I can't believe the day has gotten away from me. Yes, I did sleep in until noon, but then we got ready and Mom ready for Tim Horton's. Right when we got there, the phone rang and it was Lori, the physical therapist. I quickly put Mom back into the car and went through drive through for our lunch. I got us soup and sandwich combos, but naturally, Mom ate 1 /4 of her sandwich and was full and none of her soup. I will be saving the soup for later when she is hungry. She has finished 1 ensure so far and is finishing another one now. I am very happy about that.

The best thing that happened today??? I talked to my Laura, who I haven't talked to in 24 years about so many things, but also about the important website she is going to design for me! We talked about so many things, it was really cool. I messaged her this week asking if she designs websites and how much would it cost. She sent me back a message that said Yes! and gave me the costs. It isn't going to cost too much, so we can afford to do this. I am really excited about this because the web is now how most people look at things so that works for me! I did google last night to see what websites for lessons are out there, I emailed a couple to see if I can be added for lessons so we shall see what happens about that. I am excited about fall because it is the beginning of a new season and summer hasn't been too bad now, it was in the beginning with Mom so sick, but now it is okay. It is supposed to be hot later this week. I think Mom and I will stick close to the house and stay inside after our usual morning/afternoon trek. Mom hasn't taken a nap today, she seems rather awake for this time of day without a nap. I may put her in the living room in a bit to rest.

We just got back from Walmart. We needed to pick up a few things, like Lia's baby shower present. We got the cutest little outfit for the little one. She has named her Esther Ruth. Her mom, Maia, is coming to our house so she can catch a ride with us to her house. She comes over every weekend to visit her boyfriend. It is rather interesting that he lives a couple of miles from me. Isn't that amazing? Out of all the places in Michigan she could have met someone, she met someone who lives near her cousin (me). Such a small world we live in! I also got Mom some snacks for me to carry with me in case she needs them. I got both string cheese and granola bars, the chewy type. She started to cry when we were checking out, I know she was tired but she was hungry too so when we got into the car I gave her a chewy granola bar and she ate it and stopped crying. It is amazing! That is twice today that she cried for no reason and I gave her food and she stopped. I also picked up 2 boxes of tissues, one for her to play with and one for us to use. She hasn't played with it yet, maybe she won't. One can only hope.

I have discovered also that sometimes when we go to bed she is too tired to take her medicine and has a rough time doing it. It took 15 minutes for her to take 4 pills, I gave up on the 5th. Tonight, at 8 pm, I will give her her medicine for the evening. She doesn't take any sleeping medicine so it doesn't matter that if she takes it right before bed or not. Since we go to bed sometime between 9 and 10, I think her taking medicine at 8 is okay. It will just be hard for me to remember. I will though, it will be easier for her to take it because she will be more awake.

It has been a good day today. We are watching Walker, Texas Ranger, season 7 disc 4, episode 1. We will watch a couple more episodes and then we will head for bed. We have a big day ahead of us tomorrow at the shower.

My bloggerette Society picture is now on my blog. Thanks to Connie! for helping me! I couldn't have done it without you! I am now waiting for the sitemeter.com people to email me my log in and password so I can have one of those on my blog too. I would like the Christmas countdown too, but we shall see. I love how people's blogs all look different with all sorts of pictures and things like that. I am just learning to do this stuff and it will take a while to do. The one tool Connie uses the most is not on my operating system and is not available on a G4 mac. Too bad, I could have used it a lot for things. Anyways, I got the Bloggerette Society up and that makes me happy! I am so glad about that.

The physical therapist didn't come today. I haven't heard from her so hopefully she will be coming tomorrow. Mom is in the living room sleeping. Poor thing is exhausted today. I wonder what time she woke up? Probably early knowing her and she woke up with her legs almost off the bed which causes her to get a back ache. It looked like she was trying to sit up but didn't get that far. Her head was completely off her pillow which is never good for the little lady. She needs to stay on her bed properly while she waits for me to wake up. When we went into the living room she said her back was sore and she had shooting pains up her back. I gave her a pain pill but I will keep an eye on her. I don't know what is up with this, hopefully it is a one time deal with this. She doesn't need any new pain.

Well, check out the picture! It looks so cute!

It is a good day so far. We are waiting for the physical therapist to arrive. She hasn't called to say she is coming yet and as far as I know, she is supposed to come today. Mom is awake right not, so now would be good! Mom is alert today better than usual so I am happy on that.

We don't have too much planned for the day. I need to copy some CDs for teaching and email a couple of friends about lessons, but other than that, not much. I am going to have a new website for lessons. My friend, Laura, (from high school no less!) builds them and she is going to build mine. I just have to decide what to put in it and that is that. I am so excited about it, it won't cost a whole lot to host, under $50 for a year, which I have enough to pay, and the domain name and then her costs. I think I only need a couple of pages, I don't see needing more than 2, I want a simple site. I will look at this later today and decide what I want. I haven't really seen any sites like this, so I am going in blind. I am going to research on the web to see if other teachers have done this. I really want to be up to date on advertising techniques. I tried the newspaper and it didn't work too well, so now I will try both for fall. I only need a few more (about 10) students and I will be tapped out. With that money and disability, we will be doing alright. Of course, I still want to be with Richard and family but who knows if that will ever pan out. Right now he has so much to deal with. I just want to be closer to him and the family because I miss him and his family so much and I think they are missing out on Mom. Eventually, Mom will not be able to communicate or have fun and now she can so you got to take the opportunity to be with her now, not later. But with this economy, and he looking for a job, it just isn't practical for him. He has to take care of the family and I do understand that, really I do. I just can't help missing him and wishing we were closer to him.

Mom is trying to play with the mouse again. She does this all the time. It is kind of both funny and annoying at the same time. I think she thinks she needs to move it to its place and doesn't realize it is already there.

I did get a very brief email from Richard yesterday. He only sends brief ones, extremely brief but at least I got the answer I needed from him.

Mom was about to put my purse (backpack) on the floor. I rescued it in time. I hate my purse or backpack on the floor. It is just a cloth one so it is small but fits what I need in it. I can carry Mom's ensure and all my stuff in one bag. Mom has a new backpack for her now too. I plan to use it this weekend, although, now I am kind of thinking it may be too big and I want a smaller one for her. We will be going to Toys R Us this weekend to look at the ones they have. Kathy said they have the cloth ones up and they have princess ones. I may get her that one for when we aren't going out very long and then she will have one for the car and one to carry. That may be the way to go.

I am not sure what we are doing tomorrow, we may go and see Ramona and Beezus, that looks so cute and I loved those stories so much when I was a child. We'll see how it goes. I am not taking her to see Eclipse,although I really want to see that movie a lot. Wendy's daughter said it is a bit scary and she thinks that it would scare Mom too much so we aren't going to see it together. I may get a sitter and go by myself, or maybe I will wait until it comes out on DVD. It isn't that bad if I have to wait. They come out pretty fast now, not like a few years ago. I am, however, really looking forward to the new Harry Potter movie. If I have to get a sitter, I will, but I AM going to see that one in the movie theatre. I just love Harry Potter! Mom has enjoyed the other movies but they, too, are getting darker and I don't know how she will deal with that now that sometimes she thinks what is happening on the TV is real. She does alright, still, with NCIS, but that will end sometime soon too, I have a feeling about that. We watch some cute shows that she likes a lot, like the Say Yes to the Dress on TLC and the DC cupcakes on TLC. We watched HGTV last night and she enjoyed the real estate shows we were watching. So she can watch some TV and enjoy it still. I don't know for how long though but I am glad it is happening. I don't know what we will do for entertainment when she can't watch anything anymore. Maybe I will move her chair so she can't watch it. Who knows? We will deal with that when it happens.

Anyways, it is rather nice outside again today. Not to hot, not to cold. Unfortunately, I have a really bad headache again, second day in a row, and it is not the weather's fault. Stress and drama is. I have started a new rule. I will not be friends on face book with new students or their parents. It isn't worth it. I am not unfriending any of the students I am friends with right now, but I will not be adding any more. I think this is for the best. If they need to get a hold of me, email or phone will work so it isn't like they can't get a hold of me at all, I just don't do drama. I need to have calm in my life because drama causes extra pain and headaches and upsetness in general, so no more drama.

I hope you are having a good day.

I almost forgot about my blood test this morning. Fortunately, I remembered in time to get there without being too late. I was only 5 minutes past the appointment time. I hate blood tests, but I have to get them all the time because of my blood disorder. Stupid blood disorder. I got the results, they are really quick, I get them in the afternoon when I get tested in the morning. I have to increase a day by 2.5 so now I have 4 days at 7.5 and 3 days at 5. It changes all the time which is why I have to be tested so much. If I don't take the medicine I will end up with another blood clot and I don't want to go there. I didn't enjoy it the first time, don't think I would like it again.

It has been a quiet day other than the blood test. Mom's physical therapist, Lori, didn't come yesterday so she came today. Mom was really tired so she ended up leaving early because Mom just couldn't do the exercises. She is coming again tomorrow but earlier in the day. That is good because between 2 and 4 is Mom's nap time and she is exhausted right now. She tires so easily now. I have to go and get a 3 pound weight so that when Lori is done next week I can continue the exercises with Mom so she won't lose her muscle that she gained. We just can't have that. I need Mom nice and strong, well, as strong as she can get. She even climbed up the two front steps to inside the house on her own today. I was surprised. I told her to wait a minute while I took stuff in, and in she came all by her little self. Rather shocking, truth be told. I was like, wow, you can do that. She was like, yeah, of course I can. Now we all know that normally she needs help because she has balance issues but not today. We won't be trying it out on anything else today, that is for sure. And when we come home again, she will get help unless she pushes me away, which she doesn't do.

So far, we have had an okay type day. In a few minutes, Zachary will be here for his lesson and then we are heading to my friend's house for knitting. I am letting Mom nap as long as possible because we will be leaving about 3:30. It will be a short session with Heather B-T, but still fun and we will have a good time. I wonder if they have heard from Calli yet, she is at camp, hopefully having a great time. I will hear all about it in 2 weeks, because next week the entire B-T family will be camping up north. That will be fun for them.

We don't have anymore vacation plans for the summer. I plan a nice and quiet August with lessons, knitting, sewing, and watching TV. We will be going to my uncle's again in a few weeks. Andrew is planning to be there. I hope with Angie, his really really nice girlfriend. I really liked her. I think Mom and I will plan a short jaunt to go and visit Andrew one day next month. Kathy will be here for one weekend at the end of the month so that is something I am really looking forward too. It shouldn't be so hot next month. Richard will be coming sometime in the future. Yes, I still wish we lived near him so I could see them more often, but we don't always get what we want. I do have plans for us when he is here for a visit. I don't think the entire family is coming. The last time the entire family was here was summer 2007 and that was 3 years ago when they lived in North Carolina. I do miss them living there as I didn't appreciate how close that was until they moved to Seattle. Now I appreciate it. Too little, too late, as the saying goes.

I do plan on working on more writing in August. I think with it being (supposedly) cooler, my head may not hurt so bad and maybe I can concentrate better and be able to work on a new story. I don't have any ideas in mind yet, but that is because I haven't even started. I have the time to write and I would like to have something solid started so that by Christmas I have a good handle on the story. I also am going to go to the storage unit and get some of our stuff in order. I need help with that so I plan to ask Katie or Aggie to help. Both are really nice and I think, if they have the time, they will do it. They are the generous type like that. Katie is also going to organize my music and put it away by the end of summer. I have some new stuff because Heather' mom, Pat, had a client who was a teacher and she gave Pat some of the music and Pat passed it along to me. Wasn't that really sweet of her? I just need to catalogue it and then it can get put away too. I have 3 filing cabinets filled with music for my students. 1 is for voice, and the other two for clarinet and piano. The clarinet music only fills 1 drawer while the rest is for piano. It makes it nice for choices for my students. I can't believe I am going to have to think of Christmas music soon. We start Christmas music October 1 every year. That way it gives all the students time to practice for the concert. Our concerts are so short now, compared to what they were. It sure does make a difference having 10 students instead of 50. I miss those days, but then, if I had that many students I wouldn't be able to take care of Mom like I do. I would need a sitter for her during the afternoon and evening hours. This way, she just sits through the lessons and listens quietly. Well, mostly quietly. She was rather talkative at first during Charlie's lesson Tuesday, but then she fell asleep and was quiet. I am hoping she sleeps through Zachary's lesson. She needs the rest before we leave for Heather B-T's. house.

Well, it is so beautiful out today, not too hot, not too humid. A perfect summer day. A gift from God. I just love life on days like this, despite the problems and illnesses we all face. Life is just good on a day like today. I hope yours is too!

The nurse discharged Mom today from home health care. The sore is gone and healed. Because she had a sore I have to put cream on that spot every day so that she doesn't get another one. I don't ever want her to get one of those again. They are just awful. I am glad hers didn't hurt her, because in stage 3 or 4 they do hurt, bad. She is rather restless today and I don't know why. She keeps playing with the receipts I need to shred. She just put one in her pocket. I don't know why she fiddles with stuff like that but she does. She doesn't really play with the toys I bought her. I am disappointed in that. I had hoped that the toys would capture her attention and give her something to play with. She likes to play with the Kleenex box and the Kleenexes. I had to throw away about 1/3 of the Kleenexes because she played with them and they were a mess. I was kind of mad about that because we went through a brand new box in a week and now we don't have any. I will be getting more but I am not putting them on the table for her to reach. I have to move everything away from her so she doesn't play with them. She also likes to play with my mouse and mouse pad, especially when I am on the computer. That actually annoys me because she pulls on the cords and then pulls on the computer and sometimes even pulls on the screen. I am afraid she may break my screen someday. The other computer may be put up soon but there won't be Internet because it won't reach downstairs. I just thought of that. Ugh, oh well, still have the little laptop which I love.

It is going to be a quieter type day here. I have to print off some stuff for the store paperwork that still needs to be done. I have to file the 2007 and 2008 sales and use tax return and I have to send the August 2008 sales and use tax return too. It is on the other computer and I don't think about doing it. I have needed to do it for 2 years now and I haven't. No, the State of Michigan doesn't forget these type things unfortunately. I also have to send some paperwork into the social security from the store. I have that paperwork handy so I am going to do that today too. It will be a semi productive day as far as paperwork is concerned. I also have to call in my payment of the sales and use tax that I still owe from the store. I really hate dealing with the store stuff, I mean I lost it 2 years ago, can't I just be done with it? I will be soon enough except for the payments, that will take a long time to pay because I don't have a lot of income to pay it off. I hope the paperwork I owe will be finished this weekend though so that part is finished.

Mom still has physical therapy left to do today. Lori should be here shortly. Her timing varies from day to day depending on her schedule. Mom has this week and next week left and then she is done with physical therapy. I plan to keep working with Mom on the exercises after she is officially finished with physical therapy. This way, she will keep getting stronger and not weaken after the end of physical therapy.

It is hot and muggy out because it is supposed to storm out later this afternoon. We aren't going anywhere so I am not concerned about the storms. We will be hiding inside from them. We are supposed to get some pretty severe storms too. Mom has been okay about storms. I keep the drapes closed so she doesn't see the bad weather and I don't have her in the living room during the bad storms. We stay here in the dining room during them.

I hope this finds you doing well.

It has been a rather slow day here. Mom woke really early, about 8 am. I know this because Mother Nature was calling and I peeked in on her and she was awake. I scooted by and went back to bed. I got up a few hours later and checked in on her and she was still awake and ready to start her day. So we got up, got ready, and went to our usual. We ran into Rosemary and her husband, Irv, there. We had a nice time visiting them. After that we had to go to Walmart to get a few things, like prescriptions, ensure, and a new back pack for Mom. I want her to have one so when we go out I can carry her disposable undies and wipes in it as well as ensures. She now has a princess back pack. It's pink and has all the princesses on it. I think it is really cool. I was going to get her a cloth one, but this one you can put bottles in the bottle carrier on each side of it, so that was why it won.

I have had a kind of bad weekend except for when I was at my uncle's. I had to unfriend someone because one of my good friends unfriended me because I was friends with this person on face book. Now, last week was the first time I have seen this person in 2 years, and I had no idea that I shouldn't be friends with this person as it puts my good friends child in danger due to a stalker. Not only was this young person friends with my other friend's stalker, she enabled him to find my friend's child. I had absolutely no idea. It took me several days to figure out how to unfriend someone, but I have now done it. I appreciate that they let me know after one of my posts but it took several days to fix this issue. It is now fixed. That person is now deleted and the child is now safe on my face book. I hope they refriend me. It makes it rather easy to get in touch when needed. I don't understand why someone would help someone stalk another person, but that is just wrong. Simply wrong. Another person should NEVER help another person stalk someone, even if they are all teenagers. I talked to one of the good friend's and let them know I took care of the problem and apologized and said again I had no idea. I will talk to his wife, hopefully, later tonight or this week or he will let her know. What a close call that was. It could have been a disaster but it wasn't.

I had only Charlie's lesson today. He is doing well and is almost done with his solo he is working on. Zach will have his lesson tomorrow as he had no car to drive to his lesson so he will come tomorrow.

It is really nice out today, not too hot or humid unlike what it is going to be like tomorrow. Tomorrow will be hot and humid, yuck, that is all I can say. Although I am thankful that I don't live where one my friend's live. She lives near the desert in California. They are getting over 100's for temperatures! I hope she is staying cool.

I hope this finds you doing well.

It was a great day, 5 lessons!!! Yup! 5 of them. It would have been 7 but 2 students are absent due to camps. One is a mini band camp and the other is at the Bear Lake camp. First up was the Muglia house. Natalie, Hannah, and Lydia all had their piano lessons first thing in the afternoon. We got up early to be there on time and we were still about 5 or so minutes late! Ugh! Someday, I will get there on time again. I hate being late for anything. Mom did pretty well, she asked to see me a couple of times during the first lesson, Natalie's. I was not happy but what could I do? Between Natalie and Lydia's lessons I moved Mom into their living room where she fell asleep and no more problem! It was a great solution to that issue. After the 3 lessons we headed back home to be there in time for Aggie's lesson. I had to call Aggie on the way to let her know we may be late and we were, about 5 minutes. Then Aggie and I looked for some of the music she needed and it turns out I don't have it. That is a drag. I will look to see what book it is in, because I swear I thought I had the book. I will be checking into it. Bob arrived for his lesson at the end of Aggie's. She is almost finished with her Broadway pieces, she has a bad habit of singing through rests so she has a few she must fix to be done with the songs. Bob has picked 2 new classical pieces to work on, Mozart's Sonata and a Bach Two Part Invention. They are really nice songs and I think he will enjoy learning them. I love the songs he chose. He also took my advice to go on YouTube to watch some pianists play those particular pieces. Frank is the one who told me about it. He chose his competition pieces by what he liked to hear.

Mom is playing with the table cloth again. She does this often. I bought her the fiddling toys, but she doesn't really use them, she fiddles with Kleenex, empty boxes, and table cloths instead. Oh yeah, she also plays with my computer mouse and mouse pad. It is very strange and sometimes annoying. I don't know how to change her focus to fiddling with something else. I have tried a few other things that just haven't worked.

It is pretty nice out today not too humid but the humidity is coming back tomorrow, I think. Yuck, I really hate the humidity. We will also have some storms again. I can't wait for summer to be over and fall to be here. For some crazy reason, my left arm, where it has never hurt, is now hurting. Where it usually hurts, it doesn't, but the back part of the arm does. Strange, I know. My head isn't too bad today, just the normal ache. I wonder what it is like not to have a headache. I really don't remember, I have had a headache for about 6 years now. I can't remember what it is like not to have pain somewhere in my head. Of course, I have had pain somewhere in my body for so long I don't remember a pain free body either. Such is the course of a life with fibromyalgia.

Not too much happening for the rest of the week. I have 2 lessons tomorrow and then 1 more on Saturday, Mom has the visiting nurse visit and 2 visits from the physical therapist, but other than that, we have nothing planned. I do need to go and get my blood medicine tomorrow as well as some more ensure plus for Mom. We don't need any new groceries because we have enough in the freezer and Michelle loaded us up with food for the week. I separated the mashed potatoes into 6 different smaller containers. We finished the turkey tonight so tomorrow we will have the pulled pork. I will be freezing some of that too because it is a big container. I froze the oriental chicken and rice also. Next time I go shopping I am planning to get some cabbage and bacon. Michelle makes a really cool dish with that so I am going to try it. She said it doesn't take too long so standing may not be a problem. I will attempt it next month. Mom eats better when I make fresh food (I know, big shock!) Although, she does eat the frozen cooked chicken well and likes it a lot. That is what she gets a lot because she needs the protein for her sore.

Mom's pressure sore is getting smaller. She is doing really well with eating and drinking a lot of protein. She has really benefited with change of diet. She is much stronger than she was a couple months ago. She does still have some trouble at night with the stairs, but that depends on how tired she is. If she is very tired, then she has a bit of trouble. I asked her if it hurts to go up and she has said no every time I ask, so I am not worried about that anymore. This morning she woke up before me (nothing unusual in that) and got a bit upset because she couldn't see anyone. When our money comes in this week we are going to get some monitors so I can put one in her room and one in mine. We can also use them when she is in the living room and I am working or busy in another room. This way, I can be in another room from Mom and still hear her if she needs me.

Well, storms and humidity are on the way. I hope you are staying cool and dry in this weather. I hope you are having a good day and enjoying yourself!

We spent the day at my uncle's. It was a lot of fun. Even my little brother, Andrew was there. Tillie wasn't. We finally got a hold of her at about 6 pm and she was sick which is why she wasn't there and didn't call to tell us. She slept the entire day away. We didn't stop by her house to drop off her magazines and mail. She said she was really sick so we stayed away. Andrew and my cousin, Jayson, went swimming in the afternoon before dinner in the pool. Mom and I stayed inside. I don't do swimming very often and I didn't feel like it today. Besides, I am not even sure my bathing suit fits me. I highly doubt it. I do have 2 of them, but I haven't worn them in a couple of years and I think I have gained a bit of weight since I last wore them. Since I don't swim much, it isn't an issue.

Mom looked really cook in her turquoise hoodie. It is one of the ones my uncle got her for her birthday. She has about 8 hoodies now, all but 1 are for spring/summer wear. I will have to get her a few for winter as she only has the 1. Although she does have 2 fleece jackets she wears in the winter.

We are going back to my uncle's in a few weeks. I like seeing him and his family on a regular basis. It is a lot of fun and I know Mom really enjoys herself too even if she can't remember after a few days. When we left, Mom has a bit of a hard time coming down the two steps into Uncle John's garage so Andrew just picked up Mom and carried her down. It didn't frighten her at all, no tears like I was afraid would happen, absolutely none. She took it all in stride and then he helped her walk to the car and she got in by herself. She has been able to do that again for a few weeks now. I don't have to help her in or out of my car, she has difficulty with other people's cars, but not mine. She is used to mine.

I have 5 lessons tomorrow. I am so excited about that. We do have to get up earlier than usual as the first lesson is at 11:30, but that is alright. I haven't seen the Muglia girls in almost over a month so I am really happy to be seeing them. We both have been on vacation, then there was VBS, then a wedding in their family and then with Mom's physical Therapy interrupting sewing lessons, it has just been one thing after another, so yeah! I get my girls tomorrow! I also have Bob and Aggie's lessons tomorrow too which I am excited about. I just love teaching. It is really the best job in the world. Calli is at camp and Frank is at band camp so they are a no go for lessons. I am really hoping Calli is having a ball at camp. It will be another 2 weeks before I see her though because next week right after she comes home from camp her family will be going on vacation! Camping! Really rustic camping, the type where you build your own laterines! Yup, you build your own bathrooms. A little too rustic for me, but I do love camping and miss it. There is no way I could take Mom camping right now that is for sure but in the future I may have an opportunity to go camping.

Well, the little Mom and I are getting very tired so I think it is off to bed for us! I hope your day was good and that you have a good week!

Today was book club day! I haven't finished the book yet. I didn't want to read it so far away from book club because of my bad memory, yet I wanted to read it in enough time. Well, time got away from me and I got the book last weekend from Kathy. Alicia, Kathy's daughter, delivered it and another book to my car for me. How sweet was that? I thought it was awesome she wanted to give me the books to read. Maggie and I had a great time anyways. She said she had a feeling we wouldn't be talking to much about the book, but since I haven't seen her in 2 months, that was just fine. We had such a good time catching up on what has been going on in the last 2 months with us. She has been on vacation and I have been nursing Mom to health. She was really happy with how Mom looked today. Which is good because when Maggie last saw Mom it was about 2 days before she went into the hospital with the infection and dehydration. So it nice to know Mom looks healthy again. Mom took a nap while Maggie and I chatted. It was a great couple of hours. I just love book club days, even if we don't talk much about the book all the time. We have such stimulating conversations together. Not that Mom and I don't talk all the time, it is just nice to have someone else to talk to too. That could be why I enjoy Thursday knitting so much. I enjoy visiting with the kids but I also really enjoy talking to Heather B-T. There is something to be said about adult stimulating conversations at time and how needed they are. Mom just isn't really capable anymore and that saddens me. We used to be able to talk about everything and anything and sometimes nothing. Not anymore, she is too far gone. I know that underneath this illness is the same woman I have always known, but right now she is covered up by Alzheimer's. When we get to Heaven someday, I will be able to talk to her again and I look forward to that, but not for a long time, I hope.

Mom took a tumble this afternoon. I was on face book and out of the corner of my eye, I saw Mom fall off her chair. I was able to catch her from hitting her head on the floor, but she still tumbled. I was able to get her off the floor. I moved her from underneath the table to out of the table so I could pick her up and move her. It all happened so quickly that I couldn't even catch my breath. She is okay, she landed lightly because I sort of caught her and she didn't bump anything, I think. Her head was nowhere near the floor or the shelving units. If she loses her balance again I will take her in to be checked for an infection as losing your balance could be a symptom of an urinary tract infection and we certainly don't need another infection. Not at all. I just got her in a good place health wise, and I aim to keep her there.

We are watching Walker, Texas Ranger season 7 disc 2. Mom and I enjoy watching these old shows. We also have JAG, Scarecrow and Mrs. King, Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys, and TJ Hooker. I have enough to be entertained for a couple of months. We only watch DVDs on Saturday and Sunday (when we are home).

I have a bad headache now, all on the left side of my face and head. It is very hot and humid out today. It has rained a bit, but we haven't gotten the storms that have been predicted, although with the heat and humidity this high, I wouldn't be surprised that we get them. My hands aren't too bad right now, although my left arm is sorer than usual.

I hope you are having a good day and are enjoying yourself. We are, despite the heat and humidity. I had fun with book club and I like watching TV with Mom.

Much better pain day today than yesterday despite the heat and humidity. My head a bit more sore than usual, but I expected that because of the humidity. Mom is a bit more upset today than yesterday and I am not sure why. I am sure the weather affects her in some ways too.

We had brunch with some of our friends today, the Beauchamp family. It was so much fun. It is hard to believe it has been two years since I have actually seen them (outside of the time I ran into Roberta in the hospital emergency room). It was great to visit with them. Mom did pretty well, she cried a bit, but, like I said, she is a bit more teary eyed today than usual. Not super bad, just a little. We are waiting for her physical therapist to arrive. I don't know what time she will come as she calls when she is on her way. It really is a bit difficult to plan things, but since we don't have too many plans it is okay most of the time. I just don't like how it does interfere with sewing on Friday. We are temporarily going to change the day because of this reason. Wednesdays physical therapy isn't a problem because we don't usually have anything right now on Wednesdays, but Fridays is a problem. This will only last a few more weeks though, so I am not worried or upset over it.

It is starting to storm out right now. I can hear the thunder. It makes me think of Kathy, as she loves storms. I don't mind them except when I am outside or driving or trying to sleep, then I mind them. It is supposed to be humid and stormy for the next two days. Fortunately, we don't have to go out too much in the next two days. Sunday we are heading over to my uncle's, but nowhere until then.

I think I am going to have Mom and I head into the living room right now for a rest time. She sometimes sleeps, sometimes not, but she should be sitting somewhere comfy for her. I, of course, as usual, am tired and ready for a nap.

I hope this finds you doing well and having a great day no matter what the weather is for you.

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.