Mom update

Nothing much has been happening with Mom this week.  She had the blood test and her potassium was good so she is going back to her normal dosage.  She's been feeling well.

When we went on Wednesday and we were in the lounge, the nurse came by and saw us in there.  She mentioned she had just been to Mom's room to clean up the roommates side of the room.  Every once and a while the nurse goes and cleans up the excess food she has because she attracts fruit flies.  The nurse had a whole bag full of stuff, fruit, pastries.  I notice when I go in she has a lot of  food on the windowsill and on the little dresser next to her bed.

Mom saves food sometimes too.  Last week, she had about 5 plastic containers.  I think they are probably from her cereal.  If she doesn't feel like eating it, she doesn't put the milk in and just saves it for later when she's hungry.   I mentioned to her she better start eating them or there's going to be no containers left in the kitchen.  Today, when I went in there there was just one.  So, I'm not sure if someone got rid of the excess ones or what happened.  

Eyesore - Friday

Thank goodness this is the last day.  This last one really isn't that bad.  It's in my husband's closet which is in the computer room.

 I could have sworn I had two containers of craft supplies.  I'll have to look around and see if there's another one somewhere else. Or else I lost my mind and just thought I had two LOL.  Anyhow, I'm hoping this will be taken care of  when ever I get around to cleaning out mom's clothes out of the dresser in the exercise/reading/craft storage room  ;-).

Then there's these.  They are encyclopedias my husband had before we were married.  We'll be married 33 years this year.  So they are ancient.  They used to be on book shelves but I needed space for other books.  They ended up in his closet.  You can tell by the amount of dust on them they've been sitting in there for a few years.   You can't even see in this picture how many there really are because they are even behind the carton with my craft supplies. For years, we got a book a year with updates for that year until we finally said enough already. This is really a dilemma because he doesn't want to get rid of them. I do.

So what do you think?  Probably a little procrastination on the craft supplies but the encyclopedias I just don't know where to put them.

Thanks for all the responses this week.  Seems like some of you think my eyesores aren't that bad.  I should have done a MckLinky to see yours LOL. 

I will look over all the suggestions over the months and figure out how to clean up the eyesores. Hopefully, in the not so distance future I will be showing after pictures. 

Eyesore - Thursday & Alphabe-Thursday

Today is Alphabe-Thursday at Jenny's, I'll give you the link at the end

My eyesore today is in the kitchen and B is the letter.

This is the cupboard in my kitchen above the microwave.  It holds a lot of stuff but mostly Baking supplies.  The weird thing about it is, I rarely Bake.  I think I keep all this stuff up there because there's no place else to put it.  I've got two rolling pins, never use.  I have a Sunbeam mixer I've had for at least 20 years which I've probably used less than a half a dozen times. Then I've got the hand mixer and if you click it Big, you'll see how dirty it is from never being used.  Plus, there's cooling racks.  Also, aluminum pans which I do use these for holidays.  Mixing Bowls which use.  My good set of steak knives.  Then a set of steak knives I bought and then didn't like.  I definitely use the measuring cups and spoons.  We use the Bacon thingie for the microwave. 

So what do you think?  I don't know if it's procrastination so much as I don't know where to put all the Baking supplies.  There's no room in my kitchen and I don't see any place in the Basement that it would fit either.  It does irritate me the way it looks right now.  Part of that is laziness on my part that it looks so messy.  Sometimes instead of getting a chair out (because I can't reach) I just kinda throw it up there and hope nothing falls on me when I open the door ;-) Please don't tell me to get rid of theBaking supplies.

For those just joining us, all week I've been showing what I consider "eyesores" in my home.  You know the place that's a mess that only you know about.  I'm trying to figure out if I'm procrastinating on these areas or if I'm just at a loss to figure out how to fix them. 

Consider going  over to Alphabe-Thursday and see what others are doing for their B word. http://jennymatlock.blogspot.com/2010/01/alphabe-thursday-b.html  If you have a Blog and would like to join in there's still time. For all you prize lovers, there are prizes involved. 

Waste not Want not

I read a news piece today about a book store that are closing some of their stores.  In fact, they closed the one at a mall near me not too long ago.  I used to buy books there sometimes.  Apparently, and this is something I didn't know, what ever books are unsold, the cover of the books would be torn off and the rest of the book would be thrown in a dumpster.  Sounds crazy, huh?  I guess it's too expensive to send the books back so they came up with this idea to save money. Even if they send them back to the publisher, they destroy them.  Supposedly, after a big uproar (which I never heard of) this store now says they will either recycle or donate them.  That's good if this comes to pass but from what I've read a lot of stores that also sell books do this as well.

After I read this, it reminded when I used to read the message boards (until they changed the format) on AOL.  I used to read about "dumpster diving", which again I never heard of.  People would go to different stores mostly at night because it is illegal and look in the dumpster's and take things out that were good.  It seemed weird to me but the more I read the more I realized how much different stores were throwing things away that were perfectly good.  Doesn't make sense.  Is it just too much trouble for stores to donate it or are they afraid of some kind of liability? 

One time, I had to take medication back to the pharmacy for my Mom because it was wrong.  We had just picked it up and probably came back less than a half hour with it.  I was flabbergasted when the pharmacist opened the bottle and threw out the pills and just gave me a bottle with the correct medication.  I remember after I had my chemo treatments I had a bunch of medicine left.  I hated to throw them out.  I asked if I could donate them to someone and the answer was no. How many times have you taken a medication and it didn't work out for you and you have a bunch left?   I can understand once its left the pharmacy's premises the medication can't be vouched for but it seems to me with the cost of medications there should be some way they could be donated and given to people that can't afford them. 

After thinking about this, it really makes to want to put more effort into cleaning my "eyesores" and disposing of the stuff in a good way. 

Eyesore - Wednesday

Now that I look at this one, this one definitely is procrastination.  The top of my bedroom closet.

 

There's really not that much up there.  About 6 months ago, this shelf was covered in magazines.  I must have had 10 years worth of Martha Stewart magazines; and some other magazines as well.  I always thought I was going to read them but I realized I wasn't.  I gave them to my girlfriend and she was going to donate them to someone.  Magically after she took them, this stuff appeared up there LOL.  I needed the space for the foot spa.  I've probably only used it two or three times and then when Mom was here I used it for her a few times.  Then there's her sewing basket.  One of the shoe boxes are holding old receipts, one of them holds shoes but the majority of the other boxes are empty.   We have a tendency to save boxes thinking we're going to need them for something.  Then we finally decide to throw them out and sure enough we'll need a box and won't have one.  I really don't like how this looks though. I'll have to figure out something.  What do you keep in your closets on top if you have a shelf?

So, what do you think?  Definitely procrastination, huh? 

Eyesore - Tuesday

Today we are going to take a look at my linen closet - not much linens LOL

 *On this first shelf I have photo albums.  Which I guess isn't a bad place to keep them.  I always figure if there would be a fire, I could easily get to them. But I also have a couple of containers of photo's in a closet in another room. Where do you keep your albums?  I also keep the phone books there.  How many phone books do you get?   I have 3 from AT & T and one big one from another place.  How many does a person need.  I very rarely use them.  I mostly look for phone numbers on the Internet now.

* On shelf two, I have mostly dish towels and dish clothes.  Then I have a bunch of plastic tablecloths I don't use anymore.  I should probably throw them out but maybe they could be used for drop cloths.  I also have some cloth napkins.

*On this third shelf, I have our towels.  They barely fit.  Most times I have a hard time fitting them all in.

*On the fourth shelf, is probably my biggest grief.  It's pretty much a catch all for stuff.  See that Splenda in there.  I used to drink sugar in my coffee but then I switched to Splenda.  Then I decided to drink coffee with only milk.  I still have a whole big package of it left and don't know what to do with it.  In that shoebox are extra batteries.  You see swiffer cloths there (should really go where my cleaning supplies are but there's no room).  Then you can't really see it but years ago, I asked for a Black and Decker scrubber thing to clean the bathtub.  I probably used it less than 5 times.  Also, there's the glass wizard.  It looked great and so easy on TV to clean windows.Well, it wasn't for me. Also, there's a shoebox with light bulbs, extension cords and who knows what in it.

So what do you think?  I think there is definitely some procrastination going on here.  But there are some things I'm undecided on what to do with.

**Thanks everyone for your ideas yesterday on my bathroom eyesores.  There were a lot of great ideas.** 

Eyesore - Monday

Yep, that's what I decided to call these pictures that I'm going to post this week.  It seemed appropriate. 

We all have them.  You know the places I'm talking about.  At least I hope you do when you see them and I'm not the only one LOL.  Only you and your family know about them.  My husband doesn't care about them but most times when I see them I cringe.  I think I really have to do something about that and then I don't know what to do. 

Eyesore:

Noun

Definition: thing that is unpleasant to look at

I'm going to start with my bathroom.  These are on either side of the big mirror.

*On this first shelf is a bunch of perfume.  I only use one in the white spray container.  Some are samples and one is expensive but I don't use it.  What to do with it?  Just throw it out?

*On the second shelf, do you see that English Leather?  That's probably over 10 years old.  My husband doesn't use it or the other stuff in there.  The only think that get's used is his deodorant and mine.  What to do with it?  Just throw it out?

*On the third shelf are ace bandages and other sorts of different sizes of bandaids.  Oh, and gauzes.  In the 1/2 bath I have a bunch too.  Also when I had surgery in 2004, I kept all the gauze and stuff from home health care but that's down the basement somewhere.  I always think we're going to need the stuff.  

*On shelf four, is the dental hygiene stuff.  Who needs 7 or 8 toothbrushes.  My husband's the only one that uses them.  I have an electric one but I still take the toothbrush from the hygienist.  Maybe I need to stop taking them.  There's an idea.

*On shelf five, I have a lot of lotions, body gels and fancy soap.  I find the only thing I use is the Lubriderm. Maybe I could give some of this stuff away but some of it's old.  I'm not sure if it's good.  Throw it away?

*On the first shelf, are a lot of medicated creams like Ben Gay and Cortizone cream.  I don't know how long it's been since we've needed those.  I suppose I should just check the expiration dates LOL.

*On the second shelf are mostly samples or when we went some where and stayed in a hotel.

*On the third shelf all kinds of cream for different parts of the body.  I should have the smoothest skin and feet around.

*On the fourth shelf except for the shaver all the rest could probably go.  I still have denture cleaner from Mom.

I suppose I could have my husband add another shelf to this cupboard LOL.

This is a drawer.  Now look how many medicine containers I have LOL.  What the heck do you do with something like those.  Hair brushes, mirror.  All kinds of junk.

Last one, I promise

Now, I'm definitely not getting rid of the top of the electric toothbrushes.  I have THREE paper toilet holders.  I got them for free sometime when I bought toilet paper.

You might think this looks bad or maybe not.  I know I don't like it when I look in these cupboards and drawers.. I don't think it's so much to do with procrastination as I'm having a hard time trying to figure out what to do with the stuff I take out. 

What do you think?  Give me some ideas.

That's it for probably the world's longest post. 

Winter

I know I said I'd see everyone on Monday but I lied LOL.  I know winters in the area I live can be brutal.  I can take the snow at least for a while; the cold; then there's the lack of sun (which I think I might have a seasonal disorder) but I get through it but the thing I find most depressing in winter time is this:

DIRTY SNOW

It just drive me CRAZY.  It makes me wish for new snow just to cover up this disgusting ugly stuff.  The only thing is eventually the dirty snow would be back LOL.

Now, for real.  See you on Monday.

Meal planning

This past weekend,  I did my first meal plan for the week although I didn't write the side dishes down. Hey, it's a start ;-)  Since there's only two of us now, I decided to make some things that I will be able to freeze.  This way I can just pull it out of the freezer.  On Monday, I made a double batch of spaghetti sauce.  We had it for two days and the rest I put in the freezer.  Over the weekend, I'm going to make a chuck roast and then pull it apart to make BBQ sandwich meat.  We'll eat some and the rest will go in the freezer.  Usually what we've been doing is eating it until it's all gone.  That can be too much.  I think this will be a great alternative. I know this isn't a new concept and I've always wanted to do it so it seems like now might be the time.  I'll have to think of others things I can do this with.  Some days, I just don't feel like cooking a whole big meal.  If I have to I could just defrost something in the microwave from the freezer and would have to only make side dishes.

I just have to figure out this cooking for two stuff again.  My husband and I usually eat supper at different times.  For most of our married life, he worked 3rd shift.  He usually eats whatever I cook in the evenings.  I don't eat much during the day so by 4:00 I'm ready to eat ;-).

Over the weekend, I'm going to take some pictures.  I haven't decided what I'm going to call them yet but it kinda goes with my 2010 goals, intentions, blah, blah, blah.  I have a lot of spots in my house that need attention.  Am I overwhelmed, too lazy, don't know what to do with the stuff, or plain old procrastinating?    Hopefully, in 2010, I will get these areas cleaned up. 

See you Monday. 

Mom potpourri edited

 Jenny is doing an Alphabe-Thursday where each week a different letter will be used.  This week is A. I really think your suppose to focus more than I did on the letter but  since I had used album, I figure that's a good A one to use until I get the hang of it.  If I ever do lol.   To go and see more check out :

http://jennymatlock.blogspot.com/2010/01/good-morning-class-alphabe-thursday.html

About two weeks ago, I noticed that Mom's legs were starting to swell again. I mentioned it to the nurse and she said she had already put a call into the doctor to tell him.  He doubled up on her water pills.  After a week, I was surprised her legs didn't look a lot better.  The nurse mentioned that her legs might not go back down to where they were the last time.  The last few days her legs have finally gone down a whole lot.  Today will  be her last day on the double dose.  Last Thursday, they did a blood test to make sure her kidneys were working well.  When I talked to the nurse, she said they were fine but her potassium was a little low and they were going to add more potassium for awhile and then do another blood test.

One day, I took Mom in her room to put her dresses back in that I had put the name tags on.  Her roommate was in the bathroom.  (I don't know what she does in the bathroom so much).  I went in when she was coming out. I had mom stay in the hallway for a few minutes because it would be too crowded.  The roommate started talking to me in a foreign language.  I told her she had to speak English because I didn't understand her.  She was asking me who I was.  I told her I was her roommates daughter.  Then she started speaking foreign again.  And, I'm telling her to speak English.  She's asking me what I'm doing in the room.  I told her I was putting some stuff away for mom.  Then she tells me she is Romanian (finally, I know what nationality she is).  I told her I'm American.  She said she was too LOL.  Then I helped her get passed me and she grabs my hand and kisses it.  I really think she can't see well.  She's seen me so many times.

I never got to show the album I made for Mom for Christmas.  I should have taken a picture of it before I took it apart.

This is what happened with it.  The pages were glued in.  I should have realized when I first put them in it wasn't going to last long.  Before I even got finished with it some pages came out.  Mom probably had it for about 1 1/2 weeks when about 1/3 of the pages came out.  I wish I remembered where this came from because I sure wouldn't ever buy something from them again.

The new photo album I bought is a little larger and has many more pages, which leaves about half the album empty now.  Hopefully, I will be able to add more pictures as time goes on.  It is kind of the same concept but it is reinforced.  We'll see how long this one lasts.  They just don't make things like they used to.  I think this picture was of Mom when she was a bridesmaid.  Click on it to see it more closely.

Room of many uses

In the room my mom was staying in, we took up the carpet and I semi-organized it.  I'm able to put the treadmill down now but I haven't gone on it yet.  Hopefully, soon.

Right across from the treadmill is my old hope chest with a TV on it.  However, you can't really see the TV from the treadmill.  Eventually we'd like to bring an old armoire (it's not really that I don't think but that's what we call it) up from the basement so the TV can be higher. 

There's a recliner.  We bought it for the nursing home but right now it doesn't fit; unless eventually Mom moves to the window side of the room.  Then I think it would. Besides the room being an exercise room, I'm thinking for now it will also be my reading room.

There is an old dresser that we inherited from my in-laws.  My husband wanted it because when he was younger,  he helped his dad refinish it.  Right now, it still has some of Mom's clothes in it. I also cleaned up everything on the top except for the anniversary clock.  Eventually, I would like to sort through that stuff and give it away.  Then I'm thinking of putting my yarn in there.  I have two big containers full of yarn and other related stuff.  I have two containers of started and never started crafts I would like to see if I could fit in there too.  I still think some day I might go back to working on them.  I probably won't but I'm not ready to give up on them yet.  So, the room will hold my crafts too.

For one thing that room needs to be painted. I have many plans for that little room. A lot of ideas floating around. Although I'm afraid my ideas are bigger than the room ;-).

Schedule

Over the weekend, I tried to work up a schedule on how I can do everything I need to get done in my home during the week.   Leaving the weekends, somewhat free.  There is really no reason why I shouldn't be able to do it because I don't work outside the home.  No kids at home.We are only going to see Mom 4 days a week now.  I should be able to do this. 

I really want to start reading.  I am not the type of reader that can take weeks to read a book.  If I can't sit down and read continuously, I'm not going to do it.  I'm thinking on Saturdays could be my reading day and if I have to, finish up on Sunday. 

I'll see if this works for me.  I've done Flylady off and on for years.  If I do it  it's great, but then for some reason I always get thrown off track.  I know your supposed to do baby steps and just start again but I'm going to try this.  Once things get back in order, perhaps I'll try it again. I'll let you know how this plan works.  So, far I did what I had scheduled for Monday.  I think I'm on a roll LOL.

Corky

We have two couches and one we move to another wall because that's where the Christmas tree goes.  That one happens to be where the dog lays (yeah, he's like a king with his own couch).  Here's a picture after we moved it where it usually is.  I tried to get a picture of him all sprawled out but every time he saw me with the camera, he started to get off it.  I was lucky to get this one LOL.

For some reason, the last 1 1/2 years since he's been here he really gets freaked out when we move it.  I always have to show him for at least a few days where to get off it.

He is a very skittish dog.  All this time, he still only stays in the living room and will go into the dining room to eat and go out the patio door to go outside.  He'll take a couple steps into the kitchen but that's it.  We have Pergo flooring in there and when we first got it, our dog we had at the time was afraid for the first day to go into it.  She then went in though because that's where her food was.  I thought he would get used to it and eventually would go in but he doesn't.  Also, there is a narrow hallway to the bedrooms and he's never even approached going down there.  It seems weird to me but I guess I should be grateful because he sheds so much that I don't have him going all over the house.

When he first got here, when he would be afraid of something, he would open his cage and close the door.  Mom always said he did that but until I saw it myself I didn't believe it.  We still have the cage between the living room and dining room but I'm thinking of putting it down the basement because he really doesn't ever go in it anymore.  He is a very good dog but he does have some quirky things about him. 

How I'm doing

This morning, I finally was able to print my goals, aspirations, intentions, objectives, and/or plans and put them on my bulletin board in the computer room .  When I did, I looked them over to see how I'm doing. 

 

So far the only one I've done is;

 

2.    Do better with my oral hygiene. 

 

I've been doing great with this.  Brushing and flossing a lot more.

 

So far on the others - not so good.  I have a feeling all the others I'm not doing so good on are because of #5.

 

5.  Find the balance between computer time and real life time. 

 

Instead of spending less time on the computer I'm spending more time LOL.  Since I started blogging again on Oct. 15 until Jan. 16th I blogged around 97 times.  Now to some people that might not be a lot but for me it is.  I have a feeling, as is usual for me, I go gung ho on stuff and then burn out.  I've decided to try to avoid that happening and  to not blog on the weekends unless something earth shattering happens.  Which I'm hoping doesn't happen, unless it's good ;-).  So, see you on Monday.

 

Son

My son left early Wednesday morning.  I miss him already.  It was great to see him.  He looked the same, except he could have used a haircut ;-).  He was so busy he didn't have time to get one when he was here.  The day before he left, he went to see Mom by himself.  He played a little bingo with her and the other residents; and he had a very long talk with her.  He came away encouraged that she did indeed like the place she was living now and that she was being well taken care of.  It also made me feel good that she conveyed that message to him. 

He saw friends and family and they were all happy to see him.  My husband and I will go visit him sometime in the coming months.  Although I haven't flown since he was about 2 years old which I'm not thrilled about, I'll have to put on my big girl undies and do it LOL.

I think he misses home a little but I KNOW he was happy to get back to where there was no SNOW.

Followers

If for some reason you were one of my 4 followers LOL and you got blocked it was by accident.  I was trying to sign up to follow one of your blogs and accidentally started following myself.  Now I can't quit following myself and I think I might have stopped someone from following me.  If I did, email me and tell me how to fix it.  And if you see I am still following myself tell me how to stop :)

edited: Yippee, I figured out how to stop following myself. 

ICE

SAME THING

DIFFERENT YEAR

 

Yep, we got the freezing gutters again.  The water coming in the medicine cabinet in the 1/2 bathroom.  Although minus the duct tape this year LOL. I think because my husband caught it quicker this year.  For some reason, I guess we (husband) forgot about it when it thawed out. I don't really know how though considering the medicine cabinet didn't get put back in until almost fall.  You can still see the old streak marks from last January.  We were thinking about painting the room.  Good thing we didn't.  Hopefully, we (my husband )won't forget to figure out why this is happening.  I did hear that some people had trouble with windows and different things leaking from the bad ice we had in the gutters last year.  Oh, this is shaping up to be one of those weeks.  

Ornament

I told my son not to get us anything for Christmas but he did bring me an ornament.  It's so cute and very thoughtful.   Awwwwwwwww!  This might become my new favorite ornament. 

Glitch

Why is it when you think you know what you are doing and things seem like they are working out all of a sudden there is a glitch. I don't know what it is.  People tell you what your supposed to do but somehow they don't give you all the information and your just supposed to know. Why can't people give you step by step information? Or like a FAQ sheet, if this happens do this or if that happens do that.   Is that too much to ask?

I know this doesn't make sense LOL but I just had to get this out.

Family & Stuff

Saturday we had Christmas with my husband's family.  We tried our new GPS (because we let our son take the other one we had when he moved).  When we were probably less than 10 minutes away my husband pushed some button on the GPS and then it wanted to take us back home.  Just then my sister-in-law called to see how close we were because everyone was hungry LOL.  We were able to figure out where we were and got their pretty quickly.

We had such a good time.  There is a new baby in the family and he was just darling.  It's been a long time since I held a baby.  There was a lot of food.  Naturally, I ate too much.  My husband's nephew made this really good strawberry dessert (Hi Mike;-) I know you told me the ingredients but email them to me) Then my sister-in-law brought a buckeye pie which I never heard of which was excellent.  It was as good as buckeye candy just different. My other sister-in-law made brownies. My son's girlfriend sent chocolate chip cookies.  I never got to the apple pie. Believe it or not there was food besides desserts.   When I came home the only thing I ate were a couple of Clementine oranges I was still so full.  Family that's reading this - email  pictures I didn't take any.

Then when we came home, my son had a couple come over that stayed until Sunday.  We used to have an old couch, futon and a sleeping mat down the basement where my son stayed but when he left we got rid of all that stuff.  There's only a single bed down there now.  My husband had to go outside, in the snow, to the garage to use the air compressor to blow up an air mattress.  I threw out all the old bed pillows I had as well.  I just gave them little couch pillows.  I guess they did all right with them.

Dishclothes

Now that we've had my husband's family Christmas, I wanted to show the dishcloths I made for the women in the family.

I've been knitting for a few years now and I've really not gotten very far.   I used to make a little fancier one that was called granny dishcloth but the last couple of years, I've just done the straight knitting.  It's been easier because I pretty much don't have to think while I'm doing them and I can watch TV.   I did make some very simple winter scarves the second year after I learned to knit.

I'm always trying to figure out new ways to wrap them.  One year, I just rolled them up and put ribbon around them.  A few years, I just rolled them and put them in wrapping paper..  The last couple of years, I've been putting them in these vellum bags.

I found these in the Current catalog. They come with the holes in the bag already.  Plus the ribbon and little tags. When I first purchased them a couple of years ago, they had another kind that was red with I think candy canes on them but then the following year they didn't have them. Another time, when you snooze you lose LOL.  Any suggestions on different ways I could wrap them?

Family

Our son came home on Wednesday.  He moved out of state in August.  It's been so good to see him.  Today we are having Christmas with my husband's family.  Last night we went to see my brother-in-law and sister-in-law because they won't be able to come and my son wanted to see them.  We had a really good time.  The weather wasn't that great going but luckily, coming home the roads were all plowed and salted so we didn't have any trouble getting home.  Hopefully, the same will be said for today because we have to travel about an hour or so from our home.

Lazy today

Because I feel lazy today. Kelly is doing Show us your life - resolutions I linked to my 2010 non resolution blog post.  So if you want to see other peoples resolutions click here

http://www.kellyskornerblog.com/2010/01/show-us-how-you-live-new-years.html

Christmas letters

I know Christmas is over but I have a couple of things left to talk about  ;o).  How do you all feel about Christmas letters?  I usually do one every other year.  With what's been happening the last couple of years, I've done them every year.  Do you like them, hate them, don't care one way or the other?  Another thing I'm wondering, I only send them to people that I only communicate with at Christmas.  Would you as a family member or friend still want one even if you knew all the stuff that would be in the letter? 

I used to get some Christmas letters but I don't anymore.  I think it's probably because the children are all grown now and have their own families.  I miss them.  I wish people would still do them especially the ones that I don't talk to at all.  They could just tell me about what their grown children, grandchildren and themselves are doing even if it's nothing.LOL

All about Mom

A few months back I bought Mom a green throw blanket.  There's something about this blanket that it just never gets back to her when they wash it.  She'll have it for a few days and then it's gone.  One time, I asked the aide to find out about it and they brought it up from the laundry.  Again I hadn't seen it for a few weeks.  When we were there one day last week, they had a lady in a wheelchair by the nurses desk when we were in the lounge area.  I looked and told my husband, 'I think that lady has mom's blanket'.  Then the woman's daughter came and she asked her whose blanket it was because it wasn't hers.  I didn't say anything and thought this coming week, I would mention to the aide about it.  On Friday, we were sitting in the hallway while Mom was getting cleaned up and I saw the daughter coming down the hallway looking at all the rooms with the blanket in her hands looking at all the pictures with the names.  I called out to her and she came over and said she doesn't know why her mother keeps getting the blanket.  I told her I thought maybe mom's name washed off but no, it was there clear as day. She said she finally decided to see who it belongs to.  She said her mom does have a green blanket.  Apparently, they are not checking the name.  I just ordered labels with Mom's name on them so hopefully, this will be more helpful to the laundry people.

I tried to call Mom on Monday morning about 9 a.m. and she didn't answer.  I decided it was too nasty to go out  and my husband could wait to do the snow.  I called the nurses station and asked them to tell mom to call me.  She called and said she heard the phone ring but couldn't reach the phone.  She has this old crank bed and when she is sitting up in it, she can't reach it.  I told mom to just ring for the aide, as we were hanging up, to come put the phone back.  I told her goodbye and then listened to hear when the phone got hung up.  All of a sudden after about 5 seconds, I hear her yelling "YooHoo, I need help"  She did this several times.  Then she said, "Yoohoo I need help hanging up the phone". LOL  I called the nurses station and told them Mom couldn't hang up her phone.  Then I heard someone come in her room and heard her tell them she couldn't hang up the phone.  We and they will have to figure out some way when she's sitting up that she can reach the phone.  

When we went to see Mom yesterday she told me some of the pages from the photo album were coming out.  That didn't surprise me because it happened to me when I was putting them in.  They are just glued in. You would think that if it was being sold it would have been stronger.   I bought this particular album because it was small and would take up less space.  Looks like I'll have to try and find another one. I do know she likes the album a lot.  One day when we came the activities person had just got done showing the album to all the residents that were in the day room.  Several nurses and aides looked at it with mom while she told them who everyone was.

What I learned this week

Can I just say how much I love google reader.  I learned that using google reader makes my life so much easier.  I'm sure most of you knew about it or a similar product to read blogs.  I knew about it but again it seemed too complicated but I did it and boy, it sure makes a big difference in my computer time.  I used to go on the blogs that I read a few times a day to see if there were any updates.  Now, I don't have to.

I've also been tweeking my blog a little bit here and there over the holidays learning different things.  I put that as one of my non-resolutions for 2010 to learn more about blogging.  I have a lot to learn.

I learned that my new Scentsy candle warmer that I've been leaving the melted wax in and just putting a new one in on top, probably isn't such a good thing like I thought.  I noticed that when it hardened up, it was hard to melt all that wax.  So once it did, I started putting them back in the molds.  I think that's probably smarter.

I learned when I'm going to replace a light bulb and the original carton is missing with the wattage;  don't look for the wattage on the bulb in the sleeve unless you have it horizontally.  One of the light bulbs might decide to  jump out and break into a million pieces on the floor.

To go to see what other people have learned this week click http://www.musingsofahousewife.com/2010/01/what-i-learned-this-week-17.html

Magellan and Me

One time Magellan took me to look for an outfit that I had to buy for an out of town wedding.  On our way home we got off the freeway and all of a sudden we heard this bumpety bump sound.  We realized she had a flat tire.  We pulled off into the first place we could which was a bar parking lot.  Let's just say it was an "adult bar" if you know what I mean ;-)  We called my husband and he came to pick us up.  She didn't have a spare tire and decided she would get the car towed but didn't know exactly when.  We thought we'd go in and tell the people at the bar that we might leave the car overnight so they didn't call the police.   Magellan and I went in the door.  There was another door and we tried to get in but couldn't.  Then we noticed a window but it was tinted black and you could vaguely make out that there was a person behind it.  That was the first time I ever saw anything like that.  It was actually kind of creepy.  When we got outside we couldn't stop laughing. Something tells me we were probably lucky that we couldn't get into the second door.  I wonder if most "adult bars" have this tinted window feature LOL.

Candle Warmer

I told you all that I went to a Scentsy party.  I didn't know what it was going to be but it turned out to be candle warmers with wickless candles.  The one I bought I'm keeping in the computer room for now.

It has a light bulb in the bottom.

Then in the top you put one of the wickless candles in.  This is one that already melted.  You can put the melted part back in the package and reuse it but I've just been keeping it in and adding more.  Plus, the melted wax isn't hot.  You can stick your finger in it and not get burned, although I don't know why you would want to do that LOL.

This is the one Magellan got for me.  I chose this color in case I wanted to put it in another room. Right now it's in the bathroom and I haven't put a candle in it yet. It also has a smaller light bulb in it than the other one.

Look what it looks like when it's completely dark in the room.  Kind of cool, huh?

So far I'm loving it.  There were a lot of different scented candles to choose from.  The woman had probably at least 100 little scented containers that you could smell.  I also won a little six pack of candles that were called Sandlewood and Cranberries.  I LOVE this scent as soon as I smelled it.  Unfortunately, it wasn't listed anymore.  I ended up getting Cranberry and Spice which I haven't tried yet but it smelled good at the party. 

Just so you know, nobody asked me to say anything about this.  I've been to so many home parties in my life and never heard of this company and in case anyone was ever invited to one, you would know what it's like.  They have many different sizes and shapes of candle warmers.  Has anyone every bought these?  How did you like them?

2010 edited

At Kelly's Show Your Life they are doing resolutions I thought I would add my non resolution list to it.
Click here to see others resolutions http://www.kellyskornerblog.com/2010/01/show-us-how-you-live-new-years.htmlhttp://www.kellyskornerblog.com/2010/01/show-us-how-you-live-new-years.html


I am going to say that these are my goals, aspirations, intentions, objectives, or plans.  What I won't say is these are my resolutions because you know what happens to resolutions. They are in no particular order:

1. Work on my camera skills, which I have none right now.

2. With my teeth issues recently, an obvious one is, do better with my oral hygiene.

3. Look through all our pictures and put names to the faces.  At least the ones I can remember.

4. Try to spend more time learning how to do different things on my blog. In fact, if you noticed, I already started to do this over the holidays.

5.  Find the balance between computer time and real life time.

6.  Read some books.  I have about 13 books here to read and probably about 13 more I'd love to get.

7.  Work on my sleeping habits.  I'm getting up early, taking a nap sometime during the day and staying up late.  This really isn't working for me.

8.  Stop procrastinating with things.  Whatever it is, is usually easier than I think. 

9.  Start menu planning again.

  

10.  The proverbial lose weight.  That means getting Mom's old room organized so I can put the treadmill down.

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With the new year hopefully all the trials and tribulations everyone's had in 2009 will be solved if they can be -- or at least lessened.  It's been a tough year for a lot of people I know and I think we all deserve a better 2010. 

WooHoo

Way to go Buckeyes

Rose Bowl Champions!!!!!!!!!

New Year

May you have

a Happy,

Healthy 

New Year!!

Thanks for
stopping by.  I
really appreciate 
it.