Wednesday July 12 - As usual I got to the airport a couple of hours before my flight, but this time I put that extra time to good use. As I was reading, an older lady walking by tripped and face-planted right in front of me! That's scary - Mom has taken a fall like that and got some broken bones from it. This lady got a bloody nose so I sat on the floor with her and calmed her down until the Emergency personnel showed up. They checked her and offered to send her to a clinic but she insisted on getting on the plane so I walked with her until she boarded the plane. When we arrived in Peoria I saw her meet her family; she had the start of a very black eye. I hope Alice Brown is doing well!
Becky picked me up and as usual graciously lent me a car for the whole time I was there. Thanks Becky!
The first thing I did was stop by Avanti's for a gondola and by Lindy's Market for Diet Cokes. Then I drove to Mom's where I found that the old building next to her house is a disaster - the roof fell in! Fortunately nobody was hurt.
The rest of the evening I sat at the kitchen table and visited with Mom. I was too tired and it was too late to go out but we will make up of that tomorrow.
Thursday - We started at Walmart and spent a couple of hours there; they keep reorganizing the store so it's like a new store every time. Now neither of us can find anything! But we did pick up an extra loud alarm clock for Mom.
We had lunch at McDonald's but we both regretted it; this McDonald's is getting worse and worse.
Mom's friend Lisa from the library stopped by to introduce us to her replacement. Lisa has been delivering books to shut-ins a couple of times a month for several years but she is taking over the Sunnyland library and will not be able to do that anymore. So she wanted to personally introduce Mom to her replacement, who is a very nice young lady.
After a long nap I reintroduced Mom to the Booth Family Facebook page. I've shown it to her before but of course it was brand new to her again.
For dinner Kathy and Becky joined us for Sloppy Joes with chips, peaches, and cake-box cookies. Then 10 games of Rummy where I won 6, Mom won 3, and Becky one 1. Poor Kathy!
Becky is still working full-time so she can't spend every moment here but Mom is so happy to see her anytime she can!
Friday I was still tired so we got a later start to the day. Leftover Sloppy Joes was fine for my breakfast and Mom had her usual cereal. Then we got ready to go out. Mom's hearing is continually getting worse so she often talks loud. I love her and want her to be comfortable so I generally tuck a bit of tissue in my ears; in spite of my short hair, she doesn't notice!
I got to introduce my 97-year-old mom to Nutella. She was very unsure of trying....but she liked it!
Eventually we did make it to Mission Mart where we did not find a chair. She did find some greeting cards (she likes to have a stash to send out as needed) and a couple of the Christian Romance books.
The it was time get a burger and go home for a nap. I had arranged to go to Costco later with Mom and her friends Mary and Margaret. Margaret didn't feel up to it and a few minutes before we were scheduled to leave, Mom decided she would rather rest. So I drove Kathy, Becky, Margaret and her daughter Kathleen to Costco.
I got Avanti spaghetti for my dinner and Mom had leftovers. No movie again tonight, we were both tired.
Saturday is always the same and we like it that way. I started with Hardee's biscuit and gravy and by the time I finished, Kathy and Becky arrived. We went to Ecetera, a great little thrift shop in the nearby town of Eureka. And right next door is another thrift shop owned by the same people, and it's called "The Store Next Store"! It's the "higher-end" thrift clothing and the prices are higher, too, but every time I've gone the stuff is on sale for 50% off, so it's always a bargain.
Afterwards we (always) go to the Busy Corner in Goodfield, about 10 minutes away. Busy Corner is famous for pies so we usually just get that, but today we ordered lunch. With pie.
Sunday - After my usual Hardee's breakfast Mom and I headed back to Walmart to return the alarm clock because she couldn't hear it at it's loudest setting.
Sunday is always the day I cut and color Kathy's hair, so that was next. Afterwards Mom asked for a bit of a trim; she never used to let anyone besides her hairdresser do anything to her hair, but she's let me trim it for a few years now.
Then it was time for some of the "to do" list that I asked her to make for me. This time it was changing the light bulbs - every light bulb in the house. I didn't think any of them needed changing but she did and it's her house, so I changed them.
Next I got online on my phone to find and order an alarm clock that can actually wake her up. It should be here tomorrow.
After lunch at Hardee's I went next door to talk to Mom's neighbors. Her new neighbors are 3 young college-age men who bought the house after Shirley passed. Shirley was Mom's neighbor for decades and while they didn't visit much, they were friendly, so she is very missed. I met these guys last time I was here. They are gone most of the time (college or work) and seemed very nice and had said to let them know if there was anything they could do for Mom. OK...the link fence between properties is on Mom's property but as they work in the house they have piled a few things against their side of the fence and there were weeds growing into it. This bothered Mom a lot and she actually put it on my To Do list to ask them to pull those weeds. It was so easy... I just walked over and asked if they would mind if I came on to their property to pull the weeds because Mom wanted the fence to be tidy. They dropped everything, moved the stuff, pulled the weeds, and promised to keep it clean. Such nice young men.
Mom fixed Beef tips and mashed potatoes for dinner and afterwards I changed the batteries on her old CD player, DVD player, and the emergency radio so she can give them to Goodwill if they work. They all work but she can't hear them. She got a cassette tape of music to play but could not hear it, no matter how loud it was turned up. When she realized she cannot hear music at any volume, she wept and said she will never hear music again; I don't blame her for crying over that.
Monday - Mom's place is the only place I have baloney for breakfast. Then, because my vacation time is running out, I went back to the To Do list. I returned old phones to Advocates for Access, where they supplied her past and current phone for hard-of-hearing. Then I rummaged through her odds-and-ends for a screw to fix the door pull on the kitchen cabinet door. I tried to replace her watch battery but that didn't work. After dinner I used extra strong wood glue to repair her rolling pin. She's had it since her first year of marriage and really didn't want to part with it after one of the grips broke off. I warned her it may not be very useful but she's happy that it's back in one piece.
Thursday - time for Mom and me to do the last-minute shopping: print some photos at CVS, get groceries at Krogers, return unused screws to Menard's, pick up Kathy's RX, deliver Rx and groceries to Kathy, go to the bank, go to the post office, then have a late lunch of DQ burgers.
I checked the rolling pin - it's holding together so far. I checked the water heater because the water isn't very hot. That used to be because Mom kept it at a very low temp, but she's not doing that now so it's on the To Do list. Since she get's Kimpling's to maintain it, I called them. She told me to ask for a specific guy, who said it's illegal now to raise it any higher, although he did nudge it up a bit for her but that's all that can be done.
Lisa came by with her new rescue dog Mae. Lisa really like Doberman Pinchers so when her last one passed, she got another one. This one is even bigger! And just as loving and friendly. Mom is not comfortable with big dogs so I visited with Mae outside
Mary and Margaret came over for a visit - it's good to them both, especially Mary who has been very ill for a long time.
Then Mom, Kathy, Becky and I went to Longhorns for dinner. Somehow we were there from 7 to 11! And when we got home, I made sure to give Becky the photo she asked for: my mom, goofing around with her sister Nellie and a couple of shotguns borrowed from Nellie's boyfriend. Mom doesn't guns (she's not even pretending to be at ease with the gun in the photo) and therefore she doesn't like this photo. But Kathy and I had mentioned it and Becky really, really wanted to see it. Personally, I love it!
Being a good steward comes in many forms; sometimes it is using leftovers (carefully and properly packaged and frozen), to create meals for others.
We had a visitor last night. I didn't see him but I found our garbage can by the canal with our garbage strewn around. So it's a bear again. I know it was a bear because it hauled the full can off of the carport and into the back yard, scooting a big grill and some concrete blocks out of the way to do so.
In Venice I kept seeing unusual door knockers and knobs. I love the variety!
While we were in Venice we saw a lot of lovely lion statues, all with wings. Turns out that a winged lion is the symbol for St. Mark and St Mark is the patron saint of Venice.
The large Victor Emmanuel II monument had a lady and lion on opposite sides. The chained lion represents Venice under Austrian rule. Chained, but definitely not surrendered.
