Merry Christmas!

This Year we celebrated our annual Howard Family Christmas Dec. 26, 2010

It has been exactly 1 year since Grandma's Knee surgery and overall her Knee is doing great! It's the rest of her that is trying to catch up.

It was also brought to my attention that for many seniors it is a "social" activity to go to the Doctors office, mostly due to the fact that it may be the only way out of the house or the only way to have company. Every time Grandma goes to the Dr. I show up and we spend time together. This may seem like a social outing to them but it is exhausting for me, but I wouldn't trade the time I spent with Grandma this past year for anything else in the world. With out our little adventures I wouldn't have such an exciting blog! :) 

Grandma opening presents

Now Back to Christmas! If I remember correctly in my last post we had just come from the Rheumatologist where she was given  the steroid prednisone. I can't confirm if she is taking her pills the way she is supposed to or if they are working the way she wants them too but this is Step 1 of what the Dr. is prescribing. This all happened the Wednesday before Christmas and before I left I reminded her that my brother and I would be over on Sunday for our usual Sizzler Christmas dinner. We've always celebrated Christmas the day after because Grandma's never really been big on Holidays especially once my brother and I became teenagers and started getting cash every year. 

Christmas Day arrived and once the festivities settled down I gave Grandma a call. We chatted for a bit, I told her about our day and then before we hung up I reminded her again that we would see her tomorrow and we would be having dinner. This was an exceptional year because the 26th fell on a Sunday and Uncle T NEVER leaves the house on a Sunday. She sounded a little surprised but agreed and we hung up. 

I didn't bother to call her Sunday before I left given I had just spoken with her the night before but much to my dismay she had "forgotten" we were coming. Or she didn't remember what it was were were gonna do. I arrived about 3:05pm with my brother right behind me and as I was walking up to the door I heard my uncle talking in the house wondering where we were and then heard grandma say "why would anyone else be here" just then I opened the door and she looked really surprised to see me... I said hello and asked her if she remembered we were coming, then she asked me why? I reminded her of our conversation the night before but going to the Sizzler was not in her memory bank... She wasn't ready for us to go out she was dressed for staying home and had completely forgotten what was happening today. The concern here is that we have been doing this for the last probably 12 years. Dec 26 = Sizzler. 

Either way she changed and we left for dinner. I did learn my lesson and only gave her things I knew she would use. Picture frames with our pictures in them and scarves, she wears a scarf everyday. We had a pretty good dinner for Sizzler standards and good conversation. However, the topic of her Droid did come up. My uncle is NOT using the phone and he like me has no idea as to why she has the phone. She has to now pay a monthly fee for a device she is NOT using! When we got back from dinner we talked some more and she is quick to dismiss all of our concerns. She says to me "why are you so concerned? It's not your money!" I respond to her, "you are the most frugal person on the planet and the fact that you are willing to just throw away $30 -$60 a month on something you are not using and now say have no intention of using is VERY alarming for me" Her story of course has now changed because she didn't even remember she had the phone it was still in the bag, in the box... DEAD. I also found a Garmin type navigation device that she says was a gift from a friend of hers... SOMETHING ELSE she has no business owning but at least she didn't pay for it. What really blows my mind is that she would rather have in and not use it that give to someone that will. I don't know what to make of that situation, at all! 

I need to check in with my uncle to see if she has received her fist phone bill, he had said he would pay to get her out of the contract, something I don't think she was aware of.  So the saga continues. 

Me, Uncle T & Grandma