Mother needs more practice puttering

Today was a production day for the weekly newspaper I work for. Production days are hard. Some harder than others. One of the things I enjoy about my job is flexibility. What is it about Monday & Tuesday that brings on personal crises? The days I really can't be flexible.

Today was a typical Monday with not one crisis, not 2, but 3! Mail at our house tends to get buried. Is it any wonder we're always living on the edge financially? I picked up a stack of towels on the arm of a chair & found a final notice of a final Qwest bill! What???? Of course, it couldn't be taken care of over the weekend. And I couldn't get online. So, this morning I clocked out & went out & sat in the car to call. Forty-five minutes later I returned to work.

The second crisis came at 4:17. Don-Mike called to tell me Mother was having an episode. He was on his way back to work. I called Luana & asked her to check on Mother. She suggested I call Dr. Beckstead & see what he said. I really enjoy having Mother's doctor right here in town. I called, talked to his nurse, she said she'd talk to Dr. B & call me back. She did. He didn't seem too concerned, but said to watch her. He was on call tonight at the hospital if we needed to come in.

I decided Mother was having caffeine withdrawal. Don called while I was talking to Luana. So, I called Don back & asked him to go get Mother some Mt. Dew. I also asked him to bring me a refill of ... you guessed it ... Mt. Dew. Don brought my refill & while he was there, Nick called, angry & frustrated. He hung up on Don. Don jumped right up & tore out of the office like he was being pursued. Next, I received a phone call from Nick, which was incoherent & he hung up on ME. So, I took off. I did have the presence of mind to grab my street glasses, bag, clock out & lock the door after me. It was after 6 & I was there alone.

Don, knowing Nick was working on a car, was afraid the car had fallen on him. I, not knowing what he was doing, thought maybe he, or one of the cats, was hurt & bleeding. He was okay. Just frustrated & jumped to the conclusion that his dad would take forever.

At 8 o'clock, I decided to call it a day. Besides I've promised Kelly (publisher) & Rod (editor) that I will not stay later than 8.

I went directly over to Mother's. Luana was there. Mother had red all over her shirt. That gave me a jump start. I thought it was blood! No, she'd missed her mouth when she was eating some red jello that Luana had brought her. That concerns me. She missed her mouth.

The washer was going. I had heard her say something about washing Levis when I was talking to Luana earlier in the afternoon. I thought we'd talked her out of doing the laundry. I didn't want her up when she was weak on one side. Luana had started the washer. I love having Mother right next door to Luana.

Tomorrow is another day. Dr. Beckstead wants to see Mother in the morning.