It's raining out now and cold.  Not happy about this new development in the weather.  I liked the near 60 degree weather we had all last week.  I moved the two garbage buckets to the front of the house.  Oh my gosh, they weigh a ton.  I will move them to the road after my lessons.  I have to clean up where the animals had fun with the food garbage.  I asked that food garbage be put in the container that closes.  Guess it didn't fit.  Now I have a big mess to clean.  Not happy about that.  happy that the rooms are done, not happy to pick up garbage.

Mom is in her chair dozing again.  I woke at 6 to use the bathroom and she was up.  I don't know how long she was up.  The gate wasn't up either so I quickly fixed that.  I put her back to bed and we both slept until noon.  I think she had been awake for hours because she slept so long in the morning and every time she sits down she falls asleep.

Grace had her lesson already, she is doing really well.  She has got some more complicated music and she is getting it.  She won't have a lesson the day after Easter.  Holy week for her will be very busy so she won't have time to practice, and plus she will be on vacation.  Perhaps they will go away for it.  That would be nice.  

I don't know what we are doing for Easter.  I will make us something nice.  It will probably be just the 2 of us.  I don't mind.  Easter is a quiet holiday for our family.  Andrew and Richard usually had to work since they were in the restaurant business when we were young.  We will probably watch a movie, maybe go to one if there is a good one playing.  We'll see.

Calli, Frank, and Debbie are all having lessons tonight.  Then I will cook dinner for Mom and me.  I have to give her an ensure before the lessons begin so she can have her snack.

Other than lessons, there really isn't anything going on.  I have to order her birthday cakes, but that is about it.  I have planned the snacks we will have at the party, and need to order the veggie tray.  I am not getting a fruit tray too, just some chips and dip and cookies.  It will be mostly low key.  It is an open house type of party as Tillie's house is very small.  I don't know how it will fit so many people at one time.  I can't wait for the party though, I am looking forward to actually talking to my cousins.  I haven't even met one of them yet and she is 18 months old now.  Sad.  :( :( :(  I will see her at the party though.

I ache because of the rain.  I hope you are doing better and maybe no rain in your forecast.

It is so quiet now.  Mom is sleeping in her chair at the table.  I meant to bring her special cushion from Tillie's, but I forgot.  We will get it on Wednesday.  It is made of air and is softer on her bottom which has gotten quite thin.  Since she has lost so much weight, we have to be careful of her and her bones.  She is quite fragile in some ways.

We went to Tim Horton's and ran into our neighbor friend, Rosemary.  She is really nice.  She and her husband, Irv, will be at the cake and ice cream party the day before Easter.  I have to order Mom's birthday cake for her party this weekend this week.  I think I will get a tray of veggies, some chips and dip, and cookies and that will do it for the snacks.  We are having the party after lunch and before dinner.  My cousin, Audrey, will be bringing cookies so how cool is that?  Pretty cool I'd say.  I am getting mom flowers for her birthday, she loves flowers.  Just a nice spring bouquet.  I found the vase, it was in the cupboard in the kitchen, not with the sell stuff.  I am going to vacuum out the cupboards in the back when I am done here.  

My nephew, William, turned 9 on Friday.  I haven't been able to talk to him yet.  With the time difference, it is hard to get a hold of them.  They are very busy little children.  I miss him a lot, and his sister, Abigail.  They swim all year.  In summer of 2008, we got to see one of their swim meets and it was great.  Both did really well.  I haven't seen them since then because of finances and other difficulties, but I hope to see them this summer.

I think after I do the vacuuming, I am going to put in a DVD for us.  I got New Moon yesterday.  I really enjoyed the books, it was the first set of books I read that I really enjoyed after I lost the store.  I liked the movie a bit better than the first one, I think mainly because the scenes weren't so choppy.  The director of the first movie likes choppy scenes and New Moon has longer scenes and less choppiness in it.  I can't wait for Eclipse.  That comes out this spring in June.  Of course, Mom and I will be there with Kathy, we will travel to Kalamazoo if necessary.  I have seen both twilight movies with her and must see the rest with her too.  I decided that, don't know if she knows this, but I decided.  I mean, we both love twilight books and movies, so why break a good pattern?  We have been friends since we were 3.  Isn't that cool?  I have known her longer than anyone else except my mom and brothers.  She will be back in town in 2 weeks, unless something comes up and with a family of 6, one never knows.  We just go with the flow over in the Paxton house.

It is a bit cooler out today than last week, but still nice and sunny!  Mom seems to enjoy the sun too.  Soon we will be able to take out the scooter and go for walks again!  I can't wait for that.  I love scootering.  Mom enjoyed the walks last summer a lot because some days she would ask for one.  She did ask the other day when we would go walking again.  It is still a bit too chilly to take her right now, but give us a month, and we will be on the town.  

I hope you are having a good day, so far so good at our house!  Time to go and vacuum!

Had a great afternoon with Kathy.  No one was sick, so she came to town.  Tillie stayed with Mom and I went out.  It was nice being alone without Mom although Kathy doesn't mind when Mom comes, so that is good because next time, Mom will most likely be with me.  The dining room is about 1/2 finished.  I have to clear the table off and sort the bills.  There are some boxes I must sort too.  Not looking forward to all this sorting but I will get to it.  It seems so quiet here without Maia and Tillie now.  It's just me and Mom!  Mom drank a bit more today and even ate 1/2 of a fruit cup!  I was excited about that.  She had a frozen dinner, ate 1/2 the meat and 3/4 of the potatoes, a lot for her.  Kathy and I went to the Outback restaurant and had steak and shrimp.  I enjoyed it too, didn't need it, but I liked it.  Then we went to Walmart to pick up some stuff for me and look at cute tops for her little ones.  The twins got a new t-shirt each with the princess from the princess and the frog movie on it.  They were adorable.  Mom is tired tonight.  I think she is just tired more from the whirlwind of activity this week.  They got a lot done that is for sure.  The stuff that is left either is recycle, garbage, needs to be sorted, or mine.  The back cupboards do need to be vacuumed still, I will do that this week if I can.  Then Tillie said she would scrub them for me.  

She is anxious to get to the downstairs, I dread it.  There is so much stuff in the family room, I don't know where to begin.  I have about 20 painted violins and violas down there.  I am going to take them to a place that will sell them in town.  I can't wait for it to be finished, but I dread the process of it.  The office needs to be organized, I have music in piles on the table and books on the floor, but not much will go from there because there isn't much in there that isn't used.  My room has been done, it just needs to be cleaned and if I do all the laundry that needs to be done and put it away, it would be cleaned.  Mom's room is a disaster area.  You can truly see some of the symptoms or problems (whatever you want to call it) of Alzheimer's in her room.  She has piles of clothes on boxes, paper in boxes, and boxes of junk everywhere.  It is actually kind of dangerous for her because if she falls, she has a good chance of landing on something.  Fortunately, the 2 times she has fallen, she landed just so on the carpet where there wasn't anything there.  It looks like something out of a movie at times.

Kathy is going to buy my other DS Lite, I bought it for Mom but she can't use it anymore.  It has only been used a few times.  It is almost one year old.  I am also going to give her some of the board games we have.  I am going to keep one Monopoly in case I have friends come over and play, but I don't need 7 or 8 different versions of the game.  They just don't get played.  Mom can't play games anymore but Kathy's children do, so they are going to a good home and will be well used.  Just like Mom would like if she was more aware.

Overall, the week went well.  We did have to go to Windsor unexpectedly on Friday, and Mom and Tillie were there Wednesday and Thursday morning.  A lot of stuff got done.  Oh yeah, I want the clear vase.  I have to remember to put it in the cupboard.  I am planning on buying Mom a spring bouquet of flowers for her birthday next week and I will need the vase.  She will be 76 next Saturday.  I am giving an open house type of birthday party at Tillie's for her.  My cousins, Audrey, Ken, and Vickie will be there as well as all of Tillie's children and some of the grandchildren.  Audrey and Ken's kids might be there too.  We saw Hayley today but she won't be there.  We will see her again in April either before or after she goes on vacation for Easter.  I hope she has a good time.

The day before Easter I am having cake and ice cream for Mom's birthday for those who live over here and couldn't go to the party because they don't have passports to get into Canada.  Kathy and her husband and kids will be at that one.  It shall be fun.

Today has been a good day, I hope yours has too although cold weather is coming back.  yuck.  Want my spring weather.

The nurse practioner did not put Mom in the hospital like I was afraid she would.  Thank God!!!!!  She did, however, say Mom is malnutritioned and dehydrated so that she must have 3 ensures a day.  That is a lot but when you look at how much she actually eats and drinks, it is not a lot.  I have made her drink a few sips of her drink several times tonight.  She still has about 2/3 of a 16 oz cup left and that is all she has had all day.  We got something for her dry skin too.  All in all, a better appointment than I expected.  I was afraid that they would move her into a home right now and I don't think she is ready for one.  We will get this drinking and eating under control and then she will gain weight and be fine.  

Tillie is here until tomorrow.  My cousin, Hayley, will be stopping by tomorrow also and Kathy should be coming to town.  A busy day for a change.  The dining room should be a little more cleared tomorrow too.  The table needs to be emptied and sorted and then the new spring table cloth will go on it and we will be done, well, except for the boxes I have to sort.  I have one box for the bankruptcy, and 2 boxes of mail I haven't opened.  That means it is either junk or old bills that I have already paid or have a new one in.  I don't open junk mail, it is a pain.

We have a mouse again.  Maia was sleeping in the living room and she said she could hear it.  It stayed in the back room where all the food was.  We have mouse food that dehydrates it in the cupboards.  They need to be vacuumed out and then washed out and then they are clean and ready to go.  I hope the little thing leaves soon.  I am not very fond of mice.  Not one bit.  They are cute in cartoons only!  Like Mickey Mouse.  I love Mickey and Minnie and that is about it.  There is one more cupboard in the kitchen that has mouse evidence in it and the stuff that was in it is gone.  I think that cupboard was washed out too, but I will look tomorrow.

Stress is a bit high with the appointment and the possibility of Mom being taken away from me so the pain is a bit higher.  I have a headache too which isn't helping matters.  Ugh.  That is all I have to say about that.  It was sunny out today and warmer than it has been.  Getting Mom to leave her coat unzipped was a bit hard, but she got to hot with it done up.  She finally got the point.

I hope your day has been good.

Hard to believe, but I can see the floor in the dining room, the counter in the kitchen and what's in my cupboards.  Scary, but true.  It has been a 4 day tornado that is now heading to the dining room.  Oh my.  It's gonna take some getting used to.  My fridge is even gonna be clean.  It hasn't been done in such a long long long long time.  It's not that I am lazy, I can't stand up long enough to clean it.  After a few minutes, I have to sit down because my legs start to burn.  That's why the house is such a, well, bottom line, mess.  It is difficult to do on my own because of that.  But now, because Tillie and Maia have done such a great job, I can swiffer the floor now.  They are only concentrating on the main level for this week.  Tillie has offered to come once a month until the entire house is finished.  For the family room (the room we don't use) we are going to split the room in half with one side with the living room furniture set (I moved the family room furniture into the living room where the pianos are because no one can sit on the other) and the table and chairs on the other.  Sort of like it is now, only we are going to sell both the living room set and the table and chairs set.  Since we don't use that room, there is no point in having furniture in it because eventually I will have to move out when Mom goes into care, unless I am able to get a job (which is the goal) and if I stay, I want my own furniture.  I don't really like the living room furniture, it needs to be reupholstered and I just don't like it.  We weren't allowed in that room when we were small and could only sit on the furniture when we were cleaned.  Now the cushions are hard, the wood is good and in good condition, so I should be able to sell it for a decent price.  They are vintage 1950 style.  Lots of our stuff that we are going to sell are vintage 1950 because that is when Mom bought all the stuff.   We have donated a lot of stuff so far.  After we finish this floor, we (well, they) are heading upstairs for Mom's room.  My room is alright, just needs to be cleaned.  I cleaned out the closet and got rid of clothes I don't wear.  My other cousin, Hayley, came and helped me last year.  I am so lucky to have helpful cousins.  Not many people have the cousins I do.  

Mom spend the night again with Tillie since she was getting her bath and hair washed yesterday afternoon and I had to teach, so she went home with Tillie last night.  Apparently, it was a bad night.  Mom went to bed fine, but woke up after Tillie went to bed.  She wandered around until about 3:30 am.  She was mean to Tillie too, which is not like Mom.  One other time she was like that to me and I left her alone for about 30 minutes before I went back into her room and she was fine and went right into bed.  I hope this is NOT the behavior I am going to  bed tonight.  If so, I am gating her in her room and going to bed.  I feel bad for Tillie though, it is hard to deal with though.  Tillie stayed calm through out the whole ordeal.  Mom is fine today, though, although she is very tired because she had to get up at 8 am to come back home.  I am glad she is back to normal today.  I hope she will be fine tonight, we shall see.

Tillie is working on the fridge.  Maia just got here.  I have knitting today with Heather, I can't wait, it has been a few weeks since we have had knitting.  Mom's appointments have been on Thursdays for the last few weeks.  I have to change a student's lesson on Wednesday because Mom has her bath and hair wash that day.  I want to be there when she gets her bath and hair wash and then we will have dinner and then drive home that way I don't have to drive to Windsor 2 times in one week.  Much better on the little car and gas and money.

It is sunny and nice out again today.  I have the draperies open in the dining room.  I keep the closed usually unless there is no wind.  Wind flips Mom out.  She remembers the wind picking her up and moving her.  I try not to take her out on windy days for the same reason, although we do do our Tim Horton's whether it is windy or not.  She just holds my arm very tightly. 

I hope you are having a great day.

Our house looks like a tornado hit it.  At least the kitchen, dining room, and utility/back room.  Tillie and her daughter, Mia, are here reorganizing me and helping me get rid of what I don't need.  This would not have been possible a few months ago because Mom would have freaked on me.  Now she is just sitting here calm, cool, and collected.  This new medicine is beautiful.  I just love it.  She is so much better and doesn't cry all day like she did before.  

I have my dishes in the cupboards and drawers, food in the cupboards instead of on the floor in front of the cupboards in the back room.  What a concept!  Hayley was over a couple of years ago and reorganized the spare room and mine, so that is finished!  She is great at that too.  We have found some neat stuff too!  I think we have donated about 6 boxes and about 8 bags of stuff!  I couldn't even imagine I had that much stuff.  Mom just sits nicely through the whole process.  I am very glad about that!  I can't wait to see what it all looks like when it's done.  We also threw out about 5 bags of bad food from the back room because everything was piled high on top of each other and you couldn't use the cupboards either.  I was horrified by how much food we wasted.  I kept buying it because I didn't know what we had.  Now I do!  

One of the problems with Alzheimer's in the early stages is hoarding and that is what Mom did.  We are pack rats to begin with, but it got beyond that.  Our back room where the washer, dryer, and freezer are was ridicules.  We have four tall cupboards along the back wall and you couldn't open them at all.  I mean at all.  I don't think they have been open for at least 3 years, if not more.  You put the food on the floor in front of them, or on top of the pile.  It was pretty bad.  Mom's room is really bad too.  Mine is just messy.  I don't think about doing a load of laundry everyday, that would clear my room up completely.  I do have 3 boxes of books that I am going to take to the used bookstore.  I have a pile of clean clothes that need to be put away and I never make my bed unless I have company that will see my room.  Hayley helped me reorganize the room 2 years ago and I have been able to keep it up.  The spare room is full of boxes of stuff that I don't even know what is in them.  I have to go through them.  I know we have a few boxes of material that is going to the Muglia girls.  There are some nice wools and knits that they can make some nice outfits from.  I also have a lot of craft stuff too.  I do need to find out what I have and what I want to make.  Some I bought for me and Mom to do together, but she can't do them anymore.  I bought some for Christmas that I thought would be fun to do but they hurt my hands so I can't do much of them.  I also have some cross stitch stuff that I like to do.  I have books and packages of that.  I have some stuff in the storage unit and a few things in my room and dining room because I was doing them in the dining room.  I have a few decisions to make.

I have a hard with some stuff because I am losing Mom little by little.  The Mom who is here isn't the same Mom I have had all my life, she is mostly gone now, replaced by this fragile, little old lady.  I only have her stuff left.  I have to let it go though because I won't have the room for it.  I want a normal looking house, not the house we have now.  It is hard to get around in our house because of all the stuff.  I want to be able to get around better, it will be better for the pain too if I don't see the stuff everywhere.

It is sunny today!  I bought Mom some cute little hoodies for summer and t-shirts to go with them.  She will look adorable in them, I think.  We also both got our hair cut and styled.  I am getting Mom's picture taken before her birthday because we have the hoodies and we have the styled hair.  I am sending one to Richard, one to Andrew, one to Tillie, and one for me.  I have to perfect frame for it too, or at least I think I do.

I hope your day is going well.

I forgot to add the link at the end of my post!!!

Here is the link to the online NFA magazine!!!!!

  http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/fma/fibromyalgiaaware_2009winter_v2/ 

Tillie will be arriving anytime now to spend a few days.  She is going to help me organize Mom's room and the spare room needs a little attention too.  Should be fun.  I am hoping that we will be able to find more of Mom's clothes because she puts them in boxes and I can't find them.  Not good, but normal for the disease.  Hoarding is a common symptom of Alzheimer's, unfortunately.  I slept pretty well last night, only woke up 3 times, yeah me! for that one.  I think part of it was because Mom was home and the other part being I was exhausted.  I can get exhausted so easily it is pathetic.  Part of my syndrome.  An annoying part because you never know what will exhaust you.  Look out!  Here it comes!  No, you get no warning like that.  It would be nice, but it doesn't happen.

Other than some cleaning I managed to put the corned beef, asparagus, mushrooms, and red potatoes in the crock pot for dinner.  Emptied the dishwasher, filled it back up and turned it on.  I even cleaned the sink in the bathroom!  Yup, housework day for me.  Now if only I could get some laundry done.  I can't do it until the dishwasher is finished because there would be no hot water for anything then.  Or at least I don't think there would be.  I have never tried it and not willing to experiment due to cost more money to run things again. 

Mom is doing her usual dozing on and off in her chair.  I am going to turn on Murder She Wrote in a few minutes and clear off the dining room table.  It looks like a tornado hit it.  I have bills in piles, papers in piles and other stuff in other piles.  I will need more of the table because of company.  Also, I need to change my table cloth, it still has the Christmas one on it.  He he he.  I bought a new spring one on sale at Joann's, a very dangerous type store because there are so many things I see I want to buy!  It rates up there with the bookstores.  They, too, are very dangerous for me.  Walmart is becoming that way, although we need to go there today because I need some milk and to pick up my prescription for my tummy.  I want to see if they have some spring colored hoodies for Mom.  She is getting her hair cut and her picture taken sometime this spring.  I am going to send one to Richard, one to Andrew, and give one to Tillie.  She hasn't had her picture taken in a few years.

I also get to pay some bills today!  Boy, what fun, my bank account will hate me when I am done.  The only mail I seem to get these days is bills or Hayley's orders.  She has a few more things to come in and then I get to see her!  

I haven't heard anything from cousin's about Mom's party, I wonder who is planning to attend because I have to have enough snacks for them.  I am going to Face book message a few of them to see if they are coming.  I hope so.  All of them should have received their invitations by now.  The only RSVPs I have gotten are from Cathy and Hayley and neither of them can come.  So I am glad they responded and I know not to expect them.

It is raining out again today.  Mom and I don't really like the rain, although we LOVE the flowers the rain gives us, so I guess we will both just put up with it because of the beautiful flowers.  I want to get some silk flowers for our table this spring, it will brighten Mom up because she loves flowers.  I will let her pick out which ones she wants, that should be fun for her.

I hope you are having better weather than I am.  I hope your day is good, so far mine is very good and with the expected cousin on her way, even better!

Mom is back home where she belongs.  I survived the night without her.  I even survived the morning and early part of the afternoon.  It was strange to wake up without her here, especially when I usually have her to help me get dressed.  I managed, very clumsily, to get my clothes on myself except my socks.  I tried to figure out how to do the one leg and when I couldn't reach it because of the arm, I left yesterdays on.  I don't think they smelled though, no one said they did so that was good.  I probably looked pretty funny when I was dressing though.

Kathy couldn't come to town after all.  Her little one (well, one of the little ones) was sick so the family stayed home and didn't venture to our town.  She is going to try for next weekend.  I hope to see her soon, I am having withdrawals.  I need my Kathy.  

It took forever, it seemed, to get to Windsor today.  I have discovered that Saturday is an awful day to go through the tunnel no matter which direction you are going.  It took 2 hours to get home because 45 minutes was in the tunnel.  The tunnel is only about 1 mile long.  Yeah, what fun.  At least Mom was alright in it.  When I got to Tillie's she said Mom was fine last night and didn't ask for me once at all today.  That was good.  So now I know she can handle being away from me for the night.  Whether I can handle it or not is a different story.  We went to Tillie's daughter, Luana's house for dinner.  It was good.  So that makes 3 days in a row I didn't have to cook or heat up anything.  Yeah for me!  Homemade meals too.  Even better.

Tillie is coming over tomorrow until Wednesday, I think she is taking Mom back with her and I will pick her up Thursday.  Mom has a care appointment Wednesday and the occupational therapist will be there on Thursday.  The care appointments will be Wednesday afternoon from now on.  I have to see if my little Calli can switch days because of it.  I hope so, they are pretty flexible.  She has choir on Tuesday but I don't know if it is during or after school.  I don't know about Monday or Friday or Saturday, something has got to work for a while until the care appointment can be changed.  Mom looked so nice with her hair done after her bath.  Teri, the care worker, was very nice and Mom cooperated beautifully, not one tear shed.  I was really happy about that.  She also didn't cry after I left yesterday!  So another win for us.  She hasn't really cried since her new medicine kicked in nor has she had a rough night like she was.  She hasn't asked to go home or where her Mom is or call for me when she is looking right at me.  She seems to have settled in for the moment.  I hope it lasts a while, I can get used to this stage real easy.  I have to help her with more stuff than I used to, but that is okay because she is still here with me and not in a home.  I dread that day.  I think when she gets to the point she doesn't know me at all she will be ready for a home.  At least that is what I think now, who knows what point that really will be.

Today was an alright day, rain made me ache a bit more and I didn't sleep very well last night because of nerves and pain.  I should sleep better tonight because I am not alone in the house.  I did discover I don't like sleeping in the house alone.  Not one bit.  Makes the night awfully long and lonely.  I hope your day was well and don't forget to turn the clocks forward if your area does that!

Tonight is a strange night as I am here on my own in the dining room.  Mom is at Tillie's in Windsor and I will pick her up tomorrow.  Very very very strange.  Not sure I like it.  I miss Mom.  I know she just sits there a lot and doesn't say much, but we do speak with each other and have fun together even if her memory is going.  I have never really spent a lot of time at night in the house on my own.  Once last year when Mom was in the hospital and then Tillie came over and stayed with me and then Mom came home.  So it is the first since then.  I am to pick her up tomorrow evening after my afternoon with Kathy.  I am excited that Kathy is coming to visit her parents and I will get to see her.  It will be a first without Mom for the last few years too.  She doesn't interrupt the visit or anything, she just quietly eats and observes.  She is a good observer, that's what she is.  I have resisted the urge to call and check on her in case she is doing well and that would make her be upset.  Don't want that, that is for sure!  But overall, I will freely admit to being a Momma's girl and always have been and always will be.  At night I like to have someone else in the house with me, I feel safer but I guess that is not to be tonight.  I am heading to bed shortly as it is almost 9 pm.

Pain is a bit higher as the anxiety is a bit high over how Mom will do.  I also have a bit of anxiety over undressing and dressing myself as my shoulder is very sore today.  I will struggle, but I think I can do it.  Maybe I should have spent the night.  I don't know, it's too late now to change anything.  Mom is there and I am here and that is the way it is.  Who would have thought this would cause me anxiety?  I am relaxing, yes, that is it, I am going to get my book and go and read on my bed for a bit before I turn off the light.

I hope your evening is going well.  We shall see how my night turns out!  Perhaps some prayers are in order.  Good night!

It is sunny out again.  Yup, 4th day in a row here, and in March too!  What a nice surprise.  I also am trying to conquer Mt. Laundry with at least one load.  I have no choice as I have run out of socks and undies.  Time to do the laundry.  I will have to do another load too since my outer clothes are out too.  Ugh, hate to do the laundry.  Don't know why I hate it so much, it is easier now that I have baskets.  Much easier getting it up and down the stairs, plus Mom helps, so yeah, what's my problem?  

Mom ate beautifully at breakfast time.  She ate her donut and her muffin.  I was so pleased I could have spit.  Not that I would have as that would have been very bad manners, and well, I don't like bad manners.  But I was very happy and pleased with her.  Our neighbor/friend, Rosemary came to sit with us when she arrived so we had a nice chat and visit with her.  We see her there about once a week.   She lives down the street from me.  Very nice lady, very nice.  I think they are going to come to the cake and ice cream we will have for mom for our friends here in Michigan.  Most of them can't come to Windsor for the party.  I haven't heard from my relatives about the party yet so I don't know how many are coming.  I hope a lot.  It would be nice to see them again.  I haven't seen some of my cousins since Mom's last party 6 years ago.  Wow, 6 years ago, things were bright and sunny.  Well, things here are looking bright and sunny again too.  Still not sure what I am going to do once mom is in a home, but I have lots of time to figure it out.  She is sleeping on her chair again, as usual.  I think I will take a snooze as soon as the clothes go into the dryer which should be anytime now.  I am glad our dryer still works because 2 years ago we had to get a new washer.  From what I have heard, dryers last longer so I am holding on to this one as long as possible!!!!  That is for sure!

Not much happening today, I have one make up lesson, Zach, and then we are off to Windsor for the night.  We are going to Tillie's.  I have to remember her stuff, I forgot last time.  Oops.  Fibro fog!  I have a list of everything we need to bring.

I just paid off my bankruptcy lawyer.  Now all I need to do is copy all of the stuff they need.  I never thought I would need to file bankruptcy, never, not in a million years, but when we lost the store, we lost almost everything.  We are now in the process of rebuilding our lives.  It is hard at times and easy at times.  Kind of backwards in a way, but nevertheless, that is the way it is right now.  I have less stress (believe it or not) since we lost the store, although, it isn't like there isn't any stress, I just have less because I am not trying to save the store.  One of my former employees, near the end, said that she was mad I was trying to save the business, now she wishes we had saved it because she expected (like me) to get a job right away and it took her a year and a 1/2 before she got one.  I, at least, do have disability and a few students that pay.  Most of the students I have are from the store except the new ones.  I am thankful for what I do have and the one thing I do have is time with Mom.  Nobody else has that but me, and I feel bad for my brothers because they are missing out on what's left of Mom.  Soon she won't remember anyone and that's what they will get to see because they are so far away.  She is doing well right now though, so I am sooooo glad about that.  We are going to take a day trip and visit Andrew in London (Ontario, not England) soon, if the weather holds up.  Mom and Andrew will like that.  He is in school right now so his schedule is much tighter than ours.

I hope your day is good, mine is so far!  yeah sun!!!!!!!!!