Working and being part of the Sandwich

Today I think I know what it is like to be a real part of the sandwich generation. My day started off with getting up at 6:30 am, get a shower, get dressed. DH still sleeping in his C-PAP mask. Head towards the kitchen, doggy is waiting with baited breath to go out. Take care of that chore, it is now 7:15 am . I was suppose to be on the road by 7:00, DH still sleeping ( I guess). Jump in car head out, hungry, head to Micky D's for SMGS & Coke, run past bank to get parking money (gotta go to UAMS today to do chart review). Head out for my one hour drive it is now 7:30. Due at work at 8 am (won't be on time again) ! Tune in favorite radio station to hear about AI, missed it because we were at dinner. Get to job it is now 8:30 am, met by support staff with questions for about a dozen calls that have come in since 8 am. By 9:15 have solve as many problems as I can , head back out to UAMS with promise I'll be back by 2:00. Make the 5 min. drive, park, get to cubicle start review by 9:40 (only 32 charts to look at) work quietly until partner arrives , she chats the whole time if not to herself to me ( get 2 calls for which I have to leave the area go outside where I get reception . One call from mother, one from co-worker...solve both delima's). Finally co-worker leaves at 12 noon....I get 1/2 of my charts done and leave for office at 1:45. Call DH he is still working on taxes, ask him to run erran for mother , he is not happy but does so. Get back to office at 2 pm, tackle list of calls, pile of paper request and field verbal questions from co-workers and support staff. Return all calls to folks who must have answers today !!! Finally leave work at 5:10 pm head for home, 1 hr drive trying to decompress knowing what is waiting at home , it is hard to do. Get home greeted by dog & mom. Both want to know what is for dinner. Go up to DH's office he is still working on taxes ask for my input ( I cannot believe it). Says he has not eaten all day wants soup. Go down stairs Mom is putting Chicken in oven to bake it. It is 6:30...( take dog outside) Fix DH his soup, fix remainder of mom's meal, feed dog. DH shows up for soup, mom sits for me to wait on her. I finally sit down for my dinner at 7:30 another 13 hrs day.....

Dining Out with G-ma

DH worked hard the last 2 days trying to get the taxes done. I worked hard at the job as I usually do. G-ma worked hard sitting at the end of the table working at her mailstation answering her e-mails. She sent Joyce out to get groceries and mail a box to brother dear. I asked her why she had Joyce do that work and why she did not accompany her out ? Her response was "she was to tired and did not feel like it". However, when I said lets go out to dinner she was the first one ready. So off we went to our favorite seafood house you know the one with the Red Lobster on top. Well I get so tickled as you know G-ma is hearing challenged, but when you talk about her she seems to be able to hear. I usually order a coke but tonight I had water. Did I mention G-ma is now addicted to Pepsi and usually orders one when we go out. Well tonight she wanted water too. I decided I would order stuffed flounder, then she decided she would order stuffed flounder, then DH said he'd keep his order a secret. I changed my mind and ordered stuff mushroom caps. When the orders were placed DH had order stuffed flounder too.
Ok so when the bill came G-ma says how much is my part ? I told her and she said " my food could not have cost that much what is the tax ? Are you trying to get more out of me "? I showed her the bill suggested we were not trying to cheat her and that was her share. When we got home she handed me her share and demanded I give her her "card". You know she carries a purse but she does not carry it, you do. Tonight she carried her change purse and credit card or should I say she said to me "put this in your purse". Finally got home and where did G-ma go right to her e-mail station and had to play with Coco and the red rubber ball....

Coco and her Red Rubber Ball

Tonight I had to give Coco a bath. I do not know why but she was very stinky. I guess it was becasue she spent the afternoon working up a sweat chasing squrrils off her deck. Then she had to go out front to taunt the big dogs next door. Then she came in and bossed me around as I cooked dinner. She is good at bossing folks around. Seems G-ma and DH never get the kind of bossiness I get from her. I get home from work and she meets me at the door with her red rubber ball, if she can not find it she spends the next 5 minutes hunting it down so she can trip me as I head for my room to change cloths. G-ma and DHare here all day, she does not bother them with her red ball just me.

Today as I worked on my taxes and G-ma's Coco slept, but the minute I move from my chair she was up with that red ball tripping me or trying to climb on my lap to play. Anyway she was so sweaty from her after duties I had to get up and go give her a bath. Now she has dissappeared I guess she is upstairs with DH while he is doing his taxes. She must be givign him advice. I see the red rubber ball is down here. I better get in bed before she see me and wants to play again.

On-Line Shopping Too

So I just read a blog concerning shopping on-line by my only child. I confessed I never shop on -line based on an experience I had with HSN. In a moment of weakness I purchased some very pretty Tanzanite earrings. The stones looked large enough on TV, so I took the chance. They came and they were small. I had to go out and spend more money to buy another set of stones to make the earrings worth even wearing. What I did not confess is I do shop on-line at reputable stores, that is stores I know by their name and are not in my state or stores Gogomom2 shops at in her state. This month I purchased a pair of summer sandals and a dress from Macy's. Last month I purchased 2 Poire cell phone carriers from Trend Girl. OK so I think I shop monthly on -line. What I have not done is buy something from an infomercial. I think most of them are a racket, abs, flabs, butt shapers and thigh shapers..poo. Case in point my DH has spent millions on TV infomercilas. He has purchased Canned oxygen, some slimy liquid (like Castor oil) and pills to make you stronger, he has purchased tools, Bee Pollen, Coral Calcium, books, DVD, C-D's ad nausem. Then there is the Publishers Clearing House scam. I truly believe DH thinks he must buy something to win. He has purchased more subscriptions than he can read. I think that is where the bill payment money goes, to PCH (and that is not Pacific Coast Highway) OK I digress.Back to me and the on-line shopping. I also shop on-line for the Great-Mommydearest..she likes items from all those catalogs she gets , so I order those items for her. Did I mention her Miles Kimble purchases. Oh and she shops her meds on line (for her it is cheaper). Ok I guess MissK comes from a long line of TV infomercial shoppers.....

More Driving the Truck

So today the wind is very high and I am driving along in the big White Dodge Dakota Crewcab. I can now tell the real difference in a caddie and a truck. As Gogomom2 says driving a caddie is like driving your couch. Driving a pickup in high winds is like riding a horse. I was bumping and swaying with the wind. Even though that truck weighs as much as the caddie it is high profile so you get the force of the wind pushing you from side to side and front to back. Did I mention in the truck you can hear the noise of the 18 wheelers swoosing past you but in the caddie all you hear is your music.
I do like driving the truck as a change but I miss my caddie, especially the ability to change my music stations or adjust the volume on my steering wheel. Another fact I miss is my ability to adjust the temp in the caddie up or down digitally. Now that is important to a woman of my age who is cold one minute and hot the next.
When I drive in the garage Coco starts to bark, then when I get in the house she spends her time hanging over the steps trying to see what that big white thing is. I will be sorry to have to turn it in but as I said before it is a new adventure.

Driving a Pickup

I got my first opportunity to finally drive a pickup truck...As I've told some of you I had a "senior moment"...ran my caddie into a pole or two at the bank...do not ask me how I have not figured it out yet. Hubby went over to the bank to try to figure it out too. Seems I ran the car up on the ledge, banged the passenger side front door to the point it would not open and left yellow streaks on the door to boot. No I was not high on my Sonic coke and no Coco did not distract me. I have no excuse. Any way I had put the car in the shop and got a rental car ( we ahve good insurance). Hubby says when he went to "Enterprise Rent A Car ", to pick up " the car", they only had pickup's ! That is how I came to drive a big white 2007 Dodge Crew cab. It is longer than my Seville, barly fits in the garage but it does. I am sitting up high and can see the world. True it does not drive like my caddie, I can feel every bump and sway. I can also hear the outside noise. In the caddie I hear nothing but what is going on inside my car, usually my favorite radio station where I cruise to the music to and from work. I miss the special gadgets the caddie has but I am adapting without those gadgets. I do have power seats (driver side) and I have power locks and windows. The sideview mirrors are power too, unlike the Astro Van (1984) hubby drives. I have to adjust those by hand before I even get into drive it. Any way it is fun and I will enjoy my time in the pickup. I call it another adventure on my way to retirement

Election Funding

I started to write about how solicitations for campaign money drives me nuts. Phone calls, mail and now e-mails. Everyone wants money. I think you even get to check a place on your income tax to give money for the presidential election.
I signed up on the web for a candidate I think will be great. I like his ideas, I like his style and his fresh new outlook on how to accomplish what we need to go forward. What I don't like is the constant solicitations for money. I know that in order to run a successful election you need money ( sad to say you also have to have money), but give me a break. Just about every e-mail I get is "give me some money". I do plan to give, but in my own time and to the candidate I want to support. I do not believe in giving money right out the gate. I think you need to prove your self on the campaign trail first. I really want to see if your message is consistent, and how others view you as well. I do not mind folks asking for money but not so often. I guess that it is the way they eventually get to all the folks by continuously asking. It serves as a reminder..hey I did not give yet.

Pets

Well I was going to write about election funding but I am being harassed by my dog Coco. So I will write about pets. People (adults) think having a pet is great. It is one thing of those things they can now do without having to ask permission from Mom and Dad. Well I got a pet because I wanted a companion, someone to lie quietly while I read and watched TV. Someone who would not ask me to change the channel, someone who would not say "are you watching that show"? Little did I know having this dog would be worse. I can not watch TV or read.This dog wants to play. She has a red rubber ball, Yes I bought it for her, but I did not want to entertain her. As I write this she is sitting by my feet growling at me, did I mention she is a 6 pound Yorkie. I guess she thinks she is (as my sister and daughter say) the alpha dog, the leader of me. Now because I will not pay attention to her growls she is barking at me. I did not sign up for this but since I can not type I guess I've got to go play.....

Sandwich Generation..my take

I am what is known as being in the Sandwich Generation. I have a husband, a dog and an 88 year old mother who lives with me. I still work. I get up everyday, drive 60 minutes to my job. This a job I got because at my previous job I made to much money, was to long in the tooth and not as savvy as I should have been for my young boss. So I took the severance package, took a six month vacation and found another job in another city. It was not what I had done but it was easy enough to acclimate to. The women I work with are all my daughters age, but they don't see me as a mother figure they treat me like one of them. In fact they told me recently I was the youngest 60 year old they knew. I took that as a compliment.
At home it is a different story, my mother sees me as her daughter, someone she can tell what to do, someone she can ask to do a whole lot, even though I have worked an 8 hour day and driven 2 hours to and from work. Now I have made living with me easy for her. I have hired a woman my age to take her out 2 days a week to do what ever she likes. Shop, hair salon, nail salon, lunch, post office you name it JK does this for her. But mother saves most things for me to do on the weekend. Her excuse is she forgot to ask JK to do it while she is here. Did I mention my husband is retired and home too ? This is another source she can use to run her errans.
Yes I said my husband is retired and I still work. But that is another blog.
I like to watch TV in the evenings to unwind. That all stopped when mother came to live with us. I get to glimps at TV while I watch with her. She is very hard of hearing , wears 2 hearing aids, but you would never guess she still has trouble hearing what the characters say. I spend most of the show explaining to her what was said by the characters.
I know some of you will say " be happy", she is there to watch TV with you", well that is well and good but if you have kids at home, think about it. I also like to read the paper, but that has gone by the wayside too. Did I mention I have a pet ? A Yorkie to be exact, she demands my time too.
Well I am greatful for my mother, she taught me to be strong, to take life as it comes and not to expect to much of people. Live you life your way. I have never looked back or blamed someone else for my misfortunes....I take the high road.