Four Hours of Errands

Today I had to run errands with my mom. She is quite far along in the miserable journey of Alzheimer's. Although she can still walk a little, we used the wheel chair.

On the drive to the dentist's office she became fearful and asked that I stay with her in case they tried to...

I couldn't understand what she was afraid of. Probably she just knew she didn't know what was going on. She really can't put sentences together very often anymore. Understanding what she is trying to say is the gestalt of knowing her, her history, and her body language. Of course sometimes she is just talking and isn't trying to get across anything.

The dentist was uneventful. I stayed in the room with her. Dr. Poitras has been our dentist for 20 years. His staff is wonderful and they "get it" when it comes to elderly patients with dementia.

Our next stop was the Social Security Administration. Mom needs a new card. Believe it or not, my dog ate her old one. We've done fine without replacing it for years, but now the attorney helping us with estate planning wants a copy.

The handicap parking at the office was in the shade of a huge old Oak tree. Hurray! It was about 101 degrees at this point. I was surprised how many people were in the S.S. office. Fortunately we didn't have to wait too long. The young woman who helped us was very nice. The only hitch was mom had to sign the form. She can barely make a mark in the right place, but that's all they need. Apparently it doesn't matter that she has no idea what she's signing. I explained it, but she didn't really understand.

Time for lunch! I decided to stop at Pizza Hut. Mom likes pizza and it's finger food so she can handle it. When we got inside there was no one at the counter. A big set of keys was sitting on the register and I could hear someone puttering around in the kitchen. I waited patiently expecting someone to come out soon since a chime announced our entry. After several minutes I shouted, "Hello!" There was no response, so we left. I plan on writing to the manager.

We ended up in a coffee/sandwich shop in the same parking lot. I had a fantastic bowl of oatmeal with pecans and fruit. Mom had a ham and cheese sandwich. The waitress was great and I was glad to have discovered it. I plan on writing a very different letter to their manager.

Now for our final stop, the DMV. Mom's handicap placard needed to be renewed. Again, the people were wonderful. We were helped right away and the workers were understanding. Mom had to sign again, but this time I gave her a roller ball pen instead of a regular ball point. It made it easier. Her mark looks nothing like a signature and it looks different every time, but as long as they have something in the signature box they're happy.

Home again, home again, jiggity-jig.

Reading on vacation

I've been on vacation for the last week. We went to Newport Beach, which has been a tradition for almost 20 years. I did a lot of reading.

Twilight - better than the movie, good beach reading, but not great

New Moon - the sequel to Twilight, whiny, self-indulgent, wallowing, adequate beach reading, now I have to decide if I'll read the third one.

The Elegance of the Hedgehog - intelligent, wallowing - but it gets better - not your typical beach read (intelligent), I recommend it - maybe I just was hypersensitive to wallowing after New Moon

The Tao of Pooh - nice - I recommend it - I didn't get to read all of it, it was being passed around

Altered Carbon - SciFi, good beach reading, very Blade Runneresque - if you liked Blade Runner, I recommend it, I haven't finished it yet

To Do List ethics

I am facing the same old ethical question again.

Can I add something to the TO DO LIST after I've done it. Then I get to check it off immediately, which is very satisfying. On the other hand it means the original list doesn't actually get any shorter.

I think maybe I need a DONE LIST.

To Do List

Every time I have a break from work I think of all the things I need to accomplish and how quickly the break can slip away. So here is my preliminary summer To Do List. I think it might be easier to break it into three categories: work, home, and fun.

Work

• finish end of year paperwork DONE
  
• pack classroom for move Done
  
• unpack classroom after move almost done
  
• review 4th grade standards
  
• review 4th grade curriculum (seems like it should be the same as above - silly!)
• long range plan

Home

• clean out refrigerator Done
  
• clean/organize laundry room
  
• hang pictures in bedroom (that's leftover from last summer!)
• get mom's respite visit finalized So done it's over
  
• get turtles into new tank Done
  
• clean garage
  
• clean out mom's storage unit
• clean out/organize mom's file cabinet
• find her marriage license Done
• clean out/organize our file cabinet

Fun

• swim - on going
  
• gym - on going
  
• beach done - might do again while brother's visiting
  
• movies done - Harry Potter
  
• zoo Too F-ing hot - what was I thinking!
  
• hike see above
  
• run see above
  
• garden more like landscaping - little by little - see above
  
• sit and do nothing - ongoing
  
• finish Uncle Tom's Cabin - DONE!
• museum of nat. hist. Done
  

Curse of the Black Spot (or heart shaped post-it)

There are many changes in my school district due to the economy. Class sizes will be bigger next year so we are losing positions. Enough veteran teachers took the "golden handshake" that no one was laid off. Thank you for retiring all of you!

They didn't necessarily leave the school site or grade level that needed to lose classes though. Our site had to move two teachers to other sites. Now our site is shifting teachers to different grade levels. Third grade, my grade, is going to bigger classes, so we need fewer of them.

Yesterday during an assembly I was passed a small note, "Claire, can you come and see me for a minute, Roni." I immediately thought of Treasure Island and the curse of the black spot. Sure enough, I will not be a third grade teacher next year. I'm "graduating" to fourth.

I've thought about teaching the older kids. I'm really not into "cute" as much as my fellow primary teachers. On the other hand I'm not thrilled at the chance of having some of my more difficult students for a second year.

I'm not just changing grades, I'm also moving to a new classroom. A room in a real building. My entire teaching career has been in portables. My new room has a door to the computer lab and there is an adult restroom in the building too. These all are good things. On the other hand, instead of 20 or the new 24 students in third grade, I will have 30 or more.

Well, I'm not going to waste too much thought on this now. There are 4 school days left. I'll pack up my room and move next week.

On Monday of my break we had a skid steer delivered. It's like a small bulldozer. It took a while to get good at digging and leveling, but I did pretty well. It was a little scary because it was easy to tip, but we never rolled it over.

Autumn and the girls came on Wednesday. Elsa is working on giving up her morning nap, so she was fragile. Charlotte and Ramona loved the Horse Tales videos I bought for them. I had never seen them before, but when they turned up on the sale shelf at Von's I thought what the heck. They are awful! But the girls were thrilled.




We girls, all six of us, went to the mall. While Autumn and I hung out with the little girls, Caitlin shopped for a new swimsuit. She found a really cute one and it didn't break the bank.


Gayle and Rene came on Saturday. We took Alex to Mom Can Cook, a local Thai place, for his 20th birthday. It's a little place so our group of 10 filled the center. The food and service were great as usual.

Gayle cooked Easter brunch. Yum, yum. Monkey bread and egg/hash brown pie.

After brunch we all (except my mom) went to the Gentle Barn. It is a rescue for farm animals. We pet horses, cows, and pigs. There were chickens and lamas, an emu, goats, and even a regular old farm dog. It was great fun. After that we went to the Big Oaks Lodge for lunch and a beer.

My mom was getting over being sick so she missed out on most activities. We hired Comfort Keepers to stay with her. They get double on Easter! Since mom was sick all week my ideal break didn't quite happen. I was hoping she would go to daycare so I could have time off from taking care of her. Oh well, she's better now and I did have a wonderful time, especially on the weekend.

Spring Break!

Hurray!!

Spring break is here. I have many plans and some down time.

I've already finished a book. It was a sci-fi romance. I like sci-fi, but I think I was in a mood for more romance and less quantum physics. I'm still slogging through Uncle Tom's Cabin. Not because I'm enjoying it so much as I'm unwilling to let Beecher Stowe defeat me with her mire.

Today we are having a small bulldozer delivered. The plan is to level the backyard. Right now it slopes toward the house. We also want to dig some footings for the patios. I so desperately want a yard I can enjoy. With the dirt wasteland we have now the dogs are always dirty and so our carpet is always dirty. Even the heroic roomba can't keep up.

Yesterday I visited an assisted living facility. I'm trying to decide whether it's better to have mom at home with caregivers or at a facility when we go on vacation this summer. It's a lovely facility, but I'm not sure she would get enough supervision at night. She would have a little studio apartment with a door that is closed and locked. She's not locked in, other residents are locked out. Caregivers have pass keys of course. I just don't know how they deal with checking on residents at night. Jon, the man who showed me around, assured me they would assess her needs and monitor her, but I'm not sure. It would be cheaper than in home care. Also in home care seems harder to set up with mom going to daycare and being sure someone is at the house when she gets home. Having multiple strangers stay at the house to care for her makes me nervous. Of course if we go with a facility we would have to kennel the dogs or find a house/pet sitter.

Tuesday I get my hair cut again - yeah

Wednesday mom has an eye appointment. I dread it. I like the eye doctor, but the staff has no idea how to deal with dementia.

Mom's neurologist took her off of Aricept. She says at this point in the disease it isn't doing anything. That made me sad. Another step in this long goodbye.

Wednesday is also the day Autumn and the girls are coming. I'm looking forward to playing around, dying eggs, and generally hanging out.

Friday I see an elder law attorney. I want to make sure I'm dealing with finances in a proper way. Also I want to protect mom's assets as much as legally possible if someday (ok, when someday) we have to place her in a facility.

Saturday Gayle and Rene are coming. It's Alex's big 20th birthday! I'm not sure what we're doing for dinner. He's currently a vegetarian. He says anywhere is fine, but I want to take him somewhere that has good choices for him. I better get a cake ordered today. It will be hard to beat the Star Wars cake Gary got for him last year.

Sunday we will go to The Gentle Barn. It is a rescue organization for farm animals. They are having an Easter event.

Somewhere in the week I need to fit in a few classroom hours, too.