she wanted. Dub decided he would stay there with her while Mae and I went to have lunch. So I left and picked up Mae and we went to Applebee's and had lunch.

I dropped Mae off at her house and went back to Imazo's and brought Dub's lunch to him. Unfortunately, by the time I got back to Imazo's, he had already eaten a bunch of girl scout cookies, and was not really hungry, so the wonderful hamburger and french fries I brought to him went wanting. I guess we will have it for supper after while.

Imazo was lying on the couch when I got back from lunch, and I brought her a damp washcloth and some crackers. She lay there and we chatted awhile about her family growing up, and about her aunts and uncles, her sisters and brother. She is looking forward to seeing some of her family from Ohio over the next little time. Imazo was feeling much better by the time we left around four o'clock.

We are at home now, and I am beginning to tackle the laundry that needs to be done. I am glad that Imazo is feeling better, but will be checking on her soon.

This is Blabbin' Grammy signing off for today. Love to all of you, my readers. Bye for now.

New Driveway

Hey, Y'all,

The pavers came back today and put the sealer on our driveway, and it looks really good. It was expensive, but he said it will last for at least five years, and I guess that will pretty much be our lifetime or enough to where it won't make a great deal of difference to us. ha.

Not much else going on here today...Gramps got up about noon time, and has had breakfast, and is in the living room watching something (it sounds like football from in here). I have my television on and have the game show network playing, with Meredith Viera hosting Who Wants to be a Millionaire.

I may go into Morristown this afternoon to pick up some more Wonder-Under to take the next steps on my grandson's quilt. If you want to see some beautiful quilts, go to the interesting blog of Babs-Techquilter that is listed to the left of my postings. She is such a professional quilter, she makes mine look like a five-year old's efforts. She is absolutely amazing, and I really admire her work.

I am posting picture of our new driveway. When I took the picture, the guys saw me aiming my camera and hollered "hot dogs" "hamburgers" and "french fries". Ha.

Tomorrow is the beginning of daylight savings time, so be sure and turn your clocks ahead one hour tonight. No one wants to be late for church tomorrow, or to be late for work on Monday.

We are planning on going in to Knoxville tomorrow to take Mae and Imazo to lunch after church. Mae is having a lot of trouble with her shoulder, and has trouble driving her car and putting it into park. She is also having quite a bit of trouble with shortness of breath. She is afraid that her shoulder is "frozen". I certainly hope that is not the case.

I go on Tuesday to the eye surgeon to get my right eye 'zapped' with a laser to break up the secondary membrane that has developed since I had cataract surgery eight years ago. Will let you know more on that later.

That is about it for today. Love to you all. This is Blabbin' Grammy signing off for the day. Bye for now.

Have Dominos, Will Travel

Hey, Y'all,

We went to Knoxville today and had a really fun time with Mae and Imazo. What kind of fun can four seniors have? Well, we ate salad, pizza, chocolate brownies, drank coffee, and played a couple of rounds of "chicken foot dominos".

I had prepared the pizza and had it ready to bake when we left home for Knoxville, took some salad fixin's, and Imazo had just taken the brownies out of the oven when we arrived at her house. The house was filled with the aroma of fresh-baked brownies...yum! Nothing beats the aroma of chocolate!

After I dropped Gramps and all the stuff I brought with me at Imazo's, I went to pick up Mae at her home, and we hurried back. We were soon seated with our salads in front of us, and it was really good (we were really hungry by then). Imazo had put the pizza in the oven while Mae and I were coming back to her house, and so it was soon ready to eat when our salads were gone. Imazo had made tea, and coffee, and we were really thankful to the Lord for such blessings.

After we cleared off the table, we took out the dominos, and I proceeded to teach them how to play the game, since they had no previous instruction in the game of dominos. It was a tremendous lot of fun, and I literally played the four hands until they understood the play rules, but they caught on pretty easily, and we had real fun, chiding each other, and Imazo won both hands in the game. We had our brownies and coffee then and just sat and talked for quite a while. It was great fun and we plan to do it again some time. I think I will buy a set of jumbo dominos because of Mae's and Dub's difficulties seeing the dots on the dominos that I have.

Tonight I am just going to watch a little television and then go to bed. It has been a long week for me (kind of) and I have been up late a lot of nights. Tomorrow, the pavers are coming to seal the new driveway- hopefully it will not be too expensive, but it does need to be done to finish up the job properly.

Picture of the gamers is at the top. Didn't we look like we were having fun?

This is Blabbin' Grammy signing off for the day. More tomorrow. Love to all of you. Bye for now.

A Matter of Respect

Hey, Y'all,
I know it has been a couple of days since I have posted, but I have been kind of busy. Yesterday morning, I went into Jefferson City to have blood work done in preparation for a visit to my family doctor in a couple of weeks. A very nice young man took my blood for the tests, and took my blog address in anticipation of reading my blog. Unfortunately, I didn't get his name, but he was very gentle with me in getting my blood, and got the blood with the first stick.

After the doctor's office, I dropped off some prescriptions to be filled and then went on to Burger King and had a croissant and coffee, then proceeded on to buy a few groceries. I then headed on home, and on my way, as I drew near the local funeral home that was on the other side of the highway, I saw a funeral procession starting out coming my way.

We have a custom in the south of stopping and pulling over to the side of the road when a funeral procession is headed our way. It is a matter of respect for the death of a person, and respect for their families and friends in their sorrow. As I pulled over to the shoulder of the road, I could almost feel their sorrow, and my eyes filled with water and rolled down my cheeks. This is the first time I have felt such an emotional pull for someone I didn't even know. It must be because of the loss of the last three of my siblings during the past fourteen months. All the cars on my side of the road did just as I did, and pulled over to a stop on the shoulder of the highway. It is just a matter of respect, and I am glad that we do so.

This morning I was up early and had breakfast, then began working on the quilt I am doing for my grandson, Will (also known as B.J.). I have worked on various parts of it all day long, off and on. I have been putting wonder-under on the flowers that I will be appliqueing onto the squares. I've used all the wonder-under that I had, and still have another 20 to do. I have also been cutting the squares to the precise size that I need them to be (a really tough job).

Gramps finally decided to get up around 5 p.m. after spending most of the day in bed. I let him stay as long as he wanted, but finally got him up and fixed a breakfast for our supper and his only meal today. He is in the living room reading his Bible now, and I am in here trying to catch up on my blog, and am simmering pizza sauce in the kitchen for our pizza tomorrow that we are taking to Knoxville to spend some time with Imazo and Mae. I am also watching American Idol (actually listening more than watching). The dishes are being washed in the dishwasher. So a lot is going on right now.

I guess I may vacuum out my car either tomorrow or Saturday, (probably Saturday), and also need to sweep out the carport and clean the winter clutter out of it.

I talked to Imazo yesterday and she told me her sister, Lois, who is in Ohio, is not in the nursing home any more, but is in an assisted living facility. She is not using her wheel chair much, but is using her walker to get around as much as possible. The therapist who is working with Lois has really helped her a lot, and is a dedicated therapist. We are so glad that he is working with her so well, and that she is better.

To Clara in TN....Thanks for the recipe for your apple dumplings in the comments of Tuesday's blog! I will try that one, and it really looks delicious! I always love to try new recipes. It is a lot simpler than mine. I printed it off so I will have it to take into the kitchen instead of having to run back in and check it on the computer.

Well, I want to do some more square cutting this evening, so that is it for now. This is Blabbin' Grammy signing off for today. Love to you all. Bye for now.

An Evening's Pleasure With Friends

Hey, Y'all,
Today began at about 7:30 a.m. with cleaning the kitchen floor. As I stated earlier, early morning or late night is the best time to clean. Gramps is never (well, hardly ever) up at either time, so it is better then. While the major portion of the kitchen dried, I was able to do some quilting work, and then I finished up the floor later.

Then I took the time to make some raisin bread toast and hot tea. Hmmm, it was really good, and I sat there enjoying my breakfast and read some more of my murder mystery. After breakfast, I spent some time getting the ingredients together for the chicken pot pie. I sat down in the multipurpose room to rest, checking my e-mails. I then did some more sewing and watching The Price is Right. I absolutely love that show. It is so much fun watching the contestants jump around when they win, and also I love their enthusiasm. Isn't it fun to see people win stuff?

I took time a little later for cleaning the kitchen, and dishes and then cleaning the bathroom and mopping the bathroom floor. Laundry took a large part of the day as well. I made some apple dumplings for our dessert tonight, and baked them and the chicken pot pie at the same time, putting them into the oven at 5 p.m.

Our friends, Gene and Judy, Marion and Marjorie arrived at 6 p.m. and Judy brought some delicious waldorf salad to go along with the chicken pot pie and the devilled eggs that I had prepared. We ate very well this evening, and after supper Marjorie helped me load the dishwasher (thank you, Mark and Allie, for installing the dishwasher, and thanks you, Marjorie, for helping with the dishes tonight) and then we got out the dominoes and played a few hands of that. We were pleased that Gramps decided to play with us. It didn't matter that I had to help him with his choices of what to play. Believe it or not, Marjorie didn't feel obliged to shield her dominoes from me. Actually, I was so busy helping Gramps there was no time to act like I was going to check hers out. ha ha.

Marjorie heads back to Germany on Friday. We have certainly enjoyed getting to know her better and have had some good times with her. Well, I have to get to bed soon, because I have to be up and out to get my bloodwork done in the morning. I have promised Gramps that he doesn't have to go anywhere until Friday. He is quite pleased about that.

This is Blabbin' Grammy signing off for tonight. More tomorrow evening. Love to you all. Bye for now.

Happy Birthday, Sweet Allie

Hey, Y'all,

Tomorrow (March 3rd) is our Allie's birthday...not saying which one...but we celebrated this evening with supper at Puleo's in Strawberry Plains. Judy picked up Gramps and me a little before six p.m. and proceeded on to pick up Gene and then we met Mark and Allie at Puleo's.

Those of you who are regular readers of my blog know that we consider Allie our third daughter and Mark as a son. They are very dear to us and are very considerate always of our needs. Judy and Gene are also very dear to us and we consider them very important to us. Both couples are friends that we feel blessed to have.

We had a really fun time, and had a marvelous waiter named Will. Gramps and I had a house salad and then shared a small pizza that had chicken, spinach, and cheese on a thin crust.

Gramps is having a very difficult time getting in and out of cars and also getting to a standing position after sitting for awhile. He seems to be getting more feeble as the days go by, but he says he had a really wonderful and fun time this evening. He had three people helping him get up from the table this evening, but it didn't seem to embarrass him as it would have done several months ago. It was very touching to my heart.

Pictures above: (1) Mark and Allie, (2) Gene and Judy, (3) Gramps and I

In the morning, I am getting up early to do the housecleaning that needs to be done. I didn't get it done earlier this week. Sweeping the kitchen and mopping the floor are two things that I can do easier early in the morning. I have been sewing quite a bit today, trying to get the piecing done for Will's quilt. I plan to launder the flowers tomorrow or Wednesday in preparation for sewing onto the blocks of cloth.

We are having Gene and Judy, Marion and Marjorie (Judy's sister, and Marion's daughter) who lives in Germany, over to share supper with us tomorrow evening. Marjorie will be headed back to her home on Friday afternoon. We will be playing dominoes for awhile after supper. I'll bet Marjorie will be hiding her tiles from my supposedly wandering eyes, too. ha ha. I am making Chicken Pot Pie and Apple Dumplings for our supper.

Time with family and friends is something that never grows old, isn't it? I would not exchange any of those times for anything in the world. I value them all as priceless.

Mark and Allie tell us that they plan to be in their new home in about six weeks' time. I hope to be able to help them somehow in their move. I know I can't do a lot, but I hope to maybe help them with their yard sale when they have it.

On Wednesday morning, I have to go have blood work done in preparation for my yearly checkup at my family doctor's office. Oh, boy! I always dread having blood work done, because they have to take the blood samples from the back of my hand. (small veins, hard to hit in my arm..this has been true for more than 50 years.)

Well, that is about it for this evening. This is Blabbin' Grammy signing off for today. Love to all of you. Hope your night is good and that tomorrow is even better. Bye for now.