But Dad bought a car today so everything should get better now, right?
He's been a demanding jerk lately and Jim has been on the receiving end of most of it. Sybil, the insurance adjuster, got a generous helping of the Stan treatment too. She sent him all the paper work and spent a lot of time with him on the phone trying to get things worked out. She could see that he wasn't grasping what she was trying to explain to him and he was somewhat abusive to her during the call. He lost most of the paperwork she sent him. I'll let Jim post the details if he feels like it.
Today Drew took him to Newport Beach to buy a car that Jim found on e-bay. Before they left I took Drew aside to tell him to watch Dad's driving on the way home. Jim rode with him the other day and said it was pretty scary. Dad arrived home with the new car intact so I guess everything was ok. Thanks, Drew! Jim and I have had our fill of this car fiasco. Tomorrow after the eye doc appointment we'll turn the rental car in.
Handling the day to day stuff for Dad isn't too hard, although it does take up a lot of our time. He appreciates our help with the medical stuff. But he started throwing his weight around with this car thing. He needs to be reminded that he can't order us around like that. He doesn't ask for help, he demands it. When I tried to explain to him that we're already spending a lot of time helping him and we didn't want to take on a car shopping project he got very pissy. He didn't want to hear anything about how all this was affecting us. All I wanted to do was get some help from the sibs and he went off about how he has to pay his kids to visit him. I really didn't want to go driving around looking at cars on top of everything else we've been doing. Fortunately, Jim found a car on e-bay and Drew handled the purchase so it was taken care of easily. We got lucky.
But really, he can take his attitude and stuff it.
11 comments:
After Doni posted this blog entry, Stan came over and told us that he lost his wallet somewhere on the trip to buy the car. sigh...
What kind of car did he get? Hope you found the wallet.
He got a Toyota Camry, just like his last one but it's a 4 cylinder instead of 6. It's white. He doesn't like white. He bitched about the color, as if you can just put in an order on e-bay. His attitude was basically, "Jim, use your computer and find me a car. I want a 1990 Toyota Camry just like my old one and you have to do it now."
No, he hasn't found his wallet. He thinks he may have left it in the bathroom of the restaurant in Newport Beach where he and Drew had lunch. If he doesn't find it we'll have to get all his various cards replaced.
"Jim! Use your computer to replace my cards! Do it now!"
Oh, man, you guys are sure going through it! If his wallet doesn't surface, you probably want to cancel his cards sooner than later. You don't want to spend your "spare" (ha, ha) time fighting to remedy expenses that weren't his. I was lucky I figured out I'd been scammed early on so I didn't have to pay the $500 they racked up at Walmart and Safeway. The police report and forgery papers I filed kept me safe. But, even so, it took hours and hours for me to straighten it all out. You've probaly called the restaurant by now. If they have his wallet, get a manager to tell you what's in it! Yuck. It's like, one step forward, two steps back! I'm glad your birthday was fun, Donita, it's the small things that can keep us going! Mary
He found his wallet. it was on the floor in his tv room.
This morning we went to the eye doctor. He's healing nicely and we can start to taper off the eye drops. Still, it will be a month before we're finished.
Lots of traffic this morning. A truck carrying a load of cement pulled in front of us. So, we were going 20 mph down the freeway to Loma Linda behind a truck carrying a brand of cement that's not 100% cement like La Habra but it's 80% cement and 20% colorant and La Habra was started by the guy that Dad bought his warehouse from but that guy's dead and his son's took over the business and La Habra sure was good to Dad when he was in business and that house was just passed must be a hundred years old and that round building over there that we just passed but I'm supposed to turn my head and look at because Dad's finger is in my face pointing at it must be under construction but it's been that way for quite a while and the new 91/60 interchange is going right by the warehouse that he really should have kept because the govermnent was paying people huge bucks for their land and the beer joint next to it is closed and what is that, a well?
I nearly chewed off my own foot.
OMG, Bill does that now and my kidlets (and sometimes I) tell him that we just don't care. LOL.
Oh lordy. Things got ugly this afternoon.
He got a letter from the dmv telling him he needs to be evaluated and tested or his license will be suspended in 12 days. His doctor needs to fill out the attached form and mail it back to the dmv. He called Stacey about it a couple days ago and got into a big fight with her about it on the phone. I won't go into the details. Today I saw the letter sitting on his kitchen counter. I scanned it (I am soooo glad I did) and left it there and didn't mention it to him. I called Dede and Drew to let them know I was going to talk to Dad about it. Drew offered to be there and help me.
I went over there to do Dad's eye drops. When I saw Drew walking up I told Dad that we needed to talk about something that I knew would make him mad. I told him that's why I asked Drew to be there. Drew came in just after I had told Dad that I had seen the letter from the dmv. Of course Dad went completely ballistic.
I can't even relate everything that was said. The exchange was circular and completely crazy. I'm not going to go into the details because I think I should keep all that between us sibs.
We asked to see the letter and guess what? It's missing. We looked everywhere in the house. We searched and argued, searched and argued. Drew kept his cool. I pretty much lost it a couple times. Dad said some things that got me pretty mad. Anyway...
Tomorrow morning we're going to see Dr. Griffin. Dad's x-rays show his elbow has an infection that has gotten into the bone. That could be very serious. While we're there we'll talk to her about the dmv letter. I really don't think she'll give him a pass.
We're going to see if we can get a duplicate letter and take it from there. But we've told Dad that it's likely he'll have to give up driving in 12 days and he needs to deal with that reality. Again, circular arguing. This was a very bad scene.
Frankly, I'm more worried about that elbow.
Man, what day is this? Did we really go to the doctor this morning? It seems like it was days ago.
When I said I scanned the letter it just means I read it quickly. I didn't bring it home to scan it into the computer. I WISH I HAD!
Good luck at the docs office today: with the elbow and the talk about driving/not driving.
I wish I could help you feel better or something.
Thanks, you guys. The visit this morning went well. We didn't see his regular doctor. We saw an orthopedic surgeon. He looked at Dad's elbow and showed us the x-rays. There was a small, dark spot on the bone but he said that doesn't necessarily mena that it's a bad infection. He gave Dad some good elbow pads and sent him off for a blood test.
This doctor was pretty funny. I'm calling him Dr. Zippy. Everywhere we went with him he zoomed ahead and we had to chase after him. Dad and I were laughing about that.
He'll go back in 2 weeks. We didn't discuss the dmv thing that much. We think we can get a duplicate form someplace. Dad will keep looking around at home. Anyway, things are much better today.
Yep, some days are better than others! Legadillo's right that the driving decision is out of your hands. It's so good that you live so close, yet it's so hard because you do. She's also right about your stream-of-consciousness entry. You may as well just relax your lips, puff out your cheeks, and make a loud vocal uttering, while shaking your head back and forth as fast as you can! We're going through that quite a bit around here just now. Doni's and my good friend, Lorraine, called me this morning to see why I didn't call her yesterday. I said, "Why, was I supposed to call you yesterday?!?" I haven't not called her on her birthday in probably, 18 years.............Dang. Mary
Post a Comment