Lock Down.

(I started writing this on Sept 28th)

Oh the craziness that happens up in this house!!!

Mom doesn't stop eating.

Some is boredom. Some is because she doesn't remember she ate. Some is simply because she loves and wants ice cream!

Maybe I blogged this a while back...ha!...I don't remember. 

My momma loves ice cream. LOVES IT!

So, a couple weeks ago I bought all the fixin's to make banana splits. Ice cream, bananas, hot fudge, caramel sauce, cool whip, chopped nuts. Go big or go home!

I made her an extra large banana split. Seriously, extra large!!! I went back to the kitchen to make myself a banana split and before I could get in the living room to sit down and eat mine with her, hers was gone. G.O.N.E.

Out of her mouth came, "I want another one."

"Mom, you can't have another. I made you an extra large one and that was a lot that you just ate.", I replied. She instantly became frustrated and said, "Make me another one!!" I went to the kitchen and piddled around hoping she would forget. She didn't. She was all about that ice cream.

She gets up and went in the kitchen and got herself more ice cream. I was not happy. She ate her ice ream and then we headed to our rooms for the night. I was frustrated to say the least.

At some point in the middle of the night, she helped herself to more!!! She ate the entire 1/2 gallon of ice cream, except for about 2 spoonfuls, the entire jar of hot fudge, 6-7 bananas, and half a bottle of caramel sauce.

In my best Charlie Brown voice, "UUGHHHHHHH."

(I started to write this last week and just couldnt finish......)Yesterday, or the past 36 hours, I will say have been the hardest. Not because she's doing anything more, but because I'm simply beyond exhausted. (Today is Tuesday).

For the past year I have been trying to get myself on a routine of going to bed at a decent hour. Working in direct sales for many years and guiding a large team, I had a horrible habit of working til 1:00 or 2:00 in the morning. In stepping away from direct sales, I've worked on trying to shut my brain down and getting more rest.

I have an alarm on my phone that chimes at 9:20pm. That's my signal to turn off the computer and electronics and position myself for rest. I head to bed. I might watch tv, listen to a book, or just lay and love on Sammi Kay.

There had been a few instances where mom was in the kitchen late at night, eating. Maybe it was leftovers. Maybe not. One night she ate a container of sour cream and an entire jar of pickles. There's no explanation of what she might eat from the fridge.

Sunday evening, my phone chimed. My kitchen was still a disaster and it needed to be put to bed (cleaned up) before I could venture down the hall to the comfort of my bed. Putting my kitchen to bed means to clean it up. In honesty, I was a queen of leaving it until the morning. Heck, who am I kidding...before I became the caregiver of my momma, sometimes, it might be days before it got cleaned up. But that's a whole other blog!

To wake up to lights on in the hallway, I know she's into something in the kitchen.

I will be the first to raise my hand and confess...there is likely something in a bowl that is growing some sort of fungus on it, in my fridge. If mom has her way---she'll eat it. She has no clue what's in a bowl.

She's heated stuff in the microwave, but turned the stove on and left it on. My brain hurts from thinking how I will keep her out of the kitchen.

Someone told me to lock down my kitchen. Locks on everything.

I FEEL SO BAD!!!!!!

This is what I know.... if she has gotten up in the middle of the night and gone to the kitchen to snack, she hasnt gotten the cabinet or the fridge opened. Every thing has locks. It all gets locked when I got to bed.

I will say this.....

it's stopped my midnight munching. I don't want to fumble for the key to the fridge or the magnet to the cabinets.

~bo