A Couple of Belated Happy Birthdays, etc.

A belated happy birthday to my mom (who occasionally reads my blog) and to Flip Flop Mamma (a blog buddy - see the link at bottom left). Both were born on September 1st and celebrated their birthdays this past Friday.

I've been feeling a little too scattered brained to blog lately, but I'll give it a whirl this evening. So far our Labor Day weekend has been okay. We took the boys to the Home Depot Kids' Workshop (which they hold on the first Saturday of each month). The boys built bird houses. Zack was feeling unually shy so his birdhouse ended up the best because, essentially I made it. I did coax him into hammering a couple of nails that I started in the wood, but mostly he was content to eat the popcorn and drink the juicebox that Home Depot provided.

Afterwards, we went to Belk (a department store) to see if Dear Hubby wanted to pick up another sports coat - he bought one a week ago, but as fate would have it, they've been further marked down, plus the paper had an 'extra 10% off' coupon. He didn't find anything, but I bought a pair of casual shoes for fall/winter. Aerosoles. Very comfy. I debated about them. I like 'comfortable' shoes, but I don't want 'sensible' (matronly) shoes, you know what I mean? I ended up buying them. I'll wear them with jeans and casual skirts - basically anytime that does not require dress shoes.

We ate lunch at Moe's Southwestern Grill. Decent food, but you order cafeteria style and they give the dishes goofy human names. For example, "Fat Sam" is a burrito (and a hobbit from The Lord of the Rings). There's also "Art Vandalay," a quesadilla (and George Costanza's pseudonym on 'Seinfeld'). The list goes on. Here's the problem: I can barely remember my own children's names, much less the human-sounding dish they've requested.

Since Dear Hubby was serving at Mass this evening, we all decided to attend 5:00 pm Vigil Mass. The boys and I sit in the pew while Dear Hubby sits up by the altar with the other altar servers. Still, it's sort of like attending as a family, right? Anyway, as we're pulling into the parking space at church around 4:20, Dear Hubby's sister (I'll call her Sis-in-law 2) called to let us know that my father-in-law is in the hospital, waiting to go to the cath lab for an angiogram. He apparently had some chest pain last night and arm tingling today so she brought him to the hospital around 2:00 this afternoon. He apparently has blockages in his carotid, femoral and coronary arteries. They put in three stents but they're keeping the catheter in the femoral artery because they may go back in Monday and do another angiogram and perhaps bypass surgery, if necessary. The cardiologist on call said that he likely wouldn't have survived the night had he not been admitted.
Right now, he's resting comfortably (flat on his back because of the catheter) and watching the football game on TV.

As for family history, his brothers are all deceased (most of them heart attacks, the oldest in his very early 60s). His eldest son, now 50, had double bypass about 5 years ago. His second oldest (Dear Hubby) had triple bypass 2.5 years ago at age 36. His youngest son had one stent put in at age 31. His daughter died at age 40 of complications from receiving 4 stents. Frankly, I thought all the bypass and stent stuff was inherited from my mother-in-law's side - she and her siblings have all had multiple bypasses. Father-in-law's side tended to die from their first heart attack.

Anyway, we're keeping him in our thoughts and prayers. It's been a tough year, his having lost virtually every possession and his home to Hurricane Katrina and having to start over again from scratch at age 73. (He's 74 now.)

Dear Hubby went to the hospital to hold vigil. It's what his family does and they do it well. He'll go again tomorrow. I'll probably go for a little while, but I'm not as good at the vigil thing. I remember when Dear Hubby had his surgery. It was nice to have company for a while, but as the surgery lasted several hours longer than expected, I was actually grateful when they started heading home. I can only do 'small talk' for so long. (Must come from my being raised as an only child since I was 11 or 12.)

On to other subjects. Son #1's class was asked to fill out a 'student questionnaire' so his 6th grade teacher could get to know him better. Here's some of his answers that I especially got a kick out of. He's 11, by the way.

Q. What do you like most about school? "I like recess the best at school."

Q. What do you like to do in your spare time? "I like to do a lot of different things in my spare time." (Pretty vague, right? Keep 'em guessing! He's probably splitting the atom in his room.)

Q. If you could be a famous person, who would you be? "None, I'm happy the way I am." (Elle's note: that's my boy!)

Q. What is your favorite food? "Pasta"

Q. What is your favorite place? "Virginia" (his birthplace)

Q. What is your favorite TV show? "Becker" (Oh my gosh! I've created a monster! This is what I get for letting him stay up late during the summer and watch sitcom reruns with me.)

Thought of the day: I smile because I am your friend! I laugh because there is nothing you can do about it.