HAPPY BIRTHDAY DI, Meet Button, Update on Mom

Today is my friend Di's birthday.  HAPPY BIRTHDAY DI!

I can now show you what I made using that calendar since Di has received her gift  I am still amazed at the quality of the print.

When I finished this tiny quilt, I took it downstairs to my husband's office to show it to him.  You will NEVER dream what he said to me when he was looking at it.

I was expecting:  "That is nice." or "How creative to use a calendar." or "Di will like it a lot." or ANYTHING but what he said.

He looked at it closely and he didn't say anything!  Then I asked him what he thought.

He said, "I don't GET the bus."

MEN!

I don't seem to get around to blogging much these days because it is so much easier to just talk to my friends via the VLOGs, but I HAVE to show you little Button as I promised.

Just in case you haven't seen my latest VLOGs, here they are:

I told you I like making the VLOGs!

If you aren't bored stiff or sound asleep after all those videos, I'll show you our little Button now.

This picture was taken the day we found him in our hot storage room at the store.   I wore a long skirt that day, and Button decided it was a good hiding place.

We brought him home to live in a large dog cage in our kitchen, and when he wasn't in it, he was hiding in this corner.

My grandson, John, came to visit for a few hours, and he really LOVES cats.  My daughter loves them, so all her kids love them.

Button has grown a lot already, and he has been moved to the back patio during the day and the garage at night.

I can only stand a cat box in the house in extreme emergencies!

Tomorrow, my new friend and neighbor, Kathy, is coming over.  I found out she loves coffee as much as I do, so I had Jerry bring home two flavors of Bundt cakes tonight so we can have a little party. Terry is out of town or she would be coming too, although Terry is on a major diet.  She doesn't eat anything but veggies and fruit.  Last I saw her, she had lost over ten pounds.  I haven't seen her for over a week, so she may be so thin I won't even recognize her!  I thought I should probably get back on my eternal diet of Herbalife, but it won't be until after tomorrow.  I did tell you I have a Lemon Bundt cake and a Strawberry Bundt cake, didn't I?  I promise I will have just one -- maybe two -- pieces, and then straight to the freezer they both go!  Then it is back to carrot sticks and celery sticks for me.

Mom is doing fine.  I changed Hospice companies this week, and the nicest people are coming to visit her.  Everyone immediately loves her.  It makes me so happy to see her loved and properly cared for.  I really liked the two Aides that came from the other company, but I didn't like the "lady in charge" (don't know her title).  Every time I called about something, she acted like I was a royal PITA.  She told me once that the Aides had to give my Mom a bath and wash her hair, but they didn't have to DRY her hair.

WHAT!!!!? 

I knew that was insane so I asked for the owner/manager's name and number.  She rudely gave it to me.  Before I called the manager, however, the "lady in charge" called me back and informed me that they actually COULD dry her hair and wanted to know if there was anything else I would like done. That was just one instance.  There were several others.

The craziest thing happened this afternoon with my Mom. 

I print out month calendars for my Mom so she can write on them.  She was a prolific writer in her past, and all she can do now is put names and notes in a square on a calendar.  She struggles greatly with just that.  She misspells something or it is messy, and she wants it fixed.  I understand that as I am the same way.  She kept asking us for correction fluid.  We don't have correction FLUID.  We have correction TAPE because that is what is made these days.

Jerry or I have gone into her room with the correction tape in hand to help her fix her calendar.  Now that she knows the stuff is in the house, she is always asking for it.  She came upstairs this afternoon and told me she had an EMERGENCY, and she just HAD TO HAVE some correction fluid. 

I told her that I would come help her in a few minutes.

NOOOOOO!  She needed it right that minute!

I grabbed the last roll of the stuff we had in the house, and I followed her to her room.  I looked at her calendar where she marks her BM's (because the Aide always asks her about them) and she writes down the names of whatever ladies are coming that day to see her.

She told me last week that she was writing all of that down because it was very important and I would need it when she dies.   )-:

I asked her what she wanted marked off.  She INSISTED that I let her do it.  I told her it was hard to do.  She said she could learn.  I showed her on another piece of paper how the contraption worked, and I handed it to her.  She TRIED to mark something out, but it didn't work.  She tried again, and it sort of worked.  She asked me if she could PLEASE just keep it so she could correct her mistakes.  I felt sorry for her and just let her keep it.

Later on, I was in the kitchen preparing supper.  I had left Mom in her room with her calendar and the correction tape an hour earlier.  She said she wanted to watch TBN, which she always does.  She suddenly appeared behind me in the kitchen.  She always "suddenly appears" because she wears slippers all the time, and I never hear her coming. 

She said, "Jooooooooooooooy, I need your help!"

I turned around to look and oh, how I wish I could have snapped a picture.

She was holding the correction tape container in her hand, and the tape was hanging all over the place OUTSIDE the container.  She had it on her face and on her hands.  Like you had pulled the tape out of a cassette.  It was so funny!  I took it all away from her and threw it in the trash can.  She had a fit!  She said she could FIX IT.  I tried to explain that it was torn apart and broken and it would not go back into the little container.  She was mad at me.  I told her I would go upstairs to see if I could find another one.  When I got back down, she had dug through the kitchen garbage and pulled that thing out with its messed up sticky tape hanging down to the ground!  She insisted she was going to fix it.

UGH!

Sometimes, it is really hard to stay patient with her!  I decided that ONE OF US was going to have to take a Xanax.  I decided it would be HER since it is her prescription, lol, and I poured a glass of wine for myself.  I can't even remember last time I had to give her a Xanax.  It has been months.  PRAISE GOD for that!  Truly, He has provided for us in the MOST REMARKABLE WAY.

After she became unstressed and relaxed, she started telling me how wonderful I am.  She said, "What on earth would I ever do without you, Joy?"  

And, of course, that melts my heart, and I just want to hug the stuffings out of her -- like everyone else does.

Gotta get.  Hubby wants to watch the 3rd season of Heartland.

Hugs,

Joy