Monday, February 29, 2016

We’re back, baby!


Here I stand (hat in hand) begging the Thrilling Days of Yesteryear faithful for forgiveness because I’ve been away from the blog for so long.  I mentioned that content for the blog in January would be a bit skimpy due to the hustle-and-bustle expected after mi madre’s back operation…but surely, I said to myself, things would pick up again in February.  Alas, this was not to be.

Sister Kat posted this picture to Facebook, commenting "Mom prepares to go to the gym. I never thought I'd be typing 'Mom' and 'gym' in the same sentence."
First, the particulars: Mom’s operation(s) went without a hitch—the only real storm cloud on the horizon was that a week after the work was done, she was transferred to a facility to undergo rehab of a physical and occupational therapy nature…and she did not like that one little bit.  No sir.  She did not like it.  She started to see her facility time as some sort of punishment, which was certainly not our intention—we just wanted her to get on the mend as quickly as possible, and not endanger all the nice work done by the surgeons.  This is purely speculation on my part, but I think she might have stared into the abyss and thought This is what it’s going to be like when those rotten children of mine put me in a home.  It got so bad that she began wheedling for an early release date, and though I promised Dad I would hold firm I pretty much caved after one of the night nurses told me of an incident in which she had to calm Mom down after a panic attack.  I just couldn’t sign on to keeping her there any further even if it was best for her in the long run.

So with the return of Mom to our modest digs at Rancho Yesteryear, we had to make a few changes; one was to rent a hospital bed from an outfit here in town…and that lasted all of three or four days before Mom said “f**k this noise” and elected to sleep in the guest room.  With each day, she gets adventurous to do little tasks like fold laundry and make preparations for lunch and/or dinner; I do most of the heavy lifting like get the clothes into and out of the washer and dryer, and serve up the grub for meals when it’s ready.  Unfortunately, I’m still on Grocery Duty (gad, do I hate shopping) but I’m getting more acclimated to it.  The last time I was in Publix, one of the cashiers who knows Mom pretty well started pumping me for information…and it took all of my self-discipline not to fall to the floor in helpless laughter when she said, “You know, I’ve known your mom for quite a while…and she strikes me as a stubborn person.”  (Had this been someone I knew better, my response would have started with “no” and ended with “Sherlock.”)

As you might have inferred from some of the photos accompanying this essay, the Double K’s (sister Kat and sister-in-law Katie) visited for a couple of days and brought my favorite nephew with them—which was a wonderful gift for Mom, since she doesn’t get to see him as often as she should.  Because I am a part-time idiot in real life, I made the mistake of telling Davis that while I had seen the first Toy Story movie I had not seen Toy Story 2 or 3—so he preceded to give me an exhaustive rundown of the content in each film.  At every lull in the conversation. During the visit, the landline phone started ringing in my back bedroom and the only way I would be able to answer it was to run and get it before the fifth ring…so when I took off down the hall I heard Davis cry out “I’ve never seen Uncle Ivan run before!”  (I was not angry about this, because it is true—I rarely run unless I’m chased.  Mom and Dad, on the other hand, were dissolved in hysterics…with Mom commenting that she nearly wet her pants.)

So, with things settling back down to some semblance of normalcy, I’m going to try and get some reviews up on the blog soon.  I’ve been very naughty and purchased more movies (many of which you probably won’t be seeing on The Greatest Cable Channel Known to Mankind™ any time in the near future) in addition to receiving one or two gratis screeners outside of my ClassicFlix work.  (My recent contributions to CF, reviews of The Captive City and Everybody Does It, are up for your perusal if you’re interested.)  I’ll also have some nice Radio Spirits swag to give away—the first of several giveaways will begin on Thursday.  Tomorrow, I’ll resume with Overlooked Films on Thursday with an entry that aired on Tee Cee Em recently…so once again, mea culpa for making you wait so long.

9 comments:

Greg Daniel said...

Glad to have you back in the saddle (or should I say "RUNNING the race") and glad that your mom is doing well. Davis is right -- you REALLY need to watch Toy Story II.

Caftan Woman said...

So, young Davis gives exhaustive rundowns of film content, eh? I can only conclude that such a habit is genetic.

My own son, although autistic and developmentally delayed, loves to make cast lists of classic movies with one major substition. Example: "The Jungle Book" cast is written out with Martin Short as a monkey or Hans Conried as Colonel Hathi. He hands the list to one of us to read and waits for our reaction to the switcheroo. And, by golly, we better give an Edgar Kennedy worthy double take or else!

Best to your mom. I know that once those doctors start tinkering with you it feels like it never ends. Such a drag.

Ivan G Shreve Jr said...

Our Lady of Great Caftan wrote:

Example: "The Jungle Book" cast is written out with Martin Short as a monkey or Hans Conried as Colonel Hathi

I would totally watch this movie.

She continues:

Best to your mom. I know that once those doctors start tinkering with you it feels like it never ends. Such a drag.

Mom is out of the woods where the docs are concerned. She has a physical therapist who comes by twice a week now to help her with exercises; this morning he says "Do you have a coat?" because he was going to take her outside for a walk. (The look of realization on her face was one I wish I had grabbed for posterity.)

Ivan G Shreve Jr said...

Mr. Daniel joked:

Glad to have you back in the saddle (or should I say "RUNNING the race")

I saw what you did there, Greg. Just remember the finale of The Fugitive when it comes to me racing: "The day the running stopped."

Rick29 said...

Ivan, glad that you're back! The world of movie and TV blogging needs you. Glad your Mom is on the mend, too.

Rich said...

What are the odds that you and I would both return to our blogs after extended absences (though yours was longer than mine) due to incidents involving medical conditions, and that we would both write about it on the same day...

...that day being FEBRUARY 29?????

Good to see you again. Glad your mom's okay.

It is indeed a mad mad mad mad world.

policomic said...

Glad to have you back, Ivan, and glad to hear your mom is doing all right.

The Metzinger Sisters said...

Nice to see you back in action, Ivan. And the best to your mom on her road to recovery.

KC said...

I'm happy your mom is doing well. Sounds like she's lucky to have you!