Updates

I have no new thoughts in my head today besides IT’S FRIDAY! So I thought I would update on things I have mentioned lately.

I am $250 poorer but my car window works now. Pah.

My clothes dryer needs $300 worth of work. (New motor and belts). It’s 10 years old, so we are shopping for a new one. Meanwhile, I went to a laundromat last night to do a week’s worth of clothes. Such a tradeoff: first, it’s hot and humid and full of weirdos, on the other hand doing five loads of laundry at once is priceless. It was kind of funny, this laundromat doesn’t take coins, I had to put bills into a machine and get a debit card thing to be able to start the machines. And the washers cost $1.75 (!!!!), but the dryers were free. I had 2 loads of wet clothes (one that was in the dryer when it died, and the one that was in the washer at the same time) so I snuck those in a free dryer too. The man working there had to help me get the card thing because I was kind of confused, so after he helped me do that he kept coming by and showing me how to work the washers, how to add soap, how to check the washer when I took my clothes out, etc. It was amusing. I wanted to tell him that I understand the concept of laundry in general, I just didn’t get the whole card thing! He didn’t speak much English though.

My cousin’s son Tyler, who lost his arms in an accident 8 weeks ago (hard to believe!) will probably be moving to a rehab hospital next week. He has had countless surgeries and his right foot was touch and go for a while, but it is healing and if he looks good on Monday, he will fly to Houston Tuesday! There he will be doing tons of PT with the goal of getting him to be self-sufficient. He has made great progress & sounds like he just handles everything as it comes. He just turned 17 and should be getting ready to start his senior year this year.

David’s brother-in-law Felix has not been doing well. They found out he had leukemia earlier this summer, and he had to be hospitalized for chemo so they could also manage his diabetes. We don’t have much contact (well, any contact) with David’s sister, so I am not sure what happened between then and now, but the past week or so he has been very bad, his heart even stopped at one point. David’s mom went down there (San Antonio) Wednesday because he was getting worse. He had to have a tracheotomy last night. Like I said, I’m fuzzy on what went so downhill, but I have a vague idea that some infection set in and he wasn’t able to recover from it. He’s 44 and they have 2 kids, ages 5 and 8. The kids haven’t been able to visit him too much because he’s been in a very sterile environment (at one point he couldn’t get flowers or anything). When I talked with David’s mom today, she had only been up to the hospital for a short time with her one sister, who proceeded to upset Patty (David’s sister), and then Felix’s machines started beeping (he was mildly sedated but the nurses thought he was getting upset too) so they made MIL and Aunt Mary leave. (David’s mom’s family are all a bit nuts, and apparently since his uncle died this one aunt has kind of stepped in as queen of the nutjobs. Sometime I will have to write about David’s grandfather’s funeral. NUTS.) Anyway so my MIL had to wait until her other sister (the normal one) could take her up to the hospital. In the meantime, she was watching Patty’s kids so she was happy to spend some time with them.

My brother is bringing Courtney & Rebecca home today. He and his girls are flying out to Cancun tomorrow from DFW so it worked out well. I think he worked last night so I doubt they will leave too early today, they probably won’t be home until 8 or so tonight. It’s been nice to spend alot of time with Benjamin doing what he wants to do.

We are leaving on vacation one week from tomorrow! Woohoo! I can’t wait.