This month's calendar                         Archives                            Our Google Calendar                   

IT'S FRIDAY, MY FAVORITE DAY!!

Happy New Year everybody! I hope everyone has a healthy and happy 2013. I have to get used to writing 2013, as it just seems like only yesterday that I got used to writing 2012! We didn't do anything special for New Year's Eve, in fact I stayed up later than Dave (he was in bed by 10:00 and I made it until 11:00) - we are such party animals!! On New Year's Day I fixed chicken and dumplings and baked an apple pie. We have been getting meals from friends, but most of the food has been casseroles and we are all getting a little tired of that. I guess we should be more grateful. But now it is back to the old diet!

I have been having fun all week with the granddaughters taking them to places. As I mentioned last week, I took all five of the girls up to the zoo where we saw Lily, the new baby elephant. She is so adorable. We went to the movies and saw "Monster's Inc." and also to the new Portland Aquarium on Monday which was fun. The aquarium has just opened and Lara had free passes so we took the opportunity to explore that. They had a huge variety of tropical fish, crabs, eels, sharks and sting rays. The girls got to feed them and actually touch them. They have also been busy playing with all the toys that Santa had brought them. They will not go back to school until the 7th of January and I think everyone will be glad to see that day come.

While we have been hanging in West Linn, Dave and I took the opportunity to visit with some cousins that we haven't seen for awhile. His cousin Marta and her husband Gene live in Portland in one of those high rise condos and so they met us for coffee to get caught up. We also stopped by to visit with our shirt-tail relatives, Kay and Terri, who always have the coffee pot on. We had a nice visit with those two and wish we could get together more often.

Lara is slowly improving but up until now, hasn't been able to do any driving because she is still on pain medication. We have been on different outings just to get her out of the house but she comes home and is ready for a nap. She had an appointment with her surgeon and had the tubes removed this week. On Wednesday, Dave took Lara to a meeting of her Rotary Club. She hasn't been able to attend one of those meetings for several months and everyone was glad to see her. It was a bit much for her though, and she was ready for another one of those naps after they got home.

I mentioned a while back that Dave has qualified for a disability from the Veteran's Administration because of a hearing loss suffered while he was in the military. Monday, he called the VA office to see if he could make an appointment for new hearing aids. We were surprised when they told him to come in just two days later! On Wednesday, he went to the VA hospital for his appointment, and an hour later had been fitted for some very nice new ones! They say he'll have them in a month. After waiting for over a year to get qualified, we thought it would take a long time to get the hearing aids, but now that he's in the system they're not messing around!

I headed home on Wednesday as I had a couple of appointments to get ready for on Thursday down at the coast. I was anxious to get home as I've been away for three weeks and I needed some R&R. I don't know when I will be coming back to West Linn, but between us, Dave and I will work it out. It will all depend on Lara's recovery.

Thursday, Dave drove Lara and the girls to doctor's appointments. Lara had to see her plastic surgeon and the grandkids went to their pediatrician to get flu shots. Lara's doctor was pleased with her progress and removed a few more stitches, but he's still keeping her pretty well wrapped up. He asked her to place a number on her recovery and she told him she thinks she's at about 40% of where she was before the surgery. He finally gave her the okay to drive, but only if she feels like it. So far, she's pretty stiff and sore and doesn't want to drive if she doesn't have to. So Dave will probably hang around until she feels more comfortable.