Cleaning out the House

Well, the funeral service for my mom was nice. I think she would have been happy with it. The chapel was full with friends and family. Myers Mortuary really has the process down and they ran everything so smoothly. It was so nice to be taken care of so well. It was not a large crowd at the luncheon but plenty of family there and it was nice to just talk to a lot of them. We really need to try and meet again somewhere other than funerals. 

I expected to be numb on Friday but was actually antsy and wanted to do something. So I did the project I had been thinking about to turn my spare bedroom/office into just an office. My sister and nephew helped get the bed out of there (it went to my sister’s house) and then I took one of mom’s chairs. I’ve got one more small table type of thing ordered, which is going to be a plant stand of sorts. And I started cleaning out the closet and bins that were stored under the bed. I’ve still got some sorting to do, but it feels good to have started. 

Today we all met at mom’s house to start cleaning out the food and food storage. We cleaned out so much from the old house before they moved here, but I cannot believe what she was storing. We threw a lot of stuff away. It was open and some of the grains we didn’t even know what they were. I have a bunch of her home canned food now. I’m trying to be intentional in the stuff I take from her home. I don’t need more stuff just because it’s nice or was hers. Ha ha I talked myself out of some bread pans and when I got home,  I found they were the same as what I have. So I need to be careful and remember I’m trying to clean out my house as well. We still have a really long way to go, but it was nice to all be there working together as a family. 

So I have a lot of pasta and fruit and vegetables to eat up now. I’ve eaten out too much these last 2 weeks so I think it will be nice to start cooking again. I think I can eat pretty healthy with all the food I now have (including what I had before) and just shopping for a few fresh things when I need them. For sure, I will be meal planning around what I have in the pantry. 

Today

Well, birthday shopping month has not turned out like I had planned. My mom died on February 14 due to liver failure. She basically went to sleep and never woke up. We had moved her to a hospital down in Murray and they evaluated her and told us they couldn’t do a liver transplant. We thought we would be able to move her to a care center with hospice like we did for my dad, but the doctor said it would be minutes to hours before she died once we stopped the medication keeping her heart beating. It was about 3 hours, I think. It’s been rough.

My birthday was a few days later and I just really didn’t want to celebrate but I decided to have the family over for cake and ice cream since the kids like that. It was nice, although a hard day. I do not feel like book shopping right now though I know one day I will get back to it. 

I took this entire week off from work. The funeral is on Thursday and we’ve got everything planned and ready to go. So today I didn’t have anything much to do. I decided to have a day for myself. I slept in and went to the grocery store. I think I’ll go for a walk in a little bit, even though it’s raining and drizzly. Still my favorite kind of weather. Some friends/neighbors brought me dinner last night and it’s so much food, I have enough for a few days. Shepherds Pie and brownies. It is so yummy, and a wonderful comfort food. 

I bought myself leftover Valentine’s flowers at the grocery store. They are so bright and pretty. Truly, joy can be found in the hard times. 

We started cleaning out mom’s house already, mostly for something to do, plus it will need to be sold before we can pay the medical bills. Right now I really don’t want to buy anything ever again. LOL When I think about all the stuff my mom has in that little house and I think about someone cleaning out my own little house, I think I want to be a little more circumspect and buy less stuff. And that fits right along with the theme for this year. It really hits home now though. 

Birthday Shopping Month 2024 Edition

Well, so far I was doing ok with the not spending money thing. I made it through January. Kind of. I went on a Georgette Heyer used book buying spree and ended up with 5 books.

But now it's birthday shopping month and I bought myself some presents already. 😇  I got myself 2 different 3-month subscription boxes. The first one is a "pamper yourself" type of book box and the other is body care/scent. Both things I love. I have a small list of things I'm out of cosmetic-wise that I'll be buying. And I will be going on a book browsing trip near my actual birthday. I've already pre-ordered the 2 books out this month that are must buys. So we'll see what happens with the book browsing. I'm sure I'll find something, but I'm trying to call that good. I'm still in the mood to not have a bunch of crap in my house and have another pile of things to donate. I'll make that a month goal as well, to get it out of my house. 

I also booked a mini vacation to San Diego in March, but that is up in the air now. My mom wanted to go and since she is not feeling well, I think we may be pushing that one out a little bit. Maybe we can go for her birthday this fall. We are waiting to see what the doctor says later today. I think I've pretty much decided that even if we don't go, I'm still taking the days off. 😊 I have plenty of vacation and it's already in my head that I won't be working. 

Life is good and hectic and fast and slow and just life. I'm happy to complete another rotation LOL.