Accidently on purpose…….

When we first got Callie I was amazed that such a soft thick haired cat could shed such a little bit of hair. Well,I guess she’s making up for it now. There seems to be hair everywhere. Especially on Ariana’s bed, her favorite spot to lay. I knew she was a bit lonely lately as Ariana’s been away so I sat down to pet her and decided to get the brush out because there seemed to be so much hair. Well, 4 full brushes later I stopped, but could have continued. I don’t know if it’s the stress because she’s lonely or if it’s her winter coat coming off or what but man there’s a lot of cat hair around. Guess a nightly brushing is in order.

Computer addictions are ok right?

These are a few of the places that I’ve started visiting regularly on the internet….

www.thepioneerwoman.com     —–    Love this site, the recipes and Black Heels to Tractor Wheels are my favorite parts

www.gailvazoxlade.com      ——–    Trying hard to keep on a budget and get our $$ (what little we have) on track

www.facebook.com     ———–     I’m not as obsessed as some are, but still like to check it daily or 2x a day

www.ellen.warnerbros.com   ——-   Love to watch Ellen, but rarely get the chance….so this is as close to watching as I can get

There are several others but mostly just bank accts, email accts and such, nothing too interesting….

It sure is funny how an 11 year old girl can find so many spots in her room to “hide” things. She loves to have a clean room but doesn’t like to actually do the work to make it like that. Instead, she finds “spots” to put the mess. Under the bed (an old favorite of many of us), in suitcases (these get used on a regular basis so are around and easily accessible), in boxes, in the closet…..even in the drawers of a dresser. This mess includes all sorts of things but mostly clothes (dirty, clean or somewhere in between).  The key to a clean mess is to find the right spots to put things so that the room actually looks clean, and that way, mom won’t be upset by a messy room! Smart girl, eh?

And this is how it went:

It was such a nice day today that we opened up the doors to the locked units at work and brought some residents out for a walk in the sunshine. George and I had just walked out the door…

George: “Oh I wish I had my sunglasses”

Me: “Oh here, I have some, just use mine”

George: “Oh no, I couldn’t…”

Me: “No worries, just try them out, they are fine for a few minutes out here…”

George: “Ok”

A stroll around the patio a few times, a short simple conversation and we are ready to head inside again.

Me (grabbing for the glasses): “I’ll take my sunglasses back again”

George (backing up and holding tight to the glasses): “No way, these are mine!”

Me: “No, George, remember? I let you use mine when you didn’t have yours….”

George: “No, these are my sunglasses, they have been all along, I had them in my pocket”

Me: “Ok, nevermind…..you’re right, they are yours”

Ah, the joys of working with people with dementia! Good thing they were only cheapo sunglasses…..:)

Just to say that I’m around and going to try this again….lol

I’ve started to try my hand at digital scrapbooking (because I could never afford or house all the supplies it takes to be a real scrapper) and I think I’m doing good so far. I’m using a free program called The Gimp that operates similarly to Photoshop.  I download free or really cheap stuff online and store it in my Digital Scrapbooking file in my documents…..so much more neat and tidy than the real stuff. It takes some time to get used to the way the program works, and to find all the tricks and tools that it has to offer. Chris wants to install Photoshop into my computer but it’s way too big and my computer sucks. So, we’ll wait until I get a new computer and then try doing that. I’ve never tried to print any of these out, don’t know if it will actually work but that’s ok, I can save them and look at them on my computer. Here are a few examples of the pages I’ve done.

My life has been a bit crazy over the last year and now that I feel I’m settled into it I think that I can come back to my blog.

Wow, it’s been 9 years already? I can’t believe so much time has gone by. And at the same time, it feels like she’s older than 9. I know that doesn’t make much sense but if you know me you know that’s how I can be sometimes.

I remember 9 years ago, not well, but I remember it. I was actually allowed to stay in the hospital (in Saskatoon) from Tues. night 9pm (when she was born) till Friday around noon. It was a nice stay. I got to relax with and without my new baby. They had a beautiful nursery with large bay windows overlooking the city, with rocking chairs too.  She was a fantastic baby. Quiet, content.  The weather that year was hot. I remember being in shorts weeks before she was born. Guess what the weather was like this weekend in Saskatchewan?—Snowy and cold! Yikes, at least it was a beautiful warm day here in Ontario.  We had lost of visitors at the hospital and then afterwards at my parents house. Everyone fell in love with her right away.

And now, 9 years later, she’s still as sweet. She takes the good and the bad in stride. She’s smart, pretty and caring. Sometimes I have to remind myself and others that she’s only 9 cause most of the time she acts older than her years. She will always be my baby, no matter how old she is……..

Holy crap….I can’t believe that it’s been 2 weeks since I wrote a post!! I’m such a bad blogger! Oh well, life goes on.

The new job is going great. Not as scary as I first thought. Sure, sometimes things are a bit strange, when residents act out or scream weird things, but all in all I really like the job. We’ve had a busy 2 weeks with 2 huge special events as well as all the regular programming. I’ve managed to learn about 2/3 of the residents names.  I feel confident that I’m doing a good job and making a difference in the lives of those people. So, that’s all good.

Owen is doing good with the babysitter although I’m keeping an eye out for a new place as I’m not thoroughly happy with her cleanliness and organizational skills. Plus, it’s a small townhouse with a small yard (they end up playing in the courtyard with a lot of kids from the surrounding townhouses). I can’t really put a finger on why I’m not totally happy, I’m just not. And, although it will be another change for Owen to find a new place, I really don’t think that he’s attached to this lady yet and to change wouldn’t be so hard. We’ll see….

 The weather has improved drastically and I think we will find ourselves outside a fair bit this weekend. Can’t wait!!!

I went in to my new job for 4 hrs yesterday. It was great being back in the Recreation workforce. Although I have to admit that after being away for 17 months, I was a bit overwhelmed. It could have also had to do with the fact that this is a long term care facility and not a retirement residence. There are many differences. The people living here are noticibly more fragile/sick/old/incapable than they were at my old job. This forces me to think in a whole new direction. I have to remember that when I am creating programs and running programs. There are 4 different “home areas”: one with people who are mentally sound but physically disabled, one with people who have behaviour issues, one with high functioning dementia, and one with advanced dementia.  I will have to do programs in all 4 areas, which will be a big challenge for me. Also, my boss asked me if I would take on the Red Hat Society as a “pet” project. I said ok….what else would I say? No? LOL. There are codes for the doors to remember. There are 120 residents (names and faces) to remember. There are many staff members to remember. I hope I don’t get lost coming into the building on my first day. One great thing that I learned yesterday was that my pay is going to be $1.36 more than I had originally been told. I’m still confused about my schedule, but I’m sure it will all work out. But for now I will just sit back and enjoy this long weekend. Hoppy Easter all!