We were having a bit of trouble deciding who would go when to mom's for this month. I chose this weekend because I love to be with mom to watch conference and Kelley was free to come with me! I had to get up there early though because mom had a doctors appointment at 10:00. When I got there she was just finishing her cup of Pero and was all ready to go! Hurray for the home health care ladies!
I threw the wheel chair in the back of the car and we were on our way. It sure made it a lot easier with the wheel chair! We just rolled right in to the Dr.s office without a hitch. She hadn't had her Pro-time checked for a while, so they did that first thing and said it was too high. Then Dr. Stones came in and checked her out. He surely is a kind man....will take all the time we want to chat with her and then with me to see if there are any problems. I mentioned that she wasn't hearing very well and maybe needed her ears cleaned out. He looked in them and said yes they did need to be irrigated. So the nurse came in and had me help her...they squirt this warm water into her ear, then let it run out into a cup. It took quite a few tries, but finally got them all cleaned out. I know mom doesn't like it...can't blame her, but she was real grateful after cause she could hear so much better! Then she gave her her flu shot.
Dr. Stone's asked if we still had the Health Alert System. I told him that she doesn't remember to push the button when she is in trouble, so we decided to send it back to the company.
He was concerned about that until I told him that we have someone there morning noon and night to be with her. He said as long as she is happy and can get along this way, then we should continue.
Friday afternoon, Kelley came up. Got going on the bathroom walls. It's a lot of work...lot's of holes to patch up and the door frame is really a mess..not really square and it's got big gaping spaces that he doesn't know what to do with. He's kind of a perfectionist like that and doesn't like doing the job crappy....I'm sure he will figure someway to make it work...he always does.
Saturday, we got up...well we were already pretty much up all night, (we started out downstairs in the room I had cleaned up, then about 2:00, I woke up and didn't want to turn on the light to read, so I went upstairs into the bouncy bed. About 5:30, I'm ready to sleep. Not working!)
I got mom in the shower. I cut and styled her hair while we listened to conference. It was so good!
Brenda came down and said she wanted to help with the pond! Super! So we went out and started cleaning out the plants that had overgrown the rocks and filled up the pond. There was these tall bull rushes on the one side that had filled up the whole area. The fish really didn't have anyplace to swim! The lily pads were huge and covered the whole top of the pond.
I started cutting back the lily's...mostly the dead ugly ones and Brenda went to work on the bull rushes. It was super slimy and gross, but we got it done! It was nice to have a chance to visit while we were working.
Then Dennis came over and we asked him if he could get the rest of the reeds out of the back of the pond. He started pulling on them and there was this huge root ball down there. I bet it weighed at least 100 pounds!
He was wishing Kelley was there to help him pull it out...Kelley in the mean time had gone to go get some corner pieces for the bathroom and his truck wouldn't start. Great. He fiddled with it for a while, then decided it was the battery... or in his case batteries. One was still working a little, but the other one was dead. They had never been replaced, so I guess that's pretty good! So anyway, he had taken my car and gone to get new batteries when Dennis was pulling the root ball out.
Happy fish...
When he got that out, it opened up a whole part of the pond we haven't seen for years! I didn't realize that the pond is actually in the shape of a fish!
When Kelley got back, he hooked up his new batteries and it started right up! Hurray! I am so paranoid of the vehicles breaking down...seems like we've had to sink a lot of money into them lately.
I was planning to leave after conference, but then there was a program on about the new Kiev temple, so I stayed and watched that and had some lunch with mom. It was really good...I could just picture K.C. in some of the area's they showed there. Man those people have had a real hard life! It's hard to believe how cruel the leaders were over there and what they put those people through. It helped me understand a little better why they are the way they are.
I threw the wheel chair in the back of the car and we were on our way. It sure made it a lot easier with the wheel chair! We just rolled right in to the Dr.s office without a hitch. She hadn't had her Pro-time checked for a while, so they did that first thing and said it was too high. Then Dr. Stones came in and checked her out. He surely is a kind man....will take all the time we want to chat with her and then with me to see if there are any problems. I mentioned that she wasn't hearing very well and maybe needed her ears cleaned out. He looked in them and said yes they did need to be irrigated. So the nurse came in and had me help her...they squirt this warm water into her ear, then let it run out into a cup. It took quite a few tries, but finally got them all cleaned out. I know mom doesn't like it...can't blame her, but she was real grateful after cause she could hear so much better! Then she gave her her flu shot.
Dr. Stone's asked if we still had the Health Alert System. I told him that she doesn't remember to push the button when she is in trouble, so we decided to send it back to the company.
He was concerned about that until I told him that we have someone there morning noon and night to be with her. He said as long as she is happy and can get along this way, then we should continue.
Friday afternoon, Kelley came up. Got going on the bathroom walls. It's a lot of work...lot's of holes to patch up and the door frame is really a mess..not really square and it's got big gaping spaces that he doesn't know what to do with. He's kind of a perfectionist like that and doesn't like doing the job crappy....I'm sure he will figure someway to make it work...he always does.
Saturday, we got up...well we were already pretty much up all night, (we started out downstairs in the room I had cleaned up, then about 2:00, I woke up and didn't want to turn on the light to read, so I went upstairs into the bouncy bed. About 5:30, I'm ready to sleep. Not working!)
I got mom in the shower. I cut and styled her hair while we listened to conference. It was so good!
Brenda came down and said she wanted to help with the pond! Super! So we went out and started cleaning out the plants that had overgrown the rocks and filled up the pond. There was these tall bull rushes on the one side that had filled up the whole area. The fish really didn't have anyplace to swim! The lily pads were huge and covered the whole top of the pond.
I started cutting back the lily's...mostly the dead ugly ones and Brenda went to work on the bull rushes. It was super slimy and gross, but we got it done! It was nice to have a chance to visit while we were working.
Then Dennis came over and we asked him if he could get the rest of the reeds out of the back of the pond. He started pulling on them and there was this huge root ball down there. I bet it weighed at least 100 pounds!
He was wishing Kelley was there to help him pull it out...Kelley in the mean time had gone to go get some corner pieces for the bathroom and his truck wouldn't start. Great. He fiddled with it for a while, then decided it was the battery... or in his case batteries. One was still working a little, but the other one was dead. They had never been replaced, so I guess that's pretty good! So anyway, he had taken my car and gone to get new batteries when Dennis was pulling the root ball out.
Happy fish...
When he got that out, it opened up a whole part of the pond we haven't seen for years! I didn't realize that the pond is actually in the shape of a fish!
When Kelley got back, he hooked up his new batteries and it started right up! Hurray! I am so paranoid of the vehicles breaking down...seems like we've had to sink a lot of money into them lately.
We were trying to get the flow of the water going in the pond adjusted. Dennis cleaned out the drain a little bit and that seemed to help. Then Kelley came and found the pump...I didn't even know where it was, and saw that it was all clogged up. He cleaned it up and the water started pumping like a champ! Good work all!
Leslie came a little later and we worked cleaning up the rock garden...cutting back old ferns and dead plants. It looked a lot better! Then we went in and had some lunch and watched conference. Such good talks! Elder Quentin Cook told about when the war was on, the people would have to leave their lights out so they wouldn't get bombed. All the sudden, Mom started singing this song about when the lights come on...I guess it was a popular one back then... and told us how happy they were when they could turn the lights back on. I thought it was pretty cool that she remembered that song. Another talked I really liked was one Richard G. Scott gave on character. Brother Holland gave a really good one too on faith...then there was Pres. Monson's on gratitude. Loved the whole conference.
Leslie came a little later and we worked cleaning up the rock garden...cutting back old ferns and dead plants. It looked a lot better! Then we went in and had some lunch and watched conference. Such good talks! Elder Quentin Cook told about when the war was on, the people would have to leave their lights out so they wouldn't get bombed. All the sudden, Mom started singing this song about when the lights come on...I guess it was a popular one back then... and told us how happy they were when they could turn the lights back on. I thought it was pretty cool that she remembered that song. Another talked I really liked was one Richard G. Scott gave on character. Brother Holland gave a really good one too on faith...then there was Pres. Monson's on gratitude. Loved the whole conference.
Kelley left so he could go to the Priesthood meeting with our ward.
I went and picked up a few prescriptions for mom and some groceries.
Made us some dinner and not too long after that, mom is ready for bed.
I had lots of time to work on these slippers for K.C....Oh man I undid them a lot of times! This was after trying and trying to make him a pair of knitted ones like Leslie makes. They just looked crappy! I finally gave up on the knitting ...decided I should maybe start with a hot pad or something. I found this crochet pattern that has a foam pad crocheted into it so they are nice and cushy. I hope he likes them.
Made us some dinner and not too long after that, mom is ready for bed.
I had lots of time to work on these slippers for K.C....Oh man I undid them a lot of times! This was after trying and trying to make him a pair of knitted ones like Leslie makes. They just looked crappy! I finally gave up on the knitting ...decided I should maybe start with a hot pad or something. I found this crochet pattern that has a foam pad crocheted into it so they are nice and cushy. I hope he likes them.
I was planning to leave after conference, but then there was a program on about the new Kiev temple, so I stayed and watched that and had some lunch with mom. It was really good...I could just picture K.C. in some of the area's they showed there. Man those people have had a real hard life! It's hard to believe how cruel the leaders were over there and what they put those people through. It helped me understand a little better why they are the way they are.It sure is hard to tell mom I'm leaving. She get's so sad...."What am I going to do without my Paula?" That about breaks my heart. I just want to bring her home with me! I tell her that and she says "oh you would be so tired of me ... I'm just a bother. Now I really wanted to cry. I told her I would never get tired of her and would love to have her at my house, and that Kelley felt the same way! She said "Oh I could never do that to you!"
So I get her to the bathroom one last time, try to make her as comfortable as possible, finish up some things around the house and get on my way.
Felt uneasy when I left so I called her when I got home. She didn't answer. I figured she must have been sleeping...she does that a lot of the time now.
I know this is just part of life, but it sure makes my heart ache.
I know this is just part of life, but it sure makes my heart ache.
1 comment:
I love the memories of conference at grandma's. Having the radio blasting out in the yard while we worked. I had to help get a pot that fell in the fish pond once. I dont know how I lifted it cuz it was so heavy. I am glad my parents could come help out it needed to be done. I hate calling grandma because she tells me the same thing and it breaks my heart.
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