Lights on but nobody home

Some days she is right there with ya', other days - we aren't real sure where she is.
Sunday she was as sharp as...an only slightly used tack. Yesterday, she seemed a bit off.

I am taking a temporary Monday through Friday job that is supposed to last around 6 - 8 weeks.
Not the kind of thing that should be explained to Lib over the phone.
She is very reliant on calling me A LOT, not to mention all the face to face time we have had, so I dreaded getting "that face" when I told her. Like I was going to be taking some little kid's Halloween candy away or something.

Walked down there a little bit ago to tell her in person.
She repeated everything she told me yesterday...she had her days of the week all mixed up...I took some food down and when I put it in the refrigerator, some nasty smell was coming out. She told me there was nothing old in there, so I should just leave it. We square danced around that -she wasn't happy that I didn't stop poking around the fridge. I finally found some fuzzy, uh, chicken salad(?) well, it was some meat kind of salad stuff anyway, and had to point out the fuzz to be allowed to pitch it.
When that was over she actually started the same dialogue for the third time - word for word - that she had not only told me yesterday, but also ten minutes earlier.
There was no point in saying "I know, you already told me - twice."
Is it good or bad that the words, phrases and pauses are exactly the same all three times?
When she was done, I gave her the speech I had rehearsed about how starting Monday I would be working full time up in Chesterton for a couple months. Before I even finished the words I had so carefully chosen about how I would still take off time to take her to the doctor appointment next month, I should be home by 4:00 every day, it's just going to be for a couple months, etc. - she just launches into how George's birthday isn't for another week but she mailed his card yesterday because it wasn't raining (?)....

Nope, not there today. I felt like asking if she would please take a message for herself for when she gets back.
I also get the feeling that my cell phone is going to be ringing as usual come Monday.