Sunday, October 5, 2025Tonight's picture was taken in October of 2005. It is hard to believe this was 20 years ago! Back then I was so naive about childhood cancer, it was no where on my radar scope. This scene was quite common in our home! Mattie loved to paint with his feet. Honestly this was something I could never see myself doing for multiple reasons, but since Mattie loved it, I went with it! Fortunately for me, Mattie was instinctively neat. He understood that he had to work within the space lined with paper and not to run around the house with painted feet. Needless to say, there were many wonderful creations that resulted from his painted feet!
Quote of the day: Memories are dangerous things. You turn them over and over, until you know every touch and corner, but still you'll find an edge to cut you. ~ Mark Lawrence
Every Sunday, I take my parents out to brunch. We have worked with the same server for years. Today, Cheryl was ill. So we worked with someone else. I know this sounds crazy, but working with new people is stressful. It is stressful because with my dad, I no longer order what's on the menu. I get the restaurant to make the items he wishes to eat. Cheryl also knows all the little things that make a meal go more smoothly. Such as she brings my dad a bowl of crackers, to munch on, until food comes. It is all the little things that Cheryl does, that makes my job slightly easier when dining! Cheryl was missed, but we managed.
Meanwhile, while eating, a wasp was flying around our table. This is NOT a good bee! They are aggressive and the last thing I needed was my dad getting stung (I do carry an EpiPen around with me!). I literally jumped up with a napkin, and stood on top of a booth to kill it. I had everyone in the dining room watching and a manager came over to help me. I know all the managers, so when I was standing on a booth, they knew something was wrong. Between me and the manager, we killed the wasp!
Getting my parents from the car into the restaurant is no easy feat. I literally have to lay by with the car, put my hazard lights on, and take my parents into the restaurant and to the table. Then of course I have to come back out and park the car. The restaurant also has two sets of doors, making it like mission impossible, as I have to hold onto my mom, direct my dad, and open two sets of doors. Today, I had many kind people who held doors for me and showed great patience. What a difference even a small act of kindness can make to one's day.
When I arrived home, I saw all these wonderful gifts to the Foundation sitting on my doorstep! DEEPLY GRATEFUL for having the best of friends!
I have been struggling with my hose bibs. All my hoses are stuck on the spigots! I tried about a week ago to use a wrench to loosen the hose, but only landed up scratching the metal of the hose. I was frustrated and was going to leave this task to Steve (my outdoor guru). But then I decided to watch a YouTube video about how to manage this problem.
This afternoon, I sprayed the hose bib with WD 40. I let that sit for several hours while I was out with my parents. When I came home, I went outside with the wrench the video recommended and my plastic gripper that I use to open jars and bottles. The key is to wrap the plastic gripper around the hose bib, and then put the wrench around the plastic gripper. This prevents the wrench from scratching the metal and also provides a better grip. Want to know what happened?????
Voila..... I was able to remove the hose from the bib! I can add this to my long list of things I learned to do around the house. What I learned from my divorce is self reliance...... to be as self sufficient as possible!
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