It's Animoto Time

I found a great new site called Animoto where you can create your own 30 second (or longer) videos from your photos and music that you upload or choose on their site. The resulting videos look slicker than a slide show and it's super easy to put together.

The only thing a little limiting for me personally is that they have a very narrow selection of music to choose from. And the genres available are not necessarily my cup of tea. All that means is that I need to learn how to download mp3's I like from another source and then I can use them in Animoto videos. I have lots of friends well versed in downloading music to help me and I'm always up for learning something new.

Of course I had to try this out so I uploaded some pictures of my mom and photos of flowers in her yard. If you don't like the results you can have the same pictures "remixed" to create a new video. They say no two videos will come out the same. Here are my two 30 second videos using the same pictures and same music. Which do you like the best?





Animoto was created by some guys from the film production industry. Thirty second videos are free and full-length ones are $3 each. If you feel like taking on a fun project, give it a try yourself.

Setback for Mom

Mom hasn't been feeling too well the last few days. She has had some back pain which became pretty significant by the end of last week. On Friday morning she wasn't able to keep her breakfast down. I took her to a doctor where they told us she should take Vicodin for the pain but there wasn't much else they could do for it because she has degenerative disc disease and spurs that come out from her spine which will sometimes cause pain like this.

What the doctor didn't address was her inability to keep food in her stomach. That has continued through the weekend and today was the first time she could eat anything without it coming right back up. I was going to take her to the emergency room but when I called her this afternoon she said she is feeling better after reducing the pain pill to 1/2 pill at a time. So far today she has not thrown up. I'm going to check on her after she eats some dinner and if she can't keep it down will take her to the ER tonight. Otherwise I plan to call and get her in to see a doctor tomorrow.

Good Eatin' at Northgate

We in the Northgate area have endured a lot of construction at the mall and the surrounding area recently. I think the construction will continue for quite some time to come, but one payoff has already come to fruition.

Four new restaurants have opened at the mall in the last month with one more to come. Walter and I visited one the other night - Panera Bread. They of course specialize in artisan breads and they have great soups and salads. We had never been to a Panera before and were favorably impressed with their BBQ Chicken and Roasted Wild Mushroom Crispanis. We look forward to returning many times to sample additional items on their menu.

The other new restaurants at Northgate which are already open are Blue Fin Sushi and Seafood, the Ram Restaurant and Brewery and Stanford's Restaurant and Bar. My friend Colette visited Stanford's recently and gave it a thumbs up.

Walter and I plan to try all of these new eateries. And we're really looking forward to the opening of Romano's Macaroni Grill which is almost ready too. I hope the Northgate area can support so many new restaurants without any of the old ones closing.

A Whirlwind of Appointments

Whew, what a crazy week. It occurs to me that as of tomorrow I will have accompanied Mom and Walter on medical appointments every day for a week except for Sunday. The schedule went something like this:

• Friday - Walter appointment with eye surgeon (cornea specialist)
• Saturday - Mom had to go to the eye doctor for her eye infection
• Monday - Mom's follow-up appointment with the eye doctor
• Tuesday - Mom's appointment with her primary care doctor
• Wednesday - Walter's appointment with glaucoma specialist
• Thursday - Mom appointment with primary care doctor about a new issue. She needs a test and consultation.

The upshot of all these appointments is everybody's pretty much doing okay. Mom's eye infection is much improved although she will be on antibiotics for a while and we're keeping an "eye" on it. She had a good visit with her primary doctor but a couple (hopefully minor) new issues have come up and she needs to see him again tomorrow.

Walter's sight has been slowly improving and seems almost back to where it was before August 1. The glaucoma specialist is changing up his medications in an attempt to bring his eye pressure into normal range. The goal is to avoid long-term sight decline and maybe even have a potential for more sight improvement.

I think we're all hoping that things slow down a bit and everybody stays healthy. Everyone has been very understanding and we appreciate all the well wishes we've received from our friends.

A Tale of Two Eye Appointments

Well it's official. Mom has a raging eye infection. When we saw the doctor on Saturday morning he drained the area as best he could and put her on antibiotic pills and drops. If it's not better by tomorrow she will have to see an ophthalmologist, but she tells me by phone that it is indeed getting better. Whew. She goes back for a follow-up appointment first thing tomorrow morning.

Walter's appointment on Friday went okay. No change on the eyesight. His eye pressure has been moderately high for a while so his doctor wants him to see a glaucoma specialist again to see if there is anything more that can be done to bring down the pressure safely. He already takes 3 eyedrop medications for glaucoma. He has an appointment on Wednesday and then goes back to his regular doctor (cornea specialist) three weeks later.

Looking Out the Window

Do you ever have periods when you are so focused on one thing that you manage to ignore other details of life that you would normally pay attention to? When my mom was in the hospital and then the rehab section of a nursing home my primary focus was on her and taking care of things for her.

For several years I have had a collection of animals sitting on the dash of my car. They have been there so long that I no longer look at them that closely. Sometimes they slide around and have to be pushed back into their place in the hollow space reserved for them on the dash.

Last week I noticed that I was getting an extra reflection on my windshield that was bugging me. I thought it was just unusual lighting that day - clouds and low sunlight. Then I noticed it again the next day. Why was that bugging me? I knew it was the reflection of my animals but I couldn't figure out what was unusual about it. Surely the reflection isn't always that bad.

Finally a couple days ago I figured it out. Fetch, the Beanie Baby dog was out of his normal spot and that's why his reflection was making me crazy. He was out of the hollow spot and up near my steering wheel. How did he get there? Did he slide that far? Finally I looked at the animals more closely. And I let out a laugh. All the animals had been turned around to enjoy the view! Normally they face me. So instead of looking at little animal faces I was getting my own view of little animal hineys.

I am usually pretty good at keeping my car locked. Walter didn't do it so I don't know for sure who turned the animals around. Nothing was missing from the car. I only know it had to be someone who had a sense of humor and probably thought the animals were tired of looking at me and would prefer to see where they were going. Whoever did it, thanks for making me laugh. Too bad it took me a couple weeks to figure it out!

Quick Updates

I was going to post a funny little story for you today but my camera went on the fritz and I couldn't get the picture I wanted to go with it. I got some new batteries for the camera and hopefully that will do the trick, so maybe I can post it sometime this weekend.

Things are hopping around here. Mom's visiting nurse called me to let me know Mom has an eye infection ... again. I saw it starting to swell on Monday and figured I may need to take her to a doctor soon. I was able to get her an appointment tomorrow (Saturday) morning. Her eye doctor will be in the office and although their schedule is full they will squeeze her in. If it's like the last couple of times she just needs some medication and it should heal right up.

Mom tells me the soreness from her broken ribs is starting to lessen, and that's a good thing. I'm glad she's starting to feel better and a little stronger. She's still not eating enough though.

Speaking of eye doctors, Walter has an appointment this afternoon. His sight has been pretty stable although we're still hoping it will improve back to the pre-August 1 levels. I don't expect anything too exciting from that appointment.

After Mom's appointment and picking up medicine tomorrow I think Walter and I are going to head to the Puyallup Fair. I hope you all have a good weekend.

Slow and Steady Progress

When Mom went home from the rehab facility I stayed with her the first 24 hours to watch and make sure she would be okay on her own. I was a little nervous to leave her there alone. But from the time I saw her on Saturday until Monday I noticed she was markedly improved including getting back some of her old stamina. I think it is just a matter of time before she will be back to her old self.

Her rib still has some time to go to heal fully. She won't be alone much as she will be visited by all sorts of home care people - nurses, physical therapists, occupational therapists, and bath aides.

I'm still a bit worried about her weight loss. She asked to be weighed when she got home and we found she was down to 103 pounds. She agrees that it would be better if she were about 115 pounds and wants to gain the weight back. I think her stomach shrunk while she was away from home though. She's trying to eat more but so far having only small successes.

She is feeling better, however, and hopefully she will get a little more of her strength back each day.

Mom is Home

Mom got to go home on Friday. She's still in a weakened state and it will take her some time to get her strength back. But she is very happy to be home.

One of the highlights of the day was a visit from her buddy Tyler. Mom is fortunate to have some great neighbors. Tyler is in the 6th grade and lives next door with his mom and dad and two sisters.

Since Mom cannot go outside her house (she has steps front and back which she is not able to negotiate on her own) Tyler brings her mail each day and takes her trash can out to the curb.

She was SO glad to see him when she got home. I just had to share this adorable picture of the two of them.

Exercise and Create a Stronger, Faster Brain

Did you get your exercise in today? If not, you might want to think about it. I came across this post the other day about how a new study indicates our brains create neurons (brain cells) when we get regular exercise. The related New York Times article is here.

It used to be thought that once we developed all our brain cells in infancy we couldn't repair any damage caused by aging, drinking or other "hard living." In fact this study shows that mice given regular exercise produce 2-3 times the number of new neurons as a sedentary mouse does.

That makes me want to take a walk. How about you?

Friday Is Going Home Day for Mom

We were originally told Mom's discharge date from rehab would probably be this coming Friday the 14th and that they would have a more accurate idea on Friday the 7th. So I called her social worker late in the afternoon on the 7th. He had left for the day and I was impatient for the information so I talked to a nurse. She told me it looked like Mom would go home on Thursday the 13th.

Unfortunately I Mom it would be Thursday and she got her heart set on it. Yesterday I found out from the social worker that the discharge date is still Friday. The nurse must not have had all the information correct in front of her. Mom was pretty disappointed when I had to tell her she wouldn't be going home until Friday. I hope she doesn't get too discouraged.

She is really looking forward to her homecoming and has given me a list of groceries to get for her house. She hasn't been eating much in the rehab place saying "I'll eat better when I get home!" I think it's her way of rebelling against having to be where she doesn't want to be. The woman is getting entirely too thin. It's a good sign that she's getting cravings for some of her favorite foods like pie, hot dogs and string cheese.

Hang in there Mom, it's just a few more days!

Mom Going Home in Less Than a Week

We had Mom's Care Conference at the rehab place yesterday. Her condition is markedly improved. Her medical condition is stable, she looks stronger and is slowly increasing in strength.

It looks like Mom's probable discharge date will be next Thursday, September 13th. She can hardly wait to go home as you can imagine. Her family is nervous though because she will be going home where she lives alone. Family will be checking in with her daily by phone and her neighbors will keep their eye out as well.

Mom will have physical therapy a couple of times a week at her home and a bath aid. I have a bunch of homework to do for her return - things to put in place so she will be as safe as possible.

After the care conference yesterday Diega was visiting at Mom's bedside. They were holding hands and I couldn't help but take a couple pictures. Diega has my Dad's dark Filipino skin tone and of course that's in contrast to Mom's "I've been inside all summer" paler skin. I thought the handholding made for some great photos and wanted to share them with you. Aren't they cute together?

Rainbow of Hope

Tuesday was another one of those long days spent in Olympia visiting Mom and looking after things at her house. Before we headed home we stopped to get a bite to eat at the Sizzler. It was a warm, muggy kind of day with some clouds coming in.

When we came out of the restaurant we found it was sprinkling just a little bit, the first time that day. As we walked towards the car I looked up and saw a beautiful rainbow against the darkened sky. Soon I noticed it was a double rainbow with a faint glimmer of a second shadow rainbow mirroring the first at least near the ground.

When my eyes followed the strongest hued rainbow up, I discovered that it was visible all the way up and back down again - horizon to horizon. Just beautiful. Of course I had to grab my camera and get some pictures. You can see the double effect in the photo above.

Of course the whole rainbow was too large to capture in one frame of my camera, so I had to use the video option to show it all to you. The clip below is about 20 seconds. Walter and I both really enjoyed this bright spot in the sky. The rainbow is a symbol of hope after all, is it not?

Can You See the E?

As I posted back on the 18th of August Walter lost some ground with his eyesight when the doctor took away the antirejection drops Prednisolone. Since then his sight has been sometimes up and sometimes down, but not back to where it was before August 1st even though he has returned to using the drops. His most recent appointment was on Wednesday.

To give you an example of what I mean by "up and down," when the doctor's assistant gave Walter the quick chart exam at the beginning of his visit Walter was not able to make out the big E at the top of the chart. Obviously he knew what it was but if he didn't know he would not have been able to make it out.

After the assistant left the room we had a few minutes to wait for the doctor. During that time Walter yawned causing tears to flood and "water" his eye. After he did that he was able to see the E. So how well Walter's sight is doing seems in part due to moisture levels. He has drops he uses for moisture (an artificial tear gel) and he's also taking Restasis so there's nothing new to add there.

Walter's doctor agreed that we have lost some ground. He adjusted Walter's meds some more and he will go back on the 21st. In the meantime I try to be extra watchful for hazards that Walter might not see himself.

20 Years and Counting

Walter and I celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary last Wednesday the 29th of August. It's hard to believe it's been that long. Sometimes it seems like it was just yesterday, and sometimes it seems like we've been married forever. I wouldn't have it any other way. Walter has been the most wonderful, understanding, patient, and caring husband especially over the last couple weeks of health problems for my mother.

We had plans to take a trip to Victoria for a couple days to celebrate, but those plans went by the wayside when my mother fell and then went into the hospital. Thankfully Mom's doctor helped us out with a special letter which enabled us to get our money back for our hotel reservation.

The day of our anniversary was actually the same day my mother was transferred from the hospital to the rehab facility. So I spent most of the day in Olympia making sure that all went smoothly and getting her settled in the new place. Who knew it could take 3 hours to check someone into a rehab facility?? There were tons of paperwork and questions to be answered.

Finally I made my way to Seattle and got home in time to go out with Walter for a special anniversary dinner. One of our favorite places is Bahama Breeze. Lucky for us they serve late and their food never disappoints.

At the end of August we actually celebrate two anniversaries. The 29th is our wedding anniversary and the 31st is the anniversary of the first time we met in person after meeting online and developing our relationship over the phone. Walter first flew to Seattle to see me on August 31st, 1986. We usually celebrate by dining at Totem House Fish & Chips across the street from Ballard Locks. You see when Walter first came to Seattle I played tour host and showed him the sites in Seattle starting with the Ballard Locks. Totem House was the first place we dined together.

I wouldn't recommend it on a "best of" list (it's a little greasy for us these days) but it's nostalgic for us and fun to do once a year. Because of a hectic schedule we haven't made it out to Totem House yet but hopefully we will soon.

Ah, the Drive-In

When was the last time you've been to a drive-in movie? Have you ever been? Until a couple weeks ago I had only been to a drive-in movie one time, and that was way back in high school. Some friends dragged me along and I barely remember the experience.

Recently I've been intrigued with drive-in movie theaters as they are a dying breed and it may not be long that they will still be around for us to enjoy. I've had "go to a drive-in movie" on my 43Things goal list for quite some time. Finally on August 19th we went to the Valley Drive-In in Auburn and I have to say it was a lot of fun. We saw a first-run movie, Bourne Ultimatum. I loved it!

It was a bit sad to see that there were just a few people there. True it was a Sunday night and I would imagine they get a bit more business on Friday and Saturday nights. Still, when you enter the snack bar building which is quite large it's easy to see that in its glory day it would have been filled with people ordering food and playing the video games. Instead there was just me ordering food and a couple workers manning the register and food service. It looked kinda lonely.

One nice thing about a drive-in movie is that you usually get to see two movies for the price of one. That is if you can stay up that late! Back on August 19th the drive-in's weekly email indicated the movie would start at 8:30 or so. Well it didn't start until 9:00, and then they showed trailers for 25 minutes! Yikes. By the time the movie was over it was after 11:00 and I knew I couldn't stay awake for the second one and still make it to my obligations the next day. So we left after Bourne Ultimatum. Of course as it gets later in the season movies can start earlier because it gets dark earlier.

Still, it was a fun experience and I really want to do it again. If life doesn't get too crazy we might try to go a couple more times before the season ends sometime in October. Valley Drive-In has six screens of movies to choose from. If you prefer less choices (1 screen) but a more quality viewing experience (FM instead of AM radio sound and one giant screen) there is also Puget Park in south Everett.

If you click on the photo above you can get to a few more pictures by using the Next and Prev links in Webshots.

Laundry Anyone?

The rehab facility where my mother is has a free laundry service. The only catch is, if you want them to do your laundry they recommend you permanently mark all the clothes with your name. If you don't, there is a high probability you might lose some things in the laundry room.

Mom was pretty distraught on her first night at the rehab place and she really didn't like it when we had to mark some of her clothes. I gave it some thought and figured that I would be in town at least a couple days a week so there was no reason I couldn't do her laundry for her at her house. My mother even has a brand new dryer and I had done some laundry for her just a couple weeks before so I knew how everything works. Also I didn't want Mom to have all her clothes permanently marked with a reminder of her stay there.

I spent the night in Lacey on Wednesday and Thursday nights. When I got up on Friday I decided to run a load of laundry for Mom. I put some clothes and towels into her washer and started up the cycle. A few minutes afterwards I heard a high pitched whine noise. I thought "that's strange, I didn't hear that noise last time I did laundry here." The noise went away quickly but a few minutes later I smelled something that smelled like burning.

I looked at the washer and everything seemed fine. But the burning smell was getting worse. I touched the hoses and all over the machine and nothing felt hot. But next the smoke alarm went off! I stopped the alarm and returned to the machine. This smell was only getting worse and I didn't want to burn down Mom's house. So I pulled the knob to stop the load.

I ended up calling her neighborhood Maytag repair place. After listening to my description they decided the problem is probably a worn belt. I used a mirror to get the model number off the back of the machine and scheduled the repairman to visit.

Hmm, and I thought it would be such a simple matter to take care of Mom's laundry! Fortunately when I told her about it she wasn't upset at all and made a comment that "yes, those belts wear out." Yes, I guess they do. :)

Mom Moved to Rehab

Thank you to everyone who sent well wishes for my Mom. She's doing better but still has a ways to go in her recovery. She was in the hospital for 6 days. While in the hospital her doctor's greatest concern was for her sodium levels. She also developed atrial fibrillation (a too high heart rate accompanied by too low blood pressure) so had to be moved to a special "telemetry" floor to be monitored constantly.

Within a few hours they were able to fix the heart problem with medication. Before her hospitalization she always had a strong heart so I guess it was all the trauma of broken bones and low sodium that set her heart aflutter. Tests revealed that in addition to breaking two ribs she also had some fluid on one lung and a broken pelvis. Fortunately she doesn't feel any pain from those things.

On Wednesday her sodium levels finally got high enough they felt it was safe for her to be discharged from the hospital. She wasn't well enough to go home though so she was transferred to a rehab facility. It's supposed to be the best one in the Olympia area. Mom sure didn't want to go. She didn't understand why she couldn't just go home. Never mind that she still has two painful broken ribs and cannot walk unassisted.

The first couple of days in the rehab facility were very hard for her. She was rather depressed and she was sure when they got her up to walk that they were going to send her home in a day or two. I knew that wouldn't be the case and finally had a talk with her social worker. He scheduled a Care Conference for Thursday. A Care Conference is a meeting of the patient, family, nurse, therapists and social worker to set goals for her release and hopefully tell me what help I need to have in place before she goes home. It's at the Care Conference that a tentative release date will be set.

Now that Mom knows the Care Conference will be Thursday she has reluctantly accepted the fact that she will be there a while. I think some of her fear came from not knowing if there would be an end date and maybe being afraid that she might get stuck there. My best guess is that she will be there at least 2 or 3 weeks. I really hope they can help her get strong enough to go home to her own home. We want her to be safe and not be in danger of falling again.

Mom doesn't eat very well these days. She doesn't care for the food at the rehab place. I did bring her one of the cucumbers from her garden and she seemed to enjoy that.

Mom has had some visits by friends and family, but of course there are times when no one is there. I was happy to discover the rehab facility has several animals that live there. One in particular is a cat named Lacy who frequently visits my Mom. She is a really beautiful kitty with long hair who has been clipped a bit like a lion. She's also quite affectionate and my Mom loves her company. She's a really big kitty cat though (18 lbs!) so we have to pull her off sometimes because she's a little too heavy to be laying on Mom's legs. Here is a picture of Mom with Lacy.


We also wanted Mom to have some company from home so we brought Tony, Mom's big stuffed gorilla. She was very happy to see him. Here is a pic of them together.