FRIDAY, JULY 30, 2010

From how Carol was acting today, it appears that she didn't put a new patch on yesterday.
A lady came this morning and--according to Grandpa--"sat around and looked at us for awhile. She comes every couple of months. Hefer of a woman."...? I didn't see her because she came at 8am and didn't stay for very long.
After breakfast Carol started making a grocery list. I told her I rather go tomorrow since we have enough to last us through a couple days. She says ok, walks away only to come back and start taking inventory of the fridge again several times. Then she comes into my room asking if I said yes or no to going to the post office. I told her we went a couple times this week and that she hadn't asked me today. "What do you need?" "They have some mail for me there." Thinking it was probobly the package of her keys, I agree. "Now where is that grocery list?" She digs in her pockets and pulls it out. "I thought we were waiting on the groceries and are going to the post office." "Oh, that's right." She goes to tell Grandpa where we are going and comes back and starts going through her pockets. "What are you looking for?" "I can't find that list, do you have it?" It's in your pocket. Here, let me put it in my wallet for safe keeping for tomorrow. Right now we are going to the post office."
At the post office we tell the guy our address and that he has mail for us. When he get's back he says he can't find it. Can we clarify the address? When he goes Carol starts telling me how she has the post office hold all their mail because people go through her mailbox, but we get mail in that mailbox everyday. The guy comes back and says that he doesn't have a record of us having them hold our mail. On the way home Carol asks if we should stop at the grocery store while we are out.
Soon after we get home Carol comes into my room and sits on my bed to hang out for a bit. Grandpa is aparently on again about her keys. I check with Bill that they are on the way and let her know. I go and remind Grandpa that Bill is sending down the spare keys through the mail (not in person). Later he starts in on her and I say Bill is sending them again. "Oh, that's right," he says, and promptly drops the issue for the rest of the day.
Later Carol comes up to me crying because the city utilities are charging her over $100. It's usually about $30. Why with three people is it so much more? I suddenly panic over every shower I took since I've been here until I open the letter and see that it was from 3 unpaid months plus a late fee. "I paid with my Visa. This is just HORRIBLE." I call the office to see when the last payment was and whether it was with a card or a check. They have no record of the bill being paid since February (my mother says it is the elusive bill that hasn't been able to be sent to Minnesota). I explain to Carol that it isn't the end of the world. We will just send the bill in today and at least they havn't turned off our water! "but, why is the bill so high?" "It's more than one bill," I say again, "Here, do you have a stamp. I'll run it to the post right now." "This is just HORRIBLE. Let's do this quick before Grandpa comes in and starts yelling at me about it." A few more times of explaining that it will be ok and why it's so high, and I'm out the door. I get back from the post office (they missed me from this morning) in about 15 minutes. "Why did you have to go to the bank again?" She asks. "I wasn't at the bank." "Oh, that's right, you were at Cynthia's."
I start to work on dinner of Chicken Helper which should be unremarkable except Carol turns off the oven while it's cooking. She explains, "I must have forgotten to turn it off after dinner." Once it's finally cooked, Grandpa doesn't think it's unremarkable and keeps praising my cooking. "The best chow mein I've ever had. I'm serious. You made this?" "I love you," I say, and can't remember having ever said that to him in my adult life. He laughs and says, "well, alright."

To sum up--

Daily sanity level of house: 5 (out of 10)--weirdly Grandpa raises the average today, even from me.

Erika's daily activity away from house: Movie

Daily lesson: Really make sure Carol is wearing her patch.