September 5 through 10
Sep. 11th, 2022 07:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chochiyo_samaMonday, September 5
Lily has been hounding me to come to her house, even though I have had very little interest in going there. I want to work on my house. But, I love her, so I told her I would come today. She made a very over seasoned vegetable stir fry that was almost inedible due to excessive salt and whatever other seasonings she over loaded it with. I think her tastebuds have been so overloaded with salt and other seasonings that she doesn’t realize how overwhelming it is to a more sensitive palette. She made a peach crisp for dessert that was much better than the stir fry. We watched a Tom Hanks movie I had never heard of before called Hologram for Saudi Arabia. I found it rather boring. It was apparently based on a true story. Usually I love Tom Hanks, but this just didn’t do it for me. The scenery of the desert lands of Saudi Arabia were pretty cool.
After the movie, I again instructed her on how to locate information via Google and how to find the recipes and other information that is on her computer. She just doesn’t get how to operate the computer. Even when I write it out step by step, she doesn’t “get” it. That isn’t uncommon for someone of her age (82), but still. I get tired of hearing constant complaints about how someone “broke” her computer when the reality is that she just does not know how to operate it.
After that, I called my mother to see if she wanted to accompany us to the cemetery to look at the flowers on our family’s graves. From there, we drove down to Maple Island where my mother and Jerry (Lily’s husband) grew up—and Lily had spent a lot of time there as well as she and Jerry had lived with Grandma Neitzell for some time after they were married. We drove all over the Island and Mom again told all the stories of her youth there, pointing out the various houses where people they knew lived.
After the tour, we drove the back roads to Blooming Prairie where we got malts/shakes. Mom got a four piece chicken strip basket, and I got a bacon cheeseburger. After dropping them home again, I went home where I watched the movie The Host which I had never seen before. I had not read the book either. It was okay—it was another incarnation of the “pod people” meme. There was no one I recognized in the cast—most of them were pretty young. The acting was not bad.
Tomorrow Lily will take me to the clinic again. I feel like I am at that damned clinic every other day. It makes me crabby.
Tuesday, September 6
I got up early enough to take a shower before Lily picked me up and took me to the clinic. My first appointment was at 10:10 with Caitlyn the dietician followed by appointments at the lab where they took blood and urine and gave me an EKG. I was supposed to end up with a blood pressure check with a nurse, but I cancelled that appointment as I will be back at the clinic on Thursday to see Ashleigh, the endocrinologist who will certainly check my blood pressure then. I did not want to hang around until 3:30 pm just to get the blood pressure check.
One of the techs from the lab took me to the entrance where I quietly read my book while waiting for Lily to pick me up. We went through the drive through at Wendy’s for lunch. We each got a cheeseburger and lemonade. I got the strawberry lemonade which was very refreshing and she had the mango/pineapple lemonade. I also got a baked potato which I took home for later consumption. (I had it for supper later).
When I got home, I cleaned out the litterboxes in the breezeway. They were pretty nasty. These cats are literally full of shit. Ha. Lily had an appointment to get her hair cut in New Richland. She came back to my house when it was done. She got my mail for me, dragged my garbage bin back to the house, and took a bag of garbage and a bag of recycling out to the bins.
In the mail was a letter from the clinic telling me that my potassium levels were normal. That was a relief as they had put me on a medication that had previously caused my body to retain potassium to such levels that I was literally on the door step of a heart attack. I am no longer on that medication—it also gave me a cough that had me nearly puking several times a day. I have been off that medication for a while, but the cough is taking its sweet time to wear off. Grr. Very annoying.
I had texted Hope about whether she was able to clean for me this week, and she responded, telling me that she could come and clean on Friday. That makes me happy as my house needs cleaning!
Wednesday, September 7
I had a productive day today. I did not have to go anywhere, so I was able to stay in my own house and get stuff done. Immediately after taking care of all my morning routine, I sorted and started my laundry. It is a pretty big laundry this time as I usually do it on Friday—So it is overdue by a few days. Then I headed into the kitchen where I worked for a long time. I had two packages of hamburger, so I made a pan of tator tot hot dish of one and a delicious meatloaf out of the other. I butchered my cantaloupe and cut it into chunks for easy consumption, peeled and boiled some potatoes to turn into potato salad, and cut up onion and celery for the potato salad. After the potatoes were cooked and cooled, I put them and the onion and celery in the fridge for tomorrow. I was just too tired to boil the eggs for the potato salad, so I planned to do that in the morning. I had a lot of dishes as I also cleaned all the old stuff out of the refrigerator and threw it in the garbage so Hope can get it outside for me along with all the cantaloupe rinds and potato and onion debris. I washed all the dishes and put away the dishes that had been in the dish drainer before.
Then I sat down and made out my grocery list before calling it in to Lerbergs. Last week, Ross had complimented me on how organized my grocery orders were and how I did not take up too much of their time like many other people who looked at the ad flyer for the first time while they were on the phone with the employees. He said that they were considering stopping the delivery service because people just wasted too much time—but they would continue delivering to me regardless as I was not a pain in the butt. Ha.
In the evening, I settled down to watch Captain America: The First Avenger. I love all the Super Hero movies. I grew up on DC and Marvel comics. I wish I still had all my old comics. They are probably worth some serious cash nowadays.
Thursday, September 8
I got up early enough to take another shower—any time I have an appointment at the clinic, I make sure I am as clean as possible so I don’t smell offensive to the medical people. Today’s appointment was with Ashleigh the endocrinologist. Her nurse did take my blood pressure which was back in the normal range at 130/82 after Adam, the cardiologist, switched my meds BACK to the ones I had originally been on. So, today, Ashleigh and I discussed all the possible medications which might get my blood sugar back into the proper range.
I was sort of pulling for insulin as the governor has capped the cost of insulin at $35 per month for people on Medicare. She, however, thought that Trulicity was a better option. Something about how it is “heart protective” and promotes weight loss. Sigh. The argument against Trulicity is that it does have many side effects, though she assured me that the side effects are NOT common. As a bonus, one of the side effects is diarrhea. Yah. Just what I need. MORE diarrhea. Also, many insurances will not cover Trulicity, and it can cost between $500-$1,500 per MONTH. Outrageous. I called the pharmacy to see what it would cost me--$240/month. While I can afford that, I hate to pay that much as it will really cut into my “free” money which I have been putting towards home improvements. Ashleigh said that there was a program available via the company that makes Trulicity which, if I qualify for it, will result in me getting it for free. That would be nice. Also—This medication has to be injected. Only once a week. So it is not as complex as having to figure out and inject different amounts of insulin every day—sometimes multiple times a day. So, I will try it. I am not real happy about it. But I will try it.
When we were done, I went to the appointment desk and scheduled the two follow-up appointments Ashleigh wants me to make next month—another blood test and another “discussion” appointment. Sigh.
Lily and I had to wait an hour for the pharmacy to get the prescription ready, so we went through the drive through of Culvers where I bought her a turtle sundae and myself a corn dog and a strawberry malt. We ate them in the Walmart parking lot and chatted while waiting till the prescription was prepared.
When we entered Walmart, we ran into Jason. He came up and spoke to us immediately which was sweet. He doesn’t like to be around a lot of people, so it is sweet that he likes to be around us. I told him I was going to buy a ceiling fan for my office since the large bookshelves cover up the light switch. If I put a ceiling fan in, I can leave the light “on” all the time and use the chain to turn it off and on. I bought two longer chains to add on to it too. I also bought two new oven liner aluminum sheets to keep the oven cleaner. The current liner is not bad yet, but I will be prepared for when I need a new one. I bought the kitties three new toys because they ALWAYS need new toys. I am running low on functional ink pens, so I bought three packages of new pens, a small sketch book, the movie Dog starring a beautiful German Shepherd and Channing Tatum, a box of crullers, a box of spring greens, a container of “Constellation” grape/cherry tomatoes, 2 bags of Mounds snack sized candy bars, a loaf of French bread, 2 large cans of potted chicken, a single piece of cheesecake, a package of small paper plates that I use to feed the cats their soft food, a box of plastic spoons that I use to scoop the soft food onto the plates, and a bag of snack sized KitKat bars.
In the school supply section, they had little zippered pods to hold hand sanitizer that school kids could hook onto their backpacks. They had a variety of little animal heads to appeal to kids. I grabbed two panda pods because they would be perfect for accent pillows in the bedroom I am planning for my two brunette American Girl dolls whom I am calling Amanda and Miranda. In my doll world, they are obsessed with pandas. I have been gathering small panda themed things to create their room. When I got home, I removed the bottles (which were empty—cheapskates), and will stuff the pods with fiberfill to make the nice soft pillows. They will look cute on the beds. Next month when I have a little more “fun money,” I will buy some panda themed fabric for bedding.
While I was at the pharmacy to get the Trulicity, the pharmacist asked if I wanted to get the flu and the pneumonia vaccinations while I was there. I was surprised they had not offered it to me at the Clinic, but I figured why not? Get it over with. I had to wait quite a while for them to give it to me, but now it is done for another winter.
On the way home, I called Jack to see if he would come over and carry in all my stuff. He said he would—just call him when I was home. But Lily was determined to do it herself, so she carried all my stuff in. Unfortunately, the cheesecake pod popped open and got sticky crap all over everything. Ugh. She did not stay long after that. I gave her a container of my tator tot hot dish for her supper. It makes a large batch.
Today exhausted me. Going to the clinic ALWAYS exhausts me. I just watched TV for a while then went to bed early. Tomorrow Hope will be coming, so I want to get up early to get more stuff done before she arrives.
Friday, September 9
I was so tired last night that I slept like a log. I woke up early—before 7 am. After my morning routine, I unloaded the dish drainer, boiled four eggs so I could make the potato salad, cleaned more old stuff out of the fridge, washed more dishes, finished making the potato salad, and cleaned up the mess. Hope arrived around 10 am. She brought one of my small bookshelves back up from the basement so I could polish it and finish putting the last of the DVDs in it. The DVD shelf I had there earlier was small and flimsy. This one is nothing special, but it is a lot sturdier and it is a lighter colored wood so it matches better with the oak shelves. I was going to put the black flimsy shelf on the curb with a free sign, but Hope asked if she could have it for Mila. I was more than happy to let her take it.
I had to sit in the recliner for a while to recover while Hope took out the garbage and recycling, vacuumed all the upholstered furniture, cleaned the bathroom, set up the plastic table she brought for me to sort out my books on, and hauled all the books back into the office and put them on the table. She also used the Golden Glow to polish the nice shelf Bert had given me after he sold his business. Hope put all the books that had been in that one on the table too so I could group all the authors together. I will not be alphabetizing my books—at least not at this time—but I do want all books with the same authors together. Hope went on to sweep, vacuum, and scrub the floors and to put the cat tree I had ordered from chewy.com together. The cats instantly LOVED that cat tree. Both of the boys immediately climbed into it and explored it thoroughly. They were in heaven!
At some point, I felt rested enough to polish the small shelf, wipe off the DVD cases, and put them in the shelves. I am missing a bunch of my INUYASHA DVDs. They must be in a box somewhere still. I did put the ones I have in order. When I finished that, I worked on shelving my books in the new oak book shelves. Hope had a date tonight, so she headed home at about 3 pm. I kept working on the books for quite a while after she left. I was so exhausted that I went to bed really early. I had nothing left to give.
Saturday, September 10
I slept like a log last night. No cats joined me. All three slept in the cat tree. That was money well spent.
I was pretty much worn out today, so I did not accomplish much. I called Mom to see if Kim had come down today—she was supposed to come last week but did not show up. She did come today and apparently finished cleaning her stuff out of the three season porch.
I filled my pill caddy this morning then took the Trulicity out of the fridge. I am supposed to let it warm at room temperature for an hour before injecting it. So, I took it out and set a timer for an hour. I read the instructions carefully, and did what they told me to do. After I took the injection, I felt a little dizzy—my mouth sort of watered a bit, like it does before you are going to puke, but I didn’t puke or gag. I just sat in my recliner and rested for a while and watched tv. I hope it is effective in lowering my blood sugar.
When I felt okay again, I folded my red/pink clothes and threw the white load into the dryer. I cleaned the laundry room litter box and swept the scattered crumbles of litter.
It rained some in the morning and was beautiful and sunny in the afternoon.
At some point in the later part of the evening, Becky David Lassahn called me. She had heard that I was selling my house and moving away. She said someone had seen something about it on the internet. Weird. I told her no—I have no plans at this time of selling my house or moving. If my grandmother’s house became available, I would look into it, but otherwise, I will probably be in this house until I die.
In the evening, I watched The Sacketts on INSP channel. Tom Selleck and Sam Elliott in their prime, looking good. I did not follow it too closely as I was also messing around on my computer. I set my alarm for 8 am so I could get up and get a couple of things done before DeAnn and I had our zoom meeting. I was so tired I could hardly think. At some point in the middle of the night, I woke up needing to blow my nose. When I reached for the Kleenexes, I realized that both boys were snuggled up tight to me. William was right next to my torso, and Sawyer was snuggled up on my arm next to him. Sadly, my movement drove them both away—but it was a very sweet moment while it lasted.
I suspect they thought it was morning and time to get their soft food. I disappointed them by just going to the bathroom and then directly back to bed. Poor starving babies.
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Date: 2022-09-12 05:49 am (UTC)Working on my parent's yard has me itching to do some work on my own but the weather is not optimum for doing anything. Maybe once I have their yard on automatic and things start to green up, I can cut my visits down to 2 or even 1 day a week and work on my own yard. Then the house. And the garage. Fuck.
I think I saw A Hologram for the King. He worked for a software company and they were hired to do something with promises that were never kept and he kept being put off. They ended up in a tent in the desert and in the end the Saundi's awarded the contract to a competitor. It was a whole soft firing thing I guess. They never told him no, just failed to provide anything or meet and just dragged it out until he and the team finally got the drift and left. I love Hanks but was not impressed with this movie. If you haven't seen it, watch The Terminal. That is a great Hanks movie and so underrated, most people have never heard of it. I bought a copy I liked it so much.
If that Trulicity brings on the diarrhea again, do not hesitate to tell them and refuse to take it any more. There are plenty of alternatives and I'll bet they cost less too.
I'm so happy the cats are loving the cat tree. Hopefully that will take some of the pressure off of you to be constantly their center of entertainment.
The fan will be not on convenient for you but will also offer ventilation. I love them and have mine going constantly in the bedroom just to move the air. I have one in the living room that is always going too. I have one in *my* bedroom at my parent's house and in the sewing room. I also turn the one on in the living room and am training my parents to allow me to use it.
I hope the spawn didn't chuck your Inuyasha DVDs when they were squatting in your house.
It will peak at 81 tomorrow here so will be hotter at the pool so I'm going tomorrow from 11-1, then going to Rosie's Calico Cupboard to look at fabric. They're having a sale in the sale room, plus 25% off one cut of regular fabric. Amazon will deliver a bunch of stuff, most of which is going to my parent's house so I can continue the yard and sew the first jumpsuit. I didn't even unpack my bag from last week; it's still in the cargo area.
I guess I'll find out if Letty is still employed on Tuesday. If not, or if my Mom is still serious about Meals on Wheels I guess I'll have to set that up. Not sure it can be done on a Sunday or if my sister stays long enough to do anything.