Pawrents Prater

Some nursing homes are great but other's ... Don't get me started. Long ago in the 70's my grandma was in one and it wasn't a good place at all. She ended up with gangrene and lost some toes. Grandpa went daily 3 times and made sure she ate. When he was in one it was ok. He was able to go out once a week. Then when we put Uncle Dick in one they lost track of him and he would run around naked. He has Alzheimer's. How can you lose someone in a gated and locked facility ? The woman that ran the place even took his furniture and spread it around to the other peoples rooms!! That so ticked me off! But we did get him in a better place in the next city.
Just unreal how some places are ran.

Here's a few of the zentangle cards I made;

Somehow look like I did unfollow this thread.... I will have lots of catching up to do!!!!

Dee, what is a stabilizer?

Carol, you talking about your uncle with Alzheimer's running around naked reminded me of a story a lady I worked with told about her mother who had Alzheimer's. Her dad called her in the middle of the night to say he woke up and couldn't find mom and it looked like she must have left the house. He asked her to come over and help look for mom. As she was driving through their neighborhood she found her mom walking down the street naked. She got her in the car and took her home and found mom's nightgown just inside the front door. When she asked her mom why she had left her nightgown there her mom told her everyone knows you don't go out in your pajamas. Duh! You just have to laugh.

The Alzheimer's facility where my grandfather was they had different levels of care. The building he was in you had to have a door code to get out of the building. There was a fenced in court yard the residents could get into, but without the key code you couldn't open any doors that went anywhere but the court yard.

Lisa, I like that . A nice way to take something familiar from a loved one and make something to remember them by. You could even fill one with potpourri I'm thinking.

Those zentangle cards are neat, too. I was a candy striper in a nursing home one summer in high school. There was a lady there that loved poster board and markers to do things like that. They really were works of art when she was done.

Dee, that t-shirt quilt looks like it is going to be a fun quilt and a nice way to remember her husband as well. And a nice idea to use his favorite blanket for the back. I hadn't thought about big squares (not sure why) but that should go together quickly, won't it?

Anick, there can be different kinds of fabric stabilizer (sew in or iron on, different weights - heavy or light), but in Dee's case I'm guessing it will be an iron on layer put on the back side to keep the t-shirt fabric from stretching.

I enjoyed fiddle club last night. We all had some different instruments this time. I brought my bass instead of my usual banjolele. The student brought her usual fiddle and her ukulele. My neighbor had her usual fiddle and her guitar. I didn't bring my banjolele. I felt like with my bass, the amp, my music, a stand, and an extension cord that was enough to carry over and back. I did well on some songs. Other they threw me by changing keys to make it easier for the student on the ukulele. I'm new enough on the bass (maybe a month now) that without the right chord letters in front of me I was struggling to think not only what chord should I being transposing to, but where is that on the bass. So I fell behind in some songs. I found I did much better trying to transpose up than down. My brain didn't like trying to think backwards. I did much better when the student played fiddle and we did the key in the book. But it was a good learning experience and I'm always glad for opportunities to practice and grow. I had fun, and that is the most important part.

- Laura (Pippi, Cheeky, Inky and Nimbus)

Good morning everyone can’t get to other threads we are in a middle of severe thunderstorms I am typing from my tablet instead of desktop. We had these storms all night so far blessed no tornadoes and my electric has not gone out but not putting my girls outside in it they will use peepads we tried to sleep in basement until possible tornado warnings passed but unable to
Snick stabilizer like interfacing you press to back of shirt prevents it from stretching
Lisa the lad did not want strips just sew he tee shirts together and she even supplied her husbands favorite fleece blanket and videos showed the shirts being put on back if fleece blanket. So only thing I spent money on was stabilizer not expensive.
Laura most of the tee shirt quilt videos I watched said to cut 12 1/2 squares and theb6 inch squares for small logos yes it goes quickly worse part cutting the tee shirts into squares got a blister in my finger have it alllaid out on my tables on top the blanket starting with plain square alternating with logos trying not to have same colors next to each other but last two rows ran out of blank shirts so logos only my cousin in Nebraska sent her a picture with alternatingbsaid it looks fantastic. Now to start sewing the squares together which plan to do today if still storming at 12 not going to Rosemarie to play games.
Carol are you getting the storm we are getting
Hugs Dee, Tori and Dallas

Fiddle club is right next door, and that was what I went to the other night. I don't take Pip for that since the student is paying to participate in that. The again, the student seems to want to talk and socialize more than play music sometimes. She might enjoy Pip as another distraction. hehe.

As for taking the banjolele most of the time for fiddle club there are a few reasons. 1. It is louder than my regular ukuleles. So it is heard a little better with the two fiddles, which are much louder than ukuleles. 2. I've had it the longest and am probably the most familiar with it and the spacing on the frets and such. So I don't have to look at my left hand much when playing it. The banjolele is strung the same as a soprano, concert and tenor ukulele. So they are all played the same. However as you go up in size the frets are further apart. So sometimes I don't always get my fingers in the right place. The baritone is strung differently as is the bass. 3. I just kind of like that banjo-ish sound of the banjolele. And it's something a little different than the ukulele. So I tend to take it when playing with others more than any of my other instruments. So I guess it is my favorite.

I use the same music for all the instruments. You have probably seen music that has chord letters above the music staff. I am just paying attention to those chord letters when I am playing. I hope one day to play the mandolin by looking at the actual notes and following the melody. But for now I'm just looking at the chords. So no matter which instrument I pick up, if a song has D, G and A, for example ... as long as I know those chords on each instrument I am good to go.

Dee, hope the severe weather is over quickly and the rest of the day will be nice. And I hope you and the pups can get a little nap today. Or a big one. hehe.

Isn't it funny sometimes how much work can go into making something look random? I've done that with quilt squares before. You don't want all the same colors together so you spend a lot of time rearranging to try and make it look more random.

Anick, how scary with Marc's grandmother. Yes, sometimes they need more supervision than we can give them at home. My granddad had it, too. Luckily nothing like that with him. One thing we had to watch for was dishes. He would eat something and rinse the dish or silverware in the sink (no soap) and put it back in the cabinets. Luckily for us he didn't always do a good job rinsing so it was easier to tell. hehe.

Well, I need to rush. My mom is coming to help me do a few things today, and I need to move a few things to be ready for her. Hope everyone has a great day.

- Laura (Pippi, Cheeky, Inky and Nimbus)

Carol, the naked lady wondering around her neighborhood was actually the mother of someone I used to work with. She had told me the story, which happily had a happy ending. When I was active with Civil Air Patrol one of the things they do is search and rescue for missing people. Mostly to do with downed or missing small aircraft, but one time we were called out to help look for a man who had Alzheimer's and had wondered off. There was concern about finding him before nightfall when temps were going to be too cold for him to be out. I'm happy to say he was found. If I remember right in some woods not too far from his home. I think sometimes it's easier for a family to keep a loved one home and care for them when there isn't some kind of dementia in the picture. Say cancer, or just not as mobile, or whatever, but someone who you can reason with. All too often with Alzheimer's or other forms of dementia they need round the clock care. No one can be on the look out for them 24/7. Even if you have a good sized family, people have to work to make a living and such and you just have to seek out that other care to keep them safe. And then hope and pray it's a decent place with decent people working there who will keep them safe.

Pippi will have to go find a cake for the cafe. 20th Gatcha Day has to be celebrated. What a mile stone!

My mother came over to help me go through some things in the house and figure out how to try and organize things to be able to set up a guest room. I've got a friend that is coming for a visit later this summer ... and it may take me all summer to be ready. hehe. Gosh I think my mother has more energy than I do. She keeps things moving along better than I do. I'm bad to work a little, rest a little, work a little, rest a little, work a little, rest a lot. A big part of my problem is just trying to figure out where to put things. I really don't know where some of it is going to go. Three boxes went to Good Will or some place. They weren't huge boxes, but still helped some.

- Laura (Pippi, Cheeky, Inky and Nimbus)