Downside

The downside of radical feminism is that you have to do your own fetching and carrying. Not that I'm not capable of doing so. I'm just lazy.

Christmas

Honestly, just two days ago it was two weeks until Christmas, and now the last day to get packages delivered is FRIDAY. Thankfully, one gift has arrived and another has shipped and maybe, maybe, they'll be here on time. Yikes. What a nightmare. What was I thinking?

DH had been prodding me along, but I was busy y'know?

Tomorrow night is cub scouts (at least I'm prepared) but the house looks like it's been hit by a tornado and how did I spend the evening? Shopping (without a wallet - can't buy much without a wallet), then writing Christmas cards. The mind boggles.

Slammed

I just got slammed yesterday. Some day off!

About 6:30 a.m. my dad woke me up. My mother was having blurred vision, so the emergency squad was coming. I didn't understand what he was saying at first - he used the pronoun "she," so I had thought he meant my grandma (his mother), who is almost 97 and lives in an assisted living center nearby. No, he meant Mom. I kind of freaked out, then went out to try to help her be calm. The squad came, and I answered some questions and held her hands when they weren't occupied with being evaluated by the EMTs. She was very frightened. The squad took Mom, and Dad followed behind.

I showered and dressed and proceeded with my plan for the day. I drove to Washington Court House, about 35 miles south, and stayed with my grandkids in a hotel room while my daughter and son-in-law attended the pre-funeral viewing for his uncle; who was their beloved friend, and the kid's nanny. He had died last weekend and they didn't really want to take the kids to the viewing. I stayed with the kids to help out.

I took the kids to the funeral at 11:00, and stayed for the service. It was lovely. I may write more about it elsewhere.

On the way back to Columbus, I called my brother to see if he had heard anything about mom. He said no, so I told him what had happened. I told him I would keep him in the loop. I called my husband to fill him in on my morning and to have him look up a phone number for me on the internet. Then I called the phone number he gave me to tell them I was running late.

Several weeks ago, I had signed up to prepare Dream Dinners for my parents. Vegas Joe had tried out their web intro offer and thought it was a pretty neat service, so I decided to give it a try for mom & dad. My appointment was at 1:00; at 12:00 I was just leaving Washington Court House and still in my Sunday go-to-meeting clothes. I called the location to tell them I was running late; the owner said it was not a problem; she would look at my order and help me get it ready if I was short on time. When I got to Columbus, I drove through for lunch, then went to Mom & Dad's to change into play clothes.

While I was changing, Dad called with optimistic news. No evidence of another stroke! They were waiting for the results of an MRI; if it came back clear, they would be coming home. He asked me to go visit my grandma (his mother) later that afternoon.

I finished getting dressed, got on the road, and called my brother to give him an update. I got to the Dream Dinners kitchen about 1:45. I put the meals together. It was very relaxing after dashing around all morning. I modified the ingredients a bit to account for my parents' tastes - I left the mushrooms out of the Beef Carbonara, and packaged the broccoli for the baked chicken tetrazini separately, because Dad doesn't like broccoli. The whole thing took about an hour.

I went back to Mom & Dad's again. En route, I talked to my daughter, who wanted to know what was going on with her grandma (my mom) and whether they should still plan on staying the night. I told her she should just come over and we'd see when Dad called me back. When I arrived at my parents I unloaded the food and put it in the freezer. My daughter and her family arrived. During all the noise and commotion, I missed a call from my Dad. They were coming home!

I left to visit my grandma. Grandma is really, really old and her communication skills are not the greatest - she repeats herself a lot and has to pantomime some. She is very lucid and enjoys talking, though. She told me all about her daughter's visit and how her routines have changed since she had a fall a few months ago. It was really good to see her; I just can't get over how good she looks. At almost-97, she's the picture of health. She uses a walker, but just for balance; she doesn't lean on it at all.

Finally, about 5:00, I got back to Mom & Dad's and was able to stay put for the evening. It was a pretty busy night; but at least I got to stay in one place.

I noted several times yesterday how dependent I was on my cell phone; but also how much stress it added. Pre-cell phone, I would probably have fretted about all the news I was missing, but I wouldn't have been able to do anything about it. I was able to stay in touch with all the goings-on because I had a cell phone - but I don't think it eased my mind in the slightest.

Boy, this is a rambling post. Maybe I will clean it up some later.

Road Trip 6

This is my sixth trip to the main office this year. I need to do eight in one year to qualify for World Perks Silver Elite Status. Probably not going to happen.

I leave at 6:20, which means I need to get up at 3:30 to leave at 4:30 to be at the airport by 5:30. Good thing I can sleep on the plane.

LaRenFest

Today we went to the Louisiana Renaissance Festival. We were going to go with our little cub scout den, but the other boy couldn't go, so just DH, The Kid and I went.

I didn't take pictures. Why do I never think to take my camera until it is too late?

The Festival was in Hammond, about 40 miles away. It seems to be on a permanent site; there are some buildings there that don't look like they would come down easily. We parked way far away from the entrance and so had a nice little hike to the ticket booth.

Stuff we did:

Our first stop was the arena, for the jousting tournament. It was really fun. Three knights doing sword battles on their horses, followed by wooden lance jousts. Afterward, the announcer said, "We do this professionally. This is how we earn our living; our parents are so proud." The knights led the horses out and the audience was able to talk with them (and tip them, too). I was pretty impressed by the armor.

We got something to eat. We sort of watched some duelists while we ate our very inauthentic food. (Philly cheesesteak roll and a funnel cake for me.) Then we wandered back up to the arena to see the falconry show.

On the way to the arena, I stopped and visited with the chandler. She was making beeswax candles. She also had a fire going, and was rendering the wax from wax myrtle berries. She described the process and said it was very time consuming. She gave me two wee candles the size of birthday candles when I asked if they were for sale. "No, these are sold to the baron for the Queen's visit, but there is a chandler at the shops in the village." Then she gave me some little ones.

The falconry show was really neat. Beautiful birds. The falconer (one of only two eagle class falconers in the US who are women) was very informative. The last bit was the best. They played a lure game with a Barbary Falcon. She likened it to playing with a bit of string with a cat (there's a cat reference for you, Phoebe.) The lure was attached to the end of a three-foot cord. She whirled the cord in a vertical circle. The bird flew in a circular pattern higher and higher until it was about at the tree line. When the falconer gave a signal, the bird swooped and caught the twirling lure on the first pass.

On the way out, we stopped at the Carosello and let The Kid go for a ride ($3). It was his favorite part of the day.

Things I liked:

The variety of costumes, the attempts at authentic language, the hammered dulcimer music, the Queen knighting people from 2:15-2:45, the chandler and the other re-enactors in the "village," the demonstration of Scottish strength athletics, the joust.

It was a great way to kill a Saturday.