Another day, another chore list. It feels like it will never end, but our goal/deadline is to be done with all the unpacking before the end of the year. I’d like to be done with it before the end of the month. I worked longer than I intended to yesterday. I thought I was just going to go tidy mother in laws bathroom, but Alzheimer’s is a squirly disease. We cleaned the bathroom when we first got here and over the course of the last few months, the bathroom drawers managed to fill themselves back up again.
What we forgot to do was take the plastic three-drawer container out of her massive walk-in closet that was full of more toiletries. I was wondering where all the extra drugs were coming from. Turns out, she had a stash in her closet. Drawers and drawers of razors, band-aids, diarrhea medicine, allergy medicine. You name it, you could find it in her closet pharmacy. Of course, I worst case scenario’d the whole thing and convinced myself if I didn’t get rid of any and all drugs, I’d take her breakfast one day and she’d just be a cold corpse staring at me because of some random drug interaction with the meds she’s actually supposed to be taking.
So I purged her bathroom and closet storage and ended up with a medium sized box of things that need to go elsewhere. We’ve brought back some of her clothes to her closet and the rest are going to go upstairs. All the research says that we should not give her too many choices but make sure she has the things she’s familiar with. As a hoarder, she’s familiar with way too many “things.”
So, I guess it’s coming along inside and now it’s fall and her three mature trees in the front yard have started shedding their summer clothes, as well. My task list for today includes yardwork. It may end up being the only task on the list because I’m not sure the mower will be able to mulch the volume of leaves that are in the front yard. We shall see, I guess. It does look really pretty. All the colors, well, it did when they first started falling. Now that they are dying, the yard looks as depressed as I feel most days. And it’s supposed to get below freezing tonight so I also have to bring in my favorite Aloe plant that I’ve had since before we moved to the beach over 4 years ago. She’s outgrown multiple pots and leans a little to the left, but she’s gorgeous and huge and most importantly, she’s mine. Something that belongs to me in this house full of other people’s things.
And it’s Saturday, which means Football time in Tennessee. Luckily, mother in law is a big football fan, and will sit and watch for hours which is probably the main reason I love Saturdays. It’s a little window of time where I don’t feel bad for not entertaining her and I don’t have to entertain her.
Anyway, I guess that’s it for now. I started blogging after everyone woke up and they won’t stop talking to me so I can’t keep track of what I’m trying to say.
I’ll see you tomorrow. Earlier. I’m on a writing streak and though it’s a small thing, it’s a small thing that I’m pretty proud of right now in this season of life where I’m finding it hard to be proud of anything.
Leave a Reply