Hazy shade of winter

Sooo... it's pretty cold out, eh?

I went with my sister and a friend to the Knights game against the Mud Hens tonight. We had a blast. We sat in the first row next to the Mud Hens' dugout. Even though it was a small crowd (greater than I expected for a Monday night), it was a great time. The beer was tasty, the crowd watching was riveting and we were handed practice balls from the field to boot. You can't beat that on a Monday.

I got my hair cut a week ago. Because it's still long in the back, some haven't noticed. I'm not someone who needs people to notice when I get my hair chopped, but considering a good seven inches or so was lopped off, I expected more people to notice. I have these side-swept bangs now that I love but also might grow to hate under certain conditions. LIke wind. All in all, a wise decision. I'm toying with going back and just having it lopped into a bob with actual bangs but then pulling it all back out of my face might become an issue. We'll have to see. 

Gma Hazel's birthday was a blast. My sister took pictures. I'll have to post them on here when I get my hands on them. For her actual 95th on Friday we had a few people over, including her nurse/friend Evon. We made Italian pasta dishes and salad and flatbread and Gma quite enjoyed all of it, as well as her rose wine. 

Her tastes have changed over the years and around the past year or so she hasn't liked the taste of beer and wine - even beverages she used to adore. But on Friday she couldn't get enough. We had to start watering it down with tonic water after she polished off her first glass. 

For dessert, I made sure to stop by the Polka Dot Bake Shop. They make fresh, all-natural ingredient cupcakes every day and on Fridays they always make some of their strawberry cupcakes, which have real strawberry pureed into the icing and the cupcakes themselves. They're heavenly. Seeing as Hazel's favorite desserts involve strawberries, I knew it would be a perfect dessert. 

I even found candles whose flames lit as the same color of the wax of the candle. (Orange candles had orange flames, red candles red flames, blue candles blue flames etc.) I didn't know how they'd actually look but they came out beautifully. I need to get my hands on some more.

Thank you to all my friends who stopped by and make grandma's day. The fact that you'd spend your Friday with her, and bring her wine, dessert, birthday cards etc., meant so much. She talked the entire next day about what a great time she had.

And that brings me to Saturday - the day from hell. I don't know if gma had a stroke on Friday night or what but she woke up on Saturday morning a new woman. I haven't seen her that good since she was 75. She was walking better than I've seen in decades - and FAST. And she was talking NONSTOP. Even scarier - she was RETAINING.

I spent most of the day with her as Keri had a ton of errands (Keri has assumed the lion's share of Gma watch lately when my mom is otherwise occupied with doctor's appointments etc. etc.). We went to Five Guys and had cheeseburgers (gma's fave), then strawberry ice cream and then we went to a Handpicked and she picked out another new bracelet. (we found the perfect one, festooned with hearts and roses.) I've never heard her talk so much in my life. She was absolutely adorable. We had the best time.

Then Keri, gma and I went to church and afterward Keri and I were just wiped out. Between a late Friday running around and then exhausting Gma all day Saturday, we came home from church and took to bed. I heard my grandmother rummaging in the kitchen and ran downstairs. She was hungry again and rummaging through the fruit basket saying she was starving. 

After eating, it seemed like the night would never end. She talked NONSTOP while I entreated her to go to bed. She wasn't tired - something she reiterated repeatedly to me. I don't think I got her into bed until midnight, and even that was begrudgingly. 

Sunday was a complete 180, as so often happens. Whereas I couldn't keep up with her the day before, on Sunday she wasn't talking and was walking into walls and barely keeping her eyes open. 

The brain is a scary thing.

Speaking of, I best get to bed. More soon. Regan has started house hunting. Yippee!

Comments

[Sue]

So glad to hear the birthday celebration went well! Good luck with the house hunting - how exciting!! A good time to buy. Any photos of the new haircut??! I bet it looks great!