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Annie back and better than? oh who are we kidding?

It has been a while since dementia mama  has posted, just a hectic fall and many turn of events.  Annie has returned from her "vacation" (respite care) and is back and babbling like no other.  Annie is definitely on the slide but seems to be in good spirits (and not the alcoholic kind) and is doing fine, considering.  She is set up in her new house, with Nanna J--thanks to the power of the mother-in-law--I know most mother-in-laws are CRAZY, but I am lucky.  Here is something we can all laugh about, Annie is always "adjusting" her pants, well this weekend she was very irritated with her jeans and as i investigated she had not only one pair, oh no, but two pair on, plus a pair of long johns:)  She, of course, wanted to remedy the situation immediately and take off all of her pants..... in the middle of the living room.  We prevented the faux pas before it got too revealing, and convinced her to go into the bathroom.  Ahhh the ins and outs of dementia. 

New appetites

Finally.........................................  Annie gained her appetite back.  She has been losing weight at a frightening pace until  we cut off her sweet tooth.  (Don't worry nothing was extracted during the process).  What we do have now is a woman who has regained her appetite.  She is eating full meals again and wants more once she is done.  today alone she has had two bowls of cherrios, a subway sandwich with chips, a muffin and an apple and it isn't even dinner time yet. 

the collector

Yes, I realize it has been quite some time since my last post but what can I say, I'm a little busy at the moment.  One thing I have been meaning to write about is Annie's desire to collect things.  She was always a collector, in bulk, why have one rolling pin when you can have 100?? This was the logic before dementia/alzheimer's hit.  Now however she has taken to collecting some, um, unusual items.  First we cannot rave enough about empty plastic containers, mostly ensure bottles with the wrappers ripped off, to hold a variety of "things."  Next on the list of the nicknack extravaganza will be rocks and seeds--tree, plant, avocado-all are beautiful.  And somehow she can take these junk items and arrange them to look good.  For those of you who knew Annie before she was sick, you know she had a flair for decorating, well it is one thing that has not left her yet. See Photos for some of her decorating delights.

2 parties, 4 cakes and 20 kids later

We celebrated both Marvin and Whit's birthdays yesterday since they are only three days apart.  Marvin had a suprise birthday later in the day so it was alot of fun.  Annie survived and actually had a really good time.  She was social and engaging which was not the past pattern.  I do not know what exactly is working if it is the medications or the environment yet whatever it is i am not about to change it in anyway.  She is content and a different person, I should say "her old self" and I do not want to do anything to tamper with it.  Whit had a great time, many of his friends from school showed up and they had a great time on the safety tramp.  Yes I said it everyone needs a tramp that is safe.  That reminds me, we do live in an urban area and yes we do have hookers trolling every once in a while.  After the party I let Whit hang at the neighbor boy's house.  I went to pick him up about nine o'clock last night and overheard the beautiful conversation of a hooker stating her last night on the job was last night because she is indeed 7 months pregnant.  Welcome to the hood, Merry christmas, and happy new year. 

trampoline days

"it's your birthday, it's your birthday we gonna party like it's your birhtday and we don't even care cuz it's your birthday."   50cent.      Remember the days of trampolines, when we called them tramps and did not think twice about it???? and we did not have to have safety nets that surrounded a tramp??? we would just jump and if we fell off oh well!  we did not care if we broke an arm! bring it on!!!! we were not scared of falling off.  And now you cannot buy a trampoline without a safety net, which i suppose if fine?? but come on, here i am showing my age, "when i was a kid.... " yada yada yada.  who cares i suppose the lakers won tonight OOOh OOOh. love to ya mother.

Shop til the Salesgirl drops. . . .

or goes crazy.  Annie has been in such a great mood lately, so Jo, my mother-in-law, dementiamama and Annie went shopping.  As we were trolling the mall we decided to go into Coldwater Creek, beautiful stuff for the mature ladies.  Well they also have knick knacks and Annie loves herself a knick knack.  Little bowls that were displayed and came in a set to buy really caught her eye.  Throughout the time spent in Coldwater Annie managed to approach the same saleswoman five times asking the same question, "Can I buy this bowl?"  the saleswoman repeated the same information "why no it comes in a set."  I of course just stood back and watched, maybe I should have stepped in but it was too much fun watching some sort of take on a Seinfeld episode. (Annie the equivalent of Kramer maybe).  My mom hates it when I speak for her so I decided to go with the flow.  You could tell the saleswoman was confounded as to why this woman kept asking her the same damn question.  To the credit of the saleswoman she was polite everytime without getting frustrated.  Each time Annie would take the answer do her little "hmm" with a smile and walk over to another set of bowls.  Two thumbs up for Coldwater Creek and trained staff for great customer service.   Here is a link to the bowls as you can see they are quite cute.  Anyone wishing to donate don't hesitate to contact us. (kidding of course) Annie would be so happy.    http://www.coldwatercreek.com/Products/Detail.aspx?productid=50476&ensembleid=56543&colorid=000&refLink=decorative-items.aspx  As you can see from the picture above Annie still loves, and has a flair, for decorating.  After the mall of course we had to dine on some delightful crab croissants hmmmm delicious.