Becoming a nail artist

Our nailartist raised her prizes, and I am totally annoyed by the way she did this, so now I am going back to my roots.

As we all might know... Regina is a Certified Cosmetologist, Chiropodist, and Massage Therapist, so I dare say that I will be able to apply gel nails with light hardening myself.

Don't get any ideas, I will just do my daughter's and mine, as I am retired and not willing to get a steady job ever again, ya hear?

On the up side... it will save us 1,200 bucks each year, and not even cost a fractional amount of that to get all the stuff we'll be needing.

I hope I picked a good company, and good material, and I will get started next month. I might not be as artistic at first, but I'm getting there eventually.

 

This is all that was on my mind today, thank you for letting me vent. ;-) Give me your thoughts on all of this.

Mourning

For all those among you, who know me a little better, know that I had to move my mother into a nursing home. I am having my thoughts about it, and I would like to share them with you...

Before

The process itself wasn't that hard to do, as I know that I have tried my very best to keep her in her own home for as long as possible. My aunt would've placed her sister into a home five years ago, so I dare say that I did a good job, letting my mother be independent for as long as I could, as she could. Now, she began being a risk for herself, to an extent where the court said that she is in danger of killing herself even (!).

Cellar

Except all the precautions we took, she STILL ended up 'taking the wrong turn' until one day she even took a walk on the highway, and police picking her up, bringing her back home.
She would need proper 24/7 care that I could and can NOT provide, as I am chronically ill myself, and I have to pace myself.

Storage room

So I picked her a nice home for dement people, and as it looks like it will get paid at least partially, whithout completely ruining me. Despite the electronic tag, she 'ran away' three times in an eight week period there already, and that in a 'sheltered' environment, as they call it.

 

Hallway

Things begin to unfold the way they should, but very slowly, and it takes a lot of adjustment on all sides! We will continue to observe, and do what's best for her.

 

Livingroom (divided into three rooms)

Bedroom

Dining room

In the meantime I had to cancel her renting contract, give away furniture, throw away things, have the apartment of hers renovated, and finally scrub and wash and clean out every tiny thing, until ultimately I could turn in the keys yesterday. Not without conflicts with her former landlady, who refused to pay back rent money, and so on and so forth.
 

Kitchen

Coming to think about this whole ordeal, it dawned on me, that this is somehow as if she's passed away already, and it's the last 'service' on earth that I would do for her, although that isn't so!
But climbing up ladders, or falling on my knees to scrub off every itsy bit of paint from mouldings, or skid marks from floors, smoke stains from cabinets, dirt from tiles... it was like praying to a certain extent. It felt like saying goodbye to my mother with my every move. I am not sure if the decisions I made were in her interest. I do not know if it was okay for her that I gave away certain things, or threw away this or that, or kept memorabilia of our family in my home... At times I felt like bursting into tears, because I could not ask her anymore. She just doesn't recall.

Hallway

At the beginning of this she insisted that her home (now) is a lot prettier than her last one. I kept her informed as of what we were doing, like painting today, or cleaning tomorrow, or handing over the keys. She seemed interested, and acted as if she knew what I was talking about, but... do I really know? She forgot about it the very next five minutes anyways.

 

Her old balcony

My mother always used to be a person who loved to move into new places. Once she even remarked that it is nice moving, and have others care about it all, like the renovation and the paperwork, or even carrying the furniture for her.

The furnished old place

I made sure we could take a lot of her stuff with her over there. And it's a cozy room now, that she calls her new home. I'm still afraid of giving the place the name 'home' as it has the flair of a graveyard in my country. It's called a 'senior citizen place'... as if that would change anything. Some people still believe that you get rid of your family members when you don't wanna care for them anymore, and place them in a 'home', but that isn't so. So far I have more work than before, and I see her more often, and I care for her a lot more than I did when she lived in her own apartment. I only feel sorry for those who don't have family that looks after them on a regular basis. Some residents there seem really lost.

 

Paintings by my late sister

Her old bed

My mom feels comfy, though. So I needn't worry. But, it feels as if it was the work people do when their parents die. At least, when she'll die one day, there's no work left for me to do anymore. It's just a couple of belongings in her room left now, most I will be able to gift or give away, or even throw out. That should be done in less than half a day or so.

 

The door to her room welcomes her
with a wellknown etching of her
birthplace

So all of this makes me feel sad. I'm in mourning, somehow. I had to say goodbye to my mom, to her past, to my memories, little by little, as she doesn't remember a thing anymore. *sigh*

 

My mom and I

Sorry for this has gotten a bit melancholic, but that's just how I feel at the moment. My mother is 79 now, turning 80 this year, and all I tell her about herself, and her life is like the lastest news for her. So sad to grow old, and having forgotten everything. That you led a good life, yeah that you HAD a life. Once. And now every decision is made for you by somebody else.

Garden and smoker area

She's always worried about having forgotten something, or having done something wrong. But she seems to feel comfortable around me, safe and sound.

Bathroom

For all of you and your families, I pray that this illness will never strike in your lives or in the lives of your family members, as it is hard to bear, and hard, hard work. I am happy for every moment she recalls my name, and who I am, and our memories together.

Her room at the nursing home

Stay happy and healthy my dear friends! Take care.

After

I'd be delighted if you'd leave me your thoughts on this in the comments below. And thank you for taking the time to read. Bye for the moment.

Out with the old, in with the new...

My dear readers,

long time no read, right? Obviously I'm just posting every other year, so it's about time, I'd say...

I ain't got much to tell though, but let me think how 2014 came along. To me it was a good year, my MS didn't worsen. Three couples in my family, or among my friends got married *hoot hoot*, but four couples separated, getting ready for a divorce, and split. How sad is that. The more excited I am, that my boyfriend and I decided to finally purchase a pair of friendship rings for Christmas. He had his for the longest time, but never got around buying me a ring. And that's the least one can do, branding his/her significant other, one should think. ;-) Well, here they are: 

The imprint reads: 'Real Love'
and it's a split heart,
his half is in black, mine in gold

What else? The care for my mother, who is suffering from Alzheimer's, got so intense, that she depends on 24/7 care, which I can't provide, let alone coming to think about what it takes from me, being chronically ill. Anyways, so we rushed her into a nursing home in December. She seems quite alright in there. I'm glad. I still haven't figured out the financial situation, but due to the fact that I'm retired, and all the other money-givers are dead... I'm afraid the district will have to jump in. Here are pictures of mom's new room:

Cozy, ain't it?

Luckily we could take a lot of
the old furniture to her new home.

We haven't been on vacation all year, money is tight, and my two simply ain't got much time for pleasure. We still took breaks, and enjoyed ourselves, as the photos prove, have a look:

Peter's b-day 'cake'... guess how old he turned?

Due to that occasion we went to
the city Ulm for a day trip.

We attended a concert of the
British Ukulele Orchestra in Munich.

We sat almost front row!

Hen-party of our niece/cousin

Wedding of the a.m.

Annual Mexican feast for Christmas

Okay, true, there weren't that many 'events' in our year 2014, but we for sure didn't get bored. Our everyday life was quite interesting, to say the least...

As usual I kicked off the year
w/my birthday, the 48th it was

Sabrina had a concert
w/her university choir

My aunt turned 66

We made a day trip to the
English Garden in Munich

This was happy Easter

You're looking at
our trip to the Augsburg Zoo

Gaby came to visit from the US
(we went to Junior High School together)

...and we couldn't go without
visiting this historical monument! ;-)
(A famous puppet theater)

We sure had fun at the Tratto's & at the Cisa's

Jim Knopf & Lukas der Lokomotivführer
(by Michael Ende, famous book characters)

My older Goddaughter turned:

 

Then Sigrid from the US came to visit
(former classmate from Elementary School)

And again, our daughter performed
w/the university choir

Looks like us all had fun there

And then it was that time of the year again:

4th of July in Germany

My Goddaughter graduated from school

Our daughter was finally 'really' coming off age,
and Peter and granny acted 'real' grown up...

Christmas at the lake...
and pretty windy it was, let me tell ya!

Happy campers after gift giving

Baby sheep at the local crib

Snow after Holy Eve,
as to be expected :/

Crib at mom's nursing home

And this is how we ended 2014!

Well, well, well... this is what I'd call a busy year, isn't it? On the sad part... we lost Cupcake and Smurf this year, our family rodents. It was heart wrenching, and we'll never get quite over it. Them two will be truly missed in our middle.

For the hen-party of our niece/cousin we went to a travesty show, that was real fun! And in regards to the wedding, let me assure you that it was just breathtaking, from the ceremony itself, to the reception, and the beach party at night... It was a wonderful celebration.

Also it's to report that Sabrina and I finally drove for 100 times this year each, it's been quite more often by the end of last year, and this year, on February 7th our trial period of two years will be ending! No bigger accidents to report. And one wonders how we can possibly manage to share one car among us three, right? But it works. Just be content, and take turns.

And to wrap up my personal year, I have to tell you that I had started a jar on January 1st of 2014. The task was the following: starting that day, write good things that happen to you on little pieces of paper (surprise gifts, accomplished goals, the beauty of nature, LOL moments, memories worth saving, daily blessings). Then on the last day of the year, open the jar and read all the amazing things that happened to you this year. Well, I haven't read them yet, but I started a new task already, and that reads as this here: jar 2015
In fact, I also thought about starting with this cleaning chart, but honestly, I can be so lucky once I can manage to do my usual housework, let alone doing extras, right?

Our daughter and her university carreer is developing just fine. We think she's pursuing her dream by studying Americanistics and comparative language and literature studies. I believe she has still one or one and a half more years to go. Who knows if she'll be a BA or MA one day, wait and see! All she ever has time for is to read, or write. She for sure picked the hardest study course, but we are so very proud of her!

In regards to my beloved boyfriend... he's always working. Or doing things for his bowling club. There isn't much more time left for him to do anything else. It is great to be self employed, but it also is a constant struggle to find new clients (acquisition), and drive through the whole state to meet up with them. He's an expert in his work fields, but he sure works his behind off, trust me!

Me, myself, and I, I hope to finally make time to restart Taiji again, read all my unread books, write all my unwritten blogposts, produce a second digital photobook about California, and catch up with all my health check-ups, as the doctors require them. All in due time, once my mom is settled, and all her business will be taken care of. Eventually.
I would love to find the time to renovate our apartment and/or go on vacation, which we haven't in three years, believe it or not! *holding thumbs*

Okay, I hope my little year-wrap-up could entertain you, and leave you informed? Now you know. I'd be delighted if you'd leave us a comment below, and/or even if you'd tell me how your past year went, and what your plans for this year are.

Love to hear from you,
Regina