Winter Blues

I'm still here. Thank you to all of you who have asked if everything is OK. I suffer from SAD - Seasonal Affective Disorder - and 2010 has gotten of to a rocky start. I have started to write several times but they were all whiny posts that I decided not to publish. So another edition of Apple Whine and hopefully I'll find something pleasant to write about.

We had a very relaxing Christmas holiday. My first day back to work found me doing driver training and the weather conditions were awful. I have done skills training in the winter before but never taken a new driver out on my route with me in bad conditions. He did wonderfully but I found the stress exhausting. I have also worked with several drivers his age before, however since he used to play football with my son it made me feel ancient to work with him.

Mom has hit another bump in the road where I feel like I am dealing with a child rather than my mother. She's been forgetful and stubborn. Thankfully my sister deals with her stubbornness better than I do. She doesn't leave her chair unless she has to. She is forgetting to take some of her doses of medication and though she is very unsteady on her feet she only used the walker now and then. After the weeks of physical therapy for her good arm she has stopped doing her exercises. I'm hoping she just has the winter blues too and this will all pass, as it has before.

She has been obsessed with a Meals on Wheels bill that she didn't pay. As soon as a bill comes in she writes a check so she couldn't understand how she missed it. It turns out that she didn't miss it, I did. It came with a meal that was delivered when we were out, probably at physical therapy, and was put in the cooler with her meal since we weren't home yet when they came. I saw only the meal, not the white envelope in the white cooler. We used the cooler again this week when she had a doctor appointment and there it was. She feels much better knowing that it was my screw up and not hers. And I also screwed up in not reading her Medicare Part-D stuff closely at the end of the year. Her plan stopped paying for two of her prescriptions January 1st. Her other plan will cover them but only one month at a time so that will cost her more this year.

Twig started going to a preschool class for three year-olds and is so excited about it! He's only made a few classes so far because he keeps getting sick. His sister has been getting sick too. When Bean called school to say that Sprout wouldn't be there Friday the school secretary said to her, "She's sick AGAIN!?" The latest - Twig has Croup.

It would be nice if other parents would keep their little ones home when they are sick, like Bean does. I had three kindergartner's that coughed all over everyone they could all week, including me. I was constantly disinfecting handrails, seats and windows. They have learned to cough into their elbows but it seems to take three before they get their elbow up.

I've has to endure several meetings at work. Training, scheduling and cut backs. Gov. Paterson is cutting aid to schools and transportation is an obvious place to look to make cuts. I have enough seniority that I will be OK but may have to drive a new route. Others are understandably upset and need to talk about it. I've always had broad shoulders but I'm feeling weighed down.

On a positive note, I started dieting the 1st of the year and have stuck to it reasonably well. I'm down a few pounds and hope to fit into my bathing suit and shorts by winter break ;-)

I also have done fairly well at keeping up my genealogy blog, Apple's Tree. Several of John's family members have joined me in working on his family tree and on another happy note I have been corresponding with one of my cousins. She is connected to the line from which the letters come so it will be fun to swap information and opinions.