Strayed Much?

I've pretty much strayed away from how I wanted to use this blog. I wanted to talk about my Dad and the family and how we are handling how life is with someone who has dementia like my Dad has. I guess life just got in the way or should I say a string of bad luck? I did go and see my Dad a couple of weeks ago with my Mom, sister Cheryl and Jessie. We had a nice little visit but I haven't been back to see him again yet. Hopefully this weekend we'll get to go again. I forgot to mention that I ran into a friend from when I worked at KMart. Her Mom had Alzheimer's and was in her 80's and finally passed from it. I hated to hear it but its got to be better than not knowing anybody. My friend was lucky though that her Mom was able to be kept in a family home and be taken care of by family. We can't do that with my Dad because of how violent he gets and also he can't walk at all anymore. I know she didn't mean to make me feel bad but only forgot that my Dad is in the VA and that we can't just stay up there with him overnight and such. He does good to handle us for an hour or two at a time when we go up there. I wonder if its just a male/female thing? It'd be interesting to find that part out. My Mom and Cheryl went this past Saturday and visited with my Dad and Cheryl said his hands are starting to curl up from him not using them so much. I'm wondering if he has rheumatoid arthritis? His Mom had it and her hands got like that too. There's not much to talk about on my Dad right now. He's hanging in there. I can't believe its almost a year since he's been in the VA now.

These were taken the last time I got to go up and visit Dad.

CRAP! *Edit

Yeah! Somehow I finagled the bills and was able to get the new tires and 4 wheel alignment. I didn't want to spend the money but the tires were really that bad. Choosing between them and hot water wasn't easy at all.

Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap! The paycheck is screwed up! I don't even think I'll be able to buy groceries this week. Hopefully, I'll be able to get just some basic stuff. No tires for the car this time and I'm not even sure we'll be able to squeeze a water heater out of it either. I'm only going to pay the bills I have to but still I hate just getting by. We were doing so well and now its been just one thing after another. I told Chris he has to say something to somebody about the obvious mistake on his paycheck. If I can see it I don't know how they didn't see it when they were doing the accounting stuff. I'm just tired of all the bad luck we've been having lately when it comes to money. I'm not a money hungry person either. I don't mind just getting by usually but having no hot water really sucks. I just can't take another 2 weeks of none. I'll lay low a little bit and then get over it. I just don't want the kids birthdays to get screwed up. They never ask for anything big. I know a lot of their friends have huge parties and get gifts like its Christmas morning but we've never gone overboard on birthdays but we had wanted to do a little bit more since they're getting older and wanting more adult things. Hopefully the next check will be right cause that one has all the major bills coming out on it. Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!Crap!

Well,

it's been a quiet week. Still no hot water. We thought the water heater was working again but it wasn't. We did get one last hot shower out of it each at least. Thursday we have to get 4 new tires and an all wheel alignment so there goes $400. The water heater with installation will be another $600. Just hoping the paycheck will be big enough to cover both. We might have to wait another week or so on it anyway cause Chris might be out til next week. I have a phobia about workmen/workwomen being in my home when my hubby isn't so if Chris isn't home I'm not having the water heater done. Its bad enough I have to go and get the tires done. I don't think its a man's job or anything but I do so much of the home stuff on my own and have for the past 10 years I like to have Chris do what he can when he's home. He always does the yard work of course because I refuse to use his riding lawnmower. If something happened to that baby I'd never hear the end of it. I don't use his upright vacuum for that reason either. Every one I've ever touched has gone to the vacuum graveyard. We have a quick stick one that I use that's batter operated. I don't have a good record when it comes to vacuum's is all I can say. I've been waiting for House to come back and it finally has. It's off to a great start from what I can tell so far. Don't forget to breathe when you're watchign it tonight Diane!

CPAP Stuff

Well, Chris got his CPAP machine and I must say I haven't ever slept so good in my life. I guess it's been about 8 years or so that he's been snoring and then in the last 2 years that he's been snoring so bad that it effected my sleep. At first Chris got the nostril mask. It looked really uncomfortable to me so at his appointment to get the equipment I asked him if he really thought that was the one for him. He said yep. It is the one that just goes into the nostrils. It looked painful for sure but it actually worked. For about 3 days...on the 4th and 5th day he actually knocked or took it out towards morning. His doctor appointment went well. He actually was stopping breathing for up to 30 seconds for almost every minute he was sleeping that night during testing. No wonder bells and whistles went off. The first night he used the machine after he got it was wonderful except it was so quiet I had to turn on the fan in the bedroom for white noise. He POPPED out of bed on Friday at 5 a.m. I couldn't believe it. He hasn't popped out of bed in years. He went and got the regular mask that just covers the nose before he went back out to work on Tuesday and said that this one is definitely the one. LOL. He has 2 more times to trade in that mask in the next 30 days so we'll see if we need to make another trip to trade it in or not. He'll be in early on Saturday morning so I can't wait to sleep with him again and see if it was just a fluke or not that I slept so well also. All I know is I didn't need a nap like I usually do when he's home. So........what's good for the goose is definitely good for the gander (in this situation at least).

Oh, the Weather Outside was Frightful......

yesterday. I've never been scared of rainstorms but yesterday we had major RAAAIIIINNN and it was scary even for me. Our little bitty town didn't flood but the rest of our county apparently got a good bit of rain and the flooding was everywhere. We're not far from Ft. Hood (about 35 miles) which is a good thing because the soldiers were definitely needed to help. There was a mobile home park in Nolanville that flooded and a mobile home floated away with a lady inside of it. Very scary for me since that's what we live in too. We're on a hill so I don't have to worry about floating away but maybe sliding down the hill instead. LOL. Temple lost power for most of the day but I heard this morning that almost everyone has it back again. It's just too hot and wet to have to suffer sitting around in the dark too. There was one fatality where a car tried to drive across a flooded roadway and the driver drowned. Remember, if you come across a roadway filled with water to turn around, don't drown!