Furlough

So I told her we were coming to Southwest Wisconsin to check on her progress since her open-heart surgery. Hey mom I said, you can come home from the nursing home for a short visit......"I can" she said!!!! We're calling it her furlough.

So we picked her up this morning around 11 am and then returned her around 7 pm tonight. I truly have to say this was the best Christmas eve for my family. To me, this was what Christmas is all about.

Becca made a delicious soup for lunch and then we made a special Christmas dinner tonight.....comfort food for my mama who has lost a lot of weigh! I made sure we stopped at the Viroqua Food Co-op to stock up on good fresh food for our meal preparations.

Yes, it was hard returning her to the nursing home tonight, but I assured her we will see her tomorrow before we take off for home. She badly wants to come home, so I told her to work especially hard next week during her therapy. She looked amazing today, and to think she had heart surgery two weeks ago. Her incision is healing beautifully, but is still dealing with edema in the legs. Recovery is rough, but she's a trooper (it's that polish blood I swear)!

No need for Christmas presents this year, just the basics for a happy holiday season.

Wishing all my blogger friends a very Merry Christmas.

Ice Tires

The studs are on.....thanks Bike man! If the snow holds off, we'll be able to ride the frozen lake real soon. Ice riding, that's what I call it........

Nordic

She said it's her Nordic jacket

Some people are just talented, it's in their blood. This former part-time employee of mine still comes to visit me at work, and recently she wanted to show me her latest creation. Besides making really cool denim skirts, Sam is now making sweater jackets. It takes her about two days to put together an adult size jacket like this one in the photo above. The coolest part is, all her sweaters she uses for making a jacket are bought at thrift shops. I believe she said it takes six sweaters to piece together a full length jacket. And to think she doesn't even use a pattern! People like her just amaze me.

Mom moo update: Hey, she called me at work today! Didn't recognize her voice, but she called me.....now that's the mama I remember!!! Physical therapy is still slow going, but they have her working hard to regain her strength. There's still other physical problems she's dealing with, but we are hoping that every day will get better and soon mom can come back home.

I'm Jealous

Honestly, I'm just drooling knowing that my daughter and her girlfriend had a 4 hour personal pastry class with the owner of Chez Arnaud French Bakery in Maple Grove, Minnesota. Apparently, Artena's mom and sister won this class in a contest and passed on this class opportunity to Becca and Artena.

On Saturday, the girls were taught how to make a Charlotte. A Charlotte is a mousse dessert made from whipped cream, homemade lady fingers and fruit. It's beautiful.

The girls were very impressed with the young french pastry chef who opened his bakery less than a year ago. Currently, his parents are visiting from France to help assist in making Yule Logs for Christmas. Check out the Chez Arnaud Bakery facebook page for lots of pictures of yummy french pastries and desserts.

French pastries and European breads spell "heaven" for me!

Visitors

The Son and Trisha visited this afternoon. Finally felt like a normal weekend. Trisha and I had fun learning how to use her new sewing machine, which happens to be a Christmas present from the Son. Since I learned to sew years ago in my teens, I passed on some helpful sewing techniques.

Of course we had help from the biggest cat. Why is it cats just feel the need to help out....or get in the way?

Lots of fun this afternoon just having the kids come and visit.

Lake Ice

(Look Jackie, lake ice!)

After being home for a couple days now, I was anxious to get back to some sort of exercise routine. Headed out for a run this afternoon since the roads are in perfect shape. It's hard to believe that it's December 17th and we have no snow here in Northwest Wisconsin......that's just weird! Heard the weatherman say yesterday it look likely that we will not have a white Christmas either. Wow

The cold nights have created enough lake ice to support ice fisherman and their four-wheelers. Not sure how much ice is out there, but I'm guessing it's around 6-8 inches of good solid ice. The lake has been freezing for a good three weeks (or more), so the ice is in good shape. I'm still really cautious, so I never venture out on the ice until after Christmas or after New Years when there is at least 12 inches of ice.

Bike man is excited about the lake ice condition and is already planning to put the studded tires on our bikes, especially if we don't receive any snow storms. The lake will be perfect for biking, not to mention a lot of FUN!

Mom moo update: it will be much harder for me to get updates on her medical conditions now that she is in the nursing home. I am mostly relying on my dad for updates, but plan to call my dad's cell phone daily and hope that he is there in the nursing home when I call. Mom doesn't have a phone in her room, so I think I'm having "mom" separation and just wish I didn't live so far away. And to think all those years she worried about me.......life is funny isn't it?

We Got This Far

Day ten......really bizzare! Will Shirley go home, or won't she? One doctor said no, one doctor said yes, one nurse said no, the social worker said maybe! For an hour and a half this morning, we didn't know what the heck was going on. When we finally were told my mom could be released from St. Mary's hospital, we honestly had less than one hour to get her ready for dismissal. I went into daughter mood and helped mom to the bathroom, then dad and I helped mom get real clothes on and then gathered up all her belongings in the hospital room.

With Bike man as our driver, it took us less than two hours to get to the local nursing home in Southwest WI. Mom will be staying at the nursing facility until she is strong enough to come home.

Bike man and I headed for home later this afternoon. After ten days helping my mom in the hospital, I'm having emotions of guilt leaving her at the nursing home. Of course I worry that they won't check on her enough, they won't give her hugs, they won't ask her how she's feeling and they won't encourage her to eat. Really missing my mama tonight.