RTW

TWO special people to remember today: Kris my couch baby is 35 and Autumn Rose my granddaughter is 10. Happy Birthday, Ladies! They both have special plans for their birthday nights, and I hope they have lots of fun. We get to sit for #1 Jarvi son while Kris goes to dinner.

I drove to Kaiser Hospital today to get my RTW (Return To Work) paper from the hip surgeon. The skies are so smoky/foggy and yucky-brown in the Valley. Not much better here in Simi, but at least we don't have ashes dropping all over everything, and we have been spared fires for now in our community. Thank God for that blessing. After all the fires we've been through here, I am thankful at this time we have little cleanup, and everything is intact.
Monday I will return to work; almost 6 months off to recuperate. I am doing so much better than 2 months ago as far as residual hip pains and back pain goes. I needed the extra time to let the symptoms lessen. It will still be a challenge to go to work and complete the day, but I am up for it and ready to go. If I had to do the surgery again, I would do it because the right leg was so bad off and I had so much pain every day. It's nice to get relief! I have lost 8 lbs and hope to never find it again. I will try to continue to lose at a slow pace, changing eating habits of long standing, and hopefully get down to a more sensible level of weight for these old bones to bear.
The old movie "Cat Ballou" with Lee Marvin and Jane Fonda has a scene in it of Lee Marvin as an old alcoholic gunslinger who gets himself ready for a gunfight one hungover day. He takes a long time to get dressed, piece of clothing by piece of clothing, and finally he get his ass out the door, ready, and willing to go to into battle. I'll think of that scene as I dress for work: over-the-shoulder-boulder-holder; long sleeveless T shirt; back brace over T-shirt, a blouse over all that; compression socks, short leg brace in left orthopedic shoe; make sure right shoe matches left shoe; loose pantalones that don't cut off venous circulation. Oh my!
:))
It's a workout just to get ready; who needs an exercise plan? THAT'S my workout.
I look forward to it; and I will like getting the paycheck again. I know "they" will throw me a welcome back party: it will be 6 months of backed-up new-member paperwork "thrown" at me to sort through and log. But I can do it! I am UNION tough now! I know when to demand my breaks!

Kiss the joys

A line from a poem by William Blake:
"He who binds himself to a joy,
does the winged life destroy;
but he who kisses the joy as it flies,
lives in eternity's sunrise."

This quote is in a daily devotional I read today. The writer who referred to it was blinded as a child but due to advance surgery regained some sight only to mostly lose it again in later years.


He wrote: "I have had to learn not to bind myself the joy of sight but to kiss this winged blessing as it flies through my life. At time, the urge to grab and hold onto it is overwhelming, but in my heart of hearts, I realize one has to develop a certain attachment to joys of all kinds in order to escape the insidious poisons of bitterness and despair."

Tis the same principle that should be applied to our abilities (physical and mental) as they wax and wane or be wiped out suddenly in some accident or illness. And the people and things that come and go from our lives also seemed just loaned to us for a season.
If it is all God's, then I can accept more readily and let go more easily. Everything in it's own season.

(NOT having a bad day, just reflective as visions of destruction hog the news.)

Great Giver of all gifts, thank You for the blessings of this life. Help me to hold loosely, very lightly the gifts that You bestow. Help me to hold fast to You.

It's Hell Season

As much as I like living where we do, I dread fire season. Every October the Santa Ana winds blow hard, and if we haven't had rain, we get fires. SoCal is in the season of some of the worst fires ever. We have been spared for now in our community; we do not have fires burning around the rim of Simi, but we have the smokey air that makes the sun go red and almost obliterates it. We do not have a lot of ash falling here like we get some years, but we have the smokey smell. When the wind blows so hard we need to keep our windows and doors closed up tight. Before we got A/C those times would be uncomfortable. But as long as we have electricity, we are fine. Yesterday we lost electricity for awhile. I was caught (for the 3rd time in a year) in my electric reclining easy chair, reclined back, comfortable and cozy. Then I had to climb out to try to get to the ringing phone before the caller hung up because the cordless at my side would not work of course. I missed the caller but did get out of the chair ok.
We are heartsick watching the news of all the homes burned to the ground in CA in the last 3 days. Please pray for the safety of the firefighters, especially Marshall and John of our family. Thank God for the firefighters.
For now, we thank God for our safety and pray the fires stay away from our community this year.

Big Bro Braden

Here is a picture of Hudson's big brother Braden. This photo was taken a few days before Hudson invaded Braden's home territory. I hear there have been some funny moments while Braden adjusts to having a sibling around all the time. But so far, so good.
We shuffled a few things around our home over the weekend to give Kim and Jordan each their own bedrooms. A bunch of old stuff went to the Salvation Army second-hand store. There is more cleaning and sorting and throwing out to do (for me to do) or else when I take off to Glory my family will need to throw out lots of old crap. Worthless crap! It is amazing how much stuff one can accumulate and seldom use over 38 years in the same home. (I will have it all boxed up and mailed to KY or ID... maybe. :))

Hudson on day 4

Hudson is doing very well, and so is Mama Kristy (as well as can be expected after a c-section that is). Monday Hudson woke up more for us and showed off his open eyes. Kris and Hudson will be coming home today; Braden is in for a huge surprise when there is another son to share the spotlight with him. But he will get used to his brother and all will settle in soon, as most families do. We are just so grateful that everyone is healthy and doing well. The biggest concern is "will Braden throw a jealous fit when 'Papa' (Mike) holds Hudson and doesn't play as usual with Braden?" The suspense grows! I will keep you posted.
Aunt Joan called yesterday from KY. She and Steve will leave KY today to take a sight seeing drive home to Simi. No houses met their expectations in KY, so they will not be moving at this time, but stay tuned!
Look for the next installment of THE KRAZY KELLY EXTENDED KLAN KEEPS ON KEEPIN ON.

Hudson is doing much better

Hudson came out of neonatal ICU yesterday before noon. He had a lung problem seen on chest xray that looked like a small part of one lung lobe that was not inflated well. Kris was told at different times that he probably had a "collapsed lung, or a small tear, or fluid in a lung" although he never showed any symptoms like difficulty breathing or poor O2 saturation. At any rate, he didn't need any intense intervention, just watching more closely in NICU for Friday night. Kris scrubbed up in the middle of the night to go into the NICU to hold him and see that he was doing well. So... good outcome to a scary situation. We got to hold him for a few hours yesterday in Kris room. She said she will concentrate on getting him to feed from her today so we probably will not visit, but we may watch Braden when Christian goes to the hospital later.
OH BTW, does anyone need a newborn size pink onesie that says "does my butt look big in this?" that I got for Kris' baby before I knew she was a boy?? haha. Kris maintained all along it was a boy, but Kim and I were ready to buy all pink stuff!
It was a nice surprise and we are all glad Hudson is here and healthy!

HE IS A BOY !

Kristy had her baby boy this morning about 7:47 AM; she and Christian named him Hudson Michael; he is 8 lbs 3 oz and 20 inches long. Mama and baby are ok but Hudson has some fluid in lungs so he is in observation nursery now to be watched more carefully. His blood oxygen is good so far, so hopefully it is nothing serious. more later.