Moving Memories

As I go through my office and work on our art collection, I am reminded of so many striking memories. When I lived in California there was an article written about our collection and one day we came home and there was a package on our doorstep. Someone had read the article and left us an original painting that he had done. A priceless gift.

Give the gift that lasts forever and costs nothing. Adopt A Caregiver and tell them your friend Helene sent you.

Gifts are precious and I am so thankful for so many of mine.

My children and grandchildren have been incredible. I can’t thank them enough for all they are doing for us. It’s nice to be loved and to be wanted. I know they all want us back in California, and we are working on that. But there is a lot here for me to do in my office right now. Cataloging art, going through files and files, getting ready. I will keep you posted. This will be a two month job I think.

Keep love and kisses in your life. Helene

Moving Woes

Spending days going through my office, and wishing I wasn’t such a pack rat, but I am, and now I have to deal with it.

I’ve spent seveal days updating my files, never mind, throwing out papers. Funny, isn’t it? Not really. It’s a lot of work, and today, I think I finally made a dent in it, meaning I’m close to finishing this part of it.

Then, there are the pictures, the journals, my writing, books, recipes, office supplies…I keep telling myself, I have about four to six months before this move. And then I answer myself, saying it will take me that long to go through everything in my office.

I should take a break, and do my closet. That should be much easier, and faster to do. After all if something doesn’t fit, why should I keep it. I also have some dressy clothes from the 80′s, where am I going to wear them. I hate getting dressed up. The there are the things I hardly ever wear, what’s the sense in keeping them. Let someone else have a chance to wear them. I’m giving a lot of things to the Henderson Senior Center, they’ve been so wonderful to me and my new journey with Adopt A Caregiver. I just hope they find the room to store it all.

I’m finishing up my old journey, a themetic art collection. That is what is taking me so long in my office.

We had a realitor in today about our house, how depressing! We are in the worst market in the United States. Oh well, again, we aren’t putting the house up yet. My husband said it took him ten years to make me clean out my office, so even if we don’t move, it will be cleaned and cleared out.  (Which means, I’ll just start over collecting things.)

I am tired. I am grateful for so many things. Our weather is getting warmer, I have a good attitude, even when my Fibromyalgia is bad due to doing all the things around the house. Bending and lifting is not easy for me. But it needs to be done, so I’m doing it.

I’d love to hear from you, and I promise I will answer. So take care my friends.

Give the gift that lasts forever and costs nothing. Adopt A Caregiver and tell them your friend Helene sent you.

Keep love and kisses in your life. Helene

Homework

Yes, I have Anthem Authors Homework that should have been done last week. Now it’s due tomorrow, and I can’t let my team down.

We are preparing for our Memoir Workshop on March 17th. I hope we will be able to put this workshop up on our Anthem Authors new website.

Moving back to California. So much to do to clear out 10 years of stuff from a 3,000 square foot house. And I’m the packrat in the family. Guess I will have to change.

But looking at everything is fascinating! I have letters from my children from 40 and 45 years ago and I want to read each and every one because they are still so precious to me.

Also I have drawings fromn my grandchildren and I had so much fun reading their letters and drawings to us. We always knew we were special grandparents and this confirms it.

My new grandson in law has been calling the bank about a property nearby, and the woman at the bank finally asked why this was so important to him. His reply: “My wife’s mother lives about two blocks from us, and we want Gram and Pop Pop near us too.” The woman was stunned. and said something like, your wife’s mother lives two blocks from you and now you want your wife’s grandparents to move that close too. You must be one exceptional man. You are Rick!

Have to do my homework now, it was due a week ago. Tomorrow morning we have someone coming to look at the house so I won’t have time to do it tomorrow.

Talk to you tomorrow night.

Keep love and kisses in your life.

Adopt A Caregiver and tell them your friend Helene sent you.

Fibromyalgia Night

Sorry guys, this is a Fibromyalgia night, can’t think, hurting all over and just feeling overall miserable.

However, I still wrote a few of my adopted caregivers an email.

So, give the gift that lasts forever and costs nothing.

Adopt A Caregiver and tell them your friend Helene sent you.

Keep love and kisses in your life Helene

Computer Problems

Don’t you just love it when your internet and email goes down—every day. We’ve had 4 visits from Cox, and one more tonight. This time they changed the modem. There is nothing left for them to do. Frustrating.

But you know what, that is not the thing to focus on. Be grateful for the small things, concentrate on that. I’m trying to do that. It’s been a rough day, but I am still grateful the the little things in my life. My family, and I can’t wait to be with them again.

I think I mentioned that I am moving back to California. It will take several months, or more, but it’s something to hang on to, because it’s something I want. Very Much.

Another thing I’m hanging on to, is my Adopt A Caregiver journey. I know it works, and you do too.

It takes no time to send an email, and say, I’m thinking about you.

Keep love and kisses in your life. Helene

Give Yourself A Break

There isn’t much good news out there. So give yourself a break. Light a candle, have a cup of tea, be grateful for the day and the sunshine (if it’s there) write down some things you are grateful for, especially the little things.

We are working hard around our house, going through files, books, all kinds of stuff so we can move back to California. Didn’t we pick a great time to do this?

My husband’s car is in the garage. We have areas for trash, Goodwill, garage sale, and the Henderson Senior Center since they are kind enough to take books, pens, paper, all manners of odds and ends. I told them they will probably need a bigger center. I hope it helps them, even if they have a garage sale They are the hardest working people helping people I know. I salute you guys.

In my office, I have done about 25%. I still have drawers, file cabinets, pictures, junky things that I like and will have to get rid of. I keep telling myself, the move will take months, maybe a year or two with the economy the way it is and getting worse every day.

And then I give myself a break, and tell myself I will have more time for Adopt A Caregiver and for my writing. I have many writing projects to finish. My memoirs, short stories, First Lines, and ideas for two books, maybe three.

I will keep in touch with my friends, old and new. I will treat myself gently. And I will get my office cleaned out and better managed in the future. (Ha Ha)

I am grateful for everything I have. I feel blessed and I am going to be so happy to be back with my family.

Give the gift that lasts foreve and costs nothing. Adopt A Caregiver and tell them your friend Helene set you.

Keep love and kisses in you life. Helene

Community Helps Community

When times are bad as they surely are now, it’s even more important for us to band together and help one another.

That’s what communities are for. To help one another in times of need.

Well, let me tell you something, caregivers are always in need. In need of a friend, someone to pay attention to them, to let them vent, to talk about their day, or what they wish their day could be like.

That’s why Adopt A Caregiver works. Because people do care about people.

Give the gift that lasts forever and costs nothing. Adopt A Caregiver.

If you don’t know what it’s like to stand in a caregivers shoes, read my book, Behind The Mask. That is my secret journal I wrote during the time of my husband’s diagnosis of Alzheimer’s Disease in 1993 until 2000, when they changed his diagnosis. The journal saved my life and my sanity.

Adopt A Caregiver and tell them your friend Helene sent you.

Keep love and kisses in your life. Helene

Comments On Adopt A Caregiver

I want to share with all of  an email I received from Sue Bobby at the Henderson Senior Center. These folks are just the best, they don’t talk about caring, they do the caring. And It’s a lot of work. I salute all of you, and you in particular Sue. I can’t thank you enough for all you have done for me and for Adopt A Caregiver. This email made me cry.

“Of course you will be missed by the new friends you made here in Henderson, and yes, we will definitely keep in touch. I believe that you were meant to be here in Henderson for the time you have been here…to educate and inspire all of us to do more for caregivers.

Judy continues to tell me how she feels so blessed to have been brought together with her new caregiving friend Rhetta. They are tentatively planning on getting together to do some art work projects.

And one man, who is our patron, who has the young son who is the caregiver, has told us, by reading your book, he has gained some insight into what a difficult task his son has being his caregiver. This man has been able to be more independent and give his son more respite time lately. The man, who used to stay at home and not socialize using his near-blindness and deafness as an excuse not to socialize, now comes to the Center and volunteers his time with the Kids to Kids program and plays chess with others, and uses our magnifying machine to read books (like yours) and has a hot lunch every Tuesday. Tuesdays are now his son’s respite day to do activities with friends his own age.”

Adopt A Caregiver does work. Give the gift that lasts forever and costs nothing. Adopt A Caregiver and tell them your friend Helene sent you.

Keep love and kisses in your life. Helene

My Office

Deciding we are moving this past Wednesday night was the right decision. But, dealing with clearing the clutter out of my office is a nightmare. I have a huge office, with loads of built in storage, and everything is full to the brim…It will take me a month or more, working more than 3 or 4 hours a day. Papers to read, books to give away, that hurts, but it has to be done. Pictures, art stuff, loads of drawers filled with ‘stuff’ and more stuff.

I told Anthem Authors today that I would be moving to California, I think everyone was shocked. I wanted them to hear it from me.

The great thing is that I have the Henderson Senior Center to give the books, CD’s, VHS videos, cassette tapes, and a million other things. They will have to move to a larger facility in order to house all these books and ‘stuff’. I am so grateful to be giving it to them because I know all the people and they will have use for it, even if they use the books for raising funds. Thanks Sue and all of you at the Henderson Senior Center.

As for Adopt A Caregiver, my heart and my eyes overflow when I hear how well it’s working. It means so much to me and I know for sure, it means something to the caregiver, and also the person who does the adopting. Thank you all, I applaud you for doing this after my speaking about it to your groups.

Remember to keep love and kisses in your life. Helene

Distracted

I’ve been distracted all day. Hurting from the wet damp weather, and unable to nap or sleep well, knowing I have several projects waiting for me. One is due tomorrow, and that is part of the Memoir Workshop that Anthem Authors is presenting in March. I have it down in my head, but haven’t written it out yet, and we are supposed to be doing a dress rehearsal tomorrow at 3 p.m.

That means tomorrow morning before I do anything else, I have to do that project. I have to call several friends and have some business calls to make also, which means I will be distracted again.

It seems like my life is moving about 85 miles an hour.

We have decided to move back to California to be close to our children and grandchildren. More about that tomorrow.

In the meantime, give the gift that lasts forever and costs nothing. Adopt A Caregiver and tell them your friend Helene sent you.

Keep love and kisses in your life. Helene