A Week in the Wheel Chair

Sunday, September 1

Wheel chair to master bath routine
accompanied by Ziggy

A week ago hubby has a relapse of not being able to walk. We make some progress by Sunday morning. Hubby can use the walker instead of the wheel chair to come to his "Archie Bunker" spot. No longer does he have to be lifted as he can get up, and take a few steps to get in the wheel chair or use the walker. Basically this has been a week in the wheel chair, however, with sweat pants, the urinal and bathroom adventures for Kenny and myself. I wheel him to the door of the master bathroom and he can get out of the wheel chair and on and off the toilet seat. Dog Ziggy often joins for the ride.


Sally and Jake come over before their church with breakfast biscuits from Burger King. Hubby hardly eats any of this and Jake eats half of his.

That morning we sing "Happy Anniversary" to Sally and Jake. Jake couldn't believe it was his 40th anniversary. I had planned a surprise anniversary party for them, but that party totally fell apart. What a bummer! I told Sally about it and she was pleased at all the effort I had gone to. She is always doing things like this for others and it was her turn to be fussed over for her 40 years with Jake.

"I guess 40 good years is not bad," Sally says to me. We both know that the next years will be very hard. We are going into a new normal. Our anniversary in April hadn't been spectacular as I wrote on this blog. When they have Alzheimer's, every day seems the same to these guys--anniversary or not.

Jake and hubby decide that we four need to go to Stone Mountain again. We all have been there, but not the four of us together. Sally and I say under our breath, In your dreams, guys. Sally and Jake go on to their church.

Our church meets in the afternoon and hubby thinks he will go, but that also turned out to be in his dreams. He is back to forgetting he has knee problems and forgetting he uses the wheel chair or the walker.

I text Kenny that I am going to church without hubby so that maybe he can check on him. The afternoon sermon by our Associate Pastor is awesome. The essence of his sermon is that we will not enter into God's rest before we pass through certain troubles, and we better not complain like the Israelites did! This is our sanctification after faith in Christ by grace alone justifies us believers. This follows my Sunday Daily Audio Bible from Job 42:2, 6, 12.

Then Job answered the LORD and said: "I know that You can do everything, and that no purpose of Your can be withheld from You. . . . Therefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes." The complaining stopped and then we read Now the LORD blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning. 

This is my life, folks, and I am blessed each day and cannot complain like Job first did and the Israelites did.

On the way home from church Kenny calls my cell from the hospital where he has been admitted. He has another septic infection. Kenny has planned a sub for himself--his lovely mother Margaret. I tell hubby when I get home that Kenny is back in the hospital and he is motivated to walk better so we can visit Kenny. Oh I can walk, hubby says. He forgets that he hasn't been walking since last Tuesday and has needed the walker or the wheel chair. Even so, every day he does get better.

Sunday night I put a 7.54 pound pork shoulder blade roast (cost $15 at Winn Dixie) in the the crock pot to cook overnight. 

BBQ Pulled Pork and Soup

Monday, Labor Day

Ask me what my Labor Day was like. The short answer is: We had BBQ and I invited guests. In your dreams. 

Labor Day morning before hubby gets up I pull the pork to make the Southern "pulled pork". The fat is so easy to separate.  I pour an 18 oz. jar of Bull's-Eye BBQ Sauce over the shredded pork and stir. With all the fat I could get out of the liquid in the crock pot I started a soup with two diced tomato cans, older vegetables from the refrigerator including that half onion that had been my downfall when I cut my finger. The soup and the BBQ pork all turned out well. 

Note to self: From now on no movies and eating out. Cook what hubby eats at home. Perhaps this is the new normal. Will he be able to walk and go out? 

That morning hubby tries no knee brace, but is wheeled out to his spot in the den with dog Ziggy in his lap riding along through the long hall. On Labor Day Kenny's mother and our goat farmer neighbor Mary are invited for lunch but both cancel. I made Southern Banana Pudding to accompany the pulled pork I made in the crock pot and planned to cook more vegetables had they come.

There are several attempts by my husband to walk. Oh I can walk he pronounces. In your dreams, I think.

I have to go to Staples in Brandon to pick up a set-aside-for-me toner for my home copy machine that will come in handy for my 4 AM lesson plans for the day. Hubby decides he will go with me. Then he realizes again that he can't walk well and it would even be difficult to get into our SUV. However I do manage to get the Staples Labor Day sale on the toner. As usual I call home along the way to check on hubby.

At dinner time on Labor Day hubby wanted to go out to dinner. In his dreams, I thought, but said "sure" if he could get up and shave. He couldn't, so he settled for dinner at home.

Today-- Tuesday, September 3

I take a day off from my long-term sub job for errands. School can keep and there is a sub for the sub. My errands:

1. Back to the endocrinologist for the official word that my thyroid does not have cancer, but will just need monitoring every four months to see if it grows. Furthermore my carotid artery is clear. I loved the informal comment from this doctor:

Endocrinologist in Brandon

You don't need to take expensive pills forever just because some doctor was taken to lunch by a rep! 

This is so true! I had thought that about the pill Aggrenox which I had been taking twice a day for TIAs for ten years but finally challenged because they are so expensive and I really do not believe I have or have ever had mini-strokes. I just need to remember to keep hydrated with water and not coffee. Today's great blood pressure (121/67) and the clear carotid artery confirm my belief. The doctor pointed out that I would need a neurologist to officially confirm no Aggrenox. (I do not want another doctor appointment, folks.)

2. I meet Pharis at Home Depot to purchase supplies he needs for our roof repair. I also purchase a battery and a belt for the riding lawn mower we gave him in exchange for helping us. I get the 12 months interest-free Home Depot rate through September 4th for all the purchases. (Why I need to do this today.)

3. I go to have my finger prints taken again because I flunked the test after I cut my finger. I get there and find out I was supposed to have an appointment since I had checked to see with my employers (I teach occasional classes for DUI offenders) if I needed one. The finger print place gives me the phone number and I book that appointment for Saturday. Saturday for finger prints will work in my busy schedule.

Pray that Kenny gets out of the hospital soon. As I mentioned responsible Kenny had arranged for his delightful mother Margaret to be there for my husband. She comes over today and cheerfully encourages hubby's morning pills (I hadn't been able to get them down hubby this morning). When I get home from my errands, hubby has been eating the lunch she prepared. It is wonderful to have such neighbors.

Shortly after Margaret left, I take over again, wheeling hubby to the bathroom with dog Ziggy on his lap. Back to lesson plans for the special education substitute assignment. You can bet that hubby will want to go out tonight in his dreams. I am making dinner for us. 

Can You Teach An Old Dog New Tricks?

Can you teach an old dog new tricks?  Yes, for a six year old dog. No, for a hubby with Alzheimer's.

In our 13 years of marriage, we have always had a Maltese male dog. The first was Woofii. After Woofii had to be put to sleep, I googled Florida Maltese breeders and five days later we got Ziggy when he was a young puppy. Dogs are so good for anyone, especially for family with Alzheimer's. Ziggy is so attentive to hubby.

Several months ago I moved a chair to the bedroom that used to be in the living room for safety since hubby had fallen out of bed one morning. When it was in the living room,  Woofii used that chair to jump up on the parson's table by the front window. When we first had Ziggy, he would do that also according to HERE. But hubby is concerned that Ziggy needs to do that more now as Woofii used to do so that when we go out Ziggy will be waiting at the window when we come home like Woofii did. We apparently can't keep this chair in the master bedroom.

Now back in
living room

So upon hubby's insistence we had to move the same chair back to the living room. That chair is now by the front window so Ziggy can jump up on the front table as in hubby's long-term memory. With a little bit of reinforcement six year old Ziggy again jumps up on that parson's table by the front window. For hubby's safety, another chair is now by his side on that bed.

Seventy-five year old husbands with Alzheimer's are not so easily trained. Even the long-term memory becomes distorted. Jake and hubby have all sorts of "memories" that Sally and I cannot confirm. Hubby will often check on his memories, however, and then he innocently says to me, "Oh that's right!" (Not that I even remember everything on this blog. I had to go back to 3/21/09 to read that Ziggy once did jump up on that parson's table by himself.)

Short-term memory. Ever since 2000 when I married my husband and came to love his church and his dog Woofii,  there has been a search for the perfect property for our church and the seminary connected with it.  Every time our pastor would announce we had a possible site, land or building to purchase, hubby and I would go there to check it out. I would take pictures and often send them around by email to church members. New property for our church was one of our interests. Finally, it looks like we have that property and hubby and I have been there three times. The last time was yesterday because he had not remembered the two other times. We were actually able to go inside of the building yesterday. I took digital pictures and two of them have hubby in them.

When we came home last night, alas! Hubby had forgotten that he had been by that property yesterday. I created a slide show on my wonderful new Apple computer to show him pictures. His short-term memory is indeed leaving him.

Not to insult my hubby, 

but you can train a dog easier than a hubby. 

New Computer

Our church starts at 2 pm, but I was on a mission--recover my computer last Sunday morning.  In the battle for the shower I put up with just hubby taking pills and shaving.  There was another battle and I couldn’t wait for hubby’s shower (which did happen on Monday, by the way). 

This was the second time my big computer had that same ugly virus. One virus or Trojan showed a picture of handcuffs and demanded money or my computer would be shut down! A friend from church had solved it the first time, and it took him a lot of time to do it. I dared not ask this gentleman again. 

 Actual Picture of a Trojan that two times infected my old computer

Me? Pornography on the computer? Send them money from KMart, 7-11 or Walgreens? The only picture I could think of as porno was this one I once used on a blog post for humor HERE. 

Furthermore, I am anti-addiction and anti-porography.  Why I even put anti-pornography in one of my latest raps, “Addiction”, that I just delivered in my last class for DUI offenders.

Here to be in your face

About your addiction

Don’t get me started

It’s hard to be parted

With your addiction

Lots of friction

You skip tradition

And slip into addiction

Doling out your cash

Getting high on grass

Or meth or cocaïne

Hugging, puffing

Reeling, stuffing

Alcohol seems so splendid

But just causes a dependence

Booze makes you a ball of rage

Will be hard to turn the page
Porn seems too easy
Just makes you sleazy
Relationships now measly
Life is a process
But drugs are a regress
Do you want to kill?
Take that drive
Take that pill
You won’t survive
The heat’ll get ya
And you’ll go to jail
I’ve seen it ya betcha.
So low you stoop
But it’s time you regroup
Pitch the fiction
Stop the addiction
Don’t escape life
Deal with your strive
Here to be in your face
About you addiction.

You viruses! I complain about porn, but don’t have it on my computer!  You think you are going to come and lock me up if I don't send money! You are not our government! 

I asked a police lady friend with whom I play Words With Friends what can be done.  She wrote me on the chat on our game:  If you can prove who and how it was done, you can present it to an attorney. They may ask you to get a police report with a case number to start an investigation.

This is the second time for those viruses on my computer. My husband's son-in-law said he switched to a Mac because of viruses.  I emailed my Mac/Apple sister-in-law and asked if she knew of a cheap Mac computer. 

As I indicated, Sunday is usually our day of rest, with a casual morning and a 2 pm afternoon service. But I had no rest at all. I had to do something.  Hubby and I headed off to Best Buy for a solution. Hubby found his usual spot for sitting in the Geek area. I walked by the Best Buy PC computers and found the Apple sign.

Apple Display at Best Buy

Here it was that I met Knight Mike. If ever there was a customer ready to buy, it was I!

I approached Mike as if he were a psychiatrist.  “I am grieving so much about my PC and all my work and photos I am missing on it.  Sure I have a small Notebook computer, but there are tons of files on my PC.”  Mike let me spew all my woes out. “Mike, the virus even thinks I have pornography on my computer and they want me to send money!”

We looked at options. I checked my email on my iPhone and my sister-in-law was out of church and emailed me back about the Mac Mini. You can use your monitor, your keyboard and your mouse from the defunct PC. We went back to the house and got the tower of the PC I now call The Trojan Horse, or "Trojan" for short with its ugly viruses/Trojans lurking inside and hubby and came back to buy.

"Trojan"

I emailed my sister-in-law:  “Mike and you just sold me.”  With lightning speed Customer Service Agent Charlene completed the order and brought me to the Geek Squad who would arrange for my PC insides to be put in virus free to a Mac-Mini-Intel Core 15/4GB/500 on sale for $549.99 with DATA backup for $99.99 and a three year Geek warranty for $179.97 in addition to the year’s Mac warranty. After all my careful planning to reduce credit card balances, I put over $800 on a credit card that I had proudly reduced by $400 this month. Oops!

We got to our 2 pm church service at 2:25. After the service I confessed to pastor where we had been. That confession felt good. Would you have confessed to your pastor the frivolous reason you were late? He really didn't seem upset with us. 

Wednesday morning I had my Geek appointment to get my new Mac with recovered files from the Trojan. Geek Erin was great. When I got home I did find that the keyboard and the mouse would work, but I had to buy a new monitor. I went to Staples and got one on sale for $89.99 and with a chord for $40.79. All in all my Mac computer was a lot cheeper than the old $3000 Mac I had gotten years ago. But the Staples techie said that Mac/Apple computers do get viruses and my three year Geek warranty doesn't cover them. Hmm! 

After I taught a DUI class from 3:30 to 7:30 on Wednesday, I stopped by to see Geek Erin again for more info. What the Staples techie told me was not true and she showed me on my  warranty and three-year contract that virus protection is included, should I get a virus. Erin did give me Best Buy Tech at 1-800-433-5778 for further help. Even though I have had several Apple computers, I found that I would need help at home to finish setting up the computer. Best Buy Tech could answer my questions for about $50, but they did give me Laura at 1-800-275-2273, an actual Apple/Mac tech who was wonderful and helped me with 5 of 7 issues. Getting Word, Excel and Power Point needs to happen with a Microsoft download and I forgot to ask Laura about hooking up my PC speakers to the Mac Mini.  That short-term memory of mine again! 

Small Mac Mini at left

Now, with MY short-term memory, I wonder if I will remember all of Laura's tricks. I do wish that ridding my hubby of Alzheimer's and memory loss would be that easy as taking a virus or a Trojan out of a computer. Sigh! 

Check the Manual, Check the Playbook

Several years ago Linda Fisher wrote a post on hearing Coach Broyles and his family. The Coach has a Playbook for Alzheimer's Caregivers.See  http://earlyonset.blogspot.com/2010/04/bring-past-to-presentcoach-broyles.html

That playbook looked like a book I needed to read. Fortunately Karen later sent it to me. Karen's mom passes away from Alzheimer's and this book had helped her. We met when I started writing on her blog and she wrote here.

Playbook. Linda writes that the family treat each repeat question with respect as if it were the first question. Yep, I do that. I let my husband initiate conversations so I don't frustrate him. I prayed last night because it was my turn to pray on even days. Then he asked me to pray again because he forgot that I had. This was my precious time to tell our LORD new praise and requests even though I had prayed several minutes ago. We always hold hands when we pray at night.  I am writing my own playbook on what works with him.

Romans 8:1,9,16,17; Colossians 1:9,24; 2 Corinthians 1:5-7, 9:8; Psalm 41, 31:9-13; Leviticus 19:32; John 14:17, 16:13; Galatians 4:6; 1 Corinthians 3:16, 6:19; 2 Timothy 1:14; and Ephesians 1:17 are some of the verses highlighted in this book.

Here is the poem from Coach Broyles Playbook for Alzheimer’s Caregivers (author unknown)

Do not ask me to remember.

Don't try to make me understand.

Let me rest and know you're with me.

Kiss my cheek and hold my hand.

I'm confused beyond your concept.

I am sad and sick and lost.

All I know is that I need you.

To be with me at all cost.

Do not lose your patience with me.

Do not scold or curse or cry.

I can't help the way I'm acting.

Can't be different 'though I try.

Just remember that I need you.

That the best of me is gone.

Please don't fail to stand beside me.

Love me 'til my life is done.

I will be there, sweetheart!

Kinds of Memory, Christmas Travel and Home

A day before we left on our trip hubby and I were at Cracker Barrel, the restaurant/gift shop. We are seated. DH excuses himself to go to the bathroom. He isn't coming back to our table at Cracker Barrel. I go looking for him. He thought I was shopping. I bring him to the table. He is surprise that we had been seated. He doesn't remember.

DH recalls going up in a plane with Jake. I do not recall that, but have heard both DH and Jake discuss their plane trip. How do two Alzheimer's men have the same memory that Sally and I know never happened?!

Both men see that the other one is going downhill.

“Time is change; we measure its passage by how much things alter.”― Nadine Gordime

If you have Alzheimer's. however, time is so present and memories are so fickle and subjective. There may be a few recent memories, but not accurate short-term ones. Long-term memories start to become fuzzy.

I do capitalize on recent memories when I tell hubby that it is 7 am or 7 pm and time to take our pills: Sweetheart, you wouldn't want me to take your pills like I did when I landed in the hospital, so let's both take our pills NOW.

For the Christmas week we had the pleasure of flying to his son's home in another state, and enjoying family and their extended family including two great grandchildren. I became my husband's one constant as we were away from home. He even asked his own son who that son's mother is, forgetting that she is hubby's first wife.

I made daily sheets for him to remind him of what was happening and to let him know when we would be returning to Plant City, Florida. Even so he needed many reassurances from me. Sally and Jake took us to the airport and they would pick us up from the airport,

One morning on our trip he woke me asking Where is here? I explained that we were at his son's home. Although he became somewhat oriented to the lovely three story home where we stayed and he had often been before, he forgot that we had a bed and bathroom in the basement.

He said he would go downstairs.

"No, sweetheart, you need to go upstairs," I reminded him.

When he was on the third story watching TV with his son in the media room, he called me on my cell phone to see if I was anywhere around.

"I am right below you--the next story down," I reminded him. Often DH then responds that he is just checking to see if I am kicking and breathing. He wants to find out if I am kicking and breathing at our own home as well.

We heard a noise in the middle of the night and I remarked that I didn't know what it was. He said it was just the noise of an elevator. Now there was no elevator in the three story home where we were staying--but I didn't correct him.

On the trip we had wonderful hospitality and all the comforts of home. I gave DH a daily schedule and kept his clothes and toiletries where he could easily find them. But for DH, it wasn't home, confirming that Alzheimer's patients are so dependent on their spouse/caregiver and their own home.

"God Has a Way of Irritating You", My Husband Says

Adding grass so weeds don't grow

This post is partly the tale of the black border and two Alzheimer's husbands each with his own energy level and opinions. It's hard to neglect the outside, especially the front yard, while I work on the whole house. Jake has helped us with our yard taking out weeds in a flower bed in the middle of a circular driveway. Hubby suggested we have more grass there instead of flowers that he had once planted and so we did buy grass squares and plugs as pictured. Our neighbor says it will eventually fill in.

Black border taken up

Months ago before my carpal tunnel I took up border bricks in the front yard. That center flower bed also had a black border that I thought needed to come up. One day when Jake came over to hang out with hubby, that flower bed again became a project for Jake who seems to love feeling useful (and he is and I appreciate that so much). I had started to get that black border up and Jake proceeded to bury it again. An hour or so later, however, he worked hard to pull it all out. There it sat in our front yard.

Tuesday had been the second day for the senior center and Sally had taken both husbands there about 10 am and picked them both up about 3 pm. I substituted that day and felt that I should connect with hubby and so we went out to dinner. Now DH is appreciative of all that Jake does, but he became irritated when the trash didn't take that black border last Saturday. Hubby had another solution that he confessed to me at dinner Tuesday night. Sheepishly he said,

"God has a way of irritating you."

Because of the short-term memory I was so surprised he brought this up as we were eating out. Did he have a memory? What was God convicting my husband about? How was God irritating him?

It turns out he had thrown that black edging over the fence in a cow pasture. When I got home from substitute teaching Wednesday, I asked about the edging.

I don't know. I must have done something with it.

When I looked, it had travelled down the pasture fence, but it was definitely on their side. I will confess for hubby to the neighbors on the other side of the pasture. We will figure something out. But I chuckle with this glimmer of memory and confession.

I also am grateful for the second day that Jake and DH spent at the senior center Tuesday of this week. The plan is that they go there once a week through December and then we take them there more and more as needed. Sally wisely encouraged this and a new routine is being established while we have that window of opportunity. Staff at the senior center reported to me that it is working. Hubby did well on puzzles--something I had not gotten him to do at home where he mainly watches TV. How grateful I am for this friendship with Sally and Jake and for the senior center.

Jake recently had his 75th birthday celebration. We gave him a photo album of things we two couples have done together. DH has his 75th birthday coming up next week. We will have a little celebration at our church Sunday afternoon.

Both 75 within two weeks of each other! The senior center staff remarked that these guys seem like brothers--twins? Actually they understand each other so well. My husband knows he has Alzheimer's and that Jake does also, but Jake doesn't acknowledge disability at all. He knows his buddy doesn't have energy and loves to help him. They love teasing each other and it works so well for them to go to the senior center together.

At This Stage Status Report

I mention short-term memory and my husband quips Who are you?

Here are some other things he says:

I think I asked you this before.

Carol? (I say yes.) Just wondering if you are kicking and breathing. (I show him I can kick. I show him I can breathe and he laughs.)

I go walking in the neighborhood with a neighbor lady and when I return he says. I forgot where you went.

Today he both acknowledged memory loss and accused me of not telling him something I know I told him.

Other news:

DH and "Jake" went to breakfast with "Sally" and me today. Then we did it! We took our husbands to the Plant City Senior Center. We went in with them and left. Sally picked them both up at 2:30. I had errands to do and in the process found a $25 file that looks like a chest to put in the master bedroom, the current room I am processing as I follow The House That Cleans Itself. This two drawer file will mean that all these boxes, bins and baskets I "hid" in the master bedroom can go.


Dog Ziggy at the bottom of mess.

Why ever did I think those baskets would work?

Great Solution

Two neighbor men helped take this file into the master bedroom. It looks like it could be bedroom furniture, but is really a file inside.  The bookcase and file will be a great asset as I finish up my counseling studies.

Many things need to be finished in this master bedroom, but I can see the light at the end of the tunnel now. I may need to jump ahead to area #5 now, the living room, because Christmas is coming.

What I'm Learning About Senior Health, Part Four

I  have  hearing loss. I admit it! How does this manifest itself? People tell me. Talk sounds garbled to me. I tell people to speak up. So I went to an audiologist and she diagnosed my hearing loss. I have applied for a scholarship for those hearing aids. It is several thousand dollars and we just don't have the funds and Preferred Care Insurance will not cover it. Maybe the scholarship will come about.

Hubby and I can joke about my loss, but really it impairs our communication. I am in one room and he says something from another room, for example. Telling him to speak up doesn't work. Then when I get there he forgets what he said! We laugh about this, but I do need help with my hearing.

Speaking of applying for help, Sally suggested we use our local senior center for day care for our husbands. Both husbands are now on the waiting list. The fee is based on our income and we feel that our husbands will enjoy doing this together. However, my husband doesn't like the idea at all and says that Jake can just hang out at our house. He actually was mad about it--says he doesn't need a "babysitting" service.

Last Saturday our husbands enjoyed chatting while Sally and I walked around Lake Hollingsworth to raise money for the Alzheimer's Association. Our husbands were actually "babysitting" each other and so enjoy each other's company. Sally and I loved walking around the lake and the fact that we could help support the Alzheimier's Association which is so helpful to both of us.

Husbands sitting at far right

Lake Hollinsworth--almost a 5K walk

Handling Clutter: Beginning on the Den



Sewing projects just piled on pub table



Laundry to fold and clutter on pool table

My lifetime of organizational disasters come home to roost. These two photos are not the half of it. I more often than not do not systematically solve paper clutter, sewing, and laundry. Many times hubby picks up on a clue and folds laundry left on the pool table--what I have read is a great task for Alzheimer's loved ones. But this pool table mess is so unsightly and how I would love for us to uncover it and to use that pool table more often.

But I will get there with Clark's two-step sort routine. Mindy Starns Clark points out in The House That Cleans Itself that vertical files do not work. They are not efficient. I even have a set of vertical files set up by the paper shredded.

When I married my current husband in 2000 I had three four drawer files and one two drawer file. He said no to all but one four drawer file coming into our home. I remember sitting in storage in Tampa when I first moved here to marry my husband and getting rid of 3/4 of my papers then, or putting some of the old file contents in boxes instead of files; we donated those empty file cabinets. Hubby was correct and he did a marvelous job of filing papers until the Alzheimer's came and I had to take care of paper clutter of both of us. Still I have always had too much paper clutter and not just from mail. Blame it on broad interests, current counseling degree course work, writing and teaching perhaps. More on that two-step sort with later post after I have applied the system.

Time for Mrs. Clark's wisdom. Mrs. Clark says use temporary horizontal files. You use this for her two-step sort and at the time she wrote this book she had purchased a jelly rack/donut rack from a restaurant supply store. I saw a horizontal sorter in a classroom Monday when I substituted (photo at left below). I should have left a note for the teacher complimenting her on this great cart at the left. I searched my heart about all the "organizing" (really cluttering) I do on the pool table, the dining room table and elsewhere throughout the whole house. A temporary horizontal organizer would work. I found one for about $70 at Office Depot below at the right below.

Hubby was right again. Alzheimer's does not take wisdom and humor away from him!  After he shopped with me Monday after school he quipped, "And where will you put this cart!"

"In the den for sorting papers," was my reply.  Furniture will have to leave the den for me to use this 10-Drawer Mobile Cart Organizer from Office Depot. I have an idea what needs to leave. I also have an idea for rearranging the den so that I have a two-step sorting station.

Organize it for filing

Organizer from Office Depot in Box

Cell phone problems. After finding and buying this organizer in the box before the bookcase above right, we went to dinner. Getting back in the car after a wonderful dinner (not a careful Weight Watcher menu though),  I dropped my five year old cell phone on the concrete. Now Mrs. Clark had advised:

Compile a list of your most frequently called numbers in a Rolodex, address book, or notebook (p. 127).

I had not done that for all my cell numbers yet and this cell phone was broken beyond repair with contact cell numbers all destroyed as well. Too late for me to heed her warning.

Tuesday I got a new phone, well not just any new cell phone--an iPhone 4S since I was due for an upgrade at Sprint. Regularly VERY expensive, my upgrade cost was $106.99 plus I traded in old phones (found after hubby lost his and needed a new one) and got an Otterbox cover for it so IT won't break when dropped as I five-year-old one had.  (Of course the new iPhone 5 would have been much more expensive.) With my carpel tunnel hands I can speak a person's name to call them instead of use my fingers.  Now I am not putting Pinterest App on that phone yet, but I did put a PrayerMate App there, that had been lingering unused on my iPod in iTunes and I put the Facebook App.  Not putting the e-mail there yet. We need SOME discipline and boundaries in my life.

Short-term memory. Short-term memory caused my husband to leave one section of the front yard unmowed last Saturday and I am encouraging him every day to finish it.  When I leave the house, hubby has to know where I am going and when I will be back and I call him while I am gone when I get a chance. Tuesday I borrowed his cell phone. I called him when I got to the school where I was substituting as is the usual practice, and when I was on my way home. I called him saying I was going to Sprint regarding another cell phone. He expected me home at 5:00 PM, not 6:25 PM. But I did call three times to tell him WHY I would be late.

At home at 6:25 PM hubby was livid with me. "You were supposed to be home at 5:00 PM,"  he said showing me on his notes like a lawyer.

"I called you three times to say I was getting another phone at Sprint."

"No you didn't!" Probably he swore in this anger. I just let this outburst roll off my back. Later he forgot that he was angry with me, another evidence of short-term memory of his disease. I have become fairly used to these sundowning episodes and his short-term memory.

Devotional area. I would say that my Scripture reading and prayer are huge in my life as a lovegiver/caregiver for my husband. Mrs. Clark writes:

Whatever you choose to include in your devotional area, the goal is to set up a permanent grouping of items that do not get carried anywhere for any other purpose (p. 88). 

This wonderful suggestion hit me hard. I have been using Daily Audio Bible for maybe five years, listening to Brian Hardin read through the whole Bible each year on iTunes usually at my computer in the den and getting distracted by e-mail, Pinterest, or blogs while listening to the Bible and "multi-tasking"!  Mrs. Clark calls such distractions "rabbit trails" and asks you to write down your rabbit trails in your notebook. One year I typed up my Scripture highlights to counteract this tendency. Or, I would listen to the daily Scripture on my iPod in the car with the car's speaker system. If it was Friday, I knew that this was the day I pray for Social Media friends, for example, and often during that day. But my devotional time was not "set apart" time--often multi-tasking time.

App for iPhones

Picking up on Mrs. Clark's suggestion my new devotional area is now in the family room. I have assembled materials there and can listen on the iPhone without that computer. No multi-tasking. The PrayerMate App can also be used in my new devotional area. This station is my new way to start the day before hubby gets up.

Do you have a clutter problem?

Do you have "rabbit trail" distractions?
What are they? 

Do you have a devotional station?