Almost October....

I cannot believe that fall is almost here, baseball season is winding down :( boo hoo.......

So, in the interest of fall, here is our finished dining room:

and our hallway table decoration:

And yes, while I was a Joann's fabrics getting my great pumpkins, I did get two strands of, dare I say, Christmas greenery?   

Anyway, enjoy the beginning of fall.

Love, Leslie

Maren is Sworn In

On Thursday, September 29th, Maren was sworn in as a lawyer and Jim presided.  We took Mom and met the Russells, Woody Vann and several people who work with Jim in the courtroom.  

The bailiff lead off with a booming "All rise...." and went in to his normal spiel that he does and ended with "Go Navy" ~ that he does to tease Jim, in court.  (He was a Marine and his son is on a destroyer)

Woody Vann introduced Maren to the court and vouched for her integrity ~ he said he could since he had "known her before she was even born!"

Lori held Jim's grandfather's Bible for Maren to place her hand during the Oath of Office

You can see Jim's mother(Nana) and mom to the right of Lori, along with Jim's father (JJ) and Tyler Russell,  the son of Gwen and Jeffrey Russell.

Maren signing the oath of office.

The North Carolina State Bar Oath of Office

Presenting the Oath to the Clerk of the Court

Jim welcoming Maren to the Court

Proof Maren passed the bar

The Hardin Family

Maren and Lori - pretty good birthday present for Lori!

Jim and Maren

Amy and Maren

Then we all went out to an early dinner at The Pit ~ great barbecue!  It was delicious!!!!!

What's next for Maren?  She is in the hunt for a job in the DA's office, but she was asked to sit as the 3rd chair for the prosecution in a big dui murder case in Orange County.  She is participating as a volunteer and will get a ton of experience with procedure and research.

Much love to all,

Leslie

Mother Up-Date

OMG!!!

Our great alarm equipment just broke down!  We don't test it everyday, maybe we should.  Mom went to bed wearing her call alarm.  Sometime during the night or early morning, Mom again managed to sit on the edge of her chair and slid to the floor (she said).  She also said that she had been talking to Dad and got distracted.......

Anyway, I am not sure HOW it all worked out, but she managed to wedge herself and her walker against the door and bang against the door because she said pushing the alarm button wasn't bringing any help.

Loki (Amy's puppy) evidently heard the knocking and barked and went to her door.  Amy didn't hear the knocking and didn't want to wake Mom up, so she didn't go into Mom's room.

Somehow, Amy finally went into Mom's room and found her and called me.  We got Mom up and back into her chair.  No injuries.

I have ordered some new equipment.  In the meantime, she has a bell to ring.  Please cross your fingers that she has no more falls or slides.

I helped Mom place a phone call to Nancy ~ and Mom was telling Nancy "how bad she felt" ~
Please know that Mom doesn't do much walking around the house, she says she can't see anything ~ her macular degeneration has basically stopped and is not getting any worse, and she does have days when she sees better and days when she doesn't.  Her arm is much better, but she complains that it is not better and the infection is spreading.  Her infectiouse disease doctor does not agree with this ~ and I don't see any of the bumps and blisters she is talking about.  We are only using Dove soap for sensitive skin, cetaphil lotion, aveno lotion and aloe vesta ~ and I use Gold Bond powder on her skin for a rash that she occasionally gets.

I am giving her a shower and making sure she is clean and safe.  I am trying to get all the scissors out of her room, but every time I go in there I find another pair!  I can't figure out where they are coming from!

Anyway, I think Mom is as good as she is going to get.  It is not perfect or what she wants, but I think it is the best it can be.  

Much love,
Leslie  

Pitter Patter of Tiny Feet......

Last year, we heard the pitter patter of tiny feet in the wall.  I didn't hear it that often, but it made Amy crazy.

She thought it was mice ~ but I thought it was only one.  

Two days ago, she comes in the house and says "It is a Squirrel!!! I saw it go inside!  And it turned and looked at me!!!!"

You can see the branches hanging out where the squirrel is building its nest.

Justin has a great ladder to get up to where the squirrel is.

And, here is the trap.

Now, please note, the squirrel is going to be caught and moved to Justin's boss's house in Raleigh.  No squirrel is going to be harmed.

Living the wild life,
Leslie

Alarms!!!!

Amy found the greatest call alarm for Mom.  She wears a disc around her neck and it has a button on it and when she pushes it,  it sounds a chime on a receiver that I keep by me.

That is one alarm.

The second alarm is the new motion detector lights that we had installed.  However, the electricians did not adjust the detector ~ so the detector light would go off and blink like crazy, but it was getting dark, so we left it until tomorrow.

That night, at about 1am, Mom's alarm to me went off and I jumped out of bed and rushed downstairs.  There is Mom sitting on the edge of the bed.  She said "Don't worry, I am not on the floor, but the light is flashing so much that I wanted to call the police.  Someone must be trying to break in."

The motion detection light.  I helped Mom back in bed and reminded her that she should ALWAYS get me or Amy BEFORE she calls 911. 

And, Amy fixed the motion detector light in the morning.

Last night, it started to rain.  No one knew it was going to rain and it poured.  I got Mom in bed and figured she would sleep good with the rain.

Nope.  Sometime in the night, the rain escalated (we ended up with 4 inches of rain fall) and a flash flood warning was issued over the television.  Since she keeps the TV on, the alarm woke her up, she told me it said "To Get Up and Get OUT!"  

Luckily, she didn't push her alarm to get me up to tell me to GET OUT!

I am not sure why, but I am grateful.  I reminded her the house sits high and that we would have to get a lot more that 4 inches of rain before it would flood.  

I guess I ought to get out the batteries, the next alarms to go off will probably be the smoke alarms.

Love, Leslie

Homecoming for Maddie and Caroline

Mike sent these pictures this morning ~ both girls were going to the Homecoming Dance ~

Maddie and Caroline

I asked Mike if he was going to enjoy the peace and quiet at home while the girls were at the dance, or if he was going to stake out the venue.  I haven't heard yet.

Here is the artwork that Amy got to go over the buffet in the dining room:

Of course a horse. And it looks great against the blue walls.

Love,
Leslie

The Witch is Back....

Mom was not good today.  She said she was dizzy.  She somehow cut the side of her right hand on.....she said the walker.  I don't know.  

I had asked her to stay in her jammies and be comfortable all day and at 6pm she decides to get dressed and put on make up.  I don't know.  So I bandaged her up.

Here is what I think we should have enlarged and put onto canvas and hang over our buffet in the dining room:

I think it would look great.  This was taken last night while we were all texting back and forth about photographer/videographer and who had taken a picture.  I think it is vintage Amy.

Oh, and this is what the dining room looks like right now:

New chandalier looks great.  And the picture would go over this buffet.

Let me know.
Love, 
Leslie

M&M Crazy

I admit, I have a sweet tooth.  So, I will buy some packages of peanut M&M's at the grocery. When I left them out, Amy complained, so I hid them.  

Then she would find them, yell and demand that I buy no more, then eat them.  So I would hide them again.  This is really not a win-win situation.

Please note, it is an EMPTY bag.

What to do?  Find another hiding place.  But, what happened to will power?  I don't know either.  I will think of something.

Love, Leslie                  

Mom Health Update

We went to the cardiologist today.  It was a follow up appointment to discuss all the tests that were done.  Basically, the tests showed that her heart is the same as it was in 2010.  No significant changes.  Which is good. 

Also, she has lost another 20 pounds of fluid ~ which is really good!  The doctor was quite pleased. 

We see the Infectious Diseases doctor on the 15th, and quite honestly, her arm still has issues, but is a million times better.

So, all good news.

Love, Leslie

Don't Do This At Home!!!!

Maren with Dad's sword.

The first test tap.

Voila!!! 

Amy and Maren had been planning this to celebrate Maren's passing the bar.  It appears that Amy had done this during her Naval Academy days.....so why not try it again?

I had my doubts, but I took the pictures.  Just in case.  

Afterwards, the ones speaking in alcohol wanted to do it again but with video!  Not.

Don't do this at home!!!!

Love,
Leslie