Happy belated Mother's Day to all my mom friends!
The weekend seems so long ago - where has the time gone??
Saturday after work I basically came home and vegged out. Although I was at work for only 3 days, it sure felt like a whole week! I'm glad to be back, and happy that I feel like I'm right back in the groove of things.
Sunday I got two Mother's Day cards - one from Joe and one from my little cookie monster son, Romeo. Romeo has turned into quite the little cookie monster lately, demanding a cookie after his breakfast, which I'm more than happy to oblige him with. I also got some flowers, a gift card to Starbucks, and a promise for a dinner out at a restaurant of my choosing. How sweet!
After cards and gifts, I made a batch of "sweet roti" for pre-breakfast. They're a lot like crepes that we smear with peanut butter and enjoy. I say "pre-breakfast" because we had plans for Mother's Day brunch with Darwin's mom at the Scandinavian Cultural Centre.
I'm still not eating meat (officially 3 weeks!) and was positive that the only thing we'd get at brunch was link sausage, bacon and ham, so I decided that eating at home would be a good idea.
Well, to my utter delight, the buffet was FILLED with seafood (I am eating fish). I should've thought that a Scandinavian Cultural Centre would have fish - DUH! They had two full poached salmons, shrimp, calamari, mussels, smoked salmon - you name it, they had it!
After brunch, we headed to Polo Park. I haven't been there since some time last year, and it was nice to be out without worrying about where I wasn't (the hospice).
We got came back home, hung out for a bit, then went to see my Mom who is currently living with my sister. I normally buy her hanging baskets instead of flowers because they last right through until October, but now without her own house, I wasn't sure if she'd want baskets or not this year. I gave her a rain cheque for the baskets, and a promise to take her later this month when things warm up a bit, assuming she still wants them.
My sister asked us if we wanted to stay for an impromptu dinner, and since Darwin can't turn down curry, we stayed.
Monday I got some time to myself for the first time in a long time, then went to my favourite spa in the afternoon for some pampering. If anyone is reading this and is interested in the BEST facial in town, let me know :) I also have a $20 discount card for anyone who is trying out City Looks Spa for the first time :)
Joe and I got to babysit my grandnieces last night as the rest of the family went out for a combination Mother's Day/birthday party for my sister and her husband. While there was some pretty heavy negotiations and positive reinforcement going on between me and my grandnieces, all-in-all, the night went off without a hitch.
If you know anything about me at all, you know I love arts and crafts, so last night I found a craft idea where you colour grains of rice with food colouring and rubbing alcohol. Well, as the saying goes, necessity is the mother of invention, and in the absence of rubbing alcohol, I used vodka :) And in the absence of time, I put the wet rice in the oven to dry in time for craft time. I know everyone is biased when it comes to the talents of their children, but my grandnieces are SO talented and artistic, and I love watching them create their masterpieces!
So today is MY Monday. While I LOVE having REAL Mondays off, Tuesdays are SO hectic for me - back-to-back meetings, "lunch" at 4pm - you know, the typical Monday!
I got a call from Lisa at one of the local property management companies who was calling to let me know that there are 4 units coming available in one of the apartment blocks that I had put my mom's name on back in February. All 4 units will be available in July and it's one of the nicer units, albeit NOT a senior's complex.
I called my mom tonight to let her know that an opportunity to move is now on the table and she needs to start making some long-term decisions. She is reluctant to move right now, saying that she's "not ready", but I had to remind her that she's not moving next week - it's another 2 months away, and that she can't live with my sister forever.
Truth be known, I don't really want her to live in this particular unit (I want her in a senior's complex), and she doesn't REALLY have to leave my sister's place, but that being said, we all need to consider everyone's needs, and not just my mom's. The call today from the property management company at least served as a catalyst to a conversation about long-term living arrangements.
In my opinion, I don't think my mom living with my sister is healthy for either of them in the long-run, and more importantly, I think my mom needs to be in an environment with a peer group - people who have also experienced loss, and people who keep themselves busy during the day by engaging in group activities. Selfishly, it also takes some of the stress off of us knowing that someone will likely check on her everyday. I think for now we've agreed somewhat that staying with my sister for the summer with some time out in Alberta (with my other sister and one of my nieces) is a workable solution, but it's clear based on my conversation with her today that we'll need to broach the subject several times over the next few months and prepare her to move.
I hope everyone had a good weekend, and honoured the special ladies in their lives.
Make it a great week!
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