Getting it done one day at a time

I got through yesterday ok. We first went to m/c and boxed up the items of my mom's I wanted to keep. Just some pictures, knickknacks, her telephone. DH decided he could use her towels for shop towels, so we took those as well. I also took the brand new winter jacket I had recently bought her (likely not even worn). It's a big big for me, but not too bad. I told dh, I'm not going to lie - I'm not going to miss having to go to the m/c place anymore. As I was walking out, I was kind of talking to my mom in my head "ok mom, I got you out of here now".

We then dropped off her telephone modem with the cable/phone company nearby and next appointment was across town at the funeral home to make her cremation arrangements. I'm just going with their basic cremation with a basic urn. At this point our plan is to spread her ashes later in spring, but if for some reason I change my mind I can always get a nicer urn and they said they will transfer the ashes for me. They are scheduled to do the cremation next Monday. I didn't ask how long it takes to get the death certificates. I guess it takes as long as it takes.

It was kind of funny - we were sitting in this nice room with a table, while the funeral home gal was going over the paperwork and having me sign. Right after I wrote the check, all of a sudden some very loud music came blaring through a speaker in the room ceiling. The lady was like "oh my gosh - that's never happened before! I didn't even know there was a speaker in here". Both dh and I said "that's my mom! haha! I said probably upset that I just wrote this big check. Haha! (that was 4x what she paid to have my stepdad cremated 12 years ago). DD called me in the afternoon and when I started to tell her about the music suddenly blaring she also said "that was grandma!"

I am getting 7 copies of the death certificate. My boss had told me get more than you think you need. My boss had also said they will ask me if I want to view her body. I knew that, but honestly it hadn't been a part of my thought process yet, so I'm glad she mentioned it, so I had some time to think about it, rather than just suddenly having to make a decision right then. I had decided not to view her body

I played phone tag with the moving lady, but finally connected late yesterday afternoon and she is set up to clean out the rest of the items in mom's room. Next Wednesday was the earliest she has an opening in her schedule to do it. I also have an email into the office person at the m/c place to finalize her rental agreement and also am waiting to see if she will get any prorated credit for part of this month. If she does get something back, that should then cover the cost of the mover.

After the funeral home, we stopped by the pool table store to exchange the table cover. The one we got had a small tear in it, so that errand is done.

Still nothing back from either of my step siblings I contacted, though I know my stepsis read the message. All the more, it's good I was the one who ended up taking care of her care, medical and finances.

I did get a message from the sister of my aunt (my mom's older brother's ex wife) in Oregon. I think my aunt must live with her now. My aunt wanted to talk to me, but she didn't know how to do messenger to send me a message. I have her ph# now and will call her this afternoon. I haven't talked to her in years, so it will be nice to chat with her. She was always such a nice person with a very calming demeanor (probably why she used to be a nurse, eh?). Her sister said she's a night owl, so try after noon. She was like a daughter to my grandparents, as a daughter in law, and even though they divorced, she always stayed closed to my grandparents and always called them mom and dad.

Today I will work on contacting her health insurance company to cancel her advantage plan. I did make a post on my mom's Facebook page about her passing, so her friends would know and received a nice message from her former neighbor.

I think my headache I've had since Tuesday is mostly gone. It was nagging at me all day yesterday and most of the night sleeping. It was snowing when I got up, but we didn't get too much more.