Monday, January 4, 2021

Monday, January 4, 2021

Tonight's picture was taken in December of 2008. I remember this day very well. It was a challenging one emotionally. Mattie was in pain, and dealing with great sadness and depression. Not to mention anxiety. Friends dropped off these cute hats and light up noses! Peter jumped on in as Santa and Mattie as Rudolph. It was a moment of fun that cut through a sea of darkness. 

Quote of the day: Today's coronavirus update from Johns Hopkins.

• Number of people diagnosed with the virus: 20,807,818
• Number of people who died from the virus: 353,371

Another day in "paradise." I am NO longer under any delusion that tomorrow will be a calmer day! Forget it, it never happens. My day involved the usual routine that I mentioned yesterday, but on top of my usual tasks, I had to run back to the notary today to get documents processed and then mailed. Of course whatever I mail, I have to scan and print out so my mom has them in her files. Adding paperwork to an already complicated day is a pip. 

Last week, I bought my dad a reading comprehension workbook at the 8th grade level. My dad used to love to read and process information. Unfortunately not anymore. He gets frustrated, angry, and belligerent if you ask him to push himself out of his comfort zone (which is very small). I tried to impress on my dad today that one needs to exercise not only the body but also the brain daily. For the past two days, I sat by my dad's side reading through the reading comprehension passages and then I coached him as he answered the questions that pertained to each passage. Today, I was working on filing out paperwork and scanning documents. So I left his side for thirty minutes in the hope that his caregiver would coach him. Forget it, she didn't and when I walked back in the room, my dad was stymied and puzzled. When I offered to work with him, he snapped at me, saying he had to do it by himself. Then after which he proceeded to say he hated these exercises and did not want to do them. This usually then leads to him saying that my mom and I are constantly beating him up. Which drives me batty, because people who may not know us, will think we are literally abusing him! 

On top of managing my dad's needs, his caregiver, running chores, cooking dinner, and constant cleaning, let's add picking up a rug at the front of the house (which is 500 feet away from the front door) to today's list. My parent's had a beautiful rug in their living room, but last week I had it removed to be cleaning and wrapped for storage. My dad was either tripping on it or carting dirt all over it from the patio. 

It is hard to pick a rug on line. There are some things I prefer to shop in person for, but in COVID times, one has to improvise. I spent days tracking down a rug that matched my mom's style! Now it is on the floor and I have soda boxes on top of the rug's corners to straighten it out. 

My last kitchen activity for the day was baking from scratch a three layer lemon cake with lemon buttercream frosting. Ironically I don't like baking. But since I have been here, I have baked a coconut layer cake, a layered carrot cake, and now a lemon cake. My parent's love a little dessert after dinner, and given the lockdown, a little sugar brightens all of our days!