Busy Week: Paperwork For Mom’s Assisted Living and More

Sunday May 3, 2026

I wanted a place to be in my mind so I picked this scene above. I really like this porch. How cool is it that you can open up the window in the kitchen and be able to pass plates and food to the back porch. I know, I know flies in the house. That’s the reality. I always want to be in nature, but then….bugs happen.

I’m not sure what is wrong with me today. I am quiet, reserved, and just not really in a very good mood. I try to stay positive but there’s a lot of stuff in my memory coming back to me and getting into my headspace and it’s not good. It makes the bitter bubble up to the top and I try hard to push it back down again.

I get this way and I don’t want to do anything and as George says, it takes about 4 hours to shake it off, when the mood sets. So I have not been able to do much this afternoon. I played computer games, I watched TV, and I did laundry, but I’ve not done anything I had planned on doing. I need to be editing footage as we are going to be busy this week but I couldn’t bring myself around to do it.

The afternoon sun is coming through the window right now and shining diamonds on my face through the designs in the curtains. Maddie is playing with her squirrel right now, hoping to get my attention. She does. I love her. I need her love today. She sat in my lap as I did my 4 hours of __________, I don’t even know what to call it. It’s not moping. But something akin to it. Maybe it’s decompression or just being alone with your thoughts or trying to squash them out. I tried to sleep and I did manage about 10 minutes.

I think I will get a glass of wine. Maybe I can then open up some more.

Ok, back with a glass of Rose’.

After deliberating with myself over whether I should spill what’s going on in my head, I have decided that perhaps I should just keep my thoughts to myself. I don’t want to shed negativity on anything that has a chance on being positive. God has steered us through before, so He will do it again and no use fretting over it. I think I am just very tired. We rushed off to church this morning, got Mom’s groceries, got Cracker Barrel, took it and ate with her. We have a lot to do upcoming and I’m tired already before we get started. And that scares me a bit. But God will give us the energy right?

Mom is already wanting a new recliner and I’m afraid that she will end up wanting all new things in the new place; new furniture, new decor. I get it, when I move, I’m that way too. I am just old and too old to go and do all the shopping. And she definitely is. I’m not in my youth anymore and the thought of having to go shop for this and that and the other in various places and doing twelve hundred returns when they are not right, kinda scares me. Plus, Mom needs to reserve her money so it doesn’t run out as if/when it does – she is probably not going to like the next place so much. :-O

So we have a busy week planned, some with George and some with Mom and before I know it my week is getting booked up. Plants/flowers to buy for the house, groceries for us for this week. Planning Mother’s Day, sending grad gifts in the mail for my niece, taking Mom to tour assisted living and the array of things that visit will cause us to need to do. Setting doc appt so Mom’s meds can be handled by the agency as doc has to sign off on papers and won’t do it without an appt. like her heart doc would ::sigh::. I promised George I’d go to McKaye’s bookstore on the other side of Nashville with him, long before I realized the week was going to get busy. We will also do crab legs at Mom’s for Mother’s Day and I’ve decided I want pizza for my Mother’s Day pick. Plus there is editing the video for Saturday and also filming the video so I can edit it next week. Plus housework.

I’m hoping Mom realizes she can’t take a lot of stuff. The place is not a mansion over there at assisted living and is not going to hold a lot of furniture and while some rooms may seem bigger or longer than her own, it’s not a place for displaying china and crystal. However, Mom is taking something for the corner to put all her crystal bowls in it. I was shocked. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that in assisted living before. But what do I know! I’m wondering if the staff is up to keeping all that clean? But it’s her space and if she wants to fill it up with crystal bowls and they allow that, then who am I to say anything? Maybe it will finally give her some peace to look at them and some joy to have the others eww and ahh over them. I’m sure she wants to show them off and feel elegant. (None of us are elegant by the way, lol).

And I’m totally expecting an entire shopping spree. It’s her money and it’ll also be her bank account if it runs out – equally the same. It’s hers to spend or spree or save for the future days. I repeat, this is not an inexpensive place. It’s very costly for the room she wanted, and also extra costs for the level of care. And the money will go quickly. I hope it lasts her because she did not want to do the trust. Doing the trust would have covered it forever, but...it was her choice.

Update: Since Sunday she’s changed her mind about the recliner, but – time is not done yet, so we will see. She wanted a new TV too saying it wasn’t acting right. It’s fine. It’s only a year old, but I think she just wanted to get a new one because they will hang it for free as a part of the deal. lol. George can hang it but may need help.

Monday, May 4, 2026

Tis a busy day today. Lots on the list to do this week and today. Mom will tour assisted living Tues, need to set her appt with the doctor regarding her meds as they won’t complete the paperwork over the phone, housework, getting my nieces graduation card in the mail, changing my mantle to a summer look instead of a spring one, planning Mom’s day, answering YT comments, checking email, Mom’s financial analysis, working on my Bitwarden password project (almost through), decluttering, blogging, reading, and some fun things, getting plants, flowers, and all the things. Also doing some vlogging for the next vlog and editing the current one.

We have foxes next door in the neighbor’s back yard. The bad thing is their dog just had puppies and so they have really had to watch. The fox tried to attack the Mamma dog but the owner grabbed the dog up just in time. TN Wild Life won’t do anything b/c the foxes are too sly to catch. And someone offered $1500 to set traps but could guarantee nothing. So they have been trying to harass her to another living space by making noise, keeping lights on, and disturbing their peace. That is what ChatGPT said to do when I looked it up, lol.

We went to see the puppies, and they are so cute. There is one that is not spoken for. We were tempted. I told her if they couldn’t find anyone to let me know and we might reconsider. But I just can’t do that with Maddie right now. She is so loyal and she doesn’t want to share me. We’ve had 3 dogs before and I know it COULD work but would require lots of effort, patience, and time and we don’t really those resources right now – especially with Mom’s move. And to board 3 dogs – no. We would be grounded from travel again like we were back then.

OK off to get things done.

Tuesday, May 5

Mom got to see her new place on this day – only it is not remodeled and the person has not moved out. We toured it at lunch. I don’t think it will be until 20 or 21st when the person moves out of memory care, then the person in Mom’s unit can move to memory care and it still has to be remodeled. I’m thinking June she will be able to move in. We had to pay for 1 day in May and all of June already, but they are giving us 1/2 of August (our 3rd full month) at 1/2 off so I’m not balking unless it’s Mid June and then we will need to talk. I will not allow Mom to be charged for something she is not getting services for.

They did her “assessment” asking her who the president was, what all she did during the day, what household tasks she completed, watched her get up and down, watched her walk. They were also watching to see how she maneuvered getting out of the car, I noticed. The nurse was the one asking the questions. Mom almost forgot Trump’s name. But she remembered. She starts out at the lowest level. I’m sure they start them low to get people in and then she gets another assessment within 30 days as they really see how she is doing. One or two conversations is hard to tell, but they will see how it’s going and what help and services she needs and if it’s more than they thought it’ll go up to another level. Bathing I think was one of the things that caused the levels to go up and assistance getting up and down and getting dressed and all that. Right now she can bathe in a walk in shower with a seat, but at her house she can’t always lift her foot over the step to get into her shower. She’s taking spit baths as she calls it.

Wednesday, May 6 2026

I had the paper signing meeting with assisted living on this day at 9:30 so Mom didn’t have to sit through an hour and a half meeting. I’m her POA so I did everything.

After that, I went to get Mom, take her to lunch, and to her 1:30 doctor appointment in which her doctor had to sign papers for assisted living and he had to sign off on her list of meds.

There was some push back from Mom on the fact that I signed that the assisted living doc could be her primary care, so they could see her when things came up and handle things there on sight. So the assisted living people called us along with the nurse to explain why it could be an issue- it would be harder to get her immediate care. But Mom didn’t want to leave her current primary care doc. I realize there will be a lot of changes that she will have to get used to. I think, if I understood correctly she can she both docs or either/or at the time of service. But she has to have a visit with the staff doc there in order to be a future patient at all. So we’ll see how all that turns out. I can see her having a bladder infection on a snowy day and needing care and it being 20 degrees out and instead of seeing the in house doc, we come get her and take her to the next city in the freezing cold – but that is what we have been doing so….but the first time I expect her to begin seeing the need. They said if she fell and broke her arm if she’s under him they can do x-rays immediately and see to her care. Otherwise, I guess we’ll be going to ER. I don’t know. There’s some battles I don’t want to get into with her. She can fight them on her own, lol. The main thing is getting her the care she needs efficiently and quickly and timely. The staff said the other patients love this doctor so maybe she will try him out for the sake of efficiency. But I do NOT mind taking her to the doctor so as far as I’m concerned it doesn’t matter to me. Sure it’s easier if she goes there, but I feel that should be her decision.

Thursday, May 7

Today I need to turn in the paperwork from the doctor and a copy of Mom’s ID’s for the assisted living place’s files. I also need to drive to Lebanon and send the director a picture of her TB skin test. We have to look at the result in 48 hours of the test, so that is today. George and I were supposed to go to McKaye’s book store, eating lunch and going to Trader Joe’s, but Mom is not capable of taking and pic and texting it very well anymore so I will go do it. And pass on a day with George. That means I will also take her something to eat. So I’m thinking KFC. She loves it.

I’m pretty excited to have a couple of doable business opportunities through my YouTube channel. One is a product- mention and I get to keep the product, and I’m hoping I get an affiliate link with discount code for viewers. We are early in all of this but I did see tracking info that the product is on its way to me at no cost. :-). I’m super excited. I’ve been kinda scared to launch in, but it has been a goal to get to this point, b/c considering the time I put into YouTube, you gotta love it b/c it doesn’t pay WELL for the time put in and usually doesn’t until you begin to stretch out and do deals and company brands. It’s just a new world for me, but I have to remember that I have an MBA and I love doing business and was good at the communication piece. And I will be fine.

The other one is one that is on my bucket list and is a brand deal. It’s in early stages and if the $ is right and worth my time, is one that I am excited to share. They asked if I would be interested and I replied that I would and shared with them why my audience (and the company) would benefit from it and that it is perfect timing considering the subject matters at hand in the next few videos. So I can’t discuss details and it’s too early to say if it will happen or not but it is all good because it 1) Gives me hope 2) Gives me experience 3) Gives me confidence 4) Puts me closer to what I’m shooting for.

I’m a little nervous about this weekend’s vlog though. It’s all over the place b/c I was just vlogging “life”. Most of my viewers like this, but the algorithm doesn’t. It’s hard to give a them or title when I’m all over the place. Week in My Life Vlogs are supposedly “old news” – you have to go with the trends. It’s so funny. But I’ve not had bandwidth to script out topics to discuss (much anyway). I did have a few thoughts at the end of this Saturday’s vlog that I say “what we did well during crisis mode last week”, but since it was toward the end I did not make that a major topic of the video. Also my video quality was on the fly, less staged, and I also did not look as well put together. We were “on the fly”. On the other hand it is a true lifestyle vlog! lol

Alright I need to be on my way I guess and tackle the day. I also have to stop and get grad cards and mothers day card and drop Mom’s paperwork off, get KFC and take a pic of her TB test, get her mail, then come home and plant some flowers, do my thumbnail and description and time stamps for this week’s video. It’s a busy day for sure. Been a busy week.

Pray for my friend Kathy – back surgery – it’s outpatient (what’s not these days?) but she needs to feel some relief so I hope this helps her. I know I’m not posting this until after it’s over but if you could mention her in your prayers. I love her. She is a sweet friend. We don’t get to spend a lot of time together but I see her on Sunday’s at church and we can catch up for a few minutes til sermon starts or class starts, lol. We need to do lunch with Kathy and Richard when things settle down with everyone. Will it? I’m not sure, lol.

Friday, May 8, 2026

George and I went to Costco today and it ended up being a pretty major haul. We spent nearly $400 – which is so easy to do there. We went for Crab Legs to take to Mom’s for Sunday’s crab leg dinner. And we bought our normal favorite items plus hamburger, meat, salad, Kerrygold butter, tomatoes, mushrooms, 5 bottles of wine and lots of things. We are low on wine.

Katy called us yesterday as she got a text saying she needed to come get her kid that the daycare lady (owner) had been in a wreck – a solo incident. (It knocked out power to a lot of the town). So the kids – 8 or 9 of them or so had been left with the day care worker’s mom as she left to “run some errands” but her mom is unable to lift the kids or do a lot as far as taking care of the kids as I guess she’s an older lady. She didn’t know what to feed them for lunch. So none of the kids had eaten lunch, my grandson’s diaper had not been changed in a long while. The day care’s mother did not know how to contact all the children’s parents to come get them as the day care lady was not in condition to return home and was not allowed to.

There’s a lot more to the story but I’m not going to share that here. You can read between the lines. Anyway my daughter has had to find alternative care for my youngest grandson and in a hurry. It’s been a while since I’ve seen my daughter so hurt and angry. The situation is not good and the future of that daycare does not look bright. There’s likely a lot that will be investigated as the days go by in this situation – I’ve not shared the real problem here of course. It’s really sad because so many have trusted the place. Bottom line, our grandson will no longer be there. So it was a pretty quick and easy decision on our family’s part. This has bothered me all day. But I am so glad that all the children are ok and that none of the children have been further impacted or hurt.

So, I have received an offer to do a brand deal but was surprised as to how low it was compared to what usually creators get for a video segment. It’s a brand I’ve wanted to do business with for a long time, but I was not going to do a video for such a low price. I countered with an offer that was a lot higher (but still a little lower than seasoned creators, as I’m new at this), and we’ll see what happens. I’m fine if they say no. Because I’m certainly not selling myself out. It’s a lot of work to do segments for a brand and you want to be professional and do it right. You put time and effort at it and you want it to be worth the effort. I don’t have to work. And if I do, it won’t be for pennies. And the amount they quoted was just so shockingly low that it was offensive to me – for lack of a better word. So I am learning to negotiate (normally something I’m not the best at) but I’m in the position that I’m willing to turn down things if the price does not fit the effort. I don’t want to be taken advantage of and I’m wondering if so many other creators just take it to get something going. Anyway, I do have one affiliate in the works. So we’ll see what happens there.

Well, that’s all I have here this week.