After church this morning, we drove down to the hospital. Braeden was a little grumpy and pulling all of our strings. "Mommy, hold my drink bottle." "Grandpa, I want grape juice." "No Grandma, you can't sit on my bed." All this was with those little frown wrinkles in his forehead. Mommy said that he had slept very well last night so she thought he'd be in a good mood today. Not to be!! Let's see, his nose hose has been removed. The tummy drain was removed because the tumor for some reason is no longer giving off fluids like crazy. And some other tube is no longer being used. I can't remember. We stayed for about an hour and Pete held the little bath pan so Braeden could shoot his sponge rockets into it with his sponge gun. The nurse came in and said that because it was so beautiful outside today and getting a lot warmer, they would bundle him up and take him OUTSIDE in the wagon a little later. I was surprised that they went out yesterday too.
Dawn said that they are trying to get things arranged for him to go home tomorrow. I guess Hospice arranges for the equipment and brings it to the hospital with a portable pump. Then they can go home and make the transition. Kevin is taking this week off from work to help out. They are setting up a bed in their bedroom so that if he is up in the night, he won't wake the baby and vice versa. They're hoping that someone who lives near them will be able to take Eliana back and forth to school. They live in the country and the busstop is about an eighth of a mile from their house so as long as they have to get the car and baby out anyway, Dawn just goes on to school about 3 miles farther.
By the way, Kevin's boss came to him and said that if he felt that it was necessary, he could "just not come in" until this is over. Can you imagine??? They have had several people offer to give him vacation days so he doesn't get short paychecks for missed days. I guess a lot of what Kevin does is accomplished on the computer so he can still work whether he is at home or the hospital or work.
This has worked out so well. I mean the timing of when they needed us to live at their house and when Pete needed to start working at the duplex. Even now, he was getting to the point where the things needing to be done were the things I always either did or helped him with. For instance it is my job to clean the kitchen appliances, cupboards, tubs/sinks, wash windows, fix little things that need caulking, tightening, or replacing, replace switch/plug plates, haul out trash, keep things organized and track of what we need to buy. We work together on tiling. I measure and he cuts the tile. He butters the tile and I lay it. Then when it's ready to grout, we do it together. He does 99% of the painting and of course any construction or deconstruction of any sort. This time he had to tear up the bathroom floor clear down to the floor joists because it was rotting out. I'll tell ya, if this floor rots out in 5 years, I just give up. First he put down plywood and then a layer of cement board (Hardybacker) and then we caulked the seams and all around the edges. Then we tiled, using a thick layer of mortar/glue. I caulked along the tub and between the tile the goes up the side of the tub and along the surround on each side. Then we tiled between the surround and the ceiling. I caulked there too. Then I grouted all the rest. I bought the expensive sealer for the grout. It says to use two coats and it's good for 20 years. I just soaked it. In fact so much, it was hard to get the excess off the tiles. I was determined that the next family who let their little kids swim in the tub wasn't going to ruin that floor again.
Speaking of the next family, I think we have someone already. They want it by the end of the month......AND YAYAYAYAY, they are willing to pay---get this----$10 a month in order to have a dog. ANDANDAND, they don't have little kids, just one 14 year old. ANDANDNANNDNNANANNDANNNNDDDDDD, the husband and wife both have real jobs and aren't on welfare or assistance. Oh and they were concerned about the folks in the other side. Would they be a problem or noisy? They are about 75 so thus far haven't been either. The new guy offered to mow both lawns. I told him that was between the two families.
Pete and I have come to the conclusion that the main problems with tenants is, #1. small children, #2. pets, #3. water, and #4. fire. Obviously the kids spill on the carpet, clog the toilet, slop water in the bathroom, write on the walls, leave bits of toys and papers in the yard. The pets (and their owners) leave behind fleas, scratched and damaged doors and woodwork, and animal feces. We already covered the water problem. But these folks had leaking traps in both the kitchen and bathroom and never told us. The water bill had skyrocketd from the last quarter but it was because the toilet would stick and run and run. Jiggle the handle you say??? Why do that??? And supposedly both units were being lived in by people who didn't smoke in the house. The tub has burn stains on the edge and in the other unit the sink has burn marks. It is one of those one piece vanity tops. These folks would take things apart that was to the house and then not keep the pieces so instead of our being able to fix it, we have to buy new stuff.
Enough of my rant. This started to be about Braeden. LOL. I just was saying that last week Dawn's stepmom took baby Owen for the whole week and freed me up to work on the duplex and now it looks like Dawn and Kevin won't need me this week either so we can get the duplex done with Pete's son's help.
