First Book Report--The Coconut Oil Miracle

Coconut oil has all kinds of benefits including helping fight dementia. With the right eating it can help weight loss as it promotes overall health.

Bruce Fife, author of The Coconut Oil Miracle, writes:

As I learned more about diet, health, and coconut oil, I realized I was eating the wrong kinds of oil. Instead of going on another diet, I replaced the processed vegetable oils I was eating with coconut oil. I used butter instead of margarine, I ate fewer sweets and more fiber. I didn't reduce the amount of food I was eating, and I probably ate more calories than I had before because I began eating more fat in the form of coconut oil.

A strange thing happened. I didn't expect it to happen, and I didn't even notice it until months later. My pants were becoming looser. . . .I was shocked because I wasn't dieting. I wasn't trying to lose weight, I was just trying to eat healthier.

I ran out of hair conditioner and tried coconut oil. However, it is like an oil treatment and then I washed it out with shampoo. Hubby doesn't have too much hair, so we don't worry about hair conditioner or oil treatments for him.

What It's Like to Have a Husband With Dementia

• He says, "Am I 92?" He is 72.
• He says, "Is it 2008?"
• He confuses the credit card and the debit card at the pump. No, sweetheart, we don't have a pin number for the gas credit card. Wish we could have used the debit card as we usually do but money is tight. Will pay off that gas card when the bill comes in, however, next month.
• Thinks the clicker to open his car will also open and close the garage door.
• Forgets what he had for dinner last night so I can serve the same thing several nights in a row.
• Forgets to eat lunch I have made him when I am gone. Once I came home and he had forgotten both breakfast and lunch--a concern because he is diabetic and also missed his two servings of coconut oil. Now I call him to see if he has had lunch/breakfast.
• Knows coconut oil helps him. Jokes that when he slips into bed he slides across the bed.
• Has no interest in books and little interest in his computer anymore. We have gotten rid of books and much of his shop equipment.
• Watches TV much of the time. Don't know how many times he has watched "Godfather" movies--all of them. I record the evening news on my iPod and watch it the next day or go in the bedroom to watch TV.
• He loves that I can write on a little notebook computer by his side while he watches TV movies that bore me.
• Long term habits are great. Does yard work and makes the bed. Will vacuum and clean the carpet, although sometimes the process is confusing to him.
• If I ask him to do something he will forget. What husband doesn't! I try to put things in writing or I will be a horrible nag. Even if it is in writing, I have to be patient.
• I put new procedures in writing. He uses the calendar and has a wrist watch with the days of the week and the date on it. Several days he has forgotten lunch which I had prepared for him on a plate in the refrigerator.  
• Loves Ms. Garmin, the car's navigational device. Have put in writing how to use it. Able to run errands when I am not home with that device.
• Still very loving and considerate. Loves accompanying me when I am out and about. He trusts me.

The future? There are many kinds of dementia, the worst being Alzheimer's. Being married to a husband with dementia, not diagnosed as Alzheimer's at this point,  is just a challenge on worst days and on many days livable. Will offspring get dementia? Will I get dementia? Will we be able to stay in our home? Will the new health care bill cover  medical bills in the future or bankrupt us in the near future?

We all just live day to day and place our future in God's hands. He has guided us in the past. To God be the glory in all things.

"Be Your Wife's Best Friend" Hubby Said

At my church the pastor went around the room and asked each husband what is the duty to a wife. Not knowing if my husband could come up with an answer, I wrote down a couple of ideas to show him. He didn't need my help. He said,

The husband's duty is to be his wife's best friend.

I could not have come up with a better idea,

 and he does love just being with me.

Short, Short Story

“The Old Grandfather and His Little Grandson” by Leo Tolstoy

     The grandfather had become very old. His legs would not carry him, his eyes could not see, his ears could not hear, and he was toothless. When he ate, bits of food sometimes dropped out of his mouth. His son and his son’s wife no longer allowed him to eat with them at the table. He had to eat his meals in the corner near the stove.

     One day they gave him his food in a bowl. He tried to move the bowl closer; it fell to the floor and broke. His daughter-in-law scolded him. She told him that he spoiled everything in the house and broke their dishes, and she said that from now on he would get his food in a wooden dish. The old man sighed and said nothing.

     A few days later, the old man’s son and his wife were sitting in their hut, resting and watching their little boy playing on the floor. They saw him putting together something out of small pieces of wood. His father asked him “What are you making, Misha?”
     The little grandson said, “I’m making a wooden bucket. When you and Mamma get old, I’ll feed you out of this wooden dish.”
     The young peasant and his wife looked at each other, and tears filled their eyes. They were ashamed because they had treated the old grandfather so meanly, and from that day they again let the old man eat with them at the table and took better care of him.