Happy Birthday ~ Mama...

HAPPY 93rd BIRTHDAY MAMA!!!

Today is Mama's birthday. She had flowers delivered from Mary Angela and Frank!

Beautiful Tulips!!!

Sadly, she had to go see the doctor on her birthday... that is a bummer, even if you don't remember it is your birthday.

But the good news is she is in perfect physical health!

But this week, she has had a really hard time and realizes she can't remember anything. Which is causing her to be fretful and worried about what she has forgotten.

So when we finished at the doctor, we took her back to where she lives just in time to get her back into her regular routine for lunch.

Mom is the best at making your birthday really special just for you... and coconut cake is Mama's favorite! But we decided to not do the big birthday celebration, since it was causing her to be very unhappy everytime someone wished her a happy birthday.

I know she doesn't realize a lot, and this is just a necessary time and season in her life. I know we are given these trials in our lives for a reason, and I just hope I am learning what I am supposed to be learning through it all.

Big brother Jim has been an angel from heaven, and so patient and kind with her. And so far he is the only one she hasn't "dismissed"!

(You have never been dismissed, until you have been dismissed by Miss Shirley!)

Happy Birthday Mama! I pray you will get better and be happier in the days ahead.

On the home front...

I am not sure what is happening with my teenager at home... the boys both tell me all is well... but I can only get maybe 3 words out of the teenager when I call. "Yep, Fine and Good"!

The other day I asked him if he missed me, or if it was just easier without me?

He was silent. I told him he could tell me the truth... he finally admitted it was easier, that he was only in half the trouble he got in when I was home.

That will teach me!

Yesterday, with only 2 days left of school, I figured it was safe to ask how school was going and I got one of the canned words, and then he had to go... he was working on his homework! What? Homework, he never does homework... and on the 2nd to the last day of school before break? Red flag, red flag, red flag!!! Or maybe he just didn't want to talk to me... I am getting a complex, I think I will quit calling him :(

So I get all my information from my strong silent mysterious man... which starts with all the room he still DOESN'T have in the bed. Apparently the dogs have taken over my half comfortably... and then some.

And he informs me that I missed a milestone with the teenager... he can now jump and touch the rim on the basketball court! He was thrilled with that.

Now, you would think at 6'2'" he would have been doing that a long time ago, but my man informs me that just because you are tall, doesn't mean you can jump! Too funny, the kid always did have lead in his feet.

So everything seems to be good on the home front, I may never really know!

(I am okay with that, but I sure do miss them)

Sisterly Love...

I love my big brother so much!
I hadn't forgotten that I miss him terribly, rather I think I tucked those thoughts away!
But being with him, is making me realize how much I really miss him being part of my daily life!

I am trying not to smother him, he is very independent. I am trying not to move things around in the house or do a bunch of things he really doesn't want or need done.

But because I am suddenly without my boys, I think I may be filling in the gap with him.

On the way home from the airport he picked us up in the big town car he keeps to take Mama to the Dr. and such... and I noticed the gas gauge was on empty... really empty from where I sat! (but my strong silent mysterious man reminds me all the time, that is a skewed view).

Later at the house we were talking and he was standing by a ceiling fan which was spinning precariously close to his head... and the 3rd time he swayed back and forth and the fan appeared to be seconds from clipping the side of his head... I told him to watch his head! I got a look, and he reminded me he had lived there for years now and knew how to navigate through the house.

A couple of days later when I was on the phone with him and he was bringing the town car over to where we were meeting, I gently reminded him the car needed gas. All I hear is laughing on the other end of the phone... and then he reminds me he doesn't need another mother!!! Wow! Even trying I had stepped on his toes!!!

Instincts I guess! But it made me realize I will have to let my teenager fall on his face a little bit more than I do now, when I get back home; or at least get hit in the head by the fan and run out of gas once in a while!!

I found out my brother didn't have his DVD player hooked up... I asked to make sure it was working and that he actually wanted it hooked up before I began my quest to get it fixed up for him (after all it was obvious he didn't need it hooked up as he had been without one for who knows how long), and he told me he had it all connected at one point running the tv through the stereo etc. but had given up after hours trying to get it reconnected... "good luck"!

Well my determination and perseverance mode kicked in and even though this wasn't really my forte... I call on my teenager to do this stuff now; I was going to do this for my big brother... it was beginning to feel like my sisterly duty!

After a few hours the first day... I was beginning to understand why he didn't watch many dvd's.
But I couldn't give up... I would sleep on it, and the next day I was sure to be successful!
Sure enough (I can't believe I just wrote that... I think I am getting a southern accent already) I had success the second day!
I was really doing a dance... but what it really meant, was I had no excuse to not do the exercise dvd I brought with me... ugggg!

Yesterday, I was really feeling like I wanted to do something else for my big brother... hooking up the dvd player was such a great feeling, but he was so used to not having it, was it really a gift?

So I decided to make him some chocolate chip cookies. That would be appropriate in every way.
I knew he wouldn't have flour or sugar, that was a given... but since the last time my sister was visiting there might have been some baking supplies. Yep, there was some baking soda and vanilla... cool.

So I began my quest for my next sisterly duty... I couldn't find a mixer (later found it hiding in a cupboard I was sure I had checked).
It was all good, I could mix it by hand... I was sure my Mama had mixed many things in this kitchen by hand before mixers came along. It was my moment to bond with those thoughts.

But when I got to the ingredients that I had seen in the cupboard... the salt was in chunks, so I had to grate it.
I never thought I would use this tool to make cookies.

And the vanilla, well it was actually empty.
But I found some other extracts butter and coconut and used half of each of them... maybe he wouldn't notice.
And hopefully all the cookies will be gone before he reads this entry.

I won't even go into all the issues I had with the oven temperature... let's just say those ceiling fans came in handy while trying to get all the smoke out of the house before he came home.

Oh well, it was the thought that counts right?

It was my attempt at sisterly love....
I think it might have worked, he told me last night,
he might be able to take a half a day from work today
and we can go horse back riding! Wahoo!!!
(that was so worth grinding my knuckles down trying to grate a salt brick... I think!!!)