Something to Make You All Laugh

Why I love my nephew, Derk. I love all my nephews and 2 nieces, but I just got this photo from my sister-in-law and it makes me laugh so hard I had to put it up here so you all can have some uplifting times amidst the sadness of the last few weeks. Apparently he had put the training toilet seat on his head. Who knows why or how he did it or when, no one ever knows with Derk. Then it got stuck. That is the second picture. Evidently if one pulled hard it caused great pain at that point. I just can't stop laughing! My sister-in-law also sent me the recorded message of him calling his uncle (who is exactly like him) asking him how to get the seat off his head. Hahaha!

Now, for all of you who remember that I did the same thing, I will try my hardest to find that picture and post it as well, so you don't rat me out. Check back to see if I've been successful later tonight. My sister told my mother that it was high time I was potty trained. My mother all but dared her to try. She said, "Go ahead, you do it!" Cindy told me to sit on the potty until I went. I sat and sat and when she turned her back, I put the chair on my head and walked around. I think my mother took a little satisfaction in that. If I find that picture I'll post it here so Derk feels some solidarity. I didn't get it stuck, though! Hahaha! Derk you're awesome!

Over 550 Records For Sale

So the last few days have been spent cleaning out and organizing my brother's records. He's got some awesome ones. I kind of wish I weren't selling them, but oh well. Some I've never heard of - those are mostly the contemporary (for the 1970 and 1980's) Christian Music ones. BUT, I've posted them on Craig's List and in the local paper here. I figured I'd post them here as well. I've done it as a "Make an Offer" situation. So if you buy a cool one, you have to take an uncool one as well. That's the deal, so I can get rid of them. :) Here's the list, yes, I'm anal and it's in ABC order. Get over it. They're all used but not abused unless otherwise noted. I think my brother's dog ate the corners of a few. If you live far away, don't forget to add shipping into the price, unless you live in MI and I'll just bring them back with me. All reasonable offers accepted. We're trying to get rid of them. If you want them all, awesome, take them and offer me a good price.

Here's the list on Craig's List:

http://hartford.craigslist.org/emd/1867747851.html

Gone to Glory

My father passed away this afternoon. My sister was with him. They made him comfortable. We've had some wonderful people minister to us already!! This morning, out of the blue, because she's been reading my stuff, Sandy Caldwell of Baptist Fellowship called and asked if it would be alright if she brought two of her children to help with the Tag Sale and to help with Lew and Audrey. I COULD NOT have done it without them! They were wonderful. She even notified the church when Dad passed away, so I didn't have to do a whole lot. I only called family and someone to take away the hospital bed, which they didn't yet (I'll call again tomorrow). Her and her boys then helped us load Beep's truck to take the remainder of the items to Goodwill. She was looking to sell her Explorer, so if the woman doesn't buy it tonight, and it's still for sale, one of you should buy it. It would take a load off their hands. She was such good company. Her boys were such good company too! They were so funny! Very witty children, so I appreciated them being around.


Mrs. Keiper, my friend from growing up, Megan's mom, came on her way back from Syracuse (she was there like a week!) and brought us dinner for tonight. It was the PERFECT dinner!! It was a cold pasta salad that was perfect on a HOT HOT day! It was pasta, zucchini, tomatoes, mozzarella, carrots, peppers, onions and chicken. Then you put this fresh bread pieces on top of it and put this lite dressing over it all - WONDERFUL!! It hit the spot!

I praise God for people like that - and the many others who stopped by out of the blue with their purest of heart sentiments: cousin, Angie Miller and her youngest son, Mr. and Mrs. Frame, Mrs. Preuss and Beep (of course!!). Please forgive me if I don't recall your visit, I can't remember too much right now.

Well, the Tag Sale is over, which is awesome. Beep and I brought the books to a book drop at the elementary school in Bolton. Done and done!! We made $750.55 over the last two days. We were open until about 2PM today.

Please pray for my mother. I'm so happy for my father because I know he's in Heaven and he's so excited to see everyone and God's going to show him how much of an impact he had on the people around him - even around the world with various mission trips and with us getting a son in South Korea. His legacy will live on and on. At times I am sad. I am sure it will hit me very soon here. Todd comes tomorrow, so I'm looking forward to that. He gets here at around noon. I will be glad to see him! We can't wait!!

Thank you all for your prayers
Erica

Final Hours

My Father is on a morphine drip to keep him comfortable. He is sedated. They took him off support at about 6 or 7 this morning. He was restless in his "sleep," so they gave him some anti anxiety stuff. He probably should have been on those a while back! Anyway, it could be moments, it could be hours. His breathing is very shallow at this time. My sister is with him now. Please pray for her. She left in the ambulance with him this morning. He's not in any pain, he's comfortable. Please pray that Jesus takes him home soon. It will be today, we just don't know when. I'll let you know.

911 Again

I tell you what, Bolton Volunteer Fire Department should get some sort of award. Especially Jimmy Pruess. I went to school with him. He was a year older and married a girl in my class. What an outstanding professional he is. He is first on the scene EVERY time 911 is called. He even came in afterward tonight and asked if I was ok because this time I was crying when he came here. It's probably the first time Jimmy ever saw me cry, for one. I didn't cry a whole lot in high school. I was more of the bullying type. Those men (I assume there are women, just haven't seen any yet) from BVFD are top notch professionals and gentlemen. Wonderful people. Bolton is very blessed at the care directed towards it's people. They get here so FAST too. Granted I think when I went to Calvin there were more attending Calvin than there were people in my whole town, but still, they get here quickly.

That being said, The LORD only knows if this is it, but I think it is. My sister took the documents we had signed last week in the hospital giving her rule over his medical stuff. My father wasn't himself, according to my mother, this afternoon. I thought he was just happy, but she said that he had a goofy grin on his face and was acting very childish. Not in a mean way, but really acting like a little kid watching the people at the Tag Sale. For some reason, that makes me want to throw up. I'm not sure why that turns my stomach, but it makes me very, very uneasy. Maybe because his memory has been in a very strange decline and he's been repeating stories and repeating directions and how blessed he is. When he tells us how blessed he is, I can almost verbatim tell you what he'll say because it is the same intonation, same words and inflection. She knew something was wrong this afternoon.

At about 1:45 she got me up because Dad wanted to role over on his side. He honestly couldn't get comfortable and didn't know exactly what he wanted. But we tried to roll him over, but he was too close to the side of the bed, so we had to restart the process. Also, he wanted his head up in his hospital bed like he was sitting straight up. Finally we couldn't exactly figure out what he wanted and what to do for him, so Mom got Cindy. Cindy went into nurse mode and took him to the bathroom, got him back into bed and straight up so he could breathe better. At that time she said, "The only thing I can really do for you, Dad is to call 911." Let me back up by saying that this week, he revoked the fact that he was under hospice care. He came home from the hospital under hospice care so that if this type of thing should happen again (which it did tonight), then my sister would just sedate him and keep him comfortable. When the hospice nurse was here he was feeling so elated with being home from the hospital, walking well etc. that he said if he got short of breath, he wanted to call 911. At that point the hospice nurse told him that if his wishes were to call 911, there was nothing she could do. She said it nicer than that, of course, but that's what she meant. HOWEVER, none of us truly believe that Dad fully heard/understood all the ramifications of declining hospice. Not that it was her fault. He heard what he wanted to hear, and wanted the best of both worlds, which you can't have.

Tonight, he was having a hard time breathing. He was so uncomfortable. He just couldn't get comfortable. He was moaning and coughing like I saw him at his worst over Easter. After Cindy asked if he wanted to call 911, he said no. So she gave him some zithromax and lasix. But you have to wait 1/2 hour in between. So she brought up her phone as an alarm and laid down in my mom's bed while my Mom rested on the couch. She gave him the second pill, but he hadn't urinated, which would mean that he was getting rid of the fluid. He hadn't even been doing that during the day really. Only a few times. Not enough to cancel out the input. He's been gaining weight, not losing it. My sister was going to have a frank talk with him in a few days if his weight didn't decrease and broach the subject of hospice again. Cindy woke me an hour later and said she had called 911. I was in by my dad and - squeamish people skip this sentence and move to the next - he was coughing up phlegm and I was wiping it away. He was saying he thought this was it. I then had to go run downstairs and get the document that said my sister was the one to make medical decisions for my Dad. Wouldn't you know, the doggone safe wouldn't open. I think my fingers were just so shaky. THIS is why EVERYONE should have a thumbprint safe because when you're scared or when the adrenaline is rushing, your dexterity is affected. Blood gets pulled centrally to protect your organs, so your fingers don't do what you want them to do. THUMBPRINT safe. Best way to go. Screw the dial (what my parents have) and the push button combo. safes. No good. Anyway, I finally got it open, with plenty of time, it's not like they were waiting on me. Then I made copies of Dad's medicines because everyone wants one. Squeamish people go to next paragraph...then my father started coughing up blood.


That means that he was filling up with fluid rapidly and my sister said to me, "I don't know, I think this is it. If I can, I'm just going to have them sedate him when I get there. We'll see how he's doing once he arrives at the ER." So that's where we're at. My mother is praying that the LORD just takes him tonight. My sister is with him, she told Mom that she didn't need to be there. I just wish someone were there with my sister. She deals with this every day, but it's her Dad this time. I just feel like I need to be there, but I don't want to step on her toes and I don't want to disobey her, and I don't want to be selfish. But she's got no one! I don't know what to do. There's stuff I can do here. I can get phone numbers together for the minister, the funeral director...etc.

Just pray God's timing would be done, and not ours. We would love God to take him now. He is ready spiritually, he is ready mentally, and he's said all he has wanted to say. I KNOW, I delivered the stinkin' messages!! He better not have any more because I don't know if I can handle any more. He was so cold and so hot, but not running a fever yet, but he probably has pneumonia. Which brings me to my next thing:

Lew has had a cough for a while. I thought it was allergies. Nothing gross coming out of him. It didn't seem like he had a fever. He IS cutting teeth (he's gotten 4 since our arrival). But I think I have a little cold, so maybe it is a cold. BUT his hasn't gone away and Audrey's has. Audrey does get allergies around this time each year, so hers could have very well been just allergies. She's fine now, but Lew's just coughing and coughing. Tonight he hit his gag reflex again, so I had to change the bedding. Good thing I was already in here blogging. Please pray for Lew as well. He's already had RSV, I don't want him to get it again here in CT. I'm going to call the doctor tomorrow most likely.

Lastly, please pray for little Audrey. I've kept it tame so far as to how my Dad would kind of snap at her, but at this point, it doesn't matter. I almost hope he makes it tonight for this very reason alone: Audrey has been going to bed super late here. She slept until like 9:15 today and she has had a nap the last few days ranging from 1 hour to 2 hours. At night she's just not tired. Last night every little thing, she was up. At the time it was kind of cute, but it was still disobedient, so I told her that tonight if she got up for a non-emergency, she'd get disciplined. She knows what emergencies are: potty, and anything that's in her room that shouldn't be: bugs, fire, people, animals. She and I go though those. Well, she got up as I was leaving to bring some stuff in from outside and I said, "Audrey, if you get up again, I have to give you a spanking." She said, "I'm going potty." So I said, "Then GO potty and stop asking me all these questions, then." She said, "I was, but what are you doing?" I said, "Just go potty and forget about it, don't worry about it. I'm not leaving." She said, as she's walking towards the bathroom SLOWLY, "But what are you doing?" I said, "I'm bring stuff in from the Tag Sale." She said, still SLOWLY walking, "What stuff?" I said, "Audrey, git!" So she "gitted" and my Dad yelled, "Audrey! If you come out again, I'll do to you what I did to your mother when she did the same thing. I'll put you over my knee and spank you! You'll go right across my knee and you'll be spanked, now I don't want to see you again tonight!" I was right there, and I've told my Dad not to discipline her when I'm there, but apparently he forgot.

Well, apparently there was a lady bug in her room. Remember the rules? If something is in your room that shouldn't be, you can come out and get mommy: bugs are one of those things. So she had apparently started out of the room, but my Dad looked at her angrily and pointed his finger at her. She told me that later, I didn't know that at the time. A few minutes later, she yelled for me from the room that there was a bug, so I got the swatter and went in and sure enough, it was a lady bug. I killed it and that's when she started to cry and said, "I was going to tell you earlier, but when I peeked out of my room, Papa pointed his finger at me to go back into my room. I'm scared of Papa. I'm scared of him. I don't want to do anything with him again. He hurt my feelings." Well, I knew this point would come, that's why I warned my father when I first got here. HOWEVER, Audrey went to bed saddened that she was scared of Papa and doesn't want to be around him, but if he dies tonight, I just hope Audrey doesn't remember what she said, and then feel badly. I hope she just remembers the good, happy times with him, and just forgets tonight and what happened. Just pray for that, that Audrey doesn't remember.

THANK YOU!

Where's Waldo, errr I mean Lew?

Can you find him? This all had to go out into the Tag Sale today. See below for info about the Tag Sale.

So today was the big day and I feel how Audrey looks. In case you can't see it: Audrey has a winter hat on, both hands inside a slipper and both feet inside a mitten. She rolled over as I took the picture, so you can see both sides. Yes, she's sound asleep with the light on. We keep it on so she can see bugs like the lady bug I had to kill tonight. I'm about to go to bed but I figured I'd tell you about the Tag Sale's first day...

Apparently no one in CT ever has a Tag Sale on Thursdays. It's always Saturday and Sunday with an occasional one on Friday to get a jump start. I've been conversing with the most interesting people. Not hard to find in CT. Also, a lot of times they'll do it on Saturday and start at like 6AM and officially open at 7; that will NOT be me on Saturday. They can wait. They keep asking me why I'm having a Tag Sale on a Thursday, and I keep explaining I'm from MI where that's what we do. One guy said that MI had the best drivers in the country. There ya go, Todd, someone finally said it besides you, so I guess it's true. It's Biblical to have two witnesses. He also said that according to an actual study CT was 3rd in the worst drivers ever category "bested" only by NY and MA, not surprising. He even cited Todd's favorite argument about merging and how in MI if you put your signal on, people actually let you in. Might I add, however, they let you in to the detriment of the flow of traffic BEHIND them. They're too polite. They put on the brakes and can cause accidents, not with the merging vehicle, but the others who are behind them. BUT I will let you MI people be proud of yourselves for a while. Good job driving!

My brother, sister and bio-mom, Grandma Coni, were invaluable today! They were real troopers. My brother and I started at about 7:30 hauling the big ticket items down from the attic and up from the basement. We then cleaned them all off. We then started putting the book shelves and entertainment systems out by the road to start to fill with the items on the porch. Here is Grandma Coni trying to price some of the items on Monday:

She crawled under the table to get to the items and then had to crawl back.

Literally the minute we started putting stuff out to the front, people were pulling over to come to the sale! I kept saying, "Well, we're not officially open until 3, but sure, you can look around." They would ask if more stuff was coming out. I'd say, "You see that porch? All that has to come out yet." I felt like saying, if you'd let me go do my job, I'd be able to get the stuff out on time. Two bookcases went right away. I was sad to see one go, but I was offered an amount I couldn't refuse. That made it more difficult to put books away. Then another bookcase fell over and broke, so Bub had to fix that. I have to do research on the records and the Bradford Exchange Plates, but those will go out on Saturday. Maybe tomorrow if I can get my research done. We're open again at 3, but stuff is out there under tarps, so it's possible we might be starting early! We'll see!

I had to talk to the people, so my sister and brother had to bring stuff off the porch. I asked my brother if he was limping tonight and he commented that he did enough "exercise for a whole month all in one day." SO TRUE! Lugging books was the worst for them! Tonight as we were pulling items in, he said, "I'm going to see if the wheelbarrow has water in it, or if I cleaned it out." Thankfully, it was dry so we could just put the books into the wheelbarrow and wheel them to the back. It was a good idea. One I bet he wished he had thought of earlier.

On top of that, they all had to man the sale while I ran a race in Hartford (shaved a minute off my time from the last race! Plus this one was harder, I thought. Less pavement, more gravel, dirt and grass). I actually didn't want to leave to run because I like this job. It's fun for me - tiring, but fun. I like talking to people. I helped a guy figure out what to bring to his church library. I deferred to my brother on the electronic stuff. He was awesome! I don't think he's talked as much in his whole life as he had to do today and I was SO PROUD of him!! I owe each of my super helpers something. Any fun ideas?? Tag Saleing is so not my sister's thing, but she was a trooper as I was running. Then she counted up the money we made and we made over $500! She and my parents also had a BIG job of taking care of the children. They were GREAT at that!! It was awesome not to have to worry about Audrey or Lew. She even pivoted the couch around so my father could sit and watch. He watched the whole thing! He had the best time looking at the people coming and going. Every time I looked up he had a smile on his face! Every time something sold, he said, "Good! Get rid of it!"

Grandma Coni was so very helpful in making all the signs. She even had to make a "Parking" sign. We literally caused a bit of a traffic jam on Route 85. It was one way traffic for a while with people taking turns. So my mother made a sign pointing people into the driveway to park. A few people took advantage of it. I couldn't believe the people who didn't mind just pulling over on this busy street!! One couple ran out of gas, so Bub put a little into the tank with a screwdriver because the funnels were not where to be seen. That was daunting. Grandma Coni also walked around with her backpack on pretending to be a spectator, but she was really watching out for people who would otherwise steal an item. Super sleuth! Maybe I get that from her...Anyway, MUST go to bed. Hope all is well with you all!!

Dad's Home and Happy to be there

I'm packed and ready to go home. Todd said, "Well, we'll miss the kids..." My brother asked if I was planning on taking the children with me when I left because of how many books I'm taking home. I've also included a picture of the porch which has all the books I'm leaving behind in bags. That way you know I'm not completely insane. They are in my trunk until the Tag Sale is over this weekend. I needed space, and my trunk was empty except for the stroller...which is now buried...

Oh man, I would have HATED to be one of the nurses or aids or whomever was at the hospital today while Dad was waiting to be home. He was so anxious to be out of there, but really, who can blame the guy? He was saying it was every one's fault - the doctor's, the hospice care people, the physical therapist, my mom - anyone he could think of. Last night he said he was going to tell the people that he doesn't have that much longer to live and they just stole a perfectly good day from him. They couldn't discharge him until we had a hospital bed set up. He said he'd sleep on the floor. My sister told him he couldn't say anything and he had to get his temper under control or else his blood pressure would go up and he wouldn't be able to be discharged at all. That just left him sputtering. I would have LOVED to be a fly on the wall when she said that!! I'm not saying this because my Dad's a bad guy, he was just so ready to be out of there and to wait for something like a hospital bed seemed stupid to him, but rules are rules. When the bed showed up, my Mom and sister went to get him right away. They told me I could be the bearer of good news to my Dad. I called him and told him that I had made it happen: he was coming home. I emphasized the part where I had made it happen. He laughed. My sister said, "You can be the good daughter by telling him this." Then they forgot his clothes and realized it once they got to the hospital! Hahahahaahahaha!!! My sister had to drive home to get them, so I really DID look like the good one! If I had gone, however, everyone knows I would have forgotten them, please!

So my Father is home and he is so excited! We were all laughing. Mostly at me. And Toddy. We were reliving a story that will go down in infamy for my poor husband. Thankfully he thinks it's really funny too. Why he ever told us this story is a mystery. Should have kept it to himself. Over Easter, we did a lot around the house. You know how it is, you go back and forth to the local hardware store a million times because you've run out of something, or something (for example caulk) is too old...etc. Todd went to purchase said caulk and took my sister's car, a very distinctly colored blue new Corolla. Anyway, we're not in the habit of locking our cars because we just don't. Often the keys will be in the vehicles, but no one in West MI really locks their doors everywhere they go. At least, not like here. As normal, Todd left the keys in the car and had it unlocked as he went into New England Hardware next to Bolton Pharmacy. He came out of the store and realized that the car was locked. He panicked until he saw the sun roof open. So he threw the caulk into the sun roof and then looked around in the car and noticed a half eaten bag of chips, and some other tell tale signs that this car was in fact NOT the one he had just been driving 2 minutes before. However, it had his caulk in its clutches with no graceful way of recovery. To be fair, the car was the EXACT color, make and model as my sister's, and while hers is very pretty, it's a very unique color, so to have one similar at the same place in podunk Bolton Lumber's parking lot is uncanny. Todd did the polite thing and waited around for the owner, but finally resigned to climbing on top of the car, reaching through the sun roof to retrieve his caulk and running to the correct car and not looking back. My family LOVES that story. Now you all can love it too.

Prayer Requests: Dad can still keep his spirits up even if he has to stay in his room for the next few days as the portable air conditioner hasn't arrived yet. Dad can be encouraged through his renewed strength. He doesn't fall - at least not on MY watch. And lastly, that it won't rain for the Tag Sale. THANKS!!!!