Even with this horrible disease the time still passes so quickly.Got to open my antique shop over the weekend and DH did very well with talking to customers,last spring I discontinued opening because he got so confused but the past two days he seemed fine with it. Our oldest GD came to help and it was so great talking to all our old customers,we've has that shop since 1977 and it was DH's dream,I was glad he enjoyed it.
October...........it will be the month I place DH. Waiting to hear from the admissions office of the Veterans Home. The only thing we are waiting on is the nurse to look at the paperwork from my doctor to decide on what level of care he will need. That could be decided today. I am fortunate that it is only 10 minutes away from home.
yhouniey, so glad for you that you were able to open your shop. I miss the activities we used to do too.
jhouniey - I am glad you have opened your shop again. We also rent space behind a glass at our local antique dealer. It gives us somewhere to go and my dh loves to go and look at things and talk to people. He actually was following a shoplifter the other day when we were there, talking to him. The owner said she was so glad he did that because it stopped the person from stealing. We try to go once or twice a week. It is a great fun thing to do together and we get to downsize our stuff as well. Love of antiques has always been something we've shared. Almost everything in our house has come from auctions or estate sales. I am glad your husband is doing well with it. It is so good to see them enjoy theirselves.
Good luck Elaine--the transition is a very trying time on our nerves and emotions. I am content to be able to say that, 6 months in, Jeff is living a generally calm, peaceful existence and is well cared for. Close is good. I am grateful for that every day. I will be starting a songwriting class tomorrow, once a week. Not thrilled about driving into D.C., but excited to start. And it is birthday season for my kids...the younger two recently turned 20 and 22, and the older two are 24 and 26 this Fall.
BRINGING changes here too...I have my peer counselor coming tomorrow afternoon to help me navigate the getting in home help thing started. It will take a bit of time to get it figured out I think. I started the Lexapro and in only 2 days I can feel some physical changes...I gave up my coffee today to see if it affected the jitters and I think I can go without it for awhile. Also the sensory tingles buzzies seem to have quieted down too. I am a little sleepy and that is probably good. I guess the accumulated stress and anxiety hit the peak on teh 11th last month...Hope things continue to improve for me. DH had PT in an hour so now I have to get prodding him to get ready...
This is an incredible film looking out the front of a street car going down a long avenue in San Fransisco in 1906 where you can really see what it was like. The music is from the time period too. If you want to get away from a couple of minutes and enter the world your grandparents knew in a way you've likely never seen it before - here's the link. This is before traffic lights were invented.
Can't believe it's October already. Busy week here. Our daughter is getting married on Saturday, so a lot of little things to take care of. Looking forward to Thursday. Our closest and dearest friends (my husband's best friend/daughter's godfather and his wife) are coming in for the wedding from Arizona and coming to our house for lunch. Later I am attending my daughter's bachelorette party at a spa with our son keeping an eye on his dad. Relaxing...
Just got a call about this and am shook up. I can't talk to DH. I don't know how much he would understand and don't want to worry him. If you don't mind. Please pray for the safety of our DD and SIL. They are over in Afghanistan. Five people they work with were injured yesterday. They are going to be ok. But things are getting bad over there for them.
They still have 8 more months over there, I just pray I can keep it together. The stress is starting to get to me.
Oh blue, I will pray for them & for the people that were injured. I know how hard it is when you can't talk to your DH about things like this. I know it isn't the same, but we ARE here for you. (((HUGS)))
blue, so sorry to hear you have upsetting news. it does cause us grief when we cant discuss our fears and worries with our spouses anymore. its such a huge loss for us all. we manage to overcome on our own but it weighs heavily on hearts and minds. i hope your DD and SIL are ok and that the injured recover soon. divvi
Thank you all. Been a hard day. My niece is having health problems. Hopefully they can get them under control. And a dear friend's father is in the hospital with heart problems. Wow what a day.
blue - prayers going up. My manager I just said good-bye to - her son is deploying next year to Afghanistan. In lieu of what is going on - the soldiers we trained turning on us supposedly over a stupid short video is unacceptable. We need to pull our guys out of there yesterday. We need to do a mass exodus and take away all money we give to those countries.
We made it safely to Fernley. I drove for two hours yesterday and did not wreck the MH. We were blessed that we had little wind which made it easier for both of us. Last night we found what we thought was a perfect place to park for the night but silly us - truckers always like our spot. I would just get to sleep and a truck would come in releasing their air breaks. Arrived today around 11 to a hot day - 89- both of are tired. Art thinks we have been here a few days, that I have started work, that he walked the park meeting people today, etc. He did not walk the park, I have not started work (on Thurs), he did spend time chatting with the neighbors. Hopefully after a good night sleep tonight he will not be so mixed up on days although it seems like longer than yesterday that we left Prosser.
Charlotte, I hope you slept well last night. Maybe today you can walk around & reacquaint yourself with everything. Hopefully Art will level out a bit. Maybe it's good he thinks you've been there longer then you have, it might let him adjust to the new place sooner. Keep us posted, we love hearing about how you’re getting along.
MIMI.....This is for you. I was shopping today on OVERSTOCK.COM....for throw pillows for my new couch. And, there in front of me was a pillow that had"FLY BOY" on it. You might want to take a look and see if you might want it for a future present for your FLy Boy.
I have bought a new couch and chair. It was just too depressing for me to look at the couch where Jim took so many of his naps and the chair he loved to sit in. My GD is coming with her husband to pick them up tonight and they will look nice in her living room that is now absent of furniture.
Today we had to change the water hose cause he put the old contaminate one on which makes the water taste dirty. It leaked! We hooked up the propane tank - we have an adapter to hook an auxiliary tank so we don't use up the MH tank of propane which would require moving to fill - and it leaked. I told him lets turn it all off, go to the store and give it time to set. Praise the Lord when we came back and turned the propane and water on they didn't leak. Let's hope it stays that way.
Surprise, surprise, surprise! Son called hb - first time in about 1 1/2 years. He said he won't call cause he is afraid I will answer. They didn't talk long. I think he got tired of hb asking the same question or repeating things. :-)
Tomorrow is my first day of work. Looking forward to it.
My daughter's wedding was Saturday and it was lovely. My husband behaved himself the whole time and seemed to enjoy seeing friends and family. It was a busy week leading up to the big day but I was able to attend my daughter's bachelorette party at a spa and then have dinner with some out of town guests while our son watched his dad. It all went by so fast and today is really the first day I don't feel exhausted. :)
They are now on their honeymoon on the west coast. Starting in Seattle and ending in Los Angeles.
Up here it's just been thanksgiving. I was invited to my friend's place up on the lake for the weekend and the whole area is a riot of reds, oranges, yellows, and greens. Fall is in full bloom. His whole family was there and the house was warm, full of chatter, with a 24 lb turkey roasting all day. I got there the day before and stayed for three days. When the huge table was finally all set and we all sat down holding hands with thankful prayers from one of the daughters including my Dianne who couldn't be there, we all launched into an outrageous feast. Afterwards, having forgotten about everything but where I was and what I was saying and what I was listening to - they started their tradition of each person saying what they were thankful for and I suddenly became aggitated and squirmed around looking for an exit. In the middle of someone speaking I suddenly shot up and asked loudly if anyone minded that I really need some air. I hurried away from the silent table barely able to hang on. I had lost my dam and when it penetrated what was happening as the third person began, I could feel everything crashing in and knew I would be on that floor wailing if I didn't get away. I was unable to bear being thankful.
They were very understanding and we all talked about it which was good for me. I got to spend some real time around people I don't see often but have known most of my life. We sat around in the great room the next day with a crackling fire and talked all day. I got a real window into other lives. My friend's wife was off to Scotland the next day with her friend battling late stage cancer. The husband rented a small house in Edinborough and the three of them will spend most of the month there. My friend was off to Utah to play in a volleyball tournament at 62. I came home to my cats, sat down and looked out my window, and realized just how beautiful and at the same time painful life can be.
I wish your daughter and her husband a long and happy life together Deb.
Yes, good story Wolf. I like how the family with the member in late-stage cancer is going to hang out in Edinburgh for a while. Why not? Might as well just savor things. I would have trouble coming up with thankfulness this week too. I know there's plenty that's good, but it's not been an up one. I'll say this here, because no one knows the people, but I've had a secret crush on someone for a few months. Then, last week, he died and crashed his truck. (In that order, looks like.) So, he'll never know he was my new boyfriend. Jeff, meanwhile, has lost his ability to be aware of me, so I've been angry and inclined to say bad words this week. Obadi oblada.
bluedaze*, you had it. I watched it. This last one won't work because your comments are on the same line and people have to 'know' the address ends at "...4cA" when they copy it to paste into a browser.
Lovely man playing obladi oblada on a ukeleli (how the heck do you spell that?).
I'll be out of touch for a few days. I leave tomorrow for Washington, DC to spend some time with friends from high school. I'll be back to Maine Sunday night. I have hired a woman to take care of Marge while I'm gone.
I'm back from a fun trip to Washington, DC. The main purpose of the trip was to get together with 2 friends from highschool. 4 of us (one died 2 years ago) formed a club in highschool, and have tried to get together every year since then. The first "meeting" of the club was a square dance when we were sophomores, at which my wife was my date. I never dated another girl seriously after that.
We had a lot of fun talking about all sorts of things - politics, science, religion, and of course from highschool - girls. We also ate at some really good restaurants. Another plus of the trip was that I got to see my cousin and his wife.
Marge did well while I was gone, and seemed pleased to see me when I returned.
Marsh--my Dad was in such a club from HS on. They called themselves "The Women Haters," and have convened every year since. My dad died in '09, but Mom has gone to see the folks anyway, and I went with her last month. It's wonderful that you still do it after so many years!
Emily, our club was called "Gonionemus". This is a small jelly-fish we were studying in biology at the time and we thought it would be a good word to shout running through the halls. One line in our club song goes: "you know that it is girls we all adore".
The new job is going fine. Still getting use to all the repetitive paperwork but getting it down. Got our premium notice for auto and RV insurance. They raised our auto 27% over last year with no explanation. What is weird is last summer after paying the premium they sent me a refund check for $216 saying that Washington changed the way they could figure it so I overpaid. This year the premium is actually about the same as it was last year. Can't figure out why and that is stressing me. The agent has no idea either. I think I heard on the news why: Feds charge such a low interest to loan money that insurance companies are not getting the interest on whatever so they are raising peoples premiums to make up the difference.
Hb is adjusting to the change - the confusion from the move seems to be gone, just the 'normal' now. Many people when they come in to get mail tell me they enjoy him. There are two areas of stress at work: two of my fellow employees are hard of hearing which means I have to talk louder and repeat often (sound familiar?). Repeat things is what got me to tell hb he had to go to the doctor to find out why. Also, the one wears hearing aides but also swears (he is older). He always follows with 'excuse my french' but that doesn't cut it for me. The other day he spilled his coffee all over papers and the desk (thank goodness not in the keyboard) and a long string of profanity came out his mouth. I have to find a way to live with it and not let it trigger me.
Beautiful fall weather. The days are still nice but the nights are getting cooler. I just hope the cold holds off until I get the money to buy things for weatherizing like heat tape, insulation, etc.
Concentrate on the beautiful weather. Hope it stays warm. Do you have to weatherize the RV every year, and then remove the extra insulation as it warms up? Or is this just normal RV maintenance?
When insurance companies make bad investments they increase premiums (hm... do they get rid of the people who made the bad investments?). Right now safe investments, such as treasury bills, have a very low rater of return. This is good for businesses that need to borrow money, not so good for those lending. Some of the big banks aren't interested in the boom in refinancing because the rates have gone so low, others are happy to get more business from borrowers with very good credit and houses that are in good areas.
Can the change have anything to do with moving from one state to another? I am not familiar with insurance for people who are wanderlusts and move around.
I get all of my property, life and auto insurance from a mutual life insurance company (AMICA). Not cut rate but my premiums are not paying for large executive salaries or dividends. I actually get dividends based on the amount of insurance I buy from them and the service is excellent.
While I'm picking lint out of my bellybutton I've been watching the day's getting shorter. About 3 minutes a day at my latitude. If you track sunrise and sunset times for a few days you will see the changes and that the difference from day to day varies. What you may not know is that by doing this you are tracking the elliptical orbit the earth takes around the sun combined with the 23 1/2 degree tilt in the earth's axis. If you put those times away for a year and compare them to next year on the same days, you will see that they are precisely the same adjusting for leap years.
It's amazing how well we can understand time without necessarily having any idea what to do with it.
ps - don't forget that the 'sun' is a constant nuclear explosion just 8 minutes away and the reason people get slowly cooked in it is because they're standing in it's radiation. Wave your arm around and realize that air weighs 14.7 pounds per cubic inch. Got it? Three bags of sugar per cubic inch at sea level. It takes that much air to protect us from most of the radiation. One day people will realize that God's creation and being allowed to understand how it works are not in conflict because if it were we wouldn't and so on. Not in my lifetime though.
Found cracks in our brick work on the house. Need to get foundation guys out to look at it. We had work done quite a few years ago. And at that time they told me that the end of the house most likely need work at some point. Now I need to address the problem. Just the though of doing this on my own is hard. But in a way I have always taken care of the big decisions just would run the idea by DH and he was fine. I want to live in a cave. Tomorrow is our 32 anniversary. Don't know what he remembers about us. But guess we are getting house jacks for the occasion.
Paulc - the heat tape could stay on year round if we stay in one place. Stuffing around the dashboard can stay if we don't move the motorhome. Our insurance rates are based on our homestate - not where we currently all. Sad thing is that we average 10 miles a week driving, maybe more if we go site seeing, but it still comes out real low averaged out.
I think the last 24 days are catching up to me - all the stress of moving, new job, bills and figuring out what needs to be done for winterizing and then supervising him while I let him do it. I am tired and depressed. I am looking to getting one of those oil filled electric portable heaters - they are suppose to use less electric and the ceramic one we use is getting old. Since I don't have to pay electric, I will use it for primary heating.
I had a good day yesterday. Well other than paying the property taxes. Took DH out to lunch. Reminded him of the day and asked how long we had been married. He said 20 years. Only off by 12. LOL
I worked hard to make it nice and it was. Much better than crying all day. I do have those days too........
The property down the road from us was being sold at public sale today,DH and I walked down, a sale is usually a gathering of the neighborhood and it was perfect weather. DH did really good, talking and mingling with the people.he tpld everyone he talked with that I take good care of him. Got a little embarassing.He was in a really good mood the rest of the day,very cooperative.Before this awful disease he was always going to sales to buy for our antique shop,guess today brought back memories.I'll have to find more sales to take him to.
That is super yhouniey....when I lived in the mid-west loved going to sales and antique shops...could spend the whole day going the farm sales....even though I didn't need a tractor. You got to wander through the house and see really interesting things.
The best thing living in an RV park is all the people hb gets to mingle with. He goes out walking and stops to talk. I have had no complaints from anyone, and it makes him feel good.
There is a life after Alzheimer's: I got my marks back for mid-terms: A+ in Anthropology, A+ in Creative Writing. Sorry if I seem to be tooting my horn, but I'm so surprised, just had to share it.
My month is coming to an end quite badly. I have two visitors, ladies from Canada. One is here for two weeks, she leaves Tuesday. She is awesome and if she had not been here, I don't know how things would have turned out with the other one.
The other one, she is 51, 6 years younger than me, is renting the little rental house next door for 3 months. She wanted to take a leave from her husband and her home life, (she does not work and is well off), and take this time to reflect on her life. I knew that she has bi polar issues and is on meds, she also gets migraines and we believe, has a horrible addiction to Oxycontin. I did not know about the addiction until she got here.
We gave her 3 days to be alone, and then I went over there to make sure she was ok, and I could hear her slamming things around. When I tried to talk to her and calm her down, she screamed at me, HAVE YOU NOT EVER HAD A BAD DAY???? HAVE YOU NOT EVER HAD PAIN?? GET OUT GET OUT GET OUT...
WOOO I went home. So when I went to talk to her this morning, she told me that I should not have tried to talk to her then, that I pushed her, and that it could be dangerous. I told her, there will be no danger here, and left.
so now...I have one more day with the darling friend. She is trying to help me formulate how to get that woman out of there. You know, I had not seen her for some years, but had NO IDEA she was so screwed up., and NEVER would have had her here if I had.
THIS!! AFTER 3 TRYING UP ALL NIGHT DAYS WITH DADO!! The woman is obviously a sociopath and cannot take blame for anything, or feel for anyone else. THIS, and I did nothing, nothing wrong, and in fact, did everything to make the place cozy and clean, filled with flowers and fruit.
It is a damn horrible thing to deal with.Who knew? I hope I can get through it without breaking down. How awful to be so selfish, to totally ignore that I am going through the hardest thing in my whole life.
Coco, I am so sorry this has happened. Please, please, be careful. She spounds as if she could be a danger to herself or to you. Don't hesitate to call 911 or some authority if this happens again. Arms are around you.
Oh Dear Coco. I agree with Vickie. Don't hesitate to take care of yourself & if that means calling 911 then that is what you have to do. You have your own situation with Dado, you can't be responsible for her too. Please be safe & let us know how you are doing.