What A Day!

The day started out with making a to do list of things I need to get done before I start the job on January 19th. Fifty-five items on the to do list!

I was in my backyard thinking what an idiot I was when I received the first phone call. More about the call later but the reason that I thought I was an idiot is the timing of letting my landscaper go. If you remember a couple of months back I saw the economy tanking and did some cost cutting measures like letting the housekeeper and landscaper go. I should have waited until after the leafs fell before letting the landscaper go. I have four big trees in my backyard. This morning I took out five big garbage bags of leaves and that hasn't even cut a dent into my leaf removal job. There has to be at least ten to fifteen more bags of leavess before my lawn is leaf free. So a person who usually gets dirty doing household chores because the ink from the yellow pages rubs off is knee deep in yard work. Why didn't I foresee this and wait a couple of months before tubing the landscaper? What an idiot.

The call was from my future employer. They don't want me to start January 19th. They want me to start tomorrow. Of course I said yes but wow does that ever put the pressure on to get things done!

Shortly after that call I got a second call. This one from Mom. Remember we had a caregiver move into Mom's house that we didn't ask to move in? We rolled with the punches and decided to let her stay there. We did make a deal with her at the time that when my sister visited from Utah then she would have to find another place to stay as long as my sister was here. She agreed to that. My sister and her husband are visiting on December 20th and leaving on December 27th. We have told the caregiver this maybe seven times in the last week, that she would have to find a place to stay from the 20th to the 27th. I mean first this lady moves in without asking us. Now she has really taken over the house and taken all the options we have with the house away from us. You would think she would be willing to work with us. Mom asked where she was going the 20th and she responded "I'm not going anywhere, I am staying right here." Which upset Mom, she called me which upset me. I drove into Mom's house and had a heart to heart talk with the caregiver. Mom said I sounded firm but not angry. I learned a long time ago when you are mad if you yell people ignore you but if you firmly and calmly state your position they believe what you are telling them. I basically restated what mom said. The long and short of it is the caregivers' last day working for us is the 20th. She will move out by then. If she moves out by that date we will give her one week's pay and pay for a month storage. She actually reacted to that very well and almost seemed relieved. I know Mom and I are both relieved. It has just been to much stress for both of us having her living there. Mom wanted to wait until April to let her go because she thought that would be easier for me. However, the truth is that having to deal with Mom being upset every day and having to deal with an out of control caregiver that has taken Mom's house away from her is just more stress than having to do a few extra days of care giving myself is!

How was your day?