February 19 through 26

[chochiyo_sama]

Saturday, February 19

Last night provided me with an incredibly refreshing and restful sleep.  I did a little tidying up before sitting down to catch up on a mass of DW entries.  Other than that, which took a long time, I didn’t do much.  I microwaved a Schwan’s meatloaf and mashed potato frozen dinner.  A lovely sunny day made up for how freaking cold it is out there—well, almost made up for it, anyhow.  I learned that my cousin Kari has recovered from Covid, which is good news.  I also learned that Lily has someone interested in her trailer in Texas.  She, of course, is already finding ways to screw herself out of selling it.  Originally, she said that she’d like to get $7,000 for it but would take $5,000.  Now that she has an interested buyer, she is declaring that she wants $8,000.  I told her she should take whatever he is willing to pay and thank the good Lord up above that she found a buyer!  The trailer is well cared for, but it is 30 years old and very dated.  This guy even offered to install a trailer hitch on her SUV so she can rent a little U-Haul pod and haul all her shit back up to Minnesota with her own vehicle. 

The fact is that she doesn’t want to give up her winters in Texas.  Even though getting her there and home again is a huge pain in the ass and she cannot seem to find adequate health care down there.  I want her to sell the damn thing, get on the waiting list for that Senior Living Center over by Rochester, and move over there.  She would be so happy there.  Shit, I’d consider moving there myself if I could afford it! 

It's very frustrating dealing with her.  I love her, but OMG.  Sometimes, I’d like to shake her!

 

Sunday, February 20

I was able to get up early enough this morning to complete my morning routine and use my electric broom to sweep the living room and kitchen.  DeAnn and I had a good Zoom meeting and talked about many things.  Later in the day, I watched two Sidney Poitier movies, Lilies of the Field and A Patch of Blue.  I hadn’t seen either one in years.  I enjoyed them both very much.  He was a talented man.

Not much else going on today.  I had a Schwan’s Beef Teriyaki Bowl for supper.  I am trying to eat up the stuff in my freezer.  No sense letting it get nasty and old.

 

Monday, February 21

I filled my pill caddy this morning then talked to my mother on the phone.  She has been suffering with her back—somehow she slept wrong or something.  Anyhow, it wasn’t getting any better, so Jack took her to Lori Cole, who is a very good chiropractor.  Apparently, her whole back was entirely out of whack.  Jack stopped here to borrow my walker so she could get into Lori’s office.  Jack said he’d help her get one of her own.  She’s been needing to borrow mine off and on since she got covid.  At 87 (which she will turn in April), it is time she had one of her own, I guess.

Because of my stupid low tire, Jack is going to take her to the eye doctor on Friday as well—it’s time for her macular deterioration injection again.  I need to call about that tire again.  I am so sick of this constantly happening that I am about ready to trade in the car and get a different one.

Jack got my mail for me, so I will be sorting through that soon.  I haven’t been out of the house since the last time I took Mom to an appointment.  We had a brief chat when he dropped off the mail.  After he left, I put out some peanuts for the squirrels and the blue jays. 

I heard on the news today that the covid infection rate has dropped significantly.  I hope we are about done with this pandemic.  I am sick of it, and I am sick of evil people using it to advance their evil plots.

 

Tuesday, February 22

My shoulder has been hurting more than usual. The arthritis formula Tylenol has not been helping much. I decided to try soaking the pain out.  If I had a tub, I would fill it with water as hot as I could stand and throw in some Epsom salts and soak for an hour.  Well, I don’t have a sub, so I took a really long really hot shower.  It felt good while I was in it, but the relief did not last long. 

I had not done my laundry over the weekend because the shoulder hurt so much, so I forced myself to get it sorted and worked on it throughout the day.  I had a huge sink full of dirty dishes, so I washed them too.  I discovered a half dried up pile of cat puke by the kitchen, so I cleaned that up.  My toilet was absolutely disgusting, so I scrubbed it within an inch of its life.  All that scrubbing didn’t do much for my shoulder, but it looked so much better once it was scrubbed that it made my soul feel better. 

I restocked my metal shelves with toilet paper, but then I had to go and rest a bit.  I didn’t get the bathroom floor or the sink scrubbed as it should have been.  Also, I want to wash the rugs.  They are looking grungy. 

Waylon, the mailman, brought my mail today.  I had two packages.  One turned out to be a “mystery gift” from Costas.  (Pretty sure I know the solution to the mystery of who sent it.)  The other was a small package of doll clothes I had ordered from Etsy.

Sequoia came and cleared out my driveway.  I won’t be going anywhere, but the mail man may stop by again, and on Friday, Ross will be delivering groceries.  So I am glad it will be cleared out for them.

When I headed off to bed last night, I put a bunch of stuff in a bag and took it in with me.  I sat on the bed and went through all my mail and other paper stuff that’s been cluttering up my house and sorted through it.  A lot of it could just be recycled.  Peaches stopped me from going through it too thoroughly.  She demanded attention and cuddling.

 

Wednesday, February 23

When I woke up this morning, I wrote out the checks for my bills and got them ready to mail.  The recycling got stuffed into the bag, and I finished the laundry.  I looked up the Lerberg’s sale bill and made out my grocery list.  I called it in and had a brief chat with Ross about his grandson who is home from the hospital and getting better.  Poor kid. 

It has been another very cold but sunny day.  It’s supposed to snow again tomorrow, but I don’t think it is supposed to amount to much.  I suspect it is the cold and damp weather that is making my shoulder hurt so much.  I am tired of that too.

I have been watching videos on YouTube of “urban explorations” which is mainly about people going into abandoned and derelict buildings and filming them.  Some are totally trashed and vandalized; some are still full of amazing antiques, but some have rotted away or been chewed up by rodents.  Some look like they could be salvaged, but it would be a lot of work and effort to do so.  Some of them have just incredibly, heart-breakingly beautiful woodwork and windows.  It’s just a disgrace that they are being allowed to fall apart. 

Whenever I see gorgeous old homes that could be saved, I have the impulse to go there with garbage bags, buckets, soap, and everything else I need to clean them up and make them beautiful again.  Oh, if only I were insanely wealthy! I’d make it my life’s work.

 

Thursday, February 24

Today, I cleaned up a lot of clutter around my recliner, bagged up a bunch of recycling, washed my dishes, and used my electric broom to sweep the bathroom.  I baked a couple of breaded chicken patties from Schwans and ate them with mayo on hamburger buns.  They would have been better with a little pickle relish, but I didn’t have any.  I will have to order some the next time I order groceries. 

It snowed pretty hard today for several hours, but it didn’t amount to much in the long run.  Sequoia came and cleaned out the driveway.  They are so faithful.  Jack is taking mom to her eye appointment tomorrow, so I don’t have to worry about it.  I am thankful.  I don’t feel much like leaving the house.

I put ice on my shoulder which felt terrible while it was on there, but after I took it off, my shoulder didn’t hurt near as much.  Swelling has got to be part of the issue of the pain.  The cold seems to reduce the swelling and also the pain. 

I think my subconscious is fretting about the Russians invading Ukraine.  Last night I dreamed I was late to school, and when I went inside through a side door, all the kids were in lockdown.  Militarily garbed men were in the halls, and I slipped into a classroom before they saw me.  I asked the teacher what was going on, and he said we were in the middle of a school invasion.  The poor kids all looked terrified.  This classroom was huge—big enough to be two classrooms—with a door at each end.  I went out the far end as some of those armed men came in through the other.  They looked more like domestic bubba redneck militia KKK types than Russian troops.  I worked my way down to the office—I don’t know what I was up to, but I wanted to see who was in charge and what was going on. 

I went into a small room next to the office—I think it was the nurse’s office as there was a bed in it.  I listened to the leaders babbling about “taking back the country” and something about “real Americans” and some trashy white supremacy crap.  At some point, I sneaked out and one of them was going to shoot me.  I figured I was dead, so whatever I did wouldn’t matter.  So I jumped on him and we struggled.  Somehow I got behind him and started choking him.  He dropped the gun.  I was trying to choke him out.  Then someone else came and hollered something.  I fell, and the bad guy, now unarmed ran out of the building, screaming that I’d be dead soon. 

Then I dreamed I was looking for a bathroom.  When I found one, one of the “good guys” kept opening the door and trying to come in so I couldn’t pee.  Finally, I figured out that I was dreaming and that if I did use the toilet, I would wet the bed. 

So, I woke up and hauled myself into the real bathroom.  No neoNazi bubba brigaders or Antifa anti-Nazis bothered me in my own bathroom. 

Dreams are crazy things.

Friday, February 25

I took care of all the stuff I had sorted through last night, cleaned a bunch of old stuff out of the fridge and bagged it up, dragged two bags of garbage and a bag of recycling out to the bins, cleaned the litter boxes and took the scoopings out to the bin, and completely finished the laundry.  Ross delivered my groceries, and I put it all away.  I had a nice chat with Ross who told me his grandson was recovering from his issues and was home from the hospital.  He also said he enjoyed Jack’s facebook post which said, “Great.  I have retired just in time for WWIII to start.”  (Referring to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and terroristic threats to the rest of the world.)

I made myself a late lunch of the seafood sandwich spread on hamburger buns and a big scoop of coleslaw.  I had a few Cheetos Puffs as well.  The seafood sandwich spread was not as good as I had hoped it would be, but it was satisfying, and my belly is full.

I watched TV for a while in the evening and was very tired when I went to bed. 

 

Saturday, February 26

I dreamed crazy dreams again last night.

This one was set in this school that I often dream about that, as far as I know, does not exist in reality.  It is a long, narrow building that looks like it was built in the 1930s.  It has a very distinct entrance that is down in a valley.  It is often snowing when I dream about that school—in the dream it is snowing, not necessarily in real life. 

Anyhow, I dreamed that school was about to be dismissed for Christmas vacation, but that we were snowed into the building and were going to have to stay overnight due to the intense snowstorm.  I was getting all my stuff together to take away from the school when I left and was feeling bad because I had not brought any kind of treats for my homeroom for Christmas.  Things were kind of a mess, and people were wandering around aimlessly, not knowing what to do.  I was trying to shoo the kids down to the cafeteria where the cooks were serving grilled cheese sandwiches and whatever they could pull together with their limited supplies. 

There really wasn’t any organized plot for this dream—just a generalized feeling of things being confused and out of control.

I woke up early—around 7 am or so, went to the bathroom, took a couple of Tylenol, and decided I wasn’t ready to be conscious yet.  So, I went back to sleep.  I didn’t wake up again until the phone rang--it was 2 pm.  I cannot believe I slept that late!  I guess I must have needed the rest. 

I fed Peaches her soft food and took care of my morning routine.  I picked up a little clutter then started working on my DW entries that I had again fallen way behind on.  I worked on them throughout most of the day, pausing occasionally to talk on the phone with people.

First was Lily, whose phone call dragged me out of a deep sleep.  Her friend who had been staying with her all week had just been taken to the airport.  They got lost on the way as Lily’s map application quit working.  When they stopped for help, a nice man directed them to where they had to go.  Thankfully, Karen Holmes went along for the ride; otherwise, Lily would have likely been lost in the bowels of Texas forever.  She told me that another person was interested in the trailer—someone related to one of her friends who lives at the park.  She wants Lily to take pictures of the trailer inside and out and the sheds and cabanas that go with it and send them to her.  She would prefer to sell it to the man who already expressed an interest in it since he is willing to install a trailer hitch on her SUV for her.

The rest of the day, I talked to my brother Jack, thanking him for taking Mom to her eye doctor appointment yesterday and asking him to take my garbage to the curb so it can be collected on Monday, then my mother to see how she was and whether Kim had come down as she had thought she might.  She had come down.  I asked if she liked the Christmas giftI had given her (she had already told Mom to give the box of Costas candy to Cora).  There was a cute little Covid themed Christmas ornament that I gave to each of my siblings, and they were all personalized.  I gave her one that had her name and the names of her two worthless spawn and the dog’s name on it.  I thought it was really cute. 

Mom said, “It’s in the cupboard Jerry made for her.”

In other words, it meant nothing to her, and she shoved it in there rather than take it home to put with all her other Christmas stuff in her townhouse.  No thank you from Kyle for the Christmas card with $10 in it either.  I suppose Mom told them that I had given the others $20. 

Oh, well.  None of them will ever get another gift from me.  Ungrateful snots.

Finally, I talked to Tammy who was making some sort of cauliflower curry soup.  I am not a huge fan of curry myself.  I do love Cream of Cauliflower and Broccoli soup, however. 

It took me most of the day to catch up with all these entries.  I am glad I’m on the last one now. 

Not much happened today.  I ate another meal of coleslaw and the seafood sandwich spread on hamburger buns. I watched some random tv shows and an old John Wayne movie called Tycoon.  The leading lady wore gorgeous clothes.  I wish I could duplicate them for my vintage Barbie.

Comments

[the_godiva]

Congrats on Jack's retirement. If they call him to come back and sub or something he should say NO.

I have those toilet dreams too. It's my body's way of telling me I have to pee so wake up. Haven't peed the bed yet.

I had a weird dream my Mother sent me a card and in it was a check for some weird amount of money, like $143 and change and she wanted me to use it to open a Wells Fargo account to "make things easier." But never explained in what way it would make things easier. Wells Fargo is their bank. I use a credit union.

So Lily has TWO offers for that trailer. And she thought no one would want it. Now it will be even harder for her to sabotage herself but she will. Probably up the asking to $10,000.

Treat Kim like I am treating my sister and her spawn. They no longer exist. Don't acknowledge their existence. Don't ask about them. Ignore and leave any conversations that start to be about them. And don't give them anything else. Not so much as a Christmas or Birthday card. My sister and her spawn are never getting anything from me ever again. What I already have is going up on eBay, Poshmark, Etsy, Mercari and Amazon. Wherever I can sell it. And if it doesn't sell, it will be donated to charity for a tax write-off.

I admit it. I confess. It was me.



I let the dogs out.