Bribery gets you everywhere

Well, daily life continues, my routine so far is that I get up at 8:00 a.m. or so, make coffee, toast a bagel and spread cream cheese on it, put some fruit or sharp cheddar cheese on the plate along with her medications, and set it on the dining room table. Then I wake up Florence, who grunts and groans, and eventually gets up to come out and eat her breakfast. We sit and chit chat while she eats, and then when she finishes, she goes back to bed for awhile. Sometimes I go lay back down too, but most of the time, I am busy trying to get some household things done while she's sleeping, or I take off in the car to run some errands like get some groceries. Then I come back and wake her up, fix her something for lunch, and then we either go outside to sit on the deck, or we get busy doing some kind of project around the house, or she just sits and reads for awhile, I go do laundry, etc. Then after awhile she might go lay down again, (she is 88 after all), and I start making dinner. I also clean her carpets, (she has 2 cats who shed), and the kitty litter box every other day, I wash her bedding (she has psoriasis so white flakes get everywhere), and then I sometimes wash her hair for her. Then after dinner, we sit and relax in the living room, sometimes watching t.v., and at about 8:30 p.m. or 9:00, she's off to bed for the night. And, usually, so am I.

Today I'm taking her to the doctor to get a check-up so that we can start her going to the local Adult daycare place nearby. That will give me a bit of a break, and it will also be good for her to get out and socialize a bit for the day. It's not ---------

Geezus...I just had a bit of a heart attack, I heard something go BOOM BOOM BOOM just now, coming from her bedroom, I thought she fell and got hurt...but it's okay, she just knocked some things over in the bathroom and let the sink overflow by mistake....this poor lady....she breaks my heart with things like this. She doesn't MEAN to let the sink flow over, it's just a small sink and she stepped away for a minute, and when she returned, it was dripping onto the floor....she could have slipped and broken her neck though, dammit. SCARE THE HELL OUTTA ME why don'tcha.

As I was saying...the adult day care center is not at all like some kind of hospital or doctor's office, it's like a little home, with a large open kitchen and dining room, a large living room and activity area, a television room, and a study or reading area. It's rather nice, actually, with medical nurses who work there, (they don't wear uniforms though), and everybody gets their medications at the proper times, they can take baths or showers if they like, once a month they have a podiatrist come in and do pedicures, they have therapy animals come in once a week to give and get lots of petting and love, and perform tricks, you'd be amazed at how people cheer up whenever there's a cute dog around. They have a Bible study group, crafts, presenters, and other activities like trips to the library and other things like that. We've gone to visit this place twice so far, and she really liked it a lot. MUCH better than the nursing home. So before we can get her started going there regularly, we have to get a doctor's checkup and release of medical information for her. She can go at 7:30 a.m. to this adult daycare place, and stay as late as 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday, but it has to be at least two days per week.

Anyway, so that's the plan. Oh, and the good news is, Pete talked with his sister and brother-in-law, (who happens to be a CPA and is currently working on a building for Donald Trump), and he does Florence's taxes every year----so when he got a copy of this will that had us so upset, he immediately found 3 huge mistakes in it, including a misspelled name, (and the percentages of the estate that the cousins split between themselves adds up to a total of 110%!! haha), so because of this, he says he thinks he can get that thrown out in a court of law. YAY!! He also feels that we're doing the right thing with Florence, and he's going to work on getting her money out of the control of those cousins once and for all. He's going to change the power or attorney, and Pete suggested that HE do it, so he's going to make that happen soon. He is a very smart and experienced CPA who knows a lot of people, and he can get all of these issues taken care of much easier than we ever could, so Pete is putting all of that into his hands from now on. BIG RELIEF!!

Every day, I live with the huge fear, that I am going to discover Florence dead, or unconscious on the floor. I am very empathic, and so when she feels tired, I am suddenly very tired. When she is in an energetic mood, so am I. When she feels depressed about life, I feel depressed about life. It's very odd, how this empathy thing happens. I worry about her all the time. This weekend, I'm going to be home alone with her for most of Saturday and all of Sunday, because Pete and his son are driving to the nursing home to get the rest of her belongings moved out, so I'm nervous that something bad might happen and then what would I do, all by myself? I don't even know where the nearest hospital is located if there's an emergency. I used to know CPR but it's been several years since I've taken the training for it...I feel like it's a huge responsibility and I am scared to be all alone with this person who could easily fall or croak....

Oh boy, there she goes, out the door and onto the deck...I'd better get out there. Good GOD is this what people go through with KIDS too?! I'm scared to death all the time that she'll hurt herself, I want to hold her hand, protect her...wow, it's a good thing I never got knocked up.

Oh, the whole bribery thing is that Pete decided he's taking me to a Journey concert in Ohio this summer. He seems to know that i'm overly stressed and emotionally upset a lot now that his mom is here, and he's trying to bribe me to stay. But hey, that's the kind of bribery that works, so I'm not complaining.

Bye for now. ---Sassy Girl