The Fun Continues!

Well it is after 1 a.m. and I can't sleep so I may as well blog for the week.  I'll start with two funny stories for the week.

So a few days ago I hadn't been able to sleep for some odd reason.  At 6:30 a.m. when I should have been up getting ready for the day I hear this weird sound that I faintly recognize..  I managed to wake up enough to ask Richard if it was the phone or an E-Call.  He informed me it was an E-Call which meant I had to get out of bed, put my slippers on, and go stumbling across the dining room to get to the office, fiddle with my keys until I got the door unlocked, and managed to get in and get the alarm turned off.  Mind you I am still in my flannel jammies with my hair sticking up every which way.  Any of my family who have seen me first thing in the morning will verify it is not a pretty sight!

Anyway I get the alarm turned off, the piece of paper torn off the machine that tells me where the call is coming from, taped in the book, and then I wait and I wait.  No call comes from Richard telling me what is going on.  Finally I see him coming down the hall shaking his head.  I say to him, "So what was the big emergency?"  He says to me, "Francis had dropped her hearing aid and couldn't find it.  Since she is almost blind she didn't dare walk around because she was afraid she was going to step on her $900 hearing aid and break it.  So----it becomes Richard's problem!"  The funny thing was a little later that morning I saw Francis and said to her, "So Francis I understand my husband was in your apartment this morning."  She says to me, "I really don't know who that man was but he helped me find my hearing aid.!!"  I said to her, "Francis!  Are you telling me you just let any man in your apartment that you don't know???"  She says, "Well I am almost blind and I had to find my hearing aid!"  Oh my!

Then there is Fred that I told you about last week.  Blind as a bat.  This week he takes a tumble and decides he has broken his neck. Does he pull the cord for E-call?  Nope--he calls a cab to take him to the hospital and after they check him out then he calls our shuttle driver to come get him.  Go figure!  Maybe he thought if the ambulance came it was going to cost him a bunch of money.  As we say, some of our sweet residents are "very happily confused!"

This week the yearly increases in rent came.  You can imagine the uproar that causes.  Now mind you every single year about this time they get an increase.  So besides dealing with that our Enrichment Coordinator was fired last week so we had to hire a new one this week and help to train her.  The very ornery Regional Sales Leader had been here and fired the only Sales Leader we had in the community because they other one was out with back surgery.  Four days later the Regional Sales Leader got fired!!  So they hired a new Community Sales Leader who was really good but she worked for two weeks and got an offer for a very good 6 figure income and promptly quit with no notice.  Our Managers of the community had health problems and they left to go to Seattle for surgery.  They sent in two Floating Managers who had been at the Seville in Orem.  They aren't LDS but they proceeded to tell me if they ever start a business they are going to convert because Mormons support each other so well in business.  They have been here one week and today we found our regular managers will not be coming back.  When they got to University of Washington they discovered his kidney was so diseased it has to be removed, the other one is only working at 18% so he will be on dialysis until they find a kidney donor.  He will not be able to work for a whole year.  They are the nicest people and it always reminds you that your problems are not so bad.  Our Floating Managers are only here for two months and then we don't know what will happen from there.

Tonight we had a husband-wife team called "Cimmaron" come to the community and play and sing for the residents.  They are a country band that play a lot of songs from the era these people love.  It is so cute to see people in their 80's and 90's out dancing.  You just have to shake your head and think why are some people that age so full of life and healthy and others can hardly move.  It has made me determined to do the best I can, eat right, do my exercises, and have only ONE dessert a day instead of the several we are offered.

We have a Catholic Father that lives here.  He is really well known in Billings and has lived here a few months.  We have had some really interesting discussions about religion.  He asked about our family so I brought him in our apartment to look at the big picture on the wall we have of our 16 grandchildren.  He stared at it for a very long time and I had to wonder if he had any regrets in his heart about having no family.  But he is a great guy and has decided he really likes Richard and I.  I have to say it is fun to once again be in more of a "mission field" type atmosphere.  I love explaining my religion to others.  I had somebody tonight ask me why they couldn't go in that big beautiful building on Temple Square.  They were at least happy they got to go in the Tabernacle and hear the "Tabernacle Choir" sing.


March 4th

So funny story from a couple of days ago.  A lady named Vera came to the office and said, "Can I bother you to help me a little.  I have my TV mixed up and I can't fix it."  Now keep in mind Vera has macular degeneration so she can hardly see a thing.  I told her I wasn't the best television repairman in the world but there were a few things I could do.  So she takes my arm to steady herself and I ask her what apartment she lives in.  She tells me "3".  I am thinking to myself that we have no apartment number "3" but maybe she means 103 on the first floor.  So I ask her if it is 103 and she says yes.  We slowly, very slowly, go all the way down the hall turn the corner go to almost the end (this is a big place) where number 103 is.  I said to her, "Is this your apartment Vera?"  She said, "Yes."  So I open the door to find another elderly couple looking at me rather strangely like, "Don't you knock before you walk in?"  I said, "Uh Vera I don't think this is it. Did you mean you lived on the third floor?"  She assures me that is it.  So we get in the elevator and go to the third floor.  I am thinking she probably means 303 so I turn one way and she turns another.  At this point I am really confused.  Just then a friend comes out of the elevator and Vera says, "Mary where do I live?"  Mary says "You live right by me Vera, right down here."  So we follow Mary down the hall and Vera is about to go in Mary's apartment and Mary says, "No Vera you live one more apartment down."  Vera says, "Oh I'm sorry I just get so nervous."  We go to Vera's apartment and it is #332.  I said, "Vera your apartment number is 332."  She says, "Oh I knew there was a 3 in it somewhere!"  Oh yes another "Happily confused resident."  I fix her television by turning the cable on again and then she tells me she leaves it on the country station all the time.  Well I tell her there are two country stations, #44 and #52.  She is sure it is #44 but when I get it set there there is a movie playing instead of country music and that just about sent her over the edge.  I showed her there was also a movie playing on #52  but she was sure her station never played movies, only country music.  Finally she says, "I'll just get my daughter to come over."  Oh well I guess if her daughter can convince her TNT does play a movie now and then she will be okay because her daughter said it.

I want to show you  a couple of photos from our community.  That is if I can get them on.  I hate trying to download photos on to a blog but we will give it on our best shot.

Can I just say how badly I hate trying to load photos from my phone on to my computer then to my blog.  Most of them came out sideways and I would fix them then they would revert back when I put them on my blog.  Where is Cody when I need him!!!!!!!  The photo I really wanted you to see was all the walkers lined up against the wall at mealtimes.  Especially the one that is pink and has the breast cancer symbol on it.  I promise I will get some good ones and put them on for you.

Until then, happy reading!  Miss you all, love you all. 

Nalani will you give the link to this blog to Sister Garrison, the Reeves, the McGills and Jodi, and Lynnette Jacob,  Or you can send me a ward list.