Christmas tree

I'm sitting here with all the lights out looking out my Christmas tree and it is an unbelievable feeling, it's funny how much something like that can fill your heart. It makes you think back on all the Christmases and pretty much all of them were wonderful. I guess tomorrow I get to start Christmas shopping again, that I'm not looking forward to.

Last night my computer crashed and I had to get out my extra hard drive so I could send this one to David to get fixed. Luckily he made an extra drive for me in case this happens. The unfortunate part is I don't remember a lot of my appointments this week so I been calling around trying to see where I am supposed to be and that what time.

I feel Christmas already

Thanksgiving was wonderful. As usual we had a full house and way too much food. I bought some chips and dip and other hors d'oeuvres from Costco but nobody ate anything because they didn't want to spoil their appetite so now what do I do with all these hors d'oeuvres? I guess I will have to have a party. My mom and Rosie cooked the turkey, the spiral ham and all the side dishes, I love my mother's dressing.

Stanley and Janet went home on Thursday evening but left the kids here so we went to see the new Harry Potter movie on IMAX and then had lunch at Original Joe's downtown. The Christmas Park is already finished and it was beautiful, we walked around and check it out a little but it was cold so we headed for home. I can't wait to go back and check out the rest of it.

On Saturday Janet and I went Christmas shopping and to get a Christmas tree. They set it up and decorated it for me and decorated my house a little bit while we listen to Christmas music , it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is almost here. I'm going to try to go to Costco tomorrow, that should be fun. Last time I went I ran it to my friend Kurt and he gave me his number in case I needed anything, he is so sweet. I didn't know that he lives in Los Banos.

Keith is finished with the ramp, the porch and the fence and it looks great, I can't believe I finally found a guy to do maintenance and he does such a great job.

Stanley, Janet and the kids are coming down for Thanksgiving. Stanley and Janet have to go home on Thursday night and they're leaving the kids here and they're coming back on Friday night. I want to take the kids to see the new Harry Potter movie on IMAX and then on Saturday Janet and the kids are taking me to get my Christmas tree and help me decorate it. I found a bubble machine on eBay and I think it's going to look great.

Abilities Expo

The Ability's Expo was really great this year. I think a lot of the reason I like to go is to catch up with people I haven't seen since the last one. I ran into Marv and his wife when I first got there. I actually saw Marv a couple of months ago when I went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, he works there and also teaches scuba diving there, he is a paraplegic. He was telling me about a new program they started at Valley Medical where they are pairing up peers and having them go from room to room to talk to the new injuries and their families and he is looking for a partner, it sounds like something I would like to do. I've been wanting to go back to the weekly support groups but I have been kind of nervous about it but knowing that he will be there it will be a lot easier. They also have one on the third Thursday of every month for peers only, I have never been to this one but here that they have a lot of fun, this one is almost all men so I'm sure I will have a good time. I also talked to Bill and Lee from Max-Ability. When I get my new exercise bicycle Bill is going to come over and help me set it up and help me learn how to use it, his son has one. His son was good friends with my cousin Patrick, small world. I also ran into Kevin from South Bay Mobility. He is going to help me rent a full-size van for our trip to Arizona and help me purchase a new van, I knew that he fixed vans but I didn't know he sold them. I met and talked to quite a few people over there and I really had a good time.  I went to say hello to Eric from Rehab Specialists and see if he could help me out with a problem I've been having with my chair. The back of my chair seems to keep leaning farther and farther back than it gets very frustrating, he showed my brother how to fix it and it seems to be a lot better. I go in on Tuesday to have Tim from National Seating do some alterations on my chair but it was nice to have the back straightened up a little bit, we put some erasers behind the seat and that worked temporarily but it feels a lot better now.

After that we went to Chili's, I have been wanting to try their new steaks and then we went to see the new Harry Potter movie at the IMAX theater but all of the showings were sold out so we went across the street and saw it at the regular theater, I really liked the movie a lot. I have tried to watch the Harry Potter movies before but wasn't very impressed, I'm going to try to watch them again.

Friday

I woke up this morning at 6 a.m. feeling great and just laid there and looked at the moon through the skylight in my bedroom for about half an hour, it's going to be a beautiful day.

Last night was my first night without Brodie in over two years. The vet wants to do a bunch of diagnostics test on Brodie because of her ear infection and didn't have time to do it last night so they're going to do it this morning. Hopefully I will still be able to make it to the Abilities Expo but Brodie is more important and there's always tomorrow.

There's always a couple of movies that I would like to see and I did get a couple of offers.

Critters

It looks like we finally got rid of the critters around here. We had to take Brodie to the vet today because she got bit by fleas that the critters brought in here, I probably have the only dog in the world allergic to fleas.

Tomorrow starts the Abilities Expo. I'm going tomorrow to check everything out and see who is there this year, it is always so nice to see everybody that I only see once a year there and catch up on our lives. My brother is taking me on Sunday to help me look for a new van. Between the OT's at Valley medical and Tony I'm looking for a person or family that really needs a van to get my old one to.

Stanley, Janet and the kid are coming for Thanksgiving. After dinner Stanley and Janet are going to go home but are leaving the kids here, I'm trying to find something fun to do like go see Harry Potter's new movie or maybe Paramount's Great America.

Scarey morning

This morning when I was getting ready to take a bath I could see two men coming up to the door. I asked Madonna to lock Brodie in the bedroom before she answered the door when I saw one man looking in the window, I could see his badge, he was a cop so I told Madonna not to close the doors. Madonna opened the door and Brodie rushed out and scared them at first, Madonna told them she wouldn't hurt anybody but they backed up and asked her to put the dog on a leash, whenever somebody comes to the door she runs at them and barks with her hackles up. Then they asked her who was in the House and who was she talking to. I told them they could come in and they told me that they got a 911 call from this residence. Earlier when I tried to get online my DSL was not working so I had to use dial-up and I could hear somebody saying "can I help you?". I told them about this, apologized and gave them a little tour of my house and they left. They were pretty impressed with Multimedia Max.

Gramps

This weekend is the Abilities Expo finally. I have been waiting a long time for it because I'm looking to get a new van.

It looks like we are going to take a trip to Arizona to see my grandpa the week between Christmas and New Years. My brother David is going to fly here and help drive there. My brother Stanley and his family are also going it sounds like it's going to be a great trip. I'm going to rent a full-sized van and rent some hospital equipment in Arizona.

Keith finished putting the carpet on the front porch and he power washed my ramp and fence and it looks so silky smooth, like it was brand new.

Brochure

Lisa from Stanford just e-mailed me and said that they decided to use my picture in their brochure for tendon transfer surgery, I can't believe it, hopefully I will be able to put a copy of the brochure on my homepage .

They want me to go in after Thanksgiving to do an MRI to see how my muscles have change since the surgery, if they even have. I have noticed a substantial improvement and from their test at Stanford they have also. I'm hoping that they will be able to help other spinal cord injury candidates better in the future.

Mouse in my house

Ewwww, last Friday when Betty was cleaning the kitchen she said that she saw mouse droppings. I bought some bagels that had everything on them and I was hoping that that's what it was from, it wasn't. We threw the bagels away and there was more droppings on Monday so I called terminix and they came out on Tuesday and brought these traps. By Thursday morning we had caught one, now what do I do?? I guess I'm going to have to get the neighbor or the guy across the street to come and take it away, I cannot bear to look at it. Madonna said when she went in there this morning she could hear it screaming like it was begging for her to set it free. I really hate the thought of killing anything but I cannot have a mouse in my house.

Today I get to go get my mammogram, thank goodness I cannot feel it like other women can. I also need to go to Costco and do some grocery shopping and of course take Brodie to the park.

Gramps

Today is one of the saddest days of my life. My mom just called and said that my grandpa is not doing very good at all. He is bedridden and has to be fed. He turned 90 years old last March and was doing pretty good but now he's going downhill fast and there's nothing that I can do. My Aunt Kathy and my Uncle Ronnie are going to visit them for Thanksgiving and my mom is going to go after Thanksgiving and stay for a while, I wish that I could go. He is a great and funny man and he had a wonderful life, I love him very much.

Another day in paradise

It really turned out to be a great day. I got a massage this morning, took a really hot long bath and ended up relaxing in bed, Lulu called in sick. Laying here watching TV all day really felt good.

It's a week and a half until the Abilities Expo, I can't believe it's finally here. This year I'm definitely going Friday to beat the crowd as well as Saturday. Hopefully I will find a vehicle that I like.

Home Maintenance

I think I finally found somebody to do home maintenance and he lives just across the street. The first guy I had over here ended up taking off owing me money, that's what I get for giving him an advance. The next company that I called lives in my aunts house and has a carping cleaning business and does maintenance. Twice I called them and they didn't call me back until after I found somebody else. This guy also has a carpet cleaning business and I have seen him quite a few times, I always see him fixing things in his house so I hope it works out... at least I know where this guy lives. I meet with him tomorrow.

Chicken Little

Last night we had KFC and watched a movie called Robots, it was a very cute movie. While we were eating breakfast this morning there was a movie on called The Rundown, that was a really good movie, usually I don't like movies like that. Today we went to go see Chicken Little, that was a very cute movie. We were going to go to Chili's afterwards but then remembered that it is Saturday night so we decided to order some pizza and watch another movie here.

Thanksgiving decorations

We took down the Halloween declarations and put them away for another year. We went to bring back the Thanksgiving decorations but I didn't have very many, this year Thanksgiving is going to be here. So we had to go get some more decorations, we went to Ross. They had a lot of really neat stuff there and I also found a couple of decorations for Christmas, I just love the holidays.

I no longer use an agency for my caregivers, they are all private now and I'm saving about $50 a day, caregiving agencies are just so expensive.

Stanley and two of the kids, David and Corinne, are coming down tomorrow night and staying until Sunday. I was going to go tomorrow to see Chicken Little but I think I'll wait so we can all go on Saturday.

Halloween

Last night was really great, we actually had a lot of kids coming around and even got to scare a few of them, unfortunately as usual I forgot to take pictures.  I'm going to take some pictures of the inside and outside before we take the decorations down today but I wish I had pictures of the people because everybody looked cool. We ate a ton of pizza, in fact I woke up this morning about 2 a.m. and thought that I was going to be in trouble, my stomach and head were really hurting, I lay here for a while and ended up falling back to sleep and when I woke up at 7 a.m. I felt good, that was close...too much pizza and candy.