I have mentioned previously that my mother has LBD. I am her guardian, and see to her personal, medical, and day to day needs. My sister downstate sees to her financial and business affairs. (She has the tougher end of the bargain - she says I do. Let's just say that we're each well-suited to our tasks.) My mom lives in a small, friendly nursing home with a family atmosphere 4 minutes from my house - 1/3 mile as the crow flies. So I can see her, or take her out, frequently. Unfortunately, as time goes on she is less and less comfortable away from her home. though...

But last week was my husband's Christmas party for his job. They held it at a restaurant about 10 miles west of town. So while he went and partied with his cronies, my mom and I also got a table and had our own lunch. Afterward we took a drive to a town about 25 miles further out, as I wanted to show my mom and Pete the wind farm out there that I had discovered earlier. While there we also stopped at an Amish store to get lots of bargains (and probably spent 20-25% of retail cost on few dozen items!).

My mom really enjoyed herself. It is the longest - and farthest - she'd been from her home in probably 2 years. She had never been to this area, but was telling us about who lived in each house, and her memories of living there, of seeing the massive electricity-generating windmills in her yard (she grew up in the 30's and 40's), of her childhood friends and walking to school with them and playing outside, and all sorts of "memories" that existed only in her own mind.  And she was thrilled.

It is common knowledge that those with dementia are incapable of entering our reality. What many people have a hard time with is entering theirs. The temptation is great to say, "Oh no, mom, you've never been to this part of the state before, and you grew up hundreds of miles from here!" but seriously, what would be the benefit of that? She was enjoying her memories, and she was out getting sunshine and fresh air, and she was excited and happy.

She lives in the moment. She doesn't remember yesterday, or even that same morning, or 5 minutes ago. She can't conceive of tomorrow, or any sort of future. Her life consists of the present. She will see something and within seconds she believes it to be a long-distant memory, as the concept of time has become so fuzzy...

My mom comes to my house on Sundays. We pick her up after church, and she stays for supper, and then becomes very anxious to get home. But while she's here she will look out the windows at the neighborhood and describe to me how it was part of her distant past. There is no "a week ago" or even "every Sunday for the last 4½ years" - just distance.

Anyway - it is all about moments, and giving her good ones. She won't remember these moments, good or bad, but in the present I want all of her moments to be filled with good  memories of things, whether they're real or not. And I want her to see the world through eyes of happy experiences - whether they are real, or exist only in her own reality.

I was planning to wait until Jan. 1st to move all of my blogs from blogger over to my Weebly site. Meanwhile, I have been frozen from blogging. By my own brain. Having to do things twice, or copy/paste, or decide which site to post what every time I wanted to blog. For the last 4 years, 2 months, and 1 day my brain just stops - or freezes when it is overwhelmed. And apparently all of this change has overwhelmed it because I have been unable to blog after the first few times caused a chaotic response (the "warning sign")... (Yes, I know, "but you seem so normal!" lol!)
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So I decided that December 17th is as good a day as any to just do it. From now on, ALL of my blogging will be done at my new site. I will not be using blogger at all, and will eventually take the blogs down, once I get them archived.
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I seriously need to be blogging. For a couple of months now I approach both sites with fear and trepidation, literally, and simply can't think of what to post when I log in to either site (even though my mind is full of posts until I sit at the computer!).
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Thanks for your patience. Once the logjam is gone from between my ears, the river should start flowing again! :)

C'mon...seriously/

The ZaTab.

Currently it is selling with an android version as its o/s but I am ever-hopeful that it will sell in the future with linux on board. Will also be watching this one - even as it is, it looks sweet! Sure makes me wish I were a developer...I see it's sold out, hopefully to linux developers everywhere!

As you may be aware, if you have been following the original chiachatter blog, I am trying to degoogle my life in as many areas as possible. And one of the things I want to do is - once I'm ready to buy a tablet PC - purchase it with a linux-based o/s. I currently use linux on my netbook and on my desktop, and like it SO much better than Windows. My smartphone is a Droid, but when this contract is up, my goal is to purchase a feature phone instead, and a linux tablet.

Now I have to interject here that I already HAVE a linux internet tablet. For several years I have had a Nokia N810, which I affectionately call N8 (Nate). However a couple of years ago his screen got crushed and I haven't been able to get it repaired. My heart still cries when I think about him, and even though he's non-functioning at this point (and his linux o/s Maemo is outdated, slow, and not really supported anymore) I just can't give him up. Perhaps when I am able to get a tablet PC...

Meanwhile, I am watching developments and hoping that there will be a realistically (for me) viable and affordable option by spring - like this one!

I try to help Leelan hide God's Word in his heart. These are some of the verses he's memorized so far. He started memorizing them when he was just 2 years old, so I paraphrased them to make them learable to him. I believe better that, than to have nothing stored up at all. These are about half of the verses he knows but they are his favorites :).

Yesterday's message at church contained quite a few "YES!" nuggets of truth; I just want to share a few of them here:
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What do we do when we see something that is out of our price range?Most of us go home & wished we had the money to buy whatever it is.
We say we want it, but in reality it isn’t enough of a priority to make the sacrifice to obtain it.
Too often the kingdom of heaven & our relationship with God are treated the same way.
We hear a sermon that challenges us, we are confronted with the Word of God, but we tell ourselves that we don’t have what it takes to obtain it.
That is a lie.
We do have what it takes, but the hard truth is: we don’t want it as bad as we claim.
We are unwilling to make the changes necessary to obtain the kingdom of heaven.
Because of our love for this world, we miss out on the greatest gift there is.
Ultimately, that will lead to us missing out on eternity.
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You must be persistent.
You don’t have to convince God of anything because He is the one who loves you enough to give you His all. 
Still, you must be persistent because there is a spiritual battle going on.
Jesus is on the winning side.
He has already paid the price for your soul.
His power & forces are unbeatable.
The devil is on the losing side.
His mission is to steal, kill, & destroy.
You are his target.
He will do everything he can to get you to exchange the priceless treasure of Jesus for the worthless things of this world.
He wants you to kick back, relax, neglect the gifts of God, & live your life for self.
He’ll make the treasures of this world look more appealing than the treasures of heaven.
The cost of all this will be your soul.
The day of judgment will come & you will have to give an account for your life.
He’ll try to distract you from that truth so that you will neglect the treasure that God has given you.
Don’t let him be successful.
Pay attention.
Know the Word of God so that you will not be deceived.
James 1:22 says “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.”
Be honest with yourself.
Are you here to merely listen to the word?
Or, do you take what you have heard & do it?
Do you do what the Word of God tells you to do?
If you don’t do what God tells you to do, you are deceiving yourself.
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I am thankful for a pastor who doesn't water down the truth, who doesn't just scratch people's itching ears with what they want to hear, and that proclaims the truth in love.

(Just a reminder that this blog will be moving to its <a href="http://www.vitainvia.com/chiachatter.html">new home</a> at the end of this year.)
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<a href="http://www.kvue.com/home/Doctors-say-2nd-leading-cause-of-dementia-is-commonly-misdiagnosed-174855691.html">This</a> is an article that was recently posted as a news story. October being LBD Awareness month, I wanted to write about this disease. As my mother's guardian - and daughter - I have a special interest in LBD. She lives in a nursing home just around the corner from me (actually it's a few corners but only a 4 minute drive...1/2 mile as the crow flies). There is no way I could care for her at home, but the professionals are doing a beautiful job with her, meeting needs that I could not meet, and giving her a much higher quality of life than she could otherwise expect. (She does come to my home quite often, loves to play with our critters, play the piano, help out in the kitchen, enjoy time with her great-grandson, etc...plus when I'm running errands I can swing by to pick her up so we can spend the time together, although we're nearing the end of her ability to do that unfortunately.)
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Anyway, this article just touches the tip of the iceberg. One statement that is particularly important thought, is this one: "Winston [Jaron Winston, M.D., a geriatric psychiatrist] says because the disease takes awhile to show itself, often doctors won't realize the patient may be suffering from LBD until the patients are treated with Alzheimer's medications that tend to make the LBD symptoms worse."
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In some cases the wrong medication can be lethal. As it nearly was for my mother. I can't stress enough that, unless and until you can find a "lewy-savvy" doctor for your loved one, you WILL NEED to be their advocate. A proper diagnosis is ESSENTIAL, and most physicians are not familiar with LBD yet, in spite of its prevalence. To many, "dementia is dementia is dementia, and it's all Alzheimer's." Given that an LBD victim can live many years with this disease (unless a wrong diagnosis and improper treatment shorten their lives), it is imperative that appropriate treatment is provided.
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In my mother's case, in spite of the improper treatment by one hospital, the correct diagnosis and treatment helped her actually regain much of her cognition and all of her former personality. Once she once again was herself, she has been able to enjoy her life within each moment, and the misery and living hell that she had been existing in was a thing of the past - bad memories that she doesn't even have anymore. With her hallucinations and delusions under control with the right (delicate!) mix of meds, and her personality back, even with the memory issues, even with her "bad days" where her cognition is lower and confusion reigns (LBD is like a roller coaster of improvements and decline, unlike the steady decline of other dementias) - I have gotten my mother back. These 4 years are a blessing that I would not have had without the proper diagnosis, medication regimen, and care.
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For more information about Lewy Body Dementia please visit the Lewy Body Dementia Association <a href="http://lbda.org/">website</a>. If you have a loved one with LBD, or suspect that they do, please familiarize yourself with this disease. Yes, it is fatal; but there is help for them!

I already have a ChiaChatter blog. I've had it for 4 years. But now life is changing, and I'm simplifying every area of it. Including my online content. What is now spread across several sites will all be here. Under the VitaInVia umbrella. Because we're moving into the next stage of our lives, and it's all about simple. And it will soon, we pray, be all about Life on the Road...Vita In Via...

Unless you've already been following ChiaChatter, you don't know me. Or the point of this blog. I'm Sherry - ChiaOwl online - and I'm married to Pete. I have a grown daughter, Casey, and a 3YO grandson, Leelan. They live nearby, and figure hugely in our lives. Pete has 2 grown sons and 2 grandchildren who are not in the immediate area.

We have a lot of pets: 2 small dogs, a cat, and 7 parrots. This is considerably fewer than we've had in the past but we are allowing our pet population to dwindle naturally. I can't imagine life without pets; Pete says he'd like to :).

I'm a keyboardist. Got my degree in music in 1980 but now play digital music on my Yamaha keyboards and do some simple, light recording. Some of it will undoubtedly show up around here. I play for the glory of the Lord and to worship; I no longer play any music that isn't edifying in some way.

Pete and I are Christians and worship/serve/fellowship at a small church in the county. I've been living for Christ since 1976, except for a few years when I backslid after my first marriage collapsed. I never want to experience life without Jesus again!

I have a seasonal job, working from spring until fall for a pest control company. 9-5, M-F their calls are forwarded to me here at home so that I can take messages, schedule appointments with the technicians, and answer some very simple, non-technical questions. It is a joy to work for a Christian-owned company with people I truly enjoy and respect.

I don't see any point in moving 4 years worth of content here, especially since it would involve almost endless copying and pasting! ChiaChatter is just that - Chatter about things in my own life, thoughts, impressions, experiences, etc. The things that most people blog about. But probably not important enough to re-read, years later.

I will be taking down my original ChiaChatter blog at the end of this year.