I'm taking time today to catch up with all the little things that needed doing, and yes, that includes a quick blog post to let you know that I haven't actually vanished.
We've been very busy this week, emptying Mum's bungalow and sorting through some of the paperwork ... there is a LOT!! Getting one kitchen design and quote, organising an appointment for this coming week to have another design and quote done. Getting three independent valuations on the bungalow in case we need to sell it in order to continue funding Mum's care home costs. It's all go and involves lots of things that are new to me, Alan and my brother.
Now that the LPA is in place we are notifying all the organisations that need notifying so that my brother can take up the reins of all Mum's financial matters ... he works for the Inland Revenue so he's the finance guy. While me and Alan concentrate on the physical side of getting the bungalow ready for sale ... we've moved home and bought and sold so many times, so we are the property people.
Somehow we are managing to muddle through and get things done. We have been up and down the motorway so many times that we are sure that the car could actually take us there all by itself. Mavis now knows what to expect when we tell her we are going to 'Grannies Old House' or 'Grannies New House' and as long as she gets a chew on arrival she is happy to go to either.
With my brain ticking over on so many fronts it's not surprising that I have made a few little mistakes over the course of the last week. The funniest of which was when I was chatting to my son on the phone while I was making my breakfast the other day. I reached into the cupboard to grab a tin of peaches to go on top of my yoghurt and accidently picked up and opened a tin of beans.
It was only when I dipped into the tin with my fingers to pull out a peach slice that I realised the mistake. It gave my son a laugh as I said yuk and had to explain what I had done. 😄
Oh well, the beans were used for two lunches, so nothing was wasted.
Sue xx
Beans and yogurt....hmm, no thanks ;-) I understand how you feel about your brain ticking over with so many things. I've likened my brain in the past to a bowl full of post-it notes with jobs and things to remember....but each time I add another note or reach in to take one out, it causes the bowl to overflow and some of the notes fall out, unnoticed and never to be seen again! I think you're all doing really well under difficult circumstances. I hope you take time out to chill and do something nice for yourself now and then. xx
ReplyDeleteWe went for a walk on the prom at Morecambe again yesterday and had breakfast while we were out, so that made for a brain clearing morning which was very much needed.
DeleteAll the extra newness really hammers the brain...
ReplyDeleteDefinitely, the legal side is the worse. Mum's filing systems were brilliant until about 3 years ago. Then she started saving the leaflets and throwing away the important documents that came with them.
DeleteYou are coping incredibly well, I think, in a very stressful situation. Little wonder that you got the tins mixed up! I don't know how you fit everything into each day.
ReplyDeleteAngie x
Thank you, we're doing our best. Neither do I sometimes, my load has eased now that I've finished my final contract, but Alan still has one big one going on.
DeleteI can remember trying to get everything processed for Dad's place when he passed away. My sis was the money person and I tried to take care of everything else. My brain was mush by the end of the second week.
ReplyDeleteGod bless.
In a way it's good that we can do all this now, how you managed to do all this through a fog of grief I have no idea. 😔
Deletelol - having too much on the brain creates that sort of muddle. I hope everything works out for you soon and things can settle down to your normal again. xx
ReplyDeleteIt gave us all a laugh, which was very needed.
DeleteThe budget ranges from all the supermarkets have alarmingly similar labels, I've made mistakes like that too. We must get our own LPAs sorted., while we are both relatively fit and still "with it".
ReplyDeleteThe labels, as you can see in the photo are virtually identical ... even the foods on the picture are both orange. What with chatting on the phone and not concentrating I didn't stand a chance. 😄
DeleteSounds like you have a lot going on. It's a good thing you didn't just pour out some of the contents in the first tin into your yogurt!
ReplyDeleteIt really is isn't it. 😄
DeleteMy late MIL worked in a local shop in the 70s which had a fire. The insurance assessors condemned everything but thrifty MIL brought as much home as she could, washed and checked all the tins were intact and we enjoyed guess what’s in the tins for many months! She couldn’t abide waste in any form and I still do some of the things she did 50 years later. Glad you are getting on with your Mum’s house clearance. I cleared Mum’s when she went into a care home to get it ready for sale. My daughter’s FIL wanted to send his men round to paint it all to freshen it up but the estate agent said not to bother. We deep cleaned it and the young people who moved in the gutted it themselves as the agent had predicted. It’s 25 years now and I don’t know how I managed whilst working full time. Catriona
ReplyDeleteClever, thrifty Mum-in-Law. You can't beat a mystery tin. :-)
DeleteIn our case all three agents recommended that we completely renovate for the best price and the quickest sale. As Mum's bungalow is in a retirement complex and thus only available for the over 60s to buy, they all said that ready to move into was the way forward. We thought as much, and as Mum is quite poorly and may not last long enough to need the funds from the sale, this would mean that the bungalow would be modern enough for my brother to be able to move into.
Sometimes I wonder how we get it all done, but somehow we do ... even if we occasionally meet ourselves coming back.
You all are doing a lot and getting it done during your mother's lifetime so you don't have funeral and grieving on top of it all and you have each other for emotional support--very smart because doing it all after death can be harder, especially if the family is not going about things as a unit. That has been my experience, unfortunately. Good luck and best to you.
ReplyDeleteThere is nothing worse than having to do all this sorting and organising after a death and with family rifts. Sadly, we had exactly that situation when we lost Alan's Mum. 😔
DeleteWith you, Alan and your Brother it sounds like you have the all the bases covered. I hope everything goes really well with the renovations and a quick sale🙏
ReplyDeleteHopefully we will get everything done in a reasonable time frame, it's good that we are mostly working together quite well.
DeleteIt wasn't that long ago since I had to deal with all of that, it's such a worry when life's already stressful with an ailing parents. Thank goodness you've all got skills you can call on.
ReplyDeleteTinned peaches remind me of the awful school dinners I had in the 1970s, I think I'd refer baked beans with yoghurt! xxx
We're coping just about. These particular tinned peaches are lovely, funnily enough I don't like actual peaches at all 😬
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