Last night's dinner went well.  Mom liked it although she did her usual "will I have a problem if I eat this?"  She is very worried about missing the bathroom.  She NEVER has and I don't understand, but I just reassure her she is fine.  She is having a rough day although perhaps now she is out of it.  She was crying while she helped me get dressed and while we were at Tim Horton's.  She won't tell me why.  So I just let her cry and hand her Kleenex.  She let me sleep in today until 11:30, in fact, she wasn't even out of bed before me today and that has never happened.  I don't know if that is part of her bad start to the day.  I am going to put some Walker Texas Ranger (we are on season 6) in, she likes that.  We have nothing to do today.  Tillie was supposed to come over but yesterday her real estate agent called and wanted to meet her today after the showing of the house.  We think there might be an offer.  She certainly can't missed that!  I hope it is what she wants for the house.  Houses just aren't selling so I don't know if they will offer her what she wants.  Over here, not much is selling at all except foreclosed houses because you can get them cheap.  I have to come up with the tax money for 2008 or we will lose the house.  I think we have enough to pay it.  I hope so!

Well, it is still cold here but not as cold.  I hope your day will be good.  I plan to watch TV with Mom, read my book, and knit.  Have a good one!

I am using my slow cooker!!!!  Yup, I have potato soup, corn, and mushrooms in it.  I make it kinda like a stew.  I would add chicken, but the pieces of chicken I bought were breaded.  didn't mean to do that, it was $6 too, so a waste of money.  I will have to find something else to use them with.  I have the ham thawing for tomorrow's dinner, rice, spinach and ham.  Kinda scary that I am cooking a bit this weekend.  Mom helped me open everything and put stuff in the crock pot so I wouldn't have to stand super long.  I think after about 2 minutes my left hip starts to protest a lot, so standing is not the best for me.  Doing laundry with this problem is a nightmare.  Mom helps though so that is good.  It is getting harder for her to help me as her memory decreases, but she still can do some things.  She, as usual, is sleeping in her chair.  We spend a lot of time in the dining room because that is where the TV is.  I know Katie said she would move it to the living room, but there is no room in there with the 2 pianos and the stereo.  It is a very crowded room as it is, and the TV just wouldn't fit.  But I was thankful she asked.

Not much to do right now.  I loaded the dishwasher and cleaned off the counter.  I will swiffer in a bit and do it in sections.  I found my stylus pen for my DS last night.  I was very excited about that.  It has been missing for a month.  It flung out of my DS holder one night and I couldn't find it.  I found it hiding under the table.  I guess I didn't swiffer very good the last few times I swiffered.

It has warmed up a bit here, Mom is still freezing, but not as cold as last night.  She has only one little hoodie on and a blanket around her.  I have the little heater in the kitchen going to so that helps a lot.  It is facing her and blowing directly in her direction.  I get a little bit from it, but she gets the most.  Works for me, I am not as cold as she is.  I also didn't have to turn the heat up yet.  Probably will when the sun goes down.  This week is supposed to be much warmer so yeah! for that.

Other than cleaning spurts, not much going on in our house today.  I will be practicing my knitting in a little while so that I can start on a project tonight.  I am going to make a scarf for Mom.  She lost hers, so she needs a new one.  I have other projects in mind too.  I hope my hands let me knit, they no longer let me play the piano very long anymore.  I usually have to save my hands during the day for my lessons, so I am very rusty right now.

I hope this finds you doing well and having a good day.  It is an alright day over here for us.

It feels like 50 below out today.  Mom is still in her winter coat right now.  I will get her out of it eventually and then put her in blankets.  I did turn the heat up again today.  It is just so cold in here.  When it is around 30ish, it isn't so cold in the house, but man, get below that and wham!  it's cold in here.  I turned the heat up a lot last night and I should have just turned it up a bit and put another blanket on mom, she complained it was too hot upstairs at bedtime.  Can't win with this weather can I?  It makes me frustrated but I try not to get to frustrated about it because she can't help it.  We had to go to Tim Horton's today because we had no milk or bread, so we had nothing to eat for breakfast.   She didn't do too bad, it is just around the corner and it was quick in and out.  Then back to the house.  

I am going to cook with the slow cooker tomorrow!  I am going to take potato soup, corn, chicken, and another veggie and put them all together!  I have made this before and mom seems to like it.  It is really good potato soup, nice and thick the way I like it.  It is almost like a stew, so that it is really yummy!

I am going to do some knitting today while we watch mindless TV, not much good on during the day until Oprah, and I will miss her today because Zach is having a make up lesson and Rachel and Rebecca are having their lessons too.  I don't really mind because if I had to chose between the two, you know I'd pick lessons.  Speaking of lessons!  I have a new student, Heather's daughter, Calli.  She is 9 and a doll.  She is going to hopefully start next week.  I sent Heather my schedule so she can work in what will work with her.  I am excited about this.  All my girls are just going to love her and her little brother.  I just know it.  Acer is still a little small for lessons, he is only 5, but maybe when he gets older he will too.  One never knows.

I hope you are staying warm!  It is very cold here in Michigan.  It is supposed to warm up on Monday, so let's hope so.  Time to get the blankets out!

We were at Heather Bowman Thomlinson's house today.  Mom did pretty well there, but not with the cold.  We aren't going out this weekend until it warms up a bit on Monday, she just can't take it.  She has major meltdowns over being cold.  It makes me really mad, but there isn't anything I can do about it except throw more blankets on her.  I am not happy about this development at all.  It means no sewing tomorrow, which I look forward to each week.  I am trying not to be mad, but it is a losing battle.  I hate the disease she has, I hate it more than the diseases I have.  She, of course, is unaware of how upset this makes me, which is actually good because she would meltdown again over that.  

Anyways, after that, today has been fun.  I relearned how to knit from Heather BT.  I am going to practice more tonight.  Silly me though, I bought the wrong type of needles and yarn.  I should have called her but I didn't.  Sometimes my brainlessness is amazing.  I will return all the yarn except one because I am going to make trivets for the table with them and one set of needles and get the right type.  I knitted about 4 rows before her children came in.  No use knitting when her children arrive.  Mainly because they have all my attention and mom's. 

I hope you are warm and sunny today!  Try to stay warm unless you live somewhere warm, if you do, yeah!  Wish I was there!

I GOT MY CROCK POT TODAY!!!!!!!!!!!!! Can you tell I am a bit excited about it?  Sunday dinner will be the first time I use the pot for company.  Tillie is coming over for dinner.  I went grocery shopping (definitely not my favorite thing to do!) today for every thing we will need to cook in the pot.  Mom, of course, went with me and helped me get them into the house.  I also bought her a pair of slippers so her feet will stay warm and she won't have to wear boots in the house, which I hate.  Mainly I hate it because I have a hard time cleaning and wearing outside shoes in the house dirties the house faster.  We will take sat afternoon to clean the kitchen/dining room floor and the stairs and the bathroom floor.  I am trying to spread out the work during the week so we don't have to take a full day to do them.  I love my swiffer dry and swiffer wet jet.  They work so well and don't leave a film on the floor.  I will also be cleaning up the kitchen on Friday night and Saturday afternoon so that it looks nice for company.  I know Tillie doesn't really care what it looks like, but I do and I am tired of a dirty kitchen/dining room and a non perfect bathroom.

Mom and I went to see the movie "the Tooth fairy" this afternoon.  It was cute.  Julie Andrews was in it and she is great in everything she does.  Mom liked what she saw of it, she did, as usual, fall asleep a brief time during the movie.  We had a semi showing with only a few other people in the theatre and it was in the big one.  After that, we went to Olive Garden for dinner.  It was good, but the waitress was slightly dippy.  I was unhappy with her so she didn't get the great tip I usually leave.  We were eating (forks up and down eating not just sitting on the table) and she asks me if we want boxes.  Hmm, let's think about this, we ARE EATING! No we don't want boxes yet.  The she handed me the check without asking us if we wanted dessert.  Well, what if we did?  I hate that.  She rushed us through the meal.  She won't last too long there, she is not waitress material for that restaurant.

I hope your day is good, mine was pretty good, movie and getting the crock pot was good.  Tomorrow will be great - I will relearn how to knit.  We are getting our yarn and needles in the morning before Mom's blood test!  I can't wait.  Also, stay warm!  I am putting on extra blankets on my bed tonight, that is for sure!!!

So, yeah, I know what time I am meeting Wendy, it's 1:30, she works until 1:00 pm.  Guess when I remembered that, when we were waiting for her.  She was right on time, we were early.  Actually, it worked out pretty well because I was able to feed Mom some soup since she was cold and another donut before Wendy arrived, so that was good.  Next time though, I will get the time right for me.  Silly me!  We had a great time, at least I did, Mom did really well, she doesn't say much, just quietly sits there and listens.  She did have a hard time sitting at the end so it was good that Wendy had to go and pick up her son from school.  Mom is doing fine now, back to her normal self.  It was so fun talking with Wendy and realizing how much everyone has changed since high school.  I am looking forward to the next reunion.  I hope to meet with Wendy again soon.  It was just so awesome.  We didn't really hang out in high school, we each had our own circle of friends, but it sure is nice to be friends with people I went to high school with now.  On face book I am friends with several that I was mostly casual friends with, more like people I knew, but didn't really know well.  Kathy told me I would be happy about this, I should have listen to her years ago, but I was just too stubborn for my own good.  I told Wendy about Kathy and her kids and how they are doing.  I hope to take a day trip in March to see Kathy and the kids.  February is just booked on the weekends, the 13th is the benefit concert and I will be broke after that, then the following weekend is competition, so next month weekends are busy.  Maybe the last weekend in Feb, we shall see what her schedule is like.  Mom really liked going to visit her when we did in December.  Day trips are good for her right now, just the right size for her.  She doesn't get to confused because we are coming home for the evening.  I still don't have my back disability so I don't know if we are staying over night at competition or not.  I am sort of thinking we shouldn't even if the money comes in because Mom doesn't really do that well at someone else's house overnight and she might wander.  We shall see when it gets closer.  Tillie is coming to competition too, so I am excited about that.

Tillie can't come tomorrow to see the movie with us, but she is coming over on Sunday for dinner!  yeah!!!!  Yes, I will be using my new crock pot on Sunday for dinner.  After we buy the crock pot I am going to go to Border's and get a slow cooker cook book.  It's bound to have some new yummy recipes that I can either prep at the table or quick prep.  I am looking forward to cooking again.  Never that I would say that, never in a million years, but I am so tired of frozen dinners and I think adding some home cooked meals would be good and worth the effort.  This might help Mom gain some weight too.  She needs to gain about 25 to 30 pounds again.  It is hard for her to keep the weight on, I know, backwards from me, but it is true.  She can lose weight by just breathing it seems.  She will have a CT scan in about a week to double check everything is okay.  I will make the appointment tomorrow and her blood work appointment too.  The doctor wants her to have the blood work first in case there is something wrong and she shouldn't have the IV of the CT scan.  I doubt there is anything, but it is best to double check these things, right?  

I am trying to make sure we have some fruit in our diet every day.  I bought fruit cups and fresh fruit for us this month and it seemed to work pretty well.  It may even help me lose some weight, although with some of the medicine I am on and the limitations of standing and walking, I have difficulty with that.  After my student leaves I am going to try our elliptical for a short time.  I don't want to do this before my student in case I get exhausted from it, I never know when that will happen, it happens so quickly when it does. Mom, of course, as usual, is ready for bed now, however, I know when we go up she will be tired until she is ready to jump into bed and then she will perk.  She does this every night so I know the routine.  She is tired during the day because of boredom.  That's why we are going out tomorrow afternoon, so the boredom is broken up.  It helps me stay awake during the day too.  Of course, so does the caffeine in my tea and diet coke.  I have cut down on my diet coke, I won't be buying it for home anymore.  I am going to check to see if it adds to the pain, I haven't noticed if it does or doesn't when I don't have it, so you never can tell.

I also plan to do some boring laundry tonight.  Both Mom and my clothes' are starting to pile up.  Tomorrow we will also be going to JoAnn's and getting our yarn for our knitting project.  After that we will go to Hobby Lobby and get our needles, my friend, Heather, says they aren't too expensive there, so that is good.  I am excited to relearn how to knit.  Mom wants to try it too but I don't have high hopes for that.  She used to knit when I was small so maybe there is a slight chance that she will remember, but I doubt it.  But, hey, if she wants to try, why not.  She may pick it up and then she will have something to do during the day while we watch TV and movies.  That is the one thing I am looking forward too, having something to do during the day.  I plan to make a scarf for Mom, Andrew, Tillie, Kathy, Tony, Matthew, Jacob, Samantha, and Alicia.  I figure by the time I get to the twins I will have this knitting thing down pat and maybe then I can make some baby doll clothes and hats and stuff like that.  I have big plans for this endeavor. 

Today has been a good day, I have one student soon, Charlie.  Zach had to reschedule for Friday as both his parents needed the car today.  He wasn't very happy about it, but hey, it's best to reschedule instead of cancel a lesson.  (gives me something to look forward too!)  Both boys are doing quite well, Charlie has a new book he is working out of and when I get the back disability I will be buying a solo book he can borrow and have fun with.  They now have CDs for these books.  How cool is that?  Pretty cool if you ask me.  I am not getting the CD though, I have no pressing need for it and Charlie doesn't usually like playing with them, so why shell out the $25 it costs plus shipping and handling if he isn't going to use it?

I hope your day is going great too!!!!!!!

I am meeting Wendy today at 1:00 pm.  I can't wait.  It shall be fun.  I almost typed me fun.  Silly me.

Mom had a rough morning this morning, but I was up to the challenge.  When I realized she was in a bad cycle, (it only took 15 minutes this time instead of 3 hours) I got up, she helped me get dressed and then we went to get breakfast.  She got out of it by the time we were getting breakfast.  She is sleeping in her chair right now.  Nothing new there.  I hope to take her to a movie tomorrow and I am going to see if Tillie wants to come with us.  Anyways, not a long post today.  See you later!

It's been a day.  I did enjoy the 3 lessons I had, but other than that it was just a day.  Mom's friend, Jose, can to look at her shower.  She took the door off about 5 or more years ago because my brother kept flooding the furnace room when he took a shower.  It was annoying, darn near ruined the floor and the ceiling.  Then Mom took the door off and he had to take a shower in the tub bathroom.  I don't know why Jose wants the door on but I think he thinks it will help mom.  It won't, but some day it needs to go back on.  I am getting tired of tripping over crap in the house but there isn't much I can do about it right now.  Any time I try to clean it up or reorganize, Mom flips out.  She is afraid that I am going to throw her stuff out.  I am not, but she doesn't believe anyone.  I will, however, throw away garbage like her stupid pieces of Kleenex or paper towel that she carries around every day and then takes them out of her jackets and puts fresh in the next day.

I am meeting Wendy for tea tomorrow.  I am very excited about that.  I haven't seen her in over 20 years, more like 23 years since high school.  Who would have thought?  Not me.  I was the one who never wanted to go to the reunions, now I will probably go to the next one, providing I find someone to watch mom for me.  She isn't coming with me to that.  I put my foot down on that.  I take her everywhere else.  

I am rather tired now.  It is about 7 pm, not quite bed time.  Mom is always ready for bed anytime after 5 pm.  We will go up in about an hour.  I wonder how Richard is doing.  He should really come and visit Mom while she still knows who he is.  She is slowly forgetting all of us, she even asks if I am Heather sometimes.  Usually first thing in the morning or late at night.  During the day she is fine.  She doesn't do this everyday, mind you, just once in a while about once every other week.

I will be getting the new crock Wednesday!  I can't wait.  I am inviting Tillie over for Sunday dinner, I will be making what my friend's children call green rice and ham.  It is rice, spinach, and ham.  I loved it last week when we had it so I will pass this one on to our kitchen.

I will also be getting the lottery ticket.  It has a pretty good size jackpot.  Can't win if you don't play.  good luck everyone.

Pain is medium, not too unusual.  Hope your day has been a good one.

It's raining outside, but warmer than it was.  We are supposed to get the super cold weather back later this week.  Ugh.  Not happy about that, not happy at all.  I am really tired today, I tried to sleep in but with Mom, you know how hard that is.  I think I will slip into the front room and try to sneak a nap in on the chair.  She usually leaves me alone there for a while anyways.  She is sleeping in her chair as usual.  And I wonder why she doesn't sleep much at night, right, I know why, she sleeps all day.

Debbie will have her lesson later today.  Wish it was more than just Debbie, but, nothing right now I can do about it.

Mom is doing alright today except for the sleeping part.  That is actually normal for her.  Sleep during the day, up during the night.  I have tried to fix it, but I am losing the battle.  As long as she is blocked in upstairs, she is fine.  She does get some sleep at night, just not as much as I would like her too.

Pain is medium to high today in the head.  My right side is going to fall off soon.  I took an Advil even though I really am not supposed to, but the Tylenol is just not cutting it.  Not much happening today, hopefully better this week.  I will be seeing my friend, Wendy, on Tuesday and I will see Heather on Thursday so my week is looking good.  The only day that will be boring is Wednesday as of right now I have no lessons scheduled for then, Rachel and Rebecca don't have their lessons scheduled yet, so I hope to know when theirs are soon.

I hope your day is sunny and nice out unlike the yucky rain we are getting.

We went to Chili's tonight, well, this afternoon for dinner.  They were having a special two for $20 that included an appetizer, 2 entrees, and dessert!  We had a gift cert from Christmas from Richard, so I thought, why not!!!  Mom still does well going out to eat so off we went!  I had two lessons earlier, was supposed to be three, but turned out to be 2.  It was still a good day.  Mom and I are now watching Walker, Texas Ranger, season 5 disc 4 episode 2.  We love this show.  After this we are going to go to bed, it's been a long day for her.  I might read a bit in my room.  I am reading a really good book right now.  I have read it before, but it still good.  Mom gave it to me for Christmas.  About 2 days before Christmas she said she wanted to give me books for Christmas so we went to the used bookstore for them.  I got 7 books for about $21.  Mom saw a Curious George Christmas book and I asked her if she would like it, she said yes, so I got it for her.  It was expensive!  It cost about $14 but she likes those kind of books and doesn't have much time left so I got it for her.  A small thing to bring her much pleasure.  I also got her a puzzle book, the type where every page is a puzzle.  There are about 8 pages in it.  It was Christmas theme.   Next year, I don't anticipate a very good Christmas for her, I don't think she will remember much by then so I am trying to pack as much as I can into this year for us, despite the shortage of funds.  She likes simple things that don't cost a lot of money.  We watch a lot of movies and TV together.  She likes that a lot, even when she falls asleep during them briefly.  She is wide awake tonight, I don't know why, but hey, I am not questioning it.

Pain is not so bad considering I am completely out of prescription pain pills.  The refill will be ready Monday, but I don't know if I will have the money, if Grace has a lesson, then I will otherwise I will need to wait until Wednesday.  I have Tylenol so it isn't like I have nothing for pain and if really necessary, Advil.  I don't take Advil because of the blood thinners, but if I really need it, I will take it.

I hope your day is as good as mine was.

Sewing day this afternoon.  The girls are doing really well including the littlest one.  She pined her first piece of material today.  She pined really nicely, all straight and a little close together, but other than that, she did awesome.  I get to learn how to knit next week.  Can't wait.  My friend, Heather, is going to teach me.  Mom is getting used to my friend who has the same name as me, it doesn't confuse her as much as it used to.  We to start this endeavor next week.  I am very excited to learn this task again.  I used to know when I was a kid, but that was a long time ago.

Other than sewing, rather boring day after that excitement for the day.  I have 3 students tomorrow and 1 on Sunday.  So between the hours of 1 pm to 2:30 pm, I will be busy, and then, not so much, another boring day.  Outside of the 5:30 to 6:00 pm tomorrow, Sunday is looking rather dull too.  It is the week before Mom's money comes in so we are slightly broke, so no movie, not that I think anything good is playing.  We saw a lot this summer, that was fun.  I have a couple more letters to write about lessons.  I hope to hear something from someone, I can't believe that neither teacher has taken me up on this plan.  I mean, free lessons for 2 of their students, really.  I just don't understand it.

Pain is high right now, don't really know why since it is warmer than it was yesterday.  We shall see how tomorrow goes.  I hope your day is good.

Kinda of a grumpy day for me.  Mom keeps asking me if I am tired yet.  That would be because she is up during the night and not sleeping so she is tired during the day.  She was up at 1 pm moving crap in her room around and, well, she fell on her cross stitch bag that should never have been on the floor.  I don't know where she got that from because it wasn't there when I put her to bed.  Fortunately, she didn't hit her head so we didn't have to go to the ER.  We were lucky there.  She doesn't remember falling, but I sure do.  I had to move two other bags that she moved into her room, I don't know where these bags came from, but they were tossed way into the back of the spare room so she can't get them again.

I am not dealing well with her today, she isn't doing anything different or worse than any other day, I just am grumpy, very grumpy.  I had my blood test and the nurse got in one shot, so yeah, on that.  I went to the tummy doctor for the 3 month check and the physician assistant asked how mom was doing and I told her she lost 7 more pounds.  Now she is going to get a CT scan and a blood test, so that is good.  She is trying to get to the bottom of this weight loss.  It just falls off her.  I need to lose the weight, not her.  I, of course, managed to gain another 3 pounds.  At this rate, goodness knows how much I will weigh soon.  I have got to do something, I am watching my food and I don't eat the junk food.  I give that stuff to mom.  At least my cholesterol went down both the bad one and the triglycerides or however you spell it.

We have the sub meeting tonight so I am very glad about that.  I may not be so grumpy but I can't just stay at home tonight and do nothing, it is driving me crazy.  Maybe we will go to Starbucks in a few minutes to get out of the house again.  I just can't stay here right now.

I need to do something with Mom's room, it is a death trap, literally.  If she needs an ambulance, they would NOT be able to get the stretcher in her room, that is how bad it is.  Throwing out her stuff or even reorganizing it upsets her and she gets hysterical over it.  I have to figure out something soon or she may fall again.  At least she isn't losing her balance, her feet got caught in the straps of the cross stitch bag, that was why she fell.  Still, it could happen again since I have no idea what is in her room.  Kathy has offered to help if I could take Mom away for a few hours.  Maybe Tillie can take her for the afternoon and Kathy and I could go to town in her room.  Hayley has also offered to help.  We shall see what is going to work best.  That is my new project.

I hope your day is better than my grumpy butt day!  have a good one!

Mom is all set.  She has her card she needs to be put on the list in Windsor.  When the card comes in we will go and take care of it.  We were at Tillie's this afternoon.  She even made us dinner!  It was good, she made pork, veggies, and fries.  Mom ate the fries which shocked me because they were seasoned and she doesn't do well with seasonings.  She did get a bit of a tummy ache afterward, but she is fine now.  She is actually sleeping in the chair at the dining room table while I am watching Law and Order SVU.  Now she awake again.

I tried to go on the website for Canada pension because Mom paid into it when she was in the service, but for some reason it wouldn't accept her number.  I will double check that I have her proper number and try it again tomorrow.  

I have a blood test and a doctor appointment all in the same day tomorrow.  Lucky me.  Yeah.  I am so happy about that.  NOT!!!  It is an appointment with the tummy doctor to check for side effects on the medicine I am on.  I don't have any so I am happy about that.  Apparently it can cause some serious side effects and there is a group trying to get it pulled off the market.  I am rather screwed should they do that as nothing has worked like this.  Hopefully they won't.  Then in the evening, we are going to the subdivision's board meeting, always an interesting time.  Mom goes with me.  I think she enjoys the meetings too, she is just quiet during them.

Pain is normal today.  No big deal, nothing unusual.  I hope your day is going well like mine did.  Oh, and tomorrow, I will work some more on the Christmas ornaments.

It's Tuesday and 3 lessons again today.  Katie just had her lesson.  She is really improving a whole lot.  It is awesome.  She is working hard on her competition songs.  She is planning to sing them for the benefit too.  Might as well, get as much out of those songs as possible, plus, competition is a week after the benefit so she will be more than ready with those.  Frank is not as ready as I would like.  Rachel, not sure of, haven't seen her in a couple of weeks.  Zach and Charlie have their lessons tonight too then we are going to the little cafe for dinner.  I don't feel like cooking or heating up anything.  I have to empty the fridge though, I just remembered that.  We have old food that needs to be removed.

Mom is having an okay day - not great or good, but not too bad.  She got upset when I went upstairs and she forgot where I was.  She needs to be with me everywhere so she feels safe.  This morning was her usual coming in and out.  Gating her upstairs definitely keeps her up there.  She doesn't even think about going near it any more, so I am very happy about that.

I finished Rachel's music today.  Ugh, it was a hard one.  Mostly because I know I have a good tape accompaniment of it, but I can't find it so I had to put it in finale.  But it is finally done!  Both of her songs are done.  The prayer was easy, but not upon this rock.  Frank and I worked on Alleluia yesterday.  He is accompanying her at competition, they will get together next week.  He almost has the song memorized which is good.  He just needs to memorize all his stuff!  I get nervous around this time every year for competition.  It just gets nerve wracking!  I am not in charge of how much that the kids practice and stuff so that is what gets to me.

My side is sore today - not sure why.  Other than that, not too bad in the pain level.  We are heading for Windsor tomorrow.  I have to bring Tillie her mail when we go.  We are having dinner around 4:30 ish.  At least I don't have to cook tomorrow!!!  Have a great night!

I had my usual 3 lessons for the day.  After a really boring day yesterday, today was a sigh of relief.  I have 3 lessons spread out tomorrow so I am very happy about that!!!  The news was on and Mom started crying, so I changed to Golden Girls.  She loves the show a lot even though I think we have seen every episode at least once if not twice.  It is an interesting show this one.  We will probably watch the next couple episodes because Mom can't handle the news about Haiti today.  I mean, it is so awful what happened, and I am glad there are a lot of people over there helping them.

Other than the lessons, not much going on.  It is just boring days around here.  I would prefer more excitement, but good excitement, not the bad type.  

Pain is normal today.  Mom is doing alright outside of the crying from the news.  We don't watch the news a lot because she is very emotional these days.  She did wake up at 1 am and was ready to go for the day until I told her what time it was, she went back to bed after that.  I hope she sleeps through the night tonight!

I hope your day is good.

I am watching the movie Fame.  It is the remake, the 2009 version and so far it is really dumb.  We just watched Night of the Museum, the first one.  it was good.  I loved the TV series Fame, but this movie is just not good.  I don't remember the original movie except I didn't like it either.  I thought this would be better.  If it doesn't improve in the next few minutes, it's going off.  finally, a song I actually know, Out Here On My Own.  I love this song, I sung it for competition when I was about 19 and won.  It was the first time I got first place.

Mom is alright today, she woke up early as usual but she wasn't confused, so that was good.  She did her usual coming in and out of my room a lot.  It gets annoying but I can't do anything about that, she doesn't realize I am trying to sleep!  I don't understand how she misses the point as my eyes are closed!  But she does miss the point every day.  No point in trying to get her to realize I am trying to sleep, she will just get upset and then that would be the end of it.  She woke up at 3 am and didn't want to go back to sleep.  She did once I told her what time it was.  Then she woke up again at about 7 and I don't think she went back to bed.  She is tired now and was sleeping on the chair.  i thought she was going to sleep during breakfast.  I really did, her eyes were closing and everything.

Okay - just took the movie Fame out and put in Walker, Texas Ranger season 5 disc 3.  Definitely, a better choice.

Pain is a bit high, I don't really know why today, I didn't do anything to increase it, but it is high, especially in the left shoulder, the annoying one.  I don't know what I did to it in the first place.  It started in June and hasn't really let up since.  I can't move it completely upright yet.  I should be getting a cortisone shot soon after I get my next blood test.  I have to do the blood test on a Tuesday so that the shot can be done on a Friday.  We shall see.  Ross says they do help, I was sceptical about the whole idea.  I mean, I have tried so much that hasn't worked yet.  

It has been a rather boring day because we don't have any lessons today.  I will be hopefully getting a few more in the future.

I hope your day is good.

The last two days have been fun filled until right about now.  Mom is having a rough evening.  I gave her medicine so I hope it kicks in soon.  She was great yesterday at my friend, heather's house.  She does really well there now, so I am happy about that.  It wasn't too windy so she wasn't freaked out about the wind.  We were at sewing earlier this afternoon.  She was falling asleep there a lot.  I picked up our dinner on the way home.  I just gave her an ensure, she needs to gain about 23 pounds to get to 120lbs.  I just don't want her to lose any more weight so I just keep feeding her.  It doesn't do a whole lot of good since she is still super tiny, but I try.  I would gladly give her what I don't want, but it just doesn't work that way.

We are watching the news about the earthquake in Haiti, how awful.  About 140,000 people killed, that is the new estimate.  The looting has started there too.  That is awful, it just shows how desperate the situation is.  I feel for the people there, I can't imagine such a situation as theirs.  

Mom is calming down now, the medicine is kicking in.  She has stopped crying now and is not asking so much where are we and when will we go home.  We are already home.  She isn't normally like this.  This is an unusual night.  I don't know why this happens every few weeks.  It isn't her normal nightly behavior.  She is hard to pin down.  She has done a bit of hallucinating about me as a little girl but that only has happened 2 times both in the morning.  Once I break whatever cycle she is in (usually leaving the house) she forgets all about the little girl and she is fine.  She does get upset over the news at times so I change the channel when that happens, we have many choices and if there isn't anything good on TV, I put it a disc that she likes.  We don't have to do this too often, but when it becomes necessary, I take care of it.  She isn't ready for a nursing home yet, I do know that will happen in the future, but she won't do well if we place her now.  She would probably stop eating (that's what she does when she is upset) and die from loneliness and despair.  She has mentioned that she would rather be dead than go in a nursing home so I take her very seriously when she says that.  She doesn't want to be disposed of - her words, not mine - that is how she sees it.  Since I want her around, I am postponing as much as possible when she will go, probably when she is confused all the time and not really responding to anything.  I hope that is for not a least a year, maybe two.  We shall see.  This waiting game is awful and difficult for the both of us.

Pain is low for a change - the weather is a bit warmer and not so damp.  I hope your day is good like the last two I had!

I am going to my friend Heather's today!  I will see her adorable 2 kids and her!  I am very excited about this!  Can you tell???????

Not too much going on today.  I have to print the coupon for border's books so I can get this month's book club book.  Aggie chose it.  It's one of her favorite books so I think I will probably like it.  I like reading different books than I normally would have, it makes life interesting, and I need an interesting life.  Usually, it is kinda dull nowadays.  It was interesting when we had the store, but now, not so much unless I am teaching, then it is fun.

We ran into Irv and Rosemary at Tim Horton's this afternoon, what a fun time!  They are our neighbors who live down the road from us.  He is president of the subdivision board of directors.  I am a board member so I see him once a month at the meetings and I run into Rosemary a lot at Tim Horton's.  It is always fun chatting with her.

Mom's tummy is back to normal today.  Thank goodness!  She didn't feel so hot last night with a sore tummy but now she is fine.  She is sleeping in the chair again.

We didn't go to Windsor today after all, I just didn't have the time this morning as I wasn't feeling so hot myself.  I feel better now, but my head is not too happy with me.  It is better, but not enough to have to actually think on filling out papers.  I will go next week.  Thursday this week and next week are doctor appointments so that only leaves Wednesday for going to Windsor, unless I have a make up lesson, which I won't know until next week.

I have to finish Rachel's song in finale for competition.  It is a rather difficult song and I have a tape of the accompaniment somewhere, I just don't know where.  I wish I could find it, but I have looked and I don't see it anywhere.  I am going to look in the office again in case it is hiding in there.  I hope so, it would be better than what I am trying to do.

I hope you are having a good day and doing well!

I am rather tired now.  It is about 8:30 pm.  I am watching NCIS.  I love this show.  Mom has a tummy ache tonight.  I gave her some medicine so I hope it is working.  I don't think either one of us are up for something lasting long tonight.  Poor thing, she is sleeping in her chair.  She has had a couple of decent nights and days the last couple of days.  I am very  thankful for that.  We were planning to go to Windsor tomorrow but with Mom's tummy, we shall see.  It has been hurting her on and off all day so we may just stay home and go next week, all depends on her.  I am seeing my friend, Heather, on Thursday.  I am so excited about that.  Mom loves her kids, they are awesome.  I have some piano CDs for the little guy, Acer, to figure out on the piano.  I hope he likes them.  Calli plays too and she is doing really well.  I hope to find some information about teaching children with vision impairments how to play the piano.  It sounds very fun to me to learn how to do this.  I am hoping it helps Calli and Acer who love music.  

Mom has done really well the last few nights.  I am happy about that.  Her tummy isn't doing so good right now or all day.  She gets tummy aches every so often but I did take her to the specialist and they did a lot of tests and she doesn't really have anything wrong.  So I am glad of that.  Pain level is medium and I am a bit cold.  I have the little heater on the table but it is facing Mom right now because she is even colder than I am.  It is supposed to warm up in the next few days, man I hope so because it is really cold tonight.  I have another blanket for Mom's bed and two more for mine.  I know will have 6 blankets on my bed.  My room is the cold room in the upstairs.  Mom's is the medium room, my old room is the hot room of the upstairs.

I hope you are warm wherever you are!  or at least trying to stay warm!

Well, I was WRONG!  We can have a great night and a good morning all in the same cycle!  Mom did great last night, she went into bed and didn't get up until she needed to go to the bathroom and this morning did well too!  I am soooooo happy about that.  She let me sleep until the alarm clock went off (too early if you ask me, I reset it for 25 minutes later!) and then let me sleep again until it went off again.  Then she helped me get dressed and we brushed the teeth and were ready to go.  All in all, a great day so far.  Bob had his lesson, the girls had theirs, Grace will have hers later in the week, and Frank will be here tonight.  I love the Mondays of the month.  Tuesdays are a close second.  Wednesdays and Thursdays are not so fun because there are no lessons, but hey, can't have everything can you???

I actually spoke to both of my brothers yesterday.  Shocking I know.  Andrew called to see how Mom is doing and I called Richard last night.  Both are doing alright, Richard is still working so that is awesome.  His job is a temp one and the contract was supposed to be up in August/September, but he is still there.  I hope he finds another one quickly after this one is over.

I think my brothers are missing out on Mom too much.  At least Richard is, Andrew was, but he saw Mom at Christmas and I think he realized that if he doesn't stay in touch with Mom, eventually she won't remember him.  Richard lives so far away from us but he works about 4 hours away.  I don't know if he will come and visit or not or just let his memory fade away from her.  I, on the other hand, even with the rough spots, love being with mom all the time.  I get her and they miss out.  I hope we will visit Andrew a bit more now because Mom really enjoyed spending the time with him over the holidays.

I got in touch with the alumni chapter of Mu Phi Epsilon.  They are a music fraternity that I was a member of in college.  Was supposed to have a meeting tonight, but they are canceling it because of the white stuff coming down!!!!!!  I will have to wait until next month to go.  Tuesday, the president, said it was no problem bringing Mom either!  How awesome is that.  I guess some of the members bring their husbands and kids too so they are definitely family friendly.  I am really happy about that.

Pain is alright except my neck.  I must have let it get cold last night because one spot kinda hurts a lot.  Silly me.  What can I say??????  I am going to be working on some of the Christmas Crafts I want to put on next year's tree.  (I plan to put up a tree next year, we all know I didn't this year!)  I hope this finds you doing well and having a good day!!!!

So I guess either I have Mom have a good night and a bad morning, or a bad night and a good morning, I would hope both the good night and good morning, but maybe I am wishing too much.  She began wandering around the upstairs at 7:30 am.  Yeah, not happy about that, I am not a morning person.  I hope she doesn't do this every morning or I will never have a good sleep again for a long time.  She did stay in my room for about 1/2 hour around 9 ish, so I slept for a 1/2 hour before she started calling my name again.  This is the first time she has done it, so maybe it was a fluke.  i am hoping so.  She is fine now, sitting in her chair.  Debbie will be here for a lesson soon so Mom is a happy camper now, she just wasn't this morning.

Andrew called, I was surprised, pleasantly surprised.  He wanted to know when I was going to go and get Mom's OHIP number (Ontario health insurance), we will probably go this week Weds or Thurs depending on what my schedule is like.  Tillie's package came in so we will take that to her too.  Mom does pretty well on day trips and we don't go to far so I am not in extra pain so good all around.

I am getting ready for the benefit concert next month.  I hope to have Katie, Katie, and Danielle over for a brief rehearsal before the concert.  I haven't heard them play in a while.  Katie P and Danielle have been in college away from home so I am glad they are playing in the concert.  I heard Katie K play a bit ago but I can always hear her play she is so good.  I think she is playing the Phantom of the Opera music for the concert.  Danielle is doing Beatles and I don't know what Katie is planning yet.  Debbie is going to be the MC and perform 4 songs.  I am really excited about this concert.  It is the week before competition so any of my students who are competing and in the concert will play their competition music.

Pain is a little high after this mornings episode, I expected to be.  I hope it goes back to normal by dinner time.  I have to buy the new book for book club this week.  My border's coupon expires tomorrow so I hopefully go before then or get a new coupon.  i love books, they are the best things in the world.

I hope you are doing well despite this yucky weather or are at least somewhere warm!!!!!

After Lily's lesson was book club.  Aggie, Katie, and Katie couldn't attend today.  Maggie and I had a blast anyways!  I love the time period of the book I choose for this month.  The Tudors.  Henry VIII is a fascinating man, even though I would never want to be one of his queens.  It an interesting time in history with how the women had no choice in anything they did.  Men told them what to do.  The book is called, "The Other Boleyn Girl" and written from Mary Boleyn's point of view which I find so interesting because you can see Anne from her side of it.  I have seen the movie too, it is pretty close to the book, I think because I can't remember it exactly.  I will have to watch it again, maybe tomorrow after dinner.  

Maggie and I have such fun times together.  Her husband, Bob, is my student so that is how I met her.  Lily is doing well with her lessons, she seems to really enjoy singing and even plays the vocal part on the piano while she is practicing.  I am very pleased about that.  Aggie missed her lesson too, she had a lot to do this afternoon since she goes back to Michigan State University tomorrow.  I miss her when she is gone, she is a neat young woman.  I will see her in two weeks for her next lesson though.  I will have Debbie's lesson tomorrow.  I am almost done with her music for the benefit.  I have to copy the music for Aggie still, I just don't think about it when I have time and panic about it when I don't, not a good idea!

Mom is alright today.  She has a new thing now.  She asks how much does it cost to stay the night.  She forgets she owns the house and we pay a mortgage on it.  She doesn't like sleeping in her own room, but logistically, it wouldn't never work to put our beds in the same room.  Her room is too hot for me and my room is too cold for her, and she sleeps with her light on, so that wouldn't work for me either.  I like a cold and dark room.  She is doing pretty well, I think, over all.  Her cut on her lip is looking much better too.  Tomorrow I am going to move some of the boxes in her room away from the bed so I can remake her bed, this way, the blankets will not be hanging down on the one side of the bed and she can't get tangled into it again.

Pain isn't so bad today.  I do have a bit more of a headache right now than usual, but as long as it doesn't get worse I will be fine.  I hope you are enjoying your day as I loved mine!  Talk to you tomorrow!

It was sewing day!  Finally!!!!  I was sooooo excited this morning about it.  So was Mom.  The girls got new outfits to start on this afternoon.  We couldn't actually start anything because we have to wash the material first for shrinkage so next week will be the start of the outfits.  I got Sarah her material for the skirt she is going to help me make.  She is so excited about sewing, I am just in heaven over it all.  I have new scissors to use too.  I just have to buy another pair of pinking shears because we have lost them.

Other than that, not much happening around the house.  Mom is doing alright, I am doing alright, so it's good.  I hope you are doing alright too!!!  I just mailed all the competition stuff out and I emailed the forms the other day, so I am ahead of schedule there!  Go Me!  finally, a year where I am ahead of the game, not behind it.

I hope you are having a wonderful day and see you tomorrow!

What a night!  Yup, it was a good one!  Mom stayed in bed after she went in the first time.  It has been so long since she has done that I can't remember.  Then to top it off, she didn't wake me up in the morning early!  I actually got a bit of sleep for a change.  I am one happy camper about that.  

I had my blood test today.  I will find out the results later in the afternoon for the pro-time, but next week on the cholesterol.  The nurse was able to find my vein right away and it worked first time she poked me.  It was wonderful.  I have mean veins, they hide from nurses who have needles, that causes the nurses to have to poke a lot and that hurts.  So all in all, it has been a good day so far. 

It is supposed to snow a lot today, ugh, but it will look awfully pretty out!  I can live without snow though as long as it doesn't get too cold.  I think it a bit, Mom and I are going to a movie or watching one here at home.  It just sounds like that type of day, know what I mean?

I have to figure out what I am going to do with the rest of my life, career wise, I mean.  Right now I teach a bit, and some actually pay, but most of them are on scholarship and the rest of my money comes from disability.  I have to look ahead of when Mom won't be here to help pay the bills and the house.  I am starting to work on that now so that I am ready when she needs 24 hour care.  I just don't know what I want to really do, I want to open a new school of music, but I am not sure about that yet either.  We shall see!

I hope you are having a good, snowy day!

Rather cold today, not as cold as yesterday, but rather cold nevertheless.  It is freezing in here too, I went to get my fleece jacket so I won't be cold.  This is crazy weather.  I know, you would think I would be used to it after my whole life in Michigan, but I just am not.

We went to visit Pine Ridge today.  What a disappointment that was.  Yes, the apartment Mom could afford, that was the good part, the bad part, the care is on top of the apartment.  Not in our budget.  So I was rather disappointment.  Tillie came with us, but she didn't need to ask any questions because we just can't afford that for Mom.  It was an assisted living place not a nursing home.  I thought this would be a good place for her, but I was wrong.  So I guess when she needs more care we are going to have to look at home care unless she needs nursing home.  I am not putting in her in one until she needs it.  That is for sure.  We are doing alright most of the time, the two of us together.  She didn't have a good morning though and I don't like it when she has a bad day in front of people because they tend to think that is how she is most of the time.

I had a make-up lesson this afternoon, Bob.  He plays really well, he sight read his newest piece, Yesterday (by the Beatles) wonderfully.  I think he is going to play in the benefit concert too.  I hope so.  I am pleased that I finished the newsletter for the month.  yeah, me!

Pain isn't really too bad for how bad the weather is.  I hope your day is going well.

Mom doesn't want to go outside tonight.  I told Jose that evening is bad for her, but it's the time he wanted.  I hope she changes her mind by the time he gets here.  She is upset right now so I gave her her anxiety medicine.  I hope it helps her feel better because right now she doesn't want to go.  

Tomorrow we are going to visit a assisted living facility.  I hope mom likes it because by end of summer I anticipate that she will need them.  I hope not, but I will be ready for it.  Tillie is coming with us.  I invited her to come with us.  She will be here about 11 ish am.  I will be up by 10:30 am to make sure I hear her.  I am glad she is coming because she may have questions I wouldn't think about.  Georgette said they looked at this place for her mother-in-law and it was expensive.  I told the lady from A Place For Mom how much money we have to work with, so I hope it wasn't a mistake by sending us there.  We shall see!

She is calmer already about going out she has already forgotten that she didn't want to go.

It has been a good day, I had two students, Zach and Charlie.  They both are doing quite well.  Zach has solo and ensemble next Saturday, he was a bit late today so I asked him to come early next week to make up the time.  With competition next week, it's crucial that he has all the time with me he needs.  He knows one piece real well, but the timing on the other is a bit shaky at times.  He pretty much had it by the time he left, but I will feel better checking into it.

I am going to see my friend, Heather, next week too!  Her kids are so amazing.  I just love them both a lot, they are so talented with music.  I hope it isn't windy because last time we had to leave early because she was afraid of the wind.  It was really windy that day though, I mean really windy.  We had high wind warnings that day, so you can imagine.

Mom keeps asking me when are we heading home, it is really sad that she forgets where we are.  Jose should be here in a few minutes so I better end this soon.

I hope your day is going well.  I am still debating on whether or not to participate in the Valentine's Day swap with Hayley.  Possibly.

Mom's friend, Jose, was over this afternoon.  He needed some help putting his resume on line, so I took care of it for him.  He brought some cream over to help Mom's arthritis foot.  Sometimes it really pains her.  He left some cream for me to help with Mom's little foot.  He is taking her out to dinner tomorrow.  I warned him about how she is after the sun goes down.  I keep the drapes drawn so she can't really tell what time of day it is.  It helps a lot, but he is planning to take her out to dinner.  She worked with him years ago before she retired.  I have known him since I was 14 ish years old.  You can do the math there, I won't, too depressing about the age.

My cousin, Hayley is going to do a valentine's day craft swap.  If you want more info, just email me and I will send you the link to her blog.  She is very talented at crafts and stuff!

Not much really happen this evening.  I don't really want to play my DS anymore, it's tiring today.  Frank had his lesson this afternoon.  He is doing so well.  Bob had to reschedule to Wednesday since the window people were at his house putting in the new windows.  Rescheduling is a piece of cake since I don't have many students right now.  I have mailed the letters to the school directors, hope to hear from them this week!  Fingers crossed!!!!

Pain isn't so bad right now.  Everything seems to be at it's normal annoying place, not to high, but not low enough for me.  I hope your day is good and the week starting out nicely for you!!

Alvin and the Chipmunks are sooooooo cute!  It was a really cute movie with cute music.  The Chipettes were really cute too.  I didn't know there was a movie out in 2007 with the chipmunks, we will have to get it for mom.  She loves these movies.  

Definitely a better day today than yesterday.  No meltdown.  I gated Mom in at the top of the up stairs and that seemed to work pretty well.  She just wondered in and out of her room to my room, just like I had hoped.  She didn't try to move the gate at all so I am one happy camper today.

Lily and Julie were dancing at the end of the movie, it was so cute to see Lily dancing in her seat.  She is going to be 12 soon, and that blows my mind at times.  She has grown up so fast.  And her sister will be 17!  That is even crazier!  Emily was so small when I first met her, now she is a junior and everything!

I have a pretty busy evening around here.  Rachel and Rebecca can't have a lesson on Tuesday as originally planned, so they are on their way for a lesson now.  Debbie will have a lesson (practice) around 6 to 6:30 ish.  I haven't really heard her sing for almost 5 years!  I can't believe she is in her 20's now.  She IS all grown up.  Scary scary scary!  She lives in this beautiful, big house with her best friend, Justine.  I am so happy things are going well for her.  She has a new job, a new house, friends flying in to see her.  I mean, things have really turned around for her since she came back from India.

I am working with a lady named Marie, from a Place for Mom, to help place Mom in a home when she needs one.  I know it will probably be before summer, but I am hoping it will be after summer.  I was lucky I found this place because they do all the searching for you.  They ask you questions and find places that fit in your budget that are good homes, not the bad ones.  They also help you with the questions you need to ask homes about Mom.  Mom is doing better today then she was yesterday.  She fell out of bed a couple of days ago, but we have not had a repeat incident.  She just didn't realize she was at the end of the bed and rolled over.  She cut her lip and bruised her face a bit, but no major damage was done.  Last night I made sure she was more in the middle of her bed than usual.

We went out to eat after the movie.  We went to Olive Garden.  One of the hostesses recognizes us when we go, she is very nice.  When she found out what section we were in, she turned up the heat a bit for mom.  It made it very toasty for her.  We both got noodles and Alfredo sauce.  We like the Penne noodles better than the fettuccine ones, so we always substitute them.  I also get sausage.  yes, I know, lower my cholesterol!  I am working on it.  I usually get chicken but not today!

I got new sewing scissors for Christmas that I can't wait to use Friday.  Friday will be the first sewing class in 3 weeks because of the holidays.  The girls need to purchase new projects and I have to get the material for their younger sister Sarah's skirt.  She wants to learn too.  She is a little too young to use the machine, but not for hand sewing and pinning and cutting and all sorts of good stuff!

Well, we had a great day, and I hope yours is too!

Well, major melt down this morning.  I mean over something ridicules.  I have a difficult time dressing myself because of the pain.  Mom was hallucinating about a little girl downstairs.  I needed to get dressed so we could go and get breakfast, but I couldn't get her to focus on staying upstairs.  I had a melt down and that diverted her attention back to me.  It worked, but not exactly how I wanted to behave.  She has been more confused at night, I am wondering if it is her new medicine.  I am not giving it to her tonight to see.  Last night she kept asking me when we were going home, which is something she has done for the last few nights.  She never did this before, so I don't know if it is the disease or the medicine.  We shall find out.

Finished up the newsletter for my students about the upcoming events.  We have competition and a benefit concert in February.  The spring concert won't be until Mayish.  I will be signing up for that soon though.

I sent 2 letters out to 2 high school band directors with my business cards letting them know about 2 scholarships I am giving 2 of their students.  I hope to hear from them this week.  Then I will have 4 new students, granted they won't be paying for the lessons, but it will be 2 more hours I am busy and that is good.

Pain is pretty high today, especially since the melt down.  Hope it lessens soon.  Hope your day is better than mine.  So far, 2010 isn't starting so good.

I hope this year is the best year for everyone!  Happy New Year!  The old year is out and the new year is in!