July 25 through 31

[chochiyo_sama]

Monday, July 25

We had a bit of rain this afternoon—not much, but enough to give the grass a little drink of water.  It was a cool, pleasant day.  Nothing too exciting going on.  I talked to Lily and Tammy on the phone.  Lily is going to take me to my appointment at the clinic tomorrow with the endocrinologist.  Hopefully she will be able to find me some alternatives to metformin so that I can get some relief from the never ending explosive diarrhea it causes.  I am so sick of that.

Tuesday, July 26

I got up early and took a shower so I would be clean and sweet smelling for my appointment.  Once again, my dear auntie Lily took me to the Clinic and helped me to get to the second floor where the endocrinologist (Ashleigh something) was kind, professional, and competent.  We talked at length about meds and the history of my diabetes.  She told me to cut off metformin altogether.  That is the suspected cause of this never ending, horrific diarrhea.  She prescribed another 5mg of Glipizide to be taken in the evening and wanted me to test my blood twice a day instead of just once.  I expressed my concern about my glucose levels being up with the med I had been taking for more than 20 years being gone. She said if this happened we would try a once-a-week injection drug that starts with a “T” (possibly Trulicity—but I don’t remember).  I need to take better notes when I see doctors.  It is supposed to be a really good drug, according to her.  I am sort of leaning towards just going with insulin but I am scared of making a mistake and ending up in a diabetic coma.  Also, insulin is so damned expensive.  I could not afford to pay $500 a month out of pocket—or worse!

On the way home, we stopped at McDonalds where I treated Lily (and myself) to a caramel frappe.  We stopped at Walmart where Lily picked up my new prescription for 5mg pills of Glipizide.  The people at the pharmacy said my debit card was declined, so she paid $24 in cash for me.  (I was waiting in the car and will pay her back later.)  Later I figured out that it was declined because my OLD debit card was in their system still.  I just got a new debit card a while back which is “touchless.”  I don’t really know what that means, but whatever.  I will have to call in and get that updated for their system.

Tuesdays are Papa Murphy’s “Any Pizza for $10” day—though now it has been raised to $11, so Lily picked up a large vegetarian gourmet pizza for our lunch.  I had to get home ASAP at this point as I had a major bowel event imminent.  Thank goodness I got home in the nick of time.  Lily took her stuff home and baked the pizza at her house then brought it back here where we ate it together.  The vegetarian gourmet pizza is fabulous.  It has all kinds of delicious vegetables on it—artichoke hearts, spinach, zucchini, mushrooms, roma tomatoes, mixed onions, herbs, cheese, and creamy garlic sauce.  It is truly orgasmic to the taste buds. We each ate three pieces and there were two left over.  Lily very kindly gave the two leftover pieces to me.  Yum.

It was a lovely sunny day.  I didn’t have much productivity in my home.  I did clean a little pile of cat puke off my vintage table.   I also wrote out a couple of bills that came in the mail that Lily picked up for me. 

 

Wednesday, July 27

Today was another very quiet day for me.  I was a bit productive.  I cleaned the three litter boxes in the breezeway, swept up the litter their enthusiastic burying of their butt produce had spread all over the floor, and gathered up garbage and recycling and took it to the breezeway for tossing into the bins outside.  I cleaned some old food and leftovers out of the fridge and did the dishes before eating the last of the potato salad I made a few days ago and the two left over slices of Papa Murphy’s Vegetarian Gourmet pizza.  Still delicious. 

I got a text from Hope telling me she would be here to clean tomorrow.  I also heard from Sue Janicky whom I was supposed to accompany (along with DeAnn and other friends from the West Concord Connection) to Iowa to stay in a cabin for the weekend.  I cancelled out because of the diarrhea situation—it was a few hours in the car, and what if the nastiness started up miles from any bathroom?  Also, the ladies had plans to visit antique stores, museums, and other places that required a lot of walking, which is often difficult for me—and always painful.  She felt bad that I wasn’t going.  “You are the FUN,” she said.  LOL.  Better the “fun” than the pain in the ass, I guess. Anyhow, she said she wanted to stop at my house on her way down and bring lunch.  So we discussed Chinese food.  I’ve been really craving shrimp egg fu yung and steamed dumplings.  I recommended the Asian Kitchen in Owatonna.  It’s just a small “hole in the wall” place, but the food is amazing.

 

Thursday, July 28

I was able to get up early enough today to sort and start washing my laundry, , pick up some clutter, bag up some clutter, peel and boil some potatoes, and go through the drawer where I keep all the plastic containers used for leftovers.  For some reason, I have accumulated an abundance of lids and very few containers.  So, I went through the whole thing and made sure every container had a lid that fit perfectly.  I threw all the excess lids into the recycling bag. 

When Hope arrived, she hauled the garbage and recycling out to the bins, vacuumed all the upholstered furniture and carpets, used orange glow to polish all the wood furniture, cleaned the bathroom, and worked on the laundry/sewing/craft room.  She had also carried a bunch of stuff to the basement.  While she was down there, she found a heavy duty plastic shelving system that I had forgotten I even had.  They are very sturdy and will hold something like 50 pounds per shelf.  So, we disassembled the table in the l/s/c room and got it down to the basement.  Then we assembled the shelving unit and started stacking plastic totes of fabric on the shelves.  I went through several random boxes and totes full of stuff.  I threw away a lot of junk, recycled what could be recycled, and started organizing the stuff I was keeping. 

At some point Jason came over as Lily had told him my bathroom sink was clogged.  He unclogged the sink, hung my little cat “WELCOME” plaque on the house outside the front door, and looked at the Dison vacuum cleaner that worked for two vacuuming events and then no longer spun its little brushes.  He wasn’t able to fix that.  Since I paid $500 on that damn thing, I expect it to work for more than 2 vacuuming events.  The smaller attachments all work fine, but the big one for the floors doesn’t spin.  I have to work with Amazon to get that repaired or replaced. 

I had made a list of things I was hoping Jason could help me with, so I showed it to him.  I did forewarn him that I did not expect all this stuff to be done quickly—it is a list that could take months—maybe years—to accomplish. Here is the list:

• · Hang plaque on outside of house (done today)
• · Clean out bathroom sink drain (done today)
• · Build oak bookshelves in office (done—but not in this way.)
• · Fix the pull chain on the ceiling fan. (Done)
• · Paint office Bonsai Tint (kind of a yellowish green)
• · Paint hallway and living room Relish (kind of a slightly bluish green)
• · Make nicer shelves/braces for the shelving in the breezeway (done today)
• · Paint kitchen Frosty (a very pale sort of turquoise color)
• · Remove sliding doors from closet in laundry room (Done today)
• · Install a shelving system in the laundry room closet
• · Paint bathroom pale Lilac
• · Paint bedroom and laundry room Grecian Isle Blue
• · Install horizontal blinds in two bedroom windows
• · Enclose bathroom space in basement.  Install shower?
• · Fill grow boxes on deck with drainage gravel and dirt
• · Clean out weed patch on north side of house; plant grass
• · Replace warped shelf in bottom of sideboard with good, sturdy wooden shelf
• · Refinish and assemble grandmother’s oak dining room table and vintage chairs I found to go with it

He looked it over then went to the basement to see the bathroom area—all it is is a toilet and a sink against the East wall with no wall of any kind around it.  While he was down there, he noticed the shelf boards that I had brought from West Concord.  I wish I had taken to brackets that held them as well.  They were so pretty—but they had been screwed into the walls and I was afraid it would leave big holes in the wall if I took them.  He took those boards back to his house and sawed them into the proper lengths and fixed the bookshelf where I now have all of my cookbooks, cleaning supplies, and other stuff stored.  It looks so much better than the hideous raw particle board shelves that it had when I bought it. 

He unclogged the sink and hung the adorable “WELCOME” plaque with the cute cat face on it. He also removed the sliding doors from the laundry room closet which was a much more intense and difficult job than I thought it would be.  He carried the doors to the basement—just in case I ever sell this house, I want to be able to put the doors back on.  While he was in the basement, he discovered that the guys who serviced my furnace had used the wrong sized filter which apparently is not good for the furnace—makes it work harder or something. 

He said that putting walls up for a bathroom would not be a big deal and that he could rig up a drainage system for a shower, but it might require putting a hole in the cement.  I am not crazy about that idea, so maybe no shower will be in the basement.  It isn’t really necessary, but it would be nice to have it. 

The pull chain to turn the lights on the ceiling fan on and off had gotten stretched open on the little piece that fits over the little metal beads.  He fitted it back on and used a pliers to close it up tight.  It is so good to be able to turn off the lights but not the fan.  Of course, now the chain is long and has a little emblem on the end of it that swings.  This is irresistible temptation for the cats who constantly attack it and turn it off and on.  Rats. 

Lily brought over some of her homemade garlic toast in the afternoon after Jason had left.  I ate one piece and let Hope take the rest home for her and her kids.  In the stuff I sorted through, I found the John Carter of Mars emblem that I had acquired somewhere.  I think I won it in some contest or something but I don’t really remember.  It must have been during one of my high stress periods.  Perhaps when I worked under the evil Brett Joyce—may his balls shrivel up to the size of sesame seeds and his dick rot off.  I sent that home with her for her 12 year old son Amadeus.  I found a whole baggy full of small markers that I sent home for 9 or 10 year old Mila.  For Ember, I sent the box of “restaurant” stuff I had made for Kim when she did day care.  I had made “waitress” aprons and “cook” aprons as well as a whole bunch of felt food—French fries, hamburgers, hot dogs, slices of pizza, fried eggs, sausages—all kinds of stuff.  I don’t even remember what all I made, but I know it was a lot of food items. 

That was back in the day when my sister Kim and I were as tight as tight can get and I did everything I could to help her.  Now she and her spawn despise me, and I am disgusted with and disappointed in all of them. 

I hope little Ember enjoys those things.  I know the day care kids LOVED playing restaurant with all that stuff.  I spent hours and hours making it all.

My house looked so wonderful at the end of the day.  Lily was flabbergasted by how much better the laundry/craft/sewing room looks.  Another week or two, and that area will be spectacular.  I can hardly wait.  Then I have to find a way to get into the basement so we can start working down there.  Perhaps tomorrow I will make a few phone calls about having someone come out and see how much installing a stair chair to allow me to get up and down. 

 

Friday, July 29

Today was a quiet day.  Jason called and told me he had been checking some things out on Craig’s List as he thought the lumber would be very expensive and he was a little worried about not making them “fancy” enough for me.  I said I did not want or need “fancy.”  I just wanted sturdy and properly finished.  Anyhow, he had found a really stunning piece of furniture on Craig’s list that had been custom made five years ago and cost $5,000 at that time to make.  It was being offered for $1,500.  I could afford to buy that, BUT—The bottom part of the piece (about 1/3 or more of the item) was all cupboard and drawer space.  Now, could I use that kind of storage in my office?  Yes.  However, the 2/3 or less space which was book shelf area would not hold all the books I want to have in my office.  So, while it was very lovely, it wasn’t what I needed or wanted. 

So, I looked through other shelves on Craig’s List.  I discovered that a set of three 7 foot tall, solid oak bookshelves were available in Apple Valley.  They looked beautiful.  They were simple but very well made.  They were asking $700 for the set.  Jason called and inquired more about it.  Then he went home and measured his truck to see if all three would fit in it or if he would have to rent a trailer to haul them.  Turns out they would fit perfectly in his truck.  He needed to be in Apple Valley by 3 pm to pick them up as the owners had other stuff today after 3.  They wanted cash only—I did not have $700 in cash and no way to get it, but I have plenty of money in my bank account.  Jason said he always keeps a lot of cash in his house, and he could get them and I could write him a check.

So, he headed to Apple Valley.

My friend Sue came with shrimp egg fu yung and steamed dumplings for me and some kind of noodle dish for her.  We had a lovely lunch and an even lovelier chat.  We had not seen each other in person since Jim’s funeral.  He died of sepsis caused by a bronchial infection in 2018, a year before I almost died of sepsis due to the burst appendix.  She stayed over an hour, and we talked about all kinds of stuff.  I gave her the Cat Tarot deck that I had purchased a few years ago to give to DeAnn for Christmas.  It is a hilarious take on Tarot cards.  The illustrations are adorable.  The Tower illustration is two cats who have knocked down the cat tree; Death is a vacuum cleaner; The Devil is a darling, smiling, friendly looking golden retriever.  All of the illustrations are like that.  Clever and Witty.

I told Sue they could have tons of fun with those cards.

Later in the day, Jason called me and told me he was home and that the shelves were really nice but he would need help getting them into the house.  So, I called my brother Jack and asked him if he would be able to come help Jason get them into the house.  He was in the midst of cleaning cat boxes, but he said he would come in 15-20 minutes.  It took them less than 10 minutes to get the bookshelves into the garage where they will stay until we prepare the office for them.  I have to buy paint and get that room painted.  Jason said he would do that and would pick up the paint for me too.  I am so excited to get that room completely done.  I can hardly wait.

Jason managed to talk them down $30, though he tried hard to get them down $100.  I paid him for the cost of the shelves, the gas he used, and three hours of his time.  I also gave him extra money to buy the paint—which we will revisit once he gets the paint and we see how long it takes to paint the room.  I may owe him more.  We’ll see.  I gave him a check for $800.  He told me he could not even get the lumber to make the size of bookshelves in oak for that much.  So I think it works for all of us. 

The shelves are gorgeous.  I can hardly wait to polish them up and put my books in them.

 

Saturday, July 30

Today was a lovely sunny day.   Lily about drove me crazy hounding me to come to her house for stir fry and to watch a movie.  I was getting to the point where I wanted to snap on her.  She doesn’t understand how much pain I experience every day with my knees and my shoulders and my low back.  I finally told her that I needed today to recuperate from all I did the rest of the week and that I needed to cook some of the food I had in the fridge before it went bad.

I told her I would come tomorrow as long as it wasn’t 98° and her house was cool.  She requires constant social interaction—and I don’t require ANY. 

I fried the two ribeye steaks and ate one for lunch.  I also fried a Vidalia onion and the mushrooms to eat with the steaks.  The second steak is really big, so I am sure I can divide it in half and get two meals out of it.  I turned my package of hamburger into another delicious meatloaf and the two cucumbers Lily gave me (which came from Jason’s garden) into a lovely cucumber salad.  I cleaned the celery which I will either eat just as it is—perhaps with a little cream cheese—or add it to pasta or potato salad.

I cleaned some old food out of the fridge.  I had grapes and cherries that had shriveled up, so I put them out for the squirrels, birds, and bunnies.  There were other things that I just tossed. 

Mom has been whining about never going anywhere and how she wanted some Dairy Queen ice cream.  So, this afternoon, I took her to DQ where we got sandwiches and ice cream.  I got a banana malt (my fav) and Mom got a turtle pecan blizzard.  I thought I was getting a bacon cheeseburger—but it was something very disgusting with an onion ring in the sandwich and slathered with BBQ sauce.  Very nasty.  The burger was also kind of burned.  Mom got some kind of a fish sandwich which she said gave her bad acid reflux.  So, not a very happy resolution.  At least mine did not make me sick.  I did not eat all of it.  About a third of it went in the garbage.

The trip wasn’t a total loss as Mom gave me a small bird bath that Tammy had given her for her birthday or Mother’s Day years ago.  It is metal and very light weight, and the wind constantly knocked it over in her yard.  It is now on my deck where it will be very protected from the wind.  When Hope comes next, I will have her scrub it down.  It is extremely dirty.  I have been wanting to get a bird bath so the birds and squirrels have a place to get some water.  It will be right outside the picture window in the living room, so the cats will really enjoy watching the activities in and around it.  They love watching the squirrels and blue jays eat the peanuts I put out for them.

 

Sunday, July 31

I slept as late as I could, which wasn’t terribly late as I had to be ready to be picked up by Lily on her way home from church.  I was able to do my morning routine and was almost dressed when she got here.  I told her I had to feed the cats before I went.  My stomach felt weird, like I needed to use the bathroom, but I didn’t.  I was worried it might become urgent before we got to Lily’s house, but we made it.  I had a very hard time getting into Lily’s house.  My knees and back hurt so bad, and I didn’t know if I could make it up into her house via the steps in the garage.  She just doesn’t comprehend how much it hurts.  It hurt so bad that I wanted to cry.

She started to hound me about how I needed to get out and walk more and be more active and I snapped a little—I said, “You do not understand how it is.  I have NO cartilage in my knees.  There is bone rubbing on bone.  No matter what I do, cartilage cannot be resurrected once it is dead.  Every step I take is agony.  The only pain killer I am able to use is Tylenol which has never been an effective pain reliever for me.  Being nagged is not helping either.”

I cried a little too.  Then she felt bad and said she was sorry.

She made a stir fry with rice for our lunch.  There were lots of vegetables and a little bit of chicken. As usual, she over seasoned it horrendously—but I don’t like excessive seasoning.  I must have a very delicate palate as I like subtle flavors—not ones that smack you in the face with a shovel.  Others might think it was awesome.

When Nola got there, we plugged in the Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood movie with Tom Hanks playing Mr. Rogers. I had seen it before (it’s my movie), but neither of them had seen it.  It had been a long time since I last saw it, so it was very fresh for me.  I liked it much better this time.  I got a lot more out of it.  I had also brought the movie Taxi with Queen Latifah and Jimmy Fallon.  It is a pretty funny comedy that I thought they would enjoy, but they were not up for another movie—it was getting late in the afternoon and Nola wanted to get home.

Lily served an ice cream dessert that Nola declined.  It was okay.  It had mint ice cream on top of an Oreo cookie crust and under a layer of caramel topped by whipped cream and crumbles of Oreo.  I am not a big fan of mint.  But it was okay. 

I got to pet and hold Finn, the Siamese cat that Joni had rehomed to Lily.  He is a very sweet and loving little kitty.  He seems to have formed a bond with Lily, but Missy, her elderly black cat, hates him, much as Peaches hates Sawyer and William.  However, Finn is nice to Missy, unlike my savages who are constantly sniffing Peaches’ butt, grabbing her tail, and pouncing on her.  Poor baby Peach. 

Getting out of the house was not as hard as getting in.  I was glad to be home.  I was tired and just wanted to relax.  I was watching something on TV when my television suddenly went black and offered the option to play a DVD or Netflix.  I couldn’t make it go back to the TV.  Very irritating.  I finally just turned it off and listened to some stuff on YouTube.  After a while, I went to bed.  I have an appointment with Dr. Vita tomorrow at 2:10, so I can sleep in quite a while.  I will need to take a good shower before I go.  I don’t want to be stinky or sticky. 

Comments

[the_godiva]

The endocrinologist is full of shit. How could the metformin be causing the diarrhea if you've been taking it for 20 years and the diarrhea is recent? It's something you've been given recently. Didn't you think it was the heart medication? I'd continue with the metformin and cut the suspected recent medication by half and see if the diarrhea subsides. Once you identify what is causing the problem you can either cut the dosage or find a substitute that doesn't give you the runs.

Look to see if the dish of the birdbath comes off of the base. Sometimes you take the dish off and can put gravel or sand in the base to weigh it down, then put the dish back on and it's stable. My Mom has a plastic bird bath like that.

I get the oreo cookie crust and the mint ice cream but caramel on top? Caramel and mint? Bleech.

Sounds like Finn is a good match and I think Missy will come around. Plus Lily will need Finn when Missy is gone. Being diabetic she is not going to live forever.

[chochiyo_sama]

I think the heart meds interacted with the metformin as I never had issues with it before. The mass diarrhea effect has changed significantly since the metformin is reduced and now is gone. I am seriously considering going to insulin. If I can afford it.