Happy New Year Everyone!

Today I went over my parents to try to pay the owner or his representative for the 12 days I said we would stay. But he wouldn't take it until I looked at his offer and either accepted it or turned it down. I will turn it down, but first I will talk to my dad one more time about it, just in case he changes his mind.
I had a conversation with my mom, who makes no sense at all anymore. She told me how the people who visit her come mostly in the morning and around dinner time. Then they disappear. She seemed disappointed, frustrated, since they sometimes disappear in the middle of a conversation, apparently. But she says she knows they'll be back. I wonder sometimes what it is she is actually seeing, although I know they most probably are evidence of the Loey's body lesions in her brain, pure figments. Something in me wonders.

Maybe a solution

I called the B of A about the medallion stamp so we could send in the check to be reissued in my father's name. I didn't want to carry them all the way out to the bank, only to have nothing happen again. SO I explained the problem and that person said to open a joint account for them online and add myself later on, then put the check into the bank via ATM. I said great, and opened the account, but then I remembered that my mom isn't capable of signing the check. So I talked to someone on online chat, and they told me it will take 2-3 business days, and then I can bring her into the bank and have her sign the check again, or make a mark on it. With any luck, this will work.

The Saga Continues

The people who issued the check for the stock thickened the plot today by telling me that they cannot reissue the check differently unless we transfer ownership of the stock just to my father or to me. To do that, we have to take my mother and father to the bank and ask them to stamp a form with a medallion stamp. They may refuse to do that because my mother is going to be unable to understand what is going on. I will take my power of attorney forms, but they are not originals. I no longer know where the original forms are. I have the feeling this is going to be another nightmare. Meanwhile, I have change of address stuff to do. And I still have not been able to do my syllabus for the upcoming semester, though I have written my first, two part assignment (the first two papers of the class). I have a very good idea where the syllabus should proceed from there, but it is totally a new topic, and I have not done the thing yet. When will I have time to do it, with all of this nightmare stuff unfolding? I wish the bank would just cash the Q#@*E@! check and done with it.

The #&@^#(! Bank

Today I am thinking about the things Lou used to write about dealings with her parents' bank, when she was trying to sell their house after they died, how the banks (one of them, anyhow) made things difficult for her, threw bureaucratic obstacles in her way when she didn't need that at all.
I was experiencing just this with the B of A today. Needing some money for my parents' expenses, I sold some of their stock, the last of the halfway valuable stock they had. I had the check since about the day before Christmas, and when I took it over to the bank yesterday, I realized too late that I had forgotten to get it signed by my parents. The banker told me to come back today. He said I could bring one of my parents with, and even without a signature, they would put the check in the account. But when I went to get them to sign it, I found out my mother doesn't know how to write her name anymore. She tried, but just ended up making a huge mess on the back of the check. So I took dad to the bank, and thought that would be good enough. But it turns out that because the check was made out jointly to him and her, and they can't have a joint account because the state of CA refused to issue an ID card to my mom, and she doesn't have any other recent ID, never having driven in any state and being born in another country, the check has to be torn up and reissued, either as two equal checks, one to him and one to her, or with an "or" between their names instead of "and." I am not sure that is possible, but I will call tomorrow morning early, before we leave for the SD Zoo, to find out. I tried calling today, but I was too late, and the office was closed.
Any ideas where we should go eat in San Diego, somewhere on the way back from the zoo? We like funky ethnic places with good food, especially Asian, but R likes Mexican too.

The owner of the new place

I met the owner of the new Board and Care. We were supposed to meet at 11, and so I was a bit put off when I got there and not only was he not there, but had gone shopping and wouldn't be there for another half an hour. I chatted with the main caregiver, who was very nice though she asked a lot of questions.
After a while, the owner arrived. He was a florid, red haired man, maybe about 35, with a nascent pot belly, wearing a clean white shirt and low slung pants of the kind much older men wear, with the stretch waistband. His eyes were pale, slightly faded blue. I heard right away that he had an accent, southern I thought, and asked him where he was from. It turns out he was from Virginia, not far from where Richard's parents live. He was surprised to learn that Richard and his family hail from that area, and that I went to school there too.
He spent a long time talking, speaking very frankly about himself and why he went into this business and why he bought this particular place. Though he is a lawyer, he is not a sharpie.
My parents' caregiver says there are many violations of code in the new house, and she will help him change those things so he won't get in trouble with the state licensing board.
So I told him all about my parents and the terms of our living there and he accepted them. I did not hold back all the difficult things about my parents and asked that the place make an exception for them, getting them washed and dressed at 5:00 or 6:00 AM, whenever they wanted to get up, while most of the time, people have to wait until 7 AM to get washed if they need help.
It was important to my father that he have this modicum of control over his life. He has been an early riser all his life, and he wants to go on being one. The owner says that their caregiver can get them up herself, and she expects to do so.
I think this is going to work, though he admits that we will probably have to move out of the big room if someone with much more money to offer asks to live there. There are lots of empty double rooms with private bathrooms. I think it will work out.

Giving Notice

By the way, I gave notice this morning by phone, which was awful and horrendous. I feel like a criminal. The guy who used to own the house (and still owns it in everything but name) began to cry and accuse me of betraying him, etc. I stuck to my guns and told him quite bluntly why we are leaving, but I did give in a little, saying I would try to give him some notice, though not 30 days.

Her Fearful Symmetry

I am now exploiting my winter break, reading a fat new novel by Audrey Niffenegger, Her Fearful Symmetry. I loved her previous book, The Time Traveler's Wife, which was made into a movie that looked awful in its posters. I never saw or heard anything else about it but that, so I assume it was fully as bad as the posters made it look. It would be easy to turn the delicate souffle of that book into mush, too much sentiment, etc. Niffenegger is very romantic, in a lyrical, fairy tale sort of way that I love. So even if there are elements of the overly romantic about her work, I eat it up, and so, I imagine, do lots of other women who love books, fantasy, and things of the imagination.
The new book is wonderful in the same way as the other. It features two sets, two generations of girl twins, one twin of the second set the amazing mirror double of the other, internal organs reversed. I have only a week in all to read this book, which I rented from the library. Every day beyond a week is an extra .25. Right now, about 4 days into the rental, I am about half done the book, but probably will finish it in time. I stay up late into the night reading it.