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The Other Half has gone to China and Los Angeles for two weeks and left me with the house and most importantly the bed all to myself!! So far he has only been gone 3 days so I am still in the ‘loving it’ period. The most noticeable difference was that I had control of the TV remote so that meant a sport free weekend and together with not having to do the ‘train run’ this morning which, after over 25 years of school runs, is not my most favourite pastime, I am feeling good! Waking up after a full night’s sleep due to lack of snoring plus knowing that the stopwatch is not ticking is a joy beyond compare however I am sure the novelty will wear off very quickly. One of the disadvantages of being on my own means that I do however get woken by every bump in the night as I know I haven’t got Rambo (haha) sleeping next to me to defend me against all intruders. In the early hours of this morning the dogs thought there was someone in the garden but it turned out to be the cover for OH’s exercise bike which had been blown off and was flapping about which, according to my dogs, gave the appearance of a dangerous attacker!!

Whilst OH is away it is not feet up and daytime television as I have my hands full looking after my elderly and now slightly frail and forgetful mother which due to her recent refusal to move closer to me has meant that I spend many hours in my car. Her memory loss is causing her much grief as she keeps forgetting the most basic of needs for example she lost her address book so could not call me on Saturday when she needed to. I think an important purchase for me must be a laminating machine so that I can type up instructions, a list of important numbers or instructions for leaving the house so that she doesn’t lock herself out and then I can laminate these instructions and pin them up in the relevant place! Anyway as I become more and more submerged in this world of looking after the elderly I have started reading Phyllida Law’s latest highly entertaining book, How Many Camels Are  There In Holland?, the title being a question asked of old peeople when they are taking a test for Dementia (to give you a heads up the answer is less than 10 i.e. just the amount held in zoos or circuses and no I didn’t get it right). I recently took my mother for one of these tests which were both intrusive and humiliating as she got confused and I had to correct her if she made any huge errors. The only saving grace is that, due to her short term memory loss, she now cannot remember much about the appointment. So maybe it all serves a purpose as there is probably so much one wants to forget about life as one gets older and yet luckily, in my mother’s case, she still seems able to recall all of the happy memories. It is not a very realistic existence but then at 86 years old who needs reality?

However I am so lucky that I can organise so much of her life from a distance enabled by the internet and one of my most favourite and life-saving websites has been Cook Food  who….

“….. make remarkable food for your freezer, prepared by hand at our Kitchen in Kent, using the same ingredients and techniques you would use at home.”

Perfect for my mother or any elderly person as they do meals for 1, 2 or 4 and they deliver to your door plus there are many shops around the country for a wider choice.

We are apparently the ‘Sandwich generation’ i.e. caring for elderly parents whilst still looking after children so if this applies to any of our readers my advice is read Phyllida Law’s book, find Cook Food’s website and take a large pill for patience!!