New Year's Eve

Luanne couldn't get the alarm clock in their room to work, so I set mine for 6:30 AM. She has to meet the social worker at 8:00 AM in the hospital to sign some paper regarding her mother. I did go back to bed after knocking on their door, mostly to get out of the way.

Sadie is still not feeling well, so she stayed here while Luanne left. She made some oatmeal for herself while I soft-boiled three eggs and mixed them with some of the sourdough bread for my breakfast.

I copied and printed off this week's Blog and pictures. Then, taking that and a container of the minestrone soup, I headed out to see my Mother.

I stopped at CVS to pick up my prescriptions. I had a call from the pharmacy that my insurance card on file had expired, so I brought in my new one (after learning where it was from both Jake and B___). They typed in my new information (my work had just changed insurance carriers, BTW) and then they told me that the new insurance would not cover one of my medications! So, I back-tracked home, called the insurance company (recording) and tried my doctor (office closed). Since I am completely "out" of it, I guess we will see what happens if you don't take it for two or three days. Well, that last sentence was just for dramatic effect. I know what happens if I forget to take it one day: I am all crippled up. So, two or three days should be a LOT of fun.

Mom was still at lunch when I got there, so I just waited in her room. I got up to go to the bathroom down the hall and found her just outside the door. So, I pushed her back to the room, chatted a bit, and then went to the bathroom!

We were talking about food, and she said they had told her the other day there would be liver for lunch. So, she spent all morning, thinking about liver and onions (one of her favorites). When she hurried down to the cafeteria, she found... liver and succotash! She said, sadly, it just wasn't the same.

I asked her about her progress in therapy and she said, "You can just go down and ask the therapists, you know." So, I walked down and found the room, but nobody was there. I checked at the nurse's station and they said they were around and I should just wait a bit. So, I did. But, I gave up after 20 minutes and went back to Mom's room. I did try back later, but then they said the therapists had gone home for the day. So, a Grandma Update for my kids will still have to wait.

I did ask about Jake's Gingerbread. She said she really like it, both because of the ginger flavor and because it wasn't so sweet, like a gingerbread cookie. I asked her to remember to tell somebody what she thought of the Minestrone soup I brought.

We talked about Lu's mother, the weather and current events in our family. An aide came in at 2:50 PM, wearing a Happy New Year tiara, and said there was a New Years Party at 3:00 PM, if we were interested. Mom said, no, she didn't think so; she'd just visit with me. The aide said, "There's going to be live music!" Mom turned to me and said, "Well, you should be leaving to beat that snow, right?" I laughed and said, "You are absolutely right, I better get going!" So, she told the aide, "Okay, I'll go!" (Apparently she and my brother Carl went to one such concert event and she liked it.)

On the way back, for some reason I was thinking about the two bunches of scallions in my fridge. I need to do something with them before they go bad and neither Sadie nor Luanne are very "onion" people. So, I stopped and picked up a package of hot dog buns. I got a plan!

I got home around 4:00 PM, just about 15 minutes before Luanne. She and Sadie are spending New Year's Eve and overnight at her friend's house. So, while they were bustling about getting ready, I took out some hot dogs to thaw and hard-boiled four eggs. They left and I peeled and cubed four russet potatoes and then boiled them.

When everything cooled to room temperature, I diced up some celery, all the scallions, and a sweet onion for the hotdogs. I put all the ingredients together to make a simple potato salad. I made the dressing from real mayonnaise, some yellow mustard and some buttermilk to thin it.

I heated a can of Bush's Baked Beans (No need to comment, "you-know-who," it's not made by THAT Bush! LOL!) and got out my grill pan. I grilled the hot dogs, and made a nice picnic dinner. I ate it watching TV (first time since getting house guests) Sweet!

I did doze a time or two before the actual New Year rang in, but was awake for it. I was very surprised! It may have been the snow, but I didn't hear anybody shooting off guns or fireworks (which is the norm here in Redford). So, 2008 crept in on cat feet, just like the snow outside...