Monday, March 27

Monday, March 27

I woke up this morning one minute before my alarm was set to go off.  Quite a stroke of luck.  I had hoped I would be able to get my morning routine done with enough time between then and my zoom meeting with DeAnn to sort and start my laundry.  But, Lily called and talked until 9:50, giving me ten minutes to finish my morning routine, read my C.S. Lewis devotional, and feed the cats their soft food.  I managed to get all of that done and fire up my computer only three minutes past 10 am.  DeAnn wasn’t there yet, but she arrived shortly after. 

Lily read me part of the letter that she had received from Consolidated.  It turned out that everything she had told mom last night was incorrect.  The letter actually stated that the price of cable TV was going up around $5 and the price of internet was going up around $15—but that they were offering their customers the option to switch to streaming instead of cable for about what we are paying right now.  The April 1 date related to when customers could begin calling to switch over to streaming, and if the switch was made by April 16, the customers were entitled to two months of free internet service. 

The current cable service will continue as it is now, and no material will be deleted off the DVR.  I have no idea how she could have misinterpreted the contents of that letter.  It was pretty clearly stated.  I almost wonder if she is having some issues with dementia.  I suspect it is really just that she immediately gets herself all worked up and begins to jump to the most catastrophic outcome she can imagine.  Her mother, my grandmother, was the same way. 

At least I know I don’t have to hustle to find a new cable provider.  I thought it was very weird that we’d only have approximately five days of forewarning. 

So, today’s zoom was a productivity partnership zoom.  I did have a pretty productive day.  I sorted my laundry and got all of it washed and dried.  The last load (underwear and socks) is in the dryer.  I will fold it in the morning.  Too tired to do it before I go to bed.  I cleaned the litterbox in the laundry room while I was in there.  DeAnn and I chatted for a while about random things, then she had to make lunch for Josh, so we called an end to our session.  I watched a little TV and checked out the current events on the internet for a while before heading into the breezeway to clean the three litterboxes in there, swept the floor, and dumping the two large, heavy garbage cans into the outside bin.  They were so heavy that I almost couldn’t get them into the bin, but I gritted my teeth, cursed loudly, and hoisted them up and over.  Ugh.  I feel fortunate not to have seriously injured my back lifting them up.

I have a bunch of broken down cardboard and a bag of recycling still in the breezeway.  I just didn’t have the strength to go out again to throw the recycling into that bin.  The bag of recycling is light, but I had to sit down for a while to recover from the heavy garbage. 

I did that in the kitchen where I put a fresh black garbage bag into the garbage can and washed the sink full of dishes that had piled up over the last two days.  The stove top needed scrubbing as the PastaRoni I made the other day had boiled over.  I had to really scrub it with my Mr. Clean Magic Eraser to get the crusty burned on sauce scrubbed off.  Magic Erasers are truly magical.  I had to use a lot of elbow grease, but all the nastiness eventually came off.

I had not eaten anything before that except for a peanut butter granola bar and a handful of Werther’s hard caramels, so I put the slice of Papa Murphy’s vegetarian gourmet pizza that was left over from supper at Lily’s last week in the oven and heated it up.  Then I stuffed a few stalks of celery with cream cheese and washed a handful of the red grapes that have been in the fridge for a week or so.  That was my supper.  Later in the evening I ate one of the Schwan’s frozen strawberry fruit bars for dessert.  (Strawberry Fruit Bars | Ice Cream Treats Delivery | Schwan's Grocery Delivery (schwans.com))  Those are very refreshing.

I talked to my mother for about an hour and a half tonight.  There was a show celebrating the 50^th anniversary of The Young and the Restless soap opera that she has been watching for years.  I saw it on the Guide and did not know whether she knew it was on or not.  Her cable sucks.  The two channels that carried that show would not come in on her cable tonight.  Stupid, incompetent cable company.  I’m glad I don’t have to switch to them.

I found out that I have to take her to her eye doctor on Wednesday, so I had to text DeAnn and tell her I would not be available for the productivity zoom on Wednesday.  The good thing about taking her to her eye doctor is that we will probably get lunch at the China Restaurant.  I have been perishing for some shrimp egg fu yung and steamed dumplings.  I love Chinese food. 

I will probably need to fill my car with gas before I go. 

I am glad I have tomorrow to get stuff done.  All the floors need to be swept and scrubbed, the office rug needs to be vacuumed, and every upholstered piece of furniture I own is covered in cat hair.  I should wash all of my afghans too as they are no doubt also covered in cat hair. 

If I can just get the floors and rug cleaned, I’ll be happy.  And get that bag of recycling into the bin outside too.

I found a small chunk of Easter fabric in the laundry room today that should be just big enough to make a little Easter frock for my small vintage AA baby doll.  She is not exactly the same as my childhood AA baby doll, but she is very close.  It is on my project list to make her a complete wardrobe, including special outfits for all the holidays.  If I can get that little remnant ironed and cut out a little dress, I can probably work on it in the car when I take my mother to her eye doctor appointment.  Next week, I have to take her to the regular doctor.  Now that Jack is working part time for Meals on Wheels, he isn’t available to take her to her appointments on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. 

I don’t mind taking her so long as it isn’t 30 below zero or 110 in the shade.

That’s about all I have to report tonight.  It was very sunny today, but colder.  For the past several days it has been in the 40s, close to 50 a couple of days.  The snow has really receded.  I am not sorry to see it go.  I’m looking forward to seeing my first robin.  Apparently my sister Kim saw one in Mankato a week or more ago.