Still at home!

I have been trying to get away from here and go back to my parents but unfortunately life keeps getting in the way. First of all, is everyone else as sick as we have been. Seems like right after Christmas we all came down with colds/allergies and we still have them. Everytime one of us gets a little better, someone else gets worse. I guess it is the mountain cedar because I did feel a little better the last time I was at my folks. Plus this weather is crazy, cold and windy, then hot, then back to freezing!

My daughter was sent home from school on Thursday with a cold and upset stomach, I kept her home on Friday too. By Friday night her Dad was down and out and spent all day Saturday in the bed and a good part of Sunday too. They both seem to be on the mend and went back to school and work on Monday. Me, however, I think I have relapsed or something as I am all stuffed up again with a headache and stomach ache. "I am sick and tired of being sick and tired" ya know!!!

Other people have gotten involved in the conspiracy to keep me here too. I blogged a few weeks ago about having my new SUV rear ended. We got an estimate for the repairs and the guy said that it needed a new bumper. They were going to order the part, paint it for me and then have me come in and they would take the old one off and pop the new one on, It would not take long and I woudl not have to mess with a rental car. I thought that sounded good to me. His estimate was about $650. The guy that hit me had me turn it into the insurance and they did not like that estimate, so they required that I take it to their place last Monday. I thought I was just getting another estimate. So I show up and it is raining and there is mud on the back bumper. The guy goes out and looks at the car, takes pictures and says he can repair it for $350, give me a rental car and I will have it back on Tuesday afternoon. He is ready to do the work and USAA is ready for him to do it. I had explained to him why I liked the other guys idea because I did not want to be without my car but he insisted the damage was minor and he could make it look good as new without replacing the bumper.

Ok, so they call the rental car place and they come pick me up, assuring me all along the way that USAA has everything taken care of and they will get me into a SUV similar to mine. OK, sounds good right.....no, they don't have anything ready for me, they won't give me an SUV, they clain they did give me an upgrade on my rental to a Chevy Malibu....ungly gold colored thing....it was dirty, had mud on the carpet and after I drove it a little while it became obvious that someone had thrown up in this car. To say I was not happy is an understatement!

I did not even get home from the car rental place before the body shop guy called and said that there was more damage than he thought and the whole bumper needed to be replaced. It was going to take a little longer so just keep the rental car. He had the car for about three days. The car looks okay, they did a pretty good job with matching the paint and everything but the final bill from this guy turned out to be about 100 dollars more than my estimate was and they had to pay for a rental car. So USAA ended up playing almost $200 more than they would have if they had just let me use who I wanted to in the first place. They would have saved some money and I would have only been out of my car for one day.

This weekend is the Family Retreat with Church. My family loves to go camping, me not so much so. This isn't too bad as there are cabins with heaters, real toilet facilities and showers. I just don't feel I am going to be very good company this weekend. I feel overwhelmed and torn in different directions. I always feel where ever I am at, I ought to be at the other place. If I am with my parents then I worry that my daughter and husband need me and when I stay her with them I feel like my parents are needing me! SO MUCH GUILT!

The doctor has taken Mom off her chemotherapy and they have called in hospice care to help. Dad seems to like them better than the home health aids that were coming out to help Mom with her bathing. They will work with us to keep Mom home as long as she is physically safe and Dad feels he can handle it. Once it becomes too much for him then they have an inpatient setting that she can go to. The doctor has taken her off some of her medications and Dad says she seems to be thinking more clearly now. She is still very weak and sleeps a lot, will probably do more and more of that in the next few weeks.

I hope to get off in a few days to go check on them, even if it is just a quick trip. I know they enjoy my visits and I help them make decisions about Mom's care and stuff that needs to be handled. Dad wanted to have her service completely prearranged and paid for so we took care of that a few weeks ago when I was down. It is a strange feeling to be planning someones funeral when they are still around but can see that it would be much harder to make the decisions when you are under the stress of just losing someone. The funeral home makes a video for the family and asked me to provide them with 40 pictures of Mom thru the years so I need to go thru the family albums and see what I can come up with.

Don't forget that Valentine's day is coming up! Plan something special for your sweetie!