Back to Basics indeed....

And that is how life SHOULD be.

How are YOU tonight, Stephen?  I noticed on Ebay a little while ago, the bids are up to nearly $1,500 bucks for those autographed albums!  Not bad for one day.  I have NOT bid, I am sorry to report, simply because I know how addictive that stuff can be, and I don't want to cause any ruckus with the Pete-Pete.

HOWEVER, I really SHOULD ask him for the same courtesy, I SHOULD be able to bid some $$ on your goodies, because he just went out yesterday and bought a one-person SAUNA...yes, the price was decent enough, but did we REALLY need it?!  Nooooo, we didn't.  It's made completely of cedar wood, with a bench, a radio/CD player/iPod connection, and lights.

It kinda looks like the TARDIS on the BBC t.v. show, Dr. Who.  -------blank stare---blink-------do you know what I'm talking about?!  Not many people do, unfortunately, but it's a pretty cool show nonetheless.  (I told Pete I would decorate it just like the Tardis....that is the phone booth time machine that the Doctor uses to travel around and fix problems).  Sorry, my nerdiness is showing.

Anywhooooo....I won't even ask, though, because I know he'd balk.  If it's not something HE likes, or that HE wants, he's not interested and won't do it.  I'm noticing this stuff more and more with him.  Like, earlier, instead of taking care of the Xmas decorations that I asked him to help me with (replacing them in the attic), they are still sitting around in piles around the porch area, while his new TOY (the sauna) is now activated and ready to be used.  Mmm-hmmm.  Quite a selfish man, to say the least.  He never wants to help ME do things that need to be done around HERE, but when it comes to some shiny new---SQUIRREL!---he's all distracted and focused on stuff HE likes, and HE wants to do.  It bugs me a lot.

It's okay, though, karma is a bitch.

So his mom was a total HAG-from-HELL today, and I actually told her to get out of my face.  I have really had enough of her and her mental craziness.  I don't CARE if it's Alzheimers, I don't CARE if it's dementia, I don't CARE if it's bipolar, she does NOT have to be a bitch, and treat me like shit.   So, on Tuesday, we're having an intake interview with the nursing agency to hire someone to come in and BABYSIT HER, so that my mom and I can go out and about, without worrying about her.  She never wants to come along anymore, and she knows that if SHE doesn't go, WE can't go.  So she uses that to her advantage, as a typical textbook control-freak would.  The priceless part of it:  she's paying for it.  It's a FREE SERVICE FOR ME!!! YAYYYY!!!  I can take advantage of it, two or three times per week, and there's nothing she can do about it.  Let the NURSE take the abuse, that she gets PAID to take.

She came out of her bedroom after a nap, suddenly in bitch-mode, out of nowhere, and had a pile of clothes and her 3 pairs of glasses on top of them, in her arms.  She complained that "these are not her items, and why are they in her room, and when can she take them HOME with her?"  I said, "If they are not yours, Florence, then why would you want to take them anywhere?"  But, logic does not work with her anymore.  You really cannot reason with an unreasonable person.  And you cannot win a battle of wits with an unARMED person either.

She said, "Everyone ELSE around here can take THEIR things HOME with them, but why can't I??" like a pouty brat teenager.  I said, gently, (as I always do when this broken record of "I want to go home" comes up).... "You ARE home, these ARE your things, and they belong in your room."  That's when she got all angry and threw everything on the floor, and looked right at me, and said, "YOU'RE A....A.....PISTOL!"  (For her, that's a swear word).

I just smiled and chuckled at her, and said, "Well, if you don't WANT those things, that's okay with me, I'll just throw them in the garbage."  I did not move to pick them up.  I just walked away, putting the groceries into the refrigerator, leaving her standing there alone.  That completely threw her into confusion.  "Well, I'm going to REPORT you!" she said.  I smiled again, and said, "Ok, that's fine. You do that.  But ya know what, Flo? I'm not going to argue with you about anything. You can just take this stuff to your room, and lay down for a nap, or I'll just throw them away, and you won't need to worry about it anymore. You choose."

She growled, "They are not MINE, I don't WANT them, and this is NOT my house."  I said, as I got in real close to her face, and looked her straight in the eye, and snarled, "You'd better just GET OUT OF MY FACE, Florence, and go to your room and lay down."  She yelled, "NO!"  I said, "YES." Then I stepped in closer to her, as a bit of a threat.  She backed down at that point, and went to her room and laid down.  I picked up her stuff, walked down the hallway, opened her door, and plunked it all on her chair, with another smile.

I'm about DONE with that woman.  Seriously.  Then she naps, and everything is back to normal afterwards, because she doesn't remember any of it.

Yeah, try living like that with Jekyll and Hyde every day, and see how relaxed YOU are.  See how much stress YOU can deal with.  This caregiving thing is really not an easy role to play.  If she wasn't bipolar, it would still be a challenge, but not as bad.  Pete is in agreement that she has been very difficult to deal with today.  We surmised that she probably woke up, and discovered that Pete was outside, and my mom and I weren't here (we had gone to the grocery store), so she probably felt panicked by that, and went back to lay down, fuming and upset.  That would explain why she woke up feeling bitchy.  Even if we ARE right about that theory, though, it just drives me crazy when she's in pick-a-fight mood.

Have you ever known anybody like that?? Somebody who deliberately picks at you, nags and bitches, and moans and tries to get you to argue with them about NOTHING??  It's really quite maddening.  Her life is so EASY, she has NO WORRIES, she has no financial worries to deal with EVER, she has all the food she could ever want, plenty of clothes, good healthcare, great insurance, a nice Mercedes car to ride around in, a very nice and large HOUSE to live in.....this woman has NO REASON TO BITCH.

That's my biggest pet-peeve of rich people, though, they make up shit to bitch about because they are just plain BORED.  I sincerely hope YOU are NOTHING LIKE THAT, Stephen, because if you ARE,  I'll simply have to beat your ass.

Yes, Florence is rich, and yes we are taking care of her, and here's the real reason behind it: because when she croaks, the inheritance is huge.  That's really the long and the short of it.  Every dime of hers will go to Pete and his sister.  But, she has alienated her own daughter, (Pete's sister), by criticizing and comparing her house to the house that belongs to her cousin....the same cousin that put Flo into a nursing home without telling anybody.  Yeah, there has been a huge rivalry between the two of them for years, and Flo knew that when she started badmouthing her house at Christmas one year.  She's never been invited back, nor has she been sent anything more than a card, and flowers for Christmas.  So, since her daughter won't step up and take care of her, (I understand WHY she won't), the burden is ours.  Pete's sister is married to a forensic accountant in Connecticut. Their 4 kids went to Yale and Harvard. They are rich too.  They don't NEED her money, or her bitchy attitude.

So, here I am, surrounded by rich people, feeling all the GIFTS of poorness that I've experienced most of my life, and shaking my head in sadness for the stupid shit that rich people do to each other, unnecessarily.  I'd much rather be POOR, because I have more to thank God for, I have more to appreciate, and I work hard for everything I get, so I never take any of it for granted.  How many rich people can say that???

Pete just got out of the sauna.  "Feels like I'm sitting in a microwave," he said.

Well, I'm off to bed.  Hope you had a nice weekend.  Thank you for putting up with my ranting and raving on this blog, you really probably never read it, but let's just pretend for shits-and-giggles that you do.  It's not always a thrill to read it, I know, but it really does help me to get it out.  Once the venting and stress flows out of my fingers into the keyboard and onto the computer screen, I can relax.  I channel all the negativity out of me, and then I can begin anew with a clean slate, and face another day.  You are my therapist, of sorts.....so thank you for that.  It helps to have an objective listener sometimes.

Love you with all my heart....

Rebecca