Here is the weekly link:

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

Happy Mother's Day!!!! I hope it is the best one ever for all the mom's out there!!!!

You may be under the impression that you have the greatest mom, well, sorry to disappoint you, I have her. Even with her memory going, she is still the greatest mom ever. (Kristen Chenoweth says the same thing in her autobiography! I love those lines!) Anyways, it is Mother's Day and she chose to have a roast beef for dinner instead of going out to eat. So I put the roast kit in the crock pot (you didn't think I'd use an oven, did you???) and put it together before we went out. It smells scrumptious. Really really scrumptious. Mom picked a good choice. Since we went out to dinner yesterday to celebrate today, I don't mind not taking her today. I am sure the restaurants are full of people waiting to celebrate!

I even managed to do her hair this afternoon. Sometimes I do a decent job, sometimes I don't. We don't get her shower and hair done in Windsor anymore, we will be getting the services over her soon, until then, it is up to me and I did it without soaking her this time. I was proud of myself. Right now we are both sitting in the dining room with wet hair. I will dry our heads with our new blow dryer shortly. (after I finish this entry)

It has been a nice day so far. I haven't really yelled at all and my patience is in place for a change. I am working on being more patient because I lose patience really fast some days. All depends on how much sleep I have. I had a good night. I don't know how Mom actually slept Friday night because neither one of us had our medicine. That could have been a disaster for both of us. I didn't sleep much at all, but since we had to get up at 8 am, I was awake in time and not groggy. I did sleep super good last night, only woke 2 times to move around from the pain. I am a happy camper with that today.

Mom and I are going to watch It's Complicated in a few (after our hair is dried) I wanted to see it when it came out but we never got around to it so I bought it. From what my friends have said, it is really funny and they enjoyed it a lot. I was nervous about it because it is rated R and I don't watch too many rated R movies. Both of my friends who saw it said there was nothing objectionable in it, so I am counting on them to be right.

Mom didn't want to go to a movie today, so we didn't go. Maybe next week or maybe we will wait until Oceans in on DVD. I really want to see that one. I love the Disney nature movies. We saw Earth last year and loved it. I also saw March of the Penguins and I loved that one too. Nature and I get along just fine.

It is chilly today, but not as chilly as yesterday. Not much happening but celebrating Mom's Day with her. Pain is doing alright, not to high and my head is back to normal. My arm is a bit sore after washing both our heads in the sink but I took a pain pill for it so it should be kicking in soon. It is nice and sunny out. Mom is standing up straight today and walking fine unlike last week when she wasn't walking fine. Today she doesn't need a walker, but you never know what she will be like tomorrow. Last week she needed a walker. It is interesting the ups and downs of Alzheimer's, almost as interesting as the ups and downs of FMS. I hope this finds you doing well and enjoying the specialness of the day.

Went out to dinner with the Emerton Family, and boy was it fun! Lily is so cute, she brings a book to read so she can be entertained at the same time as we are. Mom really enjoyed it too. She ate almost all of her soup and ice cream too! I was very pleased with it. It was so nice to see Julie in a relaxed manner, she has a load on her mind and lots to do with the wedding that is coming up. Next week I will be starting to alter the bridesmaids dresses for Lily and Emily. Should be rather fun and exciting as I love sewing.

I almost couldn't find the book I needed for Lily after I burned the CD. I knew we saw it last week, I just wasn't too sure where. Just when I was about to give up, I found it. She has 2 new Broadway songs this week: I Could Have Danced All Night from My Fair Lady, and The Sound of Music, from, well, the Sound of Music. She catches on really quick too. She have them down in no time. She forgot a disc at home so we plunked out her Panis Angelicus. She does a nice job on that one and it is her first foreign language song. She will start Italian this summer. I suspect she will be very good at it. I will also have her start another classical book as well as keeping up on her Broadway. Got to have a bit of Broadway to offset the classical. Although she seems to enjoy almost all of the songs she has had but 1. Definitely a record there. Most students don't like a lot of the classical but like the Broadway, she likes almost anything. Makes her so easy to teach and to enjoy teaching her. We had a bit of a giggle during the lesson, both her dad and my mom fell asleep during the lesson. We thought that was rather funny, each on a different couch, but sleeping. Mom was sleeping for about 2 hours while Ross was a sleep for 15 minutes, big difference there. It was quite funny for the both of us to see them. I finally woke Mom up at 2 because I wanted to go to walmart to pick up a few things. I got another Roast Kit. Next time, I am going to just pick up the roast and make my own kit and see how it turns out. I have the veggies in the fridge, just need the meat. I am really getting into this crock pot thing with roasts and stews and stuff.

I got Mom some stuff for her bed, I can't wait to see how they work, they should help keep the sheets dry if she has an oopsie. I also got a new toilet seat for her, so that should help her not be nervous with the bathroom. She is so afraid of falling, which she did earlier today. Fortunately, she didn't hurt herself, but she could have broken a bone with how she fell. She didn't want to use her walker today so I just let her hold on to me. On good days, that seems to help, on bad days, she needs the walker. Eventually she will need the walker full time outside of the house.

I spoke to Kathy this afternoon. It was Jacob's first communion this afternoon. Kathy picked out real cute spring dresses for the twins and had to put sweaters and jackets on them because it is so cold outside. It is like winter outside, only minus the snow. It was fun talking with her for a few minutes before she had to go back to her guests. Her parents, his parents, and 1 of Tony's (her husband) brothers were there. A nice showing for Jacob, I think.

I am planning on a good sleep in tomorrow for Mom and I. I don't think we will get up early, either one of us. Well, maybe her, she is an early bird person, unlike me. We will do our usual, going to Tim Horton's, and then we will relax at home with a nice bath and a movie. We are watching Walker Texas Ranger season 6 disc 4. Mom and I are really enjoying the episodes. I am going to try to do some knitting while I am watching TV. I have to get going on my scarf if I want it done someday, which I do. It is for Mom. It is red and matches her winter coat. She will look very cute in it. I also have to cut the pictures and put them in frames on the piano. I have some really cute frames that I think her picture will look nice in. I need a 5 X 7 and a 8 X 10. Then I will pick a picture out for Richard and send it too him. I will even buy him a nice (but not too expensive) 5 X 7 frame. I will do the same for Andrew. We can get some nice ones from Walmart. I should have done that today, but I forgot. Well, there is always next time. I am sure in the next few weeks we will be back at Walmart getting some necessary stuff, like food and medicine. I am glad the store is nearby, only about 4 miles away. It is our favorite shopping place, mainly because they have a lot of stuff and a scooter! Without those scooters, I wouldn't be able to shop. I have to get both Mom and I new summer flats for the wedding. I will be looking in the catelogues I get. I will find something we both will like and look nice in.

Well, off to get ready for bed! It is almost that time again! I hope you had a good day too!

Mom's Doppler test on both legs and feet came out perfect. She doesn't have a blood clot and her circulation is good. I was thrilled. We went to our usual after that. Mom, as usual, is sleeping in the chair. It's a good day for it as it is so cold outside. What happened to spring, I want to know? It is in the 40's today and looks rainy. ugh. Not to happy about that. Mom is an ice cube. I will put a blanket on her when we go into the family room. I think after lessons I will nap.

The new disposable undies worked last night! No mess to clean! yeah! I was rather pleased with that. Now if they only had straps, they would be perfect, but you can't have everything and I will take what we got. Mom was happy too. I don't think she was happy about getting up at 8 am though. She has been having a bit of trouble getting out of bed these last few mornings. She is very sore. I don't really know why except she is in bed longer than she ever has been and that could be it. She can get up when she wants, she just lies there and waits for me. I don't ask questions, it doesn't do any good, I just live here.

I am supposed to have 2 lovely lessons with 2 lovely young ladies today, Lily and Aggie. I am excited about both. I just love both girls. They are really neat girls. Lily is now 12, hard to believe as I remember her as a 3 year old. Aggie is almost 20 now. I have to quickly burn a CD for Lily, a Broadway one. I just remembered. More later!

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.