Craziness!

This last month has been nuts! First, Gramma got bronchitis- not good, but the antibiotics were starting to help. Then her blood sugar dropped really low (she's diabetic) and we had to take a trip to the ER. They sent her home the same day, once her sugar stabilized. She really didn't get much better after that though. She was coughing less, but very weak and tired, and she had no appetite. Did I mention I live with her and take care of her? So I know what's normal for Gramma, and things were not normal. After a few days of this, with no improvement, she decided to have me call the ambulance. There's nothing wrong with Gramma mentally, so these decisions are hers to make. I can offer suggestions, but I can't force her to do anything. I'm here to help her with the things she's unable to do physically, although my responsibilities have steadily been increasing lately. Anyway, they finally figured out that her bronchitis had turned into pneumonia, so they admitted her and she's been in the hospital since Friday. My husband and I have been to see her every day. She's been improving, eating better, sitting up for several hours at a time, and even walking a bit today. She looks more like Gramma now, which does my heart good. I was pretty scared there for a while. She may be 93, but I still can't stand the thought of losing her. She's one of the most important people in my life.

Yesterday (Memorial Day) we went out to my husband's aunt's house for a cookout after leaving the hospital. That's the first time I've been able to see the family for quite a while. I haven't been able to leave Gramma alone for some time now. It was nice to relax a bit and have fun with the aunts, uncles, and cousins. Uncle Don, another gardener like myself, dug up some black raspberries and some rose bushes for me to take home. He's very generous like that. We spend a lot of time talking gardening, animals, and nature. He's a really great man, much like my grandfather. So today I was planting black raspberries and rose bushes (in the rain). By the way, a good way to handle prickly plants like these is to wrap newspaper around the stems and hold the paper. Surprisingly, I didn't get stabbed once. Usually when I deal with roses or raspberries I get all scratched up. I dug deep planting holes for each plant, filled it partially with torn up newspaper, compost, more newspaper, and topsoil. Then I filled the hole with water, to be sure it was well drenched. I put the plant in the hole, covered it with topsoil, more shredded newspaper, and more compost. Then I watered it again. Hopefully all the plants will do well.

When I got home late last night and checked my email I saw that I had made a sale. Turns out I sold 15 items to one lady! By that time I was so tired I wasn't sure if I was reading it right. Now I need to carefully pack up all the individual pieces, which include several of my miniature clay houses, a pen set, several knit stuffed dogs and cats, some earrings, and my World of Warcraft plush Tauren Hunter with his Pet Lion. Oh, and when I logged onto ArtFire last night I saw that the new Fusion studios were live. If you want to check out my new layout go here. I still have some work to do, but I got a good start on it. Feel free to give me your opinion on the new look.

So, I've been incredibly busy this month. Lots of ups and downs. Gramma's health started out as a "down", but is changing to an "up" as she improves. She was pretty talkative today. It's nice when I can call all the relatives and give them good news. They plan to keep her for rehab for another week, which is what she wanted. She'd rather wait until she's strong enough to come back home, rather than rushing things and ending up back in the hospital. My big sale is definitely an "up". To know that someone likes my work enough to purchase a large amount of it makes me so happy. Every sale is a thrill for me. So, that's an overview of my month- no wonder I'm tired! I've barely slowed down enough to eat lately!