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This site is a member of WebRing. To browse visit here. Sunday, May 29, 2005 A silver lining, maybe I'm no Pollyanna, but I can usually find something to be thankful for in any situation. I realized last night, as I was cleaning the kitchen, that I'd been doing a lot less cleaning lately than usual. With Nick gone, and Clarence no longer even eating in the kitchen, much less preparing food, it now stays clean. Before, I was constantly scrubbing the floor in front of the counters to pick up food Clarence had dropped and to mop up his sticky spills. His whole end of the table had to be wiped down after every meal, and the floor under and around his chair scrubbed, as you would have to do for any toddler. Either he or Nick was constantly fixing some snack, so the countertops were always littered with bread crumbs or beverage spills, and the quantity of dirty dishes was astonishing. I could leave the kitchen sparkling clean in the morning, every dish washed and put away, and come home that night to find it looking as though no one had cleaned or washed dishes in a week, a fact that Shelley was careful to point out every time she was home. So there is that one bright spot.The mystery of Nick and Mike's whereabouts has been cleared up—Nike finally returned my call to his cell phone. It seems he had to go back to Ohio to take care of some unfinished business. They will be back home tonight, he said, and would be willing to come over Sunday to help with the planting. Come early, I said, and I'll feed you breakfast.We're back tonight after another truly underwhelming day of three inspections. The best I can say is that these three were the only ones left in that particular area. If I'd been by myself, I would have gone on to Petersburg for a start on the six inspections I have to do there, but it was five o'clock by the time we left the third store and I was exhausted.What I do for Clarence is no more than many other caregivers have to deal with. And the physical labor itself is not excessive (though my back is beginning to hurt from hauling him to his feet twenty-five times a day). What I didn't know about providing this level of care for another person is that sense of living two people's lives at once. Every aspect of the other person's life becomes your own. You spend as much time administering medications as if you were taking them yourself, as much time tending to his dressing and undressing, bathing, defecating and hand washing as if you were doing all those things for yourself. And of course, in between and alongside doing those services for the other person, you do still have to take care of yourself. I'm fortunate that I take no medications myself, that I have no physical disability of my own to contend with on top of caring for Clarence. But it is still an emotional and psychological drag, the feeling at the end of the day that you've had two days in a single 24-hour period.So now it's almost one in the morning and I'm sitting at the computer copying pictures off the camera instead of sleeping. That is the other price of total personal care of another person: you work through your exhaustion, because you have to, and then you can't get to sleep yourself.But I have tomorrow and Monday off, and I'm going to let Nick and Mike do just as much of the work as they are willing to do. posted by Liz @ 12:02 AM | The template is set to display 10 posts. To see all the posts for this month, click on the month name in the Archive section RSS Feed PERSONAL Send email toliz at life-as-a-spectator-sport.com Home I'm a mother, grandmother, a computer professional, Democrat, Christian. I welcome politely worded comments and email, my spam filter throws the rest away, so don't bother to flame me WHY 'LIFE AS A SPECTATOR SPORT' "If you're lucky not to live in the gutters of a slum, but still can't afford to take vacations in the Alps, you're part of that enormous middle class who lives life through the medium of the television, further separated from "real" life by air conditioner, by automobile, by dishwasher, microwave and ice-in-the-door refrigerator, by automatic washer and dryer, and all the other appliances and conveniences that make it possible for America to live life at second hand. I'm not sure why Americans decided that televised drama was better than the real thing, that cardboard microwave food containers were an adequate substitute for real dishes, and their contents for real food, or that cooking, dishwashing and face-to-face conversation wasn't worth the effort and time it required. Someone fed this nation a plastic crate of out-of-season tomatoes and told us it was life and we took them at their word, and we're so much the poorer for it that it's hard to know where to start to list the shortcomings." I wrote this a couple of years ago, but I have to admit it's much less amusing than I thought it would be to see the artifical construct falling apart. THE NON-ELECTRIC HOME Cleaning, 1 Cleaning, 2 Cleaning, 3 KNITTING BLOGS Extravayarnza Knitting Heretic Mind of Winter Pie Knits Persistent Illusion See Eunny Knit The Keyboard Biologist Taleweaver's Ramblings TECHnitting Wendy Knits FINISHED PROJECTS -------FINISHED IN 2006------- Peruvian Cap Tutti-Frutti Socks Shelley's Socks Carol's Socks -------FINISHED IN 2007------- Chain Link Socks Baby Surprise Jacket Valerie & Friend Baby Bonnet Rainbow Baby Socks Girls Pixie Hood Mitred Square Heart Red & White Socks Coffee Cup Pot Holder Nubbins Dishcloth Garterlac Dishcloth Suede Booties Kate's Socks Norwegian Sweet Baby Cap Half Thumbless Mittens Red Mittens for Akkol -------FINISHED IN 2008------- SELF-RELIANCE AND THE FUTURE -- Blogs and websites -- Causubon's Book Club Orlov Food Storage Made Easy From the Wilderness In the Wake Listening to Katrina Survival Topics The Modern Homestead The Oil Drum Notes from a Hillside Farm -- Mailing Lists -- 12vdc Power Living on the Land Rainwater Refrigeration Alternatives Old Ways of Living POLITICAL BLOGS and SITES The political sites have moved BOOKS I'M READING How to Grow More Vegetables, etc. Small Scale Grain Raising ARCHIVES February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 August 2008 July 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 September 2004 August 2004 July 2004 June 2004 May 2004 April 2004 March 2004 February 2004 January 2004 December 2003 November 2003 October 2003 September 2003 August 2003 July 2003 June 2003 May 2003 April 2003 March 2003 February 2003 January 2003 December 2002 November 2002 October 2002 September 2002 August 2002 July 2002 June 2002 May 2002 April 2002 March 2002 February 2002 Feedjit Live Blog Stats
I'm no Pollyanna, but I can usually find something to be thankful for in any situation. I realized last night, as I was cleaning the kitchen, that I'd been doing a lot less cleaning lately than usual. With Nick gone, and Clarence no longer even eating in the kitchen, much less preparing food, it now stays clean. Before, I was constantly scrubbing the floor in front of the counters to pick up food Clarence had dropped and to mop up his sticky spills. His whole end of the table had to be wiped down after every meal, and the floor under and around his chair scrubbed, as you would have to do for any toddler. Either he or Nick was constantly fixing some snack, so the countertops were always littered with bread crumbs or beverage spills, and the quantity of dirty dishes was astonishing. I could leave the kitchen sparkling clean in the morning, every dish washed and put away, and come home that night to find it looking as though no one had cleaned or washed dishes in a week, a fact that Shelley was careful to point out every time she was home. So there is that one bright spot.The mystery of Nick and Mike's whereabouts has been cleared up—Nike finally returned my call to his cell phone. It seems he had to go back to Ohio to take care of some unfinished business. They will be back home tonight, he said, and would be willing to come over Sunday to help with the planting. Come early, I said, and I'll feed you breakfast.We're back tonight after another truly underwhelming day of three inspections. The best I can say is that these three were the only ones left in that particular area. If I'd been by myself, I would have gone on to Petersburg for a start on the six inspections I have to do there, but it was five o'clock by the time we left the third store and I was exhausted.What I do for Clarence is no more than many other caregivers have to deal with. And the physical labor itself is not excessive (though my back is beginning to hurt from hauling him to his feet twenty-five times a day). What I didn't know about providing this level of care for another person is that sense of living two people's lives at once. Every aspect of the other person's life becomes your own. You spend as much time administering medications as if you were taking them yourself, as much time tending to his dressing and undressing, bathing, defecating and hand washing as if you were doing all those things for yourself. And of course, in between and alongside doing those services for the other person, you do still have to take care of yourself. I'm fortunate that I take no medications myself, that I have no physical disability of my own to contend with on top of caring for Clarence. But it is still an emotional and psychological drag, the feeling at the end of the day that you've had two days in a single 24-hour period.So now it's almost one in the morning and I'm sitting at the computer copying pictures off the camera instead of sleeping. That is the other price of total personal care of another person: you work through your exhaustion, because you have to, and then you can't get to sleep yourself.But I have tomorrow and Monday off, and I'm going to let Nick and Mike do just as much of the work as they are willing to do.
The template is set to display 10 posts. To see all the posts for this month, click on the month name in the Archive section
RSS Feed
PERSONAL
WHY 'LIFE AS A SPECTATOR SPORT'
"If you're lucky not to live in the gutters of a slum, but still can't afford to take vacations in the Alps, you're part of that enormous middle class who lives life through the medium of the television, further separated from "real" life by air conditioner, by automobile, by dishwasher, microwave and ice-in-the-door refrigerator, by automatic washer and dryer, and all the other appliances and conveniences that make it possible for America to live life at second hand. I'm not sure why Americans decided that televised drama was better than the real thing, that cardboard microwave food containers were an adequate substitute for real dishes, and their contents for real food, or that cooking, dishwashing and face-to-face conversation wasn't worth the effort and time it required. Someone fed this nation a plastic crate of out-of-season tomatoes and told us it was life and we took them at their word, and we're so much the poorer for it that it's hard to know where to start to list the shortcomings." I wrote this a couple of years ago, but I have to admit it's much less amusing than I thought it would be to see the artifical construct falling apart.
THE NON-ELECTRIC HOME
Cleaning, 1 Cleaning, 2 Cleaning, 3
KNITTING BLOGS
Extravayarnza Knitting Heretic Mind of Winter Pie Knits Persistent Illusion See Eunny Knit The Keyboard Biologist Taleweaver's Ramblings TECHnitting Wendy Knits
FINISHED PROJECTS
SELF-RELIANCE AND THE FUTURE
POLITICAL BLOGS and SITES
BOOKS I'M READING
How to Grow More Vegetables, etc. Small Scale Grain Raising
ARCHIVES
February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 August 2008 July 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 September 2004 August 2004 July 2004 June 2004 May 2004 April 2004 March 2004 February 2004 January 2004 December 2003 November 2003 October 2003 September 2003 August 2003 July 2003 June 2003 May 2003 April 2003 March 2003 February 2003 January 2003 December 2002 November 2002 October 2002 September 2002 August 2002 July 2002 June 2002 May 2002 April 2002 March 2002 February 2002
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