Changes here…changes there…changes everywhere!

My poor blog.  It thinks I have forgotten it.  Not forgotten…just put way down my list of things to do.  Most of my time lately has been spent on things I don’t like to do.

I got my mother moved into a nursing home.  I honestly never thought that would be an option in her life, but she seems to be adjusting well so far…at least she is giving it a valiant try.  She is not the type of person that has prepared herself for this possibility mentally even though she did actually take out an insurance policy for long term care.   I just don’t think she ever meant to use it.  She needs a lot of care now…like pretty constantly.

When her living arrangements with her cousin needed to change, I gave her some options, and I moved her into the place she chose.  It was my favorite place, too, but I didn’t dare tell her that! 🙂  It is more like having your own little private apartment than just having a room.  She has her own bathroom and shower and two big windows where she can see all of the flowers and birds and trees.  It is not like living at the lake, but it is still living pretty nicely, I think.  The only advice I did give her was to say that if we live a long time, we all better prepare for the day when we might not be able to stay at our home.  I already know that I will not be able to live here on my ponderosa if I am ever by myself.  I have learned with my ranch hand being so sick and unable to help me that I just cannot keep everything up.

But, back to my mother…she is trying to have a good attitude and every time I walk into where she is living, I get a good feeling rather than a sick feeling which is what I’ve always gotten before whenever I entered a nursing home.  I’ve moved several of her tables and her wicker rocker and a bunch of her “pretties” that she loves to sit around and her pictures.  It looks really nice.  Everyone brags on it that comes into her room.  So, we will see how it goes.  The phone man is STILL working on getting her own phone line into her room.  That is ANOTHER long story, but she will be a bit happier when she has her own phone although when I went to see her yesterday, she had BOTH of the nurses station’s cordless phones in her room!

On top of my ranch hand being sick and then going through all of this with my mother, I’ve had little time for anything else.  I told Ranch Hand the other day when he called to tell me another little bit of upsetting news about something that had happened at his work, that I thought we would never have a “normal” day again.  I think my definition of normal has passed me by.  I asked him today if he could remember ever having any fun in our lives.  I think I need to get a grip on something…….  maybe I need to be grateful for a few things!

Here are a few…

Ranch Hand has had three whole days where he has told me that he feels good.  He still has a few days left of antibiotics, but hopefully this is it and he will have a clean bill of health and be BETTER than he was before surgery!  This wasn’t a small…be off work for three days and then go back to work deal.  Let’s see…I think it’s already been over a month!  But, he worked every day last week.  The first couple of days were rough, but then he seemed to get his energy back and even washed off the porch this morning!

My son just got a big promotion and a big raise.  So glad someone is raking in the dough in our family since he will probably have to take care of his parents! 🙂  He is the best son in the whole world and makes us so proud.  We should have all been in banking.  We now call him…Mr. Vice President!

My son-in-law just got a new position with a new company in the oil and gas field.  We think he is pretty smart since we are having to get into our savings to buy gasoline now.  It should pump up his salary quite a bit with all of the gas money everyone is paying! 🙂  With this new job, my daughter is now afforded the opportunity to be a full-time stay-at-home mama.  She gave up her part-time nursery job at her church.  We are very proud of him, too, of course.  We are also glad he will be raking in the dough as he will probably have to help take care of his in-laws! 🙂  We call him…Mr. C.P.A.

My daughter and Mr. C.P.A. and my darling grandgirl #3 are on their way to to stay with us for a few days!  Can’t wait to see them!  Oh, I almost forgot about Brate…my granddog!  Can’t wait to see her, too.  Lite and Joe aren’t too happy about Brate coming!

So…I’ve got quite a bit to be thankful for after all, don’t I?  I’m sure I could come up with many more things if I had time to think about it!  Hope I get to come back soon to my blog world.  I’m not sure when because I’ll be busy the next few days spoiling grandgirl #3!

Oh…and my mother just called from HER phone.  They FINALLY got it in!  She kept trying to call “9” though and couldn’t get anyone.  I said…you don’t have to dial “9”…this is your own private line…you aren’t using the nurses’ phones anymore!  I said…well, how did you call me then?  She said…well, I punched a heart on here and it dialed you up!  I guess the “memory” in it still works!  It may take a few days to get this all straightened out!  🙂  All of this runs in the family, I’m afraid.  The other day the phone rang and I picked up the remote and tried to answer it!  I may be moving in with my mother soon!