Rhonda, my Mom died of Alzheimer's. We resisted placing her in a nursing home for about 6 years. She spent almost 5 years in the nursing home. Once she got there we realized that we were quite relieved. It wasn't that we didn't want to take care of her. Even though we were young and healthy it was unbelievably stressful. It was more that she was no longer safe at home. It was a huge relief to just be able to go and spend time with her and not be so exhausted that we couldn't keep our eyes open. At the end, we were afraid to sleep. She was like a two year old who could reach things that a two year old couldn't reach. We had to take the knobs off of the stove because she kept trying to cook. Can't blame her since she cooked for the better part of 45 years. One of the final straws was when she drank peach shampoo. She just didn't understand why she couldn't eat something that smelled like food. Sad. I'm glad your family is getting some help. It is a viscous disease for those afflicted but the effects on the Caregivers is horrible.

Sandra - good luck in Salt Lake this weekend.

Frouf - Have a great time on your trip.

If anyone's interested I posted that recipe for chipolte sweet potato shepherd's pie that I was talking about a couple of weeks ago.

Have a great day all.

Angela, any news for DH?

HI Chickies,

Just checking in to see how everyone is doing!

Sandra - looks like you have some 'archery' competition here on the board? Hmmm...so Kathy - maybe a tournament is in your future too? Have fun with your new bow and arrows!

Rhonda - I think I did post that 'article' somewhere on the board - but of course - there are other reasons for exercising despite weight loss (muscles, flexibility, heart health) - I am a lazy froufie and certainly would not choose to exercise if I didn't have to ....sigh.... And I am so glad your MIL is going to get the care she needs and her dh can relax and not stress so much. Sounds like a very difficult situation!

How's the wallpaper coming along?

Originally Posted by :
How was dinner Frouf? No change in the weather forecast here! How many hours till take off?

Vickie - thanks for the weather update - do keep me posted if anything looks like it might impede my way south! Hopefully we will take off (and land) on time and there won't be any airport meltdowns in my future!

Dinner was great - poor waitress kept trying to take our orders but we are so yappy - it took almost an hour of catching up before we could look at the menu - needless to say I was STARVING. Had a cocktail (chambord and sparkling wine - pink and yummy). Problem was the BREAD BASKET - I can't honestly say how many pieces I had? Luckily it was those small slices of french bread/baguette - and did I mention the flavored olive oil for dipping - very delicious.

My gf ordered some stuffed canneloni thing (very decadent with truffle cream sauce!). I had the veal marsala (veal in mushroom/wine sauce w/potatoes and veggies) - yes I ate the whole thing -but luckily portions are small and frankly I did not feel full when I left. Gf ordered a dessert (tiramisu) which I nibbled at - very light and decaf of course.

Feeling like @#$#$ today by the way - woke up at 4 am with a headache - and too tired to get up to take anything. Finally dragged myself out of bed, got 2 es advil and lay down on the couch. Did not sleep - back to bed around 6:30 am and dozed on and off - could barely get up at 8 am - and forced myself to get ready and go to work. Still feeling a bit lethargic and head hurts a bit.

I did weigh myself this morning and was surprised to see no damage done! My eating is a bit off today cuz I feel so crappy - so I shall just take it easy. Trying to drink more water tho!

And after work I have my final pre-cruise manicure/pedicure - I hope it doesn't matter if toes and fingernails don't match? Probably a pale pale pink on fingernails (yes to show off my eventual tan?) and bright/hot pink on toes? Will see what I can find from the vast selection of colors.

Need to get a few more drug store items and start working on makeup/toiletry bags tonight. Tomorrow night is 'purse changing' night - which can get pretty involved!:D

Later,

Frouf

My mom is a caretaker for Alzheimers patients. She works the 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. shift, then is relieved in the morning by someone else. She can sometimes shut one eye to sleep (on the couch) but has to always be listening. They sure do get into a lot of things, but mainly it's just sad stoires that she tells us. She had one who wanted to go get the mail all the time. They would walk down the sidewalk to the mailbox, check the box ... nope, no mail! Go back inside, and she took off her shoes. Then she put them right back on and said to my mom, "Let's go check the mail." Mom says one day they did it for hours. She just goes along with whatever they want, within reason of course. Probably the saddest thing of all is that most of these patients are younger than my mom. She's 75 and still drives and exercises and works fulltime. My dad does too. He's retired from the paint industry but after retirement went and got another job. They both say they would get lazy if they ever got to sit down and relax. Maybe working is what keeps them young and in good shape.

I am having such a hard time with the board lately, but only while at work. I think I'm going to have to give up visiting during the day unless I'm very bored and have the time and patience to load the pages. I don't understand it at all, and it just started happening when I changed my password last week or the week before. When my password expires on the classified computer, I change the one on the unclassified as well as my emails, boards, and other accounts, so that I can keep them all the same. They change every 60 days.

I hope everybody is having a good day. Vickie, enjoy your Chipotle! It sounds really good, so I'm thinking that maybe tomorrow night I'll make black beans and brown rice and get all the vegetables to make our own. Actually I already have avocados and tomatoes, so I might make it tonight for my lunch tomorrow.

Okay, this is ridiculous. I'm giving up on even trying to access the board during the day. I don't have problems with any other site so I'm not sure what the problem is, but I'm done with being annoyed.

Vickie, no real news for dh. We've applied several places, but no nibbles yet. I'm toying with the idea of going back to work - trying to telecommute. But I don't really want to, and dh doesn't want me to either. It's still early though, so we're trying not to be discouraged. He still has 2 weeks where he's at, and we get medical benefits through the end of March, so that's good.

The kids are finally recovering from this horrible virus, but now dh and I have it. Blah!

My hair is getting too long already...sigh. Must figure out a way to afford getting it trimmed. :)

Now I'm off to do some online research.

Later ladies,
Angela

Angela, I'm thinking good thoughts for your family.

Hi All:

Well, the day got so complicated that I did not get out to the in-laws. But, my ex did go, and things are moving. Thanks Vickie and Kathy for writing about Alzheimer's. I know it's awful, but it's good to hear from others. MIL says the same thing over and over and over and over. Then, she gets really hostile. At times, she is with us, then, gone again. Anyway, FIL won't have to be in this stage much longer.

I have a funny story for you. One of the things I was doing today was making a lemon meringue pie for a friend's husband's BD today. So, I decided to make one for DH too. The first thing that went wrong is that I spilled the lemon juice mixture for one pie. OK, so DH gets chocolate instead, I think. (no more lemons) That's not so bad; he likes chocolate.

Next thing: I open the oven to take the pie crust out to remove the foil and weights. Fine, except for leaving the hot pad in the oven and closing the door. Soon, I see smoke from the oven. I open the door, grab the pad with tongs and throw it, still flaming, out in the snow.

Well, of course, it is made of some kind of plastic, and I'm sure that toxic fumes are everywhere...no simple cloth pads for me!! I open all the doors to get the fumes out and look at the pie crust. It is covered in white ash!!!

SO, there goes one crust. No problem, I've made two. So, in goes the next one, after I've cleaned the oven and put the ash-covered crust in the compost bin.

At this point, I am ready to eat more chocolate ;)

OK, then I cook the new pie crust, put in the filling and put the meringue on top. But, it has to go into my oven with its temperature control problems....so, what do we have???? A meringue that it is less than done on all sides. No problem, I rotate the pie.

Finally, folks, all is well, and DH said "I don't need a pie anyway" when I say that I'll start over and make one for him. Whew....at least my pies are really good and someone will be happy tonight!!!

That's enough to make one nuts!

Rhonda

Rhonda! :rofl: I can just picture your frustration! While funny, I'll bet you were ready to scream! The first thing I thought of after reading the story was that you would make a good Ethel to Sandra's Lucy!!!

I am still having eye problems so I left work at 4:30 to come home and take out my contacts. I washed and dried my hair and put in electric rollers; took them out about the time that Judd called saying he was getting his truck inspected. He said what's for dinner -- I said whatever you can find. We settled on Chilis and I was going to order. I checked their website and couldn't get thru, so I get this snap.com page. I get it every time our wireless is down. Anyway, when I told Judd that, he got all militant on me and was saying that I was (1) doing something wrong and (2) full of spyware. Well, sorry but I have gotten the snap.com page from the first day I had the laptop, due to nothing I've done to it myself. GRRR. He says he's coming home.

I finally found a phone book (the old OLD fashioned way), called and placed the order, then called and told him so he could go pick it up instead of coming home and then having to leave again. Looks like night #3 of me getting pissed at him because he's being a super a$$. I'm not looking forward to id but at least I'll have a good meal to drown my sorrows in. I ordered the Guiltless Grill chicken platter with chicken, rice, corn on the cob and steamed veggies. I will only be eating half of it anyway and saving the rest for tomorrow's lunch, so if I forego the rice, I'll just consider it nearly Core. I think it's 10 points but ... a girl's gotta live. Five points for dinner is still within my budget.

Looking forward to AI tonight so I'll make sure I put my views on our thread when it's over.

Hi Everyone
Not much happening here. Hubby had a eye Dr appt this morn. Went well. YEAH!!
The went to the store and got some WW and Lean Cusine(?) dinners. Mind went blank on spelling. Had them on sale. So thought I would get some and have on hand.

VICKIE I like the regular Dark Chocolate Dove pieces too. And also Cocoa Via bars. Now the regular dove and the cocoa via bars dont seem to trigger me like the sugar free ones did. The regular ones. They seemed to satisfy me. And then I was ok. So dont know. But I know I really have to watch diet pop anymore. About the only one I can drink. is a new orange one they have out. But I gave up pop for Lent. So no pop until after Easter.

TEJAS Sorry about your mishap. Sounds like something that would happen to me.

AGHIOWA Hope your hubby will find something soon. Will keep you in my prayers.

Hi to everyone else.
Well am going to get off here. Dont know if I will be able to post this or not. It took forever to get on here. So guess with the coming rain. The computer is being sluggish.
Have a great night everyone.
coco

we're loading the ford now for our early am departure. i have decided not to take the laptop. we are loaded to the gills already. they will probably have a puter at the hotel that i can use. i think they did year.

kathy, i'm glad you're enjoying your recurve. i have worked extra hard/long with my longbow this week. i'm anxious to shoot it sat/sun. i'm also anxious to shoot the compound. taking 2 days off last week helped give both of us our sparks relit.

trigger foods? it all depends on my state of mind at the time. anything can trigger me.

rhonda, i'm glad your in-laws are getting help. this has to be an emotional time for all of you with these life changes coming for them. no wonder you wanted chocolate.

angela, i'm thinking of you and dh.

frouf, i feeeeeel your excitement. it's almost zero hour. (for us, too.) my hair looks good. what is purse swapping?

i'm ready to go. we have all the food and clothes packed. you'd think i was afraid we'd starve between here and salt lake. i have sandwiches, cf diet coke, diet snapple tea, and oodles of other snacks including grapes and bananas. we'll be at the venue about 6 hours sat and sun so we'll be taking snacks there, too. any excuse to eat, eh?

rhonda, i had to laugh. i think you've joined me in being "lucy & ethel" (and we have our "fred and ricky," too)

coco, i'll be eating some of those frozen dinners next week, too. curtis will be gone till the 10th. i'm planning to drop some lbs.

Originally Posted by :
The first thing I thought of after reading the story was that you would make a good Ethel to Sandra's Lucy!!!

Too funny Kathy - I also thought as I was reading Rhonda's tale of woe that I was watching al old Lucy episode! ha ha ha It sure sounded pretty comical Rhonda - but glad you ended up with at least one pie!

Angela - you are also in my thoughts - hope something turns up for dh - at least your are okay for the short term! Good luck in the job hunting but sorry to hear you are both sick!

Bye Sandra - have fun - we will all miss you! Good luck to both of you. As for 'purse swapping' - I have a small microfibre 'travel' purse a little more compact than what I use everyday for work and I will only bring essentials with me - don't need a gazillion store credit cards, coupons, makeup, etc. Makes for a lighter load and less to worry about - of course I will make sure to put all my DOCUMENTS into the purse tomorrow night as well so I don't forget anything!

I am sick w/excitement - I mean literally ill - my stomach is anxious and in knots and I am starting to get a headache - I am very nervous now due to my imiinent departure esp given the weather situation. Half of those on my cruise roll call board have CHANGED their travel plans and are leaving tomorrow instead of Friday to avoid the storms - meaning they will spend an extra day in Florida. I am trying to stay optimistic but we now have a weather watch in effect for tomorrow expecting 10 cm of snow by Friday morning UGH! I know I won't sleep for the next 2 nights!

Got manicure/pedicure after work and finished up some last minute packing. Going to drive ds to his friend's soon, pick up dd at her dad's and hopefully be home by 10:15 so I can (try and) go to bed!

Frantic Froufie (yes I will probably develop an ulcer before I leave!)

Bye Sandra!!!!!

Have fun and check in...we'll miss you. Of course, Frouf won't miss you: she'll be sunning herself and drinking the drink of the day!!! :beach:

bye sandra,,hurry back and have fun! good luck :carrot: