Doll

I took care of 'Doll' today. She has Alzhiemer's but is very social and brimming with Brooklyn diva personality. A fashion plate, Doll arrives dressed to the nines, complete with the hair, nails and accessories. Strange how it turned out that most of our clients are Italian transplants from Brooklyn or Staten Island. The " Ginny Gang Plank" as I have heard some of them say. Per her husbands request, I have been going over there on a Saturday or Sunday each week for a couple of hours to sit with her and help her with personal care. It gives him a few hours respite so he can get out alone. I really enjoy this couple. Very relaxed and peaceful at their house. Doll seemed different today. More coherent and less confused. It was nice to see that she wanted to do more for herself than usual. She asked me to leave the bathroom while she showered herself and then insisted she put her own make up on. The conversation we had regarding Chef Mike Colameco in the French kitchen actually made sense.

Me: " I don't know about you, but the chickens with the heads and claws still on them seem scary to me. I don't like buying food that still looks like the animal it grew on. Can't even wash a whole chicken without feeling sick about it."

"Tell me about it."

Me: " Look Doll they're cooking the head and neck like it's a drumstick right in the pan. Absolutely Gross."

" Well, you just don't look, Doll."

" And those frog legs. Look. He's eating them like drumsticks too. Oh man. I would puke."

" A guaranteed puke."

" and those snails. ew."

" This is just a disgusting thing we are watching, Doll ( she calls me 'Doll' too). Just don't look at it right now."

Maybe it was the prayer I said for her when we were sitting in the Library at work. Maybe it was Ensure I gave her this morning. I don't know but she was amazing.

We watched this other guy making Filo. I saw that if you take flour and add water, first, before the butter, you get a lighter bread like dough. If you add butter before the water, you get a cookie dough. He mixed the flour/sea salt and water and then threw it on the table and started kneading and rolled it out into a large square. He then put butter slices on 2/3 of it and folded it over in 3rds. He rolled that out and folded it up again...roll and fold. This increased the layers inside with the butter on each level. He said that in the oven the steam from the water want to be coming out but the butter won't let it...the hot steam is trapped inside and this forms the puffy layers in the pastry. Interesting!

I went shopping after that. Gas is up to 3.07/Gal which is still less than Lukoil. 3.09! I went to The Christmas Shoppe to look around and found some bargains on throw pillows some other stuff. I met a potential client in line in front of me. For some reason she opened up about her sister who is challenged and one thing led to another. She's gonna bring her sister over to the center. A really sweet lady. I think it was the throw pillows in her cart which got my attention. I happened to have one like it from Bed Bath and Beyond..." Lovely pattern on that throw pillow" "Oh yes! It's for my sister...." Amazing how throw pillows can spark a whole new relationship. Then over to Kirklands for a Lamperge (sp?) and some other stuff. The Lamperge is a decorative bottle which is filled with scented Pharmaceutical alcohol. The alcohol is wicked up to a stone which sits at the mouth of the bottle and is heated. The alcohol evaporates into the air, killing germs which cause odors, and leaving the room scented. The Lamperge was developed by a pharmacist in the early 19th century for use in the hospitals. Anyway I decided it would make a nice gift. Then on to the gas station for another 20 bucks worth of gas and then Shoprite for flowers and the ceremonial birthday balloon, and gift cards. Somehow I wound up as the collector of monies for the gift card. It's okay. I like doing the flowers and balloon, and it's all at Shoprite so I don't have to go nuts driving around wasting gas. So that's it.

I ate trail mix for dinner while I shopped. Ugh. THEN...topped it off with greasy antipast olive oil soaked Olives, roasted peppers, garlic, basil, mushrooms and mozzarella. I wanna hurl...excuse me.

Good night.