As the sun sets into the west..... (Can't you hear that guy who used to narrate the Looney Tunes cartoons???)
What a weekend! It started with the cat waking me about thirty minutes early Saturday morning. Actually, that turned out to be a good thing. I might not have finished everything that needed to be done before I needed to arrive at Elegante Mother's. I had to pack, start the dishwasher, feed the cat, and load the car. On the trip down I needed to shop for groceries for EM and make a stop at the bank for our company. I was there a few minutes early thanks to Ed.
Once we were on our own, we took off for the mall to get EM's nails polished. That took less than 20 minutes, and we were hardly out of the nail salon when we smudged one of EM's thumbnails. We went right back, and they corrected the problem in about 60 seconds! This time, we went and sat in the mall so that her nails had a chance to dry.
Last year my mother lost close to 30 pounds. She's tiny, and weighed 128 so I suppose she could afford to loose a couple of pounds, but not THIRTY! She was down to around 100 pounds when she left the nursing home. She has resumed eating, so our next stop for the morning was to visit Carson's to find some slacks with a more comfortable fit. We also found three pairs of Capri pants that were too cute to pass up, three pairs of earrings, three costume jewelry rings and a bracelet, and one embroidered t-shirt that goes with a sweater she already has! Because we used a Carson's charge card, we received numerous discounts, and then they gave us another discount along the lines of "family and friends." I think we paid less than half price for everything! There's nothing EM loves more than shopping and getting a bargain!
We stopped in the mall to have lunch before taking all the loot back to the condo. We had time for a one hour nap, which we BOTH took, before we needed to drive north to meet six of the family for dinner. EM put away a corn muffin and a smoked salmon Caesar salad, and then tried to inhale an immense plate of bread pudding with ice cream and whipped cream. I was worried she was going to explode!
Dear Husband and I are fortunate to have an exceptionally talented grand nephew, who has participated in ten of his high school productions in the past four years. Last year he was incredible as "The Master of the House" in "Les Miserables." Last night we got to see his final high school performance as Mr. McAfee (the Paul Lynde role) in "Bye Bye Birdie." It was a hoot! We really enjoyed the evening. I really hope this young man will get involved in college musicals. He's incredibly talented.
We made it home around 10:45. I helped EM dive into some jammies and she crashed for the night. I followed around 12:30. I woke at 6:30 and checked on her. She was still sound asleep. I tried working on the crossword puzzle, and finally decided to go back to bed for a bit. We were finally ready to start the day about 9:00.
Our first order of the day was lunch at Red Lobster. Mother truly loves lobster, but can only eat so much, so we order her one of the small lobster tails. I left all but one of the Cheddar Bay biscuits for her (I was afraid she'd break my hand, otherwise.) She asked to take them home with her so she could leave room for dessert! *G* She wanted to take her iced coffee with her when we left, but I told her we would stop at Starbucks.
It probably took us 20-25 minutes on the tollways to get to Morton Arboretum. We missed the peak display of the daffodils by a couple of days, but in return we hit the most gorgeous display of redbud, crabapple, and flowering shrubs that you can imagine. We drove the main trails on both the east and west sides of the arboretum, and it was like being at a ping pong tournament, with our heads swiveling right and left so as not to miss a thing.
EM loves her newspapers. When we left the arboretum, we stopped to pick up the newspaper, and then we headed to My-Sister-The-Nurse's home. Her family was gathering for a special birthday dinner for her husband. She had all the preparations in hand, so we were able to sit out on the deck and chat for an hour before it was time to return to the condo.
We were rather surprised to find that Sophie had returned to the condo earlier than we had expected. Luckily, everyone knew her by sight, so the management was called to let her in. It's a problem we will have to resolve before she goes on her next break.
I believe that my mother enjoyed the weekend. She was very disappointed when it was time for me to go, and leave her with Sophie. As much fun as we had, it's clear that we wouldn't be able to do this type of thing day in and day out. Unfortunately, each time we have these extended weekends, we get to see first hand how fast EM is changing, and we are very aware of the loss in logic,verbalization, and the ability to accomplish anything that involves multiple steps. We need to treasure these weekends with her, because it won't be long before this particular setting won't be possible, and she will have to return to a nursing home.
Bogie told me not to worry about the weeds in my gardens, that they would still be there waiting for me. She's so right. Spending time with Mother is much more important.
