Stop and visit, talk all you want #28

I just checked my email and I heard back from the ranch. They aren't hiring right now even though they need help, but if business takes off like they hope they will be hiring. He told me to keep in touch to find out. That won't be hard since a friend of mine and I plan on going riding there one day soon. I will probably wait til after Christmas but it all depends on the weather. So it was good news and bad news at the same time. I so desperately want to work there!! LOLOL

Now gotta go do the stinking dishes and fold towels. Anyone want to come do the dishes for me?? I hate doing them.

Ah...no. I just finished mine. I have more laundry to do, as well. Gotta pack for tomorrow.

LOL! I got them done. There wasn't that many this time. But I think I rather do the dishes than pack. I'm a terrible packer. LOL

I just grabbed some clothes and my toothbrush. And my pills. An extra blanket. I always overpack just in case! LOL The truck is all packed now, too! Two end table, a curio cabinet, an ottoman and a jewelry box. Oh, and one lamp!

I'm off to bed, good night!

Good Morning!!

I'm not saying he should be 50 years old, but been a lawyer for 50 years, that would put him at about 70 to 80 years old LOL

I hate packing and dusting. I have to dust everything today and I don't wanna! And clean up this office of mine.

I hate dusting too. That means I have to move everything. LOL

And put it back!

I'm back from Vernal. Boy, am I tired! We ran into some snow but it wasn't bad.

Here's my girl and my niece. (Crystal on the right, Jean on the left)

We had fun but couldn't stay nearly as long as we wanted.

And more bad news from the homefront. Darrell's mom is in the hospital again. One of teh girls stopped to check on her today and found her unconscious. I haven't heard from Darrell since then so I don't know what's going on.

I'm hopelessly behind! Celia - I'm glad you had a good time and am praying for y'all. I hate that you are having such a diffiulct itme with the sisters and MIL's health.

Here is me and Sweet Pea a/k/a Peanut...my new baby

Good morning.

I didn't know if there is such a thing as an "air-tight" will. Stacy and Phyllis wrote theirs up so that if anyone argued over possessions, they could be disowned. That sounds like Stacy, but not Phyllis. Phyllis hated it when her kids argued. Especially over money. Anyway, oldest son doesn't like what he's getting, so guess what, youngest son says he's out of the will, but oldest son got a lawyer and is contesting and looking like he'll succeed. Youngest son told me the will was also air-tight. It's all over this really old antique desk, but it doesn't look like a desk, I can't explain and no it's not a roll top.I tried to separately talk to both and that went over real well☺ Because of course I'm "just" the neighbor.

My husbands family is a 27+ yr. story and would take way too long. Suffice it to say, their disabled son was disinherited, the oldest of that mans kids (he had 4) get all the possessions, the farm, the equipment, the money in the bank, all he does is pay a really small sum of $$ to my husband and their sister. My MIL has a lot of health issues, I've tried to help her since I do have experience but it wasn't wanted so I know when to quit. Finally I got tired of her constant putting me (or our daughter) down about any and every thing, and she accused me of stealing something when everybody else was there even the son from another marriage that she had quit talking to 32 yrs. previous to my finding him. The 3 of us lived in TN and weren't there so I couldn't stand up for myself. She accused me of something so vile and disgusting that it was my proverbial last straw. Even before that when I would try and help, the oldest of this name told me it was up to him. In front of her. He would also say she was his problem. In front of her. I don't have a clue how my husband and disable BIL were raised in the same house with those people. Another good thing..the long lost son/brother I found? When my MIL accused me of stealing, I no longer talked to her. I don't want to. A person can only take so much abuse from 1 woman. I don't care about money or her possessions and I'm certainly not Jane the farmer, so I don't want the farm and my husband left for a reason. It's annoying to me that I found Jim, my disable BIL, a really good place to live and it's not an institution or nursing home, and the only thing those people could think that I was helping Jim because I wanted the farm. You read that right. If I helped Jim you see, then I could get his quarter, then of course with John's quarter, I'd own half the farm!!!! YIPPEE!!!! They really thought they "got" me...lol. We've been home from TN for 4 yrs now. We've seen John's older brother, his wife and son, and John's sister a whopping once. They don't come here. Oh wait, the wife of the older brother with our last name, did stop here the first full winter we lived in this house, which would be '06. Johns mother tries to call him at least every couple of weeks. I could go on and on about comments they made to us about our daughter, who also has CP (Jim has severe CP) and Krista also wears hearing aids. The one that makes my blood boil to think about, is when our daughter was about 16 months old and trying to walk. She couldn't of course, but it was cool seeing her try. I knew she would, it was just a matter of when. Anyway, we were there at the farm, sitting on the enclosed porch, FIL and MIL sitting in rockers, Jim in his wheel-chair over in the corner, I was sitting at the table they had there and John was on the couch they had in there. Krista was holding my fingers and wanting to go to her Daddy, daddy had his arms outstretched, she lets go of my fingers and takes one step and falls on her fanny. John and I both said "good girl!!!!" and then Johns dad says "get up ya failure", with nothing but pure disgust in his voice. I looked at John and he looked at me and we left shortly thereafter. So Celia and any of us wanting to vent about in-laws, go on and vent. I've got stories that would make your in-laws look like angels!! Or maybe not angels, but at least it would make you feel a heck of a lot better to know somebody had it worse. Had because I gave up. Accuse me of stealing or lying and I'm done. Stick a fork in me I'm done.

Speaking of hearing aids pepper, the digital aids don't work like reg. aids. The sounds go up and down, as they do when we hearing people hear. Right now for instance, my stereo is the loudest, I can hear the drone of the furnace below that, then the buzz of the computer tower. Remember your hearing aid is not fixing or correcting your hearing, it's only amplifying the sounds your brain picks up. I always get it confused, but I think it was my grandma heard the deep sounds and Krista hears high sounds. Sounds are the varying pitches, as in a piano which you've probably heard your whole life. Another thing they do is when a person claps beside you, instead of that noise being really loud as a clap is, it lessens the sound so it's not so jarring to you. I think the most important thing is that you didn't get it out of the box and handed to you, the hearing aid must be programed for your exact hearing. You wear the aid and the audiologist adjusts the tones while you listen. If you're still unhappy, plan a trip up here and I'll take you to the audiologist I've taken Krista to since she was 6 months old and no other doctor would listen to me that something was wrong with her hearing. He's the best audiologist I've ever met. It's one of those where I don' t care how many other audiologists they also have, I WANT Bernie and I will not see anyone else. Which translates into Krista will not because of my insistence that we have Bernie, the guy we've seen and known for 25 yrs. I always say when I make the appointment, but if we get there and it's not Bernie? I won't see anyone else. I argue until we see Bernie. Bernie better not retire or move, I'll have to hunt him down! LOL

Well girls, we've got more shopping to do so I'd better get a move on (since I've been writing, then I ate breakfast and talked with John for awhile, then came back to finish).

LOL!! Terry must be healed cause she's back to big looong posts. LOL.

My hearing aids are getting better sounding. I still don't like them but I keep wearing them because the old ones won't last forever if I wear them all the time. I have always hated getting new hearing aids and I complain for at least 2 weeks til they work right. Give me a few more weeks on these and I will probably be gushing over them. LOL!

Sharon, great pic of you and Peanut!! And you are always hopelessly behind!! LOL

Celia, glad trip went well and hope you hear from Darrell soon.

Hi, Terry!!!!! LOL Thanks for the info on the hearing aids. I didn't know that and it'll be helpful.

MIL will be kept in the hospital over the weekend. They are concerned over possibly ammonia levels rising in her blood. They liver usually filters this out. She's awake and responding now but still critical.

Oh Celia I hate that all of this is happening, darn it!

Terry, I'm so glad to see you back, I miss your looooooooonnnngggg posts LOL!!
I learned that you can disown anybody at any time. My grandparent's wills both stated, "Anyone contesting this will will receive $1.00 and nothing more." I which have learned that this means contesting the Beneficiary, they can still contest the executor and it's not contesting the will, and they will win. From being in this before and being the family being sued, my best advice for you, which I don't know if you're looking for or not, but Hun, let them fight. Don't get in the middle because you will cause yourself more heartache than it is worth. Just sit back and watch the morons battle it out. You don't want to put yourself in the middle of that battle, trust me.

I guess buying hearing aids and glasses are about the same, they seem way too strong and they pretty much suck getting used to.

My battle plan is this...

1. Do what I can to make MIL happy/comfortable.
2. Watch the fireworks when it's over.
3. If anything comes our way...take Darrell on a trip to Ireland and forget any of them ever existed!!!

That's the best plan I've heard so far.

LOL love it!! We moved to Arkansas and I have no family here and don't associate with the ones I do have left in CA, and Dave doesn't associate with his family here hardly at all.

Lucky!

I'm off to bed. I'm still tired from yesterday.

Ahh, well I was written out of my dad’s will when the step-female took over (she wasn’t a mom to me). She made sure she and her kids got the money. They were dirt poor when my dad married her. My dad was seeing her (for who knows how long) when my parents got a divorce, he married her 3 months later (I was 12). Her family move in, me and my brother were moved to our mom’s new low rent apartment. The roles were reversed. We had nothing, barely had any food and shabby clothing. My mother had never worked. She got a job at a K-Mart type of place. The 2 oldest were already out of the house, they didn't care. "She" made sure we got absolutely nothing from our dad, we were not allowed at his house, and he allowed all of this to happen, didn’t bat an eye. He bought her and her children furs, diamonds, they got everything they wanted. According to my brother, he wanted to see me before he died, but by that time he was no longer my “father”. Remember the song Cats in the Cradle? Yeah, that pretty much sums it up, I hate that song.

We all have our horror stories don’t we?

Pepper - LOL! I know LOL!
Celia- That sounds like a plan to me!

We sure do have our own horror stories, too many mean bullies in the world I guess.

Man, I'm playing and having a wonderful time at it LOL!! The angrier someone gets the happier I get! LOL!!

LOL!

If she wants to yell and be nasty all last week I'll give her one. She's still giving me dirty looks but stopped yelling, I'm sure because the bosses are here. I'm going to let her burn in jealousy, and laugh all the way home!

Do you remember the song "Hippopotumus for Christmas" or something like that?

ROTFLOL

Makes it more fun when you get a good reaction, huh, Crissy?

Sister #4 is now know as the"400 pound gorila" in our house. She is causing more trouble than any of the others. She came to the hospital on Sat. and started in with "we have to do this and we have to do that". Barking orders at people in the room, including the staff. One of the sisters mentioned taking MIL into her home. #4 barked NO!!! She's coming to MY house!!! Darrell patiently explained thecare invovled. Bathing, bathroom trips, Dr. visits, entertainment...24 hour care involves not just bringing them home. Both sister backed off a little then. They hadn't thought (do they ever?) about what would be expected of them. Then #4 started talking about selling MIL's house. "We can get $200,000 easy for it." She kept on and on so long that finally Darrell's brother (who is a Sgt. in the military) barked back!!! He has this extremely loud Sgt. voice. The whole room fell silent. He slammed Sister #4 down so hard and loud that the staff almost called security! LOL

I mean, really! The woman is right there in the bed listening to someone talking about selling her home out from under her!!! Grrrrrrr!!!!! While she's laying in a hospital bed!!! She's been in that house for 40 years! Heartless so and so!!!

My blood pressure is up again! LOL I'm going to play in my corner now. Where're my crayons?

I love that song! I have a small hippo figure my DD gave me a few years ago.

If MIL house is in her name, or even has her name on the deed, 400 pound gorilla can't do anything. She's just like my evil aunt! That's exactly what she did, she even barked orders to the judge but still won. The judge fell for her song and dance hook line and sinker. She said "I have to have Mother in my house for her care, she's not as bad as you people say she is anyway, you're just throwing her away like an old shoe!" Yea, take care of someone with a major case of Alzheimers who doesn't even know where she is or who you are. She did, and of course CA law states that anyone can have all of their belongings with them no matter where they move, which also stands for rest homes (they get around it because of limited space they have) As soon as she got my grandmother at her house, then of course all of my furniture followed, away Granny went into another rest home. I only got a few pieces of my furniture back. Then she called my mom numerous times whining and crying that looking at the furniture was depressing her. WAAAAA Cry me a river!

Everyone was running around here this morning singing that song and I can't remember it. I know the tune but I don't remember the song.

It's an old song...

"I want a hippopotamus for Christmas
Only a hippopotamus will do
I don't want a doll, no dinkey tinker toys
I want a hippopotamus to play with and enjoy

I want a hippopotamus for Christmas
I don't think Santa Claus will mind, do you?
He won't have to use a dirty chimney flue
Just bring him through the front door
That's the easy thing to do

I can see me now on Christmas morning
Creeping down the stairs
Oh what joy, what surprise
When I open up my eyes
To see a hippo hero standing there

I want a hippopotamus for Christmas
Only a hippopotamus will do
No crocodiles, no rhinosauruses
I only likes hippopotamuses
And hippopotamuses like me, too

Mom says a hippo would eat me up, but then
Teacher says a hippo is a vegetarian

There's lots of room for him in our two-car garage
I'd feed him there and wash him there and give him his massage."

I can see me now on Christmas morning
Creeping down the stairs
Oh what joy, what surprise
When I open up my eyes
To see a hippo hero standing there

I want a hippopotamus for Christmas
Only a hippopotamus will do
No crocodiles, no rhinosauruseses
I only likes hippopotamuseses
And hippopotamuses like me, too"

Gayle Peevey was 10 when she sang it in 1953.

Crissy, I have absolutely nothing to do with that entire family anymore. My loyalty was only to Stacy and Phyllis and now that they're both gone, that loyalty to either is no longer needed except in spirit.

Sharon, disowning a son only because he's disabled and because a so called "father" doesn't want the state to take "his" money is plain cruel. It's also not true that the state would take the money. There are so many ways to work around that if he had wanted it done. A trust fund for Jim was always an option as was him using the little money on himself for things he needs with the money he would have received. Not understanding the laws of inheritance is never a strong argument IMHO. I'm sorry your father disowned you.

I actually love the song 'Cats in the Cradle' because it is so true.

I'm disgusted with my own father. Jim needs a new tv because of everything going digital. For Christmas, we bought him one. We didn't pay for the whole thing ourselves, my parents were to give some for a gift for Jim, we would add what we typically spend, the rest would come from the checking account of Jim's that I am Power of Attorney over. Jim knows he needs a new tv and has already discussed that I would go find him one. He thought he would buy the whole thing himself and I thought it would be a nice surprise for him. My father seems to think that Jim doesn't need one. I always knew my parents didn't understand their granddaughter (our daughter) with her multiple disabilities but to hear it come from him mouth that Jim doesn't need it and it was "dumb" of me to buy one, was incredibly hurtful and he should be ashamed of himself. In this day and age I simply cannot believe what comes out of some peoples mouth. Like the callous and intentional way "retard" or "retarded" is used. A husband is retarded, an employer is a retard, the car is retarded, etc. etc. MY daughter is retarded or a retard for heavens sake. Why would anyone say that in front of me? Are they without a brain?

I'm just disgusted and of course that disgust is only a cover for the hurt that I'm feeling. Sorry to be a downer.

pepper, glad the hearing aid is beginning to be not so bad. The invit still stands to come on up and go see my man Bernie the audiologist...lol. And no, I'm not quite there yet. The only fix is to have the surgery fusing the disks together and come Jan. 9th or whatever the date is of my appointment, I will be discussing that with the Neurosurgeon.

I'm off for now, sorry again for being a downer.

Don't you worry one bit, Terry, We're just glad you're back! We're all here to vent one way or the other.

My audiologist is pretty good. Better than the ones I had at the hospital so I'll keep her. But I will one of these days make it up there to see you guys. :~)

It's snowing right now and temps are still in the single digits. My dad stayed home today because the roads are so bad. We will get out later cause my brother has to replace the heater core in my dad's truck but we are holing up here today. He finally fixed my 4WD too last night!!

Good on your brother! It's nice you get the company for the day.

It's snowing here, too. Supposed to all week. I'm glad I went to Lowe's and returned some things last night. I, also, picked up some things! LOL Darrell oo'ed and ahhed over these so I think he likes them.

I like the ee. lol

Nice job Celia! Those are very pretty!

Yeah, pretty neat, huh?

I just got off the phone with Darrell. I'm angry again.

One of the sisters just called him and asked to be reimbursed for time she has taken off work to care for MIL. Excuse me?!?!?! Did I hear you right? No on else gets paid to take time off work!!! I'm disgusted!!!

This message was edited Dec 16, 2008 10:51 AM

Ohhh, I'm bringing a shovel....be there shortly...

Bring two...the one I hit her over the head with will be unusable.

Not a problem - I have 3 :)
Pepper - Who did you hit with your shovel? You said it is unusable!

No one. The handle broke just inside the metal. It was old. But it's still good enough to hit someone with. LOLOL

I am sooo mad at retailers right now. I tried to buy a tshirt for my brother for X-mas and I wasn't able to get it. The shipping would have been over 60 dollars to get it here before X-mas. No freaking way am I paying that much just for a t-shirt. I'm hitting a couple stores tomorrow instead.

Isn't it pretty outside pep? Of course I love the snow though☺

With the snow, I did something today that I really feel, I don't know. Do you have a friend that you call every time you see something for the first time that year or just how amazing it looks outside with snow...think your first hummingbird or first robin of the season. Things like that. Even particular flowers that are blooming outside and look stunning. Well, Phyllis was always my "person" to call for all the firsts of every year. Today it's snowing, it's not the first, but it's piling up pretty quickly outside. So like always, I picked up the phone and dialed her home number. It rang and it rang and I kept thinking come on Phyl! pick up the phone!! Are you looking outside??? And then I remember. Earlier in the year when I saw a hummingbird that took forever to finally find me, I called her. When I was in the ER earlier this year, I called her first thing the next morning. When my dad was diagnosed with cancer, I called her. She's my person. I'm at a loss without her. I say to John all the time about the snow and he groans, or I tell him I saw a robin and he looks at me. My first hummingbird of the year? Oh, that's good. All said with no enthusiasm at all. But with Phyllis? I was like a little kid telling her and she was equally a little kid talking to me. She only lived next door, but we'd be on the phone forever talking as the snow piled up. And now my person is not here anymore. Oh I know I can share it with you guys, but you know it's just not the same :( Then I think to myself I want my grandma. But she's gone too. It's been a really long time since I felt so all alone. Like 32 yrs ago. I don't like the feeling. I'm not lonely, because hey, I'm here!! LOL Who would be lonely listening to me yap on and on??☺☺☺ I'm so weird, I'm probably certifiable☺☺☺ Please Celia, tell me you understand exactly what I mean.

I like the pictures of, I'm guessing plants? I have no clue. They aren't familiar to me.

Oh Celia, don't forget not only shovels, but gloves also. We don't want your fingerprints left on the murder weapon after all!! ROFLMAO!

I know John didn't like it much, but hey I didn't care☺ We needed something for Daryl (aka dad) and we needed something from Marcia and Daryl (aka mom and dad) to give to Jim, since the tv is such a dumb idea. So we went to the mall over in Peru, about 20 minutes away. At least going over it was..lol. Coming home it was snowing so purty out there, but of course my dear 'ol husband was white knuckling driving the whole way. And heaven forbid we take a highway at least the last 5 miles or whatever it was. But he did, because I said so☺☺☺ Don't ya love it? I'm not only yappy, I'm bossy too! LOL Speaking of t-shirts pep, Daryl wanted colored short sleeved t-shirts to wear under dark colored shirts in the winter. One t-shirt was going to cost 18 bucks. For one!! I finally found a package of 3 that were on sale for 20 bucks. 20 bucks for 3 stupid colored t-shirts. The package of 6 six socks was on sale for 32 bucks. I knew I should of gone over to Farm&Fleet. Penney's had nothing, so we had to walk down to Bergners. Kills me how much they want for socks and t-shirts anymore. jeepers. Since the tee's are in a bag, you can't even see how thick they are. They're probably the really thin kind. I'm sure he'll be returning them all anyway, so I'm not sure why I even bothered. Marcia said that's what he wanted so that's what he's getting. Yippee. Reminds me of when I'd get socks and underwear when I was a kid. You always love those kinds of presents. They're also just what you want when you're 3-19, let alone when you're 71.

For Christmas, I want this whole year of my life back, along with knowing what I know. There are some things I know now that I wouldn't do, but they are some things I would want to do over, because I understood the importance of what was happening. Phyllis would still die, but I wouldn't spend as much energy with the "kids" as I tried to do. It wouldn't matter because I know now that it didn't. Remind me when I get on next to copy the text of the really weird note I received after Phyllis' funeral from all the "kids", but written by the oldest. I still don't understand what she's saying.

I worked my right arm today too much, so I'd better go rest it and take some Advil or something for the pain I've got. My arm hurting is getting really old.

Night night♥

We got sleet and freezing rain yesterday and all night last night. It was icy all through the day today and still is. Dave called in sick last night, I had increment weather day today, but Dave went to work tonight and we're in a "Freezing Fog Advisory" until 10am tomorrow. We have weather increment day tomorrow too until 10am. The high today was 27 degrees. I hope it's not bad when he gets off work at 6am. Pretty worried about him driving.

I'm glad you don't have anything to do with that family, you're entirely too good for them. I want to read what the letter says. Take care of that arm, my knee that I need surgery on is killing me tonight. I'm blaming the cold, but I know it's that slight tear in the cartilage and I've been on it too long today.

Celia, my aunt came to court demanding my mom, the executor, paying an hourly wage to her for taking care of her mother!! She fought with us and court to get my grandmother to move in with her, then she wants to be paid an hourly wage for taking care of her! And she did get paid, my grandmother had to pay her daughter to take care of her. Pathetic!

Nice pics Celia, I love the ee too, those are way cool!