Itchy and Scratchy

 

 

In my overgrown perennial beds there is something I am fairly allergic to.  My first hunch is that it is purple coneflower because a) I have a ton of it b) it's fuzzy.  Fuzzy plants don't treat me very well.  Knowing this once the plants get a certain height I don my old lady gardening outfit of pants, long sleeves, and gloves, the only thing I lack is a straw hat.  Still not enough today as the four inches of skin exposed on my arms (the shirt was only a 3/4 length sleeve but an x/large) started itching almost immediately upon beginning to work.  I managed to get the worst of the overgrown offenders out, stake a drooping plant, and trim back a walnut tree before I was forced inside my hives and mosquitos. 

 

Last week I was out mowing and when I came in my left eye was itchy and I caught myself rubbing at it.  I took a look and it was quite red so I put some tears in it and then fell asleep on the couch.  When I woke up my eye was twice as red and quite swollen.  I theorized it was allergy and took a couple of Benadryl to hopefully knock it back.  The next day it was still pretty angry so I went to the doc and was told maybe pink eye, maybe allergy, I'm not sure.  So she called in a Rx for eye drops and told me to use them if no improvement by the next day.  That afternoon the swelling  and redness all but disappeared.

 

It's strange, as a kid I wasn't allergic to a thing.  I could run through any plant material, poison ivy and oak included, without a hint of rash.  I did suffer from some hay fever from time to time but it was never anything that slowed me down.  Now though my immune system seems to think everything odd is an alien invader.  In the last ten years I've developed allergy to mystery plants I come in contact with, a couple of different antibiotics, and the minor hay fever occasionally morphs into misery.  One would think with age allergic reactions would diminish but I was never one do things logically.

 



Simple Things

Sometimes in my crazy life I start to realize that it's the simplest things that bring me the most peace. Sitting on the front porch next to Hubby in our rocking chairs (sounds like we are 80 doesn't it?) watching the hummingbird feeder is my escape from real life.

Unfortunately real life intrudes.  The boys start fighting, time ticks away, the dryer buzzes and I can see a wilting plant that needs some TLC.  Ugh

Don't mess with me

I was right, Mom did break her foot again.  Friday morning bright and early I called her and asked "how's your foot" she started in rambling about how it might be a bit better but I just cut her off and said "your going to the doctor" hung up and called to wheedle an appointment with her MD.  When it was time for her appointment, I went over and her house was bordering on health hazard status so I then declared she was going to hire a cleaning lady and put an ad on the local Facebook page for one.  The girl I chose was just fine and able to come that afternoon.  Mom paid her.  Today Mom had a doctor appointment when I went to pick her up she fell over in the yard because she had her hands full of a giant purse, a bag of library books, and no cane.  When I got her into the truck I discovered she did not have her phone so I went in her house to get it, and rummaged through her old purses until I found one with a long strap that could be worn cross body and grabbed her cane.  I gave her the purse and told her to put her crap in it.

I'm tired of trying to be nice and suggesting she do x, y or z.  From now on I'm not going to give her a choice.  This is how it's going to be because I have to take care of you, you WILL make reasonable attempts at preventing injury etc.  I'm sure she thinks I'm a bossy bitch but I don't really care, she can find somebody else to do for her if she doesn't like it anymore.  I don't see a line forming.

In other news the kids out of school are driving me bat shit crazy.  Between the fighting, and constantly dragging them from the video games there is always some minor crisis happening.

I haven't had a meltdown yet.  Thank God the kids are old enough to go to the pool without me and Mom sits over there in crazy alone contentedly.  I get a break, though it usually ends with wet rear ends on my couch and towels thrown around.  I'm spent I tell ya.

Really, Again

It appears Mom has broken her foot again.  She refuses to go to the doctor but I think I'm going to force her tomorrow as she's unable to put weight on it all.  If they put her on crutches I'm lost as to what to do.

I'll update more later, just tired and stressed tonight.

Progress!...With a dash of Oh Sh...

 

Today was Mom's disability hearing.  At this point it frankly just a formality and basically that's what we attended.  I was prepared to testify but I didn't do anything but go in and give my name.  Mom rattled on and on completely lost, however it didn't seem to matter as the court appointed "vocational expert" did his thing and said "nope she can't work" and the judge says "OK".  It will be a few weeks before we get things finalized and she gets her back pay and an increase in her social security check.  The biggest plus is she is now eligible for Medicare.  I have no idea how to begin navigating that but I'll look into it in the next few days.  I can't do anything till the paperwork is processed anyway.

 

 

While we were waiting around (if you've ever dealt with the SS admin it's some sort of law to wait around a lot) there was a Hmong family in the row of chairs in front of us.  An older woman, her daughter in her late 20's, and two small granddaughters, one about 3, the other an infant.  Mom in her creepy fashion of always playing with small children begins talking to the little girl.  Not so bad, one could tell the little girl wasn't exactly thrilled but wasn't upset.  Then Mom notices her mother's hair, stands up and starts playing with the mother's pony tail and commenting on her highlights!  OMG!  I glance at the paralegal trainee that was with the lawyer and she has an amazed look on her face, all I could do was roll my eyes that I did not approve.  Props to the girl having her hair handled by a crazy lady she didn't respond badly at all.  Personally I'd have had a fit if somebody I didn't know was running her hands through my hair.  About this same time the movie Grand Torino with Clint Eastwood came to mind when Clint was instructed not to touch the children on the head (a Hmong cultural taboo)  I googled later to double check, yep.

 

After the hearing we are walking back to the truck and mom fell in the middle of Wisconsin Ave in downtown Milwaukee.  Nice.  A truck driver jumped out of his truck to help but I managed to get her hoisted up pretty quickly and to the sidewalk.  She wasn't hurt but was rattled.  I guess she needed to prove she really was eligible for the disability.  Tonight she hobbled over and had me tape her wrist.  I have a hunch it's hurt and we will be going for an x-ray in the next few days.

 

Tomorrow is the last day of school.  Kids are thrilled, me not so much.  We are going to go up to the in-laws for a few days as well.  It will be good to get away from all the needy chores staring me in the face for a while.  Then again they will still be waiting on me when I get back.

 

By a thousand cuts

I can't say that anything huge is brewing around here lately.  No major issues but honestly I feel like I'm being slowly killed by one pin prick at a time.  I'm hoping that with school ending next week whoever has my voodoo doll will quit having time to torture me.

No real change with Mom.  For a couple of weeks she seemed to make a slight effort to walk some but not really.  I don't think she's gone outside or gotten dressed in four days.  I call or buzz over there to make sure she isn't on the floor at least once a day but that is all I'm willing to do.  Frankly I'm just waiting for the event that hospitalized her and forces her into long term care.  I have told her several times that she cannot live with me if she becomes more dependent.  I don't think it has really occurred to her that the line is so close to her feet.

Last week we met with her disability lawyer to go over information for her hearing.  The lawyer really didn't prep her much citing she won't remember it anyway.  When Mom proudly said she lived alone the layer asked me "Is that an adventure?" he knew full well the answer because he is privy to all her medical records.  Next week we will haul up to Milwaukee for the hearing, the lawyer will have me testify as well as mom because it is clear she doesn't really understand her medical issues in the least.    The lawyer doubts she will be turned down but it's been a three year wait to get this far so I'm a little stressed about it.  There won't be a large influx of cash from getting her declared disabled but it will make her eligible for other programs.

Sonny Boy has overnight turned into the adolescent you are always warned about.  I honestly would send him off to a long summer camp if there was money in the hopes some of the hormone crazies might resolve before the end of summer.  Alas only a week of scout camp is going to happen and seeing his general disorganization it worries me greatly, since neither Hubby or I are going to attend to keep him regulated.  I do plan on calling a mom that is attending and asking her to keep a special eye on Sonny Boy.  I'm not worried about safety but his inability to plan things out.

A special aspect of my new son is his attitude.  This weekend he attended a weekend camp out.  The weather was beyond miserable and it was ended early.  To make a long story short I told him Monday morning to unpack his bag so I could wash the clothes (everything had gotten soaked) and he replied "that's your job".  I do really wish I could put the dog training collar on him.

Igor has thankfully been pretty mild lately though fighting with his prickly brother has increased.  He even fights in his sleep as I heard him in the middle of the night let out his famous whine "Sonny Boy".  I doubled over giggling in bed.  I do sense a nervousness in him with school ending, he really likes his teacher and doesn't want to leave her.  He's bummed because the teacher is moving up a grade next year but he won't be in her class.  It's probably a good thing really, I don't think she's a bad teacher but I think he needs a change.

Hubby and I are trudging along.  Chores, lawn, small house projects and putting out fires.  Hubby is consumed by the boat and fishing (wish the boat would sink).  I've been doing lots of yard work.

Think I'm going to watch for liquor sales, I'm going to need a lot with school ending.

Seriously?

I sometimes think if Hubby wasn't around to talk me down I'd just get in my truck and drive away -maybe I'd come back after a while.

I often feel like I'm trapped doing, running, and begging for people (mostly my mother, and often my children) who don't acknowledge that I do a thing for them.  In fairness at least two are children.

Sonny Boy had me so mad this afternoon I could have pinched his head off.  Hubby has gotten him an arrangement to mow a friend's lawn.  Great, except Sonny Boy has never really mown due to the fact our lawn is a witch due to it being on a hill (I'm scared he'll lose a toe). Needless to say he's inexperienced so I try to show him how to mow and he charges through without so much as trying to do what I said, leaving patches of grass all over.  I explain a 100 times he will lose his job if he does a poor job of it, but that doesn't seem to sink in, and he throws a temper tantrum when I make him back up and go over missed areas.  It got so bad I had him get in the truck and I muscled the lawn mower into the bed alone before the lawn was finished.  Hubby went out with him to finish.  I think I should get paid for the lawn because I ended up walking every inch of it.  Kid has no pride in his work, be it mowing, schoolwork, or chores.  Frustrating.

My other gripe today was trying once again to get my mother to actually DO something.  Same story, different day.  I'm stupid for even bothering I suppose, but she has actually gone out and walked some though getting her to do it with any regularity is impossible.  I'm at a loss.  Just waiting on the next disaster I suppose.  Nothing like expecting to find her at the bottom of the basement stairs, or sprawled in the shower daily.  It wears on a person.

So just some advice to the whole 7 or 8 people who may read this.  Take care of yourself at least somewhat.  Once you get into a position that someone else is taking care of you, you are no longer just hurting yourself.  Every injury, hospitalization, or issue becomes theirs.  Don't be selfish.  Oh, and if you can at all afford it buy long term care insurance so you can go to an assisted living when you need to and your children don't resent you.

Squirrel War

Something about our neighborhood makes it a squirrell Mecca.  I suppose the numerous mature trees, a few of which are walnut and the fact there are several bird feeders available to raid help.  I also don't see many cats or dogs running free ever.

In all honestly they are kind of cute, big brown eyes, bushy tails, their little paws holding food to their mouth.  Don't let their cute looks fool you, they are a menace first class and I've declared war!

In the last year or two I've started setting up bird feeders.  I enjoy watching the variety of little birds come and go and that is when I started hating the squirrels.  The blasted animals would shimmy up the pole, sit on the feeder and gorge like a fat man pulling up his chair to a buffet.  Couple this with the fact that the neighbor on either side of our house has had some house damage and they dang things eat my tulips so I declared war!

My first act of squirrel terrorism was to simply scare them off the feeders, I'd open the window and sometimes yell.  They got used to that pretty soon.  I then started letting the dog after them, that works but I'm not always at the window and my feeders were being decimated.  It didn't take me long to figure I needed a permanent solution.  I purchased a live trap.  Game on!  The first week I caught 5 squirrels.   Husband got in the act and started sneaking around with a pellet gun as well sending several to meet their maker.  Between the two of us relocating and killing we thinned the population down to a level not reminiscent of New York rat population.  Even with all this we still have raiding squirrels near daily.

Frankly I get tired of fooling with the trap sometimes.  One morning the trap had a capture, Hubby didn't realize it until the dog had rolled the trap several times and basically terrorized the creature to no end.  It happened on a day I just didn't feel like taking a drive, so in an experiment I spray painted big red blob on the squirrel and set it free.  I figured if it had a brain, the trauma of capture and nearly being eaten would keep it away.  Nope two days later there was Red Rear on my feeder.  I opened the window and yelled and he sat there. I sent the dog after him.   Twenty minutes later he was back.  Hubby practiced his marksmanship on this none too bright member of the animal kingdom.

I do use deterent methods as well. I have the poles of my feeders heavily greased with Vaseline.  It helps.  Just this morning I watched a bugger jump, grap the pole a couple of feet up and slide down it like a fireman.  He wisely ran off after that.  I happened to read in a magazine just yesterday to mix cayenne in with the seed.  Supposedly birds don't care so I tried that.  I was kind of hoping to see a squirrell get a mouthful of that.  Wonder if I mix cayenne with the Vaseline?  That could be fun.

Stop Thief!

I haven't posted any pictures in a while.  I don't really take that many, even with a phone in my pocket I'm just not a shutterbug - I leave that task to Hubby.

 Last weekend we piled into the boat for a little fishing.  The rest of us might as well have been in the Dead Sea, Igor on the other hand pulled in this whopper a real trophy fish.  He was so proud!

 Callie thought she was going to have a heat stroke after chasing a tennis ball today - read story later in post.

 We went down to Chicago a few weeks ago and took the kids to the Museum of Science and Industry and also wandered down to see the shiny bean.

 Me standing on Marie Antoinette's staircase in the la Pettite Trianon .  All the France pictures look like I never changed clothes because I was always in that coat with a blue scarf.

Hubby kidding around in the Louvre.  Honestly I made him pose for this picture as he'd zoomed by this guy to look at naked lady across the room.  He was like walking around with a 12 year old pointing out all the naked boobs - they are everywhere - I have a feeling French boys aren't too interested by the time they get that age.

Today I picked up a tennis ball thrower for the dog.  You've probably seen them, a ladle like thing that allows even weak armed me to really fling it a long way.  Callie has been gaining weight right along with me all winter and we both need exercise.  The difference she kind of likes it.  I get home and take her down to the park that is right behind our house.  Callie chases the ball a couple of times and then a neighbor dog comes bounding out of his yard.  Callie and the neighbor dog chase each other a little, snarl, and do what dogs do.  After their meet and greet Callie pretty much seemed uninterested in the dog and he in her.  I throw the ball again and Callie refused to go get it.  By this time neighbor dog starts eyeing the ball.  I'm edging toward it, urging Callie to fetch while the little weasel is sneaking toward it as well.  He got there first, picks up the ball and starts walking home.  The whole time I'm calling him (I don't know the dog's name) but he wasn't having any part of it.  I followed him back up into his backyard to find a young guy on the upper deck of a duplex standing around with his shirt off.  I asked if the dog was his, and it was, and then tattled.  Guy apologized, introduced the dog as "Mack" - probably good to know if I meet him again since he only lives four houses down - and tosses me the tennis ball.  Through all of this Callie just follows me around panting like I had ran her 150 miles. 

After collaring the ball thief and getting our property back, I take Callie home and she proceeds to pant for what seemed for ever.  I texted Hubby, and he suggested taking her swimming.  I load her into the back of the truck to go to the river for a few minutes before picking up the kids at school.  Callie jumped in because she loves to ride.  Take her to the river and she swims and retrieves a stick a few times.  I called her load up, and she tried, but suffering from middle age and fat (much like her masters) the tailgate was a difficult leap, and she bounced off and landed on her back.  I felt bad for her, it was pretty dramatic though I don't think she was really hurt.  Then I couldn't get her to even jump again.  Nothing like partially lifting a river water soaked 110 pound Labrador into the bed of a truck.  Nasty.  I will remember to take some sort of step for her next time.

Draggin'

I've been in a exhausted state the last few days, every chore takes every bit of gumption I have just to get the old body in motion.  I'm really tired of forcing myself to do things.

Since the weather finally changed I've started the yard work.  I got a pick-up truck load of mulch the other day and spent the afternoon spreading it.  I've had bulk mulch delivered before but having it loaded into the truck seems somewhat easier as I drive up next to the beds and shovel it in without the use of a wheelbarrow.  I probably need to purchase two more truck loads to finish the beds but it took me two days to work the soreness out after the first round so I'm not too excited to be so stiff again but I will probably do it again tomorrow because I'd like to get it down while the plants are still pretty small and easy to work around.

Mom has had a round of doctor appointments this week and I'm exhausted from them.  One Monday, two on Tuesday, and a miserable one with a doctor running over an hour late on Wednesday.  No unexpected news from any of the doctors.  She did see a doctor concerning her osteoporosis and the only med available to her to help is a daily injectable.  This set up more teeth gnashing than you could imagine, honestly I think she'd have been calmer if she was told her left leg needed to be amputated.  Frankly I don't know if the drug is worthy of the money and time commitment or the nightmare that would be mom crying over getting a tiny little shot daily.  I'm researching as the doctor contacts insurance to see if it would even be paid for.  Of course this led to a huge fight because she's adamant she "just can't" take a shot every day.  Frankly the "can't" attitude pisses me off to no end.  Basically I told her she either has to change her lifestyle or she's going to be in a nursing home within a year and that I am DONE taking care of her when she won't do for herself.  I'm sure it went in one ear and out the other and I'm the evil bitch of a daughter who just doesn't understand.

SCREAM!  The boys just came in from school and Sonny Boy is being a little jerk because I won't let him vegetate in front of the video games.  The house rule is no video games through the week because they rush through homework in order to get to games.  Sonny Boy proclaims that I said video games are OK on early release days.  Maybe I let them play one time but it has never been a rule change and I never told them it would happen today.  I just had a good dose of no respect from the kid and I sent him to his room.  He might be 30 before I let him near one again.  Tempted to just through the damn things on the curb and delete off the computer they cause so much strife around here.

Anyway gotta do something productive.


Edited:  I should have really proofread this more thoroughly.  But I'm not going to correct it because I want to serve as an example of very poor grammar.😀