At long last, Siggies

Here are the siggies from some extraordinarily patient women who have waited a very long time to see their siggies on my blog. 

This year has not been about siggies at all for me.  Since Larry's Dad's car crash in January, it has been all about getting Dad into an independent living apartment and cleaning out his over-stuffed house - 224 miles from where we live.

Then in July, Larry's sweet Grandma had two (thankfully minor) falls and ended up in rehab for a month just to regain her strength.  We went back and forth for a few weeks on whether she should stay in her independent living apartment with hired help, or move to an assisted living facility.  Assisted living won the day, and Grandma just celebrated her 101st birthday at the new place last Saturday.

We had finally gotten Dad's house livable, and now it has tons of stuff from Grandma's apartment clogging up the closets.  lol  I think we have spent about 30 weekends in Shreveport this year.  We've put about 15,000 miles on the (formerly) new car.

We've actually enjoyed it.  We've worn a groove in the road, but we finally got to clean up Dad's house, which had been bugging the crap out of me for over a decade.  We have recycled and pitched nearly 100 curb-side bins of trash.  The house can breathe again!  We get to drive Dad and his lady-friend, Sabra, to the opera and symphony, which he still really loves, despite his ever increasing mental fog.

And Grandma is so happy at the new place.  She says she likes it more every day, which is such a blessing, as is the knowledge that she is so much more safe.  She had the option of moving to Oregon to be with Larry's sister and her family, but she really dreaded moving so far away.  She misses her friends at the old apartment, (the ones that don't drive) but it's only a few miles away, so Larry & I can facilitate visits fairly frequently.  She has such a wonderful attitude, and is so grateful, that it's a joy to do things for her.