Bruce's Birthday

Monday Bruce was really stiff and it took an hour of stretching and ranging before he was able to stand. He tightens up like that after a night of spasms.

  Tuesday went to an estate sale in Summerville with Carma and found a few fun items. I have been collecting vintage embroidery to put in a quilt. I really appreciate the hand work and people don't use the dresser linens any more. Then we stopped at the second hand store behind Bronson lumber and then to Mac D's for a healthy mango/pineapple smoothie. Thank you for a morning off!

   Pool time on Wednesday Bruce was very stiff and not able to push off the side of the pool. He asked if he could march in place and he did that, then he wanted to do a step up on the step in the pool and with assistance he did that.

  Bruce and Duncan went to the urologist in Baker and Bruce was given a clean bill of health for his kidneys. All the medication had side effects and that has disappeared! Yeah!

  I went to a pot luck with some friends. I took a blueberry cream pie with graham cracker crust I found from my Cat Who Mystery Cookbook. There was enough left over for the boys and Bruce.

  Thursday was Bruce's birthday. He is 64 years young. We went to lunch at the Sub shop. They have a back door entrance with a nice ramp. Trouble was a car was parked there. Kathy got the young girl to move her car. I had the chicken fajita salad, Andrew met us there and he and Duncan had the 12 inch subs, Bruce had a half a sub sandwich. Andrew took half a day off, Goss Motors is very kind to let him have days off. Bruce then went to therapy and after therapy we, Andrew, Bruce and I went to the movies. We saw Zootopia, there were only about 20 people in the theatre, we laughed out loud, it was a delightful movie. Andrew liked the sloths the best.

  Bruce has added another chore to his list. He can snap up his pants and hang them on a hanger in the closet. This evening he tried to put the trash can by the road for the truck. He could do it with assistance. He couldn't turn the can around without it dumping on him so his assistant Duncan did the turning. He folds his own towels now and sometimes puts the silverware away. He is in charge of his medication and changes out his weekly pill box by himself. 

   They are teaching Bruce to put on his socks and sandles, so with assistance he tries that every now and then.

Quilt Show

   On Tuesday Bruce had three therapists working with him trying to fix the uneven hip joints. He now has exercises showing him how to increase the strength in his right hip. 

   At pool on Wednesday Bruce was holding weights so he could stand evenly. A weight on one side made him stand up with hips alined. And he did it without a neck brace.

  Finished the binding on two quilts and tied the minion lap quilt. It is bright.

Wednesday made dinner for Rosala, she is ill, tried a new recipe, shouldn't do that to others, just stick to barbecue sauce. 

    On Friday we set up the quilt show at the church. We had a lot of help so it went fast. Saturday we had 98 quilts and 84 people came. Next year's theme is log cabin. I already found some log cabin pincushions we can use for door prizes. 

My first chevron, yes the rows go up and down similar to my life instead of even ups and downs. It is the bright fabric of Kaffe Fawcett, I am stepping out of my comfort zone to use his line however I like the flowers and Bruce likes fish, who would have guessed they would go nicely in a quilt?

This quilt features the plus sign, reminds me of Tetris game.

This is falling squares with the minion fabric.

This is have square triangles. I couldn't resist, cheddar and indigo and the Scottish thistle for Bruce.

This is called coins, like coins stacked.

Its my therapy to do quilts. These are the finished results. I have ventured off rectangles and squares to triangles. I'm a big girl now. Ta da

 

Waiting for Spring

Bruce said he walked on his knees in pool time.

   Hokan has been coming over to dig up some lilies and Iris that have been overtaking Bruce's grapes. It is a muddy wet job. He is raising money for spring wrestling. Thank you for the hard work. 

  On Monday, Teija brought over some wonderful chicken, taters and carrot stew and for dessert there was ice cream chosen by her son, Carson, 3, who likes the Neapolitan flavor.

   Wednesday we ate at the spaghetti feed Angel fundraiser at the high school. There were a lot of people there. Bruce had fun talking to all his friends at school. We gave Rosala and Debbie a week off.

   Thursday Amy brought over my favorite dish in the whole world, crispy chicken, a fresh green salad with avocado and a red jello cake with strawberries. I grew up in Virginia and KFC crispy chicken style is my choice for my birthday dinner! You read my mind.

   I picked up my costumes from Amal and the Night visitors. I gave one outfit to Bro. Hawks, he likes to dress up as a shepherd at Christmas time to deliver gifts to the families he visits from the church, a clever idea and going the extra mile. The rest I will donate to the Seventh Day Adventist church for their yearly gift to the community of the nativity. Seems people wear the costumes home and some are not returned. Some costumes are getting older and worn out too. They need a costume Nazi...

  I worked on the Quilt Quester's yearly challenge. It is a panel that needs embroidery work. It is from Aunt Ruthie's Farm Stand.

  Bruce had spasms for about half an hour this morning around five, his legs just shake and fall off the bed. Yes, we push his legs over on the bed but each spasm moves his legs, sometimes they go up in the air and sometimes they jerk around. Will need a nap today.

   Bruce's standing goals have changed, he is having difficulties with his hips, one is higher than the other. They do stretches to get him straightened out. 

    At night Relief Society (church women's meeting) we learned how to stay spirituality strong. Trouble is when times get tough, no matter how many trials you can handle, you turn to Christ and he answers by sending family, friends and neighbors. 

   We also learned how to give a massage. Pain/body aches is an outward manifestation of inward turmoil. The philosophy of the day .25 please.

   

Dan and Heidie Arrive

We had a pretty good week. I didn't have any melt downs and didn't snap at Bruce, at least he didn't say anything to me.

So probably something will happen this week. 

I got another quilt top cut out and will sew on it this week. I hope.

Haven't heard if Dan and fam will come tomorrow or not. Trying to clean up slow and steady today. 

 A lady came to church that we have been working with. She read a scripture, made comments and answered questions.

I finished my two quilting murder mysteries. they were fun 

  A family came and pruned the cherry trees and the apricot for us. They said they were the best cherries, better than the stores. They will come back later and do the peach, apple and raspberries. They have to wait for the raspberries to turn green to be able to cut out the dead canes. Bruce is pleased. I got to watch Garfield the movie with them.

Sonnet came and walked the dog. 

Monday - Bishop Huntsman came over to get a Prince Charming costume. He is taking the girls to a dance tomorrow. I charge cookies now since I have 'closed' the shop.

  Went to Gary's house to pick up some fabric he was giving away. Rosala went with me. It was mostly very nice tapestry fabric for curtains. Rosala kept an alphabet panel for a baby quilt and some flannel. I kept some gorgeous red fabric for pillows. The rest will go to UFO for the ladies to use in projects. Thank you for thinking of us 

Gary, may your heart heal. 

Thursday - Our son, Dan, his wife, Heidie and two daughters have arrived. We are watching the Minions movie. We went to pumpkin park and took family pictures this morning. Dan and Heidi had a wedding photo taken there so they do family photos there now.

  Got another blue and white jelly roll so will have something for a SR quilt next year. 

Andrew took the day off work to spend time with the fam.

   A pink and purple stained glass four patch, Princess quilt. Coralee likes purple and took this home with her. She made her own sandwich, and helped her dad make the sprinkle cake! It was a full two days, we were worn out. 

 Friday - We all went out to eat plus Carol cause Dan wanted to catch up with her. We went  to Asian Fusion, Bruce gets curry, I got pad tai and the rest ordered  sweet and sour, rice and other yummy stuff. This weeks goal was to stop eating when you feel full. I just had a little more on my plate and didn't want to toss it. Oh well I will do better.

 Dan baked a cake and iced it so the boys are eating it and I had a small piece and then I kept slicing more small pieces. See how bad I am? It was a good cake.

  A man, Michael came over and wanted to rent my white fur cape. He is a photographer and has rented stuff before. He is doing a series of photos with young women called "dangerous curves" they are modest photos with women in dresses holding dangerous weapons. So his idea is to put this six foot eleven inch girl in a white dress with the white cape and a necklace on her forehead standing in the snow holding two crossed Bowie knives with 10 inch blades. His first photo was his granddaughter with a gun. If he can come up with twelve ideas he wants to do a calendar. His name is Michael Bove, he is Mary Lu Pierce's significant other. She worked at the middle school. He entered pictures of his ballerinas in the fair and won a ribbon last year. He did ballerinas with different backgrounds in Oregon instead of in a dance studio where you normally see them.

  I think he should do older women quilting. Tired, worn out faces tell a story them selves. But they don't sell calendars. Maybe with a quilt in unusual backgrounds...

  Bruce and I went to see My Fair Lady at the opera house yesterday. It was well done. Eliza's voice was amazing. They had a barbershop with Ivan Hibbert that was fun. They had rented the black/white costumes and the ball gowns, they were perfect and made the show. Ken Wheeler was Eliza's father Alfie Doolittle and did a roaring good drunk. Bruce got to talk to Michael Frazier and catch up with him. His wife had breast cancer and is recovering from that. Man, we all have troubles. 

  Rosala gave me a fleece blanket for the back of the chevron baby quilt so when I get it tied we will take it to Erica. 

 Well this turned into an epistle. Bruce stood up for 3 min and 45 seconds this week. He has had terrible spasms and his leg has fallen off the bed every early morning this week. (Usually around 5 am) I do not like interrupted sleep. I tend to snap at people and look grumpy. How do people hide their lives on their faces? 

  We figure it is the therapy making the muscles kick in so that is a good thing.

  

He Almost Took a Step

   Bruce almost took a step yesterday. He had three helpers. He shifts his weight to his left foot and they had a slippery pad under his right foot and he was ready to slide forward and his leg with all his weight on it crumbled. His legs aren't strong enough to support all his weight. I am sure they will try again. 

  I got some chocolate fabric. It is a layer cake with different kinds of chocolate on the fabric. They suggest Christmas pkgs for the pattern and I will use turquoise fabric for the ribbons with flannel on the back. Can't wait to snuggle with it. 

  The rear view mirror came off the van. I got some glue to fix it. Duncan hasn't glued it yet. Now we will have to wait until it gets warm to try it again. The nice man at the auto parts store said several people had bought glue, he thinks it is the hot/cold weather making the mirrors fall off.

  Bruce has an ingrown toenail. We have been soaking it twice a day. He will see the dr tomorrow.

  

 I did order a new organizing book, (going to have to organize them) the Magic of Tidying Your Home by a Japanese lady. She says to roll your socks and they will be happy. So I went through Bruce's socks and rolled them, now we have happy socks... She says to Get rid of everything that doesn't bring you joy. She cleans by item, like all clothes, all books, etc. I will have fun reading the book.

   Meg is coming over today to prune the peach tree. Bruce would like the raspberries done if they know how too.

  I went to the nice dentist, no cavities 

   Bruce and Andrew were going to go to the high school bb game and Bruce couldn't get his debit card to work. They tried calling me and as usual I didn't have my cell phone with me. It turned out to be an exciting game. They want to go to the girls home game this week. They watched Glory Road instead, a bb movie.

   

A New Challenge

   Bruce is on level 5 on the step bike. Oops change that, they are having him step as fast as he can and he said it wore him out. He went back down to a level four. It makes the lef spasm return.

  Tuesday Bruce wanted to try the slide board at the end of the bed. It was harder than he thought. It is up hill and he didn't have his left arm brace on. We did it, it took longer than the sling and lift. We will get faster.

   At pool time the two aides asked Bruce to try walking without the neck float support. He said it made it harder, but he liked the challenge. The aides were concerned if Bruce loses his balance, he could fall forward or backward and not recover so they only will try that when they have two to work with him. Bruce was able to walk around the pool four times. He did sit to stands, and push off the side of the pool. He complains they don't do enough warm ups. 

  Rosala and Debbie once again outdid themselves with dinner. We enjoyed KFC with homemade tater salad, baked beans, orange slices and a still warm lemon meringue pie. Thank you ladies. You are spoiling us.

  Wednesday night Bruce had leg spasms again, twice, we were both calm and I didn't snap at him. I was able to place his leg back on the bed without any problems. We had Duncan put the bed rail together and Bruce decided he didn't want it on the bed, it would ruin the mattress. We will order a standing one that is removable.

   Thursday Bruce tried the slide board again. It goes a lot quicker than the lift and sling. E wore his arm brace.

   Friday PT worked with his left arm. They think they can get more out of it.

  We went on a field trip to the DMV. Bruce renewed his drivers license up to 2024 and we got a handicap accessible sign for that long too. We had to have a DRs signature. 

  Sonnet came twice this week to walk Hali our dog. Both like it. 

Saturday we went to the fundraiser pasta meal for the boy with a cancer tumor. Bruce got spaghetti and I got the chicken fettuccine. I liked the small bread sticks, have never seen them before, they could get addicting. It was good, Bruce had dessert, a slice of chocolate cake with white frosting. 

  Saturday night we took Andrew out to La Fiesta for his birthday dinner. I had a tostado salad with avocado and sour cream. So needless to say I ate way too much this day. 

Routine with Ups and Downs

It has been a busy week.

   Bruce has worked hard. Monday night he had a leg spasm and his leg fell off the bed. He yells at me to get his leg back on the bed. I am groggy and grumpy and he tells me not to snap at him. He asked for Tylenol because his shoulder hurt him. 

   Tuesday night his leg fell off the bed twice. He was nicer asking me to put his leg back on the bed for him. I guess we were expecting it so that helped. 

  Our health care provider found another bed frame to add to the side of the bed so his leg will stay on the bed. Trouble is it has to be removable so we can get him in and out of the bed with the sling. I saw one with legs that looks like it could slide under the mattress. 

   Pool time included Bruce walking on his knees and doing some standing. He was able to float on his back and do the bicycle kick. He was excited about that.

   Bruce has been able to get himself set up to use the urinal during the day. He uses it about five times a day. So the more he does the less we do. It takes about 15 min every time. We help him by emptying the urinal, putting his leg back on the pedal and re affixing the tabs on the attends. He has no feeling in his fingertips and it is difficult to get the tabs back in the right places so one of us, Duncan or I get him fixed up. One more step toward independence. We have to stop what we are doing to help him and sometimes it is annoying. Some days we don't begin a project until he is taken care of. Our lifestyles revolve around him. It is a personal encounter so only family can do this. Or a health care person could do it but what would they do every two hours? 

   It is the end of the week and he hasn't had any more leg cramps. good. We figure his leg muscles are starting to work again, they are firing up and he is getting spasms. 

   We got a heart attack this week! Thank you activity day girls (ages 8 - 11) for thinking of us!

  I saw a movie preview called Me Before You and liked the previews. I got the book out of the library. It is about a handsome, rich 35 year old business man that is in a motorcycle accident and ends up a quadriplegic C5 C6 like Bruce only his recover is just minor movement in one arm. He is able to move his motorized wheelchair with his fingers after two years. His mother hires this energetic young woman to care for him. So this is my review. 

   The book gives a lot of insight into the life of a spinal cord injury person. It talks of the anger and frustration Will has to deal with as his whole lifestyle was very physical. I felt the story gave insights to what a quad has to deal with, but it left out shifting weight during the day. I liked that it talked about people feeling sorry for a quad and talking down to some one in a wheelchair. I did not like all the f bombs. I do not like stories with rape violence in them. It is sweet love story with the My Fair Lady theme (Pygmalion) for Louisa to change and grow but Will did not come to terms with his life and his choices would not be our choices. It includes right to die issues and overcoming sexual violence and not letting one nights events govern your lifestyle. Seems to me what happened Louisa was devastating and I would have curled up in the fetal position. Will was giving her experiences and showing her what the world had to offer as she wanted to be safe and not leave her hometown. I think the negative outweighs the positive in the book and wouldn't recommend it to read.