Well, let's get the unpleasant stuff out of the way... My mother is now at an "assisted living facility", in the dementia unit and is, as of today, on hospice.

The place is big, but her unit is only about 25 people. She's got a room to herself for now, as I believe the woman who would have been her roommate is either in the hospital, or has died. She likes the solitude. Any way, the old folks with dementia are a hoot. They can't figure out what's going on half the time. Neither can my mother, but she knows there's something "off" about her fellow residents, that's for sure.

The hospice nurse, Judy, is this unbelievably sweet, ball of sympathy. She decided to become a hospice nurse after her own brother died at home on hospice. She believes it's a calling and I would have to agree. She's going to be visiting my mother on Mondays and Thursdays for now, and more often as her condition deteriorates. So, I have officially been replaced as the "go-to" person and it's a relief. Now, I am, as Judy puts it, "just the daughter" instead of chief nurse, night watchman, emergency technician, ambulance driver - liaison between caregiver and doctor and nurse, ad nauseum... You know what I can do now if I want to? I can move more than 15 minutes from my mother! Do you know how fucking freeing that is? Why, just today, my kid and I went on a tour of the Los Angeles Film School and she decided her new absolute dream is to attend that school. (Can't say as I blame her, the tour was so great, I wanted to be a film maker!). However, in order to attend, not only will she need to come up with over $33,000, the one-year program is so intensive, she'll be doing her schooling 12 hours a day, 6 days a week. That means, she'll need to live close to Hollywood, and she won't be able to work a job because of the school schedule. Gee. I've always wanted to live in that area of town! So it got me thinking, with my newfangled freedom to roam, I could actually, if I chose to, get a job in the city and...... MOVE!!!!
Something to ponder anyway.

What else has been going on? Oh yeah. The crack-head next door is finally gone. She was evicted, but for a couple of weeks she was sneaking into her apartment to shower and sleep. One morning, the manager entered the apartment to clean out the junk, and found her sleeping on the bathroom floor. The police were summoned, but when the crack-head saw them, she immediately fell into a fake heart attack and had to be carted away by the paramedics. Later that same evening, she returned brazenly to the apartment and was wandering around inside with the lights on. The police were re-summoned, but never showed. We haven't seen her since, but this evening, I could swear I heard her shower running.

The other evictee is gone too. But only after being arrested (thanks to me) for violating a restraining order, and spending two nights in the county jail. Boy, was she pissed! But much quieter. And now all her crap is gone as well.

My current, very weird pleasure is observing the neighborhood kids playing basketball on the newly lighted courts. I don't know why I love watching them so much. Maybe because it just seems so wholesome. Maybe my jangled nerves of late appreciate wholesomeness and good clean fun. At any rate, it's nearly 10:06 p.m. and that's when the lights go off on the court each night. I usually feel a little pang when it goes dark.

The weather is getting cooler and that means I have to choose my Autumn hobby. This year, I have decided to bake bread. Not that gawdawful bread making machine bread. Nope. Delicious, fresh ingredient, pounded down by hand amazing bread. I'm going to become a bread making goddess. I do so love this time of year.

Well, that's about it for me. Gotta go find a nice spot on the sofa and watch a movie before bed.

Nightie night.

September 30, 2006

Be Afraid, People.... Really Afraid
September 01, 2008

One Last Bitchfest for the Road
August 24, 2008

Get the Popcorn Ready
July 17, 2008

I'm a Rich Ho-Bag
June 20, 2008