Sewing today! Yeah! We were running behind though, we were 1/2 hour late. Fortunately, the girls are very forgiving and didn't mind. Mom just couldn't get going this morning plus I had an emergency laundry load. I got Mom a different type of disposable underwear, I hope it works, so far, we are 2 types, 0 working. Not a good thing, but we do what we have to do. Ugh, though, on the result.

Mom has been alright most of the day. She didn't eat very well though, I will have to give her another ensure to offset the difference. She hasn't had much to drink either, both are not good. I wish she eat and drink like she used too, I even miss her millions of trips to the bathroom, at least she always made it in time. Stage 6 is difficult for both of us. New symptoms pop up, go away, then pop up again. I tried not to yell to much this morning, although I did a little bit. I have come to the conclusion that she can only put 1 shoe on, I have to put the other one on. She just doesn't get it. I also help her get dressed now. She can put 1 leg in her jeans (or whatever pants she is wearing), but not the other leg. I don't know, it is strange. Just very strange. She also shuffles more on 1 foot than the other, maybe the putting stuff on the 1 leg is related. Who knows? I certainly don't.

She really liked her new pajamas, she is still wearing the top underneath her hoodie. It is cute, Tinkerbell. We love Tinkerbell. I am almost done doing the laundry from earlier, I washed it this morning and dried some of it when we got home. I just have to put the sheet, undies, and pajama bottoms in the dryer as soon as the mattress pad is dried. Thank God Maia found the mattress pad, it sure came in handy this week!

Well, we are off to Walmarts! We have to pick up a few items (thank goodness we got the new bank card in the mail yesterday!) I want to beat the rain because it is supposed to downpour again. Ugh, Mom doesn't do well getting wet, so we are off! have a great evening.

Here is the weekly link:

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

Today has definitely been a better day! I have not yelled at Mom once, she has been calm and not irritating as she was yesterday. I could have sold her or gave her away yesterday. Not today, I'll keep her. We got her new walker this evening. It was rather cheap considering Medicare paid for 80% of it. It is a walker junior (that is what it is called) and has 2 wheels in the front for her. She has mini ski's on the back ends. She has done pretty well with it so far. We need it for when she walks outside, not so much inside, although it is here should she need it!

We went to knitting this afternoon after Tim Horton's. I also had Calli's lessons during the visit. She is so cute and gets so excited to start a new piece. She is now playing sur la pont. It is a french folk song and very cute. Heather's Mom is doing well too, her bruises are all gone and she is feeling much better. Tomorrow Calli has the day off so the two of them will be going to her mom's house and work on her mother's room. Mom's room here is half down. Soon it will be completely done, but I am not necessarily in a hurry to finish it. My room is still a disaster. I am so not ready to fix that one.

At Heather's, we also got a fashion show from Calli to see which one of the new dresses would be good for the baptism on the 23rd of the month. We all agreed on a pretty pink one. It had lace on it and was just really cute on her. It was her favorite too. The other dresses didn't really fit her too well, so Heather is going to return them. I don't blame her, if they don't fit, what good are they?

Mom is eating really well again today. She has 5 pieces of meat left. She will finish all of it again. 3rd day in a row! I am very excited about this. The new medicine must be working well for her. Dr. G said it may take 1 week to 1 month to kick in. Well, it is starting to kick in.

I did forget my blood test yesterday. I have it scheduled for next Thursday. Mom also needs another blood test too, she is scheduled for the same time. Yuck, we both will be losing our blood to tests that day. Ugh. It could be worse, it could be today. That would be worse.

Not much going on this evening. We finished dinner, Mom had a frozen Boston market dinner and I had taco bell. I love taco bell. I think we will head to bed early so I can read some more of the book club book. Tomorrow is sewing with the girls. That should be fun too!

It is cold out today and I have a bad headache now. Yuck, not happy about that, but overall happier with the day than the day I had yesterday.

I am feeling better now. I am done yelling and crying. Everything has settled down now. Mom is calmer now too now that I am. I hope tomorrow is a better day because this sucked. Well, tomorrow is another day. Mom needs help getting dressed now. I can deal with that. Now I get to chose what she wears and I will pick cute clothes only. Time to go shopping!! I did try to find new jeans for her but they only had mid and low rise jeans. Definitely not for Mom. She does have a lot of cute T-shirts and hoodies (because I bought them and picked them out for her.) I just need her to have another 2 pairs of jeans. I know somewhere in the room is another pair of jeans in her room, I just don't know where they are. I will look this weekend. The pain has calmed down too. I am glad about that. Mom seems calmer now too. She is drinking an ensure right now. Her 2nd one of the day. Thank goodness she seems to be eating and drinking better.

I ache today bad and my head hurts too. I have 3 wonderful students coming for their makeup lesson this afternoon. I can't wait. It will get my mind of pain and Mom. My patience is at it's wit's end today. Mom fell out of bed this morning (she fortunately doesn't have far to go) and it took 20 minutes to get her up because she thinks I can just lift her up. Yeah, right. I know she doesn't weigh much, but jeez, I can't lift her. Finally, I ended up just pushing her from the back up, she kept saying "Ouch" the whole time but it got her up. I put her back to bed after that. I tried to have her move into the center more of her bed instead of the edge but she couldn't do it. Tonight I am going to pull her into the middle from the other side of the bed.

Mom is being very difficult today. She wouldn't come down the stairs, that took 10 minutes at least. Then she wouldn't put her shoe on, I finally put it on her, but that was hard. We headed to the car, she wouldn't get it. Finally, she got one foot in and tried to sit down but decided not to. We went back into the house, by this point I am yelling at her and crying at the same time. I tell her to leave me alone and go and cry in the dining room. She is still standing at the front door. I also threw my purse on the floor and my keys. I took the junk mail from yesterday and threw it on the floor too. I was so upset. I am calmer now, but still having a rough day.

I asked her if she was ready to go and get lunch (we don't have any lunch food in the house because we go to Tim Horton's every day). She says yes. We go back outside and she gets in the car like it is no big deal. Yup, I was like, oh my, whatever. She is still slightly difficult as she doesn't answer me when I ask her a question nor did she finish her milk today. Usually she does no problem, not today. She also hasn't taken her Advil for her foot today either and she chewed one of her medicines that isn't supposed to be chewed. I was not happy. Now she is sleeping in her chair. She will do this most of the afternoon. I don't get it. I hate this disease. It is driving me crazy today. Most days I am fine, but not today. I hope after teaching I will be fine again. I was planning on going out for dinner tonight, but I will make dinner as I am not going through the not get in the car again thing.

It is going to rain outside, goes along with my mood. I hope you are having a better day than I am. I wouldn't wish this type of day on anyone, it makes me ache more.

Today is a better day. Pain level is bearable, and it is nice and sunny outside. We went to the usual and ran into our neighbor, Rosemary. She lives down the street from us. We don't usually see anyone in the neighborhood because we don't go outside much, but we run into neighbors at Tim Horton's. It is actually kinda funny how that works. She is working in her garden today. I cringe at ours, weeds grow beautifully, but not much else. I don't have a green thumb, more like a black thumb. Anytime I try to grow plants, they die, so I don't try anymore. Besides, I hate weeding and that is important to the garden.

Mom is here falling asleep in her chair as usual. She ate 1/4 of her soup so I brought the rest home. She did eat all of her donut though, which I think is kinda funny. She ate really well last night and even polished off 2 ensures before bedtime. As long as she finishes her ensures, I won't worry too much about the food problem.

We stopped at Walmart on the way home, I was out of pain pills, and you know that is a bad thing to be out of. I am all set for the month now. Thank goodness!

I have only 1 student today, Charlie. He missed last week because of drivers training. They have 3 weeks of class and then they take a test and once that is passed, they get their permits. After so many hours of driving with parents, they take segment 2 and then they get their license. Charlie is only 15 right now, so he won't be able to get the license for another year and a few months. He plays tenor sax and is improving nicely. I have my clarinet back so if there is a duet in his book, he often likes me to play along with him. It adds some fun to the lesson. I don't play as much as I used too and boy sometimes it shows. I get out of breath really easy these days with the instrument. I have the same problem when I sing with my students. Not good, I know, but I don't practice like I used to. I am starting to warm up again in the morning with my voice, so that helps a great deal. I don't have the amount of students I used to have either so I don't sing as much as I used to too.

Well, tomorrow the ad comes out in the paper! I can't wait to see it! Only 1 more day until it comes out, finally! I should be getting the receipt for the ads sometime this week. I didn't know if they would send it to me automatically, so I sent an email asking for one.

It's a nice and sunny day so I think I will read for a bit in the living room. It is so nice to have the room looking spiffed up and not so cluttered. I can't find some music that I will need, but I am sure it isn't too far, I will look later on in the box and downstairs. I know that they put it handy for me, just not sure where. It will be nice when school is over and Katie comes over to help put away the music that is all over the living room and the family room and the office. She volunteered to help. She bends much better than I do. I like it when my students come over and help, they usually do a great job. I have some music I have to copy for Lily, I want to make her a book with all the music she will do this summer. Right now she doesn't have any Broadway and I want to give her some. She only has classical, four songs of it. Fortunately, she likes the stuff and it isn't too hard for her. She is singing her first language piece, in Latin and is doing a great job.

I hope you are having a great day!

Had to take Mom in to the doctors today. Her left foot and ankle are completely swollen. She had 4 tubes of blood taken from her and she will have a Doppler test for circulation on Saturday morning. At 9:15 am. Yup, talk about super early! I will have to take a nap Saturday afternoon after teaching. She can walk better than she could earlier. That is a good thing because earlier she could barely walk. She ate a good dinner tonight though plus a cup of jello and an ice cream cookie. She is drinking some water, but not nearly enough. How on earth can you make someone drink and eat more? I would like to know. She slept a lot today too and I know she didn't get up in the night either because she was in the same position as she was earlier in the night. I checked up on her. I don't know what to do with her some days, she just won't eat or drink enough. The new medicine is helping some, but not near enough of what she needs. She did finish an ensure too, but only 1 so far. I will try to get another down her later tonight before we go to bed.

I had the Muglia girls lessons as well as Grace's. Bob, Calli, and Frank rescheduled to Wednesday because of the doctor appointment. Debbie had hers, she just arrived 15 minutes later than usual for me. I really appreciated that. It gave us time to get home and also get Mom's dinner. I am really worried to some extent about Mom because I know we are going to have more issues because of her not eating and drinking. This swelling could happen all over her body and that wouldn't be good. At least I know what to look for. The doctor is also ruling out a blood clot. The foot and ankle weren't red or hot and they didn't hurt, so it is a slim chance. It will be good to rule that out, I have had a blood clot and they aren't fun.

The Muglia girls did really well during their lesson. They only get once a month lessons due to financial issues with the family, but I am thankful and grateful I get them for lessons once a month. I do see them for sewing once a week (usually), but that is done by me for fun just for them. Mom offered to teach them to sew and at first she was able to help a lot, but now she just watches and enjoys herself while she is there. All three girls are learning Fur Elise by Beethoven. The all love that song. They are learning the entire song, not just the main theme. I love that song and eventually I have as many students as I can learn the entire piece or at least most of the song. Grace was having a problem with one of her songs, but once she broke it into phrases, she was able to get both hands together. She is really doing well. She just started this past fall and has already finished the first book and is half way through the second book. Grace will take the summer off and I will miss her, but, boy, will she be busy. She is going on a mission trip to Africa this July. How cool is that? I can't wait to see her pictures and hear all about her trip and the work that she does in Africa. Most of my students will be around during the summer this year. I am so glad about that. I miss my students when they aren't around, they make my week go really well and I have fun teaching.

My new ad comes out Wednesday! I can't wait to see it in print! I am so excited to be able to place an ad in the newspaper right now. I am anxious to see what type of response I get. Like I said, I am hoping for 2 new students out of it. 5 would be better, but 2 would be great.

It was mostly beautiful out today. Not right now though, it is about to downpour with a thunderstorm. Not fun. I am glad it didn't rain during the doctor visit though, Mom hates getting wet and that would have been a nightmare.

I was planning on going to see Oceans today, but we didn't make it. Mom is leaning to the left today and seems kinda tired, so we will go maybe next week. If we miss it in the movies, there is always the DVD! Which wouldn't bother me to wait until the DVD, I mean, it isn't like it's Eclipse or the newest Harry Potter movie! Those we have to see in the movie theatre, oceans, would be nice, but it is okay to miss.

Mom is resting in the living room, she must have been up real early again. I am going to have to start putting her back into bed. When she woke, her left side hurt, which is strange because she lays on the right side, not the left, so I don't know why that side would hurt. Either way, she is resting in the living room. It was difficult for her to walk in Walmart, well, walk in general today, don't know why, she is slow to begin with, and even slower today. Not a good thing when I am riding in the scooter at the store. But we were able to get the items we needed plus new PJ's for Mom! They are Tinkerbell and they will look adorable on her. I can't wait until tonight to put them on her! She will look so cute. They will keep her warm but not too warm like the sweat pants were doing. She was getting over heated in them. The sleeves on the new pajamas are long so for her, that is good. They are probably a little heavy on the material side for most people, but for a person who is cold all the time, they will be great. Not to mention the cuteness factor.

I finished putting the paper together for the American Guild of Music Competition info. I don't know how many students want to go, or if any, but since it isn't super far away, I will offer it for the summer. I will be passing it out this week. I already know Lily isn't going because Summer Music Theatre is going on at the same time and she plans to be involved with that. I am planning to go and see her in the play at the end of July. She is such a doll. Mom will like it too. If we go to Chicago (where the competition is) then Tillie will be going too to help with Mom. I already asked her this week, she has never been to Chicago, so she said yes! I am thankful for that because I would need help with Mom when I am busy with the competition. We hope to do some sightseeing while we are there too. Tillie is bring her wheelchair for Mom and I will have my scooter. The planetarium and the aquarium are really neat. Mom and I have seen those before, but they are well worth seeing again. I think Tillie would like those too. Since I have a handicap parking sticker, we get good parking too. The two buildings are right next to each other. I don't know what sightseeing is around where we are staying. The hotel is 30 minutes from the downtown area. It may have things to see right around there, like when we were at Cleveland and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum was right near by. As it gets closer and if we are also going, I will look into it. If I only have 1 or 2 or 3 students interested, I am not going. I will attend only if there are 4 or more students going.

We are almost all caught up on bills. Once I make my car payment tomorrow, we will be caught up from behind. Yes, I will get behind again because the payment is due the 15th and the money doesn't come in until the 28th, but if I call, they may switch the date it is due. I have asked before and they said if you are caught up and up to date, they may be able to switch the due date. I am going to be calling and asking that is for sure! It feels nice to be up to date with bills, I can then plan better and maybe even put some away for a vacation, a cheap vacation to be sure, but a vacation nonetheless. It could be the trip to Chicago for the weekend or a trip to Kalamazoo for the weekend to see Kathy! Either way, it is a nice feeling not being so behind! It is very stressful being in charge of the money. No wonder Mom used to get stressed over it when I was a kid. It is hard when you don't have enough to pay the bills. I have now used most of the money we found when we cleaned Mom's room. I used almost all of it to pay outstanding bills. I couldn't save it for a vacation because we were getting so far behind (because we were behind and never had enough to totally catch up!). I used the instrument sales money for the ads for the newspaper. I saw the proof, the newspaper people did a great job, it looks really nice! I can't wait to see it in the newspaper. Oh yeah, need to email about a receipt. I need a receipt for tax purposes. I think I will be getting one, but just in case I am going to email about it.

Not much else happening in our house today. Next Sunday is Mother's Day. I am going to get her a bouquet of Spring Flowers. She loves fresh flowers and the spice up the kitchen so nicely. I don't know what else we will be doing, possibly a movie, possibly a dinner, we shall see how she is next week. I don't even know if she realizes when Mother's Day is. Not to worry, I will be sure to let her know!

It is muggy out today, warm and muggy. I have shorts on for the first time this year. I never put Mom in shorts because she freezes inside buildings and that would be bad. I only put her in one hoodie this afternoon and I think she was alright, but I am not sure as she didn't tell me if she was cold or not. I asked, but she didn't answer. She doesn't answer so much anymore, sometimes I have to ask her several times before she can process it to answer. Just par for the course I guess. Well, I am going to check on her now. I hope this finds you having a nice day! Enjoy the spring weather (unless it is raining where you are, and then, stay inside where it is dry!)

Here is the weekly link:

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

It is an overcast day. We went and picked up my clarinet because it had been fixed. It didn't take long at all. Quite happy on that one! Not much was wrong with it either, 3 pads, minor key adjustment, and it needed to be oiled.

We went to Olive Garden for dinner. Yummy! Mom had a bowl of soup and ate the whole thing. I had pasta and soup and ate the whole thing. I need to eat more like Mom and maybe I would actually lose weight as opposed to gaining it. After I finish this I will be going to the bookstore and getting my book club book! I have a coupon for 40% off! yeah! My amazon.com order will arrive next week too. I ordered a book and a TV series, Scarecrow and Mrs. King. We used to love that series a lot. I hope we still like it because I bought it! I also bought first season of Charlie's Angels. We didn't really like it, I did when I was small, but I really don't like it now.

Lily had her lesson today. Her mom brought her. I haven't seen Julie, outside of dropping some tax info off, since the beginning of tax season. She is a tax expert so during tax season, well, let's just say no one really sees her. So it was nice to see her again today. She is a very nice person. I just love her whole family, they are all really nice and wonderful to us, especially Mom. The kids adopted Mom as their Grandmother. It is quite cool!

Not much happening today, possible movie tomorrow. We shall see what tomorrow brings. Hope you had a good day!

I turned in the paperwork for the state of Michigan.  Only 3 more pieces to go and I am finished!  Woo Hoo!  I am excited.  I called them to let them know that they were faxed over.  I should not be charged anymore payroll tax and the amounts they have charged me with should be over soon and fixed to zero as I don't owe any payroll tax.  Difficult to owe a tax when you have no employees because you have no store!  I am almost done dealing with the state of Michigan sales, use, and payroll tax people!  I am excited!  They are very nice on the phone, but I hate having to deal with the store stuff because it makes me really sad and depressed because I lost the store and building.  I loved my business.  Now I am a stay at home daughter (instead of mom, daughter).  I am grateful for the time I have with her because you never know how much you have left because of her memory.  Fortunately, she still remembers me and knows I belong to her and I am her daughter.  Sometimes, though, she asks where Heather is and I am standing or sitting right near her.  It isn't very often though so that is good.

It is so beautiful out right now!  Gorgeous weather, possibly up to 82 degrees today!  yeah!  And, of course, rain on the weekend, naturally.  We don't have to really go out anywhere this weekend except to pick up my clarinet from McCourt's music.  It is fixed and ready to come home!  I am glad it didn't take that long at all.  Cory is a good repair technician on instruments.  I would love to learn how to fix instruments, but that will have to be another day because of taking care of mom is first priority right now.  I have all the time in the world when she is gone.  Maybe I will learn after, maybe not.  We shall see, who knows what that time will bring me.  I do hope to work a bit, maybe not full time, unless I am healthy enough for it.  That is the goal.  But it isn't anything I need to worry or even think about right now.  Now, is the time to concentrate on Mom!

In the next few weeks we are going to see Oceans, the new Disney flick.  It looks really really good and Mom wants to see it too.  I think we will wait until next week though, as Hayley is hopefully coming by on Sunday.  

After dinner, I think we are going to take a walk up the street to see how much and how far Mom can walk now.  I will ride my scooter.  I won't take her far as we haven't walked since the fall and I don't want to exhaust her, just a short one, probably up and down our street.  She is sleeping in the chair.  I am planning to nap after this is finished.

Maia is coming by today.  She is going to help me with the monthly cleaning of the house.  I have a difficult time with scrubbing and vacuuming.  I am sure most of you totally understand this one!  It causes so much extra pain that I just don't do it.  Maia said she will come over once a month a help.  She is my cousin too!  Her boyfriend lives right near me although she doesn't.  She lives in Windsor.  Kinda funny that her boyfriend and I went to the same high school, although he is older than me.  What a small world we live in now.  With all this new technology, it gets even smaller.

I hope you have a good day, ours is shaping up to be good.  I don't have any students today and I had to cancel sewing because of the paperwork that needed to be done so no students all around.  I have 1 tomorrow though!  Can't wait!