Brzycki family: Absence

I apologize for my absence...no good reason except that life has been a bit nutty lately. Sometimes a good nutty and sometimes not. Of course, the more time that passes, the worse I feel about not being in touch. So I decided this morning, even if my thoughts are not well organized, to simply provide an update of the past month. There have been some fun times in there and it would be so wrong not to capture those. So in no particular order....

Mom

The month of May was more routine in terms of my mother's health and care. We continued IV antibiotics daily through May 27th. Unfortunately she was not even off the Vanco for a day before she got a call that she was slightly anemic and needed a blood transfusion. So that was scheduled for June 3rd. We had an appointment that day to get her mini Hickman removed. Needless to say, we postponed that! On June 10th, we went to Cooley to get her Hickman removed. The interventional radiology doc was called away on an emergency so we decided to run another errand while there and stopped in the coffee shop for some breakfast while waiting. It was me, my mother, and my sister Cathy. The ladies in the coffee shop remembered us from one of our previous visits. I guess we leave quite an impression on people!!

We finally saw the Doc and because the Hickman had been in for over 4 months, he was not able to easily pull it out and he was unable to do the procedure that afternoon. We made another appointment for Friday morning, June 12th. That same day we noticed Mom's shoulder was red (the shoulder that had the MRSA). So Mom, being the determined, independent woman she is, called her primary care who saw her right away. Blood work and an appointment with Mom's infectious disease doc were ordered.

Yesterday, we were off again--me, my mother, and Cathy--to Dr. Swiggard's. Diagnosis--yes, inflammatory markers are up--oral antibiotics twice a day. Removal of the Hickman has been rescheduled to June 22. This is, I believe, will be the 4th attempt!

Dr. Swiggard thinks we caught this early so we're thankful Mom acted quickly. Overall, Mom is feeling good and is living quite independently. She drives, does her shopping, cleans her house, does some light gardening, and has many projects around the house. We try to keep her from climbing up on counters and using the weed whacker, and once in a while she will "allow" us to help. So although we had hoped we'd be done with antibiotics, we are at least done with the IVs and for that we are grateful.

On one of my trips to see the doctor.

Kitchen Renovation

Yes, this title is correct. As if my life doesn't have enough chaos in it, I am in the middle of a kitchen renovation. Ed and I talked about redoing the kitchen 5 years ago but never got around to it. Dan and I have talked about it over the past 2 years and last year I made the decision that this year would be the year. So I found a contractor and gave him the open timeframe of "anytime this year". Well, once you hire a contractor, things move quickly (at least they did for me)!

I was lucky to have Dan who did the design. No major reconstruction, but new cabinets, counter tops, replacement windows, flooring, and some work in the dining room area. Then it was all the decisions in terms of cabinets, counter tops, flooring, lighting, etc. Little by little everything was ordered. Then it was packing up the kitchen and dining room. And last Wednesday, June 3rd, the contractor began! Now anyone who has ever had a kitchen renovation knows very well, and which I have learned since last Wednesday, this has added a layer of chaos to my life. The kitchen table with the microwave, Keurig (of course), and toaster oven are all in the living room right now. The bathroom is where I can wash whatever dishes I might have. It's moving right along though and for now, as a teaser, I'll just post a "before" and early progress picture.

Some Fun in Between

During the past month, I have been able to fit in some fun.

In early May I met some fellow "wid" friends at Gouveia Winery in Wallingford, CT. It was a beautiful spring day and we enjoyed some good conversation, food, and laughter.

In mid May, as part of our combination Mother's Day/Dan's birthday celebration, Dan and I went to "The Great New England Air Show" at Westover in Chicopee. We were only planning to go one day but then won VIP tickets for the second day. The VIP tickets got us into the Galaxy Garden where they had a tent, seating, and food and drink all day long! It was a hot day so we really appreciated the shade under the tent and the continuous access to bottled water.

In late May, I took a day trip to Westerly, RI. I did stop at Foxwoods on my way down and played a little slots. Then I met up with a friend who lives in Westerly and we spent the afternoon at the Virtu Art Festival that is held annually in Wilcox Park. We had a nice day browsing the festival, meeting family members, and then sitting in the park having a nice lunch while listening to a local singer perform. Later in the day, we went over to the beach. It was windy and cool but I couldn't possibly be within a few miles of the ocean and not see it!! All in all, a very nice, relaxing day.

Foxwoods!

Wilcox Park, Westerly

Sitting enjoying lunch and listening to music.

Yarn bombing--one of the trees in Wilcox Park

Misquamicut!! My favorite place on earth!!

And on a recent weekend, I drove out to Beverly where Dan and I picked up the new kitchen island he made (with his friend Nate). Although picking up the island itself was not fun, Dan and I did have lunch together at Cook--a restaurant his firm redid--and then we stopped to see the current project he is overseeing. It's very impressive to see the work he does!

Cook. Where we had lunch.

Dan's current project. Will be a mix of commercial space and luxury apartments.

DLA Architecture--That's Dan!!

So life has been busy. Life has been good. There have been times when I'm stressed and the burden of juggling work, home, and everything else becomes too much. But there isn't time to waste on that. Instead I focus on trying to spend time with friends and family and where I can, I squeeze in some "fun" moments. It's hard to believe it's mid-June already. I am still waiting for spring. But somehow we've jumped from winter to summer.

As I finish this post, Dan is outside mowing and I'm so grateful when he's here to help. He has already hung up the bat house that my brother Michael had made, but my mother and him could never seem to attract bats. I'm hoping by hanging up the bat house, my annual visit with bats will keep them outside the house! Only time will tell!

Well, I have a long list of to do's for today, so I must signoff. I will end this post with some random photos. I will try to be much better at updating this blog. In the meantime, I hope you're all enjoying the start of summer!