This morning I had a real problem getting the support hose on, after lying on the bed with my feet up on the wall. I had hoped it would be easier, but I guess I was just tired. Anyway, I finally got them on, and we had our breakfast. Then I went back to the medical records, and I have lost those for the last two weeks. I must have misfiled them or thrown them away by mistake. Oh well, I can guess what they were, not much. The nurses' station doesn't charge anything, and that leaves only one doctor visit and one new prescription. Karen came over and brought us lunch, the same as she made for Terry, a diabetic one, which didn't fill me up. I had two cookies afterward. I sorted books again, and I think I'll give more away; those that we had bought, but not those other people had given us. We went to Burger King for fish sandwiches, and there were very few people there. I hope they manage to stay open, in spite of that. Tonight we watched news broadcasters on TV, and it wasn't very encouraging. we did talk to Kaye and also Carla. Carla will be down here a week from today, and we are looking forward to that.

This morning we went to the nurses' station in Oceanside, and they told us we don't have TB. Then the nurse changed the bandage on my leg, and consulted with another nurse about the state of my legs. They decided I needed to see Dr. Donahoe, and we do have appointments for Mar. 4, and that will be OK they thought. After we left there, we went back to Rite Aid and exchanged the support hose for a milder pair. Since we were in that neighborhood we had lunch at Taco Bell. At home again I put on the new support hose, propped my feet up with 4 pillows on top of the recliner footstool. I went to sleep for a couple of hours, and my legs felt better. Brittany got home, and we three had our dinner together, macaroni and cheese, mixed vegetables, and a small piece of spice cake for dessert. We were too full for a salad. Later we watched a TV show, and now it's bedtime again.

This morning I thought it was Thursday, and I got ready to go back to the Clinic and have our TB tests evaluated. But I was wrong, it isn't until tomorrow. Anyway, I didn't get anything accomplished. Chris did some work, and then after lunch we both got busy on deciding about where to put the new computer in the apartment. We got it all set up between the recliners, but that way we had a hard time seeing the screen, and there was no way we could get close enough for us both to be on a skype. So, we put the computer and all the other things back on the smaller of the two computer desks we have, and we set it up on the other side of the brown recliner. It works fine, and we can get chairs from the dining table to set up to use it to skype. Tonight we had our dinner and then just watched news and stuff on the TV. We are both tired and will go to bed early. But we did talk to Kaye, but not Carla; we talked to her yesterday. Karen had her pacemaker and defibrillator checked this morning, and they are OK. But her old car stalled, and had to be towed back from San Diego.

This morning Chris and I went to the Oceanside Kaiser nurses station, where we each had a TB test, and then they re-bandaged my wounded leg. When the doctor yanked off the bandage yesterday it started bleeding again. Today the nurse said there was no infection in it, and put on a new bandage. Then she tried to put the new support stocking on my other leg, and she couldn't get on any more than we could. So, tomorrow I will take the stockings back to the store and get some that aren't so tight. Then I had one small tube of blood drawn; I'm not sure for what that was. This afternoon I went visiting teaching with Karen, and one lady, who said come anytime, wasn't at home. A grandson there told us she and his mother had gone to Las Vegas. We tried to just visit another friend (from Bothwell), but she wasn't home either. So we went down to the store and bought ice cream cones, ate them, and then it was time to visit the last lady. She was home, and we had a good visit. Tonight we watched Pres. Obama address the Congress, and then we had our dinner. Britteny was home, too, so she had hers along with us.

This morning we went to Kaiser Clinic and I saw a doctor about my leg, that had bled again. Also, we got information and an appointment to see Dr. Donahoe in March to fill out the medical papers to allow us to go into Las Villas de Carlsbad. We had a picnic lunch with Karen at Tamarack Beach, and I thought of going up and down the stairs there, but I gave it up - too much exercise for my leg. At home again, we had a rest and some dinner left over from Karen's meal for us yesterday. Then we marked all the furniture to go to the apartment with red smiley faces. We also have a plan of the apartment with little cutouts showing the placement of the furniture. It's bedtime, so I will close for today.

We went to one session of Church this morning. I talked to a member who lives just across the street from Las Villas de Carlsbad, and she said her daughter worked there for years, and it's a nice place to live, She was sure we would enjoy it. We really do intend to stay at least three months, and see how we like it. We won't rent out this house, we'll keep it just in case we will want to come back. Karen and Terry invited us over for dinner, and we went about 4:3o to their house. It was a nice dinner of pork spareribs that Terry cooked on their barbecue; with Karen doing the rest of the dinner. Brittany stayed here to study. We skyped with Kaye twice, and she has a bad cold. I hope she recovers soon, because Stellan and Sarah will come down later this week, and she doesn't want to infect Caden with her cold. She and I think it's too soon to take Caden so far from the hospital, but we can't manage things for them. Brittany wants me to proofread her essay, so I'll close for tonight.

A busy Saturday

This morning I got my hair done, but it was at 10 instead of 9:30. After that, we went to Rite-Aid and I bought some support stockings and some little prophie brushes. Later, I couldn't get the stockings on over the thick bandage on my leg. So, I just used a blanket over my legs as I had lunch and then napped a bit, and read again in Pattie's new book. Karen came over, and she helped us fill out the paperwork we need to take to the doctor, for him to fill out his portion, of the application for acceptance at Villas de Carlsbad. We won't move until the last week in March, so there will plenty of time to get an appointment with Dr. Donahoe. After Karen left, we skyped with Kaye until it was dark, and then we had our dinner and watched the regular Brit shows on a Saturday on PBS. The pictures of Race and Caden that Kaye sent us on the computer are very nice. I'm glad Race and Stellan are becoming friends again. It seemed that they grew apart for a while. Caden is helping to bring them back together.

I guess the most important thing that happened this morning was that Chris (Wally, Russ) expressed concern about our moving. I found he thought I was the one who wanted to go to the apartment, and he was just going along with it. Finally by this evening we came to an agreement. We will go, and take only a few things, and come back if we don't like it. Brittany gave us her older laptop, so we won't have to take two computers. And Chris will set up his new computer in the living room. The TV's are another problem; we will take one, and leave the others. Right now Kaye is watching Caden on the skype with Stellen. She will call us as soon as that's done. She did tell us, though, that Caden now weighs 17lbs. 8z. That's very good! I have a new bandage on my leg, because it isn't healed yet. I will get an appointment with Dr. Donahoe and see if he can do something about it. Also, my ankles and surrounding tissues are swollen and red, and I need something for that.

This morning we went to Wells Fargo bank, then to Albertson's and then to the Grocery Outlet. It was after noon then, so we went to Taco Bell for lunch. We were tired, so we both had a little nap. Later we were able to see Caden in the skype, but he couldn't see us. He kept looking, but there was no indication he saw us, he just went on playing, and jumping in his little walker thing. We also talked to Stellan and Sarah. She is going to write another blog. We also talked to Kaye and Karen. Kaye called, and we skyped with her for a while. but it's getting late, so we will all have to stop and get ready for bed. I go tomorrow to have my bandage changed again. I hope it all healed this time. I want to seem healthy when we go back to the apartment house with our medical reports when they are finished.

We decided our Move to the apartment.

I just saw the picture of Caden that Kaye sent us. He looks healthy, but thin. I hope he can put on a little weight now. Kaye's note says he goes to the doctor tomorrow, and I hope he just has to have the shot to keep him from rejecting the new heart, and he is all right otherwise. We met Karen for lunch in Carlsbad, and then we three went to see the apartment. We decided we will move into the one-bedroom one on the front side of the building B sometime in March. We need to get a report from our doctor, and I don't know what that entails - I have the forms for him to fill out, but I haven't looked at them yet. I was just tired when we got home, and we both had a nap. Tonight we looked at the news on TV, then had our dinner. I made sweet biscuits to go with the strawberries Peggy Plylor brought us yesterday, and that was our strawberry shortcake.

This morning I slept in, because the alarm didn't go off. I just had time to get dressed before my visiting teacher came at 9:30. She always brings something, and this time it was strawberries, local ones. They are much better than those that come from Mexico. After she left, Chris (Russ, Wally) and I drove to the Oceanside Kaiser nurses' station, and I had the bandage on my leg changed. It was raining hard again, but when we came out later, the sun was out. We came home and finally had some brunch. I go back on Friday to have it looked at again. This time I won't shower, just have a sponge bath. Maybe it will be healed. Tonight we talked to Carla and Karen, and skyped with Kaye. That's such a nice way to talk. And she sent us some new pictures of Caden. This time he was up on his hands and knees, but we don't know if he actually crawled. That would be good; he is 9 months old now. Tomorow we go back to look at the apartment again, and I hope it looks good as it seemed to be last time.

This morning it was raining hard when Karen came to take her Dad and me to San Marcos for his ct scan. We got there a little early, and he got in a little early, so we were out of there and into the rain again. It was blowing and pouring, so Karen drove back streets to a Carl's Jr. where we had lunch. After that we drove home in the heavy rain. It's supposed to give us 1 inch today and 1 inch tomorrow. I'm sure it did today! The people at Villas de Carlsbad called, and that woman decided not to move into that one bedroom apartment after all, so we are next in line. We and Karen will go over there on Wednesday and get the forms filled out, and then look again at the apartment, just to be sure we can fit in until they have a 2 bedroom one on the same side of the buildings. Tonight we skyped with Kaye again, and that's so good to do. I hope all the relatives get that, too, on their computers. Brittany was here all day, it's a holiday for the U. in Fullerton. She studied a lot, but she had dinner with us. Also, earlier, she went to a yoga class at her gym. She says it helps her stay in shape. That's all I have to write until tomorrow.

I missed writing last night, but I'll make up for it tonight. Yesterday I had my hair done, came home, had lunch, and we went out back to Wal-Mart to walk, and look at the big TV screens. It was too chilly in the wind, and maybe a little rain, to walk outside. Our present TV screen is 27in. diagonally, and that seems all right for now. In the evening we went to a High Priest dinner at the church. Brittany drove us down and back. Today we went to Sacrament Meeting, and then we came home, and we had a little lunch. Then I read the D. and C. lesson for Sunday School, while Russ played games on the computer. someday I want to stay for all three meetings on Sunday. We had an early dinner, then we were on the skype with Kaye, and a little while with Karen. Isn't this a wonderful invention! It's almost like a real visit with someone. I look forward to the ones with Caden. These are less often now, that he isn't in the hospital all the time. Stellen and Sarah have rented an apartment not far from where he works, and they will take Caden to the hospital only every two weeks. I hope it works out OK. If this baby doesn't make it, I'm sure a lot of people will be really heartbroken.

This morning we went to see the 2-bedroom apartment at Villas de Carlsbad, but it was on the freeway side of the building, so we said no. But we did look at a 1-bedroom on the south side, it is one that we could like. But someone else is in line for it, and she will come back to look at the new carpet tomorrow. I hope she doesn't like it, and we can have it. But it's really a little too early; we didn't plan to go into one until the end of March or early April. We'll see what happens. If we do get it, and they have a two-bedroom later, in this area, they will move us into it, with no moving charge. This afternoon we went back to the nurses' station in Oceanside to get my leg looked at, and a new bandage put on. It's a slightly smaller bandage, and the wound looks better today. I'm to go back next Tuesday and have it checked again. And no charge for this service; We pay Kaiser a lot, but it's deducted from the bank, so we don't notice it so much. We skyped with Kaye again today, and talked yesterday to Bianca and to Carla. All is well with them. Brittany will go to work at the golf course tomorrow, if it doesn't rain. If it does, she will have time to study, which she needs to do.

We didn't do much this morning, but we did go down to the beach, got parking lot where we could see the breakers, and Karen met us there with the lunch. We brought drinks and potato chips. It was mostly clear, but a cold wind was blowing, so we didn't do our walk. And besides, I didn't want to hurt my leg anymore. After our lunch, we went shopping at Stater Bros. Grocery and bought a lot of things. When I got home we had a call from Las Villas de Carlsbad, saying they had a two-bedroom apartment that was available. So I made an appointment to see it tomorrow at 10 a.m. I hope its satisfactory, and then we will be able to stop this waiting for one. This is a month early, but I'd like to get it done. Kaye skyped us tonight, and Kyle definitely has diabetes, but she doesn't, thank goodness. It's a problem, but it can be handled. Karen takes good care of Terry's.

During my shower this morning I found the place I skinned on my leg over a week ago had bled through the bandage again. That worried me, so I went with Russ to the Kaiser clinic here in Oceanside. He had his protime test, and I went to the nurses' station, and they looked at my leg, called a doctor who looked at it and prescribed an antibiotic. We had to go home before it was ready, because Linda Sheldon was coming to take me to the Alphi Chi Alumnae lunch. We went back for the medicine after she brought me home. I'm glad I have something for it. The lunch we had was authentic Mexican, and I brought enough of it home for my dinner. Russ also had leftovers, from last night. We had a nice long talk with Kaye tonight. She is seriously looking at plans for the addition to their house. She is going to send us copies of what she likes. We talked to Karen, and she broke a tooth last night, and she now has a crown on it.

This morning Bill Townsend came over and he did fix the fence on the north side of the house, and he finished the block walk to the new shed, so we can roll things out there to store. He didn't find a wrought iron gate for the south side, but he did fix the wood one so we can use it easily now. All that took till noon. After lunch I finished Patricia Briggs' new book. but I will have to re-read the last of it, because I was interrupted twice and lost the train of the action. We skyped again tonight with Kaye, and it was her shot day, so we didn't talk long. Tomorrow she takes the little car in for wheel alignment, and she will also look for plans for the addition to their house; then in the evening, she will go to the writer's group. I hope she feels better so she can enjoy the group meeting. Tonight I glued all the little pieces of furniture to the floor plan of the apartment at Las Villas de Carlsbad. It took an hour, but now they can't slide around anymore. Almost everything fits in.

Fixing up the house.

It has been a busy day. First Bill Townsend came over, and he and Chris talked about his fixing the north fence and putting a new gate on the south side of the house. He will get the supplies and do the jobs. Then later Steve Rowe came over, and he fixed the electric wiring that had rotted out between the two outlets in each bathroom, and he removed a connection to the original shed in the south yard. Also he redid the wiring in the kitchen near the sink. It was too near the water to pass code. I didn't know that was a problem. I guess the code has changed since this house was built. We talked to both Kaye and Karen on the skype, and we talked to Carla on the phone. She and Rex had got home and were busy getting settled in after their trip to Idaho to welcome a nephew, home from his mission. It turned into a great family reunion for the Smith families, she told us. I'm still reading in Pattie's new book, "Bone Crossed". But it's time to go bed, so I'll do that instead.

A new idea for Kaye and Kyle.

It shows on this blog that I didn't write yesterday; I guess it was just the usual things, like getting my hair fixed, a little grocery shopping, and getting caught in the rain again. But by the time we got home it had stopped. We talked to Kaye and then Karen on skype again. On today, Sunday, we went to Sacrament Meeting and then came home. After a snack we talked and visited with Kaye again. She is considering making an addition to their house, almost another house but attached to the old one. The old one has so many things wrong with it, that it seems almost logical to build the new addition to live in, and keep the other part for storage and guests who may come. That way Kaye can keep the new part mostly clear of things that she is allergic to. I remember she was tested for that in Houston, and she was allergic to 25 things. I meant to rest in the afternoon, but I made the mistake of picking up Pattie's new book, and I never did get a good rest!

This morning I did get started on Pattie's new book, but I didn't get very far. Wells Fargo called, and wanted us to come in and get some new ideas about what to do with the extra money in our checking account. Three of our "investments" had been deposited. So, we decided to go over there, and on the way we had a fish sandwich, then went shopping at the CVC Pharmacy, and then went to the bank. We decided to just put the extra money in a savings account, that did draw a little interest. That was the easiest thing to do. It's hard to decide on investments these days. When we got home, Brittany started her work helping us with the clothes washing, and labeling the packed boxes; also labeling the special linens people had given us, which was Kaye's suggestion. Then we all three had dinner together, and then watched the news. This afternoon we also visited with Kaye on the spyke. That's the best thing on the computer! While we did that, Kyle was installing new lights in their kitchen. We talked to Karen, and now we are going to call Carla if she has got to Bandon.

I missed writing yesterday. Toward evening I tried to finish re-reading Patricia Briggs' book, because her new book just arrived in the mail. Anyway, I didn't get it done, and I was still just getting to bed when Brittany got back from Fullerton at 12:15 p.m. This morning I did finish reading it, and now I can start on the new one maybe tomorrow. We met Karen for a picnic lunch at the beach about noon, and the sun was shining, but there was a cool wind. We walked about a block and then back to the car, where we met her. We were parked in the first row, next to the beach, so we had our lunch in the car. On the way home we stopped at a grocery and bought frozen dinners and some other things. when we walked out of the store, it was raining hard! It came up very suddenly, from clouds that were hovering when we went in. At home we rested, and watched the news, and then we had dinner. Brittany joined us, eating her meat-free food. After dinner we skyped with Kaye; it's so much fun to do this new thing, that we spent more time than we meant to. I'm tired tonight, so I'll stop and get ready for bed.

This morning we had renewed energy to work on packing things, because there was the shed outside the window. Chris worked on packing old videos and I went through books again. Then he started on Income Tax, and that soon got old. We had our lunch, and then we went for a walk at Tamarack Beach. It was warm and sunny, but there was a slight cool breeze. We walked with some rests almost to the next steps to the top of the hill, and then we came back. We were both breathless, which shows how much we need to walk--or we won't get our strength back. When we got almost home, we found our street closed off by a policeman. We just got parked, when the policeman waved us on, to our house, the 2nd on the street. There was nothing on the street to indicate anything was wrong. I'll watch the paper the next few days to find out what had happened. Brittany got home a short time before us, and she had no trouble with a policeman. We talked to Karen today, but not the other daughters. There's still time to do that now.

This morning Roy came to clean, and he did his usual good job; also he restored the back bathroom to it's original usage. I didn't do anything useful, just picked up the things we had scattered over the house. After Roy left we had our lunch and waited around for the man to come with the new shed. He finally got here a little after 4, and he had the walls and roof prebuilt, and he just had to put them up and screw them together. It's the same size as the old one, but not as high. We will have to keep that in mind when we load things to take out there. This evening I went through all the cookbooks and pamphlets I have collected over the years, and threw away about half of them. The rest will go into the storage shed eventually. I also have a file of recipe files that need to be gone over. Maybe tomorrow. The pictures of Karen that Kaye sent are very good. I archived them, along with Caden's pictures.

A different Sunday

Chris' nose bled in the night, but it was stopped after a couple of hours. He went back to sleep, and then got up, and started our Sunday routine. It went well for a while, but then his nose started to bleed again. After he got it stopped, he sat in his chair and went back to sleep. After he woke up we had a piece of toast and our usual tablets. Then as time went by, he began to feel better, and he got dressed, except for shoes and socks. Just then, as Church was over, the Bishop came by to see us. We explained what had happened, and he stayed a little while visiting, and then he left, with our tithing check. Together we prepared our pork stew and baked it all afternoon. It was good tonight. Brittany was up, too, so she ate as we did, but of course different food. We skyped with Kaye tonight, with Brittany's help to get started. We also talked to Carla, and they had a good day at the golf course. I'm glad it's working out for them. They drove back to Eugene, and we got to talk just after they got home. Karen's leg is still a problem, but she's cheerful anyway.