Yes, in the absence of actually saying to sil, "Go pound sand!" losing the phone will do.

This is going to be a possible legal sticky wickets too if something happens, and it gets reported. It will be basically, "We lied to the medical staff and the hospital social worker." In my state, that could mean charges are brought against whomever did the lying/spear heading of getting her released under false pretenses. I agree...very, real trouble ahead for more than just mil whom my heart breaks for. Most people do not beg to stay in the hospital, so her not wanting to be released and reiterating this multiple times is a major indication of fear and the neglect she is facing. This makes me angry and sad all at once.

I have words about sil, and none of them are fit for print.

My plan is leaning more toward informational reading than recreational. I have subscribed to Mother Earth News, and have a small stack of gardening, agricultural, and sustainable/green food production books to wade through. Our writer in the family has a new book coming out in 2023 so I will hit that, and it is a factual history title so I am sure I will be learning new things, plus he is putting out a genealogy, family history book that I will definitely be reading as well as some poetry. I have a book by Scott Kelly that we have had for four years, and I still have not read so it is on my list to actually tackle. Mark wants me to read it aloud for him, something he loves to have me do on road trips, so I told him to get the road trip planned that will be long enough to complete the book on vacation. I don't want to be in the middle of it, get home, and then not get back to it which is a real possibility because we have so many projects to work on in the evenings and on weekends in the coming year as well as a commitment to several kayak trips, and to do more sailing. If my voice held out for four - six hours of reading per day, I could probably get the book done in a trip to Colorado and back to see his aunt and cousins. Otherwise, it is waiting to 2024. We have a Michigan university that has brought us on board to mentor their new rocketry program, and we are taking them through HPR Level 1 licensing this year and Student Launch for now. In 2023/24 , they are going to compete in IREC, and we will be road tripping to White Sands, NM. 29 hours of driving each way, and since it is a college team of adults, we have no chaperone duties so we can drive alone. Pretty sure if Mark does the driving, I can complete that autobiography on the way out there!

Thursday: Nothing for breakfast. I was out early getting one of the grandmother's to the hospital lab at 6 am, and then ran errands for her. Lunch: 1 large pinto and black bean taco in a GF wrap with red pepper, dehydrated cherry tomatoes, and some guacamole. Dinner: wild rice, green beans, salad, and grilled portabella sandwich on GF bun Ate a few sunflower seeds mid-day.

Wednesday: Boiled egg before I left the house. Took the elderly mothers on an excursion since I have been so busy with Christmas prep and making gifts that I have not spent any tike with them. They chose Taco Bell for lunch. Sigh. Ugh. Bought two sides of pinto beans and a side of tortilla chips to eat with them. Supper - I made gf pasta shells with diced, steamed broccoli tossed with butter and garlic, roasted green beans, and stuffed portabella mushrooms. Dh had a small piece of pork with his, but I chose to remain meatless. I am trying to do that more often.

I use self checkout as much as possible. I am not a person who enjoys shopping or wants to be chatty, and it is easier to socially distance than standing in line with scars of people and their carts. The only place where I shop that I will have a lot of items is at the Mennonite bulk food store. They usually have five lanes open and their cashiers are efficient so I get out of there quickly. I know when the low times are to shop which allows me to get in and out with $200 of groceries in 30-40 minutes. They also do not mind that I bag my own groceries. The other places really do not train their cashiers well when it cokes to bagging so they will pipe canned goods on top of a loaf of bread or mushrooms, etc. We recently got an Aldi. I have not tried it yet because it has been a madhouse with lines of people outside waiting to get in. I can't handle that.

Right. And doing things that the OP should not be doing just prolongs the time it takes for the family to reach better conclusions about the situation. Also, liability is a thing, and especially in a state where elder neglect can be prosecuted. Sometimes you have to step away so when the house of cards comes crashing down, your head is not on the community chopping block!

Not at all. You have very valid reasons for stepping back BECAUSE they refuse to do what is prudent and vitally necessary. The issue with my brother is he literally did not give a fig about my well being or theirs. Absolutely nothing. And on top of that, these are not your parents either! My brother actually said to my face that he did not care what happened to me kids. "They aren't my own kids so why should I care if they suffer" was the exact quote. Then when one of his adult kids fell on hard times and he wanted us to shell out money to help them so he wouldn't have to, I said the exact same thing back and ended the conversation. In the end, we did chose to fill her propane tank so she and her children would not be cold because we actually care like decent human beings. But if one my kids was actually starving, guaranteed he wouldn't be willing to donate a single crumb that fell from his table. He is such a jerk that he makes Ebeneezer Scrooge seem like a nice guy. So don't worry about me. I can see the difference in situations, and I can also the similarities, and in your case, not being a party to some absolutely, egregiously bad choices that are going to train wreck epically is very important so that you and the children do not get drawn into it, and your own personal ethics are not violated.

Leftovers. Lots of leftovers, all of it pretty healthy. I did not want to cook today, and his mom had potato soup left, I had chicken veggie dumpling soup left, and my mom had broccoli cheese casserole, and chef salad. We traded leftovers around so everyone had some of each, and then ate on them throughout the day while we sewed.

Really cute!

I agree 100%. All three of my sons suffered terribly while I was guilted into caring for my father who was dying of cancer and a mother with major issues at that time while my brother and sister sat on the sidelines. I never recovered. My kids are wonderful and have forgiven me the horror show our lives were at that time, and our relationships are great now, but I will NEVER recommend anyone with children still at home do it. Stick to your boundaries. Do not relent. I also cannot imagine she will last much longer under the present conditions and plans. Also be prepared for permanent fracture of the family. This was not a breach of relationship with my brother, who was egregiously awful to me the whole time I had sole responsibility though he lived two blocks away, that is emotionally safe for me to now consider making an effort to mend. Make peace with it. You cannot control other people, and you shouldn't take emotional and mental energy away from your marriage and children over it.

Monday: Omelette for breakfast Steamed artichokes, spinach lasagna for lunch Chicken vegetable soup with dumplings for dinner

He has already received his which was an O scale Hershey Chocolate train set which he has been playing with all season and is currently on track under the tree.

Unique. Some years we do them, some years we don't. And during the years we do, since I do most of the wrapping, it depends on if I have time to wrap or are just stuffing those stockings at midnight and off to bed. On the years when we have only done them for the grandsons, I have wrapped the items for them for sure. This year we have stockings hanging up, and the only thing going into them - grandsons will be with their other grandparents in upstate NY - we are putting batteries, candy, dried fruit, and socks (all of our adult sons and our soon to be daughter in law report the need for socks), and so I probably will not wrap them.

Sunday: We were out of town for a concert. I don't like to eat a lot before performing so I just had some hummus and carrots and celery, lots of water. Afterward, we were taken out by the director and concertmaster. I had maple glazed salmon, garlic mashed potatoes, roast green beans, and a caesar salad. Very nice.

💓💓💓

Son in law, who has a lot of food allergies, loves aioli. He loves cashews. Would you mind posting the recipe?

Saturday: Mark was gone for breakfast and lunch. I ate a couple of boiled eggs in the morning. Spinach salad for lunch. Roasted chicken thighs, one a piece, more spinach salad, roasted Brussels sprouts, and saffron rice.

I took a break from the quilting onslaught and did some holiday sewing for the family room and kitchen.

I never did. One cannot read a music score while sitting at the piano with those things. I am sorry to be the bearer of bad tidings. It is also insane for me to try to conduct with them on because I can't just be trying to peer through one part of the lens for following the score and also needing to constantly change focus as I am leading the band and giving cues. It doesn't work. I suspect no music directors use them. I was dizzy and head achy. So in the end what worked was a set of multi focal contacts. Way way better! When I want to read a book or do needle work, I put a pair of 1.5 reading glasses on while wearing the contacts. But for sitting or standing the proper distance from a music rack/music stand, they are perfect and just fine for driving and everything else. I have six pair of cute reading glasses I can use and keep on pair in my purse, five pair scattered about the house.

Yes, but my preference is just instrumental music like Bach, Chopin, or Debussy playing in the background. I successfully read a book one time while Mark's audio book played on his kindle during a road trip to Iowa. He couldn't believe I managed it. But, there are only so many times you can listen to "Hail Mary" by Andy Weir, husband's favorite book for long trips (which we take a lot of). "Mark my darling, please get another book!" 😂

It is ridiculous to host parent intensive activities during the day on a work day. Do not feel sad about being unable to make it. I would be very frustrated about the lack of reasonable notice about all of these things. If you need to make that adult hat fit your little guy, you can turn the hat inside out, and use a hot glue gun to stuff the hat with poly fiberfil and secure it with dots of glue so if his hat falls off, it doesn't all come tumbling out. If you don't have any stuffing, you can disembowel an old stuffed animal or pillow that you are willing to sacrifice.

Absolutely amazing! Green eyed envy monster ! 😍

This is great!