Momma Staying Home Today

Look at Uncle James and Aunt Vonell in this picture. They are watching Doug ride his tricycle.

Doug and Wayne in this photo. It looks like they are at the state capital. Where were you guys?

This Momma decided that I had better stay home most of the day and give my daughter some attention. After yesterday's little episode, I knew Katie needed her Momma's attention. She crawled into bed with me this morning and we just laid in bed and giggled and told secrets. She finally asked if we could watch TV. It wasn't long before that she asked if could go into the Living Room to watch TV. I called Doug to make sure he called his parents about the funeral arrangements. He told me that he recorded "The Care Bears Movie" for Katie and wanted me to make sure it worked. Well me mentioning "Care Bears" and Katie was all ears. I started the movie and that's all it took.

Peggy and Millard watched Katie while I went to get a tooth filled. I had a shallow cavity on my back molar, so I had to get it fixed. It was great I walked right in, didn't need any Novocaine, and I was out of the Dentist's office within 15 minutes. I took my time going back home because I knew Millard and Peggy enjoy spending time with Katiebug. I've been trying to get ideas for Katie's birthday in July. I've been wanting to stop by the Rec Room to check prices for a play set (playhouse, slide, swing combo). Before I went in the store, I wanted to check out the sets they already had on display outside. The salesperson came out and low and behold I knew the lady, Billie. Her and her husband go to our church and I didn't really know that they owned the Rec Room. Billie was able to answer a lot of my questions and she really sold me on the product that they sell, "Play Nation." They have a website: www.PlayNation.com The "Play Nation" play sets that she showed me in a catalog and displays have a lifetime guarantee. This model is easy to add and change it around whenever you wish. The only thing is they run between $2100 - $11,000. Shoo! She did show me a cheaper model of "Play Nation" called "Ranger" starting at $1500, but it's an as is. This means, you can't put up walls or add anything to it. Looking at it, it pretty much has a little bit of everything. The only thing is that it's very open because it has both a rock wall & stairs. With her being so young, I would feel more comfortable if she started off with three walls & one side open of stairs and slide together. She said that all models are 5' tall and you can add a playhouse roof extension for $50, which she recommended or you could get it later. I asked her about the safety of the play sets as far as children falling out. That's when she recommended the three walls starter playset and she also suggested putting down 6" of mulch around the playset. She said if the child does fall the mulch will cushion the blow. Billie told me that the model, I was interested in, was sturdy enough that it would hold an adults weight inside the playhouse. I like that! I just can't swallow that kind of money right now. Last year, we looked at Sam's Club play set and it was going for $1900-2000 and you have to install it yourself. For the model I wanted, Billie told me that they would install it within 2 weeks for $225. I'm going to continue to get quotes from other people. When it gets closer to Katie's birthday, Doug and I will have to discuss it. We may not be able to afford it this year, we'll have to see.

After Millard and Peggy left, Katie and I curled up in the rocker and went to sleep watching my soap opera, "Days of Our Lives." I started to put her to bed, but I knew she just wanted her Mommy. I put everything down and rocked her. She slept for an hour and half before I remembered that I forgot to take "Waterhorse" back to the Movie Gallery. Yikes! I didn't need a late fee. I had a hard time getting her to wake up, so I told her that we would take "Waterhorse" back and look for "Mariposa." Well, she was all for that idea. As you may know, our neighbor passed away. More of their relatives came in this morning, so there are a lot of vehicles parked along our street. It was so sweet as I was putting Katie in the truck, she told me we needed to find Mr. Charlie. She saw Gary parking his truck and walking up the driveway next door. I was trying to explain to her that Mr. Charlie wasn't lost. She said it again, "Mom, we need to find Mr. Charlie. Where is he at?" I told her "baby, Mr. Charles is with Jesus in heaven." She pointed to Gary and asked if he was Jesus. I answered no that wasn't Jesus. I told her again about Charles being with Jesus in heaven. She looked at me so confused. I asked her if she remembered Jesus, "uh, huh." I pointed to the sky and told her that heaven was far far away in the sky. She looked up as I was telling her, "up there?" I answered, "yeah baby, Mr. Charles is way up there." She seemed satisfied because she didn't bring it up again.

At Movie Gallery, she wanted to be a big girl and look for her movie, so I let her be a big girl. I let her walk around and look for movies until she was pretty much ready to good. She walked right in front of me like she knew what she was doing. I had to point out "Mariposa" to her because she passed right by it. Then, she tells me "Mom, I need another Care Bear movie, please." All of their old children movies are $.99, so I didn't care. I told her she could pick out two movies and that's all. She couldn't decide between all the Care Bear movies, Max & Ruby, and Dr. Seuss movies. I figured she would want "Barbie in The 12 Dancing Princesses" movie once I showed it to her. She held it, but quickly decided that she had to have the "Care Bears to Rescue" movie along with "Mariposa." I picked up "27 Dresses" for me and she kept wanting to look around. It was too cute. She saw one movie "Sweet 16" and she liked it because it was pink. I told her that I didn't think it was a kids movie. She quickly asked, "not a kids movie? What you talking about Mom?" She held on to her two movies all through the store and handed them to me when we got to the check out desk. She had to hold her movies going out to the truck. "Now Mommy, we need to go home and watch my Care Bears movie." I decided to take a different route home and she got so confused "where you taking me Mom? Are we going home? I need to go home and watch my Care Bears movie." On the way home through the back roads, she saw a few play sets. "Look Mom, a slide! Did you see it? I saw a slide." I asked her if she wanted a slide for her birthday. "Huh, Alright!" she responded. Too funny.

I spoke to Sandy and Sherry today about Mom's condition. It's a little confusing as to her progress. All I can say is she seems a little agitated and not herself lately. One minute she's fine, feeling good and the next she is down not feeling good and she's got a temper to go along with it. She's still not eating enough food in order to get her strength back. Dr. King told Sandy and Sherry that Mom will not be moving out of the ICU until she has enough strength to make him feel more comfortable about moving her, which is fine with me. Honestly, I don't think she needs to be moved. She is still eating pureed foods because she chokes too easily.

We got to watch our recorded Hell's Kitchen tonight. I can't believe Vanessa gave it all up because her hand got burnt. Yeah, she couldn't do a whole lot with one hand and she had to watch using her other one, but Chief Ramsey reassured her that she still had a good shot of winning this game. She told him that she was throwing in the towel because if she couldn't cook like she usually does, then what's the use in staying in Hell's Kitchen. What? Didn't she just hear him say that she still had a shot? Oh well, it's her bad. I'm amazed that Matt is still on this show. Doug says he looks like he just farted all the time and I have to agree.