Major suckage.

barking

So I haven't posted in a while. Basically because life has just really sucked since February. 

I've gotten over Spongebob. I try not to think about it. My buddy Rick at cakelava is still cranking out awesome cakes, and he gets better and better with every one he puts out. My hat's off to him because he's really driven to succeed. He just got his first teaching gig in Ontario for next year. Visit his website won't you?

Just when I thought life was getting back to normal, Mom broke her hip on the last day of February. And get this: she just fell out of bed and that's all it took to fracture it. That's how bad osteoporosis can be. She spent 6 weeks in a nursing home and I was afraid she'd still be in the wheelchair when it was time for her to come home. Luckily though the doc gave her the ok to put full weight on the bad hip by the time she was discharged so I brought her home with a walker which she still has to use. Her balance is really bad and she limps when she walks. 

I had to live with her 24/7 after she came home and had to stay for about 5 weeks. I really missed my home and family and it was really hard. Now I can come home Friday through Mondays and stay with Mom Tuesdays through Fridays like I was doing before she broke her hip, but this whole traveling back and forth and living in two places is really getting old for me. I want to get Mom into assisted living but she says it would be "traumatic" if she had to give up her house. Traumatic? All she does is sit and watch TV or sleep. What difference does it make where she is? In assisted living at least they have activities planned and it's much more social. And believe me she needs socialization. I'm really stuck between a rock and hard place. I don't quite know what to do at this point. 

Anyway, that's the major reason my life sucks. Mom-sitting is a royal drag. I want to spend my time at home and help Mark get a lot of projects done this summer. We have to fix or work on a lot of things around the house. Just thinking about sitting around with Mom watching TV when I could be doing something productive makes me crazy. 

We also just finished a major technological upgrade in our house too. Mark and I both got new computers, because our old ones were just so obsolete (10 years old is obsolete now). Actually it all started with the launch of the iPhone 4. We both just had to have one and we were eligible for the upgrade price. We stood in line on launch day at the Bellevue Square Apple store and enjoyed free coffee drinks and danish courtesy of Apple, which was nice. We loved our new phones. Could hardly wait to get home and sync them to our computers. But Mark got home and found out our computers couldn't handle the new iPhone and we couldn't sync them! So the only answer? New computers!

So we got new iMacs. They're cool, but so different from my old one, that I'm having a hard time adjusting. Even the keyboard is different. The way you navigate around the computer is different too, and I don't know where anything is! I'm an old dog who doesn't want to learn new tricks. But I want to keep my brain active, and learning new things is the way to do it, so I guess I'll have to. At least I know enough to post on my blog........for now. 

I miss pastry! When this saga with my mom is over, maybe I can get back into it. I hope so. For now, it's life in the geriatric ward. Now that I've seen 6 weeks worth of nursing home and being with my mom all the time, I've gotten sort of a wake-up call to take better care of myself. I don't want to end up old and infirm. I want to end up old and still giving people crap like I do now. I think everyone should visit a nursing home and take it all in. Maybe we'd all take better care of ourselves, huh? Not that everything is preventable, but I saw a lot of people in there that had preventable ills, so I'm in "preventing" mode. I eat less, I walk when I can (at least a mile and a half a day 3-4 days a week) and I'm keeping my brain active. More or less. 

Today is July 4th, which means summer will start tomorrow here in Western Washington. Today is cloudy and gray and only about 60 degrees. Yay. 

My next post will be a much happier post because somehow everything will come out rainbows. I just know it. Happens after every storm.

Comments

[Katiebell]

Wow!  Best Wishes!  Your Mom I am sure is lovely, but, I find it odd that she has not considered that you might not love spending so much time away from your Mark!!!!!  You seem to have the patience of a saint.  

The new computer will be fun, once you get enough time to look at it and learn it.   

And Sponge Bob...in the past and overrated entirely nothing to even trouble your mind with.

[Annie]

Hi, well thank you!l Mom seems to think that I enjoy spending time there and that I "need a break from the family". She's got a little dementia going on, so there you go. The time will come when I have to say, "enough is enough" and assisted living will be part of the plan whether she likes it or not.

The new computer is getting easier to use as the days go by.Thanks for reading my posts!

[Annster]

Definitely best wishes. In my personal and volunteer life, I've seen so many people stuggling with parents fading into dementia. No one can ever know what a physical and mental strain it is.

I so love your mojo - it may be sniffling exhausted in a corner, but things can get better - especially if you find an assisted living spost. Can't imagine how you've had the strength to do what you do!

In any case - I went to pastry school late in life and loved it beyond all else. And got hired at good places, even if I could be the mom of some cooks. but the physical takes it;s toll. I've shared you "how ot crank out buche de noel" posts - you are skilled, and funny - and once you use it your skills will be honed from the attention you're giving them now!

All the best to you and mark and all

[Val Anne Welch]

Thanks, Annster, your words mean a lot to me. Mom still refuses to go into assisted living, which I think is rather selfish, but I'm trying to keep her life as normal as possible for as long as possible. I think I'm sort of a martyr in a way, and nobody loves a martyr. I did go and join a gym so I would have something to do when I'm over there besides watching TV. I'm getting in shape now....9 lbs down, 50 to go........