My G'pa passed away this morning.

I'm sad, but handling it well because we knew this was coming for over a year now. My G'pa (on my Dad's said) had Alzheimer's and it got bad really quickly. The last 6 months or so he has been in the nursing home and had lost over 35 lbs.

His quality of life was 0% and really for the sake of him not being in pain anymore I had hoped this would happen months ago b/c I just hate to think of my G'pa stuck in a bed wasting away to a slow death.

It's really the first time someone close in my family has passed away. I lost great grandparents and an uncle on my step-dad's side, but I have been so lucky to have all of my grandparents (including step-dad's side) alive until this very moment. I'm 29 so I know this is so very special.

I won't be going to the funeral since its a 12 hour drive and will probably end up being in the middle of the week. Plus I've got to start my injections and have some Dr. appointments, so it just wouldn't work. I had said my goodbyes and started to make peace with this when I last saw my grandparent's which was almost 2 years ago because G'pa was already getting bad then.

I hate that I didn't see them more between that time and now, but like my Dad and I were talking about, I got to spend a dozen or so summers with them not to mention some holidays and special events like graduations and my wedding (my G'pa didn't get to come but my G'ma surprised me). We decided its much better to visit when we can have fun and enjoy each others company than visit next to the hospital bed. I have happy memories of G'pa and that's how I want to remember him. Not the way he was when I last visited him because that was sad. I want the happy times, and I have those.

Sorry I'm rambling, I guess I need to get this out so I can finish processing this and make my peace. Tonight my G'pa get fireworks for the wonderful 90 year life he lived. I love you G'pa!

House updates

Way back on Jan 28th I posted a list of things I wanted done around the house... so I thought I'd update what stuff has been accomplished and add some to the list. Since the tornado, I have to say that a LOT of work got done that I never thought would happen. Anyway, here goes:

House TLC for 2011

• Donate any clothes, shoes, etc. I (or B) no longer wear / use (Donated a lot after the Apr. 27th tornado, still need to go through some clothes though b/c I know there's more I could get rid of)
• Throw out too worn / unusable clothes, shoes, etc. (This is pretty much done. I'm sure there's an article of clothing here or there that we haven't gone through yet, but mostly done.)
• Shred all documents with personal info we no longer need (In the process. Got a LOT of this done, but we still have a good pile. Also need to remember to sign up for no "you're pre-approved" mail)
• Finish painting dining room (Yeah... this didn't get done b/c we had to pile a lot of our stuff in the dining room while the rest of our house was getting fixed...on my too do list for early next year)
• Hang curtains in guest room
• Hang pictures / art (Working on getting things back the way we want them so no wall art yet)
• Unclutter livingroom and master bedroom (You could say these are uncluttered since everything got pulled out of each room)
• Decorate livingroom and master bedroom
• Finish decorating kitchen
• Put shelves / hooks in laundry room and garage
• Arrange pick up for daybed for donation (Daybed was donated!)
• Get rid of broken futon (Done, helps when you have a 20 something ft dumpster in your front yard for a couple months!)
• Get rid of dead tree in front yard (This got done not long after the tornado knocked it over)
• Landscape front yard (Didn't get this accomplished with all the craziness, but totally on our to do list for Spring. We did get rid of all the crazy bushes and whatnot so we have a clean slate for the Spring)
• Get rid of random bushes in backyard (I really don't know what the people who lived here before us were thinking with their random shrubbery in the middle of the back yard!?) (Hallelujah!! Our back yard look soooo much better now!)
• Update both bathroom light fixtures (Well, we got the guest bathroom light updated, one down, one to go)
• Get livingroom rug steam cleaned (No need now that all the carpet is ripped out and we have laminate!!)
• Paint master bathroom (I guess I was wanting to change the color, but for now, the color is fine)
• Repaint guest bath (maybe) (Yup, found a new color I love with the new floors. I just lack a second coat and this is finished!)
• Fix chipped paint in guest room (We had all the walls in this room fixed b/c they were a mess, just have to repaint now)
• Decorate guest room
• Take all cardboard boxes to be recycled (Done)

• Big project: Unclutter / organize 3rd bedroom (aka storage room) (This is still storage while we were getting the rest of the house fixed. Another big to do to finish early next year)

As you can see, there are a few things we did get accomplished. Always makes me feel better to get things done. I'll make an updated list for 2012 later. Also, have an RE appointment in a few weeks to go over our next step, so will blog about that later.