Euripedes

Yesterday I brought the mail in, which included the newest issue of People magazine. When I handed the new periodical to Graham Cracker she looked at me, frustrated. "Can we get another issue of this other People magazine?" (holding the older issue in her hand.

"Why do you need another issue of that one?"

"Because I've been trying to read this article and someone ripped a bunch of pages out of this one. Why would anyone do that?"

Later, when Shem came home Graham Cracker greeted him with, "Look at this. Someone ripped a bunch of pages out of this magazine and it was a double issue." She sighed, holding up together the former issue and current issue she had just received in the mail.

Of Tabasco and Tits

What does one do with an empty bottle of Tabasco sauce? Put it in your bra between your boobs to remind yourself to get some next time you go home, of course.

Want some kack?

Friday evening we had an informal baby shower for Libby. Besides having a lot of food, we had a delightful chocolate cake with lots of gooey chocolate frosting.

Shem was too full of other foods to eat any cake, but he had his eye on it. Then he was gone half the day teaching yesterday with the afternoon spent getting Libby off to the airport with cake in her suitcase for Matt and Josh. That left about 1/3 of the cake for us (from the "in" to the right side of the cake). There was quite a bit of cake left.

This morning we got up and went to church. When we got home the cake was gone. Completely. GONE. I saw the box crushed on a chair under the table. I asked Grandma where the cake went, meanwhile opening the frig, cabinets, looking under the table, in the trash (where I saw the cardboard from the cake torn up).
"It's gone."
"It's gone? Where did it go?"
"It's just gone."
"Did you eat it?"
"There wasn't much there."
"What??? There was a third of a cake on the counter this morning! Did you eat all that cake?"
"There wasn't as much there as you're saying."
That's all she said. She ate 1/3 of an entire cake!!! I felt badly for Shem, who didn't get any at all.
Sorry family, but that's just plain selfish, Alzheimer's or not. Shem had made her a big breakfast and that's the thanks he gets for it. Yeah, it pissed me off. I didn't say anything to her because I had locked my lips together with my teeth. I sure did want to, though.
When are we going to learn not to leave any food on the counter?

Toothwise...

Grandma woke up Monday with a broken #6 tooth (upper right canine--arf!). The dentist was so great to get her in that afternoon. Her 83-year-old tooth fell apart because there was a great deal of decay. The dentist did a root canal and gave her a temporary covering, which she broke off the minute we got into the car. Shem took her back Tuesday and she got a second cap. Today they are fitting her for a bridge and I think they're putting a permanent cap on (not sure). She's been in a lot of pain since yesterday. I could tell she felt awful yesterday because she didn't have any coffee and didn't ask for any. I gave her 1/2 of an oxycodone a couple of times yesterday, which seemed to help. Today she still hurt but not as horribly. Today the inside of her right facial cheek was obviously swollen.
We have another appointment for her (so far). We're so impressed with her dentist, we're changing to him. He's really kind to her and he's kind to us. He seems as concerned with us as he is with her.
Thank you, Dr. Johnson, for being such a good dentist.

Clowning Around, Halloween, 2010

Shem and Grandma are handing out trick or treats tonight although I have conflicting messages that there are people doing that tomorrow night...
They're having fun and the weather is perfect!

A Rose By Any Other Name

This will be a quick post. I have an appoint 2 minutes ago...
A week ago was Mom's birthday. We bought her a dozen red roses and arranged them in a red vase. Surprisingly, the roses held up. They usually start dropping petals after a couple of days. These roses, however, hadn't dropped any petals and the edges weren't funky black. They were really pretty even a week later.

Well. We took Mom out to eat last night and went home. I went into the back of the house. Pretty soon Shem came it and said, "Did you know your mom took the roses apart?" What? "Yeah, she took every single petal off and they're sitting on the table."

I went into the kitchen and there she was with stems in one hand and beautiful soft red petals in a pile on the table.

"Why did you do that?"

"They were going to die, anyway."

Elsie sent her a beautiful card with sparkly rhinestone things on it. She immediately picked all the shiny things off. Why? So I could glue them on letters whenever I write to anyone...

Forgiveness and flexibility

Today I'm trying to forgive and be flexible. I got up early this morning and, like every morning, walked the dogs, planning my day. When I got home I got out the frozen chicken and found I had only one can of cream of chicken soup, so I got the soup down and set it next to the frozen chicken, then made a list of what I needed to complete preparation of crockpot chicken & rice for tonight. I made Mom coffee, then went to take a shower.

When I was ready for the day, Mom was sitting at the table reading and drinking her coffee. I had an appointment at 1:00 in Edmond, so I knew I had only an hour to get the ingredients and fix dinner. I asked Mom if she wanted to go to the store real quick. She was glad for the invite and waited in the car while I grabbed the few things I needed. I got back in the car, thinking she and I could grab a quick burger at Wendy's since she'd be home alone all day the next couple of days and would enjoy the outing. We ate pretty fast and went home.

I put the ingredients in the crockpot thinking something was wrong. When I was finished and cleaning up she asked me, "Are you missing a can of soup?"

I thought about that..."Yes, as a matter of fact, I'm missing the cream of chicken soup. It was the only one I had. I need that for this recipe."

"I ate it."