Long Time No Blog

I haven’ blogged in quite some time and I didn’t even take the time to look at what my last blog was about. I’ve been concentrating on other things and nothing has come to mind to blog about. However, I like blogging and decided that I would give a short accounting of my whereabouts as of late.

I have become addicted to loom knitting and crochet. YouTube is a great resource for learning or relearning, in my case. This activity keeps me from binge snacking so it’s a good thing. Plus, it keeps my mind off of the obsessive thoughts and worries that continually plague me. I have been loom knitting beanies for most of Bean’s friends and for Bean.  I have been crocheting magic square potholders and today I followed my first real pattern and made a dishcloth. I can see many of those to follow and hopefully the next one won’t be quite as wonky and since I have learned to properly make a double crochet, the border on the next one will look better. This one isn’t too shabby though.

This one is pretty for spring and I think it will do nicely for scrubbing some dirty dishes.

Several weeks ago my sister called out of the blue and said that she had decided to move to where my parents are in NM from AZ, move in with them, and take care of them.  This decision came just as my brother and his wife were seeking someone to stay with my parents full time.  We had a time line all set and then a crisis moment hit.  All of the sudden my daddy, who was on a slow progression of Alzheimer’s, quickly descended into a new stage, worse than the last.  The stage of halucinations and imagination had taken over.  The situation was rather dire and so the time line was shifted.  Berry and I made the drive to AZ and helped my sister finish packing and then drove with her to NM.  When we arrived we realized just how desperate the situation was.  Berry and I were gone from CA for almost 3 weeks.  We all laughed, cried, and cursed together as adjustments were made for all of us.

My parents could imagine together and the next moment not know that they were even married to one another.  My mom’s condition had worsened to the point that a trip to the ER was made neccessary.  I’m not sure what the worst moment of the trip was, but I sure had my eyes opened to a whole new reality of what this disease does to one’s mind.  Don’t get me wrong, the trip was filled with many blessings.  One of which was getting to connect with my sister on a whole new level.  She is a wonderfully strong woman and determined to do the best for mama and daddy. 

It took me a full week to recover after the trip.  I was so exhausted, but I can’t complain, I came home to a reasonably sane environment and my sis is still there in what can be described as crazy land most days.  You never know what is going to be said or done from one moment to the next.  Sometimes the events will send you into uproarious laughter and the next moment you find yourself in tears, or body racking sobs.  The emotions are about as predictable as their actions.

So now I’m home and we have gotten back into the swing of home school routine, high school and it’s unending demands, my hubby’s work, and just life in general.  Daily I get reports from my sister and antedotes of what mama and daddy are up to.  Sometimes this includes pictures of their antics which often times just make me shake my head in wonder.  I’m going to close with my favorite story from our trip.

Daddy had been shaving until the week before we arrived.  He liked the process of shaving, the ritual if you will.  Well, it was obvious that he had forgotten how to shave.  He  would tell us that he was going to go in and shave and then return, unshaven, after a long absence.  So, one Saturday morning I decided to take him to a local barber for a shave and a haircut.  We arrived and Daddy sat in the chair.  The nice young man gave him a nice short haircut and then began shaving.  He cleaned up his eyebrows, trimmed the hair growing from his ears and nose, and trimmed the beard and then lathered him up for a close shave.  Daddy had his eyes closed when the young man was done and as the chair was put into it’s upright postion Daddy exclaimed, “I can’t see anything!”  I chuckled and the two young men stiffled their laughter.  I said, “well daddy, that’s because your eyes are closed, you can open them now.”  He smiled and said, “Well, that explains why I can’t see anything.”  Yep, that would do it!

2012 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

600 people reached the top of Mt. Everest in 2012. This blog got about 5,100 views in 2012. If every person who reached the top of Mt. Everest viewed this blog, it would have taken 9 years to get that many views.

Click here to see the complete report.

Celebration of Cherries

We just wrapped up our study of  Washington DC.  Berry is still doing her state reports and even though DC is not a state, it is our nation’s capital and so…yesterday was a day for talking about the gift of Cherry trees by the Japanese.  It’s a main attraction in DC and people travel from all over the world to see the blossoms.  In celebration of cherries we decided that a pie was in order for dessert and I decided that homemade was the only way to go.  I purchased the chocolate graham crust but the rest is all me, and Berry!

Cherry Bling Pie

Topping:

3 lbs fresh or frozen sweet dark cherries

1/2 cup water

Juice of one lemon

2/3 cup sugar

4 Tbls cornstarch

Combine all the ingredients in a heavy bottom sauce pan and stir well to make sure all the cornstarch is wet.  Over medium heat bring the mixture to a boil and then reduce the heat to low and simmer for about 10 minutes.  The sauce will go from cloudy to a translucent dark red and turn very glossy and thick.  Remove from the heat and add 1/4 tsp almond extract. Blend it well and then allow this mixture to cool to room temp before putting it in the fridge to chill completely.

Filling:

1 block cream cheese, room temperature

1 cup powder sugar

1 cup unsweetened whipped cream

Blend the cream cheese until whipped and light, add the powder sugar and blend together.  Fold in the whipped cream.  Spread this mixture into a chocolate graham or regular graham crust.  Chill until set.

When you are ready to serve, top the pie with the desired amount of cherry topping.  Slice and serve with whipped cream and a hot cup of coffee!

Enjoy!!

They’re Everywhere!

My experience with bugs has been never-ending this week.  First it was the mealy bugs which I killed with a mixture of alcohol and  dish soap, they literally melt when hit with the solution.  In the process I also killed the blooms on my orchids and roses and I also caused the paint to peel on the window sills.  After being gone on vacation, the spiders had taken up residence and so we have all had to kill several of those.  Being back home means that the house is full of fruit and the juicer has been working over-time.  With this comes, you guessed it, more bugs…fruit flies.

The last experience sent me over the edge.  I had to re-pot my orchids and my other house plant because of the stupid mealy bugs.  I had finished the orchid and the one plant and I had sat the plant on the driveway to spray the pot down and add the soapy water to the soil to kill the gnats that always come with new soil.  I left it to dry, came back out, and it was swarmed with ants.  They were all over me, the hose, the plant…I got stung at least three times and ended up having to take another shower because I was covered in ants.

As a result I had the heebie-jeebies for the rest of the day.  I hate bugs, especially bugs on me.

The whole experience reminded me of my childhood.  My parents were done with farming.  We had finished with the chickens, guinea hens, pigs, the cow was sold, the horse was sold.  So we were taking apart the chicken coop.  My parents were in the middle of digging out posts and all of a sudden my Mama was yelling and out in the middle of the chicken yard down come her pants!  She was covered in red ants.  Daddy was spraying her with the water hose and she’s out there doing the “ants in my pants dance”.  It’s a good thing we lived out in the middle of nowhere.  She would have been mortified if anyone had ever seen that!

I loved having that memory!  It made me laugh, thinking of Mama out there dancing to get the ants off of her.

Mama, Daddy, and Alzheimer’s

Today I was finally able to read a blog post that gave a beautiful picture of remembrance to a man well-loved, a man who suffered from Alzheimer’s.  It was a tough read but it was something that I needed to read, to learn from.  With both of my parents suffering from this disease it was important to learn from another journey.

I began to think back on our recent visit to my parents home.  There were times that they didn’t know us, times when a slight remembering was there.  There were even times, toward the end of our visit, that they didn’t even know they were married.

When we arrived, Mama, was fit to be tied, mad.  She didn’t care who I was or that I was there.  She had a good day but then with a flip of a switch she was mad.  When my sister-in-law arrived she was able to talk her down from the mad, get her to tell her what was wrong, and got everything back on track.   Mama even ate all of her dinner and didn’t even say it was yucky.

The next day my parents, who were always early risers, laid in bed till almost 11.  We had to tell them to get up!!  Apparently, they had become used to laying in bed to avoid my oldest brother while he was living there.  Bless their hearts, I really feel bad that they didn’t have the freedom to live like usual while he was there and I am glad that he’s gone.  I love my brother, but I don’t like what he did.

You never had to remind Daddy how to pray.  Praying is something that is in his blood, engrained in him.  Every meal, he was ready to pray and Daddy’s prayers always involve his children and every time he prayed, he prayed for our safety in our travels.  He had no idea when we were leaving but in his mind it could have been that very evening or the next day and he wanted to make sure that we were covered.  An odd thing that happened was Daddy not wanting ice cream.  When we went out to eat, not unusual at all, he requested a hamburger.  My Daddy loves hamburgers, especially a good 50′s style burger.  However, when we asked him if he wanted ice cream, he didn’t.  He loved his cookies though, really loved them!  We did get him sugar-free cookies, he has diabetes, but cookies are his downfall and he will eat them above all other things.

Mama would sing, if you started a song, especially an old one, she would join in.  She would add lyrics that were from other songs but she always made the melody work.  If we were riding in the car, she was singing.  You could really tell her mood if you could get her singing.  We went to Old Town Albuquerque and she was worried about not having money.  She found a pot holder with a beautiful hummingbird on it but she couldn’t find any money.  I bought it for her and she was so happy with it.  She didn’t know what to do with it, but she treasured it.  Something Mama never liked before she will now eat with relatively no issues, HOTDOGS!  They are soft enough for her to chew and due to her bad teeth, soft foods are the key.  Mama was concerned with knowing who we all were and how we were connected.  I had to explain several times that I was their daughter and that my daughters were their grandchildren and that Matthew was my husband.  When my brother arrived from Kansas Mama said that he wasn’t her Bradley.  When he told her that indeed he was her Bradley she got up to give him a big hug.

It’s hard when your parents don’t realize that they are your parents.  We were sitting at lunch and Daddy points at my sister and I and says to Mama, “Those two are sisters.  I wonder where their parents are?”  My sister leaned over to let him know that they were our parents.  He looked a little more than shocked!  I know where this disease is headed and I don’t like where it goes but there is nothing to do except hang on to the good, the essence of who they were and who they are now.  Nothing to do now but love them as I always have and how they have always love me, unconditionally.