Adventures With Mom

[dragnlaw]

blissful, as much as fur coats are no longer accepted by many, when it is -40 F that is the only thing that kept me warm!

I still have that poor old coat. When my daughters played Ringette (outdoor rinks) games where not cancelled unless it was -10 F. There I was wrapped in my huge coat, in my huge mukluk boots, warm as toast while the other parents stomped around shivering.

 

[GinnyPNW]

I don't think her appetite is unusual. In my Mom's later years, she could out eat MDH any day of the week. She claimed that she doesn't eat much, but we know different! Mikey is 6 foot tall, close to 190 pounds, give or take. Mom was 5 foot, 4, in her younger days, and probably weighed about 100 pounds in her later days. Go figure, huh?

 

[Kaneohegirlinaz]

I don't think her appetite is unusual. In my Mom's later years, she could out eat MDH any day of the week. She claimed that she doesn't eat much, but we know different! Mikey is 6 foot tall, close to 190 pounds, give or take. Mom was 5 foot, 4, in her younger days, and probably weighed about 100 pounds in her later days. Go figure, huh?

Pretty much the same here Ginny.
I eat half of what those two do!

 

[blissful]

blissful, as much as fur coats are no longer accepted by many, when it is -40 F that is the only thing that kept me warm!

I still have that poor old coat. When my daughters played Ringette (outdoor rinks) games where not cancelled unless it was -10 F. There I was wrapped in my huge coat, in my huge mukluk boots, warm as toast while the other parents stomped around shivering.

That is just satisfying as all get out!



I hear you on the fur coats no longer accepted. I hate to waste things, my husband is a trapper, so each year we deal with fur. It keeps the overpopulation of the muskrats in balance in the ecology of the area. This is why I suggest wool. It's as close as you can get to warmth, dry warmth.



And cotton, I love it for how it feels, but it is a bear for how long it takes to dry. It takes twice the amount of time to dry when I hang it on the line than the poly-fabric and blends.



I so get your outdoor rinks. Dragonlaw. My cousins in saskatchewan were BIG into hockey (not netball) and as a child I listened and watched my mom, tell me all about how important hockey was in her area. When I then lived there for short times, it was a huge, indoor complex financed by the town. It was a popular and talked about as much as the Packers are in WI.

 

[Kaneohegirlinaz]

* Follow Up To 'Lights' *

I have to keep reminding my Mother that we do have lights in our home, unlike her apartment in California that we just recently rescued her from.

But seriously, Mom only had a total of three lamps in her 2 bedroom apartment, and rarely used them.

I'm of the camp more is a good thing.
I can light this joint up like Times Square on News Eve!
I had been told by our ophthalmologist that as we get older, our eyes need more light and its best to have plenty of it, day or night.

Mom also has taken to the new habit of "locking up shop" far before sundown.
She'll go into her bedroom and close the blinds and drapes long before it gets dark outside.
So I made a comment about this last night, "Mom, why is your room so dark already?"
Her reply was its dark outside already.
I started to say something, but DH shot me a look and that ever so tiny shake of his head as in "LEAVE IT!"

View attachment 49046

I did, and simply went and turned on some lights!!!

HEH!!!
Mom finally really got it!
The past coupla nights, Mom has been turning on one of the bedside lamps in her bedroom, as well as the Owl Lamp in that small hallway!


... and the Adventure continues ...

 

[dragnlaw]

Hooray! Sometimes it takes a lot of examples for an idea to sink in. But you did it!

 

[Kaneohegirlinaz]

Now we need to to work on some other things
I just had to throw out a half a stick of Butter, it was spoiled.
I've tried to lead by example when it comes to condiments on the table,
ie - Butter and Jam, I put it out on the table with an accompanying spoon/small knife for us to put the Butter and/or Jam on your plate FIRST and then on to your food.
It didn't take me long to convince DH that he needed to do this.
But my mistake, I threw the Butter out before SHOWING it to Mom to drive the point home

Oh well, we'll get there, together.

 

[Kaneohegirlinaz]

I Love Magazines!

When I was growing up, my parents didn't have much discretionary monies to spend on what my Mother called frivolous things.... no really! That's exactly what Mom would say to us!
One of them were magazines.
The only time we got to look at magazines was when we went to the dentist ... loved Hightlights and National Geographic !!!!

I have accumulated a boat-load of Hawaiian Airlines Frequent Flyer Miles...
not enough for a free ticket (it takes 50,000 + miles for a ticket to Hawaii from Cowboyville!!! ), but they were about to expire!
I didn't want to bother with trying to update them by purchasing something from their "Sky Mall"... tried that before and it didn't work out

So instead, I cashed in some (most) of my mileage as well as DH's for "Miles for Mags" for my Mother.
She is now receiving 6 different periodicals and loving it!

She finds People Magazine the funniest

When she's done with them, she takes them to Missus Next-Door Neighbor who is just cuckoo for them! And the ones that I ordered for Mom, Mrs. N-D-N doesn't get

 

[Kaneohegirlinaz]

* A follow Up To 'Wash Your Hands' *

After getting such huge resistance from Mom over washing her hands
especially when we come back from being out in public,
I racked my brain as how to combat this.



I've always kept hand sanitizing spray in the car for when we are out and about even prior to the World turning on it's axis ... gas pumps are horrible dontcha know!

Rather than have a battle royal when we got home and making the entire household uncomfortable, I now simple saw to her as she's sitting in the passenger seat of the front of the car at the end of our travels, "Mom, let me see your paws"...
She holds out her hands and I proceed to spray them thoroughly and tell her to rub her hands together vigorously until the spray has dried...

IT WORKED!



Once again, a small victory, but also one less obstacle.

We'll get there, little by little

 

[dragnlaw]

I've always kept hand sanitizing spray in the car for when we are out and about even prior to the World turning on it's axis ... gas pumps are horrible dontcha know!
:

I drove cars back and forth to/from Florida for quite a few years and it wasn't just the pumps that were yucky! I've always kept a bottle in my purse and car. Was ready when Covid hit!

 

[Kaneohegirlinaz]

I Don't Ever Want To Go Back There Again!

I am not an early riser, but my DH and Mother are.
So those two have their hot beverage of choice
while sitting at the dining table and chat.

During mine and my husband's quiet-private time after
Mom has toddled off to bed, DH told me that the other
morning she said to him, "I'm so happy that I don't
have go back to California. I don't ever want to go back there again!"


Mom was born and raised in that teeny-tiny little farming
town and lived there until she finished High School.
Then she moved to Hawaii and stayed there until we all
left back in 2007.
About 9 years ago, Mom decided that she'd move back
to her hometown to a Senior Living Community, were it was
quite inexpensive.
The hard rub for Mom was that all of her family is gone besides
my younger Sister and me.
I lived a good 9 1/2 hour drive, one way, from her and my
Sister was 3 hours away but still working. So it wasn't like
either of us could visit her all that often.

I can't say as I blame Mom for feeling the way that she does now
about "The Home" as she called it. It was cheap for a reason.
There were very few improvements, let alone repairs done to the
individual apartments. I was always afraid to plug anything in. Sparks flew from the electrical sockets every time.
When I'd ask Mom if she had reported these obviously needed repairs,
she said that she had given up on trying to get "The Office" to
do anything.

 

[dragnlaw]

Yup, takes time, but coming around!

 

[Kaneohegirlinaz]

I Ran Away, Again

Acoupla days ago, Missus Next-Door Neighbor told me that our Gal Pal
who had moved away to another State was visiting her sisters in the
"Big City" and that she was going take an over night trip down there
to hang out with all of them.
"I wish I could go too, but I have Mom" I said.
WHAT?!
Leave her at home with DH and let's GO!
When I brought this up to DH he enthusiastically said,
"YES, GO! Mom and I can get along just fine. I'll take her out to eat
and we'll go for a nice long drive out in the country, she'll like that."

Did I say what a great guy my husband is?

I was gone for about 24 hours and had a great time with my Gal Pals.
The day before, I made a double batch of my Chili,
one for when I got home and wouldn't want to cook,
and one to take along to the big sleep over.
We ate, we drank, we played cards and other games.
All in all I only lost $1


When I got home (just a bit hung over ),
at first Mom didn't seem to happy with me,
leaving her at home and not taking her with me,
but I simply ignored it and chatted on as I would usually.
Some how she'll need to understand that she can't be
clinging to my apron strings, as she has been.

I think she got the clue and she's in a much better frame of mind today.

I forgot to say how many times DH has said to me, "Did I tell that I missed you?"

Now, I'm not sure how often I'm going to be able to do this...
I sat and thought about it and this is the first time that I've
been apart from my husband for more than a few hours since 2005

 

[Andy M.]

2005 and again in 2021. If you're not careful, he could get suspicious.

 

[PrincessFiona60]

2005 and again in 2021. If you're not careful, he could get suspicious.

ROFL!

 

[Kaneohegirlinaz]

2005 and again in 2021. If you're not careful, he could get suspicious.

bahahaha!

Prior to 2005, I had been going on a few business
trips, but not many. I'd be gone for 10-14 days
at the most... same for DH. He hated not having me
with him, flying from Hawaii to where ever, I'm the
organizer in the family, he did care for being on his own.
me-I was too busy with work.

 

[dragnlaw]

2005 and again in 2021. If you're not careful, he could get suspicious.

Double ditto!

 

[Kaneohegirlinaz]

Dietary Restrictions ~ Mom's Got High Blood Pressure!

Yup.
Mom says that she has "a very mild case of high blood pressure"
Her medication refill just came in the mail today.
I've been checking her pressure with our at home device, and
even with her meds, it's ain't great!
I get the feeling that she wasn't keeping up with her regular
visits to her PCP back in California.
So we got Mom on to a new supplemental Medicare coverage
plan but we couldn't get her into see a new Doc until late
December
DH and I were just talking last night about her general health
and we so want her to been seen and take care these ails.

In the mean time, we've been observing Mom's behavior,
in particular at the table.
Mom goes for the Salt before she ever tastes her food

NO BUENO!

I made mention to her that having high blood pressure, she
needs to make adjustments to her diet, maybe not add
and Salt to her food.

"WHY?! No body ever told me that!"


I don't cook with very much salt, and have done so for many years.
It took a long time, but I got DH away from so much Salt.
Herbs and Spices, I don't need to tell y'all that.
But that doesn't seem to be working well with Mom.

My ultimate solution is that I've removed the Salt & Pepper
Mills from the table.
I plate everyone's meals and season accordingly for her.
Better that she thinks I'm a control freak than to have
on going battles with her.

And the adventure continues ...

 

[dragnlaw]

LOL.... that was going to be my first suggestion.. remove the salt from the table!

But your solution is even better. Plating and seasoning for everyone (especially her) LOL

 

[Kaneohegirlinaz]

LOL.... that was going to be my first suggestion.. remove the salt from the table!

But your solution is even better. Plating and seasoning for everyone (especially her) LOL

Ya know dragn, at first I let everyone serve themselves straight from the stove, but Mom was giving herself so little food, even DH commented ... "Is that all you're gonna have Mom?"

Now that I plate for everyone, she's actually eating more than I do, about the same as DH.
She's a good eater, especially because I'm making all kinds of yummy dishes that she hasn't had in years.

In fact, DH and I were talking about that this afternoon as we were off "doing business" as he calls it (aka he had a follow up appointment with the Surgeon).
We figure she wasn't eating very much at all while living by herself.
At first DH thought that it was because of cost, and I said, no, she just didn't bother to making anything... "too much trouble, I'm not really hungry."
With us, it's like she back to enjoying food again... she hasn't said no thank you to anything yet! DH remarked, "Yeah! You're right, she hasn't turned down any food."