Marlin and Grant Come to Visit

How Fun is This?

Mom's brothers Marlin and Grant came down to visit for a weekend. It happened to be the same weekend David and Daniel were here. Marlin and Grant arrived Saturday night and Kib and I had his company Christmas party so David and Daniel entertained! They barbequed steaks and had dinner together! We usually have beautiful winter weather, but of course the entire time Marlin and Grant were here, it rained. It was a warm rain, but not the sunshine we are so accustomed to.
Show and Tell
When Grandma Lott died Grant and Bonnie made copies of her pictures and gave mom a set. I took them and put them in scrapbooks for mom. She loves to look through these and got them out for the "boys" to look at. There are pictures of grandma, great-grandma, her siblings, father's and cousins, aunts and uncles. These are treasured books, and I hope to be able to go through with mom and label some of the pictures that were not labeled. One of mom's favorite things to do is to look through her treasures from the past, and it has been fun to be able to do it together.

Oh Bonus!

One of dad's favorite phrases is "Oh Bonus!" He uses this anytime he is put out about something. It is a sign that he is not terribly thrilled with whatever is going on at the time. Well, one his favorite "bonuses" is the fact that he has two Home Health Aides, Loni and Deb, that come in and give him a bath on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. These ladies are my salvation, but dad does not really look forward to those mornings. Dad was always up and dressed before they got there and waiting in his chair for them. He waited to have breakfast after they left, I think just so he could relax and enjoy eating without worrying about them coming.

While Marlin and Grant were there, dad was up and ready for his bath time when the aides arrived. They took him back into the bathroom and as soon as they had left the room Marlin told Grant to "hurry up and sit in Farrin's chair and you will get to be next". I am not sure dad would have appreciated that, but mom and I had a great laugh!

Visit with Valerie

Wow, where has December gone? Oh yes, it just flew by. We have had many visitors this month, and I wanted to catch you up on some of the fun. Dad's sister, Valerie came to visit! That was so good for dad. He enjoyed listening, Valerie did most of the talking. She told a story about growing up that was quite fun.

Dad had a basement that was a bit dusty and scary. Grandma would ask the kids to go downstairs and bring up some item or another, and Jack used to be the designated "fetcher". Well, all of a sudden Jack was no longer asked to bring up the requested items and Leonard was the preferred "fetcher". Jack laughed at Leonard and educated him as to how to get out of being the designated "fetcher". Jack told Leonard that everytime he is asked to "fetch" something from the basement, he should just never do it. Act like he forgot and after a few times of this, grandma would quit asking and would get someone else to do the fetching.

Well, apparently grandma overheard this entire conversation and after that Jack was always the "fetcher" and was never allowed to "forget" that he was supposed to make the trip down to the dark, miserable basement! Grandma must have had her hands full with all those boys!

Fee Fie Foe Fum, I Want Something to Taste Yum

I don't know what to do with dad. He has had a hard timing thinking of anything that sounds good to him lately to eat. He has always loved eggs, and he believes he has burned himself out on eggs now. He has had them scrambled, fried, boiled, deviled, Sonic Burritoized, Sonic Toaster Sandwiched, Egg McMuffined, Eggs Benedict, Egg Nog, you name it, we have made it with eggs.

Yesterday he couldn't think of a thing to eat, I named off everything I could think of and nothing sounded good to him. Finally, he came up with an idea! He wanted a taco from Taco Time!

What? Yes, a taco from Taco Time. I had to run some errands, so I left Erica with dad and picked up tacos while I was out. I didn't go to Taco Time as it is about 8 miles away, and there is a Del Taco within one mile, so Del Taco it was. Dad ate the taco and enjoyed it. He also had applesauce, 1/2 of a small bean burrito, and some pudding all day to eat.

Today I made him a breakfast sandwich with spicy sausage, and an egg on an English Muffin. That went over quite well. Erica cooked him a couple of chicken strips for lunch, that went over good, he also had a fresh Arizona orange. I had planned on tamales for dinner and was in the kitchen making rice pudding (something he requested at 8:00 last night and our bedtime is 9:00 so we put it off until today) when I heard him holler my name. Thinking he had fallen out of his chair, I dashed to the door and opened it to find him in the chair, just fine. I asked what he needed and he got this very guilty look on his face. He then asked if we could have biscuits for dinner. I said, biscuits and what? He said....butter? Biscuits and butter for dinner? Mom then chimed in that there had just been a commercial on TV with a plate of biscuits and when he saw that commercial, he started hollering for me as he knew that is what he wanted for dinner.

Needless to say, he had biscuits with butter for dinner. He has a hard time swallowing some times, and the biscuits were a bit too dry to just eat, so we added grape jelly. He couldn't eat them himself, so I fed him biscuits, jelly and butter for dinner. He was quite happy with it, and is now anxiously waiting for the rice pudding to be done.

I have tried to keep his meals simple, and easy to eat, with finger foods as much as possible as it is easier for him to pick food up and eat it with his fingers than with a fork or spoon. He drinks from a sippy cup with a straw, and uses an insulated sippy cup for soup. He has such a hard time feeding himself, and there are some days he can handle finger foods, and most days he can not. It is challenging for him, and he gets quite frustrated when he can't even eat finger food by himself. He has pretty much resigned himself to the fact that he can't use utensils, but the finger food frustration is still new. He drops his food and gets a frustrated look on his face. I feed him patiently, and then hand him his cup of water, milk, or juice to drink.

Parkinsons presents unique problems in it's advanced stages, other than the trembling. One of those challenges is the inability to swallow. If you will remember, for a number of years dad has complained that his tongue feels thick, or that he has difficulty swallowing. I believe it may have been related to Parkinsonian symptoms even then. I am trying to make foods for dad that will be easy for him to eat as well as swallow. I think the rice pudding will be a great food for him. He wants freshly grated nutmeg on his pudding as well. At least I believe that is what he was referring to when he asked if I had the nuts to grate on top. If only I had a nutmeg grater........Laureen, do you know where I can find one?

Yes, I found another picture on mom's phone. This picture was not taken by her though, and from the couch and pillows in the background, I would have to guess this was taken while mom and dad were visiting Darrin and Nikol in June. They flew up for a medical treatment for dad and also to be there when Darrin and Nikol blessed their 6th baby boy, Granger. That was a good trip for both of them, and it was also their last trip to Utah. Mom was doing quite well at the time, and dad was shuffling, but was getting around. I am so glad they were able to go and visit.

Mom told me that one day while they were there, Hunter had disappeared and then came back all red in the face with a vase with a rose in it. He had taken his bike and rode to Albertsons and with his own money bought a rose in a vase for mom and then brought it home, while riding his bike. She was so touched, and thought he was so cute for having done that. She talks about Darrin's boys all the time, and is always so happy to be able to talk to them on the phone. I wonder which of his boys took this picture. Stetson? Hunter? Magnum? Those would be my three guesses!

Ha ha ha, mom today told me she thinks she has taken some pictures of herself with her cell phone and doesn't know how to check, or what to do with them. I went through her phone, and sure enough there were pics she had accidently taken of herself. They are actually pretty good pictures, all things considered. I can't help but wonder if she did take them accidently, or if she was posing and taking pictures of herself like she has seen Amber do.

Dad is unable to walk and at this time has a hard time getting to the bathroom. I help him up out of his chair and then we do a little "Happy Feet Dance" to get him turned 90 degrees and into his wheel chair. His feet march in place at a rapid pace and it takes a great number of steps to get him turned to the right angle. It is a quiet dance on the carpet but when in the bathroom on the tile, his slippers make a tapping noise. We laugh because he sounds and looks like "Mumble" of "Happy Feet". Check it out....http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjhvWf7OeEE&feature=related

Yes, Maddox is the original "Dad's favorite restaurant". Maddox is one of dad's favorite Utah restaurants, known to him as the best fried chicken. This Maddox is in Perry, Utah, but more recently dad has visited the Maddox in the Salt Lake area. Dad made many trips to Utah over the past two years and one of the highlights of the trip was a trip to Maddox with one of his kids. I don't think he ever ordered anything but the fried chicken, but was never disappointed. Dad has based his standard of good fried chicken on the Maddox standard, just as he bases his standard of good chicken fried steak on the Keith's Lunch standard.
Keith's is a little lunch time cafe owned and operated by "Keith" for years, in downtown Provo. His chicken fried steak was pounded thin, dredged in flour and seasonings, then deep fried and served with a scoop of mashed potatoes, white gravy, and the vegetable of the day, usually canned corn. The waitress at Keith's took the order, called it back to the kitchen without writing anything down, and then served it up to you in the same brazen manner. There wasn't much time for conversation at this quaint little cafe as Keith kept the customers moving through at a quick pace, always making room for the next paying customer. One novelty about Keiths was that even though you may order the same menu item each time you dined (I am using the term dined very loosely) your bill came to a different amount. The amount was posted on the menu, but when you paid for your dinner, you would tell Keith what you had to eat and he would just rattle off a total amount to pay. NO ONE ever argued that amount with Keith, and if they had, his regulars would have been right there to cover Keith. Again, dad probably never ordered anything but the Chicken Fried Steak.

December 27, 2007

Dad is preparing for his youngest daughter's wedding. Leslee married Steve Martin in Gilbert, AZ at a beautiful country club wedding. Leslee rode in a boat on the lake to the ceremony, and dad escorted her. He was nervous, but was a very fine father of the bride.

Mom and dad are standing in front of the waterfall at the country club.

Dad has always loved to go out to eat. For his birthday in July of 2007 my daughters, Leslee, Mom and I all took him to lunch. There is a restaurant called "The Claim Jumper" in Tempe that is about 35 minutes away. We all met there and he had lunch with "the girls". He ordered his favorite - Chicken Fried Steak. This comes with two pieces of fried steak, potatoes and gravy, a biscuit and salad. He was in heaven as you can see from the pictures. In the first picture, dad is "stretching" his mouth to be ready to smile, and he says we took the picture before he was finished stretching.
One day about 6 months later mom and dad went to visit Leslee. Dad was still driving at that time, but was only to drive to familiar locations....Sonic, church, and to Leslee's and back. He wanted to go get some lunch on the way home, it was about 5:00 at night. He didn't tell anyone he was going to lunch somewhere other than on the direct route from Leslee's house to my house. At 6:30 I called them and found them on their way trying to find Claim Jumper. He knew it was on the road "Baseline" but didn't realize the restaurant was about 25 miles or 40 minutes away on Baseline, an especially long trip during rush hour. I gave him directions on how to get back, and then we talked about the importance of letting someone know where you are going....especially when you are only supposed to be driving from one or two locations to another.
Since then, I have taken dad to Claim Jumper a couple of times, and he always orders the same thing. This July we went again for lunch for his birthday, and he ordered the same thing. I knew he was in a different place physically and mentally as he thought I had gone out and moved the car during lunch. He "knew" we had parked somewhere differently that where the car actually was.
Dad had also learned that his favorite meal is too much to eat in one meal and this time he ordered his lunch divided, with half put in a take out box ready to take home and the other half served "on a hot plate" of course. Very clever as he had double the mashed potatoes and biscuits going that way.
Claim Jumper will always be known as dad's restaurant.