Tuesday, March 1, 2022

Tough to try to understand how elderly parents set priorities sometimes. My MIL used to say she couldn't do something because she was conserving to have enough to leave behind. All 5 of her children convinced her that they didn't need her to do that and it would make them happy to see her enjoy life. Thank goodness she understood and did that for the most part.

Your point on slowing down is something Mike and I have talked about. We want to do what we can while we are able because the time will come when one or both of us is not.

The elderly parent discussion brings to mind actress Alicia Witt's parents who died of hypothermia this last winter. She's very successful and tried everything to get them to let her help, but they turned her away and decided to ride out an east coast winter with no working heat.

Having struggled with a mother who was incredibly stubborn about her health, but being unable to force her out of the car to even go into the ER when she needed help was the most helpless I've ever felt. It!s hard when they need your help and don't want it.

Thank you for your empathy. It is hard. I suspect it's going to get harder...

Greetings all

Oops I missed yesterday but I did read. Ocean Diane so glad you are introspecting on self confidence and self care. We all need to do that. Maybe its the era we grew up in (me born in 1951) but it seemed like a lot of childhood was about being told no and wait. Please share your insights,

Scrabble group today. I played terribly and lost all my games. Its still fun. But I cant shut up about Ukraine and world issues. It officially makes me an OLD PERSON when I am excited abou****ching the state of the union.

Peps glad your back is feeling better and that the treatment is working. Good on you for resuming work outs. You too DD. Is planet fitness nice? Hope you get to feeling stronger soon.

Yay Liz, wedding bells soon! You picked the right dress, venue and, oh, right guy. Seems like you agree about lifestyle issues which matters. My mom skrimped and saved her whole life and left a nice inheritance for us but I would rather she had stayed well and spent it traveling. But somewhere she knows I have a great new bathroom.

Peps I hope you are still planning on Ferndale show.

CC good idea to make the home project a visible one. When we decided to move to this small northern cal town, one thing I did was subscribe to a local weekly newspaper for almost a year before we moved. I got good insight on local issues and felt like I knew the place. It also had real estate listing though only the cruddy stuff stayed in the paper. The rest was bought before it went public.

And Liz, glad your SiL can come and visit.

CC for some unknown reason I bought an egg bit maker a year or so ago. Stupid space taker-upper. Used once. Must remove. Along with the dozen or so potholders DH bought - he who does not cook.

Scrabble friend made us a lemon sponge cake!! A thanks to DH for setting up her iPad and teaching her tricks. Cant wait to give it to DH- maybe I will say I made it. LOL

Take care all.

Diane S

Planet Fitness is surprisingly nice. I thought for just $10 A month, it would be kind of dumpy, but everything is shiny clean and new looking. All the machines have a QR code, so you can watch a quick orientation video, but there is also the option of having a real live person walk y through it too.

I was replying to this when OH froze, then ate it. So frustrating!

MIL used some money left to her by an aunt to buy a small place near Tampa for the winter after she retired. She wouldn't have been able to winter in Florida otherwise as she was widowed in her late 40's with 5 children to put through college. I think she wanted to be able to do the same for her children but since she lived well up into her 90's her children were past the point of needing that kind of help. They convinced her that it wasn't necessary. I think that freed her to live a nicer lifestyle in her last years than she would have allowed otherwise.