Don't EVER Do THIS and Meet Mr. Denny and Chuck

What a MESS!  I have NEVER done this before, and I hope I never do it again.  Even my magic rags wouldn't touch this one.  I take pride in being able to clean up ANY mess, but this one is UNcleanupable!

I was putting a piece of new fabric in the washer, as I always do, to preshrink it and get out any toxic chemicals that may kill me.  And, as always, I had my pile of magic rags on the dryer that had dried since yesterday.  Since the washer and dryer are right NEXT to each other, I just put my hand on the far side of the magic rag mountain and BRUSHED it over the space between the two machines into the washing machine.  If you do this just right, not one rag falls into the open chasm.  What I didn't realize, however, is that a brand new bottle of bright hot pink nail polish was UNDER the magic rag mountain.  I had taken it out of my purse when I noticed I had brought it from the other house and just put it there for "later". 

I'm sure you figured out what happened.  The bottle of nail polish fell swiftly down the cliff and smashed in a million pieces on the rock-hard tile below splashing nail polish up the side of the washer and the dryer and spreading it into giant shards under, backward, forward, up and out.  It looked like the hat on the Statue of Liberty!  I should have taken a picture, but I knew I had to HURRY and do something or this stuff would be there eternally.  When Jerry sees it, he is going to have a fit.  He will pull the washer and dryer completely out and go get a power washer or an electric sander and finish the very poor clean-up job that I did with a roll of paper towels and a bottle of extra strength polish remover.

And guess what pants I had on?????  My brand new white jeans.  I noticed right away that it was a REAL bad idea to clean up the mess in those, so I stepped out in the hall and stripped.  I then continued to clean up the mess, getting the polish only on the bottom of one flip/flop and half way up one hand.

I was going to put that polish on my toenails today!

After that, I was on the phone at least five times with Countrywood staff regarding Mom.  The place is falling apart.  Three managers in the last year.  Nobody ever knows anything.  Their favorite answer to any question is, "I don't know."  I decided to find out who the BOSS was today.  His title is Regional Director, and he is in Denton, TX.  Mom is in Kingfisher, OK.  That could explain part of it.  Anyway, his name is James Denny.  I called and left a long message about the absurd conditions there, and asked him to call me.

A little while later, James called me.  He was the meekest man I have ever spoken to.  I'm not real sure he wasn't actually one of the Alzheimer's residents PRETENDING to be the boss.

I started my spiel to the meek Mr. Denny:   (This is all me talking in "red".)

We are NOT getting what we are paying for at Countrywood!  The contract we signed states Mom will be transported anywhere she needs to go.  However, whenever she has a doctor appointment, we are told there is NO CAR and NOBODY TO TAKE HER.

She had an appointment to have a Cat Scan this Wednesday, and Jerry personally spoke to Amy -- the Manager -- about it.  Amy told Jerry she would make sure Mom got there, and said they had transportation and someone to take her. 

When I called Amy this morning to find out how the appointment went, Amy told me she didn't know anything about it.

I asked Amy if the drug the doctor had discontinued per our request had been stopped.  She didn't know anything about that either.

She said she would find out and call me back.  She never did.

I called back an hour later and spoke with the meds nurse.  She distinctly remembered the whole ordeal because she kept REMINDING Amy that Mom needed to go to the hospital for the Cat Scan.  Amy was out on an errand, so I requested her cell phone number.  I called Amy.  Amy decided to give me several excuses.  The first one was they didn't have a car.  The second one was nobody could use their own car for insurance purposes.  The third one was that Mom didn't want to go. 

Everyone at Countrywood KNOWS they are to call me whenever there is a problem with Mom.  They didn't call me -- they didn't call Jerry -- and they didn't call Betty Jane who is just a few blocks away.

AND, the place has dead crickets everywhere, and I had to clean out all the cupboards and drawers in Mom's old room because of the mouse droppings, and ...........

Poor Mr. Denny could not keep up.  He said, "Could you please just tell me ONE thing at a time because I need to take notes?"

I then verrrry sloooooowly repeated all of the above AGAIN.  He went over his notes with me.  Then he said he was going to call Amy, and he would call me back.

Later, Mr. Denny did indeed call me back.  He wanted me to know that he had talked to Amy.  He told me all the same lame excuses Amy had given me.  Then he told me his big SOLUTION.  He asked Amy to make ANOTHER appointment, and they would take her to it.

I said, "And WHAT are they going to take her IN, a covered wagon!?"

He said, "Oh, no, someone will use their car."

I informed him that Amy said no employee would use their car for insurance purposes.

He said that Countrywood was going to get a brand new van EVENTUALLY.  That certainly was reassuring.

I finally gave up discussing that, assuming I would just go and take Mom to the hospital for the Cat Scan myself next week.

Then I asked him about the Memory Unit and whether or not it is going to be closed.  Remember, we weren't sure if we should put Mom back there because Amy told us they were closing it down?  It was closing in either two weeks or later than two weeks or never.  She didn't know that either!

Mr. Denny's response to that question was, "It takes 8 months to get something done AFTER we put in the request for it."

I then asked if the request was put in LAST WEEK or 8 MONTH AGO.

His response was classic.

"Well, I don't know because I just started this job a month ago."

I think I laughed out loud and said, "OF COURSE, you did!"

So around and around the world continues to spin while constantly throwing crazy people into my path!

I guess that is enough for today, although I could go on.  No, I HAVE to tell you one more crazy person thing that happened today.

You KNOW about my kitchen in Kingston -- where I really live -- and how it has no plumbing, or counters or sink because of the leak in the wall way back in April.  Accent Marble sent some guys out to measure yesterday for the FOURTH time, and they sent Chuck out again today to measure for the FIFTH time!  I must have a really strange kitchen configuration.

Jerry called me after Chuck left this morning to tell me they were coming to put everything back next Monday or Tuesday.  Well, right away, I was suspicious.  If I've learned ANYTHING, it is that you can't trust what the measuring guys tell you.

So I decided to send a text message to Accent Marble telling them to PLEASE call me before coming to my house so I could BE THERE.  No response.

I then called down there and Chuck answered the phone -- the same guy who was at the house measuring just this morning.  Chuck told me, "YES, we will definitely be out there Monday OR Tuesday of next week." 

I ALMOST got excited after that phone call, but then I realized that it would be wasted emotion, and I had dealt with enough emotion with Countrywood already today.  I just kind of let the thought roll around in the back recesses of my mind somewhere that MAYBE I would be going home to a completed kitchen real soon.  I even packed up all my jewelry paraphernalia just in case. 

I was in the kitchen later fixing my supper, and my cell phone rang.  I assumed it would be Countrywood, but it wasn't.  It was Chuck!  He identified himself, and for one brief shining moment I thought he MUST be calling to confirm that he really was bringing my kitchen back to me. 

NOPE!  Another delay.  It seems Chuck has to have some dreadful procedure done next week that is very embarrassing, and he can't tell me what it is.  I told him I totally understood.  After all, I am a WOMAN, and I have had every part of me probed by some doctor.  He laughed.  

I asked him if he could PLEASE give me a date -- any date -- this century or the next -- I didn't care -- I just WANT A DATE!!!  He asked me if Sept. 17th would be okay.  I said, "Yes!"  

So, if Chuck doesn't have some unforeseen disaster happen to him by whatever procedure he is having that he can't tell me about, I guess I will get my kitchen back together on Sept. 17th.

And that is all for today, THANK GOODNESS!!!  Tomorrow, I am going to help Margaret get shelf paper in all the cabinets and drawers in her new house.  She moved today.  I know she must be exhausted right now, or I would call.  She will call me if she catches her breath long enough.  HINT HINT

Hugs, Joy