This year, we had the prettiest Christmas tree we believe we have ever had.  ('Course we think that every year).  But THIS year, really, it was a beautiful tree.  We bought it like one week before Christmas.  When we went out to buy a tree, we stopped first at one of those private "striped tents" that sell trees and scoffed at their prices.  Crazy what they charge for a tree, but we had to check them out anyway.  Then we went to the nearby Home Depot and were SHOCKED to find out that they had sold out of all their trees just the day before.

So, we were getting worried.  We then drove to Lowe's to find they did have trees, but they were smaller than we wanted.  We almost went ahead and bought one of those little trees, but decided to check another nearby Home Depot before actually buying.  At that second Home Depot, they had a little outside uncovered tree lot FULL of trees, but only ONE of the kind of tree we wanted (a Noble Fir).  And that one Noble Fir, although a good size and shape, was already a little brown around the edges.  They suggested that we check inside to ask if yet another Home Depot had more trees for sale.  So we went in and after making the phone call, the lady told us that the Home Depot on DeZavala had just gotten in a new shipment and they had several Noble Firs.  We were so hopeful.  We drove all the way over there and were relieved to see that Home Depot kept their Christmas trees inside a tent.  So we went in the tent, the guy took out one Noble Fir and without further ado, we said we'd take that very tree he was holding.  Soooo different from how we usually buy a Christmas tree.  We usually stand up almost every single tree in the lot, twirl it around, put it back and look at another one, and on and on.  This tree, the minute we saw it, we knew it was a beauty and that we wanted it.  The price was right also so we were so happy to have found such a nice tree at such a late date.

ANYway, this beautiful tree has only been up a little over a week and we are already taking it down.  It's crazy, one of the prettiest trees we have ever had and we are keeping it up the shortest time of any tree we have ever had.  But we need to unpack all the boxes that are sitting around the house and it just seemed like it'd be better to get all the Christmas stuff out of the way before taking out the rest of our stuff.  So, today we took the ornaments off the tree and all that's left on it are the lights.  Tomorrow we will take it outside.

This Christmas was nice because for the first time ever, we had an actual fireplace where we could hang the Christmas stockings like they should be hung.  We loved using that fireplace over Christmas.  Here are two pictures of that fireplace - one with flash and one without.

And a picture of all of us taken shortly after Christmas

Today we are feeling quite the sadness because the last of our holiday guests has just left. We took Rebeca to the airport on Friday evening and we took Fernando and Eva to the airport early this morning. We have got to say that this was a most wonderful Christmas - we enjoyed having everyone together for Fernando and Eva's wedding party and then seeing everyone together with Oma on Christmas Eve and then having everyone over to exchange presents on Christmas Eve evening. Everything was so nice - from the parties to our Christmas tree to our new house - even the weather cooperated some and it was a little cold. The only thing that could have been better is if Mom would have been able to go to the wedding party and to our house on Christmas Eve. But at least Mom is doing better and she looks like she is doing well enough to be able to go home again! Anyway, time to start putting all the Christmas decorations away and take the tree down, which is drying out fast! This is always the sad and lonely part so may as well get it done and over with!

Today is Christmas Eve!

Photos from Christmas Eve!

It seemed easiest to just share the album through Picasa - so here it is!

December 25, 2012

Fernando and Eva's Party

Family coming in

Room Change for Mom yesterday

Thursday night, December 13th, Linda called us at about 1 in the morning to tell us that she just heard from Chandler and they were taking Mom to the emergency room because she was sitting up in bed complaining of chest pains.  She was observed for a while and they returned her to Chandler on Friday morning.  Linda was in Mom's room when I got there that morning.  Mom was a little groggy but other than that, she seemed fine.
Linda and I looked into getting Mom moved into a room on the second floor which is the REAL Rehab floor, which is where Mom should be anyway.  As it turned out, after meeting with the nurse and then with the administrators there, we were able to get Mom moved to a room on the second floor.  We moved all her stuff and then wheeled Mom to her new room, got her situated and comfy in her bed, set up all her belongings in this slightly more spacious room and then we said goodbye to Mom so that she could rest after the night that she had.  She doesn't have a roommate at the present time because that person ALSO went to the hospital with chest pains!  Kathy said that when she visited Mom later that day, that they spent time sitting outside and that was very nice.

Friday, the 14th, Guillermo and I spent our first night in our new house.  The house is still a mess - boxes everywhere with absolutely nothing put away, but at the very least our bed is set up and we had a good comfortable night on our new mattress!  Time Warner Cable was supposed to come today to set up our cable and internet but they never showed up, so we had to reschedule.

Today, Saturday the 15th, I stayed with Mom while she had lunch.  Which drove me a little crazy because on the menu was tamales, rice, beans and blueberry pie and it all smelled SO delicious.  It was hard to sit there smelling all that good food!  Mom ate most of her food although she wasn't very hungry but she said the food tasted ok.

Mom has been in a rehabilitation facility since Monday night.  She is doing very well there, although she still says she just does not feel well.  She says she feels lousy, as a matter of fact.

On Monday Mom was moved to Chandler Estate which is a big complex of apartments, assisted living apartments and a nursing home/skilled nursing home section.  John and I talked with the case manager at the hospital for Mom this morning and she let us know that everything is moving along to have Mom moved to a rehab facility.  Well, they finally got all the paperwork in order and taken care of in the early evening and by around 6 or 6:30 pm Mom arrived at Chandler.  She looked fine as they wheeled her to her room although I think all of us were kind of in shock as to how the place looked.  It's a very nice place inside and although it was dark outside, it looked nice out there also.  It's just that there were SO many people in the hallways in wheelchairs and it just seemed a little overwhelming coming from the hospital. So, we stayed with Mom until she was settled in her room and I think we all left there afterwards feeling not so good about the situation.  We just hoped she was going to have a good night and would be ok with her new situation.

On Tuesday, Mom had a good day.  She took part in a "Red Hat Society" meeting which got together (with everyone wearing red hats, of course) to listen to someone play Christmas with a clarinet.  Then later that day Santa paid a visit and Mom got a nice new blanket throw.  John also took her outside to see the herb garden which she apparently really enjoyed.  She and John had a good day together and I think it really boosted Mom's spirits to have John there and to have someone with her on that first day who could also attend with her all these "strange but interesting" new functions of this new place.  It made the transition so much easier for her.  Kathy, Linda, Jacob, John, Guillermo and I had dinner that evening at La Fonda on Main which is right around the corner from Chandler.

Today, Wednesday, Mom got her hair done at Chandler and she also attended a rosary mass there.  Then in the afternoon, she had some physical therapy.  Again, John spent a lot of the day with Mom.

Mom doing better

Mom seems stronger now than she has in quite a while, even though she still says she doesn't feel good at all.  But it was nice to see her filing her nails today while she was in bed, something new.  I spent the night last night, (Kathy spent Friday night and Linda spent Thursday night which had to be rough for her since she was a little sick).  Last night wasn't as easy as some of the other nights since Mom got up a few times to go to the bathroom.

Also, when I spent the day with Mom on Friday, right before I was getting ready to leave at 4, the technician came in to give her her breathing treatment.  So, I waited until the treatment was over to leave, but as I was packing up my stuff, I looked out the window and saw what I thought was walker in the driveway leading to the parking lot of the hospital.  As I looked more at it, I could tell it was a wheelchair and I mentioned to the technician that there's a wheelchair in the driveway of the parking lot!!  He looked out the window and was shocked to see it there and as he headed out the door to his next patient, I heard him calling security about the wheelchair.

So, by the time I got downstairs and was leaving the hospital, I pass the security guard who was walking slowly with the wheelchair by the street.  I drove on out and as I approached the street that leads to Walmart, I saw a lady in a hospital gown walking up the street with another person!!  So, I turned the car around, drove up to the security guard and told him there's a hospital patient walking up the street to Walmart!  He thanked me and as I drove back up the street, I looked in amazement at the lady, in just a hospital gown, walking up the street as if it was nothing.  Who knows whatever became of that!!!!

John came in to town this evening to spend a few days here to help out with staying with Mom in the hospital.  Yay!

Disappointment

Last night Mom's doctor came in to visit her at 10:30pm!  That seems so strange.  Anyway, at that time, she told him that she was starting to feel pain on her side again.  He examined her and found her to be quite sore in a certain spot and was wondering if she had fallen or hurt herself there at one time.  The pain seemed to be pretty bad so he made sure that she got some tylenol to be able to sleep that night.  It was very disappointing to hear that she was feeling pain again on her side.

During the night, she got up once and said that she was starting to feel the pain again, so we figured the tylenol was wearing off.  She slept ok the rest of the night though without taking anymore tylenol.  In the morning, she still had the pain and although it didn't seem to be as bad you could tell she had some pain.   But we had a good morning - she ate her breakfast, we opened "window number 6", we looked at Zell and listened to Christmas music.  We were also waiting to find out when she would be moved from the hospital to a skilled nursing facility.  I also asked the CNA if she could help Mom take a shower and she went to get her new gowns and towels in preparation for the shower.  While she was doing that, I went to the nurses station to find out if there were any updates on when she would be moved and was told it'd be at LEAST 2 more hours so I headed back to the room.  At about that time, two of our favorites there - Andy a student nurse and Brian an LVN came into the room to visit Mom.  When they asked her how she was doing, I was shocked to hear her say that she doesn't feel good at all and that her chest hurts - that it feels really tight.  Well, the two guys got concerned and immediately swung into action.  They took her vitals and her heart rate was high.  So, they did various other things and in the meantime I went to get her nurse.  The next thing I know they are calling in a rapid response team and I'm told I should wait outside since there were going to be a lot of people coming into the room.  And there were!  It got quite scary there for a while.  They changed mom's IV site after trying to administer morphine in her old site and it didn't go in.  But eventually things calmed down and Mom was resting comfortably. The rest of the time I was there with her today, she mostly slept, especially while the morphine was fresh.  She did eat her lunch which was good and she was able to get up to go to the bathroom later that afternoon.  But things were definitely not as good as they were yesterday.  It was a tough day.

Mom looks so much better today, better than I've seen her in quite a while.  She doesn't seem to be in the pain she was, but she still feels dizzy when she walks, even when she's just lying in bed.  She seems to be eating with a little more gusto and very gamely takes her walks around her room.  I took her for a wheelchair ride to the lobby and we looked out the window at all the grackles gathering for the evening.  Linda spent the morning with her and I spent the evening and am spending the night tonight.  Here's hoping we both have a fairly decent night.

Today Mom had a second procedure where they pull fluid from around the lungs.  This time the procedure lasted a little longer and they took more fluid - 1800ml.  That is a thousand more than last time!  She was out of it for quite a while afterwards and the nurses kept their eye on her for a while because her blood pressure was so low.  At its lowest it was 72/44.  Pretty low.  But she eventually came around, her blood pressure got better and she seemed to be doing pretty good.  For a while there in the afternoon, she was doing great. She sat in bed and looked at her mail, browsed through some of the catalogs she got, we talked about some Christmas music that was playing and she signed some checks for a few bills that needed to be paid.  Then they brought her a tray of food and she ate almost everything on that tray.  Which may not have been a good idea because she didn't feel as good after she ate.  She started having a lot of pain on her side so they gave her a pain killer.  Linda spent last night, Kathy is spending the night and I do tomorrow night.  Ben was there this morning until I arrived.

Today we moved a few more things from storage into the new house and at around 2 the plumber came to fix the hot water faucet for the washer.  Such a rip off.  The repair was covered under the home warranty that came with the house, but we still had to pay a deductible.  But the faucet is fixed and there's no leak anymore.

Linda spent last night with Mom and Kathy is spending tonight with her.  They say she seems to be doing the same - very tired most of the day.

Baptism at our new house

I spent last night with Mom and she had a good night.   No one bothered us during the night until 4am, which is actually good.  Mom is quite weak and couldn't seem to walk more than a few feet last night.  But that may have been because yesterday, during the day, Mom had a procedure done where they removed liquid from the sacs around her lung.  She went through the procedure with flying colors and I was so proud of her!  She seemed to feel less pain afterwards but she was kind of groggy and remained that way through the night.  She did eat a little bread and turkey and some apple sauce that evening.

Today, Guillermo came to the hospital with breakfast for the two of us - Mom had already eaten hers.  She ate almost everything - pancakes, the cream of wheat, the peaches and the hot tea.  In the morning, she was taken down to imaging for some xrays.  She wasn't as groggy today and seemed a little more alert even though she still did seem very tired.  We skyped with Aunt Mirli and with Andrew during the day.  At least twice I encourage Mom to sit up - to change her position from just lying in the bed.  So once she sat for quite a while in a chair in the room and another time she sat on the edge of the bed - even standing for a while by the edge of the bed.  Brian, the nurse who was so kind to her when she first was admitted came by twice to see how she was doing and to say hello to her.  He does this even though she is not on "his side of the hall".  I can tell she is always happy to see him.

Guillermo and I left the hospital around 2:30 and went to pick up his truck from the garage even though it is still not fixed.  He'll need to bring it back when a part that they are waiting for comes in.  Anyway, from there we went to storage and took out several things to take to our new house.  As we left storage, Guillermo went in one direction and I went in the other - it was a test to see which way would work the best.  I ended up getting to the house first and what a shock I found when I opened the garage door.  There was water on the inside of the garage on the left hand side.  So, I walked to the door to the kitchen, was relieved to see it was unlocked and I thought I heard water.  Sure enough, there seemed to be a leak coming from the hot water pipe for the washing machine.  I turned the faucet to stop the water but instead of cutting off the water, it made the water flow even faster!!!  I was floored.  All I could think to do was to get that water turned off but had no idea how to do that so I went across the street and knocked on those people's door and asked if they could help me.  They came out quickly and tried to cut off the water at the street and by this time, Guillermo showed up.  He was just as shocked as I was.  Their first attempt at cutting off the water didn't work so they went back to the main to try something else.  By this time, though, the entire floor in the laundry room was covered in water.  It was unbelievable.  Fortunately, none of it got into the house itself.   Tomorrow a plumber is coming out to look at the situation.......

Good and not good

Yesterday, Wednesday, November 28th.

The good about yesterday is that Guillermo and I did our final walk-through of the new house we are buying.  We are one day closer to having a new home.
The bad is that Mom was admitted back into the hospital.  The pain on her side was something her home health nurse said needs to be addressed and that we should make an earlier appointment for her to be seen, and not wait for her scheduled appointment.  So, that's what we did and since her regular doctor is "off" right now, she had to be seen by the "on call" doctor.  He said she has about a liter of fluid in her lungs and needs to get that drained so that's why she is back in the hospital.  Linda spent Tuesday night with her and said that Mom had a bad night because of that pain on her side.  Ben spent Wednesday morning with Mom until Kathy got there around 12:30 or so.

Today, Thursday, November 29th

Today, Guillermo and I close on our new house.
Kathy spent the night with Mom in the hospital and said that Mom had a rough night - Kathy probably did too.  Mom should be getting that procedure done today some time.

Catch up

So the first of our Christmas lights are up!  Not on a tree or anything, but draped on the counter by the kitchen sink. They look great!    And yesterday, when I was with Mom, we listened to Christmas music through my laptop for a long time.   I like Thanksgiving and everything, but I'm always glad when it's over because then that means it's time for all things Christmas!  Which to me is the best time of the year!

Guillermo and I were looking forward to going out today to order a few items for our new house.  We knew the stores we were going to go to and what we were going to buy.  We got dressed to go out, even went out the door and locked it.  But the air was cold and Guillermo started coughing so I said, "Nope, we are going back in.  We're not going anywhere."  And it's a good thing we didn't.  He spent a lot of time resting on the couch.  It was exactly where he needed to be, and not going from store to store.  He has two more antibiotic pills left to take, and then we'll probably go to the doctor again on Monday because at this point, it doesn't look like those antibiotics have knocked out whatever it is he has.

Making progress

Spent the day with Mom today.  Kathy and Chris were there when I got there in the morning and the nurse was just leaving.  Mom is slowly getting better - today I noticed how well she can walk around while using her cane.  It used to be that she would use the cane, and also try to hold on to anything that was nearby with her other hand.  Today I noticed her using the cane and walking quite easily and not looking for the next thing that she could hold on to.  That's a nice improvement!  Good for her!!

She and I had a good lunch and spent part of the afternoon looking at pictures on my laptop - pictures of the place in Sweden where Eva's parents live and we also looked at pictures from past trips we took with her to Calgary, Canada when we went to visit Fernando and Eva for their Canadian Thanksgiving.  We had a nice time recalling those wonderful memories!  Linda came after work and she is going to spend the night with Mom tonight.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Guillermo and I had a nice peaceful Thanksgiving day.  We were going to go to Cracker Barrel to enjoy our Thanksgiving there, but last night we decided that we'd go to the store early this morning and pick up a chicken and a few other things and make a Thanksgiving meal ourselves here at home.

It was a good decision.  The roast chicken came out delicious, we had mashed potatoes, stuffing, green beans, cranberry sauce, whole wheat rolls and juice and wine.  We sat by our big window that looks out over the hill country and enjoyed the meal, the view and also the football game on TV.  I made a pumpkin pie but we have yet to cut into it - we are still too stuffed!!!

We talked with Rebeca in the early afternoon and later that evening chatted with Fernando on the computer.  It was a very nice Thanksgiving Day!

Yesterday and today

On Sunday, I went over to Mom's house in the late afternoon to find everyone (except Jacob) trying to get some rest.  Mom was asleep and Linda was on the couch TRYING to get some sleep.  Sorry, Linda!

Anyway, Kathy spent last night with Mom and she said it was a decent night - with Mom only getting up a few times.  The nurse and physical therapist also came by during the day.

Shortly after I got to the house, Linda went home and Kathy came back with a freshly baked pumpkin pie which was so delicious. Then I left to pick up a rotisserie chicken, broccoli and fruit for supper and we had that along with mashed yams.  Mom needed a little help walking to the kitchen but she did really well.  She ate everything and seemed in good spirits.  She, Kathy and I visited a while there at the table and then it was time for Kathy to go home.  John came in later that evening and just in time put on the new shower head and turned on the gas heater.  I say just in time because right before he walked in, Mom was getting ready to take a shower with the old shower head and with only one heater on.  So, it all was good.  Mom had a good shower although I was scared the whole time because all it takes is one misstep to take a fall.  But we took it really really slow and I know Mom felt refreshed and with renewed spirits after her shower.

John spent Sunday night with Mom.  He said it went well, with Mom again getting up a few times.  The next day John and Carlos started building some very nice railings on the ramp that leads to Mom's backyard.

So, it is Monday and I did not go over to the southside at all today.  First time in over two weeks.  I felt like I had been given a gift and the day was used as best as possible.  First and foremost was taking Guillermo to the doctor.  This was a follow up visit that Health Clinic on Saturday said we should do.  The doctor today said that the meds he got from the Health Clinic on Saturday were good, but she was going to prescribe two more medicines to help with all the stuff he has in his lungs.  And that he needs to go back to see her in two weeks.  Guillermo feels better but every now and then he feels like he relapses when he has coughing fits.  The latest medicine he got is a cough suppressant so that should help a lot.

We also took advantage of this day to take Guillermo's truck in to the garage because the clutch has been acting weird.  So we left the truck there and then we took his desktop computer in to be repaired but when he tried to show the tech how the computer was behaving, the computer did absolutely nothing of what it had been doing at home.  It acted perfectly normal.  So, we wrapped it back up and took it back home.  We also went to a mattress store to look for some mattresses for when we move into our new house.  We also bought a non-slip rug and bathtub mat for Oma, went to the Post Office for stamps and went to Cricket to re-activate my little USB modem.  I also made several phone calls to community resource places that deal with the elderly.  We got so much done today that we hadn't been able to do for quite a while!

Mom is home again

The hospital took SOOOOOO long to discharge her, by the time we actually left the hospital it was about 7:20pm.

But anyway, Mom is back home and she seems to be doing a whole lot better than when we brought her home the last time.  She doesn't seem to be in any pain, she seemed in good spirits and the only thing really that I noticed was that she seemed tired.  But maybe that will get better now that she'll be able to get a good night's sleep in her own room in her own bed.

Kathy is spending the night with her tonight.


Guillermo is still not feeling well, so this morning, we went to the Texas Med Clinic where they declined to see him because they didn't take his insurance.  He was disgusted and said he just wanted to go home, mainly because we didn't know where else to go.  So, I took him home and then I went back out to go to HEB to pick up a few food items.  While driving into the HEB parking lot, I noticed a Health Clinic in the nearby building so I looked to see if they were open and they were.  I went in and asked if they took Guillermo's insurance and they said they did, so I went back out to the car and called him.  We agreed to meet in front of the Health Clinic place.
So, I met him there and waited with him a little while for the doctor to see him.  But then we decided that my time would be better spent going ahead and getting the groceries from HEB and taking them back to our apartment.  And he would call me when he was done with the doctor.  The doctor gave him 3 prescriptions because he said he has a lot of stuff in his lungs.  Guillermo drove back to the apartment and I went out to Walgreen's to get his medicine.  Here's hoping that antibiotic starts working soon.

Not going home

When I got to the hospital this morning, there were like 4 people attending to Mom.  Apparently her heart rate had gone up again so they were trying to do something about that.  It was all made worse by the fast that they tried to give her a new heart medicine through her old IV line, but it had become disengaged and so the fluid didn't go into her vein, it went into her skin or something.  That was when they noticed that the IV line was not right.  So, they started a new IV line in her other arm.  You could tell she was in pain when I walked in.  First of all from the pain of being poked with a new IV  line, and then from the pain of the medicine under her skin instead of in her vein on her other arm.  So, bottom line is she is not going home today because of the new medicine which they have to monitor her for.

Her right arm hurt all morning where the medicine had gone in the wrong place.  What has to happen is that liquid will be absorbed by the body and eventually the pain will go away.  I'm writing this at 2:30pm and Mom is sleeping.  But she told me before she went to sleep that her arm is feeling better.  That is good.  Hope it is still feeling better when she wakes up.

I've been dealing with Mom's case manager all day because I wonder about the wisdom of sending Mom home and there has been nothing done at home to make the place safe for her.  There is talk about sending her to rehab but everyone here seems to feel she is doing too good to be sent to rehab.  I just don't know.

Today, when I got to the hospital, Mom didn't seem to be as upbeat as she was yesterday.  She told me she didn't have a good night, that she felt nauseous.  She seemed to get better after lunch, though.  And also, after lunch, she took a good shower and washed her hair again which made her feel really nice.  Then it was time for her walk with the physical therapist.

I spent a lot of time on the phone with social security and blue cross blue shield trying to figure out what benefits are available to her.  Mom is supposed to be discharged from the hospital tomorrow and in my opinion, she isn't ready to go home seeing as how there is nothing in place that will help her at home.  Such as a walker to help her walk around, a shower chair, and such items.  There is a lot to think about.......

Small sign of improvement!

Mom looks much better today.  She still complains that her eyes feel so tired, but other than that, she seems more alert and I don't know, her face just looks better!  She did a good walk with the physical therapist this morning.  She hasn't been on oxygen all day and her oxygen levels are good so she doesn't seem to need any additional.  As I'm writing this, she is eating her lunch and watching Obama in the Presidential News Conference.  Let's just hope she continues to get better and better.

yesterday and today

Yesterday I got to the hospital at around 8:45 and Mom was sitting in bed having breakfast.  She seemed to be doing fine and she seemed to be in decent spirits.  The day was quite busy.  I talked with her doctor - Doctor Calle who said he understands we were told that the Pulmonary Embolism caused her Atrial Fibrillation but he didn't agree with that.  He said she already had the Atrial Fibrillation and then the Pulmonary Embolism came into play.  Who knows.  Whatever.  At least someone came up with the Pulmonary Embolism which seemed to also be in line with what she was experiencing.  She had Physical Therapy twice, got a nice bath and her hair washed (at my prodding - amazing that the hospital doesn't do this on their own), in the evening had a sonogram done on her legs and of course there was the usual in and out of various medical personnel.  They told us that she would probably be moved to the regular the next day.

So, today is Tuesday, November 13th.  Mom is doing fine but she does seem a little more tired today than she did yesterday.  The doctor has not yet been in today.  When I got here Mom was eating breakfast, grudgingly.  But she knows she should eat so she does a pretty good job of getting the stuff eaten!  When it was time for the physical therapist to take her for a walk, she was too tired to go.  So the physical therapist said she would be back later that day.  She is still on oxygen.   At around 11am or so, Mom was moved out of Intensive Care back up to the regular floor.  Which is a good sign.  We got her settled in her room and then her lunch came which looked to be one of the better lunches she has had in a while - grilled chicken sandwich.
Mom also wanted to take a shower but just didn't feel up to going through all that hassle.  In the meantime, I ran to Walmart to buy some shampoo just in case she felt up to it later on.  Fortunately, a time came up in the afternoon where she needed to be taken to the bathroom and so I suggested that she just go ahead and take a shower then, since she was already up and the nurse's aide was there to help her.  She agreed that would be a good idea so she got her shower in!  She felt so much better after getting a "real" bath.  Getting your hair "dry-washed" just isn't the same, so knowing she had nice clean WET hair lifted her spirits!   I talked with the doctor today about getting some medical equipment for when she goes home, and he said he would order some for her.

Another diagnosis

I haven't visited Mom yet today, but Linda texted me this morning saying Mom has a new diagnosis of Pulmonary Embolism.  This seems more in line with what she is and has been experiencing.

I will be visiting her in a couple of hours......

So, my visit with mom was good.  She seemed in decent spirits - was sitting up when I got there and was able to talk so much better than yesterday.  They are giving her oxygen so that may be helping her a lot.   I had been wondering why they weren't giving her oxygen so it was good to see that they are finally doing that.  She still is quite tired but I'm sure she's not getting good rest in the hospital.  She is not allowed to walk around at least for today because of the fear of maybe another blood clot being let loose.

Linda was there when I arrived and she left a little while later to go pick Jacob up from Killeen.  The rest of the time, Mom and I looked at Zell on the computer, I read her a story about mothers and I recorded a little bit of her talking about Christmases in Austria and England.  On the TV in her room, there are loops for relaxation videos which show beautiful scenes with calming music.  She really enjoys having those on and looking periodically at the beautiful scenes on the TV.  Kathy came later to take over for me and then I went home.  Guillermo himself isn't feeling well either.  We both got our flu shots yesterday and while we both have sore arms, it looks like Guillermo got a little sick from his shot.  Nothing that a little Zyrtec doesn't fix!  He's done a lot of resting today and taking it easy and seems to feel a little bit better this evening.

In case you are interested, below is the link to Zell am See, Austria that I keep open on my computer all day long and which Mom loves looking at every day.  The lake you will see on the web cam is approximately 7 miles away from the town of Fusch that Mom and her family lived in.  Fusch is further into the mountains.  On the two little green hills in the foreground of the webcam, sometimes there are cows on those hills so we love looking to see if the cows are out.  Those little hills have been covered in snow three times so far this year, but the snow usually melts off in two days or so.  Link to Zell am See web cam

Not getting anywhere

Linda spent last night with Mom and most of the day.  We went to visit around 2:30 and at that time, Linda left to take care of her own stuff.

Mom still feels very weak, still is short of breath, still has pain along her rib cage.  It was just all too much, since it seemed no one was attending to her or doing anything about all of that.  So, I had a long talk with the people at the nurse's station and we finally got the doctor to come in, and even the cardiologist.  It shouldn't have to be that way.  At least we are there with Mom, and we are fighting for her as best as we know how.

So, last night they had given Mom meds to help her sleep and she seemed in decent spirits during the next day, despite not feeling good at all.  She opened her mail, ate her dinner,walked around a little, and all that.  One time, when she was being poked to draw blood, I told her about Rebeca just loving picking strawberries on the road to Bad Fusch and how she always went for the strawberries that were up high because she knew for sure that no dog would have peed on those because they were too high.  This got a good laugh out of both the nurse's aide AND Mom, even though she was being poked with a needle.

Then, this evening, we find out she is being moved to ICU again, but that is mainly because she is going to be getting medication through a drip again.  They "don't do drips" on the regular floor.  Linda will be spending the night again tonight with Mom.

Latest on Mom

Guillermo and I stayed at Mom's house the past two nights, which is the reason for no updates until now.  We had no internet at her house.

So, on Wednesday the 7th, I went to the hospital early because they had said she would be discharged that day.  She was doing ok, still weak and dizzy but it didn't seem to be as bad.  We took a walk around the floor that morning and she did fine.  At around 12 or 12:30, she was finally released from the hospital.  Guillermo met us there and helped take things down to the car.

Mom was happy to be at home and didn't go to bed right away.  She sat down to eat the lunch that the hospital had packed up for her and then she walked around a little bit and then went to her bed to lie down.
In the evening, we fixed supper and she didn't really want to eat but knew she had to.  She ended up eating all of it!  Then, after supper she puttered around in the kitchen a little bit, cleaned the counter by the sink (which I had already done but now it's twice as clean!) and she dried some of the dishes that I had washed.  She seemed happy to be "doing regular everyday home things", but she also had to stop several times to - what it seemed - catch her breath.  She didn't have to do a thing, but we knew activity was good for her especially since she had been doing so much lying around, so we let her do some things.

Late that night, though, she complained of her chest hurting.  Especially when she would try to lie back.  So, we fashioned for her as best we could a pyramid of pillows and blankets so she could sit back against those. That seemed to help.  We all went to bed wondering how the night was going to go.

So, it was a rough night.  She got up at around 3am and she was in a lot of pain.  It was pretty scary for me because I wasn't sure if we should call an ambulance, or just take her to emergency or what?!!?  At around 3:30 I decided to call her doctor who called me back right away.  He said with what I was describing and how her vitals had been, that he didn't think it was an emergency.  He prescribed tylenol (which Guillermo ran out to buy) and said to bring her in in the morning.  Isn't that just the typical response??  So, we gave her the acetominaphen at around 4 and it wasn't until around 4:20 that she said she is starting to feel like it is kicking in and was feeling a little better.  So, at 4:30, we all went back to bed hoping for the best.  The rest of the night went fine, Mom was able to sleep then until morning.

In the morning, Nov. 8th, Mom came out to have breakfast.  She seemed fine, just still weak and somewhat short of breath.  She still had her pains, but not as bad.  At around 11am, a nurse came to the house.  This was follow-up care to monitor her meds and her blood count.  The lady's name was Shawna and she was very nice - it mostly was a filling-out-paperwork/explaining-their-services visit.

Later, at around 12:30, a guy from Physical Therapy came around, which was also set up through the hospital.  This preliminary visit was to get to know Mom and her capabilities.  He had her do various things like walk around the house, show him how she takes a bath, how she would leave the house, and stuff like that.  He found many things that needed to change, such as the towels on the floor shouldn't be there, she should have a chair in the shower, she shouldn't walk down the ramp to the backyard since it has no rail to hold on to, she should have rails on her bed to help her get in and out, and that she should use her cane whenever she walks!!!

After physical therapy left, I took Mom to the doctor's office and after examining her, Dr. Calle decided she should go back into the hospital because her pain may be coming from her gall bladder.  It was very disappointing news.

So, we packed up a few items back at her house and then we went over to the hospital.  And waited.  Poor Mom.  She has done so much waiting throughout much of this.  Waiting, waiting, waiting everywhere.  It took a while to go through admissions and then we sat and waited for her room to be ready.  When Kathy came to visit, we had told her that Mom was going to be put in room 337 when it was ready so Kathy went straight there.  When she saw no one in the room, she went back downstairs and found us.  We told her we were waiting for the room to be cleaned and Kathy told us it looked clean and ready to her!  So, we notified admissions, who called to the floor, who checked the room and said yes, it is ready.   Those people need so much help with their jobs.  So, Mom was taken to her room and the waiting began again.

Mom was placed on a liquid diet until several tests could be run.  We made sure she got some chicken broth which she really liked.  Guillermo and I spent the night again at her house.

In the morning, we visited Mom and there seemed to be no change with anything.  Still on a liquid diet, still waiting.  Guillermo left for our apartment around 9:30am.  I guess Mom ate too many liquids this morning, or too much greasy chicken broth because she got sick a little while after eating.  It was good I was there to help her with that.  At about 1pm, I left to get the mail from her house and to get myself something to eat.  When I got back, she still hadn't been given anything else to eat, no more tests were being done, she was just there.  Doing nothing, nothing happening. So, I went downstairs to speak to a patient advocate and they said they would send one up to Mom's room.  Shortly after that, I was told the Dr. had arrived and would be coming in to talk with us.  And they also told me that the doctor had changed Mom's diet to a soft-foods diet so she eagerly ate some banana and a slice of bread that I had brought for her.  Finally.  Some change.

A floor manager came to talk with me and the patient advocate did come later.  They both were helpful and one of them suggested we ask for a pulmonologist to see Mom.   I went back home at 4:20.  I called Mom around 5:45 and she said she was eating.  At around 6:45, I called her and she said she was in a mess and that no one was coming to help her.  So, I called the nurses station from home and they said they'd send someone to her room right away.  Unfortunately, I found out later that was "shift-change" time, so that made it worse.

Doing good

I went early to the hospital today, probably not a good idea to be heading out during out during rush hour.  The traffic was horrible.  But it was good I went early, because I was there when Mom's doctor visited.  He said she wouldn't be going home today, that it was possible she'd be going home tomorrow (Wednesday).  A little disappointing, but it's better that she stay there until she's good and ready.  They still are trying to get her heart rate to be a little lower (although it's not that bad) and to be more stable.  They have started Mom on Coumadin, and the hope is that will do the trick.  He also said that they were going to put in place "nurse visits to the home", so that she could continue being monitored on her medication and that they would also start therapy with her.

So, I spent all morning with Mom and part of the afternoon.  Guillermo came later in the morning.  After we had breakfast there in Mom's room, we drove to her house, got her mail and a few other things, cleaned out her fridge a little and stuff like that.  Then it was time for lunch, so we stopped at Cracker Barrel before going back to the hospital.  Guillermo left after that.

Mom and I took 3 walks around the hallways today.  Each walk got longer than the one before, which was a little scary for me, but she seemed so eager to walk further.  And her doctor said it was good for her to walk, so all I could do was hope her leg wouldn't start hurting again but I knew if it did, a wheelchair was definitely going to come into play!!!  On the last walk, right before I headed back home, she did seem a little short of breath when we got back to the room, but not too bad.

While in the room, Mom and I do things like watch a little TV, order food for her next meal, listen to music on my laptop (today we listened to some German songs again, and to some classical music like The Blue Danube, and The Moldau), I show her periodically what the web cam is showing in Zell am See (the cows were on the hills again!), we open her mail, we do quiet time so she can rest, and general stuff like that.

Always one day behind

Anyway, yesterday Mom was pretty much the same.  The hospital is still monitoring her heart rate and oxygen levels and blood pressure.

Kathy and Linda stayed with her most of the day.  Guillermo and I went to the hospital around 11am and stayed for a little while and then went back home to take care of some things.  In the evening, I got ready to go back to the hospital to spend the night.  By the time I got back to the hospital at 6:45pm, Mom had already been moved to her new room on a different floor.  So, she is no longer in ICU.  Her room is in a quieter area and the room is nice and big and even has a couch!

So, yesterday evening Mom and I took a walk around her floor, looking at all the paintings on the walls.  She was chipper and seemed totally in to walking.  UNTIL we got, of course, to the farthest spot away from her room.  As we were headed back, she started saying that her right leg was starting to hurt and it got worse the more she walked.  I asked her if she wanted to sit for a little while, or if she wanted me to go get a wheelchair for her, I even saw an office chair out in the hall that I said, "look, sit down on that and I'll give you a ride to the room!".  But she wanted to keep walking.  So, the walk back to the room was pretty labored but she made it.  I told the nurse about that this morning when he came around and we agreed that if that should happen again, I should just override what she wants and go get her a wheelchair or something.  Good to know.

Anway, this morning Mom seems to feel tired and a little dizzy.  The side-effects of the blood thinning medication she is on will do that.  But it doesn't help either that there really isn't any good way to get any sleep in this hospital.  Not that this hospital is unique in that respect - they are all always too noisy.  And yes, there are definitely some things that need to be done periodically, middle of the night and all.  But really.  Changing the trash bags at 4 in the morning????  Grabbing those plastic bags and shaking them loudly in the air so that they puff up to place in the bin. And not just one bag, either.  There are 4 different cans in this room so yep, four different loud episodes of plastic being shaken up in the air, slapping in the wind.  I felt like saying, "can you just set those bags down on the counter and I'll change the trash at a more decent hour in the morning?"  Really!!!!  So, is it any wonder that Mom is tired????

We ate breakfast together and then Mom freshened up in the bathroom.  Afterwards we took a very short walk to the window closer to her room in the hallway and stood there and felt the sun for a few seconds.   That was a good enough walk.  Later that morning, a friend of hers from church came to visit and stayed until Mom's lunch was delivered.  After lunch, we went for another little walk - to the second painting in the hallway and she did really well.  She still did not feel good, still felt dizzy, but at least her leg wasn't hurting her.  Shortly before I left for the day, we did a video chat with Andrew which Mom thoroughly enjoyed.
I took the laptop around the room and showed Andrew all of Mom's balloons and the flowers Linda and Jacob gave her, he saw Mom in her bed (she waved to him), and I showed him the little couch in the room - which he was interested in seeing.  He even listened to "You are My Sunshine" which plays on one of the balloons from Linda and Jacob.  He thought that was really special.

Mom doing better

Yesterday, Nov. 2nd, Guillermo and I were supposed to go out for lunch with mom, but when I called her on Nov. 1 to confirm our lunch date, she said she wasn't feeling well.  So, we decided to just play it by ear and see how she felt on the 2nd.  On Friday, the 2nd, she called me early and said she still wasn't feeling well and had called the doctor to go in to see him.  He told her he doesn't do those kind of appointments and for her to go to the emergency room.  Mom called Linda and asked her to take her to the emergency room and then she called me and said she wouldn't be able to go to lunch as she still wasn't feeling well and was going to the emergency room.

Well, instead of going over to the southside to meet mom for lunch, Guillermo and I went over there to meet Linda and Mom in the emergency room.  They had just taken Mom back when we got there and we sat out in the waiting room with Linda until we saw Mom come back out with the intern who then mentioned for us to follow them to the back.

Mom was put in a room and hooked up to monitors and they showed that her heart rate was very high and her heart was beating very erratically.  They set her up on IV's to give her medicine to slow down the heart rate, they took x-rays, did a sonogram and an ekg.  And then we waited.  She wasn't feeling well at all, and it was no wonder with all that was going on and the worry about what they were finding.  After a while we were relieved to see the medicines working and her heart rate come down, although it was still erratic.  One of us left to go bring some lunch and again, we were relieved to see Mom eating some of her fish sandwich, a few fries and drink her orange juice.  Then she enjoyed some iced lemon cake that was brought from Starbucks.  Kathy showed up also and we all did our best to make mom comfortable and to keep her spirits up.

Finally, after much waiting, she was moved from the emergency room into a room in the Intensive Care Unit. That seemed worrisome but we were told that the regular floors do not take care of patients that have a drip of medicine like she does.  Anyway, it was a good ICU room and we were glad that she'd be where she'd get the best care.

Guillermo and I left the hospital around 4pm.  Linda and Jacob were going to spend the first night there in the room with Mom.

Today, Nov. 3rd, Guillermo and I headed over to the hospital at 8am.  Linda said it had been some night but she was glad she had stayed as Mom needed blankets and things like that.  Linda and Jacob left after a while to run an errand and then to go home and get some real rest.  Kathy and I were there much of the morning.  Guillermo left at one point to go look in Home Depot, Lowe's and McCoys for something to make raised bed gardens and then later he drove back home for a little while.  

Mom seemed a lot better today.  She actually was taken out of her bed and put in a recliner which she was so grateful for since she was getting tired of just lying there.  She had her lunch sitting in that recliner and she was in good spirits.  Her numbers were good on the monitors and we told her so which I'm sure had a lot to do with raising her spirits.  We were told that she very possibly would be moved to a regular floor tomorrow.  Her diagnosis is Atrial Fibrillation.

Guillermo came back for me at around 5:30pm and George also came to visit at that time.  Kathy is spending the first part of the night with Mom tonight and Chris will be taking over for the other part.

Lunch with Rebeca and Jason!

So, we got to see Rebeca, Jason and the "boys" today - their three dogs!  Rebeca called us about 2 days ago asking if we'd want to drive up to Austin to have lunch with them before they continue on with their drive back to Tucson.  Of course we said, Sure!!!   So, we drove up there today, looked around in Ikea for a little while and then it was time to go on to meet them.

We met them at the corner of Highway 195 and I-35, which is by Georgetown.   It sure was nice seeing them and Rebeca, Scrappy and Jack rode in our car as we drove on to Jason's grandfather's house.  We had a nice visit with him at his home.  He lives in a Del Webb Retirement Community and we were very impressed with that community.  It's huge and has saved many wilderness areas around where the homes are.  Very nice.

Then we drove to the CottonPatch Cafe where we were pleasantly surprised to meet up with Jason's Aunt Kathy and Uncle Bart.  We had a very nice meal with them at the cafe and afterwards we all drove to their house and visited for a little while.  Kathy and Bart also have a very very nice home.  Hmmm, it looks like maybe Georgetown would be a very nice place to live one of these days!

We headed back to San Antonio around 6pm and got back home around 8pm.  We drove the new toll road all the way back, paying a total of $3.75.  The new section of the toll road just opened so it is still free.  The toll roads took us about 20 miles out of our way, but we have to admit it was free-sailing the entire way!!

Home Inspection today

The Home Inspection went very well.  No house is perfect and the inspector found some things wrong with the house and we'll ask the sellers to take care of those things.  The three biggest problems are that there are signs of hail damage on the shingles of the roof, the garage door opener is connected to an extension cord and the sliding screen on the back patio door seems stuck.  We'll see if they agree to take care of those things or not.  Other than that, the inspector said the house was in remarkably excellent condition.  That was good for us to hear!

Our friends John and Angie joined us at the house for the inspection and afterwards they came over to our apartment for coffee and key lime pie.

We've certainly had a most wonderful time having Fernando and Eva with us for the past 3 weeks.  Today was their last day in town.  We fixed a nice big eggs/potatoes/sausage/beans/tortillas/coffee brunch and they did their last minute packing.  In the early afternoon we drove to Pappadeaux Restaurant to have lunch before taking them to the airport.  We left them at the airport at about 3:40 and at 5 their plane takes off for Dallas.  Too bad they couldn't have met up, but Rebeca is also in Dallas at a training conference.  But Eva and Fernando's layover was too short and it would have been too rushed.  For sure, Rebeca was probably busy with her conference anyway.  Oh well.  As I'm writing this, it is 7:20pm and their plane takes off at 7:50pm.  It's kind of weird for Guillermo and I to know that Rebeca and Fernando are right now in the same city, and all four of us are temporarily in the same state!!!
Anyway, Guillermo and I feel kinda lost in the apartment right now.  It feels rather empty.

Tomorrow we go to the house we might buy, as the inspection is tomorrow and we're going to be there for that.

This morning we received a reply from the sellers of the house, countering our offer.  So, it's a game we play I guess.  We sent back a counter offer to their counter offer.  Then, by the afternoon, they sent us another figure and that is the figure we will accept.  So tomorrow we meet with Sue to initial the change in price and then she will take the paperwork to a title company.

I guess we are getting closer to being owners of a new house.....

We may have a new house.....

may being the key word here.  we have bid on a house and now we are waiting to see what the sellers are going to do with our offer.

This morning we all met at the Magnolia Pancake House for breakfast.  We had a short wait there but it was nice to stand around a little talking with everyone.  The food was good and we had a great time!

Looking for a house is hard work

We have been going out almost every day with Sue, our realtor.  We have looked at lots of houses.  Some are way out of the city, almost in Blanco, and others are in town.  When we first started looking, we looked exclusively on the northwest side of town - the area we used to live in.  Then we branched out a little, looking past 1604, then we started including the north central area and eventually started looking way out in Schertz and Cibolo.
Almost every house we looked at, we were so excited when we pulled up in the car in front of the house.  We would think, this one looks very promising.  Then, almost immediately things would start going wrong.  We'd see big cracks in the driveway, or we'd see cracks in the brick walls, or the roof would look bad.  If we got past all of that, sometimes we were even able to get past the living room  and kitchen but then there would be other things.  Sometimes it was the bathrooms that were obviously not well taken care of, or maybe it was that the layout of the house was all wrong.  Some living rooms were almost impossible to visualize being able to put furniture in them in any comfortable way.  Sometimes the master bathroom was right off the kitchen.  Or if there really wasn't too much wrong inside the house and with the walls and roof, then there'd be this HUGE oak tree branch right over the roof that looked deadly.
What we did find along the way was that higher priced didn't necessarily mean better home.  We saw plenty of homes that were less expensive than others that actually were much better deals.

We eventually learned that we needed to stay away from the Schertz/Cibolo area because most of the homes in that area have foundation problems because of clay soil.  But before we knew that, we looked at several homes in that area that we REALLY liked.  As we were visiting the homes we started realizing that a lot of them had had their foundations repaired.  Then later we read in the paper about many homeowners in that area trying to get their builders to buy their homes back because of ruined foundations.  So scratch that.

Then we found a home off of 281 and Evans road we were SO excited about because it had a WONDERFUL back yard.  It was kind of like our back yard on El Verde only on a much smaller scale.  It had lots of space, already had a lot of nice plants and trees, it had a gazebo and a nice shed and a really nice covered patio.  The house itself was nice, too BUT - the driveway was very short and was very sloped.  We even brought our car one time so that we could see if the front or back would scrape as we pulled into the garage.  (It didn't but there were just inches to spare.)  Then there was no dryer connection, there seemed to be a problem with the ceiling in the living room and master bedroom, there was a question about a section of the foundation, and the living room itself was so weird that we couldn't figure out how we'd ever place furniture in there.

We also visited a house way out 281 that was off of FM 306.  This home was closer to Blanco, Texas than it was to San Antonio.  It was on an acre and a half and had great curb appeal and a wonderful front porch.  The house itself was not that great - it's on a septic system, the bedrooms, closets and bathrooms were small, the living room was isolated from the kitchen and dining room, the kitchen was very plain and didn't have good counters.  The yard out back wasn't very big (the septic field took up part of the yard) but it was big enough to have a garden and be able to plant trees and stuff.  The best part of this house was the area behind the house.  There were steps that led down to a seasonal creek and it looked like the property went quite a ways there in the woods.  There was a great view from the house of the distant hill country.  That would have been so nice to have lived out there in the country for a while.  But being so far out, with no grocery stores or anything close by, the house not being that great (the house had already been on the market for 198 days) - all of those things made us (me) think that maybe it wouldn't be the best place.

Happy Birthday, Rebeca!

Happy Birthday to Rebeca!!  How we wish we could have been with you today to celebrate with you.  Well, we'll just have to do it the next time we see you!  Yes!!!  Anyway, we hope you had a wonderful day!

And pictures from various meals out lately.

First at Rudy's

Then at La Gloria

Here at La Gloria, we celebrated Eva becoming Dr. Wikberg and we also were celebrating Rebeca's birthday in her honor.

In the morning we went by the Ehler's Helotes house because they had some tickets to go see Willie Nelson that night that they weren't going to be able to use.  So they wanted to give them to Fernando and Eva!  We introduced Connie to Fernando and Eva and we stayed a while for a little visit.

In the evening they went to Floore's Country Store where Willie Nelson was going to be playing.  They said they had a great time.  Here is a picture of them before they left.  They are wearing the belts that Guillermo's brother Alfred made for him.  They look quite good on them!!!

Dinner out today!

Guillermo and I went out looking at houses again today, spending close to 3 hours doing that.  Too bad it can't be easier.  We find a house that's excellent, then we notice the cracks in the walls or some such thing.  Or there are no cracks in the walls but the yard is so tiny.  So far, we haven't seen a house that is all things to us.

So, we really enjoyed relaxing at La Hacienda de los Barrios restaurant this evening.  We got a nice table outdoors and the weather was really nice.  A few mosquitoes started biting us out there, but fortunately we had bags of clothes in the car so we were able to get some long sleeve shirts and some socks out and that took care of the mosquitoes!

Fernando and Eva at the restaurant

lunch with mom

We had a good visit with Mom.  For lunch, we all had trouble deciding where to eat.  We ended up at Bud Jones restaurant which supposedly is a southside institution.  Weellll, we weren't that impressed.  But we enjoyed getting together anyway!

Yesterday's debate

Our friend John Fardal came over to watch the presidential debate with us last night.  We enjoyed pizza, beer and wine before the debate started.  The debate itself, ehhh, kind of boring.

Yay! Fernando and Eva are here!

They got here yesterday, actually, on Monday, October 1st.  Guillermo and I were eagerly awaiting them all morning, well really for the last four days.  They left Calgary Canada 4 days ago (on September 27th) - packing up into a trailer what they cared for the most and what would fit - and giving (or throwing) the rest of it away.  The first night they stopped in Great Falls, Montana.  Not too far from Calgary but they left Calgary at 1:30 in the afternoon so they got as far as they could.  The next night they made it to Caspar Wyoming, then to Lamar, Colorado and the last night on the road was spent in Sweetwater, Texas.

We kept an eye on the weather the whole time they were on the road and skies were clear the whole way.  Yesterday, I knew they were going to be getting on to I-10 at some point and when I turned on the news at noon, I couldn't believe it when I saw there were big thunderstorms around Kerrville and they were tracking straight down I-10.  I had been hoping they could get to San Antonio without any storms but, depending where they were on the road, it looked like they were probably in those storms.  It wasn't until we got a text message from them at 1:20pm saying that they were in Kerrville.  Wow, that was such good news because that meant they were BEHIND the storms.

They got to our apartment around 2:25pm - storms all over and done with.  At around 2:18, I decided to go downstairs to see if I could see them anywhere and didn't so came back up.  At 2:25 Guillermo and I BOTH decided to go downstairs again and as Guillermo was about to go down the stairs he stopped to see what he could see from up there and SAW THEM slowly making their way through the parking lot!!!  We were so excited and happy we had decided to come down again at that time.

After happy hugs, we took them up to our apartment, showed them around and then we tackled the job of unloading some of their stuff from the trailer.  Once we got all that taken care of, we then drove with them to our storage unit so that they could leave the rest of their stuff there.  As we were driving to storage, I remembered that I had left the windows in the dining room of the apartment open and I was a little concerned because of the big clouds in the far distance but really, what were the chances??  And besides, we weren't going to be gone THAT long.   It took a little while to put their stuff in storage, but we were so happy to see that it all fit!  From there we drove to the Uhaul to return the trailer.  That took longer than we would have liked but I think Uhaul is like the Social Security office, you just can't get in there and out quickly.

Anyway, by the time we left Uhaul, it was rush hour and couldn't make a left out of the parking lot with all the traffic so we had to take a right which made us go a round-about way back to the apartment.  As we were driving up Bandera Rd. we saw that those way distant clouds were now looming right in front of us and they looked MEAN!!!  Rolling black clouds and obvious heavy rain falling from them - not too far away.  It wasn't long before the rains hit with a vengeance.  And even hail!!!  It was wild and I knew that there was no way we could make it back to our apartment in time to close those windows, especially with all the rush hour traffic.  So, anyway, when we got to the apartment, sure enough, the rain had been streaming in the windows of the dining room and the floor was absolutely soaking wet there.  Fortunately, we had moved the dining room table away from the windows, my laptop was on that table but at the farthest point from the windows and all of the paperwork that I had been keeping on some boxes by the windows were safe behind a wall.  It took several towels to soak up all that water and fans going for at least an hour but it dried rather quickly and hopefully there won't be any lasting reminders of what had just happened.  Lesson learned......

Today we just took it easy.  We did go to storage again for some bolts and screws and on the way back, we stopped to pick up some lunch at our neighborhood taco truck.

Summer seems to be over

Today is Saturday and on Thursday, we got some GOOD rain showers around here which were part of a cool front moving through the area.  So, it has cooled off quite a bit, so much so that we have to use a blanket at night now!  That's nice!  Friday was a day without rain but today they are predicting quite a bit more rain.  We sure hope so!   It was weird on Thursday looking out the window as the rain was falling.  Pretty much all our lives when it has rained, we've always been on the ground floor so we are where the rain hits the ground.  It's a much different scene from 3 floors up because we are IN the rain as it falls so it seems to be a lot quieter even though it is raining hard.  The clouds are looking promising out there, so here's hoping we get more hard rains today!

Forgot about this

I forgot to write about something that happened last week that we still can't believe happened.  It was a real case of being in the right place at the right time.
A week ago, last Tuesday, we had just been back in San Antonio for 5 days.  We went to the credit union that day to deposit some money and a check.  Before leaving for the credit union, I don't know why, but I looked in a side pocket of my wallet and was shocked to find some folded-up Euros in there.  We tried to spend and thought we had spent all of our Euros before we left Europe.  It was really a very disappointing find because we felt like that money was going to be lost as usually there is no bank around that will do a foreign money exchange and the airport would probably give us a lousy rate of exchange.  And maybe we'll go back one of these days, and maybe not anytime soon, so yes, we were disappointed to find that decent sum of money that couldn't be used here in the states.
So, anyway, as we were filling out our deposit slip at the credit union, we heard someone already at the teller window asking if he could buy some euros.  Really??  So, we turned around and said, "Euros?  You would like to buy some Euros?  We have Euros we'd like to sell."

What were the chances.  So, the guy gets out of line and we talk a while explaining how we just got back from Europe and he explaining how he is getting ready to leave for Europe.  We both couldn't believe our good luck.  So after we both agreed to a rate, he gets back in line, withdraws money from his account and in the credit union lobby, we exchange currencies.   Then I promptly fill out a deposit slip, get back in line and deposit the cash he gave us.  We walked out of the credit union with him and his wife and we were still quite amazed at what had just happened.

We had done several errands that morning before coming to the credit union, but each one lasted just as long as it needed to to get us to the credit union in time to meet up with those people.  You talk about timing.....

Pictures of our place - inside only

Such nice weather today!  The cool front from yesterday sure made the weather more bearable.  So glad I cleaned the bedroom windows on Friday because we were able to have the windows open all morning today to enjoy the fresh air.  We started on the windows in the dining room this morning but only cleaned one.  It's a little scary cleaning the dining room windows because we take the screen out to clean it too and if we just happen to drop that screen, it's going down 3 floors!  But we have done one window with no problem, we'll do the other window tomorrow.

The view from our patio

Guillermo enjoying the cool morning air out on the balcony.  He planted several seeds this morning.

Our dining room

Our kitchen

Our living room

We feel quite comfortable here!

Finally

Well, today we got the last of the three things that make life a little more enjoyable.  We got our new phone 4 days ago, we got furniture yesterday and today we got internet and TV.  So, we are set here in our apartment for a little while!
I will try to take some pictures tomorrow with our new phone of the place around here.  A cool front is supposed to come in tomorrow morning and it's supposed to be very windy so I'm not sure if it will be a good picture taking day.  So, we'll see.

Almost done

Yesterday was quite a busy day and we really got a lot accomplished.  So today we continued on, getting just a little more out of storage and setting things up a little more in the apartment.  Another extremely hot day  but at least today was a little easier than yesterday.  Tomorrow maybe we can finally get business taken care of with Cable and electricity!  Also, we get our washer and dryer tomorrow!  Yay!!!

Moving out of the hotel this morning and this afternoon we should be in our apartment.  Gulp.  We'll see how we like living at that apartment complex.  No internet or tv or anything for several days until we get that service.  Oh well, at least there's wireless around the pool and club house of the apartment complex.  Even weirder, though, will be living in the apartment with only an air mattress in the bedroom.  We'll go to storage later and get a few things, but until then, the place will be mostly space.

We went to storage twice today and made many many trips up and down the 3 flights of stairs.  The weather was SO hot, and that sure didn't help at all.  We got the air mattress set up in the evening, so at least we have a place to sleep.

Labor Day is nice and all, but it sure is inconveniencing us this weekend.  We'd like to call Time Warner Cable to get TV and internet in the apartment, but not available.  We'd like to call CPS and get our electricity set up in our name, but not available.  There are other things we would have liked to get accomplished but we just have to wait until Tuesday!

Trying to find our way home....

It's been a rough three days since we got back from Europe.  On top of being slightly jet-lagged, we have relentlessly scoured the internet and driven from place to place around San Antonio trying to find a place to live for a little while and get out of this hotel we've been in.  Not that the hotel is bad or anything like that, it's quite nice actually, but the nightly rate adds up way too fast.

So, today we actually decided on an apartment complex that, even though it's far from where we had established ourselves before leaving for Europe, it's a nice apartment complex and one we were happy to put our money down on.  So, the downsides to the place are its distance from our old area of town, it's an unfurnished unit (as they all are) and the apartment is on the third floor.  The upsides to the place is that it IS on the third floor in the back of the complex so we have a good view out our windows, it's a nice complex with lots of trees and a park right next door, and it's in an area that has TONS of good stores around.  Of course, that last one means lots of traffic because everyone else likes that, too, but we'll just go to the stores when everyone else is at work or something.

So, we move in tomorrow!  To a mostly empty place, but at least it's our own space and we'll fill it up slowly.

Mixed feelings about leaving Europe

We had a really nice stay with Andrew these past three and a half days.  It was nice being with him, having dinner with him and relaxing in the evenings.

But the time has come for us to leave Europe.  Andrew took us to the airport early this morning and we said our sad goodbyes to him there.  Saying goodbye to him and watching him drive off was really like saying goodbye to the whole of Europe experience right there.  But, you just keep on going.

We checked in at the ticket counter and that took a LOT longer than we thought it would - probably because of the extra hassle of having to pay for our extra luggage.  So by the time we were finished there, and by the time we went through security, we didn't have much time to spend the last of our Euros and Swiss Francs.  We settled in at our gate and that gave me a whole 15 minutes to go to the bathroom and walk ALL the way back to the shops to see what I could buy.  The Basel airport is set up so strangely - all the shops are right by security and after that, it's just seating at the different gates and those are quite a distance away.  Well, as it turned out, 15 minutes wasn't enough to do all of that, so I walk back to see that our plane is boarding already.  Good thing I gave up the shopping!

Our flight to Heathrow was nice and we had a decent layover there so we could comfortably find our next gate and get a little something to eat.  Our flight to Dallas was also good because we were in the middle section where there are 5 seats in a row.  Guillermo and I were on one end and a lady was on the other end. The lady and I agreed we'd both take the one extra seat next to us to spread out on which ended up not mattering because when either she or I needed to stretch out our legs, neither of us minded that the other was maybe a little bit over their side.  So, that made that 9 hour flight so much more pleasant.  Being able to put up our legs and stretch them out, not to mention having extra space for jackets, blankets, headphones, etc, helps immensely.  So, it was a long, but good flight back home.  As the plane lifted off from Heathrow, we both looked out the window as best as we could from the center of the plane and said to each other, "Well, that is it for our Europe trip. It's been an amazing experience."  And we both wondered, "Where are we going from here?" (after Dallas and San Antonio, of course)

Back with Andrew in Basel

What a beautiful drive through the French countryside this morning.  We left the Ibis hotel fairly early because we needed to get to the French side of the Basel airport by 10:30am to return our car.  We drove small country roads to get to the airport and as we drove we entered into the Alsace area of France.  Wow, we were impressed with the buildings there!

We also stopped in Altkirch to fill up the rental car with gas and into the L'Eclerc store to pick up a little bit for breakfast - two almond croissants and some juice.  We also picked up two little fruit tarts.  From Altkirch it was a short drive to the Basel Airport.  We parked the car and handed the keys to the people at Atesa and then waited for Andrew to arrive to pick us up.

So, we are back at Andrew's place again.  We have come full circle.  Our trip now is really almost over.

For lunch we walked to a nearby cafe and had some good sandwiches but experience a little bit of sticker shock!!  A bottle of coke at this little cafe was close to $5!!  I looked at past receipts and we have a receipt from Madrid back in July where we bought a bottle of coke for 75 cents.  Such a huge difference!!

After lunch, we went to the grocery store and bought several items and the final bill was a lot more than I thought it'd be.  Yes, it IS a lot more expensive in Switzerland.

Spending tonight in Belfort, France

The weather sure has changed.  It is cloudy and cool.  I think the rain that this area is getting must be the remnants of Tropical Storm Gordon that crossed the Atlantic.  It has definitely changed the temperature up here in France anyway!

We left Beaune thinking we wouldn't take the toll roads but that turned out to be a mistake.  But it's something you only know after all is said and done.  We were doing fine going along the small country roads until we got to a town where there was a detour.  From that detour we had no idea where the GPS was taking us so we reprogrammed it to take us back to the toll road, which had us backtracking some but at least once we got on it we knew we were on our way.  

It rained pretty much our whole drive to Belfort.  We had wanted to visit the city of Besancon but it was starting to rain there, too, so we kept on going.  We got off the toll road a little further down the road so we could take the scenic route and it was very pretty.  Not many places to stop at along the way but I did manage to get in a few pictures!  These are taken along the Doubs River.

We later stopped in a town called L'isles sur le Doubs where it was raining, but we stopped anyway to get a little bite to eat.  We thought they didn't have any "food" so we just ordered tea, cookies and an apple croissant but when we went to pay, we noticed little pizzas and other things on a small shelf in the display case.  Too bad, because what we ate there was excellent and those little pizzas probably would have been delicious.

Once in Belfort and after the GPS unnecessarily took us off the expressway, put us back on then had us turn around, get on and get off again back where it originally made us get off, we finally found our hotel.  Crazy.  It's raining and quite cool here in Belfort, but this Ibis hotel is the nicest Ibis hotel we have ever stayed in and it's one of the CHEAPER Ibises we have ever stayed in, too.  Who would've guessed.  We have our laptops facing the big picture window in our room where we can look outside at the trees and grass and watch the rain falling.