March Update

This past month Tom has been going down the woods to watch the loggers log..... It has been good for him because when he got up in the morning he didn't have to sit and ponder on what he was going to do that day........

Unfortunately they moved out this week...... But before they were all the way out of here.... Ol' Norm made a deal with then to cut some of his wood for fire wood..............

Tom worked on the pile for a couple hours yesterday but said it was too hard for him to do alone...... So I volunteered my services which put a big content smile on his face...... Guess we'll see just how much oomph I have left in me.... lol

The temps have been in the 40s and spring is in the air..... it won't be long and I will be throwing my hands in the air and saying..." I GIVE UP" as 4 dogs and 1 large (?)child track mud all over the house without batting an eye......

All the girls have been updated on there shots now and Emily goes in on Thursday to be spayed......the poor thing has been "looking for love in all the wrong places" lol  Hopefully this will relieve her of her desires to be a MOM.

My Son... Travis... had Tom's 4 Wheeler in the shop.  He went over it and put it back in tip top shape ...... Tom has 14,000 miles on it .  That's unheard of so I've been told.  But it has been good to him and he is sort of "bonded" with it so he knows all it's little quirks if he was to have trouble with it when he's off and about.

Tom wants to build a garage this spring... with that in mind he is "focused" (I use that word loosely) and excited about that possibility becoming a reality.  For now it gives him something NEW to look forward too.......

For now and today ...... all is well at the Olsons.  : )

Trip To The Vet.....

We have recently come into a modest amount of money... equivalent to someone getting their income tax refund.

Living on the modest income that we do there is no money to s-t-r-e-t-c-h.... I know because I am the master of $$ stretching.

Taking care of matters in priority order I took two of the girls to the vet for a check up and shots..... I started with the two younger ones thinking that it would be a slam dunk.  There I go "thinking" again.......

Emily is in great shape and took her shots like a champ...... She is scheduled for surgery to be spayed next week......

Now Sarah wasn't so lucky.....  She didn't like being there even though they had lots of treats...... upon exam it was discovered she had like a seed or thorn or some thing by the eardrum and an infection......

And as if that wasn't bad enough my poor baby tested positive for lymes disease......  so far the test showed she was only bitten by an infected tick so medication will take care of that in short order as with the ear.

Neither one of the girls were impressed with all the needle pokes and were really happy to be back home.... lol 

Maggie and Lilly have an appointment for Friday...... I can't wait!

PS.... To tell you the truth.... I don't know which is worse.... taking the girls to the vet or Tom to the Dr....... lol

Happy Birthday ♬

Happy Birthday To Tommmmmy♬

Tom had a birthday yesterday.....  He turned "55"

We had a quiet day...... phone calls wishing him a Happy Birthday was an all day event.  Sanj & The Boys brought out Tom's favorite locally made pizza for super. 

That brought him to life!  He seemed to enjoy the food and their company.... and as evening drew upon us he wanted me near him.....

We were inseparable till the disease took over..... and last night he told me "I miss you"..... I looked into his eyes and in them I seen the man who loved me more than life..... It's a look I miss as no words ever needed to be spoken.... it was in his eyes.  I miss you too Tom.

Busy Boy?

The weather has been unusually warm for us at this time of the year.... The girls are outside more than in... chasing squirrels who are also out scampering around.

We have loggers logging not to far from the house so Tom has been busy checking on them all day..... He knows them from his past life in the woods (logging) so they stop and talk with / to /?  him......

The Old Man next door, Tom's buddy, has been keeping Tom occupied too..... He has ice build up problems on his roof, snow on his deck, wood to be hauled into the house and garage for the wood stoves...... snow blower in need of repair....etc.

After surveying the ice on the roof he decided it has to attached to get off?...... after waiting two days The Old Man managed to shovel the deck off ........ and got his wood hauled into the house.....

Tom asked my "help" to get the wood into the garage for him..... That worked out well with the two of us..... Tom sat in front of the stove trying to get it going while I brought in and filled up the racks...... we always did work well as a team....... it was getting pretty smoky in the garage with all that smoke billowing out of the stove..... "shouldn't the damper be open Tom?"  I asked inquisitively..... He stood up to open it while saying.... " this is how he always starts it"  he answered with an unsure tone in his voice...... I dropped it there knowing he had NO clue what he was doing. I turned so he couldn't see my face and got another wheel borrow of wood.....

That evening Tom helped the Old Man repair his snow blower..... "so how did that go?" I asked....... "Well now it's more broke than it was before" he said clueless to the fact that he is the reason it is broke worse..... You would think the Old Man would NOT tell Tom things are broke ...... Tom did the same last summer with his riding lawn mower....AND the Old Man IS well aware of what is ailing Tom.....

So you can see, Tom has been pretty busy these days.... lol
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2/27/11

Here we are.. end of February already.  It hasn't been too bad as Tom's meds are working well for him now.

Sometimes he thinks the medications ARE his problem and says he is going to quit taking them...... I reply with "It's your choice but if it were me and I was doing so well taking the meds... I'm not sure I would want to chance what would happen if I quit."

He says if he gets bad after stopping them he will just go back on them... I replied with..."That's all good BUT from what I have read... anyone stopping their meds and then going back on ..... don't go back to where they where but rather... they have declined more and can not get it back.........

I see him searching for the person he was and what he use to do..... He blames the pills on his lack of ambition and energy..... his tiredness...... and weight gain.  It's probably true in part BUT without the medications he wouldn't be sitting here thinking about what all he has lost.

Tom is anxious for spring..... he thinks there will be more to do?  We are planning on putting up a small garage but that can't begin till the road limits are lifted..... in April.     

He believes he is going to get a BIG DOZER in here and take out all my trees because he is tired of mowing around them......  IF you read the main blog you know he doesn't mow anything...... he just wants to get in a dozer and MOVE some big stuff...... He was born with operating BIG equipment in his blood..... He misses it!

On warmer days he has been down in the woods watching the loggers and talking to a few people he knows.....He sometimes takes one of the older Girls (Mag or Lilly) as they miss the old times too.

Tom sleeps till noon these days which is nice for me.... It seems to be apart of his new self.... He doesn't like the fact he is so tired and can sleep so much but that once again HIM knowing the way he WAS and isn't NOW.

Tom has his wants and needs well taken care of... I see to that first..... if he is happy.. everybody is happy.  It's just the way it is in this world with this disease. 

The hardest thing to accept and adapt to is their selfish self centered-ness which wasn't there when it came to me till this disease took over.....

Point being .... me and the millions other spouses  in my shoes... struggle to find me time.... somedays just being able to step outside the door and take in a breath of fresh air without hearing...."MOM??? WHERE ARE YOU?"

I am kept pretty busy just chasing after Tom and the Girls..... but there are times I find some free time on my hands and that is when I play with my projects..... I don't like to be idle for long......

Time on your hands just gives you time to think about all you are missing out on in the rest of the world..... and it serves no good purpose to even go there.... As a spousal caregiver to this disease it's best to make the best of the world you are confined too........ in hopes that you come out at the end still in tack to go on with your life.

It will be fun to see what March brings ....... We got so much snow this winter I expect spring to be plenty muddy so I am already working on "HOW TO KEEP THE MUD OUTSIDE"   ....... Now with Tom and the 4 girls.... that is a big challenge!   lol

Valentines Day

Valentines Day ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤  &  ✘ ✘ ✘ ✘ ✘ ✘✘ &  OOOOOO........ Love is in the air.... ♬ ........diamonds and chocolates and roses and cards of LOVE...... candle light dinner and a glass of champagne...... ?

Do I miss it?   No..... we never did all that...... We loved everyday...  On Valentines Day,  we would wake up and say..."will you be my valentine?"..... the other would answer  "yes if you will be mine."  We would giggle as our life together and our love for each other was so "simple"......... and still is.

Though it's different now because he isn't all of who he was because of the disease stealing that part of him..... but his heart  beats for me and will to the end.......  he remembered our valentine exchange this morning .......  

♪ I AM The Lucky-est Women In The World Today! ♬   That's my SONG! ♫

Where Is Everybody....

Where Did Everybody Go?

I pondered that thought after I wrote my last blog "HELLO?"  

I loose site of what a life in the real world is all about.... I am so well adjusted to our life in the woods and living with Alzheimer's...... well pretty much this world is "ALL ABOUT US!   But beyond the realm of "our woods"  life is different... it's busy with day to day events that don't exist in "OUR WORLD"

Where is everybody?  Well I guess they would be busy LIVING their life ........ They give us a part of their life that they CAN...... but their lives are also demanding and busy.... So for them to take ANY time for us out here in OUR WORLD in a gift to us ..... a GIFT of their time taken out of their life.

So today it is lightly snowing.... which means it is warmer today...... which means today is a good day to go for a walk..... BUT one of our girls PEE-eed all over our bed last night Soooooo I have bedding to wash ALLLLL day! 

I don't know what is up with that but she managed to hit every blanket on the bed..... ?       "lge bed = lot's of bedding"

For some reason..... "I am NEVER bored."   lol