If I get dementia 1

 The following was posted on Facebook by a cousin of mine, and she got it from Joshua Pettit who is the original author of the post. I add a few wishes to his list at the end.

Here is his original wish list with online resources that may help caregivers fulfill each request. These resources provide advice, practical tools, and background knowledge on dementia care:

1.     If I get dementia, I want my friends and family to embrace my reality.
Resource: Alzheimer's Association provides guidance on understanding and validating dementia patients' realities: alz.org

2.     If I think my spouse is still alive, or if I think we’re visiting my parents for dinner, let me believe those things. I’ll be much happier for it.
Resource: Dementia Australia discusses strategies for handling dementia-related confabulations: dementia.org.au

3.     If I get dementia, don’t argue with me about what is true for me versus what is true for you.
Resource: "Therapeutic Lying" and other techniques from NHS Foundation Trust on supporting dementia patients respectfully: nhs.uk

4.     If I get dementia, and I am not sure who you are, do not take it personally. My timeline is confusing to me.
Resource: The Alzheimer’s Society explains how memory loss can affect recognition and tips for caregivers: alzheimers.org.uk

5.     If I get dementia, and can no longer use utensils, do not start feeding me. Instead, switch me to a finger-food diet, and see if I can still feed myself.
Resource: Aged Care Guide offers resources on modifying diets for dementia patients: agedcareguide.com.au

6.     If I get dementia, and I am sad or anxious, hold my hand and listen. Do not tell me that my feelings are unfounded.
Resource: The Alzheimer’s Foundation provides resources on managing anxiety and validating emotions: alzfdn.org

7.     If I get dementia, I don’t want to be treated like a child. Talk to me like the adult that I am.
Resource: Alzheimer's Society's recommendations for respectful and age-appropriate communication: alzheimers.org.uk

8.     If I get dementia, I still want to enjoy the things that I’ve always enjoyed. Help me find a way to exercise, read, and visit with friends.
Resource: Dementia-friendly activity suggestions from the Mayo Clinic: mayoclinic.org

9.     If I get dementia, ask me to tell you a story from my past.
Resource: Alzheimer's Society on reminiscence therapy and Storytelling for dementia: alzheimers.org.uk

10. If I get dementia, and I become agitated, take the time to figure out what is bothering me.
Resource: National Institute on Aging offers a comprehensive guide to understanding dementia-related behaviors: nia.nih.gov

11. If I get dementia, treat me the way that you would want to be treated.
Resource: The Eden Alternative discusses empathy and respectful care for dementia: edenalt.org

12. If I get dementia, make sure that there are plenty of snacks for me in the house. Even now if I don’t eat, I get angry, and if I have dementia, I may have trouble explaining what I need.
Resource: Alzheimer’s Association’s guide to dietary needs and eating challenges in dementia: alz.org

13. If I get dementia, don’t talk about me as if I’m not in the room.
Resource: Dementia UK explains inclusive communication and involving people with dementia in discussions: dementiauk.org

14. If I get dementia, don’t feel guilty if you cannot care for me 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. It’s not your fault, and you’ve done your best. Find someone who can help you, or choose a great new place for me to live.
Resource: Alzheimer’s Association offers caregiver support and resources for locating dementia care communities: alz.org

15. If I get dementia, and I live in a dementia care community, please visit me often.Resource: Family Caregiver Alliance discusses the importance of family visits in residential care: caregiver.org

Free books online

On Facebook, I saw a list of where you can download free ebooks. I use the library to get my books and I read about 10 to 14 books every two weeks. I know when one is retired one has time to spare. I know that many seniors love to read, but there were no links to the sites listed on FaceBook, so I added the links and ten more sites. So, here's a list of 30 websites where you can download free ebooks across genres. This includes classics, academic texts, technical guides, and a variety of public-domain resources:

1. Planet eBook - www.planetebook.com
2. Free-eBooks.net - www.free-ebooks.net
3. ManyBooks - www.manybooks.net
4. LibriVox (audiobooks) - www.librivox.org
5. Internet Archive - www.archive.org
6. BookBub (free and discounted deals) - www.bookbub.com
7. Open Library - www.openlibrary.org
8. Bookboon (free textbooks) - www.bookboon.com
9. Feedbooks - www.feedbooks.com
10. Smashwords - www.smashwords.com
11. Project Gutenberg - www.gutenberg.org
12. Google Books - books.google.com
13. PDFBooksWorld - www.pdfbooksworld.com
14. FreeTechBooks - www.freetechbooks.com
15. Bookyards - www.bookyards.com
16. GetFreeBooks - www.getfreeebooks.com
17. eBookLobby - www.ebooklobby.com
18. FreeComputerBooks - www.freecomputerbooks.com
19. Loyal Books (public domain audiobooks and ebooks) - www.loyalbooks.com
20. BookRix - www.bookrix.com
21. FreeBookCenter (technical and academic books) - www.freebookcentre.net
22. GoodReads (free books via their free ebooks section) - www.goodreads.com
23. Kobo Books - www.kobo.com
24. DigiLibraries - www.digilibraries.com
25. Renascence Editions (classic literature) - www.luminarium.org
26. PDF Drive - www.pdfdrive.com
27. CCEL (Christian Classics Ethereal Library) - www.ccel.org
28. BuddhaNet (Buddhist texts) - www.buddhanet.net
29. Open Culture (ebooks, audiobooks, and more) - www.openculture.com
30. Library of Congress (historic and public-domain books) - www.loc.gov

These sites offer a vast selection of free books, including classic literature, academic materials, technical books, and more contemporary works, making it easy to find free ebooks on almost any topic.'Enjoy.

Things your mother should have told you

I saw this on FaceBook it was posted by Kristie Sutton and I thought it was interesting.

1. Take your bananas apart when you get home from the store. If you leave them connected at the stem, they ripen faster.

2. Store your opened chunks of cheese in aluminum foil. It will stay fresh much longer and not mould!

3. Peppers with 3 bumps on the bottom are sweeter and better for eating. Peppers with 4 bumps on the bottom are firmer and better for cooking.

4. Add a teaspoon of water when frying ground beef. It will help pull the grease away from the meat while cooking.

5. To really make scrambled eggs or omelets rich add a couple of spoonfuls of sour cream, cream cheese, or heavy cream in and then beat them up.

6. For a cool brownie treat, make brownies as directed. Melt Andes mints in a double broiler and pour over warm brownies. Let set for a wonderful minty frosting.

7. Add garlic immediately to a recipe if you want a light taste of garlic and at the end of the recipe if your want a stronger taste of garlic.

8. Leftover Snickers bars from Halloween make a delicious dessert. Simply chop them up with the food chopper. Peel, core and slice a few apples. Place them in a baking dish and sprinkle the chopped candy bars over the apples. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes!!! Serve alone or with vanilla ice cream. Yummm!

9. Reheat Pizza

Heat up leftover pizza in a nonstick skillet on top of the stove, set heat to med-low and heat till warm. This keeps the crust crispy. No soggy micro pizza. I saw this on the cooking channel and it really works.

10. Easy Deviled Eggs

Put cooked egg yolks in a zip-lock bag. Seal, and mash till they are all broken up. Add remainder of ingredients, reseal, keep mashing it up mixing thoroughly, cut the tip of the baggy, and squeeze mixture into egg. Just throw the bag away when done with easy cleanup.

11. Expanding Frosting

When you buy a container of cake frosting from the store, whip it with your mixer for a few minutes. You can double it in size. You get to frost more cake/cupcakes with the same amount. You also eat less sugar and calories per serving.

12. Reheating refrigerated bread

To warm biscuits, pancakes, or muffins that were refrigerated, place them in a microwave with a cup of water. The increased moisture will keep the food moist and help it reheat faster.

13. Newspaper weeds away

Start putting in your plants, work the nutrients in your soil. Wet newspapers, put layers around the plants overlapping as you go. Cover with mulch and forget about weeds. Weeds will get through some gardening plastic they will not get through wet newspapers.

14. Broken Glass

Use a wet cotton ball or Q-tip to pick up the small shards of glass you can't see easily.

15. No More Mosquitoes

Place a dryer sheet in your pocket. It will keep the mosquitoes away.

16. Squirrel Away!

To keep squirrels from eating your plants, sprinkle your plants with cayenne pepper. The cayenne pepper doesn't hurt the plant and the squirrels won't come near it.

17. Flexible vacuum

To get something out of a heat register or under the fridge add an empty paper towel roll or empty gift wrap roll to your vacuum. It can be bent or flattened to get in narrow openings.

18. Reducing Static Cling

Pin a small safety pin to the seam of your slip and you will not have a clingy skirt or dress. The same thing works with slacks that cling when wearing pantyhose. Place pin in seam of slacks and ... guess what! ... static is gone.

19. Measuring Cups

Before you pour sticky substances into a measuring cup, fill it with hot water. Dump out the hot water, but don't dry the cup. Next, add your ingredients, such as peanut butter, and watch how easily it comes right out. (Or spray the measuring cup or spoon with Pam before using)

20. Foggy Windshield?

Hate foggy windshields? Buy a chalkboard eraser and keep it in the glove box of your car When the windows fog, rub with the eraser! Works better than a cloth!

21. Re-opening envelopes

If you seal an envelope and then realize you forgot to include something inside, just place your sealed envelope in the freezer for an hour or two. Viola! It unseals easily.

22. Conditioner

Use your hair conditioner to shave your legs. It's cheaper than shaving cream and leaves your legs really smooth. It's also a great way to use up the conditioner you bought but didn't like when you tried it in your hair.

23. Goodbye Fruit Flies

To get rid of pesky fruit flies, take a small glass, fill it 1/2' with Apple Cider Vinegar and 2 drops of dishwashing liquid; mix well. You will find those flies drawn to the cup and gone forever!

24. Get Rid of Ants

Put small piles of cornmeal where you see ants. They eat it, take it 'home,' and can't digest it so it kills them. It may take a week or so, especially if it rains, but it works and you don't have the worry about pets or small children being harmed!

25. Dryer Filter

Even if you are very diligent about cleaning the lint filter in your dryer it still may be causing you a problem. If you use dryer sheets a waxy build-up could be accumulating on the filter causing your dryer to over heat. The solution to this is to clean your filter with a toothbrush and hot soapy water every 6 months.

☆ Thank you all for passing my things around and sharing 

This ones for my son

My son told me this story and I am passing it on.

As a guitarist, my son gets all kinds of gigs, but recently he was dying for a unique one. A funeral director asked him to play at a graveside service for a homeless man. This gentleman had no family or friends, so they planned a simple service at a pauper’s cemetery in the boondocks. My son wasn’t exactly familiar with the backwoods, and as fate would have it, he got lost.

After a lot of wrong turns and dead ends, he finally arrived an hour late, only to find the funeral director had evidently given up the ghost and left, along with the hearse. The only folks left were the diggers and crew, who were gathered around the gravesite having lunch.

Feeling terrible, he apologized for his grave mistake. He walked up to the side of the grave and noticed the vault lid was already in place. Not knowing what else to do, he pulled out his guitar and started to play.

The workers put down their sandwiches and drifted closer. He played his heart out, strumming up all the love he could for this man who had no one. As he poured his soul into ‘Amazing Grace,’ the workers began to weep. One by one, they laid their sandwiches aside, and soon, everyone was caught up in the moment. The tears were flowing like the graveyard shift without overtime pay.

When he finally finished, he nodded respectfully, packed up his guitar, and started for his car. Although he felt buried in guilt, his heart was full. But just as he opened his car door, he overheard one of the workers say, “I’ve never seen anything like that before, and I’ve been installing septic tanks for twenty years.”

Apparently, he’s still digging his way out of this one!