30 Days of Thankfulness: A sight

What sight am I grateful for today?  I guess I would say I am grateful for seeing Casey snuggled up on his table, using his device and watching the 'pretty judge.'  (Somehow Judge Marilyn Milan has become the 'pretty judge' as opposed to 'Judy'(Judge Judy)  or the 'judges' (Hot Bench); that's how he distinguishes between our judge shows.  Anyway, it's a peaceful time of day.  An hour or so before bedtime, Gene and Molly are out at the grocery store or taking a drive, Nugget has been fed (again) and it's just me and the Big K.  We have certain shows that we agree on and the judge shows are some of them.  We also watch: 'Christmas Love movie, Mom.'  (Hallmark)

30 Days of Thankfulness: Abilities

 What abilities am I thankful for?  Today I am thankful for being able to read, and read fluently with decent comprehension and retention :)  I love to read!  I took a break from pleasure reading for quite a long time but have rekindled my love of reading this year.  Reading for pleasure is an escape.  A chance to let whatever is currently happening to take a backseat for a while.  Of course I still manage to keep my ears open for Casey.  My ears and brain have been trained to be able to let go a little and enjoy a book or movie but still have part of me listening for Casey :) 

Reading is also a necessity to make it in this world.  Just today, Gene was figuring out what we needed to do to register the vehicle we are buying/financing.  Trying to navigate the DMV website and find the info we needed is tricky--it takes some digging and figuring out.  For someone who is not a confident reader, something like this would be a nightmare.  And, these days you can't just walk into DMV and get help!  You need appointments, etc.  Ugh.  Anyway, I'm thankful Gene was able to figure out what we need to do.  

Anyway, I am thankful reading is easy and enjoyable to me.  

30 Days of Thankfulness: November 8th: A book

 What book am I most grateful for?  There are several, of course, but I think of two.  One is an encyclopedia of horses that I had as a child.  I HOPE that it is in a box up in our attic along with a few other childhood treasures but I don't know for sure.  One of these days I would like to go through every box in BOTH our attics but it's more than a daunting task.  Sigh.  It was a hard covered book, red, I'm sure the dust cover was long gone. It had glossy paper and beautiful pictures of all breeds of horses.  I'm sure if I was able to thumb through the book again, all the breeds and the describing words, would come right back to me.  

Another one is The BoxCar Children by Gertrude Chandler Warner.  I read this one way back when I was little, too.  I still have my OG hardcover copy.  It's not a first edition or anything but I treasure it.  It was one of the books that started my love for reading.  I can't even guess how many times I re-read it-maybe dozens???  This isn't a book review so I won't give you a summary here!

 I thought of 2 more!  I will add them!

 

30 Days of Thankfulness: November 5th: A sound

 A sound.

This very minute I am grateful for the sound of Casey's ventilator.  He's still sleeping as he sleeps until noon on Saturdays :)  Gene and I can do things around the house, or do nothing if we are not feeling like doing chores and we can tell by the sound of his ventilator that he is sleeping soundly (or not).  Maybe I should say "sounds over the baby monitors".  We have the base monitors (2) in the Wish Room where he sleeps.  Then we have one in his 'old' room (he used to sleep there and it's connected to his bathroom that the nurses use), one in the kitchen and one in our bedroom upstairs.  So anywhere in the house we go, we can hear him!  We are so tuned into his sounds that we inherently know how he is doing. It's also good when Casey wants some alone time.  We know what he's doing and how he's doing by the sounds on the monitor but we don't have to been in the actual room with him.  He can get a little independence this way!

30 Days of Gratitude: November 4th: a Food

 Food.  I love food.  Maybe not as much as my FIL did.  We always talk about how much he liked to eat!  There really wasn't any food he didn't like. 

But me.  I am thankful for food in general. It gives us energy and helps keep our body healthy. 

But if I say my "favorite" food, that makes it a little bit easier, although I have a lot of favorites.  Of course I like my sweets especially chocolate and ice cream.  But I also love pineapple and cherries.  I also love lobster and shrimp!  I guess I am thankful that we live in a time and era where we have access to so many different delicious foods.  Nowadays things are getting pricier and we're more cautious of what we (well Gene) buy.  We are more appreciative of certain foods, like butter!  Butter has gone up in price so I asked for some for my birthday :)  We're also still experiencing shortages from the pandemic.  The other day I was running low on half n half.  Gene was out and about and looked at several stores and they were out!  They had the pricey kind at Costco but he didn't get it.  He bought me some whole milk to tide me over.  The next day or so he went to another store and got the half n half, phew!

Coffee!  I should have said coffee!  I love my coffee.  For the past couple of years I've been looking for a good morning cup of coffee.  The Keurig just wasn't cutting it any more.  Tried all sorts of different brands but none of them were decent.  I also tried the old fashioned percolator.  Too much of a pain.  I tried one of Peggy's old French Presses and kinda liked it.  But grounds were a problem.  I used whole beans and my grinder.  It was okay but things were really good when I started using a coffee filter!  No more grounds and I get a very delicious, full bodied, smooth cup of coffee.  I have a great system now and I love my morning coffee! Oh, and about a year or so ago I treated myself to a really good burr grinder.  Coffee is now almost always a 10 out of 10!

30 Days of Thankfullness: November 3: A Color

Thankful for a color.  Some of these prompts are very weird! I think I will say blue.  Yellow is my favorite color but I am thankful for blue.  Colin's favorite color was blue and he could say the word blue.  So anytime any question could be answered by blue, he would say BLUE!  I loved hearing him say the words that he could.  I miss him so much. 💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙

November 2nd: 30 Days of Gratefulness: technology

A technology. 

This is easy.  Communication devices. There are many different styles/types of devices for so many different needs of the users. In our case it’s a Tobii (brand). We've had several over the years-actually we have our 5th on order!  

Many users utilize eye gaze to speak and/or use the Internet but Casey is a scanner. It takes a bit longer to use scanning rather than using direct selection but Casey is an expert.  

Casey’s device provides endless hours of entertainment. He is never bored when he has his ‘T’. He uses Google Maps to visit the world, he uses Google to learn about history, famous people, countries, cultures, K-pop, and of course, he Googles ‘girls with big earrings.’  Yes, our boy is obsessed. 

But each and every day I am most thankful for the words Casey uses. He is sometimes stingy with his sentences but he surely gets his point across.  He tells us:  move butt, off ears (take his side things off the headrest), turn head, see TV (means he can’t see well), off shoes (he wants his DAFOs off).  Talk Aunt Chris, call Nurse Julie, FaceTime Aunt Peggy.

He is also good at telling us what to do.  Store Dad.  Kitchen Mom.  Etc.  He'll also ask for Molly Sue and Nugget.  

Without this device we would be left wondering what was going on in his head!  I mean, he doesn't tell us his deep, dark secrets but we are thankful he is able to communicate needs and wants and lets us know his feelings. 

30 Days of Thankfulness: November 1st: A smell

 

When I've done a similar prompt for the 30 days of Thankfulness/Gratitude I'm pretty sure I did the smell of lemon.  I'm very thankful for citrusy smells, especially lemon.  It does something in my brain that makes me feel good/fresh/alert/happy.  I am going to pick a different one this time.  Which smell?  I don't know yet, lol.  

This time I will say the ocean.  I miss the ocean.  Growing up on Long Island we spent a lot of time on the water, mostly Long Island Sound.  But we also would vacation in Maine on a pond, but go to the ocean up there frequently.  Then, when Mom and Dad retired to Sarasota, they lived close to the Gulf of Mexico.  I didn't get to visit them often when the boys were growing up but after they went to a nursing home, and Colin passed, I took the time to go down to visit.  We were able to keep their house in Sarasota while they were in the nursing home.  Made it much more convenient, easier, nicer for when we'd go down to see them.  Chris was down there way more often than me and she got very comfortable with being a Sarasotian (is that the word?) .  Anyway, visiting the ocean was always high on the list when I went down to Florida.  Siesta Key was maybe a 20 minute drive from the house.  Turtle Beach is THE best.  Turtle Beach is a little smaller and not was well known as Siesta Key Beach so when we went it wasn't ever truly busy.  

Immersing myself in the atmosphere of Turtle Beach was very important to me.  I would sit on the beach and use all my senses to take it all in.  I can bring myself back there, in my mind, by picturing myself on the beach and conjuring up those sensory memories.  In my head I can 'smell' the ocean!  It kind of brings my soul back to a point where it feels renewed/nurtured/solaced.  For about 5 or 6 years I would go down 2 a year, usually in December and June/July and visit the ocean.  It would fill me up until next time.  Now, with both Mom and Dad gone, the house sold, I don't have that.  Any ocean would make me feel good but the Turtle Beach smell, sand and sights, would fill me up 110%.  Someday...someday I will go back and get refueled. 

Just me and the Big K

 Nurse Staci has been on vacation.  Casey and I got to spend a lot of time together.  I thought he'd be sick of me before Staci came back but we've had a lot of fun.  We haven't gotten on each others nerves too much!  He's been pretty cooperative and his behavior has been, well, not quite exemplary, but pretty darn good. 

Some of the highlights:

One day he had Eerie Indiana in the AM, shower and trach change (he LOVES showers), Wizard 101 with me for 4+ hours, a quick walk on a beautiful day with Dad, book group, our audio book Spirit Hunters at bed time. It was a good day.

Also:  a couple of other walks with Dad, crafting with Mom, Poptropica with Nancy Hadd, haircut and library with Mom and Julie, The Masked Singer (we only watch when Gene sits with us), our spooky Halloween lights, Halloween books in book group, some kisses from Molly Sue (dog :) ), time with Aunt Chris... I'm sure there's more! 

 

It's been awhile!

 No excuses.  I wish I had the inclination to blog more regularly but it hasn't happened.  In my head I write but it never gets to the computer.  

Covid is still out there.  But we have eased up a little bit.  Dumb, maybe, but we're still being careful.  

Casey started swimming at the Rehab Gym a couple of weeks ago.  He was nervous, probably because of Covid and also because he just gets anxious about going places.  He really enjoyed it.  He's been twice now, and each time he has said, "Swimming again tomorrow."  Sorry Casey but twice a month is enough for me!  It's a lot of work from the house to van to pool to van to house to shower to table.  But it's worth it.  I know his therapist gets some good stretching in and he doesn't complain at all.  He also must be excited to see other people besides family and his nurses :)  Britni tells him stories about her kids and he likes that.  

Wow.  Can I be any more boring?