My dad and his lack of polish when he talks

So much for squeezing in a post in January. At least I'm back a lot sooner than a year later!

I'd like to get a couple of unpleasant experiences out of the way. It happened yesterday. Being a co-caregiver with my dad has not been smooth. 

Yesterday, he was yelling at my mom because she wouldn't swallow her pills. I had to intervene by saying that yelling at her isn't going to make her swallow her pills any faster.

He sets a lot of double-standards. He tells me not to yell at her when I am telling her to stop hitting me. She seems to have dementia, but we are trying to get a proper diagnosis. Having dementia would explain her inclination to hit me. Yet, it's perfectly okay if he yells at her for not remembering how to swallow her pills.

He is a jerk. He can be insensitive. He also can't express himself well.

A couple of hours later, I walked own the stairs with a stairlift that my mom now uses. I heard a thud. I asked what the thud was.

My dad said that it was the smoke detector that I had caused to fall from the ceiling because I was walking down the stairs.

Was he insinuating that I'm heavy walking down the stairs? Rude.

This smoke detector had fallen from the ceiling two weeks ago when my dad and I had helped my mom out of the shower.

I shot back that maybe he should have installed it properly two weeks ago. I did not cause this smoke detector to fall from the ceiling both times. Look into your faulty installation before blaming me.

He can be a prick. He often makes idiot statements.

He has said many stupid comment to me since I've been alive. I'll leave that to another post. All these incidents have resurfaced from memory.

He told my uncle a few years ago that he was fat. I was stunned and embarrassed when he said that in front of my mom, and my aunt and uncle.

My blog will now be focused on taking care of my mom and dealing with my dad who has actually been more difficult to comprehend. I'll also squeeze in good things about my life.

Black smoke from my laptop charger

I have owned a universal laptop charger for roughly seven years. I had to retire it the other day.

On Wednesday morning, I had a teleconference at 08:00. I took the call on my laptop, with it plugged in and charging.

Just before the call ended, I noticed that there was black smoke coming from the charger. Some of the wires were exposed and touching, which caused the black casing around it to slowly burn. Naturally, I unplugged everything and used another charger.

On my call, the moderator said the following,

"Cutiebootie, do you have anything to add? Are you still on the call?"

I was, but needed to attend to this small incident that was thankfully just that. I unmuted my mic, said what I had to say, and our meeting came to a close.

It's good that it wasn't a video conference. The last thing I wanted folks to see was my laptop going up in smoke!