It is absolutely beautiful out today. The sun is shining and there is a cool breeze. I had the windows down in the car for our short drive. Mom seemed to enjoy it too. I woke up rather late this morning, noon. I was so tired last night and we didn't go to bed until 11 pm so by the time I got Mom into bed and me ready for bed, it was 11:30 before I got in. I am a 12 hour sleeper. I tend to wake up several times a night from the pain so sometimes I have to get up and walk to the bathroom and back or sometimes just getting out of bed reduces the pain. It makes for a terrible night sleep, but hey, when you have FMS, what can you do? I am tired still so I think I will make it an early night for the two of us, maybe around 9 pm like we used to do all the time. Mom, of course, was awake way before me. I didn't move her legs more into the center of the bed last night so she woke up with them over the side of the bed. I don't like that because it causes her pain. She didn't want me to move her legs over last night, she was really afraid of me doing that so I didn't. Well, I will have to, whether or not she is afraid because the results cause her way too much pain and we can't have that. That is just unacceptable. She is sitting in the dining room with me right now instead of the living room. She has the beginning of a pressure sore on her tailbone so I don't want her sitting in there much today. The nurse is coming tomorrow and she will look at Mom for me. I called her today and asked her to do that tomorrow. I didn't want to forget, and you know how fibro fog is. My luck, I would totally forget until she was gone. Not acceptable, best to call ahead and ask, so I did. Mom, surprisingly, is still awake and not sleeping. She often is asleep at this time of day. Maybe she got enough sleep last night, it is possible. It would be nice if one of us could get a good night's sleep. She has been eating and drinking very good for the last couple of days. She ate all her dinner last night and the night before. She also has finished her milk and most of her water, not to mention an ensure. Overall, I think she is doing much better. She has stopped being nervous now so I think she is used to being home again even though she doesn't remember the nursing home. I still haven't totally figured out how to get Mom to gain the 11 pounds she lost in the nursing home. She just doesn't eat that much. I try to give her good, high calorie foods, but she will only eat so much.

I have 2 lessons today, Zachary and Charlie. Zachary is a singer and Charlie plays tenor saxophone. Both are pretty good students although at times I wonder how much they each practice. Callie and the Muglia girls are by far the best practicers I have. All 4 girls practice everyday. The Muglia girls even have to be told to stop practicing at times because they practice so much. Now they have a piano so they practice even more. Their mom got it at an estate sale a few streets away from them. The girls have wanted a real piano for several years now and I am glad they are finally able to get one. I won't have any more lessons after today until Saturday. I have lessons on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, and Saturday. I wish it was everyday, but right now this is how it is. I am hoping for a few more students come fall. I didn't get any response to the ads I put in the paper. I am rather disappointed with that. I had hoped for at least 2 new students. It is just tough in our area right now, economically speaking. I am thankful for the students I have. Speaking of students, I need to update my bookkeeping book. I haven't done that since Mom went into the hospital. Oops. I guess I better dig it out of the center of the table and fix it. I will be sorry if I don't at the end of the year when I have to go back and fix it. It is best to do it daily.

Mom is falling asleep now. It is kinda funny to watch. She keeps trying to fight closing her eyes just like a small child would do. She is rather fun to watch at times.

Well, I hope this finds you doing well. So far, it has been a nice day for us. It will be even better when I am teaching this afternoon.

I had 2 lessons today. Callie tried to get here in time for her lesson from camp, but her mom drove over a tire on the way home and it knocked out the power steering pump in the car so she had to go straight to the car repair place. From the post on Face Book, it seems Callie had a great day at goal ball camp. She loves that sport. I hope to see her play someday. She is very good.

Frank is doing pretty good with his competition pieces. His pop piece is almost ready, but his test list piece isn't quite ready yet. I hope by the beginning of the month it will be ready. He has about 4 weeks before competition. Knowing him as I do, he will be practicing a lot between now and then. He has most of his pop song memorized and some of the test list song. He is almost done with the Mozart piece too. He is not playing that for competition.

Bob is almost done with All I Ask of You and coming along very well with A Whole New World. He will be on vacation next week so he won't be having a lesson. I hope he and Maggie have a great time on their cruise. They are going to Venice and a few other places. I can't wait to see the pictures.

Mom is doing better today. She drank all her milk and some water. She ate okay, not great, but okay. The nurse came today. The one that came on Friday was a fill in, Sherri is going to be the regular nurse. She said that Mom's dehydration could have been the result of the urinary tract infection she had. That would make good sense because Mom was not feeling very well a couple of days before I took her into ER. I had no warning that she was that sick though. I hope to at least have a better idea if it happens again. She is doing well now. She is drinking her water without being reminded this evening, so I am very happy about that. She also keeps trying to pull papers out of the pile of papers in the middle of the table. I will sort the pile tomorrow. I have a few bills that have to be paid this week. I also have to go to the Secretary of State this week and show them the pay off letter from the car. I didn't know you had to do that when you pay off a car. Of course, I don't remember ever really paying off a car before purchasing a new car. I don't need to purchase a new car right now. My little focus will serve us well for a few years. It only has about 45,000 miles on it and it is 4 years old. Much better than the car I had before it. That one was a piece of junk. I had to put a new engine in it at 50,000 miles, among other things. This little car has not had any problems with it, I hope none in the near future. She gets us from point A to point B quite nicely.

It was a beautiful day outside, sun shining, and not too hot. I made dinner again tonight. Mom ate all that I gave her. I bought some different stuff this time, more Italian food than usual. I was in the mood for Italian food this week instead of the usual frozen dinners. Mom seemed to like the change, although I am not sure she noticed it was different food than usual. It took a while, but I got her to eat her whole serving. I was very pleased with her today. She only cried 2 times today. Once at Tim Horton's and once before dinner so all in all, a very good day for us. Her anxiety medicine seems to have kicked in and she is much more calm and at ease now. I think she is sleeping a bit better too. She wakes up before I do, so I don't know what time she gets up. The last few days when she woke up she would sit on her bed and wait for me to get up. She could be there for hours for all I know. I put her to bed when I go to bed, around 10 pm. I don't know how long it takes her to get to sleep because I am in my room in bed. She seems to be awake and not too tired when I get up. She has been taking a little nap in the afternoon though, which is something she has been doing for a while now. She gets tired rather easy now. I try to make sure we are home around 2 pm so she can sleep for an hour or so. That way she doesn't fall asleep at the table during dinner or after dinner. We watch a lot of the Hallmark Channel at night. They have Touched By an Angel followed by a nice movie with a happy ending. Mom seems to enjoy them. They are alright, but if she likes them, we will watch. I have to be careful what we watch on TV because sometimes she thinks the shows are real and happening right now. I don't watch any Law and Orders anymore because they scare her too much. I watch a marathon of SVU when she was in the nursing home. I did enjoy watching the episodes even though I have seen all of them before. I haven't seen the last two seasons of the regular Law and Order and the SVU, although I have seen many seasons before.

It has been a good day for us. I hope for you too.

Two regular links to check out!!!

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

www.heathmattersshow.com

Happy Father's Day!!!! We had a relaxing type day. I had Katie's lesson this morning and then we went to Tim Horton's and then grocery shopping. I think next time I will get Carolyn to watch Mom while I go shopping, although she did really well. The store is big and I ride in a scooter so that leaves Mom to walk around the store. She did good and didn't complain about being tired until we were almost done. We were in the cashier's line to pay when she mentioned she was tired. Once the groceries were put away we both put our feet up in the living room and fell asleep. I think we both slept about 3 hours. I think we were both pretty tired. I am still tired. Grocery shopping is an exhausting adventure to me so I am not surprised that I slept so long. We will both be heading for bed early. At least we both get to sleep in tomorrow! yeah! My first lesson tomorrow is at 3 pm. I was going to get Olive Garden to go but since we grocery shopped I just cooked up something quick. Mom doesn't eat very much so cooking for her is a piece of cake because she doesn't eat a full serving of anything. I got some simple foods that she likes so cooking for the next few weeks will be easy.

We have an exciting week ahead of us. I will finish cleaning off the dining room table. Yes, I know, I was supposed to finish that before Mom came home last week. It didn't really happen. I did take off most of the books that were all over the table, but the bills are still in piles. I will be paying them this week. There are a few that are due. I don't want to pay late notices. I have possibly 3 lessons tomorrow, depending on if Callie is back from camp in time for her lesson. She has a fun filled week of camp this week so I am not anticipating seeing her. I hope to so I can hear all about it and give her her lesson, but it is one of those, if she arrives, she's there, otherwise she is in traffic coming home. I really hope she has a fun time. She is such a neat young person. Frank should be finishing up some music this week and we are working hard on his competition music. It is about a month away from competition now. He is working hard on the music now that school is out.

I tried on the new shoes today, they are a bit tight, but with thin socks they should be alright. They are really cute too so that is a good thing. I am almost ready for the wedding. I just have to do some laundry so I have clothes to wear on Friday. I have Mom's outfit all ready too. I have new slippers for her with new socks. She will be looking cute.

It has been a good day, I hope your day was good too. I tried to call the big brother to wish him happy father's day, but I had to leave a message.

What a fun afternoon!!!! First up was Lily's lesson. She is singing "Look to the Rainbow" and "Loch Lamond" and doing a good job at both. She is also auditioning for her summer music theatre play "Aida" so we worked on her audition material. I love that musical. Mom and I saw several years ago and it was simply amazing! Just amazing! The music was fantastic! Mom loved it. I bought the CD to it and practically wore it out in my car. I forgot to find it for Lily so she could hear some of the music before Tuesday's audition. I will find it this week so she can hear it.

After Lily's lesson was Zachary's graduation party. Mom did real well there. She only teared up a few times which is better than she has done and it was mostly while she was eating which is when she normally does it. We ended up staying almost 3 hours, I was surprised at the time when we got back into the car. We met some of Zach's parents friends and they were really nice. I also got to have a long chat with Zach's older brother, Alex. I haven't spoken to him in a long long time. It was great to catch up with him. He is an actor and a singer. We had to get Zach's present on the way because I fell asleep yesterday afternoon so I didn't get to it on my list of things to do yesterday. We took care of it though. I got him 2 movies that he wanted. I asked him on Tuesday at his lesson what he wanted so he called me with a list. I like to give gifts instead of money because they are more fun to me and it is something different too. He told me which movies he wanted and we got him 2 of them. I like that he gave me a choice.

One thing I have noticed since Mom has been home is that she says random things that don't make a lot of sense at times. This is new, well, fairly new. She would do this occasionally before, but now it is more frequent. She is also afraid of doing something wrong, very afraid. She cries because she thinks she is doing something wrong, I tell she is doing good and isn't doing anything wrong, then she is okay. But this happens all day long. I hope it ends soon because this is upsetting her and I don't like that. The couple we sat with at the party were very nice to her. Most people are. I have only had a few people stare at me like why is she out and not at home or in a home, but overall people are very nice and treat her well. We have more doors held open for us then ever. It is so nice because it really makes it easier for me to steer Mom if the door is held open.

Tomorrow is Father's Day. I don't know what me and Mom are doing. I was going to take her out for Father's Day, but I am not sure. She sort of can feed herself, but not very well. She eats more if I feed her and I don't know about feeding her at a restaurant, although I fed her at the party and no one said anything to me about it. I am hoping she gets better at feeding herself, but I am not sure she will. Overall, she is much better than she was on Wednesday when I picked her up. Everyday is a bit better. We have everything planned for the wedding we are going to on Friday next week. I am excited about it. Mom was until the nursing home. She still smiles about it when I mention it to her, but it is a more vacant smile than before. She, once again, is worried about money. Do we have enough for this, for that. Can we pay for this. This hasn't happened for a few months and now it is back. I hope this leaves again soon, I don't want her to worry about money, that is my job. I worry enough about it, she doesn't need to worry.

I hope your day was as great as ours. The sun is out, with a nice cool breeze and no rain at this point. It can rain now, we are inside again.

I finished the bridesmaid and the maid of honor dresses. The wedding is only next week. The visiting nurse and the visiting physical therapist were here this afternoon to evaluate Mom. Outside of perhaps getting a bit stronger there isn't much else that the physical therapist can do for Mom. I mean, she can't learn any new behaviors, so what is the point? She needs help to get dressed, and pretty much everything. She isn't eating very much and she is drinking a bit. She does usually drink a sip or two when I ask. The therapist was please with how Mom goes up and down the stairs. We showed her around the house so we had to go upstairs. I have to get Mom a toilet frame for each of the bathrooms so she has bars to hold on to when she needs it. I will pick them up when we go shopping on Sunday. We don't have any plans except Katie's lesson for Sunday. Mom still gets upset a bit easy, but not as much as she did yesterday. Everyday is getting better, I think. We shall see.

I am rather tired today. I took a wee nap after the physical therapist left. Both Mom and I slept. I slept for about 2 1/2 hours, so did she. Not much else happening in our house today. Tomorrow is Lily's lesson and Zachary's graduation party. I have to stop and get his gift on the way. He gave me some ideas so I know what to get him.

I hope your day was good too.

It is knitting today. First time in about 3 or so weeks between my schedule, Mom, and my friend, Heather's schedule, we just haven't connected. Today we will. Tomorrow a nurse from the home care will be coming to see Mom. We won't be going to sewing because I have some sewing I have got to do before Saturday, so I am doing some today and finishing up tomorrow.

It is a good day so far. Mom got up pretty well, although she said she was tired and wanted to sleep more but since I had a doctor's appointment for a blood test, we had to get up. She is in the living room sleeping right now. After the appointment we went to our usual, Tim Horton's, and our friend, Rosemary was there. She watched Mom while I went and got our food. Mom did pretty well, she ate some soup and then ate her donut. She cried a bit every so often while we were there. She cries really easy right now, I think because she is so afraid of being left alone. It will take time for her to relax, I think. She is back on her anxiety medicine now that she is home. Rosemary lent me a book about Historical mysteries. I can't wait to dive into it. I love reading. I may read some out loud to Mom. She likes that.

So far today is a good day for the both of us. She looks like she had a good sleep, although she is tired. Tomorrow she can have a good sleep in, we both can. I do want to do some grocery shopping soon, we are out of a lot of food. Right now, she is too tired to go with me, but I figure maybe this weekend she will be okay for shopping a bit. We have a bit of frozen dinners left and enough ensure for a few days. I will be bringing an ensure with us so she has a lot to drink. So far, she has drank about 1/4 of an ensure and about 3/4 of the 1/2 pint of milk. That is a lot for her. As it gets hotter this weekend, I will be upping how much she drinks. She doesn't need another episode of dehydration. That would definitely be bad.

Pain is regular today, not too bad. My head is just it's normal headache, not extra like a few days ago. My arm is alright. I can move it more than I could a month ago so I think it is unfreezing itself. Yeah! I hope it completely unfreezes itself. I can sleep on that side for a bit at night now so my other side doesn't get as sore.

It is beautiful out today. I have the drapes in the living room open so Mom can look out and see the sunshine. I also have the drapes in the dining room open for the same reason. It is nice and sunny out with very few clouds. I hope this finds you doing well too!

Mom is home! I am soooooo happy about that. I picked her up at 10 am. I quickly packed her suitcase and went down to laundry to pick up her other clothes. I have some laundry to do for her, but that is okay. I will do it, tomorrow! She hasn't had her anxiety medicine for the entire time she was in the nursing home. I found that out today. No wonder she was so miserable and crying all the time. She was scared and nervous the entire time she was there. I don't know how long it will take until she feels comfortable again. She has really gone down in the last month with everything that has happened to her. I have put the new plan in place. We both fell asleep this afternoon though for about 3 1/2 hours. We both are rather exhausted. I don't know how she is going to do when it is time to go to bed, but we will go up together and I will put her to bed. I plan to sit with her as long as it is necessary. She still cries easy right now. She did pretty well at Tim Horton's this morning and the little restaurant for dinner. Mom hasn't eaten very well, but I figure it will take a few days before she is comfortable enough to eat a bit more again. Her appetite isn't very good to begin with. She did eat 1/2 her donut this morning and she ate a bit of mashed potatoes and soup. I brought the left overs home for tomorrow's dinner. I am so glad she is home although she is nervous.

Pain is a bit higher, not sure why today. I am feeling better now that Mom is home. I should sleep better tonight!

I can't wait until tomorrow!!! Mom comes home. How exciting. She looked a bit happy about coming home but then she got nervous and cried. Poor thing doesn't know if she is coming or going these days. I hope after a few days at home she will even herself out. She ate pretty good for lunch. yeah, they think I am going to puree all her food. That isn't going to happen right now. I cut up her food into small pieces and she does just fine with them. I will be clearing off the dining room table this evening since she will be arriving tomorrow. I want it cleared so she won't pull any piles down. She tries to be so helpful, unfortunately, she pulls from the bottom of the piles not the top so everything crashes down. I am pretty tired today although I am not so sure why. I went to bed okay last night so I really shouldn't be extra tired. I am excited about tomorrow and a bit nervous too since she hasn't been home in 3 1/2 weeks and won't really know where everything is. I hope everything goes okay once Mom is home. She should hopefully cry less since she will be with me, that is the hope. She is very dependent on me and this has been hard for the both of us. She saw the doctor and they don't think anything is wrong with her ear or her throat, not that they can find. I will keep an eye on it and see what happens. She had an ear ache during lunch again but she was very nervous and crying a lot too. I actually wasn't the one feeding her since she wouldn't eat for me, a nurse assistant came over and she got Mom to eat some. Mom wouldn't drink anything though which is normal for her there. I will be putting my plan in action so we shall see how successful I will be.

I have 2 students later today, in about an hour so I am happy about that. After that I will be clearing the table before I eat dinner. I am going to grocery shop tomorrow with Mom so she can tell me what she wants. Pain level is alright for a change. It isn't too hot or muggy out right now so that is probably why. It is supposed to rain tonight though, so my head may get bad with that, but right now it is alright.

I hope you are having a good day.

1 1/2 days until Mom is home!!!!! I can't wait!!!!! Today has been a pretty good day so far. I won't be able to see Mom until tomorrow because of both our schedules. When I am not teaching she is in therapy or bed so that ends the plans on visiting today. However, I will make it for lunch tomorrow and then by 9:20 on Wednesday ready to take her home. I know she was supposed to see the doctor again this morning. I will find out what he said tomorrow. It would be nice if he gave her something for the pain in her throat and ear that they keep ignoring. If it keeps up, I plan to take her to our doctor to find out what is going on. I am hoping once she is home it stops and she can relax again because she will be with me. Just because the doctors can't find out what is wrong doesn't mean she isn't in pain! Look how many doctors and years it took to find out what was wrong with me. Mom never gave up on that and I won't give up on her.

On to better news. The Muglia family will be getting a piano! A real piano! The girls are so excited about it. It will go in the living room where the big keyboard used to be. The found it at an Estate sale and the person they bought it from knows someone who can transport it to their house. I am so excited for them. The three older girls (there are 8 children in the family now) love playing piano and I love teaching them. I also teach them sewing on Friday. They are excited to see Mom as she hasn't been at sewing for a few weeks. They are such a nice family, really nice and caring.

I hope to pick up a few more books this afternoon at the used bookstore. I have pretty much read everything that is left in the house. I have spent the last 3 1/2 weeks reading when I am not teaching or sleeping or sewing. I have a bit of sewing to do this week too. I will have Emily's and Lily's dresses ready for Saturday. I just love sewing. It is something that Mom and I used to do together. Now she watches me and sometimes gives me advice. She can remember a bit about sewing so that is good. Originally it was supposed to be the two of us teaching the Muglia's but with Mom's memory, it is really just me. I don't mind. Time flies when I am there. The girls have each made 3 items. Hannah has made 2 tops and 1 skirt. Lydia and Natalie have made 2 skirts and 1 top. I don't know what they will start on next but we will be using wool material. I have several boxes for them to choose from. I will also be finishing Sarah's skirt this week for her. It won't take too much time since she is so little. (she is five)

Pain isn't so bad so far today. I am a bit more tired than usual because I went to bed late again last night. I need to stop reading before I go to bed because I don't know what time it is when I am reading and often it is past midnight when I stop. Not recommended for a girl who is exhausted all the time. I plan to head for bed early tonight so I am more rested when I see Mom tomorrow. I have to go to bed early tomorrow night as I will be picking Mom up rather early. I don't mind since I'd rather pick her up early than late. She is anxious to get home.

I hope you are having a good day!

another link of the week!!!!!

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