Back in the U.S. long enough to be absolutely disgusted with the news and politics. Must turn to other things for amusement and relief. How about working on the new house? In progress. But since the initial blast to paint and get rid of the "country cheap" decor I find I'm not so interested in spending time working on the place. (I learned a lot in Munich, maybe I'm an apartment girl at heart.) So the all electrical sockets are still exposed, and I still have painting to do. The downstairs carpet now smells both of dog and the carpet shampoo, now that it's warming up a bit. I may need to rip that out and put flooring down.
And when I say "I", I mean throw down the plastic and pay strong knowledgable people to do the work. Man, am I undereducated. I was so happy to have put up a single mini-blind yesterday. Took me 45 minutes, and I was just taking out the old brackets and then putting the new ones in over the same holes. First, the wrong screwdriver in the lovely power drill that my brother gave me as a housewarming present. The heavy, hard-to-use power drill. Once I got the right attachment in, it kept flying itself right out of the screws. And thumping against the window glass in the process. So I cranked 'em out by hand. Pissed me off, so I tried again to use the power tool to screw in the new brackets. Worked for 2 out of 4 screws. By now my arms are ready to fall off. (You hold a 3 pound drill overhead for 20 minutes and see what happens!)But it was finally done, yay me.
I need a new door from the garage into the house. The current steel-covered door is rusting and sticking. I got a book from the library to read up on this process. Was exposed to a whole new vocabulary like King Studs and Jack studs and Brickwork. Studs, I know I need. Shit. I don't know how people learn this stuff but I am in awe of the skill needed to build a house. And in despair of trying to do any of this myself. I'm hella good at painting and cleaning, but the rest? Better get back to work so I can pay experts.
I have been running around like crazy, taking Dad to visit Mom and to his doc appts and getting things for his place; going to the mediator to get the legal separation agreement crafted; going to the gym; buying paint batteries power strips hoses washers for hoses roller covers small drill bits sandpaper grass seed extension cords light bulbs - Home Depot is loving me; helping with the folks finances; visiting Mom; dealing with the nursing home she's in, who seems to think we (the family) don't know Mom and that Mom really would prefer to be sat in her chair in front of a blaring TV under bright florescent lights in a huge open room with random people walking by for hours a day.
Again, thank the Universe for Andrea, who has led the charge to fight for some peace & quiet and pain relief for Mom each day. Last meeting we had with the nursing home staff, the pretzel logic they used was amazing. They tell us that they ask Mom if she's in pain and she doesn't say so. They ASK a woman in the end stages of SEVERE DEMENTIA if she's in pain. Mom will eat her napkin if you don't grab it away from her. So we say, her right knee is swollen and hot and before her stroke on New Year's Eve she was complaining of pain every day. And, when that stroke took her to the Emergency Dept, and they took a CAT scan, they were also so alarmed by the arthritis in her neck that they slapped a cervical collar on her immediatly and wouldn't move her without it. Oh, the staff says, we'll look to see if she's exhibiting any pain and will give her more pain meds if we see something. The fact that she's holding herself immobile and stiff in her chair might indicate that she's in pain, but she doesn't say she's in pain... Well after a couple go rounds here we think the staff is being more attentive. I hope that Mom isn't in pain, but we just don't know.
Dad's now on a Vicodin-like substance to combat his pain. This makes him woozy and he's not tracking things well at all any more. Being with him for lots of time is reminding me just how unattached he is to human beings. Get him talking about Gingko trees or fossils and he lights up and talks for hours. But people, not so much. It turns out it was big news to him that Mom was severly critical of me for my entire adolescence. He was shocked - shocked, he said, to hear of it. Enough of it happened at the dinner table, with him present. I think he just tuned it out. So I'm plumbing the depths of that old pain. Whee.
And the whole divorce thing/being single is really sucking too. I know it's just the change and I will be fine but right now I'm having way too many dinners that consist of wine and Fritos with a chocolate chaser. Looking for healthier coping devices. Spending 2 hours a day in the gym as it is. Hoping that the weather turning warmer will be a boost.
Well, that's cathartic. Hope I haven't bummed you out beyond words. I promise pics soon, I got a device that should help me get the pics off the Camera onto the computer.
