Little adjustments

Mom has been with us for a month now almost continually so we are all pretty much adjusted to having someone else in our space and living with us. She has finally gotten to where she will go in the refrigerator and get her own lunch and settling in around our lives and we are including her in our lives as much as she can or wants.

It is just different having another person here all the time and it makes us realize some of the habits we have fallen into that we wouldn’t when we had kids at home. We still sit down together at dinner (and I would recommend you have her eat her meals at your table, easier to clean around one place) together but usually have the news on in the other room. I can hear it no trouble but she wants to be able to see it so we had to rearrange the seating arrangement so that she can watch it. I would prefer to not have it on but S wants to watch it also while we eat. Also, mom is a terribly slow eater. I try to start getting her to the table about 10 minutes before dinner (I tell her when I start dinner about when it will be) but if I don’t give her enough warning she has to go to the bathroom and we end up waiting for her, so I’ve learned to give her more warning and start directing her to bathroom or the table so she’ll be there when we are ready to start eating! Also, she will eat whatever you put in front of her and A has told me it is much better to serve her a small portion and let her get seconds or she will just keep eating then feel sick the next day. I found this out when I served her a large portion of gumbo (just wanted to empty the pot) and told her just to eat what she wanted but she ate it all and felt ill for a couple of days. So just be aware of portion control.

One thing I can say is that come he’ll or high water she is going to church on Sunday, so you better plan for this. It might take her 2 hours to get ready to go to the bank or library but when I tell her whAt time we are going to church she will be ready at least 1/2 hour before we need to leave and she starts asking me Saturday morning what time we are going to church! She is still tithing to Holy Family and A is trying to get her to mail in her contributions or do it online but right now she is just bugging A to take the envelope over there. We should have this settled before she moves on from here.

Having an extra person in the house adds to the laundry, as you may remember when the kids were at home. This doesn’t really bother me but just have to get used to it. So far I’ve just done all her laundry and put it away because when I would go to her house, I would find clean and dirty laundry all over and this really bugs me, so I’d rather just wash, fold and put it in its proper place. Keeps things neater and in their place so she can find them. I did provide her with a laundry basket which she uses no problem and she has her container with her undies and stuff which we will move with her. We also put a table in her room for all her paperwork and stuff to go on to keep it organized and off the floor. I’m sure you will figure out how you want to organize stuff on your house.

Overall, I would say we are all adjusting but it is just different!

Your time will come soon.