Frenzied Friday

Here is just a short update to my day, By the time I wrote my blog post this morning and then resent it to people on my mailing list, because only the photo was sent without the posting itself, it was already 10 o'clock and I hadn't packed a bag for my Sweetie yet. I stopped at Shopper's on the way into town to pick up a few toiletries and a new crossword book.

When I finally arrived just before 12 noon, he was not on any oxygen. But that changed within minutes. A nurse followed me in to measure his saturation and it was only at 90, so he went back on the oxygen but at a much reduced volume. They came to pick him up for a cat scan and then later at 2 PM, they took him for an ultrasound of his kidney. He had an ultrasound of his lungs yesterday. A lung specialist saw him tonight and wants to put him on yet another antibiotic. They are still trying to take off more fluid because they believe it is in his lungs still. They want to take another echo cardiogram of his heart and he will very likely have to go to the "heart failure clinic" where they will be monitoring him far more often over the course of a year than only seeing his cardiologist. They have to get the fluid under control. But they are making good  progress. My Sweetie says he is in no hurry to leave the hospital. As long as he remains in hospital and his condition does not worsen, I will go to both those Thanksgiving dinners on my own. If I must eat copious amounts of turkey and pumpkin pie, then I will do what must get done. *laugh*  I brought him the DVD player and his huge collection of Clint Eastwood movies that he received last Christmas. Between the crosswords and the DVDs, he will be well entertained over the Thanksgiving weekend. I will also be spending time with him tomorrow.

Today I spent $50 on a Shopper's gift card from which I bought the crossword puzzles and the toiletries for my husband. The rest of the gift card will be used to buy bread and milk and such for the rest of the month. I also spent $13.75 cash for underground parking. I had hoped to write a special blog post today (on Friday) to summarize my weekly goals and money spent this week. I am afraid that will have to wait until my husband is safely home. It  is already 10 PM, and I am exhausted.

Isolation

Isolation Protocol

 Yesterday morning, I called the ambulance for my Sweetie Pie. He had a terrible night with shortness of breath and teeth chattering chills, and that horrible cough that he has had for over a month. I got up and dressed at 6 AM to take him to Emergency in Kingston, but he surprised me by announcing he wanted an ambulance. That is so unlike him, that I gladly complied. With my son and his GF up and sitting with my husband, I proceeded to gather his medications and his health card together and went outside to wait for them. I flagged them as soon as I saw them, so they would know which house they were looking for. They put him on an oxygen mask immediately, after taking his health card, and took the bag of medications on the stretcher. It was almost like I had done this before. Ha. 

By the time I walked into Emergency, he was admitted to a room inside, but I hadn't missed anything. They took him to X-ray and took  blood samples one hour apart. Then they announced an isolation protocol. Everyone entering his cubicle had to don a fresh gown, mask, eye shield (if not wearing glasses) and rubber gloves. So this was ME for the 10+ hours I was there yesterday. If I left the room to use the washroom or ask a question at the nurse's desk, I had to dispose of everything upon leaving the cubicle and put everything clean back on upon entering. It was a terribly lo-o-ong day. I appreciated when my son and GF came mid-day. The doctors'  first course of action was to try and take fluid off him by giving him diuretics. (He already takes one every day), but after several hours, it was obvious that wasn't really working. Their initial reaction was too much fluid in his lungs. So last night before I left, they decided they would treat it aggressively as an infection and treat with antibiotics and more steroids. Internal medicine is in charge, but they are keeping the renal transplant unit in the loop. They admitted him but had no bed for him, so they moved him to a quieter area in Emerg. still under isolation protocol. He spent the night there, while I came home to phone my son out West and my Daughter in Bradford to update them. Of course I had nothing further to report and still don't; but, he just called me at 8:50 to say that they had moved him to a room. I will pack up the items he has asked for. Yes, he sounded so much better this morning. They started the first round of antibiotics last night and were already taking blood to "grow cultures", So we are pretty sure he will spend Thanksgiving weekend in hospital. 

I spent $50.00 yesterday on gas for the van. This will come from gas money, but I paid from my household budget first and will reimburse it. I bought 2 sandwiches, one choco chip cookie and two milk for $20.63  Can you believe that? I had my first bite of my sandwich 24 hours after I last ate. They hadn't fed my husband all day, so I left the sandwich, cookie and chocolate milk with him last night. He still wasn't up to eating. When I went to pay for my parking voucher when I left last night, the machine asked for $18.00  I thought there was a parking ceiling on the price, but evidently not. The machine would only take cash or credit card. I brought no cash with me, so I tried my Master card, which the reader was refusing to read. A lovely woman was leaving (she already paid for her parking) and she tried to help. So she ended up paying for my parking ticket with her credit card. I objected. I tried to find out from her how to pay her back. She just smiled and walked away. That was the first time I cried yesterday. Everything just poured out. She must have know by the $18 that I had been there a long, long time. I was so very grateful. I will bring cash with me from now on. Maybe I will run into her again, or maybe I can pay it forward. 

Sorry this was so long. If you are still following along, I have to go now and pack up some things for my Sweetie and get going. I am bringing my Blackberry with me so I can read emails and blogs today. But I won't have video chat. Bye for now.

Busy Wednesday

My day started early with my Doctor's appointment. Although it was scheduled for 10:30, I sat in the waiting room for a good 30 minutes before I was called in. This has never happened before.  We discussed the results of my blood tests 2 weeks ago. My thyroid medication dosage has been increased, but everything else will remain the same for the time being. I need to watch my diet and do some exercise. Seriously. I got my Shingles vaccine at no cost to me.

Afterwards, I stopped by my friend's apartment (abdominal surgery) and hung two drapery panels for her. I had to take down the drapery rods from two windows to hang an extra panel on each of them. It took about an hour. She gifted me with a plate of fresh baked peanut butter cookies, (Yum) and a small photo album.

 

Bulk Barn purchases cost $60.95

Two full containers of oatmeal, more whole wheat flour, more red kidney beans, and brown sugar. In the first row, black beans, walnuts, beef bouillon powder, Thompson raisins, shelf stable Parmesan cheese, more black beans, Romano beans, chili powder, Yeast and Splenda packets. It always looks like more when it is put away in containers.

Giant Tiger Specials of the week cost me $14.26

Canned mushrooms (77 cents each), Old cheddar and Mozzarella block cheese ($3.87 each) a black Forest ham for $4.98

Watercolouring

 

 

 

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I started my day in the Craft room getting rid of those piles of paper I showed you the other day. The card stock was already sorted by colour, so I just slipped each pile into a clear 12 x 12 envelope. The printed papers were a mix of card stock and paper, so I sorted those down further and placed each into a clear envelope. Once my table was again cleared off, I proceeded to stamp and do some water colouring. I painted three mason jars with flowers (one is already mailed out as a "thank you" card), and I also painted these little squirrels to make two more Thanksgiving cards for the weekend. I mailed out four cards today.

This was a no-spend day. It was also a no project day. I only did the dishes this morning and made a stir fry for dinner tonight. The rest of the time was crafting.

Daybook: Monday, October 3/16

Outside my window.....it is overcast and wet. It rained last night, but we have mild temperatures around 20 degrees Celsius. If the sun comes out and dries this all up, it will be perfect weather for working outside.

I am thinking......that I may have been too ambitious in expecting I can get all of my goals accomplished for October, but it will give my direction some focus.

I am thankful.....for my Sweeties scratch ticket winnings yesterday offsetting the cost somewhat of the new printer we "needed" to buy.

From the kitchen.....I made a large pot of homemade turkey soup yesterday that should last all week. I also made crock pot lasagna (or lazy lasagna) from the Company's Coming cookbook, for supper last night. There are leftovers to enjoy. I used tomatoes from the garden.

I am wearing.....jeans, a tan coloured T-shirt with deer on the front, and gray fuzzy socks. I am such a fashionista.

I am creating.....Thanksgiving cards.

I am going.....with my husband at noon to the Kingston hospital for his prostate biopsy.

I am hoping.....that the biopsy goes well. An appointment has already been scheduled for the 25th of this month to discuss the results. I am also hoping for some relief for his leg pain that has been particularly bad this past couple of weeks.

I am hearing....only the filters working on the aquarium. The dishwasher has just finished the dry cycle on a load of dishes I have done already this morning. The dog and cats are sleeping, as is my Sweetie, He did not sleep well last night.

Around the house.....there is lots of work to be done, both inside and outside. Good thing I have some goals in mind. I have to clear off my work table so I can begin wrapping the little gifts I have so far for the Advent Calendars.

One of my favourite things.....evidentally, is my printer. I never realized how often I use it or how much I depend on it, until I no longer had one.

A few plans for the rest of the week......include  an appointment on Wednesday with my own doctor to get my Shingles vaccine and discuss the results of my blood work from a couple of weeks ago. Oh-oh. Having already checked my results on-line, I know that my thyroid, sugar and lipids are high. She has already increased my thyroid medication in the interim, but now I am sure she will want to run another glucose test. My sugar has always run high. Or maybe she wants to discuss my diet, since I must be eating too much fatty or starchy foods for those results. Before or after the appointment, I will stop at my friend's apartment (abdominal surgery) to hang another drapery panel in her living room where the air conditioner was up until now.
 This weekend is our Canadian Thanksgiving, so we will be going to Smith Falls on Sunday to celebrate with my brother, SIL and two nieces. Then on Monday, we have a standing invitation every year to celebrate with our good friends in Charleston Lake. Their son and his new bride will be there, having just returned from their honeymoon in France and Corsica.

Here is a picture I am sharing......of  some of our new purchases from yesterday. A new printer and some art supplies. I bought glitter paper in Christmas colours, 20 foil sheets, burlap sheets, more adhesive rhinestones, and two rolls of adhesive tape.

Goals Update

What happened to my nice clear worktable??

My goals for September were:

I would like to finish organizing and cleaning my Craft Room.

I did this more or less to my satisfaction. And then yesterday, I proceeded to work through several boxes of scrap paper and sorted by colour. I want to be able to use up these scraps before I use any more full sheets of card stock. I also want to make up some cards using scraps of design paper. Waste not, want not.  I did manage to empty a lot of boxes.

I want to wash all the windows both inside and outside. 

I successfully washed all the windows on the main level, inside and outside including frames and tracks. I will tackle the rest of the windows upstairs when I deep clean each room. 

 

I want to remove all weeds from the veggie bed and move more strawberry plants out of the garden into the bins.

This is the goal that sort of fell by the wayside. I am still harvesting veggies from the garden, but I have spent two afternoons this past month pulling weeds. I did not move any strawberry plants into planters, but hope to do more this week, as temperatures will be in the low 20's. 

 

 Each week I would like to report on these areas: cleaning, organization and purging,  my spending, crafting, maintenance and preparedness. 

Although I was doing this more than once a week at the beginning of September, I began doing less of it by the second half of the month as the deadline loomed for getting my other goals done on time. I should probably pick one day...perhaps a Friday, to report on those areas.

My goals for October:

• spend time outdoors every week pruning shrubs, mowing the lawn and/or pulling weeds
• deep clean the dining room
• deep clean the living room
• deep clean the master bedroom and bath
•  spend time every week doing crafts, paying special attention to Christmas gifts 

There you have it. I hope I haven't bitten off more than I can chew. The most important goal is to have most of the Advent Calendars done, so the last one is the one I will concentrate on. 

October's Shopping Trips

Yesterday, late in the afternoon, my Sweetie and I went for the first shop of October. We went to one grocery store (Freshco) where I thought they had the most specials on my list.

Sundries (non-food items) cost me $31.70

 The parchment paper and medium freezer bags were not on sale, so I bought the store brand. Notice also that I have bought another laundry detergent. That is because I still haven't picked up any washing soda. The last two stores I have looked for it but cannot find it. I also need it to make my Miracle Spray all-purpose cleaner, which I am running low on. I will try No-Frills later this week. 

Meat cost $22.20. 

 The eye of round was on for $2.77/lb. and the Italian sausage was $3.00/lb. The roast was cut into 3 chunks before I put it in the freezer.

Dairy totaled $12.89

 I was happy to find Becel Vegan margarine here at Freshco. I have always had to make a special trip to get this for my daughter before her visits, or to take her any baking. Now I will be able to buy it all the time.  I also bought plain yoghurt with active culture, so I can try to make my own yoghurt with my new machine I got last weekend. 

Pantry items (and that bag of Tostitos, haha) cost $17.94

Produce and juice cost me $9.48

This is where I got my biggest savings. The 10 lb. bag of carrots, potatoes, and onions each cost $1.97
The tins of DelMonte Veggies were .79 cents each, so I bought a case of peas. I may go back for niblets corn. The rutabaga was 59 cents a pound. The bananas were regular price of 56 cents a pound. But the orange juice (ahem Nathalie and Bless) believe it or not, was on sale for $4.49, a savings of $1.20. OJ is very expensive. I bought 2 loaves of Villagio bread for $4.58 (not pictured) for a total grocery receipt of $115.97  My savings due to sale items amounted to $46.30  I have not picked up my Shopper's gift card yet for this month.

Today, my Sweetie and I went out again to spend lots of money. Drat! Our printer is definitely finito. Staples had a sale on printers this weekend, so we went to check it out. We ended up buying a Canon (the ink cartridges appear to be slightly cheaper than other printers), two new cartridges, a $10  2 yr. warranty,  and some more printer paper for a total of $170......an unplanned expense this month.  We also stopped at the Dollar Tree for me to pick up some more 2-way tape for my crafting; but of course, I found a few more crafting items that appealed to me (though totally unnecessary), for under $10

While my son and his GF were setting up the printer for us, I went out to the garden to harvest more vegetables and my Sweetie went to the  Pop-In store to cash in a $5 winning lottery ticket. He bought 2 more tickets with his winnings, and won $100  instantly on a scratch ticket. He  gave me $60, so the price of the printer was only $110, and he kept $40 for his mad money to buy more lottery tickets. It should last him a couple of months. *laugh*