We're still dancin'.

It's New Year's Day 2015.  The ground is covered with snow with a layer of ice underneath, and it's been that way for several days.  The high yeserday, Wednesday, was only in the middle teens.  BRRR.

2014 was a good year.  Mother turned 87 on November 17th and Daddy is now 89 on his birthday, December 23rd.  According to the doctor, they are both doing well for their age.  They did lose their dog, Jennie, in November.  Jennie was a very very overweight Beagle.  She had a baseball sized tumor on her front leg, and I'm sure she was pretty miserable in her last days.  She went to sleep one night ....and didn't wake up.

Mother's dementia is somewhat worse, although it's hard to tell when you see them on a regular basis.  She still believes Chester leaves her and then is mad when he comes home, demanding to know where he has been!!  She does get panicky on occasion, the latest a few weeks ago, when she thought her Grandma had just died.  She wanted me to come immediately and help her order flowers, find something to wear, and drive her to the funeral.  She could not find Chester.  I went down there, and convinced her that it was not HER grandma, but another grandma that had died.  She was very relieved but insisted that I find Chester so that we could tell him Grandma had not died.  I phoned Chester on my cell phone (really Bob) and asked when he was coming home.  Well, Chester showed up in about 10 minutes (from the bedroom) and we told him the good news....that Grandma had not died after all!!  A crisis diverted.  

One concern is their house.  Daddy does all he can to take care of Moher, but the house is a mess.  If there was any way, I would like to get them a housekeeper.  They are hoarding again, saving empty boxes, washing out zip lock bags and old jars and plastic containers.  If anyone in the neighborhood has a garage sale, they give the leftovers to Mother and Daddy.  Daddy is thrilled and it just piles up more stuff!!  I'm sure my Dad doesn't really know how to clean, and they are always losing stuff.  At Christmas Mother hid the car keys and it took us 3 days to find them in the freezer!!  Their house smells like old food and dirty laundry.  When I try to go down and do dishes, or clean up,  I just get yelled at by Mother.  She thinks I am trying to steal their "stuff" and their food, etc.  and besides all that "It's none of my business"!!!!

I am working still, but working from home.  That's been great, since I am very close when I need to go down and check on them, or divert the weekly crisis.  It's been hard, but I knew that when I helped them move here.  I am grateful to be here to help and love them in their last years...and say thank you also to Bob and Nic, who also love and help them.

We are still ......Dancing in the rain.....and snow!!

It was a long winter...Spring is here!!

Daddy didn't get his teeth (dentures).  The oral surgeon wanted more than $8,000 to extract his remaining broken off teeth under general anesthesia.   So he is still only able to eat soft foods. 

Both Mother and Daddy seem to be doing well otherwise. According to her, Chester is gone every day, and those other men take care of her. She gets very angry at them because they always wear Chester's clothes...including his glasses and his watch.  She tells them to take off her husband's clothes.   It got so bad one day that Daddy stripped down completely naked and sat on the chair!!  Glad that wasn't a day I decided to pop in and check on them!!!   

She also reports that everyone of those guys want to pay her to have sex with them!!!!!!!   I asked her "what do you tell them?"  She replied "Well, they only want to pay me $2 to. $3!!!"  Daddy asked her when was the last time she had sex?  She said "I don't write it down".     TMI. (Too much info)

Tomorrow is Easter.  We will dye eggs at Amber's house with the boys. Easter dinner will be at our house.  I hope they will come.   We never know, although she doesn't seem to hate me anymore and only rarely talks about going home to Dallas.  That's a good thing.  Two steps forward...............

HAPPY EASTER YALL 😊😊😊

ICE STORM!!

Oh my goodness,  we have such cold weather here the past few days.  Thursday morning we had an ice storm that covered everything with a sheet of ice. I made it to work just before it started.  Bob got out at lunch and called from the grocery store to see if we needed anything.  I called Daddy and he wanted milk and Chocolate Chip Eggo waffles!!!  I thought that was funny, as before they moved to Lubbock they never ate frozen waffles, much less Chocolate Chip waffles.  I guess when you are 88 yrs. old you can pretty well eat whatever you want!!!

We took Daddy to have his upper GI on Wednesday with Dr. Ganga.  Of course Claudene insisted that she go too.  "he's my husband, and I go EVERYWHERE he goes".  We had to wait quite a while before they called him back and she kept insisting that she was going into the procedure room with him.  Of course, no one else was allowed in the room, and this angered her.  She kept saying , "But I'm the wife, I'm the wife"  Eventually she calmed down and we waited about 2 more hours.  At one point, she commented that she wondered if the camera got stuck in his throat, because of all the peanut butter he eats!!  Thank goodness, Daddy doesn't have a bleeding ulcer, just a small area of inflammation that had bled.  No further treatment and only a followup appt. in one month.

Unfortunately, Daddy didn't get to keep his dental appointment due to the icy roads.  He was supposed to try on his new dentures to see how they look and fit.  Will need to reschedule, then the next step will be extraction of 12 teeth.  That will not be any fun.

Vicki got the icy weather in Pennsylvania before we did and the Dallas area got it yesterday.  Hope everyone stays safe and warm.  Just stay home and eat Chocolate Chip waffles!!!

STORM CLOUDS STILL BREWING....


Oh my, I cannot believe it has been so long since I've added to this blog.  I will try to catch up now.

We made many trips to Dallas to work on getting the house emptied and ready for sale.  Nic put in a lot of time and heavy labor, especially on the garage.  Linda and David were always there and almost everyone in the family contributed.  We had an estate sale the second week of August.  It was a major undertaking even though we had already hauled off a lot of items.  We had the sale for only one day, Saturday and had hundreds of people show up and buy.  A neighbor volunteered to help empty the sheds in the back yard and everyone who came was amazed at the amount of Tupperware.  I would say we sold over $2000 in Tupperware alone and that was at almost give-away prices.  Vicki flew in from PA to help with the sale and finally got to realize what a major undertaking it was to get the house empty after 52 years of hoarding.  Vicki found a local charity, White Rock Hope (I think) who accepted donations of clothing and household items that were left and not sold. So glad that someone will be able to get some use of the items. 

We listed the house with Bill Zeman, Ebby Halliday, who happened to also be an old neighbor.  He was so very helpful and went above and beyond to help us sell the house.  Within only a few weeks, we had about 8 offers and signed a contract for within $5K of the original asking price!!  We were all pretty amazed at how fast it went.  A young couple bought the house and intend to remodel with a pool and live in it.  We were glad it was not going to be torn down.  I truly believe that God had a hand in helping get this accomplished so quickly.  Of course, Claudene doesn't know that her beloved house is sold.

Because of being disowned, yelled at, attacked both verbally and physically, I decided that she was no longer my Mother.  So if I refer to her as Claudene or  "that woman my Dad lives with - TWMDLW"  that is why.  

Briefly, Daddy has had some laser surgery on his eye and is able to see to drive much better.  He recently went to the dentist and is getting fitted for dentures, probably by the end of the year.  Also, this past week he wasn't feeling well, and we took him to the doctor.  He has been referred to a GI doctor to see if he has an ulcer.  Of course, we know that the constant stress from Claudene is the cause of that.  She still thinks that Chester leaves for days at a time, and other men are there living with her and stealing Chet's identity and money, etc.  This really hurts my Dad, and he says he just wants to cry!  She gets totally abusive ang angry if anyone talks to Daddy because she feels that they are plotting against her.  It is very very difficult and sad.

We are still getting storms........but learning new dance steps along the way!!!  Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving ....onward to Christmas.  

Love, 

Nancy

Spring???

The weather the past few days has been beautiful...88 degrees yesterday and 84 today.  This always makes us want to plant and dig in the dirt!!  But in Lubbock, we have to be careful because there could always be one more freeze.  I have already bought a few flowers for pots but am being cautious.

The kids were all on Spring Break this week.  Payton, Kayl and Phonenix were over at our house a few days.  Actually they spent the day at Mother and Daddy's working in his front yard.  They had a great time playing in the dirt and eventually got it all leveled out, roped off, and grass seed planted and watered. Nic was their supervisor.  Daddy rigged up an old metal sign frame he found to use as a level.  One of the boys sat on one end while the other two pulled him around the dirt.   

I had to chuckle because Mother and Daddy complained the boys were playing around too much, getting their feet muddy, messing around with each other, chasing each other with the tools, climbing the tree, etc.  Mother said she had to lock those boys out of the house and that their Daddy needed to come get them!!  I asked Daddy if he rememembers the trouble he and his brothers got into at that age.  He chuckled also.

Yesterday we helped get Daddy's computer set up better.  We deleted some old programs and set up Outlook Express for his email.  Also set icons on the desktop for mail, Google, and Facebook.  Hopefully, Mother will allow him time to get on the computer. 

They have a physical/occupational therapist coming to the house 2 x a week.  Mother likes her thank goodness.  Said she reminds them of Shannon.  Allison helped them order a rolling walker, the kind that has a seat and brakes on the handles.  It should help Mother walk better, but so far she is resisting it. 

Chester is still leaving, and sends other men to show up to stay with Mother.  This makes her very angry.  Of course, Daddy never leaves, but he gets yelled at for several hours when he comes home.  It is so frustrating !

The book I am reading ....The 36 Hour Day... is excellent.  It has helped me very much.  Need to get a copy for Daddy.

Boy, we could sure use some rain.....Happy Spring!!!!!

Fair to partly cloudy :):)

It's been a good week!  Somewhat quiet on the home front.  Mother and Daddy came down last Sunday to have pot roast and stayed a while to just visit.  While there I gave them some info that Vicki had printed on the Lubbock Senior Citizens' centers.  They serve lunch 5 days a week for $3.00 and have various senior activities.  Well, Mother and Daddy went to one for lunch on Monday.  Said they enjoyed it and met some nice "old" people.  That's a start....and I pray that they will go again and get acquainted and make some friends.  Thanks, Vicki.

The weather is warming up and seems almost like Spring.  Daddy is getting anxious to plant some flowers and get grass going.  (Their yard is barren because he raked it all up!)  But I have warned him that he should wait because it is not unusual to have another snow, even as late as Easter.  Believe me, I have learned the hard way.

Yesterday, they came and watched Phoenix play Upward basketball.  The 5-6 year old are fun to watch.  Some of them actually dribble the ball before they walk right up to the basket and throw!!  I think Mother and Daddy enjoyed it, because they asked when the next game was.  We still have plenty of games left for them to watch....and then the never-ending baseball season starts.

Afterward we went to Jason's Deli for lunch.  I suggested they get a stuffed baked potato.  That was the biggest potato I have ever seen, and, was full of chicken, cheese, sour cream and all the fixins.  Daddy said they've never gotten a stuffed potato before.  They took home to-go boxes for supper.  Wow, it's a whole new world out there for them.

I think this afternoon we are going to try our luck at Bingo Express.  They boys are wanting to go, and if they want to, we'll take Mother and Daddy with us.  Maybe one of us will win, but if not it's fun to play. 

PS:  They haven't unloaded any boxes yet, because Mother still says they are  going back to Dallas.  Also, Daddy confessed to Mother that he is paying rent on this house.....$200/month!  She's convinced they are going to go broke.

Wishin we had some rain to dance in................................!!!!!!

Two steps forward, one step back....

Learning to dance ...two steps forward, one step back (actually it seems more like 5 steps back!!!)

Two steps forward:  I missed a week last weekend so will try to catch up here.  The weekend of Jan 5th, Nic and Jason drove to Dallas to meet Amber.  Amber was already there for business.  They rented a 26' Penske truck and spent all day Saturday loading it with most of the rest of Mother & Daddy's furniture and the packed boxes.  Linda and Dave were there also to help.  (Bob and I stayed in Lubbock with the 3 boys and 3 dogs!!).  I'm sure my job was much more enjoyable than theirs. 

The guys and truck arrived back in Lubbock around 4:30 PM on Sunday.  Now understand that Daddy had not told Mother this was happening.  She was still thinking that she was going home to Dallas any day (and still thinks that!!).  So imagine her surprise when that big truck backed into her driveway and all of us began bringing in her furniture and boxes.  (We had help from Stacey, Perry, Jason's friend John, and Nic's friend John).  Mother was speechless .... angry, then bossy, then OK, a full range of emotions.  Of course she did not like where we put the furniture, despite us trying to explain that we were just trying to get it off the truck and would re-arrange later.  It was quite a job and thanks are due to all for getting us that much closer to emptying the Dallas house.

5 steps back:  Well, folks, it took less than 24 hours before Mother was raving mad!!  She "did not ask for anyone to bring her furniture.....and tell "your son" to come and get his furniture out of this house".  Whoa...trying to explain that we needed a little while to move things did not appease her....she wanted Nic's couch, table, etc out of there RIGHT NOW!! She wanted the china cabinet moved into the back room. I swear there is not a grateful bone in her entire body.  Despite being harrassed each and every time, I did go down and help

Daddy put the beds back together and arrange two of the bedrooms. 

I went down there today to have Daddy sign some paperwork and she asked who I was.  She said there are 2 Nancy's, one in Tulsa, and wanted to know if I was the "good Nancy".  I told her "probably not the good one"!!!!  Anyway, then was blasted again about various complaints, my son's furniture, stealing her money, bossing her around....etc.  

This evening Nic and his friend John went down there to remove the couch from her house and move her china cabinet to the back room.  She said she wasn't going to let them move the china cabinet.  She wants Jason to move it instead of those "teenagers" because they aren't careful.  #1 - they are both 33 yrs. old, and #2, they are the actual ones that moved the furniture from the truck in the first place.  She told Nic thank you for removing his couch, but said he should be thanking her for storing it!!! OMG.  

Two steps forward:  We all went out to eat at Chuy's for Amber's birthday on Monday, Jan. 14th.  That was fun.  

Grateful for a weekend away with my Scrappin Sisters for a scrapbook retreat.  

News to follow:  Both Mother and Daddy has a doctor appointment this Friday for check ups.  Hopefully Dr. L will prescribe some sort of anti-anxiety/depression medication so that Mother will calm down.  Daddy really needs some peace.  Say prayers along this line!!! 

Signed:  the "not good" Nancy