Saturday, January 14, 1984

My bathtub has a hole in it that leaks. I decorated last year, and realized then that it needed replacing, but didn't have the money to replace it. I tried to patch it using an aluminum product today, and I won't know until tomorrow whether it will fix it or not. If the aluminum stuff doesn't work, I'll try a tile product I already have on hand, that binds metal. I'll spray it with epoxy paint for extra protection. I hate to think about replacing the tub, because all the trim work has to come off around it, and everything will be a mess until it's all put back together, plus, it's a lot of work and money.

Mom has diarrhea today. I'll wait until tomorrow to give her a full bath. There isn't any point to do it during this diarrhea siege. Last month I was constantly cleaning Mom, bed clothing, carpet, chairs, etc. I finally got her system straightened out, and know sometime in the future it may be a constant problem, but please don't let it start permanently now. I also know that it's just a matter of time before Mom is bedridden, and I will have to use a lift to get her even to the bathroom or to take a bath, but please don't let it start now. Ease me into it gradually, so I won't realize how much I've changed , and changed my simple routines all at once.

Love drank the whole twelve pack yesterday and has a terrible hangover. He is cranky as hell! I wish he'd crab about everything to somebody else.

I gave my dogs plastic bones for Christmas presents. They weren't exactly alike, and each dog knows which bone is their own, and won't play with the other one's bone.

My big male hasn't left my side all day today. He acts this way periodically and I haven't the vaguest idea why. I don't know if he feels threatened by something, if he just thinks I've been neglecting him or he just doesn't feel well. I do know that he feels neglected when I read the newspaper, and he'll do anything to get my attention, laying on the paper in my lap, chewing on my hand that's holding the paper, and occasionally, grabbing the paper and running outside through the dog door with it. I've never swatted him with the paper, so, he doesn't feel threatened by it, and that's a mistake I won't make with my next dog. Dog, leave my paper alone when I'm trying to read it.

The average wage here was about $10.00 and hour, when I was making $4.00 an hour. My wages were $4.00 an hour in 1970, and when I was laid-off last fall, my wages were $4.00 an hour. In that same amount of years, inflation had almost tripled. I made one third as much real spendable money last year as I made in 1970. Yet, I've been doing the same type of work for nineteen years, and am probably the most experienced woman in my field of work in the entire area.