Appliances for parents

My step-mother isn't happy with her toaster - the bagel slots don't toast her bread completely - so I'm taking her my little toaster-oven to see if she likes it better. Now that I can use my confection oven, I can part with one.

My father, who wears two hearing aids says his cassette player sounds muffled. I tested a few cassettes and he's right. So I'm taking him my better Panasonic radio with tape player, CD, and remote. He should like that because the quality is good, and he won't have to get up to turn it off. He has constant back pain and getting up from his chair or the sofa is becoming more difficult for him. Its the one I listen to every day, so I'll miss it, but I'd rather he be able to hear his music now that he can't go out much.

I'm taping my business card to the bottom of each... just in case one or the other forgets that I'm loaning the items to them and they aren't for giving away, throwing away, or taking away. It sounds self-serving I know, but you have to understand that Dad threw out all the family photo albums (before the meds that slow the Alzheimer's), so there are no photos of any of my family and no photos of me anymore. And recently he turned his Cadillac in to the dealer rather than let me buy it from him. I could have sold my van, paid off the loan, and had enough to give him the same amount the dealer did. Oy! It would have helped me reduce my debt load but I'd also be able to drive him around in his own car which is more comfortable than my noisy, uninsulated van. Sigh.