What To Write About...?

It's been a very concentrated two-and-a-half weeks.  There's a lot to tell.  Finally things have slowed down a touch.  Also I'm recovering from a cold so I won't feel bad about sitting in bed for hours typing away.

First there was our trip to California for my brother's wedding.  Yes, that was why I was making ring-bearer pillows.

Here is the happy couple arriving at the reception:

I introduce to you my new sister, Sarah.  She is a wonderful person, too much fun and a welcome addition to our family.  You know what else?  I believe she can do anything and make it look easy.

Here's a shot of one of the pillows:

Pete took this photo but I stole it from Sarah's blog.  This pillow wasn't used in the wedding.  I went with a plain ribbon on this one so that the flowers inside wouldn't be obscured.  I left the ribbon long so it could be cut to whatever length worked best with their rings.  

Hopefully photos of the other pillows will be forthcoming but I didn't get any.  Sarah's hoping to post some later though.  Maybe I'll steal them from her blog again.

The wedding was beautiful and went really well.  There were donuts, cheeseburgers and six cakes and I don't think there were any ugly scenes (you know how family events can be)  I didn't hear of any scandalous episodes amongst the guests either.  It was just a good time with great people.

The next night Pete and I got to have dinner with Christian and Sarah and hog them all to ourselves.  Yay!

The night after that Pete and I came home from our date with each other to find my mom on the phone calling an ambulance.  Dad wasn't feeling well and asked to go to the emergency room.  I will spare you the symptoms.

You know things are bad when you can't wait for those sirens to get to your door.  First came a fire truck full of EMTs, then the ambulance.  It was San Diego at peak Swine Flu scare so they all wore surgical masks.  They whisked Dad away to the hospital and Mom went too.  Poor Mom didn't get back home until 5:45 the next morning.

It turned out that Dad had come crashing down with bacterial pneumonia.  Visiting Dad in the hospital has unfortunately become a bit routine.  He's very good at being hospitalized.  He now has a system.

Pete and I thought we'd give him a day to recover at the hospital so we visited him on his second day there.  Then we went to lunch with Mom and bought some Fit Flops (Pete didn't buy Fit Flops - and Fit Flops are another story)  Then we all decided to go to Starbucks for a Frappucino.  On the way to Starbucks Dad called to say they were letting him out and could we bring him a Frappucino too.  So Dad is now taking his antibiotics and recovering from pneumonia at home.  Phew!

Next hurdle: the flight home.  

Fay loves to travel.  She loves to go to new places and meet new people.  She also loves to go to different places and be with people she's already met and doesn't see all that often.  She loves a change of scenery and the potential change of menu that it entails.  More people equals more people to mooch from.  She was having a great time in California.

We've also changed her medications and she's been feeling great and moving really well.  She stands up on her back legs a lot these days though they still can't support her for long.  She can use them enough that she isn't wearing through the fur on the tops of her feet (or the skin on her backside) anymore.  She has all her joie de vivre back.  The only drawback is that she has occasional idiopathic bouts of diarrhea.

Like in her carry-on bag at the airport before we flew out of San Diego to come home.  Five times.  I'd take her into the ladies' room, wash her off in the sink, dry her with paper towels, remove the topmost diaper from the stack that I'd layered in the carrier, put her back in the bag on top of a new, clean diaper, wash my hands and carry her back to the gate, sit down, catch a fresh whiff and start all over again.  Fortunately we were two hours early for the flight.  Once we got on the plane the diarrhea stopped.  I think she ran out of ammo.  That was lucky because I didn't have an endless supply of fresh diapers.  She has been completely fine ever since.

We got back to Brookline early Wednesday morning with two days to finish cleaning out the house to get it ready to go on the market Thursday evening.  Our first open house was Friday at noon.

This concludes my first installment of "What I've Been Doing For The Last Two Weeks Or So."  With luck I'll write another installment later today.  Things have slowed a bit but they sure haven't stopped.