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I stole the title from another blogger. She is doing the photo a day thing too and I like the way she is labeling her blog posts. So I am copying her.

Mom's living room today

These pictures of my mom's house are my project for the new year. (The house not the pictures.) My family will be moving into my mother's house some time in the future. We have lots to do to our house before we can put it on the market to sell or rent. But my guess is that within a year we will be living at my mother's house. We promised my parents that we would not sell their house after they died. So are working out a way to keep the promise that we made to them.

Photo #1

Mom's kitchen today

I'm playing with the idea of taking photos everyday and posting one on this blog. So this is the first.

Contemplating a New Year

Well 2009 brought lots of smiles, sorrow, and difficulty. I am glad that we will soon be putting it behind us. I look forward to 2010. I am hoping that it will bring blessings to us all. I am thinking about what I can do with this blog. I know, I know, I've said that many times before. But what can I do that I will actually follow through with? There are some possibilities. And then again I can just let the blog go. What to do?

Doctor's Appointment for Mom

We took Mom for a doctor's appointment to check on some pain issues. During the visit the doctor discovered that her tumor had grown a tremendous amount and that she had lost four pounds in a short amount of time while eating normally. (Note - she only weighed 73 lbs before the weight loss and that was fully clothed.)

The doctor tells her that he is going to refer her to hospice. She makes a face, says I don't like that word. And then proceeds to tell him that she has hired someone to come and clean her house from top to bottom. The doctor looked at her and then at us.

Time Out for Knitting

I have been knitting some Christmas presents. I have found a great pattern that I hope several young women on my list will love.

Meret by Wooly Wormhead on Ravelry

Taking Mom for a Visit

My sister-in-law and I took my mom to visit her brother recently. He is in poor health and they haven't seen each other in a month or so. Mom seemed excited to be going and my uncle was thrilled when I called to tell him we were coming for a visit. Well, as we were getting ready to head out the door Mom asked if she should carry her purse. I told her "no". It would be in the way and she didn't need it. She looked at me quizzically and said "what about my cards". I inquired, "what cards?" She responded, "my insurance cards. I might need them." I said, "you know we are going to Uncle Don's, right?". She said, "yes". I convinced her that she could leave them at home. But I don't think she ever really understood that she most certainly would not need her insurance cards to visit her brother.

Now you tell me what was going on in her mind.

What's with this blog?

Well, I'll tell you, I'm not sure. I started this blog with the idea of chronicling (is that a word? it just looks wrong) my craftiness. And I've failed miserably at that. Not my craftiness, but blogging about it. I have continued to knit, a lot. It is what keeps me sane some days. Now I'm not sure what this blog should evolve into, maybe nothing. Maybe it should just dry up and go away, maybe no one is interested in my rambling on about things. But I am inclined to give a new blogging theme a go. I'm going to keep it here just in case it doesn't work out. That way I won't have two failed blogs, just one that failed twice.

My new theme will be my personal experiences with my 87 year old mother who is sinking into the world of dementia and who also has oral cancer. This will definitely be an irreverent look at my life as her caretaker. Sometimes I will probably be depressed and have pity parties, but mostly I hope to keep my humor about me and try to keep things in a lighter tone.

I'll just share one of the lastest things that has happened. Let me give you a small amount of background on this one. I have an 18 year old son, he is a nice young man and he has a girlfriend. She is a nice young woman. He has been dating her for probably about four months. We had not told my mother that he had a girlfriend because she usually obsesses about things like this and there are endless questions and many misunderstandings on her part. So to make our lives easier we had just not told Mom that A (this is how I will refer to my oldest son from now on) has a girlfriend. We recently decided that the relationship had lasted sufficiently long that we needed to inform my mother that A indeed had a girlfriend. This was accomplished last weekend. And Mom took it well, seemed pleased and didn't ask many questions. Although she did get the girlfriend's name wrong, but so what. Well, A helps out with the not so pleasant task of spending the night at my mother's house so that she will not be alone and that myself and my brother will have a break from said chore. So yesterday morning when I went to my mother's house as I do every weekday morning. (I stay at her house all weekend, night and day.) she informs me that A had his girlfriend over the night before. I knew this didn't sound right. A knows that I would not approve of this, but just in case his 18 year old judgment isn't what I would like it to be I didn't dispute my mother. Mom proceeded to tell me that the girlfriend is blond, very blond but that A didn't introduce them. Well after questioning A I realize that Mom has had a dream and that said girlfriend was never there. But now how do I convince her of that fact. Ha! It will never happen. But trust me the subject isn't dead. Mom will bring it back up today and I'm not sure how forceful I will be in explaining that she was dreaming. It is probably another fight that I can never win. Those seem to be too numerous to count these days. The dementia is really winning the battle. Ugh! Oh and the girlfriend isn't blond.