Dementia for 2

I know I have not blogged in months and I must admit I have just not been in to it for a while.
A lot has happened in my life and I think I am still trying to get the dizziness to stop. I will try to stay on point with this but please bear in mind it has been awhile!

My daughter "B" moved to Florida about 2 months ago. I miss her terribly and am afraid she made this move too soon and without enough preparation. But, she is young and I am sure she will be okay it is just going to take her a little longer than she anticipated.

We drove from Elvisland to Palm Coast with all of her stuff. I am not going to go into all the gory details because I am not sure I can do it without using some colorful adjectives. Suffice it to say I do not want to make a trip like that again anytime soon.

I managed to get separated from B and hubs just outside of  Tuskegee Al. Even though I know how bad the economy is, I was not prepared for what I saw there. Empty houses, abandoned buildings, overgrown lots, it was quite disheartening. I realized at that moment that our country is "closing up shop" one small town at a time.

I look around the small town that I live in and and I think that since we are so close to a large city, I just didn't really "see" what was going on. Large chains have bought up most of the mom and pop type stores here. Pawn shops and Title Loan offices are everywhere.

Housing is just horrible. Builders are just now starting back up and even then it is very slow. Rental property has loan shark pricing and that is for a borderline decent house in a borderline neighborhood. Apartments are worse.

I hate to see all these little towns just cease to exist. I don't think that the powers that be have even given it a second thought. the brass ring isn't found in a small town. But, if you are a farmer and you have to travel over 50 miles just to buy a loaf of bread, what's the point? We are losing the family farm to the bigger corporate farming companies and there doesn't seem to be an end in sight.

I hate to think that my hometown will one day cease to exist along with so many others. But, the last time I was home, the last breath was being drawn. I don't know the solution to this problem but I do know that soon the American small town will be spoken of like so many things.....in the past tense.

The other day I received an email concerning my blog. Since I am not one of those awesome blogs with hundreds or thousands of followers, I am always surprised when I am approached by an outsider.

I am still not sure what their offer will be but this is an actual company expressing interest in my blog! Usually I receive offers from other dementia sites wanting to feature some of my articles. While I do not receive payment for these, I do accept their offers. My goal has always been to help others dealing with this disease instead of making a profit. But, I don't think I would turn down a few coins here and there.

I have replied to their rep and hope to hear more details soon before I make a decision one way or the other. But either way, this is exciting!

I received an email yesterday from Online Nursing Programs informing me that I have won an award! Imagine my surprise when I found out that my readers nominated me as one of the best blogs for my category.

Thanks you all for your support and I deeply appreciate your votes and the time you all take to read my thoughts.

If you care to see the list of other winners, you can view them and their websites here.

I know that I have not been blogging a lot lately, but, I did not realize how many others are in the same boat. Some bloggers that I follow no longer even keep a blog.

My grandmother has been doing rather well and I didn't want to write about my woes. It would seem as though some of you are going through the same thing. I don't like to whine about all my troubles so I have just neglected to write about anything at all.

I seem to repeat my past over and over with just ever so slight changes in scenery. Who wants to hear about that all the time?! Not me that is for sure. It is bad enough that I seem to be living it over and over like a bad rerun.

I have heard it said that there is always someone worse off than you and I do believe that to be true. Especially within my own family it would seem. I have at least 2 relatives that are having a really hard time right now.

Both of these women are extremely bitter about things that happened YEARS ago. So long ago that I don't even think they remember the true details. It is really sad because they spill that poison over into all their other relationships.

When I look back at my own life and see where I allowed my own bitterness to color my decisions and relationships, I am amazed that no one brought this to my attention. But, I have to stop and think about how I was/am when I am in that frame of mind. I just don't want to hear what you have to say. I want to be the victim and that is all there is to it.

We seem to get so caught up in the details that we lose sight of the reason why we are where we are in life. While it may not be totally our own doing, we definitely have a hand in determining the fate of our lives.

I am just so TIRED. I have started to feel like there is no reason to keep on keeping on. I just want to rest. Maybe all of this is starting to get me a little depressed I don't know. I just know that something has to give or I feel like I am going to break.

I have not blogged in quite a while. To be honest, I just have not been in to it.

Things have not gone well in my home over the past year or so and I think it is finally getting to me.

I am doing a Beth Moore study right now and got the weeks confused. So while I was doing the week on patience, everyone else was doing the week on joy. Go figure. I have been thinking about exactly where my joy is right now. When things are bad and I mean REALLY bad, it is hard to find any joy.

I tend to stray from my relationships when things are tough. I just isolate myself and try to fix it myself. But, things are in such a state that only God can fix this mess. We are on the brink of losing our house. I don't know what will happen if we do. Both of us have such lousy credit that we couldn't possibly even rent an apartment. Doug's mom lives too far away and my mom barely has enough room. I don't know if we could all live together.

Doug finally got a job this week. It doesn't pay a whole lot, but anything helps right now.

So, as I look at the mountain of bills sitting on my kitchen table in a house I may not even be living in by next month, I have to ask myself: "How can I possibly rejoice in the Lord now?" I have screwed up my own life as has hubby by our own poor choices. We accept responsibility for that. But we are both hardworking people. We are not trying to shirk away from own responsibilities. We are willing to pay what we owe. But, we need some understanding and help from our debtors. There are other options that the bank could offer but they seem unwilling to do so. I am working 1 full time and 2 part time jobs right now and have been doing so for quite some time. When hubs had a job, we could use that money to pay the larger bills and my money to pay smaller ones and have a little saved up for the short months. But now every month is a short month.

Then I think of all the people in this country that have no job, no home, no family to help them. I can rejoice in the Lord that I still have a home and several jobs. I am healthy and I still have my mind. My children are both working and healthy. My grandson is smart, and fun and is still young enough to think I am cool.

I have my mother and my grandmother. The 2 most fierce and loyal women to me that I could possibly have. So I have a lot to be joyful about.

God has enabled us to stay in this house for a very long time. I have to trust that He will continue to take care of us. But, I have isolated myself from Him too. So, it is hard for me to go to Him when I know that I have been such a poor example to others with my own wretched life. I am trying to get back to the person I was and the student of God that I was in the hopes that I can learn what it really means to "Rejoice in the Lord always."

Well I am almost done with this project that has been consuming most of my time over the past few months. the good news is that I have been able to pay off 2 credit cards and possibly buy some stuff to fix my house a little. It has been very exhausting for me but worth it in the long run.

I am hoping to have a few months off before the next project picks up so I can rest and get caught up on the rest of my life.

I look forward to catching up on all of my reading so that I will know what all of you have been up to and spending more time with my grandmother.

Thanks to all of you for understanding and sticking with me through all this.

Miss C at Life as I See It, has graciously sent me this award! I am so flattered. This is my first ever award and I deeply appreciate her thoughtfulness!

I am still swamped at work but I think I will be having a day off on Monday, so hopefully, I can catch up on everybody then.

Have a great weekend and thanks again for the award!

Just wanted to let all my friends know that I have not forgotten you! I have been really busy with work and just don't have a lot of time to devote to my blog right now,

I am hoping to have some free time in the next few weeks so I can catch up on what all of you have been doing. They are making some changes at work that will affect my schedule. This is not a good thing. I am hoping to keep my same days off so that I can continue with my seasonal work. We really need me to keep this job!

On a side note, I went to see Granny last week. She is doing really good! She was in very high spirits and wanted to wear my ring. I put it on her and she immediately forgot she was wearing it. When she looked down at her hands later and saw it, she told my mom to take it. So now I am on the hunt for a ring for my granny that is inexpensive in case she loses it.

She has to go to the dermatologist some time this month to have yet another skin cancer removed. This will make 15 episodes since she has been with us. I am hoping that she doesn't have any more of these pop up.

That is really all that has been going on. I do have one more post to make that has been on my mind then it is back to the salt mines!

I hope you all have a very Happy Easter and wish you all the best!

My guest today is Simon from The Rainbow Bank. I stumbled across Simon's blog while surfing Link Referral, and I quickly became hooked! Simon not only writes about all things British, but also a whole menu of other topics from family to music. I hope you enjoy today's post and stop by Simon's blog for a visit!


Stonehenge
I vividly remember my first visit to Stonehenge, back in the 1970's, it was a cold and bleak autumnal day.

My first guest is Brian from Eazy Cheezy. Brain has a great blog chocked full of all things technical. If you want to now where to watch free movies online, anything about SEO engines,social networking,or apps for your phone, Eazy Cheezy is the place to visit. I hope all of you stop by his blog for a perusing.

5 Fun Pranks for Manic Monday

Hi Dementia for 2 followers, I’m Brian author of Eazy Cheezy, a blog I use to share some of my favorite stuff on the net, such as free movie sites, apps and just about everything else.

As I’m writing this post, I can’t seem to get the Bangles “Manic Monday” song out of my mind. Now the Manic Monday echo in my head has transitioned to me walking like an Egyptian. If you weren’t alive in the 8o’s, you have no clue what I’m talking about.

Being the first guest blogger on Dementia for 2, I thought I’d keep it light and share 5 of my favorite pranks to play on coworkers, friends and definitely family. Let’s face it, no one enjoys Mondays. Why not make the best of it and set the tone for the rest of the week. Each prank below is simple to execute and your victim will definitely get a kick out of it.

1. Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) Wallpaper

This wallpaper is taken from the old Windows error users usually see prior to purchasing a new computer. It cycles through different blue screens and simulates boots every 15 seconds. Per Microsoft TechNet, “its accuracy will fool even advanced NT developers.


2. Print Screen Prank

I’ve used this trick quite a few times. Find a window your coworkers frequently use, then make a print screen of the window, then paste it in a Word Document. Open up the Word Document then watch as your coworkers try to figure out why it won’t work when they click on a button, e-mail, etc.

3. Replace Desk PC, Phone, Etc with Cardboard Cutouts (via blog.jimmyr.com)

One of my favorite pranks! You’ll have the entire office cracking up!




4. Send a Formal Notice

I’ve used the Bureau of Communication’s Templates to create entertaining formal messages which I have sent to a few friends and family. This can also be effective at the workplace. Take a look at one I just created.





5. Use Prank Dial to Prank Your Coworkers



This is fun to do and very enjoyable to observe the confusion your victim will have when listening to the call then attempting to respond. Simply pick a prank call to use, enter the number for it to dial, then enjoy. Another fun site to prank is Prank Dialer.

I hope you’ve found a prank you’ll try. There’s nothing like having a little fun and setting the mood with a good ole prank. Thank you for reading (assuming you made it this far) and a big thank you to Inge for giving me the opportunity to share my pranks with you.

As a way of making my blog a little more interesting, I have started having guest blog appearances by some of my loyal followers.

These posts will start appearing this Monday and on subsequent Mondays. Stay tuned and I hope you enjoy the different ideas that will be posted!

This week's edition of Mixed Bag, is all over the place. I have really enjoyed perusing my week to decide just what to share with ya"ll. I had no idea that I was so extreme in my tastes.

I hope that you find something interesting and exciting to tempt your mind this week.

Hubble Discovery
While I don't prescribe to the "Big Bang" theory, I do find astronomy quite fascinating. To be able to see such photos from deep space never ceases to amaze me.

Patti Smith
. I have always been a big fan of Patti Smith. PBS recently aired a film by Ms Smith. She was an icon of the punk rock era. She is an accomplished poet and very vocal in the political arena. I still can't think of her without thinking of Gilda Radner's tribute.

WSOP This is the poker tournaments to beat all tournaments. Made famous by Benny Binion in the 1970's this has always been held at a Horseshoe Casino. But in recent years, Harrah's has held this tourney at their home property in Tunica, MS. So, Horseshoe has been having all the cash games there. If you follow professional poker at all, then this is the time to see your favorites up close and personal. The cash games are not for the faint of heart. I would not recommend doing what you see on the Travel Channel.

Along with my new look,have decided to add some different things to my blog. This comes after reading many blogs that I truly enjoy and taking some of their ideas and implementing them to my own blog.

"Mixed Bag" is the fruition of that.Since this is the first edition, I am not quite sure how this particular adventure will unfold. So I look forward to your suggestions and ideas as to how I can make this a more interesting addition.

I am currently reading "In the President's Secret Service" by Ronald Kessler. If you want to know about the beginnings of the Secret Service and little tidbits about past/present presidents, then you will enjoy this book.

The new Google Phone. I am really interested in this phone! I am wondering if Google is going to offer it as an "unlocked" phone and how they are going to make it affordable to us working people. Since hubs is a gadget freak, I am hoping to beat him to the punch on this one!

AVATAR. EVERYONE I know has seen this movie. Hubs and I are going to see it Monday. I really hope it is as good as everyone says. I am not a big Science Fiction fan, but this does look good.

Well that's it for the first edition of Mixed Bag. I hope you all enjoy it and I look forward to hearing what you think!

I decided to make a few changes to my blog. I have been getting some spam comments so I have temporarily reverted back to the blogger comment form. I really liked Intense Debate, and may go back to them if I can get the moderation and spam blocker to work properly.

I don't know if I will keep this look or not. It is a little busy. But, I immediately thought of myself and my work schedule as of late when I saw this layout.

I have a lot of gadgets on my blog and I may delete a few more to clean it up a little.
This was really easy for me to do this time. I didn't have to email my friend Brian at all! That is a big accomplishment for me.

Since my blog has become more diversified, I decided to just periodically change the quotes in the header.

The layout was a free download (my favorite kind), and I did a little reading on how to move my widgets so I didn't lose any. Since I am a serious novice at this, I chose a pre-formatted layout and just added my own stuff to it. I can change the fond colors and such but I like the calming of the greens.

I look forward to hearing from all of you as to your opinion of my new look.

I have not had a party in several years. With my work schedule, it is almost impossible for me to plan anything simple much less a dinner party.

I have Christmas Eve off this year, so I decided to plan a small dinner party. Just a few family and friends. My daughter is off that day, so she has offered to help me get things ready. I am looking forward to getting together with those that I have not seen in a while. B is looking forward to it also. We have not had this many people over for a holiday dinner since she was a child. Hubby has to work, so he will not be able to attend.

Now on to more great sites for you to visit. These are some of my first followers and I really appreciate their loyalty.

For environmental ideas on living green visit:
Reduce Footprints

John is my nutritionist friend from Malaysia. He is now living in the states with his new bride. You can read some of his thoughts at:
I have Dreams

Brian is my computer "go to" guy. He likes all the new gadgets and has been such a great help to me. His blog has a wealth of information for the experienced and novice alike:
Eazy Cheezy

Miles Per Hour is a great blog if you want a man's point of view. He has a way of telling it like it is that is from the heart:
Thunder From A Quiet Storm

If you like to bake "the old fashioned way", as I do then the Bread Blog is for you. Chuck has some great recipes on his site complete with step by step instructions and pics. I have made several recipes from here and they have all been great!
The Bread Blog

As always, I do appreciate all of you and the time you take to read my blog. Your encouragement and advice has been an invaluable part of my life and I look forward to reading what the year has in store for all of us!

I am so glad to have a little free time to catch up with all of you! I have been working very hard these last few weeks and it looks as though I will have a small reprieve before it starts back up again in February.

Before I start getting all sappy on ya'll, I wanted to catch you up on Granny. She is doing really well! I have not seen her much these past weeks but I do get daily updates from my mom. I will be seeing her on Monday when we get together at mom's for Christmas. I got her a satin pink clutch with pink iridescent sequins on it. I think she will love it. Plus keeping the sequins straight will keep her busy:) Mom will be out of town on Christmas Day, so we are celebrating early.


My sister helped my mom with granny's perm a few weeks ago. I am glad that she was there to help. She and my mother seem to be slowly rebuilding their relationship. They have a long way to go and some things still need to be settled between them, but this is a HUGE step! My sister also wants to take pictures of granny for Christmas. I think they are doing that next week. I collect vintage jewelry, so I have lots of earrings and necklaces for granny to wear. I also have a Santa hat that mom is going to have her wear for some of them. I have not decided if I will be there for this or not. I am not there in my journey yet. We will see.

I want to thank all of you my "old" friends and my "new" friends. I enjoy reading all of your blogs and comments on mine. A few of you do stand out in my mind more than others, but I cherish you all. I wanted to list all of you so others can enjoy you as much as I do. So drum roll please...... in no particular order:

A Faded Rose

Shopping Kharma

Ambience in the Attic

A Corgi in in So. Cal.

A Psychiatrist w/Lewy Body Dementia

Abundant Living

Coltin 1948

Expat From Hell

Let's Have A Cocktail

The Rainbow Bank

Now I don't have hundreds of followers. I have 44 to be exact. I did not want to take up this whole post with them all so I just posted 10. I will try to post links to the rest of ya'll between now and Christmas. I do appreciate all of you and am grateful to have each and every one of you in my life.

I hope that your Christmas is joyful and full of the things that matter. God, family, friends and recognition of the many blessings that we all have.

I also have some ideas in the works for next year so I can keep you guys entertained!

Merry Christmas!!!!

My friend Tracy at Abundant Living has invited me to be a guest blogger on her blog! I am so excited and flattered. I have never been ask to guest blog before.

I hope you all check out her site and peruse her past posts.

My post should be up tomorrow so be sure and go visit!

I would like to thank all of my followers that left me such kind and encouraging comments on my last post. You were all so loving and and kind. I really needed that!

I have been filling my days with very little spiritual nourishment these last few weeks. Since my mother hurt her back, I have been going to the nursing home as much as possible to take care of Granny. I have also been working my regular job, and I have been throwing papers for this guy for about 2 months straight! When I am not working or sleeping, I am getting ready to work or sleep it seems. When I am awake, I don't seem to have the gumption to open the Word or my studies. That is my goal this week. To get back in the groove.

My mother just recently lost her job. She has been out of work on FMLA for about 3 weeks now. They called her at home to tell her they were laying her off due to lack of business. This has been quite a blow to her. I have been trying to remain positive for her, but that takes its toll after a while. She also finally found out what was wrong with her back. She has a mild form of Spina Bifida. Imagine that! She did not even know. So now she is weighing her options to see what she can to ease the pain and live a more normal life.

I on the other hand, have a dirty house, mounds of laundry, and a bed that seems to constantly be calling my name:) Mom did offer to come and help me get the house in order which was really sweet of her. But.....I would be ashamed for her to see my house in such disarray! I still may take her up on the offer if she is physically able. She has to take a lot of breaks during the day because she cannot stand or sit for any length of time.

Oh well, life goes on. I am thankful for all of you, my Internet friends. I am also thankful that I have a job, a home, and my health. My grandmother is doing well and so are the kids. God is gracious even in my semi-rebellious state.

Need to go and round up dinner. I do appreciate all of you and I thank you all from the bottom of my heart!

My Internet service was briefly interrupted last week, so I have been out of commission for awhile. I was able to check my email with my phone, but I did not want to use all my battery power answering them.

Now that things are somewhat back to normal in my neighborhood, I realized just how much time I spend on the computer. I spend a lot of time on here. Between my own blog plus all the blogs I read, is about 2 hours a day. Then there is my email account, my face book account, and numerous social trafficking sites.

Since I work 2nd shift, I have kidded myself into believing that I don't really spend all that time on here. But...I do. So, I have decided to spend a much smaller portion of my free time on the computer. I won't be blogging as much or checking in to all my other favorite sites as much. I think this will work out for me and all the things I really do need to accomplish around here. I have been able to free my house of a lot of clutter the past few days and I like not having all that junk around. I still have some more really deep cleaning to do and I really want to get it done this week.

My daughter is going to visit some of her fiends in Florida next week, and I want to redo her room and bathroom while she is gone. I won't be able to do as much as I would like due to a lack of funds, but I will be able to do quite a bit. She is excited to know that some of the things she and I have talked about doing will finally be done.

I hope all my followers understand that I am not abandoning ya'll but I do need to get some of this stuff finished before it starts getting cooler and I won't be able to get it done if I don't start now.

I will try to post some of my update on Granny later this week. She has been a real riot this past week, and I have really enjoyed her humor.

I will also let ya'll know how many projects I have been able to finish since my computer detox.

Recently I received a review on my blog that I thought I should post a reply to. In the review she stated that I should blog more about my life in the gaming industry and the people I have met.

I don't blog about that for a number of reasons. First it is a JOB to me. I go to work I come home. Second, there are hundreds of gaming blogs out there if you want to know how to gamble. You can learn all sorts of strategies for craps, roulette, and blackjack. I just don't feel the need to be one more in a myriad of others. Thirdly, the celebrities I have met, are not what you think they are. Michael Jordan may be a great athlete, but he is a lousy gambler and a stiff. Hank Williams Jr. ditto. Andre Agassi was nice and so was Federer, but Agassi was way too paranoid. I just don't want to go into all the dirty details of the rich people I have met. They have enough people talking about them.

The main reason I started blogging was because of my grandmother. We experienced so many obstacles when she first came to live with us. I just felt like if we were going through all this, there had to be others that were going through the same thing with no idea what to do. So I started writing about what we were doing and how we were able to accomplish this or that in the hope that it would help some other person.

I don't know what I will blog about later and I don't always blog about her. But, she is the main reason for this and will continue to be for as long as possible. So there you have it. How this whole thing came into being and I hope that you understand why I don't want to blog about gaming at this time. I will be happy to answer any questions you have about gaming, but you need to know this: If you want a fool proof win every time strategy, there just plain isn't one.