It is All That I Have

Here were are on the final day of the blogging every day in May challenge. I will link up with Sunday at Love Happy Daily. Then decide what I am going to do in June. Take a break? Follow another challenge? Work on my house and blog about it? We'll see!

Today's prompt is one of my hardest. But I will give it my best:

 Gratitude

I am one of those people who sees my cup as half empty. It's just the way that I am. I think I was raised that way. I wish I could be a happy, go-lucky, kind of girl who saw the postitive in everything. But I'm not! I struggle with it. I ask myself, "how can I find the positive in what I am living?" This is not how I envisioned my life and if I had my way this is not how I would be living it. But it is what has been handed to me. And I must survive. With as much of myself intact as I can. So I look for things to be thankful for.

This will work for me every time. I just have to think about someone who has it worse off than me. So I will list what I have today that I am thankful for.

• I have a roof over my head and it is paid for.
• I have a car, that is paid for, and still runs. (even if the A/C doesn't at the moment)
• We eat well. Too well. Wouldn't hurt any of us to cut back a bit here.
• I get enough money each month with social security and Richard's retirement to pay our bills and have a bit left over.
• I have nine healthy, happy grandchildren.
• I have two of the best living with me and helping me to care for my husband.
• I have the greatest son a mother could ever ask for. He helps me financially, when I need it, and emotionally all the time. He is the best!
• I live in a country of freedoms. A place where I can voice my opinion and not get arrested. Or killed. Or have my head and hands cut off. And I have plenty of opinions to share.
• I am healthy!

I am happy to have participated in this challenge. I didn't make it every day but I gave it my best shot. If you want to see what others are grateful for today, just go here, check out the link-up. And let's all wish May good-bye and say hello to June!

Remember to.....

May is almost a memory! I cannot believe how fast this year is flying by. Soon it will be summer. However, it already feels like summer here. We have been in the 90's the past few days...with high humidity, so it has been stay indoors weather. Especially since there seems to be something wrong with the air-conditioner in my car. I swear there is always something going on. My house is done. It is BRIGHT white. I feel like I need sunglasses just to stand and admire it. It ended up costing a couple hundred dollars more than I orignally planned, but that seems to be how my luck goes. I saved money by agreeing to paint the doors myself. I have a brand new gallon of paint called Dried Thyme that was given to me...so it will be the door color for now. I am not putting the old wooden shutters back up. Contemplating vinyl shutters and may go with black. If I do that I might change the door color. Or I might see if they have a green that will closely match my door color. Then I plan on new porch lights, a nice new welcome mat and begin some landscaping. It will be so fresh.

But now on to the challenge from Love Happy Daily. Today's prompt is:

 Best advice you’ve received lately.

I have a new friend, Wendy, who blogs at A Day in the Life on the Farm. We have found that we have quite a bit in common. She has the most positive, upbeat attitude of anyone I have met in recent years. She always has good things to say when she visits my blog. She always lifts my spirits. The best advice that she recently gave me is to "remember to breathe." Sounds so simple, doesn't it. But when you are stressed (like I am) and you have a full-plate (like I do)remembering to breathe is good advice. Thanks Wendy!!

All in the Family

Papa, Darian, Paige and Harley
Memorial Day Weekend 2014

Today is the 28th day of the Blog Every Day in May challenge that is being hosted by Sunday at Love Happy Daily. I have tried my best to keep up but I have missed some days. I like doing challenges like these because they give me the prompt and then I always have something to say. I like to talk. I like to write. I like to tell 'the story.'
Today's prompt is:

Family.  What do you love?  Best traits? What crazy genetics do you have in common?  Fave photo?



I come from a family of 5 kids. My mom raised us, after my father committed suicide when I was 7 years old. Then right after I turned 10 she remarried. In fact today would have been her and my step-father's 53 wedding anniversary. We are a strong-willed family. There is always someone that is not talking to someone else. It is really too bad that now that we are all in our 60's we can't just accept each other for the way that we are and deal with it. My father was an alcoholic and there is a very strong addiction gene in our blood line. That too is very sad.  But it is what it is.

I went on to have my own family. Married at the age of 18. Gave birth to my first son at age 20. Had my second son at age 24 and became divorced at age 27. Soon after I met and became partners with my current husband. We have been together now for more than 30 years. 

And now my current family consists of my husband and two teenage grandchildren, Harley, 14, and Darian, 16. We also have Paige, 14, who is here every weekend to offer her love and help. My husband is ill with end-stage Parkinson's disease and we take care of him. My grandchildren are the best helpers that a granny could ever ask for. They never, ever complain about the help that is needed when it comes to taking care of Papa. (They are normal kids and do complain about chores, otherwise.)They are all very caring and kind children. They love us unconditionally.  I have been blessed to have the best family a woman could ever ask for.....three times over.

Life Gets In the Way

I have not been following along with the blogging challenge very well. I did not have a guest blogger. I didn't not look at the prompts ahead of time and just didn't set it up. As for sharing a project....my whole life is a project and I share with you all the time about it. The  biggest project going on at our house right now is the exterior is being painted. The only way that I am participating is to write the check. And it has taken me almost two years to save for this project. Richard is better today. Not 'comatose' as he was all day Sunday. But much more dementia. And he talks non-stop. When you have Parkinson's disease your voice is very soft and speech somewhat garbled....so needless to say, he is driving me crazy! I haven't yet figured out why these 'comatose' episodes are always followed by these 'child-like' episodes. Or if I prefer one over the other. 

But enjoy the picture of my orchid above. I got it for Mother's Day in 2013 and this is the first time it has bloomed...so yipee for that.

Busy Doing Nothing

Sunday evening! One more day of a three-day weekend. My company has come and gone. It hardly feels like they were even here. They came late on Friday and we got take-out for supper and then they traveled up the road about 30 miles to their motel where they were staying.Richard was up on Friday evening and knew they were here. But he had little to say and wasn't much involved in the visit.

On Saturday it rained,rained, and rained some more. Needless to say, I am not getting my house painted this weekend. The painter said he might try to power-wash on Monday. But we still have 60% chance of rain in the forecast. We need the rain but sad that it happened this weekend. We were able to get the shutters off the house and some of the things cleaned up so that it will be easier for the painter. And my younger cousin fixed the A/C on my car. God Bless him. Only needed free-on and he gave it to me as a gift. He's the best!! We cooked out burgers and brats on Saturday evening and had 10 for supper. Richard ate with us and did well. But after supper it became apparent that he was slipping off into 'never land' where he sometimes goes. We did get him out to his parents grave site on Saturday afternoon but of course he could not get out of the car. He seemed pleased to get to visit.

Today he has been barely responsive. He opens his eyes and looks at me. He drinks when I offer to him. He ate some pudding and drank a strawberry shake. But he is not 'with us'. Very sad to watch. I do not know what the week will bring. I never know. Justin is staying another night with me. I know that he, too, worries.

Keeping us as best as I can with Sunday's Love Happy Daily Blog Every Day in May Challenge, today I will blog about:

A list for the week ahead.

1. Monday afternoon I will return to the cemetery to pick up the geraniums and pot them for the patio. Richard will enjoy the dark red blooms for the remainder of the summer.
2. Tuesday through Friday this week Darian has weight-lifting and Harley has basketball training from 6:30 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. at their high school about 12 miles from here. So we will be getting up early for that.
3. Wednesday is our Hospice day! And also the kids have church youth group in the evening.
4. Thursday we will start getting Darian's packing for Boy Scout Camp.
5. Saturday Darian will leave at 6:30 a.m. for Colorado Springs. He will be gone a week. He is really excited and it will be good for him to be away. He is my 'worrier' so he needs a break from it. Harley also has basketball on Saturday from 8:00 to 10:00. Paige and Justin will be back in the afternoon and the girls and I are going to do a little shopping trip.

Sounds like we are going to have a fairly busy week. Hopefully the rain will let up long enough that I can get my house painted. I would love to start doing some outside work. But that will all depend upon how Richard does. The way he is tonight it doesn't look good. But I have seen him like this before and then he bounces back. We will leave it up to the Lord. 

Linking up here.

Blogging Love

Have you ever written an entire post for your blog and then had it disappear. Grrrrr....that just happened with this one. And now I am going to try it again. I am typing on a laptop and I am not used to it so I probably hit a button that sent my post out into outerspace. Anyway this will be a busy holiday weekend at our house. I have company coming from Oklahoma. Maybe Papa will sing to them. If you missed it see it here. I still need to grocery shop. And I promised Richard I would get potted geraniums for his parents graves and we will take them out on Saturday.
Darian will be helping a fellow Boy Scout work on his Eagle Project. Harley has her weekly job to go to. She is helping a lady clean house this summer. This lady does in-home dialysis, which is a big experience for Harley. And she earns some pretty good spending money.

So, today the blogging prompt, from Love Happy Daily is:

Write a post about a particularly good or controversial comment someone left you.

I honestly have to say that all of my blog readers are like my good friends. They come almost everyday and leave comments that bolster me. Hug me. Lift me. Make me smile. Make me tear up a bit. I cannot think of a single comment because I love all the comments. I have the greatest friends in the blogging universe. I thank each of you. And I appreciate all the comments you leave. 

Please head over to the link up at Love Happy Daily and see what others are sharing.

Papa singing to us...

I am late getting this shared but I hope that you will enjoy it as much as the kids and I have. One evening last week I asked Richard how he was doing and he kept saying "how YOU doing?" (like Joey on Friends) so I taped it on my phone. He also sang to us. I will forever treasure this snippet of my life. Please excuse the teeth....it was the end of the day, after two does of Morpine (for Papa, not me) and we were getting him ready for bed. I am linking this with Love Happy Daily for today's prompt:


Share a video clip that you are loving at the moment.  It could be as simple as a song on YouTube or an inspirational speaker on TED Talks.

Paige and Harley Now on their Way to High School

Finally we got both of these girls through their 8th grade graduation ceremonies. Harley graduated on April 29, 2014 and Paige graduated on May 21, 2014. Now look out high school here they come.....

Harley April 29, 2014

Heading to 9th grade

Paige and Harley after Harley's graduation

Paige May 21, 2014

Before graduation at her house

Before graduation

My plate is Full

As I continue along with the Blog Everyday in May challenge....Today's prompt is:

What’s on your plate?

Instead of telling you what I am eating right now...(I am drinking my morning coffee and trying to hurry Richard along. Anyone who deals with a person who has dementia knows that the more you try to hurry them, the slower they go) I am going to tell you that this has been a 'full-plate week.' On Monday I took Darian downtown to order his hoodie for Scout camp, buy a new pair of running shoes and ordered his new glasses. then he had a Scout meeting that evening. Yesterday the kids' oldest sister, Katie, was visiting from South Carolina so she came to take the kids to lunch and visit with granny and papa for a very short period of time. So hard to get a young girl (she's 23) to sit for long when there are so many people to see in the short time she is here. Then we mowed the grass. And last night was Dancing With The Stars finale so we certainly had to work that in. We were thrilled with who one. They were our favorites from the beginning. After that was over Darian and I took the car and filled it with gas, checked the oil, and the air in the tires as we are going out of town today.
Today I need to get Richard showered and shaved and dressed in 'real' clothes. For tonight is Paige's 8th grade graduation in a town about 55 miles from here. We are going to her house first for a cook-out. This is going to be the first big trip for Richard in over 2 years. I am anxious, to say the least, to see how it goes. And he is taking his time eating and reading the paper....
Tomorrow, a health clinic near us, is offering $20.00 school physicals from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. and Darian needs his physical completed for Boy Scout camp (he leaves May 31) and I wasn't able to get him into his own doctor. So it is a come and wait your turn kind of thing. I plan on dropping him off and picking him up. He can call me when he gets close to the front of the line.
Then on Friday, we have company coming from Oklahoma for the weekend (they are staying in a motel so it won't upset our schedules as much). I am looking forward to their visit. And I am also getting my house painted and the painter wants to start working on it this weekend....

I told you MY PLATE IS FULL.

Let's head over to Live Happy Daily and link up with others. Tell me what is on your plate? You can talk about food if you'd like.

Inspired

Is anyone else out there struggling with the fact that today I May 20? I can't wrap my mind around it at all. The year will soon be half over. I am still down in my funk but I think it is all about my computer. (boo hoo it IS a dead hard drive.) He is fixing it by putting in a used hard drive, so NO cost to me. But I don't know what I'll be able to get back. What is on the back up drive that I have? Will all my pictures be there? What about all my contacts? And the old emails I kept for reference. My documents folders where there were many things like music, eBooks, etc. Dang, dang, double dang. Moving on..

Today's Blog Everyday in May blogging prompt is:
 Who inspires you? 
I find inspiration all around me. But it is my family who offers me the reason for getting up every morning. Without them I think I would just lay in bed every single day and feel sorry for myself. My dear husband, who would rather be anything than the invalid that he is, wakes up every single day and tells me that he loves me. He always tells me 'thank you,' when I do something for him. I know that he appreciates me and I never feel that he is just taking advantage of me. 
My youngest son who lives 50+ miles away and works a very intense job as a sheriff deputy always still finds times to come to our house every Saturday and stay until Sunday just to give me a break from the 24/7 job of caring for Richard.
My grandson Darian who tries so hard to pick up the slack when his uncle is not here. And he does a good job. And he is so sweet (most of the time.)
And then there are the girls....oh my goodness. Where would I be without the drama, the shopping, the doing of hair and nails (theirs..not mine) if it wasn't for my girls. And the gossip.
Yes, I am inspired by my family. I get up and carry on for them.
Now if we have exchanged emails in the past please send me an email again so that I will be able to start making a new contact list....
And go over to Love Happy Daily and join the link up here. Tell me who inspires you.

   

When I grow Up....What I want to be

I have taken a couple of days off the challenge. Because I needed to...because I don't have any energy to walk around all day with a camera showing you my boring, hard-working life. Because I don't think I could come up with 10 things to be happy about. I am in a funk. A deep, blue funk. Have you ever been there. The last of this past week my computer (that is just 3 years old) decided to die. It is being looked at now to see if it can be saved. But to think of my whole life was on that computer and what I might now get back. My documents folder, my calendar, my pictures (although most of them were at Picasa) just makes me sad. And it makes me even sadder to think how dependent I have become on a computer. All my saved

emails...all gone. But I am going to try to hope for the best...I am going to try to have faith in my computer guru, the good Pastor, that he will find a way.

Anyway, back to the challenge at hand. Sunday, at Love Happy Daily, and the link-up. Today she is asking us:

 Dream job?

I loved my job as a nurse. Especially the first few years. The years that I was still so eager to learn all of the new things that I needed to know. And I was a good nurse!! I don't toot my own horn very often, but I will when it comes to nursing.

But then, the political side of nursing started. I started to wonder why we were sending people home so soon? Why were we not providing them with supplies they needed? Why were people being denied care? Why didn't we have enough staff? Why did they keep building on and improving the hospital, but nobody really cared about imporving the staff? That is when I would dream about doing something different. 

And what I always dreamed about was becoming a landscaper. I loved digging in the dirt. I loved pulling weeds. I loved planting flowers and vegetables and watching things grow. I like to mow the grass. I like to trim the edges to make everything look crisp. I no longer have the energy to do all of this in my own yard. I can barely even keep up with the mowing. But if I were in a different situation, I would become a landscaper....

What would your dream job be? Follow me over to Love Happy Daily and link up here.

Taking a break

I am going to take a break from the challenge today. I just don't have the time that it takes to make a photo journal of what my day looks like. And I am not certain it would make for very pretty pictures.

Richard has not been well the past few days. Lots more coughing and more pain. We are using the morphine more often which then either knocks him out or makes him even crazier. It is such a difficult thing to go through. It seems we will never know whether he will be up or down....the roller coaster ride that I often talk about. Today he is at the table eating. But he is SLOW so not sure what the rest of the day will bring.

Darian has gone on a Camp Out with his Boy Scout troop to the Great Salt Plains State Park in Oklahoma. They are doing a service project of cleaning out all the charcoal grills and then digging for crystals. They camp in tents and cook their own food. I know he is having a blast. I hope he remembers that I told him to throw away those clothes that he wears while cleaning all those grills.....

We are celebrating Trina's (Justin's lady friend) and Paige's birthdays here tonight. Nothing big. But there will be two cakes. Neither of which I am baking. I think I have only baked a birthday cake once ever. My kids always wanted ice cream cakes and that tradition carries on with my grand kids. 

What are your weekend plans?

Sharing the Love...

Today, May 16.....my grandaughter Paige turns 14! Happy birthday Paige.

Also it is the 16th day of the Blog Everyday in May Challenge that is taking place over at Love Happy Daily. I will be linking up here.
Today's prompt is:

Blogging is about sharing the love.  Tell us about 5 blogs that you love reading regularly.

1. Wendy at A Day in the Life on The Farm. We have become fast friends in the blogging world. We are both care-givers; she to her mom and me to my husband.
2. Lisa at My Sweet Peanut. Lisa is also a caregiver to her mom. And I love her One Word Wednesday link-up.
3. Allison, my long-time blogging friend at What if This is As Good as it Gets? She is a teacher, a knitter, and a book reader. I love her blog everyday. She is also the hostess of Sunday Stealing.
4. Betty at A Bench With a View is a new friend that I recently met and became friends with. I really enjoy her blog and reading about life in Southern California.
5. Cristy at My Own Personal Stage is one of the kindest, most caring person that I feel like I know and love as if she were a daughter. She hasn't blogged for awhile, so maybe this will give her a kick in the butt. I miss you Cristy.

I love all of these gals for different reasons. They all reach out and support me in my journey almost everyday. I feel like we are friends. I look forward to someday meeting each one of them.

Hope

Today is the 15th day of the Blog Everyday in May Challenge that is being hosted by Sunday at Love Happy Daily. Each day she provides us with a writing prompt. Today's prompt covers a few things I really love. So let's get to it..

 Create or share a poster, card or artwork that shares a message that inspires you.

I created this little poster at PicMonkey. Have you tried PicMonkey? I have wasted a bit of time there. I love it! Fun to bring out my creative side. The other thing this little poster focuses on is my WORD for 2014....Hope!

This message inspires me and reminds me that when I start to lose hope (and believe me I do that quite often) I just need to remind myself that maybe what God has in store for me is going to be really, really spectacular.

Linking up with Love Happy Daily here.

Frustration....Maybe!

Today is the day for One Word Wednesday where my fellow blogger and caregiver Lisa (who is also my friend) hosts a weekly challenge for caregivers (and anyone else who wants to participate). She posts a word and we write our feelings about it. Now get on over there and write about your feelings. It is really good for you. Really!

Frustration

I would love to meet anyone in the care-giving world who hasn't experienced a little frustration. If there is someone then I am going to tell you they are either a saint or a big, fat liar. There, now you have my feelings on that. No, really, how can you be a caregiver and not get frustrated. If you have it figured out, please, please share your secrets with me. I experience a bit of frustration every single day of my life. Don't you?

Even when I was a caregiver at the hospital or the nursing home I would get frustrated. Mostly with administration and other staff members. Rarely would it be at a patient or an elder. You know why that is? Because I was only spending 8 hours with them and then going home. The care-giving I am providing right now is going on 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year and I have been doing this for almost 3 years. So frustration......yep. Plenty of it.

My frustration this week has been mostly all about Hospice. Not the entire organization. Not our own personal Hospice nurse. But the nurse practitioner who HAS to pay us a visit every 60 days to re-certify Richard for Medicare to continue to pay for our Hospice care. Now as you can see I said that it HAS to be done every 60 days or we lose certification. And that means starting all over again. This particular nurse practioner (we are going to call her RHB, don't ask me what it stands for!)has been a bit of a pain from the very beginning. She always calls me us and breathlessly informs me that the visit is due. Right now. Today. And I have no choice. I just don't work that way. I am a very scheduled person. I like to know yesterday what is going to happen today. I like to know last week what this weeks schedule is like. That's just how I roll. And I am the customer here, aren't I? I don't like it one dang bit when some little lady (and I use that term loosely)calls me up, always in a big hurry, and tells me the visit has to take place TODAY! I mean she has had 60 days to figure out when the next visit takes place. Last night when she came and I ventured out to ask her to please give me more notice, her response to me was...."I have a full time job and I will fit you in when I can fit you in." Yep, there is plenty of frustration when it comes to stuff like that

Go visit My Little Peanut and link up.

It Made Me Laugh Anyway...

Half-way through the week already. Monday was a stressful day and today was just a tad better. Nothing big...just stress! Anyhow I am still hanging in there with the Blog Everyday in May Challenge and linking up with Love Happy Daily. Today the prompt is:

 Make us laugh.  Share a funny story or picture.

My story is about my little grandson Tucker. He is almost 7 and just finished kindergarten. And he is so stinking cute. I'm not lying. I know that all grandma's feel that way, but if you knew Tucker you would think so too. He can be so silly and in the very next breath he is as serious as a heart attack. They just returned from a trip to Disney World on Saturday and they came over on Sunday to tell me Happy Mother's Day. Marvin, Tucker's dad, was asking me if I had found someone to paint my house. I told him that I had and how much the estimate was. Here is how the conversation then went:

Tucker: "We'll take care of that for you Grandma!"

Grandma: "you will??"

Tucker: "yep"

Grandma: "well where are you going to get that much money Tucker?" ($1800.00)

Tucker: looking at his dad..."Write her a check dad."

We all laughed and laughed. And Tucker was so proud of himself for making us laugh. Now I wonder if I can expect that check?

I am off to find some funny stories at the link-up. Come join me here.

Gone Girl

I finished reading "Gone Girl" a couple of days ago. I have had to pause before I wrote about it as I am just not quite sure what my thoughts are. I like the style of the book. Each chapter changed from the husband and wife's perspective of the story. I can honestly say that this story can adequately show how today's media handles most of the sensational stories of today. They decide right off the bat who they want to be the guilty party and then decide to ruin that person's life in the media. They appoint themselves both judge and jury. Before the investigators can even gather all the information. And to be perfectly honest, in this case, so did the police.

I liked the book. It haunts me to think that such a thing could actually happen. And a little bit of me (the darker side, you might say) thinks how much fun it would be to actually create this scenario. If I didn't lead the crazy life of a care-giver I probably would have blasted through this book in little time. But I mostly read a chapter or two at night as I 'patiently' waited for sleep to come.

I would recommend it if you like these kinds of books. I will definitely try more books by Gilliam Flynn. Now, I have started Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock. I'll be back sometime to let you know what I think.....

I Wake Up Each Day...

Here it is already May 13. I cannot believe it. We were down into 30's here last night. What????? Isn't it supposed to be spring. I am glad that I haven't bought any hanging baskets yet. But I can tell you that the Baltimore Orioles are loving this weather. We have a constant stream of them outside the dining room window, at the jelly feeder. Yesterday I was out of jelly so we filled the cups with Vanilla syrup (we don't like it) and they love it! Yesterday was kind of a 'sucky' day here but I am moving on and hoping today is better.
Now I need to get on with today's writing prompt from Love Happy Daily, so here it is:

Write a poem or piece of creative prose.

I wake up each morning and stretch myself out

Feel the kinks come and go with a shout.

Soon it will be time to get myself up

Start the coffee, and grab a cup.

But first, as I lay there, opening my eyes

I look across the room, gaze at my guy.

See how he looks and see how he feels.

When all looks well, I kick up my heels.

We start off each day with a kiss and a hug.

I help him up with barely a shrug.

He smiles at me and winks an eye.

I can't tell you often enough how much I love this guy!!

Okay, okay, cheesy I know. But poetry is really not my thing. I just like to make rhymes. And there is a lot to do. Today we are cleaning out the drawers and closet in "the boy's" room and see what new clothes he will need for summer and fall. 

Hope you all go over to Sunday's Blog, Love Happy Daily and join the link up....or leave me a bit of poetry right here in my comments.

How I Become What I am Today

I really hope you didn't come here to find out all the juicy gossip about what made me who I am. Or if I had some life changing experience that turned me around. My title is about my blog. I am participating in the Blog Every Day In May Challenge at Love Happy Daily. Today's blog prompt is:

Tell us how your blog got its name (and tagline).

On October 8, 2008, I decided to start a blog. I don't know what made me decide to do that, but I did. I didn't tell anyone that I was going to have a blog. I just started one and began to write. At that time my blog was called Paula's Place. Some of my long time blogging friends will remember me from that blog. During the time that I was blogging at Paula's Place I discovered quite a few different Paula's Places when I type that into Google:

• Paula's Place..personal couture for horse riders
• Paula's Place...A book About Seduction Part 1.
• Paula's Place...a Bed & Breakfast in Homer, Alaska
• Paula's Place...where an Australian lady sold her self-created teaching resources
• Paula's Place-a blog about the experiences and adventures of a transgendered person
• Paula's Place...a restaurant in Mooreton, N.D.
• Paula's Place of Electrology in Massachusetts. 

I think there are like 4 parts!!

So, because of issues that I don't want to go into today, I decided to change my blog. I even made it private at one point because of these unfortunate events. This was in August of last year. I did not stop blogging but I did try some different blogging places. I tried out WordPress, and didn't like it. So I made a new blog and imported/exported all of old blog and the new blog was born.

Smidgens, Snippets, & Bits

My title is because that is what my blog is all about. The smidgens, snippets, and bits of my life. My tag line is "the ramblings of a caregiver." If you have read my story you know that I am the full-time caregiver to my husband, Richard, who has end stage Parkinson's disease. And I am also the caregiver (mother/grandmother) to two teenage grandchildren who have lived with us for more than 5 years. 

So there you have it. Why I am Who I am Today...or my blog anyway. Now tell me why you named your blog what you did....and then go share with Sunday at Love Happy Daily and link-up. I know you want to.

Thinking of My Mom

Mom has been gone from us for almost 9 years now. That is so hard to believe....


Happy Mother's Day to all my blogging friends

Lessons Learned from My Mother

Since tomorrow is Mother's Day, I am going to share some things I learned from my mom. I am linking up with Love Happy Daily on her May Blog Everyday Challenge. Today's prompt is:

A fashion, beauty or life tip.

One of the first things I learned from my mom at the sweet age of 15 was that when it came to make-up, less is more. She taught us to use as little make-up as we needed. She told me my face did not need foundation as I had no flaws to hide. A touch of lipstick, a swipe of mascara, and that is all that a young girl needs. I wish more mother's were telling their girls this today. I cannot believe how many young girls are wearing full face make-up. With way too much eye shadow and eyeliner.

My mom also was a believer in taking off your bra unless you were going somewhere. Otherwise, let those girls be free. I have few memories of my mom wearing a bra. Unless she was dressing up for something. Isn't that crazy. I hardly ever go without a bra. Almost always have a sports bra on. I think that goes to my days of being a day sleeper (because I worked the night shift) and you never knew when you'd have to answer the door or go running after a kid somewhere.

Two of my mom's favorite expressions for life were: No way ever promised you a rose Garden. And Life is not Fair. And I can't tell you how many times I have said both of those to my kids and now my grandkids.

Now I am off to Link up with Sunday at Love Happy Daily. Don't you want to join?

It's been a Week....

Over on Lisa-Jo Baker's site she hosts Five Minute Friday. I like to participate but when I went to her site today and read the prompt I had to take a few steps back. Because just like Lisa said in her post...it's been a week, heck it's been a month. And a long 18 months before that. And a whole four years." Well mine hasn't been a whole four years but it has sure been a week, a month, and a couple of years, that's for sure. I didn't know if I could write for five minutes about being grateful. But I am going to give a stab at it right now. Right now before I pour myself a stiff drink and lay my head down for the night.

Go..

My week started out with about 2 inches of water on the bathroom floor. You can go read all about it here. Try having to explain why there is a plumber in the house to a man with dementia. I don't know if he has gotten it yet. The problem was finally fixed on Thursday, early morning, when the plumber returned to re-install the toilet. All was well with water, showers, tubs, and toilets at our house. I am very grateful for plumbers.
That is until I walked into the bathroom this morning to take a shower and found about an inch of water on the floor. Through a little investigation I found that the little flex hose that he attached from the toilet to the turn off valve was dripping...heck it was a steady stream. I was able to tighten it and stop the stream of water. And mop the floor. And even be a bit grateful that I didn't need to call the plumber back again. (p.s. I haven't yet seen the bill).

Richard has had a bad week mentally. He is so confused and just can't understand why I won't let him go outside and do some work in the yard. I am grateful for the kid's being out of school to help keep his mind off it. I never, not ever, in a million years thought I would ever utter those words. "glad to have them out of school..." But I am grateful that both of them are able to help me with their papa. They entertain him and distract him. And sometimes he has even made me giggle this week with some of his silliness. He has been both up and down, strength-wise, and it is hard sometimes to do the physical part of this. I am grateful for my strong, muscular grandson. I really, really am.

As much as I whine and cry on my blog posts I am grateful for what I have in my life. I am grateful to still have my husband here with me even though caring for him is so very hard. I wouldn't trade my life with anyone....

Stop

I am linking up with Lisa-Jo's Five Minute Friday.