Happy Summer Solstice!

Happy Longest Day of the Year!

Sorry I’ve been gone so long. Just working, working out, and working in my garden. Taking care of my mom's dogs and enjoying time with my husband.  Not much of interest to report but here goes. 

1.  My life is pretty boring except for the occasional health crisis with my mother.  As Roseanne Roseannadanna used to day “It’s always something.”

A few weeks ago, she fell in her room and hit her head.  She was waiting for me to pick her up for an appointment, so when I went into her room, there was blood everywhere. (Typical head injury bleeding, it looked worse than it was, but it was shocking nonetheless).  But she had already forgotten about falling, her head apparently did not hurt, so she had no idea what I was concerned about.   Even showing her the blood didn't convince her that she had fallen.  

After that we spent a few hours at the ER, they gave her a CT scan (results okay) and finally six staples to close the wound. The whole time, she kept asking me why we were there.  When I would tell her she fell and hit her head, she wouldn't believe me.  So it occurred to me to take a photo with my iPhone.  When I finally showed this...I think she understood.

Then  yesterday, I took her to the dentist as she was complaining of tooth pain.  Turns out a lower molar in the back was cracked, and its opposing upper molar was decayed.  So the only thing to do is to have them extracted.  (At age 89, there's really nothing that can be fixed, so the solution is to just avoid more pain from a bad tooth.)  Next week we have an appointment at the oral surgeon, then have to make another appointment for the extractions.  But five minutes after leaving the dentist, she couldn’t remember where we had just been. 

This is the woman who still doesn’t understand why she can’t live on her own in her own house.  The woman who had a car accident, wrecked the front of her car, and couldn’t even remember where she was when it happened (as far as we know, what she hit was an inanimate object...because there were no reports of anything more serious in her neighborhood)  The woman who still berates me constantly, and complains to anyone that will listen, that I tore her unnecessarily away from her house (60 miles away) and forced her into an assisted living facility.

Whatever. Alzheimers is a bitch, and logically I know it's the disease talking.  It's difficult to let her criticisms go, because I've spent my whole life reacting to her crazy (BPD) moods.  But I'm finally learning to just let her complain and repeat herself endlessly.  Meanwhile I'll just continue to provide her the best care that I can.  All I can do is look at her care as one of "my jobs."  I’m fortunate that my real job is flexible and my boss is understanding, so I can take whatever time I need to get all these medical issues taken care of for her. 

2.  On my personal improvement front, I have been rocking it at the gym.  Here's a screen shot from today.  The red means your heart rate is close to max, so that means you are working hard. 

My trainer has been pushing me and today I “almost” puked, but not quite. (I did end up lying prostrate on the floor after the last set.) 

He has three P's that he measures the workout by...Puke? Pass Out?  Pass Away! (lol).  I only text him my results when they are a bit over-the-top (and I'm pretty proud of myself).

 

The bottom line on all this is, along with modifying my diet a bit, this has resulted in a weight loss of (I’m guessing) about 8 lbs over the past 3 months.  I’m pretty pleased with that!  I'm really getting in shape, and I'm stronger, fitter, and thinner than I can ever recall before.

I think I would like to lose about another 5 lbs, which I'm guessing would put me at about 167.  But since I don’t weigh myself, I have no idea how much I actually weigh or what losing 5 more lbs looks like.  So instead, I have a pair of pants that are my goal pants…they're a size 8. I will use them to gauge when I’m done losing.  The way they fit now feels like 5 more lbs lost would make them fit perfectly. 

3.  Last but not least, I feel very fortunate that my husband’s two sisters are like the sisters I never had.  We have a deep mutual love of dogs and we have really bonded over the past few years.  Anyway, we are really fond of each other.   With my crazy upbringing, I've always been very guarded in my relationships, and never had close friends.  These women are the only people in my life who spontaneously tell me they love me whenever we talk on the phone.  So even though they live far away, we are very close and talk all the time.  

I’m excited to say we are all getting together in San Francisco (at one sister’s house) at the end of July…and we have decided to get tattoos together!  I’ve never had a tattoo and want something very small on the inside of my left wrist.  I know that I want a “bee” because I always used to call Buster just “B,” plus I just love bumblebees.  They are such lovely, gentle creatures. 

Recently I’ve started wearing a bee pendant, and when people ask about it, I tell them it’s my bee in memory of my Mr. B. 

A bumblebee tattoo would remind me of him all the time.  So which do you like best?  

I kind of like the last one with the added letter "B." although I would probably have the body colored yellow like the others.

 

I'd love to know your opinion, especially if you have a tattoo and can advise me on what would turn out the best.

I hope everyone has a great weekend!  Enjoy the long days while they last, from now on they'll be getting shorter!