Thinking about where I"ve been

I wondered how many of the US states I have visited, and found this website:


visited 23 states (46%)
Create your own visited map of The United States or another interesting project


so you can see where I have been.

Long time since I last posted

Well...the last time I posted I was at my 25th high school reunion. That was a fun trip. Got to see lots of people I had not seen in 25 years! I was disappointed some of the people I'd hoped to see did not make it (Sherri!) but I understand that family comes first.

When we returned home, we had to do so by swinging by the local airport and dropping off DH for a week long business trip. :-( But he needed to go and the boys and I did o.k. on our own.

Mom and I had a couple of serious discussions with a counselor present and got everything worked out!

Since then, I have been busy with summer stuff. Sent the oldest DS off to youth camp and he came back with the H1N1 flu. Yipee (not). So he missed the Youth mission trip that our church took this week. My DS has not complained too much about not getting to go on the trip, but he's still got an awful cough. May have to take him to the doctor again soon if cough meds don't fix him up.

My mom got the final report from her oncologist. No chemo. or radiation is warrented at this time. Hooray! I know she was dreading treatments.

I am working on going through piles of clutter in my house. Seeing how nice it was in the studio loft on vacation (with NO clutter) and then having the house clean for the weekend allowed me to see that I need to do this for all of us.

I'm working on putting my stamping supplies in the proper places tonight. If I get that done, I'll try to post some photos of recent projects I've done.

Down memory lane

I took today to show my boys where I grew up. Both houses, the elementary school, the farm where my dad made a living. I don't think they were very impressed. But to them we just saw houses and places. To me it was so much more.

We also made a stop at the cemetery where their great-grandparents are buried. As I made the trip up here, I realized that the last time I was in town was when my nana died. That's been 3 years next week. I've never been away from here for that long when I lived in this hemisphere.

We start the reunion festivities tonight. Dinner and a gathering at the town clubhouse. I'm interested to see who all has made the effort to show up.

And the beat goes on...

It has been a very stressful month. Mom & I are still working through all the stuff around the nursing home check-out.

I've been seeing my counselor; I've been doing alot of reading. I've also been praying that God is glorified in all of this.

But my little family has taken a little break...we have traveled to my 25th high school reunion. It's going to be weird to see everyone after such a long time.

What on earth?

This week is unlike any other I have ever experienced.

Mom got angry that I stood up to her when she was verbally mean and insulting to me. I thought we had the entire thing hashed out and that it was over. Boy was I wrong.

She's checked herself out of the nursing home against medical advice. She has constructed a version of our argument on Sunday night that never happened. Never in a million years would it have happened the way she is saying it did. So, now she and Dad are at home, on their own. I don't know if mom is driving or not.

I've talked to my counselor and to one of the ministers at my church about the whole thing. I feel a peace about my decisions that I've made this week. I just wanted mom where she was safe and looked after.

However, I feel very sad that my mom has constructed this elaborate argument with false accusations against me. I feel even worse knowing that she's the type that will never, ever apologize. She behaved like a two year old; took her ball and went home. I'm sad that she's that way. And given her age, she's not likely to change.

Mom has Stage IV Endomtrial cancer

The final pathology results came in last Friday. It was endometrial in nature, the doctors said. That means the cancers mom had in 2001 and 1998 have spread. An MRI was done and no brain tumors were found.

She's been discharged and is now in a nursing home. She needs to regain her strength, lose the nausea, and get better.

The oldest is on a roll!

He competed in band solo contest last Friday and made a 1+ rating. I couldn't be there to hear it as I was moving mom to a nursing home.