December 2017 catch up continues!

So I woke up with the stomach bug that was going around my workplace. About half of our residents and patients all had stomach issues. I had my flu shot two weeks before, but this was not the flu. I could not get out of bed on Monday and just slept all day and night. Thank goodness for Vernors ginger ale. That was all I could handle. On Tuesday I was feeling a bit better, but not enough to go to work. Instead I stayed in bed and finished my Christmas cards.

Since I was home with Allison, I talked her into pulling out her old Barbie doll collection, brushing their hair, snapping some photos, and posting them on our neighborhood web page. She was not interested in keeping the dolls, all 20, and thought Christmas would be a good time to do some spring cleaning. We got the idea when we saw someone else requesting Barbie dolls for a Christmas gift. No sooner did Allison post the dolls, we received 3 immediate requests and the next door neighbor ran over and rang the doorbell! Allison sold the whole bag to her for her granddaughter for $30. Good Christmas spending money!  And the neighbors all thought it seemed just like The Toy Story movie-a college kid selling their toys so someone else can play with them. The neighborhood loved it! Now we just have a few more piles of toys to go through and post on the neighborhood website! I am mentally getting ready to become an empty nester next year!

Allison also finished up with her dentist appointment, as well as Scott. Looks like both kids need to have their wisdom teeth out this summer. Allison then had her blood drawn to check her iron levels. We won't find out the results for another week.

So I was back to work on Weds but still feeling a bit off. Fortunately I was off on Friday. I spent my day finishing up my Christmas shopping. I also had a morning meeting with the Care Coordinator at my Mom's facility. Looks like she is doing well(except she keeps on taking the community tv remotes up to her room!). We actually discontinued her cable since she wasn't spending time watching tv in the apt. She sure could have used the cable service after being stuck in the apt for a week. Mostly she kept herself busy reading. After stopping in to check on Mom,  I met with her financial advisor for a year end review. Peter actually forgot about our appointment and was out on a lunch meeting, but able to hurry back to  meet with me. In the meantime I chatted with his secretary, swapping alcohol recipes! She makes her own Apple Cider Moonshine and gave me an extra bottle.  I was dropping off Tom's homemade gin as a small Christmas gift to Peter, but she got the GS cookies. Not sure who got the better deal!

On Saturday I volunteered to go into work. Big mistake. I was the only OT scheduled and my boss made sure my day was very busy. I had 12 patients to see and put in a 12 hr day. I think they were trying to play catch up since Monday was Christmas and no one planned on working that day. I was pretty pooped out when I got home! On Sunday, Christmas Eve, I spent the day wrapping all the gifts I bought on Friday.  In the evening, I picked up my Mom and we all went out for Chinese food on Christmas Eve. Afterwards we went to Christmas mass at the Chapel at the Charlestown Retirement Community Center. I was going to bring her home on Sunday and have a big dinner and open her Christmas gifts, but her facility was having the outbreak of the stomach bug as well. Turns out Mom had stomach issues that week as well as the rest of the residents throughout the building with the same symptoms. They put everyone on isolation during the week

and had them remain in their rooms. The staff had to bring their food up to all the apartments(quite a chore-3x/day). But they did not want the residents spreading any more germs in the dining room or while participating in activities in the community rooms. So instead everyone was confined to their apartments. Not an easy concept for my mom to understand, especially since she was feeling better. They also did not recommend bringing family home in case they were still contagious. I certainly did not want to see the kids or Tom catch the bug(it was not fun), so I did not risk bringing mom to our house. So instead we had a little Christmas the night before with dinner out and church. Surprisingly, they let her go to the Sr Center on Thursday for her weekly program. But again, I did not want to take the risk and see anyone else in the family catching the bug.

After Christmas mass we drove around in the rain looking at Christmas lights on the way back to mom's apartment. Unfortunately our tour was cut short when my newly installed windshield wiper flew off the car! Tom tried installing an off brand windshield wiper. Needless to say, he got me some high quality wipers instead for Christmas! Just in time for our upcoming trip to Indiana!

After we dropped Mom off, we headed home to enjoy watching "Christmas Story" and opened a few gifts from friends and relatives. Scott was especially excited to get a new Western Mich. coat from his Aunt Susan and Uncle John! He is definitely going to need it too!

I think mostly Scott was just happy to be done with school for awhile. He has been working so hard the past few weeks and all the tests, papers and projects were due this week. He had multiple tests in Physics and Math, wrote a paper after reading the 'Fences' book(movie came out last year), and had to turn in his toothpick bridge for the upcoming strength test in Physics. Allison built a winning design when she was in high school, so Scott is trying to follow in her footsteps. He got a small break from school on Friday when he spent the day delivering his food and gift donations to a needy family in our county along with a few other high school students. Scott got to drive and after they were done, the students were allowed to spend the rest of the day at the mall. Scott used his time to get lunch and do some shopping but then had to return to school before the last bell for dismissal.

When he got home, he and Allison took his Jeep into the auto dealership to see if another service station could tweak some of the issues we were still having including the buzzing in the back speaker and the malfunction in the sensor for blind spots. And Tom thinks the transmission needs an adjustment since the drive is a bit choppy for city streets. So the two took the car over before coming home and making dinner. It's nice to have the kids home!

Meanwhile, Tom was hoping for a few extra days off work before the Holiday week. Instead, he was called out to California on Thursday and returned late Friday night. Fortunately he had a good flight and a very successful visit.