I live, write, and garden in the PNW with my husband of 27 years, disabled daughter, college-aged son, and my 84-year-old mother. We have paid off $250,000.00 worth of debt (if you include the interest) in the last fifteen years and as of 6/12/2020 are 100% DEBT FREE!!!!Last week my husband worked 4 ten hour days so that he could have Friday off. We got a lot more done in storage, pulling out five large bags of trash and 2 bags full of recycled paper. We also pulled out another box of papers to shred. We donated another stack of books, probably only 15 this time, not a full box
We have reduced the amount in the larger unit so much that we should be able to get everything in there now. We have until the end of February to finish cleaning out the small 8 x 10 unit that is still here in town. Once that is in there we will just have the 10 x 18 and the 10 x 10 in the county. Then we will transfer what is in the county 10 x 10 into the county 10 x 18 as we go through it. Once we are done it will all fit in the 10 x 18 and our storage costs will be reduced significantly.
I found $0.79 this weekend bringing my found money this year to $3.47 American and $1.60 Canadian.
Monday morning I had to go and sit through a joint replacement class with my mother, as she is getting her hip replaced in March. It was 3 hours long and then of course my mother had to stay and talk for an additional 45 minutes, because she's never met a conversation she can leave. It was awful on my back and hips because their chairs were crap. Of course her care after the surgery will all fall on me again, because neither of my sisters will do anything.
I am very irritated with my mother because she refuses to go into a nursing home for the first week after she leaves the hospital. Medicare will cover it, but she refuses to go. She might be getting all her joints fixed, but mine are breaking down. She's just so selfish about it and I have to suck it up and do it. Last time I ended up on the verge of pneumonia and with so much pain in my joints I had to be on hydrocodone to function. If she would just go in for that first week when she needs round the clock care, I would be able to function so much better during the following five weeks when she will be able to sleep through the night and so will I.
Then in the afternoon I went to my rheumatologist for an appointment ($55 co-pay) and crossed off yet another drug I can't take. The sulfa affected my vision. Now she wants to do an MRI of my hands, but I can't afford it so that is on hold. She gave me some paperwork for an injectible drug, but one of the side effects is cancer, so no. I will just have to muddle along with the hydroxychloroquine.
So all in, yesterday was not one of my better birthdays, especially with the fact that I couldn't even have cake on this diet. But I have lost 13 pounds in two weeks, so it is kind of worth it. I miss sugar and flour though. A lot. I need to update the side bar to reflect my new age of 48.
We still haven't got taxes done, but we are working on it. It looks like we will be getting around $8000 back. I was hoping it was more, considering we spent around $30K in medical expenses last year. We'll need that money to pay for DD's surgery.
Long Weekend Plus Birthday Monday Update
February 13th, 2018 at 08:36 pm
February 13th, 2018 at 08:51 pm 1518555060
As for your mom and the week of care...can you go and talk to the hospital or care facility and speak to someone like a social worker? My mom was in the hospital and she told them I would come live with her so she could go home. I had no intention of moving in with her. She was being treated for COPD among other things and smoked like a dragon. I'm asthmatic and her smoke would have killed me. I talked to a social worker at the hospital and explained I wasn't going to go live with my mom and I didn't want them to tell her I had talked to them, but was there anything they could do. The social worker said they have had other incidents like this and would take care of it. And they did. They talked my mom to going to the rehab unit for a few weeks and it really made it far easier on me and she seemed to enjoy it. Perhaps your doctor could write a note saying you aren't up to 24/7 care for someone with your ailments. Caretaking is tough and even harder when you have health issues yourself. You are in my thoughts and prayers.
February 13th, 2018 at 08:55 pm 1518555355
February 14th, 2018 at 12:26 am 1518568019
Rob's idea is good. I hope you figure it out!
February 15th, 2018 at 01:46 am 1518659209