For all my friends who are mothers, Happy Mother’s Day! I hope that your families are pampering you, and that you are enjoying a day of ease with beautiful weather.
Dear Husband and I will be going to visit with Elegante Mother shortly. I made a carrot cake in a bundt pan that has the look of a cathedral. I also made a pan of brownies, using the recipe that my mother always used. I thought she might enjoy the chocolate. (Don’t we all!?)
We’ll pick up a fruit tray that I ordered at the grocery store, and an orchid . Dear Husband found a wonderful card. I’m hoping that EM will enjoy being the center of attention, and have a good day.
So…go forth and have a GREAT DAY!
Monthly Archives: May 2009
Shoulder Warm-ups
For my friend Cop Car, and anyone else who plans to garden vigorously this spring, here are a few warm-up movements to do, before you swing that ax!
These exercises are done to a slow count. Don’t hurry through them, and if they hurt, STOP!!
While standing, move your arms as though you were swimming forward., and then do the backstroke. Follow with side strokes to the left, and then to the right.
Shrug both shoulders forward several times, and then shrug both shoulders back several times.
Reach up left, and then right, as though picking apples. Reach forward. Reach left and right.
Extend your left arm to the left, and your right arm to the right. Move your arms in a huge circle, as though you were turning a giant doorknob. Reverse the direction.
Pretend that you are drawing back a taut bowstring….to the right, and then to the left.
And…with your arms extended, fling your arms to the left so that your left hand bumps your back (kidneys) and the right arm bumps the left shoulder. Reverse the direction of swing.
Keep in mind that these are all warm-up movements, and should be done slowly to wake up the joints. You can also do them as a cool down.
Our exercise guru always advises us NOT to do anything that hurts. I hope this helps.
Gardening-the Next Day
OUCH! I need a new body!
I spent about four hours on my hands and knees in the garden under the front sitting room window. It was heavily mulched last year, but a lot of seeds were trying to take root, and I have an infestation of crab grass. I got about half of the garden across the front of the house weeded, and I planted a dozen or so annuals and perennials.
I need to plant a few more rows of spinach and dill, and this time I’ll add a couple of rows of romaine, too. In about ten days, I can plant tomatoes.
My efforts are puny compared to my sister and my niece and my friend, Cop Car, but I’d really need a new body to keep up with them.
I hope to do some more gardening either tomorrow afternoon, or Saturday, depending
on the weather. It’s Spring, after all. We dance to Mother Nature’s tune.
Gardening
If I can only keep my eyes open, I plan to go out into the gardens today!
We are supposed to have a 50% chance of rain today, and more rain coming the next few days. Most of this area is really saturated, but my gardens have dried enough for me to get into them.
Ten days ago, we were in Indiana, visiting my youngest sister, Frankie, for her birthday. I always enjoy a trip to the nursery with her. They are just a bit ahead of us on the last frost date for the spring, so we go and stock up for her gardens. I can never resist picking up a few plants for my gardens, too. This year, I seem to be attracted to small shrubs and perennials, but I brought home a few things for the container gardens, too.
I have an area under one of the front windows that seems to have some weeds despite a thick layer of mulch. I’m going to strip out the weeds, and then plant several things to create an English cottage garden look.
I’ve also ordered a catalog from Cooley’s Gardens, in Oregon. Last year I was dividing the iris when EM became ill, and I doubt that those that were planted (late) will make it back. I’m looking at it as an opportunity to introduce a few new iris into my gardens.
The little azalea we planted last year bloomed, and it’s gorgeous! The bridal wreath looks like it came through the winter well. I bought another dwarf lilac to replace one that died off two years ago. I hope this one will pull through. On my trip to our local nursery, I hope to pick up ornamental grasses for the back of the east driveway garden.
I’m halfway done weeding the herb garden walkways and boxes. I have one entire arm of the herb garden that I want to renovate. I can’t decide what I want to grow, so a visit to the nursery will help there, too. I’ll flip through some of my herb books and magazines to see if I can’t get some other ideas. I need to buy a LOT of basil, and some more parsley. I’d like to get at least two rosemary plants, and some lemon verbena.
Okay, enough talking. I better get to work! I hope you all have the chance to play in the dirt, too!
Day Is Done
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.
Mom Duty
This is my weekend for “Mom Duty.” Elegante Mother has moved to a condo halfway between my two older sisters, in the round the clock care of Sophie, a Polish lady. Sophie works for 13 days, and then has a little more than one day off, so we need to have someone stay with EM while Sophie is away. My-Sister-The-Nurse did the very first week, and Frankie did the second. It’s my turn at bat.
We have plenty planned. Tomorrow morning we will go to have her nails done, and then shop for several pairs of new slacks. We’re going to have a light lunch and fritter away a few hours before we meet the family for a very early dinner. We are going to go to a high school performance of Bye Bye Birdie, and the family will gather for dinner near the school. One of my grandnephews is performing, and this will be his final high school performance. I believe that he has been in every production the school has offered in the past four years. Last year he played “The Master of the House” in Les Miserables!
Sunday, I’ll let EM sleep in, and then I’ll take her to Red Lobster, so that she can have her beloved ,lobster. I plan to drive through Morton Arboretum, if she is up to it, and if not, we will sit around and read the Sunday papers.
Elegante Mother can’t be left on her own now. I worry that once she left her apartment she might not be able to find her way back, and we have not provided her with an ID bracelet yet.
We have had a week of rain, and this weekend would be the perfect time to pull the weeds I see sprouting in several of my gardens, but it will have to wait until Monday. Tuesday morning I have one of the two dentist visits that occur every year, and I can come home and do more weeding. I need to get it done before it totally gets away from me! The daffodils were gorgeous. Many of them are still blooming, and the tulips have opened.
Quilting bee met tonight for our May visit. I should have headed to bed long ago. It will be a busy day tomorrow.
I hope you’re all having a great spring!