Food
I've had the opportunity to do some serious observation work the past weeks. Those of you who know me know I really love people watching. People watching usually, however, involves people I don't know. In this case, the subjects have been, yes, you guessed it - the Old Folks!
This is probably going to sound random, but I promise I will tie it up nicely in the end.
Dad is now driving, so I don't have to play chauffeur anymore. Now I just have to worry about the other people on the road while he's out there. Jeremiah took him on the road last week, to "test him" and be sure he was good to go. He gave Dad the green light. That means that Dad can now go to the grocery store. Dad, remember, is a Depression-era baby. If there aren't 6 cans of potatoes (yes, that's what he likes for homefries), there aren't any so he MUST buy more. Same goes for cinnamon raisin bread, bagels, bananas. He MUST have several back ups.
Knowing Dad can' bend down to get at where we kept the canned goods, we moved them to an upper cabinet. He can open the door and get what he wants. The food he doesn't like we put in the back. We organized it JUST for him. This way he could look and see what there is before he buys more of a canned or boxed item.
Well, his first week of driving and going to the store he has already overfilled the canned good items. I had to sort through them today in order to get them to all fit. Turns out he never ever ever looks to see what's already here before he buys more of something. He just figures there's plenty of room, just store it! That's not how we do this, though. Given that the grocery stores are all within 2 miles or less of our house, we would rather have THEM store the food, and just go grab it when we actually need something.
It's not just canned goods - remember, there's a bread and fruit issue here, too. When I was controlling the grocery purchases, I would only get a new loaf of cinnamon raisin bread if there was only 4 slices left. If there were 5 slices, I told him he didn't need it yet. Bananas - if there was 1 left, I bought more. Ice cream? Only one back up 1.75 gallon container at a time. And that back up went into the down cellar freezer. He still can't buy ice cream, because he isn't going up and down the cellar stairs.
Speaking of ice cream, he eats a big bowl every night. When he first came home from the hospital, he would fix one for himself, one for Mom. Around 8:30 p.m., he would get up, make lots of noise, tell me he didn't need help, drip ice cream all over the counter and come in with a bowl for each of them. Well, after 3 nights of that, Mom started to wake up around 10 p.m. and start talking and roaming. So Dad thought if he kept her up later, she wouldn't do that. No way that worked.
Finally I said, "Dad, I don't think you should give Mommy a big bowl of ice cream right before she goes to bed. That's a lot of sugar."
Dad says, "I'm supposed to give her a snack."
I said, "Don't do it any more" (the Warden has spoken!).
Dad whines, "But she's supposed..."
I interrupted, "Enough - that's what is keeping her up and causing her sleep pattern to get screwed up."
He got a little pissed, but didn't give her any the next night and she slept through. There haven't been any walking and talking issues since! Well, except for when she had the UTI, but that doesn't count.
Of course, this doesn't mean that Dad doesn't still have his own ice cream before he goes to bed. Since he came home, he now stays in our living room till he's ready to go to bed. Mom lays on our couch and he sits in the stupid chair my sister brought him from work. They watch Jeopardy, then Wheel of Fortune. At first, I let Dad have the remote. Then I had enough. He really likes the hour long dramas - crime, mainly. I like a mix of those with sit coms, and PBS stuff. Mom can't follow the dramas and while they are on asks the same questions over and over and over. As I sit here typing this, we are watching the SEC game - she's asked at least 10 times if there is snow on the field. It's in Alabama. No, there is not.
So now I get the remote from him at night, if I care about watching TV.
Back to his ice cream. Mom gets really tired around 8 at night. She can make it till 8:30 some nights, but then we have to wake her to go upstairs. Dad isn't ready to go to bed at 8:30. 10 or 11 is better for him. So he wants her to stay down here till then.
Over the past 2 weeks, we have been working on him so he understands that she can go to bed earlier and doesn't need him with her. What finally worked, though, was that we told him that since she's in bed now, he can have as much ice cream as he wants.
In the end, it's all about the ice cream, isn't it?
This is probably going to sound random, but I promise I will tie it up nicely in the end.
Dad is now driving, so I don't have to play chauffeur anymore. Now I just have to worry about the other people on the road while he's out there. Jeremiah took him on the road last week, to "test him" and be sure he was good to go. He gave Dad the green light. That means that Dad can now go to the grocery store. Dad, remember, is a Depression-era baby. If there aren't 6 cans of potatoes (yes, that's what he likes for homefries), there aren't any so he MUST buy more. Same goes for cinnamon raisin bread, bagels, bananas. He MUST have several back ups.
Knowing Dad can' bend down to get at where we kept the canned goods, we moved them to an upper cabinet. He can open the door and get what he wants. The food he doesn't like we put in the back. We organized it JUST for him. This way he could look and see what there is before he buys more of a canned or boxed item.
Well, his first week of driving and going to the store he has already overfilled the canned good items. I had to sort through them today in order to get them to all fit. Turns out he never ever ever looks to see what's already here before he buys more of something. He just figures there's plenty of room, just store it! That's not how we do this, though. Given that the grocery stores are all within 2 miles or less of our house, we would rather have THEM store the food, and just go grab it when we actually need something.
It's not just canned goods - remember, there's a bread and fruit issue here, too. When I was controlling the grocery purchases, I would only get a new loaf of cinnamon raisin bread if there was only 4 slices left. If there were 5 slices, I told him he didn't need it yet. Bananas - if there was 1 left, I bought more. Ice cream? Only one back up 1.75 gallon container at a time. And that back up went into the down cellar freezer. He still can't buy ice cream, because he isn't going up and down the cellar stairs.
Speaking of ice cream, he eats a big bowl every night. When he first came home from the hospital, he would fix one for himself, one for Mom. Around 8:30 p.m., he would get up, make lots of noise, tell me he didn't need help, drip ice cream all over the counter and come in with a bowl for each of them. Well, after 3 nights of that, Mom started to wake up around 10 p.m. and start talking and roaming. So Dad thought if he kept her up later, she wouldn't do that. No way that worked.
Finally I said, "Dad, I don't think you should give Mommy a big bowl of ice cream right before she goes to bed. That's a lot of sugar."
Dad says, "I'm supposed to give her a snack."
I said, "Don't do it any more" (the Warden has spoken!).
Dad whines, "But she's supposed..."
I interrupted, "Enough - that's what is keeping her up and causing her sleep pattern to get screwed up."
He got a little pissed, but didn't give her any the next night and she slept through. There haven't been any walking and talking issues since! Well, except for when she had the UTI, but that doesn't count.
Of course, this doesn't mean that Dad doesn't still have his own ice cream before he goes to bed. Since he came home, he now stays in our living room till he's ready to go to bed. Mom lays on our couch and he sits in the stupid chair my sister brought him from work. They watch Jeopardy, then Wheel of Fortune. At first, I let Dad have the remote. Then I had enough. He really likes the hour long dramas - crime, mainly. I like a mix of those with sit coms, and PBS stuff. Mom can't follow the dramas and while they are on asks the same questions over and over and over. As I sit here typing this, we are watching the SEC game - she's asked at least 10 times if there is snow on the field. It's in Alabama. No, there is not.
So now I get the remote from him at night, if I care about watching TV.
Back to his ice cream. Mom gets really tired around 8 at night. She can make it till 8:30 some nights, but then we have to wake her to go upstairs. Dad isn't ready to go to bed at 8:30. 10 or 11 is better for him. So he wants her to stay down here till then.
Over the past 2 weeks, we have been working on him so he understands that she can go to bed earlier and doesn't need him with her. What finally worked, though, was that we told him that since she's in bed now, he can have as much ice cream as he wants.
In the end, it's all about the ice cream, isn't it?
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