I AM AN IDIOT

(You know, you don't have to agree so readily..geez.)


July is car tag month for our family. Unfortunately, when we got the new car registered and had the tag transferred, we did it at an awkward time that didn't allow the DMV records to have time to be updated to show we no longer owned the convertible before the bill was sent out.  When we got our tag payment paperwork in the mail, it still showed that we were responsible for the Seabring, and not the Jetta.  Lovely.  Because of this problem, we couldn't just pay online like we always did.  Steve informed me that I'd need to go to the DMV satellite office (which is luckily at the mall near our house) and try and fix the issue. 

I didn't wanna go!!  It was going to be the last day of the month, which meant that everyone who'd been slacking off would be there!  I'd be there foreverrrrrrrrrr!  But, as I am an adult and have responsibilities, I (begrudgingly) hauled my cookies down to the office and stood in the very long line of people this morning. 

Actually, it wasn't that bad.  I was only in line for about 10 minutes, and even with the mistake on the payment form, the lady who helped me had me in and out in no time!  Go me!  As I was leaving, I decided that I was going to put the sticker on my car right away and not risk losing it before I could get home and put it on the tag.  So I knelt down and very firmly applied the sticker to the license plate, quite pleased with how well I'd covered the old one.  As I was just about to stand up, my eye fell on the back of the car.  I noticed that it didn't say "Jetta" like I expected it would.  It said "Focus."  Well, that was weird.  My car isn't a Focus!  So, yeah, I'd just applied my tag sticker to the wrong car.

To be fair, it was the same color and general shape of my car AND it was parked in the spot I'd originally pulled into (I pulled forward into the empty space in front of that one at the last minute) so it was directly behind my car.  It was a mistake anyone could have made....right?  Heh.

So I had to pull the sticker off of that car, tearing a chunk off of the other car's sticker in the process, and run to my car and slap it on and then jump in and drive away.  That parking lot has CC cameras all over the place, so I know that there is video of me doing something that looks shady.  I was so embarrassed.

So to the person who owns the dark red Ford Focus, I'm sorry I ripped your tag sticker, and I'm sorry I look like I was trying to break into your trunk. I was just trying to hastily cover up the fact that I still don't know what my car looks like out in the wild. 

ONE MORE UPDATE FOR NOW

For those of you who have been checking in on updates about my brother, I have another and unless something changes, this will be the last one for a while.

He finally got to come home on the 3rd of July and everyone was very glad.  He's been resting much better and I know he's much more comfortable at home without people coming in at all hours and poking him with needles.

Last weekend, he had to be taken back to the ER because of a fever, and they found he had an infection and several blood clots in his lung.  He was given medication for both and sent back home.  It was decided that it wouldn't be useful, or kind, for him to be sent back to the hospital.  He is now under the care of Hospice, and will be for the foreseeable future.

My mom now has help with a lot of the "heavy lifting" and hopefully that will take some of the stress off of her, and also we hope that being at home will make him happy.  There's really no way to know how long this will last, could be months or even years I guess, but we're just glad he won't be put through any more useless, frightening, and painful, medical procedures.

Thanks again to everyone who has checked in on him and that want to know how he's doing. It's not necessarily an easy thing to talk about, but it does help to put it out in the universe.  I'll let you all know what is going on as things progress. 

YET ANOTHER UPDATE

I've got another update about my brother and unfortunately it isn't as great as we had hoped last week.

Without going into a lot of detail, I just wanted to let you know that his surgery was unsuccessful.  We had hoped that the surgeon would be able to repair the damage from the last surgery, as well as fix whatever needed to be fixed, but it wasn't possible.  Tommy's problems are just too varied and complicated to repair.  They did implant a feeding tube and plan to send him home as soon as they are able.  We were all hoping for a different outcome.

The news isn't all bad, obviously, because the feeding tube will help feed him at least, and my mom will be getting help from home health, as well as from my sister and me. 

I'm very worried about my mother and the stress this will put on her.  She's the kind of lady who will try and do it all by herself and not ask for help until she just has to.  So, keep her in your thoughts and cheer her on from the sidelines, if you please.

As of now they are still in the hospital and they are very ready to come home.  We don't really know how things are going to go from here, but let's just hope that they can come home soon and get started on whatever new kind of normal they'll have from here on out.

Thanks for thinking of them.