The tour and afternoon

The visit and tour of the retirement place was really good. Whew! I'm so relieved.  It was a really nice place. She showed me their 2 different 1 bedroom apartments. They aren't as big as what she's in now and it's just a very small kitchenette (she has full kitchen now, that she doesn't use) with a tiny fridge (so that part looks kinda crappy to me), but on the other hand, it's $620 a month less than she's paying now. If she doesn't want to have a little balcony then the bedroom is a little bigger by 50 sq ft. I found some pictures of the one bedroom online, that isn't on their website, so I was just able to email them to my mom, so she could see, too. I wasn't able to see the grounds, as it's still all covered in snow, but the pictures I've seen are nice.

If she chooses the apartment without the balcony she wouldn't have this door and then I think her tv/stand or desk could go in the corner and the other along the wall, similar to what she has now.

But overall, the place was nice. It has a more "homier" feel decor wise in the common areas than the place she is currently in. Her current place is very nice, but has a pretty modern look to the decor. The rent covers everything except her phone and internet. It also covers laundry service (as part of the housekeeping service) for her bed linens. It doesn't have a washer and dryer in the unit, as she does now, but in all my looking here and near where DD lives I did not find any places that offered that. There are a couple of laundry rooms on each floor and free to use. It also includes a free medical alert device system.

The main difference is the meals. Where she is now is more like a restaurant (one big and one small pub like) where there is a menu to order from, that doesn't change, other than if they have like a buffet meal. I still haven't figured out exactly how her current meal plan works, but the menu has prices and the bill is charged to her account. I guess she has so many credits each month, if she went over, then she'd be billed the extra. They can eat their meals whenever they choose to.

At this place all the meals are served at a certain time in the dining room. There is a daily menu and like 4 choices for both lunch and dinner. So, it kind of seems like maybe more variety in food than a set menu. I know the few days I stayed at her current place, both times by the 3rd day I was tired of having to chose from the same menu! She said they make all their rolls and bread fresh every day. In the dining room is also a corner area with kind of a continental breakfast set up, so if they didn't come at 8am for the main breakfast, they could eat from that (cereal, fruits, danish, etc). There is also another little area in the dining room for snacks to eat any time. If they are sick and couldn't make it to a meal, they can call and they will bring a "sick tray" of something that a sick person would eat (broth, jello, toast, etc). Or if they just didn't feel like having their meal there, for $5 they will deliver up the full meal, but of course they encourage eating in the dining room.

Similar in that they have various activities scheduled, but it sounds like they do more to encourage the residents to participate (which she will need!) and also have an overhead speaker system to remind them an activity is coming up soon. They also have a senior assistance service "in house" that you can hire if you need extra help (or you can hire a different outside service) and she says many use it for things like the medication help and it's not very expensive. I think this might be a good way for her to go - be in independent as long as possible (and save money) and transition using the assistance service for as long as she can.

So, other than the apartment being smaller, it's just as nice as where she is. Mom has also downsized a bit more since she got into her current place - she got rid of one of her recliners and a dresser, so I think her stuff will fit in fine at this new place.

The other assisted living facilities are all actually right next door to this place (there are 3) and like this lady explained to me, she would be in independent living to start (if she lived at one of those places) and then when she needs more help/assistance she would have to move to a different part of their facility anyway. So, if she does at some point end up having to move into assisted living/memory care place, it's basically a move next door, so no difference, really.

Our plan is for the end of April, first of May to get her moved over here.

After I was done with the tour I had to pick up my grocery order at Walmart, only Walmart was out of the bread (GRRR!) so I tried Target and they had exactly 4 loaves of it. On my way out I stopped and got a Starbucks white chocolate mocha, using up some of the $9 I have on a Starbucks gift card. Then I got over to Walmart. I never did get the text that said your order is ready and let them know I'm on the way. I had to check in through the app once I got there and then it was like a 10 or 15 minutes wait for my turn (even though it wasn't crowded at all). But she did give me a free mini cherry pie from the bakery. National cherry pie day or something.

After that I did a really quick stop into Ross looking for some small type of basket(s) but no luck. It was a beautiful (but cold) sunny day. Once you get on the freeway there is really no traffic LOL. I love it. I got back home around 4pm and put away lots of groceries.