Wesley Chapel, Florida (high 82, low 68)
We are still in the Tampa area caring for my Mom.
December has been warmer than normal, with daily high temperatures in the mid 80’s most of the month. With the high humidity and temps, it’s almost felt like summer. Almost. It looks like we’re getting a break from the heat and humidity today as it’s only predicted to be 82.
We are getting an actual cold front by the week-end, with predicted highs only be in the 60’s. It will be warming back up but I don’t see any 80’s in the forecase for the near future. Thank goodness. We are more than ready for some cooler weather. The mosquitos are worse than I can ever remember, perhaps due to the wet summer they had.
I wish I could post pictures and tell stories of the fun things we are doing, but unfortunately, the only fun thing we’ve done is go to the gun range for target practice. Hey….it’s a great stress reliever. 
Our days consist of going to Mom’s house and staying with her. Al has been wonderful and he goes with me each and every day. He works around her house, while I care for her and her house and deal with insurance and caregiver issues.
Her long term care policy only allows 6 hours per day for the caregivers, which is a lifesaver, but still leaves a gap that my brother and I have to fill.
We found out yesterday that she has an addendum/rider on her long term care policy that gives her an extra 2 years of coverage. She can use 2 years of in home care and then another 2 years of assisted living or nursing home care. That is a huge benefit! We thought she only had 2 years coverage, so we’re pretty happy about that.
The main problem now is finding good caregivers that can work the hours we need. We go through a local branch of Visiting Angels, but the caregivers are all independent contractors. They can decide what hours and days they want to work. Of course, finding people during the holidays has been a struggle. We have two main women that have been caring for Mom, but one took a vacation over Christmas week and the other won’t work week-ends or evenings. My brother is in retail, and he works week-ends and evenings. We have been struggling finding caregivers so that Al and I aren’t over there till 10pm or have 10 hour days over there. It’s very draining. I will be glad when this week is over.
We kept Christmas pretty low key this year. We didn’t exchange gifts between ourselves, because we pretty much buy what we want all year long. We got a few things for Mom, and wrapped a few things she already had, so that she had plenty of presents to open, and wrapped a few things we had already bought for ourselves, so she wouldn’t feel bad we didn’t have any presents.
We took a few pictures with the new Galaxy and we were too tired to bother and see how they came out…….so here is the best we got.
Mom, brother Steve, and Al
I’m still having trouble with Open Live Writer and haven’t “practiced” enough to figure it out, but it’s still better than writing through Blogger.
We have some friends that live on the water on Anna Maria Island. They have a boat, kayaks, paddleboards and all the fun toys you could want. They have been inviting us out for a fun day, but so far we haven’t been able to find the time. We’re hoping to take a day off soon and head to their island paradise for some fun and sun.
Happy New Year to you all.
