Sunday, November 05, 2006

The Dependable One

Have I mentioned that my mom well... loves court trials. She's all about Judge Judy, Joe Brown, and the People's Court... yeah that's my mom. She also loves real crime murder mystery books... court tv is her favorite channel.

Have I mentioned that my mom's roof was leaking? No - well it was. Badly. D had tried to patch a few of the wholes apparently without success... so we knew Mom would have to get a new roof. My mom does not like to part with her money... ever. She's the queen of goodwill shopping, garage sales, and well any other bargain basement you can find. This does come in handy sometimes, but not when shopping for a new roof. She had multiple estimates as well as a few rude contractors that resulted in me having to call and give them a piece of my mind. Any contractors reading this blog - Never ever be rude to my mother where she calls me crying, because if you do I will be forced to call and complain and while my mom may be irrational on the phone I am not. Especially when jacked up on hormones. D also called to complain as well. Anything that makes my mom cry in a bad way makes D angry in a bad way. So not only did the contractors have to deal with me... they also had to deal with D. Granted I am much scarier on the phone than D is, but 2 angry potential customers is better to make the point.

Eventually we got a phone call from my mom saying that she had signed a contract and was getting the roof done. This week below are the phone conversations with my mom.

Thursday
Mom - *irate* S I have no TV... what am I going to do... the dish is out and I can't watch my court trials.
Me - uhmm did you call the dish company?
Mom - well it's because I have no roof right now...
Me - so what would you like me to do about it? Take a sleeping pill and go to work tomorrow.
Mom - I don't have to work tomorrow, I'm going to the doctor. Sadie's upset as well (Sadie is her psycho golden lab)
Me- give Sadie a sleeping pill too... you could always go to D's parents house
Mom - Really? They wouldn't mind?
Me - they have 3 tv's... seriously 3 tv's I'm sure you can take over one of them and they wouldn't notice.
Mom - No... (big sigh) I'll just stay here, they'll be done tomorrow.

Friday
Mom - The damn dish still isn't working...
Me - did you ask the roofing guys to help you fix this problem?
Mom - yes they came in and tried, but it still isn't working
Me - did you call the dish people?
Mom - yes and they were going to charge me $150 dollars... I told them that I had the service plan and they told me that only covered indoor issues.
Me - so are you going to pay the $150?
Mom - No... I told them they could come and get their damn dish and I'd go buy an antenna...
Me - so are they coming to get it?
Mom - no they are coming and fixing it for free tomorrow.
Me - so what are you going to do tonight? Do you want me to call D's parents
Mom - No I can read.

Saturday afternoon
Mom- those damn dish people still aren't here to fix it. They called and tried to tell me no one would be here till next week. I HAVE to watch my 48 hours mystery... and I already missed my court trials.
Me - so what are they going to do?
Mom - I called their manager and they are coming to fix it and will be there within an hour.
Me - why do I get all these phone calls?
Mom - Your brother couldn't fix the tv and he'd just drive me nuts... Your other brother Jackass well he would probably end up hurting himself to get out of helping me...
Me - glad to know I can be depended on even 3 hours away.
Mom - I love you... Have you called your sister and gotten the kids clothing sizes?
Me - I love you too... and I'll try to do that today.

Okay this is where the vent about my siblings comes up. I am the youngest of 4. I have a brother from my dad's first marriage, and a brother and a sister from my mom's first marriage. They are all older than me by 9-15 years. I am the only one that has ever received these phone calls. My one brother is a bit simple due to a previous head injury and while we all love him he drives you bonkers when attempting to do any home improvement project. He is constantly apologizing. His common sense is a bit screwy as well. My other brother Jackass - well he's a jackass because he has a son that he has abandoned in the same town that he lives in. Apparently he can't handle every other week visitation. Jackass will blame someone else for problems of his own making. Jackass also somehow manages to injure himself so if my mom does ask him to do anything he can't because he's sliced his hand, hurt his back, has a cold, etc. My sister - well her and my mom had a falling out about 6 years ago... and she holds a grudge. In spite of apologies, in spite of my dad's death - they have a civil relationship but it isn't warm and friendly and she doesn't call my mom all that often. Probably 1-2 times/year. This hurts my mom because my mom loves my sister and loves my sister's kids.

Ultimately my 3 siblings have left me as the one my mom can depend on... prior to that both my parents knew I was the one they could depend on. Who they could talk about their marriage difficulties, financial woes, joys or sorrows. That hasn't changed, but now instead of just me... my mom also has D. I'm thankful that D is able to help out as well because it makes the load a bit lighter.

1 comment:

Kristin, Rod, and Victoria said...

Tell your mom we feel her pain. We just paid a TON this summer to have the roof completely redone, then had to pay DishNetwork to come out and redo the dish. I tried to argue that nobody told us there was a cost when I called to schedule the appt (which is true), and the most I got was for them to knock off half the cost. Way to go, mom for getting them to do it for free!!!