Spending Time With Mom

I'm really not sure what to say at this point.  After a little over a year of good progress, my mom is really struggling now.

A few weeks ago she was in the hospital for a few days due to a fever.  I saw her in the hospital and she was pretty tired.

Then almost two weeks later she was in again.  But this time, there was harder news.

And then mom and dad made the decision to transition into hospice.

And so, this weekend, apart from visiting on Wednesday and Friday, I threw myself into chores at home.

Jennifer and I got boxes of Christmas decorations from storage, and spent Saturday and early Sunday morning decorating.  We also had pad see ew for Thanksgiving, because we were neither of us interested in turkey this year.  I got my fix of semi-traditional Thanksgiving food by having country ham when I was at my parents'.  And then yesterday, I told Jennifer I was going to do more chores.

So, after taking the empty boxes back to storage, while Jennifer cleaned up plastic pine needles and did general cleaning, I took care of lots of "manly-man" tasks around the house that I had been putting off.

New wheels on our wheelie cart.  Check.

Assemble and hang giant map on stairway.  Check.

Hang fancy shelves and mirror in bedroom.  Check.

And then I assisted in the last stages of clean-up.

And the house looks great:

This year we bought a set of advent ornaments for the tree in our foyer.  That's what's in the basket and why the tree seems so bare.

Advent: Day 24

Merry Christmas!

Advent: Day 23

Advent: Day 22

So, Sunday when I was coming home from visiting mom in the hospital, there was a series of crunches from my right bike pedal.  I looked it over, and found the bearings had given out or fallen out.  Fortunately, the pedal still worked, and was just a little loose.

So, last night when I got home (I rode my other bike to work), Jennifer and I rode to Blue Heron Bikes in Berkeley.  We had found them while riding on the Ohlone Greenway under the Richmond BART line.  Not only did they trade out the pedals, but they also traded out my toe cages at no extra cost.  I was impressed with the guy who worked on my bike, because I had tried to unscrew the pedal and just had no success.  They have some beautiful bikes there too.

Advent: Day 21

Sunday, I spent with mom and dad at Kaiser.  Mom had a rough Friday and Saturday, and spent them in the hospital.  She's still there today (Monday), but we're hoping that she'll get to go home today.  She was tired, and dad and I took turns feeding her.  It wasn't that she was that weak, she just only had one good hand to use, because her left was covered in monitors and tubes.  But news was looking better for her, and when I left, dad was still asleep on the couch int he room, and mom was getting vitamins and probably going back to napping.

When I got home, Jennifer had gone domestic on me again, and was in the midst of baking bread, and preparing sausages and mashed potatoes for our Winter Solstice dinner.  Half of which I have leftover for lunch today.

Advent: Day 20

Saturday was a good day overall.  Jennifer and I went into the city to look at Christmas trees, and experience the season with people.  If you have not yet been to the AstroTurf covered Winter Walk, then I highly recommend it.  And be sure to be there in both the day and the night, because the free form benches light up at night and add a pretty note to the walk.

And since you'll be nearby, go to the Sutter Pub.  Boddington's, as well as others, on tap, and some really great food.

Advent: Day 19

Friday.  A day to look forward to the weekend.  And also one to see that Christmas is closing in just that fast.

Advent: Day 18

Let's just say that my review went very well, and I'm looking forward to the new year and growing opportunities at my company.

Advent: Day 17

Yesterday was an interesting day.  We had a low grade version of what at ETIC we used to call a "client fire drill".

Basically, a client PM had a presentation coming up today, and she needed us to fill in the facts on her presentation.  We had a quick conference call, and hashed out who as doing what.  An then we got it back to her in a couple hours, all set to go.

It was so much easier than some of the rush work we would have at ETIC.  At least this one had an understandable purpose.  The ETIC client work always seemed like arbitrary budget re-analysis.

But now, all is well, and I can relax and look forward to my annual review later today.

Advent: Day 16

Crowded?  Perhaps, but it's going to look so good when it's done.

Advent: Day 15

This weekend, Jennifer said that the advent tree was getting crowded.  There's still 10 ornaments to go...

Advent: Day 14

And so Sunday.

Today was a day to be out and enjoying the weather while we could be fore the return of rain.

We enjoyed ourselves at Bay Street in Emeryville, and rode all around town.

Advent: Day 13

Not much to report for the day.  Saturday was pretty quiet.

But we did go to see "Big Hero 6" which I thought was was a lot of fun.  I think a this of the fun was seeing what parts of San Francisco they had Japanified.  I vaguely recognized some of landmarks from Tokyo.  But I liked the story, and the animation.

Advent: Day 12

And so, we're halfway through decorating the advent tree.

I'm certainly looking forward to a beautiful dry weekend before the rain returns.

Advent: Day 11

And so the storm has mostly passed, and we're all still here.

It was interesting to watch what happened with it.  It started in the North Bay and hovered there for the night, and then the beginning of the morning it moved through the East Bay.  Winds were high all across the north state, but the terrible rain and winds didn't linger for us.

Instead it moved down tot eh south bay.  I watched the radar most of the day, and the cell of yellow, orange, and red just hovered over Monterrey Bay throwing the occasional pseudopod up towards us.  It was still there last night when I went to bed, and now this morning it's moved all the way down to LA.

You all have fun with that.

Advent: Day 10

So, for any who are curious, I did not ride my bike to day although I did go into work.  The winds were blowing at 33 mph when I woke up, and forecast to be anywhere from 30 to 50 mph for the day.  Rain I can handle, but gusty winds are too much.  Also, I'm glad I'm not up in the mountains; apparently they've measured winds up to 135 mph in the Sierra this morning.

Advent: Day 9

So yesterday I was back at work.  I'm tending to get up a lot and walk, just to keep my back moving. Riding my bike is fine, and laying down is fine both on my back or on my side.  It's just sitting that bothers me.

I'm just glad there were no helicopters last night.

So, Monday there was a protest march in Berkeley that went down to Interstate 80 at University.  I knew something was up because there was a helicopter hovering over that way.  Then three more moved in like something out of Vietnam.  Those were likely from television.  That happened when the protesters blocked the freeway.  And they kept circling and hovering around Emeryville until after the 11:00 news slots.  Then they went away finally.

The police helicopter did not.  They were tracking people or groups until the wee hours of the night. And of course it was a night where we wanted our window open.  It got pretty loud sometimes.  Jennifer said there were times the searchlight on the helicopter passed over the window.

At least last night it was quiet in our area.

Advent: Day 8

Jennifer asked me this morning when she put her decoration up, "Why did you do all candles?"  I told that's just the way I like to do it.  But now it's all free style.  There is one more candle, but it's a different style.

Advent: Day 7

And one more day down.  I'm thinking that tomorrow I will be close enough to normal that I will go back to work, but today, I'm keeping it calm, and staying on the couch or the bad.

Advent: Day 6

And Sunday too.  Although I did get a little pop of release and I can sit for a while.

If things aren't better in the morning, I'll be going to a doctor.