Happy St. Patty's Day

Hope everyone is enjoying their St. Patrick's Day, without drinking and driving, that is!

I gave into my impulses today and bought a new laptop. Wanna see?

Well, hmmm... It's on my iPod and on FB, but I don't have any pictures on it, so I can't show you! Ha ha ha...

The things I go through to get what I want. Let me tell you, this computer was an adventure - one I hope doesn't come back to bite me in the rear end later. Last Saturday, Steve and I were at Wal-Mart and I saw this gorgeous computer - really pretty. Steve even thought it was nice, but I was trying to be frugal (really, I was), so we looked at it and I moved on. I thought it was a little spendy. Well, you know me. Ever since I saw it I've been thinking about it and thinking about it, and thinking about it... We're going to Hastings on Saturday and I really would like to have a laptop to do my genealogy on, so, yes, today I caved and decided to indulge myself and go get it. So, I drove out to the Wal-Mart on 168th & Maple. No computer. As soon as I got back to the electronics section, I realized I was in the wrong Wal-Mart, and they didn't have it on display. So, I went out to the Wal-Mart on 99th and Military and as soon as I got the electronics section, I saw the computer was gone. The card advertising it was still there, but no computer. The clerks were busy for 10 minutes (at least) trying to get an alarm to quit going off in the cameras, so I got tired of waiting around, so I came home. I figured I'd just call HP and order one online, how hard could that be?

Ha ha...

I called HP, described the computer to them and they told me it was special design, made only for Wal-Mart and I couldn't order it through the company. Well, that sucks! Next, I tried Wal-Mart online. They said the Irvington store had a "limited supply" - yeah, so limited there were none; and the Bellevue store also had a "limited supply". I called the store on North 72nd Street just to be sure, but "Jay" told me they had been sold out for about 3 weeks. They said I could order it online - for $628! The in-store price was $498 (actually, I think the Irvington store had been $468, but whatever, they were gone! I wasn't going to pay over $600, so I called the Bellevue store to see if they had any left. I held my breath while they checked... Only one left - and it was the display model. I asked them if they could hold it if I left my credit card number. Oh, of course not! I took off for Bellevue... I hate Bellevue. My entire life I lived in South Omaha and when I went to Bellevue, I got lost. It's crowded, the streets are goofy, and people are rude - IMHO, anyway. Nevertheless, I went to Bellevue.

I found out I got 10% off for buying the display model, but there was no warranty. Ouch. I got 10% off all right (about $46, but then I paid $31 in tax!) Oh, and they didn't mention that the display models don't come with batteries! WHAT!? Let me tell you, I wanted it bad... I bought it anyway. I had to cool my heels while the guy disconnected it, removed all the Wal-Mart passwords, and then waited another year or so while we waited for a MSN to come and over-ride the discount. About this time, I was seriously wondering if I should just give up - maybe I wasn't meant to have the darn thing. I finally got home with my precious treasure. Steve told me to just call HP and order a battery - YIKES - $122 for a battery!!! Holy Moly! I hope it lasts a good long time - with no warranty, I'm a little leery, but really, it's so PRETTY! I'd really love to show you a picture, but I can't find my Canon software... Oh Bother!

That's it for the fun stuff. No more. I'm happy...

Took dad back to the doctor at the VA today. We actually saw a PA, who was very nice and she put dad at ease too. She told him that he definitely shows signs of dementia - which wasn't much of a surprise. She explained it to him as his brain being like spark plugs that just weren't firing right. I asked her if it was mostly temporal lobe dementia, but she said no, it seemed to be mostly parietal lobe. Interesting. Then she brought up the subject of assisted living. Nope - he wasn't interested in the least. Uh oh. That was okay though, she went on to explain why they had stopped his asparte insulin and he was only going to be taking the Lantus. His hemoglobin A1C was only 6, which was very good, so they were going to cut out the insulin with meals. That was good news. Then dad brought up the fact that he wasn't happy living with Jeremy, that he didn't really like him. Miss and I tried to explain that we hadn't liked Pam either, but we gave her a chance and for a long time we still respected her because she was dad's wife and that Mel is over 40 and if she loves Jeremy that's all that matters. Dad doesn't have to like him. He wasn't altogether convinced about that. We continued discussing his blood work and his pharmacologic regimen when I asked him if he'd be happier living in an assisted living place where he didn't have to live with Jeremy or be upset when Adam and Sarah had friends over. Hmmmmm. Maybe the assisted living wasn't such a bad idea after all! We discussed it in a little more detail, and it was obvious he was thinking about it. His only worry was who was going to make the house payment. I told him it didn't matter, because once he was out of the house, that wasn't going to be his problem anymore. He seemed happy with that answer. Then he was worried that he couldn't afford assisted living. Well, I'm worried about that too, but we'll work something out. Between his retirement, social security, and VA benefits, along with Medicaid, we should be able to find something. I hope... I think once he thinks about it for awhile and comes to realize that it was his idea to begin with (dementia isn't always a bad thing), he'll come to realize that would be the best idea. Whew!

I was so worried about today I could hardly sleep last night. Of course all week I haven't been able to go back to sleep when Steve left, but today I was so tired I could hardly get up. Our appointment was at 9 a.m. Ouch.

All in all, it was a pretty productive day. Mom and Bob came over to see the new furniture... They really liked it. Me too! Now that the disability issue is taken care of, I feel like I can breathe again. We've really been struggling for the past 18 months while I haven't worked. I finally feel like we can do it! Now, I'm going to see if I can't find that camera disk... Happy Spring!!!