Rather cold today, not as cold as yesterday, but rather cold nevertheless.  It is freezing in here too, I went to get my fleece jacket so I won't be cold.  This is crazy weather.  I know, you would think I would be used to it after my whole life in Michigan, but I just am not.

We went to visit Pine Ridge today.  What a disappointment that was.  Yes, the apartment Mom could afford, that was the good part, the bad part, the care is on top of the apartment.  Not in our budget.  So I was rather disappointment.  Tillie came with us, but she didn't need to ask any questions because we just can't afford that for Mom.  It was an assisted living place not a nursing home.  I thought this would be a good place for her, but I was wrong.  So I guess when she needs more care we are going to have to look at home care unless she needs nursing home.  I am not putting in her in one until she needs it.  That is for sure.  We are doing alright most of the time, the two of us together.  She didn't have a good morning though and I don't like it when she has a bad day in front of people because they tend to think that is how she is most of the time.

I had a make-up lesson this afternoon, Bob.  He plays really well, he sight read his newest piece, Yesterday (by the Beatles) wonderfully.  I think he is going to play in the benefit concert too.  I hope so.  I am pleased that I finished the newsletter for the month.  yeah, me!

Pain isn't really too bad for how bad the weather is.  I hope your day is going well.

Mom doesn't want to go outside tonight.  I told Jose that evening is bad for her, but it's the time he wanted.  I hope she changes her mind by the time he gets here.  She is upset right now so I gave her her anxiety medicine.  I hope it helps her feel better because right now she doesn't want to go.  

Tomorrow we are going to visit a assisted living facility.  I hope mom likes it because by end of summer I anticipate that she will need them.  I hope not, but I will be ready for it.  Tillie is coming with us.  I invited her to come with us.  She will be here about 11 ish am.  I will be up by 10:30 am to make sure I hear her.  I am glad she is coming because she may have questions I wouldn't think about.  Georgette said they looked at this place for her mother-in-law and it was expensive.  I told the lady from A Place For Mom how much money we have to work with, so I hope it wasn't a mistake by sending us there.  We shall see!

She is calmer already about going out she has already forgotten that she didn't want to go.

It has been a good day, I had two students, Zach and Charlie.  They both are doing quite well.  Zach has solo and ensemble next Saturday, he was a bit late today so I asked him to come early next week to make up the time.  With competition next week, it's crucial that he has all the time with me he needs.  He knows one piece real well, but the timing on the other is a bit shaky at times.  He pretty much had it by the time he left, but I will feel better checking into it.

I am going to see my friend, Heather, next week too!  Her kids are so amazing.  I just love them both a lot, they are so talented with music.  I hope it isn't windy because last time we had to leave early because she was afraid of the wind.  It was really windy that day though, I mean really windy.  We had high wind warnings that day, so you can imagine.

Mom keeps asking me when are we heading home, it is really sad that she forgets where we are.  Jose should be here in a few minutes so I better end this soon.

I hope your day is going well.  I am still debating on whether or not to participate in the Valentine's Day swap with Hayley.  Possibly.

Mom's friend, Jose, was over this afternoon.  He needed some help putting his resume on line, so I took care of it for him.  He brought some cream over to help Mom's arthritis foot.  Sometimes it really pains her.  He left some cream for me to help with Mom's little foot.  He is taking her out to dinner tomorrow.  I warned him about how she is after the sun goes down.  I keep the drapes drawn so she can't really tell what time of day it is.  It helps a lot, but he is planning to take her out to dinner.  She worked with him years ago before she retired.  I have known him since I was 14 ish years old.  You can do the math there, I won't, too depressing about the age.

My cousin, Hayley is going to do a valentine's day craft swap.  If you want more info, just email me and I will send you the link to her blog.  She is very talented at crafts and stuff!

Not much really happen this evening.  I don't really want to play my DS anymore, it's tiring today.  Frank had his lesson this afternoon.  He is doing so well.  Bob had to reschedule to Wednesday since the window people were at his house putting in the new windows.  Rescheduling is a piece of cake since I don't have many students right now.  I have mailed the letters to the school directors, hope to hear from them this week!  Fingers crossed!!!!

Pain isn't so bad right now.  Everything seems to be at it's normal annoying place, not to high, but not low enough for me.  I hope your day is good and the week starting out nicely for you!!

Alvin and the Chipmunks are sooooooo cute!  It was a really cute movie with cute music.  The Chipettes were really cute too.  I didn't know there was a movie out in 2007 with the chipmunks, we will have to get it for mom.  She loves these movies.  

Definitely a better day today than yesterday.  No meltdown.  I gated Mom in at the top of the up stairs and that seemed to work pretty well.  She just wondered in and out of her room to my room, just like I had hoped.  She didn't try to move the gate at all so I am one happy camper today.

Lily and Julie were dancing at the end of the movie, it was so cute to see Lily dancing in her seat.  She is going to be 12 soon, and that blows my mind at times.  She has grown up so fast.  And her sister will be 17!  That is even crazier!  Emily was so small when I first met her, now she is a junior and everything!

I have a pretty busy evening around here.  Rachel and Rebecca can't have a lesson on Tuesday as originally planned, so they are on their way for a lesson now.  Debbie will have a lesson (practice) around 6 to 6:30 ish.  I haven't really heard her sing for almost 5 years!  I can't believe she is in her 20's now.  She IS all grown up.  Scary scary scary!  She lives in this beautiful, big house with her best friend, Justine.  I am so happy things are going well for her.  She has a new job, a new house, friends flying in to see her.  I mean, things have really turned around for her since she came back from India.

I am working with a lady named Marie, from a Place for Mom, to help place Mom in a home when she needs one.  I know it will probably be before summer, but I am hoping it will be after summer.  I was lucky I found this place because they do all the searching for you.  They ask you questions and find places that fit in your budget that are good homes, not the bad ones.  They also help you with the questions you need to ask homes about Mom.  Mom is doing better today then she was yesterday.  She fell out of bed a couple of days ago, but we have not had a repeat incident.  She just didn't realize she was at the end of the bed and rolled over.  She cut her lip and bruised her face a bit, but no major damage was done.  Last night I made sure she was more in the middle of her bed than usual.

We went out to eat after the movie.  We went to Olive Garden.  One of the hostesses recognizes us when we go, she is very nice.  When she found out what section we were in, she turned up the heat a bit for mom.  It made it very toasty for her.  We both got noodles and Alfredo sauce.  We like the Penne noodles better than the fettuccine ones, so we always substitute them.  I also get sausage.  yes, I know, lower my cholesterol!  I am working on it.  I usually get chicken but not today!

I got new sewing scissors for Christmas that I can't wait to use Friday.  Friday will be the first sewing class in 3 weeks because of the holidays.  The girls need to purchase new projects and I have to get the material for their younger sister Sarah's skirt.  She wants to learn too.  She is a little too young to use the machine, but not for hand sewing and pinning and cutting and all sorts of good stuff!

Well, we had a great day, and I hope yours is too!

Well, major melt down this morning.  I mean over something ridicules.  I have a difficult time dressing myself because of the pain.  Mom was hallucinating about a little girl downstairs.  I needed to get dressed so we could go and get breakfast, but I couldn't get her to focus on staying upstairs.  I had a melt down and that diverted her attention back to me.  It worked, but not exactly how I wanted to behave.  She has been more confused at night, I am wondering if it is her new medicine.  I am not giving it to her tonight to see.  Last night she kept asking me when we were going home, which is something she has done for the last few nights.  She never did this before, so I don't know if it is the disease or the medicine.  We shall find out.

Finished up the newsletter for my students about the upcoming events.  We have competition and a benefit concert in February.  The spring concert won't be until Mayish.  I will be signing up for that soon though.

I sent 2 letters out to 2 high school band directors with my business cards letting them know about 2 scholarships I am giving 2 of their students.  I hope to hear from them this week.  Then I will have 4 new students, granted they won't be paying for the lessons, but it will be 2 more hours I am busy and that is good.

Pain is pretty high today, especially since the melt down.  Hope it lessens soon.  Hope your day is better than mine.  So far, 2010 isn't starting so good.

I hope this year is the best year for everyone!  Happy New Year!  The old year is out and the new year is in!

Happy New Year's Eve!!!!  Yeah!  Last day of 2009!  I can't wait until 2010!  The year will rock (if I have anything to say about it!)

today's post part II.  We had surprise company come by so I had to end sooner than planned.  Mom's friend from her old work, Jose, stopped by.  He has a thing for her, still, after all these years.  He's planning to come Tuesday and pick her up for a bit of time.  Apparently, he has stopped by a lot but we weren't home or we were sleeping.  He comes a bit early for us, about 8:30 am.  Yeah, like I am awake at that time.  I let him know that the door doesn't usually open until 11:30 ish, because I am still sleeping and don't hear the door.

I will be working on some crafts in January.  I found a few kits that I have bought during the year that I haven't done yet, so I am planning to start working on them as soon as the new year begins.  I am not starting until then because tomorrow I am spending the day with my Katie.  I am very excited about that and not sure what we are going to do outside of going to Red Robin's for early dinner/late lunch.  Friday we will go out to eat for our yearly celebration of the new year.  We also have some new movies we will watch.  Sunday, we are going to see "Alvin and the Chipmunks, the squeakuel."  I cannot wait for that.  It looks so cute and I love the chipmunks.  Kathy's little girl, Sammy, likes to sing with the girl chipmunks when the commercial comes on.  I would love to see that!  The chipmunks might be the girls first movie.  I will find out when I talk to Kathy later this week.  She will be 42 in about 12 days.  So nice that she is older than me!  I won't be 42 until April!!!!  He he he!  

Tonight is a quiet night here with a new Charlie Brown special!  I love Charlie Brown.  The specials are usually quite good and cute with nice music.  Frank is playing Linus and Lucy for competition, he is doing really well on it.  Katie, Rachel, and Rebecca are also going to competition this year.  I used to have about 10 to 15 kids go, but not right now!  I am happy that they want to go, of course, I would be happy if they didn't.  Competition is optional, if you want to go, do your best, if you don't, that is fine too, just keep learning more music.

Speaking of competition, I need to look up some info about it!  Better get going!

Have a great night!  happy new year's eve eve!

Can't believe tomorrow is New Year's Eve.  We aren't doing much in the evening, but spending the day with Katie.  We are planning to go to Red Robin for lunch/dinner.  I love that place.  Best burgers around.  I think Mom likes it too.

I don't have any new year's resolutions this year.  Not sure why, just don't.  Maybe next year.  I just wasn't too into the whole Christmas/New Year's mode this year.  Maybe next year.  Mom will probably be in a home by next Christmas.  I will be looking into things like that during the next year.  Any family member who wishes to see and speak to Mom, now would be good, well, between June.  I hope to see many between now and then.

I think New Year's Day we will go out to dinner.  It shall be fun.  Mom likes to do that.

I hope you are having a good day and ready for the new year!

Yesterday was a good day at my Uncle's.  My cousin, Nicole was there too with her two little ones.  My uncle has a 2 1/2 year old named Jayson.  he is adorable.  Colby and Shay looked like they had a lot of fun playing with him.  Kinda weird to think my uncle is a dad to a toddler again at age 61.  Definitely weird.  His wife seemed real nice too.  Andrew was there too.  He seemed to like hanging out with Mom.  

Mom did well for the trip, she gets a little restless after dark, but I expect it.  We left around 6 ish.  The dinner was good, better than Christmas and Christmas Eve.  Michelle is a real good cook.  Mom ate most of it, I was impressed.  Sometimes she doesn't eat very well, but mostly she does good.  She seemed to enjoy visiting with everyone.  There wasn't too many people there so she wasn't nervous at all.  

I am glad that the holidays are mostly over, I am anxious for the new year to arrive.  I think New Year's day we will go see a movie and to dinner.  I found the gift cards, I put them in my chest of drawers so Mom won't hide them anymore from me.  She hid them the day after Christmas and we could have used one when we went to Red Lobster's with Kathy.  But I am glad I found them that night.  I plan to use one on New Year's Day.  After New Year's I will start the process of looking into a home for mom, she won't need it right now, but eventually she will.  I will also start looking at where I am going to live.  It would be great if Richard and his family moved back here, I would move in with them but I don't think that is going to happen.  Richard hates Michigan.  I love it, but he doesn't.  Of course it does depend on where he gets a job.  The kids got the Christmas presents.  Hope they like the candy!  I made some for them too.

Well, this is getting awfully long!  Pain is alright today.  My head is its normal pain, my knee is a bit bad, but not too bad.

I hope you are having a great day!

It's over already!  Yup, Christmas!  Now on to the new year!  I am looking forward to 2010.  It should be a good year.  Mom did well the last few days.  We were at our cousin, Tillie's house.  We spent the night Christmas Eve and then went home Christmas Day.  She didn't sleep much because she kept getting cramps in her legs and she had to use the bathroom several times.  She only cried a few times on Christmas because she was either too hot or too cold.  Her body is difficult to regulate her temperature.  But over all, for being in a strange place, she did really well.  My younger brother was there too.  He seemed happy to see her and she was happy to see him.  It has been three years since he moved to London, Ontario.  She has been having an easier time going to bed now that she has the new medicine.  She takes it around 7:30 and then we go up around 9 pm.  It has definitely helped her not be so upset at bedtime.  No more bad nights right now!  I am really happy about that.  Unfortunately, she still likes to get up early and I don't.  She was up at 8:30 this morning in my room.  I don't know what time she got up, but oh my, 8:30 is a little early for me.  I like to get up after 10 am, preferably around 11.  She only came in a couple of times, but it can get annoying when she keeps coming in.  But it is better than her going outside.  I am glad she doesn't want to go out right now because it is so cold out.  Today was very windy too.

Kathy is in town and we went to lunch and the bookstore.  We had a lot of fun.  Her kids are so cute and they liked the presents they got from Mom and I.  She picked out some cute Lego sets for the boys and we (we both saw them at the same time) picked out cute dolls for the girls.  Kathy got me a gift card for Barnes and Noble.  I love reading!  We got two books at the bookstore.  One for the book club and another just for fun reading.  I got several books from the used bookstore for Christmas from Mom.  I also got a new coat that we are sending back because it is supposed to be a winter parka!  Not!  It's lining is like a sweatshirt and the coat is thin.  Some winter coat.  The one I have now does better than that one ever would.  I am sending back the sweat suit too, I only bought it because I wanted the coat and with a purchase it was only $4.  I should have realized that you can't get a good coat for that cheap.  I was extremely disappointed when I opened up the package.  Oh well, can't have everything I suppose.

I don't have any real plans for New Year's Eve.  We probably will watch a few movies and go to bed before Midnight as usual.  I plan to go out to a movie and out to eat New Year's Day though.  We did that last year and it was a lot of fun.  I plan to repeat that performance.

I hope you are having a good day and had a great Christmas!