Another day off

I was getting online again with my mom's mail order pharmacy to get a phone number to call. It's just saying your prescriptions will be delivered by June 5 - sure they deliver on Sunday! Plus, then I noticed it said "regular" shipping method. When I went online last week (because I kept getting emails that I needed to update the shipping address, enter a credit card, etc. I specifically went ahead and chose 2 day shipping, with the extra $12 cost, to make sure they got here sooner. It even showed it in my total cost. I called and after having to say "customer service" at least 10 times I finally got to speak with a live person. She was nice but tried to tell me they didn't get the prescriptions orders until Friday. I said I have an email right here on Tuesday, from your company, saying you got the prescriptions! And I chose 2 day shipping to get them here asap. Her reply "well, when is she going to run out?" I'm like that's not the issue - the issue is it shouldn't take 2 weeks to get a prescription! I said since they haven't shipped out can they be shipped out 2 day, like I requested? She checked and said they are already ready to go/shipping label on them and are going out at midnight when they get picked up tonight (last night). 

I just checked online again this morning and still not showing as shipped. So frustrating. My health insurance uses this company and I haven't had any problems and it was a bit cheaper than the other one, so that's why I decided to switch mom's (her insurance lets them use either company). Now I'm wishing I hadn't changed.

Here is the big wood/log bench we bought at the flea market

It's nice to have today off of work, too. As soon as the vet gets opened up I'm going to call to get the referral to the specialist. I'm also plan to call the assisted living place across the parking lot from where mom lives. I've looked at their website and they are assisted (not independent like where she is) but I'm not sure if they also do dementia/memory care. It kind of sounds like it. It's hard to tell, because I click on a link and some of the links go to their corporate page and it appears they have facilities around the country, but some have memory care and some don't. It's definitely assisted living, which she is going to need soon. I'll give them a call and then maybe next time I'm in to see mom I can go over there and take a tour. At a minimum, I know this place would of course assist with her medications and self care, which she needs. I kind of wanted to give this new medication a try for a little bit to see if it helped any before moving, but I can at least get the info on the place.

She has apparently now lost her keys to her apartment. I have an extra set and had hoped I'd be going in to see her today to take her her refills but they aren't here yet, not for a few more days. I even had happened to check in on the (one) live camera in her apartment and her little neighbor lady was there and trying to help her find them. I was really hoping she'd find them for her, but you could kind of tell she didn't really want to be opening all her drawers/being snoopy. You'd think the office would also have an extra set or get it replaced. It sounds like they then went downstairs to the office (good that she had neighbor gal to help her with this). Her keys have to be somewhere there! She always puts them in her pants pocket or her sweater pocket and when she gets back to her apartment she drops them on her dining table. My guess is she left them in a pocket and the keys are still in that clothes. 

I'm also not sure how soon we can get into the specialty vet, but if it's in the next day or two, I can stop in to look for her keys (and give her my set if I can't find them) then. I just tried to call the vet but got their voicemail. I'll try again in a little bit and if I still can't get through I'll leave a message for them to call me.

I had already picked out awhile back what I want to get dh for his birthday next week. A nice new leather duffel bag type suitcase. I almost forgot to get it ordered. DD messaged me something about his birthday last night and I was like Oh ya! gotta get that done, so I ordered it through Amazon this morning.

Weekend update

We had a nice weekend with our friends. Though, the other couple was not able to drive down from their home 2 1/2 hours north of us, due to a family emergency. We just spent Saturday talking and then went out to dinner. This is the restaurant we have been going to for years, but only a few times since Covid.  We took dd/sil and friend there a couple months ago. While new owners, it was the same menu. This time it was a new menu. Of course the 2 things we usually order aren't on it anymore! DH always gets the fish and chips and I either get that or grilled salmon. Now the only fish on the menu was mahi mahi. DH ended up trying a bison burger and I got a baked chicken. The food was good, but kind of disappointing that there is no longer our favorite meals there to eat. We probably won't go as often anymore now.

On the way there we stopped at a couple of quick landmarks to see. On the way home we drove through the area that typically can see elk and deer. We saw a few elk, but it's calving season so they are spread out, not herded up. We did see a nice little herd of deer in a field right by the road. Then we drove on into town and drove through town and showed them our old house. There is a new house being built across the street! (the 4 lots across the street were vacant when we lived there). Plus the lot on the other side of our house, where someone had built a little shop and have been living in a camper trailer, is now breaking ground for the house. We decided we were glad we didn't stay there. Much more crowded feeling with the extra houses (and 3 more to come). These are tiny 9000 sf lots.

Our cat was very sociable with the guests. Our old pooch is still having problems with a little blood coming from his nose. I'm going to have to call the vet tomorrow morning to get an appointment to get this checked out - they will have to put him under to do a scan.

Sunday we just took our time getting ready in the morning. Friend doesn't really eat much breakfast at all, so both days it's just been like a continental breakfast style. Pick what you want, LOL. Between the fruits, breads, muffins, cereal, etc., there was plenty to choose from. 

Then we decided to take them out to the big annual flea market. It was a good one this year, seemed like lots of good stuff to look at. They really loved it. They want to come back next year for it and drive their pickup next time, haha! Stuff they wanted wouldn't have fit in their trunk, LOL. We walked the whole thing. First I bought this cute little metal "music box". Friend saw them first and she liked the one they had that looked like an oil pump like they have in Texas and asked how much. $15! We both looked at each other like what? did you say $50? Nope, $15. Then dh started looking at the different ones and he liked the one that looked like a little mining operation (since we live in mining mountains). Then I got some carved wood picture art.

Next up we came across a cool rustic wood bench. We've been wanting something for our back patio and we both really liked this bench. Oh goodness - can we fit it in the car, since we have 4 of us riding in the car? The guy said he's fit them in SUV's. We decided to go for it. Worse case dh would have to drive back home and get his pickup. We got it in.....though we had to fold down the back seat and middle seat and I had to ride sitting on the folded down part, haha.

It was past lunch so we drove on up to a restaurant we have been to a few times before. The food was good (though it was more expensive there for lunch than our dinner cost at the other restaurant!). We got home around 3 and just sat around talking. It worked out great (for me, ha!). No one was really hungry for dinner at all. We ended up just snacking later on crackers/meats/cheeses. Friends had also brought us a couple of gifts. A flower/plant arrangement for me and a bundt cake for dh, LOL. When he had visited them several years ago, in Texas, they bought a cake from this cake store and dh thought it was the best ever cake. Now there was one of those cake stores when the left Washington (where they went first before coming to see us) so they bought one. It's sooo yummy! So, last night dinner was cheese and crackers and more of the cake.

They left just before 10am this morning, on their way to Nebraska to visit some relatives for a couple of days then back on to Texas. They loved the flea market so much they are now planning to come again next year for it. I said well hey, stay the week then, and trailer up the Chevelle and the next Saturday is our towns annual car show, so that is the plan. It was a fun weekend and pretty relaxing.

My mom's prescription refills and new prescription still hasn't even shipped. GRRR! I was hoping it would be in the mail by tomorrow morning and I could take them to her tomorrow, since I have the day off. Frustrating. They've had the prescription orders for a week now and still not shipped.

My work health insurance renewed to start again June 1. I had also, for the first time added dh. On Friday I got my new health insurance card in the mail, but not one for dh. Where the heck is his? Now I'm stressing for some reason he didn't get added, so I will have to check on it tomorrow.

I do feel like I will need a nap today, though. 3 late nights is pretty exhausting for me.

Ready or not

Well, crap. I go to check back in on the live cameras with my mom before I go to bed last night and the camera (the new one) that I put on the shelf under her tv is now facing the wall, LOL. I guess she must have noticed it (not that she has any clue what it actually is) and picked it up and set it back down, backwards. Now it's a nice view of the wall and plug in, haha. Dang it. That camera was so helpful in actually seeing her stand at the sink and take her pills. I won't have time to go this weekend and don't plan to go back until her medication (refills and new one) arrive at my house, and then I will take them in to get filled up in her med dispenser and get her started on the new medication. Which...if there might be side effects I think (as long as the meds get here next week) I will have her start taking it on Friday, then if she has any problems, I have the weekend to get in to see her. On another good note, she did manage to dispense and take her pills all on her own again last evening.

I got a lot done yesterday in prep for guests. I even made a list so that I would be able to see how much I still had left to do and make a rational judgement on if I can finish what's left this morning or not. Rather than just think in my head there's this left to do and that left to do and thinking "I'm good!" and then forgetting I still had more to do. I even made the peanut butter cookies last night at 7:30. I was done by 8. I stopped work at 4pm (since I started early) and then vacuumed the downstairs before I made dinner.

This morning the dishwasher (about half full) has been turned on the 1 hour wash cycle, just so I can get them cleaned and put away and start with a fresh slate. As soon as I finished with my coffee and typing up this little blog post, I'm going to get a load of my laundry going and get in the shower. Then all I need to do is mop downstairs. And I need to run into the store for fresh fruit and bagels.

It was such a nice warm day yesterday. Got up to 80. Then came the clouds last night and a really good thunderstorm around midnight or so and rain. Dh is going to throw a fit that the freshly washed car is going to get all dirty in the rain yet again, LOL. 

So, after I get my morning chores done I guess I'm as ready as I can be for guests. Hopefully we can also figure out some stuff to go do/see a bit. If not, dh and his buddy will never have anything to stop talking about, so it's also easy to just sit and visit for hours.

Procrastination bites me, as usual

Found out just before bedtime last night that I'm going to loose a few hours of my Friday "prep" for guests time. I figured friends probably wouldn't arrive until later afternoon, if they were putting in a day of driving, but turns out they are spending tonight only about a 4 hour drive from us, so will be here probably by noon or so. My original plans Friday were a trip to the town store for fresh fruits and bagels. Clean house and make cookies. I have to do the store trip and I have to make the peanut butter cookies, LOL. They are dh's friend's favorite. So, I guess I'll be doing most of my cleaning today and this evening. I should be able to get quite a bit done during my lunch hour. I also started work a half hour earlier this morning (I was wide awake early this morning), so can knock off earlier, too. 

Today is also payroll processing day. I did my side job payroll (always quick and easy) first thing and now am working on my regular *fun* payroll. Tons of PTO being taken this payroll because of the holiday weekend. Hopefully it will go smoothly and I can get on with the rest of my work day and not be stressed trying to get payroll done.

I think dh is mowing today. Finally a day of no rain and supposed to get to 80. We may have to turn our a/c on, haha. He washed the car yesterday. So far, there has not been a day we drive it that it hasn't gotten rained on, LOL. Drive's him nuts. He's like can we just get one day to drive it where it doesn't rain and get dirty?

I don't know if it's just coincidence or not, but since I put that new clock/calendar in mom's bedroom, she has not gotten up as often during the night the last 2 nights. Maybe that is helping her see what time it is and that it's still night time, so she doesn't get up. I have noticed the past week or so that a few times she has gotten back up like 2 or 3 hours after she went to bed. She will go out into her kitchen and start opening all the drawers and cupboards like she is looking for something. She will also open the fridge and freezer doors (nothing in the freezer and not much in fridge since she eats downstairs). She will repeat opening 2 or 3 times and then heads back to bed. Wonder what she is looking for? Also, since putting the cameras in I can see that she always takes one of her dining chairs and puts it up against her door at night. I see this morning that last night she put both chairs there. 

As usual, stuck in waiting mode on a payroll question to our advisor. One of the salary employees is showing PTO on 5/16 that she didn't take/didn't request and I can't for the life of me figure out how to remove it. The line is grayed out and won't let me do anything with it.

So, back downstairs for some breakfast and a quick shower while I'm waiting.

Early morning and late start

Had a late start to work today. DH has an old childhood friend who lives on the other side of the state. He and wife were passing through this morning on their way to the coast and wanted to meet in town for breakfast. They stayed in a hotel in the city last night. DH had offered for them to stay here last night. I think his wife has a good friend in the city and when they are there they stay and have dinner with her and then just get a hotel there.  nyhow, it was nice to see them again (we saw them last summer when we went through their town on the way to Texas) and visit for a bit. 

DD, DH and I are all kind of having the mindset that having my mom go through neurologist visit(s) and tests to tell us (and her) that she has dementia/Alz isn't going to accomplish anything. Like dh said, at this point why push her to try to remember and do things she can no longer do? All's that does is make her feel bad and scared, etc. DH said seems to me it would be better when they are asking her all those questions or having her try to draw something to just say "great, you are doing great". I'm in agreement. We'll give the Aricept a try, but from every thing I've read it's like 50/50 if it even works and many have side effects that make it not worth it. It also seems like it's something better to take earlier on in this disease to postpone it a bit. At this point it's just important that she is taken care of and help with whatever she needs help with. She is 81years old. It's not like she got this early onset, which then of course I would agree to see neurologist, etc. She's not going to get better. I say just try to make her feel as comfortable, safe and routine as possible in her remaining years dealing with this disease. With the busy, tiring day, I figured she would have problems with her pills last evening. She got them half right - she heard the chiming, got up, thought it was the phone and tried to answer, but then she saw the lights flashing on the med dispenser and realized it was the pills. She got them dispensed by then didn't know what to do. Kept looking at papers on her desk mumbling that she wasn't sure if she's to take them or not. I watched for a couple of minutes and then I called. I didn't bring up the doctor visit or anything and she didn't seem to even recall about it. She asked something like "how was your day" or something to that effect, which led me to believe she already forgot I had been there.

I did get her new clocks set up yesterday and I'm hoping now having one of them in her bedroom will be helpful. Yesterday was the first time her little bedroom alarm clock was still the right time, but I replaced it with the new clock/calendar. I don't know if it was just a fluke but she only got up once during the night and right back to bed, and then not up until almost 6am. Then she went back to bed until 7am. I have found a lot of  nights (from the camera motion detection clips) she is up several times. Sometimes just walks out to her living room and adjusts the heat or will look at the clock there. I'm also glad the new clocks automatically adjust for daylight savings time. That will be a really nice feature to have.

We sure have been having crappy weather. Rain again this morning and cloudy. Then supposedly a nice day tomorrow and back to crappy weather for the long weekend. I was hoping we'd have a decent weekend, since our friends will be here. Usually by now it's nice and in high 70's, low 80's.

Goodness I am tired today and it's only noon. Probably from getting up an hour early, LOL. Of course dh, who doesn't listen very well, last night couldn't remember if his friend said they would be at the restaurant at 7am or 7:30 or if he said they were leaving their hotel in the city then. Well, it turns out it was they left the city at 7:30, so weren't to the restaurant until 40 minutes later. I could have totally just got up my normal time. Now I'm ready to grab a pillow and go lay on my new office couch and take a nap!

Ok, I can't keep my eyes open. That's all for today.

 

 

Memory test Tuesday

I'm back home now from my busy day. I'm pooped. I got to mom's at 9am and got her laundry started. Of course she totally forgot I told her last night I was coming and taking her to her annual check up. Got things thrown in her garbage can, like the old balloon almost deflated and the dead flowers ddh sent. (Then I took it down and emptied it in the big laundry room garbage can, so she wouldn't take anything back out later). She still thought the flowers were "ok". No, they were done and dried out by now. Then I suggested she take a shower since she was going to the doctor for a check up and she was agreeable. Honestly, hard to say how long it's been. (she now thinks washing off with a wash cloth is good enough most days). I'm just going to keep trying to suggest it when I go visit. I have read that this is super common among those with dementia. When she got out of the shower she asked if I could help clip her toenails. OMG....it had certainly been quite awhile since she has done that! Something else to start checking on every so often now, too. When she was combing her hair she showed me a little bump on her forehead, near her hairline so I said we'd have the dr. look at it.

She got dressed while I went and got the clothes out of the dryer and it was time to go to her appointment, not more than a 10 minute drive from her place. The nurse did the same little memory test as last year. Again, she couldn't recall the 3 words and I'd say her clock drawing was worse than last year. It wasn't even a circle this time. Then the dr. came in and decided to do the longer cognitive test, if we were ok with that. The one on paper and the dr gives instructions for each section, or ask questions. Mostly all of it was failed. The only parts she was able to do was tap her hand whenever the doctor said the letter A while randomly saying out letters. She also could repeat back to her a sentence she just said to her. She did that with 2 different sentences, the second one a little longer and she got that correct too. She didn't know the date, year, day of the week (she guessed Monday) or what city we were in. She didn't know any of the 3 animals on the page, etc. You could tell mom was getting anxiety from it - and a little bit teary eyed when she kept having to say she didn't know. It was sad.

The doctor is a sweet lady and you can tell she's trying to be as sweet at tactful with mom as possible, but she did tell her her memory is not good at all and worse than last year. Mom was like "oh dear. what can I do about it?" then mom asked me if I have noticed it.....well...ya....I told mom she repeats a lot of questions because she can't remember.  The doctor suggestws to try the Alzheimer's medication Aricept. I have read about this. It seems to help some people, but not a lot of people. It helps to slow the progression of it down some, for a time. But, I guess if it works, that would be helpful, so we are going to give it a try. It's taken in the evenings (Thank God, so I can add it to her already evening pills). The dr is ordering her refills through the mail order pharmacy we use and also adding the Aricept, so I should have that and her refills to take to mom next week. Hopefully she doesn't have bad side effects from it. Some do. Seems like it's maybe a 50/50 if it will help any or not. But, if it can hold her off like she is right now, she may be able to stay living where she is for a little longer. Only time will tell. Then if she's doing ok on the medication, we go back in 2 months and she can up the dosage, too.

She also suggested and will give a referral to a neurologist. More tests, but she said it's totally up to me if I want her to do it. It's not like they can do anything about it. But, some people just seem to want a confirmed diagnosis and some need a diagnosis for legal reasons/guardianship etc. She said mostly it would give me more info about the disease, but I said I have already done quite a bit of reading on it. I'm not really sure it's worthwhile to do it. We already know she has dementia/Alzheimer's.

The doctor also said she could/should remove the little bump (she will send it in for screening) just to be on the safe side and thankfully she could do it during this visit.  She also said it was ok to go ahead and do her blood draw, so again, thankful I don't have to take her in another day at 8am, after not eating, to have it done. We were there an hour, but got everything taken care of, so that was good.

I was feeling bad for mom, but then I had to tell myself, in a few hours or so she's totally going to forget she was even at the doctor's office today. By the time we got home and I was helping remove the little bandaid they had put on her forehead, she had already forgotten what it was for/what the doctor did.

We were at the dr longer than I anticipated so it was like 12:20 and we were hungry but did a quick stop in Walgreens for cookies, granola bars and chocolate for her to have on hand in her apartment for snacks. Then we did the Arby's drive through. I figured she was tired and to have to sit in the restaurant would add to it, so we just took it back to her apartment and ate. That way (I eat faster, LOL) I could get her clean clothes put away while she was still finishing up her lunch.

Now I need a nap. And Walmart didn't give me any bread! Apparently they were out. GRRR. So now I have only like 1 left in my freezer. UGH. We have to run to town tomorrow morning, so I guess I will have to stop in our town store and hope they have the bread we like. Sometimes they do and sometimes they don't.

The young man who brought my grocery order out was the absolute sweetest nicest young man. I need to find out if there is a way to leave some feedback about him. 

Getting involved (a little)

It's early afternoon and the cat is over sleeping on my new couch and I'm wishing I could take a nap there too right now. Not sure why I got so tired this afternoon. We had some visitors for probably about an hour this morning, but nothing that should have made me feel tired now. 

Dh decided he'd like to have the guy running for district state rep put one of his campaign signs out in front of our house, near the road. He had talked to the guy on the phone earlier in the week. He called him back up yesterday to ask how to get one of his signs and he said he and his wife would bring it out Monday. Not knowing what time Monday, dh also got up when I did at 7am and got ourselves presentable. They were really nice and we got to chat with them quite awhile. Both of them seem well informed on the local and state issues. The incumbent, also a *Republican*, is being (as usual) strongly backed by the Democrats voters in this district. That should tell you something right there, right? So, this very vocal liberal lady (she has tried to run for everything around here, haha) set up the "town meetings" for the candidates running in the various primary positions. She keeps calling this guy we had put his sign out, a "right wing extremist". Finally, he asked her "what is your description of a right wing extremist? what do you consider makes me one?". Her reply? "You believe in the bible". Are you freaking kidding me?!!

As we were chatting with him, Mr Neighbor was pulling into our street and he bypassed his driveway (he could see the candidate's pick up with his big signs on the side in our driveway) and he pulled up where we were standing in the road and told the guy to put a sign up in front of his house, too.

My mom took her pills again on her own last night after she got back from dinner. That's like 3 evenings in a row, or at least 3 out of 4. Tomorrow I have the day off to go in and take her to her annual check up. My plan is to get there around 9am so I can get her laundry done before we have to leave for the doctor appointment. From doing her laundry most visits, the past few months, I have been wondering if she just often wears the same tops every day or what. There are usually only a few in the hamper. Well, now that I can see her on the cameras, she is changing tops every day (she has a lot hanging in her closet) but apparently just hanging them back up all the time. So.....now how do I figure out what needs to be washed and what doesn't? Ugh. I think tomorrow I will just grab a whole bunch of the tops from the hangers and just wash them. 

Added furnishings

My office is coming along, finally. The sofa arrived about 9am yesterday. While not confusing to put together it did take awhile. 

DH offered to move the 2 bins into the bedroom next door's closet. He also took my old tower computer down to the garbage can. I'm getting there! The next 3 things on my list to get is throw pillows, a floor lamp for the corner and something to hang on the wall over it. What to put on the wall will probably take me forever to decide. Anyhow, it looks much better than an ugly wire dog crate sitting there. That got cleaned off, folded down and put back in storage.

My mom took her pills on her own again last evening and even did it 10 minutes early. I got the motion notification she was back in her apartment and turned on the live view and saw her walk over to adjust her heat and then she pushed the button to dispense the pills and went to her sink and took them. But then later in the evening I saw her trying and trying to turn her tv on with the remote. No idea why. She doesn't usually have problems. I've added to my list of things to do/check when I am there on Tuesday. If I don't see her watching tv between now and then.

I finished watching Bosch last night (did you enjoy it T'Pol?) and it was good. Hopefully there are more seasons of this spinoff. I do miss his old "LT" character. She was a good actor and too bad they couldn't have fit her character in somehow. Now, I'm going to go back to Grace and Frankie and finish that show. 

I was just looking online with Amazon for an inexpensive floor lamp and found one I liked, but then started reading the reviews and many said it's top heavy and tips over easy. Nope. Not with a cat living in this room! I'll keep looking. Maybe a floor lamp isn't a good idea in this room.

DH and I ran into town (like a 10 minute drive) to get a few things at the grocery store. A gallon of milk there is now $5. We ran into our UPS guy in the parking lot. He doesn't live out here and dh was like what are you doing out here on your day off? He said he was picking up some concrete mix because he's installing a flag pole at someone's house. He said "it's quieter out here than in the city". LOL.

 

Weekend what not

DD got me a nice new can opener for Christmas. I'd probably had the previous once since she was born, LOL. I've been loving the new one. Nice and sharp. Then all of a sudden I'm opening a soup can and mid way around it stops working. The knob/handle will not turn for anything. Dh looked at it and couldn't get it to work anymore either. What the heck?! It's brand new. Of course I had thrown the old yucky one out. Hopefully I won't need a can opener until I go shopping on Tuesday. And I'm going to buy 2.

The kitty litter cabinet arrived after dinner last night, so we got that put together. OMG. It took us like 3 tries. The end panel with the opening can go on either side, but since you put doors on the front, the bottom piece, which looks like it would go either way, then only has to go one direction. Same thing with the divider piece inside. Have that backwards and it's wrong. We'd fix one part and not realize the other piece was wrong. The directions were for having the opening on the left end of the cabinet and I wanted it on the right end. We finally got it and then we were like "oh! now we see what we were doing wrong, haha!" I left both doors open for now, just so he can see and know that's now where his litter box is. Once I feel he's got that figured out I'll start shutting the doors. Already looks much nicer than the big huge wire cage. DH is going to take the cage apart today and get it put back away in a closet we store it in.

I still have 3 big black bins (with the yellow tops) in the corner of my office. I decided to see what more I can get rid of. I was able to throw out a bunch of old papers from my side job. Folders with monthly reports I had used to post all the commission payments (back before I had 2 monitors and pretty much printed everything out. Now I rarely print out anything). Stuff over 10 years old. Definitely no reason to keep any of that. I filled up a garbage bag and took it out to our garbage can. I was going to do another bag, but dh had it pretty full with grass clippings from mowing, so I decided to wait and do the next bag after our next garbage pick up. I got about half out of 2 bins and was then able to combine what was left in the 2 bins into 1. So, now down to 2 bins in my office. I'd say half of what is still left is still old work papers that can be tossed. I did fill the 2nd garbage sack with papers, but since our outside can was pretty full, I just put it back inside the bin for now, but it will get tossed as well as more next week.

I want to get some kind of small cabinet with doors to put in the corner where the dormer meets the wall. I have no closet in this room (we should have put one in!) so no where to put stuff out of sight. I'd like some kind of taller cabinet (like chest height) that I could store stuff in, but still look nice. Maybe like a book case with cabinets on the bottom. I do have 2 2-drawer oak file cabinets, but they are stuffed full as well as my desk drawers and cabinet is stuffed.

I got a text this morning that FedEx is delivering my sofa bed today. Yay! It sounds like from the dimensions of the box it is basically in 2 halves that you put together and then add the side arms. Hopefully it's not as difficult to put together as the litter box cabinet - ha! At least it will be something we can manage to get up the stairs, where as a full sized sleeper sofa we would have needed help.

Dh also ended up talking to that lady who is running for sheriff and she sounded like a good option as well. But, from the sounds of things it will be a young deputy who will probably win and I honestly don't think he's going to be able to make a dent in our sheriff's dept's issues. He will be in way over his head with the administrative part of the job. Not to mention dh knows a guy who was a commissioner in the county this deputy is originally from and a few years ago, when he became a deputy in our county, this guy said get rid of him! He is bad news and gave dh some background. Yet here the guy is, now probably going to be our sheriff. DH said if the general election in the fall ends up between her and the current under sheriff, he will probably go with the current under sheriff. 

Our friends who are coming from Texas confirmed yesterday that her good friend and her hubby will be coming down (they live 2 hours north of us) on Saturday and spending the night, too. I think for that evening we will just take them all out to dinner at the nearby steakhouse. 

Last night a new little specialty food type store that opened up in the next town from us showed up in dh's Facebook feed. Looks like a cute store. The bins of caramels caught his eye, LOL. He said we should go check it out tomorrow. Oh, they have deli sandwiches too, that look good, we could go for lunch. Then he said "screw that! I'm not paying $14 for a sandwich!" There was a picture of some of the nice looking sandwiches and the price tag on the was $14. Seriously? In little podunk town Montana? Or are we just that out of the reality of what it costs now? haha. I said I would have been there in a minute if they were maybe like $8 or even $9. 

It poured rain last night. We just haven't really got any nice spring days yet. But that's kind of what it does here. We get about a week of spring and bam! it's suddenly 80's and summer.

DH is up now, so I'm off to get started on my chores. First up, wash our sheets and duvet cover.

Fix it Friday

I was kind of excited this morning, thinking both my new office sofa and the kitty litter cabinet were coming, but now the tracking for the sofa shows it didn't get anywhere closer yesterday, so it's not out for delivery, yet tracking still shows delivering today. But, the kitty litter cabinet is supposed to deliver and that is coming UPS and they are usually accurate with their tracking info and don't typically have the delays that FedEx does.

I'm excited to get my office to a more finished look. Of course then I will need some throw pillows for the sofa....and a picture on the wall above it, LOL.

Still trying to nail down dates to go visit my half sister. DD and I were thinking either of the last 2 weekends in August. One of sis's daughters now lives in another province, where she works, and she was hoping to be able to come home while we are there to meet us, too. Sis suggested our Labor Day weekend (they have a long weekend too) but dd has plans that weekend, with tickets they have already paid for, so she can't do that weekend. Sis said her dd is coming home this weekend so she will see if she can make one of those weekends work. Apparently her job is brutal. She took a job working with a phase of the pipeline in Canada. She works 12 hour days, 6 days a week, and only has Sundays off. 9 months into about an 18 month job. She is super tired and burned out. Who wouldn't be working like that non stop. While she's making insane money, she's trying to stick it out. I don't know how anyone can work 72 hour work weeks for 18 months straight.

The local political race for our district state rep is getting very heated. Long story short this district is about 70% conservative. Democrats rarely even try to run. The incumbent (R) has someone running against him this term and we are voting on the primary to decide which one gets to go to the general election in the fall. The incumbent, everyone is pretty much starting to figure out and pay attention, is really pretty much a Dem. His voting record sides with them most of the time. So, now he's running a nasty campaign against his opponent, which I don't think sits well with a lot of folks around here. Even to the fact that Mr and Mrs Neighbors, who have always voted for him, did not this time. We are not voting for him and dh went and chatted with young neighbor couple down the street and they said, no they are not voting for him. I have a feeling this new guy might get enough votes. It will be interesting. The actual primary election is on June 7th, I believe.

So, we continued earlier this week to hear the rapid fire gunshooting......until (I think it was Tuesday) a whole bunch of law, a helicopter, drones and search and rescue showed up about 2 miles farther down river (a body recovered from the river). Well, no shooting since, as I'm sure the a-hole didn't want to draw attention to himself. So, it's been totally quiet now the rest of the week.

DH wasn't too satisfied with the deputy's response from that call back he got last Saturday. He decided to ask for a call from the Under Sheriff (head sheriff is on a sick leave right now). He wanted to say, while the deputy was totally calm and respectful, he's having a hard time agreeing with nothing can be done about this constant shooting and disruption. The first thing the Sheriff said was "he called you? he didn't come out to your house?" DH said no, it was a call, which was fine....Sheriff said no, our policy is we go out in person. (ooops). Then he said he definitely agrees with dh, something needs to be done and there is no reason they can't go out there and figure out who is doing it and talk to them. Especially as if it is who we all think it is, they do not live here, they just visit. After dh got off the call with him I asked dh if he basically gave same answer as deputy, that they aren't doing anything wrong by shooting all the time like that and he said, no, the Under Sheriff seems like he is willing to try to do something about it, if/when it comes up again. He is also one running for sheriff, so dh was impressed with how he handled the call with dh. 

Mom had a good day yesterday. She even took her pills all on her own, without a call from me! Right before it was time, I opened the live view and was about to call her and saw her retrieving the pills from the cup. She then walked right over to her sink and took them! Yay! I got a little break :)

The friends coming next Friday is getting closer now. I need to get my lists made and my to-do's done. Next Friday will be here before I know it. 

I just got a reminder notice from my outlook work calendar that I need to cancel that free 3 months subscription to Apple+ tv (that came with our new phones). There is nothing I'm watching on it right now, though I did watch 2 excellent series (Ted Lasso and Severance) and once those shows are back for new seasons I will definitely subscribe and pay for a month or two. It's not very expensive, but if I'm not watching anything on it right now, there is no reason to start paying $5/mo or whatever it cost.

Another one not wanting to do their job

Goodness, this situation with moving my mom's IRA to where her investment advisor is now is turning into something. It was all supposed to just be easy peasy. I signed the docusign docs authorizing the new company to transfer the account from the original company over to them. The assistant gal called me yesterday and said they tried to transfer it to their company and got back a "rejection status" saying there is a restriction on the account preventing them from transferring it over, but she doesn't know what and doesn't remember my mom having anything like that on her account. The only thing she could guess is that there is a "vulnerable client" code on it. She said they had one client like that that they just transferred and the code had to be removed by the original company and then the money got transferred. 

So, I called the new office lady at mom's broker and explained we were transferring mom's account to the new company, blah blah. The first thing she did was say she doesn't see that they have POA on mom's account for me (so she could talk to me about her account). I said there has to be, I've had it now for several years, since 2019, and have had no problems taking care of things. She said is it an outside POA or our company POA? I said, both actually. I mailed original assistant my POA and also signed their internal POA for the file. Then she said "oh, here they are, they weren't labeled correctly on her account file". She said "well, was there some kind of code# or letter they got with the rejection notice? I don't see any restrictions on your mom's account, so I don't know what could be causing it". I said I don't think so, but I'll call her back and double check. (there was no code). I call the lady back and tell her there was no code as to why it was rejected, but possibly something to do with my mom now being a "vulnerable" client due to her memory issues. She said no, there's nothing on her account, so there's nothing really I can do." Basically just dismissing me! I started to say something and she then said "well, I can check with our "back office" and see if they can look into why the transfer request rejected, but I'm really busy, so I don't know when I'm going to get to it". I said ok...I understand you are busy, so as soon as you can get to that I'd really appreciate your help with this.

I then called my regular assistant back and told her this assistant will check into it, but at that point she had started giving me attitude so I don't know how long this is going to take. She said ohhhh...that is sooo unacceptable! She said she would also call her, now that I had already talked to her and they have established me attempting to deal with it. Assistant called me back and said she got total attitude too, and the new office lady basically told her it wasn't her job. Assistant told me it 100% IS HER JOB! She said she used to have to do stuff like that for clients who decide to leave, all the time. It's just part of the job.

So, now she is sending me a letter to sign, that will get sent to the manager at that office, that orders them to remove the restriction on my mom's account so the money can be transferred. She said we don't want things to be difficult, nor should you have to keep calling them and deal with them giving you attitude or the run around, so this letter ordering them to transfer the money will take care of it. I hope so, but just a delay of at least another week. You know, if the damn lady would just do her job, probably one click of her mouse, she and her office wouldn't have had to deal with several phone calls and now a letter coming. No wonder she is so busy - she's busy being an asshole to all the clients moving over to investment guys new company!

Mom was totally fine yesterday. We even had quite a bit longer chat than normal when I called to get her to take her pills. When we hung up she had the pills in her hand. As usual I continued to watch via the live camera to make sure she got over to the sink and took them. It was the cutest thing as she was getting up out of the desk chair to walk over to the sink (I can hear through the camera). She said something like ""she's good. I have a good daughter and she puts up with me". LOL. 

Time to get showered and dressed and probably better do makeup today. I have a zoom meeting right after lunch. I'm not sure it's a video meeting, I don't think so, I think it's just so this person can share her screen with my boss and I, but I want to be prepared just in case.

I started watching the new Bosch show last night. My half sister texted me right after dinner with a picture of Bosch on her tv and said LOOK! It's on! haha. I told her I had just discovered that too and would be starting to watch it, too. It's good, though a little different as there are 3 storylines they keep moving between. I think if you just started watching this show and had never watched the previous Bosch show and didn't know the characters, that might be a little bit harder to follow. 

We stream all our tv. For main tv watching we have YouTubeTV. Also have Amazon Prime and Netflix. I tried Paramount+ to watch that Yellowstone 1886 but it constantly froze and skipped and then the talking wouldn't match the words. Just couldn't watch it. Occasionally our other streaming services will buffer for a second, but don't get the talking not matched up w/words. I started watching this new Bosch series that is on "Freevee" (formerly IMBD tv) and right off it buffered and got the talking off. GRRR. I do what I always have to try: stop the recording, rewind just a bit and restart and it matches back up. Fortunately it only did it once or twice during each episode, so it wasn't too annoying.

I'm wondering if increasing our internet service speed would fix this issue that we seem to have with some streaming services? We have been on the lowest priced plan/speed, but it has always been plenty. I have never had any issues with my work connection. The only issue we ever seem to have is some streaming services don't work well. And I'm not convinced it's not the Firestick's issue. I could watch Paramount + on my computer with no issues. No, now that I'm talking myself through this, I think it's probably is the Firestick and not our internet connection. I had upgraded our Firestick, but it's probably been a couple years now. I'll have to keep thinking on this. I don't want to spend another $20 or $30 a month for the higher speed internet if we don't really need it or it's not going to make a difference.

tv, new clothes and confusion

Lots of shows I like to watch on now and it's keeping me entertained in the evenings, which is nice. I started watching Grace and Frankie, but then discovered The Lincoln Lawyer and decided to give that a try and finished that up last night. T'Pol mentioned the new Bosch spinoff is on now, so I need to find how to watch that one for sure. I've been waiting for that one. I also still need to watch the latest season of Outlander on Starz. 

I got my new 2 pair of jeans. I ordered the same kind as I got last summer, but a size bigger. I had double checked my original order and the tag on the ones I ordered last summer. Size 6 Short. So, I ordered size 8 Short. They seem shorter than my 6's. I'll have to try on one of the 6's again and compare. But, other than that they fit well and are comfortable to sit in. Not too tight on my waist. Plus they have a bit of a stretch in the fabric, which helps. Probably why my size 6 ones still don't feel quite as tight and uncomfortable as my other jeans I have in size 6. I also received the pj pants I ordered. They are soft and comfy and fit good. But, now I have another dang $10 in Kohl's cash to use, but now there is no free shipping.

Had a "first" with mom last evening. She got back from dinner about 6:20, so she missed her med dispenser's first chiming notification. Then 5 min later when it chimed she was in her bathroom. So, then I called. She seemed confused. Something about morning (but then she's always saying, "oh I thought I took these in the morning". But then I realized she actually thought it was morning. I said no, it's evening time. And then she looked at her clock/calendar and says "it says Tuesday evening" (like that was wrong) and I said that's correct, it's Tuesday evening now. She said well then how is it so light out right now? I said it's a really sunny day and now that it's almost summer it doesn't get dark until like 9pm. She got her pills dispensed, we hung up and I watched her on camera go to her sink and take them. She spent most of the rest of the evening napping in her chair. Hopefully after a nights sleep she will "reset" and be back on schedule for what time of day it is. She hasn't had that happen before, that I know of. I am hoping having the extra clock/calendar in her bedroom will help. I'm sure her little alarm clock on her dresser is most likely the wrong time again.

I am liking my new Walmart 5% cash back card. It helps combat the higher prices some and the 5% is credited as soon as the charge posts, which I can then apply right back towards the credit card balance from the charge. It's also a good way to see what I spend on groceries each month as that is the only thing charged on it (well, unless I decide to order something else from Walmart online, which I haven't done yet/don't do very often)

New budget

Well, it's about damn time. I finally got my raise. It was what I requested and will start with our next payday on 5/31. Now that I know for sure how much it is I can plan/allocate it. Some will go to making larger car payments. I had just upped my 401k contributions by $100/mo in March, so I'm not sure if I will add more right now, but I probably will, at least another $50/mo. Some will obviously just get incorporated into the inflation hitting my budget with everything we purchase. Gas was $5 a gallon last time we filled up. It's a relief to finally have a raise and a relief to not be stressing over it anymore. My boss still hasn't told me yet, LOL. I even talked to her on the phone about something else yesterday. I happened to see it when I logged into our payroll system and then decided to go through my list again and see if anyone else has gotten a raise since I looked a month or so ago. I was going alphabetically and came across another long time employee who hasn't had a raise in at least as long, if not longer than myself and he had a raise in the system effective yesterday. I then looked at mine and there it was.

DH was chatting with a local lady who lives in the area. She said she had just purchased some other property she wants to build on. To use the well drilling company out of the city (who we used) is a 2 YEAR wait list! There is a local guy who does well drilling and he is at least a year wait. Crazy. That probably explains part of why nothing is getting started on the lot next door, as well as they still haven't sold their house yet. Their house has been on the market almost 8 months now.

Wow, the gunfire going on yesterday was just insane. Again with the dumping of magazine rounds in a matter of seconds. Like 20 or 30 rounds in seconds. Then of course, since we live in a mountainous canyon area it just echos, too. Just crazy this is allowed to go on. About the same distance as we are away, on the other side of this shooter's neighborhood, is another pretty large neighborhood of homes. About 20 homes back there. I can't believe someone over there isn't bothered by it.

I could see if it was happening where there was lots of acreage, but this is happening in a neighborhood of about 8 homes. These houses are all down along a private road, each 2-3 acres. We're about a half mile away and can hear it loud and plain as day inside our home. Can't imagine what it's like for the houses next door to it. It's went on for hours off and on. One time it was non stop rounds for about 10 minutes. And of course, one of the few who will complain about it (Mr Neighbor) wasn't home to hear it going on. But then the shooter was kind enough to start in again at 9:30 last night, so I'm sure Mr. got woken up again.

Well, the sofa I ordered for my office has a shipping label created, but hasn't shipped yet. I won't earn my "rewards" to use towards purchasing the cat litter cabinet until it ships. I'd really like it to get here before the end of next week, when we have our guests staying, so I think I'll just order it from Amazon today. Plus Amazon typically ships very fast.

I'm trying to do some of my chores that will need to be done before friends come to stay now, rather than the day before or that morning (doesn't sound like they will get here that afternoon).  Or at least some deep cleaning done so that I just have to touch up a bit. DH was out mowing when I got done with work yesterday so I vacuumed and mopped downstairs. Dh washed the outside of all the windows yesterday so I did some inside. Once he got the outside cleaned the insides weren't bad at all. Mostly all just low on the windows - from the cat, LOL.  I emptied the small garbage cans upstairs. Today I'll clean the toilet and sink upstairs. 

 

Nice Sunday

DH was chatting outside with the neighbors yesterday and they definitely heard the gun shots between 9:30 and 10. Mr was already asleep and it woke him up. He told dh the more he thought about it the next morning the more he decided to call the sheriff to report it. Dh told him he had called and the "non" response he got. Mr. said he's calling anyway and apparently he did, he texted dh later to tell him. I said good, because one person in the area reporting it looks to the sheriff like obviously it's not big deal, no one else is complaining. Two people make a difference. Also dh and I are "nobody's" in this county. Mr and Mrs are "somebodies" LOL. And hopefully we weren't the only ones who called. I can only imagine living right on that road and having to listen to that right next to it. We're a half a mile away and it sounded like machine gun fire, loud. 

Sunday was really nice weather and we got the flowers planted in all the pots and also the ones in the ground. I had to replace a few that didn't make it, that are around the front and side of the house. I replaced with daylilies, as those are the ones that made it good through winter and came right back. DH wanted some kind of taller leafy flowers out between the front fence and the "rock creek" so I decided on daylilies for there, too. Down farther and near the little bridge we have some Iris's planted, but 1) they don't bloom their pretty flowers for long and 2) each bulb is like $10!. We were lucky and got all the ones we did from when Mrs. Neighbor thinned hers out. I told dh in a couple years we'll be able to thin some of ours out and plant more in other spots, but for now I'm not spending $10 for one bulb. Daylilies bloom for a long time and the tall green leaves look good too. These will get bigger over time. Our other ones near the house have at least doubled in size in the last year or two.

I need to get 4 more to plant along the fence where I was standing, taking this picture. I have about 2 6packs of petunias left. I need to get a hanging pot for the chicken coop and was going to buy one pre-made but since I have the extra flowers I'll just buy a hanging pot. My back and legs were toast after all the bending over and walking around. Kitty was outside with us the whole time enjoying himself.

It was also good to "unplug" for the day with the mom cameras LOL. Dinner was the leftover pizza, so super easy. That's 2 nights last week we had leftovers. That can really add up in the grocery budget savings. I think tonight I will make my cheese/bacon hashbrown casserole. Dh really likes that for leftovers so that will give us at least one night this coming week to save.

Saturday evening I started watching a new show on Netflix based on the "Lincoln Lawyer" books (and movie) by Michael Connelly. I've read them all and am so far enjoying the series. Similar to my enjoyment of the Bosch series, based on same author's books. I watched another episode or two last night.

I had made sure to water all the flowers really well and then it poured rain last night, LOL. When dh came to bed he said I won't need to water for 3 days after that rain we just got. Of course we had just put out the patio table and chairs (with cushions) yesterday, but dh got the chairs moved over underneath the back patio covered area before it started.

When you have a craving for a Peanut Buster Parfait and the nearest DQ is 45 miles away? Well you make your own! I have to say it was pretty dang close. I would try a different/better ice cream next time, but the peanuts and the hot fudge were spot on.

OMG! So it's our company president's 20th anniversary with the company so my boss and another manager "decorated" his office. Red Solo cups EVERYWHERE and I do mean everywhere. Every inch of floor space is covered with them, haha.

Fakes

It was a nice pretty quiet Saturday - until about 9:30pm. The past couple of months off and on (seems like every 2 or 3 weeks) we've been hearing some gun shots from whoever is shooting about 1/2 down river from us. Now this isn't the one bullet type of shooting. This is someone unloading magazine rounds. Super loud and like 30 bullets in 2 or 3 seconds. But it's always been during day or early evening. This was at dark time and went on for a half hour. Now this time I KNOW our neighbors can't say "oh we didn't hear it!". They still had lights on inside their house, so Mrs was still up.  DH is pretty sure it's coming from the house in that neighborhood that that "thrill seeker" killed himself with the motorcycle jump/flip and it's known that his sons still come over from where they live (another state) to spend weekends at the house. There are about 7 houses along that street and this one is in the middle.  Friday dh was out at the gate talking to our UPS guy and the gunshots went off (it had been going on off and on that day) and he said he was just down at so and so's place, which is on our side of the river, directly across from where the shooting is coming from and that guy is mad and sick of it.

So, last nigh dh calls our sheriff dispatch office to complain/report it. Just while he was on the phone with the gal they probably dumped 100 rounds or more. About half hour later a deputy or someone calls dh back and says there's nothing they can do, it's not illegal. It's not illegal to shoot in a neighborhood where the houses are like an acre apart and to shoot in the dark? Apparently not. Two or 3 houses down from where the shooting is coming from is the lady who is running for sheriff. Why the hell doesn't she complain or try to do something about it? I can't imagine being basically right next to automatic gunfire is good for her horses? Sad and annoying that people have to be such assholes to their neighbors/neighborhood.

In other local politics news there is a primary coming up for a state representative for our county. The same guy, who claims to be a conservative, has been in the position for years. No one ever runs against him. Yet his voting record time and again shows he votes democrat at the state level. There is someone running against him in the primary for the first time and things are getting nasty. Geez, you'd think in a small county of 4000 people it would be pretty tame, LOL. We have this local community Facebook page, but 2 people brand new suddenly show up to start bashing the new candidate. A lady that doesn't even live here (lives in another state) but claims she is moving here in a few weeks. Then a someone with a brand new Facebook profile made days ago, like 5 "friends", shows up and starts bashing this new candidate. Claims he lives here, but is kind of new to the area/state. Yet he then knows stuff that happened like 3 years ago. No one has ever heard of this guy, he's not a property owner in the county. It's obviously a fake profile. So, dh and a friend on FB (who has lived here longer than us) pretty much figured out who this guy probably really is. Then dh, who is great at detective work, went to that guys Facebook page..and what do you know, this lady from out of state who is supposedly moving here is friends with him and always commenting on his posts, LOL.  Then another person figured out his profile picture is some stock photo from the internet. The even funnier part is this guy is extremely liberal, but makes sense he would want to keep the "liberal" conservative in office and not the new guy, who is very conservative. These 2 yahoo's are alleging all kinds of untrue things about him and also saying he's really a Marxist who is trying to infiltrate the GOP, LOL. 

Saw a couple of hummingbirds yesterday so got the feeders put out for them. 

Anne Bee made a great observation the other day:  Before the days of the camera you could leave your mother at the end of a visit, safe in the knowledge that it had been a useful visit with some issues that you could work on next time. Being home and not seeing her gave you a break and when you did think of her - which I know you do a lot - it was perhaps hoping she was downstairs with companions or chatting with the lady across the landing etc.

Now with the cameras (especially having 2 views now) I find myself constantly checking in on her. Worrying about stuff that isn't really an issue, etc. I am definitely not giving myself a break anymore! So, yesterday I tried to disconnect myself from looking at the cameras to check in on her and turned off motion detection. She's fine. Whether she's out of the apartment doing activities or visiting with others or just sitting in her recliner. 

I do like to set motion detection on when she's down at dinner. It tells me when she's back, so I can then make sure she gets her 6:10pm pills. She got back just before then yesterday and just as I turn on the camera view I see her dispensing her pills on her own and I'm like yay, it's one of the days she does it herself. Then right as she takes the cup out of the dispenser someone knocks on her door. She sets the cup down on her desk and goes to answer it. Someone dropped off a dessert or something. She proceeds to stand at her sink and eat it and I'm thinking great, now she'll have forgotten all about the cup of pills. Sure enough. she sits down in her recliner to finish her dessert. So, I call and we chat and someone knocks on her door again! Finally she gets the pills in her hand and we get off the phone and I can see her go to the sink and take them. I didn't spend any more time checking in on her. When I went to bed I turned the motion on and called it a day.

Ok, it's a nice sunny day and supposed to get up to 72. Dh and I are heading outside to plant the flowers. Keep your fingers crossed we are done with freezing nights, LOL.

Office furniture

One of the areas in our house still unfinished with furniture is my office. It's a big room with a big dormer with a window. My L-shaped desk is in one corner and under window of the dormer area and behind me on the side wall of dormer is 2 oak filing cabinets. The rest of the room is pretty empty - other than 3 big bins of "stuff" I have in the corner of the room and also we have been using our old wire dog crate for the cat. While kitty no longer gets shut in it, since it has a big plastic tray for the bottom I have his litter box set inside it as well as his food bowl in the other side of it. It's just lovely, LOL.

So, for what almost 3 years now? haha, I have been wanting some furniture in here to fill out/finish the room. I wanted something (faux for my budget) in like a camel colored leather, but then dh suggested it really should be something that converts to a bed, just to have the extra sleeping if we ever need it. Just didn't want to spend $1200 or more for a sleeper sofa, plus how to get something that heavy up the stairs with just the 2 of us? Then last week I came across a futon with a leather look type mattress. It wasn't exactly what I had in mine, but would work. But I had not bought it yet and then came across another that is kind of a futon style, but looks like what I had envisioned in here in the first place. It looks more like a couch then a futon but folds down like one. Then I sat with that on my computer for several days trying to decide. I finally ordered it yesterday from Wayfair and it's supposed to be here by the end of next week. I think it's also something dh and I should be able to get upstairs no problem. It will be really nice to finally have this checked off my list.

Then I have been looking at these wood "cat litter cabinets" and I think I'm going to order one of these to try. It will look much better than a wire dog crate! I think this is the one I'm going to get

Also on Wayfair, but I will earn $29 in rewards from the sofa purchase as soon as it ships and I can apply that towards this purchase, so I am waiting. Amazon has same thing for same price, if my sofa doesn't ship/credit me soon I might just order it from Amazon as I'd like to get it here before we have our guests staying with us. I can always use the $29 credit towards something else at some point. Wayfair has this same exact item listed twice on it's website, same picture and everything but different "manufacturer's" One is $109 and the other is $369! Gosh, which one shall I order??

Our dog seems better, but still not 100%. When he's just resting he's fine, but when he gets up to eat or go outside he will sneeze a little bit, but there hasn't been any blood, but this morning he sneezed right before going out and a little bit came out, but it was more kind of a little snotty mess with a little blood (LOL) so I'm not too concerned. We're to give him the antibiotic for 7 days. He's barely sneezing and when he does it's not been like a full blown sneeze (once or twice) but more like a little snort.

Still no word on my raise. I even talked to my boss on the phone yesterday for quite awhile while we were working on something and she was sharing her screen so we could figure it out. Nothing mentioned. Two weeks past now. Really, how long does it take to make a decision? It's kind of demoralizing, really. It's not making me feel very valued as an employee, that's for sure.

At least it's the weekend. Not good weather wise (maybe tomorrow) but at least no plans and can just take it easy and do my chores when I feel like it.

Happy Friday

I don't know where I read the article the other day, but it was about this couple in their 50's who are retired and live on cruise ships - and they only spend about $32,000 a year to live this way. What an interesting way to live and travel. The article said they were from Seattle where the average house cost almost a million dollars, so having a mortgage would cost them about $50,000 a year. They were working towards retiring and when they crunched the number of living on cruise ships they realized they could do it now, so they sold their home. The average cost for both of them is about $88 per day. That seems kind of low, but what do I know. I looked up "retiring on a cruise ship" online and an article gave a figure of about $100/day and others quite a bit more or gave that as per person. Of course being on a cruise ship (I have never been on one) this also includes all their food and I'm assuming there is lots of free entertainment on a cruise ship. They also do not have any expenses like utilities, etc now. It's an interesting concept!

I discovered that there is a new season of Grace and Frankie on Netflix. I thought that series was done, so I was glad to find there is a new season to watch. I had started to watch it the other night, before we had to dash off to the emergency vet.

The other info dh learned from Mr Neighbor is that Mrs. retirement starts in 1 month. He said he is also quitting his various part time jobs he does. She is 72, so very due to retire. He is 67 and has been working p/t jobs for the past few years. The good part is they will be home a lot more and we'll only have to listen to the dogs barking (again, now that son's 2 dogs are here) near as much (hopefully). He was also told they are having a "community picnic" at their house the weekend after Memorial weekend...whatever a community picnic is, LOL.

Now mom has lost her wallet, but she thinks she's only lost her credit card. The reason I know it's her wallet is because the little "motion detection" video clip shows her walking into her apartment after lunch yesterday and setting her purse on her desk (why she had her purse with her, no idea). The video clips are short (otherwise the batteries would go dead fast), so she just had walked back into her bedroom/bathroom for a few minutes and next clip shows her back at her table going through all the pockets of her purse and finding nothing and saying to herself "oh, no...what did I do with it?". She kept looking around her apt for about 10 minutes and then called me (knew the call was coming as I could see her pick up the phone). She tried to explain that she lost her credit card. She was downstairs "in a room and they were selling some food thing" and now she doesn't know where her card is. I asked her "do you have your wallet?" thinking if she has that, the card is probably there. She went and looked in her purse and on her dresser again but came back to the phone and said no, she can't find it. I said well, you are missing your wallet and your credit card is probably in the wallet. She kept trying to remember what she was downstairs doing with it. I said let's have you go downstairs to the front desk/office area and tell them you can't find your wallet and were in that room...she said yes, I was just thinking that's what I need to do. So we hang up. 10 minutes later it doesn't appear she went downstairs so I call her and she says she's just about to go down. Then I turn on the live view and someone knocks on her door and I'm thinking "oh, I hope it's someone who found her wallet!". but dang, it was just someone reminding her of a 2pm activity starting in 10 minutes. She tells the lady she was just down for that earlier meeting and now can't find her credit card. A couple minutes later she grabbed her purse and went downstairs.This was just before 2pm....she came back at 7pm LOL.  She did have her purse with her when she got back to her apt and put it away. I ended up talking to her then because it was time to take her meds and she needed a reminder and talking thru it. She didn't mention the credit card and neither did I. I was wiped out and tired from getting very little sleep the day before. I had wanted to get the meds call over at 6pm, so I could go lay down and take a nap, but that didn't get to happen.

And speaking of her med dispenser I don't know why the app for it on my phone keeps signing out. Twice now in the past 24 hours I have had to sign into it. It's never done that before.

Pup is doing ok. When he gets up from resting he will sneeze a bit. He did that this morning when I went out to the laundry room to feed him, but no blood. Last evening he had been laying under dh's desk (he slept most of the day and evening due to the benadryl) and got up for dh to take him outside and he sneezed, but it was like one little drop of watery blood. Nothing much. Of course we are still worried about him, but I told dh we've got to give the antibiotics a few days to kick in and also for his nose to settle down inside.

The new "Alzheimer's clocks" I ordered for my mom are supposed to arrive today. I have a feeling having one in her bedroom, that actually tells the correct time!, will help quite a bit. I also know that come next day light savings time clock change I am really going to appreciate that I won't have to make a special trip in that Sunday to get her clocks changed. She really does use that one on her desk all the time. Without it I'm sure she'd have zero idea what date or day of the week it is and to be able to look at her activity schedule and then refer to her clock to know what day it is. She did go to bed normal last night :)

Our weather is supposed to get out of the 50's and be 72 on Sunday and Monday. I should be able to get all my flowers planted then.

Eventful night

We did not have a good night. Had to take dog into an emergency vet. He had been sneezing for a week or so, but then this week seems much better, like I don't think he even sneezed Tues and yesterday. Then at 8pm our UPS guy showed up (he's always so late!) to deliver and dh and dog walked out to the gate, as usual, to meet him. Dog doing great, excited as always. Then they walked back in the shop so dh could put the package inside and dog started sneezing. Sneezing blood. Then took him back outside, more sneezing and blood and then blood coming out of his mouth, too. All of course freaked us out.

We put him in the car and headed to the emergency vet in the city. He did ok all the way. No sneezes and he was panting some, from being nervous/excited, so I could see his tongue and mouth and no blood. I was sitting in back with him and had an old towel under his head in case he sneezed, to catch blood, but he didn't. Then we got to the vet (I think we were the only customers at that time) and he sneezed some and little drops of blood, but nothing like it was.

The vet said it could be something as simple as he has an infection or virus type thing and his nasal passage is inflamed and irritated and he broke a capillary. They can give something in his nose to help stop bleeding and also antibiotic and benadryl. Or it could be something more, where they'd start with blood work. We opted to have her do the blood work. She also did a nasal swab to look at under a microscope. All of that looked good, thankfully, so we decided to try the nasal stuff she sprayed in to help stop bleeding, antibiotic and benadryl. We will do this for a week. If he's not better, or getting worse, we'll get him into his regular vet. At that point they probably would anesthetize him to do xray and look in his nose to see if there is a mass or something. Our feelings are this is probably where we are headed with him, due to his age and other cancer lumps he's had removed. I doubt it's going to be something minimal at this point.

I thought for sure I had some benadryl at home so we didn't stop, but of course I did not. I must have thrown it out awhile back due to old date. So, when we got home I gave him the first dose of antibiotic and then this morning we ran to the store in town and got the benadryl as well as some hotdogs to hide them in. I have to give him 3 benadryl (he's a big dog) 2 - 3 times a day and the antibiotic 2x a day. I hide in hot dogs and folding a piece of cheese slice around the pills also seems to work good. We're praying for a good outcome for him. He is eating fine and his energy is normal, so good signs there, too.

And then there's my mom's weird night! She's been typically going to be around 8:30 to 9pm. When I go to bed I'll set the cameras to motion detection so it would catch if she got up during the night. So far, the past 2 weeks it's just getting up to use bathroom or coming out to her living room to adjust the heat and she goes right back to bed. While sitting at the vets around 10:30 I looked at my phone and did a live view to make sure all her lights were out and she was in bed. She was asleep in her chair! Fully clothed and didn't even have the recliner up, so her head was all flopped to her shoulder. It looked so uncomfortable. When we got home at 11:40 I checked again and she was still in same position. Ugh. So, I decided to try something.....the cameras have 2 way talk. I have never tried to talk to her through it because of course it would totally confuse her. But, being sound asleep I thought maybe if I just said "wake up" it would wake her up, even though she probably wouldn't realize what actually woke her up, and go to bed. It did wake her up, but she went right back to sleep. I did it again, same thing. I was using the camera under the tv across from her. I decided to try the voice coming from the camera up above on the kitchen cabinet. I just turned the mic on and tapped on my phone with my fingernail. This woke her up and she got up and went in the bathroom. I thought good, she'll get her nightgown on now and go to bed. Nope! She came back out and set the recliner back and went to sleep again, clothed and tennis shoes on! What the heck?! Well, it was midnight by then, and I was wiped, so I just went to bed.

Got up this morning and the camera motion video clips show she slept until 4:45 and and then basically was up from the looks of it. Changed her clothes and went downstairs (for breakfast?) at 6:40am and came back up after breakfast around 8:35. She seems fine. She left again for awhile and came back about the time I was leaving for the store, reading her activity schedule. When I got back she has left again. I guess she is fine, but that was something different for her night, for sure. I'm glad she's ok. I was like I do not need this on my plate today, too! I hope this was just a one time "off" night for her.

Ground hog days

Yesterday was payroll processing day again. It actually went really smooth, other than waiting hours for my boss to get out of meetings to answer one question about someone's time off, before I could move on to the next step. Also, no word on my raise either. Frustrating. How long does it take to make a decision, especially after 3 1/2 years of no raise. It's been almost 2 weeks now since I asked for it.

DH mowed again yesterday. It all sure is emerald green right now.  Mr Neighbor was also out mowing so they chatted awhile, mostly about local goings on.  He said the out of state couple that bought a place about a mile down the road last Augus,t to make it into a "yoga retreat", have apparently decided it's not working (What??!! in Montana? where people come to fish and hunt? LOL) and will be putting the place up for sale again. It took the previous owners 3 years to sell it. And when they sold it there wasn't a junk yard next door, which the lot next door to them has now become in the past 6 months. Sad for that. All the residents down in that area are pretty unhappy what happened to that lot. Hence why some covenants are a good thing. Like dh always says: the good thing about living in this county is you can do what you want. The bad thing about living in this county is people can do what they want.

Huh. Just got a work email that someone who physically works in the office has Covid and they wanted to let everyone know of possible exposure, that the office won't be closed, but you can work from home if you want, and a link to cdc guidelines. Well, one of the employees just emailed a reply with a screenshot of cdc guidelines that says get tested if you have had close contact and he asked how do we know if we should get tested because of close contact if we aren't told WHO it is? Right? What if it's someone he hasn't been in close contact with the past 5 days or whatever it is? No sense in him needing to get tested. But according to HIPPA laws they can't say who it is. 

I'm really feeling like every day has become ground hog day with my mom, especially having the cameras now, too. It's even kind of tiring for me. Of course her daily routine is pretty much the same. When she gets back from lunch around 1 she sits in her recliner to rest. Picks up this 2 pages of stapled papers (legal sized papers) and reads them. And re reads them. And re reads them. It's the weekly breakfast/lunch/dinner menu and stapled to it is an "activities update". I'm not even sure if it's a current week! I'm always trying to throw out the old ones I find. She will sit there and look at the menu and then I can tell she is glancing up and looking at her digital clock/calendar to see what it says the date is. Then she looks back down at the paper for a few seconds. Then back up at the clock, then back down at the paper. Repeat all day, every day. One day this week I swear she sat and read that for an hour. I checked in on her a few times and she was still sitting there doing that. I guess it kept her busy and occupied....  Then 6pm is my call to get her to take her meds. I will try to watch her first on the camera to see if she can do it on her own (rarely). Most often when it chimes she will try to answer the phone and then after she hangs it up she stands there not sure what to do. Sometimes she will call me, but usually that's when I just call her. Other times she will push the button and dispense the meds...but then after they are in the cup she seems to not know what to do. She will look at the pills in the cup, count them, or pour them in her hand and count them. Often she will call me and ask "how many pills am I supposed to take now? don't I take some in the morning?" Every evening is the same exact conversation telling her she takes all her 5 pills once a day in the evening now. It's funny that in the morning she never remembers she's supposed to (or was) take pills but in the evenings she remembers about mornings.

Dh took the cat outside with him and the dog this morning. I snapped this picture when I went to take the bag of cat litter poop out to the garbage can LOL. Life is good for the little orange mountain lion!

Ok, first off - guess who's back? Neighbor's son's 2 dogs. Yay...............

I've been in real need of some new pajamas! Yikes. Mine are completely old, stretched out and falling apart. I typically just wear a pull over pj top style that comes down over my butt. The two I wear are so stretched out around my shoulders now. They also now have little holes and tears from when cat was a kitten and wasn't keeping his sharp little claws in. And then there's my flannel pj pants. I don't wear them sleeping, I get too warm, but I do put them on when I get up. They have been washed and worn so many years the waist band is now falling apart. How hard should it be to find some flannel pj pants? Every kind I find are so ugly LOL. 

One of the tops I have is from JCP brand so I went on their website to see if I could find something similar, same brand. One top seemed kind of similar and then I also ordered a longer night shirt type. And a new pair of jeans because I just need some in the next size up. Time to face reality, LOL. I'm not a size 6 anymore. So I ordered an 8. The order arrives yesterday. The pajama tops are so thin and the jeans are so tight, like almost as bad or tighter than all my size 6's (in various brands). That was disappointing.

I think it was last spring/summer I ordered a pair of jeans from Kohls that were really comfy, so then I ordered 2 more in different colors. They are all size 6 and not too bad right now, but a bit tight. So I just got online with Kohls to bite the bullet and order 2 more in size 8. Dang it. The 3 size 6 I have are practically like new. Oh well. At least I know these will fit right and I'll like and wear them. Plus they were on sale and a 20% off coupon on top of that and free shipping.

Most days I alternate between these 2 really old pairs of jeans I've had for years. The pair that is falling apart the most is the most comfy, of course LOL. But they are so old and have a couple of wood stains from all our staining projects. I don't wear them in public........unless you count Sunday when I put them on in the morning because I thought I might be outside working in the yard a bit (I wasn't) and then when it was time to go to mom's I forgot to put on nice jeans, LOL. Oh well, at least I had a long sweater on that covered most of the rips and tears, haha. Plus there was the sneaking in through the back entrance door. Pretty sure nobody saw me.

Mom camera mostly

I did decide to skip making cookies yesterday. I was going to have to stop at Walgreens anyway to get her a card, so figured I'd just get her some chocolates, too. Then last night dh is in the kitchen looking for a snack and said "I thought you were going to make cookies?" I told him I'll make some during my lunch break Monday/today. I just lost my energy to do it yesterday. He didn't care, I think he was mostly joking.

I stopped at Walgreens and got her a card and some Lindt chocolates. Got over to her apartment place and as I figured the parking lot was pretty full with all the visitors. There were a few open spots in between cars but their spots are so narrow and I'm still not comfortable maneuvering this bigger SUV into those kinds of spots, so I decided to drive around back where they have more parking. I was familiar with this parking area from when we moved her in. There were lots of empty spots and as I started to make the walk around to the front entrance I saw that the back door was open (I do have a key for it with the set of keys they gave me for her apartment and this door). This was the door we used to move her in. It goes into a little hall that accesses the "back door" of the elevator and the kitchen/dining area. Mostly the staff uses it. 

I decided to be a rebel and save the walk around to the front of the large complex and go in that door and into the elevator and straight up to mom's 3rd floor. I was bad and skipped going into the lobby to do the annoying check in procedure, haha. I was just going straight up to her apartment (she is next door to the elevator), staying a short visit, and straight back down.

Mom seemed surprised to see me, even though I had told her on the phone Saturday night and yesterday morning that I was coming. Then she (as typical) covered for her forgetfulness by saying "oh I remembered you were coming I just wasn't paying attention to what time it is". She liked the chocolates and opened them right up. Then she said she didn't get me anything. I said that's ok! I'm not your mom, haha and that my dd got me stuff :) While she was doing that and looking at the card I sat down at her desk chair and surreptitiously got out my phone and the little camera and got the device added to the system. Then I waited for her to get up and go to the bathroom or go into her bedroom for something. Nope, LOL. I needed to hide the camera down underneath her tv without her seeing me. Finally I messaged dd and said I might need you to call grandma to distract her so I can do this. Then she got up to look at her thermostat and was distracted long enough that I just set the camera down on the shelf below the tv, back a bit, next to her cable box. I really don't think she'll even realize it's there. The front of it is black and so is her tv stand and cable box. I checked the viewing from that position, on my phone app, and it was great. I could see her recliner, her sink area and a good portion of her main door. Also the night vision worked fine on this camera, so the other one must have the halo because it's on shiny white laminate and the infrared is reflecting. She still has not left the room long enough for me to grab her dining chair and get the black pillow case put up there, on top of the cabinet/under the camera, LOL. 

Her little bedroom alarm clock was wrong again. Now it said 7pm (it was 2pm) so I changed it again. I'm am definitely going to get her another one of those clocks like on her desk. I also think I'm going to spend a little extra (of her money!) and get two of the better ones that have automatic daylight savings time. She can certainly afford it and I know she uses the clock on her desk all the time to see what time it is.

She was watching tv last night when it was time to take her pills. Of course the tv is on kind of loud when her med dispenser started chiming. I watched and she got up and tried to answer the phone, as she often does. I was trying to make dinner (since I got home late) so I was watching to see if by chance she'd know to dispense and take them. She was standing at her desk and kept picking up papers like she was looking for something. Then she sat back down in her recliner. I knew the dispenser would chime again in 5 minutes and that's about the time I needed to finish and get dinner in the oven. Then I grabbed my phone and ipad and went upstairs to my office to watch again. She tried to answer her phone again, so I just called her and reminded her it's time for meds. She still keeps wanting to say "don't I need to take some of these in the morning?" How odd that she constantly remembers she supposed to take some of those in the morning (per old schedule) yet in the mornings she could never remember to take them!

She said she would take them right after we hung up. This is where the 2nd camera was most helpful. I could see her walk over to her sink and take them. Now when she hangs up and says she'll take them I can make 100% sure. I was also glad to see that her sink was completely clean and her sink area on the counter was too. She got all the silverware cleaned and put away in the past week and I'm sure now with all the meals in the dining room she won't be using much of her own silverware.

I did have a nice video chat with dd in the morning. Last night we were messaging and she said that for next year they are already making plans to come here for Mother's Day, so that will be nice.

Just a few minutes ago I clicked on the "mom camera" and could see her sitting at her desk trying to push the buttons for meds. Then I saw her pick up the phone and so I knew a call was coming, LOL. Again I had to remind her we are doing all her meds at 6pm now. She said she thought she wrote a note and I said I didn't see one yesterday. She said she had a pen and paper and was writing it and will stick it on there. To help her out I reminded her some tape is in her desk drawer. We hung up and I continued to watch her write the note and then she remembered where the tape was and she taped a note on the machine. I wonder if that will help, really. She doesn't seem to see notes now. Then I heard a knock on her door and she went and answered and it was one of the ladies who do wii bowling reminding her it was time to go down. That's nice that they remind her, because otherwise I'm sure she forgets half the time.

Dh found a recording of a community meeting from last week where all the candidates told about themselves and answered some pre-set up questions (same for each). We watched that on him computer while eating dinner last night. So, at least we got to see the 3 candidates for sheriff. That lady who wanted to get added on the ballot was able to get enough signatures. So far she is our pick. Tons of LEO experience (retired) and seems like she has the qualifications and could definitely bring some much needed professionalism to the town. Dh really liked her, too.  

I am still loving driving my new car. It just feels so nice and solid. I still can't park very straight (neither can dh!) with it. We can't figure out why it's so hard to pull in straight. Everytime I drive it and get back home I'm not ready to be done driving it. I'm enjoying the SiriusXm, too. The comedy channels are great.

I also texted with my half sis yesterday morning. She texted me this time to wish happy mothers day and we chatted for quite awhile, so that seemed back to normal, which was nice.