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NHWM, I live in Maine. Orono/Old Town Area. I live about 40 miles from Bar Harbor/Acadia National Park coastal area which is really pretty. I live on an interior lake - good size - about 22 miles long, 5 or 6 miles at the widest part. It a pretty area but not dramatic.
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I’m disappointed my Planter’s can of mixed nuts 🥜 has no Brazil nuts - apparently replaced by filberts - 🤢
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Now that's nuts MsMadge and a true whine alright~
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Mom is at Aunts for a two week stay,, no whines there! But they told us to pick her up next fri,, great timing as I would have my last three days off, and hubs would get her fri while I was at work, and the cleaning lady would have the house done when she got home. Hubs and I would have the last 3 days alone for some "us time". Nope, today Aunt remembered she has a church thing fri, so we are picking up Mom Thurs. Sigh.. This happened last time too, and hubs to had change plans with his dad to go get mom.. But I will have had a 2 week break, so I guess we should not complain .
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I have been wanting to move out of state due to weather, high property taxes and people I know living completely in the past. Because SIL died of drug OD and left 89 yr. old MIL alone in her home, that dream is on hold and I feel time slipping by. Now we are MIL's sole care givers despite her still being fairly independent, but it just does not stay the same or get better. At 89 no walker or cane and still has her own teeth. I fear her outliving us. Just so MIL can live in her old little house and watch TV all day. I have anger issues toward my deceased loser of a SIL. After caring for my own mom nearly 20 years, the last 2 she was bedridden in my home, I had one year of barely getting back on my feet and taking care of her things, when bammo, thrown back into the care giver thing because of a loser addict. I still have dreams of moving to a warmer, cleaner state, but some days I get so depressed. On her deathbed my mom told me she wanted me to have good things because caring for her was so rough for all those years....She would be upset if she saw what happened with my in-laws that were never too loving in the past. My husband feels we must do the right thing. So day by day......Thanks for letting me get this whine out this morning.
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Katie 22, I am sorry to hear this. Since, she is your MIL and your husband's mom, he needs to find a way to put your needs as his wife ahead of his moms which means finding another way to help mom that will be more long term. So often, I see spouses put their parent(s) as a higher priority than their spouse. Not right!
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My whine moment of day. ...Friday Night is my and hubbys date night. Hubby invited (live in father in law) to dinner with us on date night.
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NeedHelpWithMom: Don’t know where you live, but the Pacific Northwest offers fantastic whale-watching. 🐳

Orcas. Humpbacks. Greys. Huge geographical span.

In the U.S.: Northern Oregon coast. Washington coast. San Juan Islands.

In Canada/B.C.: A handful of spots along the ocean side of Vancouver Island. Several notable sites along the eastern (bay/channel) side of Vancouver Island: Campbell River. Quadra Island. Telegraph Cove. PortMcNeill. Port Hardy.
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There is fantastic whale watching on the central California coast as well. We have orca’s, greys and humpback wales down here and lots of whale watching tours, on our beautiful coastline.
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NHWM, “go cups” sound like a sign of civilization. One thing about NJ - the liquor stores are open 7 days a week, which is my state’s sole cultural advantage over my home state of NY. That, and the ability to turn right on red.
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It’s always so weird hearing about the liquor situation in other states. In California we can buy it 7 days a week and not just at liquor stores. All grocery stores, convenience stores, and even Target sell liquor. Gas stations too. The first time I went to Texas it was a whole other world because my husbands family, at the time, lived in a county that didn’t sell liquor. We had to drive about 90 minutes to buy alcohol for my FILs wedding! AND to top it off, I was only 20 and could drink in restaurants as long as my husband ordered for me!
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Speedway racing tonight. It is so noisy! Doesn't happen often, but I sure know when something is going on over there. And it is probably three miles away!🚗
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I'm hate how the chores of taking care of my mom never seem to end ! If it's not refilling her meds, its a new Doctor's visit, or she randomly calls, or one of my sibblings calls and tells me I need to visit more, or if all else fails...she randomly develops new symptoms...it's a neverending rollercoaster of new problems this Parkinson's disease. And the woman refuses hired help !
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Blackhole,

I live in New Orleans. I have always wanted to do a whale watching trip.

All of those areas sound fantastic. Maybe one day.

Do you remember when the whale was lost in the bay in California? Oh gosh, years ago. We were visiting friends in San Francisco and we took a cruise ride in the bay hoping to see him. We didn’t get to view him. Can’t recall what happened to that particular whale.

My favorite whale is the orca. I just think they are beautiful. I think it’s horrible that whales and dolphins are placed in captivity. They belong in the ocean. We do have dolphins in the Gulf of Mexico near us.
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Exveemon,

I hear you. My mom has Parkinson’s too. I pray that I never get it.
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Maggie,

I would be upset too. I hate losing privacy with my mom living with us. We rarely get to go out but it’s important to have time alone.
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My mom tries to feed Bernie people food. Then he gets sick. She won’t listen.

My daughter’s dog does not know he’s a dog! He thinks he’s human. Hahaha.

Little dog with a big personality! He’s the cutest little thing. My daughter is such a good momma to her fur baby that she rescued. I love that she brings him over to visit with us.
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NHWM
My mother does the same thing to my sig other's cat Sam. She keeps giving him human food and it makes him sick. Sam will eat anything that is put in front of him, but he is 16 yrs old and just can not digest food like he use to. Therefore he is on a special diet. But my mother still gives him food.

Just the other day, we had NY strips and here comes Sam down the stairs with a piece of it. We had to chase that dam cat all over this house to get that piece of steak from him. It was to big for him to chew it, but small enough for him to run with it! Sam did finally gave it up! Lol
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Dorian heading towards southeast. Meanwhile, record breaking heat here, 100 degrees today, ran errands by 8, then in with the AC and Ming for the rest of the day. Fall will come, hopefully this is the last of the triple digits. I would rather have 10 below than what we had today.
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With cooler, damp weather I've been staying inside, so to keep myself from going stir crazy I decided now would be a good time to purge. I still have a lot of my mom's things that I tucked away to deal with "later". And I've come across all those things I set aside the last time I sorted through stuff that I was going to organize "when I get around to it" - pictures, letters, heirlooms. This is so danged hard!

(As you can see I'm on a break now. Maybe I've had enough for now)
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glad - cuddling with kitties is the greatest. Hope you have a nice fall. We still have rain and cool weather, It is seasonal now. You could sent us some heat. I want an Indian summer!!!

cw - I hear you. I have been reducing the"things to get to later" and yesterday sorted some possibly useful/needed in the future business stuff and put it away, It isn't easy but, for me, getting easier. Most of the heirlooms I still have are things I want to keep for me.
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I took a couple of days off work this week for mom's birthday and to start clearing stuff as well but it's 98 degrees all week and we lost her weekday caregiver so I'll be covering a couple of extra shifts until we have a replacement but the Viking has been a real handful lately even with me
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Life with a senior dog is depressing and wearing me out. My dog is probably a good 15 years old—we got him from the shelter in October 2005 and they estimated he was 1.5 years old. This year he’s started declining. Do dogs get dementia? Because I’m starting think my old guy is a bit demented. Even after scarfing down his dinner, he has started to act like he’s starving! It’s like he forgot he just ate. He no longer sleeps through the night, he wakes me up twice a night now and boy am I tired! I don’t get to bed until around midnight because that’s just how my internal clock is. I get up at 7 during the week and my body and my brain just can’t wind down and be ready for bed until about midnight. The dog gets me up within an hour of going to bed. If I don’t get up and direct him outside, he will just wander around the house and the sound of his nails going clack clack clack on the wood floors keeps me up. If I put him outside, he’ll go potty and then go back to bed. Last night the second time he got up, he didn’t start toward the bedroom door, he went to my side of the bed so I picked him up and put him back on the bed and he went back to sleep. Hubby gets up at 6 and Spike gets up a little while later, goes outside and then comes back to bed. And then I have to get up at 7. All that interrupted sleep makes it hard to be productive during the day and I find myself ehausted in the early evening! But go figure after I get the kids to bed, I have caught my second wind! And then there’s the anxiety and confusion—Spike has started scratching at my daughters door and we can’t figure out why! It seems like he’s anxious and wants something but his food bowl is full and she’s given him lots of dog treats. If I move my leg during the night, he’s started to let out a bark!

What really upsets me though, is when he flops down on the floor! This is a very new behavior. He’s never ever laid on the wood floors! The other night he was in the recliner with me and he jumped down and laid out on the floor like he was giving up on life! I also found him lying on the floor in front of our door. It is upsetting because it’s not a new behavior and my beloved cat Toby (RIP) did something similar when he was having a heart episode! It’s like we’re at the time in Spikes life where every other day I’m observing these changes and thinking dammnit it’s time to send him over the rainbow bridge. Then he snaps out of it and all is well...for a day or two and then rinse, lather & repeat!

I am really not cut out to be a caregiver of elderly humans or dogs. I don’t know how some of you do it! You obviously can’t compare the two but if I can hardly handle a dog, I know I can’t handle a human. I just wish people AND dogs AND cats didn’t get like this when they are old.
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Poor old Spike. But he's happy enough in between these "flopping" episodes?

It's so difficult. I would say get the vet to check him over, but then again you really don't want to turn into one of those owners whose dog's prescription runs to four or five pages of medications that most populations in the world can't afford for humans. Take him in just for a sitrep, perhaps, and to find out where you are?

Our first rescue dog got to sixteen. Looking back, I thought I'd kept her going a bit beyond fair, if you see what I mean - her last eighteen months can't have been much fun. But then last year, keeping Cindy in mind, and seeing as my Staffy's spinal column seemed to be deteriorating and he was getting terribly tired, I let him go and ever since I've wished I hadn't.

It is an absolute bummer and you can't win. Hugs to Spike - all dogs are the world's best dogs.
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Vintage cookbooks - do I donate or toss?
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Cwillie, donate those! I love to get them at goodwill, for pennies on the dollar, and I am sure others do to! It fascinates me to read about how we used to eat,, and many of the recipes can be "remodeled" with todays improvements in low fat, etc. OK, some are just gross, but our elders used a lot of produce.. and I have great memories of the stuff my grandparents used to make!
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I know the feeling CM-I feel the same way about my decision to put down my cat Kayla. I wish I hadn’t. I wish I had gotten over the denial sooner & had her treated (I know based on past experiences she had kidney failure). She was 15 and once I came to terms with reality, at the time putting her down seemed to be the right thing but I wish I hadn’t.

Spike acts fine after he plops down, there’s absolutely no distress or anything and he’ll get right up if I go over and ask him if he’s ok. I just need to remind myself when it happens that he’s old and his body is tired :-)

I probably will take him in to the vet for a senior exam but will decline any and all testing. Don’t know how the vets in the UK operate but ours like to give multiple vaccines, run every blood test under the sun and do xrays and clean their teeth! Spike is 15, I’m not going to pay $400 to have him put under while they clean what few teeth he has left. I actually think they’ll want to pull all his teeth and well, i’m Not gonna do that either because he’s 15! They aren’t hurting him and he’s not suffering. I’ve had cats and dogs all my life so I know it’s just age related decline. I’ll get him a rabies vaccine but nothing else. I just really hate this part of pet ownership!
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donate them! Do you have “little free libraries” in Canada Cwillie? We have them here, in parks and people even put them in their own front yards! The premise is, “take a book, leave a book”. It’s a great way to pass on books (even cookbooks) you don’t want.
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I loved looking at those old cookbooks but I haven't opened any of them for years - so I'm not the only one who is fascinated by something like the Better Homes & Gardens Barbecue Book from 1956?
I've heard of those little libraries WC but I've never seen any - there are a couple of second hand shops I could take them to.
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My goodness! There was a terrible tragedy early yesterday morning I. Santa Barbara, over 30 people died when a diving boat caught fire while they slept. My local news just said that most of the passengers and the woman running the cruise were from this area. And 2 victims were high school students. Such a tragedy!
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