Last week, a con artist talked his way into my mom's house claiming to be with the water company. I'm sharing this cautionary tale of being scammed over at Working Stiffs today.
OMG! I'm soooo glad your mom's ok. That's creepy as hell. Because they had to have been doing a little observation to choose her house over yours or the neighbors, right? And what do you do to deter them now? Makes me mad *and* worried.
Yes, it was troublesome that they didn't go to the neighbor where the guy works from home all day. Nor did he come here where he would have encountered psycho crazed mystery writer chick. Instead, he showed up where the little old lady lives.
Mom has orders to keep her doors locked and do NOT open it unless she knows who it is on her porch. If a stranger comes to her door now, she has orders to call 911 and tell the police there's someone suspicious outside. This comes from the police chief himself. He knows the situation and is keeping an eye out for her, too.
It’s been a while since I wrote anything about my mom. If you follow me on Facebook, you’ve probably noticed a number of posts recently about long nights in the ER with her. I appreciate the kind concerns and prayers from friends and family. But while I know they’re well intended, the “hope she gets well soon” sentiments cut like a finely honed blade. Mom isn’t going to get well. She has good days and bad. More and more of the latter. Today’s “good days” are about the same as the bad ones a couple months ago. She has vascular dementia. In addition to her mental slippage, her legs have grown weak and uncooperative, adding to her pre-existing balance issues. We plead with her to call for assistance to get out of bed. Unfortunately, she can’t remember that she’s had numerable falls lately, so she continues to try to get up and around on her own, resulting in more falls. And in more trips to the ER. She has dislocated her right hip twice now. She’s hit her head more times
I am over the moon to share the news that Fatal Reunion has received an Agatha nomination (my sixth!) for Best Contemporary Novel! You can find the entire nominee list here . You would think that six nominations in, I wouldn't be surprised by the news. But I am more stunned with each one. I never take it for granted and never assume I'll ever walk that path or wear that "NOMINEE" ribbon at Malice Domestic ever again. I'm beyond grateful to those who wrote down my name on the nomination forms.
Here we are, beginning a whole new year. It'll fly by, I'm sure. As I age, the hours, days, weeks, and months seem to gain momentum. So it's only natural that my biggest hope for 2023 is to SLOW DOWN. Having said that, I still have goals for the year. Here's what the first quarter looks like. January: Complete my second/third draft of Detective Honeywell mystery #2 so I can meet my February 1 deadline. February: Tackle my 2022 accounting stuff. Once again, I failed at keeping up-to-date with recording expenses, so it all has to be done NOW. Also, work on a second round of edits on HELPLESS, the 12th Zoe Chambers mystery. And begin outlining the 13th one. March: Work on developmental edits on Honeywell #2 and begin drafting Zoe #13 If all goes according to the schedule, I should have THREE books coming out in the next twelve months! So much for slowing down. But I do plan to begin each day with some "me time," be it meditation, yoga, or exercise. Or a combina
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Because they had to have been doing a little observation to choose her house over yours or the neighbors, right? And what do you do to deter them now?
Makes me mad *and* worried.
Mom has orders to keep her doors locked and do NOT open it unless she knows who it is on her porch. If a stranger comes to her door now, she has orders to call 911 and tell the police there's someone suspicious outside. This comes from the police chief himself. He knows the situation and is keeping an eye out for her, too.
Mad? Worried? Oh, yeah.