Interrupted work on the house to go over to my friends' for about six hours

But we got the grocery run finished, I did a little visiting, and we watched some things on YouTube as well as 'H2O: Just Add Water' and 'Lab Rats' on Netflix. YKWIA showed me a great video that made me laugh so hard I cried. This is both of us when it comes to opening medicine bottles:



Now I'm listening to Imagine Dragons and looking at what needs to be done next. There's the refrigerator to clean out, then trash and recyclables to go out. I need to do dishes and laundry, wipe down the counters and stove in the kitchen, do a quick cleaning of the bathroom, and that should pretty much do it. Still, it's a lot to do. Plus I need to do game notes. I'm not sure I'll get it all done, but I will try to get what I can finished.

I also need to go to Meijer for something for a friend and pick up snacks for the game tonight, and then go in early tomorrow to get a head start on game preparations so that YKWIA and I can watch a movie from his childhood that he wants to share with me.

Okay, I'm going to go tackle the refrigerator.

What a busy couple of days

Saturday I:

1. Was all emotionally screwed up when I got to my friends' house, and more than a little premenstrual
2. Had mermaid therapy with a couple of episodes of 'H2O: Just Add Water' (which did help my mood)
3. Took a friend to the grocery
4. Came home for a nap, which was aborted, which did nothing to help my mood
5. Helped another with cooking, which did help
6. Ate dinner
7. Watched an episode of 'Midsomer Murders' with friends, called 'The Axeman Cometh', where I sympathised with the murderer in this one

Sunday I felt better emotionally, but my neck and back were really bothering me. Despite that, I:

1. Helped with the house cleaning
2. Went to the grocery for game snacks
3. Re-potted a plant
4. Played the game
5. Helped with a project afterwards

I got home about midnight on Saturday and eleven at night on Sunday. So it was a very full weekend. Speaking to YKWIA, who is wise in many things, I really have to come to the conclusion (and not for the first time, but this one might stick), that I go to great lengths not to be alone, and when I do face that prospect--whether it's being alone at home or going out and doing something, I usually curl into a ball and sleep. I even get to the point where I blame others for taking up my time when, in fact, I'm lingering or otherwise making sure I don't have to face myself when I go home by keeping myself busy for others. There's definitely some unknown pathology there. I am considering going back into counseling, perhaps with a psychologist (I never seem to get much benefit from dealing with social workers). Perhaps she or he could help me ferret out the reasons behind this and find coping mechanisms so I can learn to enjoy being alone. I used to. But then I didn't have much choice; I was alone a great deal growing up. We'll see. It is a little odd, and I don't think it's true monophobia or anything like that. But it's affecting my personal life quite a lot. (Of course, professionally, I'm rarely alone.) For one, I didn't finish that class I was in because I could never stay up and focused while at home, even though I had the opportunity. :( So, I really need to address that. I can't enjoy things that I might do like browsing through the vendors at a art fair or festival, or going to a movie, reading a book, or just watching shows at home. About the only thing I can do is listen to music, which was my standby when I broke my ankle and was off on my own for three months. I didn't really manage to read books or watch things then, either. About the only things I can do comfortably when I'm on my own is listen to music and play on the computer. I have to learn to enjoy being by myself again.

What a busy day!

Listening to Of Monsters and Men, 'Dirty Paws'

Today I:

1. Woke up and wasn't groggy; morning blood sugar was only 145!
2. Went into work early
3. Worked half a day
4. Took a friend to an appointment
5. Got my insulin and pen needles from the pharmacy
6. Took my friend to pick up something that he'd ordered
7. Ate dinner with him
8. Took him to the grocery; also got glucose tablets and alcohol pads for me
9. Watched 'H2O: Just Add Water', an episode from season 3
10. Watched the first episode of 'Fringe'
11. Came home just now and am listening to music and relaxing after all that running around

115

That was my blood sugar reading right before lunch. Really. Looks like the new medicine is working pretty well. And I've been under 200 all day. I've also lost five pounds since Thursday. I know it's the general post-period water loss, but still....the only bad thing so far is that I pretty much have to go pee every time I finish drinking anything. So I'm trying to drink a good bit of liquid, especially water, throughout the day so I don't go into dehydration or for that matter, lactic acidosis, which is a rare side effect of the metformin the endocrinologist put me one.

Today I did four loads of laundry (including bedding) [finally!] over at my friends' house. I also went to the store with one of them on the grocery run and watched those last two episodes of season 2 of 'H2O: Just Add Water', which included a showdown between the mad mermaid and the others with my other friend. Then we worked on one of my characters for the game. I came home and dropped everything near the front door and just went on to bed, I was so tired. But I'm up now. Today was also my mom's birthday, so I sent her an e-card (wasn't with it enough to get a real one this year, for which I feel a bit guilty). Anyway, I did wish her a great birthday before the day was out, at least. Good thing I woke up when I did; there wasn't much time.

Okay, I've eaten a little (yes, I know it's late, but I haven't actually had dinner). I have some things to do before tomorrow. Good night.

I have spent a lot of the last 48 hours in doctor's appointments

Yesterday I went to the endocrinologist. She wants me to lose 30 lbs. I weigh more than I ever have, at 305 lbs, but some of that is water weight due to insulin's tendency to kind of swell you up, she said. She put me on two medications, one of which I had never heard of. It's only been on the market since March of 2013. Both tend to help with losing weight. One makes you more sensitive to insulin, and the other helps clear the glucose out of your blood and kidneys. Ideally, as I lose weight, I should be able to dial back on the insulin. Wish me luck.

Today I was at our family doctor with a friend for three and a half hours. The plan had been to get to work about noon and work a half day. I got there at 2:15. But I managed to do everything I needed to in a small amount of time, even though it was a bit hectic for awhile. Then I went to the pharmacy and got my medication (they had ordered them yesterday, as they weren't in their inventory) and over to my friends' house for a bit. We were both tired from the day at the doctor. So I went home a little before dark. Then I texted with another friend for awhile, and got up on the bed with the idea of lying there for only half an hour or so and then getting up and watching something on DVD or Netflix. Turns out I went straight to sleep, and woke up just now, at about 2:30 am. I finally gave my libation (it's a bit late) and ate a little cheese.

Tomorrow there's getting my rent, the farmer's market, the grocery, and a run to Lowe's, plus watching the last two episodes of season 2 of 'H2O: Just Add Water'. Also there are game notes to do. And I've asked to do laundry at my friends' house. It will be easier on my back than doing it here. And I need to finish assignment three for that PubMed class. So tomorrow will be fairly busy. This whole week has been extremely busy; I've gotten a lot accomplished, at least.

Okay, I think I'm going to go to back to bed. Have a good night.

Got everything I needed to accomplished today

I did miss the farmer's market, but hey, there's always Tuesday or next Saturday. I got a new serpentine belt and tensioner. They finished about 2:15 and then came and got me a bit after. I got over to my friends' house a little after three. One friend's mom and stepdad came over a little after that and we visited with them, and then we went to pick up what my friend needed, grabbed some food from Captain D's, came back, ate, and then my other friend and I did a fairly small grocery run. We came back and I watched an episode of 'H2O: Just Add Water' with YKWIA, who is watching the 'Mako Mermaids' series and trying to get me caught up with the first show so we can watch that together. He also showed me several fashion show videos in an attempt to understand style. What I got from that is that I think Prada products are quite ugly, judging from what I saw. I did like Dolce and Cabbana, though.

Tomorrow there's housecleaning, working on updating a character of mine from the Cthulhu game, working on something else, and maybe watching a little more of 'H2O: Just Add Water'. I think I'm going to listen to some music and read a little before going to bed. Have a good night.

I am so glad tomorrow is Friday

It has been a very long, busy week at work. I've had a little time in the evenings to recuperate, but I'm ready for the weekend. Today I went on over to Meijer after work and got the stuff for my friend, along with some plastic plants for the little aquarium (I don't care for them, but I don't want live plants taking over the betta tank). I just put them in and he seems to like them. I did get some cilantro and German thyme plants to replace the dill and basil in the window boxes, which were pretty much spent. Everything's doing well so long as I water them. The strawberries have several berries on them right now, and hopefully they'll ripen soon. I also got a bread knife, as I didn't have one, and now that I'm making my own bread occasionally, I need a knife that will cut cleanly.

After I came home (the first time) today I planted the herbs in the window box, and then headed over to my friends' house to drop off the stuff from Meijer. I wound up watching a few episodes of 'H2O: Just Add Water'. Now I'm home and I'd better go ahead and pay my cell phone bill--I waited till the due date because today was payday. Then I think I'll listen to some music (I'm listening to Ed Sheeran right now') and head on to bed. Tomorrow I'm helping my friend with some cooking in the evening, and Saturday I hope to go to the farmer's market, we'll go to the grocery, and I have an appointment to have the car looked at. I think a belt is going bad--it's making that distinctive high-pitched noise, especially on rainy days, and I'm hoping to get it changed before it actually breaks.

Hope you have a nice evening and an even better weekend. Good night.

Up at strange hours of the night

I came home about 9ish today and just pretty much went straight to bed. I'd taken a friend to a doctor's appointment, dealt with much nerve-wracking traffic, gotten dinner and then had to take it back because Taco Bell gave the vegetarians beefy tacos (and I ate one before I quite realised it, and I thought I was going to be sick), and watched several episodes of 'H2O: Just Add Water'. We've been watching on Netflix, having to compensate because the second season episodes are out of order, but tomorrow I should get the complete series from Amazon on DVD. I must admit it tends to relax me. The episodes are short, just 24 minutes, and the subject matter is generally somewhat lightweight teen drama, without the angst of American shows. Maybe Australian teens aren't quite as angsty, I don't know. :)

Speaking of Australians, I am starting Gary Corby's The Ionian Sanction, the second of his ancient Greek mystery series. I just got the third, Sacred Games, recently. I really liked his debut novel, The Pericles Commission. I'll let you know what I think about the second once I'm finished.

Things are rather quiet at the moment. It has been a busy week at work, but not too bad otherwise. The little betta is still doing well. I need to do some stuff around the house tomorrow evening and also go to the Y (today just wasn't going to work). Saturday is farmer's market, grocery, and an appointment for a friend. Somewhere between now and Sunday I need to do game notes, and I think it's the last game before one of the players goes to Pennsic (the great 'war' between the Midrealm and the Kingdom of the East in the Society for Creative Anachronism). It's been years since I went, but it was enjoyable. I think it's much bigger than it used to be; several thousand people camp out at a Pennsylvania campground, dress up in mediaeval gear, and those with fighter personae whack at each other with rattan swords. Fortunately we wrapped up the adventure last time, so 1) we can hopefully have just a bit of down time and 2) the notes should go by quickly because I don't put in blow-by-blow action, so it goes quicker during action scenes than, say, investigation ones.

Okay, I've had something to drink, plugged in my phone, taken some long-acting insulin, and fed the fish. It's time to head back to bed. Good night.

Guess what?

Yesterday I finally went to the YMCA and worked out. I did a round of cardio and got my heart rate up to 140, sweated quite a bit, and generally had a good time. My friends and a co-worker really helped get me there through encouragement. I didn't go into the swimming pool because one, I was on this side of an asthma attack and it didn't seem advisable, and two, I'm still afraid of being the big pink blobbie (my swimsuit is neon pink). But as YKWIA put it, I should be the best pink blobbie I can be. People were all shapes, sizes, ages, etc., so I feel a little better about being there. I'm going to try to go tomorrow. A friend has a doctor's appointment (and I'm taking him) tomorrow afternoon, but the Y's pool doesn't have open swim till 7:30 pm, so it should be doable. Go me.

I sat down with someone more knowledgeable than I about diet and diabetes today and she helped me get a plan together for dealing with carbs. It's not extremely low-carb, fairly balanced, but she put together a good guideline that should help me track them, which will help my blood sugar and probably help me lose weight, too, so I'm going to put that in action. That, along with the exercise and going to the endocrinologist in a couple of weeks should help on the diabetes front.

I've been pretty busy at work each day this week. After work today I went and got a friend, went on a small grocery run, and then watched 'Ugly Betty', 'H2O: Just Add Water', and some stuff on Paula Deen with YKWIA. Before I left I fixed him dinner and now that I'm home, I've been texting with another friend. But I must admit, I'm fading fast. It's 11 pm already; the day has flown by. I should probably go on to bed. But I wanted to touch base here. I've got some news stories I'd like to blog about; maybe I can do that tomorrow. In the meantime, have a safe and wonderful evening. Good night.

I told you I'd post this

Here's the little betta in his tank. He's been exploring. It's only three gallons, but it's much bigger than the small cup he came in. I haven't decided if I'll name him (the goldfish aren't named, for example).

Today I slept in and then took a friend to do the weekly Kroger run for groceries. Then I watched some 'H2O: Just Add Water' (we're in the second season, now). It was raining when I came home. Now I've eaten, and I also transferred photos from my phone (always a hassle, as Samsung's Kies software rarely works without doing lots of updates each time I go to use it.) Now I need to work on the notes from the game last week.

PS I got my passport card today. This is an ID card that can be used for travel to Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean. A regular passport (which I received yesterday) is necessary for other travel abroad. All that's left is my identification papers that went with my application. I'm really pleased by the turnaround the State Department had for issuing the various forms of identification. It took 14 business days, 19 total days to receive the passport, and one more day to get the card. Not bad!

So I overslept this morning

which isn't surprising, since I didn't get home till midnight and went to bed late (for me). Tomorrow I have a doctor's appointment to go to and it's really early, so I need to get up super early. Since that's the case, I think I'm going to go to bed early tonight.

I had a doctor's appointment today, a followup for my swelling ankles, and was able to get out of there early enough to get a friend from work and go by the pharmacy to pick up some more pen needles and Lantus, along with some stuff for my friends (we all use the same pharmacy). Then I watched some episodes, including the season one finale, of 'H2O: Just Add Water', which put me in a happy mood, something I needed after the rush-hour traffic.

I'm afraid that's all I have for now. I'm going to go relax and listen to some music. If I do stay awake, I'll check the news and see if there's anything to add. If I fall asleep, well, I hope you have a good night.

Okay, you might as well have it in your head, too

'No Ordinary Girl' from 'H2O: Just Add Water', with lyrics:



and the song with scenes from season one:



Catchy, hmm? Enjoy!

Lovely day

I woke up at eight this morning, after sleeping a total of 12 hours, just waking up once about 1:30 but going straight back to bed. I somehow managed to get to work on time (I have to be there at 8:30), despite the fact that my ear did not cooperate when I tried to put an earring in it after nothing in them for just two or three days. (Which is why I'm sleeping in post earrings tonight.) I got a lot accomplished at work, especially with the referrals, and I'm generally happy about how my Monday went. Plus, one of my co-workers who had been ill is back to work, and it was nice to see her today.

After work I picked up a friend and took him home, then visited with his spouse while he went off to a meeting. I called Time Warner Cable for him, as the home page that had been set up for him just went away completely and would not load. Turns out the www.twccentral.com webpage is just a temporary thing, and the real home page is www.rr.com. Not that they tell you anywhere in the migration process that this will happen, mind you. So, just in case you have the same trouble, there you go. We also watched several episodes of a delightful show called 'Better Off Ted', set in a Monsanto-like company and which has Portia De Rossi as the wonderfully efficient (as in shouldn't be allowed to oversee gas chambers) boss, Veronica. It's really fun, and I can't believe I missed it when it was on, and it's a shame it never really 'made it', but I'm glad it's on Netflix. If you have it, or some other way to see it, you should check it out. And then, in order to firmly cement its theme song into my mind, we watched a couple of episodes of 'H2O: Just Add Water'. :)

As I drove home, it occurred to me that it was now July, meaning I've had car insurance for six months, and that probably meant that in the stack of unopened mail at home I had new insurance cards. I prayed that I'd get home without doing something stupid to get a citation, when they could be expired. So I got home, called my friend to let him know I got home okay (I always do that when it's dark; you never know.) I went through my mail, found the cards--which thankfully start on the day my insurance is due, a few days away, put them next to my purse so I'd have them tomorrow morning, and then got out the Time Warner Cable bill to see when it was due. I figured it was today, but it's actually a few days away. But I followed the instructions for getting a TWC ID so I could pay online, and it glitched, but the registration went through. I paid my bill and did a few more housekeeping sorts of things, then texted with Brandon, who was checking on me tonight. Now it's almost 12:30 and I am definitely up past my bedtime. :)

So it's been a pretty busy day. Tomorrow we'll have a bigger clinic, so there will be a lot of data entry for me to do. I'm going to start cataloguing some new books, as well, I think, and generally spruce up the library. And with it being the first of the month, I have some major filing to do that should take up the remainder of my day.

I still haven't done those hand-washables. And my payment for the YMCA went through today. Still haven't been, except for the once, when I signed up. I have some things to do for a friend tomorrow, but I really want to go sometime this week. I'm assuming they're closed the Fourth, but maybe Friday is an option. They don't have the open swim on Wednesday nights, unfortunately. The diuretic seems to be helping with the swelling of my ankles. It's still happening, but it's not quite as bad. I need to start wearing the pressure hose every day; if I do that, then I should be able to fit into my athletic shoes in the evening to work out, or at least that's what I hope.

Okay, I'm definitely getting sleepy. Good night. Hope your week goes well.

I woke up with it in my head

and after watching several episodes since about 2 this afternoon with a friend (so about 4 1/2 hours), the theme song to 'H2O: Just Add Water' is probably stuck there for good. But it was fun, and it kind of took me back to the good things about being a teenager (although I didn't grow up on the Gold Coast of Australia, and I didn't have magical mermaid powers). :)

Now I'm looking forward to a quiet evening at home. But first I'm going to scrounge for something to eat. Hope your weekend is going well.