Siblings & Family Caregiving

Sisters talk about caregiving issues in Episode #5. I gave myself extra bonus points for working in the adjective "poopy-headed."

Episode # 4 - Alien Invasion?

Suzanne has some concerns about her Father-in-law in the latest episode of the Feedin' Mama Commercial Series.

Something to talk about...

It can be a very difficult conversation to get started but it's one you just can't afford to ignore. Talking to your elder parents about advance directives is a delicate and sometimes touchy subject. No one wants to be reminded of their mortality or to think about what might happen in the event of a medical emergency and older folks often may feel as though it's just one more part of their lives that they are losing control over. It's hard but with as much compassion and understanding as you can muster up it's something that really should be done sooner rather than later.

When I worked at a local hospital I was often called to go up to a unit to notarize powers of attorney and other documents for people who clearly were in no mental state to be making those decisions. It would break my heart to have to refuse notary services for someone who desperately needed to have them done so that their personal business could be handled while they were incapacitated but there was nothing I could do legally to help them. The time to make those decisions is while you are still in a clear and cognizant mental state, not when it has become an emergency and you are ill and possibly even sedated. Here is an excellent article on advance directives that may be able to help you get that conversation going. It really is something you have to talk about. Today.

Episode #3

Reggie finds out where to get Help for his elderly neighbor.

http://tinyurl.com/dztoch

The Garden of Eatin'

I mentioned in an earlier post that I was planning on starting a garden this year using raised beds. I've been very fortunate to have had a lot of the materials donated including a very nifty compost barrel and I've got several really nice beds going. One of the best ways to provide Mama with a low-sodium diet is to use lots of fresh fruits and vegetables. Our local Farmer's Market is great but they say there's nothing like putting food on the table that you've grown yourself.

My father used to grow some great vegetable gardens out in the back yard but I've never given it a try. Up until now I've stuck to flower beds so I'm trying lots of different vegetables to see what works and what doesn't. We've had some really good rain days here in NE Florida and most of my seedlings I've started seem to be very happy in their beds, taking root and growing tall. It's really kind of exciting and fun. I'll post some pictures as the various plants become recognizable food.

New! And Improved!

Lots of interesting happenings going on in Feedin' Mama-ville. Here is the next FM commercial - that makes 2 - so it's a series!

I've also been invited to join Wellsphere as a health blogger. I'm still figuring out what all that entails but you can click on the badge over there on the sidebar to check it out. Apparently, my blog posts will be automatically uploaded to the Wellsphere-sphere and they're supposed to feature me somewhere at some point. Stay tuned.

Expanding my talents for the betterment of society!

I have just added movie making to my ever-expanding list of talents! Thanks to James Lileks for the link to a new site that lets you create your own movies - he makes his using his Twitter comments and they're just a hoot, he calls it "Re-Tweet Theater." I never miss a daily visit to the Bleat and other links on Lileks.com, it is a basic necessity to meet my happiness quotient.

Anyhow, I made a "commercial" for Feedinmama.com starring myself and my always-supportive friend Candy B. (She's tickled that she has Michelle Obama "guns" and the sleeveless thing going on). Check it out and if you don't mind rating it that would be great. Unless you don't care for it, then nevermind. And if you know (or have a teenager or something who knows) how I can get it up on You Tube please let me know. The uplink on the movie site itself isn't working for me and I can't figure out another way to do it.

And as always, a visit to Feedin' Mama site is always very much appreciated. Things are really starting to get cooking over there and we're excited about that. Your support of Feedin' Mama through your site visits, comments and sharing the site with your friends is what helps get great information and encouragement out there to the folks who need it.