Paint Party Friday - Snowy Tree Scene

I did a snowy tree scene for Paint Party Friday. It's done in acrylic on good quality purple card stock (6" x 6").

Happy New Year!

No Code

My mother passed away last night in the hospital.  It came as a surprise as she had been doing well at noon when I fed her all her lunch.  They had removed her IV medicines and she started an internal bleed at the site.  The Doctor spoke to us and told us how critical she was. She was in terrible pain and on morphine in those last few hours, I don't think her weak heart could stand the strain.  RIP mom.

My sister's in a bit of a shock, she said 'we're orphans now'.  I said yes, but we are in our fifties!

When my mother went into emergency, the term Do Not Resuscitate (DNR) came up. We did not have a clear understanding of what that means and I learned the following:

If the heart or breathing stops a DNR request can be made by the health care power of attorney to allow natural death (AND).  This new term is more popular.  DNR only affects intubation and CPR.  The patient can continue treatment with drugs, etc.

My sister and I had a power of attorney for health care and for property for my mother.  It's a big responsibility.  In fact I used that power to sign for a blood transfusion for her in what turned out to be her last hours.

Do you have these documents for yourself, it's a good thing.

Funny Story

Daughter L has a friend studying at school in Europe. The friend brought her these fine chocolates from Austria. The funny thing is that L was with her friends up in Northern Ontario at around this same time. They unearthed this old 1995 coupon from a local chocolaterie. It was worth $10 and had no expiry date. The store said they would honour it. They found the same Austrian chocolates in the store and got those ones!  What a small world and who needs to travel anymore?

It was New Year's Eve

Please visit my Creative Tuesdays post below this one, I mistakenly posted two entries for today.

Well I spent New Year's Eve all day with my mother in emergency at the hospital.  My sister had taken her in the night before.  She was a lot worse than what we thought and could have died then and there.  By the time I got there the next day she was stable although still very sick.  We have to be prepared for any outcome at this point.

Since I was just finishing off my happiness journal, I am in the habit of finding good things in any situation and I couldn't help but notice this pretty blue accent tile in the hospital washroom:

Creative Tuesdays - The Story Behind the Story

Welcome to Creative Tuesdays' 'The Story Behind the Story' theme.

Jean is on the train as she is every day, on her way to work. She can't wait till her vacation starts in a few days. Yes, her bikini is packed, sunscreen, mosquito repellant, plane tickets, passport, travel insurance, she is all ready! She had been saving for this vacation to Mexico for a year.  Five of her best friends  would be meeting her at the airport, and she was looking forward to spending time with everyone. 

Beef Stew

I made a successful beef stew in my pressure cooker for once. It was just the right consistency with the correct amount of thickness and fluid. The cooking time is just 15 minutes in the pressure cooker. I added a can of sweet green peas as a thickener and it was a great way to use some of the cabbage I had on hand.  For fluids, I use low sodium beef stock, red wine and water.

Happy New Year 2017

Wishing you a Happy New Year 2017!

I will put my decorations away this week.  Do you have a lot of gifts to return or exchange?  I tried to return a gift card at one store only to learn they are  not returnable or exchangeable, something to keep in mind.