A trip through Mom's refrigerator

From S 7/1/11

• I worked on mom's door (it had rotted at the base of the frame). I'll try to prime it tomorrow and then paint sometime soon. I'll also try to weed her atrium.
• The Kitchen: I cleaned out her refrigerator today. I basically threw everything out. There were containers that have been in there for what seems like months. I assumed that they were "safe." I think that was a bad assumption, as you can see from the pictures here. She didn't get mad that I threw everything out (including slices from four separate pizzas). Of course, I'm not sure she knew I was doing it. I waited until she was out of the room. While I was at it, I went ahead and cleaned her kitchen (washed her dishes). I think we should make it a practice to wash her dishes for her whenever we're there. I may buy her one of those old-fashioned drying racks. I kind of hate to leave things in her dishwasher, since we know it's broken. Jesus, can we try to check that thing out sometime this weekend?
• Groceries: I decided to not really let mom make too many decisions about her groceries. She doesn't really seem to know what to buy or how to use it, so I just bought things I thought she could eat. My premise is that she can't really prepare any food, so we need to buy her ready-to-eat food. I know that's not the healthiest, but it's better than her poisoning herself or burning down the house. I don't think she should be trusted with the microwave, so that rules out a lot of ready-to-eat meals. Anyway, I bought her lots of the usual things she likes, but I also bought her a number of Snack-Wells. They're high in protein and low in fat and sodium. I also bought her some peanut butter pretzel nuggets. Not so healthy, but not the worst in the world. I also bought her some "Little Debbie" type cakes from weight watchers, low in fat and sugar (that's safer than when she tries to bake a cake). I also got her some dried fruit. Again, I know this isn't the best (far from it), but we don't really seem to have many choices if we want her to at least have a steady stream of nutrients.
• Some more memory examples: Mom asked me if I was born in the US or Cuba. She really didn't know. We talked about it for a while but she couldn't figure it out. At the grocery story, she said, "Tambien necesito cafe, pero no se como hacerlo." She struggled trying to remember my birthday, but remembered everyone else's (y'all's and dad's). After mass, I asked her to recite the Lord's Prayer (in Spanish). She got half way through and said that was the end of it.
• I've also contacted Cameo for an interview. The Twitter thing won't work. We'll just have to be sure we each text the other two regarding Mom's schedule. I like beginning with the word "Sibs" so we all know who's getting the text.