A Busy Week Caring for Mom and Farmville 2 Addiction

Sunday, Feb 22, 2026

Thankfully, it’s been a productive couple of days. Saturday we were home all day and I was able to relax, play Farmville 2, get organized for my week this week which is very busy as follows:

• Mom has a doc appointment Monday and Wednesday.
• I pack on Thursday with the Magi Boxes group (future note: didn’t happen)
• Friday George and I go to Costco/Grocery shop for life group which is Sunday (future note: I didn’t go with)
• I’ll be filming “What we eat in a week”
• I’ll be editing “Spring Refresh”
• I’ll be getting ready for the life group with clean up, sprucing up, etc
• Saturday I’ll do final vacuuming and make the salad.

Today I overslept but rallied around and was able to go to church. George took on the morning dog feeding so I could shower. I didn’t wash my hair and that saved some time. We went to Publix and ate sushi and soup for lunch, picked up some groceries for her and some for ourselves. Then we took Mom some lunch from Wendy’s (chili and a baked potato).

I had a check for her to sign to upload to her account – a tax check property tax refund that we got in the mail. Ironically – it was for $124 which is the same amount of the check I sent them a week ago. Remember me saying this was so weird? I thought she was only going to get $30 back but they sent me the same amount back that we sent in. Weird government math is what I call it. lol. Maybe she will still get a check for $30. This is just insane. Anyway I did a mobile deposit to stick that into her savings.

I left her some pants to try on that I bought last week at JC Penny’s. I put the receipt in my billfold so I can return the sizes that don’t fit. I told her to try them on today at her leisure. I’ll return the others tomorrow.

I also have some pics to pick up at Walgreens tomorrow of the grandsons for the grandson board. I finally got that done today. Been trying to do that for months. I thought it was going to take forever, but it was actually pretty quick. I ordered on Shutterfly and had them print close to my house at Walgreens. How bout that?

I’m about to go ahead and start working on my video for this week. It’s going to be a tough week, but I have to be focused. Maybe I will NOT do Farmville 2 much. It’s really taking a lot of time. The more I do it the more I get sucked in. You know I have that kind of personality to where I get obsessed or dive deep into whatever I do because I’m so detailed. I absolutely love that game. And the higher level you are the more there is to do and the longer you are on there. I think these ladies in the group must sit there all day long, lol. I can be sucked in for over an hour. It’s just very addictive.

I’ve always had the type of mind that wants to “get to the next level”. I don’t know what it is, but I remember in reading in the SRA program, it meant something to me to have completed levels and visibly be able to see myself moving up. I loved that. I also loved Girl Scouts and thought it was cool to collect badges – little mini to do lists that you could do to earn and collect badges for your sash. I had a few! I remembered that yesterday when I was thinking about my personality with Farmville 2. I just always had that “something something” within me to go for the next level. I only like to compete with myself though. And I don’t like anything to be timed. You know me and my lack of being able to judge time. It always made me mad to be timed with something. A deadline is fine just don’t use a timer. lol

All that said, I am a little worried about this week. But it’s just all landing in the same week and none of it can be helped. Mom needs to go to her doc appt. The Life Group is just always gonna land sometime and this Sunday is it. And I always do a video every week. So, I will try to go light on myself with all the extra things and push some of it off til next week, if I need to.

I’m also in between books right now. I might read this week some instead of Farmville 2 if I can convince myself. I have two new ones to start. French Lessons: Adventures with Knife, Fork, and Corkscrew by Peter Mayle. I’ve had that one for a while. I’ve read some mystery “who dunnit” and psycho thrillers lately so I wanted something lighter for right now. I’m also about to start The Ranch, by Danielle Steel. It’s also an older one. I’ve had it a very long time. But I need to get my Danielle Steel’s read.

Over and Out for Today. Let’s see how bad this week gets, lol. Will I be in tears before the weekend?

Tuesday, February 24, 2026

Yesterday, Mom had a doc appt and we went out to eat. This was with her urologist. So just a check in to discuss her meds and any issues. I don’t think the doctor wants to see her anymore since she is not interested in spending any money for procedures – she’s just doing meds so she’s put on future visits with a nurse. I guess the doc didn’t want to waste his time, lol.

We have another appointment tomorrow. I prefer not having two doc appts in the week but it is unfortunately necessary. Mom has to have more bloodwork done tomorrow because the white cell count was not good.

It has been very cold these last few days. And a setback after our nice warm end to last week. The 40 degree temp swing is kinda hard, lol. It set my mood back a bit, as it has a tendency to do.

We are getting ready for company coming Sunday (life group) and so I have been doing little things to help get ready for that. I spread out the duties across the week.

I video’d some for my vlog today. I also did some Farmville. There’s been this event and I’ve busted my butt trying to get through all the levels only to realize that the last bit of it was too difficult for me to even dream about finishing it on time, so I gave up. They made it stressful and too hard and not fun. I have decided that I’m not doing any more events. It made me mad. If I sat there and played all day every day for days, I might have finished it, and I’m sure some do. But I refuse to spend that many hours at it. I already spend a lot of time on it. I’ll ignore the events and will sell any materials the game gives me to my fellow co-op people. How annoying. I will focus on doing certain things in Farmville2 and just ignore the others.

Got the video almost edited. The first cut through is done anyway. I need to cut some footage out of it and do the overlays and I can upload it sometime tomorrow after I get back from taking Mom to the doctor, out to eat, get her hair cut if she feels like it.

I went to JC Penny’s and returned the pants that did not fit her. And then I went to Belk and bought her some more clothes to try on, based on the sizes that fit last time. Hopefully they work.

It is 5 p.m. now and I’m ready to chill out a bit. It’s been a pretty chill day, knowing that I’d be gone a lot this week. I’m packing Magi boxes Thursday and then Friday George and I will run errands and then Saturday home to prep for Sunday’s lunch. So not a lot of time to do personal things for myself this week. I’m trying not to wig out about it. But it is fact. OK over and out til later.

Thursday, February 26

Well it has indeed been a busy week. I took Mom to her doc yesterday and he did not want more blood tests. Mom had told me that he did and had me make the appointment but what he wanted was to discuss the results with her. Her white count was high and he said it was Uric acid and he put her on some meds for that.

I was kinda feeling puny yesterday. I had inflammation in my wrist, elbow, and right arm – it hurt to move it almost. I always have pain in my elbows when I touch them Have for years. But my wrist hurt and my upper arm which usually doesn’t bother me unless I lift something. I think I just slept funny. But I kinda felt like I was borderline with fever. But never got one. This morning I was all stuffy and my stomach was weird, like it had a brick in it. I had an orange and some nuts and took my vitamins, and BP meds. I realized I totally was so busy yesterday I forgot the BP meds. I didn’t want to take them while we were out running around but I forgot when I got home. (Off routine). Anyway, bed felt good last night. And I had a busy day at home planned today.

When I got up this morning though, I didn’t feel good. My stomach was the main issue this time. I was able to eat. Matter of fact, it felt better when I ate versus when I didn’t. I felt sick in between meals. It was the oddest thing. I did not have much energy or will power. I did laundry, started the dishwasher, washed a couple of dishes, and did Farmville 2 and World Bible School. And worked on my computer some as it was sit down work: checked email and selected photos for thumbnails. Then I decided to eat lunch. I had a Marie Calendar chicken pot pie, because it was akin to chicken noodle soup and it hit the spot. I took a 2 hour nap and felt much better when I got up. I ended up having popcorn and watching YouTube shows for an hour or so and then got into Farmville after folding a couple loads of laundry.

So a weird day and a lost day of productivity. I’m not going to pack Magi boxes tomorrow. I’ve got too much to do now to get ready for life group. At least I don’t have the flu which I was afraid of. I am no longer stopped up or hurting anywhere and my tummy issue is much better. Maybe I was just worn out. Who knows.

I am spending too much time on Farmville 2 though and gonna have to quit. I only have one lobster to go to fill the Mariners order. I’ve tried for 4 hours to obtain 4 virtual lobsters. I’ve checked the market, I’ve sent the crews fishing at the pier, I’ve asked for lobster from the co-op, and I’m down to just needing one. Other things the mariner wanted: 10 spy glasses, 16 wool scarves, 5 canvas bags, 12 shrimp, and 10 shrimp crackers or whatever they are called. And it comes down to me filling this 10 lobster order and I’ve got 9 and if I don’t come up with the last one then I have worked for days for nothing and won’t get the prize which is a pile of sand dollars that you can go and trade in for other things. lol. ONE stinking lobster. Geez!

OH….I was about to give up and I checked the co-op chat one last time before sending another crew to the pier to fish. A co-op mate sent me two more lobster. I’m so grateful. So silly. But I won the prize and can now go to bed. lol. I don’t think I’m doing the mariner order again for a long time. Geez but Farmville got me through the day. Over and Out.

Friday, February 27

This morning, I got up and immediately realized that I felt good. So I took advantage of my feeling good and dusted and did some straightening in the house, worked on the dining table, cleaned up the kitchen. I cleaned the glass top sofa table in the sun room, and put up some stuff in the sun room and vacuumed really good in there.

I’ve been working on my vlog this week and – oh – I finally got my thumbnail done last night before bed – I forgot to mention. So the video is ready to go. I took a shower today and headed out to get Mom’s groceries for the next week as she had meds to pick up. This will help me Sunday so I don’t have to go to Lebanon (next town over) twice since we have life group here at the house. Our church is in Lebanon so Sunday we will go to church and Mom lives in Lebanon, but we have life group this Sunday and if I had to get Mom’s groceries after, I’d have to go to Lebanon twice in one day. So now I don’t have to as she needed her meds anyway to be picked up.

She wants another pair of pants I have to find, and she wants to switch to an iPhone. I guess she knows that I know how to operate it. We also need to get toes done and she has a doc appointment next week. She is having trouble with her phone. She constantly hits the mute button. I don’t know that an iPhone will be any better but she still wants a phone/watch combination. The watch that syncs with the phone is the modern day “alert button necklace”. I know the iPhone has a great system as far as that goes. I wonder if we should just put her on our account and she can pay us for her line every month. We might get a free phone that way – since I’m doing her bills and finances anyway.

Life has certainly been full lately. I think Farmville 2 has just been a lovely escape. I have played today some. We are in the boat race again and unfortunately someone has created some fake co-ops and they have all surpassed us and will win all the prizes. Our team leader reported them. But I don’t know if it will do any good. I hate to put too much effort toward the boat race if we know it’s fixed where we can’t win even if we tried. So I am doing some boat race tasks, and Marie’s Orders at the farm stand when I want to do them, but my task has been to fill 3 plane loads of goods for Eddie – the pilot. I’m on my 3rd one. He’s due to fly in soon. I also started doing the Mariner’s orders again at the lighthouse. I have to make like 20 lobster cakes? But I’ve decided I’m not going to break my neck. You still get paid for the individual orders you complete, but if I don’t get the whole amount of orders done I’m not going to sweat it. It’s supposed to be fun right. I kinda miss reading so I probably need to give that some more attention. But I am getting to know some of the folks on chat a bit within our Co-Op group – I mean nothing really personal but I’m learning the “nature” of who is who on there. And it’s comforting to play with other ladies and help each other out. One lady is in a nursing home and there’s more than one of us that are taking care of our parents.

Today was beautiful and about 62 for the high. This next week gets into the high sixties and low 70’s. And I think in a week or so we’ll start to get thunderstorms again. We will have to pay our dues. We will have some bad storms in March. April is the really bad month for tornadoes but they can happen anytime the weather is back and forth like this. And early May can be bad. After that it’s mostly just pop up storms in the summer between humid and dry air masses that can bring gusty winds but not many tornadic storms.

This has been a weird kinda week but they are all weird in their own way, lol. I get a little stressed when life group comes over. So I am both looking forward to it but nervous. I want everyone to have a good time and I want the dogs to behave and not scare anyone. When we have family and friends, the dogs settle after a few minutes – ALWAYS, but sometimes they don’t with life group. I think because some of them might be scared and the dogs misunderstand that. I don’t know but I hope it goes well. After that I will start my bread making journey. I found the recipe for Mam-ma’s biscuits, finally. I’ll make those first. I’m a little nervous about sour dough but we’ll see. I will make some others first.

OK, over and out. Til next week.