Electric Blanket anyone?

So, what is your take on electric blankets? Personally, I am not a fan. But mom has been complaining of being cold all the time. So, today, I bit the bullet and purchased an electric blanket. Just a small one. A twin. Yes, I know that mom has a king sized bed, but she only sleeps on a piece of it. No King sized blanket was called for. My only worry is that mom will toast herself. Maybe, though, it will make her want to drink more water. And that is usually a good thing. I plan to put it on her bed tonight.

I also have to replace the "angel" lights in the living room. About four years ago, I put up some Christmas lights on a window in the living room. When I took down "Christmas" I left the lights up. That corner tends to be a little dark for one reason or another, so this made things a bit more cheerful. And they help me to know when mom is still up - she is still mostly able to remember how to turn them on and off (a large white button on the arm of the sofa).

On a completely different subject, I took the day off from the Smith on Monday. Mostly. I still worked about an hour, sigh. I just can't help myself. I like to get things done incrementally, so I don't have to cram everything in at the last minute. And there are a bunch of things that I can accomplish at home from the computer that need to get done. Oh, and I did stop in for a minute at the Smith. Just to see if anything exciting was happening. Nothing was. Yay!

Score!

Sometimes, it pays to be a working stiff. We had a reception at The Smith last night. I sort of knew what was happening and I sort of didn't. It all came together in the end, as things theatre sort of always do. I did have a tense while doing some computer stuff, but it all worked out. Anyway, it was a catered event. With food and a bar. At the end of the event, the caterer said - take what you want, we are throwing all of it out. So I took a lot of food home - and made dinner from some of it. Yippee! That just means that we are having breakfast for dinner another night. I can hardly wait.

Mom profited from my ill gotten gains - she got strawberries for lunch!

3.25

When I am away from the house for long periods of time, I do worry that I might come back and find mom in some less than optimal condition - fallen, broken something (on her body - I don't care if things break in the house), uber confused, etc. The flip side of that, is, coming home and finding that mom has been gorging herself on anything she can find - as if I don't feed her enough. Last night I came home to find that she had been at the ice cream, big time. Three bowls in front of her and one small one in the kitchen. I asked her if she had any ice cream. "No, I haven't had any ice cream yet," was the response. I pointed at the three bowls in front of her and she said, oh, those, well there wasn't very much in any of them. Sigh. At least she was ok. And she still likes to eat. Those are both good things.

Long load-out for Cinderella last night. Long, hard load out in fact. One of my workers ended up not coming. Which meant that I actually had to do some heavy lifting. And there certainly was enough of that to go around. I had thought load-out would take an hour and a half. It didn't. It took. 3 hours! I was pretty tired by the time I got home. So I played a little and fell into bed. Only to get up and go back to the Smith again today. Sigh. Hopefully I will have most of Monday off from Smith things.

At least my current obsession on the xBox has been broken. True, it was broken by another game, but still, better than nothing. And, having finished with Star Trek for the time being, I am not watching as much on Netflix as I was. I will admit that the kitchen is in a bit of a distraught place recently - probably because I haven't been at the house that much over the past week. Ok, not really, I just don't clean the kitchen as much as would be nice. Oh well.

Just great

Mom had a weird little nubbin on her left wrist. One that she worried a lot. Rub, rub, rub. Pick, pick, pick. Rub, rub, rub. Well, I head a little "Damn" from her and went to see what was wrong. Turns out her nubbin was bleeding. I told her that she shouldn't rub it (for the gazillionth time). She said she hadn't rubbed it. I said "Really?" She said "Really. I cut it off." So I took away all of her nail scissors. Sigh. At least it is making her tractable and docile than she sometimes is...spoke too soon - she wants her scissors back!

I think the home health aide and I took away eight pairs of scissors! Eeek! Luckily, the aide now has permission to help trim mom's nails! Yay!

Long, long Smith Day. And a longer one Saturday and another longish one on Sunday. Maybe I will take Monday off. We shall see. Friday was spent working on getting Cinderella put together - taken off of trucks, out of boxes and set-up. It looks great! And the lighting work we did all was good. We did have to stay a little late to work on cabling of the light trees - lighting trees that stand on the side of the stage - often used in dance performances.

Saturday was an early day - and it was slightly miscommunicated. I thought our techs were needed to run sound and light - not the case - only the deckhands were needed for the cue-to-cue - or spacing - rehearsal. I left Terren in charge and came home for a nap. I need all my good will if I am to successfully take mom down to see the show this evening. Wish me luck!

Work work work work

It looks like there will be a bunch of hours a day for the next three days spent at the Smith. Though I do have, I think, a full staff, so I won't have to be there if I feel that I don't have to be. That would be nifty. What I don't have, and would like, is an elder baby sitter. And for less than $20 an hour. Sigh.

While working on inputting cues for Cinderella, I learned a good bit about the old light board that we have. Like, if the master level is not at 100% all of the lighting percentages that are input are not what they seem. In other words, if it is off by even a fraction, much confusion can occur. As it did me. Sigh. One of my hopes for the Smith is to have a new (to us at least) light board at some point in the not so very distant future. Oh, and I had one of those epiphany-lets: we need to replace some signage with digital signage since the marquee was taken down so very long ago. (If I am not making sense, I blame the hour. It is 8 am as I type this - only 6 hours of sleep.)

Without realizing it, well, that isn't strictly true, I have been doing the Daily Challenge thing for over 3 years without missing a day. Where's my prize?

Had a weird and not good interaction with a vendor this week.

Me: Hey, we're missing something from our order.
Vendor: Ok, I'll send a replacement. If I get it out today, you will have it tomorrow.
Me: Cool, thank you!
Half an hour later. (Close to five - i.e. too late to get the order out that day...)
Vendor: Are you sure you didn't get it?
Me: Quite sure.
Vendor: Because I am sure I sent it.
Me: Really, quite sure.
Vendor: Ok, well. I will get it out tomorrow - you will have it on Wednesday!
Me: (A little irked not to be getting it Tuesday) Fine.
Wednesday - no package - Thursday no package
Thursday - Me: Hi, where's my stuff?
Vendor: You said you would have someone pick it up.
Me: Do you remember telling me it would only cost $10 for you to send it - and me saying great, cause it would cost me three times that to send someone. Then you saying that you would send it so I would get it Wednesday - UPS ground?
Vendor: Yes, I remember. Then I remember you saying that you would have someone pick it up.
Me: Please send it!
Vendor: Ok.

Grrrr. If I don't get it today, it will make me less than professional. Grr, grr, grr.

All better

I can type "l" with impunity! Huzzuh! The healing qualities of time!

In the middle of a little dilemma. I need to head back to the Smith in a little bit - and stay for an hour and a half or so - maybe a little longer - do I try and cook dinner before I go or wait until I come back - closer to 8 pm. Sigh. I think I need to try and get it done before dinner. (Got it handled)

And another today - this time I am going to go, start the movie and then come home and cook dinner. Then back to do a symposium/talk back sort of thing. Yay.

Not quite a week of juicing

By juicing, I mean making juice from fruit and vegetables, not using steroids to enhance muscle growth, in case anyone was confused. I like my physique as it is. Soft and flabby - getting softer and flabbier by the minute! Yay!

I am not noticing any benefits from my juicing regime so far. Though I am getting some muscles from washing the blinkety-blank juicing machine every day. My hair doesn't seem any more shiny. I am not losing weight (not that I really have much to lose, if any). I don't seem smarter. Hmm. Maybe I am doing it wrong. Maybe I need to take it intravenously? Anything is possible.

Fedex irked the hell out me yesterday. I am waiting on a new blu-ray player. It was supposed to be delivered on Friday. And it wasn't. Well it was, but it wasn't. The delivery guy couldn't manage to find the entrance to the Smith. Nor could he the next day. Nor the next. So today, I called them to see what the hell was happening. Apparently the driver wasn't a ground driver (whatever that means) and he tried the big glass doors on the front of the building and gave up when he found them locked. Sigh. The first customer service person told me I would have to drive to Rochester to pick the package up. The second one told me that they couldn't communicate with their drivers. What? Who did he think he was talking to?! Then a real customer service person called me and told me that the driver was too far away to come back (but hadn't been when I first called, since I called 5 minutes after he had failed in his third try to deliver the package) (and I had been in the building for half an hour already at that point) and that they would send a ground delivery person - still not sure why that makes a difference - today (Wednesday) to try again. Oh. My. Word! I am probably not going to set up the device tomorrow as I won't really have time to play with it before the movie that night or the movie on Thursday - both are on disk and not on the server. I will probably set it up next week at some point. (Got it, btw)

We have a busy week this week. I am still working on getting the lighting accomplished. I got a pretty good rhythm going, and if I hadn't had to spend an hour on the phone, I would have had the lion's share of the cues input. Wednesday - more light work, as well as a meeting and a movie - I don't have to stay for the whole movie, but I will be there to get it started. Then Thursday, I have to be there at the beginning and at the end of the movie. But I won't have to stay for the whole thing. I have a projectionist there to do that. Yippee! Friday, the ballet people arrive. Saturday is the ballet and I have promised to take mom. Sunday we have a conference meeting of some kind about which I know very little. Sigh. I'll just happily wing it. With help from someone. I will ask amongst the crew on Friday and Saturday and see if anyone is available for Sunday. Phew. I hope I survive.

Master Chef and such

It was quite a busy day at the Smith. We worked on setting up lights from 10 till 12 and then from 2 till five. I will admit that the entering of the cues is taking a lot longer than I had anticipated. Mainly from user error I would think. Three steps forward, two steps back, five steps forward, three steps back, one forward, etc. I think I have completed 10 out of 75 cues. Eeek! Meanwhile, my staff did a good job getting the gritty work - hanging, circuiting and gelling the instruments in accordance with the ballet's light plot for this weekend - handled with minimal supervision. All we have to do is some rough focussing, some more gelling and some cabling to get ready for 10 circuits on each side of the stage for side lighting. Wow. That will be a lot of cable! Just a lot more slogging. Sigh.

I came home three times - once for lunch, once for dinner and once in the evening - to check on mom. The third time she was, sadly, freaking out. I settled her down, put on a Thin Man movie and hoped that the timing would work out. It didn't.

Because of inclement weather, the signal got dropped - we use an HD antenna to get TV to the Smith - and I had to hustle back. I arrived just in time to see the whole group of people de-Smithify. If they had only waited another 15 minutes (yes, after I had returned and brought the antenna back inside), everything would have been fine. But they didn't. They did eventually come back. In time to see our Geneva native win! Yay!

Just finished watching Star Trek from TOS through Voyager but I haven't watched all of the Enterprise episodes. Yet. They are on my list, but about #5. I need to watch some non-Star Trek stuff for a while.

I type therefore I type...

Here's the thing about Facebook: if you have cool pictures to share - put them on instagram.

Here's another thing: I comment on a lot of FB posts. And like a bunch as well. Bully for me.

I would like the Apple Watch if it weren't tethered to a phone. An Apple watch/phone.

Saw a woman last night that I would have a crush on if I still had those kinds of things...oh, right, I do. Nevermind. And I will most likely never see her again.

Oddnesses

A friend's son just died last night. He was a great kid and it came as a big surprise to everyone. I am sure we will learn more eventually, right now, just sending happy thoughts! This is not the sort of news I like to wake up to.

I have had a pleasant sort of vacation for the past couple of weeks. Or rather, I am about to go into a fairly busy couple of weeks at The Smith. Today is going to be a bit of a marathon - not that I have ever or will ever (though ever is a long time) run or walk or anything a marathon - but that is the expression. I am heading into the Smith at 10 and will be there till noon. Then back at 2 and there till 5 or so. Then back at 6 until 11. Though I have staff. Or rather I might have staff. So I might not be there the whole time. That would be nifty. Why have staff if they can't help make it so that I can actually do my job (directing them to do the actual hands on work)?

Speaking of work, I am a little irked. Some (most) of my workers are not good about responding to emails. In social life, I totally understand. Life gets in the way, friends will understand, etc. In work, I don't understand. An email is like a contract. I send a message asking for or stating specific information. I need to know that the message has been received and understood. When I hear nothing, I don't get that closure, that agreement. Grrr. Ok, I just sent out a nice message (I thought it was nice) asking everyone to respond. I know I will get a couple of people responding to that message in various ways. Sigh.

How the mighty have fallen

Luckily, I haven't tried to create soufflés, otherwise they might have fallen too. I was looking in my fridge last night, for some dip from Wegman's, when I glanced at two flavors of balsamic vinegar that I have on my vinegar shelf. Yes, I have a shelf mostly made up of different types of vinegars. Did you know that there are lots of different types of vinegars? There was a time in my life when I thought all vinegar was the same. Anyway, I realized that at one point during my tenure here at Chez Schoen-René I was cooking up quite a storm, making lots of different meals and trying lots of different things. Not so much any more. Now that mom's memory is so far gone, and her taste buds are not as adventurous, adventuresome, I have been sticking to a more boring set of food and dinner options. Easier, for sure. But not as much fun...oh, I just remembered, I might have left over hot dogs and baked beans in the fridge! And it is lunch time! Callooh! Callay!

For those keeping track, yes, I still have some owiness in my right ring finger. Sigh. Maybe sensitivity is a better word for it. 

I added some witch finger grapes to this morning's juice. Has anyone ever heard of or seen these cool grapes? I have another cool grape that I will tell you about after I taste them. 

Rainy Day!

Yay, it is raining. And cool. That's cool. I wish I could send this rain to droughty bits of the country and world. Where is the much vaunted weather control that was supposed to be up and functioning according to Science Fiction of the 50s? Hmm? And I want my self driving/flying car! (Jet packs never did it for me)

My owness quotient is down to about a 2 out of 100 at this point. Still a smudge sensitive but I don't wince every time I type an "l."

Oh, I am in love! I thought I should share the good news! I bought a bidet for my bathroom (thinking that mom wouldn't be able to figure out how to use a bidet at this point in her mental decline). It wasn't very expensive. No bells and whistles. Just pushes out a nice variable strength stream of water upon request. I hadn't realized what I had been missing this whole time. The only time I had a used a bidet previously was while traveling in Europe as a child and I did it wrong and got water every where. But that was 40+ years ago. Now I sing the praises of the bidet! My world is rocked! And a bit damper than usual, but thems the breaks.

Less Owie now

Thank you for all of your kinds words and thoughts and gifts! I especially love the padded ring finger cozy that someone (who shall remain nameless)(particularly since it was an anonymous gift) sent me.  I can almost type without worry again. Yippee and huzzah!

Day three of my juicing experiment. Only 87 more days to go! And I haven't started trying mom on it yet. I want to get a formula working that tastes decent for me before trying to get one that tastes decent for mom. Lemon juice helped a lot. Someone else suggested trying golden beets - I am going to look for them at Wegman's when I go food shopping today. But I digress, which is perfectly normal. No exciting changes that I can tell so far. My hair isn't falling out, or growing faster or anything. At least I have not reached the cousin it resemblance stage yet...

A-Smithing I will go! Today is getting ducks in a row for October movies! Yay! Updating the website and then adding the movies to our pre-event slide show. Fun and exciting times are had by all.

Oh, we found the nature videos again. Mom watched a lot of them back a while ago. The main problem I have with them is that there is no "auto play" feature. So I have to try and check on her after each one is over. Not something I can put on and go about my business with. I hope she continues liking Doc Martin. She is, unfortunately, over the "As Time Goes By" series. Sigh.

Anything with an "L" in it hurts

Yes, my owie on my right hand ring finger still hurts. I never thought I would envy two fingered typists. Ow. Heck, typing "ow" can hurt if I don't move my fingers over and use my third finger more. Ow.

Did I mention that mom has started to forget who I am? That is a nice thing. She often asks me know if I am her son. And if she has other children. Everyone once in a while she thinks I am her parent. Yay.

Oh, one thing that happened during my hiatus was I got to miss my eldest niece's wedding. That sucked. I had lots of warning. I just couldn't manage it mentally, emotionally and fiscally. Well, I could manage fiscally, but it would have been a lot of money that I am hoarding for when things get really bad. Or just worse. I would have liked to have shared Kristen's big day. I just couldn't see taking mom. And I couldn't find a reasonable method of having her looked after by anyone I trusted or wouldn't have minded having to put up with her for however long I would have been away. See, it is a two edged sword, this caregiving thing, at least for me. I do long to not do it, but I also do not want anyone else to do it. They aren't me. I know that I am not always the nicest or most patient, but Mom is my mom. It might be a trust issue. Who knows? In any case, missing the wedding was not a good thing, but surprisingly the world did not end! Huzzuh!

Getting Started Again

Hi All! (Or both) It has been a while since I have posted. Mostly because I haven't felt like it. I am sure that there are little things, medium sized and maybe large sized things I could have written about, but I just didn't feel like writing. I didn't want to sit and write. I wanted to sit and do other stuff. Like play bridge on my phone. Or play on my xBox. Or stare off into the distance. Or watch Star Trek or Pan Am. I have also been working a good bit. Actually the next two weeks are going to be busy at The Smith. And I have a bunch of stuff to do to get ready for that. In fact, I am putting that off right now and writing this instead.

Quick catch up since July. Mom - deteriorating pretty well - she has some puffy leg issue that we are trying to fix. The doctor has given her medicine and wants her to go back on the c-pap machine - mom doesn't want to go back on the c-pap machine. Mom isn't doing the other things she is supposed to be doing - like drinking lots of fluids and exercising (ha) - and keeping her feet elevated. One of her new behaviors is to sit on the edge of the bed and read. For hours. So I am not surprised that her ankles are getting puffy. I am hoping to try the ABC miracle juice thing with her - more on that in a bit. She has been on a kick of watching Doc Martin a lot. And I recently got us the existing Downton Abbey DVDs. Those we have been watching together. I don't know yet if she will want to watch them multiple times or not. Yesterday we voted. Could well be her last time voting. She could barely sign her name - even with help from me and from the check-in person (who's daughter - Mary Van something went to school with Juliet apparently). Sigh. We shall see what happens come November. So, the long and the short of mom is - she keeps moving forward slowly and so far we are both managing her being here in the house. Huzzuh. Oh, we went to the dentist too - well, mom got her teeth cleaned.

On my end - I am working a lot at the Smith. I have an owie on my right ring finger. My bankruptcy is all through. I am starting to work on my beer vlog. I went on two dates with a nice person and then she stopped writing back. I am playing too much xBox (well, other people would say that was the case). I am not getting out much. I do hope to get mom and me to Maine in October. Ah, the miracle juice thing. I have read stuff about what drinking beet (ick) apple and carrot juice can do for one's health. They say a minimum of 60 days to see real results. I drank some this morning and felt nauseous for the first four hours afterwards. Sigh. Maybe some lemon juice will help. I'll try that tomorrow.