It takes a village.

This post was actually drafted a few weeks ago so the news is not that new but thought it was important to post for a status update on dear Gert:

Had a bit of a hard time here lately as Mom's doctor (a nurse practitioner who is delightful actually) suggested oxygen 24/7. When we were in the office and she took mom's pulse ox and it came up at 86, I thought 'uh oh.' Sure enough, she's basically starving for breath if not on O2. Shoot...

Oh Hanukkah

Enjoying a day of friendship and wine at Sugarloaf Winery

So, as the Festival of Lights approaches, I was thinking that there aren't many Chanukah songs out there. This thought came to me because the lead list selected for a new site

On being thankful.

Rita is a huge Gertie fan, as am I

So, as Mom and I sit here Thanksgiving night watching The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (did I mention I've gotten a Netflix account?...), I'm thinking about how thankful I am for all that we have.

I ran over to Bobbi's today to gather her mother's excellent green beans, some mashed potatoes, and a delightful succotash mixture from Bobbi's family's Thanksgiving gathering. Mom and I were planning on heading to Ron's for a cocktail hour today but Nora has a cold and, well, it turns out that Gert wasn't going anywhere today anyway.

Luckily, we had a very small (read: very small) early Thanksgiving dinner last night. Just Bobbi, John, Mom and I were to share a turkey, stuffing, fresh rolls, drunken sweet potatoes, spirited Pumpkin pie, Apple and caramel crust pie, crack cookies, sausage and cheese puffs, and, um, cocktails. Mom and I cooked most of the day - emphasis on 'I', not so much on 'Mom' although she did direct me in a few details. I still hate touching a dead turkey (versus a live turkey..) so she talked me through the 'ugh, ewwwww' factor. Bird in oven, rolls rising, cocktails in hand, we napped, chatted, napped and chatted.

She Made It!

Mom sees Carina's and my light decorating touch

Well, October 28 marked Gert's 94th birthday and she's doing very well. Had a rather interesting exchange that morning around 5 am though when she was getting up for coffee.

Lori (enters Gert's bedroom, sits on the bed): Happy Birthday, Birthday GIRL!
Gert (through hangdog looking eyes that aren't quite focused): I didn't want to tell you but I didn't think I was going to make it.
Lori (aghast!): WHAT? You let me decorate this whole house for a Tiki party and you didn't THINK YOU WERE GOING TO MAKE IT?

 We both cracked up.

Now, in retrospect, I suppose I should have uttered words of encouragements like 'of course you were going to make it. I can see you easily sailing toward 97...' Something like that would have been nice but, then again, why try to change a relationship that is clearly working well.

Made her cupcakes as she requested, instead of a cake. Now, cupcakes, imho, are much more work than just popping 2 cake tins into the oven. And, messier too. I must have used every utensil in the kitchen trying to spoon the cake mixture into those stupid little cups. But, with Mom's 'help', they were done by 9:30 am. The icing is another issue. Suffice it to say that we now have a very tasty caramel dipping sauce for Saturday - the 'icing' didn't work too well. Will have to post the pics of her 'helping' - need to find the camera. It's around here somewhere!