Am I the Only One Who Chooses to Clean the House Before Departing, in Hopes that Upon Return, I Be a Smooth Transition?

We shall see how this one goes. There are week of guests staying on Mt. Pleasant while I'm in central New York looking after my parents. It took me a couple of days, but the house was left ready for my return (and I know the cleaning ladies come Monday morning, too...so extra clean). Perhaps it's just nervous energy, but I can never leave unless I know I'm returning to a hotel-ready return back home.

Traffic was rather heavy, especially on the thruway, but I listened to Jim Carey's memoir Memoirs & Misinformation and it is as odd, peculiar, funny, and oddly profound as one would expect it to be. I'm entertained and I hated that I arrived to Syracuse before finishing. I'll get to it on the way home.

Amber, one of the helpers, was at the house caring for mom and dad, making for something new while settling in, including a battle for stepping up to help out She knows it is light, but when help is needed, it is needed...most importantly for my father getting out of where he sits. He can't do it any more...and with the ADHD/mania I inherited from him, he is constantly up and down. I watched how she lifted him up with ease and now learned to be there for him, as well. When I walked Karal, mom said he almost fell over tying to get up and face-planted. I said, "Maybe that is what needs to happen in order to face next steps in his care." 

A broken hip will do him enormously. 

I drove through rain showers, and although the skies were sunny in Syracuse, with 85 degrees, there was no humidity, so it was quite nice. 

I also realize that on driving days I'm coming in tired. I almost stopped to get a cup of coffee in the afternoon, and I never do that. My head was heavy during the last hour.

And on a Katniss-Never-Green-No-More Subaru upgrade, I have a complaint. The other model had a gas cap that you opened from a button inside the car. This one has the ol' push and pop-out version. The problem is, on numerous occasions the push doesn't result in the pop out so I can gas. With a line piling up behind me, I had to pull off to the side and try all the voodoo dances I knew how to do before it finally clicked open. Annoying, especially when the tank is close to "E."

But now for Saturday. Since I'm cooking three meals a day all week, I need to figure out a game plan that will work...it's preparation, feeding, and clean up for all those meals. One of the perks of meals-on-wheels and aides in the house is it deters the parental units from going into the kitchen, piling dishes, and making messes. I was shocked at how clean it was walking up the stairs this trip home. Big difference, indeed, but now I will be causing the disaster. Good times. And with that, off to the store I should go.