I spent several days last week with my sister, in the hospital. (I posted as if I was home but no, I was not.) I haven’t ever specifically said why Christy has been in the hospital. Here is the abridged story:

She has polycystic kidney disease. PKD destroyed her kidneys and they were removed last September. Living without kidneys is not easy. She is, of course, on dialysis 3 times a week. Dialysis is time consuming and there are serious diet and fluid restrictions.

Many people still have at least some kidney function to go along with dialysis and that helps to control a variety of things. Like blood pressure. Without kidneys, her blood pressure can spike up very quickly to dangerous levels.

If her only problems were diet restrictions, time spent in dialysis, and blood pressure issues things would be pretty good. Unfortunately she’s had bouts of constant migraine pain (now less frequent), occasional seizures (none lately), and severe abdominal pain that the doctors could not nail down.

She was in the hospital for the abdominal pain and a blood infection. It was decided that she really had to have a colonoscopy. On top of everything else, my sister had to drink “the stuff”. I had a colonoscopy at 50 so this is something I know about. “The stuff” for those of you who have yet to have one is Golytely. If ever a product was mis-named, this is it.

As it turns out, though, it’s a good thing that she drank the stuff. The colonoscopy showed that she had been pretty well blocked and that many of her recent problems were related to that. The good news is that she’s feeling better! She is really tired and ready to not be in the hospital, but things are looking up.

I thought I’d share this with you for a variety of reasons. PKD is a disease that a lot of people have and not many people know about. There is not a cure. The PKD Foundation is dedicated to raising awareness and funds for research. I’m happy if this, in some small way, helps them.

We have a saying in our house – “Watch out for the beer truck.” We are referring to that thing (whatever it turns out to be) that you can’t see and that will eventually come at you. For Steve and me, it’s a reminder to take pleasure in every day. After all she’s been through, Christy does savor each day. If she can, so can I – and so can you!

Be happy and enjoy your life!

Every year around Feb. 14 my daffodils bloom. They were a little early this year!

I know that many of you are still enjoying/enduring winter and and I thought you’d like to see this bit of spring.

Imagine air that smells like a cool spring day and that’s what’s happening in north Texas now. I know it’s not going to last – cold, freezing weather always comes back to us before Easter – but today is very nice!

When my boys were little, I took them to the park. A lot. Fresh air made them happy – and they slept better which made everyone happy!

The weather has been pretty in north Texas lately and I’ve been taking Elanor and Jack to Hillcrest park. It’s a small park and very little kid friendly.

Jack is starting to walk and I’ve been making him walk in the park. It’s so much fun to see him figuring out how the world works. He likes to slide!

He and Elanor play really well together and I hope that lasts a long time.

My son, Chris, is really happy to have a son. They are such guys together! What this means is that sometimes they do “guy” stuff that I’m not all that crazy about.

The other night before dinner Chris wanted to show me how well Jack balances himself. So Chris perched Jack on the cats’ scratching post.

Chris was standing right there to catch Jack if he started to teeter. I wasn’t thrilled, but took pictures anyway. Jack thought it was great fun! And I have to admit, the boy does have good balance.

I did hear from Del, the winner of my block. It is on it’s way to her. Keep watch for the next blog door prize!

Last month when Steve and I were in Oklahoma City visiting parents, we spotted the metal base to a patio table. The glass was gone, but the base was in good shape. I even liked the slightly weathered blue paint on it.

We got it back home and I decided it needed a mosaic top . We used a sheet of Hardie board for the base.

I priced tile and realized that I didn’t want to spend that much. I had some garage sale plates and white tiles. We bought mastic and grout.

I broke the plates between pieces of cardboard with a 4 lb hammer. Wear goggles!

Steve helped me with this project. It’s too bad we don’t have a movie of us hurriedly trying to stick the pieces to the table before the mastic dried!

I could have gone hunting for more plates, but honestly I didn’t have time. We both think it has a nicely casual look as it is. And it was (practically) free!