pleesse drove on cement

My father put this up in his driveway. What else can I say?

road trip

I decided to take a day and go to my sisters house . She lives about 1 and 1/2 hours from me. She is always the one to come here and I rarely go there. Of course it is logical because she gets to see our parents when she comes for the day.

I waited to decide if I was going yesterday until the last minute. Parents and children and grandchildren have a way of changing your plans. I called to make sure she wasn't busy and left. Only my husband knew that I might go. I called my parents on the drive to let them know I was gone.

It was a good day! We went to a quilt show of art quilts with both local and national quilts, and did quick stops in a couple of fabric shops.

We went to a series of 3 furniture and lighting stores, all owned by the same woman, but with a different theme in each one. I got some ideas for a new light fixture for the dining room. I need to measure and really decide on style and size. My sister bought the new dining table that she had been thinking about. She purchased chairs a few weeks ago from the 'modern' store and found the table at the traditional store. They brought a chair from one store to the other for her to see it with the table. You got to love small towns! So when we stopped yesterday she paid and set up delivery for today.

We went back to her house and re-hung pictures that her husband hung for her. Let me just say that some men shouldn't be given that job. We did one wall in her living room and came up with a plan for another. I had to leave because it was getting late. She emailed pictures this morning of the finished the living room and the gallery in the back hall. It looks great! She wonders how long it will take her husband to notice. If he ever will.

commodities for seniors

The best thing I ever did for my parents was to leave town for a month. A few years ago, when my oldest daughter and her future husband bought their home, I went to stay with them for a month to help them get settled.

At that point in time my parents were becoming increasingly dependant on me. They were coming to my house every day. They were so accustomed to stopping by, that when I talked about my upcoming trip I could see the slight fear in their eyes. They did not know what they were going to do without me being here.

I suggested that they stop by the local Senior Center and see what they had to offer. I knew they could have lunches, play games, do crafts, go on bus trips with other seniors and much more for either free or at a reasonable cost. What I did not realize was that there was a Social Worker on staff that was available every day. My parent are on a very low fixed income. They met with the social worker and she was able to get them help with their grocery bill. They each get a box of commodities every month. She has helped them with the new prescription drug coverage to get the best plan. She has gotten them safety bars for the bathrooms and other things that they should have. She has also set them up with a cleaning lady twice a month at no cost to them. I am sure that there is much more that I haven't mentioned.

I suggest that everyone should check out their local senior center to see what programs they offer, especially if your parents are on a fixed income.

alzheimer's for dummies

My sister and I laugh that what is needed is a book called Alzheimer's for Dummies. Or maybe we should just write one. Unfortunately we can not let my mother read the book. The last time she read some of the literature on Alzheimer's, she panicked and set off a chain reaction that caused my father to have a setback. I guess in truth my nightly visits are more about keeping my mother calm.

stroke update

My father has announced he has never felt better!!

"Look how good I can raise both arms"

Of course he has no idea what was exactly wrong with his left arm. Depending on the day it has been his caused by his pillow, a pinched nerve, it was bruised, the girls (home health care) that came and had him do exercises with a pulley system or a million other reasons or just no idea why.

He has forgotten about the stroke. Part of me thinks that's OK, and part of me wishes he could remember. I worry that he doesn't remember that he can't drive.

where did my prince charming go

Last Saturday night ended the annual week long community festival celebrating the community's heritage. It was a fun filled week with a children's parade mid week and the large parade on Saturday afternoon. The week is consists of community picnics, fish boils, princess pageants, social night on the town, and this is the week of class reunions. It ended on Saturday night with a huge fireworks display over the lake.

We, meaning myself, husband, daughter and son-in-law and their two sons walked back to our house to wait for the traffic to clear so they could drive home. Kicked back in the family room, the little guys (6 and almost 3) and I were talking about the fireworks display, remembering all of our favorites.

I told the boys that when I turn into a fairy princess and we live in a magical fairy princess kingdom I will decree that there will be fireworks every night. That's how much I love fireworks!!

I have a rule here that if I have to play superhero with the boys, I get to be a princess with a sparkly dress. Sometimes my dress is pink, usually it is purple and if I get very lucky it can be lime green.

So anyway, the reaction to my proclamation from the smarty pants 6 year old, who now that he has finished kindergarten knows all he needs to know.....

He rolled his eyes, looked to his mom and said............" yeah, like that's going to happen."

why do i feel guilty mowing my own lawn

We bought this house a little over 2 years ago and have been living in it for a little over a year. The story is the stuff soap operas are made of and I don't care to rehash that whole thing again. This move was a slight downsize for us and we really need to do another downsize in the future. The original plan was to live here for two years and then sell. We have not changed that plan, but then again we may not be as committed as we once were. Anyway, shortly after we bought it we found out that the lot next to us was going to be for sale. It was owned by a cousin of my husbands. The thought was since we may want to build in the near future it would be a nice lot to have. Also we needed the room to park the boat and have a spot for some temporary parking during the remodel. We were able to purchase it before it went on the market so no one really knew it changed hands.

The empty lot is grassy with a few trees, nothing special, just a building lot on your average community street. Over the years before we moved here some of the neighbors have, lets find a kind word to put here,.....ADOPTED the empty lot to park campers, an occasional car, boats, oh yes and to put some yard waste. In return, the lot was mowed on a semi regular basis. The mowing kept the city from contacting the owner who lived away from here about weed control.

In fairness, one of the neighbors had a connection with the original owner of the lot. He is in his eighties and his mother was a school friend of the original owner. He didn't know the people who inherited the lot. The ones who owned it before us. He thought he was doing the cleanup duty as a favor and in return he could park his camper trailer. The people who owned our house before us also thought they were taking care of the lot. It was a very strange situation.

Last summer, my first discussion with my neighbor, lets call him mower guy, was the day he saw me mowing the lawn. He was very quick to come out to tell me I didn't have to cut the grass, he took care of it. I tried to tell him that I now owned the lot but he didn't listen. He was nice enough. He just wanted me to know that he took care of it and I shouldn't worry.

I have for the most part let him think that he mows the lawn. But he finally got a clue about the ownership. Oh, here is the part of the story that is the most important!! He has a riding mower and cuts the grass in circles, zig-zags and figure 8's. He also stays far, far away from the trees and he misses patches of grass everywhere. I usually sneak when he is not home and clean up the job a couple times during the summer.

We, like many parts of the country, have not had much rain. There is not much need to mow this summer. When I was mowing my lawn this morning, I decided to do the lot too. The weeds needed to be cut down. I thought the mower guy was not at home. Wrong!! It didn't take him long to be outside telling me he was bringing the big riding mower home next week. And, of course he had to add that he didn't think the grass needed mowing. I found myself trying to justify to him why I was mowing. When I started the mower up again and continued on my mission, I started to wonder why I felt the need to explain my actions and feel as if I need to sneak around. But man, does the lot look great!! The mowing lines match my lawn mowing lines and it flows seamlessly from my house to the lot.

I would take a picture to show you but I'm sure I would have to explain that to mower guy too!!