My friends hubby passed around 1145 am cst. I'm sad for my friend but I also know her hubs isn't suffering. Life isn't always a bowl of cherries but you gotta live with it when the puts are thrown at you

Steps

2/8 14,834

2/9 6,288 (traveling)

2/12 16,707 First run since I got sick- back at sea level so that made it a little easier.

Hello! Hope everyone is well. Love the new puzzle @Pupowl

Went to see my parents yesterday. Water damage not as bad as I feared, although there appears to be some more damage in one particular area, like water had been getting in over the years and my parents hadn't noticed. They haven't found a contractor yet to do the work.

The bigger issue is my parents hoarding. They have so much stuff it is getting harder to move around the house. I worry about safety and have expressed this in every way I can think of to no avail.

I took 8 garbage bags of things to good will, but it didn't even make a dent. I'm not sure how to address this. I've tried to throw things away before and that causes them great distress, My husband and I did a big clean out of the pantry etc when my dad was in the hospital last year. Threw out 30 bags of expired food and food containers (my mom keeps them all). My mother was very upset. Just because food is expired doesn't mean its bad- its just a marketing gimmick in her view. And she NEEDS 500 fast food plastic containers because she USES them. Then my brother came and he and I cleaned bathrooms, etc the best we could for two days. We were trying to make space for a hospital bed for my dad because he was really weak.

They really need to be in more of a retirement community situation, but they don't want to move- ever. My mom no longer drives and the neighborhood, which was nice when I was growing up, has a very high crime rate now. It worries me. My mother jokes that she's only going to live 21 more years so why worry about it? (She's 79 and assuming she will live until 100). I pointed out that in 21 years I'll be 74 and won't be physically able to address the mess issue and she doesn't respond.

I've offered to clean myself. I've offered to hire a junk removal company. I've offered to hire a weekly cleaning service (they couldn't get to anything right now though). I don't know how they can get the carpet replaced in the water damaged rooms (it is partially cut out) because there is so much stuff to move out of the rooms, but we are not even there yet. I've tried to explain when they do the sheet rock work on the walls, there will be a lot of dust so the rooms should be as empty as possible, with tarps covering what's left, and they just kind of stare at me.

Since I don't know what to do, I just tried to enjoy the afternoon with their company and pretended not too see the mess. It just makes me frustrated and upset, but they seem happy and content with their surroundings. They enjoy reading and we spent the afternoon mostly talking about books. Maybe I'm worrying to much?

Anyway- sorry to vent - this just feels like a safe space. I'm getting my hair done today and having lunch with a friend so it should be a nice day. I'll come back again in about a month to see if they've made any progress- earlier if they need me.

Take care everyone and enjoy the weekend!