Yeah, I know all my posts lately are "mom" centered, but honestly that is what's uppermost on my mind lately. Today I was in the shower - you know all good thinking either happens right before you fall asleep, or you're in the shower - and I thought "mom turned off all the power to her house a week or two ago, I bet she didn't clean out her fridge before she left". Sure enough I finished getting dressed and asked the $16 million dollar question and discovered I was correct. I refrigerator/freezer with at least a fair amount food in it turned off. It's late March, in Arkansas. Heck it's been in the 80's here in WI. God only knows how disgusting that fridge is. My guess is we will have to throw the whole thing out.
So I came up with a plan. The kids will be on spring break soon. We are going to travel down and clean up the house. Find important documents - Mom can't get a WI driver's license or register her car- get more clothing, clean out closets and the like. Today Mom called all the utilities and had them turned back on for the few days we will be there. Called a cleaning lady, I called a real estate agent. Hubby has taken three days off of work. We are going to blitz the house. I'm really stressed about this. 1. Time, I really don't want to spend half a week down there working my fingers to the bone 2. We are going down there to take care of things I told mom to take care of before she came up 3. Money - we are not exactly flush right now. We've had some minor disasters (nothing horrible, just normal daily crap) that have left the family budget a little tighter than normal. 4. Taking the kids down, it's BORING there, and the satellite has been turned off. I'm sure the lawn is grown up which leads to many snakes - some poisonous - and other critters around, which will lead to a lot of boredom while we are trying to actually work. I'm more than a little perturbed at all this.
Hubby has made the point he doesn't think she's doing all this craziness on purpose. He thinks she is simply not capable of making reasonable decisions anymore. I think he has a point. Now we are biding our time to see if she can land a job and get into some sort of reasonable physical shape. If she cannot or will not improve in the next 6-9 months we will hire a lawyer and pursue getting disability for her. If she can draw disability she will have some income and be eligible to live in the senior housing apartments here in town. I'm torn with this decision. I believe giving her the option of not getting up, dressed and function on a daily basis will only make her condition worse. She really has a bad case of lazy. However she really needs medical coverage. Luckily the charity care things here in town covered her last round of medical appointments, but I don't know how long that will last, I know they do not cover expensive medical testing.
Through all this Hubby has been a rock. I'm sure he feels a type of crazy with this as well. I know he didn't sign up for all this crap when we got married, but I'm glad he's still there.
Anyway, it's time I put on my drill instructor/ physical therapist hat and run Mom through her paces. I marched her around a very short block today and you would have though I made her run a 5K.
WINNIE'S LITTER Just a little blog of the ins and outs and ups and downs in the life of a mom.
3 comments:
Here are my ideas--take them for what they are worth. :)
1. Kids don't need the tube to be entertained. Go to the store and buy some cheapy toys and activity books. Make it a Backpack-O-Fun that they will get when they get in the car. Put in silly things--sunglasses, pipe cleaners (they are GREAT for making things) and mini etch-a-sketches. Go to the dollar store for these things and some stickers, tablets, pens, etc. This will be good for a few days or even a week of entertainment. Toss in some army guys or hot wheels--everybody loves those.
2. Spend the money and get a cleaning crew for a day or two while you are there. Wouldn't it be nice to have help just packing up stuff, tossing, and cleaning as you go? It would be well worth the money--and from experience, they aren't all that expensive.
3. Same goes for the yard. Hire a lawnmowing service to do that while you are there. Don't waste your time or energy on that. These are not expensive either.
I think the key is figuring how best to spend you time. Throw money (and it isn't a lot when you look at YOUR time doing some of these jobs) at the jobs easily done by outsiders. Make the time there productive yet fun too!
Good luck. It's a tough place you are in, but you are not alone. :)
I have a cleaning lady coming the day we get there, I'm not going to spend time mopping the floors and that kind of stuff when decisions about stuff need to be made. Lawn services are few and far between there - we are talking the armpit of the earth - but we aren't going to spend over amounts of time getting it show perfect.
Good enough is going to have to do.
Possibly have a nibble for buyer on the house - we'll see, if he even comes close we'll snag it and be done.
Oh, I hope it works out quickly for you!
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