Twistedspinster

I think I'm a chameleon.

Remember the movie Runaway Bride? The thing that sticks with me the most is that the title character completely takes on the characteristics of whoever she's with. The newspaper guy asks each of the prospective grooms what kind of eggs she likes, and it's whatever *he* likes.

I think I'm a lot like that. I've referred to it as the Farmer's Wife gene-- "What dear? The mule died so you want me to pull the plow? Ok, then."

When I was a teenager at music camp in North Carolina, I got a southern accent. When we drove through Utah, I felt the pull to squelch my own wishes over Mike's. Stuff like that.

My point? I'm doing that here in the rest home too. Ahem. Assisted Living.

I even found myself buying some stay-drys. geesh. And it wasn't in my head either.
If it was just the mental slow-down, I'd blame the coffee. I swear it's decaf-- like they're afraid of overly-caffeinated seniors or something.

But it's good to see the Schooleys. They're a close family, and that's new for me. And I fit right in, sense of humor-wise. (maybe that's the chameleon thing again, but hey. It works.)

Yesterday, we were all at Mike's sister Connie's house for dinner. I didn't take a head count, but there were at least 20 people. Mike and Eleanor, the parents, 6 siblings plus all their spouses, grandkids, and great grands.

And oh, the stories. Snail races on picnic tables (the winner used a trail of Coke, and the theory is that the sugar and caffeine was the winning strategy).

Pat and Jim, Mike's older brothers, told about the time Pat gave Jim a ride in the dryer. (that explains a lot.) There were conflicting stories about how many shoes were also in the dryer.

And how Pat and Jim (age 5 and 3) went to visit Grandpa and brought home a lot of new words that Mama didn't like at all. Well, Eleanor threatened the washing out the mouth with soap routine, but it wasn't more than 30 seconds before Jim used those words again. So, Eleanor dragged him all the way upstairs to wash out his mouth, and when Jim came back down, he told Pat "Her already done it."

The caffeine's worn off... I'm sure there will be more stories!

posted by Ruth S. @ 7:53 AM 0 Comments

There's a certain kind of melancholy that happens in the rest home...

... when you realize you know all the words to the songs on the muzak.

Because they are the songs that you sang in high school and college.

posted by Ruth S. @ 9:29 PM 2 Comments

Shards - ready to knit

I thought it was fitting to use the new Grafton needles with the Shards yarn. Sorry for the flashback, but it gives the needles the kind of halo they deserve, don't you think? I also got a new bag for the socks-in-progress. It's a cosmetics bag - I'm partial to having my kitting in clear plastic, sort of a counter to the "out of sight, out of mind" phenomenon.

We're going to Omaha this week - did I mention we're test-driving a rest home? More on that later.


This is later...

We had to put Eleanor, my MIL, into assisted living. Sad, but she's still feisty. She broke a wheel on the walker this week, and the story is that she was drag racing in the halls.

The truth of the situation is that she had a small stroke, and it really affected her balance. Plus, it affected that part of her brain that says "If I have bad balance, I shouldn't climb on the bed to straighten the curtains." That's how she broke her leg, which put her into the walker (it's the kind that can double as a wheelchair of sorts).

Eleanor's in Omaha, where Connie and Marilyn live. (those are two of Mike's sisters.)There isn't much health care in Quartzsite, Arizona, and in-home care is non-existent. When Dale sells the house in Q, he'll go to Omaha too.

I thought it would be a good idea to take Dale to Omaha for Thanksgiving, so we're leaving tomorrow (Monday) and coming back Friday. We saved $300 per ticket by avoiding weekends!

So why are the Roketman and I staying in the rest home too? Because they reserve a couple of rooms for relatives for the holidays... so I joke that we're test-driving the rest home.

I intend to take the Spin-Tech and LOTS of knitting.

Labels: projects, Shards

posted by Ruth S. @ 11:15 AM 1 Comments