CB saves the day

CB, otherwise known as my cousin, Carla, (Carla Baby, thus called by Dad,) will be watching Mom four hours/week so Dad can have some time off. Exactly one week after Dad dismissed the Oxford-care lady he announced to me that Mom was making him completely and certifiably crazy. I said, "You don't say.....what a surprise." So, I suggested having Carla come. She will be paid, of course, but will not be as expensive as Oxford. He thought that was a good idea and gave me the go-ahead to ask her to come next Tuesday. She does substitute teach some, but if she gets called away she can always come a different day. Christine has been home a lot more lately after school and on weekends because she has so much homework she can't breathe. (And she takes her schoolwork very seriously.) I had planned to go down to Mom and Dad's this Saturday so she could go out after her homework was done, but she announced her homework wouldn't be done until midnight, so she'd be there. Through the daytime, though, she is attending classes and working, and Dad is left alone. I know that's pretty tough for him.

Dad is keeping very busy working with Tommy White to basically rebuilt the rock house at the VanSlyke place off D highway. He enjoys being with Tommy and they are really making progress. The house needs a complete and total overhaul. Dad made an agreement with Tommy that if he helped him fix the house, he could "rent" it for free for one year following. I had my doubts. Then I saw the house. Now I'm thinking Tommy is worth every bit of that....what a disaster! He's working like a wild-thing. They've had to re-plumb, put in new floor joists and floors, the tub was about to fall through to the crawl space----then there's the plaster and lathe (sp?) walls that need to be removed because of termites----wow! Anyway, it's quite the distraction from Mom, so I guess that's good, but Dad absolutely cannot work and bring Mom with him with the highway right in front of the house. Again, it's going to be great to have Carla down there so Dad and Tommy can do their thing. Thank you, CB!!!

Also, Mary Schroer and Liesel came down over Labor Day. They watched Mom a great deal while Dad and Tommy worked on the house and Liesel made a fantastic and quite nutrious vegetable pizza. That girl can cook! Thanks so much for coming down to help! That's really something when people spend their Labor Day weekend to drive down from Lincoln, NE and Kansas City, to help with Mom!! If I had my rubber stamp from school, I would stamp "Fantastic!" on both their foreheads.