Our Valentine's Weekend.....

 Louis Dean's short term memory is next to nothing so I was very surprised when he greeted me on Saturday morning with a homemade Valentine's card...

I said, "You remembered!"

He said, "It was hard to miss since it's all over Facebook!"

This year's Valentines plus the previous two....

We don't get out much any more and that is true....

and it's also true that Louis Dean is extremely creative!

How blessed am I to be married to such a romantic man?

He makes me so happy even when he makes me crazy!

He is my one true love and I am his second true love.

I am looking forward to meeting his beloved Ellen in heaven because I have come to love and admire her as I have learned so much about the great love she had for Louis Dean and the love he had...and has....for her.

My son and his wife celebrated their first anniversary on Valentine's Day....

And to top it all off - it was my brother Buster's birthday!!!

We talked on the phone that evening and I am so grateful for the memories we have made together and looking forward to the ones we will make in the future.

Louis Dean and I enjoy our mornings on the kitchen deck.

I do my devotionals and we do our out loud readings....

Amber gifted her dad with this book about historical heros!

He totally LOVED Ella Fitzgerald!

As I played the songs referenced on YouTube, he squealed like a little kid in delight!

I played all the songs mentioned in the chapter and he loved them all!

We love our birds and Louis Dean keeps the feeders full.

Except he hung a different one from that the birds loved.....it was a home repaired one with blue duct tape and they absolutely refused to go to it!

I finally convinced him to replace that one with the original one they love.

And just like that - the birds were back!!

Ilene joined us for a movie on Sunday night.

I made a charcuterie board and a fancy cocktail of strawberry wine and sparkling water.

This was our movie and it was wonderful!

I fun movie in spite of the sad parts.

We laughed and sang along and loved that this film was based on a true story.

Brenda and Billy took us to Branson a few years ago and we watched a great Neil Diamond Tribute.

We loved it!!

And I had Alexa play Neil Diamond music all day today!

Louis Dean needs a project and I keep a list of them up my sleeve.

He had fixated on the bird feeders and he really meeded to leave tham alone.

So I gave him some peat pots and garden soil and seeds.

He had a new project that kept him focused for several hours.

I'm loving the comfy sheets from my Tuesday Treasures a few weeks ago.

Normally, I would still be using our flannel sheet sets, but the weather is warmer than usual and I decided to change out to these.

All our plumbing is working and we have cold and hot water in the kitchen and bathrooms.

Life is slowly getting back to normal - whatever that is!

I'm still taking Christmas down but by keeping our outings and not entertaining has allowed me to proceed at a leisurely pace.

I have been struggling with stomach issues since Christmas and have been miserable.

I continue to struggle even now....

It appears that stress is a cause of just about everything!

I am weary and trying my very best to relax and give my burdens to the Lord.

Funny how one can be so severely stressed and not even realize it....

but it is happening to me.

We Have Our Bathrooms Back.....

 It's been a long three weeks of pioneering life and I have struggled with all manner of issues from stomach cramps which rivaled labor pains to indigestion, nausea and more.

Ilene and I had planned on our usual Super Bowl Get Together, but that didn't happen.

I was in bed much of the day but rallied enough to put a tray of veggies to roast...

actually, two trays.

Grilled some smoked sausages and called it Super Bowl food.

The excavation crew arrived Monday morning and started working.

We have his and hers Buckets....

....his is a Home Depot one and mine is a grade above - one from Harbor Freight.

I think I may have the prettiest outhouse ever!

Candles lit and soft lighting and relaxing instrumental music.

I did everything I could to stay calm and not go into a frenzy or panic mode.

Even switched from a heavy novel about post civil war to a lighter novel set in England which Amber gifted me for Christmas.

RWD Services arrived on Tuesday morning to begin the repairs.

Brenda and Billy came over later that afternoon bringing a large Sonic tea for me.

Brenda and I sat out on the driveway visiting while Billy went in to see what was wrong with Louis Dean's chair.

He wasn't in there but a few minutes before he came out to say the chair was fixed!

It turned out to be a nut job!!

Billy found a pecan stuck in the track of the recliner, it fell out when he lifted the sofa.

Amber had stocked us up with entrees and treats last week and I made a pasta dish from one of those reels on Facebook. Cooked pasta, eggs, basil pesto and seasonings. The chicken from Sprouts cooked in the air fryer and the whole thing made such a great meal.

If I had felt better, I would have made a salad and garlic toast to go with it.

By late Wednesday, I had my batroom and shower back!!!

It was wonderful to flush again!

No shower, though, as the hot water cut off valve had not been turned on.

The plumbers didn't know about that so they turned it on this morning.

The city inspector came but there was a glitch in the plumbing that I could not understand.

Something about a minor appliance over a major one and a question about a distance rule for something else. After the plumbers consulted with the inspector, a new plan was made and it would take all day to execute it.

Thankfully, it did NOT!

The plumbers figured out a simpler solution and the inspector approved and then passed the inspection!

By 12:30 - the plumbers were done!

Around 2:30 the excavation crew was back!

I made cookies for the workers and some for Louis Dean!

Tomorrow our normal life will begin again....

Louis Dean has done especially well during the last several weeks.

He's stayed busy in his room and even played his guitar a little while this afternoon.

We love our birds and Louis Dean has been filling the feeders as soon as they go down.

What a great gift from the Bells!

Now I'm off to take a nice long hot shower and a good shampoo before going to bed made up with the new sheets I bought recently.

Thank you to all our friends and family who have prayed for and encouraged us.

God bless you, every one.

I Was Okay Until I Was NOT Okay

 I watch Fellowship Church online at this point in our lives and sometimes Louis Dean joins me and most times not. I'm grateful for modern technology that allows me to stay a part of the church even though we can't attend in person.

Brenda gave me the eggnog she didn't use from Christmas knowing I love to bake fruited eggnog bread.

And so I did! It is delicious toasted and buttered even if I say so myself.

It was a good Sunday and in the afternoon, I sat down in the den to watch a movie.

When I got up, my sciatica nerve in my right hip seized up.

It was painful but made me think about the pain my sweet Sherry is in as she awaits hip surgery....first one and then the other. God bless her and I know these surgeries will give her her old life back.

She loves heavy equipment, has a red tractor and can run just about any heavy equipment that comes her way. And it often does!

Our sweet Stephanie sent the entree over and I made potato salad and corn plus sliced red onions.

We are so blessed with such good neighbors!

Louis Dean and I went to bed early since he had an 8:00 appointment with his primary care physician.

I was up at 5:30 so I would have my wits about me and was able to wake LD up and we hade it to the doctor office only 5 minutes late!

He had his can and I was limping along beside him.

I asked him, "When did we turn into two really old 

people?"

I guess we weren't really late since we had to wait another 10 minutes and took lots of selfies as is our tradition. This was the best one....

We love Dr. Maddox and Louis Dean got a good report for an 89 year old guy!

It was recommended he get the shingles vaccine as well as the RSV one.

I'm not sure if we will do that and certainly not now.

Our life is in such a turmoil with no bathroom facilities and the house a wreck as we take Christmas down and Louis Dean is already so overwhelmed and does not understand what is going on.

For several mornings, LD would wake me up and say we had no water in the bathroom.

Then in the evening, he would tell me he wanted to go take a nice long hot bath. I can't subject him to any more stress than is absolutely necessary. At least for now.

We left the doctor's office after they did labs on him and we decided to do a few errands on our way home. Stopped at Joe V's for lots of good fruits and veggies and more and then filled the car up with gas.

We were home by 10:30......

That's when I felt relief and then went downhill from there.

For whatever reason, I was so overwhelmed that I couldn't function, so I went to bed.

Monday was an awful day from that point on.....

I think you understand.

I was so emotional that I could not talk to even the people I love.

I did my best to interact with Louis Dean as normally as possible so he wouldn't know how fragile I was. Jutta called me from Finland but I did not have enough emotional energy to carry a

conversation. Since she loves me, I'm sure she understands but this was alarming to me.

The next day I talked to Summer and, once again, I raised my voice and argued with her...even though she was offering to help me.

As hard as Monday was, Tuesday was even worse.

I planned to meet Brenda at the thrift store at 1:00 thinking it would make me feel better, but I couldn't get myself pulled together so I cancelled.

At this point, Louis Dean knew I was not okay - maybe since I kept tearing up.

That only made things worse because he thought he'd done something wrong.

Later in the afternoon I got dressed and Louuis Dean and I both went out to do errands.

I've been purging and organizing my closets and bathroom so I had a big load to drop off at Goodwill.

Louis Dean went in with me at one thrift store but that didn't turn out well.

I ran in at the second thrift store and he stayed in the car.

I was looking for drapes to hang at the French doors in the kitchen but didn't find any.

I did find a few treasures, though.

The Skechers boots will come in handy to wear with jeans at hockey games.

The house shoes were brand new and I couldn't pass up the sunflowers, cotton bolls and spring wreath!

Best of all was this Queen size sheet set with four matching pillowcases!

I'll be purging all my linens later this spring and will only keep the things I really love.

I really do have too much of everything.

We spent a couple of hours outside on the driveway enjoying the beautiful weather.

I think it's good for me to spend time outside.

It helps keep me calm.

Our sweet next door neighbors are away and offered us their bathrooms.

We haven't had full use of ours since last Tuesday and no use at all since Friday morning.

I am so totally overwhelmed with all that's happening around here.

Summer reached out to me on Tuesday to help me with obtaining Louis Dean's DD214 in order for us to check into possible VA benefits. Thank you, Summer....

Dean and Sherry called to check on us and talking to them really helped.

I told him that were I to ask for help - what would I ask for?

Family and friends, neighbors and all the prayers of those who are praying for us.

That's priceless.

We've been given meals and all sorts of good things.

When others are out doing errands, they will call or text asking me if we need anything.

During the ice, Mark brought us over a bag of salt.

Ilene calls and checks on us and visits when the weather is okay.

So much kindness from so many.

The bottom line is that no one can take care of Louis Dean like I can.

He has his room to piddle and the back yard to do things like fill the bird feeders.

He can keep busy doing all manner of things - things that he can't do anywhere else but here at home.

He plays music a little but not much.

It is now quite obvious to me that my husband requires 24/7 now.

His neurologist told me that when he was first diagnosed in February 2023.

So three years later, I can no longer deny this.

We gathered our bath things together and went over to enjoy a good shower for me and a nice long bath for Louis Dean.

I had bought a huge pizza at Aldi and added extra cheese and toppings and we watched a program before I left LD in the den watching a western.

I thought I had set us up for a good night's sleep, but alas, that didn't happen.

When I woke up at 1:30 and Louis Dean was not in bed so I checked RING and found him in the kitchen. He had a big butcher knife and had stabbed at a can of soup trying to get it open.

He said, "Well! We don't have a can opener!"

We do have one and it was sitting right on front of him on the counter but he didn't recognize it.

Apparently, he didn't like the pizza and was hungry. 

I helped him with the soup and cleaned up the spilled milk.

Louis Dean tends to pour milk up in glasses and cover the tops with zip lock bags.

Then he takes the jug to his room, cleans it and fills it up with water.

Well by the time I got him settled in his music room with his soup and crackers, I was wide awake!

It was 4:00 in the morning when I finally went to sleep.

I was still shaky but decided to get dressed and get out of the house for a few minutes.

I kept checking my RING cameras to make sure he wasn't getting into trouble while I stopped off to speak with Ilene about our Super Bowl plans, picked up medicine and ran into the Dollar store.

Then I sat outside on the driveway while Louis Dean took the big white Christmas tree down from the front yard. He did a good job boxing it up and securing it as well as storing it away.

Today is Thursday and I did not sleep well last night - switching from our bed to the guest room and back and forth all night all.

I'm  still not akay yet but I'm feeling a little better.

My hands are shaky and I'm exhausted to the bone.

But I'm doing everything I can to take care of myself.

Playing calming music.

Lighting fragrant candles.

Cleaning things.

Reading.

Writing.

Listening to the birds.

Praying.

Looking at the sky.

Amber came over and spent the entire aternoon with us.

I was sitting on the driveway waiting for her and she came loaded down with all sorts of good things!

Treats, meals, cleaning supplies, paper plates, Diet Cokes, beauty products.....and on and on and on!!

The first two hours she was here and it was just the two of us.

Her dad was in the back yard 'putting things in order.'

Amber put the bird feeder with a camera they gifted hime for Christmas together.

It did my heart good to catch up with all the news of school and hockey and the busy life of the Bells.

The Bell grands are preparing for high school and I was interested in their chosen courses and electives.

Amber hugged me several times.

Good long meaningful hugs that did me a world of good.

Her dad finished in the back year and joined us on the drive way for the next few hours.

I am blessed to have such wonderful support from so many.

I'm going to be okay - I know that.

But for the time being, I am as nervous as I've not been in years and years.

Still shaky hands and feeling dizzy along with just feeling like I'm getting sick.

When Amber left, Louis Dean went to his room and seemed to be engaged in whatever he does so I went to the guest room, turned the fans on and the lights out and took a nap.

I woke up with a start as I heard someone pounding on the front door.

It was dark by now and I staggered to the foyer!

Louis Dean had gone out to the back yard and then went through the gate to the front for whatever reason he had. A Spectrum guy chatted him up and Louis Dean said they had a nice visit.

But by this time he had forgotten he had come through the gate and thought I had locked him out!!

I'm trying to stay real but I don't want y'all to worry about us.

It's hard right now.

NO bathrooms.

This morning I got up earlier than LD as he slept until noon.

I had been outside for a good while and I kept checking my RING so I would know when he got up.

He was in his room getting dressed and making coffee so I slipped down the hall and he didn't notice.

When I went back outside, Louis Dean was looking all around for me and when he saw me, he said, "Linda! Where were you? I couldn't FIND you!!"

I laughed and said, "I was busy visting my Home Depot bucket!!"

He has his own!!

By the way -  this journal entry has taken me four days to write!!

Pioneer Living....

 This has been a challenging several days or so and I have not have enough mojo to post before now.

I thought I would start this journal entry with some happy photos from two of my children.

Amber is THE ultimate hockey mom and spent some of these Arctic winter days cleaning and sanitizing four sets of hockey gear for her four teenage hockey players!

Jesse and his bride along with Levi left this morning for a weekend trip to Seattle and the coast to La Push. They are such a beautiful couple!

They offered us their home while they were away - and more about that later.

I love how they can get away and see so many beautiful places and experience the joys of travel.

Our handsome Levi!!

He is a jewel in my heart.....

The temps have been seriously COLD here - as they seem to have been everywhere!

We hunkered down and kept our fireplace burning, watched programs, read books, cooked good meals and was loving these winter days.

UNTIL the weather warmed up on Tuesday and the pipe at the corner of the sewing room broke.

Louis Dean was Johnny-on-the spot and got out there and turned the water off and started repairing the faucet.

He said he would cut the pipe off and cap it....

He tried twice to repair the faucet - and each day meant we had NO water.

On the third day he did cut the pipe and capped it off.

Water back on!

Alas, when he turned it on THIS faucet had a broken pipe.

We had covered and protected it but it still broke.

Water back off!

We had tried to protect all NINE of our outdoor faucets so just two out of nine isn't too bad.

This was Thursday and the roads were safe to drive so I took us to Home Depot.

I went to get some cleaning supplies and found LD in the plumbing isle with an empty basket.

He had no idea what we were here for.

We bought ten times the amount of supplies he needed - but no matter.

We came home and watched a program while we ate dinner together.

We had water but now the toilets weren't flushing.

And water was flooding my bathroom.

LD turned the water off at the toilets.

I thought the sewer had frozen up.

Friday morning I called our plumbers at RWD services and within an hour Antonio was here to check things out.

We assumed it would be a normal problem with a normal fix....

But NO! They found that there's a break in the sewer line due to tree roots.

This is a serious problem but fixable. At a price, of course.

We could not find the clean out pipe so they had to go up on the roof.

The solution is to tunnel under the house and find the break.

At this point I was numb and felt like a zombie.

I had to make some descisions - financial and many other ways.

I reached out to Mike and he came over and took our cats home with him.

It was like I could not handle taking care of anything else.

I dearly love Samantha and Tabitha but I just have to eliminate anything that is possible.

Coming in and out the doors and watching for them to escape....plus feeding and taking care of them...

all of a sudden it was too much!

Thank you, Mike, for taking them home with you. I'm sure they will love being there with Bandit, Bauer and Ginger! I hope my cats behave themselves. Keep in mind - they are scratchers. Beware.

I called my super handyman, Hector, and he came that very afternoon and took the fence down and the deck up so the crew would have roon to dig.

Hector is one of God's best blessings to me.

Whatever I need - he can do it!

And look what was under the deck!

The clean out pipe!

Not sure what difference if any this will make but it does save us hundreds of dollars not to have one put in.

So here we are - the kitchen has water - hot and cold - and I can run the dishwasher and washing machine and I am so grateful.

No bathroom facilities but we have Home Depot buckets, plastic liners and kitty litter!

It could be worse.

We have the best neighbors!

Stephanie and Mark pick up something for us every time they go out on errands.

Burgers, fries, onion rings and chicken salad and sloppy joes, and more.

It's weird that preparing meals in times of stress is really hard.

I never knew this before but now it makes sense why people bring food to those who are facing hard times.

Stephanie and Mark have been there for us through many many years.

She brought snacks and a newspaper to the hospital when Louis Dean had a heart attack.

I can't tell you the number of meals she has brought to my door.

I am counting my blessings as in wearing these super warm socks sent to me from my friend, Jutta, in Finland. She is a comfort to me and we talk every day or so.

How amazing that I can hold the phone in my hand and talk to Jutta who is in Helsinki or Hanko Finland.

So here I am again... in survive and cope mode...

but this is so much better than what I have gone through before.

No matter what is going on - Louis Dean needs a project.

I gave hime one today and it served its purpose.

He was challenged and creative and he felt good about the results.

I'll show the results tomorrow.

We are waiting for Monday when the plumbing office opens to see what the plans are.....