Out and About.

I took Lola to the podiatrist this morning. She had an 11:00 appointment.I took 3 photos of her and each time I told her to smile. Each time, she supposedly smiled, but it sure didn't look like it to me. This last time I caught her laughing at me. She doesn't think twice about my picture taking. See, if you just carry your camera with you all the time and take a bijillion photos, pretty soon no one thinks anything of it. You just gotta train 'em.We stopped at Target when we left the doctor's office because Lola needed laundry detergent.Then we went to Old Chicago for some lunch. I had a soup and salad lunch special (Caesar salad and chicken dumpling soup ... damn that soup was pretty good.) Lola had the fish and chips lunch special with the same soup. (She also thought the soup was pretty good.) I dropped her back at TCV and unloaded her purchases in time for her to start some laundry and then go down the hall to participate in an Easter craft project. It was listed on her April Activity Calendar as some sort of egg painting with acrylic paints. I hope she remembered to take her camera and take pictures.

St. Paddy's Day Celebration

Lola attended a St. Patrick's Day Celebration last Tuesday. She even took pictures!! She tells me she didn't participate in the consumption of hard liquor but she did have some coffee and treats.

What's for Dinner?

I went to Lola's this afternoon on my way to the grocery. I refilled her meds for the week and chatted with her for awhile. I absolutely detest deciding what to fix for dinner. I said as much and it made her wonder what she was having for her "supper." She suggested I take an idea from her dinner menu for the week.
Three Meat Loaf (?!?!) Hmmm. No thanks. (What 3 meats do you suppose they use for that delicacy?) Turkey and dumplings. Hmmm. Too much work. I left Lola deciding what she was going to eat .... either Waldorf Salad or Sausage Lentil Soup. I, on the other hand, decided to fix breakfast for dinner and skipped the grocery.

Lola's Pictures

Here are some pictures Lola had taken this past week. This lady sits with Lola at her table in the dining room.
Here are some of the worker-bees in the dining room.Ignore the "date stamp" on the photos. It was set to December for some reason, as well as the year 2005. I believe I fixed the date on her camera but just in case .... I turned the date stamp off. Ha!

There are also pics of the graduation celebration dinner for Jess at Macaroni Grill. Wow, I just realized, this photo is a 4 generation photo and it's a good one! (Well, with the exception of the wrong date in the corner.)

Pharmacy Gals.

While I was at Albertsons picking up Lola's meds, I took a picture of the pharmacy gals. They were so kind to let me take their picture (I actually had to threaten them.)Blanca wasn't working the last time I was there and took a photo so she was quite cooperative and wanted to make sure they were ALL in the photo. These gals are very nice and quite helpful which is a good thing for someone like me who always seems to be there!

Celebrating a Graduation.

This afternoon Cathy picked up Lola to take her to dinner at Macaroni Grill. Jess graduated from nursing school today and they are celebrating. Barb is in town and was with Chris waiting at the restaurant for these gals. Congratulations Jess!! I was at Lola's refilling her meds for the week when Cathy and Jess got there. I was able to take a couple photos. Hopefully, they all remember to take more photos at dinner!

BINGO!!

When I stopped by Lola's this afternoon, I didn't find her in her room. After a brief search, she was located in the Activity Room playing Bingo!
It looked pretty fun to me. No one seemed to mind that I was taking pictures. I brought Lola a Strawberry milkshake, but ended up having to take it to her room to "store" it in her freezer for later. She needed to concentrate on the Bingo playing.Even though no one seemed to mind me taking photos, it (I) turned out to be a little distracting ... especially when it was discovered Lola had a Bingo! but was distracted and didn't say as much. That was when I decided it was time to leave.Oh well. Maybe next time!

Fat Tuesday

Robert stopped by Lola's on his way home tonight. Apparently, they were all out in the dining room celebrating Fat Tuesday with a glass of wine! You might ask ... where's the picture? I asked the same thing.

Robert: I didn't have a camera.

Me: Why didn't you use your cell phone?

Robert: I didn't think about it.

Of course, he didn't. We'll see if Lola remembered to take her camera. I can't be there (with my camera) 24/7 people!!!

Bowling . . .

Lola is on a bowling team. The Red Bowling team (if I remember right . . . I could be wrong.) Her team bowls every Tuesday at 10:30 a.m.Lola sits while she bowls. Yes, she sits.They Wii Bowl! Her team is pretty darn good. This is a picture of Lola's Mii. This is Joanna (I think . . . again, I could be wrong.) She has great form, don't you think? She was the high bowler for their first game! I think. I didn't stick around to watch their second game so I'm not sure how they scored for the day.

Lola is Full of Art.

When I was visiting Lola today, I asked her about her art class. She goes to class at 3:00 every Monday. She showed me what she had recently finished and what she was currently working on. She's pretty darn good!I left her just before she was leaving her room for her lunch. I walked around the dining room and took a photo of her table although no one was seated yet at her table.Then, I spotted Lola walking down the hall to check in for lunch. So, of course, I took a picture!

All is Well with Lola.

So this morning I went to see Lola. She said didn't sleep at all and was up and "out with two really good ones" at 3:00 am. (Apparently, Lola talk meaning 2 bowel movements.) I fixed her some cereal before I left since she didn't go to the Dining Room for breakfast. At 11:30 I called and told her to go to dinner even though she said she wasn't hungry. I strongly suggested, at the very least, she go eat some prunes. She reluctantly agreed. I learned later that she ate chicken and "grass" (salad, because I told her she needed to eat more fruits and veggies), potatoes . . . oh, and cherry cake. Pretty good for someone who wasn't hungry! Later this afternoon I stopped by her apartment with some dried prunes I had picked up for her at the grocery store. She looked (and was acting) much better. She was visiting with a friend and they were getting ready to go down to supper.This is Lola with Grace. Grace came by earlier in the morning to see if Lola was going to participate in carpet bowling. Lola told Grace she had been in the hospital so she was getting a slow start and declined the invitation. Grace was also there visiting with Lola this afternoon when I went by so I took a photo. Grace is originally from Canada. She likes to play cards. I left them at 4:30 so they could go to the Dining Room for supper. Looks like Lola is on the mend!

Oh. Oh.

Yesterday afternoon Lola called and said she had bad cramping in her stomach. We went to see her. We decided she was gassy and bloated and just really needed to have a BM. (Sorry, but that was our diagnosis.) She couldn't remember the last time she had one, a day maybe. When I pressed her, she said maybe two days. We gave her a couple stool softeners an hour after we got there and then we left. A couple hours later, she called again. Said her cramps were worse and she better go to a doctor. Since there are no doctors working Sunday afternoons, Robert decided to skip Immediate Care and take her to the Emergency Room instead.

Rj left the house at 4:00 and got back home at 11:00. He took Lola to the emergency room at Providence Milwaukie. They weren't sure either so they decided to do a CAT scan to see what was going on. Test results determined there was nothing wrong other than she was constipated. Prescription: Enema. She also came home with a prescription for a laxative as apparently the enema given at the hospital didn't entirely do the job. What's up with that?!

She's Been Shopping.

I picked up Lola's drugs at Albertsons and then took them to her at her apartment because I needed to refill her pill box before Thursday afternoon. I noticed there was a bunch of commotion going on in the dining room area. Lola at first couldn't remember what was going on but after looking at her Activities Calendar told me that it was the annual Valentine's Dinner. Apparently, she needed to sign up earlier in the month to bring someone to a Valentine's Dinner. Something she said she forgot to do. As a result, she told me her dinner time was 5:30 instead of 4:30. She also had a new/old recliner. Apparently she went shopping with Annette yesterday and they brought a recliner home. It seems a bit crowded but she's happy and that's all that matters. I didn't stay long. I still have a cold . . . that's all she needs.

Welcome

I decided it was time I started the blogging for Lola again. She's been quite busy since she moved into her new home in Clackamas. Above is a picture of the entrance of her complex. This is much better for her. She's around a lot of people her age so she has someone to visit with whenever she wants, as well as activities to get involved in on a daily basis. I will post as often as I can and hopefully with Lola's help we will have lots of pictures to share with you. I just have to get her to remember to take her camera with her whenever she does something!