The New House of Betty

Yesterday was simply chaotic. The early part of the day was calm but busy, but our movers (my cousins, their trucks, and a couple of Tom's friends/employees) arrived about the same time as the Physical therapist at about 11:30. We were also changing shift on caregivers at that time. Last shift for both Ning and Zemy. Suddenly the house was full of testosterone, lots of activity, and things were out of here in about half an hour.

We got everything up into the new flat in short order, Tom and his guys left, and David and I stayed to hang some pictures. At that point we still didn't have a key. David dropped me off back at mom's old digs, I made one more trip to take a few things we had forgotten and get the bed made, towels hung, etc, and came back to pick up mom and the last of the stuff. In the meantime the wheelchair (not often needed, but we have one just in case) had arrived and we had to figure out how to open and close it. Like microwaves, they work just a bit differently.

Mom and Ning had been delegated the task of packing everything else she needed into a travel bag. We loaded up the new wheelchair and walker, her commode thingy (appliance that sits over the toilet which raises the seat and provides handles for pushing up), and the travel bag and took her to her new home. The unpacking wasn't done because I always overestimate what I can accomplish in a short time. The bed was made, however, there were towels etc. in the bathroom, her furniture was in place, and it did look quite homey.

It was nearly the end of the dinner hour, so we went down to the dining room where I joined her while she had her dinner. The food looked really good! She had shrimp scampi with rice pilaf, two veggies, and applesauce cake with raisins for dinner. She didn't eat most of the veggies (too many days eating a modified version of my diet probably had her starving for fats and carbs) but finished much of her dinner and all of her dessert. Then we were back to the room to work on unpacking.

While we were in the dining room two ladies came up to our table and introduced themselves. One is involved in the library and Mom is really wanting to be part of that. Her apartment is just a few doors down the hall from the library, so she will be a regular there. There are also card groups, so she will be making friends before we know it.


When I get back to her place (now a bit sparse looking) I was absolutely exhausted. I was in bed by ten and slept like a log all through the night. I hope she slept as well.