So I Snuck Into My Kitchen..........

As you may or may not know, my father passed away this past April.  He was in a care center, so about a month before he went to the great beyond, my mother was moved into my house.  She has her own living quarters.  It has a nice size family room, a walk in closet, a bedroom with more closets and a really nice size bathroom.  

The only thing she needs to share with us is the kitchen and laundry room.  She even has her own entrance into her place, so people that just want to see her don't have to bother us.

I am now the caretaker for my mom.  Some times are good, sometimes are not so good, and sometimes things just crack me up.

I'm going to do a weekly report on being a caretaker.  I know many of you might be responsible for your aging parents, or very ill children so I would like to make this a forum to discuss and just be there for each other.

This week's subject is going to be

Sneaking Into Your Own Kitchen

The other night, after spending a good amount of time with mom, I waited and waited till I heard her go into her place and shut the door.  I stealthfully made my approach to the kitchen to get a piece of homemade chocolate cake.  (yes, she made homemade cake, you can be jealous)  I had just about made my escape, when out of the blue her door opens and she comes out.  What the??????

Since when is it a crime to GO TO MY OWN KITCHEN, AND EAT WHATEVER I WANT???

I guess maybe it is my own fault, letting it make me feel that way.  Gone are the days of just doing what I want, when I want, and not getting the "mother evil eye".  I have found out that mom has a bigger sweet tooth than me.  I was eating her stash.  (Help me)

Have you had any funny experiences being a caretaker?

Music Memory Monday 11.21.14

It's Monday, and we all know what that means.  No, not back to work day, well maybe for some of you but not me.  It's time once again for your favorite tag along meme, 

MUSIC MEMORY MONDAY

What?  You haven't played along yet.  Well you just don't know how much fun you are missing out on.  Now get with it.  I know you all have songs that bring back memories.

Today I am going with a song that was popular in 1968.  I would have been the ripe old age of 11.  My family lived in Colorado Springs at the time, and during the month of December we had a huge blizzard.  Now, for some of you, this is no big deal, but I remember Colorado Springs as pretty nice weather most of the time.  

We were without power for 3 days.  Our house didn't have a fireplace so my mom had to come up with a way to warm up/cook food.  To this day I remember her taking the cooling racks that you put cookies on, propping it up with an unopened can of something on the 4 corners, sticking candles underneath the rack, and sitting a pan on top.  Yeah, people that grew up in the depression can always come up with cool ways to do things.

Anyway, one of the songs that year, besides all of the Beatle songs was

HARPER VALLEY PTA

I loved the song, even before they made a movie out of it.  I picked the video that shows scenes from the movie, but they used the original song by Jeannie C. Riley.  Enjoy

Please join on up.  I love to hear the music and stories that bring up memories for you.

Music Memory Monday 11.17.14

Time once again for my little play along (hahaha, get it, Play) meme, 

MUSIC MEMORY MONDAY

My selection for this week has a story behind it.  

Once upon a time, in a place far, far away, there was 2 sisters.  The older sister took ballet lessons.  Her teacher's name was Miss Barbara.  She was one scary, ole, bwitch.  The younger sister of ballerina, was a shy, quiet child.  It was me.  Hey, stop laughing, I was, once upon a time.  This young quiet child took about 2 lessons from Miss Barbara, and other than the fact that I don't have one dancing bone in my body, I just couldn't overcome my fear of the lady.  

My sister was getting good enough that she was trying to get into TOE SHOES.  Miss Barbara, being the fine outstanding, lover of all children, especially her students, who she so lovingly would poke with an ice pick if their legs moved the wrong way, would make those aspiring to become prima ballerina's, learn to stand on their tippy toes, WITHOUT TOE SHOES, for a long time.  I want to say, 3 to 4 hours, but she was a witch, remember.  I'm not sure about the time, but my sister would practice in the hallway, right by the front door, standing on those toes, to the following song.  And not the shortened version that I found.  The full, drawn out, all on side one the album.

IN-DA-GADDA-DA-VIDA by Iron Butterfly

A true ballet inspired song if I have ever heard one.  :)

And yes, dear ole sister, to this day, can still stand on those toes without the toe shoes.   Your turn, let me know what song brings up memories for you.

Music Memory Monday 11.10.14

Welcome, welcome, welcome.

How many times have I said I'm back, and then it is weeks and weeks before I post.  Well, my before Thanksgiving resolution is to do it.  

So I'm starting a new meme.  I'm calling it

MUSIC MEMORY MONDAY

Every Monday I'm going to post a song from the past that I remember.  I would love for you all to link up and play along.  Well, maybe all 2 of you that still follow me.  :)

The song that I have chosen for this weeks fun and excitement is

DIZZY, BY TOMMY ROE

This song is from way back in 1969 when I was not even a teen.  Yet I still remember it.

Join on up.  If you dare.   Mwaaa-haaa-haaa

The Yard That Mr. Dazee Built

This is Mr. Dazee

This is the yard that Mr. Dazee built

These are the flowers that got planted in the yard that Mr. Dazee built

This is the fence that guards the flowers

From the wandering Deer

That got planted in the yard that Mr. Dazee built

These are the deer that come in the yard that Mr. Dazee built

These are the flowers that the deer won’t eat

That got planted in the yard that Mr. Dazee built

These are the flowers that the deer do eat

That got planted in the yard that Mr. Dazee built

This is the deer poop, that the deer drop

On the grass that got planted

In the yard that Mr. Dazee built

This is Dazee

This is Dazee, who flies out the door

To scare off the deer

That eat all the flowers

And poop in the yard

That Mr. Dazee built

This is the end, of a very sad tale

All about Deer and the yard that Mr. Dazee Built

NOTES OF INTEREST

Whilst taking picture for this post, I tried to find poop in our backyard.  Mr. Dazee is always right on it and getting rid of it.  That is why I had to just find a picture on your friend and mine, Mr. Google.

Roses are not deer resistant. 

Also some flowers that are sold as "deer resistant" have apparently not been tested as such

Yes, the wire fence had a Deer jump over it while being scared, yelled at, kindly asked to leave our yard

The HOA where we live will only allow a certain kind of fence to be put up.  Therefore some homes have elected not to put up fences.  This is why we have deer in the backyards.  

I can hardly walk anymore with my neuropathy, so I actually don't fly out the door, and the Deer just stare me down.  But I've gotten really good at telling them to "get" while stamping my foot.  :)

No Deer were injured in the writing of this tale

Really? You Can't Wait?

Howdy Rowdy's.  What's the haps?  (yes I spent time with my young nieces last night)

Anyweirddazee, today we are going to have a little talk about patience on the road.  I admit, I might get impatient on the freeway, if by chance an idiot  person merges onto the autobahn and then proceeds to go 20 miles under the speed limit.  But alas, I just turn on my handy dandy turn signal and get around them, while flipping them off below the window level so they don't see it, and go on my merry way.

That rant is now over.  Next I am going to talk about parking lot scenario's.  These actually happened to me this week, so it is not made up.  

Sit back and enjoy.

While stopping at the nearby Walmart, (because they have my bank inside the store), Mr. Dazee and I did our business and started walking out of the store.  I think I have mentioned that I have diabetic neuropathy.  Severe.  I can not walk very fast, and I'm in major pain while walking.  Mr. Dazee is ahead of me, walking like a normal person.  I am behind, doing the Dazee Mae walk of pain, when a Van with an older man and his wife come zooming around the one line of parked cars and proceeds to want to turn into the line of parked cars where we are.  He slows proceeds to try to hurry Mr. Dazee off the road, by inching ever so rudely closer to him.  At this time I am in the middle of the pedestrian crossing.  I think, "I will never make it fast enough for this dude", so I stop.

I look ever so nicely sour faced at him, and give him the universal hand motion of "you go first".  I wait a minute and look at him with the "why are you still there" look and he is doing the "no, you go first hand motion".  By this time he has totally pissed me off, so I look at him again, my face registering the "you are a total idiot" look and do the hand motion again, this time a little more forceful.  Apparently, his wife got involved after this display, because he did the hand movement like, "my wife just called me a name so you better go, and I'm really nice".  Dumb A.  I did go, but it did take me longer than he had hoped.  Too bad so sad for him.

Score one for Dazee

I dropped my daughter-in-law off to work this morning, because I'm nice like that, and after she got out, I started to back out.  Looked both ways like a good little driver should.  Get all the way out to the street, with my wheels turned to start moving forward, when a car comes zooming out of the other parking lane and stops abruptly, looking at me with her face all scrunched up and sending eye sparks my way.  Ummmm, lady, I was clearly out into the street.  You could have waited further back in the parking lane, waited to turn right, until I was well on my way.  But no, you were in a big freaking hurry to get to where you were going.  I think I might have mouthed Dumb A as I was driving by her, but I didn't look at her, so that doesn't count, right?

I guess what I'm trying to say here is, people need to be more courteous and patient when in parking areas.  There would be nothing worse than hurting someone, or even ending their life because you are in a big freaking hurry.

Speaking of ending a life, what is up with these people leaving their kids, pets and even elderly disabled parents in hot cars?  I sat in the car the other day, with all the windows down, while Mr. Dazee went into a store.  He said he would be just a minute.  But you know, sometimes you get in a store, and you can't find someone to help you, or you just get tied up, and so it lasts a lot longer.  I was getting so hot, and sweating, trying to find a napkin or something to wipe the sweat off my face, and THIS WAS WITH THE WINDOWS OPEN.  I had a bottle of water with me, but it had sat out in the car long enough that it was very hot water.  I did drink a little of it, but yikes, super hot water while sweating, no thank you.  

Phew.  I was really on a rant.  

In order to end on a really awesome note, and if you are my friend on facebook, I'm sorry for posting this yet again, but hey, what can I say.  

Who doesn't like bagpipe music, men in kilts, and fire.  

Do Enjoy

Amazing Race - Cemetery Edition

Welcome a special edition of Amazing Race.  Cemetery Edition.  

All were invited to participate.  There were a few rules that had to be followed at all times.  They were as follows.

1.  Must be a team of 2

2.  Must travel between the hours of 9:30 am to 6:30 pm on Memorial Day, May 26, 2014.

3.  All teams must travel to at least 2 Counties in their State.

4.  All teams must provide photo's of all graves visited.

5.  All graves visited must be relatives of said teams.

6.  All miles traveled will consist of round trip.  ie:  Starting point, and back to starting point.

Winner will be the team that travels the most miles, counties and graves visited.

Me and Mother-of-Dazee, hereafter called MOD, took the challenge.  

We left Casa Dazee at exactly 9:30 am.  We traveled from Salt Lake County, to Utah County.   First stop was the Santaquin City Cemetery.  Miles traveled, 56.

First Stop

Grandparents of MOD 

Uncle and Aunt of MOD

Father of MOD, Grandfather of Dazee

Mother of MOD, Grandmother of Dazee

Husband of MOD, Father of Dazee

(one of my sisters said that dad's grave looked like he was covered by a blanket of grass.  A great description)

Time to travel to next cemetery.  We traveled from Utah County to Juab County.  Next stop, Mona City Cemetery. Miles traveled, 15.

Cousin of MOD

Aunt of MOD

more like sister as MOD was raised by her grandparents after the deaths of her parents by the time she was 7.

In the car once again and headed to the first of two cemeteries in Nephi, Utah.  Same County.  Miles traveled, 6.

Grandmother & Grandfather of MOD

The ones that raised MOD

Great-grandmother & Great-grandfather of Dazee

Baby Girl of MOD's grandmother

Great-grandmother & Great-grandfather of MOD

Great-great-grandmother & Great-great-grandfather of Dazee

Aunt of MOD

another sister-like figure

And then off to the other cemetery in Nephi.  Miles traveled, 2

Mother and Father of FOD (Father of Dazee)

Grandmother & Grandfather of Dazee

Grandfather of FOD

Grandmother of FOD

Brother or Uncle of FOD's grandfather

Wife of above

Babies of FOD's grandmother

Back up to Provo, Utah, Utah County.  Miles traveled, 41

Mother-in-law & Father-in-law of Daughter of MOD, Sister of Dazee

The following is just a photo I took of the area across the street from my sister's in-laws.  It is called Babyland.  The only graves in that area are of babies. There are over 640 in there.  

After this stop, Team Crazy Daze & Nite Dreams hit a McDonalds for the best coke around and headed back to the starting line.  Arrived in driveway at 6:28 pm.  Miles traveled, 35.

I am pleased to announce that Dazee and MOD were the winners of this very special edition of Amazing Race.  Here are our totals.  

Miles:  155

Counties:  3

Graves:  25

I would like to mention here that MOD made most of the flower arrangements that we left at the graves.  Only about 7 of them were fresh flowers.  She made numerous trips to the thrift stores for containers and artificial flowers.  

Making The Bad Times Fun

Two weeks before my dad passed, my mom had her 5th hip surgery.  Needless to say, I know what to do from checking her in, to checking her out of the hospital.  I was there when they wheeled her in to surgery and was in the waiting room, when my sister Margaret came to sit with me.  Lo and behold, this is what she walked in the room with and presented to me:

I was sooooo excited.  I have been collecting sock monkey's and she found this in an antique store, and knew I would want it.  

Now, I have never been one to just sit there and mind my own business and be quiet.  I figure everyone in the surgery waiting room is nervous about their loved ones in surgery, so I had him help with a few of the volunteer's jobs.

Why yes, that's him answering the phone when the recovery room calls looking for a family member.  He was even checking on the computer to see if he could find out about someone else that was in surgery.

You also know you have been to the 7th floor rehab unit way too many times, when the staff is willing to set you up with an outfit for you sock monkey.  Me and my sister decided on the name "Doc" as you will find out in a minute why.  

Here is the Scrubs Family.  "Doc" is the Grandfather of the clan.  "Scrubs", the father of the family, is the purple monkey.  My other sister Ann made him for me.  He was the first one of the bunch and is very dear to me.  One day this year, he brought his girlfriend "Chloe" home to meet us.  She is the red one with the cute red hair on top of her head.  Before long, they welcomed "Scrubs Jr", the little guy, into the family.  

The week after my mom's surgery, Margaret and I went up to visit with my dad at his care center.  Doc went along to do a thorough exam on him.  He said that he was doing fine.  (I have to say, in this picture of him, he did look good, but went downhill fast from there)

As you know, mom is now living with me.  She thinks that "it's been 6 weeks since my surgery, I should be able to do whatever I want".  Yeah, well mom, remember that the naughty chair is there for your enjoyment.  And also, Mr. Dazee will not always be able to bail you out.  (yeah, he took pity, only made her sit there 2 minutes, not the minute for every year of her life I threatened her with!!!) 

To end this photo essay of the last weeks of my dad's life, I'm adding the one I took of me holding my dear dad's hand the night before he passed away.  His hand was just laying on the bed, and I slipped my hand on top of his and just held on, telling him of my love for him, and that it was ok for him to go.    

The last few years before their help started going down, I wasn't really close to my mom and dad.  But throughout this experience, I have grown to love them both more than I would even have known I could.  

Once Upon A Time.........

I know, you are saying, "what, is this truly Dazee, come back from the void of time".  

Why yes, yes it is.  

It's been a year.  Or should I say 18 months.  My mom has been through 5 hip surgeries.  Then she had a hernia around her belly button area.  Surgeon went in last fall to fix it, and came out to the consultation room and told me that her poor stomach looked like swiss cheese.  She had seven, yes you read that right, seven hernia's.   He said that is the most he has ever seen at one time.  Like I've always said, when my mom does something, she does it better than the rest.  

My dad, went into the hospital last September.  We thought he had had a stroke, because he just fell and couldn't talk.  He had already been diagnosed with dementia and what we thought was Parkinson's.  At the first of this year, we found out it actually was just dementia with Lewy Bodies.  Just dementia, yikes.  There is nothing like just dementia.  Anydumbdisease, he never came back home.  He ended up in a care/rehab center, and then we finally got him on medicaid so we could move him to a private assisted living center.  I spend the last 7 months watching my dad go completely downhill.  They did a brain scan in March and he had a ton more lesions on his brain.  The doctor gave him 6 months to a year.  It was only 4 weeks later that he passed away.  I, along with a few of my siblings, was there when he took his last breath.  I am so grateful that I was able to witness and finally see my dad out of pain and not being able to do anything for himself. 

So yeah, that's how I've spent my last winter, spring, summer, fall, and winter vacation.   My mom moved in with me and Mr. Dazee in a part of our house that was just made for someone like her.  She has her own bedroom, bathroom, and living room, even her own entrance.  She just has to share the kitchen and laundry room with us.

I have to say, it's been a joy having her around.  Especially because she loves to cook and bake and wasn't able to the last few years when they were living in the retirement place they were in.  Me and the hubster haven't eaten so well.  And the best part.  She feels like it is her responsibility to do the dishes.  I know, right!