We had a lot to be thankful for this Thanksgiving. My husband is home from the hospital and is doing well. It was a beautiful day yesterday and he came outside for the first time in two months and was able to water some of the plants on the back porch. We have a week of doctor's appointments this week and hope to get started on his outpatient physical therapy. His spirits are mostly good and his condition has significantly improved over the past few weeks.
I am pretty much run-ragged though! There is so much to do involving his care and taking up the slack of the duties he performed around the house, plus all my normal responsibilities. It's a lot, I won't lie. There has been no time at all for sewing or reading. My life is pretty much all housework, nursing, cooking, cleaning, and errands. Not much interesting material for blog posts!
We ordered a new flag because our old one was getting kind of tattered, and I actually got it attached to the flag pole and hung on the front of the garage. Woo hoo, and I cleaned out the garage too. Went to the local donation center with two carloads of stuff and now I have room to walk around our cars when they are parked in the garage.
Dennis and I were on our own for Thanksgiving and had a lovely little turkey breast that I roasted. I cut off two thin slices for us for dinner and there was about six pounds of turkey left over. We ate it all weekend for both lunches and dinners and yesterday I decided enough was enough and made turkey carcass soup. It burbled away on the range top yesterday and today I will strain it and make a proper turkey noodle soup. That broth is always the best. What is your favorite thing to do with turkey leftovers?
I got a bit of decorating done over the weekend. We have a little tree this year, but it is quite elegant looking. I can't get most of our decorations down out of the rafters of the garage, so I am using what I can reach, which means things are a lot more simple this year as far as holiday decor goes. I'll share some pictures this week of what I have managed to put together. I do love this simple Courthouse Steps table topper I made with an older Camille Roskelley fabric group.
Have you started your Christmas shopping? My husband and I sat together and made a big dent in our holiday list by shopping online for Black Friday deals. The Amazon and UPS delivery guys are going to be busy bringing all the goodies to our house!
Hope you had a glorious weekend. Thank you all so much for your kind words of encouragement lately. They have been so very appreciated.
14 Responses
Lovely that your husband was home for Thanksgiving. He looks like he’s raring to go . . . even if it is just doing wheelies. Glad he’s doing well. Onwards and upwards.
All the best to you both.
I’ve simplified Christmas quite a bit and just love it. Over the weekend, I pulled out more of my decorations than I’ve used in the past couple year. While I love the look, in the back of my mind I’m thinking of having to put it all away eventually.
Never happy!
Glad you two are together and that he’s doing well. Do what you can and forget the rest. Your health is just as important.
Glad your husband is doing better but you need to slow down and take care of yourself too! Even if it’s just an hour of reading or sewing! I can’t imagine all that you are going through but please don’t neglect yourself. We got our decorations up the day after Thanksgiving and have simplified this year too.
We moved our holiday decorations out of the attic last year. I have eliminated almost everything from the attic. I did it while we still could get everything down easily. I suggest having a friend or relative help.
Our wreaths are now in the garage, on high mounted wall hooks. I leave the lights attached. They are in large plastic bags to keep clean and keep bugs out. We reuse the bags each year.
The tree ornaments are in the window seat in the living room. I have four sets, each a different color/theme which is very fun to alternate. I switched to a 5’ skinny tree, so the volume needed each year is hugely reduced. Smartest thing I ever did. The kids received their childhood ornaments and I donated a lot of ho-hum ornaments in this process.
The tree is on a 1’ wooden box which is painted white or can be covered with fabric. I can handle the box and the tree by myself. I leave the lights on and the tree together. It is in the corner of an extra bedroom the rest of the year.
The rest of my non-Christmas holiday decorations are now in a walk in closet in one of the kid’s former rooms. Very handy and easy to sort.
I eliminated a ton of rarely used decorations when I organized everything on the shelves.
I have been dramatically decluttering our large house since 2018. I use Facebook Marketplace and also donate. It gets easier to clean, the more that I eliminate.
I am glad things are going well.
Consider getting meal service every other week. It helps.
Vickie
So happy to see your husband back home and improving. We moved the day before Thanksgiving. Oh, my aching back – and knees, and, well, everything! No turkey for us – it was spaghetti, ha! I’m still trying to put things away, and will surely be doing so long after Christmas. No thought yet of getting our tree and decorations out yet – maybe next weekend I’ll put up a small tree. Your courthouse steps table topper is lovely!
Dennis looks so happy to be home! I don’t know how you’re doing it all!! Remember to be good to yourself too. Caregivers work so hard and it’s easy to forget yourself. Christmas comes in all sizes, and sometimes the scaled down version, is the nicest! Hugs and continued prayers for you all.❤️🙏
Anita
I’m so happy to see Dennis back where her belongs, home with you! So grateful that you are able to take on his tasks as well as your own, not sure i could do that if something happened to my husband. I did a little decorating yesterday after spending Saturday taking our daughter and her family to the North Pole to visit Santa! It was a special curated event in Atlantic City where you step into a magical elevator that transports you, so much fun! We have two crazy kittens this year that have gotten quite large and are into everything, so a tree will wait until after we return from a visit to see our other daughter in Florida. So glad he’s home!!!!❤️
What a nice surprise to see Dennis watering the deck tree! My favorite part of turkey leftovers is a cold sandwich with mayonnaise & cranberry sauce spread on both pieces of bread! The others today have reminded you to take care of yourself & I’m going to chime in the same thing. You need to take some time to allow yourself to breathe & relax. Even if you don’t physically sew, maybe just go putter in your studio for an hour or so. Or, have a cup of hot tea & read for a quiet hour. Don’t make us come over there…😂🤣
Just seeing Dennis home and doing better is the perfect blog post!
You have gotten an amazing amount of things done, considering how much is on your plate right now. Take some time to relax and don’t worry about blogging any new sewing right now.
Happy Holidays to you and your family!
I am so happy for the two of you that you are together. I know everyone says to take of yourself too, but I recommend that you look into a few hours of respite care so you are comfortable leaving him while you go shopping or any other errands you need to do. You and your husband remain in my prayers.
Oh, it is so good to see Dennis home and doing some of the watering! Your small simple Thanksgiving sounds just perfect.
Yes, like everyone else has said, please take care of yourself.
And that list of simplifying/decluterring from Vickie is one I’m going to copy and keep!
So happy to read that your husband is doing better. That’s great news. It is a lot to care for someone 24/7-one day at a time. Before you know it, he will be a-ok!
Dennis looks happy. So glad he’s home and improving. Slow and steady wins the race so to speak. Both of you need to take it easy and not try to do too much. Things will get done and it’s ok to let some things slide for awhile.
omg! with every thing you have going on you decided to declutter the garage?! that’s the kind of crazy my husband does. ;p
Dennis looks so wonderful and relaxed. I can’t believe the poor guy fell. he’s trying so hard to get stronger and then he falls. I know it happens fast. I went down on uneven concrete last week while walking the dog. ouch.
I hope you can still enjoy the porch b4 it gets too cold.