Mundane Musings-A Day In The Life Of LottoLaughs

Well, we are on Day 3 and lottolaughs has not had a breakdown yet.  

Mom pulled up in the SuperShuttle (the plane was early,natch!) at 10:30 am on Sunday. Pixie hair do? Check! Already talking? Check! The "half hug" greeting? Check!

Total repeat of every other visit. I was surprised that she looked none the worse for wear after all that had happened to her over the past year. Nope. Still the eternal teenager at 80.

A lot of preparation went on here at the house before her arrival. Usually she sleeps on the living room couch or in my reclining chair. Even at her own digs she hasn't slept in a bed in years. She can't sleep lying down,has to be propped up due to her acid reflux. Then it was because of the restless legs but that doesn't seem to be an issue anymore. Thought I would get her an adjustable bed for this latest visit. Wasn't sure if she would be able to sleep in it but so far so good.

I never knew that someone could fall asleep so fast. The first evening after dinner we watched a little television. She'd look at me and smile and her head would just fall forward and boom..out like a light. I've never seen anyone do that before,lol.

That went on all evening.

I finally said,"Mom,let's get you to bed." She's looking at her watch and said, "Oh, it's too early,haha." Like I was kidding. It was 10:00. She'd been up since 2 AM. "Don't worry about the time,aren't you tired?" She forgot that she's 2 hours behind here so for her it was around midnight. The eternal night owl,my mother.

Finally we got her into bed. Pills taken? Check! Bed remote instructions given? Check! We're all good.

I raised her up with the remote after she maneuvered on and kept asking, "Is this alright?" 

"Yeah! Yeah!"

"You sure? How about this?" I raised it a little higher.

"Yeah! Yeah!"

As soon as I got into my bed it wasn't long before I heard the bed motor whirring away so "No! No!" should have been her answer. I never know when to believe my mother.

My sister had informed me that mom likes to have the closed caption words on the tv. Since she's up at all hours, she doesn't like to disturb my sister in the middle of the night so she'll put the tv low and I know she can't hear it so the words help. I was in the kitchen finishing the dishes after dinner and all of a sudden the tv is BLASTING and some kind of automated voice is emanating from it in another language! How'd THAT happen? I never heard that before! I learn a lot of new things when mom comes to town. I rush in and she's standing up with the remote in her hand. There's some kind of prompt screen on the tv that I've never seen before either. But,hey,the words were scrolling so she must have done something right! 

Mom's used to having a clock next to her wherever she sleeps (time must be very important at this age) so the next day we were on a mission to get one since I didn't have an extra. She wanted to go to Rite Aid. (her favorite store. Why, I have no idea.) Anytime she knows we're going somewhere, she is ready in a flash, makeup on,hair combed,sweater half on. Lottolaughs is not in such a hurry. But she makes you feel like you should be. 

I was on the computer and she's standing behind me. Mind you, this was very early in the morning. Before breakfast. 

Then she's sitting down in front of me. I don't know when she started this waving her hands around while talking. It's very distracting. She also has a new habit of squeezing her eyes shut as she's telling you a story. Maybe it helps her focus more.

"I got the one light switch by the back door...(point point) and then there's another switch over by the bedroom (point,point,wave wave) and in the bathroom they didn't have enough room to put four switches so there's two (point) on top and two (point) on the bottom and........"

During construction of her new room as mentioned in my previous blog entry, she was there and very involved in the day to day goings on. I'm sure the construction workers appreciated this. (Sorry guys!)

After a few more waves and a wobbly point at the ceiling (about some other light that she had installed), I was ready to go.

The car was in the driveway so we went out the front door. (First mistake)

I turned my head for one second (just one teeny tiny second) to lock it and "Wobbles" was swaying back and forth like she'd had one too many. "Whooooa, whooaaa". I had to grab her arm real quick and hold on to her.

Of course your balance isn't what it used to be at 80. Especially when you have hammer toes. But mom's excuse was that the "back of the shoe hit the step".

Yeah....mmmm....okay. 

I hear the old toes have gotten really bad but since she's going to be here for two whole months, I thought I'd save it for another time to check them out.

I want to save some fun for later, you know.

My sis had warned me that she's not too stable on her feet anymore. In my opinion, she's never been all that stable (har har) even when she was younger. Back when she worked for the state she'd take the bus downtown every morning. The first fall happened in the rain, running for the bus. Splat! Broken collar bone. (I got really good at rolling hair in curlers.) The second fall happened a few years later. Again, at the bus stop. No rain this time but Kerplunk! Broken nose this time. So even on her best day years ago she was a little wobbly.

As we get out of the car in the Rite Aid parking lot, I look down at my mothers feet and one shoe was off. She'd stepped back and right out of the shoe. I see we're going to have a lot of feet trouble this trip.