LIFE HAPPENS



Well, again I have no knitting news. Where do I begin to explain the craziness of the past few weeks? My mother-in-law has been in the hospital since Tuesday, Nov. 13. We didn't think she would live past the weekend. Well, she is doing better and will have to go to a nursing home. Her cancer that she has been fighting for the past 5 years is back and there is nothing they can do at this time. She has a nasty sore and infection that won't heal. Her kidneys were starting to shut down and she was bleeding into her bladder. They have stablized her and she may be able to go to the nursing home sometime this week.


We were going to go to Madison for Thanksgiving, but Tom's brother and his wife and son came up here instead. I found out Monday that I was hosting Thanksgiving dinner for possibly 13-17 people. We managed to get the house in order, an aero bed purchased and put together with a nice feather bed on top, grocery's bought and dinner made, and I survived to write about it. :) My sister-in-law has a drinking problem, and was drunk for the three days they were here. I confronted her Saturday morning when she woke up and told her she wasn't welcome in my house until she sobers up. I grew up with an alcoholic father and I don't have to put up with that in my house. She is going to kill herself if she doesn't stop drinking. She was on a liver transplant list two years ago, but stopped drinking for a while and her liver recovered a bit. She went into treatment for two weeks in May, but started drinking shortly after that. I told Tom's brother that I was going to confront her and he said that I should. He has tried to help her, and is now just taking care of himself and their son. I feel so bad for him. I let him know that he and their son are welcome here anytime, but she isn't. He said that he will be back in two weeks to see his mom and that he'll leave her at home.

I think that was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do, but I just had had enough. My daughter knew something was wrong and so I explained everything to her. The boys spent most of the time playing video games in the basement, so I don't think they even noticed. I found two coffee mugs hidden around my kitchen full of gin on Friday night. That was when I decided that she needed to be confronted. She had fallen down my stairs before we went out to dinner Friday night, and told me she meant to do that. I'm not stupid and I knew she was drunk, but I didn't see her actually getting the gin out of the cabinet. When I found the mugs full of gin, I told my brother-in-law and we had a long talk. He is so sad and loves her so much. He told me that he knows he should kick her out and get her an apartment, but he said that he can't live with the guilt if she drinks herself to death alone. It is a sad situation.
I hope she goes into a thirty day treatment center and then works to stay sober. I know that she has a disease, but only she can make the decision to get sober.

I will be hosting Christmas with my family on Dec. 22 and then Tom's family will be here for Christmas Eve. I will be taking more time away from my blog and knitting. I plan on being back here after Christmas. I don't know if I have any readers left, but I want you to know that I am still reading blogs (when I can) and hope you all have a wonderful Christmas season.

Happy knitting!!

Mini Vacation....

I went to Geneva, Illinois on Friday and got back last night. I went to visit my friend, Becky, who moved from Eau Claire to Geneva in August of 2006. It was great to see her and spend some time away from the kids. It was just what I needed. We shopped for accessories for my house and I came home with some great stuff. I stayed within my budget, and boy was that hard! I want to go back in the spring, so I knew that I needed to be good this time. She has three boys the same ages as my kids. They were so good while I was there.

Geneva is a beautiful city. The shops were unique and it was such a joy to get to shop in a different area. I hate to admit this, but we saw three yarn shops and I didn't go into any of them. I know, what a shock! I really have a lot of yarn, and this trip was meant to get stuff for my house.

I haven't knit at all in over a week. I'm not a very good knit blogger these days. Life just happens sometimes. The kids have had big projects to work on and that adds to my stress. The projects are now complete and maybe I can take a breath. We are having the hardwood floor in the dining room refininshed and filled in. The previous owners who built the house just put hardwood around the perimeter of the room and had carpet in the middle. We have decided to just finish the room and not have carpet in there. My dining room table is in the study, the hutch and piano are in my kitchen. The plan is to start the floor on Wednesday or Thursday. I am so glad we are able to get this done before Christmas.

Okay, I have rambled on enough. Sorry that I've been away for a month. I'll try to post at least once a week.