Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with grandma

Where are you going, Ronaldo?

TimeTravelSpeed — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 11:35:32 -0800

Help me identify a song my grandmother with Alzheimers sings sometimes: "Where are you going Ronaldo? I go to Las Vegas"... My grandma sings this song sometimes and I haven't been able to find it on google. The lyrics she sings are:

Where are you going, Ronaldo?
I go to Las Vegas.
What do you do in Las Vegas?
I live on a house by the bay

Ronaldo he fishes
she washes the dishes
In our little house by the bay

Has anyone heard this song before? Grandma's in her 80s and the song is likely very old-school. I'd like to hear the complete version or know who sang it. Thanks!

My Aunt Hi-jacked Grandma's Estate, help.

bettershredder — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 11:46:10 -0800

My grandmother died recently, and sorting out her estate is a mess, help? A couple weeks ago my grandmother died, she was 93 years old and from Oregon state.

When my grandfather died, everything was obviously left to my grandma, but my aunt was made estate executor. I know my grandfather had a will, but am unsure whether my grandma made a new one, or if that was even necessary? Anyway, my cousin volunteered to take care of my grandma instead of opting for hospice care. He had been living in my grandma's home for the past 8 years or so and has been receiving a salary for his contribution to her care (totally inappropriate in my opinion).

My aunt's whole role in this is sketchy. I'm afraid they essentially tricked my grandma to agree in giving my cousin a significant amount of money after she passed, which apparently has now come true. Also, I feel like she has been mootching off my grandma while she was living; fairly recently my cousin took an $90k advance in his 'salary' to help my aunt finish her new home that she was building.

I think now my aunt expects to take the whole estate since my dad wasn't as 'involved' in my grandmother's live as she was. In her words, her and my cousin took on the burden of caring for her all these years so they deserve to take everything.

My dad (aunt's brother) wants to avoid conflict at all costs and is likely willing to let her do all this. I personally, could care less about any money or materials as does my dad, but I don't want to let my aunt get away with this and get what she wants. To make things worse, they treated my grandmother very poorly in her last years; they trashed her house by filling it with collectibles and antiques, which they are obsessed with. They are literally compulsive hoarders and used my grandma's house as storage. They belittled her all the time in front of my family and constantly made her feel like a complete burden, it was despicable. I even called social services to have her taken away from them, but my dad vetoed it and told me to let it go.

I know you'll probably tell me to grab a lawyer, but is there anything else I can do?

Dear Grandma!

nomnomnom — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 16:17:26 -0800

A list of ways to show Nanna she is loved? My Nanna lives on a farm several hours away from me and I am unable to visit very often due to study, work and inability to drive.

I'm after some ways to regularly remind her she is loved and an awesome person. The rest of her family is useless (!) and she has been lonely since her husband died.

What, apart from letters with updates about my life, can I do to show her I care?

I always think of sending her presents, but my grandparents have always been the type of people to accumulate so much crap that they will actually not open a Christmas present for years.

Nonetheless, ideas for gifts are welcome.

I'm looking to compile the Ultimate Nanna Loving Compendium here! My aim is to have enough surprises for the rest of her life. She is so wonderful and funny.

How can I get my grandma into a new hospital?

Ostara — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 08:34:24 -0800

My terminally-ill grandma is in a hospital that is dirty, poorly staffed, and crowded. My family wants to move her to another facility. She has 2-8 weeks to live. Hospital staff has been unreceptive to our requests. How can we get grandma transferred to another facility? My grandma was diagnosed with intestinal cancer about a week ago. She had a tumor removed, and it is likely that she will spend her remaining days in the hospital. Currently, she is in an old hospital in a small Iowa town. None of the rooms are private and they do not limit visitors - at one point the other person in her room had 8 family members in with her, chatting on cell phones, eating fast food, and generally being loud. When we brought it up to the nurses, they said not to worry about it, the other patient would be gone in a couple days anyway.

When my grandma presses the call button to summon a nurse, she sometimes has to wait 15-20 minutes. We have been there and witnessed the slow response times. The hospital is not under-staffed, the employees are just not responsive.

The point is that every single day of my grandma's life matters. Her doctor spreads his time between several small hospitals, and he makes his rounds early in the mornings and then is unavailable the rest of the day.

We have another hospital in mind that she has stayed at before. How can I escalate this to get her moved? I have asked the nurses to leave a note in her chart for the doctor to read (I leave 3 hours away so I miss seeing the doctor in the morning) but I have not gotten a response.

Help me find the apron of my Nana's dreams!

cardamine — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 13:44:08 -0800

Apron Filter! Where can I get a really nice (pretty, well-made) waist apron for my beloved Nana? Catch - must fit UK size 20-22! My Nana has wanted a nice waist apron for ages, (i.e. not one that goes over your head) but can't find one. It's her birthday soon so I'd like to get her one but my google-fu and shopping-fu are failing!

I've found some nice ones at Anthropologie but the trouble is, the largest measurement they have is 34-inch apron ties, which according to their size guide is a UK size 14. My Nana is...um...a little stout, and I'd hate to get her something that doesn't fit.

So, i'm looking for shops that sell nice aprons in larger sizes, that ship to the UK (or within reach of Harrogate). Thank you in advance!

Help me Geek Squad these laptops!

whiskey point — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 17:00:37 -0800

2 used laptops: what to do with them? One will be new to me (from my wonderful girlfriend), one will be new to my grandma (from me) Part 1:
I'll be getting a ~2 year old Toshiba Satellite laptop, a pretty basic model with probably 512 mb of RAM and a smallish hard drive (no big deal, I have a My Book and am willing to upgrade RAM). What would you do with this machine, that has been taken care of very well - no downloads, etc., and only used for typing papers and surfing the web? I'm down for anything-I just want to make sure I optimize this computer as soon as possible. I'm into web surfing (generally 10-15 Firefox tabs open at a time), watching DVDs, and typing papers on the go (I have MS office). I'm also into photography, burning DVDs, and listening to a ton of music on itunes-but I deal with all of that on my high(er) performance desktop. Would Photoshop kill this machine? What are some of the applications you can't live with out? This will basically be a backup, take to school, and travel computer for me.
Part 2:
I'm going to give my grandma my 4.5 year old Compaq 2100. It's not in the best shape (I can no longer watch movies on it, probably a software problem I haven't taken the time to fix) and it runs slow. I'm thinking I'll re-install XP and start over from scratch-but what should I do after that? Does your grandma have a computer? She's kind of wary, but she's willing to give it a try. I'd like to make this as simple for her as possible: a gmail account, something to play DVDs, maybe something to help her with recipes-either looking them up or storing them, and any other suggestions you guys can throw out for me.

I'm sure some creeping on the MeFi archives would have helped a little, but I wanted to kill two birds with one stone and get both of these computers working to the best of their abilities.

Creative ways to give coins as a gift

acoutu — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 15:25:06 -0800

What are some creative ways to give rolled coins as a gift? I'm planning to give my grandma rolled coins as a gift. She now lives in an apartment with coin-op laundry. She finds it troublesome and expensive to scrape together coins. I'd like to give her rolled coins as a gift. What are some inventive ways to present the money? It's okay if the solution involves some unrolled coins, too, but I don't want this to be messy for her. Bonus points for a solution that helps her store or sort the coins. It's also okay to involve other items, although I don't want to spend too much on anything else.

Her interests include TV, reading and crocheting. She's in her 80s and has a good sense of humour. She is overwhelmed with gifts of soap and bath stuff and she'd probably crack up if the rolled coin gift somehow looked like it was going to be more (dreaded) bath items. She's got six kids and 13 grandkids (and about a dozen great-grandkids), most of whom are of modest means, so you can imagine how many gifts of bubble bath and what-not she gets. Thanks.

Quality intergenerational time that transcends disabilities

moreandmoreso — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 20:26:57 -0800

What activities can I initiate with my substantially-deaf, substantially-blind grandfather? I am 23. A while ago I moved to the same metropolitan area as my grandparents. Grandpa's vision and hearing have been going downhill for a while, leading to his increasing frustration. Grandma is not experiencing such problems. Help me make the most of our quality time together, either just with Grandpa or with both. I could meet with them up to twice a month either alone or with other family members.

They are in their mid-80s and still live in their own lake-front house. They walk (slowly) for exercise every morning and manage to do most of the things they need to do around the house on their own. Active activities would generally be difficult.

The current pattern of activity is Grandma invites 3 of us over for dinner, we chat over dinner, and Grandpa misses most of the conversation. If you take care to speak loudly, slowly, and in his direction, he understands most of it.

General suggestions are welcome, but if you need something to get your imagination going... Grandpa was a chemist before he retired and is interested in science, ancient civilizations, Italy, fiction writing, classical guitar/jazz music and harassing squirrels. He taught me to play chess. Grandma reads the newspaper and crossword puzzles aloud to him every day.

Perhaps activities specifically geared to stimulate touch, taste or smell would be engaging?

What should I buy to help remember my grandma?

ouchitburns — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 13:24:25 -0800

My grandma recently gave me $500 to buy something lasting to remember her by. My first thought was watch, but I have a watch, so I am hoping for good suggestions of lasting items in that price range (I like ebay). I would like something unique, but maybe there is something that all men should own that I am just not thinking of.

Dirty Jokes for Grandma

sciurus — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 14:52:42 -0800

What are some good, somewhat dirty jokes suitable for telling to my Grandma? I'm not looking for Aristocrats-type jokes, just slightly dirty things.

My grandma really likes dirty jokes, used to watch Springer regularly, but she's also the kind of grandma who uses words like Davenport and always acts proper in public. After a vodka or two she lets loose a bit and likes hearing a dirty joke to two.

Once again, nothing really CRUDE, so much as naughty.

Thanks!

Are Comcast broadband resellers legit?

ldenneau — Mon, 21 May 2007 14:42:01 -0800

I'm trying to get my parents set up with high-speed cable Internet on top of their cable TV service. They're in the Tucson, AZ burbs and their cable provider is Comcast. Google searches return "broadband resellers" who offer special deals (e.g. free cable modem+free router+$19.95/mo for six months) that don't appear on Comcast's official site. Are these resellers legit? Has anybody used them? Anything I should be wary of? [Comcast offers a combined cable/phone/internet package, but that's not available to my parents since digital phone is not yet supported where they live.]

What is this beautiful weird thing?

LadyBonita — Tue, 15 May 2007 13:44:17 -0800

Weird thing I found. Any idea what it is? Possibly a coin or button or.... Has some bird on one side... the other side has a ??? I found this in my Grandmother's jewelry box, though I don't believe it's from any sort of jewelry. Could have been my Grandfather's... or belonged to their parents, etc.

It's the circumference of a penny, almost exactly. About 2.5 - 3 x the thickness of a penny. And it's heavy. Maybe iron.

Any ideas?

Thanks very much.

advice on email for hopelessly tech ignorant Grandma

narakunate — Sun, 11 Feb 2007 14:39:34 -0800

are there any simply-email appliance(s) out there for grandma? I've searched with all key words I could think of and have come up with very little. I've looked into webtv (msntv) a bit but even that seems a bit overkill - best so far though. one that could be see in person i.e. purchased at a retail store would be best. thanks!

Can you ID these cookies?

chr1sb0y — Fri, 06 Jan 2006 07:42:59 -0800

Dear people with cookie-making and/or Italian grandmas, Can you identify this cookie, and help me find a recipe? I have a coworker who brings in these big tins of awesome biscotti and something he says are called "torchettes", all made by his italian grandma and mailed to him. The torchettes are crisp and slightly flaky, not really sweet at all, but dusted with a little sugar. They are really awesome and wonderful, but my searches for a recipe, or even for confirmation of the name have come up dry. I have found other folks trying to find a recipe for "torchettes", plus lots of what seem to be recipe-themed fake spammy blog pages. Anyone recognize the cookies? Thanks!

Grandma LoJack?

GernBlandston — Fri, 08 Jul 2005 11:46:13 -0800

My 87 year old grandmother is in the midst of decline suffering from Alzheimer's and now believes she needs to go to work each day. She lives across the street from my folks, but has taken to 'escaping' and wandering all around town. Has anybody heard of/seen/used any type of "Grandma LoJack" device to track her down, or better yet, send out an alarm when she gets too far from a base unit in the house? (I.e. if she walks more than 50 yards from the kitchen or something an alarm would go off at my folks house or it would make a phone call.) She's got an ID bracelet now with an 800 number on it, but that's only good when/if they find her.