Catching up again

Monday, January 27

• Stewie is eating and drinking.  I am medicating him daily without too much struggle.  I am hoping for the best.
• The Culligan man came this morning and took away two empty water jugs and put five bags of salt into my water softener.  That's a lot of salt.
• Folded my last load of laundry, put away the clean dishes, washed the dirty dishes, and made fried eggs, toast, and tea for my breakfast.
• Set up an appointment with the Owatonna cardiologist for February 20.

Tuesday, January 28

• Stewie is still improving.  He eats and drinks small amounts several times a day.  I suspect it has to be that way as I am sure his stomach has shrunk to the size of a button.  He was so thin.  He looked like a skeleton cat.  I am so thankful that he is eating and his eyes are brighter.  I really feared I would lose him. I feared I would wake up with a dead cat in my arms.  I cried all day, every day.  I felt so powerless when he was not eating or drinking and no matter what I did, it didn't help.
• I took my mother with me to Owatonna for groceries and supplies.  I had to buy several light bulbs for the bathroom as all but one in the bar over the mirror were burned out.  We got hot chocolates from Starbucks for the ride home.  They make the best hot chocolate.  I took her to the post office to get her mail, but the pills she has been expecting still were not there.  I gave her my five bills to send out at the post office.   I took her to Lily's house where she carried in the two plastic containers Lily had given me cookies and refrigerator pickles in before she went to Texas.  Then Mom watered her plants.  Mom carried my stuff in for me.  There wasn't a lot.  Mostly cat food for Stewie (and Peach, of course.  I would never deny her.).  
• I picked up my mail after taking Mom home.  After I put my groceries and supplies away, I went through my mail and bagged up the recycling.  I had a couple of bills which I wrote out and made ready to mail.  
• Peaches required much love and cuddling this afternoon.  She spent at least a couple of hours sprawled across my chest, rolling around, head butting me, and purring so loud and hard that my entire chair was vibrating.
• Today was a beautiful day--all the trees and weeds and anything that was sticking out of the ground was coated with hoar frost, and it looked like a fairyland out there.

Wednesday, January 29

• Today, I wrote a response to the very patonizing letter I received from the patient experience department.  They really pissed me off with their "I am sorry YOU were UPSET," and "We are all sorry you FELT (or FEEL) that way."  Then the bullshit about the "multiple factors" that supposedly "contributed" to the post surgical amnesia and delirium which made no sense at all considering I was much sicker and weaker in March and April than I was in December.  Their letter treated me like I was so stupid that they could tell me any old bullshit and I would just lap it up and accept it as gospel.  Sorry, you assholes.  YOU FAIL.  
• Anyhow, I worked hard on my response and emailed it to them immediately.  It is unlikely that they will respond to that letter at all.  Fuck them all.  I hope that they are victims of people JUST LIKE THEM one day soon.  
• Stewie continues to eat and drink.  His backbone is not nearly as pronounced through his flesh as it was.  He is gaining weight.  He seems happier.  He sleeps a lot, but he eats and drinks small amounts frequently and seeks me out to beg for food if his dish or water bowl is empty.  
• Today is my sister Kim's 63rd birthday.  I decided to reach out to her even though I feel she should be the one reaching out to me with an apology if there is any hope for our relationship to ever be restored.  But, I called her and sang happy birthday to her.  We chatted for 15 minutes or so, discussing nothing about the incidents that caused the rift.  I told her about Stewie's health.  She told me how Siffy was doing.  Our conversation was amicable.  There was no animosity.  It felt like progress.
• Basically I did nothing much today.  I worked on embroidering my Christmas table runner.  I am not enjoying working on it much.  It is too repetitive.  I think it will be very pretty when it is done, but I am very bored with making green lazy daisy stitches for hours.  
• I had a nice chat with Lily who spent the day helping her granddaughter Randi work in her library at her elementary school in Austin.  She is enjoying her wintering in Texas and is questioning whether she still wants to sell the trailer or not.  I told her it is her life, and she should keep the trailer if she loves it down there.  Her son wants her to sell it and be done with it, but her daughter wants her to do whatever makes her happy.

Thursday, January 30

• I did something today that I haven't done in a very very long time.  I stripped all the bedding off my bed (which I have done all along), washed the comforter and pillow shams (also something I have always done), and put fresh sheets on the bed (which I haven't done since Cynthia started cleaning house for me).  When the comforter was washed and dried, I put that back on the bed.  It is hard for me to make the bed from scratch because my bedroom is long and narrow.  I have to pull the bed away from the wall in order to get the fitted sheet on the corners properly.  By the time I finished, I was panting and sweating, but it was DONE and done well.  I felt so happy to be able to do it all on my own.  And I looked forward to sleeping between those clean sheets like a little kid looks forward to Christmas morning!
• I cleaned the litter boxes, put away the clean dishes, washed the dirty dishes, and made a big pot of spaghetti.  I wanted to make tator tot hot dish, but I only had one small can of green beans, and I needed two.  So, I decided to make a pot of spaghetti instead.  I discovered I had no spaghetti noodles, so I used spiral pasta instead.  It turned out especially good.  The only bad thing was that I discovered my ziplock of shredded mozzarella was moldy.  So, no cheese for my spaghetti.  Sigh.  It was still good.  I set aside a container to give to my mother as it made a very large batch.  If Lily were not in Texas, I would have given it to her.
• My cousin Rhonda called me and we chatted for a good long time.  I told her about the birthday card I found for her daughter--Randi teaches yoga, and I found the funniest card. The front said "Getting older is kind of like taking a yoga class."  When you open it up, it says "Your chances of farting in public go way up."  I laughed out loud when I read it and figured Randi would get a kick out of it.  Rhonda thought it was hilarious too.  I asked her to send me Randi's address and verify her birthday.  I think it is in May but not sure.
• Last night I dreamed I had bought a huge old farm house in the country.  It was on the edge of a field. There were many doors that led to different sections of the huge yard.  Out the back door was like a small playground.  There was a swing set, a jungle gym, a teeter totter, and a play house.  A bunch of little kids were tearing around out there, playing on the equipment.  I asked them who they were and they said they were from the next farm over and they had played with the kids who used to live there. As I was talking to these little kids, a beautiful momma kitty walked up to me along with about six little kittens, each one as adorable as can be. They were fluffy and were many different colors. One was black with a white bib.  One was calico.  One was gray and white.  I called my sister who was in the house and said, so excited, "JONI!  Come and look!  I have outdoor kitties!"  She asked how long they would stay outdoor kitties, and I replied, "Not very long!"  
• The house was long and narrow, and there was a hideous fluffy, fancy, ruffled curtain that divided one half of the house from the other.  The living room was on the side by the back yard, and the dining room and kitchen were on the other. The kitchen was huge and had tons of cupboards which were still full of pots and pans and cans of food and stuff that had been left behind by the previous owners.  There were two refrigerators and an upright freezer in the kitchen.  All that was in the freezer was ice.  Bags and bags of industrial ice.  I wondered why they needed so much ice. I was thinking it would be fun to go through all the dishes and cookware that had been left behind.  Out the kitchen door was like a walkway made of boards.  Off the side of the walkway was a small room that was sort of like a gazebo except it was rectangular and not very open.  There were gaps between the white boards it was made of, and inside was an antique dresser, very ornate, that had been painted with the white paint that crackles once it is dry.  I thought it was a shame that they had painted it with that hideous "shabby chic" paint.  It would have been beautiful if it had been left alone as stained and varnished wood.  
• On the back side of the house was an open yard and on the far end was a barn full of cows.  I said, "I don't want those cows."  (Too much work).  But one of the people there, possibly the previous owner, said that a neighbor owned the cows and just rented the space for them.  I was really excited about getting all of my stuff in my new house and putting all my dolls in the wide open finished basement. I was kind of disappointed when I woke up and realized it was just a dream.  The idea of living out in the country was very appealing.

Friday, January 31

• Sleeping between the clean sheets was just as glorious as I imagined it would be.  
• Stewie was not enthusiastic about getting medicated today.  He tried to escape twice, but I caught him mid leap both times.  He took the pill and the liquid medicine pretty well, but he wasn't happy.  Only two more days of having to give him the pill, but the liquid stuff has to keep going in until it's gone.  
• I took Mom to get her mail again, and I gave her a container of the "spaghetti" I made yesterday.  She gave me four of the oranges that she bought the other day as she can't eat a whole bag of them.  She thought they were the best oranges she had ever eaten in her life.  I ate one for lunch, and it was good--but I wouldn't say it was the best I every had.
• I picked up my mail on my way home.  I had a ton of it.  I also had a package in the mail box which turned out to be a long sleeved tee shirt that had a pill bottle labeled "anti depressant," and it was over flowing with little cartoon kittens.  It was adorable.  On my breezeway steps was a small package.  In it was the DVD I had ordered.  It was a "Chair Yoga" DVD.  I'm trying to increase my physical activity, and I thought this might be a good possibility for me.  
• I found a beef roast in the freezer yesterday and took it out to thaw overnight.  When I got home, I put it in a roaster with potatoes, carrots, and onions.  Now, I can alternate between spaghetti and roast beef for the next week.  It will be good to have variety.  I had this for a late lunch/early supper today.  Very yummy.  
• Once that was in the oven, I went through today's mail and recycled most of it.  
• I sorted my laundry this morning and got all of it washed.  Three loads.  The last load is in the washer and the second load is in the dryer.  I don't know if I can finish it tonight, but I will definitely finish it tomorrow.  
• I watched some stuff I had recorded on DVR this afternoon and evening.  Not much else.  Tomorrow I hope to be a little more productive.  I'm about ready for bed right now.  I am really tired even though I didn't do much today.  Not really.