Independence Days

"You're not stacking the dishes properly," Mr. Ginley admonished me the other night. "I showed you the most efficient way to do it, but you're not doing it that way."

at the lake, from the beforetimes

Admittedly, I lost it. I've been doing all the chores since that awful day, including washing the dishes every evening. I figure if I'm the one doing the task, I should be able to do it the way I'm comfortable doing it.

I threw down my sponge and said, "Fine, you stack them then."

Which he proceeded to do.

A truce was called, and it was decided that from now on, I'm going to wash and rinse, and Mr. Ginley will stack the dishes. He'll also dry any oversized items.

It occurred to me that this is part of his recovery, working toward his independence. 

His bigger mission this week was to cull through the hundreds of books in the living room. I've lost track of how much reading material is heading off to new homes. Our son is coming over soon to cherrypick any of the ones he wants before they go to either Half Price Books or one of the libraries for their book sale. (If y'all are in the neighborhood and looking for reading material, feel free to stop by.) 

This week marked another milestone, as Mr. has been out of bed and in his wheelchair the most he's ever been in the last several months. In our new routine, he completes his morning constitutional, has breakfast, and hits the wheels at around 11:00. Then he's up until the dishes are done in the evening, usually around 8:00 or so. 

In addition to going through his books, he sits at the kitchen table and reads, watches the World Cup, or dabbles a little on his computer. His eyesight troubles slow him down but don't stop him.

As for his PT, it seems to be winding down. His therapist is encouraging Mark and me to help him transition to his chair (aka "The Cloud"). We did that yesterday, and it went okay. No spills, no thrills. (That's a good thing.)

Today is spa day, which is nice and relaxing. It's also lawn-cutting day, which is not so relaxing, but needs must. Also, I need to check the blackberries. Hopefully, they haven't all ripened and fallen off yet. Alas, it's been so dry, the last one I tasted wasn't very good. 

Our big decision of the day will be whether we want to continue the tradition of Chinese food for dinner or if we want to try something different.

Do you think Dragon Towers will miss us if we defect to another cuisine?