....take over her bill paying, and then giver her an allowance. Not knowing whether or not a financial Power of Attorney has been conferred, I'd be hesitant to recommend taking the responsibility of discharging another's debt. What would that mean? Paying out of your own pocket? Sign her checks for her? You can't legally sign another's checks without the granted power to do so. Perhaps the least intrusive and easiest thing would be to have her son's name added to her checking account. Even though my brother had my Mother's financial POA and took charge of asset management, etc., I had the responsibility of keeping up with the everyday things. I simply had my name added to her checking account when she was beginning the slide into Alzheimer's and getting farther and farther removed from taking care of her affairs. I seem to recall it was nothing more than a quick visit to the bank, signing a paper providing my SS#, etc. and ordering a new set of checks. I also understand what it is to try and engage a senior in other activities - sometimes it's just not in the cards. Either they're not joiners by nature or as they age there's a certain fear in trying new things that are a little outside of their comfort zone. My Mother gave up playing golf with the local ladies league at age 85 and we never could come up with something/anything even remotely close to replacing the enjoyment she got from that. From what the OP has written, it does seem her MIL is just aging and that bad habits are becomming magnified; she doesn't quite recognize her spending habits as unusual or that she's being taken advantage of by her sister. It might not be any one of the dementias one could put their finger on right now. It could be in the future.

I love the box idea. Must get one soon. DH of 26 years leaves things everywhere. Right now there's a coffee mug on the bedroom nightstand, socks on the chair, newspapers in two locations, TV and computer parts still in boxes in the dining room. I will get that big box, pick up and place everything in it. Then just wait for him to ask "where's the TV satellite tuner that came the other day?" In the box,darling. When we were first married, he'd get home from work and remove and toss his clothing as he walked in and up towards the bedroom. There would be a tie in the living room, shirt on a chair, undershirt in the bathroom, shoes and socks in four different spots. And, being a good little wifey, I would gather everything, launder as needed, then place in the closet or drawer where it came from. He didn't seem to notice,but he did expect the maid service to continue. After a while, I was exhausted from taking care of him AND two kids AND working 52 hours a week. So instead of picking up after him, I went thru the house and stuffed all his clothes under the bed. After about a week, he ran out of socks and underwear. He asked me if I had seen his stuff. Look undewr the bed, dear. That cured him, at least partially. From then on, he'd put all his clothes on one chair. (I tried a hamper,it was too much effort to lift the lid,I guess.) But at least the mess was confined. And when I did laundry all I had to do was take everything off the chair. Now I must get a BIG BOX.

Well, looks like we have one consumer that wasn't buffaloed by the personal attacks, and more remarkably, she had the guts to stand up for her right to know about any risks. Paulines, Bill Vincents, and a few others seem to like to proclaim each others crediblity on this issue. How convenient. Paulines, I wouldn't put myself in the same leauge as Bill, he no doubt is a very talented tile guy, but doens't know much about radiation or granite. Like you, he has a reputation to uphold, and like you he participated in the installation of a lot of granite over the years. Opposition to this testing effort is all about the money and loss of reputation. After all, what expert wants the public to find out that they really didn't know everything about what they were selling or installing? Paulines want to whine about baselines, but measurements are measurements. The simple fact is that today I was measuring a slab that averaged around 5 mR/hr and had hot spots over 10 mR/hr. Think about that, a chest xray is around 20 mR... two hours on a hot spot or four hours just using the kitchen countertop gives you the same exposure. There is a difference though, the chest X ray is used to protect your health, there is public good in exchange for the exposure. A hot granite countertop is not any prettier than a low level one of the same type. Where is the benefit? And Paulines, Dr. Llope and I stay in touch constantly either through email or the rad forum I got him hooked on. The guy has become a friend of mine and I can tell you that people like you, Kevin, Bill, and Sue are the ones that made him stop contributing. He won't likely come back till comments like your side makes on a constant basis are stopped. Bill, I still see you as misguided, but basically a decent man on the wrong side from lack of information. Problem is is that you refuse to consider any info but what fits your world view, so there is no help for it. Split hairs if you must, but installing and selling isn't much different. I'm not knocking you for what you didn't know before, but from last year on, you should have educated yourself on the issues instead of spending the time and effort to try to squash the discussion. Bill, Geiger counters are go/no go devices. They won't give you a extremely accurate reading because of the inefficiencies of the small units, but they are designed to be portable and fast. Designed for the aftermath of a nuclear war, testing food and water for safety didn't require exact levels, just good or bad. That is what they can do for the fabricator. The EPA stance is not up for interpetation. Prior to mid May, they said not to worry about radiation or radon from a granite countertop. Now they say they don't really know, that some granite can have high levels, that if you have a granite countertop, you ought to test your home for Radon. That is not a 180 but it is a 150 degree turn. Once Dr. Llope gets done testing and publishing, the other 30 degee turn will happen. NORM regulations are in 33 states, from 5 uR/hr to 30 uR/hr, and I can take any fool that still wants to debate to a slab yard and find two dozen granite types that will be higher than the highest state NORM level. Lisagraz, thank you for having the courage to stand up to the bullies. There are plenty of safe granites out there, I have reported on some on both here and stone sites, but the other side doesn't dare admit that or they would lose their only effective weapon against the testing effort, using personal attacks to attempt to destroy the messanger. You see that Revans1 and I are way closer on the facts than the others, but he can't admit it or the others will stop listening to him as well. The facts are that somewhere between 5 and 10 percent of all granites are a problem. Revans1 gets this, spent time educating himself on the issues, and is now on the opposite side he was last year. It is a wonder the others haven't attacked him more than they have already. arda, will you ever understand that that cartoon is about electomagnetic radiation not ionizing radiation? Electromagnetic has not been proven dangerous, a small fringe thinks so, but it hasen't been proven. But today I worked cutting samples from a top that was 40 times background radiation, and BEIR VII said that even background radiation caused some cancers. It is open and shut on that issue. Luvmyguys, it isn't a mess to the stoners, they want this to be a mess. They will continue to smear anyone that dares mention the issue and post distortions along with their personal attacks. It is the only weapon they have cause the facts are against them. Bill, again microwaves are not ionizing radiation. Saying that they equate to ionizing radiation from a granite countertop is just plain ignorant. And as always, your argument is that it is too expensive to make sure granite is safe, better to let the consumers take the risk than the stone shops lose a few bucks. And some quarries are testing now, and some importers. All the chinese importers brag about their class A granite rating. Really, does anyone that has read the posts believe that one side of this debate is not only endangering consumers for personal gain, but has resorted to personal attack and outright lies despite haveing seen data to the contrary? And don't think for a minute that when this thread is gone that will be the end of it. People will continue to ask questions, are you going to riducle all of them?

It took my husband 4 YEARS to notice that our kitchen walls, which were originally white, had been painted wedgwood blue! An out of town friend who had seen the kitchen originally was visiting and commented on the color, and asked when I’d repainted. DH looked up and commented, “oh yeah, the blue looks great, when did you do it?” I’d painted the walls 4 years prior. It would probably take him a decade to notice new lighting.......