Nice Day!

It has been a lovely Saturday thus far, despite the lack of sleep caused by a bit of overnight mom waking action. Yay!

First, our handy guy came and tried to cover the rust on the ceiling tiles in the red room with more white paint. I think another thirty coats and they might just disappear. Maybe. He also is getting more serious about putting in a removable gate at the top of the stairs. He noticed that there had been a gate there previously. I sort of vaguely remember a gate there - does anyone else? (I know that Karl won't read this, so Juliet? Ernst?) I think it is going to be pricey! And who knows if it will be any help at all. Anyway...

Then, a friend from Syracuse came with the primary intention of spending time with mom so that I could have a little time off. Yippee! Since this was her first time here, I decided to not venture too far afield, in case they didn't get along or in case there were questions. As a great guest, she actually came bearing gifts. A bookcase (who can't use another bookcase?!)

Lovely bookcase

Nummy cookies!

and a big plate of delicious cookies! Score! She spent most of the day sitting with mom, knitting and chatting. I fed us lunch (though I made her make her own salad) and then napped a bit and then took a quick trip to the Smith and puttered there for a bit. Then headed to Wegman's to get some of the ingredients for dinner tonight. I am making a version of tacos where the filling gets put in bun dough making a sort of taco sandwich pocket thingie. I am hoping that it will be easy for mom to eat that way. Anything is possible. If not, I will, next time, go back to making beans and rice and mixing all of that together. But I do like to do a little experimenting now and again.

Turned out ok - needed more filling I think

I also broke up some ice in the front of the house. My driveway is kind of scary just now. But I did do a little work on it. Yay.

Oh, I forgot to say that I have been working, slowly, on preparing for the next step in mom care. I called the Alzheimer's Association and am getting a packet of information from them, as well as an application for Respite care for mom. For me. For both of us. If I play my cards right, I can get 80 hours of respite help this year. Oooh, that would be nifty. I also have been playing phone tag with an elder care lawyer. My big questions for her are: what questions do I need to ask an elder care lawyer; what assets can be protected; how expensive is getting that help; what happens when mom goes into a nursing home, while there is still insurance money and after the insurance money runs out; when to transfer the house into my name and how I go about doing that - etc. Lots of questions, I guess. I will try again on Monday, all things being equal. Speaking of mom, we get to go to the dentist on Wednesday. Huzzuh. I get so confused at the end of February - how suddenly it becomes March. What a difference a couple or three days make!

Tonight I am going to watch Lucy. I am not all that excited about the movie itself, just interested in watching Scarlett Johansson. Yay! Though I do generally like Luc Besson movies...

Twitter Sucks

I am so irked at twitter it isn't even funny. For some reason, emails from them don't get to my earthlink account. This happened once before and it got resolved. So far, I have yet to hear an actual peep (or tweet) out of their tech support. Poo on them, even. Double poo. On a stick. And still not a peep out of their tech support. Hate them lots!

As some of you have heard, I have been looking for a lost pair of shoes. For a couple of weeks. I looked in all the places that made sense to me. In my room (which, admittedly, was less than pristine), in my car and at the Smith. No luck. So I searched more deeply - which to me means actually moving stuff. Cleaning my room and taking a bunch of clutter out of my bedroom closet did not reveal the shoes. Asking at the Smith if they turned up in the lost and found did not reveal the shoes. I checked my off - and again, lifted things up. I lifted all the stuff in my car (not the car itself, I am strong but not that strong), opened the unopenable trunk (and lifted stuff) and still no shoes. Well gosh, where could they be. Next thought? Under furniture - in my mom's room - nope, in my bedroom, nope, at the Smith (I had this niggling feeling that I left them under the light board at some point - but I didn't), in my living room at home - ahhhhh! Eureka (or is that Geronimo?)!

I am watching both Fringe and Witches of East End. Boy the Witches of East End is terrible!

Malificent

For some reason, I added Malificent to my Netflix DVD list. It arrived yesterday. I planned to watch it with mom, but when the time came, she was asleep. And after watching a bit of the movie, I realized that she wouldn't get it, probably. Too fantastic (in the way of magic and fantasy and such). Overall, I enjoyed the movie. Yay. Anyone else seen it?

Yay, laundry is done! Well, the hardest part is done - the washing and drying - ok, not really that hard - just a bunch of lugging. And quarters. (No Mary, I still haven't bought a washer for the house, sigh). And I did some Smith work - mostly working on the slideshow and talking with Kelly about events past and future. Lots of stuff coming up in the summer. Yippee?

Tomorrow it is back to the beginning - March is replete with events. I just hope I can get some help. We shall see.

Work, play and cleaning

It is one of those multi-function days.

I got up relatively early and headed to The Smith to test a few things. The HDMI splitter started working again, which is good and confusing. We shall see if it works for the projectionist on Thursday, as she has a DVD film to show. I also tested the DVD, added a trailer to the playlists, called the electrician about when he would be coming to start work on some lighting work that we requested a month ago (sigh) and blew out the rusty boiler water. Phew! I also went to the bank and checked in with the people who do the kiosk for us.

After that, a quick trip to the grocery store, where I got some huge beets!! Yay. I had my beet, apple, carrot and lime juice this morning. Yum. I also did my yoga. Sadly, the only thing that I have actually accomplished every day so far this year is writing my blog. So far, so good. Oh, and I have been doing my Daily Challenge response every day. Baby steps.

When I got back from my tough morning, I played for a little bit. I am playing Dishonored which has been enjoyable so far. A cross between an FPS (first person shooter) and an RPG (Role Playing Game). Fun stuff. I have gotten stuck a couple of times, but many people have gone before, so there is help aplenty on the internet.

Next up, room cleaning. My room hasn't been cleaned in at least a year. I was going to take a "before" picture, but that would sort of defeat the purpose of cleaning my room. I might take an after picture, just so that I can look and see what my room looks like when it is neat (ish). I don't mind a messy room, or a chaotic space, generally. Weird, right?

Wow, it really wasn't all that dirty - just cluttered. The status of my existence just now. Maybe one day I will be down to the minimum amount of belongings and stuff, but that day will be a long way in my future, I fear...next step - dusting - and then vacuuming. Yippee!

Augustus, vacuum cleaner repairman! So, I started to vacuum my room and noticed that the bag wasn't inflating. Oh no, Mr. Bill! (I am reading a book about Saturday Night Live) I took the thing apart and got out the clog (the entire tube was filled - I think we kept the last bag in too long...). It was not as easy as it could have been - but it is done now - and my room is as clean as it is ever going to get. Huzzuh! Time to cook dinner and chillax!

Patient Puzzlers

Editing can be a long process. So it might be decades before you see a finished puzzle video. Or I could do it down and dirty. Hmm. We shall see. Time...

It is another quiet day today - nothing pressing (or weighing me down) about the Smith today. Yay. I take that back, I do get to create the weekly email blast. I don't know how long it takes to do in one fell swoop - I like to do it piecemeal - a little here, a little there - seems less onerous somehow. I just hope to have it ready and out by 4:00 pm today. Doable, for sure.

Other than that, not a lot of plans for the day. Maybe some work on the puzzle video - I had a few ideas - Adding titles might be the first bit I try. I will wait to try adding voiceovers until later. I would like to read some. Maybe take a trip to the composter. Maybe shovel my driveway a teeny bit. I think dinner will see the end of the Chinese Food.

Well, I have the video under four minutes. I think I will be able to get the whole thing under three. Yippee! Just need some judicious editing. Huzzuh!

Got some reading done - the first book is Live From New York about Saturday Night Live. Interesting stuff - not earth shaking, just interesting. I remember watching the show that first year - and missing the Muppets when they left.

Made lunch for mom, ate a little something myself and had to take a nap. It is hot and stuffy up here - and the food contributed to my feeling of exhaustion. Almost done with my Smith stuff for the day. I do need to go to the grocery store, but I might not do it, just to be a rebel!

Yup, looks like I will be staying inside all day! Huzzuh! I needed a day off, day off. True, I did do some work for the Smith, but not too much. Tomorrow, though, I will have to go in. Tonight? Who knows?! I need to make dinner in a little while, then after that...

Books actual Books

(Sung to the tune of Food Glorious Food) Books Actual Books - Big pages of Writing...

Yes, I got two books from the library. Now all I have to do is actually read them. I would much rather listen to them. Reading seems like so much work. (I am 68 pages into the first.)

I have been up for a couple of hours and just don't feel like doing anything. True, I did do one Smith thing - might do more if the mood strikes - ended up doing a few Smith things. Huzzuh.

Sleepy now, so I am going to pack it in for this very short post. Hopefully more tomorrow, though one never knows, does one?

Time to make a movie-let

After finishing my little 500 piece puzzle and the capturing the raw video, now I get to try and put together a little movie showing the puzzle process. Hopefully I didn't scratch myself inappropriately too often. Hmm. I will, of course, watch it before I post anything. I hope to have the next couple of days off from doing too much Smith work - so I might be able to knock something out then. Oh, and laundry. I really could do with a trip to the laundromat.

So, the first look at the puzzle movie looks like it is 2 hours long. Um, no. I am thinking the whole thing needs to be about five minutes total. We shall see if I can make that happen. Got it down to 10 minutes so far. I will see if that will do. I want to add some times, maybe some simple transitions, some narration etc. Fun fun fun!

It has been a weird day today. I am not sure why. Mom forgot that she had eaten lunch. And dropped all of her pills - she self recovered a few of them. Yay. I did shower and trim my beard, so there's that. And I did some catch-up in my email.

I went into the Smith to get things ready for the Oscars viewing event. The first problem was that no ABC channels had a strong signal strength. Grrrr. I went to put the antenna outside, but the lid was snowed shut - meaning that we had to climb out to the roof and do some shoveling. Then there was the problem of getting the images right on the screen. Took a little playing around, but we got there. And then, it was time to get mom some dinner. Then back to the Smith - I got the video down in the basement/cabaret working - Terren got the sound working. And there really wasn't anything for me to do anymore, so I came home.

Mom and I watched some Oscars, though I did pop down and watch a little of the baking show. Then we watched Downton Abbey together - lots of drama of course - then back to the Oscars for mom and Grantchester (and the Oscars) for me.

Puzzle me this

Got some good puzzle work done. But my eyes were starting to cross.

My hate of windows machines continues. Just saying. The second computer I bought is terrible. It seems really slow and has lots of pop-ups and ads and things. I am trying to disable them all, but it is slow and seems really frustrating to get it to do the simplest of things - like download an app. Sigh.

I was in Wendy's this afternoon to get lunch for me and mom. Yes was playing on the music system. When did Yes become main stream enough to be played in a fast food restaurant?

Went into the Smith this morning, after getting a wake up call from the tech support people who took "I'll call you at 10 am" literally. Ooops. Anyway, I went in and built a little test playlist and lo and behold it played correctly. So I tried the playlist that we had been trying last night and it didn't work. Answer to the question: corrupted playlist. Further answer, Augustus corrupted it. Boo. Anyway, all fixed, all better. Started working on getting the TV looking right again. And it doesn't look nearly correct - so I will work on that tomorrow. We shall see if I can get it decent in an hour or so. Should be able to.

Watched Fury the other night. I liked it a lot. Not quite like Inglorious Basterds. Very interesting, about tanks. I thought Brad Pitt and Shia LeBeouf both did a good job. Glad I got it from Netflix!

I am kicking puzzle butt! I figure another day or two at the most. Then it will be time to look at the video I took to see if it can be made into anything interesting. Well, interesting to anyone other than me. I find everything I produce interesting. Sigh.

Tomorrow is another day. And hopefully the last day of a very long, long, long period of non-stop events at the Smith. Maybe next week I will actually be able to do some laundry. That would be nifty.

What the Pluck?!

So many problems at the Smith - the lamps I bought for the projector don't seem to be working - that sucks. Then the lights in the cartouches and the sunrises stopped working. And the smallest thing - the monitor for the DVD player seems to have stopped working. And I had my A-Team on duty - so there was no panic which is good. I hope I can get some of this resolved by time for the movie tonight. We have movie, movie and then four hours or more of TV rebroadcasting - all on a weekend - though I do have all day today to resolve the issues. Ha.

Well, they were pretty easily resolved. The lamp I just kept shoving in until it worked. I was tempted to find a rubber mallet but I didn't need to in the end. Yay! I ordered another new bulb just in case. I like to have two on hand whenever possible.

The lights in the cartouches was, luckily, bonehead user error. Yesterday, while setting up the wifi extenders, I unplugged what I thought was the refrigerator. Turns out that the power packs for the lights are plugged into the wall. Who knew? I certainly didn't. Anyway, all plugged in and happy now!

Lastly, the HDMI splitter thing. Not sure what is going on there, but ordered a new one, just in case. And the tech support people got back to me, but I haven't gotten up the energy to get back with them.

Oh, I did actually start the puzzle and the movie. Though for a bit today the camera was not functioning (I apparently don't know how to make it record...).

More Smith problems. The proprietary application that Emerging Pictures makes us use stopped working - we could get sound and image from a dvd and from the laptop. Ok, sound from the laptop, I didn't try image. I will try that tomorrow, when I go in bright and early and see if I can get the whole thing resolved. That would be nifty. I don't want to have to stress too much.

What I really need is a massage and a few good hugs. The former is more likely.

Time to chill.

Windows Operating System No Bueno

Sue me, I would rather pay more and work less than pay less and work more. I am setting up the second PC Laptop for the Smith and I couldn't be having much less fun. The whole start thing with different boxes of different sizes and sometimes obscure or arcane icons - ewww. And IE (Internet Explorer) just sucks. The interface is boxy and ugly and I have no idea what the hell is going on. Poo even. Macs just work. Did you notice the period? Sure, anyone can fuck up anything. So if you really want to do stuff way outside the huge box that Apple provides - sure, you might run into problems. And lots of them. Because, guess what - that isn't what an Apple device is designed to do. It is designed to let people do lots of stuff that most people want to do. And it lets them do it easily. True, I have been using Apple devices since 1985 so I am used to them - though they have gone through a lot of changes during that time.

Meanwhile, the first (second) camera miraculously appeared in my iPhone app! How cool is that?! I have it in the living room right now. I wish there were one I could make mom wear...

I am doing home stuff today - I might actually get through my teeny list. If I do, I might also go into the Smith later today and see if I can get the two wifi extenders up and working. We shall see. I would really rather do nothing Smith-y today if possible. And I think I am going to do laundry tomorrow afternoon. I think we are in dire need.

Maybe the mattress pad I bought for mom will have to go. Shame because she asked for a foam mattress for so long. It has made the bed really high and mom seems to be scared of it. I will talk it over with Jennie when she comes in today. (I forgot...)

Started!

Yesterday I ventured into the back entryway and looked for an extension cord. I found lots of them, and some powerstrips/surge protectors. Go me! So, I hooked up my video camera and did a little test of 5 sec interval photography. Way too few exposures. I am going to set it at 1. And I think I will start on the puzzle either tonight or tomorrow depending on how I feel. So excited!! I love projects. Especially ones where I will get to play with technology - the video camera and later with iMovie. Yippee and huzzuh!

Today was another day that seemed non-stop. I got my two additional wifi cameras for the house. I forgot to check to see if I can have more than one on a network. I hope so! So far, I haven't had any luck in getting them hooked up. I might work on it more tonight or maybe tomorrow. My mind is feeling a bit fried just now.

Also got two packages for the Smith. One is another new to us laptop that I am going to set up tonight. The other is two wifi extenders so that we can get internet down to the dressing rooms and have a stronger internet presence in the projection booth. Woo hoo. More work for me to do. Sigh. 

It is late in the day, about time to start getting ready for dinner. I would like a break, please. Seriously.

Another Marathon Day!

It is one of those days were I feel like I have been running all day long. I woke up at 6 to mom once again trying to make a pilgrimage downstairs. Sigh. It took some convincing, but she finally agreed to stay upstairs - where it is ten degrees warmer and where I can keep a better eye on her. I got her a yogurt and started to work. Lots of things to do for the Smith.

I feel like I worked from 6 until 10. Took a short nap and then started working again. Some for mom - I made her lunch and did her pills - which have been added to - a vitamin D tab (thank you Mary) and an iron tablet recommended by the doctor (who said her iron is a little low). Interestingly (well, I think it is interesting) mom seems to be perkier since she started taking the vitamin D. Go figure. I hope the iron does wonders too. That would be niftilicious! Then continued work for the smith from 2 ish until now. Another hour and a half. I probably won't charge the Smith all of that time - maybe 3 hours today so far instead of five and a half. Sigh. I really, really wish I was on salary. I hate having to think about how much time I spend working. Glarp.

Showering was accomplished. Yippee! I hope to change my sheets as well. And I have to go and get some groceries - I have decided on soup and salad for dinner - split pea soup. Mom used to make that soup - so I am hoping that it is a comfort soup of some kind. That would be great. I think I will toss in some sausage bits as well. I found a second blitz hacker (a weird device that chops things up pretty quickly - the poor person's food processor. Ok, I guess a poor person's food processor would just be a knife. This is in between a knife and a cuisinart.

Just a quick post squeezed in on this busy feeling day. Huzzuh!

Mawwiage

My excitement today is heading out into the winter wonderland that is Geneva NY today (I think the high temp is supposed to be 7 degrees Fahrenheit - and we have a decent amount of freshish snow on the ground) to get to the Smith to meet with a woman who is planing on having her wedding ceremony at the Smith. When I agreed to see her, I didn't realize that it was President's day (I think we ought to go back to having individual days off for each president - what would you do on GW Bush's birthday?) and that the Smith would be closed! Well, poo. It will, though, get me out of the house for a little while. I do need to do some grocery shopping. Mom was asking for tater tots all evening. When she was awake.

Mom was up until about 5 pm yesterday and then slept until 11 or 12 at night. Yippee? I watched all of the stuff we usually "watch" together on Sunday night - the baking show where the the 17 year old got tossed, which was a pretty good showing for anyone - top five - then Downton Abbey - where everyone is blithely accepting Edith adopting some random child - and lastly Grantchester which is getting even more melodramatic. I hope the vicar ends up with the German woman - but since it is a drama, I bet they won't end up together. And of course, mom woke up pretty thoroughly right after the shows ended and spent the next half hour complaining that she didn't get to watch them. Which makes me a bad person because she was sleeping during the show. Yippee.

Mom just asked for a backstage tour of "this place" - asking to see where the people were riding the horses...and where all the other people who live here were. (Weird that those two words don't rhyme...)

Ooh, I might be a polymath. I know I am a polyglot. I hate poli-sci. Not sure about polygamy or polyamorousness. And I am not roly-poly. Ok, probably not a polymath, but a polymath aspirant.

Those Four little words we all long to hear.

It has been a while since I tried to make a quiche. So I attempted one today. I think it turned out pretty well, all things considered. Mom used to eat them at least. Anyway, tonight I head those four little words everyone who cooks a meal for someone else longs to hear, "It tastes like cardboard." Music to my ears for sure.

My mom thinks that I am super valuable to the Smith. She asks me if they appreciate me. I think they do, most of the time. I am making a list of things that have happened during my tenure at the Smith, big and small. It is actually a pretty impressive list. Ok, I think it is impressive. I might ask Kelly to weigh in at some point. And maybe Jessica. I guess this is partly because I want to be known partially for what I have done and not just for what I have done lately.

It is weird. I haven't really done much today, yet I feel like I have accomplished a good bit. I am slowly getting closer to being ready to video tape a puzzle put together. A friend asked me why I wanted to create the video - and I realized the answer: I love time lapse photography. In college, a couple friends and I put together a little stop action film. I wish I could find it. I found a lot of my other film work - ok, not a lot - I have found a few pieces. All crap - except for the Alice in Wonderland bit I did in High School - it had Abigail Saltonstall and Karen Bowlby in it - go me! And Doug Orr, Hunt Stehli and James Marquand. I wonder if I ought to digitize it and put it up on the internet. Yes, I think that will be another project sometime soon. I have it on videotape somewhere so I can get that digitally transferred somehow - actually I think Karl (my brother)(who doesn't read this blog - or much of anything since he is so busy!) might actually have that technology. Hmm. Anyway, I remember seeing time lapse photography of all sorts of things - flowers growing, buildings being built, I just thought a puzzle being put together would be cool. And it might help me to see my process. And document my obsession if I time stamp. Can I time stamp a time lapse film? Hmm. I don't know. We shall see, I guess.

One game down, many still to go. I finished Assassin's Creed Liberation today. I do enjoy the Assassin's Creed games - great historic places they recreate - and all the climbing around and exploring is fun. And there are some elements of Role Playing involved - not a lot, but a little.

And that is about all, really. And working on that Smith accomplishment list. And trying to get through a teeny headache - I don't often get headaches, so I am confused whence this one came. Maybe not enough water?

Despite starring Emma Stone, Amazing Spider-Man 2 was pretty bad. Fun, but bad. Glad I rented it from Netflix instead of watching it in the theatre!

Beware a bitter blogger

Not terribly bitter, really. Just a little bit bitter. Yesterday I posted a status asking for help with a few things - decluttering, elder care and a landline - and the response was totally underwhelming. A few people out of state liked the post. Yay! People read it. Two people actually responded - one from out of state - Thank you Luying - and one from here in Geneva. She actually had a few helpful suggestions that eventually ended up going nowhere - but life is like that. And that was it. Yippee! Such an outpouring of support.

Meanwhile, at the Smith, my workers have been acting weird. Calling out, not paying attention to details, not responding to emails or texts or phone calls at all. Whatever. If I didn't have my mom to take care of, it wouldn't matter. But I do, so it does. This too shall pass.

Long day - though I have had a nap. I was woken up at 5 by mom once again trying to quietly go downstairs to get some food. Sigh. I am looking forward to the gate being installed at some point soon. Then I basically stayed up since mom needed sustenance. I got her a yogurt I think.

More tomorrow - got a post this!

Nice package!

My package from Amazon came. I ordered it only a few days ago and it came yesterday. Huzzuh! Full of three items that will improve my quality of life. Ok, maybe not, but I am glad to have them.

My items

What do we have here? First, we have a tub hair catcher. Maybe this will make it so that I don't have to use more of that caustic hair clog removal liquid. That would be nifty. I loved the instructions on the back.

Sometimes instructions are so, er, helpful

Next we have a book about the Feldenkrais method of exercise. It is tough reading. Maybe I will get a video. (There are some on the interwebs! Huzzuh!) I hoped that this would give me some ideas on how to get mom to exercise without her realizing I was getting her to exercise. Maybe not.

Lastly, we have a cool piece of technology. It is a wifi extender - train it and then place it at the edge of your routers range and it will create a second range. How cool is that? I had purchased a web camera to help me keep an eye on mom and her bedroom was a little out of range of the router in the house. This device has made it possible for me to set the camera up and check in on mom's bedroom when I am not there with her. Even from the Smith. I am guessing that anyone can check in on her at any time. And by anyone, I mean anyone who knows the camera name and password. And I just ordered two more cameras so that I can keep track of her in other parts of the house. Huzzuh! They have come down in price tremendously! Now if only I could find one for the Smith that was reasonably priced. I need one that can look from the Smith to the Kiosk so I and others can look at it to see if things look right.

I had a thought

I finished the puzzle. I don't know how long it actually took and I don't really care. I do care that I was a little obsessed, as I normally am, with the puzzle. All the pieces were there. Yippee! I am not going to start a new puzzle right away. But I am going to start one. I have two more new ones lying around. Neither of them really appeals, though. One is a piece of a tapestry and the other says it's impossible. So maybe I will do one of those or maybe not. We shall see. Anyway, I think I am going to video tape the whole thing. My video camera has a setting where it will take a picture at a given interval. My thought is to turn it on whenever I work on the puzzle. iMovie is a decent editor - so we shall see if I can make anything interesting. Doubtful, but one never knows. I like projects.

Ta-da!

I decided to take a trip out to my composter last night. It was not the best idea I have ever had. I was prepared, with a head/flashlight, forgetting that there is a bright light on the back porch. Anyway, the snow was deep, the icicles scary and there was a creature waiting for me where the composter had been. Luckily, the Doctor appeared and whisked it away.

Ex-term-in-ate!

The Pebbles make such great stereophonic sound, it/they is/are awesome!! (Did you like that sentence?)

Mom tried to go downstairs again this morning. Not that I am opposed to her going downstairs. She was trying to be independent. Yay. Though going downstairs while I am sleeping is not a good thing. I haven't done a good job of "mommy proofing" the kitchen. I don't have all the sharp utensils put away, I don't have a way to turn off the oven so that she can't try and cook something. I haven't put away all the things that she shouldn't eat, etc. I told her it was great to be independent, but only when I was awake to help her out in case she got into a situation she couldn't handle. Which at this point seems like most any situation. Sigh. Anyway, she woke me up at 7 in the morning - not too terribly early in the greater scheme of things. And she has been awake most of the day so far! Yay!

I like Pebbles

The other day, Newegg.com sent me an email as they do on a weekly basis. Usually they go right into the trash. This time, something caught my eye. A pair of JBL Pebbles speakers. For $29 dollars. The speakers are for laptops and they rock! (Oh, I made a funny. Or JBL did...)

Up and at 'em! I need to work on fixing up the slide show for the Smith. It is a little weird working on the slide show remotely. Some strange behaviors that I am still trying to figure out. I do need to go into the Smith to do a few things - test a couple of movies, set up the speakers for tonight, bleed the furnace...then this afternoon, a doctor's appointment with mom. That'll be fun, for sure. It looks like I will get to all the calling and such that I am supposed to be doing on her behalf tomorrow. And maybe laundry tomorrow too. Gee, isn't it great fun, reading about my day and my plans?

The doctor wasn't all that much help. He suggested upping mom's dosage of her sertraline (sp?) as that might help with mom's anxiety. I just don't want her to be a drooler. Didn't do anything about her knee - because, well, we didn't really want to get into the whole thing at this point since it is functional still.

My right wrist is twanging for some reason. Maybe I am typing too much? Or working on the puzzle too much? I am at that point now (way past where today's picture shows) where I think that there aren't enough pieces left and that I am missing four or five. I did find two of three edge pieces that had eluded me for a long time. Huzzuh!

Is it sad that I look forward to taking mom to the doctor's because I get to interact with people who don't have dementia and at the same time don't need to worry that mom is ok?

Sunday Night and Tuesday

I forgot to write about Sunday night. It was our tv night together. Starting with the news. Then 60 minutes. I like 60 minutes generally - though who knows how balanced their reporting actually is. Then we put it on PBS for the rest of the night. Starting with the British Baking show. Sadly, my favorite participant got booted. I saw it coming, though. Next we watched the most recent episode of Season 5 of Downton Abbey. Not too much exciting happened except for the middle sister taking control of her child and moving out. Yay! Poor Edith. Somewhere in there, they showed an ad for Grantchester - which is not a great show - but it is enjoyable. I think the lead looks a little like the guy on The Mentalist. It is at least somewhat entertaining. And that was it. Four hours of TV with mom. I think she slept for 3 of it all together. Sigh.

Great progress on the puzzle today! I finally found a piece that connected to the edge. Woohoo! Sadly, I was vindicated in my thought that I had the whole frame backwards. That was joyous, flipping it around. One of the problems with my rolling up mat is that it isn't slippy slidy - which is probably good in most cases - but is causing me a few problems with sliding big chunks of completed puzzle bits around.

Feeling sleepy today and there is a long row to hoe. First ho to roe is more sno-blow (ing). I don't think we got that much snow since yesterday, but the snowplows have done an excellent job of blocking the end of my driveway again. Joy and rapture.

After that, a whole bunch of Smith work - we have three movies playing 7 times this week and a mail blast that needs to go out today. For the movies I need to a) create movie playlists, b) create spotify playlists, c) make sure the heat is timed to go on and off, and d) make sure the pre-film slideshow is current. The email blast, always a bit of a pain, needs to be mildly creative and a little witty and needs to be out by 4 this afternoon.

Then, of course, there is all the stuff that I am supposed to be doing at home - making calls about mom's future, paperwork, bill paying, napping...oh, wait, I don't know that there will be a lot of napping going on today...

I am mildly irked because the Daily Challenge videos have stopped working - I have tried a couple of browsers to no avail. I am not irked enough about it to do anything. And Allison was getting pretty boring...

Snowblowing accomplished! Now for some Smith work. Ok, my brain is fried. We have a lot of movies coming up in the next couple of weeks. Still grinding away...

Finally! Gosh that is effortful - creating the Mail chimp email mailing. I also built six or so playlists for upcoming films. All I have left to do are the spottily playlists and making sure the heat will be on when it needs to be on for the upcoming events. Yippee!

Puzzle progress has been made - despite all my other stuff today - more will be made tonight, I am sure.

Yay progress

I might have started the puzzle on the wrong side. Who knew that there was a right side and a wrong side? Now I do!

My mom and her trees

My mom has been focussing on a couple of trees that she can see from her bedroom. For the past few years she has worried about them - the one in the back that it is coming to get her and that it may fall and crush the house. The other is also coming to get her - but she likes that one for some reason. Turns out that "they" put a curb in the way so that the second tree couldn't get to her. Today she asked me to take a picture of it because she felt it was being badly treated - that snowing on it added a level of indignity that the tree just didn't deserve. Okey dokey then.

Mom's tree

Today has been a null day - I have done nulling all day. Well, that isn't strictly true - I did get up and snow blow a good four to six inches of snow out of the driveway. Sadly, my snowblower is in need of minor repairs. I am not sure how to go about that since it is all snowy and I don't want to bring it inside where it will melt all over things. I might put some towels down in the kitchen and see what I can see - the handle that changes the position of the discharge chute doesn't seem to be functioning. And the knobs came off of it. In the snow. But I found them.

Pre blowing

Drive way mostly de-snowed

Post blowing

Then, my next nothing was to make mom lunch and help her with the pills. I am now doing that every day as well. Up until a few days ago, I was pretty confident that mom was doing a good job taking her pills. And she told me that she was a good pill taker. Recently, not so much. It isn't an onerous task - there aren't that many pills. Yet.

I called the doctor's office, after hearing from the aide service that no one was coming to help mom today, to change the doctor's appointment to later in the week - to give the snow a chance to stop and hopefully make it a little easier for me to get mom there. We have a whole list of things to ask him. Won't he be thrilled?!

Then I worked on the puzzle. Too much. You'll see tomorrow - I still think that the border is the wrong way round - nothing clearly links its orientation to the interior of the puzzle. What's up with that? Poop even.

Progress before I started working on it today

I just took a shower. I am just writing this blog. Soon it will be dinner (leftovers) time. Huzzuh! Mom is napping, I am catching up on some work - working on a couple of grants for the Smith - letter writing - blogging - that sort of thing. Yippee! But I didn't do most of the things that I told my family that I would do today - I didn't call and elder lawyers, I didn't collect the tax stuff for my brother - I didn't ask the doctor about mom and nursing homes. Oh, I did look at the paper work and one whole page is devoted to mom's financials. What the heck is that about? I hate the medical care in America is all about the money. Why oh why can't we get our priorities right? Hmm?

A shirt I ought to like

There is one shirt in my closet that I really, really ought to like. But I don't. Each time I get it out, I think "Wow, this is a cool shirt!" I put it on and think "Eww, I just don't like the way this shirt fits." Do I get rid of the cool rooster shirt? I mean, I wear it despite the "eww" factor. And it is a cool shirt. Dilemmas. Some people say life is too short and to send the shirt on its way. Others say that there are enough reasons to keep the shirt. Decisions, decisions...

And now I am wearing a shirt I probably haven't worn in two or three years. In the past I always thought "This shirt's material is so skimpy." But today it feels substantial enough. Weird.

I am desperately seeking a landline (named Susan?) so that I can plug in mom's "call only Augustus" phone. If anyone reading this has a landline, I can (if they are too far away) mail the phone to them, teach them how to program it and then pay for it to be shipped back. Yes, that is how desperate I am.

Oh, the painting that our handyman did was good - but the rust bled right through again. I am afeared that we will best needs to replace all of the tiles that are rust/water stained at all...

I woke up this morning, did some work on Smith stuff and then took a nap. Yay.

My patience is running out much more quickly recently and I don't know why. What set me off just now was mom whining that her eyes didn't work. Of course they didn't - they were closed. Sigh.

Killing the easy bits of the new puzzle. I will get a picture up today. My biggest problem is that the border doesn't have an orientation (well, top and bottom) that is easy to determine. I am sure I will figure it out eventually.

Fuzzy Puzzy Pic - Just wait till tomorrows!

A weekend of doing

The plan this weekend is to get some things accomplished. First and foremost, I am hoping that our favorite handy man will come and fix the ceiling in one of our bedrooms. That would be neat. He does such good work and is reasonably priced. Can't beat that!

Meanwhile, I do have a show coming in to the Smith that I will be checking on - not running. Yippee! That ought to take two visits, one to check on a contractor and one to check on the group coming in. The rest of the day I can lounge around my house, working. Oh, wait, lounging isn't lounging if one is working, is it?

My Smith stuff to do at home is work on two items - first figuring out how exactly to spend some money we got from a grant. Second, work on a new grant - I would like to pick three items that would be handy and helpful to have around the Smith. I know what one of them is for sure, one is a definite maybe and the last - well that is going to take a little time and research. Then I have to write the grant up. Yippee!

Oh, I also need to pack up my tax stuff and my mom's tax stuff and send it off to Karl, my brother, the CPA. He has been doing our taxes for a long while. Yay! What a good guy he is. He barely charges us anything...

So far, so good - Justin is here working away - he also thinks he can add a gate and a higher railing to the hallway. And he brought a new heating element for the stove - so I might not have to get a new oven after all. Yippee! Yogurt time for mom and then I will head to the Smith for the first time today. Oh, and I have gotten some good work down on the new grant application - asking for two different tape rolling devices and a lighting instrument circuit checker. Woo hoo!!

Justin is done and the room looks great! He tried to fix the oven and was unsuccessful. And he thinks that he can put in a gate and a higher railing so that mom might feel a bit safer and won't be able to head down the stairs without asking me. That would be nice.

I am at the Smith getting ready for the show tonight. My current plan is to stay for about an hour - longer if necessary.

It turned into two hours. A surprise guest was there. I love Al. Glad he came - we might have gone a little faster if he hadn't been helping - but that's ok. He is fun to have around. We got everything started and I think they will be fine. At least that is what I learned from watching Shakespeare in Love. (Great movie)

Laughing and crying. You know it's the same release

We had a family conference call last night to talk about the future and mom. Some tears were shed on my part at least. Yippee! Yay tears! Cheers for tears! Anyway, we also got some thoughts on how to proceed. It is sad there isn't a one stop shop for this - but there isn't apparently - elder lawyer for some information, social worker for other things, nursing home or wherever for other things, etc. And it is all about the benjamins. Sigh.

After the phone call, I watched a couple episodes of Fringe last night. I love Walter! And very happy that JJ Abrams is doing the new Star Wars movie.

Not sure where this thought came from - I typed it at some point last night: I remember when I got a raise - I always thought - "They love me even if they are scared of me! Woohoo!!!"

Who knows how each of our top ten movies gets chosen? I know mostly that The Princess Bride is my number one, most favorite movie. Followed closely by Galaxy Quest and Serenity (despite the ********spoilers*************************************************************** deaths of a couple key characters). Robin and the Seven Hoods is definitely in the top twenty-five.

Got some Chinese food tonight for dinner - not a lot because we still had leftovers from last time - got some Egg Drop soup - in fact the plan was just to get that - but I ended up getting some shrimp toast - yum - and some steamed dumplings - still not my favorite dumplings in Geneva, but they'll do in a pinch!

So, I have started the next puzzle. I have done a little work here and there on it - but the first sort of substantial progress can now be revealed!

Almost got the edge completed, sort of...

Lost Shoes

Somewhere, someplace, a very nice pair of shoes is languishing, perhaps sighing for the lack of my feet. At least I like to think so. Yes, somehow I have managed to misplace a pair of shoes. They were my go-to shoes for working in the Smith. Lace up - rubber soled, made climbing more comfortable, running up and down four stories in the building more easy, leaping tall buildings, etc. I have no idea where they are. I have looked in all of the usual places with less than good results. I hope they didn't just walk away...

Meanwhile, I had a realization - I like Winter - real winter - the kind we get in Central NY. I like having to deal with snow and ice and sleet and such. Driving in adverse conditions makes driving more interesting (as long as it is done in moderation). Shoveling, or snow blowing, is good exercise. I mean, what's not to like about winter?! As long as one has a roof and heat and such...

Tonight I am talking with my siblings about the future! Yay future!

Yay excitement

Yesterday was a day, much like any other. After my lack of sleep night, I did have to actually do quite a bit of Smith work - including two times when I needed to be actually not at home.

The first went swimmingly - I went down primarily to make sure that the kiosk and the computer were talking - the nano bridge lost connectivity again. While I was trying to figure out which end had gotten confused, I noticed that a poster had been put up in the window - effectively blocking the Line of Sight necessary between the two nano bridge device thingies. Sigh. Got that handled, rebooted or reset the nano bridges and voila! Presto! Abracadabra! It worked.

The second, fine as well - Kelly and I had our weekly meeting to talk about the week's events, the month's events, next month's events, etc. After that I headed to the grocery store. In total, gone for a about an hour and a half. As I came down the hill to my house I saw what I always dread to see - an ambulance sitting outside our house. When I got inside, two policemen and two EMTs were there talking with my mom. They had been there about 10 minutes - about how long my drive from the grocery store to my house is (especially with Pulteney street being closed to through traffic by the colleges - grrrrr). I had two calls on my phone - neither of which had registered on my consciousness - I don't listen for my phone when I am driving - one from the Geneva Police - one from Bosey - both letting me know that mom had called 911 because she didn't know where she was. Joy and rapture.

So, she is ok - I think she was thrilled with all the attention from big strapping guys. She was more than a little disappointed when they all left. (One reason why I think she might be better in assisted living - maybe more social interaction.) (Yes, I have looked into day care for her - $150 for 4 hours - yup, that'll happen). Sadly, Karl (my brother) had called at some point and left a message - for some reason (could be any number of them) she hadn't picked up. That would have mitigated things I think. Anyway, it happened and life goes on. I just hope I don't get another $300 bill from the ambulance company just because they showed up at the door. But I will, I am sure.

Months and months ago, I bought a phone for mom's bedroom, that is designed to let her make calls by clicking on a picture - but if she doesn't recognize people in pictures, not sure that will help. It does, though have the feature of programmable buttons - which it turns out I can't do on my phone because it is VOIP and not regular phone service. Sigh. I need to find a regular phone line and program the phone on that - according to the nice man with the British accent I woke up this morning - why he answered his tech support line when he was still asleep is anyone's guess...apparently the phone has some flash memory in it and I can program it anywhere and then plug it into mom's phone line in her bedroom. Until that gets sorted - no phone for mom when I am not here.

It was nice talking with Bosey! Mom spoke with her for a few minutes - which was a smidge heartbreaking.

Thank you all who read this blog - thank you for those who comment here and on Facebook, send me private messages etc. I am about to start down the road of more professional care for mom - what form that will take is anyone's guess at this point - more in home care, maybe placement in a "memory care" unit of an assisted living place. I just don't know. This afternoon I am calling our lawyer to find out what I can from him. Monday I have an appointment with mom's GP. And after I speak with him, I am going to look into the assisted living place here in Geneva. I am also going to talk with the people who provide my aide and see if they have other staff and offer more professional in home care. Yippee!

Meanwhile, I have to be at the Smith three times today - not for a long time each time - but at least an hour at least once. First time to meet a potential new worker and to do some set up for an event tonight. Then tonight, meet with my staff member and the event host to get them off on the right foot. And then back again to help with a  discussion/talk back after the movie. The later two times I hope to only be gone for an hour or so each time. How much trouble can mom get into in an hour? Usually none at all - but sometimes...

Sleepy Dreams of Nursing Homes

So, it was another bad night here at Chez Schoen-René. I really wish more was understood about the brain and especially the brain of my mom. She basically slept all day. Woke up a couple of times to eat lunch and get a shower - then Zzzzzzz for the rest of the day - until dinner time - which she only woke up for because I put food in her lap. Ate the food and then zzzzzzz. Then back upstairs - 'cause it was cold downstairs - where she slept for the next four hours till about midnight. At which point, I was winding down, getting ready for my sleep time. So what happens? She starts talking and being awake. And asking what she was supposed to be doing. And where she was going. And where was she. And what should she be doing. Etc. I told her to please be quiet as I was trying to sleep. This worked for about an hour when she started calling for me and telling me she needed me. When I asked why, she said because she needed help to the bathroom. I told her to help herself, I was sleeping. Which she did. Which I did. Then, another hour later...you get the picture. It is now 8:48 am as I start this post, I have been up for an hour after she called out again (fourth or fifth time) that she needed help. And she was hungry and what should she be doing...Gave her a yogurt so I guess I have about 45 minutes until...

I am conflicted about putting mom in a nursing home. They seem like scary black boxes to me - when I am not there, they could do anything to her - or not do anything to her - both of which scare me. She can't sleep - so they give her meds. She isn't awake - so they give her meds. She says she can't go to the bathroom - so they give her meds. I don't want my mom taking lots of meds! Medicine is ok - but the body generally knows what it is doing and does it better with basic care - food, water and rest - than it does with medicine. Just my humble opinion. And no, I am not anti-vaccination - it would, though, be good if vaccination's contents were enumerated and explained (for the adults - most kids wouldn't care, I don't think) - just anti-most medicine - eastern or western. Though eastern generally seems less invasive (except acupuncture - that is pretty pointedly (tee hee) invasive...).

It seems like sometimes staff and patients don't do anything at nursing homes. I have scary memories of visiting people in nursing homes and hearing a whole lot of moaning and bleating and crying out for help as I walked through the halls to find the person we were coming to visit. And the caretakers at the facility - probably - hopefully - doing their best to do what they could to ease the fears and pains of their charges. But who knows. They could just be nightmares that have been exaggerated over the years.

At home, I strive for mom to be as autonomous as I can let her be - as autonomous as she can be. I know that she can make it to the bathroom on her own - that she can make it back to her bedroom - that she can make her own dish of ice cream (though this might soon stop - since I found the ice cream container sitting on the counter after her last ice cream retrieval mission) - that she can, hmm, well, that's about it. She can put on her own robe, when push comes to shove.

At home, I try to feed her, keep her well watered and to let her, as best I can, be awake when she is awake and asleep when she is asleep - letting mom be mom. Letting mom be. I am afraid that in a nursing home, that wouldn't be the case. They would want mom to be who they wanted (thought they needed) her to be. It is all very confusing.

Then again, a nursing home might be great for her - she would have the staff to talk to and pay attention to her. Since she isn't bedridden, she would probably be able to talk with other patients (or whatever people in nursing homes are called these days.) And who knows, they might get her to exercise some. That would be great.

In any case, I will talk with the doctor on Monday and see what he has to say.

Two quick things - I wrote 31 posts last month! Huzzuh! I have done yoga every day since January first - except today. Yay and boo.

Snow Day!

We didn't get that much snow. It looks like we got about 8 inches if I had to guess. And soon it will be time for me to go out and do some snow blowing. I can hardly wait! Ok, I can. I am not thrilled about it. More thrilled than I would be if I just had to shovel! Ick!

Meanwhile, mom is exhibiting new behavior - she doesn't want to get in her bed, for whatever reason. So I encourage her to do what she wants to do - sit in her chair all night. And yes, she has flipped time - day is night etc - despite the cool clock thing that I gave her. Sigh.

I am going to do a little work via my computer - I have to update the slideshow for the Smith. Yippee! Do I do that first, or do I work in the snow first? Hmm. Ok, I did the computer work. Took me all of five minutes. Sigh. Ok, time to stop procrastination and get some blowing done!

Why do I feel so virtuous for snowblowing the snow off my walk and my driveway? I really need to listen to myself, though, that battery powered is probably the way to go - this cord nonsense isn't optimal...

Oops, napped for a bit and now I think I need to head out to snow blow again. Woo hoo.

Finally February

Gosh, that makes it sound like I was just sitting around, counting the days until February rolled around. That wasn't the case. It just sort of snuck up on me. I knew, deep down, that yesterday was the 31st, but not consciously. Oh well. Life is that way sometimes.

Yay, here we are in February. The most wintery month! Woo hoo!

We have a lot of events at The Smith this month - many, many movies - a lot of them with extra components: pre-movie talks, post movie "debates", bands even! And some non-movie events. All in all, it will be a busy month. Who the heck looks forward to being busy? I like being productive, but busy just sounds, I don't know, less appealing than "not busy."

Here are some puzzle pics. More to follow!

Puzzle in box

The stow and go puzzle thing - the elastic straps were still in the box

Ready to start

Art Photo - the pieces in this puzzle are weird, which might make it easier? But small, so...