A Very Busy January

I hit the ground running in January. I was hopeful that with the holidays over my schedule would ease up some but so far that hasn't happened.

The first book display of the year was, natch, New Year's Resolutions. I initially hesitated at doing this (afterall, it's such an obvious topic) but I so enjoyed browsing through the standard display at Barnes & Noble that I decided what the heck I'd do one at Bennett Martin.

Then my immediate family gathered for snacks and a game of Tripoley at Mom's. This used to be our New Year's Eve tradition but Cassie isn't old enough yet to stay up until midnight, and the rest of us were too tired to attempt such a late night, so we settled on Saturday, January 3. The advantage was we could make this an all-day affair instead of just a few hours in the evening. We had dips, chips, Christmas cookies, and a buffet set up with sandwich fixin's as well as the standard cokes and iced tea. This always turns out to be the Last Hurrah before anyone begins New Year diets.

Then I tossed up a book display about computers. January is National Clean Up Your Computer Month so I put up books about Word, Powerpoint, Excel, Access, Outlook, My Space, using your Blackberry, email in general, various Google options, teach yourself Windows XP, a couple of Macs books, and keeping your kids safe on the computer.

January 11 quilt group met for our Christmas party. We meet in January for a more relaxed get-together - the rush of the holidays is over and we don't have to dash home to more wrapping, baking, decorating, or attending Christmas programs. At this annual event we learn who our Secret Sister was, and draw names for next year.

January 17 we celebrated Mark's birthday. I made him a pillowcase with hot babes on it. I have fabric to make myself several pillowcases of shirtless cowboys, shirtless construction workers, firemen, policemen, and Deb H. made me one with UPS and USPS guys. Cassie and I decided it wasn't fair that I have all my "boyfriends" as she calls them so I hunted for fabric appropriate for Mark.

I'd heard there was some hot babes fabric, but if you do an internet search for "hot babes+fabric" you get some REALLY interesting results. So I knew I'd just have to stumble across the fabric at some local store instead of an internet quilt shop. I found some at the Gretna shop during last year's fall quilt retreat. I don't like that shop but I knew it wasn't available anywhere else so I held my nose and bought a couple yards. I got coordinating fabric from The Quilted Kitty in Lincoln. (I also gave Mark Season One of Star Trek: The Next Generation on dvd.)

I had lots of plans for the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday. It began at 5am with Cassie and me taking Mom to St. E's for her colonoscopy. We breakfasted at McDonald's then headed back to take Mom home, then I was going to do some computer work at Mom's while she slept off the anesthetic. Then Tuesday, my day off since I had worked the weekend, I was going to take down the Christmas tree and put away the decorations. NOT.

Mom ended up in the cardiac unit and St. E's kept her for several days. They frown on a pulse rate of 200 bps. They did lots of tests and worked on various medications. I really like her doc from the Nebraska Heart Institute, and her hospitalist had a good sense of humor too. In between all her medical procedures we were able to watch the Obama Inauguration together.

Cassie thought this all was great fun. Mark would bring her to the hospital after school, and she and I would hit the hospital cafeteria for supper. We'd take our trays up to Mom's room and eat with her. Cassie would snuggle in the bed with Grma and their trays would sit together on the rolling tray table over the hospital bed. I was good for running their errands.

After several days Mom was released, but she's still weak, tires easily, and has difficulty walking. They are still sorting out her meds. (BTW, her colonoscopy test was good.)

January 25 was a sad day for us. We lost our cat, Eli. Here he is in his standard place beneath the Christmas tree. He liked to pretend he was spying on us all while hidden in the midst of the gifts.

We'd been treating his thyroid for the past year but the meds were no longer working. He began to convulse so I gathered him up and ran him to the after-hours emergency vet clinic. Cassie was in bed asleep by then. There was nothing we could do. They let me hold him while they put him to sleep, then left me alone with him for as long as I wanted. They were very nice. We even received a sympathy card from them, as well as from our vet.

I told Cassie about him Monday night. She cried and cried, and we had some interesting conversations about death and heaven. I haven't had the heart yet to move his bowl or litter box. We still think we see him out of the corner of our eyes, and it's kinda lonely without a kitty in the house. I'm hoping to adopt another cat from the Humane Society this summer.

Finally for January, at the end of the month when the people doing free tax preparations began arriving at Bennett Martin, I put up a book display on taxes. Your standard books on how to pay less in taxes, plus some neat books on behind-the-scenes at the IRS by former employees, and a history of our taxation system. Very fascinating.