A long awaited update... well, not quite sure how many of you have waited, nor how long you waited, but here it is:

I have been accused of having too much time on my hands so I figured I should update - since I have nothing else to do. ;-P

Let's see.... after getting to bed at a mere 4:00am this morning, I was up again at 8:00 to call and cancel an appointment for Jessica. That's right, she had a bad night - yet again. I was able to go back to bed for awhile. Poor Miss Jess was coughing more today and needed an extra breathing treatment. She was quite tired most of the day but perked up in the evening. It's 12:20 am and she just got up. She really wants to go to school tomorrow but I seriously doubt it will happen. If she can get up and wants to go, then by all means, I will help her go, but she wasn't feeling that great today. School started on August 15th and she has only been to school twice.

Today I found papers for Jessica to sign to give me the legal medical power of attorney. We need to find two witnesses who are not in any way related to us or to Jessica's doctor, or an employer of her doctor or could in any way benefit financially from her "estate". lol... I don't see people lining up at our door wanting her barbies, coloring books and video games.... well, maybe the video games. :-P We also need to have the documents notorized. I need to get this done ASAP so that I can file an appeal concerning PHS denying to continue to provide mental health care for Jess. Maybe they will provide MY mental health when I'm in a padded cell from having to deal with all this stuff? Anyway, I still don't know how to go about getting legal guardianship without spending thousands of dollars, so I guess the medical power of attorney is better than having nothing at all. I need to call SSI and find out if they will require us to have guardianship before we help Jess apply for it. I doubt it but I think it would be better that way. Hey, I just had a lightbulb momment... maybe Jess can get on SSI then her earnings can pay for the lawyer to help us get guardianship? Is that legal? *gulp* Having her parents as her guardians is in her best interest since she doesn't understand more than an 8 year old would.... about anything. Well, I'm sure we'll figure it out somehow...On a lighter note, Karl finished cleaning out the store room off the carport. YAY! Now I can move all my junk - erm.... stuff - out of the house and have a more organized home. That's the plan anyway.... I did whittle down a huge stack of stuff off of my painting table. I used to paint baskets as a job and I have a table in the corner of the livingroom where I have all my paints, brushes, books and an area to paint. Well, I stopped painting 2 years ago when Jess went into hospice and that area has just gotten all kinds of stuff piled on there. I will be glad to get that area all cleaned up and maybe even paint a little again. This time for FUN! On the left are some pictures of baskets that I painted. Mary Friedrichs and her daughter, Misty, hand-weave the baskets and take them all over the SouthWest to shows to sell. Mary would pay me to do the painting. I really enjoyed it but after a few years it wasn't as much fun to paint... it became a "job" and I got a bit burned out. When Jess was placed into hospice I just knew that my time had come to retire from the basket painting business with Jess needing so much of my time and attention. (She still does - it's now 1:33am and I just put Jess back to bed for the 3rd time.)

I also painted some birdhouses and other fun stuff. Karl has made a lot of things out of wood for me to paint including the bench that I have pictured here and of course I painted the pansies on it. I have been so busy running my scrapbooking business and making my own albums that I haven't paid much attention to painting. I am starting to miss it.

Next week is my birthday and I have people guessing how old I will be. It doesn't really matter to me since I FEEL like I should be in my 60's (arthritis, fibromyalgia and crankiness catching up to me - especially with such little sleep at night). So if you want, feel free to guess my age. And yes, I expect a lot of nasty guesses especially from Dan. :-P But here's my logic: Dan's birthday (and he will be an oooooooooold 30) is on Sep 17. My birthday is on Sep 20... so Dan is 3 days older than me. So neener neener.

My sister, Karen, will be almost as old as me on Sep 19th. hehe... Happy birthday sis! Wish we lived closser so we could celebrate our birthdays together like we used to! :-)