Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Double-Checked for Accuracy

double-checked for accuracy
That's the bold declaration that was stuck to my Sausage Biscuit w/ Egg this morning. The only problem: I ordered an Egg McMuffin. And the drink was wrong. And they didn't include any napkins. I'm sure glad they didn't triple-check it!

We had a pretty good weekend. Didn't get all the chores done, but we had some fun. The girls snuck out to do some dress shopping for Cat, so Cowboy and I picked up the slack and worked on laundry and cleaning for a couple of hours. (Yeah, right.) Actually, we headed down to the park to fly airplanes and romp on the playground for a while.

Yesterday, the four of us headed down to Alief to see Mom. The kids showed off their mad piano skills for her (Cowboy just had his second lesson last week, but was proudly demonstrating his newfound mastery of the chromatic scale), and then we took her to Luby's for lunch. We learned quite some time ago that a cafeteria is the perfect "out to eat" destination for someone with Alzheimer's — otherwise, we tend to spend half an hour or more turning back and forth through the menu. At a cafeteria or buffet table, you just point at what looks good and keep moving.

Mom had another rough weekend. I think she really enjoyed seeing the grandkids, but even when subdued their energy wears her out. After lunch, WW and the kids headed back home and I stayed at Mom's for a few hours to visit and get some things done at the house. After a while, the "weepies" (as Mom calls it) kicked in, so we sat on the couch for a while and had a quiet crying session. She has been trying for a couple of weeks now to figure out what "special day" was occurring or coming up, and I think we finally decided that her wedding anniversary was sometime over the past week. (Dad has been gone since I was eight, and neither of us remembers the actual anniversary date now.) I'm not sure if that's what set off the crying spell, but we worked through it. She seemed to feel better by the time I left yesterday evening.

Seems like the mind is wandering more than usual on this non-Monday. I ran across a flock of cattle egrets one day last week, and managed to take a couple of decent shots. I'll try to post some pictures in the next day or two.

By the way, the ramblings in this post have not been double-checked for accuracy. Read at your own risk.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Glad to hear Cowboy is excited about his lessons. I know Mom is really excited you guys found such a good teacher nearby.

Kyle said...

He amazes me -- both of them do, in all seriousness. I've sat down with him several time this week as he practiced, but he's already (after only two lessons) reading the treble cleff and finding/playing the notes as he goes. At a level that I'm sure I wasn't doing until at least a couple months or more into lessons. And with a little help, he's clapping out the rhythms of the notes he's reading.

Cat is having the most trouble figuring out how to play allegro (connected notes) instead of just punching each note separately. That's something she was never taught last year ... one of the reasons I knew we needed to make a change in teachers. Mr H isn't as easy-going and slow as her former teacher, either, so Cat's pushing back a bit when it comes to practicing; but when I make her sit down and do it, she makes excellent progress and is usually happy about it afterwards.

Btw, welcome to the blog! :)

Kyle said...

Heh. That would be "legato" (connected notes) rather than "allegro" (rapid tempo). Just showing my ignorance once again...

Bevson said...

I never learned to play an instrument as a child, something I regret as an adult. Keep after them. They will thank you.