Addiction affliction

By way of update, here are some of the latest developments with Elosie.  As I was growing up she would often tell me that the reason she had stayed away from vices such as alcohol and gambling was because she was 'genetically' disposed to addiction.  I'm sure in her cache of newspaper articles she had found research that 'they' had discovered addiction could be linked to a bad gene.  Take a look at the highlights in the link to the google search results for 'addition genetic disposition' and you'll see that good ol' Eloise was spot on...in principle.

Well as anybody that has a phone number that is listed on Eloise's contact list would suspect, dialing the phone is right up there on her inventory of addictions - i.m.o.  Here is some striking evidence to back up the suspicion. 

Last week she complained to me that her phone quit working.  I pointed out the fact that we were talking on the phone so obviously, the phone didn't quit working.  I asked for her explanation.  She said "it won't dial information anymore".  As you may or may not know, she spent hours of research digging up old friends from previous wards, neighborhoods, towns, etc. from the past.  She did this by calling information - give the name she was looking for and the town where she thought they lived.  If that didn't work she would stew about it some more and then give it another try.  If you could see her phone contact list you would appreciate how successful she was at this excercise.  She surprised me a number of times with the success of her investigative abilities (refer to addictive behavior tendancies above).

I had a hunch that the reason she could not dial information was because Legacy or the phone company cut her off.  As I walked in the front door on Sunday on my way to go to church with her, Jerry Wise (no relation) the maintenance man was sitting at the front desk.  I took the opportunity to ask him what he knew about the situation.

He said the boss brought him copies of the phone bill, presumably Eloise's phone bill, to look at.  He leaned back in his chair, crossed his arms and said -  Eloise had spent almost $3,000 in the past few months on operated assisted calls and information!!  I almost fell over.  After church, I got to have a little chat with Eloise about what she used to teach me about addiction, her inclination toward the same and how it related to her phone being broken.  Sheesh....

In other events to watch - the other day she was eating popcorn...bathed in homemade frysauce.  Yum!!  And a new one that is a little more pallatable...I microwaved me some nachos the other evening.  She wanted to try a couple.  She has now graduated from the french fry craze.  She wants me to come by at lunch tomorrow and cook some more nachos.  Also, she called me on the phone tonight and asked me how long to cook the nachos.  Then I heard her giving instructions to the aide.  I'm seeing a trend here.