Catching Up - Weeks 22-26

 Argh!  I always heard the saying about time flying by but now I understand it.  It seems I just posted the previous blog and here it is - 4 weeks later. I'm not even going to try to justify it.  

Mom has moved into an assisted living community.  It was a very difficult decision on my part - while she doesn't require a ton of help in normal day-to-day living, she is suffering from a senior dementia that John and I are no longer capable of coping with or helping her maneuver thru life.  Fortunately, I had the luxury of plenty of time to find just the perfect place for her - one that will nurture her and help her live a truly dignified and fulfilled life.  We made the final move a couple of days ago and I spent her first night with her in her new apartment.  We arranged her furniture almost exactly as her furniture was here at our house.  She has so many staff to watch out for her and encourage her to become a part of the cummunity.  Her neighbor across the hall made her acquaintance that first day and there were several ladies in the dining room who went out of their way to welcome her.  Given that she is a total introvert and terrified of strangers, this will be hard for her to transition.  But so far, she has begun to weave a new life and I couldn't be happier.  I talked to her this morning and she called me this afternoon to let me know she had gone to the Friday movies and was resting before going on to dinner.  Fingers crossed she will continue to be happy and make friends.

Today was the first day in a very long time that it was just me and Mr. Wonderful in the house. I must admit, it was very strange not to have the 'noise' of another person.  We chatted over coffee and then went to run a couple of errands.  Came home to put groceries away and chatted some more.  Tonight we might even watch a movie - one that we had gotten a while ago but knew mom would not enjoy so we didn't include it in our regular Saturday Nite Movie Night.  

I saw this meme and thought my reader friends might enjoy it.

This is exactly what reading feels like to me...I can go anywhere, anytime, with anyone I choose.  

I had cataract surgery last week.  They did my worst eye - the left one - and I had my one week checkup yesterday.  Evidently, the healing is progressing apace and they are going to do the right eye next Thursday.  I have to say, the anticipation of the procedure was far worse than the procedure itself.  No pain and it took less than 15 minutes.  I am truly looking forward to next Thursday and subsequently to return of my eyesight.  Colors are by far very intense and bright.  Currently, everything is a bit blurry  because my glasses work well for my right eye but my vision in the left eye is far different than the prescription in the lenses.  I will hopefully only need reading lenses once everything is done and healed.  I've worn glasses since I was 18 years old and can not imagine seeing my face without those frames and only needing readers occasionally.  For that reason, I am probably going to get glasses (using some former frames) that have reading in the lower portion and clear glass for distance.  Then I can use regular sunglasses when out in the sun.  

With having the procedures on my eyes, I've not been able to cross stitch.  I can perhaps see well enough but I don't trust my sight enough to stitch and then find out when everything is clear that I've made mistakes and need to rip it all out and start again. For that reason, I'm sticking with sock-knitting for the next few weeks.  I've got some great stitch-alongs going and it's worrisome that I can't keep up with the clues coming out each week on them.  But it's better to be behind than to have to unstitch and restitch cause I didn't count well enough the first time.

Hey, thank you for sticking with me.  Hope to have some pictures of stitching next time.