Saturday, March 15, 2008

a wee squish of the ol grape

It's Saturday and I'm home.
Been home for about 5 hours now.
Got the parentals to Dennys and got them fed and watered.
Took the Mom out shopping for new undies. Yep...my life is full. ;)
****Left the Dad to his own devices during that time.****
We got home to find him tinkering in the garage looking for a chisel. Uh-huh....a chisel. Now what does he want with that I thought to myself. So I asked him. His reply " I want to chisel something". " Like what", I ask. " Just something". Hummm, That doesn't sound good to me but whatever, I'll help him look. We look and look but can't find one. So what does it mean when we can't find what he's looking for? Someone took it. Uh-huh.....someone came into his garage and took it. Or, maybe Lovee borrowed it for something and forgot to put it back. Either way, it's someone elses fault that we can't find it. Never mind the fact that he's a certified pack-rat. Never mind the fact that he's got Dementia. I think he's got about 100 golf ball markers...in every location you can imagine. Same with tees and screws and nails and ...get this....Pot Pie tins! Yep, those little aluminum tins that Banquet Pot Pies used to come in. He saved them. He's got stacks of them. Some of them have 'other' treasures in them some are for 'later'. He's probably got 10 rolls of tape. All dry rotted. Anything that should have been thrown away ....it's in his garage. It's tidy though..... somewhat anyway. Stacked neatly on shelves he built eons ago. I think I counted 14 hammers...in various locations.
Mom is a throwawayer as am I. Dad's a saver as is Lovee. Interesting isn't it.
Just think. In about 30 years ( if we're so lucky) One of our urchins may be going through Lovee's garage and saying...."Ummmm Dad, how come you've got a bunch of used toilet parts and 23 hammers in this box?" He'll probably reply that he used to have 25 hammers but someone borrowed it and didn't give it back.

People are funny huh.

7 comments:

Jen said...

I think I mentioned this before - we are the same. I throw away and the husband keeps.

Too funny!

P.S. I love thunderstorm too!

Anonymous said...

I too am somewhat of a pack rat. Trouble is, some portion of my brain can clearly see exactly where I might need that one item that I have left over, and therefore must keep it until that occasion comes up. Then, some other portion of my brain seems to hide the location of that item until such time as I finally decide I need to clean up. Then the previous brain area argues like hell about how valuable it is and won't you be sorry if you need to go out an buy a new one when you have a perfectly good one here right now. As of the last cleanup, the smarter half of my brain has won, but the other parts are busy hatching plans to keep lots of stuff in the near future. We'll see how that battle plays out!

Take Care,
FMD

BTW, my tool of choice is screwdrivers. I have something like 50 floating around amongst various toolboxes and drawers throughout the house

CheekyMonkey said...

I have an extreme fear of becoming a pack rat... so I try to throw things out on a regular basis. And when I catch myself thinking about saving something ridiculous, I say, Tlee, are you really going to wear that tank top you've saved since high school? Really?

And then I toss it, even though it looks GREAT on me still. :) De-Ni-Al.

Allison Horner said...

Hubby & I are trying very hard to not be packrats. I am probably worse than he is, but I am recovering!!

But 25 hammers? Pot pie tins??? wow!

:)

Diane J Standiford said...

You keep your sense of humor during this time of caring for your parents---it will make it all doable.

Anonymous said...

Well pot pie tins work exceptionally well at keeping birds out of places you don't want them. i.e. gardens, covered porches, etc. And they are good for holding loose screws and nails. Not too deep so you can sift through easily to find the kind you want. Very useful indeed. As a fellow packrat I can relate to his thinking. :)

tt said...

Jen: yep..lots of alikenesses..:)

Fu: Ha, your brain is a lot like mine! I have so many compartments in mine I get lost sometimes..ha ha thanks for the chuckle!

Monkey: I hear ya sister! Denial is a huge word isn't it?

Alli: Watch out...Pups could have gotten the packrat-gene. It may be laying dormant. ha ha

Diane: a sense of humor is sometimes the ONLY thing that gets me through the day. I'm think I got that 'gene' from the Dad. He's pretty funny at times.

13: Who knew???? I never would have pegged you for a P.R.!! You cracked me up..xo