the ordeal of the will....

ok, so...the ordeal of the will is worth documenting...it all started when I took to tidying up the guest room for my brother's annual xmas visit. It came to me that I should gather together all of the relevant documents from the filing cabinet so that my mother and I could review them with mother during his visit. I found the pre-paid burial information right way...but the will done by Leslie and witnessed several Thanksgivings ago was nowhere to be found. I did find an old will, one done by my friend from home Rob that my mother had hand-edited after my father's death. She had marked out his name as executor, ands penciled in mine. She specified that her Indian jewelry go to me, and that her Hummels be divided between my brother and me. Given that my brother was coming in to town for our annual Shakertown dinner and that Andrew's girlfriend and Cayle's boyfriend would be joining us, I decided that I would type up a new will for mother using this corrected will as a template. We could discuss it all with mother after dinner, and the two not-yet family members could act as witnesses. Sounded like a plan....I even made two copies of the will, on lavender (harder to lose) paper....The signing went well worth us all sharing a laugh over Stuart being legally required to take half of the Hummel collection....Stuart left for home with a copy of the signed will and a copy of the template will, and I thought all was just fine. Until last evening, when I chanced to mention this episode to our friend Mark, the lawyer who handled Cayle's adoption. He told me that this will was not valid, because it was typed and had not been drawn up by a lawyer and signed by that lawyer. A handwritten will, in grandma's own hand could have been witnessed by two non-related individuals. Yikes! I finally got ahold of my friend Leslie this morning, and we have made plans to meet at Red Lobster with mother so that she can execute her will and notarize it before I leave for Paris on Friday. Heavy sigh.....

Password Retrieval...

ok, so...when one blogs this infrequently, the password to this very blog becomes shady...and after several wrong attempts I was forced to select the "Need Help?" option....which involved texting me an access code to my previously identified cell phone number....gracious.....having gone to such trouble to get logged on I feel an obligation to leave some evidence of being on this site. So....how is my day going, you might ask? I have had several texts from my mother's caretaker letting me know that mother soaked up a pair of depends at some point during the night, then took them off, tossed them to the floor and failed to put on another pair....so her bed was soaked when the caretaker arrived....and what was I going to do about it? Fr starts, mother likely has more than one unopened plastic mattress covers she bought when my dad was in this same place in life....yep- there were two on the top shelf in her linen closet. End of emergency....until the next emergency. these texts were coming through as I was leading a support group, and I had to excuse myself to answer. To not answer immediately is to invite texts asking if i got the first text...so I might as well go ahead and respond. Heavy sigh. I have tomorrow off after our departmental Christmas breakfast at Cracker Barrel. Trying too plot out where I will go to browse and in what order, and whether to go back to H-Burg for Rotary or to skip it all together...if I can remember to put a sheet or tarp in my car I may go ahead and buy a tree assuming there are still tress out there to select. The Kroger in H-Burg had only a single tree left, and it looked a be pitiable. I do not own an artificial tree, and do not intend to buy one. I much prefer the scent of real pine...I may also start in baking a few kinds of cookies and other treats....or I may watch a movie and work on my needlepoint project- a sleeping cat that looks just like Andrew's Cricket, to cover a pillow. Not likely that I will get it done by Christmas Day, but one never knows until one tries...Ah well....my lunch time is nearly over...must be back to work.