Get Some Help!

Rule Number One for Cranky Caregivers: WHEN SOMEBODY OFFERS HELP, TAKE IT.

I spent too long on my old mantra: "I can handle it," instead of looking for help and accepting it. Now I have a VA-paid home healthcare aid giving Betty showers three times a week and Kim K. driving Betty to the senior daycare center three times a week. And, when Betty is well enough, she can spend all day at the senior daycare center on those days. In reality, her health is shaky, and she misses lots of her daycare days, but at least it's cause for hope...

That doesn't solve the problem of kids to pick up at endless afterschool activities, my wonderful husband who can't put food away (yeah, there's a story behind this), four people here suffering from the flu, and one of our cats who is peeing on throw pillows, but it helps.

My husband's problem: Being a typical guy, he does half a task, then is distracted by some bright shiny object (SQUIRREL!) and forget the rest. So a couple of nights ago, when I was lying in bed wishing for flu death, he ordered KFC for dinner. Yes, an heroic gesture.

But the next morning, when I got up, still feeling like crap, to get kids off to school, there was a sink full of dirty dishes which hadn't been rinsed, bags of uneated side dishes and chicken sitting out on the counter, and total mess everywhere. My 14-year-old daughter avoided death by explaining that she was the one who filled the dishwasher and ran it, though she didn't think to rinse the dishes that wouldn't fit. My husband first claimed to have put the food away (yes, he did put some of it in the refrigerator), but was SHOCKED to see that there were TONS OF IT still out. He tried to blame 14-year-old for this oversight, but wisely stopped mid-sentence and slunk upstairs.

When he came home for lunch (leftover KFC), he helped clean up the diarrhea his mother left on her bedroom floor, and made her bed again (I had already done three loads of laundry that morning). Yes, another heroic gesture. But guess what I discovered when I got up a few hours later and went into the kitchen? HE LEFT THE FOOD OUT AGAIN.