Friday follies

Our outing was delayed today by the death of our car battery. If that had to happen, I'm glad it was right in front of the house. I called AAA and they were here in 10 minutes. The battery was toast and he replaced it right on the spot. Maggie was amused by the whole thing for a while, but she was anxious to get going too. I gave her the AAA card and told her she was in charge. That helped a bit.

Our outing today was called "Women at the Hardware Store." We went to Home Depot to get the supplies to seal off the parts of the house where the floors are not being touched. We bought plastic sheeting, which Maggie carried on the back of her chair.   I have to say this is the first time I've been to Home Depot when it wasn't full of families and DIYers. It seemed to be all contractors today, so Maggie and I stood out like a sore thumb. That was fine, everyone was very ready to help us and offered to carry things to the car. I declined, because the purpose of the  Women At the Hardware store lesson is to be self sufficient. I headed back to the car pushing Maggie's chair with five packing boxes under one arm. The plastic sheeting and tape were on the back of Maggie's chair.

We are really getting there with the packing up. The additional boxes are for those last glass thigns that need to be wrapped. The wine boxes with the dividers were perfect for the individual glasses etc, but many things are too wide for those slots, so we are wrapping things in newspapers. We are having a little bit of fun as various things we never use are coming off shelves. This Franciscan friar wine decanter took advantage of his liberation from the bookshelf to catch up on some news from the Archdiocese.

come to think of it, the dead battery may be payback for this picture....

Have a great weekend everyone. We will be wrapping things up here and may be off line quite a bit next week. I'm not sure how much internet access I will have. Don't go away, though, we will check in whenever we can.

Floored

After five  years of ignoring the need, we are getting our hardwood floors sanded and refinished. It will look amazing and I will be absolutely delighted when it is done. I have to keep telling myself that  because getting from here to there will be a challenge. The very thought of the preparation for this is exhausting.

 Any type of home repair or improvement  is very difficult to accomplish with Maggie in the house. We operate with very little room for deviation and the noise and disruption of construction or repair are too much. We let things go far longer than we should to avoid upsetting the delicate balance of our little eco system.  However, when you reach the point of no return, you just have to bite the bullet and do it. That’s where we are with the floors.

Hardwood floors fun throughout the entire house, with the exception of the kitchen and bathrooms. In order to get them refinished, we have to completely move out, lock stock and spice rack. Everything.  The furniture, the rugs, stuff in the closets, everything.  We decided not to do the bedrooms this time because we have to have someplace to store everything. We can do those another time and simply vacate the upstairs without disrupting everything.  We are also leaving the carpet in Maggie’s room so we don’t have to move things out of there.  Now we can put the biggest pieces of furniture in the kitchen and in Maggie’s room, a bit in the basement and all the chairs and boxes of things in the bedrooms upstairs.   Four days later we will put it all back and reclaim our house with its gleaming wooden floors. (Refrain) I will be delighted when it's done..

As daunting as all of that sounds, it is only the beginning. We also have to figure out WHERE to go that can accommodate Maggie’s access needs and handle all the equipment and things we will need , including nurses coming and going at all hours. In addition to Maggie’s clothes and wheelchair, we have the oxygen (and tubing), the compressor (and tubes), the feeding pump (and bags), the suction machines (and tubes), the nebulizer (and tubes), the dynavox, the pole, 13 different medications and syringes, trach masks, catheters (two kinds) , extra trach tube and extra  gastrostomy tube, two cases of food, feeding tubes, diapers, chucks, wipes, and of course the IPOD full of Lady Gaga tunes with the player.  (Note, list is not exhaustive, that’s just off the top of my head).

We considered going to my mom’s house, but the flight of stairs into the house means carrying Maggie more than I can safely handle. We planned to go to my father in law’s house, where we can get Maggie onto one level easily, but it is an hour away and I wouldn’t have any nursing help.  Plus there would be no way to monitor what’s happening at the house and if we forgot anything it would be too difficult.  I considered a hotel but the cost is outrageous.  My brother Pat offered to let us stay at his house in the City. He will be out of town that week and his house has a bedroom and bath on the ground level.  We can have the nurses there and we can run back and forth to our house to deal with the contractor and to retrieve any forgotten supplies. As of this moment,  that is the plan. It is the best possible option and I appreciate it tremendously.

Still,  I am not looking forward to all the work and hassle of this. I just keep telling myself it will be worth it. And we won’t have to do it again for 15 years. It will need it in 10, but we will ignore it for 5 years. 

(Refrain) I will be delighted when it's done.