Reflections of My Life

I have been out to the store again. Saturday. Sonny (bf) and I wore masks. About half of the people had masks and half did not. There were some parents with children with them. Shopping like normal at Walmart. They had aisles marked as going one way, but many people did not abide by that. Not to excuse them, but the only sign was on the floor and at first I didn't see it either. Aldi's had a worker sanitizing the used grocery carts on one side of the doors and then she'd put it on the other side. Did not have to put a quarter in to get the cart. They also had a plexi-glass enclosure around the cashier and area you stand to pay in.

I inspired my boyfriend to buy an Instant Pot. So he has something to occupy himself with during this time. Being away from people is very hard for him. He is a big time people person. No RC (radio controlled) racing has his group of friends going nuts! I have been working on my family tree, reading books on my Kindle, making new recipes, watching more videos than usual. I am staying positive so this thing does not cause me any stress. Stress causes diseases so best not to worry until I have to worry. I can't get sick, I have a bunny boy to take care of!
 

katlupe said:
I have been out to the store again. Saturday. Sonny (bf) and I wore masks. About half of the people had masks and half did not. There were some parents with children with them. Shopping like normal at Walmart. They had aisles marked as going one way, but many people did not abide by that. Not to excuse them, but the only sign was on the floor and at first I didn't see it either. Aldi's had a worker sanitizing the used grocery carts on one side of the doors and then she'd put it on the other side. Did not have to put a quarter in to get the cart. They also had a plexi-glass enclosure around the cashier and area you stand to pay in.

I inspired my boyfriend to buy an Instant Pot. So he has something to occupy himself with during this time. Being away from people is very hard for him. He is a big time people person. No RC (radio controlled) racing has his group of friends going nuts! I have been working on my family tree, reading books on my Kindle, making new recipes, watching more videos than usual. I am staying positive so this thing does not cause me any stress. Stress causes diseases so best not to worry until I have to worry. I can't get sick, I have a bunny boy to take care of!
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Sometime life is hard. Sometime more bearable. Your Reflections are both interesting and well told.
 
Sunday, Rabbit sent me to the store because he was out of his greens for two days. It was a sunny morning and I had been wanting to take a ride on "Jazzy" (my mobile chair) anyway. It was so refreshing to be out like that. When I go to the store with Sonny, it is out to the car, then in and out of Walmart and Aldi's and back home. Being out in the sunshine and seeing other people enjoying it too was good for me.

I put my mask on in the parking lot before going in the store (TOPS). They had employees throughout the stores sanitizing constantly. There were not a lot of customers in the store so there was no problem keeping to the 6 ft. distance rule. I went to the produce department and then checked the drug part to see if they had any thermometers. They did not. I got a bag of cough drops for my son because he keeps taking mine. The cashiers were encased in plexiglass all around them. I have a large insulated shopping bag that I hang on the back of my chair so I packed it myself. I paid in cash, but I saw the payment device was covered in plastic as well.

Sonny got my son and me some cloth masks from a few different people who are making them. But I haven't seen him in over a week so for now we have to use those disposable ones I bought off eBay. I saw people wearing a variety of different ones, so I guess it doesn't matter as long as you have one on. He gave me some latex gloves, but I do not think gloves should be worn. After all, you are touching a lot of different things with them transferring whatever to other surfaces. Sanitized my hands when I go in and out. Then wash my hands when I get home. But really, I cannot clean every single item I touch or use, like my chair or walker before I come in the building or my apartment. I do the best I can. Still no hand sanitizers for sale in the stores here.
 
In October of 1952, my brother, Mickey, was 2 years and 8 months old and I was 4 months old. Our neighbor's teenage daughter asked my mother if she could take Mickey to the local school's Halloween party. He might seem young to allow him to go, but he was more advanced for his age. The next morning, which was a Saturday, he yelled to my mother. He could not move from the neck down and wanted her to take him out to the living room to watch his favorite show, Howdy Doody. She instantly knew (or suspected) it might be polio because the polio epidemic was going on. My father had gone hunting and there was a brand new car in the garage but she did not know how to drive! She called our doctor and he said to bring him immediately to the emergency room and ask a neighbor to drive her that did not have children. The neighbor's wife stayed at our house with me.

He was admitted to the hospital and my parents requested a private room. She said the ward had beds on both sides of the room with children in all of them Mostly crying for their parents. Their parents would stand in the doorway of the room to talk to them. My parents had to sign a paper that the hospital was not responsible if they caught polio from being in the room with him. Every morning my mother came to the hospital and put the infection control outfit and mask on and sat with my brother. She didn't even leave to eat or go to the bathroom. She said she saw how the other children cried all the time and did not settle down. She was an artist and drew comics for him and told him stories. She made a racetrack on his bed and played with his toy race cars with him. She kept him occupied all day until my father, who always came in to see him too, came to pick her up. My grandmother stayed with me at our house.

Mickey came out of that with a nervous tic sort of thing, that is worse when he is excited, nervous or angry about something. Not really that noticeable. He got better quicker than others and was not paralyzed. He never had a limp or anything of that nature. Having my mother right there with him all day, made him calm and any kind of treatments were not met with resistance. I believed she made the difference. I still have my brother and he is pretty active at his age of 70 now. Still working at a job because he could not stand staying at home all day, even though he had plenty to keep him busy.

I think it is hard for people who are sick and in the hospital to not have a loved one visiting them daily. Scary too.
 
Being in quarantine is not that difficult for me. I do not have grandchildren, which I see for many of my friends on Facebook is the hardest for them. Not being able to see them. My son is disabled, mentally slow. But he lives on his own, just a couple blocks away. He comes here almost daily (always needs more food). Him and I are very close, but he is different now and it makes me sad. I miss the way he used to be. In 2015, he and his girlfriend had moved into an apartment that they got scared in. They said it was haunted and even their cats acted like something (or someone) was there. I found a psychic medium who had been featured with a few others in a story in the local newspaper about ridding an old school that was used for businesses now, of a ghost or spirit. He called her and she came to their apartment. She said it was full of spirits. She got rid of some of them. When she asked him if he wanted to get rid of all of them, he said no. Ever since then, my son has been seeing and talking to spirits. I have read books about this my whole life and have even seen things myself, but usually figured it was a dream. So I can't say either way whether this is true or not.

All I know for certain is that sometimes my son surprises me by asking me if I knew someone with a name that I did know long ago. Not someone that I would have mentioned to him or he would have met. I just listen and sometimes ask questions. Another thing is that he is epileptic and had been on Depakote for it. His doctor said he could not stop taking it. Unknown to me, he did. He has never had a seizure since and that was in 2015. He said the spirits told him he didn't need it. I would have freaked out if I had known. For sure.

I know others would tell me to get him to a doctor. Well, he is 50 now and he is 6'5" and pretty active, using a bike for transportation. Can't make him go if he does not want to go. In a time when everyone has trouble with their adult children using drugs or alcohol or hanging out with bad people, in trouble with the law or never seeing them, I don't have those problems. I am a member of a group on Facebook that is for parents of mentally ill adult children and their lives are hell due to their kids. So I am thankful that I have none of those problems. I will just be there for him and hope by not putting pressure on him to do things I want him to do, his life will be good for him. He says it is.
 
Keeping myself focused on doing all the things I planned on doing when I moved here two years ago this month. I have been staying busy during this quarantine cleaning out stuff I meant to get rid of when I moved here two years ago. I have been doing my spring cleaning. Going through photos to give to family members. I work on Ancestry most days for hours. I am on Facebook and watch YouTube videos. I write a blog and work on my posts. I read a lot. Play music all day as it puts me in a good mood (especially to clean or cook!). Now that it is nice out, I can take "Jazzy" (my mobility chair) for a ride to a park or to the grocery store.

One of the things I was working on was getting a membership for the YMCA so I could start swimming for exercise and maybe they'd have a aqua exercise class for older people. That is on hold now since it would not be safe. I have Osteoarthritis in both knees and was working on lessening the pain with my doctor. This has caused me to do my own research and working on it myself for now.

I don't know how I ever survived for so long without a rolling walker. Before I moved here, I used a cane for years. After I got the rolling walker, life got so much better for me. I use Jazzy for going places like to the stores or the parks but the rolling walker is my most essential item. Tuesday my BF and I went to Walmart when they first open in the morning so hopefully, we could both get some toilet paper. We did and I even got paper towels, tissues and disinfecting spray and wipes! None of that was ever available in all this time. I was not out of the paper products yet but figured if I see it there I will get it while I can. When he puts the groceries in the back of his car, I usually get in the car and don't really pay attention to what he is doing. Well, he got in the car and started to back out and I hear a noise...........first of all, he did not close the hatch????? And the noise was the car hitting my rolling walker!!!!!!!!!!!!!! One wheel was ruined and the post it hooks to was bent. We ordered a new wheel from Amazon and it came yesterday. So he is coming up either tonight or tomorrow to put it on. I hope he can bend that post on the frame back. I get attached to my things and he bought this for me two years ago so I am very sentimental about it. He felt very bad about it.

Not having a rolling walker makes a big difference. My knees have been in extreme pain since Tuesday. I have a regular walker without wheels that I normally use for assistance to get up from my bed. Now I am using it around the apartment and it does not come close to the other one. I used the cane to go downstairs to get my mail and I think they make you walk wrong so it ends up hurting more. I think I will use "Jazzy" till it is fixed if I leave my apartment today. I might do laundry with it today.
 
katlupe said:
In May of 2018 I moved from my off-the-grid (off the utility grid) homestead and left behind my beloved horses, one cat (she would have hated living in an apartment) and my marriage. It was not a spur of the moment thing. As I was getting older and was doing less and being dependent on my husband for many things, I had become quite depressed. I kept telling him. One big problem was that even though it should have been very cheap living there, he kept using credit cards (including mine) and had a motorcycle and truck (that I was not comfortable driving so did not) payments. Sometimes we did not have food. In the beginning there, I had 16 raised garden beds and dried and canned lots of food. But as I got where I could barely walk, less and less.

Once I started getting my Social Security, I was eager to leave and told him I would. Until then I had no money. When I sold stuff on eBay we had to use it for food, hay or gas. He did not think I really would. The day actually came that I was able to leave. Mainly due to applying for senior housing that is subsidized based on your income. It was a lifesaver for me. I had not been to a doctor in years (and I was almost 66) or a dentist. I was for most of my life a stay at home mother because my first husband had his own business and my son is disabled. So I took care of him. I know people put down others who use services that are available to people with low incomes, but sometimes it is not something you do on purpose. This was my only chance and I was getting older. I do not regret it one bit and my life has turned around.
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How did you get them to only count your income? I looked into this, years ago, and his income was counted. I’ve enjoyed reading about your days.
 
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Aneeda72 said:
How did you get them to only count your income? I looked into this, years ago, and his income was counted. I’ve enjoyed reading about your days.
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I left him. I filled out the paper work for an apartment and put down just my SS amount which was very low due to the Medicare payment being taken out of it. Once I moved here, I was able to get Medicaid and they pay for the Medicare for me now. My husband had to sign a paper that he would have a hardship if he had to sell the house. I still have not done a divorce yet but plan to when this quarantine is done. So I guess you have to break up and be alone for any kind of help. I felt like I had no choice and I did not want to live there any longer.
 
katlupe said:
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I left him. I filled out the paper work for an apartment and put down just my SS amount which was very low due to the Medicare payment being taken out of it. Once I moved here, I was able to get Medicaid and they pay for the Medicare for me now. My husband had to sign a paper that he would have a hardship if he had to sell the house. I still have not done a divorce yet but plan to when this quarantine is done. So I guess you have to break up and be alone for any kind of help. I felt like I had no choice and I did not want to live there any longer.
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WOW, you are so much braver than I am. I think I might have been able to do this a few years back, but not now. I am too insecure. I also like having money. For the first time in our lives we have money so when something breaks it’s not a major disaster. I just can’t go back to being so low income again.

I would like us to stay together and him improve his treatment towards me. Hope springs eternal. I think you are amazing, just amazing.

Your situation is similar to my mother’s. (Not saying you are her age, lol.). She has Medicaid and Medicare, she gets a 1000 a month, worked her entire life and that’s all she gets. She lives in government housing. Her meals are delivered and another place also brings her food. They treat seniors very well in Seattle.
 
Aneeda72 said:
WOW, you are so much braver than I am. I think I might have been able to do this a few years back, but not now. I am too insecure. I also like having money. For the first time in our lives we have money so when something breaks it’s not a major disaster. I just can’t go back to being so low income again.

I would like us to stay together and him improve his treatment towards me. Hope springs eternal. I think you are amazing, just amazing.

Your situation is similar to my mother’s. (Not saying you are her age, lol.). She has Medicaid and Medicare, she gets a 1000 a month, worked her entire life and that’s all she gets. She lives in government housing. Her meals are delivered and another place also brings her food. They treat seniors very well in Seattle.
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One of the problems was that we had no money. He started getting SSD because he was in an accident at work and then he had control of the money. I had no income and could not drive his truck (too big for me). There were a lot of reasons, but my feelings for him had changed and he knew it. I kept telling him I was going to leave. He didn't believe I would. As soon as I was able to get Medicare, I applied for subsidized housing. Due to my circumstances they put me on top of the list (living off the grid with no running water and other things that people take for granted). He had a good sized SS check and IBM pension but was maxed out on credit. Two Harleys and big truck and lots of equipment for a solar and wind energy system. He also had a bad problem with anger and losing his temper and breaking stuff. I didn't like that one bit.

Living here I am able to be comfortable. I love my apartment and the people who live in my building. I am downtown and it is a great little city to live in. I choose not to have a vehicle due to the expense and worry over parking. I do not need a lot so I am able to pay down all the credit debt I had from living there. I am so proud of doing that. And that is what I used my stimulus check for. Seniors here in this area are treated well too. In the future, whatever I need due to my health should be available. I have never been this happy before and that tells me I made the right move. I prayed every night for help getting out of there. My prayers were answered.
 
katlupe said:
One of the problems was that we had no money. He started getting SSD because he was in an accident at work and then he had control of the money. I had no income and could not drive his truck (too big for me). There were a lot of reasons, but my feelings for him had changed and he knew it. I kept telling him I was going to leave. He didn't believe I would. As soon as I was able to get Medicare, I applied for subsidized housing. Due to my circumstances they put me on top of the list (living off the grid with no running water and other things that people take for granted). He had a good sized SS check and IBM pension but was maxed out on credit. Two Harleys and big truck and lots of equipment for a solar and wind energy system. He also had a bad problem with anger and losing his temper and breaking stuff. I didn't like that one bit.

Living here I am able to be comfortable. I love my apartment and the people who live in my building. I am downtown and it is a great little city to live in. I choose not to have a vehicle due to the expense and worry over parking. I do not need a lot so I am able to pay down all the credit debt I had from living there. I am so proud of doing that. And that is what I used my stimulus check for. Seniors here in this area are treated well too. In the future, whatever I need due to my health should be available. I have never been this happy before and that tells me I made the right move. I prayed every night for help getting out of there. My prayers were answered.
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I am so glad you are happy and treated well now-this is what everyone deserves.
 
I have been using this time wisely. Not that I go a lot anyway under normal circumstances. But since I am home more I am getting stuff done that I had a list forever. I have redone my dresser drawers using Maria Kondo's method of folding my clothing. It takes a bit to learn it but it is well worth it. I have everything folded so you can look in the drawer and there it is........not hidden underneath stuff. This my t-shirts and other pull over types. They used to take up two drawers. I will be going through these though and donating whatever I don't like or wear anymore.

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I keep saying my life is not that much different in this quarantine, but there are little things I forgot that I miss. I live downtown in a small city, Norwich (NY). Most things are within walking distance. Not the stores I like to shop at though, like Walmart and Aldi's. The main street is right around the corner and the library, court house and county buildings are just across the street from my building. A block away is the police station, post office, fire station and the grocery store (TOPS). It is a pretty quiet city compared to most.

Norwich is always having events to keep people entertained and occupied. It is something I never did in the past. Now the activities are right across the street. Music concerts in the park. Movies in the park. Movies in the same building I live in put on by the art council for free (with popcorn) during the cold weather. Festivals. Sports tournaments in the streets. Blues Festival every year which is a big event. Wednesdays one of the churches offer free hot dogs and a soda in the park across the street. The farmers' market on Wednesdays in the park. So many things, especially on the week-ends that I can't name them all. None of that is taking place now.

Last year my boyfriend, Sonny bought his own scooter so he and I could ride around together. We have had so much fun. I guess like people who ride bicycles or motorcycles. We went to the car museum together and it was great that we had our own wheels to go through the museum which is huge. He is a motor head anyway so we had a wonderful day. On the way home crossing the busiest intersection his battery died! He had to push it across the street. Then he could still ride it but at v e r y s l o w speed!

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Today I made myself walk to the park across the street. Then I walked up the street that is along the other side of my building. I accidentally walked up the wrong street so I ended up walking two extra blocks. I did good since I did not have to stop and sit down. Using my walker means if I get tired or hurting I can stop and sit on the walker seat for a spell. Of course though, I could not walk a step without it. I badly need the exercise. I also need to be in the sunshine for a bit every day or whenever we have some. Increasing my water too. I just do not think about it and forget to drink it.

I live in an old high school and the building is huge. It was built in 1870 and I found a picture online of what it looked like then. Very different from that now for sure. So it is a good way to get exercise walking around it. That was what I planned on doing this morning but that park was calling my name. I am glad I did because the guy was mowing the grass and it smelled so good. I love that smell. Actually I have 4 city parks within walking distance of my apartment, that makes walking very pleasant. I used to walk in the forest almost daily but now I need a walker so that probably wouldn't have been possible any longer.

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That is my building in the back of this photo that I took this morning.
 
Some forests have accessible paths and most of the national parks have accessible paths. As for the smell of grass, when grass is mowed I can’t breathe as I am allergic. I avoid places where grass is being mowed. 😂 Different experiences for sure.
 
Today I am not going to walk because Sonny is coming up and bringing hay for Rabbit. I will probably have him take me to the store as I need some food. Switching from soups to salads for summer. I had my air conditioner going all day yesterday. I cannot tolerate hot weather very well and felt hot when I came back home yesterday. My previous home, as I told before, was off-the grid (the utility grid) and I was lucky to have a little fan but could not use it at night because he (my husband) turned the power off when it started getting dark. The first thing I bought when I moved here was my air conditioner. I appreciate it so much. I would be so hot at the previous house that I would have to soak my feet in cold water to cool off. I hated it. Now I feel like I live in luxury. People complain, but not me. I truly love living downtown near everything. One of the things that has made my life easy is not owning a vehicle. All those expenses with owning one would make me dirt poor. I have a low income but I am very comfortable. I am pretty frugal though and try not to waste money or food or anything else.

I am the type of person who does not want to go anywhere or even leave my apartment. I get the informed delivery digest in my email every day from the post office. I check that and if I don't have any mail coming I don't even go downstairs to my mailbox. Other residents tend to gather there and talk by the mailboxes or the lobby. Once I am there though, I talk and talk. Usually I end up having to force myself to go out. Once I do, I am glad I did. Like Monday, Memorial Day, Sonny's family is having a cook-out on his deck. At first I told him no that I wasn't going. But then I thought about how he does so much for me and it is really important to him to have his girlfriend with him at his family things. I am going. I will probably have a good time.
 
katlupe said:
Today I am not going to walk because Sonny is coming up and bringing hay for Rabbit. I will probably have him take me to the store as I need some food. Switching from soups to salads for summer. I had my air conditioner going all day yesterday. I cannot tolerate hot weather very well and felt hot when I came back home yesterday. My previous home, as I told before, was off-the grid (the utility grid) and I was lucky to have a little fan but could not use it at night because he (my husband) turned the power off when it started getting dark. The first thing I bought when I moved here was my air conditioner. I appreciate it so much. I would be so hot at the previous house that I would have to soak my feet in cold water to cool off. I hated it. Now I feel like I live in luxury. People complain, but not me. I truly love living downtown near everything. One of the things that has made my life easy is not owning a vehicle. All those expenses with owning one would make me dirt poor. I have a low income but I am very comfortable. I am pretty frugal though and try not to waste money or food or anything else.

I am the type of person who does not want to go anywhere or even leave my apartment. I get the informed delivery digest in my email every day from the post office. I check that and if I don't have any mail coming I don't even go downstairs to my mailbox. Other residents tend to gather there and talk by the mailboxes or the lobby. Once I am there though, I talk and talk. Usually I end up having to force myself to go out. Once I do, I am glad I did. Like Monday, Memorial Day, Sonny's family is having a cook-out on his deck. At first I told him no that I wasn't going. But then I thought about how he does so much for me and it is really important to him to have his girlfriend with him at his family things. I am going. I will probably have a good time.
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Wear a mask!!
 
Aneeda72 said:
Wear a mask!!
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I always do. My apartment building has signs all over about wearing a mask and washing our hands in the public areas. Important to do since we have many elderly residents and some others with health conditions. At his house for the cook out I will probably be inside most of the time in the air conditioning and with his critters. Most of his family smoke and I cannot tolerate it. Makes me feel sick. They smoke outside or away from wherever I am. But I can still smell it. I don't know who is coming but think it might be his daughter and her granddaughter who lives with her. Maybe her neighbor who is an elderly man who has no family and no place to go. If her sons come, then that will be more people because they all have wives, children or girlfriends.
 
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Every morning now, I have my first cup of coffee and sometimes the second one too, in my rocking chair by the window. I have been opening the window a bit because I welcome the cold morning air. I live in the city, but we still have trees and parks near me so I can hear the birds. Rabbit enjoys it too. He sits right next to me and wants me to give him (what I call....) nose rubs. Then I brush him real good starting with the love glove. He stays right there so I know he likes it. Early morning is his favorite time. I sit there and have my coffee and make my list for the day. Sometimes I read and he loves it if I read out loud. I think he got hooked on that when we lived at my house because I read out loud to my husband and my son, when he was there (off and on through the years). Our power had to be shut down at dark and what little power we had went to the refrigerator. Sitting in the dark was no fun for me. I would get books on my Kindle and read out loud. I read the whole Bible that way some years back.

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My apartment is not big enough to include a couch or a recliner. If I got a recliner (which I would really love to have) I would have to get rid of the rocking chair or the cedar chest (where I store all my afghans and blankets) or the curio cabinet (which has my cat collection and other items I have collected over the years). The rocking chair is nothing special but it was my parents and my father had put it away and told my brother that when he died it was for me. So I love it for that reason.
 
Before this quarantine took place, I was in the middle of getting help for a number of issues from the Office for the Aging. Someone was supposed to come interview me for getting a household aide to assist me with the cleaning jobs I can't do or to run errands for me. As they are starting to open things up here, I am hopeful about that happening now.

One other thing I was in the middle of was of getting what is called a scholarship or grant to join my local YMCA. If I can do that I want to try swimming for exercise. I had bought one of those recumbent bicycles because I used to use one years ago and I loved it. But when I got it, I found out due to my knees I could not use one nor a regular bicycle either. I am attempting to do the walking with my walker but after one day I cannot walk for a few days. I think swimming is the one exercise that does not put any pressure on the knees. I read that on a few websites.

Lately I have been quite depressed and that is very unusual for me as I don't let things get me down. I know I need to get some exercise and try to improve myself physically. Yesterday I found two new YouTube channels to follow and they have encouraged me to get to work on this stuff. But I have to wait till our county offices are back to a normal schedule. Both of these channels are done by women who are about my age and about all kinds of things that interest me. One is single and one is married. I was tired of all the channels about make up, fashion, health issues being done by 20 or 30 year olds. It is way different when you are 67.

I am considering asking for help with my son. He gets much more money than I get every month and yet, he is always needing more food from me. It is difficult when someone does not comprehend simple easy things such as the value of money, what day of the week it is or what to do when something breaks or rather, when he breaks it (usually dropping stuff). Nobody ever understands the way I feel about him. I cannot and will not let him be hungry, even if it is his fault. Even if I end up giving him my last package of hamburger. I know about tough love but he does not understand that. He has never been in trouble with the police but I worry if he is so hungry he would just steal something out of a store. He has never ever done that but it always crosses my mind. I am all he has in this world. If something happens to me, he'd have no one to even talk to. No friends either.

I am not asking for help or complaining, I guess I am just putting down in words the way I feel or think about things. Maybe it is complaining. Tomorrow I have to go to Sonny's house for a cook out. Not looking forward to it. I do not like these type of things. After this holiday, I am going to make excuses from now on. So it has probably put me in a bad mood too. I don't know why I am like that.
 
I am not wild about gatherings myself. I always feel awkward around people I don’t know, plus since I don’t drink fitting in is hard. I understand how you feel. Your depression might be just feeling the need to be there for the boyfriend when you know you really don’t like gatherings.

As for your son, we are in the same boat. I feel I have to buy for food for my son and his three roommates who always run lean at the end of the month. Food stamps only go so far. I can’t just buy for my son and not buy for his roommates which are hungry as well.

But I would not specifically mention to anyone “official” that you buy him food, as you might be breaking rules/laws which could impact his grants. Instead, I think, you should ask for generalized help for him in managing his funds and shopping. Anyway, just my opinion.
 
I went to the store this morning and it was quite busy. Everyone wearing their masks and standing back on the spots that are marked off on the floor. The only trouble I had was that I wore a new mask a friend made for me and it kept slipping down. The other one, my blue one, is the one I like best and from now on that is the one I will wear. Today my glasses were fogged up no matter what I did. When I was paying, I had so much difficulty with the plastic bag thing over the card machine. I could not see anything on it and barely got my pin number in.

You know what bothers me more than this coronavirus is being around cigarette smoke. I was around it on Memorial Day at my boyfriend's house (not him). His daughter smokes and her sons smoke too. We were outside on a deck, but it really bothered me. I tried to be a good sport about it but they all know I cannot tolerate it. They don't care. I was sick from it when I came home and had to shower immediately and put my clothing in a garbage bag. Still haven't washed it yet. It is definitely the last time I go to any of their family meals or anything. To top it off, Sonny has lungs at 50% capacity but he won't mention it to them either. If I do, I am the bad guy. Well........I'm not married to him and I don't live with him. This could be the deal breaker with him and me if I confronted him about it. But for now, I will just avoid going places. Nice thing about my age is I can always say I don't feel good and can stay home.

This makes me think of one good thing to come from this wearing of masks is that most of the people cannot smoke with the mask on. And stores having entrance and exit doors so that nobody is smoking right next to the door so you don't have to walk through it.

Not wearing the mask on my street is not really a big deal as this is a small city, not a lot of people on the street. If there are, I go right past them on Jazzy (my mobility chair) at a pretty fast clip.
 
katlupe said:
In May of 2018 I moved from my off-the-grid (off the utility grid) homestead and left behind my beloved horses, one cat (she would have hated living in an apartment) and my marriage. It was not a spur of the moment thing. As I was getting older and was doing less and being dependent on my husband for many things, I had become quite depressed. I kept telling him. One big problem was that even though it should have been very cheap living there, he kept using credit cards (including mine) and had a motorcycle and truck (that I was not comfortable driving so did not) payments. Sometimes we did not have food. In the beginning there, I had 16 raised garden beds and dried and canned lots of food. But as I got where I could barely walk, less and less.

Once I started getting my Social Security, I was eager to leave and told him I would. Until then I had no money. When I sold stuff on eBay we had to use it for food, hay or gas. He did not think I really would. The day actually came that I was able to leave. Mainly due to applying for senior housing that is subsidized based on your income. It was a lifesaver for me. I had not been to a doctor in years (and I was almost 66) or a dentist. I was for most of my life a stay at home mother because my first husband had his own business and my son is disabled. So I took care of him. I know people put down others who use services that are available to people with low incomes, but sometimes it is not something you do on purpose. This was my only chance and I was getting older. I do not regret it one bit and my life has turned around.
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We do what we must to survive, or to remove ourselves from a hopeless situation. I wish you a good life.
 


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