India and More

I really don't like Monday mornings.

But the weekend was pretty decent, because I painted. I know I'm not good at it, but I don't care, because there's a whole genre of art that my work fits into: folk art. And I'm finding it to be a very therapeutic hobby.

Anyway, I listed a few things on eBay yesterday. I listed a folk art seahorse painted by my friend, K. If the price seems a little high, it's because she's a REAL artist, who sells her work in galleries in Miami and elsewhere for thousands of dollars. This piece is a steal... and you can find the listing here.

And here's an owl I painted this weekend. A lot of people think "if you've been wise..." may have something to do with an owl, and the owl is a powerful symbol in Native American folklore. So, I painted one. I like to blend colors, and I think this one isn't too bad...

If you would like to help out a struggling single mom make up a little from income lost taking days off to care for my mom, you can find the listing here. K has also donated her painting to help out, and she will split the sale of her painting with me.

And then, I painted my interpretation of The Little Girl from India. I thought it was pretty funny. If you want to buy this little piece of chase history, you can bid on it here.

And I think I'm ready to sell "Love Story," although I do want to touch it up a little. I'll even out the dark spots and make sure the  color is uniform. You can find the listing here.

Tesuque isn't quite done, but I hope to have him listed, as well as a few other trinkets and baubles, by tonight or tomorrow.

Have a great day!

Fridays are the best.

Thank goodness is Friday. I'm exhausted. And my boss and I have decided our office has "sick building" syndrome, because everyone is sick...again. And it's a weird sick that lingers with stuffy noses and what I call "glue snot," which is impossible to blow out until you go on a five minute sneezing spree.

Yesterday, I went to visit my mom at lunch, and dropped off some paperwork, and then the lady in the business office there gave me a mountain of more paperwork to fill out. Yay. But at least my mom ate half of a Frosty and almost half of a hamburger.

Despite my snot glued sinuses, I did sleep a little last night, and had a vivid dream.

I dreamed I was at the movies with chase friends, but I can't remember who they were. As we were walking in the parking lot toward the theater, there was a panic in the distance, growing closer. At first, all we could see were vivid balls of purple energy light being shot from something. People (mostly kids) were running and screaming. As whatever it was grew closer, we saw the energy was coming from a teenage kid, and he was purposely launching this energy at people from his hands.

The energy ball looked a lot like this:

The energy would envelope the person it was aimed at, and the person would freeze for a few moments and be lightly shocked. It was more terrifying for the person than painful, but I couldn't let this kid keep doing this. So, I start walking up to him, and he's hurling all this energy at me, but, you see, my powers are stronger than his. Lol. So I disintegrate his energy with just my mind, and teach him a little lesson by giving a little energy back, but mine's invisible, so it's better, and more powerful. The kid is absolutely terrified, and runs away but is screaming he'll be back.

Then, after the movie, the kid comes at me again, and this time his energy is more powerful, and more difficult to stop. I didn't understand how he could've gotten more powerful in just a couple hours, then some girl comes up to me and says it's a power inside all of us, but only people who's learned to use their minds differently can do it, and once learned, it can be honed and made stronger. She handed me a book that explained how to attain the different "levels" of power. So I read it and increased my power accordingly, but I didn't even have to use it, because the kid's dad showed up and started scolding his son, then took him home. Maybe when he got home, he got spankins from both his mom and dad. Lol.

So we decided to stay and watch a showing of the remastered Star Wars. You know, because we're nerds. Then I woke up.

Not much else is going on. My mom is hanging in there, but she's really weak and sleeps a lot. I think she knows the end is nearing, because she tells everyone she has only a few days left. So I'm visiting as much as possible, even though she dozes. Like you all have said, I know she hears me when I talk, because when she wakes up and becomes more lucid, she remembers.

I'm looking forward to getting off work early and coming home and finishing up my paintings, or taking a nap, or both. :)

Have a good weekend! Once I post my new ebay things, I'll post the link.

Most likely over

if all goes according to plan, the chase will be over by the end of September. :)

Epic Search/Birthday Trip

I'n so excited! James is taking us on an epic search and birthday trip. We'll be going sometime in September, and our first stop will be Santa Fe. We're gonna stay at the Inn and Spa at San Loretto, and also meet with a documentary producer.

After that, it's off to our secret search location. Hopefully, I will have it solved by then, but I have the general area. It could be in any of the four states, so don't assume it's New Mexico because we're starting there. The Santa Fe part is mainly a birthday and producer meeting thing. We also want to visit a couple places we didn't have time for the last time we were there. I would like to just check that abandoned Bullet looking car in the woods to see if I can find a serial number on it. Curiosity, you know.

In order to take time off work and help James with expenses, I need to sell some more stuff on eBay, so I'll be listing some things for pretty cheap. I'll probably list my Noritake china by the piece, and sell my EliptiGo locally. If I can sell those and a few paintings, I'll be set. I'll also sell some diamond jewelry for extremely cheap, too. Those listings should start going up tomorrow, and I'll post the link then.

For those of you who read my ChaseChat post the other day about Aggie and red letters, I'd like you to know I found Aggie again, clear as day. This time, I'm not telling where. Lol.

I'm also hoping to get a hot spot post up by Saturday, highlighting some archaic meanings of poem words that can't be found on the Internet. You might be surprised! You might also be surprised to learn the prefix, root, and suffix meanings of words in the poem and repeated words in TTotC, like helicopter. For example, helic/o- and heli/o- are two different prefixes. One has to do with the helicopter and means "spiral," while the other means "movement or growth in relation to the sun."

This is a heliograph, which is a signaling device using the sun and mirrors.

Mom update: My mom, although she has regained her speech and ability to feed herself, is weak and tired, and telling everyone she has just a few days left. I'm not sure, because her labs are coming back not too messed up. She wants a LOT of attention, which Aidan and I are trying to give her. Aidan brought Monet for a visit yesterday, and said my mom was being ornery with the nurses, and that she didn't look well at all, and that she still believed there were strange people in her Palm Beach "home."

It seems like she has gone back to childhood. When I reminded her yesterday morning that Aidan was bringing Monet, she responded with a shrill "Oh boy, oh boy, oh goody!" Just like a little girl would say when told she was getting a puppy.

And she's demanding chocolate ice cream at all hours of the day and night. I'm doing my best to accommodate her, but she calls me every ten minutes when I'm not there, and demanding things from me that she can easily get by pushing the call button for the nurse. Like a glass of water. Or the television remote. At 3:00 am. Or while I'm at work. And those are times I just won't accommodate her, and she pouts and says I'm not being strong enough because I can't jump to fulfill her every whim all day and night. But today, I have to sign my mom's Medicare over to the nursing home so she can get hospice there, so I'll take a lunch today and do that, and bring her some chocolate ice cream.

But, my mom is probably right--she doesn't have much longer left. Then again, knowing her, she will bounce back and go on for a few more years. It's hard to say. But, for the most part, I'm prepared.

Time to get dressed and get Joe to school...have a great day!

I Forgot the Subject

I had a light-hearted post planned for today, but I forgot it.

I did have a really weird dream where Forrest came to my house and met my mom and he had one of his kids and a great grandchild with him. The great-grandchild really took to me, and I wanted to give her a cookie, because she was hungry, but I looked in two different pantries, and I couldn't find any cookies, but I did have some crackers, so I gave her those. Then the next thing I know, is that we are at F's house, and he was having a party. The house was huge and gorgeous, but I realized that it wasn't F's house, but a relative's, who lived down the street.

Then I fell asleep on their couch, and when I woke up Forrest was sitting with me, and he asked if I wanted to see his house. And then he was gone, and I was supposed to find my way to his house by myself. I remembered seeing it in a picture, so I walked down the street and easily found it. Then, a sleek looking plane landed in the driveway, and a seaplane landed behind it. Shiloh got out of the first plane, and Forrest got out of the second one. I was impressed, and he said I would get to fly one once he helped me get my pilot's license.

There was a party going on at his house too. And he showed me his swimming pool, then walked on to the next room he wanted to show me. But before I turned away from the pool, a lion pounced from nowhere into the pool and I heard a person scream just out of earshot. I rushed out, and there was a flurry of activity on the pool steps. The lion had escaped through a hole in the fence, but not before biting off the hand of a swimmer. There was a guy there trying to stop the bleeding, and I said I worked in Orthopedic surgery, and he laughed and said, "I'm a doctor, but thank you."

Okay, then.

Anyway, it was a very vivid and strange dream, and very long...I just posted the main points.

Yesterday, I got Volume One of an Archaic and Provincial Words Dictionary. It's REALLY interesting, because it gives you meanings of words that can't be found any longer online. So they are literally "forgotten words," even though many are words we still use today. For example, do you remember the word "crean," that Forrest referred to in a MW Six Questions with Forrest/ He said it referred to something automotive, but in this dictionary there's actually another meaning. It means "heart," which is what I think "chest" in the poem refers to. I think I'll do a hotspot on some of those forgotten words that may pertain to the poem soon.

I also discovered something interesting when going back to find the word crean, and that was some of the names attached to questions to Forrest. Serge Teteblanche asked a couple of questions. Serge means "a strong, twilled fabric used for coats." And Teteblanche I remembered from high school French class. It means "white head." There are a couple things that come quickly to mind with that word--bald eagle, or a white, snow-capped mountain. Forrest talks about going bald before his hair turning white in the book. No place for the meek could equal Baldy, or Bald. or from my archaic dictionary, bold (balde). Hmmm...

James is coming on September 10th, and staying for a while. We think we might go on a search/chest retrieval sometime around there, if my mom is stable enough. I did consult with hospice, and home hospice is not an option, because once hospice is moved to the home, it's considered self pay, and costs are up to $6000 a month. It is simply out of the range of my budget, unless I sell my paintings for astronomical amounts, which just isn't realistic. However, they will provide hospice care at the nursing home, and that will all be covered by Medicare. I just have to get the Medicaid approved for the nursing home.

I've got some more chase related ideas for painting, and hopefully I'll be able to start those paintings today. I'm hoping to make some paintings that searchers wouldn't mind owning as a folk artsy keepsake memory of the chase. I know I'm not a "good" painter, but folk artist's aren't professionally trained by definition. So, I expect as I paint more, I'll gradually get better. My Tesuque painting was the first painting I painted from a photograph, but I still wanted a cartoon aspect, hence the exaggerated eyes. Lol.

Today looks like a short, relatively easy day at work. Yesterday was pretty hectic, but I got a lot done. We have a new medical assistant starting today, so I'll be teaching her some physical therapy things and the computer software. And teaching her some of the basic surgery protocols.

I am finding my energy level rising very slowly. I'm finding that after work, I still have some energy left for other activities, whether it be visiting my mom or painting or researching my solve. Except for last night. I fell asleep around 8:00 pm. Lol.

Speaking of the chase, someone named "spacecade," aka "Norman McDonald" has posted 556 comments on my hotspot blog just this week so far. Wow. He's from the UK, and a newbie, I'm guessing, because he apparently just got a book. His comments are strange, for sure...

Anyway, time to get ready for work. Light blue surgical scrubs today...I like them best, because they're extra baggy and comfy. :)

In a chaotic stasis...

Saturday was a stressful day for my family. Over the last week, my mom deteriorated quickly, becoming even more confused and talking just plain old crazy. She called me 49 times on Friday, asking where she was and why she was there. I explained over and over that she was in rehab, and there to get strong enough to come home. Then the calls turned angry, and she asked why my brothers and I were doing this to her. She asked why I had chopped up Monet. I told her Monet was alive and well and happy, and she started sobbing uncontrollably, so thankful and happy that Monet was alive. Then ten minutes later, Monet would be chopped up or poisoned or killed in some other way, and it would start all over.

Then, she started calling 911. And her caretaker, and telling her to call 911. So I got a few calls from the Sheriff's office inquiring what was going on. Apparently my mom told the caretaker that my brothers and I had taken her out of rehab and put her in my upstairs bathroom and were going to kill her.

So, I called the rehab and told them maybe it was time to take away her phone for the night. I told them to tell her that her whole family would  be there to see her in the morning.

First thing Saturday morning, the rehab called and said she was refusing her oxygen again. So my brothers and I rush over (my younger brother had arrived with two of my nieces at 12 am the night before), and my mom is in bed, and totally unresponsive, but wearing her oxygen. I asked the nurse if they had sedated her, and she said no, my mom had refused all her medications that morning, and kept saying she wanted to die.

My mom remained almost totally unresponsive the whole day, except for very brief periods of lucidity. One time, she woke up and looked around at everyone and said, "Hi!" in a cheery voice. Then, she was gone again. Her eyes were open sometimes, but unfocused. She really appeared to be dying.

Here's a picture of Aidan and my younger brother, Patrick, holding my mom's hands.

The next day, we were all there early in the morning. We were surprised we hadn't been called during the night with news that she had passed. The nurse said there was no change. But when we went into the room, she seemed a little more alert. Her eyes were open and seemed to track things that moved. Then she said, "Thirsty!" so I helped her drink, and she drank two cups of water from a straw. Then she looked fiercely at my sister in law and told her to "GET OUT!" (My mom has never liked her, but my sister in law only wants the best and has been a huge help)

Then, my mom gradually came back. She insisted that she was awake the day before and that she was "talking with her eyes." She wanted something to eat, but wouldn't tell us what she wanted. We all started offering suggestions based on things she normally enjoyed, but she shook her head at everything. Finally, she said "Spaghetti." So my younger brother went to Olive Garden and got her spaghetti, and she ate about 1/4 of it.

The remainder of the day, she seemed almost normal. There was talk among the nurses that my mom had been faking it. My sister in law, who is a hospice nurse, also suspected that she may have been doing it for attention. That was hard for me to fathom, but it did seem like it.

But then yesterday, when things returned to normal, I went to visit her in the morning, and she was back to talking crazy, saying that her room was her old home in Palm Beach, and she didn't know why these people were in her home, and that moving men with big city buses had come and stolen all her expensive things.

I relayed this to my brother and SIL, and my sister in law said that the weekend may have been her "last hurrah," and she would probably start really declining.

So yesterday, I spent part of the day arranging for nursing home or hospice care, whichever was appropriate. I finished the Medicaid application and inquired about funeral arrangements. Then, I went home and painted a little to take my mind off things. Today, my mom seems to be doing okay, but still on the gradual downward slope. Aidan is going to bring Monet to see her.

I brought Monet to see her Saturday, but my mom wasn't aware of her being there. Monet seemed to know something wasn't right, and laid his head on her arm...

Anyway, that's where things are right now. I'm not sure what is really happening, but I'm as prepared as I can be.

For now, it's time to get back to work.

This weekend, I'll have some new art up on eBay to try and help make up for time lost at work. My friend Karen, who is a real artist, is donating one of her pieces, and is splitting the sale with me 50-50. I thought that was so generous and I'm so grateful for all of my friends. Here is the piece we will be selling together:

The description is: Painted free hand by folk artist, K. This acrylic painting is done on vintage Frederic canvas board. The painting hangs from two chic retro chrome clips. The work is a Steampunk Seahorse. Originally painted in 2013 as a challenge. The painting has been in the artist's collection since creation. The dimensions are 30 inches long by 15 inches wide. The vintage canvas board is 1/4 inch thick.

My friend has also commissioned me to paint two more Ice Pick Lickers Club for Christmas gifts! How awesome is that? :)

I'll also be listing a couple paintings this weekend. I have a new one of Tesuque that's almost done, and my "Love Story" of the girl and the dragon is almost done. Aidan is also planning on donating a painting of a mermaid she's working on, but of course, she wants most of the proceeds. Lol. Here's a preliminary glance at Tesuque (remember its not finished):

Anyway, I hope everyone has a great day!

Update: my mom has been unresponsive all day but reacts to stimuli like when Monet gives her kisses, she moves a little. She squeezed my hand once. We will move her to hospice on Monday.
Thank you for your prayers.
For those who thought I was lying or exaggerating about her condition, shame on you.

And for those of you who think of Asperger's as a disability, you are sadly mistaken and greatly ignorant.

Prayers

Mom took a turn for the worse yesterday. Prayers appreciated.

And for the record, anyone who thinks Aspergers is a disability is WRONG on many levels.

Oh, Most Blessed of Days

It's Friday, finally! This week sort of lingered around like a bad dream. Yesterday wasn't too bad. My mom arrived at my work by transport for her follow up appointment for her broken hips. Her hips are doing well, but she was still actively hallucinating. While we waited for transport to pick her up, she stayed with me and my boss in our office. My boss heard some of the common themes about lizards and dragons and poison gas, and I was a little relieved to hear her handling it like I did--with gentle reassurances that those things weren't real, and that she was safe.

She's also started to talk like she was in the past. She asked what we were going to make for the turkey dinner that night when my Uncle Tommy got there. That broke my heart, because I didn't want to have to say there wasn't going to be a turkey dinner tonight. However, it also made me realize that she might really want a turkey dinner, so I'm going to do that for her this weekend, and bring it to her, even though she probably won't eat it because she'll think it's poisoned.

I'm about ready to apply for her Medicaid. Right now her stay in rehab is covered by Medicare and her secondary insurance. I'm not sure she will qualify for Medicaid, even though her only income is social security. While she's been in rehab for the last few months, her bank account has pretty much remained untouched except for her BCBS premiums, so she's got some money saved up. I also learned that her internment next to my father is paid for, although the funeral isn't. Since she didn't really have any friends, her funeral will probably be just a few members of our family.

Okay, I don't want to think about that stuff right now.

So...everyone is talking about this new Netflix show called "Stranger Things." I've watched four episodes with Joe, who loves that show. It's kind of a combination of horror, drama, mystery, and mom-who-will-do-anything-to save-her-kid thing.

Although I'm weirdly compelled to watch more, I'm not sure what the appeal is. It's set in the 80's, and the writers did an excellent job of flooding our senses with all things 80's, from Dungeons and Dragons to rotary telephones, to The Smiths. The idea of this monster that mutilates some people and kidnaps others mystifies me. To me, only having watched four episodes so far, it appears to grab people from our dimension and take them to an alternate, much darker one. I don't know why it does this for some, but just flat out kills some others, like the yellow chem suited guy who went willingly into it's lair attached to a heavy steel cable, and returned as a bloody pelvis.

So, if a full grown adult can't evade this faceless thing, how can these kidnapped kids remain alive for such a long time in it's lair, and evade it's capture when it's literally breathing down their necks?

I'm having a hard time grasping that. Lol. And during the first few episodes, there was a lot of dialogue that makes editors cringe. The info dump. Too much exposition revealed in dialogue solely for the purpose of giving information to the viewer. In other words, unrealistic dialogue.

The campy horror scenes only bothered me a little, as I recognized the writers were trying to incorporate an 80's-type theme, and many movies from the 80's were campy. Like the car hesitating to start at the time it really needs to start. Lol.

The character I really like is Eleven. That little girl is a good actress. The emotion she conveys with just her eyes and mouth is very believable, and powerful. And it's pretty cool she has those "wizard" superpowers. The reaction of the toothless kid to her powers is classic.

Anyway, the reviews of this show are all gooey good, so I'm excited to see how it ends.

Time to get ready for a short work day. I'm going to paint this weekend. I am going to paint this weekend. I am going to paint this weekend. There. I've said it three times, so it will happen. :)

Developments

Shortly after I finished my blog yesterday morning, the rehab called and said my mom was refusing to put on her oxygen. They said she had worked herself up so that she was "minutes" away from cardiac arrest. So, Aidan and I rushed over.

By the time we got there, my mom was in bed with her oxygen on, but not looking well or happy at all. And when she started talking, it just got worse. She was more than confused; she was talking nonsense and craziness. I realized she was having some pretty vivid hallucinations, and those hallucinations stayed active and strong all day.

I called my brother, who told his wife who is a hospice nurse, and she said that it could be a reaction to a medication change compounded by her urinary tract infection. Or she could simply be starting a transitioning process into death.

She said she was forced to watch a video the night before, and it had been sent by her three kids. And as she watched the dreadful video about how kids "bump off" their parents, my brothers and I were "standing in the hallway, laughing, and saying how great it would be when Granny was gone." (We never have called her "Granny," by the way.

I explained that my brothers and I weren't there the night before, and that we loved her and weren't laughing at her. She didn't look convinced.

She said that after the video, which she watched in the hacienda mansion that had pink marble floors, they took her back to her room and put her into bed. At that time, the room began to fill with powder and mist, and she looked up, and a "beast's head" in the corner of the room had descended from the ceiling and was pouring poison gas into the room. I asked if it was still there, and she said, "Not right now."

She asked how my brother was coming along with the plan to bump her off at 4:00. I calmly told her that there were no plans to do anything like that, and that I was trying to bring her home, although I didn't see how we could do it at this time. I have one sibling, my older brother, about 35 minutes south of me, and he hasn't helped much (until this past weekend when my SIL saw exactly what I've been dealing with alone for the last three years). Private duty hospice is very expensive if my mom doesn't qualify for Medicaid. We are applying for Medicaid, but while in rehab, she hasn't spent much of the money she gets from social security, because she hasn't had to pay for prescriptions. So she has more than $2500 in the bank right now. I'm praying the Medicaid goes through.

I also have to work, and my siblings work, too. My younger brother lives in VA, and has pretty much disowned my mom, so he can't be relied on to help.

My older brother and SIL offered to help me move her from where she is to a really nice nursing home in Titusville, which is close to their home. They said it was time to give me a break and for them to start helping, too, and I really appreciated that.

Anyway, my mom isn't eating. She thinks everyone is trying to poison her. She said her eggs and bacon the rehab served yesterday for breakfast had lizards that breathed fire in them, and the lizards had shot into her body and were breathing fire into her veins, and fire was like pop rocks in her wrist and popping out her ankles. She said she saw purple and yellow lights floating around her room, and lights flowing through her veins.

She said lizards were everywhere--under my chair, on her bed, in her body, in her food, and they were trying to breathe fire on her and in her and she was on fire, and the poison gas was misting about the room. Aidan was growing very distraught, so I asked my mom if she would eat some McDonald's. She really needs to eat. I don't think she's eaten anything for a couple of days. Normally, my mom would LOVE McDonald's, and she brightened at the prospect, briefly.

Aidan left, and I calmly kept trying to assure her we weren't going to kill her, had no plans to ever kill her, and that we loved her. I told her she was having hallucinations and tried to show her that what she was seeing and feeling wasn't real. I explained if there was poison gas in the room, everybody would be dying, not just her.

When Aidan came back with the McDonald's, she took out her fries, and ate two or three before she inspected the box and said, "Can you see them? Right there! Their puny dragon heads are popping out of the fries." Then she said they were poisoned.

I took the box and ate several fries and said they were delicious. I told her they weren't poisoned and she needed to eat. I opened the hamburger box for her and she ate three bites, then said it didn't taste right, and there were white poison things in it.

She kept complaining about fire and being so hot, so I felt her skin, and it did feel very warm, so I got the nurse and had her take my mom's temperature, which was a little high.

I explained to the nurse what was going on, and she said she would notify the doctor. She came back a little while later and said they were discontinuing one of her medications and ordering her labs.

Then my brother texted and said he was on his way. And Aidan said she was going to go home and get Monet in an effort to distract her from the hallucinations.

I thought that the hallucinations about fire, and lizard's and beasts, might have something to do with a fear of going to hell. My mom was raised Catholic, and she liked to listen to a certain priest on tv on Sundays, so I went to the case worker and asked if we could bring in a local priest to pray with her and give her communion. He said he would arrange that.

When my brother got there, we talked with the case worker and got things rolling to get her evaluated for hospice and transferred to the place in Titusville. My SIL works at that place, and she would make sure my mom got plenty of attention. And it's not too far for me to bring Monet on the weekends.

By then, it was 3:00, and I had promised Joe I would watch a new Netflix series he likes, and I also had to gather all the things needed to apply for Medicaid. Aidan was on her way with Monet, and my brother was still there, so I felt it was okay to leave. My mom also seemed calmer.

So, I went home and watched "Stranger Things" with Joe, and multi-tasked at the same time with Medicaid stuff. Then, Aidan called and said my mom freaked out when Monet got there, because she was terrified that the lizards would get Monet and burn her. And she didn't want Aidan to give her a hug, because my mom was afraid the plastic beads on her shirt would "weld" them together, since they had turned to silver and were on fire. And she was even too afraid to hold Monet for fear of Monet getting burned, and that really made me sad.

I called the rehab nurse and explained my mom was still actively hallucinating. She said the labs came back normal, and the doctor would be in soon. The nurse seemed confident it was the new medication that was causing all this, and now that it had been stopped, my mom should be back to "normal" in a few days. To me that's a long time to spend in terror.

Anyway, yesterday was a sad day.

Around bathtime, I was in a somber mood, and I decided to give out one of the most definitive things I've found in the chase. I posted the method to find it, and emailed Forrest. Then put a quick shout out on CC, telling them to look at my blog. But after a couple minutes, I had second thoughts, and took it down. Knowing CC, they would have ridiculed me no matter how convincing and indisputable the evidence, and I didn't want to invite that on myself right then.

Someone on my hot spot page (and I know who it is), has posted over 300 nonsensical comments in the past two days. It's amazing how some people think I'm so idiotic, yet they spend hours wasting their time posting hundreds of nonsense comments on my blog.

Wow, it's already 6:00. I'll leave you with one cute thing from yesterday. While we were watching TV, Joe fell asleep, and Hermione aka Crappy, fell asleep on Joe's leg, and Monet quickly joined her.

And then a little later, I cupped Monet's face in my hand, and she just plopped down and fell asleep on it.

Never mind...

Never mind...don't bother...

Math is terrible

The more I solve of Forrest's poem, the more I'm finding that math is inevitable. Or at least numbers are inevitable. I've known numbers would play a role in the solve, but not really like this. I don't think all the numbers I'm finding are important, and the trick is to find the numbers that are important rather than the numbers that are just extra "noise."

I do realize that the important things are BOLD, though hard to detect until your eyes adapt.

But my eyesight is not the best, and trying to decide which things are bold isn't super easy. I did find a nice crow, though. Very Forrest-esque drawing. :)

But the idea of having to do something with the numbers I'm finding over and over is daunting. Some are easy, like highways. Others, I'm not sure what they mean, because they're combined with letters that aren't N, W, E, or S.

I'm almost done, though, and have the state, the area, and the geography. I just have to "connect the dots." And do some math, maybe.

However, time is still my enemy. There are so many daily struggles, and my mind is in fifty places at once. I've got to find a way for my mom to come home to die (that I can afford). The ideal is home hospice, but I'm not sure me or my mom have the kind of money that will take. My brother is helping a little, but not financially. My sister-in-law has been a huge help with good advice, as she has been a hospice nurse for a very long time. She posted this on Facebook the other day, and I thought it was very nice and compassionate.

It is hard to see my mom decline so quickly. And I've never dealt with anything like this before, so I'm sort of at a loss how to go about things. I've been meeting and talking with case workers, and my mom calls me about twenty or so times a day, very confused and just asking me not to forget her, and that no matter what, she loves me. To me, that sounds like someone who is preparing to die. I'm thinking of taking the day off, or at least leaving work early today, so I can bring Monet for a long visit. That's what she really wants, and that's what makes her happy.

My brother is checking into funeral arrangements. We think that before my dad died, he paid for my mom's final costs and made those arrangements, but we don't know for sure, so he's checking into that. That's a huge help to me.

Joe had a rough day at school yesterday due to beginning of the year shyness. We talked for a long time, and I think he's doing better, but my heart breaks for him, because I see a lot of myself in there, and I remember the struggles with shyness I had as a kid. It was debilitating.

So last night, I found myself praying a lot, and I do feel more at peace. I think when bad things happen in clumps of "rain," it's like a test. You can either wallow in the mud, or you can look up, find the break in the clouds, and put one foot in front of the other til you emerge back into the sunshine. I'm not a wallower, even though sometimes I feel like just sinking. But that's not an option, and I do what I have to do to make it back to the sunshine. And that journey back to the sun might not be fun, and might mean sacrifice, but I do what I have to do for the good of myself and my family. And the only way I can do that is with God's strength. Because I simply don't have it. He's the reason I make it through any hardship. :)

Birthday Boy and Discoveries

First I have to say Happy Birthday, James! I wish I was there to celebrate with you, but we'll have a big celebration when we go get some treasure in the middle of September! Should be perfect mountain weather! :) You are awesome and I am honored and blessed to have you in my life!

And yes, I have a secret, so hard to contain, major discovery yesterday, and almost ready to travel...

Since I started this chase about 3 1/2 years ago, I've been on a determined and super fun corps of discovery across the Rocky Mountains. Since my life altering trip to Colorado with my son, I have actively participated on the blogs, and created my own blogs that talk about the chase.

Countless people have emailed me, and many have emailed me their solves, some of them quite good. But the actual solve involves many elements. One of my first solves was a "periodic table" solve. Brown had to do with rust, which is related to the element of iron, which is Fe.

There are many elemental references in TTotC. Rust is mentioned many times in both TTotC and TFTW. There's the "heavy brown color" that was left on Forrest's pants when he slid down the fire escape to experience the freedom and sunshine outside of Miss Ford's Spanish class. In TFTW, Forrest talks about a beloved pet, Rusty.

He also mentions Thor, which I thought could be a reference to Thorium. Salty tears and saltpeter could refer to Na. The oxygen in the plane at 49,000 feet could refer to O. He also refers to aluminum, which is Al. He refers to gold, Au. Saltpeter could also refer to potassium, which is K. Titanium is Ti. Milk is a source of calcium, which is Ca. Silver is Ag. Cobalt is Co. Einsteinium is Es. Nickel is Ni. And Bronze is an alloy which contains some of the following, Copper (Cu), Manganese (Mn), Zinc (Zn), Arsenic (As), Phosphorus (P), and Silicon (Si), in addition to others previously mentioned. Lightning is associated with nitrogen and nitrates (N).

And there's probably more, but I couldn't make that solve work, anyway. Lol.

I've had many solve theories, some of them really, really terrible, and some of them pretty good. But my solve now is the solve. I don't think anyone has found what I have, but if they have, they're keeping it very quiet. I emailed Forrest a couple little things last night, but haven't heard back.

And I'm not going to talk about it any more than I already have, because I do want to find this thing, and too many hints have already been given.

Anyway, with some luck, James and I will be heading west in September. :)

Wow, this post makes almost no sense...that's what happens when I have to rush!

I Can't Believe It...

I can't believe Joe is in tenth grade today! Wow, he's growing up so fast...it seems like just the other day when he was like this:

And now he's in tenth grade and will probably be driving by this time next year. And Callie is in 11th grade! But she doesn't want to drive yet, because she can just Uber everywhere. Lol.

Of course, we waited til the last minute to buy school clothes, and shoes and stuff. And we ordered it all online this year, because Volusia County switched to polo shirt "uniforms," so all the kids will look pretty much exactly the same. Shopping has never been easier. Lol.

I spent almost the entire weekend at the rehab and working on my solve. I made progress, for sure. I now know what I think is the location of Forest's secret fishing spot, but I'm not convinced it's the spot where the treasure is hidden.

Next weekend, I'm taking a break from the poem solving, and I'm going to do some painting. I'm sort of disappointed in myself that I didn't do any this weekend. And the weekend went by way too fast, too.

Tomorrow is James' birthday. I'll have to think of something special. I think he's coming down for my birthday next month, and we'll celebrate both then. :)

Okay, I'm going to give you all a hint. As I progress with my solve, I've realized that you probably could use just the poem to find the treasure, but you would have to be extremely lucky. And I mean extremely! You would basically be playing hit or miss with the thousands of warm waters halting with canyon downs, etc. And then when you figure in the possibility of alternate meanings for the words in the poem (ie, yellow equals warm, waters equal tears, etc), then you can multiply the possible starting locations by several thousand more.

Using the book to help makes it infinitely easier to locate the PRECISE starting point. If you read the poem, then read the book slowly, you'll find places where warm waters halt, and on the pages where warm waters halt, you will find subtle hints that are very important. I'll give you one example.

When Forrest says something is important or useful, you can be sure it's important and useful. On one particular page in TTOTC, there is this sentence, "...punctuate the moment with something useful, like a waiter or the paperboy."

Punctuate means to give something emphasis, or to mark in a way to give emphasis to. Okay, so why did he say "a waiter" and "the paperboy?"

Because, the PHOTOS are important.

Page through the book and find the picture of Forrest as "the paperboy." Such an innocent picture, don't you think? However, look closer. Really really close. Concentrate on the light and dark areas. Your eyes will take a while to adapt, but they will, if you have a brain that allows a little imagination.

But is there a picture of a waiter in TTOTC? I couldn't remember, so I slowly flipped through the book and looked at the captions below the pictures. And I almost couldn't believe my eyes when I found the pic with the caption that Donnie looked like an "untipped waiter." And the picture, even with untrained eyes, looked fishy to me. However, after staring hard at pics for a few days, certain things in that picture practically leaped out to grab me by the shoulders as if to say, "What took you so long?"

And that, my friends, is a huge hint. However, I've learned that even though I'm convinced this is right and have tons of evidence, with coordinates and place names and highway names and intersections, maybe only one or two of you reading this will abandon your current methods to check mine out. Everyone believes so much in their own solves that they aren't open to anyone else's. Heck, even James hasn't abandoned his solve despite what I've shown him and what he's seen with his eyes. But that's okay. No one has to believe me for it to be right.

One thing I've discovered, though, is that girls seem to have an advantage, because our eyes seem to adapt better than men's, and men have a harder time discerning colors and distinctions between colors.

I'll even give you a couple of words I've found, out of the good will of my heart.

I've found "US 12 at I 15," which I didn't know at the time I found it, is an intersection in Helena, Montana.

I've found Bessie, and May, and May 2nd. I know what Bessie refers to, but that's a secret I'm not telling. I'm not sure what the significance of May 2nd is, but here are a few things I've found on the Internet:

1670 – King Charles II of England grants a permanent charter to the Hudson's Bay Company to open up the fur trade in North America.

1964 – Vietnam War: An explosion sinks the USS Card while it is docked at Saigon.

1955 – Tennessee Williams wins the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. (Remember the pic of the tiger pelt on the tin roof in TTOTC?"

1892 – Birth of Manfred von Richthofen, German captain and pilot (d. 1918)

It's real significance is probably none of those, but I thought these are the ones I know about that are worth noting.

Anyway, my time in the mornings have grown shorter for a few weeks until the school drop off line smooths out their wrinkles.

Who said the following quote and where can you find a reference to the author in The Thrill of the Chase? The first to answer in the comments, I will give a very nice hint.

"The sky is filled with stars, invisible by day."

Forgotten History

I won't talk about the fiasco at ChaseChat last night. I'll just sum it all up with a quote from Mahatma Ghandi:

That about sums it up, don't ya think?

Anyway, I woke up a little early for a Saturday and on the American Heroes Channel is one of my favorite new shows: America's Most Badass. One of the Presidential experts is Daniel O'Brien, from one of my favorite websites and YouTube channels, Cracked.com. Another is an author of a book called Forgotten History.

The episode I'm watching now pits Andrew Jackson, Howard Hughes, Evel Knievel, General Patton against each other for the title of Most Badass. Right now Evel Knievel is in the lead because he tried to rocket cycle over the Snake River Canyon in Idaho. I'm not sure that qualifies as bad ass or crazy, but I'll go along with bad ass. Howard Hughes is coming in dead last--I guess even a show about bad asses has  to have a scapegoat.

I like this show because it makes history fun, and gives us a side of history not generally talked about in the classroom. And I can't help it, I love Daniel O'Brien. He's smart and hilarious--a winning combination! He also hates cats and his dog is named Jackson President O'Brien. He also wrote a book called How to Fight Presidents, and was investigated by the Secret Service for it! How can you not love this guy?

I thought I'd dedicate this post to some badass women in history, and I'm not going to limit it to America. This could end up being a really long list, so we'll just say this episode one. In this episode, we'll feature some ancient female badasses: Boudica, Joan of Arc, and Lady Jane Gray.

Today, we'll take a look at Boudica (or Boudicca).

Boudica was married to a Celtic Iceni King, Prasutagus. Not much is known about him, except that he was an ally of Rome, yet independent of Rome and was allowed to retain his status of king over his traditional lands. 

When Prasutagus died, the greedy Romans decided they wanted all of what Prasutagus had, and they took it in the nastiest way possible. They publicly flogged Boudica, and raped her two young daughters. 

That's not somethin' you should do to a Celtic queen, or any mother who's badass enough to fight for her family. Boudica decided she wasn't going to mewl like a weak little mouse and willingly surrender everything that was rightfully hers, and she was going to personally make sure the Romans would pay for what they did to her daughters. Man, I love Boudica. She also loved her lands and people so much that she did everything in her power to keep from losing them and becoming slaves (or worse) to the brutal Romans.

I would have loved to hear her address her tribe as she rallied an army to resist the Roman forces, who greatly outmatched Boudica's army in training, arms, and numbers. I'm sure it was inspirational and charismatic. They had to know they wouldn't win in the end, but they sure weren't going down without a fight for what they believed in--freedom.

The historian Tacitus wrote the following paragraph about Boudica, and you can almost hear the admiration in his voice. And Tacitus was a Roman, and generally the Romans skewed their details of history to make themselves look better.

"Prasutagus, king of the Iceni, after a life of long and renownded prosperity, had made the emperor co-heir with his own two daughters. Prasutagus hoped by this submissiveness to preserve his kingdom and household from attack. But it turned out otherwise. [After his death] kingdom and household alike were plundered like prizes of war, the one by Roman officers, the other by Roman slaves. As a beginning, his widow Boudicca was flogged and their daughters raped. The Icenian chiefs were deprived of their hereditary estates as if the Romans had been given the whole country. The king's own relatives were treated like slaves. And the humiliated Iceni feared still worse, now that they had been reduced to provincial status. So they rebelled." (Eyewitness to Ancient Rome, 197).

Here are a couple of the only known quotes of Boudica:

"If you weigh well the strengths of our armies you will see that in this battle we must conquer or die. This is a woman's resolve. As for the men, they may live or be slaves."

"I am not fighting for my kingdom and wealth now. I am fighting as an ordinary person for my lost freedom, my bruised body, and my outraged daughters."

And Boudica showed what an ordinary woman fighting for her freedom and family can do. She mounted an army and like a Valkyrie, bravely charged into battle. 

She first struck the Roman city of Camulodunum, and the people there appealed to Governor Suetonius for help. He was like, "Aw, she's just a woman and her army is a bunch of woad-tattooed barbarian Iceni. Let's see, a force of about 200 soldiers should take care of this gnat. And arm my forces lightly--they won't need much to put this lowly woman in her place."

Yeah, you can guess what happened. BOOM! Boudica destroyed them all, and leveled the city.

I wish I could have seen the look on Suetonius's face! 

Then, with that victory, Boudica rode on to London. Suetonius was there, but when he saw that Boudica had more soldiers than he had anticipated, fled the city, leaving it to be demolished by Boudica, who did just that.

She then moved on to another city and destroyed it, too. She seemed unstoppable, although she had to know in her mind she would eventually find her army far outnumbered, and that it was only a matter of time before she fell. What makes Boudica badass is that she didn't care. She was fighting for her family and her freedom, and even if she fell, she'd made her statement. She did her best, and that was all she could do. She was badass because she faced her certain fate bravely. She had decided she would rather die fighting for what she believed in rather than let an enemy make them into slaves.

While Boudica was laying waste to Verulamium, Suetonius decided she was an enemy to be taken seriously. He brought in a small force of his best soldiers, and his best advisors, and they formed a plan of defense and attack at Boudica's next target. They assembled in an area where the woods were behind them, and open country in the front. That put them with the advantage because they couldn't be attacked from behind.

Boudica eventually arrived, and the two armies faced each other. Tacitus says both leaders gave their armies inspirational speeches.

Unfortunately, Suetonius's advantageous position proved fatal for Boudica's army, and the Romans began to slaughter the Britons. The remaining Britons saw the battle was hopeless, and fled. Boudica and her daughters also escaped, but they knew their time was short as Roman soldiers were hot on her heels.

Instead of being killed or taken as slaves by the enemy, Boudica and her daughters performed one last badass feat; they drank poison and took their own lives.

So, Boudica is near the top of my list of badass women in history. In my book, a badass woman is one who stands for what she believes in, no matter what the danger or risk, or ultimate cost. She battles for those things that are important to her, and doesn't let anyone take those things from her without a fight. For Boudica, those things were freedom and family, a just and honorable cause.

Next time, Joan of Arc...

To wrap up, I'll also end with a quote from Mahatma Ghandi:

Noise

Sometimes the world is too loud for me.

I'v e never really thought about it before, but there are different kinds of "loud" that affect me in different ways.

Too loud are the cats at 4:30 or 5:00 am in the morning, desperately meowing for their kibbles and stinky clumps of soggy brown clumps. Their meowing just makes me want it to stop, so I hurry to get them fed. I guess they have me trained pretty well.

Here they are, happy again.

Too loud is when coworkers complain about "don't sweat the small stuff" stuff. I think I've mentioned before that my office seems to be neutral territory, where both factions of staff feel safe to vent. And although I like being neutral, sometimes the complaining gets to be too trivial, and just too loud. I wish I could just shut my door on those days.

Fire alarms are always too loud. Although I guess it's good that they are.

But there are also seemingly quiet things that are too loud, like the rehab my mom was in before the one she's at now. Loud doesn't always have to be an audible noise, and I realize that now more than ever. When things are too loud, I have an overwhelming urge to get away. Crowded places do that to me. At my mom's old rehab, I think that somehow the stress in that place from residents not being treated very nicely can manifest itself as an inaudible sound for a sensitive person. I really believe that. I think that's why I had the overwhelming urge to get out of there. I had thought that it was because it was cramped, and maybe that was part of it. I also thought it could be a subconscious awareness of death and hopelessness, and that could be part of it, too.

But I remember as a teenager and college kid, I belonged to a church who would go and visit the nursing home in Merritt Island, and we'd sing to, play games with, and just talk to the people who lived there. I didn't feel it was too loud there, and I don't feel like its too loud where my mom is now. So, I think Port Orange was too loud because of some not very nice things going on behind the scenes.

There have been studies that seem to prove that strong emotion in one person can be physically felt by others. Maybe to me, the resident's strong emotion was felt as a loud yet inaudible "noise."

But sometimes loud can be comforting. I remember when I used to go surfing "Dawn Patrol" and be one of the only ones out in the water, sitting on my board as the sun rose higher in the sky. The sound of the ocean is one of the most calming, most soothing loud noises in the world to me, and it's part of what made being in the water so special. I remember the distinct, unique sound of the water lapping against the sides of the surfboard, and sometimes while waiting for the next set, I'd lift the nose a little and slap the board down just to make that noise a little louder.

Here's the path to one of my favorite secret surfing spots:

Rain and thunder, to me, are also an enjoyable loud noise. Until the power goes out, anyway. Lol. I love really rainy, stormy days, because then I have an excuse to stay inside.

Here's Callie and Aidan outside on our balcony in Merritt Island during Tropical Storm Fay in 2008.

Birds singing can sometimes be too loud in a bad way, if they start before the sun rises and I'm trying to sleep. I remember when we lived in Albuquerque, springtime meant the birds would start way too early. Lol. However, if I'm awake, and the birds outside are singing, I enjoy it.

In my neighborhood we have several families of Sandhill Cranes, and they have a very distinctive call that I can sometimes hear at odd times outside my bedroom window. Here's one little happy family:

The sound of leaves crunching under my feet as I walk on a forest trail are loud in the silence, and soothing. I like that sound very much. Raking leaves in the Fall (when I lived in states that actually had a Fall), was also a soothing sound.

Fire crackling is a nice loud sound. Unless it's my house burning down, I suppose. Lol.

Loud can be more than the physical sense of hearing. It can be colors, or even noise in photographic images or drawings. A busy photograph is not often very appealing to the eyes, and sometimes can be too loud.

Here's a picture I took at Megacon in Orlando. Holy cow, that event was WAY too loud.

Which brings me to my solve, and why it's taking a long time. Yoda mentioned that my solve must not be as 100% as I claim because it's taking so long. To that, I say he or she is partly correct. I know I'm solving it the hard way, and I know there's an easier way, but I just don't have it yet. However, I can still solve it, and am making progress that CAN be measured. There are eight corners. I've found the trail through four of the corners now. Two days ago, I had just one corner done. Today, I have four. That's measurable progress. It's like following the instructions when your putting together that IKEA dresser. You're making progress as you finish each step. It's measurable, contrary to what someone says on ChaseChat.

And honestly, I can't say how long it will take me to make it to the end. Life happens. As much as I'd like to get to the end and head West to pick up the treasure, there are things that are way more important than a bronze chest, even if its contents were worth ten million dollars. I've got things going on in my life that take priority over riches and glory. So, Not-Very-Wise Yoda, that is why I'm not dropping everything and rushing out to grab it. You might think wealth is everything, but I don't. My family will always come first.

And Forrest, if you're reading this, you know what I mean by "noise." I'm slowly adapting my focus to see through the noise, but it is difficult the way I'm doing it. But if the same results can be reached by doing it the hard way, I'll keep plugging along until it's done. I really enjoyed your lion, by the way--very cute. I like discovering your art. It's fun. :)

The Whine of Monday

Weekends need to be loooonnnggger.

So much I want to do, but not enough time to do everything. I did get a lot done this weekend, though. Of course, I waited until the last minute for school shopping, but I'm glad I did because Old Navy had everything for cheap. And since Volusia County made the switch to "uniforms" (really just orange, black, or white polo shirts and jeans, or tan or black shorts), it made shopping a breeze. Just two of everything. Lol.

This is the last week before school starts. Then, back to the rigorous morning schedule of waking up earlier, getting Joe up and going, and taking him to school. Next year, he'll be able to drive. Woohoo!

I didn't get to paint this weekend, though, and I really wanted to. But I forgot what I wanted to paint, so I have to wait for that memory to come back. I still haven't finished my Pokemon/Little Pony style "Love Story" painting with the girl and the dragon. And I think it's time to start painting some chase related things. I have some ideas that you'll only get if you have a weird sense of humor.

The bad thing about oil paints is they take SO long to dry. Now I know why they use "waiting for the paint to dry." Because it takes a long freaking time! How the heck did Eric Sloane finish a painting a day, when he could only put two colors on at a time? I know, I know, because he probably had ten paintings going at once. That's what I need to do too, I spose. I need bigger canvases, though. My little 8 x 10 ones are sort of small, and some of the things I want to paint demand more space.

I am closer to the point where I will be able to head to an exact location to retrieve the treasure. I found some very interesting, non-deniable things last night, and it's very, very exciting. I'm not going to talk much about it, though, because I've said way too much already. However, I also believe I could lay out EVERYTHING I've found and still have a host of unbelievers who can't believe that Forrest would do something so whimsical. Those are the same people who can't reconcile his seeming contradictions. I can reconcile every single one of them, because they aren't contradictions if you know what he's talking about. And the only way you'll know what he's talking about is if you know how to solve the poem.

I see some other glimpses of what I have discovered in a few other's posts, but I still don't think they have the precision yet. I could be wrong, though.

Anyway, I had a pretty decent weekend. I'm glad my mom is in a place where she can feel safe. There are a couple of quickly approaching hurdles I have to figure out some way to jump, but I think everything will work out. One thing I think I need to consider, though, is a smaller, easier to maintain, house.

Here's a pic of my mom and Monet from this weekend...

The New Place

Wow, my mom's new rehab is like night and day from Port Orange. She has a huge private room, a nice view out the window, attentive and compassionate staff, and she said she progressed more in one day in physical therapy than she did in six weeks at Port Orange.

Monet and I went for a visit yesterday, and unlike Port Orange, I didn't have the urge to get out of there as  fast as possible. It was a completely different vibe. I'd mentioned to James that while visiting my mom at Port Orange, from the minute I stepped inside, my anxiety level escalated until I had the urge to flee as fast as I could. I had attributed that feeling to the somewhat cramped space, but now I think it was more than that.

In the new rehab, I feel completely relaxed, and my mom's severe confusion has pretty much totally resolved, although she still can't remember what happened on that Friday. I got a comment yesterday saying that if it were the commenter's mom, she would have taken her out and kept her at home until she could take her to a new place. I just want to say that would have been impossible for me, for a number of reasons. The most important is that if I had checked her out of rehab, it would have been very hard to get her placed in a new one. It was hard enough with changing rehabs when she was in the hospital. And I'm not qualified to provide the kind of care my mom needed at the time, even for one night. Bringing her home was just as risky as leaving her in Port Orange for one more day.

Anyway, the only traces left of her confusion is her recall of the name of Port Orange Rehab. Yesterday, when we talked about it, the only part of the name she could recall was "orange." She called it "Red Orange," "Orange Peel," and "Real Orange." Lol.

She was very happy to see Monet, though. Monet was happy to see her, too, although she had to check out every inch of the room.

After the visit, I went home and just relaxed. I played a little Dragon Age Inquisition, and just basked in the calming of my mind. Here's a video of a scene in Dragon Age that I found pretty funny, although sorta stupid. I know, my comments are juvenile and silly, but that was the mood yesterday, so I don't care. :)

Today, I will manage to do a little cleaning, as well as ordering Joe's school clothes (Voluisa county made the switch to uniforms this year--makes it easy). Hopefully, I'll make some time to work on my poem solve.

Have a great weekend.

Breathing time

Wooowhee, the last couple days have been off the charts stressful.

As I said in a previous post, my mom has been really, REALLY confused since whatever happened last Friday. The week has been full of police reports, DCF investigations, an admission into the hospital for that strange bout of confusion, and struggling to get her placed somewhere else.

I've got a real problem with Port Orange Rehab. Not only did they threaten an employee with termination of she told me what she witnessed, but they also blatantly lied to the DCF investigator, who says they said that absolutely nothing (not even bullying or verbal abuse) happened last Friday. They explained the ripped off fingernail by saying my mom had ripped it herself. They explained the black eye by saying my mom has a bait of rubbing that eye and "resting her hand" against that eye. What a bunch of bull.

So, anyway, DCF apparently leans toward believing the bullies over the victim. And apparently, the two law firms I've called so far think it's okay for the elderly to be pushed down, emotionally abused, and ignored to the point of getting recurrent UTI's is just fine as long as they weren't visibly injured with more than a black eye and ripped fingernail. So, nursing home employees can get away with ANYTHING as long as they don't leave serious visible injury. I guess emotional trauma and assault and battery don't mean anything.

Not this time. I'm POSITIVE something happened to my mom. I've been advised to contact the nursing home ombudsman to see what help they can offer. I know it looks bad that my mom changed her story many times in her confusion. However, I feel her confusion was a result of whatever trauma she endured. She wasn't confused before this happened. And now that she's in a new safe place, she's no longer confused, but still can't remember what happened to her.

I would also like to get a psychiatrist's opinion about all this and see if it's possible that a traumatic event could cause confusion and memory loss.

But it's not over yet. If this has happened to my mom, I'm sure it has happened to others. And will happen in the future. I want it to stop, and will do everything I can to make sure it doesn't happen again.

And wouldn't you know? The person who allegedly did this to my mom has quite the rap sheet. You can find a list of her offenses here. Wow, everything from drugs to DUI to domestic battery. Makes you wonder why a nursing home for the elderly would hire someone with so many arrests, especially ones that involve injury to someone else!

Oh no, this isn't over by a long shot.

Anyway, after a couple rehab facilities refused to take her because of her allegations and confusion about what happened, I finally got a call from a nice place in Daytona, and my mom was transferred there yesterday. She was very sad, not talking, and not eating. I finally got her to talk to me when I got there and asked her why she was so sad. Her room was MUCH larger, and private, with a nice big window, nice view, and the TV was big and got a lot more channels than the other rehab. She also has a nice recliner and more places to put personal items like photos.

She said, "I'll never see Monet again."

Shattered heart, again. I got up and went to the nurse's station, and asked if I could bring Monet to visit. They said yes, and when I told my mom, she instantly sat up straight and squealed with joy. It was like watching a little girl when she holds a puppy for the first time. My mom literally started to cry with joy. She asked when I will bring Monet to see her. I said, "Tomorrow," and another squeal of pure, unadulterated joy.

That made me really happy and instantly relieved. I asked a stupid question then. "So, you're happy now?"

And she said, "Oh, yes! I can't wait to see my whittle baby girl!" Lol. She then ate a whole grilled cheese, some soup and some Milano cookies.

So all is working out on that front, and I forgot to mention the staff at the new place seem very nice and have been extremely helpful.

Anyway, sorry about the lack of pics lately...but I do have a couple I guess I can post...

This is Monet and Hermione (formerly Crappy, formerly Trappy), snuggling after an hour of play...

Then Monet notices I'm like the Paparazzi, sneaking photos of a secret love affair:

Then, the Bieber-like paw blocking the shot...I had to use evasive manuevers to keep her from wrestling the phone out of my hand. Lol.

But then I guess she really didn't care...because she went back to sleep. :)

And here's a pic from Mindquest, where James and I took the kids last Saturday. It's an escape room place, and we did "The Haunting," which was their second hardest room. We didn't escape in time (it was HARD), but we did have a happy time. When I saw the aviator hat with goggles, I had to have a pic, because my PlayStation aviator is a girl with an aviator hat and goggles.

And, for the record, I am NOT pigeon-toed. I only sit that way sometimes. :)