~ Aug 2013~ Sew what... We've gotta find a way back! Part I!!

[Iamthequeen]

If I was the one actually grocery shopping, I'd be on the coupon bandwagon too: but DH does the grocery shopping and he would forget his head sometimes if it wasn't attached to his shoulders. But don't tell him I said that.

This is what we do too. DH does the grocery shopping in our family. Even if I hand him the coupons he forgets to use them.

 

[cogero]

Happy Happy Easter. Hope you have a great day.

 

[DMGeurts]

D~ Love the couponing tale glad you were able to at least recoup some of your missing savings. I just can not save like you, I went to a store this week that I normally don't go to because they just had deals I could not pass up, spiral ham @.99 a lb. if you spent $25, 300 x-tra gas points if you spent. $50 + others but then I bought a potted flower for $5.99 reg $6.99. My total $130.44 final total $72.73 saved $57.71. The bulk of which came from my spiral ham before coupon $37.03 after $9.19.

Have a Happy Easter!

Thanks Sheila!

It sounds like you did get some great deals though! Our hams were $.87/lb - so a bit cheaper than yours... However - I've never figured out what we pay per lb when we just order by the hog price. It's about $340 for a whole hog, and we usually get 4 hams, 16 lbs of bacon, 20+ meals of pork chops, 10 lbs of sausage, 4 meals of shoulder steaks, 4 meals of ham steaks... Ribs... Can't remember what else. It's been YEARS - almost a decade - since I have had to purchase a ham at a grocery store, and I was almost surprised at how cheap they were.

I'm so happy for you that you were mostly able to work out the problem with the coupons. It is nice that the AP person was so helpful. I'm not sure we would have received the same treatment at our stores. A couple of weeks ago I bought my DD a new Ipod Touch at Target. We took it home, plugged it in to charge and then she used it for about 1/2 an hour. Suddenly the screen went blank and wouldn't light up. We hopped in the car and went to a different, closer Target. Well they gave me a terrible time about exchanging the broken Ipod and even tried to insinuate that we were returning a previously own Ipod instead of the one I had just bought. I was quite peeved! In the end they did exchange it and dd was very happy with the new Ipod. But I didn't enjoy the experience at all! It is nice that you can have a 6 month supply of so many necessities. We generally keep a supply of certain items like that also but I am not a good coupon shopper. I wish I had a BFF like your's to help me do better at it.

I hope you have a wonderful holiday and enjoy your time with your family.

I think I got lucky that the AP person was so nice... I get the feeling though that Target has "flagged" me (not even sure if they do that - but I am sure they do) and they'll be watching my transactions from here out. I am not doing anything wrong - so they can watch all they want to...

Your experience is HORRIBLE... I would definately contact corporate about it - because there is NO reason for that! Especially since all they do is turn right around, defect it out, send it back to Apple and they send them a replacement - so Target is out nothing, Apple takes the loss. So there is just NO reason for treatment like that at all.

I was absolutely getting a sick knot in my stomach picturing being home 45 miles away from the store and realizing things were wrong $$$ I'm glad it worked out in the end but I get nuts when they miss even one coupon or I get home and find something that has a "save .55 cents now" sticker on it that I missed. I give you so much credit for doing all this couponing, but unless I had someone standing there unloading the cart (s) onto the conveyor belt while someone else was watching the ringing up like a hawk I couldn't do it. Your savings are amazing

I know - I was a little sick... Especially since I had watched her add every single coupon - I was certain that they all went through. I am convinced it was a system error and nothing the cashier did. I was just happy that the AP person went through so much trouble to help resolve the problem - she could have just said "too bad, so sad" and left it at that.

So glad Alli is enjoying her sport it can't be all about books in school
I used to have a great time doing the other things and so did my DDs

I agree!

How's MM ? I don't think you've mentioned him lately ?

He's living up to his name... He's started eating the carpet in my living room... Which I am soooo mad about. He likes to do it while we are stitting in there watching movies - he'll hide out under the recliners - where we can't see him and start eating the carpet. I have bare spots all over now - so he is always locked out of the living room. Thankfully, our carpet has been in since before we purchased the house, so it's kind of old - but until we had him, it was still in pretty good shape. I refuse to install new carpet though until the girls move out - so we will have to deal with the bare spots.

Otherwise - he has been enjoying the mud. Every time he comes in the house - he is caked!

But he is funny and we love him - so we let his annoyances slide, for now. LOL

Paper Towels

The bane of my existence!

Hubby is always ...reusing them. Or at least he thinks he will re use them so he NEVER throws them away!

At the end of the day I have maybe a roll and a half sotred on my counter tops...tucked here and there... DRIVES ME CRAZY (even if it is a short trip!!)

So, back at the beginning of February...I told everyone I was not buying them...ever again! I bought a couple yards of flannel on sale and made my own...Cloth Paper Towels!

Now, between the cloth towels, cloth PAPER towels, the three sponges (that get washed each day!) and a set of Disney plastic plates...no one has even missed them!

The kids used paper towels to wipe a spill or to put their toast or sandwiches on ... they now use a sponge for the spills and plastic plates for their food.. Hubby uses them mainly for drying his hands... so a towel was the most logical choice.

Now, I do allow him to have a roll in the car for washing the windows...which he is obsessive about...but HE buys them...they don't come out of my grocery budget!

In our effort to be more green, we have started making our own laundry detergent... a month supply takes me two to three minutes to make and costs less than 5 dollars; I grind my own coffee for my Keurig and use a reusable K cup....I WAS spending over a hundred dollars in coffee each month INSANE!...now just a few dollars.

I still have a long way to go to be as green as some...but I am more in it for the cost savings than I am for saving the planet...I did enough of that back in the 60's!


Nini

Excellent idea - I did try something similar a few years ago - before sewing... I purchased a bunch of bar mop towels... It never worked. We don't use a TON of paper towels - but enough of them that I have to purchase about one package every 2 months.

Sounds like you had an insane shopping trip.
I hope you all have a great Easter at your dad's house. Drive safely.

Thank you Lillian - I hope you have a wonderful Easter too!

Here it's still snowing. This morning we had 4 feet and 6 inches of snow outside. And it's still snowing
During the night it has gone 3 snow avalanches across a few roads. Fortunately no people was taken, but more roads are now closed because of the snow avalanches.

Yikes... I've been praying for those of you in Norway... I hope that you continue to stay safe.

I promised to let you know if I found out anything about the new Fastpass + system. The TA site is gearing up for the TA training on it. Our training site is going down for 4We keep getting promises of new things to come...so I am pretty sure that is what they are gearing up for.

I also know that on the Iphone version of My Disney Experience, they have updated the TOC info to include some confusing verbage on the FP+ system. So far I have not seen that update on my Android.

I am 99.9% sure it will be in use when we go in June...and since you can do your FP+ 60 days (that's right...60 days!) in advance of your check in I am hoping to get some info by the middle of April on how it will work.

I have been scouring the sites to see what they all have to say about it...and so far there are some interesting theories...but nothing concrete yet.



Nini

Thanks for the update Nini... I am curious to hear how it goes. You'll have to let us all know how it works when you do yours in April.

D~ I can't imagine I would be so understanding if they had messed up my couponing. I am generally very polite & cooperative, but for me couponing is a nightmare. I do it because it is a necessity in my life, but I hate it! It is good the person was so nice to you in the end, but when you think about it, you are still out some money. And like I say, it is a job I don't like so to loose that kind of money, I would be upset. I'm glad you got most of it though. I can never get that kind of savings. MY friend watches youtube videos on how to coupon. But my memory can't handle it. I take notes thinking I will understand them at the end, then I don't. It is something I have learned to deal with. What I do now, it check my flyers for what I use regularly, cut my coupons and go shopping. I can't plan ahead because I forget. But, atleast I am able to save some $. I was so frustrated with myself the other day I decided to organize my stock cabinet. Well I had to throw out so much stuff because it was expired. Things like vitamins, asprin. I felt I was throwing away dollar bills!
People like you that are so organized amaze me. My girlfriend is like that. She tries to help me, but I know she gets frustrated. She doesn't understand, I can't focus & remember like I used to. But, like I say, I get the stuff we need when for the best price I can...sometimes even free. I just can't stock pile the way I would like.

Like others have said, to all who celebrate, Happy Easter.

I agree - I hate throwing away items and also feel like it is a waste of $$. However - there are a few things I will use a bit past the expiration - nothing dairy, refrigerated/frozen... But sometimes I will use canned goods if they are a little past - depending on what they are, and how much past they are. LOL But for the most part - I am in the same boat.

I wish there was some way I could help you out... I make VERY detailed lists. It's very helpful to have my binder - I wouldn't be able to do this with out that - for sure. When I make my lists, I notate which coupons I have - and if I have a lot of them, I paper clip them together in my binder - so when I go to look in the store - they are all there. I also notate how many I need to buy in order to validate the coupon. And with this recent fiasco at Target - I've also started noting how many of each coupon I have and the value of them, so if I have to go back through a receipt after I've given my coupons at the store, I am not guessing - that was the hardest part when I was going over my receipt with the AP person, was trying to remember what I had.

This is so totally me! We had Lucy's (my niece) birthday party here last night. It is getting nicer out here in Maine now, but it certainly isn't flipflop weather yet. Well, we were all out on my deck last night with blankets, flip flops and wine while the kids were playing in the mud/snow. I got to wear them one day last week and I have a really hard time putting them away now.....just a few more days and it will be nice out!

Hope you have a wonderful Easter D!

LOL We ARE kindred spirits - aren't we? Truth be told - my flip flops are never put away - they are my "house shoes" - so I wear them all winter long. You should see me during the snow storms - trying to get out to the mail box with out getting my bare flip flop feet in the snow - drives Josh CRAZY!!!! LOL

I'm not a real triplet: I was thinking of this response:

"Hi Ruth - it's great to see you!!!! Sorry - I just get worried once in a while, and it's not like I wouldn't notice you all missing... You are like my triplets. So, when you are all gone at the same time, I tend to wonder what kind of trouble you are into.... Just glad you are OK, hopefully things slow down for you soon."

I'm getting back to my usual self & Spring Break ending should help that.

I had a couponing day like that at JoAnne's - kinda. I think my original total was, like $30 something and with my coupon & getting things on sale, I spent less than $20. If I was the one actually grocery shopping, I'd be on the coupon bandwagon too: but DH does the grocery shopping and he would forget his head sometimes if it wasn't attached to his shoulders. But don't tell him I said that.

ROFL - but you ARE a real triplet! I'd forgotten about that - yes, I do wonder what kind of trouble the 3 of you would find together.

I really do hope that things return to normal for you.

Great job at JoAnns! I try to never go there with out a coupon - they are just so expensive!

So today we went to our local grocery store to buy a few things we've been needing. Our total before coupons and the coupons I had added to our savings card was $127.41. Our total after was $68.56!! For a total of 47% Savings!! Felt pretty good!!

Glad you were able to get some of the savings back that you had worked hard to get.

If I don't get back on here before tomorrow I hope you and your family have a Happy Easter!!!

You did awesome Sandra!!! WTG!!!!!!!!!! What kind of items did you get?

I hope you have a wonderful Easter!

we disappear we show up D's Triplets I like that

RuthIE

LOL... And the truly FUNNY part - I am younger than all of you - except for Ruth.

I'm all caught up and subbing!

Welcome!!! Glad to have you here!

This is what we do too. DH does the grocery shopping in our family. Even if I hand him the coupons he forgets to use them.

I think DH would use the coupons if I gave them to him - but he would be a bit confused. I am starting to get a bit "into" it.

**********************************************************

I spent a good portion of my day in my sewing room yesterday... I was appliqueing like crazy! I really wanted to get this bag assembled before the week was over - but it just looks like I am not going to. Kind of bums me out. Even though it was a waiting list bag - I still don't like things hanging over my head... It was a SUPER detailed bag, and a LOT of work.

I also did all of my holiday cooking for today... Which was home made scalloped potatoes... Then I also made a batch of home made apple cinnamon steel cut oatmeal... and I also fried up my chicken breasts for lunches this week.

I did a bit of coupon organizing, since BFF gave me her "skeleton" to go through. The skeleton is what's left over from her Sunday coupons after she clips what she wants... And with her 4 papers every week - her skeletons are huge!

Josh worked on a project for me... Such a sweet man - I just love him! It was a total surprise, and exactly what I needed! He built me some pantry shelves in our basement and shelves above our basement stairs for paper goods... We needed all of it soooo badly! It was a great gift and perfect timing! Keep in mind - these shelves are purely for storage purposes and not meant to be "viewed" by the general public when they are here... So, they are not pretty - just functional.

So here's the paper storage area above the stairs:

And here's the new pantry shelves in the basement... Don't mind the mess on the top shelf - that's where I store all of my holiday platters and servingware.

I just LOVE him for this, because our upstairs pantry was getting sooo full... and our upstairs "pantry" isn't really a pantry at all - it's a broom closet that we added shelves too - so it's really tall, narrow, and deep - so it's really difficult to see what's in the back. So, I kept two of everything upstairs, and moved the excess downstairs... It's so much easier to see! LOVE it!

I tried to go around the Dis and wish everyone a Happy Easter this morning - and about 3/4 of the way through, I realized that not everyone celebrates Easter... YIKES - so I hope I didn't offend anyone. For those of you that do celebrate and don't have a PTR/TR going - or if I happened to miss you...

D~

 

[cogero]

D I love your new shelves it looks awesome.

I am going to dig up the link for the Target coupon site today and see if I can find anything for us to use this week.

Have a Happy easter.

 

[Luvchefmic]

Its so nice when you have a DH that is handy, he did a really nice job on the shelves I have always wanted a kitchen that had a pantry built in when the DDs were growing up Now that everyone is all grown up and have their own homes and families I FINALLY got a home with a built in pantry HOWEVER as life changes so do priorities, bulk shopping....except animal food, not so much

Soo thought I would share my "dream pantry"

Priorities priorities

 

[solana131]

What a guy that Josh Great looking storage!

 

[lovingeire]

Happy Easter!

I am finally getting a moment to get caught up or at least get back to business after a crazy week of work, spring break and my parents visit! Glad to be back on the bandwagon...at least for now!

I'm a wee bit jealous of all that fabulous storage you have for your stockpile! Awesomesauce! Course, I like the movie storage too! I could use solutions for both!

I'm so glad some of the coupons savings, or lack thereof, was resolved! I know how frustrating it is when everything doesn't add up right! It was so nice of the AP to take the time to make things right!

 

[BabyRapunzel]

Still need to catch up, there were things I was going to say, but can't think of them right now.

Except, that Dopey bag was awesome!!!!!!

And Happy Easter!

 

[DisNorth]

Those shelves look great, your luck to have a handy man

 

[ladylyons]

You did awesome Sandra!!! WTG!!!!!!!!!! What kind of items did you get?

I hope you have a wonderful Easter!

Our list only consisted of pasta and pasta sauce (we do most of our shopping at Costco, for our family of 5 it does save us more in the long run). My DH neglected to tell me the other things he wanted to get. But we got a bagged salad (2.50), bananas (0.40 a pound), ham (on sale for 11.81), chips (2 for $4), 2 jars of pasta sauce (3.48 total), Fig Newtons (these were an impulse by for my DH, 3.50 on sale), chips ahoy cookies (1.88), 2 boxes pasta (2.24 total), 4 12 pks Dr.Pepper (9.00, they were on sale for $11 but I had 2 $1.00 off coupons off 2 packs. I only drink one soda a day. It's one of my bad habits unfortunately.) Wine (12 bottles for $23.76, I drink the cheap stuff when I just want a glass to drink during the week or on the weekends. I'm the only one that drinks it but if I like it why spend the big bucks unless I have company over. Plus we get 10% off by buying a 6 pack and until Tuesday we got an additional 20% off.)

We've had a great Easter!! Went to Great America today and just enjoyed being together as a family. Hope you've had a great day too!



Great shelves!! We've had to do that to our stairwell also. Just don't have the space to store all the paper towels, toilet paper, and diapers we keep on hand.

 

[Deesknee]

Thanks for wanting to help. I know my friend swears by her binder, but I guess I just get frustrated too easily.

Love you shelves. Can never have enough storage, especially for couponing women like yourself.

Thank you for the Easter wishes. I did have a nice day, I hope you did as well.

 

[dianemom2]

I love your new shelves. You keep them so organized. I have a huge walk in pantry in the kitchen but I would be terribly embarrassed to show you a picture of it. Nothing in there is neatly put away. I do have similar items grouped together though. Are you starting to get your coupon shopping together for this week?

 

[DMGeurts]

D I love your new shelves it looks awesome.

I am going to dig up the link for the Target coupon site today and see if I can find anything for us to use this week.

Have a Happy easter.

Thanks Chiara - it's great to have you home! I hope you had a wonderful trip and were able to enjoy the time with your family.

I love my new shelves - I know they aren't pretty, but they are definately functional, and I am so happy to have the space! In our old house - I had an Ahhh-mazingly huge pantry, and I loved it. When we first moved here - we only had one cupboard for food and canned goods combined, so it was really difficult to make everything work.

I can't believe I actually found this picture... I remembered that I'd organized the pantry in our old house once - and I'd taken a picture... LOL I just loved it~! In all fairness, we had no cupboard storage for food at all - so ALL of our food storage was here:

Its so nice when you have a DH that is handy, he did a really nice job on the shelves I have always wanted a kitchen that had a pantry built in when the DDs were growing up Now that everyone is all grown up and have their own homes and families I FINALLY got a home with a built in pantry HOWEVER as life changes so do priorities, bulk shopping....except animal food, not so much

Soo thought I would share my "dream pantry"

Priorities priorities

I can't imagine ever not bulk shopping? And I just can't imagine the rest of our lives with out the girls living here...

I love your dream pantry - LOL... Josh built us a new "entertainment center" about 5 years ago when we got our new TV, and he sized all of the compartments to exactly fit our DVD collection... It's really nice to have the space to fit everything.

What a guy that Josh Great looking storage!

I know! I am still so excited about it!

Happy Easter!

Thank you! I hope you had a wonderful one.

I am finally getting a moment to get caught up or at least get back to business after a crazy week of work, spring break and my parents visit! Glad to be back on the bandwagon...at least for now!

Yay! Happy to have you back - I hope you had a wonderful visit!

I'm a wee bit jealous of all that fabulous storage you have for your stockpile! Awesomesauce! Course, I like the movie storage too! I could use solutions for both!

LOL - I am not sure I would call it my "stock pile" at this point... It's really not that much space. I think DH didn't want TP stored in the upstairs hallway any more - and it was only there for 3 days.

I'm so glad some of the coupons savings, or lack thereof, was resolved! I know how frustrating it is when everything doesn't add up right! It was so nice of the AP to take the time to make things right!

Yes - I was pleasantly surprised that AP actually did something, I really didn't expect them to.

Still need to catch up, there were things I was going to say, but can't think of them right now.

Except, that Dopey bag was awesome!!!!!!

And Happy Easter!

No worries!!! Thanks - I loved the Dopey bag. I hope you had a wonderful Easter.

Those shelves look great, your luck to have a handy man

Thanks Tracy! It was such a nice surprise...

Our list only consisted of pasta and pasta sauce (we do most of our shopping at Costco, for our family of 5 it does save us more in the long run). My DH neglected to tell me the other things he wanted to get. But we got a bagged salad (2.50), bananas (0.40 a pound), ham (on sale for 11.81), chips (2 for $4), 2 jars of pasta sauce (3.48 total), Fig Newtons (these were an impulse by for my DH, 3.50 on sale), chips ahoy cookies (1.88), 2 boxes pasta (2.24 total), 4 12 pks Dr.Pepper (9.00, they were on sale for $11 but I had 2 $1.00 off coupons off 2 packs. I only drink one soda a day. It's one of my bad habits unfortunately.) Wine (12 bottles for $23.76, I drink the cheap stuff when I just want a glass to drink during the week or on the weekends. I'm the only one that drinks it but if I like it why spend the big bucks unless I have company over. Plus we get 10% off by buying a 6 pack and until Tuesday we got an additional 20% off.)

It sounds like you got some great deals! LOL on the wine - I love wine too, but I can't drink it often. I love German wine though - it's my favorite.

had a great Easter!! Went to Great America today and just enjoyed being together as a family. Hope you've had a great day too!

Sounds like you had a great time!

Great shelves!! We've had to do that to our stairwell also. Just don't have the space to store all the paper towels, toilet paper, and diapers we keep on hand.

I know - they just take up soooo much space for as little as you get. We've actually been meaning to put these shelves in since we redid the stairwell addition a vew years ago - so I am happy to have it done. It works perfectly for what we need it for.

Thanks for wanting to help. I know my friend swears by her binder, but I guess I just get frustrated too easily.

I honestly have to say that the binder is the key to everything when couponing. There is NO way I could do this successfully with my old coupon folder - there is just too much to keep track of. I have the binder organized by how my Target store is set up, so that is helpful to me.

Love you shelves. Can never have enough storage, especially for couponing women like yourself.[/quote

LOL I don't feel like I have a huge stockpile or anything - not even sure that I want one. It was just getting pretty tight in our upstairs pantry.

Thank you for the Easter wishes. I did have a nice day, I hope you did as well.

I am glad - we did too!

**********************************************************

We had a wonderful Easter - I hope you all did too.

We had an enjoyable morning at home, the girls ate some candy and I hung out online. We had a nice breakfast together too.

We left at about 10am for my Dad's, and arrived at almost exactly Noon. It was a good uneventful trip and not much traffic to contend with. We prepared the entire meal at home before we left, so all we had to do once we got there is warm it up.

After a very little amount of time, Josh and I came to the realization that my dad is getting to the point that he probably shouldn't be living alone anymore. I am not sure that he ever should have in the first place - but that is another story for another day. It was so hard for me to move down here several years ago - not so much the moving part, but leaving my dad and brother.

We also discovered that he really shouldn't be driving any more. He has had 2 serious car accidents in the last year. I am sure most of you remember the one he had last summer/fall, when he pulled out in front of someone and was t-boned on the front passenger fender - with my brother in the passenger seat. We were VERY fortunate that the car wasn't inches further forward, my brother could have been killed. As it turns out - my dad had another car acciedent a few weeks ago - and never told anyone about it. He says it wasn't serious, but he lost control of his car in the ice storm we had and somehow (we can't quite figure out how) the same car took off his right front fender completely and his trunk is completely compressed into itself. And he was still driving it!!!!!!!!! Josh looked at the car yesterday - and told him that he needs to junk it - it's not even safe. The trunk is so close to the back wheel, that if he hits a bump/pothole - he could very easily gouge the tire and lose control of his car. This saddens me a lot - because - with out going into too much detail - my dad never developed past the age of about 8-11 y/o... So many of my years growing up, I have had to make adult decisions for him - even when I was very young. And it saddens me even more that he is making decisions that would/could compromise his and my brother's safety. I hope he listens to us, and junks the car. Which leaves another problem... He lives very far off of the city bus line... So, our next order of business is to get him into a place in town - on the bus line. I hope to have that done by the end of this summer - it would ease our minds a lot.

Sorry for going into so much detail about a sad family situation. My mind is just overcome with how we are going to go into the next few years and how we are going to handle it from so far away. Josh and I did a lot of talking on the way home, and I am just so fortunate to have him. I look at my dad, and I look at his dad... My dad is only 2 years older than his - but he looks like he has lived a lifetime longer. There is definately something to be said for people who live an "easier" life, as my dad has lived a very hard life, and it shows. It makes me very, very sad for him and what's to come.

Anyways... We came home - none of us were hungry for dinner. So we all sat down and watched Snow White and the Huntsman - it was OK. Glad it was a free HBO weekend for us, because I am not sure I would have rented it.

Today, I plan to start on my next bag - I am pretty excited about it. Again - it's a theme I have never done before - and I love the fabrics. So, it should be a fun bag to do.

I hope you all have a wonderful day and I hope you all had a wonderful Easter with your families!

D~

 

[cogero]

D (((HUGS))) about your Dad and I have no doubt you will get it sorted out. I do hear you on the differences in people though. My MIL is the same age as my parents but my parents are much YOUNGER if you know what I mean and this is even before my MIL became ill.

My parents always worked hard and lived a relatively clean lifestyle as compared to my MIL who looked for the supposed Easy way and drank and smoked heavily. I am of the belief of how we live helps us in our later years. I know that not all people have the best but we should all strive to be the best we can be. I can even see the difference between G and his brothers.

thanks for the welcome home I am happy to be home but am beginning to feel panicked. I am off to work today. Hope you have a fabulous day.

 

[dianemom2]

I am glad that your Easter was mostly a nice day. I'm sorry that your dad is having so many issues. I can definitely relate. My parents really need to move out of their house and into somewhere that I think they could live more easily and more safely. I hope your dad will be willing to go along with your plans. Our issue is that my parents refuse to move/downsize and they have the right to make their own decisions even if they are bad decisions. I'm glad that your dad's car accident wasn't more serious and that the only thing that seems to be injured is the car. Having aging parents is very hard!

 

[LadyBeBop]

I can definately relate to your problems regarding aging parents. My 83 year old had to give up driving a few months agao after a couple of near misses. He lives in an assistant living facility.

We're a little more worried about my in-laws, ages 72 and nearly 78. Both are still in relatively good health, but they have the typical medical problems for their ages. Neither of their sons live close. We're 4 1/2 hours away, and my brother-in-law is three hours away. They're trying to move closer to us; however they cannot sell their home. The housing market is affecting their neighborhood. Plus, it doesn't help that the developer sold one of the homes on the street to his daughter for less than half of the fair market value of the house. That, artificially, lowers the values of the neightborhood homes.

 

[oopsiDAISY]

D~, as you know I typically don't comment often on topics...but my heart goes out to you on your situation with your dad. We have not yet had to start taking care of our parents, but we know it's coming. We have already had discussions about it. Since we waited until a later age to have our own children...by the time they all become adults and move out, it will be time to take care of our parents. I watch as my mom has had to make very difficult decisions regarding my grandma and it does break my heart. Ours is a very close family as I am sure yours is, and it is just sad to see the people we love deteriorate. It is hard to have to treat them as children, and yet maintain the respect and their own dignity. Prayers to you, my friend!

 

[sjs314]

D~ Sorry to read your Easter was somewhat upsetting do the problems with your Dad driving. My DMIL was still driving at 74, her old Ford she had bought "new" in "85" this was in 2006.....the car needed to go. Once we convinced her to get rid of it, she coincided to give up her license too. I wish you luck and hope your Dad can see the logic easily also.

 

[nowellsl]

I can relate to the situation with your dad! I live in a duplex and my mom lives next door. I don't know how I would handle it if she lived any farther away! I take care of all her meds and finances and we've hired a "companion" to come for 4 hours three days a week to take her to the gym (she still works out ) and the grocery store. She doesn't like not driving at all and still thinks she'd be fine to drive She does have some medical problems that we've used as an excuse to ban her from driving So far so good! She has one of those buttons she wears in case she falls or needs medical assistance and they do work well .... except when she goes to bed with it on and accidentally pushes the button at 3:45 in the am but at least we know it works.

 

[Iamthequeen]

Glad to hear you had a good holiday. Sorry to hear about your Dad's issues. My own parents are gone and have been for amny years, so I can't really relate, however my mil, who is 92, bless her soul, had a number of issues a few years ago and voluntarily gave up her apartment at the retirement home and moved in with my sil. She's now in a nursing home because she needs care 24/7. She's still going strong though! We live about 5 hours away though, so everything pretty much falls on my sil's shoulders. We help out where we can, though.

I solved my future situation by telling my kids I was going to spend 3 months of every year with each of them! That way they only need to put up with me for a short period of time!

We had some exciting news yesterday! My younger son and his gf became engaged! We are so happy for them - they have been together for about 6 years now. They met in college and are so suited to each other! No wedding plans yet, but I expect they will have a wedding soon. My ds does not care for long engagements.

Have a great day!