Moving Art

Mom and I both love watching "Moving Art" by Louie Shcwartzberg.  We watch "Forests" the most (on Netflix), but we watch "Flowers" too, and you can see that one on youtube. Click here.

Today, after she got situated in her recliner, and I put on "Forests" for her.  She said, "I just love those two . . . " (then since she couldn't find the word, she pointed at the TV where a pair of deer had just walked across a beach and toward a forest on the screen).  "They go over there every week," she told me.  I'm so pleased that the memory of those deer is written somewhere inside her.  It's a 25 minute video and we've probably watched it several hundred times over the course of the last few weeks, . .  so . . . it took a long time, but it did make a memory.

Plus, unlike "Pollyanna" which I can no longer abide to sit through, "Moving Art" hasn't gotten old for me either.  I could sit and watch the forest scenes for a few more thousand years, I think.

In other news, a few days ago we got a box in the mail containing the start of Mommy's Easter basket!

How do you all think she'll like that?

I'm so excited!  I may not have gotten them in time for Christmas, but she'll get them at Easter!

I'm learning the value of planning for things.  (I talk about this all the time off-blog, might as well let the subject roll over into here.)  I've discovered - this is thanks in a large part to my Amanda - the value of planning for things. I'm learning that much of the fun is in the plotting.  After all, God, Himself, planned for the first Christmas and the first Easter for several thousand years.  We humans are not as resolute or steadfast, but still, it seems to me that I can plan a few months out, if I set my mind to it, and make our holidays better for the thought that goes into them.

So, at any rate, even if I don't do another thing, Mommy will have Little Debbie's Oatmeal Cookies for Easter.  And, in the freezing cold of this week, that's something to be glad about.  (So there, Pollyanna.)

Pump Organ

Well, Mommy never did like the shelves with all my pretty boxes of sewing supplies that I thought she'd think were lovely.

She was always asking, "What's all that junk over there?"

Now the sewing supplies will be in my own, special attic room, and a lovely pump organ has taken their place.

Click here to see Stephan playing it.

Sorry I've been lax about posting . . . I want to do things perfectly, and so I put off doing them at all . . .

How to make a small batch of homemade applesauce. This is my Valentine's Day gift to the world (actually it's a re-gift since the recipe was told to me and not made up by me).

Aunt Bonnie told me how to do this over the phone so that my mother would have yummy, good, applesauce to eat, and it is just easy-peasy, and makes every morning smell like heaven in my house. 

1. I use four apples. I usually use 3 granny smith and one sweet. (But any variation works.)

2. Wash apples thoroughly

3. Peel and core apples*

4. Put about a half inch to an inch of water in a 1 quart saucepan. More water = more watery until it cooks down enough. Less water = be sure and stir A LOT so it doesn't cook down too fast.

5. Cut apples into small pieces, dump in saucepan, bring water that you can't really see in the bottom to a boil (just guess about it), then reduce heat to low.

6. Using a potato masher stir and mash apple pieces until they are soft and mushy and turn into applesauce.

7. Add brown sugar to taste. I add about 4 teaspoons when I use all large Granny smith.

8. Eat and wonder why you supported the canned applesauce industry.

 *I have been saving the peels in a gallon zip-lock in the freezer. The cores I gave to Scooby. Today may be the day I make my first batch of apple peel jelly, I will probably brag that up if it tastes good . . .

Little, Brown Seed!

Mom sang "Little Brown Seed" with me!  Click here to see it!

Don't read the rest until you've watched the video!  My boring words are no match for the amazingness of hearing little wisps of Mommy's voice!

Seriously, watch the video first.

Do you want to know how the morning went to get to that spot in time?  If so, now that you've watched the video, you can keep reading.  I've told about it below.

I am so so so living a blessed life.  I can't understand how or why God saw fit to put me into this amazing and peace filled position.

Now that the home health care people have gotten me trained to care for Mommy, my days are filled with a quiet joy.  I know that sounds like something from a ninteenth century novel (and a sappy one at that), but it's so true.

In the morning, almost every morning, I make Mommy her homemade applesauce following Aunt Bonnie's over the phone instructions.  SO DELICIOUS!  Then, I crush up her Tylenol and her vitamin pills into powder and mix that with a little of the applesauce.

Then, I wait until she wakes up and is ready to start her day.  This can happen anytime from eight to eleven.  All the following times (listed below) get adjusted to her wake-up schedule.

Once she wakes up, I sit her up just enough so she can swallow safely, and I feed her the medicine applesauce followed by a few bites of the yummy applesauce to wash down that bitter Tylenol.

After that we wait for thirty to forty minutes for the Tylenol to take effect.  While we wait, I sit in her room and read my devotional.  I read most of the Scripture, prayers, hymns aloud for Mommy to hear.

Then, once I think the Tylenol has taken the edge off her arthritis pain, I change out the bed, and give her the bowl of applesauce to finish herself.  She is a very tidy eater.  I don't think that I could eat a bowl of applesauce in bed with so little mess!

While she eats her applesauce and watches something on the TV (moving art featuring flowers and forests are favorites right now), I read Scriptures (I'm reading through the Bible in a year - actually ahead of schedule - knock on wood),

After I finish the Scripture reading, Mom is usually done with her applesauce, and I pour her a glass of Boost.  While she sips it, I say my prayers for family and friends and everybody else I pray for.  Sometimes Mom watches TV through this (especially if she takes a long time with the Boost), and sometimes she reads a book or looks at her mail.

Then, around noon, she's usually hungry for her oatmeal.  I give her the oatmeal, and we wait a half hour or so, and then it's time to get out of bed.  (I'm getting much better about manipulating the situation so Mom wants to do this - and if she doesn't want to, I'm afraid I'm getting much better at just lifting her onto the commode whether she really wants to or not.  This is not easy for me - I'm a push-over . . . )

Thirty minutes after that, we walk to the recliner together, and she gets to relax in the recliner for three or sometimes four hours (depending on when dinner will be and when she got there . . . )  while she is in her recliner, I walk Scooby (one mile) and do other household chores.

I stopped measuring the distance to the recliner because she really got stressed when I was getting out the tape measure and positioning the chair.  (She probably was cueing off of me somehow. I'm such a nervous Nelly.)  So, now, we walk the distance from the commode to the recliner positioned at the edge of the carpet (57 inches). Once she gets good at going this distance, maybe I'll start moving the recliner out a little bit every so often.

And, that's our morning into the afternoon.

Flower identification?

Yesterday, Bonni Lyne sent the most beautiful card, and I must identify the flower that's painted on it so that I can plant it all over Mittelwood.  Help me if you can.  Here's a scan of the card front.

What flower is this?

Also, I took a video of Mommy reading the card, and it's so amazing because she read it all.  Bonni told me that she'd printed it out so that hopefully Mom would be able to read it, and she could, and she did without even any prompting from me.  Here's a link to the video.

Happy 59th, Daddy and Mommy!

Thanks, Marjie!

We made Mom's pancakes yesterday!  The recipe was exactly perfect.  They tasted just like home.

Why, I wonder, did I ever look for a "better" recipe.  The best pancake recipe ever conceived was in Mommy's head all along.