Today is not such a great pain day for me. My hands are rather numb at times and my head aches. I, however, am not canceling knitting, but I won't be knitting much. I am hoping by then the pain pill kicks in and it is better. We shall see. Mom is doing alright today. She was sitting up when I got up this morning. (Yes, it was this morning as it was only 11:45 am when I got up and that counts as morning) Lately, she has been still lying down when I go into her room to get her, but not today. So I count that as a good day for her. She is looking a bit better (color wise) and is perky again today. That seems to be her norm for now. I am thankful for that. Right now she is trying to get the crumbs off the table without putting them on the floor. It is interesting to watch.

Aggie was supposed to have her lesson today but she had to cancel and reschedule to Monday. I was disappointed because I wanted to see her, but Monday will work too. I have to get a new book for her, I want to get the volume 4 of the Broadway book for us. I think she would like some of the songs in it. I can't get it until next week when our money comes in. I have been doing much better with spreading our money out over a month now. Since both of our money comes in around the same time it was hard to learn. I think I have it down pat now or at this point I seem to. I am caught up on most of the bills and in August I will be heading down to the lawyer's office to pay the bankruptcy filling fee and the other fee, then all I have to do is copy the mounds of bills for the lawyer and they will fill and by fall, it will all be over! I can't wait. 2 years of dealing with this and it will be over for me. Then, on to Mom's bankruptcy. Oh yes, when I lost the store I didn't just manage to bankrupt me, I bankrupt Mom too. We were both doing everything we could to save the music store and it didn't help. If the economy hadn't of tanked, we would still have the store, but it did and we don't. I am not so depressed about it now as I was, because Mom did seem to get worse this last year and I don't know how I would have handled running a store, teaching lessons, and taking care of Mom. At least now I can devote most of my energy to taking care of Mom. The thing I miss the most, besides the students and their families, is our vacations!!!! Yes, we went to Disney World 5 times in the last 5 years. It was great. I belonged to the Vacation Club and it was wonderful. Of course, I had to give that up too and now it is okay because Mom couldn't do a Disney trip, I think it would confuse her so much she'd be miserable. But looking back, they were fun trips!

I am not sure what Richard plans to do when he comes to visit. I have a few plans for us. I would like to do more than just sit around so I have planned some small activities for us. I don't know when he will be able to come as plane tickets are really expensive right now and he is still not working full time. I think we should go to the Henry Ford Museum. Mom and I love that place. Richard can push Mom in the wheelchair and I will ride in my scooter. If it is good weather we can also go to the zoo. I think that it would be fun and I am not sure if the family is coming with him. Probably not as he is still not working. I checked flights a few days ago to see if Mom and I could afford to go and see him when my back disability comes in, and wow, were they ever expensive. Tickets from Detroit to Seattle are about $800 - $900 round trip, not to mention baggage fees and taxes and stuff like that. So, well, I don't know when we will be able to go and see Richard on our budget. Plus there is the worry that Mom may not be able to handle a 6 hour flight. She hasn't been on a plane in 2 years. She did well then, but she was not in Stage 6 Alzheimer's then either so that will probably make a difference. I do want to see the kids before they are totally grown up though. I mean they are 9 & 11 now. Who knows what the future will bring, we shall see what is going on with Richard and family. For all we know, he may have to move again (a strong possibility to get a job) and it could be in driving distance like they used to be. That would be good in my book. I do hope he gets a job rather soon as I know it must be very difficult for him to take care of a family without a job. I remember when Mom was out of a job when we were small and how stressed out she was.

I think next year I will have the lawn people come and spray for weeds. I didn't do it this year because I didn't think we could really afford it. Well, we should have because the weeds need to be cut more often than the grass itself and with the extra grass cuttings, we could have had the lawn sprayed. Plus, our lawn looks horrible right now with the weeds everywhere. They had to be at least a foot tall in some places. It was awful. Fortunately, I called Addison and he came and took care of the lawn. But still, I think next year we are getting the lawn sprayed for weeds. The lawn people also have senior rates and Mom is a senior!!

Well, it is supposed to rain today which is alright by me as long as Mom and I are inside. I don't like to drive in the rain with Mom in the car because it makes her nervous. Not that she isn't nervous a lot, but let's not make her worse on the nervousness. She is nervous a lot of the time now because she can't remember stuff. She no longer can remember what we do at night to get ready or in the morning to get ready. It is really sad. She flips at night a bit when I move her legs and her body to the middle of the bed. This is so her legs won't hang down by morning and cause her back to hurt. I have a routine that we do but she doesn't remember it anymore. Sometimes she even asks me who I am or where her daughter is. This happens first thing in the morning or last thing at night, so it only happens when she is tired. At least most of the time she knows who I am.

I hope you are having a good day and that the weather is good for you.