Please pray for my mum…

The breath of fresh air and happiness I needed today. Been really missing my Mom  ,Dad and our dog that passed about a week after my mom. 

 I made  a pound of  bourbon marinated  steak tips for the dogs last dinner. She weighed about 10 pounds, and those steak tips were her absolute favorite thing to eat. She would go crazy whenever I was eating some so I always shared. But never as much as that last mean.  She loved them. She had to be put down because of bladder stones and a blockage. She was 16 or older( a  resque so we never knew her true age, we had her about 15 years) and the vet said she wouldn't survive a surgery. She had done well with the stones for so long , but when I saw he starting to have discomfort I did  not want her to suffer. It was a tough decision to make , so soon after my Mom's passing.

 Seeing those photos of Your mum  warmed my heart and brought on some happiness. Glad to see that she seems to be enjoying herself and in a great mood!  Hope she continues to progress and I'm getting hungry looking at all the food photos! Thanks again for sharing these photos with all of us . 

 Its been so hot and humid here that I've been inside in AC for way too much time. Temps should be in the mid 80's this week so that will be a nice break from the mid to high 90's with tons of humidity.  I may try and get out in the woods a little today. My track/trails have some amazing grass growing on them so I have a grasstrack I can go spins some laps on one of these days. Its getting a little tall so I may have to go out and mow it a little bit.  There was grass that was about 2 feet tall covering a few sections .

 Hope everybody has a great day!

My mom used to cook for our dog  ( Jayda was ,well is her name) all the time. The vet blamed the diet for the stones and sold us on some special food. We tried it for a while and it didn't really change things.  

 My mom used to make salmon , turkey burgers, and all kinds of stuff for Jayda and her. Jayda loved sweet potatoes , and surprisingly liked a lot of the Veggy stuff my mom cooked. She mixed rice and ground turkey or beef and sweat potatoes for the dog.  She was always trying something new. 

 I'm more of a meat eater and I didn't pay attention to most of the veggy stuff she made. Until it came time for me to be making it. Thankfully one of my sisters knew what my mom ate and showed me how to cook some of her favorites. 

 I'm sure Your Mum is very happy that You are able to make her some great food! One of the best parts about being at home.  Glad things are going well.  Your mom looks so happy and relaxed , Mika looks like a really good dog. I had a black lab  greyhound mix as a kid. She could jump so high it was crazy. She jumped a 6' tall fence chasing a cat, and then another time I looked out the window and saw she was on the roof of the building next-door! She had somehow jumped up there and was running after the cat. My dad was out with her and called her as she was jumping onto the second story roof and she turned around and jumped back down. landing on the roof of my Dads impala station wagon and then jumping onto the ground.  She was an amazing dog , that just had a weakness for chasing cats.  But don't we all?? 

Tried to get onto a more positive memory this time and add to the good energy of the thread.  Glad Your doing well, Hope  you and everybody else is has a great day.  

I think its good for me to try and focus more on the positive stuff. My mother had told me she was going to die she knew it somehow almost to the day, and asked me not to be sad. When I didn't react by being sad, I saw the  relief she felt.  I know she wants me to focus more on the positives, and I know my Dad wants the same thing.   I don't feel like anybody here has an issue with my sad memories , but I do think that sharing the positive ones is what my parents would rather see . That they would rather have the memories that inspire happiness  or motivation be what I focus on. 

 And I think it may help others be able to see that even during some pretty sad times, there can still be some really good positive moments. My attitude since almost being burnt alive in a house fire has changed towards finding and focusing on a positive in every situation no matter how hard it may be to allow myself to see the positive at first. And its helped me stay positive and be happy more of my life as a result.

 That's awesome You got her standing up !  That she's motivated . She looks like she's improving, I think the environment change has already done wonders for her. My mom literally started with standing, then taking a single step, then multiple, and eventually we got her walking around the house. There were some days or weeks she went backwards. But we found other positives to focus on in those times. And worked on fixing the negatives that popped up. Just keep looking at the positives and pushing as much as You both are comfortable pushing . Try not to let any bad days get You down. The big ups and downs were the hardest thing for me.  Awesome updates ! And thank You for  the chance to share some of my memories.  

There will be ups and downs. The downs can be difficult. Just don't let them distract you from the things that are still going well.  It can be hard sometimes. But find some positives to refocus on for You and Your mum. Hopefully later on today, or tomorrow is a better day and an improvement.  

You've got this!

We didn't qualify for the similar program that would have paid me. They had one program that I we were close on. I ended up spending almost all of my savings . So things are  tight for me  right now. My mom left any money she had to my sisters. She and I bought the house together, and I got her part of it.   I'll be fine . I just need to grow my shop back up . 

I hope that Your not qualifying means that Your mom is doing too well.  Maybe a different Dr. or hopefully there is something You can do. Maybe the dr. just needs to fill out the form again  and get You qualified.  Maybe its a mix of what You were told and what the letter says? Like if an assistant filled it out and did not provide the right information?  In the US I was shocked at the lack of peoples ability to do their jobs without mistakes happening much more often than I would think was acceptable . More often than I allow in my business and I just make stickers! I hope its something that can be fixed so money is not a worry. 

    One program that paid my sister,  wouldn't allow me to be paid because I had to sign off on the hours , because of my moms diagnoses .  Here they form a small business for the person needing the care, and then insurance pays that business. and the business pays the helper.  So I had to be the person overseeing the hours my sister got paid for , that is a part of the program.     And they don't allow You to do both, You can  not provide oversite over Yourself and only one person can provide that oversight. I don't remember the term they used but that's what it meant. 

The pay was decent union rates , but my sister  was here much more time that she wasn't paid for than she was.  It provided workers comp for her so if she was hurt while helping my mom, she could save up vacation pay, paid leave, etc.  I didn't care about getting paid, as long as we were OK money wise. I was still able to work a little since my shop is next-door to the house. And I setup an office in the house so on my moms good days I was able to do some work while I was with her too. My sister needed to get paid or she wouldn't have been able to do it. 

Maybe there are some other programs ?  I know that at first we were very optimistic while talking with dr.s and may have hurt ourselves by trying to say My mom was doing better than she was. A combination of my Mom being stubborn and us both being perhaps a little to positive thinking. Then we learned that letting the Dr.s know more details about her limitations helped us get more help.  I talked to my mom and explained that we just need to tell these people how hard things are for you right now. And its ok, they are not going to think Your complaining or that Your not going to get better. We are still going to do everything to keep getting You better, but we need to be brutally honest about what limitations you have right now.  I told her, after we talk with the Dr. , we can go back to not talking about those things and nobody else has to know. And we will keep working towards getting You back to doing everything. Nothing is going to change for the worse.

 Hopefully Your able to sort out the money thing.  Try and plan for it taking a lot longer than You expect. To be safe. I wish I had put more thought into the after  part of that planning.  Try and plan for any scenario you think could happen so Your able to deal with it better if it happens . That way You have a plan and do not have to come up with one while under more stress. I hope that there is more help for You than there was for me . Worrying about the money on top of the stress of caring for somebody can be really stressful. Don't let pride ,or anything get in the way of any of that. I was told over and over by the Dr.s and  Nurses, these programs are there for things like this. Its meant to help make things easier. its not a bad thing to be on any of them that You can use.  

 Sorry for the long post, hope there may be something useful in there.   

Hope they can figure something out for you.  I don't know how they expect people to be able to work and care for somebody who needs somebody 24-7.  I had my sister with my Mum for 6 or so hours a day and I had to try and cram  getting some work done, taking a shower, washing my clothing, food shopping, etc. And I never really had a full 6 hours , I was the only person my Mom was comfortable with helping her get up to use the bathroom. So some days I would be helping her for 10 -20 minutes for every hour of the six that my sister was here for. If I didn't have my sister, it would not have been possible for me to keep my business going ,even in the very diminished capacity I was running. 

I'm sure there are some ways of making money that could be done alongside that care giving. But most that I can think of require a big investment and time to setup in advanced. I would take the advice people gave you about going to see those people ASAP on Monday. In the US , the right or wrong wording can make a difference, even if they are saying the same thing. Hopefully they can get things sorted for you. In the US they make some programs difficult to get on to weed out the people who do not need them , I think that it likely weeds out a lot of people who need them really badly too . But to get disability from Social security they always deny your first claim, and You have to have a lawyer help you apply. That's what I've been told by people who went through the process  , I have no personal experience with it. I've heard the same thing from everybody that has gone through the process. Even the lawyers told them getting denied was a part of the process and that they should expect to be denied the first try.

 Good luck, and enjoy the Motos!! looking like a nice day, its about 6 or so hours west from me. I love that place. Hopefully I'll get out there next year. But its cooled off and isn't super hot like it has been. So it should be a good day for racing!  its in the mid 70's here where I am , more on the coast. I think its similar out there. And there was some rain last week so it should be really nice conditions. 

So glad the break for racing is over !   I think Jett's gonna go 1-1 today. The track  doesn't get super rutted up and I think it suits his style well, and the cooler weather , the break. I think we will see the best version of Jett we have seen this summer.   

Always great popping in here and seeing the wonderful progress Mum is making. Keep pushing Ezza, you are doing a fine job.

The Care-Giver Assistance Programs here can be a paperwork nightmare, too.

Just keep doing what you’re doing and you’ll get it all sorted out 💪🏼

Stay Stoked

Hug mom for all of us over here. 🙂

Yah I'm bummer for Hunter too. It seems like he's almost too smart to ride as fast as he does and starts overthinking things as he gets closer to a big achievement. Its been awesome watching them race each other and battle hard and be so invested in beating each other  but still have that bond of being brothers and caring about each others results too.    It was cool to see Jett bummed for him too, it makes l it easier for Jett to get the title, but You could see he was not happy about how it happened.  Its cool to see somebody who wants to win so badly, but wants to be the fastest guy, not win by the other guy having problems. 

 I didn't see if he's ok or not yet. That hill is super steep that he fell on and  it looked like he high sided and was thrown off the bike.  Its so steep, if You look at the people standing on the sides of the track You can get an idea. But when You climb it its almost steep enough that You can lean forward and touch the hill while still standing up.  I've been to Southwick, High point, Steel City, Unadilla, Binghamton , and Budd's Creek and there is nothing even close to as steep on any of those tracks. The old frog pond back in the 90's came close. But that hill at Unadilla is twice as long as the Frog pond was and has a flat corner to start with , and is hardpack and  often slick.  If he fell from the top to the bottom that's a BIG drop. The videos I've seen don't show enough to know. Maybe some others have come out since , but I just hope he's OK.  As long as he didn't land at the bottom the steepness may have helped him like it helped Chad Reed.  

Makes sense that it was a mistake by AI.  AI is not ready for a lot of stuff yet. Its not really AI in the sense we think about it. Its just using what its been programed to do still. And only as good as the programmer.  Hope that is a relief that it should be taken care of. Always nice to see some good news.   Jett was my Mum's favorite rider , but she liked all of the racers really. My mum was pretty good at picking the results and I should have gotten her signed up doing some fantasy series stuff.  Hope You and Your Mum have a great day !  

That's Awesome!! Your Mum must be happy about that!!   I haven't had any kids, and I'm getting a little to up there to likely change that. Its funny, of all my brady bunch sisters and brother six of us all together. Only 3 of us have had kids, and 2 had them pretty young so they are grand parents and I'm glad my Mum got to see 2 of the 3 great grand kids she had.  My mum loved kids and  seeing the grand kids and great grandkids really energized her. 

 Hope Your Mum gets to have some visits with  her!  When is summer  in Auz? its got to be coming up right? We are a month and a half or so from starting fall in the US. So is it late winter early spring there? Warmer weather was always a boost for my Mum, well until it was humid and 100 degrees. 

 Good to see the great news and congrats to You, Your Mum and the new mother, and whoever else is in the family. Sounds like a BIG one! 

Awesome Art 👍🏼

 Love the cartoons!! It would be cool to hang out if I was local or if either of us ever end up in the others country at some point. 

 I'm about 35 minutes from the stadium they run Supercross in when they go to MA. I was only 10 minutes away before I moved! I'm about an hour and 45 from Southwick, and between 5 and 10 hours from Unadilla, Budd's creek and High Point.  If Your ever in the area for one of those more local races hit me up. 

 The black and white  cartoon's remind me of my Mum's that she used to draw.  

I'll look and see if I have any of my Mom's cartoons on my hard drive that I can post!

 She used to do a weekly article that was roughly based on  the adventures  or day to day life.  She would sometimes exaggerate a little bit to help it sound more exciting , but it was all based on real stuff.  It was printed every week for over 20 years.  The paper sold to somebody who just wanted to buy the name and turned it into something else.  I'm hoping to get all of her articles together and use a mix of AI and adobe to create an animated cartoon with my Moms voice narrating it.  I have not gone through her stuff yet since she passed. I still need some more time before I dig into all of those memories.  She always saved everything, so I hope she saved all of the articles.  When she started doing them she wrote them in a notebook and then typed them on a typewriter, and hand delivered them. I remember the weekly rides with my parents to drop off the article, big manila envelope with a drawing on a sheet of paper and the article typed out. Sometimes we would get ice cream on the way home. I disliked the local fame it gave me as a kid.  Funny to think about it, I  grew up living in a reality show in a way.  I can really see why she was always pushing me to do something like that now .   

 Hope that printer had the ink drained and has cleaning solution in the lines  before it was put away.  I have Roland and Epson printers . But those Mutoh printers are nice too.  

This was a cartoon my mom and I did together. She saw a funny card with the wording and wanted to make one with her on it. It  earlier on in the adventure of dementia and she had an amazing attitude .  She hand drew the cartoon on paper and then we redrew it in photoshop in the same style the original card was done.  That card is still stuck on the mirror of the bathroom. I should print a bigger one so I can frame it . I have some other stuff I wanna print on some photo stock anyway.   This drawing was her style, and she has drawn the entire family like this.