Yippiiiiiiiiii

We did get a bit of rain and I have not watered for a couple of days, what a saving of energy------but now I have started mowing!  Wow there is no end! lol

I took Mother to get a perm today and Jack had a couple of hours on his hands......he had a small crisis but handled it and didn't even mention the problem until I stumbled on to the evidence!  Wow again I was impressed with what he was able to do and how much this handicap area in our wing of the house is so wonderful, and how much he is able to do now on his own.

There is peace in Happy Valley tonight!

 

 

This morning is beautiful Scottish weather.  The damp overcast sky and the slow easy day.

  I spent the morning baking and cooking for the week because the weather put me in the mood to be in the kitchen.

Jack is so much more able to do things that are seemingly small but they take time and multiple steps for me.    This is such a big help and I am constantly being surprised by some task that I had been doing for him and now he usually does it for himself.   He even gets through the night and days with tasks of a personal nature without my assistance.  This really frees me up to do other things, I am not less busy but busy with other tasks..LOL

Is there a rule you can't wash your car in the rain?  Well, I did and people passing by honked at me! smiles  ( maybe because it was Sunday in a small town?)  Car washing for me is like lawn mowing therapy.

This afternoon I am doing as little as possible.............or at least try to.

I wish I had the facilities for putting pictures in this journal.

Today we went to a local small town fair.  This is not a county fair but a town fair.  We missed the jams and jellies on Friday because we were not sure of the date, but a friend's grandson was showing livestock today and we made the effort to get to the "fair".

I think every pickup in the 25 mile radii had to be parked around one building in this small town.  It was really just a shelter with one side boarded up and the rest fenced.  There were bleachers for sitting but it was warm and we sat on the outside watching through the fence.  Actually Jack sat, I stood, and I seated Mother inside with her friend.

 Parking was random, you find a place grab it quick kind of random.  This was actually in a residential neighborhood and driveways were fair game. 

 We did see some beautiful cattle, not many but the highschool students and 4-H club members had prepared the animals and groomed them beautifully.  We saw  the "showing" of some of the cattle and the beginning of the sheep/lambs.  Some of the participants were both so small and young that you couldn't believe they were attempting to show.(one little girl looked like maybe kindergarten/1st grade and her lamb wasn't very old either)   

This event was truly family.  From the toddlers playing in the sandy walkway with his truck to the grandparents strutting around beaming their pride in their offspring. 

 The air was filled with animals voicing their disgruntled opinions of the morning's events, the microphone used by the judge, excited voices of the audience, and the usual traffic on the main highway nearby.  Because it was getting rather warm we didn't stay long but it was  an outing that we might try again for the county fair.

Our next stop before coming home was the "HOP and SACK".  Jack had not been in one of these convenience stores so we decided to see if there was something in the store we "needed". LOL  Of course we did come home with a bag of "stuff".

Here in the country----our outings are not too exciting, but we make our own fun!

 

.......................peace............

Picked up the great blood pressure digital thingy. 

 This was not one of the rather inexpensive ones because they have small wrist wraps, this one should do the trick cause Jack has thick wrists. 

 Have had a lot of fun trying to make it work.  If you know what your blood pressure is normally then it is easier to see if the device is working properly. So far it is just fun! lol

Peace........(it has been a better day)

wet stuff

I think that wet stuff was rain!

I think I recognized the great lightening and thunder display and sound effects at three this morning, as part of that wonderful wet stuff!

I think all of us will feel better and not so cranky with the easing of the heat.  Me especially!

Gas prices down to $2.85, that made me feel better!

I am counting today as an "off" day........let's see if I can made it work! LOL

Peace......

 

 

It occurred to me that in the past 8 months, I have not had a day off, an afternoon off, or even a few hours off.

This is the plight of a full time caregiver.

  In California,I could get as many as three hours away from the house on occasion.  I could spend this time with a friend, shopping, or just playing nickels at the casino that was 20 minutes away, and much of the time Jack would go with me. 

Jack is becoming more and more self-sufficient so that it would be easy for me to be gone several hours at a time now, or we could find adventures together.

  But by moving and accepting the responsibility of my mother, I have eliminated many opportunities.  She feels I am going off and leaving her if I even go to shop at the neighborhood store, or the town that is 8 miles away.  We have wanted to go out to breakfast, lunch, or an evening meal but she only wants to go to certain places and actually refuses to go to some restaurants.   Taking Mom with us isn't always an answer, she can't always set in the car if we want to shop and she isn't able to navigate some large stores.  Some stores do not have a "waiting" area.

Exercising the option of a few hours of licensed homecare is beginning to be a probabilitiy that she won't like but might be a necessity.  I have to look to the future and aging isn't something that goes in reverse. 

My goal in moving was to spend quality time with my mother while I could.  I  don't think I realized how complicated this would be .

  Taking care of Jack is something we have worked out to be a "together" task that gave us an unusual closeness and an enjoyable time together.

What I am finding with my mother is her constant struggle to "control" her environment and me within that environment.   I understand this struggle far better than she realizes and Jack is helpful in supporting me and listening when I really need to "talk".

I think I am chaffing under this "control".

The last couple of days I have experienced a feeling of "need" to break the routine.

Going to church this morning was my choice.  But I wonder if this was a good choice for today.  I am having difficulty with the complexity of the socio-structure of even a country church.  A friend told me to wait a year before I tried to understand, that small towns were very complex in their simplicity.  

Selling our home,  doing away with most of our personal and household items, moving to another state, acquiring a whole different system of medical insurance and care, leaving behind our whole social structure of friends and family, living in someone else's home and essentially under their subtle control, and down-sizing to one room has been more than an adventure.

Have I taken caregiving to a whole different level?  I believe my extensive educational background, 40+years experience of dealing with gifted and also troublesome children, and annoying administration (lol) has given me the ability to do this job! Does that sound like my resume?

peace.......peace.......peace...........