Fun and Frolic With Long-Term Love

I ordered my wedding ring today, and PunkRock's tie arrived. It is so much brighter than the swatch. Very excited about how awesomesauce it looks!

PunkRock and I went to a concert last night - Camper van Beethoven & Cracker. It was great music and a great experience. We had a real reconnection. Gosh, I love this guy!

I think DarkKnight and I are going to go play pool together tonight, but as I'm out eating dinner alone at Subway, at the moment, I won't know for sure until I get home. I hosted a board game club this afternoon and had 14 kids playing two different games of Zombicide. Then half the kids went home and the other half stayed for a spaghetti dinner, and I just dropped them off at the local movie theater. Tonight is Snuggie Night - so by wearing a Snuggie, they all got in free. Love these kids - got a cute pic of them all bundled up! There is nothing playing that I wanted to see, so I just dropped the kids and off they went.
 
I went to Hobby Lobby today and spent some time mooning over their flowers again. They aren't on sale this week, and the batch I put together was almost $100, so I decided against purchasing any. I asked the cashier, and she said 50% off will probably be next week. We'll see. I tried two different combinations, and my youngest daughter agrees that the option without the white flowers is the best. I took a picture of every stem, so when I go back, I'll know what I need to purchase.

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The second picture is the exact same bouquet, minus the white, and at a different angle. I'd wrap them tighter, of course, and do better at arranging. This is just them held together in a group at the store. Now that I am looking at them again, I think I need a couple of tiny spots of the teal green to bump it out a bit more. There are dark purple feathers, but I don't think you can really see them in either of the pictures. Sigh. I am not a photographer! :)

Oh! And look at PunkRock's tie! Isn't it spiffy? It is seriously MUCH brighter in person, and much more green. The blue in the flowers looks flat here, but trust me, they matched really well.
 
Well, I sent that last post too early, but whatevs. Here's another. :)

I did end up buying some more beads and cord at Hobby Lobby while I was there. I am very excited to make jewelry with my friend tomorrow. DarkKnight ended up not playing pool last night, but instead we went to several places, one of which was the used bookstore in town. We spent an hour just browsing, and I found a book about making jewelry, so I bought it and read it. I wish tomorrow was here already!

I haven't had sex in 3 days and I am starting to get testy. I had to get up early today and run errands and it really, really sucked not being able to hook up with PunkRock. Maybe later this afternoon when he returns home from work!

Tonight my guys and I are going to focus on getting the house ready for inspection next week. Vacuum behind the fridge, washer/dryer - hang new blinds in my bedroom windows, stupid stuff like that. The rental service comes once a year to make sure we're not letting it go to shit. Every year they tell me we're awesome. Gotta keep up the good rep. :)

We received my daughter's life insurance payout, so DarkKnight will be depositing that today. It was supposed to be put toward college (it's only $1000) but we're letting her use it to prepare for her trip to Nepal. So once it clears, I'll take her to get her passport, and start with the required shots. I am so happy for her to have this opportunity, but she has a lot of fundraising to do. This money will only pay for the shots, passport and the application fee. We have to save/raise $1300 for the plane ticket and then the cost of whatever the volunteer organization is going to charge us for room and board. Flat rate for that is $900 for a month, but it should be less for us because we know the director and my daughter will be staying with her. So we are still waiting on a number. The volunteer fee will be due in September, but we'll get the plane ticket in July, prolly. So time is moving forward and we need to get our ducks in a row so there are no surprises!
 
Had a great day/night yesterday. My friend came over and we made jewelry. I think it turned out well.

I made this fluorite bracelet - loved the color and the size of the beads!

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These are going to be my earrings - a mosaic abalone shell - basically I just had to add the hooks and a small jump ring.

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I have about a million other ideas and I spent way too much on beads and supplies, but I think I am going to enjoy working on this stuff.

In the evening, another friend came over and played Zombicide with PunkRock and I. We died miserably, but it was a good time. She's the chick I met at the play parties a year ago. We are pretty good friends but she shared some unethical things she had done recently with partners and it made me sad and a little uncomfortable. I understand why she has made the choices she did, but it made me feel unhappy for her.

Today I am actually on my way to NY unexpectedly. My dad is at the hospital - in ICU. My mom says he is fine but everyone else is giving mixed messages, so I decided I would drive up. I'm my dad's health care proxy and I am not confident that anyone will follow his wishes but me. His living will is several years out of date, so I also want to come up and get it updated. So, that's what I am doing. His lungs aren't getting rid of the CO2 anymore and when they decrease the oxygen to balance it out, he is very confused and out of it. Then they increase it and he does better until it builds up again. He was on a bypass machine but he wanted off of it, so he's now not doing that.
 
With regards to the jewelry: Beautiful! MrS, Dude, and I went to the gem show in Tucson a year or two ago. Flourite was the theme - love it!

Sorry about your dad's health.:(
 
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Do the doctors have any idea why your dad's lungs are having this struggle to filter out the carbon dioxide?
 
Because he's a lifelong smoker, has lung cancer and emphysema and has been on oxygen for years. He's continued to smoke while on oxygen and has caught his face on fire twice. His CO2 levels have been really bad the last few years but the deterioration has been rather rapid the last year.

I'm going to go to the hospital tomorow. I just got to my mom's at 9 pm.
 
Oh man, he hasn't taken very good care of his lungs (or face for that matter!). Jeezh that's a tough situation. I hope you can get through it okay.
 
Thanks. We'll see! Upon talking with my mom tonight, none of their life insurance paperwork is in one place. I am going to help her update her own living will & proxy forms, and track down all the information so it's gathered in a single file folder, when it is finally needed. As adamant as she was that I shouldn't come up here, she seems happy to have me help her with everything. I think they are going to upgrade my dad tomorrow - if he has a good night - to a regular room and out of ICU, so that's a positive thig.
 
Ok, I've got my mom and my dad's health care proxy and living wills completed - they've signed but we need the witnesses, which we will do tonight when people are here. There were no surprises.

I worked with my mom this morning to make a master list of all of their combined life insurance. What a woefully short list it was! My dad prepaid $1000 13 years ago to a local funeral home, but they have zero paperwork on it - just a copy of the cashiers check. So I have to follow up on that. He also has a $2000 whole life policy that he isn't 100% vested in until June 2015. That's it. Yeah. My mom said he has been going on spending sprees with the credit cards and isn't making payments so she has started to do it but is frustrated. She said she isn't paying any of it if he dies. I am not sure about them transferring to her - does NY consider her liable since they are married? This is stuff I need to find out while I am here so she will be prepared.

My mom has a $5000 term policy with me as the beneficiary so I can pay for her cremation. I hope that is enough to cover it. I will ask the funeral home this when I call about my dad's payment. She also has a $1000 policy payable to my brother, because apparently he deserves it. I have zero belief he would kick any of that over to cover her final expenses.

So that's it. My brother gets $1000, I get $5000 and all the debts and my sister gets nothing. She is going to hit the roof when I explain this to her. I am just resigned that this is our life. My parents consider me the responsible one to handle all logistics and my brother is the favorite and my sister, the afterthought.

FML
 
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Sounds like a dramafest waiting to happen. :eek:
 
Well, I was able to squeeze in lunch with my brother and I explained the situation. He was very nonchalant about everything. I wish I had that luxury. The news for him though was that the policy earmarked for him is accidental death only, so he may end up with zilch anyway.

He signed to witness my parents' living wills after I explained them. He was on his way to find out if his baby is a boy or a girl, so his mind is elsewhere. I will see him around 4:30 for my mom's birthday cake. Now I am off to go pick up my one nephew and niece and bring them back to my mom's for the cake as well. I am not sure when I will be able to get alone time with my sister. Hopefully we can find a chunk to talk today.
 
Well, the funeral home called and they have no record of my dad ever paying them anything. I 100% believe them. It is completely my dad's MO to tell my mom he spent money someplace and then didn't really. So I wasted an hour on the phone and in person with the funeral director trying to sort it out. Tomorrow I get to go to the bank and try to trace the money order and see where it went. Bullshit.

My sister was upset about the insurance situation but she took it well. I feel so bad that our parents are so...ugh. However, the bulk of this is falling on me and she is kinda also a jerkface so I really am on my own. I love my parents but the amount of emotional havoc they have caused in our lives as children and continuing into adulthood is so unbelievable. I am just ready to be done. Can this please be over?

I am so glad I started sorting this out now rather than later though. I need a good cry and one of my guys to just hold me. Hopefully I can go home on Thursday and get both of those.
 
That's a lot of hassles. Your parents were always like this?
 
Worse.
 
Hugs for you and your dad, BB. Hoping things are going OK, and I'm glad the potential drama didn't end up being what it could have been.

Colors (and jewelry) are beautiful. :) I'm looking forward to more posts and glad you and PunkRock are enjoying the process and planning. I keep thinking of you when I play MTG with Chops and my daughter, FWIW. Chops is really getting into deckbuilding, and my daughter is starting to do the same. I'm doomed! :D
 
I don't play MTG. :) I'll host it, but it's the one game that PunkRock abhors. It's a money-maker and guarantees a cash flow for game stores, but he apparently is soured on most of the players that frequent his store. So that irritation has shifted to the game itself. *shrugs* I know that the teens I host, that play it, love it.

Today I've got a sizable to-do list. My daughter spent the night at her cousins' house and she should be back here (at my mom's) before 7 am. So, soon. I'm going to take her to the library today because she can't get a wifi connection here. She needs to work on her Univ. of Maryland "Understanding Terrorism" class. While there, I need to make multiple copies of the health care proxy/living wills. Since I also can't get on wifi with my laptop (my dad can't remember his router password) I need to research wills in NY and hopefully locate some blank templates to print out. Neither of my parents have one.

First on my list though, is to go to the bank and research this money order, if possible. I hope they can tell me who signed it and cashed it, but at the very least, was it ever cashed?

I have two phone calls to make, to two different life insurance companies, to request documentation to be sent to my parents' house. My third phone call is to my dad's Pulmonologist, to confirm his next appointment.

There's a young man that DarkKnight and I used to do respite care for, who lives here in town, and I am going to try and meet up with him for lunch. I haven't seen him in 4 years and I think he could use some advice and guidance.

At the hospital, my dad is meeting with the physical therapists at 8 am. I know the doctors do their rounds at 10 am, so we will head over there, hopefully in time to meet with the doctor and find out when my dad will be released. I honestly don't want to stay at this apartment when my dad is home, so I am hoping it isn't today. If he comes home today, I'll probably shift to a hotel tonight and head back to NY tomorrow if we get everything done today.

I spent some time last night working on more bracelets for the wedding. I can't seem to tie them tight enough - when they stretch, everything scatters. I watched some YouTube videos and I honestly can't see where my problem is. It's frustrating.

Yesterday, both DarkKnight and PunkRock sent me pics of their smiling faces. Separately - DarkKnight in the morning, PunkRock in the evening. At both times it made my heart soar and improved my mood. They also talked to me on the phone a couple of times and listened to me vent. I am so very lucky!
 
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