MJ reporting in

I decided that it was time I made a post on the blog. I am doing great and feel very fortunate that I have not had any problems. (The hemoglobin is up to 11.0 now). Energy level is up and I get antsy quite often. Thank goodness for my sewing projects and tennis tournaments on TV. (I still follow Andy Roddick who gave Roger F the match of the season at Wimbledon). Am also keeping up with John Isner a former GA player.

I am extremely proud of "Awesome Daughter" with her new responsibilities at VistaCare. She seems to be doing well and not too terribly stressed....but I still want her to get back to her tennis.

Today was another milestone...went to grocery without the brace. It was the first time I have driven without the brace and it felt weird but I did fine. Hope to be able to start some exercises once I get out of the brace completely. ( Am weaning off the brace day to day...today was 3 hrs in and 3 hrs out and it progresses every day.) Tennis is a long way off so I'll have to be content with being a cheerleader when the team starts league play in Sept.

Many thanks to all the folks that have called , brought me books to read and most of all the prayers and wishes for a good recovery.

Big News at 260!!!

Today marked the day that Mom starts weaning herself from her back brace!!! Neither of us can believe that the time has flown by so quickly....I am sure having absolutely no set backs helped with the time flying like it has. Even though she is coming out of the brace Mom still has a lot of healing to do....but you wouldn't know it to see her, to talk to her or to see her move about!!!



Mom is back to being completely independent except for maybe picking up something that weighs a bit much. She is shopping, sewing, socializing, reading, cleaning, being the oh so awesome Laundry Fairy, cooking and even partying with us young ones!!! It will still be several months before she will be able to swing a tennis racquet but that too will be here before we both know it!!!



The other big news here at 260 belongs to me (one awesome daughter). One week ago today I was named Interim Executive Director over the VistaCare Athens site and the Lawrenceville site (which happens to be our sister site), on top of that I am also still performing my nurse manager duties. At this point I am thanking the good Lord above for my super organization skills...plus the great team of folks that I have working under me. There is a lot of "cleaning" up to do behind our former Executive Director and it won't happen over night but I am determined to turn things around even if the position is "interim". It is not my intention to become the permanent ED as in my 4+ years with VistaCare I have seen 3 different directors get thrown out on their heads and 1 who left on their on accord. It seems to be quite the expendable position and I don't want to take the chance of being a notch on their bedpost. Of course, these thoughts may change as anything is possible. I do absolutely LOVE my nurse manager position and feel very affective in the position. So, for now I will do my best to wear many hats and just hope for the best outcome for the company, my employees and myself.

Hope that everyone out there is doing well. I apologize for the lack of posts but with Mom doing so awesome I didn't feel it was necessary to repeat myself just to post a blog!!!

And yes, we here at 260 are looking forward to Georgia Football and a great party or two as last season Mom just wasn't up for the partying, for some reason I think this football season is going to be very different!!!

It's been a week since the last entry!!!

As Mom continues to heal more with everyday that passes the news to post becomes less and less....she has a tad over 2 weeks until she gets to come out of the brace (neither of us can believe how the time has flown by). We have had virtually no set backs.

Mom is "almost" completely independent now, about the only thing that she still can't do is lift anything too heavy or play tennis...other than these two things she is back to living her life. She has been to several social events the past couple of weeks, she can go shopping alone now, she is sewing, doing embroidery, reading, cooking and to me the best thing of all....the Laundry Fairy has returned fulltime!!!

Thank you again for all of your thoughts and prayers....we would have never gotten through this time without each and every one of you!!!

Its Scary to go shopping with MJ now...

Just a short blog here....Mom wanted to go to Belks today so off we went. I was at the MAC make-up counter restocking when she walked up to me and said she was going "over there"...I said "Okay, I will meet you in the shoe department"....WELL......40 minutes later after walking all over the store looking for her my MAC guy finally spotted her for me!!! I told her that I was going to put a GPS on her the next time we went shopping!! Just one small example of how well she is doing!!!!

PS Mom did get a free MAC lipstick out of the whole deal!!!

Sunday, July 12th

It's been a week or more since I made a post....as Mom continues to get better and better and better, there is less to report other than her "milestones"!

Many milestones have been reached:
1) The Laundry Fairy has returned in full force (yes, this includes ironing and she does do a much better job than any dry cleaner)

2) Cooking: Yes, Mom is back to cooking. Every once in awhile she might need a pot or a pan from a lower shelf so she plans ahead to make sure she has what she needs before I head off to work or anywhere else.

3) Sewing: Both alterations and embroidery

4) Going out at night...just this past Friday night she went to a party with all her tennis friends, I was already in bed when she got home.

5) House Cleaning: Is running her cordless vacuum and dusting, also doing dishes that don't go in the dishwasher...the dishwasher...I empty the bottom shelf and she takes care of the top shelf

6) Mom is able to take Tiki outside but still can't bend over to pick up the presents that Tiki leaves in the yard

7) She is going to the grocery store without me now...first time since late April, early May

Her incision is healed for the most part (all of the scab is gone) and looks really good.

Well...this is the best I can do for an update at this point....she is counting down the days until she can start coming out of her brace and we are at 17 days and counting until that event starts to take place.

Hope everyone is doing well out there...things here at 260 get more normal with each day that passes!!!

The 3rd & 4th of July!!!

As you can all see from the pictures we have been having some fun here at 260 the past few days!! Sharla got into town Thursday evening and from that point on fun was had by everybody for the next 2 days!

Friday night Buddy & Donna joined us for burgers on the deck...we had a really great time!

Saturday I spent the day cooking and guests started arriving at 5pm. We had a great Happy Hour and then it was on to a great meal of my "famous" ribs.

You can see for yourself that Mom looks fabulous and is doing really, really, really good!! She certainly did her best to keep up with us youngsters this weekend!!

This morning (Sunday) I got up early to cook for "Breakfast at Wimbledon", Kendra came over and I served she and Mom strawberries and cream, then a breakfast of fresh sausage, fresh country ham, biscuits and eggs! Roger and Andy are still going at it and as I type this the score is 14-15 in the 5th set!!

We hope that everyone had a glorious holiday....it sure was a lot of fun around here!!!