u/Aghostwillfollowyou

I have been on summer break for three weeks now. The daily schedule involves my mother getting up at 8:30-ish. She has a cup of tea and something to eat and then lays back down because “(Pick the day) is my day to relax.” She gets up again after 1:00. If I try to roust her before that, she yells at me for having made her get up at the crack of dawn.

I mean, I guess it’s easy. I can usually do whatever errands I have to do and not worry that she’s waiting for me. She’s certainly safe in bed. My only worry is that she will end up flipping her body clock and being up all night.

I get it. When she gave up driving, she also lost her daily routine of the gym and the senior center. Going for a walk around the neighborhood doesn’t take up much of the day. Why not just zone out? It’s just hard to watch this complete disconnection from everything.

I keep reading that sleep and stress are probably linked to Alzheimer’s and other dementias.

Caring for a lived one with the disease causes these problems, so what on Earth are we supposed to do?

Im a teacher and have been in summer break the last two weeks. I had a very difficult class this past school year and really needed the rest and reset. However, I’m finding being home with my mother all day is making my sleep worse than it was. I keep waking up and having weird dreams.

How are we supposed to control sleep and stress for our own health when our life is controlled by someone else’s needs? All I see online are sales pitches for supplements.

At my mother’s most recent PCP appointment they had her fill out a lifesaving preference form where it asked if she consented to CPR, intubation, tubal feeding, etc.

She said if any lifesaving efforts need to be made, just let her die.

Later in the appointment, I asked the doctor if they had a list of any resources, like home care or recommended care facilities. My mother got really annoyed at that point and said she didn’t need help. She’s semi-correct at this point, because she’s pretty independent and I’m here. There is a definite decline though and I want to be prepared. The doctor said she would have a case manager call.

When the case manager called, she introduced herself, asked my mother if she was depressed or suffering anxiety. Mom said no and that was the end of the call.

I guess I’m on my own.

What is the area around Long Beach Airport and LBCC like? I live in OC and work on the west side of LA. I hate the drive but I really don’t want to live up there since it’s so densely populated. I’ve really only been to the flea market at the college in LB, so I’ve only seen the industrial side. Is there a decent neighborhood over there?

I have been watching WDW Kevin and Curious Oysters pin trading videos, and after watching the more knowledgeable Disney YouTubers like AllEars, I have to appreciate that these two admit when they don’t know a character or an IP. They could quickly google and act like they know, like Molly obviously does when she’s in the larger world, but they don’t fake it.

Dani was riding the submarines at Disneyland and didn’t seem to have any clue that it was originally not Finding Nemo themed.

They stick to their pin collecting and don’t act like they’re park experts.

My admin created a system where if students get a certain number of discipline warnings, they lose out on Fun Friday. After this was communicated to students and family, admin decided they should be able to buy their way out with PBiS tickets.

So, naturally they would get the tickets when admin was around passing them out because they would line up or pick up trash, then go right into the classroom and swear, wander, steal or call each other names. Then it was, “Well, I have tickets!”

My group thus year was 2/3 the best students ever and 1/3 the worst students I’ve ever had. School just ended yesterday. I’m trying to emotionally and mentally detox do I can enjoy the break.

Has anyone gotten their own long term care insurance after a parent was diagnosed? My mom is the third generation in a row. I don’t have kids, so if I’m also in line for this thing, I’m going to have to figure it out.

How do you even start to look into it?

My mother got a notification from the HOA management company that she has been double paying her dues.

I changed their portal contact info to my email, thinking that she was probably getting a notification that the auto pay was coming up and thinking she had to make the payment herself.

Today I received an email that looks like it’s from the management company saying there is a balance due and it gives a link to pay. This is a fake email. So, my assumption was half correct. Fortunately if she’s been receiving these she wasn’t using the link in the scam email. She was going directly to her bank account and paying the management company directly. So, yes, she avoided the scam somewhat.

I hate that there are so many crooks out there.

On Monday, I was out.

Apparently my fourth graders convinced the sub to let them listen to music on YouTube, even though they know they are not allowed to access that site.

All week (despite setting them straight on the rules) I have been catching kids with a tab on YT and hearing ”Well, the sub let us do it.”

Excuse me, WHAT REALITY DO YOU THINK YOU ARE IN RIGHT NOW?

I am so over this group this year.

Three weeks left.

I have been taking my mom to church since she stopped driving. While I don’t mind sitting through Mass and I’ve found it to be a rather relaxing ritual, I haven’t fully embraced it by going to confession and taking communion again myself.

Yesterday she said she has to go to confession because she ate meat one day during lent. She claimed she hasn’t been accepting communion for weeks because of this. This is inaccurate. I mean, I have no clue if she ate meat or not, but she has been getting communion.

So here we are with the disease. Either she wants to go to confession, and it’s something that has been on her mind, or next week when the time comes, she will deny having told me she wants to go. I’m also curious as to what priests hear from parishioners in this condition. What confusion are they regularly listening to that changes within the same conversation?

Heavy sigh.

We are testing this week so I have been looking for fun things to do in the afternoon. Today it was popsicle stick catapults. I have done them many times over the years. I used to teach a STEM class and did it with 3-5th grades. I’ve done it with second graders in summer school.
My approach has always been to do a mini lesson on levers, show a picture of a catapult and let them figure it out. No modeling, no explicit instruction. Just a pile of supplies and time to explore. Someone always figures it out and the rest catch on.

THIS group, after very irate and rude complaints that they didn’t want to work with the people I partnered them with in front of those people…THIS group had a full on panic attack when I told them I wasn’t going to tell them how to build. The freak-out was epic!

Also, nobody figured it out in the 20 minutes I gave them.

I feel like I failed this class this year. They are still helpless and the social skills are still massively lacking for too many of them.

How do you address student apathy?

I teach fourth and I have one student in particular who can not be bothered to give a shit about anything. The kid crawls on the floor, walks around to socialize, the times he’s actually in his seat, he throws pencils and bothers the people around him. Then he gets irate and mouthy when I redirect him.

He does zero work. He tells me he doesn’t know how to do it. When I go over to help him, he follows up “don’t know how” with “I just don’t want to do it.” They have been working on an argumentative essay and not only hasn’t he finished, but he has done exactly one entry on the graphic organizer to set it all up. Again, he refuses to do anything at all when offered help. He won’t even do art related projects.

I have talked to parents numerous times. He is okay the next day and then it slips back.

My instinct is that there is something beyond school causing this. There may be family issues in the background. I highly doubt there is an organic cause. His previous teachers have also said his attitude was not great and parents were no help.

We have six weeks left and I’m ready to give up. I have to many serious behavioral problems in this group to fight with a kid who can’t be bothered.

Is it common for people to sleep a lot even before the late stages?

My mom seems to be about stage 4-ish. Since she stopped driving, she really doesn’t have a schedule, so she has kind of lost motivation to do much of anything. When I’m home she stays in bed until noon or even later. She gets up at like eight, eats and then lays down again. I have no idea how late she gets up when I’m at work. To my knowledge, she sleeps at night. I feel like she would be complaining if that was an issue.

I shouldn’t complain because I know if she’s in bed at least she’s safe. I’m just wondering if this is common.