a clean oven!

Spent the afternoon and evening with Mom yesterday. She had been to coffee and to mass, and wasn't totally exhausted, which is a very good thing. Other weeks just going to Mass would wipe her out.

One of the first things she did when I arrived was to show me how dirty her oven is and asked me if I thought the homemaker would clean it. I told her I had no idea, but that it might be a self cleaning oven. She said "I don't know what that means." So I emptied the oven, pushed a button and it proceeded to clean itself - She was so amazed and thrilled to be getting right at it.

We took in some of her plants - Does anyone want an orchid? She does not and was going to throw it away - I thought one of you might like to try one - It takes lots of patience, but they are beautiful.

Also Mom told me she got a silver bowl for woman of the year from somewhere. She does not know what she will do with it. Any interest?? She wants to get it polished up - Mia loves doing silver, so I'm sure she will clean it. Then she will put it somewhere in her place so that it can be seen!

So, okay, here's the thing. Now that she has more energy and is thinking clearer she is noticing all sorts of things around her place that she wants to get done!! And she is ready to get rid of things she does not want/need. As she goes through things I will let you know what she does not want anymore in case there is anything that means anything to any of you that you want. If not, we will just get rid of things. It will be totally up to here. I really don't care what she does or does not keep, it will be totally up to her. It is just so great that she is doing this now while she is able to think about what she wants to have around her.

She has a floor lamp on the porch that she doesn't think she wants. I think it matches one in her living room. Things like that I will probably get her to hold on to as they might be a set.

We have agreed to just go slowly so that we can both pace ourselves. We did one cabinet and found it had bugs in it, so that has prompted me to plan to get a step ladder in there and go through all the cabinets to make sure there is no more open food anywhere.

When I spoke with Mom this morning she told me she had already cleaned out one of the drawers and did not find any bugs in that one. Some of her food has been there probably since she arrived, so I will be checking the dates on it all.

We are starting to look closely at what is on bottom shelves as she has trouble getting down to them these days. I have already done the overhead ones as far as moving things she uses to closer to her reach. We are getting rid of her step stool as it just isn't safe. I am bringing the one I have for her to see, not that I want her climbing on anything, but we should have something safe there for others to be able to use.

Nancy and I spoke yesterday and she is going to get onto a regular schedule, as able , to see Mom.

Tried to get a calendar started - it is going to take a little longer for me to get the hang of it.