Anybody Need a Bandaid?

My mother was a "be prepared" person.  She bought all the birthday cards she would need months ahead, sat down the first of the month and got them all ready to mail.  Also, she was never out of stamps, so unlike me the cards didn't get there two weeks days late!  I rarely ever remember her running out of anything.  She always had two gallons of milk, an extra carton of eggs, two or three (or more) tubs of margarine, and plenty of detergent and spot removers. The extra refrigerator in the garage was always full of frozen orange juice, extra frozen bacon and soft drinks.   She kept her house clean and straight almost all of the time, because you never knew when someone might drop in.   In my defense she didn't work outside of the home so this was a little easier for her than most of us, but she was also a very hard worker and just happened to like to be prepared.  I've learned later in life though that a lot of this was obsessive compulsiveness.

After my dad died, Mama went to an assisted living facility, where she lived for five years. She had a small apartment with a tiny kitchen area, and she took great pride in cleaning her own room (even though she didn't have to) and doing her own laundry.  Her favorite thing was going shopping.  My sister and I both lived out of town, but we always took her out to eat when we went to visit and she always had a list ready for Walmart. The facility also took them shopping once a week or so and my aunt was also great to take her out when she could.  Since she seemed capable, the staff let her get whatever she wanted.  Since my sister and I weren't there all the time, we didn't realize how much she was buying either, but my aunt clued us in that she was buying the same things every time she took her.  She started checking her storage places before they went out and telling my mom that she didn't need some of the things she had on her list.  This made Mama so mad!

As her dementia got worse and her health deteriorated, we had to bring her closer to me and into a nursing home.  When we moved her out of  assisted living, we were amazed at her stash.  All of our family was supplied with Q-Tips, toothpaste, lint rollers, hand lotion, fabric softener sheets, and most of all band aids!  Heaven forbid that anyone need a bandage and not have one!  That was 2005.  This weekend I cleaned out our medicine stash both upstairs and down and the above pictures are what is left of my share of her collection  6 years after we moved her!  I am not and never will be prepared like my mom was - but if you have a cut or scratch, I'm your girl!

There was a big consignment sale this weekend and we found this little house!  Even though it is a little faded, Sophie loves it!  Sadly, our sunny weather was nowhere to be seen this weekend so it was too cold to be out long, but we had to try it out.  She would have stayed out forever, but the rest of us were too wimpy for the wet and cold weather.