Good Days

The good days have continued. In fact, this morning when Mary used the potty, she carefully measured out two sheets and then folded them just so, which seems to confirm that she's back to herself. She's not always walking better. She shakes a lot, but we just have to stop and let the tremor pass. It's like a wave going from her legs to her arms. I seriously believe that if she takes a deep breath, it passes sooner. She doesn't remember that, so I have to repeat it all the time. She also doesn't want to stop (would you stop if you felt like you were going to fall?), so I have to repeat myself all the time and make her stop. I wonder what the mental damage is when you've had to repeat yourself for years like this? I'm starting to wonder if taking care of Mary isn't actually a good preparation for being able to teach (better). I mean, I'm definitely learning patience and teachers have to repeat themeselves all the time.

Mary has definitely been more alert when visitors have been here, even though I'm sure she doesn't hear much. I wonder a lot about how much she does here. It's so easy for a person to fake how well they hear. Angie can never understand me anymore on the telephone. She understands Mary and Mom. They say it's my higher-pitched voice. Hmph.

I've been writing down everything I do and from what time to what time for the past week. This seems to really help keep me on-task. It's also helped me to see how long it takes to do things. Sometimes not long but often quite longer than I thought, so I don't feel so guilty for not getting so much done. It's also helped me to see how much time I spend taking care of Mary, even though I often feel like I just leave her sitting there while I go off and do other things all day. It's funny, but it's a little like writing things down when you're dieting! I feel a sense of accountability that was missing before. Angie says I wouldn't have so much to do if I would put things away. I thought that was an interesting comment. How observant people are! Can I learn to do that? Wouldn't it make me feel better? Well, I'm trying. Can't help but wonder when/if I'll fall off the wagon. But that's a horrible, negative thought that would surely end up being self-fulfilling.

I still end up having things on my list that don't get done. It often involves writing to people or, heaven forbid, calling them. I always put off contacting people. Why do I do that? What am I so afraid of???

Mary and I are supposed to go out to lunch with Mom (and Dad if he deems us suitable company), but the weather hasn't behaved. I'm getting very frustrated with the weather forecasters. It seems to be lately that if they say it will do one thing, it does the other. I wish I could get Mom and Mary to go see a movie. That Nanny McPhee one or the Inspector Clueso... I think we could all use the laugh.

Birthday Girl

Things have been so difficult that I haven't wanted to write. I hope I can catch up on them. I think I'm doing better now. I don't want to deal with the past month till I'm ready.

Well, today was a good day, so I will write about it. It was Mary's 95th birthday. I was so glad to have my digital camera and I hope I can figure things out enough to post some pics or maybe even a video. Bonnie gave her a red miniature rose bush with some little balloons attached yesterday and Mary just loved that. I finally had to put a note on it, though, saying that it was from Bonnie. She also got a few cards--from Barri (her last husband's daughter), Anna and Joyce (one of the daughters of Uncle John--I think she sold Mary this house). I had requested that people send pics so she could look at them over and over. Boy did I regret that! Joyce sent some pics and Mary must have asked me six times who they were!

Today started off with the bell ringing--it was the half dozen yellow roses I ordered yesterday. They're so beautiful! I love it when you actually get what you pay for. I made waffles for breakfast cause she loves them best next to cinnamon rolls, and they were too much trouble. Then Ursula called. Next a huge bouquet of irises came from Nikki and Simone. Then I worked on decorating the cake. I think Nikki and Simone called and she was talking to them when the therapist came. She walked around really well today. Delores and Pauline (another friend from Church) came just before the therapist left and brought Mary another card and some more flowers :-) Later on Mom came and we ate some cake and drank some champagne (the real stuff from France--very dry!). We piddled around quite a while and finally sat down with some coffee and played a few rounds of dominoes. Oddly enough, Mary was falling asleep until we started playing dominoes. I could tell that she's gotten worse. I realized this time that Mom and I look at the color of the dominoes and Mary looks at the number of dots. Interesting, huh?

We ended the evening with a bad dinner and are watching the Maltese Falcon, which I'm not particularly interested in, but there was nothing on TV and it's so famous.

Oh, I forgot the most exciting thing that happened today! There was a pretty, medium-sized dog wandering around. It ended up sitting on our front porch and looked so friendly that I went out to see it. There were tags, so I called the human society and gave them the adoption number. They were annoyed and said it wasn't the first time the dog had gotten lose, that her name was Sissi and they'd get in touch with the owner. The dog was so friendly, she immediately jumped up on Mary's lap! She was almost as big as Mary! They got along quite well, but I was afraid Mary's lap would get bruised. Well, that was the best-behaved dog I've ever seen! She was only two, so she was still energetic but so well-behaved. I hated to give her back when they came to get her. They said they'd put up a $2000-dollar fence to keep her in but that she kept running away. They though someone must have let her out. Maybe they did. I mean, it snowed, so the kids went to school late, and maybe one of them thought it was funny to let her out, but I can imagine a dog could get a gate open pretty easily by pushing up the latch with its nose. Everyone who came in loved her! Maybe they'll change their minds and give her to us! She was part rottweiler, but she didn't seem aggressive in the least. Oh, the cat wasn't so pleased to have such a visitor! I finally dragged her out and put her on Mary's lap, where she stayed for a bit. The dog wanted to check out the cat but when I told her to scram, she did.

What a strange day!