There was no excuse for Julie Garrick of Highlands Ranch, Denver to change her toddler’s diaper on the living room floor of her elderly in-laws’ house, stinking up the room, not to mention the unsightliness.
Lance and Julie Garrick moved from Las Vegas into my elderly parents’ home after Lance accepted a job at a Denver jewelry company. Highlands Ranch
The plan was for them, plus their three kids, to stay there only very temporarily until they found a house. Instead, they very much over-stayed their welcome by becoming freeloaders.
And during that time, my sister-in-law quickly developed the routine practice of changing diapers on the living room floor.
Effing Gross!
This disrespectful woman (my parents were 89 and 93!) elected to perform smelly diaper changes on the living room floor – in plain view of anyone walking from the bedroom hallway into the kitchen, or from the end of that hallway to the front office or front family room.
It was also in plain view of my mother when she worked at the kitchen sink and counter.
Now here’s the kicker: Highlands Ranch
The basement was supposed to be where Lance, Julie and their three loud, undisciplined kids did as much of their living as possible. Instead, they spent entirely too much time on the first floor where my very elderly parents did their living.
In the finished basement was a very roomy area between the bathroom and a bedroom. This was where a full-fledged (and I mean FULL-fledged) diaper changing station was actually set up.
It was a station that any mother would kill for in her own home.
Yet oddly, Julie frequently changed diapers on the living room floor. Peeeuw! The odor!
My parents and I could always avoid looking, but what were we supposed to do, STOP BREATHING TOO ?
How blatantly disrespectful my sister-in-law was to my 89- and 93-year-old parents.
Granted, my parents should have nipped this infraction in the bud, but you have to realize that they were very old – and no longer possessed the feistiness and spark they’d once had. They were afraid to speak up.
And Lance and Julie knew this, and took advantage of them with endless and ongoing infractions.
Julie Garrick’s Excuse Highlands Ranch, Denver
She didn’t want to take time going downstairs to change Holly’s or Talon’s diaper. Holly was almost 2 and Talon was 3 (yes, the boy was still in diapers because – as Julie had told me, she was too busy to toilet train him despite having NO job outside the house).
I was at my parents’ house a LOT, and thus was very familiar with Julie’s and Lance’s parenting approach, habits and displays of blatant disregard for basic common household rules – including unwritten rules that anyone with half an ounce of common sense and courtesy would know includes DON’T change diapers on a living room floor!
Julie said she was in a hurry and had no time to perform the task in the basement.
Really, she was ALWAYS in a hurry, JUST WHEN Holly or Talon needed a diaper change? Hmmmm, what a coincidence.
As anyone with common sense knows, you should check a diaper before going out somewhere. I understand that. Totally understand.
However…why on the living room floor? Highlands Ranch
Besides, NOT ONCE did I ever witness her rush the kids out the door after a diaper change.
In fact, there was often a delay between completing the diaper changes and when she and the kids actually exited the house! And most of the excursions were NOT appointments.
Sure, some were appointments for Holly’s gymnastics and ice skating lessons (she was only two!) or haircuts.
But I’m not going to believe that Julie was so cognitively impaired that she couldn’t figure out the logistics behind changing diapers in the damn basement instead of on the living room floor. This isn’t rocket science. Julie Garrick
Furthermore, Talon was eventually toilet trained, so she eventually had only one diaper to change.
Again, not once did I ever witness Julie racing to get the kids out the door due to being late for an appointment. Never witnessed her in a race. Denver, Highlands Ranch
She always took her sweet time getting the kids out the door. SWEET TIME. Many of the excursions were to go shopping or to the park. There was no rush to any earth-shaking appointment.
Forty Seconds!
The diaper changing station took 20 seconds to get to from the living room while carrying Holly, and then another 20 seconds back up: 40 seconds of foot transport total. Julie was fit and had no problem carrying the toddler.
Why couldn’t she have simply carried Holly to the basement and changed her diapers down there?
How could she’ve been too lazy to go downstairs, yet had energy for Pilates classes, bike rides and walks to the park?
There was NO BLOODY REASON IN HELL why Julie could not have performed all the diaper changes in the basement at her deluxe diaper changing station.
Julie Garrick took her sweet ol’ time setting Holly on the living room floor to change her diaper. THERE WAS NEVER ANY URGENCY.
And even if there ever WAS an urgency … dammit, what difference would it have made had she taken the extra 20 lousy seconds down to the basement and 20 extra seconds back up?
The only logical explanation is that my sister-in-law changed the diapers on the living room floor to maximize her convenience (spare her fit trim body from going up and down a staircase) with an “I don’t give a shit what my in-laws think” attitude.
This is far more believable than the theory that an extra 40 seconds would have made her miss a haircut, ice skating lessons or play date with another local mom’s child.
Come on, let’s be real. Even if you’re running late for an appointment (and remember, most of the excursions were NOT appointments – I visited there often enough to know this) – that extra 20 seconds down and 20 seconds up would NOT have changed the course of history.
When all is considered, the obvious conclusion is inescapable: That woman didn’t give a flying fuck about the nasty smell in my parents’ living room.
Just because my parents never spoke up to her about it (at least when I was there) doesn’t mean they were okay with it or that this prima donna should have assumed that.
A reasonable, gracious tenant ASSUMES right off the bat that changing diapers on the living room floor is a huge NO-NO unless it’s your OWN damn house!
Links to Julie Garrick’s Additional Atrocious Deeds
Overall crappy treatment of my parents shortened their lifespan
Refuses to clean up tons of crumbs under kitchen table made by her kids
Left other disgusting messes in the kitchen; gave outrageous excuses for not cleaning them up
Uses up elderly mother-in-law’s good silverware, telling her use the plastic kiddie utensils
Let the children ruin mother-in-law’s good furniture
Let toddlers frequently scream and shriek in elderly in-laws living quarters
Julie Garrick, Denver, Highlands Ranch.
Julie Garrick of Denver, and Highlands Ranch
Julie Garrick, Denver, Highlands Ranch