Sunday, March 30, 2008

A weekend with my brothers and my cousin...

We went out to eat at Holders Country Inn and then went shopping at Wal-Mart and lucky.  Last night David made this KILLER desert, it was a peach cobbler.  Both of my brothers turned out to be really good cooks, I don't know what happened to me although it works out really well because I love to eat.

Stanley and Richard showed up this morning at 8 a.m., David was already here.  They brought down my mom's computer, the birds and some of my mom stuff and they're packing everything up in the U-Haul getting ready to take it to Santa Cruz and put it in the garage.  This is the first time that Stanley has seen my new house and David has not seen it since it was framed.  Aunt Kathy just called to tell me that Cassie, the girl that's going to do my evening care when I moved to Santa Cruz, is going to take some EMT,CPR and other nursing courses that will help her.  I think it is going to work out really great and I am excited.  They are making spaghetti for the boys, I know they will be hungry after loading and unloading my moms stuff.

This is the last day that my brothers will be here, the last day is always a little sad but it is always great to see them.  They got the rest of my mom's sheds cleaned out and now they are working on the last of the stuff that's in the House.  The cleaners are coming tomorrow and then it will be ready for the new owners before this weekend. They really look like they are tired and I'm sure they will be glad to get home and back to their old routine.

Tomorrow is going to be a nice relaxing day my mom is going to play cards which always makes her feel good and I think I'm just going to stay in bed and relax.  It's usually a little hard to get up on Mondays because although Madonna comes in at 7 a.m. the massage therapist doesn't come in until 8:30 a.m. and because I have a lot of packing still left to do.  I'm not even going to plan and moving until the end of May.

 Itlo
oks like everything on the inside of the house is finished but they still have to tear up the driveway and repave and I don't know if the bank will sign it off until we do some landscaping.  They really are making everything as difficult as possible for a sign off the house.

Friday, March 28, 2008

A Scare

Janet and the boys helped my mom pack up the rest of her house while Stanley cleaned out the sheds.  Stanley started getting chest pains and he just didn't feel right but he figured it was all the dust and mold from the sheds and the stress.  He decided to wait till the next day and see if he felt better but he did not so he went to a clinic and while they were taking tests they noticed an irregular heartbeat and sent him to the hospital in an ambulance.  I was shopping with Corinne and my mom called and asked if I could come home and take her to get her car and explained what had happened.  They did a bunch more tests at the hospital and he ended up being just fine but it really was a scare.

Stanley and Corinne left for the beach house this afternoon and they will have a nice little family vacation.

Vanessa and Louana stopped by today and we have a nice little visit.  Vanessa brought Starbucks coffee and we took a couple of pictures.

David missed his flight this morning so he will be flying in tonight around 10 p.m.  Stanley it will be back on Saturday and Rich will be here to move my mom's furniture over to Santa Cruz and to move her in here.

On Sunday Rich, Vanessa and the kids are going to come over after they go motorcycle riding ever going to have a barbecue.

David finally got here last night and it was so great to see him, everybody was exhausted so we all went to bed.

Thursday, March 27, 2008

Easter

Stanley and Corinne got here on Friday evening and everybody was so tired we just said hello and went to sleep.  Saturday morning Corinne and I decided to check out the new stores down on the corner.  We had Stanley Drive us there and then we went shopping for a while and strolled back.  Since they're still building the shopping center it was hard to find curb cuts to cross the street but we eventually found them and it was a nice afternoon.  On Saturday evening Rich, Vanessa and the kids came over for dinner and to help die Easter eggs.  Janet and the boys got here a little bit late because Janet's Aunt had a heart attack so they stopped to see her on the way.  After we ate the kids died the Easter eggs and we have a really good time talking and catching up.

On Sunday everybody was up pretty early and Stanley made creamed eggs on English muffins, it was very good, I don't know why we only have them on Easter.  We all got Easter baskets and looked for eggs.  I remember going to the store earlier and there was a TON of peeps, every animal and color you can imagine.  When Janet went back later she said there was none.  I guess the new game this Easter is dueling peeps.  You put to peeps in the microwave and strategically place a toothpick in each one and when you turn on the microwave they swell up and what ends up jabbing the other end out what wins... eventually they both explode, some people have WAY too much time on their hands.  Of course we all had to go to you tube and look at all the clips. for dinner we barbecued stakes, corn and the cop and Janet made twice baked potatoes, pretty much my favorite thing in the world... one of them anyway.

They worked like crazy and got everything in my mom's house packed except I think a few drawers.  They even cleaned out both of the sheds at all there is left is move everything to Santa Cruz and a load to the dump.

Today Gene, Pauline and Butler came for a visit.  I haven't seen them for a couple of years so it was nice to get a chance to catch up.  They are redoing their house and brought their contractor so he could get a few ideas from my place.  They brought Subway sandwiches and we had a really nice visit.

Before my mom moves out she had to have the roll in shower redone because it was leaking.  She found a company to do it and while she was talking to the guy she told him that we were moving to Santa Cruz and he asked her if she was moving into a two-story house.  Apparently he had just got done hot mopping two of the showers in my house, talk about a small world.

Friday, March 21, 2008

Goodbye and Hello...

Kelly left for home on Wednesday.  It is always really sad to see her go and I always hate to say goodbye but she will be back in October with her husband Tom.  Kelly and I went down Wednesday morning so that she could spend a little bit of time was my mom and aunt Kathy before she left.  While we were visiting Vanessa and Luana came by, we usually get to see them on Wednesday after her group play date.

Stanley and Corinne will be here tonight, this week has gone by really fast. Janet and the boys will be here tomorrow afternoon.

I went to Costco yesterday and I'm going grocery shopping today and hopefully we will have everything that we need. on Saturday when Rich and his family come to die Easter eggs Janet is making a taco salad and tacos for the kids, I love Janet's taco salad.  on suddenly we were going to have ham but we sighted to have stakes, baked potatoes and salad, one of my personal favorites.

Sunday, March 16, 2008

Plans keep changing...

Today is a nice relaxing day.  Just sitting around watching television and thinking about my beautiful new home.

I noticed that Brodie has been licking her back right leg so I had my mom take a look at it and sure enough she has a bruise on two of her pad and a cut.  When I was checking out my new house I backed up and I remember feeling Brodie squirm.  She had her barking caller on so she didn't scream but Kelly did so I rolled forward really fast and she was holding it in the air, I feel so bad.  She knows that she will get zapped if she barks while she has on her barking caller so she did not make a noise, thank goodness Kelly did.

Of course all of the plans have changed now.  Stanley, Janet and the kids are still coming on Friday and everybody but Stanley is leaving on Wednesday, Stanley might leave on Wednesday and then come back for the weekend.  David is going to be here on Thursday and he is going to stay until Sunday.  Richard, Vanessa and the kids are going to come over on Saturday and have dinner and dye Easter eggs.  Somewhere in the midst of all that we're going to pack up all of my mom stuff and move most of it to Santa Cruz and she is going to move in here until my part of the House is ready and then we are both going to finally move, it looks like maybe around the middle of May.  That is the plan for now but of course everything could change in the next few days and probably will.

I wasn't going to get my Easter decorations but I guess I'm going to since everybody will be here.  I also need to get some boxes hopefully from target, if we can find my buddy mark.  We can also check around the dumpsters and see if there's any lying around otherwise I were have to go buy some.

I got a telephone call from another girl at UC Santa Cruz wanting an application.  The girl that's going to be working for me at night is named Cassy and she lives right across the street.  The girl that called me on the telephone is also named Cassy, wouldn't that be strange?  I think they're both short for Cassandra.

Saturday, March 15, 2008

Mom's house officially sold

Yesterday morning Vanessa came over with the baby to visit for a while.  We made up some thank you cards to thank everybody for everything she got at the shower, it really turned great.

Kelly's longtime friend Carol flew down here to visit her
and she went with us to check out the new house.  Every
time I see the progress I am so amazed and this time is no different.  The cupboard doors were installed and the floor was laid down.  They're still staining the floor but I can already tell that it is going to be AWESOME, everything is unbelievable.  I can't believe that in just a few short months I will be living there and cruising around.  Charlie did such a great job picking everything out, I just cannot give him enough praise and thanks.

After we checked everything out and took pictures we went to my uncles favorite place to eat, The Wooden Nickel.  I was there once before and had fish and chips and it was delicious.  This time I had calamari steak and it was also awesome.  Kelly had the skirt steak which she gave me a couple bytes of it was also delicious, my aunt and uncle meet therefore lunch every Friday with a group of people and I can't wait to start going with them.  After that they have a cribbage party at their house but we had to go home.

 It's hard to believe that soon I will just be able to go
across the street or invite everyone to my house, I know
we'll be having several cribbage parties a week.  We drove along the beach and down past the lighthouse and then came home.

We found out that the people that but my mom's house want her out by April 5th so my mom was scrambling to try to figure out how to get everything done by then.  All she had to do was make a couple of phone calls and Stanley, David and Rich all not only volunteered but said they would bring friends to help, we have the best family in the world.  Stanley, Janet and the kids are going to come down for Easter on Friday and they plan on staying until Wednesday and David is going to be here around the first of the month and Rich said that he would come and help whenever we needed it.

Thursday, March 13, 2008

keith Urban and Carrie Underwood

The concert was AWESOME.  I had been looking forward to it for a long time and I was not disappointed in any way.  I originally bought the tickets to see Keith urban but as the
concert grew closer I was really excited about seeing
Carrie Underwood but I have to say that both of them put on a killer show, they even saying a duet.  When I thought about the concert Kelly was the first person that I thought
of.  We always have a great time when she visits it was a
great opportunity to catch up.

When I go to concerts I like to leave Brodie here because I'm always afraid that the music will be to loud and it will hurt her ears, she really hates to be left behind.  My mom came up and stayed with her and she paced for a while but then settled down.

There was a restaurant that I had noticed down town that I had heard about, two of them actually, and wanted to try so we left early and I was not disappointed.  I had stuffed prawns, garlic mashed potatoes and broccoli, everything of course with lots of garlic.  Kelly ordered Tilipia with a corn cake and greens and let me try it, I was not disappointed with that either.  Before we left we talked to Jerry and he said that he had been to the restaurant and was not at all impressed and told us to a couple of good ones in that area so we almost did not try it but we
decided to try anyway. When we got to the restaurant we
noticed next door they had opened up a brand-new bakery and after dinner we were so full we could not even think about desert so we decided to go to the bakery and get desert for after the concert.  The showcase in the bakery was incredible.  They had everything from donuts and bagels to lavish looking cakes and pies.  We grabbed a fruit tart, a cream puff and an eclair and they were delicious.

On Wednesday was the last session with the dog trainer, I'm really glad that that is over.  I feel like the only thing I got out of it was taken advantage of once again because there is no change in Brodies behavior.  The dog park was closed down so I suggested that we just call it and go home and of course he agreed.

Today I went in search of boxes for the big move.  For some reason, I guess liability, stores do not want to give out boxes anymore so I will try a couple more times and if I cannot get any there is the place down the street that sells used boxes.  I went to the new shopping center and while I was there I noticed that Ross was open so of course I had to go check it out, I also went into Petsmart to get a couple of things for Brodie.

Monday, March 10, 2008

Baby Shower...

The baby shower turned out GREAT.  Vanessa e-mailed me on Thursday evening really sad and said they were going to cancel the baby shower because a lot of people were not going to be able to make it.  The next morning my aunt called my mom and that it was back on and we're going to have about 20 people.  One of the great things about when my grandpa was living here is that we always had big parties and everyone came.  Everybody really have a lot of fun and of course there was way too much food.  Janet and Corinne showed up which was a nice surprise.  They were supposed to be busy and were not going to be able to make it.  They spent the night and then we went over to The Container Store and got some bubble wrap for packing and decided to go to the Cheesecake Factory for lunch and we brought cheesecake back for my mom and Kelly.

I started eating fruit in the morning so I would go to Costco and get the fruit that is already cut up and I never realized until last Saturday the chemical taste in the already cut up fruit.  My mom, my aunt and my cousin Kelly cut up a bunch of fresh fruit and it was AWESOME, no chemical taste at all.  I think from now on I am just going to buy the fruit and have somebody cut it up for me.

Today I decided to stay in bed.  Madonna had orientation for a new agency that she signed up for so there wasn't really time to take a bath and get up but that's okay, it's nice to have a day to rest.

Tomorrow is the concert and I am so excited.  Kelly and I are going to see Keith Urban and Carrie Underwood.  We decided to leave here about 5 p.m. and go out to dinner first.  I have seen this restaurant across from the park that I've been wanting to try and this is the perfect opportunity.

Thursday, March 6, 2008

Another busy weekend

I heard someone once say that when you're having a bad day and you think things could not get worse just look around... no matter how bad you think you have things there is ALWAYS somebody who has a worse, sometimes it makes you feel better and sometimes it doesn't but I always give it a try anyway.

I do feel a lot better today although I still don't really have much of an appetite and I still can't smell or taste anything.  My voice recognition is still having a hard time because my head is still plugged up and I guess I just don't sound like myself but I'm on my way back.

Today I met Cindy for lunch at Sam's Barbecue, I love that place.  It's nice to relax and visit for a while because I have not seen Cindy for a very long time.

Tomorrow I'm going shopping at Babys R Us to get something for Luana for the party on Saturday.  I'm still not sure whether we're going to have sandwiches or barbecue, by vote is always barbecue.  After that I really need to go to Costco to get some fruit and vegetables and salad stuff... and I might see a couple of other things that I cannot do without.

Wednesday, March 5, 2008

Kelly arriving today...

I am feeling a little bit bitter today so I'm hoping that tomorrow I will be up and around again.

Dawn was supposed to come by this morning for our biweekly manicure and pedicure but I called last night and canceled.  Her brother in law has a window treatment business he was going to buy and shown me some ideas for my new house.  Even though I canceled they showed up anyway.  I really was not mood to look at anything but I appreciate them coming by, he really seem to know what he was talking about.

My brother David called and he wanted diagram of all of the plugs and outlets in my new house, he is going to set up Multimedia Max and if he needs help Dan is going to help him over the telephone.  Both of my brothers are so talented.

It looks like I'm going to be moving in the first week of April.  David is planning on being here the second and stay in for a week.  Stanley asked me to find out when David was going to be here and let him know.  It will be so great to have everybody here once again, even if it is going to be a lot of work.

Kelly is going to get here today, she doesn't know exactly what time but it will be so great to see her.  I have to meet the dog trainer today, I hope this is going to be our last session.  Anymore I feel like the sessions are just ruining my day because by the time the session is over his time to come home and get to bed so the caregiver can go home at 5 p.m.

Tuesday, March 4, 2008

To sick to deal with knuckleheads...

I cannot remember the last time that I felt this awful, all I want to do is sleep until it's over but I'm too miserable to sleep.  Such my head feels like it's about ready to exclude.  You don't know when you have a cold everything it hurts, even your hair?  I took a eucalyptus bath this morning and when Madonna was washing my hair it hurt really hard.  It seems like every time I finally get myself to sleep either the phone rings or somebody comes over.

My afternoon caregiver came in and I had her take the remaining boxes of DVD's to the Post Office, no problem.  then I asked her to do something else and she said...I swear I'm not making this up, "I can't do that because I'm wearing orange", now after that I'm afraid to ask her to do ANYTHING because I don't know what one can and cannot do while wearing orange.  Luckly the rest of the day went by fast.  Right before she left her hubby called her and wanted her to meet him for dinner so she asked me if her ORANGE outfit looked good enought to go out to eat.

My uncle looks so miserable when we saw him yesterday.  He had out at HUGE bruise on his chest and a really bad scrape/hole in his shin.  He was moving around really slowly and in obvious major pain, I hope he feels better really soon.

Sunday, March 2, 2008

Very busy month...

Today ended up being a really good day but I had my doubts.  Last night and this morning I was fighting myself trying to decide if I should get up and go to Santa Cruz or just stay in bed.  On Friday evening I started getting a really bad sore throat, so bad it was really hard to sleep.  Saturday morning and all day it was there but not as strong but Sunday evening came back really strong and was accompanied by itchy ears and an itchy nose.  I had some coffee and some banana bread and I decided to just go and do it.  If I did not make myself go I would not get progress pictures of the granite and the cupboards.  Today is my Aunt Kathy's birthday so we stopped by at a bakery by the House and got an apple cake, it was delicious.  After we checked out the progress on the new house we went to a fabric store and picked out some fabric or a quilt that Terrie is going to make me, she does such a beautiful job.  I have one of the first ones that she made and I LOVE it.  I had it on my wall for a while but to get down to wash it because it was getting dusty and never put it back up.  She also got the material to make a quilt for my mom.  On the way back we were trying to figure out a place to eat that we could bring our dogs so we stopped in Los Gatos at a burger place.  While we were there I must've counted 20 dogs walking around, it's such a nice relaxed place.  I was sitting or eating my hamburger remembering when I used to cruise through that town almost 15 years ago... maybe a little bit longer.  My aunt and uncle had an appliance store on North Santa Cruz Avenue called Los Gatos Appliance.  We used to hang around there all the time and I remember once a year they had a huge sidewalk sale where every business would have stuff out front and you just cruise the sidewalks and shop.  They still own the building but now it is Williams Sonoma.  The town has really changed a lot but it is still really the same.

When I was in high school I worked at Baskin Robbins, I think that's pretty much where everybody at Los Gatos High School worked at one time or another.  The owner obviously didn't trust a bunch of teenagers so he would sit across the street in his car in an empty parking lot and watch as any really thought that we did not know.  I look back at high school and have really fond memories.  I wasn't really popular but a friend that I had a really good longtime friends, most of them I knew since I went to Loma Prieta and C. T. English.  I loved growing up in the Santa Cruz Mountains.

I think tomorrow I'm just going to stay in bed and rest and hopefully none of my caregivers will be sick.  Kelly is going to be here on Wednesday and the baby shower for Luana is going to be here on Saturday and I have no idea what we are going to do.

Saturday, March 1, 2008

Turned away from a restaurant because of my service dog...

Gino called Thursday night, Gino and Jeff work for Charlie and they can pretty much do ANYTHING, he came over Friday afternoon fixed my wall outlet that blew up Wednesday.

Stanley, Robert and David came down last night to visit and help us start packing up some of our stuff.  While they were here I had them take me over to Lamps Plus to pick out some ceiling fans for the new house.  At the other end of the parking lot was a restaurant that I heard was pretty good cold King Buffet.  When we walked into the restaurant I saw that old familiar look that I have seen many times before and the man standing there said "you need to take your dog outside and put it in the car" a rush of frustration and humiliation always comes over me and my first instinct is to just turn around and leave but I want to make a stand so that the next person that comes in with a service animal will be accepted and not humiliated.  I told him that it was a service dog and that she could go anywhere and she said that his restaurant was too full and we would have to take her out and put her in the car.  I wanted to make them call a police officer to explain the laws to them but I could tell my mom was service and wanted to go at so we just went across the street and ate at Chiles.  This has happened to me about a handful of times and I just don't know what to say or do but I want to do the right thing that I would like them to learn the laws because if you manage a restaurant I think it's only fair.  One time I went to King Egg Roll and the lady told me that I would have to take my dog outside and he did not allow them in the building, I told her that she was a service dog and that she could go anywhere and then she just tried to rush me out of the restaurant.  It's bad enough that everybody stares at me because I'm in the chair and then people have to put me on stage and gives me a bad time about my service dog.  One time while I was at the Gilroy Outlets the same thing happen to me in the Sony store, the security guard told me that I could not bring my dog in the store and my brother and his family were finished looking so I just turned around and left.  I did ask him to see the manager but we were leaving so he never called the manager out.  As we were cruising through the other stores I ran into Rich, the cofacilitator of the support groups at Valley Medical and she was furious.  He asked me to go back with him and I wanted to so that I could see what he said and the next time I would know but by the time we made it back the security guards had changed shifts and when we explained what happened the new security guard apologized and said that it is definitely their policy to let service animals into the store and that he would definitely bring it up at the next meeting.  It made me feel great and I had a good day.  It's amazing how something like that can just ruin your whole day.