Monday, April 30, 2012

Dot's Back...Help Me




















Dot’s back.

Pray that my mother-in-law lives to get back home, for I may kill her…just for kicks.

If you remember, Judy drove up to NJ for some needed meetings with her team, so Granny Dot decided to ride back with her. The trip was uneventful except for stopping at ever other rest area and eating three meals a day. That is okay, though. She is 87 and her body filled of two dozen drugs and patches does not operate like normal people’s body.

But the thing is, she is forgetful. And she will forget to close a door when told three hundred and twenty-seven thousand times to close the door when she leaves her room or the bathroom. We have two beautiful dogs that are getting up there in age and, though they are house broken, will mosey into a room they aren’t use to and mark it as theirs.

We also have chickens in the yard. And we have two chicks in a homemade coop in the tub in the spare bathroom. The bathroom door has to be kept closed, mostly to keep the cats from having a chicken dinner. But the cats love human contact and love to be petted and rubbed. So we have to keep them in the office while Dot is here because she claims they scratch her when they jump in her lap. Well, they are cats, and I can’t help but wish they would drag her under the bed and eat her. But they aren’t very big cats and she is like a beach ball on toothpicks. They would have to eat her in her chair, and I don’t want to clean up that mess.

Anyseniledot, Judy, my grandson and me were outside building a new chicken coop when Dot came to the door yelling for help. Well, if she could waddle to the door, I knew she was okay (she fell the first night she was here – more on that later). She was shooing one of the dogs and trying to make it move.

There on the floor was a dead chick. Dot had gone to the bathroom and didn’t shut the door on the way out. One of the dogs thought she had found her on Zaxby’s and grabbed one of the chicks. Well, that was bad, but I wasn’t upset until Dot said, “I don’t know who left the door open.”

“Dot,” I said, “no one was in the house all morning but YOU! We have been outside working. No one else was in the house but you.”

“Well, it wasn’t me.”

“Yes, Dot, it WAS YOU and stop lying. You are making it worse.”

So she started crying and pouting. That does not work for me. I told her to get over it and quit acting like a baby. Thankfully she didn’t talk to me the rest of the day.

As mentioned above, Dot wondered from her room to the bathroom sometime during the night. On the way back she fell. Don’t know how, and she doesn’t either. But she was lying there yelling for Judy. We did not hear her. But Laura, upstairs, did. She was walking around to see which cat was having a problem and though the sound was coming from the basement. She found Dot laid out in the floor. So instead of just going back up and leaving her (which I would have done – okay, not really) she knocked on our bedroom door to let us know. So the three of us was able to get her fat ass off the floor with no damage to her or the hardwood floor. Tragedy averted, we all went back to bed.

Then came evening after the chick death. Dr. Amber, her boyfriend, Bob, Steven and Laura from upstairs were here playing games. I had gone to Zaxby’s to get our own chicken so the dog wouldn’t feel so bad, and it was all set out on the counter. It was a pick and choose snack type thing we use when they are over to play games.

Dot was sitting in her chair watching everyone play - I don’t play because I don’t like to play their games...not smart enough. Finally she speaks up, “Jude, when will we have supper and what are we having?” I told her the food was on the counter and she could help herself. She didn’t like that, so I told her if she were at home she would have to fix her own supper and all she had to do was put chicken strips on a plate. She huffed and puffed about ‘I can do it if I have too.’

I told her, ‘Good! Judy is busy playing a game and you want her to stop the game to feed you? She is not your servant.”

Judy saw I was about to say some stuff that I didn’t need to say, and got up and made her a plate. When Dot got the plate, she gave me a look of triumph, so I told her, “Enjoy your chicken. It’s the one you killed.” The smirk left her face and Judy made me stop it.

I swear, selling human beings is illegal and immoral, but you can have her for, say, a beer.

Any takers?

11 comments:

Kristy said...

I just had to laugh because I can relate to your frustration after seeing my 92 year old in-laws for a week.

Leta said...

Oh dear. I sure hope this visit isn't too long. And for heavens sake PLEASE check that you have ALL of her belongings before you leave for the airport so that she doesn't miss her flight again.

Hang in there.

Marnie said...

You have your hands full! xo

Corina said...

Yea, how much beer will you give me to take her off your hands? lol

NavyOne said...

Now your offer of the beer. You give us the beer, right?

NavyOne said...

Now your offer of the beer. You give us the beer, right?

Bag Blog said...

“Enjoy your chicken. It’s the one you killed.”

Now that cracked me up! Since we got Mom's medication straightened out, she is a happy camper. She told me the medicine makes her crazy. I told her that it makes her happy and that is all that matters. Aiee, this mother/daughter age thang is crazy!

THINGS YOU'D NEVER GUESS ABOUT ME said...

I have been visiting a neighbor in a nursing home. He is all encompassing, all consuming, and has the heightened sense of entitlement that I only see on the days welfare checks are handed out.

He is perpetually pouting over one slight or another and sees no reason why he can't come home and get waited on hand and foot by his wife.

The "caregivers" don't really care and, for what they're paid, I wonder why there isn't gunfire coming from the center 24/7.

When I get to that state of mind, I can only hope I have the sense to stay in bed and keep my mouth shut.

Lickety Splitter said...

You make me thankful that I don't have a m-in-law.

Janie Junebug said...

It was absolutely ridiculous to put her back to bed after she fell. Wherever she lands, that's where she should sleep.

Love,
Janie

Momma Fargo said...

Sending some fine drinking spirits your way...and hugs. I know you are a good man to Judy and her mother. LOL