03/30/2020
Today was a much warmer here in the Coachella Valley and there is a long term forecast of mid-eighties for the next week. YAY!!! I spent part of the morning on the phone with my Mom trying to convince her it was 8:30 am not pm and cajoling here into getting ready to go to the doctor. Three frustrating calls later and with the help at staff at her community We got her to the doctor. More phone calls to her physician, who is wonderful and is facilitating getting a neurology appoint to try and understand the dementia issues.
So here is how day eleven of our sheltering in place went:
- Walked the resort with my SIP pal Kristen…we walked until our feet cried for a cold soak which was about 5 miles. The gorgeous golden torch cactus flowers I have been admiring are on their last days. But I found this little beauty on a prickly pear cactus so it is now on my watch list.

- Did some online ordering of groceries and tried in vain to find TP for my Mom who is now out. So utterly ridiculous … thankfully other residents in her community had donated some that was available to those who can’t get out and shop. The instant cart shopper who I was texting with offered to go to his house and get a few rolls to get her by. Oh for the kindness of strangers…
- Watched an interesting video which was shared by a physician in Anacortes Washington where we spend part of the year. Here is her comments “Hi everyone. I’m a surgeon and I live in Anacortes. I would love it if you all would watch this video. It is very empowering during this viral crisis. It was made by a colleague of mine who is an ICU doctor at the center of the outbreak in NYC. If we could get this video out to everyone in the community we might be able to avoid becoming a tiny NYC”. It is a long but very interesting video but hey what else do you have to do?? The Doc in the video looks so exhausted.
- Going to support a local restaurant tonight by ordering take out.
- Fridge is fuller today thanks to a delivery from Costco. SO gratefully to the Instacart shoppers, expressed our gratitude with a large cash tip and some vinyl disposable gloves.

Honestly, parts of day eleven were a bit frustrating and boring but I need to stop being a whiny twit (thanks Karen) and instead be grateful for all the good things in my life. Hope all of you are healthy, sane and staying home!!!
I had those same conversations with my dad every day for months last summer trying to help him understand that the reason it was getting dark at 8 p.m. was because it was night, not morning. He was so convincing, I started to doubt my sanity, LOL. I’m so sorry that you and your mom are going through this. The only thing that made it easier for me was when I finally got my folks into an assisted living/memory care facility where someone is watching over them 24/7.
Practicing gratitude is good medicine for these troubling times. Love your little birdie card!
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Hi Laurel..glad you enjoyed the little birdie and thanks for the kind words of support. I know it does no good to try and reason with my Mother and honesty I was so frustrated that I had to just hang up and regroup. I am not the best at cajoling and always prefer the to the point approach but I feel like my “manipulation skills” are improving by the day – LOL.
I know that assisted living/memory care is the next step but have to put that on hold until this craziness calms down. In the meantime, I am researching smaller, adult care homes. I toured the assisted living facility within my Mothers current community in February but not sue she would thrive there. It’s so hard …
Hope you and Eric are well. HUGS!!!
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