Where I am & start of new free kit

We had a Blizzard Warning last Friday - something that doesn't happen around here. Some of the local area got as much as 12 inches of snow! I live on a main road, one that heads into the Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek-Fort Story ( a base that combines Navy, Marine, and Army forces) so city snow plws came through multiple times, pushing the snow and ice up against our vechicles that were parked on the shoulder of the road and across the end of the driveway. Secondary roads didn't get plowed at all with the result that everything stopped. Offices and schools were closed (many didn't open until 1/12) and the military only required essential personnel to try to get in.

Hubby and I were fine. I'd gone to the grocery ealry on Friday to pick up some essentials and set about making cold weather comfort food to get us through: chili, split pea soup (with Christmas ham bone), etc. When bread got low, I pulled out a loaf of frozen bread dough and baked that. We worried about Dad because we couldn't get out to go to him if needed, but he did alright.
He'd woken up Sunday morning to find his heater not working properly but got hold of the company he's dealt with for years and they came out and rigged up a bypass to get heat flowing until they ordered a replacement part. And he does have a gas fireplace he can use at times like that. Fortunately, he had on hand some sandwich supplies and a TV dinner, so he made out okay.
Tuesday, my husband was able to get out the new car which has four wheel drive and made it up the street to the grocery yesterday for a couple things we needed. But store and other parking lots are not cleared and the side streets still impassible. Local weathermen are saying we are going to get a major warm up to about 60 degrees by the end of the week! Local area quick care places will be full of people who get sick with all this temperature flucuation.

I'm not wanting to do anything - just hibernate. Haven't even finished putting the Christmas decorations away. 2017 isn't starting out so well. Last I spoke with my son, he and his wife were still sick and having to work through it. My son's stepmother lost her father not long after Christmas. Learned my brother had a second stroke Christmas week while his wife was away. He didn't go to the hospital because he didn't want to leave his new (rescued) dog alone and because, he said, they couldn't do anything for him anyway. My husband's tests didn't go well. Doctor wasn't able to complete them and hubby says he isn't going through any more prep and isn't going to allow any extreme measures. With Dad continuing to slowly decline, I'm getting pressure from some family members to get him into an assisted living facility. They mean well but don't seem to understand I don't have power-of-attorney and since he is of sound mind, he makes his own decisions.

So much for the whining. I'm really unhappy with myself that I do that as if it really explains what I do or don't do. I have been working on a Holiday Tea kit for January but I'm not all that happy about it. I guess I'll start giving you what I have tomorrow after I get back from my doctor. Have been thinking that I might want to go to one post a week so I don't feel like I'm neglecting other things to play with Photoshop. Don't know yet.

I wrote the above section on Wednesday and here it is Saturday already! Thursday I didn't get around to posting, planning to do it that night after doing a few things. But my father fell again. I'd taken groceries over on Wednesday and he seemed okay. Planned to go over Thursday and do a few things but had bad headache so it was around 5:30 when hubby called to check on him and got answering machine. No surprise as he often can't get to the phone quickly, is sleeping without hearing aid, or talking to June. About 30 minutes later just as we were getting ready to call again, Dad called just to say, "I need help." When we opened the door, there was blood on the entryway floor and he was over at the end of the sofa where the phone was, on his knees, bent over the sofa. He had left his chair about 2 hours (!) previously with mug in hand, planning to drop it off in kitchen before heading down the hall. Said he had reached the linoleum entryway and suddenly knew he was going to fall and hit the floor. His right eye was blackened, nose scraped and nose had been bleeding. He said he laid there, wishing he'd kept his cell phone with him like he'd been doing but it was on the dining room table and he knew he couldn't reach it. So he crawled over to the wireless phone by the sofa. Where he was positioned, there was no way we could safely get him up so I called paramedics. They checked him out well, saw no signs of concussion and even ran an EKG which read normal. But they told him so many falls is Not normal. Since I don't have power-of-attorney, I could not insist he go to the ER for further check. There's more but that's the gist of it. He doesn't want one of those call button thing because he doesn't want paramedics breaking down the door. Won't move in with us or let me stay there with him. I'm at my wits end. Every night as soon as I cut off the light thinking I'm going to sleep, I start worrying about him. Do it during day too but this means I sleep about 15 minutes and wake up and have to get to sleep all over again. Spoke with my brother and his wife yesterday to let them know update. SIL went through much with her parents and gave some advice and offered to come up and give us a break but Dad really wouldn't like her staying with him. Anyway, that is what is going on here.

We did get that warmup and snow is gone but it has now turned cold again and by Sunday we may have a mix of rain, sleet, and snow. Oh joy.

Here is a little of Holiday Tea:

Link:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/57614067/2017/Holiday%20Tea/ws_HolidayTea_1.zip