Thursday, August 25, 2016

Changes don't come very easy for some of us!

April of 2011, Grandma Evanson moved in with us at the lake house. We said it would be a trial run, just to see how everything went. Well, it actually went very well. It's the fall of 2016 and we are noticing changes we wish weren't happening. 
The first year was actually a lot of fun, Gma washed and I Dryed dishes after every meal. When I baked, she'd help, we'd talk about all of the baking she did, gardening, and handiwork. Little by little her stamina gave way to mostly sitting and watching. She still tried her hand at knitting, and spent hours making a scarves. This, too dropped off, giving way to word search puzzles, the Gazette, and Forum. She treasured letters and cards and read them over and over. The golf cart ride was a highlight in the summer. Now it's unsafe to venture down the stairs.
She'd often ask is she got any mail, when I'd bring in the paper, I'd tell her, she'd have to write letters if she expected to receive any, she laughed at this. This summer there's been a change, she doesn't notice as much, or often ask about anything.  The bright sparkling eyes are less observant, and it's difficult for her to get around. Today Will lifted her from the kitchen chair as she wasn't able to get up on her own. 
She has an appointment tomorrow, it might be a UTI, or something else causing this change, or it might just be advancement of the vascular dementia.
We put a call into the cottages, asking them to Keep us in mind if any rooms opened up as we may have to have help, we don't know how this winter will go, but I'm grateful for the opportunity to have Mom with us these past few years.

Monday, August 1, 2016

Wondering

Just thinking about this past weeks visit, it seems a SIL is very hard for me to attain, the first 23 years of marriage there were a few, but didn't stay around long enough to create any lasting memories or fun times together. This past week, the visit included 2 BsIL. One never married, the other mostly travels here alone. So I wonder what the last week would have be like with a SIL? 

Maybe a walk, coffee, shopping, sharing? I guess I really won't know.

I believe that's why I feel so close to daughters. We enjoy all of these things and more when we have an opportunity to be together.   

                                                  For this I am forever grateful

Best white Tee

 I started packing for our "vacation"...... Noticed 2 of my favorite white tees could be freshened up, so I  washed them, without a second thought. They, however, came out of the washer with OIL stains on them???
The service attendant at LG hot line educated me......our top load high efficiency washer needs the tub cleaned with a special cleaner once a month (didn't know this) or hadn't paid attention to the owners manual. After a trip to menards I gave the machine a recommended X3 treatment (1 hour /treatment)
Google had tips for removing oil.....corn starch, followed by DAWN dishwashing soap, followed by vinegar......so we'll see how this works.  ( the shirt was from a couple years ago and is no longer available) bummer, I guess.