So here I am giving mom a boost into her room and I notice that the answering light on her phone is dark. I pick up the handset and it doesn't work. Hmmm....check the back of the base unit and it's unplugged from the electrical power cord.

I plug it in, reset the time and turn the answering machine back on. Mom says that the phone hasn't worked all day. I say, that's because the base unit got unplugged somehow.

Then mom says that there was a red light on the phone last night. I point at the answering service 'on' light and ask if it was that one. Yes, she replies. Um, that light's been on since before you came home. It means that it will answer the phone if you don't get to it. Oh, she says. I show her that to turn it off, you just push the lit-up button. Oh, she says.

Do you all get the impression that I got, that mom unplugged the phone to make the red light go away? Mm-hmm.

Mom also has some big ol' holes in both her short-term and long-term memory. We were talking as I prepared some dinner. I sat down for a bit while it simmered and she asked me if something was cooking. Um, yeah. Dinner. You watched me open the packages of noodles and measure the water, remember?

Then we were talking about a conversation on one of the groups I belong to on Yahoo groups (Pickle Road Studio of Mark Lipinski's Quilter's Home Magazine fame : http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PickleRoadStudio ). I mentioned that in the discussion about having kids and when and such that I had to forget the idea of having kids for almost a year. Right around the time I had to do 6 months of abstinence because of the treatment for cell dysplasia. Mom said she didn't remember me having that. Um, stirrup tests every 3 months before and after? Me crabby from no nookie for six months? Worries about them having caught it all so I wouldn't end up with cervical cancer? That whole year and more of stuff she doesn't remember.

I sure am glad we've got the in-home care people keeping an eye on mom while I'm at work.