Friday Funnies

As funny as JR getting shot by Hillary is, it couldn't have been her as he survived.

I know some people who would try to find the wine.

Texas is known for its random weather.  We've had all four seasons in a day.  Sometimes twice in one day.

I really want to do this. Especially for when M&M invites the first boy over.

Liberty Cookbook

I have mentioned a time or two my grandmother's Victory Cook Book which is an heirloom of shared custody between My Sister...The Devil and I. The cook book had been in MS...TD's custody in recent years before, inexplicably, turning up at Mimi's house. I took the opportunity during recent visit at Mimi's to take a few photos of it to share. 

The cover has seen better days and is no longer attached to the binding...which is also MIA. 

My favorite page in the entire book. The much celebrated Cinnamon Cookie recipe. 

I love these sections as they give a window into life during WWII. Can you imagine feeding a family today on $15 a week? The mind boggles. 

Laugh or Cry

It's been said that you generally have two choices in difficult times: you can laugh or cry. Generally, I prefer laughter. Here's a few things kicking over the giggle box the last day or so. 

Back in high school and college, I ate a lot of Taco Bell. If ever there was a marketing partnership made for each other, it's Taco Bell and Scott.

So, yesterday, after we got the "bad news" from the hospice nurse, I took The Queen and M&M for a short walk to our favorite neighborhood coffee shop for a little out of the house treat time. M&M decided to bring her little remote control Jeep with us. When we arrived at the coffee shop, the opportunity to park it next to it's full sized counterpart was too much to pass up. 

Found on FaceBook in one of  the Monster Hunter International groups. The look on that Bucket o' Floof is just too funny. 

So, M&M's long suffering rabbit Taco has learned to use the cat door. This, of course, is a source of great  pleasure for M&M who loves her bunny. Apparently, today was dress up day for poor Taco. I heard shirts were involved but no photos of Taco in a T-shirt were recorded for posterity. Or so I am told. I think the unicorn headband is a nice touch, and the look on his face tells it all.

Tough Day

Today has been a tough day emotionally. One of the hospice nurses stopped by the house today for a regular visit. I was busy with work and did not get to sit in like I do when I can. I was stuck on yet another monotonous conference call about how our business unit can support the larger corporate goals for 2020....blah, blah, blah. How about we try focusing on fundamentals for starters and quite trying to "innovate". Seems like every time some wet behind the ears manager gets a wild hair, we have to sit through unproductive training as they roll out another useless tool that robs our efficiency and distracts us from our core jobs. If they would quite screwing with us and just make the tools we have actually work as they are intended, it'd be a nice start. But, nnooOOOOooo, we have to innovate and play with shiny new toys because someone had a light bulb moment instead of asking whether we really needed another new turnip twaddler.

I digress.

The Queen reported the findings from the nurse visit: Oma is starting to show signs that her body is shutting down. Of course, they cannot say how long she has left; however, based on what's happening, we are looking at days to weeks as opposed to weeks to months. The Queen, understandably, has been taking it very hard.

M&M is handling things surprisingly well for an 8 year old. We've been extra attentive towards her and listening more. We also have plans in place for when things appear imminent. So, we've been thinking ahead on that front.

I've given my boss a heads up that bereavement leave is probably in the near future. She appreciated that.

Opa, while also taking things very hard, has finally moved out of denial mode. I don't think he is fully at acceptance yet, but he's making progress. So, that's healthy. I was able to have a good heart to heart with him this evening about arrangements for Oma which he has been avoiding for months now. It went better than I expected, but I had prayed for wisdom before approaching him too. So, maybe a small answered prayer went a long way too.

One small insight that came to me during the discussion with Opa was something I really don't think many people consider when they get married. Opa and Oma have been together for over 56 years now. Opa has said a couple of  times now, "What am I going to do without her?" I told him, "Genesis says the two shall become one flesh. That's more than just a physical bonding. It's emotional, mental and spiritual as well." Opa has relied on Oma for so long, I'm really not sure what's going to happen with him when she is gone.

Sorry for the Monday evening downer post. It's just helpful to write about it. Gives me a way to process what's happening so that I can focus on The Queen's and Opa's needs.

Where's Daddy Hawk Been?

Inquiring minds, or at least Cederq, expressed some mild concern that we here at Preachers and Horse Thieves had fled the coop for the dark side and forgot to turn off the lights or leave a forwarding address. Such is not the case. 

Although, he mentioned something about cookies AND pie...might have to investigate that a little further.

Life, as usual, has stampeded through my free time and taken what little extra bandwidth I had set aside for blogging for a glorious white water rafting adventure down the toilet bowl. 

The main reason behind all of this has been the rapid decline of The Queen's mum, Oma. As reported in previous updates, Oma has been developing a case of Alzheimer's for quite some time now. She was formally diagnosed in September with "Stage 6 Dementia/Alzheimer's". At that time, she was still able to walk relatively well, unassisted for normal distances to/from parking lots, etc. She would still feed herself for the most part. 

Now...sheesh. Wow. You would not recognize her from September to now. She is homebound now, unable to stand or walk without assistance, and she is forgetting to swallow her food. The OMA we knew is gone. In late December, I burned several days of vacation time to get home health aides set up, discuss funeral arrangements and finally get her approved for hospice. The hospice folks have been wonderful. They even came to the house on New Year's Day to do the formal assessment so that I wouldn't have to take another day off from work. 

There is a lot of internal family drama that would be very cathartic to write about but which would probably bore you to tears and only wind up widening the rift into a gulf. As I told The Queen the other day, I will stand before God on Judgment Day to answer for my mistakes. How I've handled the care of her parents won't be one of them. Others in the family will have some answering to do. That's  all that needs to be said about that in this forum. 

So, I haven't gone anywhere. I promise I will give this blog a proper shut down if it ever comes to that. Due to higher priorities, posting will remain light with scattered bursts of my usual drivel and humor when possible as The Queen and I are handling the majority of the care giving with hospice assistance.