what a weekend...

I worked a bunch of hours at various jobs, this weekend. I think it might be too much as I feel stressed and didn't have much family time. What's the point of making a little extra money if you don't see your family? That's how I feel, at least. Actually, the reason I'm doing that is I just want to save up for Christmas presents...but I feel annoyed by everything. I feel a bit bad as one client is being EXTREMELY fussy (she has some sort of obsessive compulsive behavior about clothing "biting" her...itchy, I guess). Basically, she had to change her shirt 5 times...Good grief. Usually, I can get her to focus on stories or jokes but something changed and she's being very tiresome. I also got a new client and she's wonderful however, her son smokes and I got a migraine from that. He didn't smoke when I was there but I could smell it and was nearly chocked from it. Thank the stars I had to go out and empty the trash. Still, it was very difficult...I may need to change her because of the smoke. I felt sorry for her grandkids.

Then, I saw an ad in the paper for a guinea pig looking for a home and missed that one as I got a very negative response from Jon in this regards. So, I felt bad about that too.

Now, it looks like Lydia has a cold and I feel stressed out that everyone blames me for breaking her bed and they are sleeping on the mattresses on the floor. This wouldn't give someone a cold, would it?

I just feel a bit surprised and tired by this weekend. I met a new person client on Saturday night and she had mild dementia. Basically, she thought I was trying to sell her something and asked me to leave 10 times in the first 20 minutes. Finally, I asked the nurses to help and felt so awkward. I we both were "forced" to sit together and I tried to keep her calm. One nurse kindly told me everything...the woman gets more and more agitated and finally is wheeled off to her room after having hysterics...After she had her meds, I was allowed to take her for a spin and she started yelling and wanting to go back. I spotted a piano and thought, "what the hell" as I'm usually too shy to play for anyone but hoped this would be a good idea. Believe me, it's not easy when you've got someone getting more and more agitated. I asked her what her favorite holiday song was and she couldn't remember...I prompted her and said what about "Silent Night". She nodded and I played that. She quieted down and listened...I kept playing different songs and more Christmas pieces. A lot of the elderly people seemed to calm down. It was strange and nice and I was relieved to see I did something to benefit them. I don't know how the nurses there have to deal with all of these poor souls. If you don't have a heart of metal or at least covered in metal, you'd be crying all over the place.

One of the clients, an ex-priest, kindly told me I made a lot of people feel good...just by playing the piano. So, it was worth breaking out of my shyness...If ever I'm called there again, I'm playing the piano for an hour and I don't care if anyone gets sick of me! lol!

I really wish I didn't have a slight nasal headache...I guess it's from the damp weather we're having. Or else a cold...

I did do quite a bit of artwork...actually, I started new projects which I know I shouldn't do that but I just started feeling the need to make pretty new sculpture/ornaments. They're all abstract shapes and some hearts...I love the feeling I get getting my hands dirty from making things. It's a joy to me. I wish I could get my one obsessive/compulsive client to do this but she is so high strung and acts like she's above all of "that" stuff. And what do you do when this person is 93? It's not like you can say, "hey, snap out of it!" I'd love to take her to The Dream restaurant or just get her out of there for a few hours. I feel like I did something wrong and I don't know what it is. I even had the gals make her a Turkey wreath and she was critical rather than grateful. I just hope she didn't have a stroke or something because she wasn't like this last week or all the weeks before this. Very strange. I should just think of it as a job, I know...and leave it there.

I do feel better writing about all of this. And I got to cuddle with my dumplings last night as we watched "The Wizard of Oz". That was fun. I got them interested in it by asking questions about what's going to happen and what did they think.



This is an old pic of my gals...but I'll forever think of them like this...