Preparations, Cleanup and Paybacks...

I called the nursing home first thing this morning. I pulled an "all night er" of productivity.  I have been working on my office space, attempting to make it more creative and inspiring.  I am toying with the idea of writing a book on Dad...

I told the charge nurse to please PUT A BIGGER NOTE ON DAD'S CHART....

I AM THE FIRST CONTACT.

IF DAD WANTS TO SPEAK WITH MOM,

FAKE LIKE YOU'RE CALLING HER,

TELL HIM, SHE MUST BE ASLEEP,

AND CALL ME!!!

What part of "I am the first contact" do they NOT UNDERSTAND?

My brother K________ is having a yard sale at Mom's house today.  He has been working on the garage in between customers.  Mom said he has worked wonders in there getting it organized.

Dad (and Mom) are pack rats, with my Dad having a bigger lead...  Dad saved every nut, bolt, screw, burnt light bulb.  He rarely threw anything away, and when he did, he recycled.

When he was home, he would over turn all the City trash cans two days before trash day, spread all the trash out on a tarp in the backyard, and then proceed to sort and pic through our trash.  Any plastic containers would be singled out and washed.  Any tin or aluminum, string, rubber bands....all separated and saved. We found boxes and boxes of tin foil balls in his room and desk!

You get the picture.  He was EXTREMELY neurotic, obsessive and compulsive.  He drove Mom crazy!!

My brother has organized the garage and re stacked his daughter's storage (my niece lives with Mom) and Mom's storage, and some of Dad's stuff we are saving for family members.

My other brother S_______ hauled E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G from Mom's craft room upstairs and cleaned, washed her windows, re-hung the blinds and re-painted.  The room has exceptionally great light, and it is where Mom likes to sit and needlepoint all the great grand kids Christmas stockings.

She has been painstakingly working on my youngest grandson's stocking.  When she finishes, she has my youngest daughter's son to be born mid September, to start.

Mom also loves to read, or write to her many pen pals all over the world at her roll top desk, or listen to her iPod, my sister and I gave her for one of her birthdays...

She has TONS of material stashed in filing cabinets and gift bags, various colors of tissue wrap, ribbons and gift boxes. She could open her own store...  She is in the process of cleaning all of that out before she moves it, her sewing machine, and new chair, back into the room.  She has ordered carpet and an electrician to add more electrical plugs.

Dad would NEVER ALLOW her to hire any one to come in and fix or repair.  He did not like strangers in the house and he thought he could figure it out...  Problem was, over the fifty something years they have lived in the house, Dad has had the same number of years in unfinished projects.

Slowly but surely, what my brothers can not do, Mom is hiring a handy man to do.  She is finally, after all these years, getting the house fixed properly, eliminating a lot of the clutter, and making it look nice enough so Mom can enjoy herself there instead of being overwhelmed.  It is not an over night fix, this has been an on going year long pursuit, and is still far from finished.

Lots of preparations, cleanup and payback for Mom's years of Care giving for Dad and having to deal with Dad's chaos. Thank you Mom, we love you...