Mom was eating a piece of chicken. I asked her how it was. She said it was good, but for salmon, it didn't have much flavor.

Figuring out the tip was interesting. When the waitress brought the copy to sign to the table with an automatic gratuity showing, Mom was confused. She decided the gratuity was enough but added the price of the buffet and the gratuity together, and came up with a figure that is $10 too high. I pointed out that she was giving the girl an additional tip and she ignored me. I didn't push it but she gave the server a 33% tip all together. I wish I'd had tips so good when I waited tables!

This explains why she made such a mess of her car purchase. She's paying as much in interest and "special fees" as she is for the car and has a long term loan at a high interest rate. She'll pay a lot more than a brand new one would have cost. It might also explain why the car is registered in two states with two up to date license plates.

WE got back to her house and she decided to take a nap. I had thought we were going to talk. She'd been upset about my repayments on the loan she made me a year ago. After an hour, I got tired of waiting, so I wrote everything out and got up to leave and low and behold, guess who was up!
So she sat down and began to try to figure out where she had written my loan amount and payments in her book. Then she launched into a discussion of how she never keeps books like that and needs to fix it.

"I used to work as a bookkeeper, you know," she said. I simply smiled. That was the first I'd heard of that job. I pointed out that no one had ever showed me how to do anything different. I asked her to show me how to do it her way. She ignored me.

Anyway, I started to explain about my plane fare of $271 when she launched into me for not buying a $100 plane ticket. I stayed calm and simply said I did the best I could.

That should be my mantra. I did the best I could.

She finally calmed down. She never said a word about my cab fare and I thought she might since I don't have any receipts.

I got through the entire explanation, including why Verizon charged us $13 extra last month (because she talked an extra 30 minutes) and was all set to charge us $200 this month for 400 excess minutes... Last month when I tried to explain, she blew it off. This month, she listened. I increased our plan to avoid those extra charges. She never said a word.

We also discussed whether she will go to the neuro-psych test on Tuesday. She claimed that she didn't have it on her calendar. I reminded her that it was the reason she came back so early and she agreed. WE discussed the reasons for the test and she announced that the administrator was NOT a psychologist, but a psychiatrist. Won't she be surprised to find an intern administering the test while I talk to the psychologist? Her problem is that she made an appointment with her lawyer for that morning. I told her it would be a lot easier to reschedule him than it would to reschedule the neuro-psych test. She finally said she would go, but would whine a lot. I said that's fine, I'll just go to Wal-Mart and get some ear plugs.

Finally I got up to go because I wanted to feed my girls. Then she launched both barrels and harangued me for the incident on the expressway. She will "never, ever forgive me" for sending her to that hospital or for sitting in the middle of the expressway like an idiot and ignoring her. She claims that she's told all of her friends about it and they all agree that there was no reason for me to call 911. That I was totally over reacting. I simply said I did the best I could and I stand by it - I would do it again.

I asked her if she had told her friends that she had turned off the ignition before I called 911. She said yes, but only after a slight pause. I know she hasn't said a word about that part.

I simply said that I did the best I could. Then I left. I don't know if she'll go on Tuesday or not. I'll be sad and probably upset but at least I'll know I've done the best I could.