I just had 20 inches of hair cut off. It's short, doesn't reach my shoulders. I'm not crying or hysterical or anything, but I have this weird ennui/shock combo happening. The hairdresser handed me my hair. It's like the rings of a tree, sort of. Oh, there's Sam the Bat, 15 inches back. Oh hey, there's my new car. That awful crush on a married coworker that took six months to pass.

There's so much baggage tied up in hair.

So, we stopped at CVS on the way home from breakfast and, as we were walking in, a woman zipped into the handicapped space directly in front of the door and leapt out of her car in fancy high-heel boots. We looked at her car for handicapped plates or tags and there were none. Once in the store, Jason said. "I am going to say something." We found her in the store and he told her she should not park in a handicapped spot. Her response in a thick Russian accent was "If you are not the ticket man, is none of your business." I said it was our business because we were human beings. At this point Jason got biblical, drew himself to his full 6'2" height, pointed and thundered. "YOU are a bad person."

We grabbed what we came for and she was up front checking out. As she left, Jason said "Shame, shame, shame!" He said he felt very Victorian. The check-out clerks were all very impressed.

Scrappy,

have you ever seen the show "What would you do?" I saw fucking HOURS of it because apparently it is one of my mother's favorite shows. It has the guy from Nightline (?) on it.

You and your husband would be fucking stars on that show.

Scrappy, I heart you and your DH right now.

Maybe it'll give her a moment of thought.

Allyson, 20 inches of hair, wow, that's a radical change! What prompted you to decide to do that? Do you like it?

I just cut my hair shorter than it's been since I was a kid, but I didn't take off nearly that much.

VERY nice, Scrappy.

So, if anyone else was looking at the Target-Neiman Marcus holiday stuff and thought it was overpriced for Target, I guess it didn't sell that well, so a lot is on clearance now: [link]

Way to go Scrappy and DH!

Now that I'm shuttling my mom around a lot more, I'm really grateful for handicapped parking, let me tell you.

I walked the dog this morning and then went out to the folks' old apartment for another binge of cleaning/clearing. There's still so much left to do and my father keeps calling me asking when it will be sold! He wants the cash.

I had another conversation with him last night about staying where they are: he doesn't like how much it costs. I reminded him that in six months Mom is probably going to be bedridden, and he has to be in a place with facilities to handle that. Not to mention that at some point as the dementia progresses she won't be able to feed, bathe, or clothe herself.

He seemed somewhat mollified, but man, I just don't know how to get through to him.

And now I have to go to the computer recycling center and take my mother shopping for clothes. Woopee.

Consuela, I feel awkward asking this, but is there a risk that your father will make the sort of decisions that he is talking about? Or is it something that you have to talk him down from in order to calm him down? Do you think there's a risk you show up at the new place one day, and he's somehow moved them out or ended the contract or done something else that could be an issue?