Okay, it was a long (but nice) weekend. Above is a picture of the birthday girl (aka Mom) on the left with The Graminator, my Aunt Leslie and my Uncle Stuart. She was surprised and touched that they came in to see her.
After her surprise on Wednesday, her siblings took her to Mt. Charleston for lunch on her actual birthday, then everyone came over for a huge Chinese banquet (we are gonna be eating leftovers for a week!) and banana cupcakes.
Friday, we went to Buca de Beppo for a family dinner (thanks again to Kelly for gramma-sitting, my mom was so touched by his generosity that she cried). Buca is a chain restaurant that serves Italian food, family style, and we got the 'kitchen table' where we proceeded to consume far too much food and some delicious red wine courtesy of my Uncle. If you ever go to dinner with my Uncle Stuart and he orders red wine, drink it, even if you aren't a red wine fan. He picks GREAT wine. Too much food, wine and fun led to some loud and raucous discussions, including politics, and arguing politics with my uncle is a lot like being on The McLaughlin Group. Seriously, I've been in debate tournaments that didn't need as much planning as a discussion with Stuart...but it was still fun and "I lub you" too, Uncle Stuart.
Unfortunately, my uncle's girlfriend, Roberta, had a really bad pinched nerve and they had to go home to California earlier than planned and they left on Saturday. So they dropped my Aunt Leslie off at our house and we just sat around all day talking and eating leftovers (which now included Italian food in addition to the grilled pork from Wednesday and the Chinese from Thursday) and watched the movie "21". I do not recommend this movie, not that it was bad, just that it was so unrealistic (which is strange because it was very loosely based on a true story) plus it committed the unforgivable sin of making a bunch of Vegas inaccuracies. (If you get a suite at the Hard Rock hotel and look out the window, there is NO WAY to see the fountains at Bellagio from that view. Even if the hotel wasn't more than a mile away and not even on the Strip, it faces the OPPOSITE direction!!!!!!! Augh!)
Sunday Will came over (Val had to grade papers) and we all went to lunch (yes, all, even the Graminator) to Salt Lick BBQ at Red Rock Station. It was delicious and fun (thanks for lunch Aunt Leslie!) and way too much food (so add BBQ to the leftovers in my fridge.) We also played with the new Wii Fit I bought. It's much harder than I thought, but it seems like it will make working out fun so we will see how it goes. My aunt bought me a sweater (thanks for the present Aunt Leslie!) and we had a nice visit. She's flying back to Florida this morning.
Now for the Wild One. The Graminator is walking. She got a new walker on Friday and the physical therapist had her walk around the kitchen. She needed very little guidance walking, mostly someone to stand behind her just in case she has balance issues. But once she started walking, the floodgates opened. She needs some kind of support to stand up, but once she's up, she's off and running. On Saturday she got herself out of bed and stripped herself naked and made it to the bathroom before we heard her. Unfortunately she's just not ready for that yet (hence the commode chair) but we learned to put her walker across the room. This morning she was up and heading to her room before I caught her (again, my fault for leaving the walker within reach.) I went from having a big baby that I had to do everything for to having a toddler that I have to watch every second of the day. Fortunately she still tires easily so I just make her walk laps around the kitchen to wear her out. She has a doctor's appointment today so I'll be asking questions about helping her appetite and getting her bed sore finally healed. But I think it is safe to say that The Graminator is on the way to a full (and speedier than we anticipated) recovery. The hard part now will be keeping her from pushing too much. Her mental state is just not quite enough to leave her alone yet so I'll still be home bound for a while yet.
Okay, I have to go now. Novel to write, Gramma to watch, leftovers to eat. So much to do, so little time!
1 comment:
Well, you definitely took the "eat well" part of that quote to heart! :) I'm sure there was plenty of laughing and loving, too.
I am so glad you all had such a good time. You deserve it. And kudos to Kelly for helping out like that. A friend like that is worth his weight in gold.
That's great news about the graminator. She really does seem to be making a speedy recovery. I doubt that I would bounce back from a broken bone as quickly (I'm such a wimp!). My best wishes that she continues on this good road of recovery. :)
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