Check Crisis

Oh life can be so interesting.

First of all, I decided to make potato bread this afternoon.  I had potato water left over from potatoes I had cooked the other night and I know that potato water makes great bread, so I ended up using one of my favorite recipes from the days when I used to make all of our bread (in the days pre-bread maker, when I kneaded it all by hand).  I figured I'd make it with the bread maker and see if it would work.   I couldn't figure out why it wouldn't.

I got all the ingredients in the bread maker except for the yeast.   I made pizza recently and used the second to the last envelope of yeast so I knew there was at least one package of yeast in the cupboard.  Only it wasn't there.   I searched everywhere.  The only thing I can imagine is that I left it on the counter and somehow it got swept up with the garbage. 

Walt agreed to go out and get yeast.

While he was gone, my mother called, all a-twitter.  She has no checks.  (Oh dear God let her eventually remember that she has checks!)   I asked her what she needed checks for.  She said she had a bill to pay but she had no checks.  I told her that yes she had checks, and told her where to find her checkbook.  While she was going to get it, I asked her what check she needed to write.  She said it was to B of A.  I asked her what it was for and she said she didn't know but that it was over $500.  She got into her bedroom and asked me what she was looking for. I told her she was looking for her purse.  She said she couldn't find it.  I told her where to look.  She finally found it and then asked "now why do I need my purse?"  Told her she was looking for her checkbook.

She found the checkbook and asked me why she needed it.  I told her to look inside and see that she had, in fact, written a check to B of A.   But she has no check register.  She has a carbon copy of her checks and because she couldn't check the register, she didn't know how to find out whether she had written a check or not.

I told her I would be there as soon as Walt got back from the store and we would look at it together.

He returned and I put the yeast in the bread maker container, put it into the machine and it didn't feel right, so I took it out and put it back in again.   It felt just the same so I decided to start it anyway.  Then I went off to Atria.

I knocked on the door to my mother's apartment and she was delighted to see me.  She didn't know why I was there.  I said I was there to help her with the bill she thought she had to pay.  "What bill?" she asked.

Sigh.

I told her she had just called me five minutes before, but she didn't know about a bill and couldn't find any bill.  Finally she found it and it was for her Kaiser coverage.  They billed her on October 10 and she had written a check on the 12th, so they just hadn't received it yet (the bill was double because they thought her original bill was overdue).

I told her to get her checkbook and we'd check to make sure that she paid the bill.  She said she had no checks.  I told her that yes, she did have checks and that Ed had brought them to her.

"Well, where are they?" she asked.

I told her that her checkbook was in her purse.  She went into her bedroom and then returned to ask me what she was looking for.  I told her she needed her purse because she needed her checkbook.  I told her where to find it.   Turns out she had put it in a different place this time, but she eventually found it and I showed her that she had, indeed, already paid the bill.

While we were talking, she picked up two pictures that Ned had brought with her birthday flowers.  She asked me who had brought them.  I told her Ned had given them to her on her birthday and she responded "so how much money do I owe?"  I told her she didn't owe anything yet.

I THINK she kind of sorta understands, and to help her I brought the bill home with me so I can call B of A on Monday to make sure that her check arrived (god help them if they refuse to talk to me because I'm calling for my mother!)

When I got home, the bread machine had been running for 30 minutes and, as I feared, the yeast was still sitting on top of the flour.  I removed everything from the machine, added more water, put it all back in the machine and started it again.  Twice.  

I think I have now added too much water, but I'm having it run on the "dough" setting, so I can eventually add more flour and knead more.   It may make a terrible loaf of bread, but it should be wonderful for hockies (fried bread dough) for breakfast tomorrow).

And I hope that when I see my mother tomorrow, she's not going to complain that she needs checks because she has to pay her bills, but I'm not betting on anything any more.

 

(Maybe it will be OK after all...)