#WeekendCoffeeShare (September 16, 2023)

Posted on by Astrid

Hi everyone. I’m joining #WeekendCoffeeShare today. I just had my afternoon coffee, but will probably not finish this post in one go, as I have an activity moment again in half an hour. Let’s have a drink and let’s catch up.

If we were having coffee, first I’d talk about the weather. We’ve had pretty nice late summer weather here with temps rising to between 20°C and 25°C during the day. Next week, we’re supposed to get rain and then I’m pretty sure it’s over with the warm weather, although October can occasionally bring days when the temperature reaches 20°C too. I love telling tales of the day, about five or six years ago, when we had a daytime high of 27°C here in mid-October.

If we were having coffee, then I’d talk about my walking and other exercise. I went swimming on Wednesday. It’ll probably have been the last time for now, as I’m moving to the new care home on Monday, although the swimming instructor did say my new home’s clients go swimming too.

I went on the stationary bike yesterday. Other than that, my physical activity has been hit and miss. Some days, I got in over 10K steps, while on other days, I hardly walked at all.

If we were having coffee, I would however share that, on one of my walks, last Tuesday, I visited the institution petting zoo and took some lovely pictures. The first picture shows the petting zoo’s cat, Macho, on a stack of hay.

There also is a large aviary with parakeets in it. Here are two photos of the birds in their cage.


If we were having coffee, finally I’d tell you all about my visit to my new care home. I went there with a staff and my mother-in-law. Since this staff has been pushing me towards independence more than I can handle lately and since she’ll be doing handover too, I was disappointed that she’d be attending the visit too. After all, that’d mean I wouldn’t be able to talk to my new staff about my needs without her overhearing.

When we got to the home, we were greeted by the man who will be my new assigned staff, same one who’d been talking to my mother-in-law about the color paint on my wall. I had thought he’d be my support coordinator but apparently not. I don’t know who my support coordinator will be yet. Not a problem, since in general you have more day-to-day contact with your assigned staff than your support coordinator. When still outside, I heard a loud singing of “Happy Birthday!”. This turned out to come from the neighboring home though, as no-one had a birthday this day.

We were led into the living room, where a number of residents and another staff were having coffee. I initially thought there were two staff, since one of the residents talked in an almost identical voice and said almost the same things as the staff. This turned out to be echolalia though.

The residents in this home are more significantly intellectually disabled than those at my current home. Most can speak a little though. Like, one told me I had a pretty golden ring. When I told my spouse about this, I was reminded of my preference last year for a home with people with mild intellectual disability. Yeah, I replied, but I didn’t know back then what I had to give up to live with people with whom I can have a conversation.

Overall, the staff seemed much nicer than those at my current care home. For one thing, both staff introduced themselves, while back when I went to look around here last year only the staff who would be giving me the tour told me their name.

I was led to my room, which is the closest to the living room. This has disadvantages, in that I may be able to hear living room sounds more, but it has a huge advantage in that I will be able to find it much more easily than my current room. The wall is a nice baby pink according to my mother-in-law. I wasn’t able to get a real impression of my room without my furniture in it yet, but that’s not a problem.

When shown around, I did make it clear what my needs are re help with my activities of daily living and that I’m not ready to grow yet, since that will take me being stable first. The staff who was with me didn’t comment, thankfully. Overall, I feel less stressed about moving to the new home now that I’ve met my new fellow residents and staff.

I have yet to pack my clothes. Other than that, everything is in boxes now and ready to be moved. I’m ready for a new chapter in my life!

25 thoughts on “#WeekendCoffeeShare (September 16, 2023)”

  3. Wishing you best of luck with the move. I really hope this new place will turn out to be better for you. It seems okay so far so I’d take that as a good sign and it certainly must be helpful that you were able to go there and see what it’s like before the move. It’s good that you felt able to tell them about your needs despite the staff from your current home being there.

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    1. Thank you. Yes, I’m glad I was able to tell the staff about my needs. I am also glad the staff didn’t try to brush over any of my concerns. Not that I had that many at this point, but last year, I did, for instance about a resident commenting on staff harshness and my then would-be support coordinator said the resident has a rich imagination. Well, turned out he was right. This time, the staff was honest that when I had coffee, it was relatively quiet in the living room (while after half an hour I was already quite overwhelmed). Thankfully, I won’t be forced to be in the living room much.

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  4. Ah – new chapters in life.
    Hi Astrid,
    This is a big deal for you and I hope it’s a much better match to your needs and preferences. Life is hard enough without our homes adding more stress. I hope to hear good news soon.
    Blessings.

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  5. Sending lots of positive vibes for your move on Monday! How exciting. I hope all goes super well for you.
    I will pop back over here next week to see how it all went. 😊

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  8. I really hope that the move to your new home goes well Astrid. I will be thinking of you today and will be interested to see how you go on. All the very best to you.

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    1. Thank you so much. The move went rather chaotically and I’m struggling to adjust to my new care home, but my experience is better than my first few days at the home I just left.

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  9. Our weather has been the same as yours, we’ve got the rain today and had a crazy storm last night. I am ready for Autumn.
    The petting zoo looks like a lot of fun. Fantastic photos!
    It sounds like a great visit to your new home. I hope the move goes well. x

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    1. Thank you so much for your kind words. Yes, the petting zoo is absolutely lovely. I also liked the visit to my new home. The move went rather chaotically. For one thing, institution transport wasn’t moving that day, so my old home’s support coordinator had to move my stuff. However, now I have my stuff.

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