Fran Sale Stafford

Great Surprise Weekend

During the week, Son 1 let us know he was going to come in late Friday night and stay until after lunch today. Late Friday afternoon, Son 2 called and said his medical transport company was transporting a patient from his area to ours and he was going to drive the run with an employee that would drive the ambulance back if I could pick him up at a nearby hospital in the early morning of Saturday. His wife and 5 of their kids would drive up arriving late afternoon and they would leave very late evening to go back home.

We had arranged with Daughter and her fiancé to go see their new house and the progress they had made in getting it ready to move into soon. It needed some work that they have mostly done themselves to get it ready.

We showed up just after our lunch on Saturday with both sons. She knew Son 1 would be with us, but the Son 2 plans occurred after our call. She was happily surprised to see both brothers with us. It has been a very long time since we had all three of our adults kids in the same room at the same time.

As we were getting ready to leave from their house, Son 1 asked her if they would be at dinner. A moment of mild panic on my part as that would put 14 people at the table, but WOW, all three of our kids, 7 of our grandkids, 1 wife and one fiancé all at one time. We stopped on the way home, bought 16 burgers, 16 buns, 2 bags of frozen steak fries, 1 bag of frozen sweet potato fries, some salad greens and dressing to add to the goodies from the Farmer’s Market we had done earlier, a dozen ice cream cups and we would have dinner for all.

I set a folding table up at the end of the dining table with both leaves. Gathered all the chairs I could find including the piano bench and we set the table with paper plates (I don’t have enough pottery plates for 14), paper napkins so there wasn’t an entire load of cloth napkins.

Then the sons went down to the bee yard with me and broke it down. The hive that had been the weaker one, had a ball of bees right in the middle, they had eaten about half of the sugar block, but there weren’t enough of them and they had frozen to death. The stronger hive must have left the hive before the week of very cold weather, there was an un hatched queen cell and just a few hundred dead bees, but several frames of honey. It was all packed up and most of it later packed in Son 2’s van to go home with them. He had purchased most of the equipment for me two years ago, but my age, eyesight, and strength just aren’t enough to try again for a third year.

DIL and kiddos arrived, Daughter and family arrived after they finished their house work. We were missing 2 grandkids, and a Daughter-in-love and her son, but it was so wonderful to have all of them together. The littles dumped the toy basket, fought over them, cleaned them up repeatedly. Ate burgers, fries, salad, and ice cream, played ping pong, had a “rock band” in the basement, with the drum set and guitars including the two preteen gals, the 4 little ones, and Son 1 (the owner of the instruments). Daughter and her family left, then around 10, Son 2 and his family left for home.

It made my heart happy. Having so much of our family together was wonderful.

This morning, Son 1 helped me with some chores, then I fixed a Mexican fiesta meal for us and he headed home. We are tired, but so happy.

So Much For Schedules

Late last week, we received a call asking if today, Wednesday was a good day to deliver my new rocking recliner. Nothing taking us far from home was planned, so we said yes. We were then informed that we would receive a call yesterday to let us know when we had to be home for the delivery. No call, but later in the evening, I spotted a text message saying it would be between 1:30 and 4:30 p.m.

This morning with that in mind, we set out for town by 10:30 to take the old chair to the dump, pick up some groceries, a med that had been refilled, to get fuel for the car, and grab a quick lunch. We had plenty of time to do that and be home before 1:30. At 11:30, a text was received that they would be there in 20 minutes, but I was driving and didn’t see it until I had parked and there was a second text that they were 10 minutes out. Town is 20 minutes from our house. Stressing that we would miss them and they wouldn’t leave the chair, we dropped all errands yet undone and headed home. About 5 minutes from home, they called wondering where we were. Hubby told them we had been notified that the delivery wouldn’t be before 1:30 and they apologized indicating that they were quicker than expected and would it be ok to just leave it on the porch. Yes, of course. But we continued on the 5 more minutes, passing the truck as it went down the mountain. The huge box was marked on all 4 sides with instructions for them “Do not open,” “Drop ship only.” Getting the box slide into the house was fairly easy and to ensure that there was no damage, we went on and opened the carton. The seat back was easy enough to remove and carry up the stairs. The seat part was another story. After splaying out all of the flaps and turning the box over, we extricated the main part of the chair from the box, but it was too heavy for me to carry upstairs alone.

Since hubby is still recovering from his most recent bout of illness, we left it sitting and returned to town to pick up where we left off on the errand list. Of course, this entire time, my mind is busy trying to figure out how we were going to manage this without calling in the assistance of a strong grandson and daughter’s fiance, or begging a neighbor.

Errands accomplished, groceries stored away, trash cleaned up from the packing material and we decided that if I was on the upside, lifting a step or two at a time with rest periods allowed, we could manage it. I managed to pinch hubby’s hand between the chair and the footrest, but we got it to the top. Once there, I could finish the job of placing it, putting the back on it and testing it out.

It seems like a good place to nap or read.

Thank you for my new chair, Babe.

Getting In Shape

I have long known that in addition to cardio workouts, weight training was also important, especially as we age. Being no spring chicken and having had a couple of injuries long ago, that had contributed to bursitis and arthritis in hands and shoulders, then rupturing my left bicep tendon helping the old Mastiff to his feet using a beach towel, it became more imperative to do something about it. We had 5, 10, and 15 pound free weights, but I needed guidance.

Hubby gave me a gift certificate for training at the gym where we have a membership through our Medicare Supplemental Insurance. The head trainer, based on my brief note of age and what I wanted, connected me with the perfect trainer. She is a young mom, less than half my age, but with a few health issues herself. Her plan that varies each week has stretches first, weight bearing exercises with free weights or resistance bands, and stretches to end. If an exercise or stretch causes pain in my shoulder, she quickly modifies it or changes the exercise to one that will help with my flexibility and strength without causing more injury. Each weekly session is 30 minutes and I get to the gym in time to do a couple brisk miles on the treadmill prior to the session. I did purchase a resistance band and a 3 lb free weight so I can do the session at home between weekly meetings with her. The motivation of getting together, the plans she emails me after the session have really helped me get going. Today, I signed up for more sessions, so I will work with her for 6 weeks. Since the sessions are reasonably priced, I may continue adding weeks with her as I go along, as long as she feels she has something to offer.

With the floor space, a mat, and a bench, the loft is the perfect place to put in 30 minutes of training a day, rotating through the plans she has sent home with me.

When we get hubby’s energy level back up, we will extend and speed up our daily walks together, but this is a slow recovery for him this time.

The gift certificate was a great gift.