Jan 25th: Hazel had a ballet recital that she had told us about and I made sure for her to let us know when her performance was so we could go and watch. She had her mom send us the invite and on that Saturday Rylee and I headed to the venue to watch her perform. When we got there we stood in line to get tickets only for them to tell us that it was cash only. I did not have cash on me and feeling a little dejected we started to head out not knowing what to do. After we walked maybe 10 yards away we had someone call out to us and it was a lady saying she had extra tickets and wanted to give them to us. I offered to Venmo her but she wouldn't accept any money, it was so nice of her and such a relief that we did not have to miss the recital trying to find cash.
Hazel did a beautiful job dancing and I enjoyed being able to watch her. Two of her little sisters, Emmaline and Eliza, were also in the recital and it was fun to watch them as well.
Jan. 26: Mom was scheduled to have shoulder surgery in December but it was postponed because the Dr was sick that morning. It was really disappointing but they were able to reschedule for January 25th. It worked out that I was able to fly down the day after her surgery to help her in her recovery. Us siblings were planning on all getting together around February 7th in California to surprise Mom for her 80th birthday. I had tickets to be there for her birthday and was staying an extra week. But since her surgery was close to her birthday I changed my flight to fly down two weeks before to help her and then I would stay through her Birthday.
I spent the week making my Mom food and helping her with the ice machine, putting it on her shoulder as needed. I was told to do it every hour and I started with that but then I would ask my Mom if she wanted the ice and she would say no that she was ok. She kept telling me know and I was thinking that she was doing good and didn't need it but she was thinking I didn't want to be bothered in putting it on her so she would tell me she didn't need it. What I needed to do was just not ask and kept putting the ice on every hour. Once I learned that we were not communicating right I stopped asking and just starting putting the ice on her.
There is a tendon in her shoulder that was not working and Mom has not been able to lift her arm for quite a while, this surgery was supposed to fix that. A couple of days after the surgery Mom got the Drs notes in regard to the surgery and learned that the surgery did not work and they were not able to fix the tendon for whatever reason. This was a big blow to my Mom and caused her some understandable frustrations and depression. Here she is just having had surgery to fix something she was been struggling with for a while only to find out it was basically a pointless surgery.
I was there for two weeks and while Heather was working it was just me and my Mom. Ashleigh came over but every there day and Jeremy stopped in after work which was nice. I got into a pretty good routine of working out in my Moms living room but I craved being outside and getting some walking in. On Friday January 31, when Ashleigh was there with her kids and Jeremy was there I talked them into going on a walk around the block with me. It was so nice to get out and be with my siblings and enjoy the fresh air.
Saturday morning, February 1, Erin, Jeremy, Heather and I are able to talk Mom into going to Brandon's for Breakfast. We had a good time at the restaurant and it was nice to get mom out of the house.
I brought my Roller Skates to California with me and later that day Ashleigh and her kids, Heather and I went to the park to Roller Skate. Jeremy came along on his bike and Erin also came to be with us. I had so much fun skating with my sisters and skating outside. My Moms house is on a slight hill with the park being down towards the bottom of it. I put my skates on at the house thinking I could skate down to the park but I very quickly realized I was not confident enough in my skating and balancing to skate down to the park. Ashleigh was walking down in front of me so I grabbed onto her and used her to help guide me down. It was funny and I liked that she was willing to help me out.
Elizabeth, Heather and Ashleigh
Jeremy, Elizabeth, Heather and Ashleigh
Elizabeth, Heather, Jeremy, Atticus, Abigail and Ashleigh
After Breakfast Heather and I started our fast since the next day was Fast Sunday. When Andrew Brown came over after his Saturday activities to be with his family as it got closer to dinner time conversations started going on about what to do for dinner. Somehow the dinner they planned turned into a big deal meal with them planning an elaborate meal and since Heather and I were fasting we did not want to be around all that delicious food so we left for some fun time with just us. We went and got our nails done, she got a manicure and I got a pedicure. After our nails we went over to Barnes and Noble to browse and walk around. Once enough time had gone by we went back to Moms to find them just getting done with eating so we went into Heathers room to watch The Middle. It was annoying for them to plan a big deal dinner knowing that we were fasting but I had fun getting out and being with Heather.
