May 10 through 16
May. 17th, 2021 03:44 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chochiyo_samaMonday, May 10
Lily called me this morning before 6 am, crying and in horrible pain. She had worked herself into a lather over the weekend doing yard and flower garden work, and when she woke up this morning she could hardly move. She could not get out of bed for three hours and could barely hobble to the bathroom. She has two doctors’ appointments today—the first in Owatonna at 8:30 and the second in Rochester at 2:15. She does not feel like she is able to drive.
So, I told her that I could take her to her first appointment without any problem. The second would be harder since I have this issue with frequent, urgent diarrhea after I take my morning pills. I have literally crapped myself several times as it comes on so fast that I cannot make it from my chair in the living room to the toilet which is only about a dozen steps away. (Yes, I have spoken to my doctor about this issue and her only comment was “It shouldn’t do that.” Well, what can I say, you ignorant cow. IT DOES. Yes. I am in the market for a different primary doctor as this one neither listens to my concerns nor believes what I tell her. She seems to think that I will be totally okay if I just agree to take antidepressants which I refuse to do.)
I told Lily I would call my sister Joni who is now retired as she would probably be willing to take her. So, I did that, and Joni agreed. I took a shower, gathered my book and embroidery project, and picked her up. I waited in the parking lot after dropping her off at the door to the clinic. I waited out there until she was done, about 10 am. She was hungry, so I went through the drive through of Culver’s where she wanted a “Strawberry Fields” salad, and I got a shrimp dinner for myself and one for my mother as I had not given her anything for Mother’s Day. Lily was very resistant to me paying for her dinner, but I insisted it was my Mother’s Day present for her.
I had talked to Joni and Tammy while in the parking lot. Joni told me that Walmart was now offering “Walk-in” Covid shots, so I thought I would stop there on my way home. Well, the parking lot was packed, and my handicap placard is expired. So I decided I would just go home and try again tomorrow. Lily was adamant that I should do it TODAY, but I was equally adamant that I was not willing (or able) to walk half way across the parking lot only to stand in a long line for God alone knows how long.
I called my mother while on the road and told her I would be dropping off lunch for her. She was glad to get it. When I got home after dropping Lily off, I took a little nap to catch up on the sleep I missed with that early morning wake up call. In the afternoon, someone mowed my yard. I don’t know whether it was one of Becky’s kids or Sequoia again. I am just thankful it was mowed.
Lily was feeling better in the afternoon and ended up driving herself to Rochester. She got four steroid shots in her hand which was giving her so much pain and the doctor told her that she should not do so much work at one time—to break it up into 15 to 30 minutes a day and QUIT when she feels her body protesting. Of course she will not listen to him any more than she listens to me or anyone else. Sigh.
Tuesday, May 11
This was a quiet, sunny day. I almost got caught up with my DW entries which again had piled up. Lily was feeling much better today. Apparently the shots in her hand had spread their magic through her entire body and her body was much more willing to move. Of course, she immediately went down to her basement and spent the entire day cleaning the damn basement which no one but the Culligan man sees anyhow. Sigh. Some days, I just want to shake her.
My sister-in-law Kari sent me a text telling me that there was going to be a “drive through” vaccination clinic on Wednesday (tomorrow) at the Highway Department building in Owatonna. You don’t even have to get out of your car. So I went on line, signed up for a 9:40 am appointment, filled out all the paper work, and set my alarm so that I could get up and out early tomorrow morning. Most of the appointment blocks were already taken, so I was glad there were a few left.
I sliced up a couple of my hydroponic tomatoes and had tomatoes on toast with mayo for supper. Yummy. I was still hungry, so I microwaved a potato and had that for dessert.
That’s about all for today.
Wednesday, May 12
I got up early, folded my last load of laundry, did my morning routine, and got myself ready to go and get my shot. My street was full of workers who were resurfacing my street. The big trucks were blocking my driveway when I pulled my car out of the garage and they made no move to get out of my way. I did not have time to wait for them as the website for the shot sign up said your appointment slot would only be held for 20 minutes. So, I drove across my yard and out on the side street.
I had no idea where the Highway Dept building was, but I had the address. I sailed right past it because it was set so far off the road, but I realized what I had done immediately, did a U-turn at the first opportunity, and followed the trail indicated by the orange cones lined up. I was the only “customer” I could see when I stopped at the little trailer set up as “in-take.” The lady found my name on the list and told me to follow the trail and to go into the big building when the garage door opened. Well, it was already open when I pulled up. There was one car in there already, and they had three stations set up for giving shots.
A friendly lady approached my vehicle, took my name and appointment time, found my document, and gestured for the nurse to come up to my vehicle. She asked me a couple of questions, gave me a shot, and then offered me the choice between a sticker or a metal button that said “I got my Covid 19 shot!” I took the metal button. Lasts longer than a sticker, and now I can wear it as an “IN YOUR FACE” to all my anti-vaxxer dumb ass tRUMPer relatives. Ha. Yes, I am a nasty bitch from time to time.
I took a selfie of the nurse giving me the shot as well as of her giving me the thumbs up sign. I had to wait 15 minutes before leaving in case I had a reaction to the shot. I did not have any ill effects. The car net to me had a very happy and active Doberman next to his human dad, so I enjoyed watching him hop around and give his daddy loves. Several fat Canadian geese waddled over by us, and the doggo was very interested in them. I am sure he would have loved to jump out and sniff and chase them, but he was not allowed that fun.
When my 15 minutes was up, I drove to Culvers and bought myself a small turtle sundae as a reward for finally getting this taken care of and a “Strawberry Fields” salad for a meal as Lily’s had looked so delicious. It WAS very delicious. My poor car had not been washed since all this Covid business started, so I took it through the nearby car wash (less than a block away) and ate my sundae while my car had a much needed “elite” car wash.
When I got home, the street crew was apparently on lunch break, so I was able to drive on the road and get back into my garage. There was about a 4” drop from the regular street to my torn up street and I had to evade 4 different man-hole covers which were elevated up over the torn up street, but I had no series issues.
So far, I have had no issues with my vaccination. It didn’t even hurt when they stuck me with the needle and was not sore at all—at least not so far.
I had a quiet afternoon watching TV, napping, and messing around on my computer. The day was lovely, sunny, fresh, and pretty—of course this was adversely affected by the noise and stench of the street crew tearing up the street and then applying fresh, stinky tar to the street.
Thursday, May 13
My arm was a little sore and itchy this morning, but nothing really unpleasant. I took a nice hot shower which relieved the itching completely and greatly relieved the soreness. My mother wanted me to take her to Manchester which is an extremely small town over near Freeborn which was the first school I taught in, many, many years ago. There is a printing place there where she had the family tree book she and my aunt Darla (now deceased) had made. One of the relatives wanted the disc that held the book, so she wanted to go over and pick it up. It is quite a drive, but it was a lovely day and it was nice to see that old, familiar ground again.
The street repair crew was not at my house yet, so escaping was easy. I did go pick up my mother and brought her back to my house so she could drag my recycling bin back to the house for me and grab my mail out of the mailbox. I had a couple of small packages in my mail box, so it was pretty full.
It only took a couple of minutes for her to run in and get the disc. I considered driving over to Freeborn to have a look at my old stomping grounds, but Mom and I were both hungry, so I took her to Dairy Queen in Albert Lea where we got cheeseburgers, onion rings, and hot fudge malts. Everything tasted really good. We just headed home after eating our lunch in the parking lot of the nearly abandoned mall across from the Dairy Queen.
When I got home, the street repair crew was blocking the road on the end, but I went around and was able to scoot across the short street that basically goes right into my driveway. They were about 4” over my driveway, but I was able to ooze around them, put my car in the garage, and head into my house.
My sister Joni’s husband Jeff is having some health issues. Apparently he had to come home from work on Saturday as he had been unable to control his bladder and had peed his pants. He continued to have issues and had not been back to work this week. He didn’t go to the doctor because he had recently gone part time and lost his health insurance as a result.
Well, when he woke up this morning, his testicles were swollen up like watermelons. (According to my sister Joni, it was pretty gross.) So, Joni went online and got him signed up for Obama Care. He then went to the doctor who said this had begun as a UTI and the infection had spread into the testicles. He said this was quite common in “old men,” which I am sure was extremely offensive to my brother-in-law who still thinks of himself as a big stud. LOL. Apparently it isn’t too serious, just painful and probably a little embarrassing as he had to have an ultrasound on his balls. Eek. Antibiotics will solve the problem. Eventually.
Friday, May 14
One of the packages that came yesterday was a pair of slip on canvas shoes. They were really cute and were in my size. I had not looked at the package too closely as I was expecting a couple of things from Etsy and Amazon. Well, I had not ordered any shoes, and I was pretty sure that no one else was sending me any gifts, so I looked at the package. It was addressed to Lori K. who is my back yard neighbor (who has been kind of an asshole since I moved in, to be honest). Well, she is friends with my cousin Kari, so I called Kari to get her number then called her and told her that her shoes had been delivered to me by accident. She said she had already sent an angry email to the place she ordered them from as she had gotten an email saying that the shoes had been delivered. Well, they were delivered, but not to her!
She said she would be over after work to pick them up. But she never showed up tonight. I left my door open till it got dark, then I closed and locked it. You never know who might be creeping around after dark. Could be a vampire, a werewolf, or any old derelict.
I had a bit of motivation and energy today, so I gathered up a bunch of garbage and recycling and dragged it out to the appropriate bins, cleaned the litterboxes and took the scoopings out to the bin, fried the two ribeye steaks with a large Vidalia onion, made a meatloaf, washed a sink full of dishes, and cut up the watermelon and cantaloupe I had bought last week.
I called Walmart about the prescriptions I had ordered last Sunday that had never arrived. They checked on them and said they had been delivered on the 12th. Well, I had forgotten I had gone to get my Covid vaccine on the 12th, so I was probably not home when they came. Usually they deliver them at the breezeway door, but I discovered them between the screen door and the storm door in the living room. So, one less thing to fret about.
It was a quiet, cloudy day. The street crew did not come today, but the street is not done yet, so they must be letting the layer of tar they put on set for a day. The weather man says we MIGHT have thunderstorm tomorrow. We certainly could use one!
Saturday, May 15
Lori K showed up this morning to get her shoes. She was quite friendly and nice, and we chatted about random things. I suppose she was grateful that she got her shoes back. I actually did consider keeping them because she and her family have been huge pains in the butt since I moved in here, but I have this morality disability that does not allow me to cheat and steal…
After she left, her husband showed up on his riding lawn mower and mowed my yard. I guess it was a gesture of appreciation. My yard needed it badly, so I am grateful.
Lily called and asked me if I would help her fill out the form she has to do for her hip replacement surgery on the 27. I said I would be glad to, so she brought it over along with two cinnamon rolls from Mary G. and three pieces of the oatmeal cake she had made for her Wednesday night dinner party at Mary and Paul’s house. It didn’t take long to fill out the form, but she had not brought her insurance card with her, so I was unable to fill out the information about that. Hopefully she can find her member number and activation date on it.
Lily called later to tell me that there was a car in my mom’s driveway. I figured it was my sister Kim, but Lily did not think it was one of their cars. Later I called my mother, and it was Kim. She has been working on going through all the stuff stored in Mom’s breezeway. Apparently Mojo was a huge helper. Every time Kim emptied a box, he hopped in the empty box and made sure there were no monsters or vermin in there.
My beloved former student Jessica who is like a daughter to me turned 40 today, so I sent her a variety of birthday memes and pictures of extreme 40th birthday cakes. I wish I could hook my nephew Matthew up with her so she could be my niece in law. But I am not sure he deserves her. LOL.
She is the exact kind of woman he NEEDS—and *I* think she is gorgeous.
The street crew was back today putting what I believe is the final coat of stinky tar on the road. I hope they are done, anyhow.
I warmed up the other ribeye and onions for my supper. I somehow managed to inhale a crumb and believed I was going to choke to death on it. I could not even get a breath of air in to be able to cough for a while. But eventually, I was able to get enough air in to cough until I puked and gradually recovered. I thought I was a goner for a while.
It was an absolutely gorgeous day—sunny and warm—and my flowering crab apple tree finally stopped teasing me and burst into dark pink gloriousness. It was so beautiful that Lily took a picture of it. LOL. And, sadly, there was no thunderstorm. There were a few clouds, but mostly it was just bright and beautiful sunshine and a bit of a breeze. We need rain pretty bad.
Sunday, May 16
Last night I dreamed I was moving into the dorm room I lived in for my first year of college. Except this time I didn’t have a roommate. In my dream, there was an open sleeve of saltine crackers laying on the hallway floor right in front of my door. I stepped over them and went into the room and shut the door. I would have picked them up in real life and thrown them away. Why didn’t I do it in the dream?
Instead, I was putting things away in the room, thinking of what I needed to bring to my room from my house. I have been dreaming of returning to college frequently lately. I wonder what my subconscious is trying to tell me? Time to start a new adventure? Time to gain new skills? Or just that I miss an environment where I had tons of social contacts and intellectual challenges? All of the above?
I did my morning routine along with filling my pill caddy this morning then logged on to my laptop to have my Sunday Zoom meeting with DeAnn to go through our Artists’ Way commitment. She was not there right away, so I was poking around online when I suddenly had one of my frequent, urgent BM issues. It was not a good scene and I had to clean up the resulting mess, take a shower, and put on totally fresh clothing. I hate this. And I hate my doctor for refusing to believe it is even happening, that stupid, trump loving POS.
When I was hopping out of the shower, my cell phone rang. I knew it was DeAnn as she has a special ring. I was naked and dripping, so I just let it go to voicemail while I streaked to my bedroom to put on fresh clothing and comb out my wet hair. My hair is very long now—well, long for me. It is past my shoulders and in my eyes.
I called her and we got on our Zoom meeting and discussed many things, including the Artists’ Way material. This is working out well for both of us, I think. It’s a little like really effective therapy as we examine our drives to create—her with her art and me with my writing (and I have a bent for art also, but mainly writing). We discussed our shared background of being the oldest child and the different expectations our parents held for us that our younger siblings did not have to worry about. Personally, it was as if my childhood ended at age 3 when my first sibling was born. From that point on, I was supposed to be responsible for not only myself but all of them. I was supposed to keep them from getting into trouble, getting dirty, getting hungry, fighting with each other, destroying the house, and anything else that was considered “bad.” Of course, I had no authority to do anything about their bad behavior, so they completely ignored me and did whatever the hell they wanted. Then my mother would scream at me and beat me for “letting them” do it. There were never any real consequences for them. It was all my fault. Always. It was exhausting and made me feel like a failure, guilt ridden and ashamed.
DeAnn said it made her angry and resentful. Now I am angry and resentful, but back then, I just felt like a disappointment, a failure, and extremely unloved. Oh, and as a special bonus, my sisters hated me and ganged up on me for attempting to police their behavior—which my parents, mostly my mother, demanded that I do.
I have been listening to an audio book called America Falls. A fictional book about the collapse of America due to a virus that kills only adults not of Asian descent so that China can take over the continent of North America. The children are collected and enslaved to clean up all the dead bodies and other grunt work.
There is a lot of nonsensical stuff in it—like yellow flowers blooming in New Hampshire during a blizzard so that the main characters can lay them on the body of a fallen comrade and all the fruit in the grocery stores being rotted beyond redemption within two weeks. Ha. Apples will last for more than a month. Also, bodies rotting despite the weather being below freezing. All the bodies would be preserved till spring. And domestic dogs forming slavering packs that are attacking and eating people within a couple of weeks. Sorry. That author apparently does not know how dogs act. It would take longer than two weeks for domestic dogs to turn feral. They’d be standing over they dead owners for longer than that, protecting their bodies.
I had meat loaf, brussels sprouts, and a baked potato for supper and managed to eat it without having a near death experience via choking again.
It clouded up like it might rain this afternoon, but nope. No joy.
no subject
Date: 2021-05-17 09:12 pm (UTC)and by 'like' I mean don't you DARE we haven't gotten to hug yet!
*sends you unimpeded breath and happy colon vibes*
*sends Lily analgesic vibes*
no subject
Date: 2021-05-25 08:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-05-17 11:25 pm (UTC)I'm also the eldest. Yet another thing we have in common.
no subject
Date: 2021-05-25 08:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-05-18 02:51 pm (UTC)We've now had both!
no subject
Date: 2021-05-25 08:19 pm (UTC)