Having an aging parent is the pits

I have now taken over my mother's bills and medicine. My sister has done it for several years and it is causing a strain on her home life, so I volunteered to do it for a while. My mother thinks that my sister is using her (mother) money and she also thinks that the druggist is shorting her meds. (my sister's husband). Neither thing is happening and I know for sure bec. I have counted her meds and have seen the checkbook. So, on Wed evening I took Mother to the store to get groceries, to the drugstore, and to pay her bills. I showed her each check that I wrote and made a list showing how much money she has used and gave her $10 in cash for whatever she needed. By Thurs. evening she needed toilet paper. I told her to send my nephew with the $10 to the Dollar General. She couldn't remember me giving her a 10 ( so it is apparently already spent by my nephew), By Friday, she wanted me to go get sugar. I can't go to the store every day for one thing. But, that is, BY FAR, the least of my worries. By Fri. afternoon, she was calling my sister demanding her meds be brought to her. (I am keeping them at my house). I went over to her house and look in her med box. She had used all of her med for Sat and it was only 4:00. I asked her about it and she said that she hadn't taken anything all day. Then she remembered taking some med. and writing it down on paper. She had taken almost double what she was supposed to take. She is to take 1 tablet every 6 to 8 hrs. She had taken 1 1/2 in a little over 3 hours! That may be why she thinks the store is shorting her. She is taken too much and too soon. What is so pitiful is that she looks so confused about. She rants and raves about people doing her wrong but then when you show her mistake, she looks so confused. It is like a roller coaster of emotions... one minute i am mad bec. she is ranting and then I a guilty for being mad. She had always been "high-strung" so it is hard to tell what is her "hard-to-get-along-with personality" and what is old-age dementia.

I am proud of myself

I have done much better this week with the "diet-thang". I am treating myself to a Klondike Bar. I had no plans to treat myself so early in the game, but David came back from Walmart with my "diet" food for lunch tomorrow and in he walks eating a Klondike bar. I can't say no since I have been "good" today..... cooked oatmeal for breakfast, salad and strawberries for lunch, soap and salad for dinner.

Now I Am Enlightened

I have rejoined Weight Watchers and have logged all of foods that I have eaten this week. Well, now I know why I keep gaining weight. I have 3 more days to go and I have used WAY, WAY more points than allowed. I didn't realized how much I was (am) over-eating. Next week, I have got to do better about cutting back and exercising more.

Zac Bought A Car

Zac bought his first car. We told him we would match whatever he saved up and he found a car that he could afford, that wasn't junked out. Actually, it is way better than my first car. Now, he can go back to work since he has transportation. I am a little surprised that he isn't more excited. When I bought my first car, I was washing it and putting my stuff in it as soon as I got home. He drove it in the driveway and parked it and went back to his computer game. He did text his friends about it.

I think that when he gets older, he will appreciate our helping him to have responsiblity for buying his own car and paying for his own insurance.


Weigh in after camping: 160.2

Oh, What A Wonderful World

We got back from camping yesterday. We had a great time. My sister brought her camper and some friends rented a camper at the campground. The kids played and played and played. Zac was laid up bec. he had his wisdom teeth removed last Friday but he managed (thanks to WIFI). I can now mark one thing off of my list of things to do.....Camp next to the stream at Buck's Pocket. That has been on my list for 20 years.

It was a beautiful spot for camping. Every morning I drank coffee by the rapids and listened to the water flowing and the birds chirping. I am always amazed at how God created these sights and sounds just for me. At least that is how I feel when I am alone in nature. That is the best time when we go camping in the woods or even if we are at the beach, the time before the kids are up and it is quiet and I can be alone with God.

Some other things I want to do... tent camp on the cliff at Cheaha State Park, see Hawaii with David's friend that lives there (all of her family are original Hawaiians), see Montana or the Dakotas, drive up the eastern seacoast in the fall, go back to the Florida Keys, go back to the Grand Canyon and stay longer

Things that were on my list but are now done... drive to the Pacific Ocean, drive to the Keys, ride on an airboat in the Everglades, visit Miami, walk across the border into Mexico, stay in Palm Springs, see the Grand Canyon, see the Rio Grande

When is the rain going to end?

I have got things that need to be done outside and I need some sun. The weatherman says that tomorrow will be sunny but I want it TODAY!

Hardest part of being a mom

Today I took off in order to take Zac to have his wisdom teeth removed. I had mine done about 16 years ago and remember it being not to0 bad. But, today was different bec. now it was my son. Of course I thought about how he could stop breathing (he was in the NICU when he was a baby for breathing problems, but outgrew the problems), be in pain, later get an infection....... When I went into the recovery room and saw him shaking and "out-of-it" .... Moms just want to be able to make everything instantly better. I am going to miss him so much when he goes for college. I will be Mrs. Krank ( Christmas with the Kranks) when her daughter leaves the nest.