Will take getting used to

So last night we armed the alarm for the first time and I, anyway, spent a fitful night thinking about that thing being set.  And we set it for the first time when we left to go have lunch with Mom at Cracker Barrel.  It will take a little getting used to.
Anyway, we had a nice lunch with Mom.  She is doing so well, it still amazes me how far she has come.

Also, yesterday I had dinner at Las Palapas with friends from Elrod.  Some of us don't work there anymore but others still do work there.  We had a wonderful time visiting with each other.

That's Sharon, me, Angie, Brenda, Jane, Lily and Lorraine.

Safer?

So, today we are getting our home security system activated and monitored with a company.  It's not something we are crazy about doing, but the system was already set up in our house anyway, so may as well have it monitored.

Outing with Mom

On Tuesday (the 19th), I went over to Mom's house and took her to the place where she usually gets her hair cut.  And it was at that hair salon where we first used the handicap placard for the car that I picked up several weeks ago.  Wow, that was different.  Driving into the lot and seeing parking slots right by the door and knowing we could take one of those slots!  Made it a lot more convenient for Mom.  After she got her hair cut, she said she felt so much better!  Then we went to eat at Chili's, which is a place we hadn't gone to in quite a while.  And again, we were able to park right by the door.  Nice!

When we went to HEB after eating at Chili's, we didn't have any luck finding a handicap parking spot there.  Every single spot was taken so we ended up having to walk far, which was ok since Mom walks just fine and actually it was good to be able to walk some.  I was glad to have Mom right there to be able to pick her own groceries instead of me wandering the aisles hoping I'm picking things she would like.  Then we went back to her house and had a little skyping session with Mirli, who is having surgery on her knee on Friday (the 22nd).

Today we had a home security company come out to get information about getting our home's security alarm activated, since there's been two home break-ins on our block in the last three weeks.

Our Valentine's Day

Guillermo and I had a nice day today.  We started it off with breakfast tacos at Taco Cabana and then went to Home Depot to special order a towel bar and then look at their plants.  From there we went to the apartment to pick up the newspapers that the Express News is STILL delivering there, even though we called them back on Dec. 10 to cancel.  We aren't paying for those papers so it's nothing off of our back except for the fact that we have to go by the apartment every 2 or 3 days to pick up those papers so they don't accumulate outside the door.  Then we just put those newspapers in the recycling since we get the paper already at our house.  We made our 10th call to the Express News today, asking them do they not care that they are delivering newspapers to a place that nobody is paying for???  Crazy.

Then we went to Walmart and Guillermo bought me a few beautiful plants - a nice pansy basket and a beautiful orchid plant.  I also bought Mom a pansy plant for her to place in her front yard.

Later I drove to Mom's house to spend a little bit of time with her on Valentine's Day.  I brought her a big
Valentine's balloon, some chocolate-covered strawberries and the pansy plant.  Then we went to Ihop to have lunch.  We had a nice time together.

In the evening, Guillermo and I drove to Red Lobster to have dinner but found the wait for a table to be an hour and a half.  So, we decided to drive to another Red Lobster but on the way changed our mind and thought we'd go have dinner at Simi's - an Indian Restaurant.  That turned out to be an excellent choice.  Our food was so good, the atmosphere was perfect, I had a great glass of Malbec wine and  Guillermo had a good Mango Lassi, so it all turned out good.

Apartment is empty again

Cort, the company we rented furniture for the apartment from, told us yesterday that they would come by today sometime between 2:30 and 4:30 to pick up the furniture.  So, Guillermo and I got to the apartment around 2:20 and waited.  While we waited, we cleaned the furniture up a little bit and also cleaned up the kitchen and the kitchen sink.  Part of the sink was in pretty bad shape so I ran to Walmart to get a stronger cleaner than what we were using and that new cleaner did a good job.  Then Guillermo left to go do something.  He got back around 4 and shortly after that the Cort guys showed up.  It took the guys about 20 minutes to dismantle everything and get it all shuttled down to their truck.

So, we finally got to leave the apartment around 4:20.  We felt good that the furniture was taken away and now all we need to do is vacuum the apartment and it will be ready for us to vacate.  But we won't do that until the end of February, so we still have a little time.

Yesterday, Guillermo and I had dinner with Mom.  She is doing so much better.  She even canceled the Meals on Wheels program that was delivering her lunch during the week.  She said she didn't really like the food and would just as soon cook something herself.  She also went to church with Linda on Sunday, the first time she had gone to a church since last October.  She says she wants to start going every Sunday again.  So, yes, Mom is getting better and better and it is so amazing and such a blessing.

Thursday of last week (Feb. 7th), I took Mom to a Cardiologist who said she is doing well and should continue the medications she is currently on.  After dropping her off back at her house, I drove to the Tax Office on the south side of town to pick up some handicap placards that we can place in our cars when we drive Mom somewhere.  Then I picked Mom back up and we went to Ihop to have lunch, but we forgot to take those placards!!!!  Oh well, there wasn't an empty handicap parking spot anyway in the parking lot of Ihop so we wouldn't have been able to use it after all.