I had one crazy week and survived.
On a good note, I was on local news for the 2nd time in my life. Two years ago, I began the process to get grandma in a city program for free house repairs for low income people.
The paperwork process was agonizing, and I had to do it 3 times due to red tape. I nearly gave up when I had to explain to the city employee that my grandma’s social security are was indeed valid, and the design in the 1930s was simply different than today’s modern design. My cousin Kim assisted with taking photos of grandma’s documents when grandma was in rehab. My dad was on the phone with grandma and the military each time we had to get income verification of her retirement income.
My uncle Joe encouraged me to not give up on getting through the red tape, particularly with the SS card ordeal; he attended the required classes of the home residents for the program since grandma is far too old to do that. He died and did not get to see the house repairs during this process.
I boxed up grandma’s items on the nights and weekends, with my mom helping one weekend day too. I sifted through dog and rat/mouse poop to collect grandma’s things. I am not sure what I breathed in while in that closet. I lined the boxes up ready for storage. My grand-uncle Joe threw away the nice, big, boxes I had prepared… thinking he was cleaning-up, so I had to work with odds-and-ends boxes I had to find last second. I did not have money for boxes.
My dad rented the storage unit from his own funds and carried the boxes and furniture into the storage unit. One of his long term friends helped move the heavy furniture into the unit as well.
Grandma’s roof is redone, siding replaced, AC replaced, water heater replaced, all ceiling fans replaced, flooring replaced, backdoor/front doors replaced, electrical improved, cracks filled and sealed, dangerously/odd placed lighting fixtures recessed/replaced, cracked single pan windows replaced to double pane. Her house is quite comfortable and energy efficient now.
I lost work hours and denied myself from working on my own house and body while taking care of grandma. I am not in grandma’s will and will not financially benefit from this; this is simply for grandma’s care.
I was just doing what needed to be done for grandma. I “could” fix one thing at a time out of my pocket, but getting grandma into this program gave her a full team of HVAC and tradesmen to fix her entire house much faster than I could single-handedly. _The self-ish thing is that for me, I don’t have to worry whether or not grandma is freezing at night._ Some people want to force her into a nursing home, but with her house in top condition now, her own house is her logical, affordable, most comfortable, best place to be. For me, there was no choice, if the only other option was to do nothing and watch the living conditions get worse for grandma.
I will also acknowledge, a choice few other family members might not have the skills or tools that I do to help grandma in the way that I do, but they do what they can with what they have to work with, and that is all anyone can do.
I normally don’t toot my own horn in regards to what I do for grandma. I don’t text it to people. I don’t make Facebook posts. I just do it. But, because of recent court events by my own family, I want it to be well known how I help grandma. (I never posted how Amanda and I re-did grandma’s bathroom with our own money, buying the tile, toilet, vanity, sink faucet, paint, grout, grout seal, caulk, rug, and using our hands and tools to cut the baseboards, tiles and whatnot while missing work hours to do it.)
Despite that, some Sanchez family members genuinely do not believe in these house repairs are real. They think the program’s sign in the yard is a sham. They thought the news crew was fake. They cannot believe that my dad and I did this out of love for grandma and consideration of her well being. They think this is some sort of scam or charade. I think that says more about their relationship to grandma and their projections, and their intentions, than it says about anything else.
I also found an overbilled item in grandma’s CPS bill just this week, informed grandma on Friday, and she agreed to have it changed. My dad will call have it fixed soon. I have found overbilling on her Spectrum, SAWS, and credit union fees too throughout the years. Each savings is more food she can buy since her food stamps don’t go far.
My actions and outcomes speak for themselves.
https://www.kens5.com/article/entertainment/television/great-day-sa/cosas-neighborhood-housing-services-great-day-sa/273-11e4e508-935c-4009-ac8a-8a9d542fe0a4
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