Test Results

Beth's results all came back normal - the monitor and the sonogram. We're so glad! We really believe it was just syncope, the exact same thing that happened to Chuck back in March. BP is usually low when you first wake up; hadn't had any water for many hours so was probably dehydrated, was exerting herself coming up the stairs; and it just... happened. The perfect storm so to speak. Plus she had a stomach ache so she was in pain. There haven't been any episodes since it happened. She hasn't even felt dizzy or light headed, thank you Lord!

 

Haven't taken many photos in the last week. We pulled out all the Christmas decorations and they're in the den now, just waiting to be unpacked. We hung Christmas lights outside, cleaned the house... including those little things, like the stainless steel electric tea pot. Now that the weather has gotten cold, I'm using it a lot more!

 

We're headed into the busiest week of the year at church. I don't expect I'll be on here much, if at all. On Thanksgiving Chuck, Beth, and I will be at church, then we're having our family Thanksgiving on Saturday. Peter will be cooking the turkey, then we're all providing the other parts of the meal. We're very traditional - stuffing, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, black olives, and rolls. We buy pumpkin and apple pies, and I make ice box pie. Then into the living room to watch Muppet Christmas Carol!

 

Have a great week and a blessed Thanksgiving!

 

Hearts, Shopping, and A Cute Little Car

 Beth had a sonogram today of her heart. I got off work early and when we got to the appointment we were ninth in line! The place was packed. But they got us in pretty quickly and Beth got up on the table. We noticed this one had an actual sheet / thin blanket on it! 

 

She laid down and the tech got to work. She had to move her a few times "because her lungs were getting in the way." Lots of measuring and beeping. She was so good with Beth, telling her exactly what she was going to do before she did it, and explaining why she was doing it. Beth was pretty surprised when the tech told her the sound she was hearing was her heart beat!

 

After her appointment we went to Michael's. Just needed some good old fashioned retail therapy! 

 

 Went directly to her favorite aisle in the whole store.

Looking... looking...

Found it! Crayola Washable Markers. 💖

 I saw this little car on the freeway the other day, I've never seen one before! It looks like a tiny minivan. Does anyone know what kind of car this is?

 

 We went to Molbaks Nursery over the weekend. They were all decorated for Christmas and it was so nice to walk through there. They had free hot chocolate and danishes, live music and the most beautiful displays! Put me in such a good mood and made me want to come home and decorate! We had a good weekend. Hope you did too.

Grateful for An Hour

 Our church hosted Missions Fest this weekend. It's an organization that gathers various missions groups into one place and they all share about what God is doing around the world. MF comes in and completely transforms the church, setting up booths for the groups to promote their ministries. There were general sessions in the Sanctuary, then almost every classroom had breakout sessions with various speakers throughout the day. From a facility end of things it's exhausting. And MF is aware of that so they move to different churches every two years. I wasn't able to attend any of the sessions but I heard they were powerful. 

 

We did all the room set ups on Wednesday and Thursday, then the conference was Friday and Saturday. When the conference ended at 4:30 Saturday evening, my custodial crew began cleaning every classroom, foyer, and bathroom, to get things ready for Sunday morning classes and events. When I walked in the house at 9:30 Saturday night, I was SO grateful for that extra hour of Daylight Savings!

 

This was my step count from Saturday only -

 

 

Our main foyer and gym. 

They were still setting up pipes and drapes in the gym so I only got a picture of half of it but that's what the entire thing looked like!

 

Got up this morning and went back to church, then everyone came over for lunch. After watching the first half of the Seahawks game, we played Mexican Train. It was so good to be together. And I didn't get a single picture.

 

Do you keep track of your step count?  

 

I hope you had a good weekend. And I hope you got to enjoy that extra hour of sleep!  

Monitoring, Characters, Responsibility

 After Beth passed out a couple weeks ago her doctor wanted her to get a heart monitor. Wear the heart monitor for a week, then do an Echocardiogram. I would get the monitor at one doctor's office, then the echo would be done at a different office. They weren't able to find a date that worked so I told them I'd call them to set it up. Then I got sick.

 

Finally made the appointment and on Monday we went up to the doctor to get the monitor only to find out we were at the echo office. Thankfully they were able to get us in anyway and we walked out with her all hooked up. They're hoping these two procedures will give some idea as to why she passed out.

 

 Our church hosts a Trunk and Treat and we did our usual Winnie the Pooh theme. We had it on Saturday and this year I bought some fun stickers. They were a huge hit! Unfortunately I didn't get nearly enough. We had about 600 kids come through! It is so much fun, we look forward to it every year. "Welcome to the Hundred Acre Wood!"

Have you voted yet? It seems each election becomes more important than the last. We sit down with Beth and explain a little about the issue and about each candidate. Sometimes she votes with us, sometimes against! We filled ours out and dropped them off a week early! Please vote.

Assaulted - One of the Hazards of His Job

Chuck came home from work early on Tuesday because he had been assaulted while on the bus!

 

 2019

 

 

He drives for Metro here in Seattle and he had pulled up to a bus stop where a guy was waiting to get on. He didn't stop to pay the fare, just went to the back of the bus and sat down. Chuck wondered if he had just stolen all the unbagged food he had in his arms.

 

Thankfully there wasn't anyone else on the bus.

 

He drove off to the next stop but the guy got up and yelled at him to pull over. Chuck pointed to the next stop and told him he'd pull over up there.

 

The guy crawled under the barrier at the front of the bus and punched him just above his right eye! 

 

He was able to pull over and open the doors and the guy took off. Chuck called his supervisor and a few minutes later a fire truck and aid car pulled up. They checked him out but he felt fine and didn't want to go to the hospital. He gave his supervisor a description of the guy. Plus, those buses have cameras everywhere so they'll have videos of him.

 

He's had a few close calls with riders but had never been physically hurt. Until now. He went to the doctor the next day and nothing is broken. They did tests on his eye as well and everything is okay. He took the rest of this week off and will go back on Monday. Halloween. He's going to wear his Seattle Kracken jersey, they're our hockey team. 😄

 

You can see the progression over the last few days. The huge bump above the eye on the day it happened. Then the swelling went down pretty quickly and the bruise appeared.

 

 

Thankfully he hasn't had any pain, although the area above the eye is pretty tender. I'm so grateful nothing was broken!

Down and Out

 The smoke was so bad in Seattle last week from all the wildfires. So many people had sore throats. 

 

 On Wednesday I visited a friend in the hospital. It was a little strange because I was able to walk right into the hospital. I was wearing a mask but no one stopped to ask me covid questions or give me a visitor's badge. I just went right to the elevator, and right into his room! That's the first time that's happened since before covid hit.

 

I ran to a few stores to get stickers for the Trunk and Treat happening this coming weekend. I figured Target or at least The Party Store would have Winnie the Pooh stickers but not one store did, and I went to four different stores! So many of the shelves were empty. I ended up just buying them on-line.

 

 Thursday after work Beth and I went to the grocery store. By that point my throat was feeling tight. It didn't hurt, just felt... constricted. I figured it was due to the smoke.

 

 By the time I went to bed that night my head was sloshy. That's the only word I can think of that describes what I was feeling. I didn't feel bad, nothing hurt, just didn't feel... right. And by the next morning I had a stuffy nose, I was coughing and my throat hurt. I ended up staying home from work that day and have been home every day since.

 

I took a couple of covid tests over the weekend but both were negative. No fever, no chills, just a good old-fashioned head cold. I've been sleeping in my recliner so I don't keep Chuck awake with all the coughing. Going through a ton of kleenex. I don't remember the last time I was sick. It's been many years.

 

Hoping this is over soon so I can get back to work and back to life. In the meantime I'm watching a lot of Christmas movies and drinking a lot of tea! I hope you're doing well!

Donuts, Curls, and Hawks

 On Beth's birthday she wanted me to curl her hair. It usually doesn't keep a curl but we thought it turned out pretty good! She was getting ready to go to All Aboard, where they danced, did art and celebrated all the October birthdays. She looks forward to it every year!

 

 I pulled into the parking lot at work earlier this week to find someone had done donuts in the recently re-paved lot. They really tore it up! I don't know if you can see them but there are bits of rubber all over the place. I don't understand why people have to be so destructive. If our parking lot looks this bad, I can only imagine what his/her tires look like!

 

 We got to go to a Seahawks game last weekend. The girls got the tickets for us as a gift and we had such a great time. We rode the light rail downtown then walked a few blocks to the stadium. We bought a burger and fries then headed to our seats. We ate while all the pregame stuff was going on. It's amazing just how much stuff happens behind the scenes, things you don't see on TV. There's so much activity on the sidelines, I found myself watching a lot of that instead of the game! A handler brought the live mascot - a hawk named Taima to our area and was showing him off. We got a partial view of the front of him and he's a beautiful bird.

 

 We got the faucet and toilet installed this week. That faucet is just amazing! I told Chuck I felt so wealthy! 😊 We bought one with a soap container because our old sink had a sprayer and we needed something to fill the hole. We used to keep the dish soap on the counter and it was so ugly. Chuck said the guys took the sink outside to sand the old rust and stuff off of it so now it sits flush with the counter. They put on new sealant and now it even feels like a new sink, even though it's our old one. They shortened up some of the pipes and tubes that were always in the way under the sink. They went above and beyond when they installed it! I'm so happy with it!

Before and After

 

Have you bought any new gadgets lately?

A 4AM Scare

 Early in the morning on October 6, I heard Beth coming up the stairs. I can usually hear her because she starts talking to herself as she makes her way down the hall to the bathroom. But last week I didn't hear her go down the hall so I got out of bed and found her laying prostrate on the stairs. 

 

"Beth!!" She was about 4-5 stairs from the top so I went down and put my hand on her back and she was so hot! She was sweating and unresponsive. She started to slide down the stairs so I stood behind her and she said, "My stomach hurts!" then passed out again. I yelled at Chuck and he brought a cold wash cloth. She was in and out for a few minutes but then came-to enough to where we could get her to the bathroom.

 

She had d.

 

She immediately felt better so we had her sleep in my recliner. I brought her crackers and water, and Chuck slept next to her in his recliner since he had to be up in less than an hour. I was able to go back to bed but I certainly didn't sleep well!

 

She had fallen asleep so I woke her up before I left for work, just to make sure she was still doing okay. Her color had come back and she wasn't hot anymore. I told her she needed to drink the water.

 

I came home after a couple hours to check on her (I'm thankful we only live 5 minutes from my job) and she had taken everything downstairs: the water, the crackers, and she was asleep in her own bed. 

 

I made an appointment on-line to see her doctor.

But got a call saying Beth needed to be seen that day at the walk-in clinic.

Got off work early only to be told the clinic was booked and no one could see her.

Went home and had a video conference with a different doctor.

Went back the next morning for a blood draw...

 

She had an in-person visit yesterday and the lab work showed her iron levels are low. They did an EKG (which was normal) but they want to do a more in depth evaluation. So I'll be scheduling her for a heart monitor as well as an echocardiogram. She's been fine ever since it happened though. Back to work, back to hanging out with her friends...

 

 She fell asleep while waiting for the doctor to come in

 

 Getting hooked up for the EKG

A Not So Quiet Weekend

 We celebrated Beth and Sharaya last weekend. 

They were born 2 years and 4 days apart.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We went to Elephant and Castle on Saturday for Sharaya's birthday, then came back to our house for cake and presents.

Then on Sunday we went to Red Robin for Beth's birthday and then to Diana and Peter's for cake and presents.

 

We're so blessed to have these two women in our family. They make us laugh, they have gentle spirits and they're fun to be around! It was a great weekend!
 

A Quiet Weekend

Not too much going on around here at the moment. We got the TV stand put together and now the toilet in the big bathroom needs to be replaced. It's just got a small leak, nothing too serious but we've got to get it replaced sooner than later.

 

And Friday the handle on the kitchen faucet broke off. Thankfully there's a small part sticking out that we can use to turn the water on and off so it's still usable. We went to Home Depot yesterday and bought a new faucet. Now we just have to install it.

 

After church today we went out for lunch with Diana and Peter, then came back here to play UNO. Sharaya was at a birthday party and Ally was with her dad so they weren't able to join us.

 

Tomorrow we're back to work, and Beth is going to All Aboard for dance class, art, and playing games.

 

I hope you had a good weekend!