More thoughts on aging parents

The first night in the FROG - family room over the garage - for you non-Carolinians - I thought it was a little cold. It was not until the next day I realized at least two of the windows were open at the top - obviously inadvertently left open by someone, as the dollar bills flew out the window on winter days and nights. How long they were open I don't know. For all I know, dollar bills were flying out the air conditioned house all summer as well. Other than my first night staying in the FROG, the house was kept a little warm for my tastes, but I understand older people tend to be colder.

I didn't mention last post how I cleared out my parents' freezers, one in the kitchen proper and one in the garage. How many bags of frozen vegetables and cheese does one need? One piece of salmon in the garage freezer was dated 2006 - need I say more? I made an executive decision to chuck out all opened bags (for the most part - unless it was something really good like nuts) so a human, any human, could actually see what was in the freezers.

After I left, my Dad took a hard fall - complete with hitting his head - all for a donut crumb. Now I don't know if he found that crumb but I hope it's the last time he tries that.

During my visit to N.C., one of my mom's friends joined us for lunch one day. She was looking for common ground and asked me "Do you like the wine - like your mother?" For the most part wine give me a headache, but that doesn't stop me a lot of the time.

Unrelated thoughts

• We have had a couple nipping incidents with Toto, after 6 months in our family. I've even taken to watching the dog whisperer and even called in a dog trainer. More on our session next post. The common denominator in all incidents is that I was present . . .and Toto has felt confined. As my father-in-law said, "If he really wanted to he could do some damage." This actually gave me some hope but I don't want to find out if he can do some damage - I want to nip it.

• Daniel asked me what it took to be a big boy.

1. Potty trained - check
2. Know how to read - learning
3. Eat all vegetables - mostly

• Upon seeing my bra hanging in my room, Daniel asked what it was. "Those are my holsters," I replied, within earshot of Doug. I heard Doug shortly thereafter explaining to Daniel that it is actually called a bra . . .