I hope the OP did something because this situation sends up HUGE red flags everywhere. My folks are getting older and we have had some conversations about how they want things handled when they are too old to make decisions for themselves. I am grateful that they are willing to discuss this beforehand. I have read everything I can in order to acquaint myself with giving them suggestions about the best/worst ways they could go about this. Here is a good book I found at the library: "The Retirement nightmare-How to save yourself from your heirs and protectors". I am posting just one example of how you can have your life turned upside down if you don't make arrangements for a trustworthy family member (or friend) to be able to care for you before something happens. "In the first chapter of THE RETIREMENT NIGHTMARE, I give an example of this egregious fact drawn from the pages of The Los Angeles Times (November 1997). Glen Hawkins, 89, had bicycled two miles from his Orange County home in Leisure World, California, to confer with his investment counselor. Once there, he was told that the $380,000 in his account was no longer his to control. A professional conservator had been assigned to manage his financial and personal affairs. As Mr. Hawkins soon learned, he already owed almost $1,200 in conservator and attorney fees. How could this be? A social worker at Glen Hawkins' retirement community had filed a petition for an emergency conservatorship over Mr. Hawkins, claiming that he was too ill to attend the required hearing and too addled to understand the legal proceeding. Glen Hawkins had harmed no one, and he clearly was not a danger to himself. He had planned to live out the rest of his golden years in his Leisure World condominium. Unfortunately, his wish to be left alone had led him into dangerous new territory--territory that is made unsafe by the legal reality that each state in America feels free to intrude into the lives of its elderly in ways that would be unthinkable if the objects of its intrusion were young." Read the section titled "Freedom lost" as well. A link that might be useful: www.retirementnightmare.com/q06.htm

OK, here's a possibility. Go to the local sign or photocopy shop and have them print, in big, bold, plain(for stupids) writing, "There is a hidden surveillance camera" or omit the surv part if you live in an area with real, real stupids, "which is recording every move(ment)"!!!!OMG, my stomach really hurts. "So, if you belong here, stay and do your duty"(!!!!ha, nah, don't say doody, unless you think it clearly applies to your locale. "Joggers, go at home or go ahead 1/4 mile, but not here"(I'm a mom of a marathoner, but a considerate marathoner) or, "If you can't hold it, go home! This ain't your home!" Plaster these signs INSIDE and outside the porta.. OOOOH, I have a great idea. Instead of 'violaters will be prosecuted... something like, violaters will be given a free, disposable, mop, plastic gloves, strong trash bags and YOU will be responsible for cleaning up your mess. Who defines what is a 'mess'? Your co-workers. If they don't think it's a mess, then they can help you clean it up. If the consensus agrees that it IS a mess, then the consensus (colleagues) can video your clean up activities!!!!This is so much fun! Pecanpie, I spit out my champagne(cheap 9.5% low carb) while reading your post! It was downhill from there......Breathing is difficult. This is a 'save for posterity'(don't go there) thread. Time capsule worthy. Love it Bev I will breathe normally soon. Ok, I can't resist. We have a beach cottage where, (I wish I had written this line...no, I'm not a snob, but) the handymen have more tattoos(sp) than teeth.

I agree with all those disparaging comments about the makeover shows with the $2000 budget. Amazing how they never spend more than that. And they never actually account for how much the labor would cost. I hate how they have no qualms about intentionally deceiving prospective buyers by covering up flaws. I love how they take the window treatments down and put up sheers and other totally impractical dressing to hightlight a room's "light" while the privacy and heat loss issues are totally ignored. Most of these homeowners just need a stern talking to about clutter, repainting walls and cleaning their carpets. Yes, buyer beware. HGTV shouldn't be proud of this program.

Your poor mom--she sounds like a hoot, though. Guess the only funny thing was my sister's adopted dd who kept asking to see my other niece's ring. This ring was among my mom's things when we were cleaning out her apt after she died on Thanksgiving. It was beautiful, and obviously a 'good' ring (diamond set in a beautiful filigree of white 18 gold), so we gave it to my one niece who was the closest to her. So anyway, the other niece kept saying stuff like, "Oh, I saw you wearing that at the funeral. It's so beautiful. I just love that ring. I always remember Mom Mom wearing it and loved seeing her in it" and so forth and so on. Here's the funny part--NO ONE in the family had EVER seen this ring before we found it among mom's stuff. Mom only wore yellow or preferably rose gold, never white gold. And the really funny part of this story? The ring is a size 4.75 (and fits my dainty niece perfectly) but my mom's ring finger was a size NINE--she couldn't have put this ring on with a shoe horn and a jack hammer--LOL! Well, fortunately, the niece wearing it, didn't take the bait, and kept it on her finger. She's the one who was truly the closest to my mom and deserved this beautiful antique ring. I actually had it checked out and cleaned before I gave it to her. It's an antique setting, the diamond is a specific cut that had to be done either the late 1800's or the very first few years of 1900. The setting, I was told, would have been made in the 1910's, definitely before 1920. Our best guess is it probably belonged to mom's mother--who, from all reports, was a tiny little thing. Anyway, that was about as funny as it got yesterday--unless you count the moment when I unwrapped a present that looked like a sculpture made of driftwood, and didn't realize that it was a birdhouse. Think I hurt my sister's feelings, but the opening for the birds to use was so well hidden, that it was hard to figure that out. Hope the birds can find how to get into it.