Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is a bit weird this year. Kristen and Laura are at their dad's tonight, which is normal. We often do Thanksgiving on Friday or Saturday because of Pat's work schedule and family being here or there.
What is weird is that for the first time since I've lived in this house, some 16 years, I'm cooking Thanksgiving dinner. I've done many Christmas dinners, but not Thanksgiving. Usually we are at Mom and Daddy's house and I cook there. Daddy is gone and Mom is up at my sister, Jeanie's house.
Our kitchen is kind of small and I'm not sure I have enough serving dishes, but we'll have a great feast. The holiday season is indeed weird without my Dad. I really miss him.

House is looking good

The office is put back together - painted, carpet shampooed and office rearranged. We like the new configuration and we threw a TON of stuff out.

Today Pat painted the hall and I took everything off the sideboard, dusted, waxed, washed and dried all the crystal and put it all back together. The house looks great. Pat was even contemplating starting with the Christmas decorations already. I think it's a tad early, but we'll see how motivated we are.

Home Projects

I started a home project today, which means we'll be doing this for months. You know how it goes, you paint one room and the next one looks shabby. So you paint the next room, and on and on. You're off to the home improvement races.
We've been talking about rearranging the office for months. It's actally the third bedroom, about 10x10. We have a big corner desk and that's going to move 180 degrees, so when we're sitting at the desk we can look out the window.
Today I took everything out of the closet. Office supplies, books, books and more books. I also emptied the bookshelves that are attached to the wall. What an array of books we have! Crime mysteries, various and sundry paperbacks and medical books (Pat's) Civil War, early arctic exploration, real estate (me) and cookbooks (both of us).
Everything is still on and in the desk - computer, printer, my pile and Pat's pile. He has next week off, so we'll start again on Monday and take everything out, paint and shampoo the carpet. Then comes probably the worst of our task - figuring out what to keep and what to toss. I think the printer and possibly the phone and answering machine will go in the closet, as we had it years ago.
Yeah, this is a good chance to clean out a lot of stuff. I'm excited to have it done, but not necessarily the process.

Why do they make this so difficult?

After my dad passed away, Mom was left with a lot of prescription drugs of his. They don't expire until 2012. If we take them back to the prescribing facility they'll just be destroyed.

Mom and I have asked around to friends and family to see if anyone we know is prescribed these drugs. Nope.

My eye doctor goes to Mexico with Flying Doctors - maybe they could take them. Nope. They cannot provide follow up, therefore can't use the rx drugs.

Dr. Worrell suggested I try the Indian Health Center of Santa Clara Valley. Nope.

They suggested City Team Ministries. I'm waiting for a call back from them.

We have a lot of older people in our Sons of Norway lodge. I can't exactly go up to them and say "Hey Ole, by the way, your doc hasn't happened to prescribe 20mg of potassium, has he? How about lasix? Can I hook you up with some?"

Sheesh, I'm trying to help someone out here. I know how expensive this stuff is and maybe we could make just a little bit of difference in someone's life. The red tape sure makes it hard to do the right thing.

The process

We all continue to mourn the loss of my dad. It comes across me in waves, which my friends tell me is normal. Whatever that is.
Most of the time I'm fine, but at odd times, like when I'm driving around town, I am awash in grief. For Daddy's memorial service I made a slide show thing and I've seen it a hundred times. While I was making it and sometimes when I just want to feel closer to him and I want to see his face, I watch it. Tonight was the first time I was not a bawling mess when I watched it. Yeah, I wept a bit, but didn't totally fall apart. I guess this is part of the process. It'll never end, just get softer, I think.
If you want to see it, click here www.dorrways.com/clydeharris and click on the little thingie below photo gallery. I wish I knew when this gets easier - I guess it never does.