Some very random pictures here
This may be what happens when your grocery store that you do online ordering with changes the unit of measure for ordering banana's from each banana to bunch and you don't pay attention
Of the things this could have happened with, this one is at least not that expensive and easy to eat
Old coffee maker finally got retired after 10 years....see if the stellar reviews on this are accurate.
In preparation for the spur of the moment....well like 2 day notice party....finally put the propane firepit back together. Only been here for 5 years....lol. Next I need to figure out why the ignitor isn't working after sticking a new battery in. May just have the electrodes too far apart but lighter was easy way to fix on a time crunch.
More meat pictures..
2 ****'s, mustard binder and a mixed up dry rub, scored the fat cap pretty deep. Sat in the fridge for 12 hours of so with the rub on, stuck on the pellet smoker before going to bed, stuck them in the foil pan with a cup or so of apple juice in the morning and pulled them off the smoker when probes said about 200 or 201. Let them rest for a couple hours then shredded and stuck in a crock pot on warm till serving time. Worked really well and was very well received, thought it was moister than the last time I did a speed cook at 325 or 350 and had it done in 6 or so hours. Was really expecting there to be some leftovers....but there wasn't so guess I have to light it up and do another one or two for the freezer...darn.
But in a process of burying the lead a bit....the father in law is now at peace after 7 weeks or so in hospice.
For such an event, things went about as well as we could ask and he's now at peace, the family all got their time with him and the turnout for the events was successful. With much of the family traveling from out of town, we invited all of his siblings and their families over after the visitation for a chance to relax and eat without the headaches of restaurants or hotels which turned out really well. It put 35 ish adults and a dozen or so under the age of 12 in the house with about 2 days notice....but I volunteered to do it so couldn't complain to anyone but me but we are really glad we did it as everyone enjoyed the opportunity to get together and relax a bit in the middle of a challenging scenario.
Now we have some time to come down a bit from the checklist driven to do list that's been the last week as we got things ready. The wife is the executor/personal representative for the estate which was at least pretty squared away (as far as we know) so we get to start dealing with that in the near future but we have some time on that.
It's been a fairly long and often tumultuous road to get here and we're definitely not adjusted or "fine" yet, but as we've been sitting around discussing things...2 pieces of advice that we've learned that we'd do differently the next time. And to only have 2 at this point is a blessing so we're thankful for that
Hospice: We waited far too long to learn about hospice, what it does, how they do it, learn about in home hospice vs at a hospice house etc. The wish was to stay at home as long as he could, and we let that go too long and got into hospice later than we should've. Knowing it was the backup plan, we should have vetted it out earlier than we did but the team there was great and was used to it...but would've lowered the stress I think with both us and her father had we all had a better knowledge of what that option looked like if we had to pivot from the primary plan
Prepaid funerals: 10 years ago or so they prepaid funeral expenses thru some sort of policy with a funeral home so we were kinda "locked into" using that company and were not impressed. We used a different company a couple years ago for her sister's arrangements and yes, they were more expensive but the quality of service and support was night and day different and would easily pay for it again. The facilities at the more expensive one were nicer, bigger etc but it was really the people that made the difference. We were also told repeatedly by her folks that "everything was done" and "all wishes on what he wanted were listed out"....yeah.....there were some selections made like casket, headstone was already picked out and in place etc so the amount of decisions we had to make was much reduced...but definitely not "all done"
I know there are some legal scenarios like Medicaid eligibility planning where prepaying funeral expenses with a 3rd party is good practice, but we would've been better off had they just setup a dedicated "investment account" with a transfer at death or similar arrangement for quick access when needed. The costs that they were "guaranteed" at 2014 rates vs current have basically doubled....but when you compare to what the general market has done over that time....just setting aside the money would've been a better deal for the family.
Now we try and figure out the new normal, get to work to empty his house so it can be sold and all the stuff that comes with that. In a slightly more happy note we agreed a couple months ago that after this was "over" the wife and I would take a trip(no kids) somewhere.....so we get to figure that one out. Debating on a short duration cruise, but also considering something like Sanibel Island, FL or Smokey Mountains....so if anyone has favorite spots for "relaxing" type venues in the continental US for 4-5 days happy to hear them!
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You'll enjoy that coffee maker. I got my wife the glass carafe version for Christmas and she really enjoys it.
