Ethan’s Journey

Mid day today I lost access to all of my email capabilities due to the outlook outage. It borderline crippled me at work. Ugh! At least it didn’t happen on a Monday. There were more conversations about confusion with the in-laws today. I did lots of reading and learning about how to talk to people that have dementia and how to deal with-escalate situations. I had to use those skills today.  Afterward of course I tried to play it back and looked for areas for improvement, but overall the conversation went well. I do want to make sure she is taken care of and feels comfortable enough to allow us to help. Help is the derogatory word….we are supposed to banish that word from our vocabulary. I am trying to replace that word with other words or phrases. “Let’s figure this out together” “Let’s get this sorted out for you.” These have a different spin and are received better than sentences with the work “help” in them. One more day until we don’t have to work!

Happy Vetran’s Day to all of those who have fought for our rights. Anyone that has joined the military in any capacity is amazing. “How important it is for us to recognize and celebrate our Heroes and She-roes!” —Maya Angelou I started the day with an heart echo. I went to the hospital, found the appropriate office and waited for 20 minutes prior to being called back. I had a student doing my echo. She said I had the most beautiful costal space. Nice! That is what probably attracted Paul most about me. This was a baseline echo to compare for when I age they can refer to this echo to make sure there are no changes. Paul had today off for Vetran’s Day. He spent the day busily working, in Paul fashion, outside. I was a little jealous, but used coping skills to overcome that. Ha! I had bought some candy cane Aldi brand Oreo cookies. They were delicious. I only had a few. Me-“ Have you had any of those candy cane cookies?” I asked Paul. I knew he had because there were a significant number ...

Ethan had another good day at work. Yay! He seems to be pleased with his decision so far. After work, I met my dental hygienist for dinner. We had margaritas at a New Mexican place down the road from the infamous Margaritas. I had to drive by the shell of a building where Margaritas used to be located. I wish that we could have ignored the drug activity going on there…and looked the other way….sigh! Here is my assessment of the new place. The staff is friendly. They were quick to seat us - win! They brought us fresh salsa and chips. They also brought over some bean dip, which looked like an unfortunate accident on the inside of a baby’s diaper. It tasted ok, not my favorite, I will stick with the salsa. Their chips were thicker and not warm. They were ok. They tasted like they were from a bag instead of fresh. - mediocre! Their were lots of choices on the menu. I was able to pick a dish similar to what I enjoyed at Margaritas. I ordered a margarita. The glass was a regular sized margar...

Ethan had his first day at his new job. He said it is a small office with not very many people there.  He worked on a special welding today that was taught to him while he was interviewing.  He said everyone seems nice. His complaint was about the traffic coming home. There was an accident on the expressway. He was not pleased to be sitting in traffic. I say it is far better to sit in traffic than to be the person that got into the accident. I tried some new recipe’s for our Thanksgiving dinner. I have a few tweaks to do prior to completing the final products. I send Paul funny videos when we sit on the couch together. Part of me likes to share the laugh, the other part is to watch Paul react to the videos.  Sometimes the videos feature something shocking. He was making lots of faces and reacting fabulously tonight. We were also laughing so hard at a few of them, it was cracking Ethan up. Hilarious! My debit card was shut off for “fraudulent behavior”. I had to call and g...

I took a large load of stuff from my basement and dropped it off at good will today. I also listed a few things on Marketplace. I had a few annoying inquiries….but overall sold a few things already! Cool! I have two things I already have money for but the pickup will be in over a week. Some guy came to pick up an item in the early afternoon. I made sure to read up on Facebook scams to make sure I am not a victim. I heard about a new Goodwill opening up across town. I will have to check that out. It is supposed to be a big one!  Paul is picking up a load of pavers purchased on Marketplace. He will use them to build a walk way to our fire out. Paul hates mowing that area because it is a weird shaped spot for him to mow. Ethan starts his new job tomorrow. He is nervous and excited. He is happy to be using his brain a little more at this position. We went to visit with my Mom and Gene today. It was a nice visit. I am so glad they chose this place for themselves! They are really doing s...

Ethan, his friend and Paul all went to JNK day. They took my van and used the back for their home base. Paul said it was wild. It has grown significantly. Ethan was able to do a few passes through the field with his go-cart on steroids. He was pleased. He took lots of footage and video.  He plans to make a YouTube video and get that posted soon. Before Ethan came home, my geriatric van’s battery died. Oh dear….hospice.  Ethan tried calling me as well as Paul and neither of us were near our phones.  Luckily, he found the jumper cables I had bought myself a few years ago. I got the jumper cables in the Aisle of Shame at Aldie. He was able to breath a little life back into the van to at least drive it home. Paul said he “hopes” it won’t die on me when I am out and about. Fabulous! I will likely be stranded somewhere. I deep cleaned the carpet and couch over the course of a few hours. All the dogs were bathed and I vacuumed everything.  I even got the steam cleaner out a...