As mentioned, Mom has a habit of getting fixated on buying a particular item repeatedly. I may have mentioned orange juice... add to that pita bread.
Recently, I gave Mom a list which included toaster pitas (small toaster-sized pitas in cinnamon raisin, muesli, and garlic....) I told her where to find them and added "DO NOT GET regular pitas!" She came home with regular pitas.... 4 packages... and a box of muesli.
Even when I give her a specific list, she will often come home without the item on the list and things which I specifically said not to get. This usually happens because as she is going out the door, as an afterthought, she will ask "What about lightbulbs!?" or "Oh, we need milk, don't we?". I will say "NO we have tons of lightbulbs [and earlier fixation]. Don't buy lightbulbs!"
She will arrive home and produce nothing or only some of the things from the list and the item(s) which I said specifically not to get.
At least the trips to the store where she either calls and says "I have the orange juice. What was the other thing you wanted?" or arrives home with the item on the list and asks "I KNOW there was something else you wanted. What was it?" means we don't have 16 containers of orange juice in the fridge. Ironically, we live on Tropicana, the same name as the popular orange juice brand.
The last few days the vegetable stand was open, I bought a whole lot of apples and squashes. The next week, she came home with a huge bag of apples from the store. I am not sure where they have gone, either. I know I threw out several squashy ones which were attracting fruit flies but where the rest of the bag is, I don't know. I am expecting to find them down beside the couch or something...
I don't want to have to resort to doing all the shopping on my own because, quite apart from not having the time to, invariably she goes out shopping right afterwards and brings home a second set of the same groceries plus the stuff I don't want. Still, I am going to have to bite the bullet.
As for the sense of smell...
Amber, her beloved orange tabby has taken to peeing on the living room carpet. I have been trying everything to stop this. I really don't want to force her hand and have him taken to the vet.... He is a lovely old fellow and aside from the peeing, there isn't a problem.
However, as well as the fact that he is peeing, Mom seems to think that I am "imagining" the smell. Honestly, it is sometimes to the point, especially in the last few weeks when I was unable to use my hands because of injuries from an accident and I haven't been able to keep on top of the effort to eradicate the spots immediately, that it is so smelly that I can't sleep! She says "I can't smell anything!"... So I must be imagining the smell....
On the other hand, a few weeks ago she mentioned that she thought it was strange that she could smell cat "spray" because both out cats are neutered... I said "It is cat pee!".... "Why would it smell like cat pee????"
Because, Mom.... Amber is peeing on the carpet....
I am now at the point where I am actually going to go and buy some repellent for cats. This is not something I want because, while 99% of the human population cannot smell this stuff, I can and it makes me sick to my stomach.
