UBC Day 18 - Time for a book - Tips for Carer

Welcome to today's Ultimate Blog Challenge, with every day an opportunity as a carer to do something different and enhance your life and those you care for.

Mum - out and about with the family

I have always loved to read, but since becoming a carer to my mother who has dementia, those things I really enjoy doing seemed to slip to the wayside.  I was running back and forwards from my mums home to my own, sometimes with time only to catch my breath, see my son, grab a quick snack and head out again. The thought of sitting down with a book and getting lost in the plot seemed far away as there was always something else to be done, and when I tried to do some reading before bed I was always too tired.

Kindle for Christmas!

One Christmas my husband got me a Kindle Fire, and it has been one of the most used gifts ever.  I wrote a review of my kindle on the blog, and I love it, I have always got it on me.  One of the great things I have been making use of is the text reading function which pretty much turns every book you buy into an audio book.  When I am in the car I select a book that I want to read and make my way to my mums.  This really kept me going for the 40 minutes drive, I was transported to wonderful destinations, and I also use it to read a lot of training books as well.  The kindle also came in handy when you were doing those tasks that didn't require you to think, but needed you physically present.  I either turn the book function on or music and it helps you to feel a bit more of a person, because you are giving back a piece of yourself.

We all need some time to ourselves!

The essence of today's post is to encourage you to find some way to best use the time you have and those in between times say if you have to wait for appointments.  There was one year where I was either going to a hospital or doctors appointment with my mum.  I found that when we were collected for an appointment by transport they would come at least and hour and a half early and then you would be left waiting around.  Armed with my kindle, I could occupy myself and my mum at the same time.  Another great feature of the kindle is being able to connect to WiFi and social media, it is like a mini tablet.

For now, try and identify some of the things that you enjoy doing that you can create a space for - remember 15 minutes each day is easier to find in your schedule than a couple of hours.  Make the most to keep yourself and your mind nourished as you go about your caring role.

You can also click on the 'Celebrating life' image to be taken to the rest of the posts from the Journey of a Carer.

Kindle Fire

When the Kindle first came out I was convinced that it wasn’t for me. I am the sort of person who loves the feel of the book in my hands, turning the pages and smell of a new book is something you can’t replace.  

Fast forward and the Kindle Fire comes onto the market, I debate with all the extra features it might be useful, and with a hint here and a suggestion there, my son and husband got me one for 2012 Christmas.  I never thought I would say this, but I absolutely adore it. The storage is 5.5 GB and along with books it can store music and film, it has quite a good speaker, wireless so you can download apps easily and you also have access to all the other social media, such as twitter, pinterest and whatever else you can think of. Photographs can be uploaded via Amazon cloud drive, videos can also be stored and if you connect to love film you have access to movies.

My screen is 7 inches in size and it’s very handy and fits in my bag without taking up too much room. It’s a slightly heavier than the earlier kindle, at 400g. The selection of books available for the kindle has improved and many eBook stores now have a converter for you to increase access to other eBooks. You can also download documents and PDFs via cloud.

I love being able to carry a huge selection of books that I can dip into depending on my mood, and I have got though more books since I started using it.  The kindle has some good features - storing or book marking your last place read, make notes within a book or highlight specific sections and apparently you can share what you've highlighted on your social media (though I haven't done that yet.  An audio function so that the books can be read to you and in effect you have an audio book (not sure if you can change her voice and she reads in one tone), I use this function when I am in the studio working. Another great thing is being able to look at a sample of the books before you buy, and option to change your mind if you have purchased something in haste. I found quite a good selection of Mixed Media Art books, though with these books I don't think anything can take the place of their visual impact on the pages I still want to hold them in my hands.

What I like most about it is that it has so many different functions; short of making me a cup of tea or having a phone function it has so many great uses. There is of course a down side, I guess we have yet to see the impact of staring at multiple screens and our eye muscles, and remembering to take the necessary breaks.I also find the battery life not as good as it could be currently supposed to last for 9 hours (I find with continuous use I get around 6 hours at best). I was hoping that it would have been like the earlier versions of the kindle that can last for up to 8 weeks, but I find I have to charge it every day, if not twice a day depending on usage which can be a pain, as you need to carry the charger cable around with you.  I found that to preserve the battery slightly you have to shut it down after use rather than leaving it on standby. And other down side is it only comes with the lead to plug into a computer which is a very slow way of charging your kindle. You have to buy the plug separate which to me didn’t make sense considering how much you would have brought it for.  A way round depending on your phone (as many come with a plug with usb connection) and if you already have one of these you won’t need to purchase the kindle plug.

That being said, the benefits and uses of the Kindle Fire outshine the down sides and hopefully with new and improved versions these things can be addressed. I think you will definitely enjoy using the kindle fire and wonder why you didn’t get one sooner!  Blessings, for the weekend.