95 years young but do you really need all that stuff?

8-12-14

Left you guys with my arrival at SLC! First stop, Avis, for anyone travelling to the area be aware that they charge an extra hundred bucks at the airport rental location, this is in the form of "facilities charges" so my $200 car rental is now $300+ and my 6' husband is in a Ford Focus... Also, when they say turn left and go to the blue one they really mean turn right and go to the white one!

Luckily for us my Priceline Express Deal has us in a top notch Quality Inn just a few miles away so things are looking up! Well rested and one awesome complimentary breakfast later (make your own waffles, Joe was in heaven, I had a banana) we begin the 45 minute trek to the house. 

Our birthday gift is cleaning help for a year but we aren't expecting it to be accepted graciously! Can't imagine how hard it would be to admit to needing help to do things you've always done yourself and Mom has always been pretty vocal about cherishing her independence. We arrive to find four women in process of scouring kitchen, bathrooms and floors. Details are worked out, much easier than anticipated and first point goes to Joe and I! 

We now have today and Friday to get this party planned before the second wave arrives. First order of business, check out the fridge. Scientific experiments abound! Note to selves, at 95 and 93 we no longer need the jumbo size of anything and since chances are that our memories won't be what they used to, have someone else check expiration dates monthly! Items dating back to 2007 (that was not a typo) are removed and off to the grocery store we go! I have spared you the process of getting the grocery list made, you can thank me now!

Not quite this bad but you get the idea

Creating a menu for the nine of us, with various individual requirements was no easy feat but this chef figured it out! High point of trip for me, cooking for the masses! I even did fruit salad for the 20 plus combined family members for birthday party Saturday and pasta salad for the "light Sunday dinner" get together. Sadly, I forgot to take pictures of those gorgeous salads! Happily, I converted about 20 people to loving mangoes! 

On the plus side, all the grown men took over the bottle washing after meals, it was a win win for me! They had never read my blog so were totally unprepared for the chaos after hurricane Judi hits the kitchen!! Luckily for them the dishwasher was broken so we were using paper plates and blue solo cups (no beer, Mormon house)!

Saturday is birthday party day, plenty of remember whens and can't believe how great you looks, stories of this and that, followed by an excellent meal and terrific cake! Fairly confident that Mom and Dad had tons of fun and were pleased that so many of the siblings were in attendance! Truly a wonderful day and thanks go out to many! 

Party Balloons!

Sunday morning, huge breakfast and all the brothers gather round the table to spend time with Mom and each other. Kudos to each and every one of you. Of course, this gave Mom the perfect excuse to blow off sorting and avoid the task of eliminating unnecessary items... Well played on her part! She even played the "in our house, we don't work on Sunday" card! Point to Mom.

Monday, Monday. Back to the real world. Please note that I have received an email over the weekend that says that my Mega Millions ticket has won $5. We all know what that means.

Remember the sick baby B that had to be picked up from the sitter and the cat who decided to be sick after all? 

 Rash = Miserable Boy

The dreaded vet!

One needs cuddles (and grandma isn't there) and the other needs antibiotics and special food at not quite $2 a can, and btw, feed it to the girl as well, just in case...

Thanks M, your kindness was noted and appreciated!

Figure the best thing to do to take my mind off B and the cat is to get the sorting started before all the brothers have to leave. What actually happens: lots of stories around the dining room table, eating breakfast, a trip to a sports store, black bean and corn dip with doritos, sitting on the back porch, more stories, a chicken lasagna dinner and everyone heads off to bed early so they can leave in the morning. Think that was match to Mom.

Deer from the back porch

Last day of the trip, everyone takes off by 9 am. I fix breakfast and the work begins. We need to head to the airport around 8 pm. Leftovers for lunch and dinner save some time. Curtain rods are hung, laundry is finished, (thanks to D for getting it started the night before), furniture is cataloged, stories are turned into videos, and a small section of my list is accomplished. Very small.

Joe and I make one heck of a team. The name of the game is distract so we take turns being the distraction! Meanwhile, the stove top gets completely taken apart and scrubbed, rest of fridge is emptied out and all the plastic scoops are history. Sadly, the blue envelopes are still stacked up on the box downstairs and the catalogs and magazines still live under the coffee table. Next visit.

We manage to get our stuff gathered and car packed up so we can make the trek back to Salt Lake City to begin the dreaded overnight flight home. Teary but quick goodbye (for Joe's sake) and we are on the road, thanks to D we have lots of conversation for the ride!

The overnight ride is fairly uneventful and at 10:15 am we are home again, home again, jiggety jig!

Final thoughts? Just a few:

1. I will downsize now! 

2. Yard sale my house!

3. Seriously considering cancelling the lottery subscription...