Group Homes and Progress

Yesterday morning I checked out two more group homes. We walked into the first and were overwhelmed by the odor. The owner has cats, and apparently doesn't clean the litter box regularly. We were shown two empty beds, both in shared rooms. One was adjacent to an outside door. The other was shoved against the wall with 2 feet of open closet and enough space to walk beside it. The owner didn't want Daughter moving in, though even if she had, we wouldn't have let her. The other residents are older and are all content to set around watching TV all the time.

The second place has 12 residents. There are two rooms that might be coming open. The first was right next door to a young man and very close to a not well secured kitchen. Not going to work. The second room had potential. The downstairs had 6 bedrooms, and all the residents downstairs are women. They have 2 cats at the house. The common areas are larger than we've seen at other homes (who try to cram in as many beds as possible so they can make more money. I've decided that home is an opportunity. They had poster boards with pictures of various activities they had gone to as a home. On one of the boards I saw a familiar face: a friend and colleague. Daughter knows him. The staff member said he comes and visits them, and some of the residents go to his church (where Daughter and I have been). I will see him Tuesday, so I will be asking his opinion of that particular group home. There aren't any openings right now, though, so we're back to waiting. There is also a woman close to Daughter's age at that facility.

Daughter continues to improve. The current challenge is she has a cold. When she has a cold, she tends to be very dramatic about how much she is suffering. I decided I wanted an omelet for breakfast this morning, and I didn't want to cook. I told her if she was up and dressed in 10 minutes, I'd take her to breakfast. When we got to the restaurant she pushed the menu away. "I can't eat" I didn't respond, so she picked out an omelet she wanted.

When the food came, she complained that the cheese in the omelet wasn't real cheddar. I didn't respond. She ate the potatoes, and then dramatically pushed her plate away. I ignored her. She pulled the plate back and ate most of the omelet. She told me she was too sick to walk today, and she needed to go to the store to get ingredients for the supper she wants to make tonight. I informed her that if she was too sick to walk, she's too sick too cook. She has decided she's going to go for a walk....