So much for not being contagious

My best friend now has the crud. Same crud, but fortunately a lighter case. He didn't have to have the shots or the nebuliser. But he's been to the nurse practitioner, been armed with medicines, and is now resting at home. I went ahead and did a few chores to help out, then came back. I'm breathing much better now, although I'm still coughing, but in spurts, not constantly, as the generic Delsym helped quite a bit. My nose is doing better too, probably because of the guaifenesin I got this morning. So now I'm home, eating homemade bread with peanut butter and spreadable fruit, and contemplating what to do next. I'm not tired enough for bed, but not perky enough to do much more in the way of chores. And I'm hot, very hot, and have been all day, even though I've been in air conditioning for most of it. I'm wearing pants that are thin, but I normally only wear in fall or early winter, because they are velvet. I have a very light blouse on, but it has to have a camisole under it because of that. Worse of all, I didn't do laundry last weekend because I was starting to feel bad, and so I'm almost out of underwear, and so I wore--of all things--a pair of Spanx, which of course are probably made from Lycra and Spandex, and not particularly breathable. And of course, there were socks, as with all the rain I didn't wear my sandals. If my feet are hot, I'm hot. Those got chucked as soon as I came through the door. As soon as I eat I'm going to slip into a nightshirt or shorts and be done with that, and maybe sit in the bedroom in front of the fan for awhile.

Despite being sick, and all the coming and going for appointments, I've been chugging along at work. The only thing I really need to focus on tomorrow is my referral queue, as I haven't had the voice to make as many phone calls as I should have this week. I did use the nebuliser at work today, going to the far side of the library so the sound wouldn't disturb my cubicle neighbours, who were training a new employee, and as I took the treatment I decided it really is 'my Darth Vader machine'. It really helped last night to take the breathing treatment. Today I had a pretty bad coughing fit afterwards, but it's calmed down since then.

I'm really looking forward to having the holiday off. I don't actually have anything planned yet, and that's okay. Friday there is no 'Grimm', but there's a late appointment to take my friend to. amd there's another on Saturday noon. Sometime this weekend I should do laundry, we should do a grocery run, and there's Hotel Transylvania out from Netflix to watch, which arrived today. That's it. Mostly I think we'll just be recuperating from the crud. I'm not sure when the hiatus from the game is slated to end. I miss it. But Sundays have been less busy, I must admit.

Okay, I'm finished eating and it's time to compare cough medicines to see if the ingredientsoverlap enough that I shouldn't take the second dose of the generic Delsym now, since I'll take the other right before bed. I don't know if I'll write any more tonight, but if not, have a good one.

PS Hmmm...the Z-Tuss has an antihistamine and the codeine in it. The Delsym has a decongestant, but nothing else that might react. Only the night time Delsym is listed online as an interaction. On the safe side I should probably call the pharmacy, but I think if I take it now, and then take the other about midnight, it should be okay.

'Grimm' was excellent tonight

I'm really looking forward to next week's two-hour finale!

I'm off from work today

because it was a light clinic day and I had things to do that required being off 9-5, and while I may regret it in the long run (I don't have much Personal Time Off (PTO) at all, and Memorial Day's around the corner), it's really been nice. I got up at the normal time, though, and so far I have:

1. Called and arranged for someone to take the paper to the library, since Friday's has the Weekender and is more popular.
2. Gotten my car tags renewed.
3. Picked up a book on the Medici family during the Italian Renaissance from the library downtown.
4. Stopped by McDonald's for breakfast (they gave me regular Coke, ugh, but otherwise it was decent).
5. Picked up a friend, stopped by a gas station for drinks and his newspaper, and took him to an appointment.
6. Waited outside in the car with the windows rolled down, reading the Medici book, for about an hour. I also downloaded a couple of phone applications and laid the seat back, enjoying the pleasant breeze and sunlight.
7. Took my friend home.
8. Got a call from the allergist that my phials are in, so I can start allergy shots. They were getting ready to close for lunch, so I came on home, got my Epi-Pens transferred to my bag, and now I'm killing some time listening to the Eurythmics and A Flock of Seagulls on an 80s alternative music channel on Pandora. I've got the windows of the apartment open.

Things to do the rest of the day:

1. Get my allergy shots.
2. Go grocery shopping.
3. Pay bills.
4. Exercise.
5. Work on the house.
6. Print out some papers for a friend, whose printer is out of ink.
7. Take that friend to an appointment mid-afternoon.
8. Go get the new SD card for my CPAP machine and try the new masque the doctor recommended, see if it fits.
9. Pick up a friend for an evening appointment.
10. Take another friend to get his bus pass.
11. Watch 'Grimm'.

So, yes, busy day, but yay for productivity so far. I think I'll print those pages out before doing anything else. The allergist's office opens back up at 1:30 pm. Then I can deliver the pages when I pick my friend up.

Home from 'Grimm'

which I enjoyed. I came home and closed the blinds, and fished a part of my windchime that is usually in the window that a fellow player gave me years ago off the couch. It had had slipped off its ring when the guy took it down to put the blinds in. I got that back on, got the chime back up, and went outside to see how it looked to have the blinds down. Wow. If I wanted, I could dance naked in my living room and no one outside would know. For years I've had open curtains (still there) with sheers up, so technically naked dancing could be risky. :)

Tomorrow I'm going to try to get my driver's licence, as there is an office across town open in the morning on the third Saturday of the month. Fortunately the state finally sent me my refund (all $26 of it), so I can give it back to them in the form of payment for my ID and then have enough over for maybe a drink and a breakfast biscuit at McDonald's. :)

After that I need to take someone somewhere while having a come-to-Jesus meeting as well. What I have is an almost uncontrollable urge to smack the person, but instead I will be the adult and talk instead.

After that, I have no plans. I could come back home and work on the house (and the game notes--I've been a bit distracted this week). Or a friend and I could do something fun, maybe. I don't know. We'll see. But it's not a day crammed with plans like a normal Saturday, and that's great. I don't know yet if we're playing the Cthulhu game on Sunday; I'm assuming we are, and need to finish the notes, therefore. But I don't know for sure.

Okay, my phone is telling me it's bedtime. I'll write tomorrow. Hope your week went well, and here's to a happy weekend.

Oh, dear

So I came home and immediately noticed that I had mini-blinds. That in itself isn't a problem; I knew I was getting them and I wanted them. But, I thought they were going to put them in next week, giving me the weekend to excavate the bedroom and to move the plants and boards and blocks from in front of the living room windows. Apparently they worked around the plants and the mess. I decided to go ahead and put the geraniums, which are quite large (there are three, divided into two window boxes, having overwintered two years now) out onto the sill outside. While I was out sprucing them up and watering them, the maintenance guy who put in the blinds drove up and assured me that he hadn't moved the plants, but that he'd had to take my sheers down because they go on the inside of the windows just where the blinds need to be. I told him that was fine, and apologised for the mess, but he said that was no problem. I must admit, I am embarrassed. I actually had dirty clothes on the bedroom floor, for example, including underwear.

Anyway, I like the blinds. The sun was streaming nicely through them when I got home. The weird thing about them is that while the bedroom one fits the single window, the blinds in the living room are not two singles, but one large one (there are two windows, together, making one large space). It's kind of nice, but I didn't expect it, although if I'd really looked at my neighbours' windows, I would have already figured that out. Fortunately too, I don't have cats anymore, as cats are death to blinds. I did move out the geraniums (after talking to him and calling the office--my leasing agent had told me the reason for the blinds was to make everything look uniform, and I wanted to make sure the plants were okay). She's off, but the assistant said she'd double-check when her boss gets back Tuesday, and in the meantime, go ahead and put them out. So the only thing down in the sill now is my antenna for the TV. The blinds allow a lot more manipulation of what people see, but with the geraniums being so tall, the blinds could only be down about half to two-thirds of the way down, and I wanted the chance to put them down completely. I also rearranged the other plants so there's more space, and the ants are terribly annoyed, as I removed their source of water, the fountain. I put one of the bushier plants in front of the window so that I had a bit of a screen between the window and me sitting at the computer.

The forecast is 70s in the day, 50s for the evening for awhile, and sunny for the next few days, so I think the geraniums will be fine, and they were only moved about four inches in front of where they'd been, so the sun shouldn't burn them. The bees and other insects have already shown interest; they were trying to get through the screen earlier, big bumble bees, because two of the geraniums are blooming. All the rearranging will help me be able to open and close the windows better.

It's 6 pm. 'Grimm' is on at 9 pm, and I'll be going over to YKWIA's for that, probably about 8 pm. I think I may lie down for about 45 minutes right now. It's cloudier than when I got home, but the windows are open and the temperature is pleasant, although I'd like to be nearer to the fan. I still plan on getting things done around the house thie weekend, though.

Just got home

I worked a little over a half-day today and then took a friend to an appointment in the afternoon, which took awhile. After we got out of that, we went to the pharmacy to get his medicine and then by that time it was dinner time and so we stopped by Gumbo Ya Ya and got some food and took it to his house and ate. Then I did a little work on the computer (it's really lagging for him) and came on home. I've taken the brace off because you shouldn't wear it all the time, but I'm trying not to move my wrist that much. I'm listening to Of Monsters and Men and as soon as I get off of here, I think I'll do some reading on intuitive eating, which satisfies my tasks for today of reading and nutrition. :) I am oddly very tired; I'd gone into work early, so I was up earlier than normal, although I did get 8 hours of sleep, but still. I should work on the game notes tonight, especially as tomorrow is 'Grimm' night, and I may later, but I'm tempted to lie down for just a bit. Of course, that does usually turn into a sleep rather than a nap for me. Still, it may be worth the risk.

Okay

I know YKWIA and I both have degrees in history and classics, and we both studied a lot of graduate ancient and mediaeval history but surely we are not the only ones to realise that the 'stick' is, something each of us came up with independently. What else do they think Templars would be guarding? (And incidentally,  neither of us is Catholic,  or for that matter, even Christian.) Great 100th episode, even though we had already figured out the direction this was going in terms of Renard and also some of the other subplots. But 'Grimm' is always fun. Gute Nacht!

Time for bed

It occurred to me that I meant to leave work early tomorrow afternoon so I can get my allergy shots, so I need to go in early. That means suspending some of the fun tonight and going on to bed. I did get quite a bit done. The laundry (and DVD) will have to wait till Saturday (tomorrow night is 'Grimm', so I'll be over at YKWIA's). I'm going to try to get up earlier than even the normal early time and go over to the gym in the morning (I do better about working out in the morning than evening, although I'm not a morning person, so it's harder to get up for that). I just checked out the two books to my Kindle, so I have two weeks to read. By then the new Eastside Library Branch will also be up and running. Yay! Anyway, I'm going to log off of here and transfer the phone and Kindle (now both fully charged) to the bedroom, where I may read before bed, although truthfully I think I'm too tired. I suspect even if I put on a half-hour of music I wouldn't make it through the first song. Good night.

Feeling better today

Happy and having a good day, but not too high and weird. I went to the pharmacy after work and got some medicine for a friend, and then another friend paid for us to have a meal at Long John Silver's. We watched the movie My Babysitter's a Vampire, which explained the backstory to the series. It'a a fun Canadian kids show that mocks Twilight mercilessly. :) Then I went to Kroger and got a few things, along with some creamer, and talked to a nice Jewish man and his father who was buying pomelos and the strange spiky melon we once tried at the game that was so weird. Now I'm home and listening to Jesus Christ, Superstar again (it's the movie soundtrack), and I'm early into the recording, at 'Everything's Alright'. I paid a slew of bills today, and I'm trying to make every dollar stretch as much as I can so I'm not hungry again, while working in my budget.

Tomorrow there's work, which should be fairly light. I may do some cataloguing and try to get my pile of new books down since I'm about to start back in scheduling. Then my friend has an evening appointment, and then there's 'Grimm', I'm assuming. So far, I don't have any weekend plans. I don't know if we're playing the game this weekend yet. Saturday there will be the grocery run with A. I also may stop by Tire Discounters and have them check my battery cables, as every once in awhile my car cranks slowly, but then if I get it a little rest, it starts right up. The battery's just two months old. I'm hoping it's as simple as a loose connexion, and not something like the starter or alternator.

I think I'm going to get comfy, go into the bedroom, and do some reading, while finishing with the album. Good night. Oooh. We're up to 'This Jesus Must Die'; I love Caiphas' low voice, and his and Annas' voices play off each other, as Annas is a high tenor.

Home now

We decided to record 'Grimm' and watch it tomorrow, as they were tired and were all comfy in bed. I came on home. It's supposed to get really cold tonight; my apartment leasing office actually put up a notice on our building door for tips to prevent the pipes from freezing. At least all of our plumbing is on interior walls, so that helps. Which makes me wonder if I left my friends' kitchen faucet dripping when I got some water. I'll call them a little later and remind them to check.

I'm listening to the radio now. Ed Sheeran's 'Thinking Out Loud' is playing. I'm a little tired, a little sleepy, but not as bad as I have been on and off this week. I did a little cleaning up when I got home, and the house doesn't seem quite so bad now. Tomorrow I'm running by the pharmacy, taking a friend to the credit union, taking them shopping for sheets, taking one to the grocery, and then to their Valentine's celebration. So tomorrow will be busy. Our hiatus with the game was slated to end Sunday, but Brenda's got an ill member of her family who needs her to stay home with him until he's back on his feet, so it may be next week. I still have a passage to transcribe from awhile back, but the actual game notes were finished weeks ago. So I'll try to finish that. Also this weekend I hope to get my taxes done. I put my info through an estimator and I'm not getting much back at all this year from the federal and I usually get almost nothing from the state, usually about $25 or so, which is why I usually just donate it to one of the causes you can choose. We'll see. I may wind up doing them on my phone with the Internet down at home; it's probably more secure than going on the library's Wi-Fi network. I wonder if the library is open on Presidents' Day. We've only had that holiday off since last year, so I'm still not used to a February three-day weekend. But it would be nice to go over there and do some blogging. Or I could go to our laundry room, which has a Wi-Fi password hung up on the wall, a couple of chairs, and a small table. :)

I think I may do some reading. I've got several books out from the library, both paper books and e-books. I'd like to get them read. Good night for now.

I'm sorry I haven't updated much lately

I'm still without Internet at home, although I can get on with my hotspot, and I've only used about a fifth of my allotment in three weeks. But a lot has been happening lately, and I've come home just too tired to blog. But I have a three-day weekend and I'm hoping to get some writing in. Also, for now, I'm over at my friends' house waiting for 'Grimm' to come on while they're taking a nap. Since this is my computer (I've let my friend borrow it, as his needs a new power supply), all my settings are on my login, so I just went ahead and switched users and am using his Internet to get online.

So several things have come to mind over the last few days, things I've meant to blog about, but haven't. Here's the most serious:

There comes a time when, if we are lucky to live long enough, our own ageing and eventual mortality raises its ugly head. Perhaps it is dealing with the impending or actual death of a parent, or of a close friend, or perhaps even a diagnosis that is going to mean our own death within what suddenly seems a short time.

I will be turning fifty next year, the milestone so many dread, and to which I normally reply, ‘Well, it’s better than the alternative.’ When I turn fifty, I’ll have been at my current job for twenty years, and (unless I find something else soon) will be laid off the very month that I have my birthday. I’m feeling like an old fogey, and for the first time, I’m really afraid of age discrimination in the job market, and that as a solo medical librarian, I have harmed my job prospects because I don’t have the supervisory experience expected in most jobs looking for the length of career that I do possess. This despite the fact that I learn quickly, am great with technology, am very good with interacting with other people from all walks of life and am very flexible in terms of jobs I can do and my willingness to step in and help the team work out an issue. In the past few years, I have taken on another job in revenue cycle that has had me working with clinicians I never had much contact with before. I’ve helped out during temporary absences with things like foot pressure studies and patient scheduling, learning new systems and skills. It’s shown that I can do just about anything I set my mind to. But in the end, it may not matter, as the hospital is moving to an ambulatory care centre model, and there simply is no room for a library, librarian, or even the bulk of my charge entry job, as we will not be able to charge for outpatient facility fees. So I’m in a sort of limbo, looking for another job, at nearly fifty, after devoting most of my adult life to my organisation.

But adding to the uncertainty are issues of my own health and that of people close to me. Will my own health, which is not great, but which is managed, hold out until retirement? Will I lose people I love before I’m ready to let go? Am I up to the challenge of being a caregiver beyond what I have done for years? Will there be anyone left to take care of me, given that I have no children and a very small network of loved ones? These are all questions on my mind. For right now, I don’t have answers. Time will have to provide them. But it is all very unsettling. For now, though, while it is on my mind, the focus must be in living, in being with those I may lose, in doing what I can to help my own health. It is all any of us can do when faced with the march of time. In the end, it is how we live our allotment that matters.

Much less serious:

It's amazing how much attention you can garner while eating a pomelo.

I'd seen pomelos at Kroger and I have never had one and was intrigued. Sure they look like giant grapefruit, but I wanted to know how they tasted. But at $3.99 each, I wasn't going to try. Then I saw one in a little bag for 99 cents in the bargain bin, and bought it and took it home. Yesterday I took it to work with me, and was immediately bombarded at the lunch table by 'what is that?' and 'is that a grapefruit?' But it didn't stop there. Two people called out the same questions from a table, and another came over and asked me, too. I cut it in half, and that one half filled me up. It was actually quite sweet, not the tangy bitter grapefruit taste at all. I asked the staff in the cafeteria to wrap up the other half for me, and they were all curious about it, too.

It was quite an experience.

Back to serious:

It annoys me that icons like Gloria Steinem and Madeleine Albright seem to think that female supporters of Bernie Sanders can't be proper feminists or are somehow betraying their own kind because they do not believe that they should vote for Hillary Clinton simply on the basis of her gender. While I would like to see a woman as president, it's not my only criterion. Instead, I vote according to whom I think will do the best job leading the country and who stands for the things I believe in. For me, that is Bernie Sanders. I'm not saying I would not vote for Clinton should she be the Democratic nominee. But I seriously dislike her. Not as much as Donald Trump, mind you. But unlike Bernie Sanders, she says things based on politics rather than being consistent about her beliefs and assertions. I am tired of Washington insiders. Yes, Bernie has been a senator for a long time, but he's not in the pocket of big money, he's a maverick, and he's consistently been one for a long time, too. The only thing he might be weak on is foreign policy, and I'm sure he's smart enough to surround himself with the best people for that. Can he get things past Congress? I don't know. But I'd like to see him try. Also, I have trouble with the e-mail thing with Clinton. Seriously? I can't use my personal e-mail for my work, and I'm in a non-profit with no real secrets. But seriously, as Secretary of State? Granted, others apparently did not use encrypted government e-mail, either, but you know, that's dumb on all their parts, or at least dumb on their staffers' parts. I know people of Clinton's generation are not necessarily as tech-savvy as your average 20-year-old these days, but really? It's just dumb. How are you supposed to have any idea of national security if you can't grok that?

Despite the fact that many feminists have given feminism a bad name over the years, I consider myself a feminist. I do not support Hillary Clinton, true. I'd like to see a woman in office, but I do not want to see her in office, necessarily. The nice Jewish man from Vermont, old as he is, socialist as he is, even with his unfortunate choice of democratic socialist as description (if you don't understand while that's unfortunate, try reading some European history), is my choice. I have a Sanders bumper sticker on my car--the first time I've ever put a political statement on one of my cars. I'll definitely be voting for him in the primary. And Gloria Steinem and Madeleine Albright and the rest of those indignant feminists who think I'm betraying women can kiss my ass, because I have a mind of my own and I don't care what they think.

I just slept a long time and I'm still having trouble waking up

So last night, I came home, was online briefly, but didn’t actually sit down and blog, but rather worked out a budget for the next two months, and by 9 pm was so tired I could barely concentrate anymore and headed to bed, forgetting entirely to take my Lantus, but my blood sugar was 99 anyway this morning, probably because I finally got up about 10 am this morning, although the original plan was 6 am, but then I decided I might as well sleep in, as I obviously need it. I had mentioned it had seemed like a long week, right? And I got up early yesterday to take the dog to the vet (all’s pretty okay with that; they treated her wounds, which are shallow and not likely to be animal-related, and sent her home with some pain medicine. She’s still slow and obviously not well, but she’ll drink and take her medicine, and my friend left her in to slowly eat her food last night while the others went out.)

I did do all the running I expected to do except that while I did a small grocery run for myself, we didn’t do the supplemental run with A yesterday, as he got back from the barber very late. I’d dropped him off at noon, and it took until 3 pm, they were so busy, for him to get his hair cut. 3 hours! It makes the half an hour I waited at the cable company to return my equipment seem like a piece of cake.  He came home on the bus, so it was after 4:30 when he got home.

In the meantime, YKWIA and I watched a couple of episodes of ‘Ugly Betty’ and Friday night’s ‘Grimm’. Both of us at first thought Meisner and Lucien were being played by the same person, perhaps a double agent or related characters, but I looked them up last night and they are different actors. But there’s a resemblance.

Okay, I should call A and see what the plans are for the store trip and other things we normally do on Sundays. I kind of want to just hang out here for awhile, but I’m in a sleepy-restful mood, meaning I probably wouldn’t get anything done. At least over there I can get my laundry finished along with all the stuff over there, and spend time with good company.

Mortality has been on my mind a lot of late

In seems like everywhere I look, things are hastening to their natural end. Tonight one of my beloved ‘nieces’, a collie shepherd who is about 16 years old, has been doing very poorly. Something has hurt her; I don’t think it was another dog, but she’s bloody under her right ear, and is very unsteady on her feet and more out of it than normal (and lately the senior moments have been more numerous than when she’s alert). So far, even when she’s slowed down, she’s come back and done pretty well. But she was obviously wanting to drink earlier, had her mouth right over the water, and couldn’t seem to. That’s not a good sign. My friends are going to call the vet first thing in the morning and see if they can get her an appointment. We did go ahead and give her the arthritis medicine in the hopes that it would help with some of the pain. The other dogs usually give her a wide berth because she is old and cranky, and there’s been no known dog fight or anything. It’s possible she tangled with something out in the bushes or got trapped and pulled loose. We don’t really know. But hopefully tomorrow at least the vet can see her and make her more comfortable. But we may be looking at the end. She’s been a wonderful and loyal dog. Considering her size, her age is remarkable. I do hope she’ll be alright, but I’m steeling myself for if she’s not.

Today I had my second performance appraisal in a week; I have two jobs at the hospital. I got pretty high marks, and I’ll be getting a raise (yay!) In the first appraisal, I was very candid with my primary boss about looking for another job, and she agreed that I had to pursue what’s best for me. In the second appraisal, my other boss asked me what my plans were at this point, when the hospital shuts down and moves to a new building as an ambulatory care centre. I explained that best case scenario, I find another job that has benefits and is full time. While I could stay to the bitter end and collect a severance, be eligible for unemployment, and have health care for a limited time, it’s very uncertain as to the particulars, a lot of the severance would go to taxes (although I’d get some back as a refund the next year), etc. I did tell him that I will have been here 20 years come next year, right before the move, and I’ll also be turning 50 (another reason mortality has been on my mind as of late), and it will be harder to be looking for a job. And I may need to look outside of the library field, maybe do something along the line of my second job in revenue cycle, if possible. We further discussed that if something did come up in the hospital, I would consider staying, although I’d probably have to take a pay cut, because my library rate is very good, and even though my charge capture position is much lower, it averages out to more than most of those jobs pay, and he was candid about that. He suggested that I could perhaps do something there in fiscal services, and even though I don’t have a formal background in accounting, I can obviously do similar things. Of course, at this point, they’re not sure how many positions in fiscal services will be going, either, so it’s not like he can say, yes, there’s a position you can have. But I think he’s happy with my willingness to take on other duties and help where needed, and I think if something came up, he would recommend me and prefer to retain me. The most likely place to have an opening would be scheduling, which I am trained in, at least to a point. I said I wasn’t sure I’d like to do that five days a week all day, but I would be willing to try, if the pay wasn’t terribly low. The main concern I have at the moment is continuing to have health insurance, and while I might find something on the exchanges, we have excellent insurance and it would be nice to keep it. But benefits are the main goal. That being said, I am having trouble making ends meet, mainly because I’ve overextended myself on debt in the last couple of years. So a pay cut, while it may be inevitable, is not going to be fun, either. Anyway, I asked him to let me know if anything came up, and to keep me in mind for future openings. It couldn’t hurt.

It’s been a very long week, it seems. Tonight I missed the return of ‘Grimm’ because A really needed to go to the store and do a large grocery run. YKWIA recorded it though, and we’ll watch it tomorrow. I also need to see the last two ‘Heroes: Reborn’ episodes. Oh, and he’s been recording the ‘Sword of Shannara Chronicles’ but we haven’t seen them yet.

So, tomorrow I need to:

1. Possibly take the dog to the vet (it’s very close to where they live, but the poor thing is too unsteady to walk up there, right now).
2. Take A to get his medicine, or at least go by and get it for him.
3. Possibly take him to get his hair cut.
4. Take in the Time Warner Cable equipment.
5. Do a very small grocery run for a couple of items they didn’t have tonight.

Okay. I’m pretty tired, and it’s after midnight. Good night.

Since I'm stuck at home

I plan to:

• Do the game notes.
• Straighten up the house.
• Watch 'Grimm' (by myself) :(.

But first I need to eat something, and there's very little in the house. Tomorrow's plans were:

• Go by the bank.
• Pay my rent.
• Help a friend put up his Christmas tree.
• Make latkes for Chanukah.
• Go to the grocery store with a friend.
• Watch the last two episodes of 'Scream Queens' with friends.

Now I'm not sure about that. And with my rent, I don't really have any money to fix whatever is wrong with the car, so I may be doing all this by walking and riding the bus tomorrow, assuming I can get some cash from the bank to use as my fare, plus I'll have to get the ingredients for latkes from the grocery and take them over there. But I will do so if the car doesn't start. I just didn't want to get stranded over there tonight, even though I do have AAA. No lights came on to indicate the problem, except the one that's been on that has to do with the EGR valve. That may have finally become a pressing issue. But it may be the battery. I don't know.

I went and visited my friends for awhile

I took A to the grocery, as I needed to go, too, and then YKWIA and I watched 'Grimm' together. Now I'm home. The Yule tree is lit, along with the strands of light I put up in the windows today and the one above the hall doorway and along the divider between the dining and living areas, which stay up all year. The lights make everything look rather cheerful. The tree is a six foot tree, fairly broad, and takes up much of the room near my living room window, so I have to be a little careful when sitting down at the computer, as I might accidentally knock off an ornament, and most of them are breakable (the one nice thing about not having cats anymore). :)

I got a lot done today. I'm still in a little pain after the workout as far as my feet go, but otherwise, it was good to do. I still have some things to move back into the closets, I need to put water in the fish tanks, do the few plastic dishes that couldn't go in the dishwasher, and tackle some things in the bedroom, but otherwise I think things are much better than they were. I'll go over tomorrow and help my friends with their house, but I can go over later than normal and then get some things done here afterwards.

I think I'm going to listen to a little music, go get a few things off the bed, and then curl up with a good book. Good night.

Not sure where this originated

but it is quite funny.



Okay, I'm going to bed now--morning comes early. I wish I had time to read Library of Souls, as YKWIA got enthralled and finished it the very same night he started reading it. I can't take that chance just now, but I definitely hope to do some reading this weekend. According to him, Ransom Riggs did an excellent job with bringing everything together with a multitude of revelations--I am so wanting to stay up and read now, but I've been up since 5:45 am and I have to get up about then tomorrow, as well. Tomorrow should be very, very busy, as I'll be playing catch up on several fronts, and then 'Grimm' premieres tomorrow night. But Saturday I have got to put aside some time to read Library of Souls. At least I'm good as far as game notes. We should be playing Call of Cthulhu Sunday. :) (And you know, it makes me happy that the Chrome browser spell check actually recognises and knows how to spell 'Cthulhu'.) :) Good night!

For someone

Who does not normally watch television,  I am fairly committed this season:

Monday: 'The Big Bang Theory' and 'Minority Report'
Tuesday: 'iZombie'
Thursday:' Heroes Reborn'
Friday: 'Grimm'  (starting October 30th)

It would be Wednesday,  too,  but I'm too wussy for 'American Horror Story'.  And of course,  'Doctor Who'  is an issue with YKWIA,  who can't understand Peter Capaldi. So Saturday is more for Netflix,  like 'Lost Girl'  and 'Haven'. (YKWIA also won't watch SyFy due to how they spell their logo,  so we catch those shows on Netflix rather than cable.)  ;)

Okay,  good night!

One last thing...

There is no new 'Grimm' tonight, and that is sad

--although at least we can look forward to next season. I'm home now after doing the following after work:

1. Getting my allergy shot
2. Picking up medicine for a dog from a vet
3. Picking up medicine for three people from a pharmacy
4. Taking A to the grocery store, and getting some things for me, too
5. Filling up the tank with gas

Now I'm kind of pooped. We normally do the Kroger run on Saturdays, but we were both pretty much out of food, so we moved it up a day. I don't have notes to do tomorrow, as I've already finished them. Most of the things we would normally do on a Saturday have been done--I even got string cheese for the game already, assuming we play. So technically, at this moment, I have no plans for tomorrow, and should really work on the house with gusto, because we have The Color Purple out, all three of us want to watch it, and it would be nice if we could watch at my house on the TV rather than around the computer, and my house is looking really, really scary--so scary that last night I looked at all the stuff to do and had a great deal of anxiety, and pretty much curled up in bed hugging something in the hopes the feeling of being overwhelmed would end. I know, that's kind of sad. Welcome to life with anxiety issues. This weekend the plan is to break it up into doable sections and try that, starting with the dishes. Also, I have a plan for attack about the phobic driving issue as well, using some worksheets my counselor suggested to focus on the problem. Of course, it is designed to take several months to desensitise a person who has a phobia. I have to drive to Louisville in two weeks. So it will be a bit of a crash course. :)

I couldn't stand it any more

I've been actually straightening up the house, removing the various detritus that has accumulated. I have two small bags of trash ready to go out, two of recyclables plus a full recyclables container, and a bag of grocery bags to put in the trunk of my car for the next time we go to Kroger. I've corralled some of the reusable and lunch bags, as well as a satchel and a backpack/purse. There are two piles to go through, one on the TV stand in front of the TV and one on the end table. I've deleted old voice mails from that phone. I've vacuumed the computer keyboard and wiped it down with alcohol prep pads. I've gotten all the dishes together and ready to put in the dishwasher. It had gotten pretty bad. I haven't touched the rest of the house. That's just the living room and part of the kitchen, though. But if I can work an hour or two every day, I think I can get everything back to normal pretty soon. Then I can vacuum, and maybe get the carpet cleaned, as I never took advantage of that service I got for free when I renewed my lease, and it's almost up again. :) They offer a free cleaning most years.

I'm kind of pooped now. I think I'm going to go take my purse into the bedroom and move everything back to my tote bag for tomorrow. I'd changed to the bright pink purse because I had on a floral skirt, bright pink camisole and blouse, and an off-white lacy shrug on today, and it matched better than the tote. But I love my 'Chicago' tote. I got it in the airport at O'Hare for less than $20. It's a faded green colour (yeah, no purple, I'm afraid, although there was blue and brown, and maybe pink). It zips up, has a large zippered pocket with phone holders on it, and side pockets for drinks, etc., and a metal tab for hanging my keys on. I particularly like that there is a pocket inside that can store things I must be able to get a hold of immediately, such as my Epi-Pen and my albuterol inhaler and spacer. :) Everything fits very nicely. I have two plastic bags, clear ones that held a traveling kit of airline-safe liquids. One has all my medicine and diabetic supplies. One of them has things like a comb, nail clippers, lip balm, microfiber cloth and glass cleaner, and contacts cleaner and case--those things that go rolling around in a bag easily. That way, I can just change them between purses and bags with no trouble.

Tomorrow I'm going to get a loaned text for the class I'll be teaching, so I can read through it before the training. I am glad it'll be Friday tomorrow. It'll be jeans day at work, for one. And 'Grimm' will be on that evening, which is the season finale.

Okay, I'm going to go work on transferring things, and then I'll probably head on to bed, as tomorrow is one of my early days, and I'll be getting up at 6 am. Have a good night!