Short vacation and now back at work

I can't believe how time flies between my posts. I am so jealous that my friend Sarah seems to find time to post daily. You will find a link to her blog on the right side of the page; it's always a good read!

I took a few vacation days from work but I didn't "vacation". I went to see my parents. There were numerous projects that I wanted to tackle but "project ivy" proved to be much larger than expected. I left Ashland on Thursday (24 hours early)in a light rain feeling defeated because I did not feel I accomplished anything. If you speak to my Mom, she has me on a pedestal thinking I did great work. It's hard to believe that filling 11 brown yard waste bags left me feeling disappointed but you didn't see the yard! I did use some bricks that I dug up a couple of years ago to help border a couple of flower beds which should make Thor, the lawn mowing guy, happy. The English Ivy tangled with honeysuckle that intertwined with an unknown bush on a rocky incline got the better of me. I cut most of the bush down but need a chain saw to tackle the rest. The weed killer my Mom bought was a dud because it barely turned leaves yellow let alone kill anything! I remembered while talking to my Mom on the phone today that my father-in-law used bleach to kill poison ivy so I told Mom to give it a try on the pesky weeds and ivy.

I did get to see my grandma who is 96. She looked great and was quite friendly although she was not on the same planet as the rest of us.

My Mom just graduated from cardiac rehab on Monday. She is very glad that I pushed her to enroll in the program because it helped her to feel better. She hopes to keep up with the exercise using the bike and treadmill at home and some light hand weights I bought her. I wish I could say my Dad is doing well but he's declining. He complains that no one lets him do anything but when he's done more strenuous things like mowing the front yard, he has ended up in the hospital. Mom has tried to encourage him to do other things but he just sits and does cross words. I began to wonder if his butt was superglued to the chair come Tuesday because he barely moved. The Dad I used to know never went a day without shaving. The Dad I saw during my last visit went three days without even a sponge bath, shaving, or changing clothes. The funny thing is that three days of stubble for my Dad is a half day's growth for my husband when he shaves that morning! Mom told me that if Dad showers once a month that it's a miracle (ewww from she who showers daily). Dad wet himself when I was there and he blamed me for hogging the bathroom although there were 2 other toilets he could have used. Mom told me it was not my fault that my Dad has been having accidents even when the bathroom is open. My Dad who used to walk tall can hardly walk a straight line. A few years ago, I went to an appointment with Mom and Dad to see the neurologist. My Dad has a water pocket in his brain but the doctor was not concerned at the time because Dad was able to walk straight and still controlled his bodily functions. Now that Dad is having problems with these things, it raised a big red flag for me. I don't even want to talk about my Dad's mood swings!

On Monday, I did something that maybe I should not have done and that was that I emailed my Dad's neurologist. I told him what I observed and what my Mom told me. I referenced the visit to his office three years ago when we discussed the water pocket in my Dad's brain. I thought about it later and thought that he'll never contact me because of HIPPA rules. Imagine my surprise when we got home today and there was a message from the doctor on the machine. Of course, it was too late to call him back but I plan to call him tomorrow. I did call my Mom and I told her what I did. At first, I thought she was upset but when I told her that I felt another voice needed to speak up about Dad's condition, she was grateful. The caveat is that I'm sure the doctor is going to want to see my Dad. His last appointment was canceled due to my Mom's health issues. My Dad sees the family doctor, the neurologist as well as different doctors working in the ER when he has his seizures. It appears to me that no one is on the same page. Meanwhile, the Dad I knew growing up is quickly becoming history. How does one go from being "Daddy's Girl" to being near petrified of being around her father? Fortunately or unfortunately, my Dad was civil toward me but he's so mean to my Mom.

Perhaps my prayers at Adoration last night were indirectly answered by Dr. Tan calling to speak with me. I am eager to speak with him although I have no idea what he can do when Dad doesn't want to see the man. Aside from Dad's moods he's prejudice because Dr. Tan is oriental (sorry to be generic but I'm not sure what country he's from). Dad is not politically correct and doesn't understand the whole movement at all. At one time, he was proud of my accomplishments but still felt that I should be "in the home" instead of the one earning the bulk of the wages to support the family. Just because his Mom did that and my Mom did that doesn't mean it is right for me!

I feel like I'm beginning to babble so I should probably wrap this up. Our next planned trip to see Mom & Dad is on August 1st. I need Jon to install vinyl lattice work to replace the wooden lattice that is almost as old as me. It was one of those things that I did not get to because I did not have a vehicle that could carry a sheet of lattice plus I probably wouldn't installed it right to begin with!

I did get back in time to spend the holiday weekend with my guys. We went to the fireworks here in town which ended up being a good time. I planted hostas in my shade garden; my Mom was beginning me to take hostas away which I did. I took some and shared some with a couple of Jon's co-workers. I'm still recovering from the numerous bug bites I got in working all of the gardens last week. It was good to have the time off for a change of pace but it was nice to come back home and work my way back into the routine.

Blessings to everyone for a wonderful week!