Visiting Mom

This has been a great week.

Monday Tom and I left early in the morning to drive to Miranda's.  We stopped at Deborah' for a short visit and hugs from the grand kids who were not at school. And we got to Miranda's about noon.

Tom and Dan wanted to change out the french doors to a sliding glass door-- so the kids could step onto a mat before tracking dirt into the house.  And the french door scraped the mat away when it opened. So they set to work on that, while Miranda and I went to 1/2 of 1/2 for some therapeutic shopping.  I'm still mourning the loss of some of my clothes that got bleach spilled on them accidentally.  But I found some nice replacements.

The men worked well and the door was in place by the time we got back home.

I was impressed that Miranda's chickens were bigger than mine.  I wonder if that's because they only had chicken starter and mine often feasted on the hen's layer pellets. She was getting eggs!  However, on Tom's return home, he reported that we were beginning to get some small eggs, too.

Tuesday Tom took me to the airport to fly to Mom's.  It was an uneventful trip and Cynthia and Jim picked me up and delivered me to Mom's.

I've been trying to get up early and do some work to get a head-start on the day.  Actually, it hasn't been hard.  I woke up at 4:30 one morning and have been waking up before 6am most days.  I figure if I never get used to California time it will easier to adjust when I go home.

Mom had doctor's appointments on Wednesday and Thursday.  I was able to listen to my Clayton webinar on Thursday. Later that afternoon, mom was concerned about a possible UTI so we hustled to the lab and got there minutes before they closed.

Friday Mom arranged to have the florescent ceiling lights in the kitchen replaced with can lights. They had been buzzing and flickering and sometimes taking minutes to come on.  So this was a great excuse.  We now have a slightly recessed ceiling with crown molding and trim and four bright can lights that are 11 watts a piece.  Talk about saving electricity.  They also replace the hall can lights with these brighter, lower usage bulbs and holders.

We had to stay out of the kitchen, as it took about 7 hours to do. So what else could we do but go out to lunch.  Cynthia and Regina (a friend of mom's who lived above her for many years) went with us. we went to 19, a restaurant that overlooks the golf course.

That afternoon Tom called with the home inspection report for the new house.  It was better than I had expected.  Yes, there was a hole in the tub and rot underneath it.  But since we had already decided to update the bathroom and remove the tub it was not a big deal.  And we will have to do a few more things we hadn't expected to.  But the roof was in better condition than I had feared and the bay window leak may have a much simpler fix than we had thought.

Mom had wanted to go and tour the Braille Institute that just opened an office close by.  I found the postcard with the open house times about 3pm on Friday.  Open house went until 4.  Did mom want to go?  I thought for sure she'd put it off until next week.  But no, she called.  The said come on over!  So we dashed over.  There was no signage, so we wandered a bit, asked, and finally found them.They were delightful and explained all the services they offered.

Saturday Cynthia and I went to the Laguna Beach Sawdust festival.  It was really fun to wander around and see all the lovely things.  We just planned to look.  After all, we didn't need anything.  But Cynthia found a few things for gifts.  And as we passed a pretty wrapped jewelry place we commented on some pretty beads and not my color and soon we were chatting and the artist was making up a design that was my color... so what could I do?  I didn't just buy the pendant, I bought watching the artist create it and chatting with her and the memory of going to the festival with Cynthia.

 

Isabelle-  I took a picture of these purses.  They are made from lambskin and oh so light and soft! She said she was making herself a blanket from the lambskin to take camping.  she folded the skins very tightly and then dipped them in die to get sort of a geometric pattern in color on the hide.

 We stopped for lunch after only seeing maybe a quarter of the booths. But as we sat and ate and realized that we'd need to go and put more coins into the parking meter... we decide we'd enjoyed enough for one day. It was a very nice time.

That evening, we'd planned out Sunday's dinner, when Sally would come over... but not Saturday night's dinner.  I suggested In 'n Out burger.  Mom suggested Chinese.  She won. We went to a place she had not been for a long time.  The beef was very good.  The chicken? Meh.

Sunday I went to church with Mom.  Then Sally came down to visit.