Consuela, intellectually I can't grasp having the energy to have the emotional responses your mother is--does she get wrung out after a phone call or a bout of yelling at your father?

I'm trying to imagine scenarios of divorce but not separation, and you could just hand her the paperwork and go sit in the lounge until she changes her mood. It would assume a partner made of stone, however, and that's also more energy than I can divine.

My clever plan to not eat at my desk backfired. I got wussy about it and then a co-worker I haven't chatted with in a while was in the restaurant and I couldn't see how to disengage without seeming rude.

And with my lunchtime appetite (I've finished the half grilled cheese sandwich and am playing with the cooling cup of soup rather than eat) it seems silly to take up an entire chair never mind table in restaurant.

So I need to stick to my plan of leaving before five. Really near four, maybe.

Library bedbugs: [link]

The staff at the place concur that the desperate frantic need to leave seems to mostly be replaced by rage. She still wants to get out but isn't demanding quite as much to be taken away right that moment. Now it's more anger at the perceived betrayal by her family.

This is going to sound weird, but that shift seems kind of fast, which is maybe a good thing? I mean, maybe she'll have shifted again, in a better direction for you, in another couple of weeks.

This is going to sound weird, but that shift seems kind of fast, which is maybe a good thing?

That was my thought. Even though I'm sure it feels endless.

I'm kind of hoping it will be like the Five Stages of Grief and she'll settle down after cycling through it a bit more, at least until the New Place becomes more familiar. Given how much any change in routine can deeply unsettle the elderly in the first place.

Friends of my aunt's with an elderly demented mother decided to ride out Superstorm Sandy in their home in Lavallette (just down the coast from my aunt's), which really wasn't the right decision -- they spent most of the storm huddled in their small second story bedroom praying the house wouldn't come off its foundation like the others on their block.

I got a nice Hanukkah email from Gov. Cuomo (not sure how he got my email or why he doesn't know that I moved), but it reminds me I forgot to put a holiday picture on the Good Stuff. I'll look for a two-light pic to put up tomorrow night -- that's right, right?

I got a nice Hanukkah email from Gov. Cuomo (not sure how he got my email or why he doesn't know that I moved), but it reminds me I forgot to put a holiday picture on the Good Stuff. I'll look for a two-light pic to put up tomorrow night -- that's right, right?

Yep. (I first thought, "No, it starts Sunday night," but then I checked, and found out that I apparently can't read a calendar.)

I spent 4 hours in the infusion clinic this afternoon getting loaded up with iron. There was a couple there for her first chemo treatment. The husband seemed to still be in shock over her diagnosis. They were both in so much anguish over the whole thing and there I am in the corner with something so mild in comparison. I felt like a fraud. I wish there was something I could have done for them to ease the situation.

I am exhausted. I haven't been able to sleep all week, not sure the cause but I'm hoping that tonight I can zonk out and get some refreshing sleep.

Note to self: Cheesecake Brownie ice cream is very soothing.

Tomorrow is the first night, so the menorah should look like this:

[link]

Scrappy, sending your mom lots of recovery and good outcome vibes. So glad you get to be with her soon.