Hockey and Karen's Cooking All In One Day!

Hello I am Karen, Josh's girlfriend, should be wife by now but what can you do. LOL! JK. Josh and I live together in the KOP area and try to make as many attempts to catch up with mother when we can. It just so happened this past time we needed to take mother for the day since the bachlorettes were all busy with their J.O.Bs or other things. The day started out early with phone calls from Melanie and Meredith. Mother was not having a good day. She was up early and getting ready to hang out with us but unfortunatley at that moment she did not want to. She thought we were "taking her away", to where I never know but sometimes you just have to roll with it. Melanie and Meredith convinced her that it was just a fun day to celebrate her birthday since it had just passed. When we showed up at the ATG house mother was sitting in her usual spot on the couch ready to go being "visited" by Zach whom she adores. We were on a tight schedule as we needed to get to Josh's recreational hockey game by 1pm in Lampeter, PA. He plays for the KillaBeez thought I would give them a shout out. Ha. So when we got to the ATG house we picked up mothers necessities. Crack aka Pepsi, Anti-nervousness pills and last but not least cigarettes and then we were off.

We arrived at Josh's hockey game and mother was excited to watch Josh play. She has gone before to the games with me so we just hung out and sat on the bleachers while the team got ready to start. Rich who is Liz Ward's husband told us that Liz and their son Ivan were playing on the playground next to the hockey courts. The Ward's have lived near the Benson's their whole lives and have also popped out hundreds of children so mother was very familiar with them. Mother was so excited so I asked her if she wanted to walk over and play with Ivan and of course she wanted to. The one thing about mother is she loves children, especially her grandchildren Julia and Lily! She lights up every time she sees them. As we were walking over to the playground area mother told me how cold it was, which it was. It was one of those supposed to be nice spring days that ended up being cold and windy. As soon as we got to the playground she walked over to say hi to Ivan and Liz. She played with Ivan on the slide and the other playground equipment for a lot of the game. There were also 2 other little boys running around and mother would also try to communicate with them but I think they were more scarred then eager to play. They were at that age where they would try to get your attention and then laugh and run away. Boys!

We decided to go back and watch some of the game. It was great Josh got his first pently of the season so mother was asking what he did and why he was in the cage. She seemed interested in the game but was excited when it was over because it was cold and windy. We left the game and decided to bring mother back to the KOP house for dinner since everyone was still out and about.


KOP is about an hour and a little bit from Lampeter so it was kinda a long drive. We got to KOP and headed up to relax and get some din din. I had started a roast before we left in preparation we would have 3-5 for dinner. Was not sure if Melanie or Meredith would be stopping by. Now one thing about me is I am no cook, I do not claim to be and I rarely do it. This was my first roast attempt in the crock pot. It seemed easy enough so I went with it. Mother took a seat on the couch and so did Josh while I was looking things up on the computer. I knew Josh would be tired since he just played hockey but mother I did not think we had exhausted her that much. According to this picture though she had definitely been worn out.

Next thing I know I see Josh tucking her in on the couch and they both decided to take a nap. It was cute.


Meredith came to pick mother up after her shift and when she got there the roast was ready to be served! I failed to mention that since I knew there was potential of having mother for the day Josh and I stocked up on cookies, muffins, pepsi and kitkats. All of mother's favorite food groups! When we got to the house Josh placed some kitkats, cookies and a pepsi in front of her. She ate all the kitkats and ate almost the entire chips a hoy cookie container. We probably should of just given her a few at a time since we would be eating but ohs well its mother and she always gets what she likes and wants!

When I went to serve dinner I made mother a plate filled with pork roast, vegteables and potatoes. I thought she would love it. She took one look at it and said "eww whats that" ha I guess since she had to go to Josh's game and come and hang out with us afterwards and ate a bunch of snacks trying my dinner was not on the list........

Our little change collector

It first kind of started out with Mother picking up coins and handing them to us but now she has really developed a passion for her change collecting. It makes her so happy when I find coins on the ground and pick them up and give them to her. She will say something about oh, these are mine or even giving them to someone. I'm not sure if I've ever mentioned it but Zach helps out with us. Mother loves him and has known him for 20 years (since he moved down the street). She talks about him when he's not there and when he's there she loves it. Last week when he was sitting with Mother she kept collecting change, giving it to him, and saying that she needed to pay him for staying with her. She even said thank you to him. Those brief moments of clarity of so overwhelming and beautiful at the same time.

Yesterday when we were in the car I found some quarters and gave them to Mother and the first thing she said was that she needed to give them to Zach. Zach went away on a trip for the week and Mother was PISSED when she found out. We told her on Sunday and she was so grumpy we didn't know what to do but offer her her favorite food, ice cream. We asked her if she was mad at us or Zach and she kept going "i don't like him" and shaking her head and making mean moaning sounds. She was so mad he wasn't going to be around for the week and she said well, we have to find someone new, which we wont. Don't worry she's not mad at Zach anymore and is even continuing to collect change for him. I think maybe she is going to try and buy him when he gets back, hahaha.

Routines

It's strange because Mother goes in and out of routines and you never really know when one will end and the next will begin. For awhile there it was her coming up and down after she went to sleep and now it's her waking up at 7am and asking where we are going, what she needs to do, etc, and comes back anywhere from 2-8 times depending on how she is feeling. Today, I saw a different routine, one that she has done for many, many years. Mother has smoked on and off for many years but after a several month break Mother started a few months ago. Of course, she is well monitored and there was even a study saying that nicotine is good to slow the progression of the disease, so she'll get what she wants. She sometimes puts it in backward but now she asks if its right. The really weird routine she does is that even if she doesn't have a lighter in her hand (which she really doesn't because its too hard for her to light) she will do the same exact motion as if the lighter was in her hand. I've seen this tons of times but today I took the cig out of her hand and put it out and looked down and she was putting the "cig" out with her foot, she was squishing it into the ground and everything. It's kind of cool to see old routines are still in the noggin.

Grumpy Mother

Sometimes Mother gets grumpy and we aren't sure why. It's kind of funny because you know she's grumpy and it's just figuring out what will make her happy. You could say the nicest thing and she'll just kind of brush you off. After we went to see Lily we went to eat and Mother sat down at the table next to us and for 5 mins she wouldn't come over to our table and sit with us.

Notice she has her hands in her pockets. She's grumpy.

the baby... (baby here means the actual baby not the cat)

Mother finally got to see her new baby, Lily. She loved every moment of it. She kept talking about how big she was then how small she was (she changes what she says a lot). It so nice to see her happy holding the baby.

Lily has arrived...

Nancy and Erik (sis-in-law and brother) had their second beautiful baby girl: Lilia Reese yesterday. Mother loves being a grandma. We are going to visit Lily and the gang today and Mother has been up a million times asking when we are going to go see her (she normally gets up a million times and asks what we are doing but now there is actually a reason to her madness).

Mother was just talking to me and she was smirking, patting her leg, and talking about the baby. The baby is big? When will I see her? The baby, the baby, the baby....

It's so cute. Mother is so excited and happy, what a rarity.
We're going now so pictures will come after :)

Grocery Shopping

 Mother doesn't normally go to the grocery store but it's always an interesting experience as usual. When we go grocery shopping we normally just get tons of stuff and then not go for awhile again, so it takes awhile. Mother walks pretty slow and gets easily distracted so after a little bit we give her the part to push, which  
she loves just as much. She basically gets whatever she wants but we make sure to point out her favorite sections: ice cream, debbie cakes, tastycakes, pasta, candy, (black licorice, chewy candy, chips, pretzels, chocolate candy, basically everything) and her crack (pepsi). Clearly, we have to limit it because we'd literally come home with 2 boxes of every snack item. Sometimes when we are ringing up we find some mysterious item s from her; she's a sneaky one. Mother also enjoys chatting with random people like babies and workers. What a social butterfly she can be.

About a month ago Melanie, Mother, and I went to wal-mart to get our boatload of groceries. Mother definitely made sure she was stalked with her goods. Mother did pretty well during the entire shopping experience until check out time.  We started to put the groceries on the conveyor belt and Mother picks up a Hershey's and tries to open it so we got the cashier to ring it up and we gave it to her. That kept her pretty entertained for the majority of the time but then we asked her to go to the front of the cart. While we were continuing to check out Mother starts to wander off so we kept having to grab her or tell her to come back over. The cashier was so nice and just kept smiling and she made a good impression on Mother. After a few moments like these we gave Mother a bouquet of flowers to hold (Melanie let her pick out the flowers for our front table). Apparently during the checking out time she changed her mind and in disgust told the cashier, "eww, the they're horrible, just horrible, ugly and ewww....the smell. Here smell (at this point she points them up to the cashier's face and the cashier smirked, smiled and said, 'they smell good, like a daffodil'). Oh, alright, I guess." We were cashing out and Mother did just a little wandering and said goodbye to the cashier and we went on our way. When we left Mother said she liked the cashier. She really made my Mother's day but also Melanie and my day, too!

This week Mother and I went on a semi-big grocery trip (it can't be big without Melanie because she runs the household food items and knows exactly what to get and when to get it). Mother left with a new matching sporty jacket pant set, a 42 oz bag of Chocolate M&Ms, Fudge Oreo Cookies, movie size Dots and Mike N Ike's, and 2 six packs of Diet Pepsi (She's watching her figure, ha ha. We have to limit her intake of these items because we've definitely come back to find complete boxes/bags of items eaten  by her in one sitting). She did pretty well but I had to guide her a few times because she got distracted by items when she was pushing the cart. She would either look away and push the cart or stop in the middle of the aisle or right in front of everything. There's no rhyme or reason to what she looks at because it could be something that we may want, something she wants, or maybe she isn't actually looking at anything but just standing there because she doesn't feel like walking. She gets bored easily and/or is a bit lazy. We were wrapping up our shopping when I stopped in the fruit section and told Mother I was just running to get some plums which were only about 5 feet away. I swear I was only gone for 15 seconds but when I returned Mother had apparently been talking to the sample lady. She said, "look here" and pointed. I went over with her and said asked her if she wanted some and she she said no but then the lady pulled them out of the toaster oven and convinced us to stay. They were these really cool and delicious Pillsbury crescent rolls nachos I thought were delicious, however, Mother did not. She exclaimed, "Eww, yuck, eck" and started to spit it out and I had to grab the napkin and put it up to her Mother and grab it. She just said "what", giggled, and moved on. The lady just kind of looked a perplexed. I just smiled, thanked her, and hurried after Mother her was ready to check out! She didn't do much during the check out process and the packing and unloading went well. She sure was worn out. She had an extra long nap this day!