Thanks, and Updates

Strange day.

At the nursing home after successfully getting my recalcitrant and stubborn father to get his socks on, the staff took him to the bathroom where he collapsed, vomited, and slipped into an apparent coma. His blood pressure was 'unsustainably low.' He barely responded to any stimulus, and only deep pain at that.

Pip and I went to the hospital. The HG met us there with the Striderling and the Striderlings pseudonymless baby sister (seven weeks old).  Granny Tea, of course, was there.  The Equuschick did not come because her babies are sick.

My dad never opened his eyes the entire time we were there (at lest five hours).  He was largely unresponsive.  However, when we set the babies on the bed near him, he reached out his hand and stroked their sweet little heads- with his eyes closed. The HG says that when she told her grandpa hi, he opened his mouth (but not his eyes) and mouthed hi back.

His blood pressure returned to somewhat normal on its own.  We all left the hospital at about 5:30. Granny Tea returned an hour later and reports that
His eyes were open, he was sitting up and the aide was feeding him soup and pudding!  He mostly stayed awake after that picking at sheets, taking his O2 mask off, trying to get out of bed.He didn't talk much. He mostly doesn't talk, except to tell people no, stop it, and leave him alone.

What's next? I don't know.  God knows. 

On the unemployment front- still no regular job.  However, the HM has learned he is on speed dial for the elementary school. The principal called him this evening from her cell phone and said, "I'm away from my office, so can't remember if I've asked you to come in tomorrow or not- did I?"



She hadn't.  She rectified that situation.  That means that every school day since he made the rounds and chatted up the principals he has been called in to work.He has often been called in to sub at different schools twice on the same day- this morning, in fact, he got a call at 7 a.m. to teach at the high school, but was already on his way to the elementary school.

Substituting pays less than half of what the HM made before, so we're not sure how sustainable this is. We'd like to give it a shot. It will require rebudgeting even more than we already have and we haven't had time to sit down and walk through those expenses.  We've just been on a near total lock-down on spending mode. There are still some areas where we could do better.  We can do this so long as we don't have to buy more groceries than the milk and eggs, and in that area, well...

We are still eating out of our pantry except for milk, eggs, and some fresh produce. Granny Tea bought our raw milk this week.  I did splurge this weekend and buy lunch meat, cheese, and strawberries ( a dollar a pint) and baby portabella mushrooms (also on sale for a dollar a pint). It helps immensely that I had a five gallon bucket of oat groats at the start of this, and that the mornings are cold enough to enjoy the crockpot grains cereal.  My kids, including Blynken and Nod, are eating this for breakfast every morning, and often finishing off the leftovers for snacks.  Otherwise, we'd try these muffins with leftover oatmeal.  We still have enough cash left in the grocery envelope from the time before unemployment to cover those small extras for about two more weeks. By that time, we should have the first paycheck from the substitute teaching, and we'll use that for groceries and gas.I mentioned that somebody sent us a surprise gift of a huge package of toilet paper via Amazon?  Well, she informed me she'd bought it on subscribe and save, so we'll be getting it every month. We had two giant family packs of toilet paper in the house, unopened. We're taking those back to the store and exchanging them for whatever fresh produce is on sale.=)

Jenny treated everybody to pizza and some food from the frozen convenience food section of the grocery store tonight because it was such an emotionally exhausting day.

We still haven't touched our emergency fund.  We'd already set aside funds for finishing up the Rattery. However, I'd like to find the kitchen cabinets and appliances used on Craig's List now.  This requires more time, but less money.If we can get that finished soon enough and rent it out, well, that plus substituting is still much less than the HM made before, but would enough more than substituting alone that we could probably manage it without relying exclusively on beans and rice once the freezer is empty.=)

Meanwhile, we trust God, do what we can, and keep on trusting God. This world is not our home.  Good thing, too.