We did it - My FIL is moved in!

My father-in-law Dean is 88 years old. He is pretty awesome and has lead a very full life - he served in WWII and worked many jobs. He built his home in the late 1940's and has lived there ever since. Dean's brother Leo built his home right next door and the brothers raised their children together. 

Leo passed away two weeks ago and so Dean is now the last sibling left from his family. Like I mentioned, Dean is 88 and has some health problems. He has been in the hospital four times in the last four months. The last time they kept him 11 days. 

He was discharged this past Friday into our care. My hubby is an only child and so we took turns living with him for the last 5 days. We have done this in the past but Dean didn't need help with everything. Let me just say that anyone that gets up in the middle of the night to change diapers or feed someone else is amazing. They should be given a major award. We did it for 5 nights and we are wiped.

Dean's family doctor told him a month ago that he shouldn't be living alone. And the search began for the "perfect" assisted living community. We found it a few weeks ago and took him up for a tour yesterday. 

Clearly a man that built his home and has been independent for so long doesn't love the idea of moving. But, he did say it was nice and that he could be happy there. We didn't let him "stew" on it for too long; We moved him in today. 

Dean has a private studio apartment in a gorgeous and new assisted living building. God truly blessed us with this place. We literally got the LAST room and that was only because we asked them to hold it. 

The community is smaller than most which we loved. It allows the residents to really get to know each other. There are lounges throughout the building and Dean can go get ice cream whenever he wants.

Dean on his tour

Lounge

The other side of the lounge. All the cabinets have snacks for the residents. They can come in at any time and get a snack, a piece of fruit, ice cream, make toast or a sandwich, etc. This is in addition to the three meals a day. We stayed for a meal yesterday and it was GOOD. Really, really good. The roast beef was amazing and they make everything from scratch.

Dean's hallway.

Dean's kitchenette after we set it up

See the photo on the wall? That is Dean's house!

There are no hospital beds which we also loved.

Dean's oxygen tank which they hope to wean him off of

The lift chair

Private bathroom

Private shower

We do need to buy a few things which we will do tomorrow. I really missed life at a retirement community and cannot wait to make a wreath for Dean's door. Today I promised Dean that I would visit and play BINGO. They have a ton of activities including bands, field trips to the store and local lake, chair exercise and so much more. 

They clean the apartment every. single. day. Isn't that great? And if Dean "makes a mess", they will gladly clean the bathroom more than that. They have nurses on staff 24/7, have an in-house barber and doctors that make house calls. 

Tomorrow I will post photos of Dean's house. Our next step is to start renovating the house so we can get it ready to sell. I wish I was in better shape but we are EXCITED for all the projects. I love to paint. Plus, we plan on staging which is always fun.

Quick Update

My 88 year old father-in-law was released from the hospital yesterday. My hubby and I are taking turns living with him this weekend until we can move him into the assisted living home at the beginning of next week.

The poor guy was in the hospital for 11 days and has a lot of health problems at this point. He was completely against going to a home just a week ago. Last night he told me he realized it was time. That is a huge answer to prayer. His Parkinson's and dementia has worsened. He has gout and aspiration pneumonia. Basically whenever he swallows liquids it goes straight into his lungs. We have to thicken all his liquids which of course he hates. He has a ton of other issues including a weakened liver and kidneys (his kidneys are functioning at less than 30%). It is not good.

The great news is that my father-in-law is a Christian. Without sounding preachy, he truly trusts God and has a lot of family and friends in heaven. His last sibling passed away last week.

He says he is ready to "go home" (i.e. heaven). He is on oxygen 24/7 and cannot walk too well. Yesterday he fell after only being home for an hour. Thankfully he is able to sleep and does it a lot since we have to follow him around wherever he goes.

Thanks for all the thoughts and prayers!

Recent Ebay Sales - 5/14/2014

Just a quick update: My father-in-law is STILL in the hospital. The poor guy. Today is day 9. We are really hoping he will be released soon. We will take turns living with him until we can move him into the assisted living home. 

And now...ebay sales!

1. Athleta green crochet dress, sold for $27. 

2. Faded Glory (a Wal-Mart brand!) black sweater, sold for $20. 

3. Eileen Fisher black and white dress, sold for $50. 

4. Boden gray floral dress, sold for $35. 

5. C. Wonder silk top, sold for $25. 

6. Victoria's Secret monokini swimsuit, sold for $20. 

7. Lanz summer floral dress, sold for $20. 

8. White House Black Market animal print skirt, sold for $20. 

9. Victoria's Secret bikini swimsuit, sold for $20. 

10. Talbots muted floral skirt, sold for $20. 

11. Life is Good t-shirt, sold for $20. 

12. Eddie Bauer maxi dresses, each sold for $25. 

13. Two more of the Sally Hansen nail polish strips sold. Each brought $5 and I paid $1 for them at the Dollar Tree. They were so easy to list and easy to ship. 

Cell Phone Photo Uploads

I finally got some of the photos off my phone and my hubby's phone and thought I would share them. 

My spring jacket which I got at Goodwill a few years ago.

Sitting at the doctor's. What else is new?
I just realized this "Life is good" sweatshirt also came from Goodwill.

Hammock shopping after visiting my father-in-law at the hospital.

I am thankful that so many shops have wheelchairs.
Yup, another Goodwill top.

No make-up! Can I say how much I love sock buns?
They make doing my hair so easy.

My husband's uncle passed away this week. We had the viewing on Friday
and the service on Saturday. I'm so thankful for easy dresses.
I purchased this one for $4.99 at Goodwill.

I love that we live in a place that has Amish. This buggy was  parked at Wal-Mart last week.

My knee swells above the knee cap on the outside. See that shaded part?

 

This week also included my knee breaking out which is common with RSD. 

I had pinned a similar leather bow barrette on Etsy for $15 last week.
Goodwill had real leather skirts for less than $2 and I
was able to recreate the look for a lot less. 

I snapped this funny photo of my giant husband's arm next to mine.

There is a great assisted living home just 20 minutes from where we live. My father-in-law Dean is 88 years old and has a bunch of health issues. He is in the hospital with pneumonia right now. He went in the day his brother passed away and came out of the same section of the hospital.

My husband and I made another trip to pick out two specific rooms to show him when he gets out of the hospital (hopefully this week). Both are brand new studio apartments with private bathrooms. He can bring his own furniture and truly customize the space. 

Dean knows we found a place and he promised to go for a tour when he gets out of the hospital. But he doesn't know this is definitely happening sooner rather than later.

Apartment #1: One of the studio apartments has Oak cabinetry and a built in desk area.

Apartment #1: The one with the oak cabinetry has a dresser which is nice.

Apartment #1: We will be replacing the chair with Dean's lift chair but
will probably keep most of the other furniture. 

Apartment #2: This studio apartment has white cabinetry.
However, the fridge is on the floor which may not work for Dean.
Plus there is no built-in desk area.

Apartment #2: Since there is no built-in desk area, there is a small table.
Again, the chair will come out if he picks this apartment and we will
replace it with his lift chair.

Apartment #2: This one has the TV on the wall and it has an extra closet.

Which will he choose? We shall see. We really wanted to give him options and make it feel like he could have a choice. This next stage of our lives will be busy. We have to get him settled at the assisted living home, I have a spinal stimulator trial at the beginning of June and we will have to get Dean's house ready to sell. 

This week was tough and I'm honestly glad it is over. Along with the viewing, funeral and all the hospital visits (we go up every day to visit Dean), I have had quite a bit of pain. I use a wheelchair almost any time I go out of the house. In fact, I am going to say my pain is back in full force. It calmed a bit after the Calmare treatment. If we had the time, I would go back to NJ and try again before the trial in June. However, we truly cannot leave Dean at the hospital right now. 

Yesterday I did something that was really tough for me. I resigned from teaching children's church. Our church just went to two services and I was teaching both atleast once or twice a month. It is just too much right now. I can jump back into teaching if my RSD goes into remission or if the stimulator works.

I am hoping this week is a bit calmer and I have more time to rest.

Recent Ebay Sales - 5/7/2014

Before my ebay sales, a quick catch up. Yesterday we toured a wonderful assisted living home for my 88 year old father-in-law Dean. It is brand new and gorgeous plus it is well within our price range. Plus it is just 20 minutes away. Woo-hoo! Even better than that? Dean seems willing to tour and open to moving. We are bringing him for lunch and a tour next Wednesday.

This morning the hubby took Dean to the ER. It turns out he has pneumonia and congestive heart failure. On top of that, his brother died this morning. We are going up later today to break the news to him. 

And now...ebay! Here are a few of my recent ebay sales. 

1. Laura Ashley floral cotton dress, sold for $36. 

2. Flax rayon printed dress, sold for $65. I took the time to look up the print and it turns out this was the only one on ebay. 

3. 1924 "Peace" dollar which was laying around the house. Sold for $25. 

4. Wildfox heart top, sold for $28. This is a great label to look for. Mine was more common and had some flaws. 

5. Bisou Bisou (a cheap department store brand) peacock one shoulder dress, sold for $20 although it had multiple pulls. 

6.  Lauren Ralph Lauren denim skirt, sold for $20. 

7. Sally Hanson nail strips, sold for $7. I purchased over 50 of these at the Dollar Tree last week. I will only make a few dollars on each but they were SO quick to list! 

8. Vera Bradley top, sold for $27. 

9. Vintage tie dye printed 1990's dress, sold for $22.50 even though it had multiple stains. How fun is this dress? 

10. Maggy London pale pink skirt suit, sold for $50. 

11. Ralph Lauren cableknit dress, sold for $35. 

12. Laura Ashley navy floral dress, sold for $25. 

Happy Monday

Last week we had some bad storms which blew off some of our shingles. The hubby is pretty awesome at fixing stuff and he was up there fixing the roof the next day. We will eventually need a new roof but we keep putting it off. A new roof is expensive! 

This man is so much fun! He makes me laugh every day. 

We have been doing a lot of work researching nursing homes in the area for my father-in-law, Dean. He is 88 years old, has Parkinson's, dementia and a few other health problems. We are getting to the point where we really need to have something in place. 

Last night at 11pm (!!!), Dean called my husband's cell phone. Dean wanted to let my hubby know that the Penny Saver that he picked up last Wednesday was missing a section. 

Dean then wanted to know if my hubby could go back to the store to see if the store would give him a replacement. Mind you, it is Sunday night at 11pm. Ummm...not happening. A new issue comes out on Wednesday. 

We have dozens & dozens of "funny" stories. The other day we were up there for hours listening to an idea Dean had and trying to calm him down. He wanted to see if the neighbor would give him one of their buildings so he could tear it down and sell it. The man literally takes 30 minutes to put on a sock with a grabber and he wants to tear down a building with a tractor? Again...not happening.

 

One more story for your enjoyment. I was sitting with Dean while the hubby was mowing the lawn last week. Dean was telling me that he wants to plant grass seed over the mud in the back. Why? So the ladies wearing high heels wouldn't need to step in the mud. (There are absolutely no ladies in high heels coming to his house let alone walking outside around garage.)

Happy Monday everyone!