Over the weekend we celebrated mothers day. We didn’t do much but ordered out.
It’s Monday and I am tired. Was running around all weekend with my furry child and I did not want to wake up. I hit the snooze button on the phone and get back to sleep. I eventually get up by eight and am looking to see if I need to walk the dog or if my mother in law has already done that. But I don’t want to wake anyone up. What to do, what to do? We need to figure out a plan here so we know who take the dog out and when. Shortly after the two ladies and the pup wake up and I have a nine o’clock meeting. The pup has already been walked and I am on my way to my bedroom/office and get to work. Work is easy today. Don’t have a lot to do today. But enough to keep me going all day. During my lunch hour I get outside and place pepper flakes inside the garbage pails. We’ve had racons go through our trash and leaving a mess in the morning. By placing the flakes or powder, it should detract them from coming back. From my understanding, it is the females that go through the trash to get food for their babies. These ladies need to go to someone else’s house if they want something to eat. Also, during my hour, I am making phone calls to doctors and elderly care places, roofing companies as well as lawn care. All for my parents house. I set up a meeting with a social worker for my mom. She has ben assigned to her after she left the hospital and I would like to take advantage of her knowledge. With that, I’ll be taking the day off tomorrow in order to meet with her and with a roofer as well as take care of cleaning and accompanying my elderly parents. They need the company and a thorough cleaning of the inside of their house. They also need some organization in their life. Their belongings are all over the place in the house. I’ve cleaned it up a while back, but now, they are back to their old selves and placing everything anywhere. No organization skills whatsoever. When I has a minute, I checked for pricing to get my pooch groomed. As well as look for insurance for him. It’s not easy having a furry child.
It’s now Tuesday and I have a day filled with physical labor. Going to my parent’s house to help them clean up and speak to a social worker to find out if we can get some sort of help for them in their elderly age. I’m also looking for someone to fix the leak on the roof. So I get to their house at around eight in the morning and look around. There is much to do. There are so many dishes and the bathrooms are horrendous. They are in their eighties and don’t do much when it comes to cleaning. Their laundry also needs to be taken care of. They need to take their medicine and the house needs to be cleaned. The grass needs to be mowed. Lots and lots to do. So I get started with the dishes. Everything needs to be cleaned. Then I move on to the main bathroom. That one needs a major scrub down. Then the doorbell rings. It’s the roof guy and he is early. He was to be there at ten in the morning and he got there at eight thirty. So he gives me an outrageous estimate. I thank him for his time, but I won’t be calling him at any time soon. I then get back to my tasks at hand, the bathrooms. I clean the main bathroom and then start to collect all of the clothes that are on the floor to see which ones need to be laundered and which just simply need to be put away. Shortly after, the social worker comes and my brother also arrives to talk to her. We talk about a plan to get my parents some sort of daily or weekly help and get someone in the house to help them out with taking their medicine, maybe do some light cleaning and cooking. I’ve already called meals on wheels and this is a process that may take a month or two. We also need to talk to an elder lawyer in order to figure out if we need a trust or what else we can do in order for them to be eligible for Medicaid. There are so, so many things that need to be done that I don’t even know which way to turn. I take a bunch of notes and the social worker gives us a lot of paperwork to look into. I’m seriously overwhelmed. After the social worker leaves, my brother and I talk a bit more about our tasks at hand and we divide tasks and what we will be working on in the future. So, so, so, so much! After he leaves, to get back to work, I am back to laundry and cleaning up. My father has so much correspondence from medical items to psychic mumbo jumbo, in my opinion, to other garbage about winning a bunch of money. Even the social worker said that we live in a society that takes advantage of the elderly. It’s a shame really. My dad was writing checks to the psychics every month. The man lives on a fixed income and barely has money to pay for the home taxes and he is writing checks left and right. We had to take these privilege’s away. It took a lot of convincing and just plainly taking away of things like small children. As at this age, that is kind of where they are at. I kept on cleaning up and threw away a bunch of boxes filled with garbage correspondence. And did about five loads of laundry. And threw out a bunch of clothes that were ratty and just plainly gross. Wish I had enough money to get them the help they need without having to do all of this work. Also wish they had planned something for themselves. They have no plan whatsoever. We, the children now have to have the burden of figuring out what they want and the best way to get it. At this point it may not exactly be what they want, but what we can get. By five in the afternoon I am spent and finish the last load of laundry. I still have shopping to do for my own family and need to head over to the big box store and get my shopping done. I wave good bye to them and they say that they can not repay me for the work and effort. That may God pay me for all of the help. They are very catholic and believe in God very much. I’m hoping that God may bless me, not only for my efforts for them but because I am a genuine good person. I head to the store and make my purchases then head home. At home I clean all of the items with disinfecting wipes and bring everything inside and put them all away. I then take my clothes from the day and place them in the baskets in the basement as they are gross from the days work. I take my shower to remove all of the day away and then I have my dinner. After dinner I receive phone calls from all sorts of people that I’ve requested quotes from. But I am exhausted and talking to people makes me even more tired. Don’t know why, but having conversations is very exhausting to me. Especially making deals or talking about money. I get all sorts of discombobulated and it makes me very tired and then I can’t concentrate. Tomorrow is another day and I will talk to these people then.
It’s Wednesday and I get up at four in the morning and am helping my husband with his lunch for the day and helping him with his boots. He is so tired and his back hurt so much that I help him with as much as I possibly can. I then take the dog for a walk and whatta you know, he actually did his business with me. He’s usually too exited or anxious or whatever and we usually run or try to do tricks. We do back inside and then he goes into the crate. He is howling as he wants to get out and be free. Sorry pup. I go into the basement and get onto the treadmill and walk for a few miles. Meanwhile, I am watching the Queens Gambit on Netflix. I like the show, it was a bit slow in the beginning, but it is picking up. After my walk I take the pup out again and he doesn’t do anything, all he wants to do is go back inside the house. Guess, he’s a homebody. Who knew? Thought dogs liked to be outside and play and play. We get inside and my daughter and mother in law are up and ready for the day. I get to my morning meeting and my work day goes on from there. I have meeting upon meeting and don’t get to do much work today. I then get a message on linkedin about an opportunity that I may be interested in. I ask to learn more about it. It is a far fetched opportunity, but who knows, I may just qualify. There are more and more meetings to attend to and my workday day is completed with yet another meeting. After work, my mother in law has an appointment and my little one goes with her. It’s just me and the pup. I try to get some of my work completed but having the pup is like having a small child, just have to keep watch so he doesn’t do his business on the carpets or the wood floors. He isn’t fully potty trained yet and doesn’t know when to let us know when he is ready to go outside to do his business, so we have to keep watch. I gave him a doggy bone for him to know on but he kept on going for my shoes. had to stop the work that I was doing. I will get up early tomorrow and work on this while the house is still sleeping.
It’s Thursday and it’s a blur. I wake up and get to the treadmill and do my walking. I then get to work and work until five on the dot then take the dog out for some fresh air. In the evening, we receive a message that mom will need to head back into the hospital. She has internal bleeding in her belly and the doctor said the best thing to do for her is to send her back to the hospital. My brother takes her there after work as it is not an emergency, as per the doctor. I called the volunteer fire department to see if they could transport her to the hospital and they said I’d need to call the emergency number. I then called the volunteer ambulance of their town and was not answered. I left a message for a few people and they never got back to me. Some kind of volunteer! I wonder who they volunteer for if not for their community. I made a slew of phone calls after that. For estimates for the roof, for the lawn for cleaning services at my parents house. Then calls for my dog to get him groomed. Then some more phone calls for lawyers for my parents. Day and evening was filled with these types of calls. I’m the type of person who gets very tired with small conversations especially ones that include some sort of negotiation. I’m terrible at negotiating, especially for myself. I have to think long and hard on what I’m going to do or say. Not fantastic at spur of the moment type of talking. So, with this, at the end of the day, I am tired of talking. All I want is peace and quiet. But with a little one, there is none of that. At the end of the day, she is finally done with her homework and is watching a movie called Zombies 2. She loves this movie, especially the singing and performing parts. She will skip the movie to these parts and play them as loud as her little ears can withstand. And this is our night, watching this movie for the fourth time.
It’s Friday and its another blurry day. Today I stay in bed until seven. Don’t have enough time to get my walk in. I simply get dressed and ready for my work day. Mom is till in the hospital and I am very worried about her. My brother has been taking care of things at the hospital and everything is running smoothly. She’s recuperating and is feeling better. The doctor mentioned that she may need more assistance after leaving the hospital and we are working on figuring out how we can do that. As for my little one, she’s been feeling better and better as each day goes by. Not sure if we are completely out of the woods but doing much better. This afternoon, we notice that the pup isn’t himself. He is very lethargic and won’t eat much of his food. He’s also not drinking much. Usually, in the afternoon, he gets a jolt of energy and wants to play, but not today. Today all he wants to do is lay down. We are all hoping is not sick. Hopefully, he hasn’t eaten anything that may have made him sick. He likes to chew on grass and sticks outside. Hopefully he hasn’t chewed on something that has made him sick. As for work, there is a lot to do and I get to my tasks. It keeps my mind out of thinking about my mom, the dog, my little one and other day to day things that I usually need to think about. I receive a message from a colleague that there may be yet another opportunity. He sends me the information and it is a fantastic opportunity. But when I look closer, it may not be for me. It seems way too advanced for my little brain. I don’t know, my heart and soul are down today and don’t have the confidence that I need. I will look into this opportunity over the weekend and decide then. In the evening, my husband and the family decide that it would be best to take the pup to the vet. We set up an appointment with a vet and take him over. At the vet, we can’t go inside with our pup. The nurses come to the car and talk to us then take the pup inside to get him checked out. My little boy is dehydrated and turns out he is a picky eater. He doesn’t particularly like the type of food we have been giving him and we need to change his regiment. A bunch of hours and dollars later, we find out that he is well health wise and to bring him back if he continues to be lethargic. We take him home and he is doing well.
On Saturday I do some housework, my usual of doing the sheets and vacuuming. We then work on taking down the Christmas lights from the house. My husband has a great trick and he takes them down. I then pick them up and place them in a box and stow them in the basement by all of the other holiday items. The family then goes shopping and I stay back to take care of the weeds and spray the playground area for weeds. Next weekend I will need to spray it again. I will need to take care of the tall grasses and the ticks. Wish we could have some chickens in the yard to take care of the ticks, so the dog could roam free. But for now not so much. After I do all of that work, I decide that it is a good day to take a salts bath. I’ve had Epsom salts in the bathroom for a long time and it is time to use them today. I also add a sudsy bath wash to my bath. I lay down in the warm water, but can’t stay still for too long. I grab my foot scrubber and start to remove my dead skin from my feet. As I’m getting older, my feet are getting grosser. I have a bunch of dead white skin that needs to come out, so I scrub and scrub away. Meanwhile, the dog is hanging out in his favorite spot of the house which is the rug in the bathroom. It may be cooler there and that is where he lays while I’m in the bath. In the bath, I am listening to the book Professional Troublemaker by Luvvie Ajayi Jones. It is a book about her life and it inspires me to ask for that raise and ask for what I need help with. To not do everything by yourself as a person always needs help from others. After my bath I am still home alone as the family continues to do the shopping. Once they got home, they surprised me with dinner and the fact that they had gone to the grocery store and bought what we needed for the week. I was planning on going to the big box store on Sunday evening or during the week. But no need anymore. Thanks guys!! We have dinner and shortly after, I go to bed.
On Sunday, I get up early and have my breakfast. I then pack up left over food and my paperwork and head over to my parents house. They need their house cleaned and want to see how dad is holding up. When I get there, he is already awake and is having his breakfast. I notice there are a ton of dishes in the sink and a bunch of stuff on the kitchen table. I ask him if he has already taken his medicine and he says yes. But I think he is lying to me. I double check and the medicine is no longer in the pill tray. So, I move on to my tasks. The house is in poor shape and need a lot of cleaning to be done. I start with some of the dishes as there are a lot including pots and pans. The coffee pot is a mess, the stove is filled with stuff and now the floor is sticky and has something that is dark in color splattered all over the place. I then go ahead and start to clean the on suite bathroom. I bleach the bejeasus out of the toilet and sink. Then also bleach the floor. I feel dizzy just with the smell of the bleach. I then get to the windows in the bath and master bedroom. These too are very dirty. Now I know why the quotes from the cleaning people are so expensive. I then move on to the other bathroom. Bleach this one too. Have to turn on the fan to get the fumes out. This one doesn’t have a window to open, only a skylight and it is filled with bleach fumes. As the bleach is penetrating in the bathroom, I move on to the kitchen. At this point I am feeling very exhausted. I send a message to my brothers stating as such, that I am overwhelmed with all of the work. If we can pull some money together to get someone to go there and do some cleaning. After going back and forth, we agree and I will be talking to someone next week to see if she can go there and do some of the basics. I then continue with the cleaning. I clean the kitchen floor but it continues to be sticky. I don’t know what the hell I’m doing when it comes to cleaning so sticky it will continue to be. I take a cleaning break and get to look for paperwork and it is a mess. They have so much paper, there could be a whole forest in this house. I look and look and finally find what is needed. I’d like them to qualify for Medicaid and we need all sorts of things in order to do that. Now that I know where the items are we can get started on filing. I then get back to some more cleaning. They have clothes all over the place as well and I am now working on tossing some of their stained and ripped items out. I am surprised that I don’t get any lash back from tossing things out. They are from an era that they didn’t have much and they would keep every piece of scrap in order to fix a broken piece. There is no need for that nowadays, but they still have that mentality. So I put everything away and hope for the best. By now it is two in the afternoon and I have to get back to my own home. Dad has his lunch and makes a big old mess with the microwave and there I am, cleaning it up. I then take out the garbage and then grab my things and head on home. I am physically and mentally drained. Seeing them like this makes me very sad and mentally out of sorts. But I must keep my head up and keep it moving. Tomorrow is another day and I must get to work and be happy to be there. I also must be content with my own life.
Until next time.
Stay Safe!
Best,
Isabel
Isabel's world 