dear diary ~ Monday, Monday…

Monday is always a busy day when I stick to the routine. Sometimes routine goes out the window for many reasons chez nous, but currently, as I continue on my mission to restore and reset, I am trying to get myself into routine mode, albeit a new routine.

I usually strip and wash the bed on a Monday, it seems a good start to the week and means I should be able to get the bedding washed and dried, ironed, aired and put away by the following weekend even if we are subjected to the worst of weather.

I also put the duvet out on the line for a good blow in the fresh air. It was much colder outside to day though with the overcast sky.

Talking of duvets, I had a bad restless night last night after a few frantic calls from my mother during the evening, so I was not up early or feeling my best. She has another paranoia issue again. You may remember the saga of the ‘dead persons duvet’ that began when the carer changed mum’s duvet cover and that night mum got it into her head that the carer had switched her snuggly 180 tog duvet for a thinner one because she felt cold and the top of the duvet had lost its feathers. Of course we all know they don’t make 180tog duvets but mum was adamant hers was. From memory I think hers is a seven or eight tog. And it got worse because then she convinced herself that the carer had switched the duvet for one taken from an empty apartment down her corridor of someone that had died!

You couldn’t make it up could you?

This issue rumbled on for weeks and nothing I said would convince her that the duvet on her bed was still hers. I had to ask the carer to give the duvet a good hard shake from the bottom every day to make sure the feathers hadn’t gone thin at the top and eventually this did the trick and mum accepted the duvet (but was still reluctant to believe it was hers).

Now the latest issue is that the carers are trying to give her some green tablets and one night she felt very sick with them. Firstly, she told me they are the codeine tablets the doctor prescribed recently and then she changes her story and tells me they are paracetamol. Again, like me, you have probably never seen a green paracetamol or codeine tablet – they are usually white. I had to speak to the carer on the phone last night as she was refusing to take anything. I asked him what tablets he had there. ‘I have some codeine tablets which she is refusing, and some paracetamol…both of them are white’ He showed mum the tablets whilst I was on the phone. I told him she always refused the codeine as she says they make her feel sick but she likes to take the paracetamol before bed.

Once he had shown her the tablets as proof they were not green I asked him to put mum back on the phone.

‘ Mum the carer has just shown you the paracetamol and they are white not green’

‘I know,’ she said

Breakthrough…so I thought.

Not quite…. mum then said ‘ I am not taking these paracetamol they want to give me they are the green ones that make me ill’.

And then she added ‘I am not colour blind’

No answer is there!!

After looking through all her case notes on my app, I can only presume that the green tablets are the Doxycycline antibiotic capsules for her rodent ulcer that she has been taking in a morning and only for the previous 5 days. My mum’s head now is such a muddle, but this problem of the green tablets will no doubt continue for a few weeks.

It wears me out and hence the sleepless nights.

I spent the morning after breakfast refreshing the vases of flowers. The lovely bouquet my daughter had given me on Mothering Sunday had not lasted as long as I would have liked, I think perhaps the quality wasn’t there to start with (not her fault though – I expect a lot of these bouquets of flowers they sell for Mothering Sunday are not the best quality).

I saved as many blooms as I could and rehomed them in smaller vases. The pink tinged fluted Art Deco vase in the picture below is one of a pair that belonged to my mum and I think my grandma before her. I don’t use them often but they set off the pink alstromeria and peachy carnations perfectly.

After watering the plants (also a Monday job), I set about tidying the kitchen and wiping out both fridges – we have an undercounter intergrated one in the kitchen mainly for milk and dairy and anything we need to have handy, the other is in the utility room, a free standing taller larder fridge where we store all our vegetables. This means we only need to go to the supermarket once a week and save on petrol costs.

I thought it might be interesting to show you the remnants of the fruit and veg I found when clearing out the fridges and, with two days to go until our next shopping day, the meals I made from them. But that will be another post…hopefully I can write it tomorrow.

We are having a trip to Stalybridge today to see an old neighbour and good friend for a catch up. It will be a pleasant change to have a chat and do some socialising with someone other than my mum over the phone – only 8 calls yesterday, so a quiet day. I am hoping she doesn’t make up for it today and bombard me with calls and issues while we are trying to spend some time with my friends.

Have a good day, thank you for reading and your lovely comments.

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