Helping your family and friends who live away

[Marthe48]

After my sister had surgery in July, she went home and for awhile, she wasn't able to cook and her fella isn't handy in the kitchen. I live about 2 hours away and couldn't go be helpful. I signed up for Door Dash and from my house, ordered food for delivery for them. It helped a little, but her stomach was messed up, so I hesitated to send food that might bother her. But I kept the Door Dash subscription.

I also have Instacart, and accounts with some individual chain grocery stores. My friend just got out of the hospital She lives about 2 and 1/2 hrs. from me. She is isolated till Sunday, and actually paying attention to the drs. Anyway, she realized she was very low on food and tried to order from a local Giant for pickup. But she wasn't able to comlpete the order. It turns out that particular store doesn't offer curbside or delivery, so she picked another Giant Eagle. I had an account for that store set up, so I offered to order for her. That worked out great, except by the time we made the order, they were done with curbside and delivery for the day. She is getting it this morning and she'll pay me back for her stuff. But, I was worried about her getting some food last night, so I used Door Dash and got her something from Panera. She was delighted and liked what I picked.

I realize that Door Dash puts all of the calories in the world at your fingertips, but so far I haven't used it for myself. lol I'm sharing my experience in case anyone is at wit's end how to help their loved ones without being able to visit. I was going to cancel Door Dash, because I'm not really using it, but it sure came in handy last night!

[Walleye]

1. Thank you! That sounds like a good tip. It's so hard to help our loved ones sometimes

[SheltieLover]

2. Great idea, Marthe!

Thx for sharing.

You are a very thoughtful person to go to such lengths to help others & to share your ideas with us!

[Marthe48]

3. Thank you SheltieLover

Way back when we all lived in the same town, it was easier to pitch in and help out. Now we have to be creative. Happy Friday!

[Warpy]

4. I've found those extremely valuable since my vision decided to go

I can still cope with the computer if the letters are large and my eyballs are 3 inches away from the screen.

When it goes completely, I'll be at the mercy of the facility kitchen staff, something I'm not looking forward to. The cuisine is targeted to old men with wooden palates. Plus, somebody in there is a boiler, vegetables have have only a passing resemblance to food.

I've had delivery for over a year. It has kept me eating adequately. I did have to learn a little discipline, my overflow freezer is no more. Sniff.

[Marthe48]

5. I understand the vision failing

Can you get a Braille keyboard? Or use audio prompts?

Although, I ordered pizza and salad today over the phone, and they thought I said chef salad, and I'm pretty sure I said garden. Luckily, we got the order right. I can imagine what AI would do

[Warpy]

6. It's always a bit of an adventure to see what I actually got

since they seem to run out of things while I'm typing them in.

A Braille keyboard wouldn't do me much good, I'm afraid, since I have reduced feeling in my hands because of a broken neck years ago.

I suffered through a touch typing class in high school, so as long as they put divots on "F" and "J," I'll be OK, more or less.

[hippywife]

7. I'm probably telling you something you already know...

but I'll risk it just in case. Holding down the CTRL key while clicking the + will enlarge your screen display as much as you need to, just keep clicking + until it's good for you. Can you afford a screen magnifier?

I'm sorry to hear you have such difficult vision problems. And I fully understand the facility food issues. Worked in a retirement community for a decade. It wasn't exactly terrible, but it certainly wasn't exactly enticing, either, especially as you said the vegetables.

Always wishing you well.

[Warpy]

8. I use Ctrl Scroll to do it, I have the high pirced mouse

Oh, jeez, most of the folks here are unconscious by 8 PM and I'm largely nocturnal, having been a night nurse for years.

I insisted on a place with a kitchen because I suspected the food would be pretty wretched. I'll eat it if and when my own palate dies.

[hippywife]

9. Yeah...

my Logitech mouse will do that, too. It is a lot easier, but old habits die hard. Like being nocturnal.

[Marthe48]

10. I love that there are multiple tools

to do the same task. I use the Zoom feature in the pull down menu on Chrome.

[hippywife]

11. That's what I appreciate about MS Windows.

The system redundancy makes so many other options to accomplish a task available in case something goes wrong with mouse or keyboard, etc.

(Not sure about MAC as I've never used it except very briefly on a temporary job.)

[Marthe48]

12. I've kept my DOS book

In case I need to use DOS commands. That comes in handy. I don't know what I'd do if I lost my keyboard, though.

[hippywife]

13. I kind of chuckle

when I think back to my sister teaching my whole family DOS. Like any of us were ever going to use it in day to day life, especially my dad.