Busy Day

We had a busy day today. We went to Mom's. Ron and my brother moved a lot of the furniture out and took it to my brother's garage. They made probably about 5 trips with furniture, beds, chairs all kinds of stuff. There's still some more stuff to get out of there. Tomorrow we are going up in the attic. There's not too much up there and I want to sweep that up. Then take a duster and dust the walls and vacuum all over. I'd like to call a real estate agent next week to see about selling the house. We were gone from around 9:30 and got home about 4:30. It was a long day especially for Ron. He's not as young as he used to be.

I was surprised we didn't have that many kids for Halloween this year only about 42. I thought we'd have tons because of no school tomorrow. It was a little chilly but really not that bad. Oh well, I guess I'll have to eat the left over candy ;-)

Berta and Corky

We decided to name roomba, Berta. Ron loves Two and a Half Men. For those that don't know, Berta is the person that works for the two guys. She is a high maintenance kinda gal and Ron thought that would be a good name.

So far, Corky is not too thrilled with Berta. He's a big chicken. When I turn her on he goes outside. He's going to be awfully cold this winter if he can't get used to Berta doing her job.

It's working

It's working. I moved all the electrical cords so it wouldn't go over them. Also Ron made a little barrier because the last time, it tried to get up the little lip on the TV stand. I only did the living room and dining room for now and it went back to it's home. I'm not sure how to empty it and Ron went to Sam's. When he gets home, I'm going to try the hallway. I did vacuum real well even beneath and behind all the furniture. I'm anxious to see how much it picked up. I hope it keeps working.

Another raincoat day

We went to see mom today - again with the rain. She was doing pretty well. I mentioned to her that I wouldn't be there tomorrow and would see her on Friday. She didn't seem to mind. This schedule every other day may work out. Mom told me her roommate wasn't feeling well. Seems like she hasn't felt well for a while. When I went in the room to take mom's pop, I asked her how she was feeling. She said not well. She said she was dizzy. Hope mom doesn't get whatever she has.

I didn't run roomba today. It seems people name theirs. I'll have to think of a good name for it. I was too sore. Yesterday, I cleaned the bedroom really well. I took the swiffer and did all my walls, ceiling, moved furniture and did behind them. A few hours after I was done, I had a sore hip. I guess my body's not used to doing that much work LOL. I did do laundry today so that's at least done. Hopefully, I run the roomba tomorrow to see if it's going to work.

A. called and he had to go to a dentist. He broke part of a tooth that had a filling in it. He had to get a crown. I told him just to make an appointment and get his teeth cleaned and get the rest of his teeth checked out.

That's about it.

The Email

We got the email a little while ago. Looks like the models are interchangeable. Only the accessories are different. That's why we had to take certain things off and keep them here. We are charging it up and I will probably try it tomorrow. I hope it works.

Good news - bad news

Good - Roomba came today ;-)

Bad - It's the wrong one :-(

I sent another email. We'll see what they have to say. Grrr

Saturday thoughts

A little while after we got up this morning a tree guy came next door. The people that live there have been having trouble with their sewer and I saw the service department from the city there yesterday. It looks like the roots from the tree on their front lawn must be the cause of the sewer issues. Although I am just surmising this because I haven't talked to the lady yet ;-) the tree guys cut the tree down and pulverized the stump. We were so happy. For some reason, this tree didn't shed it's leaves until the winter time. No more leaves in the snow LOL.

I was gone quite a bit today. I was going to take my friend, Laurie, to see my mom's freezer -- she might buy it. She was late in getting started and had to go to a seamstress. So, I just went with her Then we went to Home Depot. She wanted a winter fertilizer. I ended up (I think) buying my gift exchange, unless I change my mind and decide to keep it or give it to someone else, for the dinner friends Christmas dinner. Then we went to Entenmann's outlet store. I had a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting but then put it back and bought a plain pound cake. Ron doesn't care for chocolate all that much and I thought this would be better and probably less fattening for me. We went to Mom's for a quick look at the freezer. Then she needed stuff from Aldi's. After that, we decided we were hungry and went to Ruby Tuesday's because neither of had eaten yet. She bought my meal for my birthday. How nice was that. When we got out of the restaurant it felt like the temperature had dropped about 15 or 20 degrees. I hope those two days it was nice wasn't our Indian summer.

Rainy Friday

Ron caught fish yesterday Yeah! When they split them up he had 3 pounds.

Mom called last night telling me she had no blanket and if I could bring her one. I mentioned that she had one in her closet. I told her I'd call the nurse and tell her. So I did. I said to her today next time she should just ring the buzzer and they would give her one. I don't know why she didn't think of that. Ron thinks it was because we didn't go yesterday and she wanted to talk to me. If that was the case she would have talked to me longer. I think sometimes her mind isn't working. Today, we sat in the usual lounge area and then the last 1/2 hours we took her to sit in the lobby. I think I will start doing that for a while. It will be nice when it's colder because they have a fireplace.

I got a response from Roomba yesterday. They apologized for the inconvenience and that our new robot is in production and should be sent in the next 2 -3 business days. I so hope this one works.

It's a raincoat kind a day again. Although Ron is nice enough to drop me off right by the door so I don't get wet.

Happy, Guilty, Frustrated and Sad

I'm happy because Ron got to go fishing today. He's missed so much time fishing over the last year or so. I hope he comes home with fish.

We aren't going to see Mom today partially because Ron went fishing. I also decided that's it's getting to Ron going every day except Saturday to see her. I'm going to tell her this weekend that we will be coming four days only and see how that works out. My brother usually goes on Saturday. I find both Ron and I have a hard time doing things when we get home from seeing her. I don't know why. We only stay 1/2 to 45 minutes plus the ride to and from. Today since we didn't go to the nursing home, I got a lot of cleaning done. I feel a little guilty only going 4 days but I think it will be better. The nurse called a little while ago and said Mom's blood pressure was a little low the last couple of days. She talked to the doctor and one pill she was taking three times a day they are going to drop it to two pills a day and see how that goes. Also, she's been doing so well with the diabetes she will still get what she gets for medication but they will now be testing only once a week. I really like this nurse that called me. I talked to her about Mom getting a left hearing aid from Medicaid. So she was going to work on that. She said it may take a couple of months.

We sent the Roomba back but now I think it's going to be messed up. It's been so frustrating. I sent them two emails saying that we had two return merchandise authorization numbers. Yesterday, when we didn't hear anything we just sent it back using the second one but the first one was on the UPS label they sent us. Today, I got an email saying we are supposed to put the first one on. Oops, too late. I emailed them back and told them what we did. I told them I hope this isn't going to be a huge problem. I also told them how frustrated I've been with this whole process. Unfortunately, when they send these emails they are just a standard email that they send everyone.

I've been reading this girl's blog for a couple of years now. She just died from breast cancer on Friday. She was only 44 years old. She first got it in 2000 and then had a recurrence in 2006. Over the last few weeks, I've gone with two friends because they've had bad mammograms. One I went for the biopsy with and one to the surgeon. So far the first one's were benign. My other friend is waiting for her biopsy next week and they think hers will be benign too. I hope so. For those that knew my friend, Lynn, I still think of her all the time, she had breast cancer. Also, I think about Vicki (my sister-in-laws sister-in-law) a lot still. She had ovarian cancer. Both of them were in their 50's. It's sad that woman are still dying from cancer.

Random thoughts

We finally took Mom her phone last week and I could program four numbers in. I figured this way she could just push one button to call me. I wasn't sure she really would use it but we took it anyhow. Yesterday afternoon she finally called me to say after my brother (he came yesterday) and I left the foot doctor came. Hopefully, she will call me more often now that she knows how to do it. I will see if she starts using it more maybe I can leave her some numbers and she can figure out how to call people just using phone numbers.

I got her mail and on her electric bill it said "Thank you for being a loyal customer and we will be sending you a check for the balance." I thought what the heck. Also, there was a bill with mom's address but someone else's name. I called the electric company and they had already realized the mistake and sent another bill. I was happy. Last year something similar happened with the gas company and it took about 4 or 5 months to get it straightened out. She kept getting a final bill and I was worried they would turn the gas off.

Returning my birthday present is becoming an ordeal. On Saturday, I got an email with the instructions and Ron has to take it apart and only send certain things back. We weren't exactly sure on the instructions so we called yesterday. Now we know what to send back but now we have two return authorization numbers which is a dilemma. I emailed them yesterday trying to find out which one to use on the inside and outside of the box but I didn't hear back. I emailed them this morning telling them I'd like an answer ASAP so we could send this back. Ron's not too happy as you can imagine.

Today's my birthday. The funny thing is all year I was thinking I was 58 so it's really no big deal now LOL.

3 for 1

We went out for dinner for our birthdays last night. On the way, I realized it was Sweetest Day too. We went to an expensive place. Thus, we celebrated three occasions for one price. Ha!!

Birthday present - not so great

We started it up yesterday. We had a couple of glitches but were able to work them out. Then it worked for about 45 minutes and the same glitch came up. We couldn't fix it this time. I emailed the place and got an answer today. They gave us several solutions all of which we tried but it still didn't fix the problem. They are going to email me back and tell me how to exchange it for a new one. I hope this works out because it was doing a really good job and would make my life so much easier.

Friday

Mom was good today. Yesterday for the first time they had her pants. Originally I only brought her three pairs of pants and a few tops. Last night, I gathered some more pants and tops for her because I thought they wanted her in them now. Wouldn't you know when I got there they were getting her dressed in a dress. That's what I get LOL.

Some of you saw the nice bulletin board I made for Mom for Halloween. After about a week or two, every time we went there one or more of the items was off the board. Mom said she saw them fall off. When I went last week all but one of them was off and the border. I didn't bother putting them back up. I'm wondering if because they were made out of foam if that's why they came off. I'm still not convinced that every time they came off on their own. I went and bought some Thanksgiving and Christmas decorations that are just made out of a thicker paper but not as thick as the foam. When I put these up, if they fall down then it seems to me someone is taking them down on purpose. At which point, I will start complaining.

Ron and I are going out to dinner to celebrate our birthdays. I can't remember the last time we went out alone to eat.

My birthday present I ordered came today

Sorry, it's a little blurry. I don't know what happened. I will be trying it this weekend.

It's been a long time

A lot has happened since I last posted. Mom's in long term care at a nursing home. I was worried when the decision was made but she is doing great there.

My son moved out of state with his girlfriend. He still hasn't been able to find a job but hopefully, the job situation will pick up.

Today is Ron's birthday and while he won't see this, I just wanted to acknowledge how great he's been with the whole mom situation living here, then going to the hospital all the time, rehab and then the decision to put her in long term. He was my rock. Although we had our ups and downs through it all, he always came through for me. I don't know that many husbands would have put up with all this especially when I went through my anxiety stage. He's really a good man.

While I thoroughly enjoyed the summer we had with it not being hot -- fall not so much. It's been so rainy and cold. It seems like winter already. I finally put on my winter coat the other day when we went to see mom because it wasn't raining. It's been kind of a toss up with the coat do I want to wear the raincoat that has a hood I can put up and be cold or wear the winter coat and be wet.

This year our garden was bountiful. The squirrels left our tomatoes alone. Also, we had tons of cucumbers. We ended up giving a lot away. I think it had something to do with the weather. Most all of the garden is gone but there's still a few tomato plants that have to be pulled out yet.

I'm hoping to have more time to blog.

P.S. If you haven't got a mammogram now is the time to do it!!