Sunrise Sunset

Hello friends. What a week it has been. I hope yours has been much better. I am sorry that it has been a bit quiet here on the blog but as Dolly Parton says, I haven’t had time to scratch.

Last Saturday, eleven days ago to be exact, my little mother in law fell. We got the call from the Assisted Living Village, where she lives, around noon on Saturday. My husband and I were on our way to Lowe’s to pick out a new refrigerator and stove and have a late Valentine’s Day lunch. So we were actually already in town. They told us they thought she had broken her leg.

An ambulance was called and we spent several hours at our local hospital ER. After doing X-Rays and a CT scan they told us nothing was broken and she was just bruised up. She was sent back to the assisted living village.

She was in more pain than ever the next day and the village called for a mobile X-ray unit. They discovered that her hip had a fracture. The same hip she broke in 2018. We then spent several hours back at our local ER for more images. They confirmed the fractured hip and referred us to The University of Tennessee Hospital in Knoxville. She was taken by ambulance. This was around 2:00 AM on Monday morning. I was told that the check in process in Knoxville would take several hours. I ran home to get a bag to take with me. I got to the hospital a short while after the ambulance. It was about 4:30 AM. We waited ten hours to get a hospital room. It was a nightmare. The ER was packed.

After consulting with the surgeons and the ER doctor we decided against the surgery. She doesn’t walk now and they knew and we knew she couldn’t and wouldn’t do the therapy. The pain would be handled with medication.

In the last six months my husband and I have watched her decline quickly. After being put in the hospital it was worse. She doesn’t know us most of the time. She won’t eat. A lot is going on. Thursday we were ready to have her moved to a full care facility. Transport had been called and she was given a Covid test. She tested positive for Covid. WHAT??? I felt so sorry for her. So she is still in the hospital. She will probably be there for a while. The full care facility will not take her until ten days after testing positive for Covid. Things are not looking good.

This is me and my little mother in law on. Valentine’s Day. I was able to visit her and eat lunch with her.

So this last week has been a whirl wind of hospital and work for me and my husband. There is no one else to help. My husband’s only brother passed away last July. His mom was an only child so it is just the two of us. We have either been at the hospital or work almost every day since this happened. The first two days she was in the hospital I took off from work and stayed with her all day leaving her only at night. I packed a bag with lots of books and knitting and anything else I thought I would need.

I stayed at home all day yesterday and caught up on laundry and just a lot of things that needed attention. It was good to be at home. I know Gus has missed us being at home he has been extra loving to us. It’s funny how animals always seem to know when you need some extra attention. The other cats have been their same aloof selves.

A lot of things happened in the last couple of weeks and I will catch up on all of them in a future post. My blog turned six years old. The Anniversary of my husband’s kidney transplant was last Saturday. It has been 13 years. We named the kidney Baby Kay. Since we don’t have children and the kidney did belong to me for many years we decided to name her. So Baby Kay officially turned 13 and is now a teenager. If you would like to read more about the kidney transplant you can find it in a previous blog post here

The reason I named this post Sunrise Sunset is because the sun was usually rising about the time that I got to the hospital to be with my mother in law and then setting when I started for home. The hospital is an hour and fifteen minutes from where we live. I think during times of stress and worry it helps to appreciate the little things that are really quite beautiful things.

A couple of sunset pictures.

Daffodils are starting to pop up everywhere.

The daffodils are blooming and spring is in the air. Of course with our crazy East Tennessee weather it could be snowing next week. I hope you are having a great start to your week.

Always remember

Love your day your way!!!!

Pound Cake and Some Thrift Store Finds – Hello Monday!!!

Hello and happy Monday how was your weekend? It rained all weekend and most of today. But at the end of the day the clouds suddenly parted and the sun came out. It was a nice surprise. 

Over the weekend I decided to bake a pound cake in my bundt pan. I have had this pan for years. It weighs a ton. I got it from my husband’s grandmother. I haven’t used it for a long time. I got the pan out, it is cast iron, greased it really well and made my cake. I decided for extra moistness I would add an additional egg, some extra butter, and a little extra water to the mix.

Oh I forgot to mention it also stuck to the pan.

At first all looked well. The cake rose beautifully, even though my oven is somewhat on its last legs, and that may be what I am getting for Valentine’s Day. I know, so romantic. But when I took the cake out it seemed to deflate. It sunk down to about half the height that it was. But it tasted great anyway. I think adding all the extras was probably a little too much. In the past I have added a couple of things but it was probably a little too much at one time.

On Saturday I visited a couple of thrift stores in search of some bottles for my bottle tree. I didn’t have any luck. I had ordered a few extra from Amazon and I put those on the tree. Even though I didn’t find any bottles I did find a few other things that I just couldn’t seem to pass up.

I still have several stems for bottles. I will continue my search. I think that will be half the fun.

First, this purse. I just love it. The tag had spring purse on the label. I found it at a local antique mall. The booth was a new one with a lot of great stuff. The purse is brand new. I don’t think it would hold a lot of things but it will be perfect for spring and summer. It’s also quite large. It may make a good knitting bag.

Next, A few weeks ago I bought these green glass bottles and this week I found the little glass flowers. I think they go great together.

I bought this book by Beverly Cleary. I had so many of her books growing up. I still have a lot of them. This is one I didn’t have so I was so happy to get it.

Next, I love this little yellow McCoy bowl. I will probably save it to give as a Birthday gift to someone. I actually bought it with them in mind.

And finally look at these stickers. I don’t know about where you are from but stickers are big now. We sell a lot of them in our gift shop at work. I work with a lot of young people. They will love these. All of these stickers came in a small pack for $1.00. There are ten different stickers in each pack!!! I bought three packs because I didn’t really know if they were stickers. They are, and I plan to give them out to our team members. I will go back and get more of these.

Look at the lake at our house. Because of all the rain over the weekend the lake rose quickly and it is really muddy.

I leave you with a picture of my little Izzy. She is so adventurous and a scaredy cat at the same time. She is mama cat’s favorite of the outside kitties. But you didn’t hear that from me.

Izzy

Have a wonderful week!!!!!

Always remember

Love your day your way!!!!

Sunday Morning Coffee Share

Happy Sunday!! Come in and share a nice hot cup of coffee or maybe some hot tea or a cup of hot chocolate. It is a rainy cool day here.

If we were having coffee today I am sure we would talk about the weather. It has been rainy all weekend. We do need rain in our area so that is not a bad thing. The temps have actually been quite nice. I would also offer you a piece of pound cake that I made yesterday. It rose nicely and looked so pretty when I took it out of the oven. But then it just sort of sank. That’s ok it still tastes delicious.

If we were having coffee today I would tell you that I visited a couple of thrift shops yesterday. Even in the driving rain it was still a nice adventure. I would show you this lovely yellow McCoy bowl that I bought. I just love yellow. I also bought an old book by Beverly Cleary. I read all of her books when I was a kid and still have several.

I didn’t have this one and actually got it for .50. It was half off.

If we were having coffee I would tell you that my big boy Gus is feeling much better. He was not feeling well earlier in the week. If you missed that post you can check it out here. It makes me so happy that he is back to his old self.

If we were having coffee I would look around and point out that my orchids are mostly dormant right now. This is a trying stage for any orchid mom. It makes you wonder if they will ever bloom again. I know they will, I just have to be patient. I am recording everything in my orchid journal so that when this happens I will know it is just temporary.

If we were having coffee we would probably discuss the fact that spring will be here soon. What new plants will you buy? Will you have a garden? We usually have just a few tomato plants. I am excited to see green trees and flowering plants. I hope to add several things to my yard this year.

If we were having coffee I would show you the book I am currently reading. The Shell Seekers. It is a big book, over 600 pages. It will take me a while to read this one. It is a classic and I have had it for a long time and am just getting to it.

If we were having coffee we would discuss the upcoming week. Valentine’s Day is Wednesday. Will you do anything special? I am going to the assisted living center where my mother in law lives. They are having a special Valentine’s Day luncheon and family members are invited. My husband works almost an hour away and cannot get there for lunch. I told her I was coming and she seemed happy. She may have forgotten all about it when I show up Wednesday but that is ok. She is 90. I will take her some chocolates and a Valentine.

It has been wonderful chatting and sharing coffee and cake with you. If we were having coffee what would you share with me?

Always remember

Love your day your way!!!

I am linking up with Natalie The Explorer over at Weekend Coffee Share you can check out hers and some other posts here #Weekend Coffee Share