BarbWired

Today was a rather long day.  Not that it got off to an early start.  That rarely happens around here.  Mom needed to go to Topeka, and since she worked at Meals on Wheels this morning, she wasn’t ready to go till 1:00.  She’s been cleaning closets, and had 4 grocery sacks full of clothes to take to Good Will. 

On the drive up, she started talking about nursing homes.  She’s terrified that she’s going to end up in one someday, and worried about what will happen if she’s there for so long she runs out of money.  I guess before you qualify for Medicaid, you have to sell off your assets, and if you sold anything in the two years prior to going into the nursing home, you have to account for that money as well.  Or something like that.  Just lately she heard “they” can even get their hands on your life insurance money, and if that would happen, there wouldn’t be money left to bury her.  And God forbid her children have to pay to put her in the ground.  Then there’s her house.  Shortly after Dad died, my brother told her she should put the house in my name, so once again “they” can’t force her to sell it to pay for the nursing home.  Anyway – my dear sweet mother views this as an end run around Uncle Sam, and she has some objections to trying to cheat the government.  Really.  Now I would have no problem with doing it, but I know my mom, and she’d never get another night’s sleep if she believed she’d done something illegal, much less immoral.  And the only down side is that my siblings and I would not inherit the house someday.  Big Deal.  We don’t need another house.  She thinks my bother and sister still want her to deed the house to one of us.  I don’t see it happening – mom’s just a bit too stubborn. 

And another thing, on the subject of nursing homes.  I will do everything in my power to keep that from happening.  And that includes moving her into my house.  No, it’s not a big house, and yes, we’d probably get on each other’s nerves.  But so what – don’t you think I got on her nerves when I was a bratty kid?  She never complained about that.  (not to my face anyway)  In the meantime, she’s doing just fine in her little house, and let’s hope it stays that way.

I just might have set myself up for more aggravation today.  Oh who am I kidding?  I definitely brought on more pain.  We bought a cell phone for mom today.  She doesn’t drive much, but she does drive to the next town over to get groceries once a week, and her car is getting older, so she decided she wanted a cell phone.  She’ll just use it for emergencies, so we got a Go Phone from Cingular.  When we got home, I called and got it activated, programmed my numbers in it, and showed her how to use it.  hahahahaha.  I left it charging, and told her I’d come back Wednesday morning and show her some more.  She’s not exactly a techno nerd.  Matter of fact, she still calls me to program her VCR.  The one she’s had for almost 10 years.  And a month ago, she did something to her remote control, and couldn’t watch her TV until I came and fixed it.  Oh what fun we’ll have with the newest toy!

Tomorrow, I’m visiting my favorite hair salon, Trends.  I’m getting my hair cut and highlighted, and I can’t wait.  It’s been almost a year since I’ve gotten highlights, and almost 6 months since I even got it cut.  And it needs something….anything…. badly.  Then it’s off to WW for weigh in week #2.