Mostly Faves with a Side of Fright

It's Friday!  Whee!  That means it is time to look back over this past week and recap my fave events.  Actually, we've had a bit of a fright this past week so more on that later but there have been some fun things too.  I certainly don't have to look far to come up with some praises this week.  In fact, I can simply glance to my right and see the sunshine out of the window by my computer desk and my spirits are immediately lifted.  How about you?  So hang on, here we go.

1.  My granddaughter said "Nana" for the first time in my hearing.     Yay!  What a feeling to see that cute little sweet pea and hear her say my name, even if it was over a long distance via the magic of Skype.

2.  Our "fright" this week was when we received an email from our son telling us that Laura was in the hospital in Indonesia with Dengue Fever.    She had to get a private room in order to have the baby with her since the baby is still nursing exclusively and they wouldn't allow her in a regular room (which houses up to 6 patients).  The hospital staff also originally told Jason that he could only visit Laura 4 hours a day but God is good and he was able to finagle his way into staying there almost all the time in order to be able to take care of Mika so Laura can rest.  There is no "cure" for Dengue.  You just have to get through it while staying hydrated with fluids.  The symptoms are like a bad case of the flu - body aches, headache, high fever, nausea, etc.  Right now Laura's platelet count is continuing to drop and we are praying that this will stop soon and the count will begin to rise.  The hospital will not release her until there have been two consecutive days when her count is rising.  Dengue is spread by the bite of an infected mosquito.  We're also praying that Mika and Jason will not come down with this.  It can't be spread person-to-person but they could possibly have been bitten by the mosquitoes.  So far, they remain healthy.  I'd sure appreciate your prayers for all of them.

3.  I'm working on two fun knitting projects.  The project pictured above is the "Wrap Me Up" shawl.  It looks a little strange, I know, but it will all come together in the end into a long rectangular shawl.  It's been fun to work on the different sections because each section is like a stitch sampler and you sure don't get bored.

I also just finished another block for my Great American Aran Afghan.  I'm particularly fond of this block since I think it came out rather well.  It sure looks impressive anyway.  I'm so glad that I'm working through these blocks with a group of ladies because I would have never ever had the courage or confidence to tackle knitting these blocks completely on my own.

4.  I had an interesting visit with my mom the other day.  When I went over to the nursing home to visit with her, I found her sitting in the hall by the nurses' station.  She looked up when I greeted her and exclaimed, "Oh, I can't believe that you are here.  How in the world did you find me?"  I told her, "Well, Mom, I just followed my heart."  Throughout the visit, she'd occasionally exclaim how she just couldn't get over how I'd been able to find her.  You wonder sometimes what is going through their minds.  Mom has been in this nursing home for almost 3 years and I visit her 2-3 times a week.

When I wheeled her into the lunchroom and said my goodbyes, she asked me, "Will you be back to pick me up?"  I told her, "No, you're going to be staying here tonight."

"What do I have to do after I eat?" she asked.  "Go to bed?"

"Well, are you tired?" I asked her.

"No," she answered.

"Then don't go to bed.  Tell the nurses that you want to watch TV and they'll put on a show for you," I replied.

Her face brightened and she gave me a big smile.  Oh, Mom!  At least you seem happy.

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5.  And last but not least, I decided to shake things up a bit and become a blonde.  I'm calling it my 3rd midlife crisis.  Haven't you ever wanted to do something that you knew people didn't expect you to do?  Ok, ok....maybe for most of you that was when you were teenagers but hey, I've always been a late-bloomer.  My hairdresser was looking at shades and told me, "I think I'll just take you a shade or two lighter so that when it starts to grow out, you won't have dark roots."

"Heck, no!" I said.  "I'm thinking 'Bimbo.'  The lighter the better."  (I mean really, what's the point of making a big change if people can't hardly tell you've done anything?  I'm an "all or nothing" kind of gal.)

So there you have it -- my five big events of the past week.  If you'd like to join me in writing about your week, visit Susanne's blog at Living to Tell the Story and read how you can become a Fave Fiver yourself.