Happy Birthday Martin and a Song of the Week

It does often seem true that the good die young. Maybe that's because they are truly brave and can take a stand against injustice. They have a voice (like we all do) but seem to be driven to make their voice heard without fear of the consequences. Where would we be without people like that?

Fear is a killer. It kills dreams. It kills people. It kills society. It kills humanity. Fear also causes us to "conform". We fear failure, rejection, labeling, gossip, you name it. For example, some may fear any of the above, so they marry an abuser rather than be labeled a spinster. I once knew that person. She was married to an abuser and called me a spinster when I was 26 years old. Some fear their dream life and instead settle for a job (which is not a life).

To me, conforming does not lead to a happy and successful society. Rather, (and yes, Americans might gasp and this thought) a socialist society. A society where you are told what you should want, do, like, love and so on. A society that might think you're odd if you don't belong to the "right" church or political party. The society that might think you are less valuable because you didn't finish college. All a bunch of crap, really. And maybe, one day, society will appreciate the value of diversity (truly and not just lip service) and appreciate those brave enough to break the stigma molds that we seem to accept as the norm.

Now that I got that off my chest (as they say), I want to acknowledge Martin Luther King. A man that accomplished SO much in such a short time. It truly boggles my mind when I think about what he did in his life compared to what I've done. He was brave and held tight to his beliefs. He did not back down and took a stand for so many of us. He had a dream, and I'm sure so many of us do. The difference is he acted upon his dream and how many of us can say we do. Go out and be inspired by the man that dared to live his dreams in the hopes that we could lives ours. Maybe if we all do one little dream thing, we can somehow help make this a better place and contribute in a positive way to the lives of others. Hey, we never really know how some little thing we can do can really impact someone else. Think about it.

My Song of the Week is one that I can't hear without emotions being stirred. Ever since I was a kid, this song brought tears to my eyes. Enjoy and live your dreams. Life is short and too valuable to not live!

Holiday Weekend Recap

The Holiday weekend is ending and the New Year is on the horizon. It is Monday, but I seem to have the blahs like I tend to get on Sunday. In an hour or so, I will log on to the work computer and do some work as the morning deadlines will come either before I'm fully awake or while I'm preparing my mom's breakfast.

The weekend went fast. It seems the majority of it was spent shopping, running errands, calling in and picking up prescriptions, doing laundry, chores, wrapping gifts and cooking meals. Alas, the art projects fell short. That seems to have been my mantra this year and not one I like. I did some brief search through my posts here from this year and that has been a common theme. I really need to make a better effort. I know other people find themselves as working caregivers and make the time to do things that fulfill them on a personal level or make the time to do little things for themselves. I just haven't been able to successfully work that balance yet and am sitting here typing, thinking about how yet again, I have hideous regrowth and didn't seem to manage to get an appointment to color my hair. My escape time tends to be writing or doing genealogy research as that does not require dragging out art supplies and is something I can do while in the kitchen cooking.

My house is a mess and I feel that my life is too. I need to get my mom into activity programs that will benefit her while allowing me some time to do those silly little things like hair appointments and art projects. I need to get her house ready to rent out and get things in her house sold or donated. I also need to go through my own stuff and let go of things I no longer need or use.

Today I had planned to walk into a salon and get my hair colored, as well as (here we go again) make some art, but then I found myself making breakfast and lunch for my mom, checking her blood pressure, giving her meds, and helping her set up her foot bath for a soaking and foot massage. In between, I pretty much drank coffee, read some gen blogs, checked in on the Etsy happenings and thought about what I wanted to do (she moves so slow these days). Then laundry, dinner, dishes, and the weekend is over. At least the week is short and another holiday weekend is just around the corner.

Happy Holidays

Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Cool Yule and a safe, healthy, happy and prosperous New Year!

I had a very nice Christmas, prepared a huge dinner, and actually got everything I asked for. My sister and I got my mom a foot bath and she was very excited about that. We also got her two sweaters, a Sobakawa Cloud pillow (I got one, too, and it is very comfy), and a massage gift certificate.

Now I am so tired I can barely type this. I'll write more tomorrow (I can't believe I've been away for a few weeks). Where did this year go? That old saying is true - the older we get the faster it goes. The year flew by and I have to say it was a huge year of genealogy discoveries for me (I found my grandmother Lola), as well as being personally challenging.

Last Sunday, my BFF got my sister and I tickets for Christmas to see one of all of our favorites, Brian Setzer Orchestra (BSO)! We have gone to see his Holiday Extravaganza many times over the years and he NEVER disappoints! If you ever get the chance to go, I highly recommend it.

Until tomorrow, I leave you with one of my fav holiday songs and the best cover of it, by BSO. The only time I saw him perform this live was the year the US bombed Baghdad and he dedicated it to a buddy of his who was there. It was very moving and brought tears to my eyes as well as many around me in that theatre. Until tomorrow...

Holidays, Kitty Drama and Caregiving

The Thanksgiving holiday weekend is now over in the US. It was certainly nice having four days in a row off to veg. On Thanksgiving eve, I began my ritual of prepping food for the big day. Generally, I have a house full of family and friends, but this year was different. Things came up which prevented friends from coming for dinner and to visit, but that didn't stop my food ritual. On Thanksgiving eve (last Wednesday) I prepared tons of food - marinated tofu, vegan green bean casserole, tofu pumpkin pie and vegan scalloped potatoes.

Since the week had been rather hectic, I was cool with the lack of company as that meant I didn't have to find the time to add house cleaning to the schedule. Thanksgiving morning rolls around and the first thing I did after making a cup of coffee was to pop the pie into the oven. I was in the kitchen and so was my sister (she was making our mom breakfast) when my little 14 year old Louie let out a loud and guttural yell. Not once, but twice, and something I've never heard come out of him before. At first we didn't even know where that came from.

My sister and I realized it was Louie and the other cats were disturbed by this sound. We followed Louie and he went to a cat box, but could not go. I said to my sister that I was going to wash my face and take him to the vet. He was "constipated" and clearly in pain. My sister washed up too, and we ran him to the vet. Being the holiday, I wasn't able to call in a regular appointment so was stuck with the "emergency" fee. That was fine as I only wanted my baby well.

Louie at the vet on Thanksgiving

We spent about two hours at the vet and then left Louie there while they did x-rays and gave him an enema. After about three hours, I called to check on him and found out that he still hadn't "gone" and they said to call back in two more hours as they were going to give him another enema. Poor baby.

Louie at the vet on Thanksgiving

My sister and I cooked the prepped dinner and did laundry while my mom kept asking for updates on Louie. When I called back the second time, the tech said he still hadn't gone but the vet said he could go home. My sister went to get him while I finished our Thanksgiving dinner. Louie came home with a huge bottle of liquid stool softener and we enjoyed our dinner and monitored him that night. The vet felt that he wasn't comfy enough to go and would probably be able to once home. He finally did! Thank God.

Louie's x-rays showed that his intestines were pretty full and needed to be "evacuated". The vet sent instructions home to give him a tablespoon of pumpkin pie filling (from the can and sans all the sugar and spice) daily as that is a good "cleanser". Turns out Louie LOVES pumpkin and will eat it right off of a spoon!

He's doing better now and I'm so happy about that. Wasn't quite how I had planned my day, but, do daily plans ever 100% materialize? The food did come together though, and was really good. The art I planned to work on, didn't really happen. Sigh. Louie's OK and I can work on art in the weird wee hours of the night. That does tend to interfere with sleeping though.

So now I just have to get my art going so that I can hopefully supplement my lost income with art sales. My day job work hours were cut after I moved my mom in. Maybe I can learn something from the "mommy preneurs"! I've got to do something! The difference between me and "mommy bloggers", probably not much. They are caregivers to little kids and I'm a caregiver to my mother and my cats. The bottom line is that we are all individuals caring for others while possibly trying to maintain our own "thing", hopefully somehow helping others, and have the means to provide for our loved ones.

11-11-11 and Happy Veteran's Day, Happy Remembrance Day and my 200th Blog Post

Well that was a long title! Today is 11-11-11. It is also Veteran's Day in the US and Remembrance Day in Canada. This is also my 200th blog post!

First I must thank all Veteran's, past and present, for their service. Theirs is a service I was never up for. As a teen, the thought of someone yelling at me at the crack of dawn to remake my bed because a quarter didn't bounce on it, turned me off! As an adult, that isn't an appealing thought! However, serving your country is obviously much more than that.

I do come from a long line of veterans, and as far as I can tell, they all came home. I know I have veterans in my tree of the Civil War, WWI, WWII, Korean War and Viet Nam.

Both my parents were WWII veterans. My dad served in the United States Marine Corp (Semper Fi, dad) and my mom served in the Royal Canadian Air Force. In honor of this special day, I took my mom out for dinner. She had been craving "old school" meals (not my vegetarian stuff) and all day I wracked my brain trying to figure out where I could take her. On my way home from work, I had to stop for gas by the house (the fuel light was on), and I noticed a "family" restaurant across the street from the gas station. I decided we'd go there.

I got home and googled them and found the menu. I read it to my mom and she was very excited by the huge selection of items! So off we went. She was smiling as we walked in and the hostess seated us. As we were seated, I flashed back to my childhood. This place reminded me so much of a restaurant we used to go to on Friday nights back in the 60s when I was kid.

This place has a massive menu, a full bar, wood panelling on the walls, oil paintings hanging on the wood panelling, is open 24 hours. The extensive menu includes breakfast, lunch, dinner, kids menu, cocktails, you name it pretty much. Earlier in the week, my mom had been craving pork chops, but just couldn't remember what they were called and referred to them as ribs, but not ribs.

As we sat on our booth that was upholstered like a vintage car, I read her the menu options. As soon as I said pork chops and apple sauce, she said that is what she was trying to say the other night and she wanted that. Her dinner came with a baked potato with whipped butter, sour cream and chives, a little corn on the cobb, dinner roll and salad, and her choice of jello or tapioca pudding! Oh how old school!

I was able to order spaghetti with vegetarian marinara sauce. My dinner didn't come with all the extras my mom's did (which was fine by me). We both did get a lovely dinner salad prior to our meal that was served on chilled plates with your choice of dressing (including blue cheese or thousand island). We both picked Italian. The other throw back was that the salad also came with a package of Rye Crisp crackers and Saltine crackers!

The clientele as well as the waitress were basically of the senior generation. My mom just loved the entire experience. There was a couple there with a baby (a grandchild possibly) and young hip guy, but other than that, I think I was the youngest person there! My mom just loved the entire experience and so did I. I told her I was tempted to order from the kids menu because I flashed back. We will go there again. When I got the bill I was so surprised. My mom's meal, my meal, her glass of wine and my iced tea cost half the price that a meal for two cost at Olive Garden (two meals, glass of wine and glass of water)!

Happy Father's Day

I wish all you awesome dads out there a very Happy Father's Day. Dad's are such special people. They teach us, guide us, scold us, and, often, just don't "like" us. But in the end, they love us. Sometimes, they even spoil us.

Who, but a dad, could thank you, year after year, for yet another tie? Who would go to work all day and come home and play catch with you (hopefully not wearing shorts with his work socks)? Who would drop you off at the midnight movies because you didn't drive yet (and bust you smoking a cigarette and not tell your mom for a year)? Who welcomed your friends into the home and treated them like his own kids? Your dad did.

I have many memories of my dad and am really thankful for the time I had with him. This year marks the sixth Father's Day without my dad. Six years of not getting him a tie or a bottle of Jim Beam or a ticket to see Tom Jones for Father's Day. Six years ago on May 1, 2005, my dad had his three daughters with him on his last day visiting, looking at pictures, having lunch and meeting with the hospice nurse. He was failing and ready to go and I feel we were finally ready to let him go. He had been suffering with heart failure but was stubborn, and I believe, waiting for one last chance to have us kids together with him. He had a wonderful day, and for that, I am so thankful. Of the many fond memories I have of my dad, one will always stick with me.

I was raised by a mother that at the time would have been considered either a "food faddist" or a "health food nut". We didn't have white bread or white rice, and white sugar was scarce. We also didn't have dessert on any regular basis. My mom brought us up to believe that yogurt or cottage cheese with canned peaches was dessert. On occasion, she would bake peanut butter cookies and then my little sister and I would get one cookie each, one night a week, before going to bed. That was a treat!

My dad basically went along with my mom's "rules", as long as he had the stuff he liked. He was a major meat and potatoes guy that was raised in the depression and considered things like hot dogs and sliced potatoes to be comfort food.

My parents would usually do the weekly grocery shopping on Saturdays. Sometimes, though, things ran out during the week, or were just missed on the Saturday shopping trip. My sister, Carol, and I were both determined to try this Imperial Margarine. Why not, really? After all, you could eat a piece of bread that was "buttered" with this margarine, and music would play and a crown would suddenly be on your head! Well, who wouldn't want that? We begged my mom for this margarine, but to no avail. She was a Mazola gal all the way. That was the only margarine allowed in our house.

It just so happened that the Mazola was out and an "emergency", out of the weekly norm shopping trip was required. My dad was pegged with that job. My dad was nowhere near as strict with products as my mom. Carol and I went to the store with our dad. Our begging worked with him and luckily we convinced him to get Imperial Margarine instead of Mazola. We were quite excited. The crown was finally in sight!

Well, we got home and unpacked the grocery bag. Much to my mom's horror, we did not bring home Mazola. She hit the roof and demanded this "crap" be returned and replaced with Mazola. We lost the battle. My dad gave in and off to the store he went to return the Imperial. Needless to say, Carol and I were not happy. The crown that was so close, was now completely out of reach.

He did try in so many ways to make us happy (even if my mom didn't approve). I miss my dad, but am happy for the time that I had him in my life. I also respect the fact that no matter how tough it may have been to provide for a family (and yes, my mom worked too), no matter how much he may have wanted to split (he said there were times) or how much he may have wanted to slap me for mouthing off (oh yeah, often), he stuck it out and did the best he could! What more could you ask for?

Happy Father's Day, guys! I share this so that you may understand that the little things you do, really ARE meaningful. You don't have to buy your kid a car to be special (unless you've raised a monster of course). I raise my glass to you and wish you a wonderful day!

Happy Easter, and...

To some, Easter is the rebirth of Christ. To some it is the rebirth of the Earth and renewal of the inhabitants of the Earth. Either way, I can't help but wonder what Easter (or any holiday for that matter) may have meant to my grandmother while she was locked up in the system. I personally like the idea of rebirth and change but could Lola ever have that? A depressed woman lost touch (possibly) with her family and basically had nothing. She spent the last 24 years of her life in the system. I wonder what hope she may have felt. I wonder just how many of her family members and friends (religious or not) ever bothered to pay her a visit. Was she someone that could handle a visit? I don't know and this is something I am now trying to find out.

From the records I now have, I know that her whereabouts do not jive with what I was told. My dad mentioned that the last time he saw her (at the urging of his first wife) she was at Norwalk State Hospital. Based on the timing of my dad's first marriage, Lola was not in Norwalk, but Camarillo. Why did my dad say she Norwalk? I don't know and now I cannot ask him. I know this was painful for him and, therefore, something he wouldn't speak much of. I also now know that depression is no big deal (unless you're living with it) yet in the 1930s was enough to change the course of one's life depending on one's ability to cope with the condition. In many cases, including Lola's, you could be locked up and untreated. Once released, it just possibly got worse and ruined relationships with family and friends (again, based on ability to cope) and that was during a time when these rather common conditions were not so common and rather unsavory, and a time when this was just rather shameful and not talked about.

Valentine's Day...Already?

Wasn't it just Christmas? Where does the time go? It seems I barely got the tree and decorations put away and now heart shaped boxes filled with chocolate are everywhere.

I thought I should attempt to do some pieces with a holiday flavor, so I made Love Cat kind of with a Valentine feel (sort of) but thought I should do another one. I got a great little book called "Art at The Speed of Life". It is very inspiring. When I first got the book, it just sort of fell open to the page with a technique called Paint-Over, by artist, Lisa Bebi. I really liked the look. Basically, you take a photograph, enlarge it and make a photocopy and play.



I used both fluid acrylics (dry and watered down) and full bodied acrylics. I wasn’t too happy with the way the full bodied acrylics were more opaque than I wanted, but I thought the colors worked well.



I then decided to do the same picture again, and this time I used only fluid acrylics. Well, I like the transparency of the second project much better, yet prefer the overall color of the first one.



I want to experiment more with the technique as I have had a “series” in my head for a few months now and I think this is the technique for that series of prints. Better yet, I think I should take one of Lisa's paint over workshops! She teaches in Southern California. The series in my head lends itself well to my genealogy journey and the search for Lola. I have all the old family photos that are just begging for a new life.

If you're in the mood to make some fabulous holiday gifts for loved ones, check out The Crafty Chica's blog for great ideas and tutorials!

Thanksgiving and Black Friday

Happy Thanksgiving! I do love this holiday as it is always a nice time to visit with family, friends and enjoy a good feast. I started prepping my food Wednesday night so that I wouldn't have much to but pop things in the oven on Thursday. With the exception of running out of maple syrup and running to the market on Thursday, the plan worked out pretty good.

I have my mom here for the holiday week. She is getting more forgetful and confused, even by her own admission. The other night she asked my younger sister if she was 58! My sis nearly shit bricks. The next morning, my mom did laugh about how she got so confused and thought my sister was 58.

After the big feast, my friend and I stepped outside to cut glass. She is quite good at it and I'm not, so I wanted a lesson. She will be back on Sunday and we will cut more glass and solder some charms!

I didn't have any overnight guests (besides my mom) and the dinner guests left rather early. That allowed me to crash at a decent hour in order to rise early for the Black Friday sales. I got up about 5:30 this morning, brushed my teeth and washed my face. Put on some foundation and concealer and threw on some clothes. Anyone that knows me, knows that that is for the most part, an impossible task. I never get ready for anything that fast, let alone go out in public without my make-up. I did apply some eyeliner and lip gloss in the car.

My sister and I made the trip to Staples, arriving there around 6:30. She was in need of a laptop and I wanted a Flip Video Camera. We lucked into great parking and walked right into the store. It wasn't too terribly crowded and my sister ran straight to a line she saw at the Easytech portion of the store. We read the sign and learned that you had to have vouchers if you were in that line. I walked to a sales associate and asked about that. She checked what was left and did have one for the Flip camera but not the laptop. I told my sis and she looked disappointed. Suddenly one of the Easytech guys came up and asked if we had any questions. We did and told him about the voucher issue. When my sister told him which laptop she wanted, he told her there was one voucher left and got it for her.

It was very well organized and the staff was extremely helpful and calm. We were in and out of Staples in under an hour! Once home, I had some much needed coffee and played around with the camera. Then I got busy taking pictures of some of my prints so that I can finally list items in my Etsy shop!



I opened the shop over a year ago and that was the extent of it. So today, I uploaded the shop banner and avatar and worked on the shop policies. I also did a few other things as well, like starting a new mixed media painting, but, I'd say that completely consumed my day and now as I type this, still no items have yet been listed. The goal is list some things THIS weekend.

Happy Veterans Day

Happy Veterans Day! I, like so many people, have veterans in my life, my mom and my dad for example. Plus friends, cousins, uncles, aunts, nieces, nephews, colleagues, and so on. These brave people put me to shame as I never had it in my to enlist. Of course, I'm too old now, but when I wasn't, the thought of that level of discipline was a huge turn off.

Back in my younger days, my mouth would have landed me in Guantanamo the minute an authority figure ripped the sheets and blankets off of my bed when the quarter didn't bounce off of it! Some people join because they need that level of discipline and some of us shy away because we don't know that we might benefit from that discipline. Others though, didn't have the luxury of NOT enlisting. I admire those that make such a commitment. I know many that did (whether voluntarily or not) that did benefit from their service. Many of my contemporaries didn't see war, luckily, but got much value out of their time enlisted - they saw the world, learned responsibility, and much more.

To all the men and women that have served, whether by choice or not, I salute you! Thank you for your service.

Lazy Weekend

A lazy weekend indeed. I think it was necessary after the stress of the holidays! Did some of my on-line class, talked to my mom and one of my friends. Read a lot! Slept in. Nice.

That was yesterday. Today, I slept in and ventured out to go on a spending spree. Started with Borders Books. Love that place. I get these fun discount coupons weekly and, being a book junkie, I find it nearly impossible to pass the discounts up. So, at Borders, searching through the Arts and Crafts books, I came across an obviously misplaced book. Surely this must have been meant for me to find. It fits right in with my 2010 goal of being a better housekeeper. Plus, the graphics in this book and on the cover are just so fab! The book I picked up is called "No-Hassle House Cleaning". I can't wait to dive into that. I really need to do some house cleaning as I have friends coming next weekend. We will be going on a scandal-filled bus tour of the West Adams district of LA. This will be followed by food, fun and revelry at my hopefully clean house.



I also went to Fresh & Easy, Trader Joe's and Target to spend even more money. Since all the local weather reports said the upcoming week of pretty much non-stop rain was not starting until tonight, I ventured out on this spending spree without my umbrella or raincoat. It's a damn good thing I don't bother spending lots of time blow drying my hair into a straight style of some sort since the clouds opened up early and the drops of rain began to fall!

When I got home I decided I wanted to make not one, but two dishes. New vegetarian recipes I came across. Both recipes contain red lentils. I should add that the house smells really good.

One is a red lentil and barley casserole



and the other is a red lentil and artichoke stew



Funny (or maybe sad) how the weekends just fly by. Tomorrow, I begin a new work schedule at the day job. It's called the 9/80 work week. This basically means, you work 9 hour days Monday through Thursday, 8 hours on Friday, repeat Monday through Thursday the following week, and then have that Friday off! I can't wait. I think my first assignment for the off Friday will be to have the landlord replace my archaic electric stove top. Said stove top, completely shut off while I was sauteeing onions and carrots for the casserole. A cooks worst nightmare. Who's idea was it to make electric stove tops anyway? Surely, not a cook.

Holiday 2009

Well, it appears I took a break from the blog. It wasn't intentional as I've developed a real love of the blog thing. It was just a very hectic and busy holiday around here.

We used to spend Christmas at my parents' house, but since my dad passed away in 2005, my mom has spent holidays at the cat house. I made the 99 mile trek to the high desert to pick up my mom so that she would be here for Christmas. She ended up getting sick. One morning she got up sounding congested and it quickly got worse. Since she is on various meds, I called her doctor's office to find out what I could get her over the counter that would be safe. I explained to the receptionist that my mom was with me (99 miles away from them), she was sick, and that I wanted to know what over the counter cold medication would be safe for her to take that would not cause problems or clash with her medication.



The receptionist asked me for the pharmacy phone number. I immediately thought that was odd, but I googled it and read the number to her. I told myself that she was going to call the pharmacy to confirm the meds and check safety issues, and she did say she'd call me back. Well she did call me back. Not with any OTC recommendations, but to let me know I gave her the wrong phone number for the pharmacy! OK. At this point I'm pretty convinced I caught them during their drinking holiday lunch party or something.

This time I googled CVS and clicked on "store locator" and gave the receptionist that number, telling her exactly how I found it (a technique that might be useful to her in the future). It was still striking me as odd that I'm looking up the pharmacy phone number for the doctor's office. The same pharmacy my mom has gone to for years to pick up the multitude of medication prescribed by the very doctor that this very receptionist works for. Needless to say, this was the last I heard from the receptionist.

I am a long time vegan, as is my younger sister. I learned to cook when I made the choice to change my diet as vegan options were slim in those days. I love cooking and sharing vegan meals with my veg and non-veg friends and family. On Christmas eve day, I left work early and began cooking my holiday food. My mom, sister and I were going to my older sister's house for Christmas dinner, and were following that up with a holiday dinner visit with close friends in Palm Springs the day after. As I didn't care to spend both days in the kitchen, I decided to prepare everything on Christmas eve. By the time I was ready to turn in for the night, my mom was not sounding good at all. The congestion was bad, her cheeks were flaming red and she was very weak. I made her a cup of hot water with lemon juice and honey (my mom is not a vegan) and she drank that and went back to sleep.

In the morning she got up and we had our gift exchange. She didn't feel that great and went back to bed. I checked on her in the early afternoon, asking her how she felt and if she wanted to get up and get ready to go for dinner. She didn't as she just felt so bad. Sadly, we had to cancel the holiday dinner and reschedule our visit with my sis and her family for this coming weekend.



I did run out to Rite Aid and Vons on Christmas day to get my mom Vicks VapoRub, juice, crackers, Vitamin C and zinc lozenges. That was all I felt safe getting since the doctor's office just blew me off. I should also add that with the stress of my mom being sick, my fear of unintentionally harming her, the busy end of year work load, and just the "hecticness" (did I just make up a word?) of the holiday, I never thought to take mom's bag of meds with me to Rite Aid so that I could ask the pharmacist what was safe to get. Ugh.

The day after Christmas, also known in the UK as Boxing Day, my mom felt better. Nowhere near 100%, but much better than the day before. She wanted to get out of the cat house and go for the holiday visit with our friends in Palm Springs. Off we went, car packed full of gifts and vegan holiday food - marinated tofu, vegan scalloped potatoes, vegan green bean casserole, tofu pumpkin pie and the world's BEST sweet potato casserole! Probably about half way into our two hour commute, she got sick to her stomach. Luckily my sister carries plastic shopping bags in her car and was able to hand one to my mom when she announced she was going to get sick.

We got to PS and had our gift exchange and my mom then went to sleep in my friend's guest room for a few hours. We did manage to have a wonderful visit and my dear friend, Kevin, got me the most FAB gift - wonderful vintage reindeer Christmas lights!



Then came the two hour trek from Palm Springs back to the cat house. We made it and began lugging all the bags of goodies, gifts and now empty Pyrex dishes from the car to the house. My sister was leading the way, loaded down with bags. My mom was in front of me carrying her beautiful wreath that Kevin made her, climbing up the steps of the concrete walkway. I was behind my mom, loaded down with bags, when she suddenly lost her balance and fell sideways! I screamed, "oh my God!" and dropped my bags. My sister came running back and we helped my mom up. She was okay and had not hurt herself, thank God! We got mom in and settled her on the couch with a glass of wine and kitties sitting with her.

I ended up taking my mom home on Monday since Sunday traffic was absolute gridlock. We had to stop at her pharmacy to pick up the two refills I called in. When we got there, the pharmacist informed us that there were four things to pick up. No, we only called in two. Turns out the doctor's office called in prescriptions for an antibiotic and some drug to break up the congestion! I hit the roof. I thought I was clear when I had called the doctor's office the week before saying she was with me in LA and asking for guidance on what OTC meds she could have. Sigh. All I can say is I love the holidays, but I'm so very glad this one is over. I'm also glad that my mom is now slowly feeling better.