Saturday, Uninterrupted
Aug. 22nd, 2009 01:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
vanillafluffyI put myself to bed early last night (for me, 2AM is early) and tossed and trned quite a lot, but was actually conscious before 11AM, which is encouraging.
Ran around with![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
missybrat last night, first to Big Lots, then Aldi's (again!), capping it all off with WalMart. Shopping with 'Brat is always a soothing, companionable activity. We ooh and ahh and compare prices and share our likes and dislikes and giggle and reminisce. Hopefully once I get settled into a job with normal hours, we can do that more often.
Almost screamed in the middle of Big Lots out of sheer exasperation when I discovered that they had DeVour in their $3 movie bin. I paid three times that and had to have it mailed. Anybody been looking for it? I could snag it for you.
Price comparisons:
Small can of mushrooms: 55 cents at Aldi's, same price at Big Lots.
Salmon patties: 4 for $3.99 at Aldi's, 2 for $3.59 at WalMart
Celestial Seasons Plum Spice tea: $2 at Big Lots, $2.27 at WalMart
I got some tea---Twinings Herbal Unwind, which has a tasty blend of hibiscus, cinnamon, ginger, peppermint, orange peel, rosehips and rose petals. No caffeine (she says virtuously). I brewed some a little while ago, and I'm waiting for it to cool down a little more.
GK arrives with the Things this afternoon. I called Kat this morning, and she freaked out, thinking we were supposed to pick them up at the airport. No, not this trip. We're going to get her and drive over to Tampa for the wedding in October. This time she'll be renting a vehicle because she has the kids with her. Oh. But that didn't stop Kat from calling GK to verify it.
Kat's memory issues...I despair. She used to be so sharp and witty, now...she's been to a neurologist, but she doesn't remember what he said. I'm leaning toward Korsakov's Syndrome, myself: Her short-term memory is shot---she doesn't retain much---and her long-term memory has gaps. Like, she remembers working at the college, but not specific incidents, like the surprise party we threw for her. (I was a student assistant in the same office for a while.) She doesn't remember what her husband of 40 years died of. She doesn't remember how old her children are. She also has aphasia; she can't remember common words, and she'll either try to explain what it is ("That cold metal box..." "The refrigerator?" "That's it.") or she'll use a word that has nothing to do with it. ("I've got some soda in the typewriter.") I've known her long enough that I can usually figure out what she's talking about, but it's hell to watch. With my parents, they both went through terminal illness, but neither of them deteriorated mentally (although my mom got very odd about religion). She's handling it with more grace than I would; that sort of thing is my deepest fear.
Aren't I a little ray of sunshine today? I'm going to go have some tea.
Ran around with
missybrat last night, first to Big Lots, then Aldi's (again!), capping it all off with WalMart. Shopping with 'Brat is always a soothing, companionable activity. We ooh and ahh and compare prices and share our likes and dislikes and giggle and reminisce. Hopefully once I get settled into a job with normal hours, we can do that more often.Almost screamed in the middle of Big Lots out of sheer exasperation when I discovered that they had DeVour in their $3 movie bin. I paid three times that and had to have it mailed. Anybody been looking for it? I could snag it for you.
Price comparisons:
Small can of mushrooms: 55 cents at Aldi's, same price at Big Lots.
Salmon patties: 4 for $3.99 at Aldi's, 2 for $3.59 at WalMart
Celestial Seasons Plum Spice tea: $2 at Big Lots, $2.27 at WalMart
I got some tea---Twinings Herbal Unwind, which has a tasty blend of hibiscus, cinnamon, ginger, peppermint, orange peel, rosehips and rose petals. No caffeine (she says virtuously). I brewed some a little while ago, and I'm waiting for it to cool down a little more.
GK arrives with the Things this afternoon. I called Kat this morning, and she freaked out, thinking we were supposed to pick them up at the airport. No, not this trip. We're going to get her and drive over to Tampa for the wedding in October. This time she'll be renting a vehicle because she has the kids with her. Oh. But that didn't stop Kat from calling GK to verify it.
Kat's memory issues...I despair. She used to be so sharp and witty, now...she's been to a neurologist, but she doesn't remember what he said. I'm leaning toward Korsakov's Syndrome, myself: Her short-term memory is shot---she doesn't retain much---and her long-term memory has gaps. Like, she remembers working at the college, but not specific incidents, like the surprise party we threw for her. (I was a student assistant in the same office for a while.) She doesn't remember what her husband of 40 years died of. She doesn't remember how old her children are. She also has aphasia; she can't remember common words, and she'll either try to explain what it is ("That cold metal box..." "The refrigerator?" "That's it.") or she'll use a word that has nothing to do with it. ("I've got some soda in the typewriter.") I've known her long enough that I can usually figure out what she's talking about, but it's hell to watch. With my parents, they both went through terminal illness, but neither of them deteriorated mentally (although my mom got very odd about religion). She's handling it with more grace than I would; that sort of thing is my deepest fear.
Aren't I a little ray of sunshine today? I'm going to go have some tea.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2009-08-22 07:47 pm (UTC)I also got tea at Big Lots: Twining's decaff English breakfast and a box of Twining's camomile, which is delicious but appears to do nothing for my insomnia. And I found a box of most marvelous smelling lemon-verbena soap.
Do you ever make homemade salmon patties with canned salmon? It's really easy and one can ($2.30 at Big Lots) makes a plateful of them. The guys don't like them much or we'd have them more than once every two or three years. :)
(no subject)
Date: 2009-08-22 08:55 pm (UTC)I'm going to presume that that's some variety of add-breadcrumbs-and-eggs and pan-fry?
Tea: I detest chamomile. I don't suffer from hay fever, but if I did? That would totally set it off. I like mint tea, orange spice, and this Herbal Unwind stuff is really delish.
At first, Kat thought it was the chemo, but apparently not. Her mother also has memory issues, but *she's* 97. Kat just turned 66.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-08-22 10:02 pm (UTC)Having "talked" about making them, I made them this evening for supper. The guys decided they liked them with cocktail sauce. :)
I'll have to look for the Herbal Unwind. I remembered cheap chamomile as being bitter-tasting, but the Twinings is good. Shame it does not make me sleepy.
Kat's chemo may have accelerated the onset of her memory problems. My mother suffered from depression most of her life, and it's another thing that leads to senility. Plus one of the medications she took for it in the 1960s and 1970s has been found to have a bad long-term effect on the brain.
ETA yet again, because I just discovered there was no convertible SS: Oh, oh, I forgot to tell you about the car I saw for sale. It's a tomato red Chevy convertible from the 1960s. Think something homecoming queens ride in parades in. It was gorgeous -- perfectly restored, and I was immediately hit by serious and deeply impractical car lust!
(no subject)
Date: 2009-08-22 10:25 pm (UTC)Chemicals: She went through chemo previously during the early 80s, and I'm sure the drugs then were less sophisticated, so it could well have something to do with that.
Car lust: The Impala came in a convertible, there's one I've drooled over down in Melbourne. Oh, and speaking of red Chevys, I saw a sweet 1960 the other day. *le sigh* If only I could be rich in addition to being so darn gorgeous!
(no subject)
Date: 2009-08-22 10:30 pm (UTC)Scallions would work fine. I added a few leaves of sage from the garden, minced up very fine, to the ones I made and it was very good. Any time I can get the boys to eat canned fish, well, it takes a darned good recipe to pull that off! :)
I think they often don't know what the long-term effect of drugs are because lab rats simply don't live twenty or forty years. It's only recently that I've started to see health news about "chemo brain" as a linger side effect of treatment.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-08-22 11:14 pm (UTC)Really? Uh-oh. I've suffered from depression since I was a teenager (I'll be 45 in February). Never been on meds or anything for it, as it comes and goes and I'm not suicidal or anything, but still....
*is bummed*
(no subject)
Date: 2009-08-22 10:36 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-08-22 10:55 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-08-23 12:03 pm (UTC)As for the salmon patties, I've grown up on them and my recipe is a bit different: 1 can salmon (undrained with skin and bones left in) 2 eggs beaten and flour until the mixture looks thick- then drop into oil and fry. I love love them. The boys do, too. Hubby sort of rolls his eyes but eats them. I always make butter beans(or field peas or the like) and corn bread to go with them. They were a staple growing up! My Mom puts an onion in hers but I don't like that.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-08-23 01:22 pm (UTC)I see some salmon experimentation is is order (just as soon as I get some canned salmon).
(no subject)
Date: 2009-08-23 01:51 pm (UTC)Fun!
Date: 2009-08-23 03:20 pm (UTC)On other note.. woke up late and with migrain this morning. No church for me today. Gack. I'll just have to download it and watch it. :)
"Brat and Babies"
Re: Fun!
Date: 2009-08-23 07:36 pm (UTC)And I'd swear I'd gotten some cheese, but I can't find that either. I'm such a mess....
Re: Fun!
Date: 2009-08-24 02:22 am (UTC)Hugs and Kisses...
Brat and Babies
P.S. Did you call home# or cell#? Either way.. what time was it when you called? I may have been on the phone and not heard the caller ID. (Trying to wish A&B speedy recovery from thier illness.)
Re: Fun!
Date: 2009-08-24 03:12 am (UTC)Btw, I'm loving that tea and may go back and snag some more---it's yummy stuff!
(no subject)
Date: 2009-08-23 11:20 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-08-24 01:13 am (UTC)