Mental Decline
An interesting development: major snow predicted beginning after midnight tonight. What this will do to the painters' plans, I don't know.
The prediction is nasty enough that the kitchen has planned a buffet dinner for tomorrow, in order to use as few cooks and waitresses as possible. This may cancel the painters, although I hope not for more than one or two days. The problem with this is that here I'll be, all up and dressed and ready for them at 6 a.m., and then I may very well get a phone call to say they aren't coming. Well, if that happens, I'll just go back to bed and sleep the morning away. Could be worse...
0 Replies
Noddy24
1
Reply
Mon 14 Jan, 2008 03:45 am
TomKitten--
My son and DIL are in Lowell, so I'd just been looking at the Boston weather. I don't know what landed on you last night, but five to seven more inches are supposed to arrive today. May your painters be brawny men with four-wheel drive and an old-fashioned work ethic.
Home repairment are just as much trouble as houseguests--and you have to pay them for the inconvenience they bring.
Courage. This, too, shall pass.
0 Replies
Tomkitten
1
Reply
Mon 14 Jan, 2008 07:06 am
Mental Decline
The painters are here - about half an hour late, but that's nothing. The storm is raging, but they made it.
They estimate the better part of a week! I had calculated 2 to 3 days. Oh well, what will be will be, and it will be worth it in the end.
0 Replies
Noddy24
1
Reply
Mon 14 Jan, 2008 10:01 am
TomKitten--
Books add to the time and cost. The last professional housecleaner wanted to tack on $25 to her original estimate $180 when she saw the bookcases.
Since conditions underfoot may be treacherous, Mr. Noddy offered to go pick up the newspaper at the bottom of the driveway. He made this offer 45 minutes ago and he's had his coat on for the last 15 minutes. Mr. Noddy's organization skills are not what they were.
0 Replies
Walter Hinteler
1
Reply
Mon 14 Jan, 2008 10:43 am
The organisation at the psychiatric hospital where my aunt stays, is in a similar condition. :wink:
At first, she should go to the nursing home on January 3, then a week later, than comming Thursday ...
I've said since weeks that such is impossible.
Since now the leading psychioatrist (professor and head of all) has looked at her a bit more ... they now get the same ideas as I got (with my more practical experiences as someone who's jobe was with persons who went to psychiatric hospitals for 20 years: it can last and last, and you never know ...
-----------
Since I've been away ober the weekend (it was really very nice!), I hadn't visited my mother since Friday (and I didn't feel like driving there yestarday afternnon).
She's doing fine - "and we don't talk about what might be tomorrow", the leading [male] nurse said :wink:
0 Replies
Noddy24
1
Reply
Mon 14 Jan, 2008 11:10 am
Walter--
Evidently your mother has access to that corner of her mind where the memories of her overnight on the hard, stone floor were stored. I'm glad she's settling in without losing face.
As for your aunt--perhaps the psychiatric establishment is beginning to realize that what they see is what they get. Your aunt can't return to "normal"--she's been living her "normal" for quite awhile.
0 Replies
Tomkitten
1
Reply
Mon 14 Jan, 2008 04:38 pm
Mental Decline
Walter -
Quote:
perhaps the psychiatric establishment is beginning to realize that what they see is what they get.
Quote:
I think that all too often the psychiatric establishment doesn't believe in WYSIWYG. Their foundation is so apt to be the idea that the surface is nothing; you must burrow deep deep deep beneath it. But Noddy is right: this may well be your aunt's "normal". If that's the case, and it certainly sounds like it, they will eventually have to accept it, and deal with the situation on that basis. I hope they have the generosity of mind to do this.
Noddy - Well, Day One is over, at least as far as the painters are concerned. But I'm trying to air out the apartment, at least somewhat, but the choice is paint fumes or freezing. I have been told that it will actually take "the better part of the week" which puts it at Thursday I guess.
Then I can have all the fun of rehanging the paintings and reshelving the books. And, actually, this will be rather fun; I may change things around more than just swapping books and paint pots. And I have just about decided that I will get rid of the old bookshelves - 40 years, and showing their age - and have our Maintenance carpenter build new ones, floor to ceiling, painted to match the walls. This will mean finding new places for all my thingies, but I'll figure it out.
The old bookcases will go to our annual Holiday Fair, which will benefit the staff emergency fund. However, all that is several months down the road, and I have to find out the price. But these things will really upgrade the apartment which does need it, after 15 years, Plus keeping me busy. On top of which, unpacking/reshelving the books is great exercise - much more fun than the treadmill and the weights.
0 Replies
Walter Hinteler
1
Reply
Mon 14 Jan, 2008 04:58 pm
I'm really not complaining about that hospita, and I'm sure they do what can be done.
But I am quite sure that you can try what you want: a 84 years old female with such a background like my aunt ... .
But it's a university teaching hospital, for two universities [medical faculty at one, health sciences at the other]. I suppose, they just want to prove that THEY can do it.
0 Replies
Noddy24
1
Reply
Tue 15 Jan, 2008 02:48 pm
Walter--
At least you know they're paying attention to her case.
TomKitten--
The smell of paint. Ugh. You have my sympathy. Fortunately you can balance the smell of paint with the joys of nest-building.
Mr. Noddy spilled a can of mandrin oranges, syrup and all, into the kitchen silverware drawer. He's not nearly as good about cleaning up after himself as he used to be.
I wish he'd picked another day to make this particular mess.
0 Replies
Tomkitten
1
Reply
Tue 15 Jan, 2008 03:13 pm
Mental Decline & Dependency/Coping With Aging Loved Ones
I think the paint smell is to be preferred to the mandarin orange syrup mess.
I took my courage in both hands and asked the head painter when they expected to finish.
Answer: Friday. Oh my oh my...
0 Replies
Noddy24
1
Reply
Tue 15 Jan, 2008 05:31 pm
TomKitten--
Friday?
Pamper yourself this weekend. Next week, while you may call it "exercising", you'll be reaping the rewards of years of modest materialism.
The Mandarin Orange mess is mostly cleaned up--although I'm sure that I'll be finding sticky spots for several days. Mr. Noddy did remove a Rube Goldberg attachment (of his own devising) from my exercise board which I'll make an effort to notice every single day.
Balance. A good mind can always find balance.
0 Replies
Tomkitten
1
Reply
Tue 15 Jan, 2008 06:45 pm
Mental Decline & Dependency/Coping With Aging Loved Ones
Friday.
0 Replies
Noddy24
1
Reply
Tue 15 Jan, 2008 07:24 pm
Friday is a long way away.
At least the painters aren't slavering rapists.
0 Replies
Tomkitten
1
Reply
Wed 16 Jan, 2008 09:56 am
Mental Decline
Well, you can't always tell... they mostly look like grandfathers, but you never know...
Anyway, the latest estimate is that it will all be finished by midday tomorrow! I can hardly wait. I'm getting very tired of having to get dressed to eat breakfast downstairs in the Cafe/Grille, when I'd much rather wander into my own kitchen in robe and slippers and fix my own bagel. I also vastly prefer to make my own lunch upstairs. I'm also getting tired of getting up at 6:30 am.
They tell me I can start putting back pictures on the walls; the problem there is that I can't find the ones that go in the bedroom - they are buried under later stacks from the other rooms.
I'm seizing the opportunity to get rid of more stuff - though not my books; never my books.
Since I don't cook, do I really need the big spaghetti pot? And jars of spices that are probably stale by now, anyway? And so on.
I have my life all planned out for the next couple of weeks - reorganizing books, switching pictures around, buying a wall lamp to go over the piano.
Change of subject: We have had the most beautiful couple of days with totally snow-covered trees, and no wind. This morning I was already up when the sun began rising, and the pale golden rose on the tops of the snowy trees was just incredibly beautiful. It's only 21F now, and still no wind, so in contrast to yesterday with all the snowy branches against the deep gray sky now there are snowy trees against a bright blue cloudless background.
0 Replies
Noddy24
1
Reply
Wed 16 Jan, 2008 12:19 pm
TomKitten--
I haven't heard of too many grandfatherly slavering rapists operating in a wolf pack. Your virtue is probably safe.
Gone tomorrow! Bliss! The older I get the more crotchety I feel when my routine is disrupted. Come Friday you might not set foot outside your world until after high noon.
Rearranging and winnowing are very healthy occupations.
Our garbage pickup is tomorrow. Mr. Noddy bundled the garbage with only one reminder and he's dropping it at the end of the driveway in daylight instead of waiting for the witching hour. Some days are much better than others.
0 Replies
Tomkitten
1
Reply
Wed 16 Jan, 2008 01:10 pm
Mental Decline
They've FINISHED!!!!!
And it looks beautiful - plain and clean and fresh.
Now I can get started on putting the place back together again.
0 Replies
Phoenix32890
1
Reply
Wed 16 Jan, 2008 02:14 pm
Yea! I'll bet it must feel great..............everything freshened up.
0 Replies
Noddy24
1
Reply
Wed 16 Jan, 2008 02:46 pm
Finished! Ahead of schedule.
Tomorrow you can have bagels in your bathrobe while you plan your day.
0 Replies
Tomkitten
1
Reply
Wed 16 Jan, 2008 07:52 pm
Mental Decline
My day is already planned. The morning is devoted to a couple of hours work in our library - the usual Thursday a.m. person is in the hospital so I said I'd take her place. This is fun - my normal day is Monday afternoon, and I have no objection whatever to an extra stint.
In the afternoon I want to do some errands (weather permitting) and then put the apartment back together. I plan to alternate pictures, books, and lots of slothful rest periods. There is no hurry; I have no obligation to have things done by any particular date; I want to fiddle around and rearrange and probably rearrange again.
Later this spring I hope some cousins will come to visit.They won't stay with me, but there are guest suites on the premises, so that is something to look forward to, but very far in the distance. I do hope that by then the cartons will have been emptied, folded back up, and returned to our Maintenance Department who kept saying they didn't think they could find any, and then kept turning up with 3 or 4 one day, 5 or 6 the next, until I actually had more than enough.
The main trouble is with the books - I know what will happen every time I open a carton - in fact, it's happening already - I'll stand there and read whatever I pick up. This could take YEARS.
0 Replies
Phoenix32890
1
Reply
Thu 17 Jan, 2008 06:22 am
Quote:
The main trouble is with the books - I know what will happen every time I open a carton - in fact, it's happening already - I'll stand there and read whatever I pick up. This could take YEARS.
Tomkitten. So what? Is there anything that is forcing you to straighten up quickly? Take your time, and savor all the memories that reading parts of the books would elicit. It's your time, girl, and you are free to do whatever you darn please!
