Happy New Year's Eve! I had a tough night and a tough day. Lucky seems so sick and I keep thinking will she make it through the weekend. She is shaking and staring at me asking me to help her. It is a holiday so I don't know how to help her.
It isn't a happy day for the two of us. No fireworks or fun. Just going to bed at 8 pm to keep her calm. Lots of rain.
Last night Lucky feel off the bed. It was 4 am and bam! she fell off the bed when she turned over. I screamed she got up and shook it off. I know it had to hurt since I have fancy concrete floors. I put her back up on the bed and put a pillow as a barricade so that would not happen again.
In the morning the shaking was worse. Now I wondered if she hurt herself when she fell. Did she bruise her side or break anything? She was walking fine but I didn't know.
I packed her in a blanket and kept her close all day. She was making me nervous. She shook so hard at night the bed shook.
It rained again. Rain we need you but it is too much.
Until tomorrow...
Lucky has been shaking. A lot. Like little chihuahuas shake. She has never shaked like that before. She is making me very nervous. I am going to take her to the vet if it gets worse. She is up all night shaking and moving around. I am really tired.
It is raining. Raining and raining.
Until tomorrow...
The soil was moved to the backyard by two guys. They spread it around the backyard. Then they dug a hole for the water feature. I asked them very nicely to dig a little deeper so I could bury something under the water feature. They complied and I buried my previous bird, Baby. Baby was in the freezer since he passed away. (wrapped up and in a box) I placed him in the hole and asked for a minute and they all bowed their heads while I took a minute. It was sweet. Now the water feature will be his memorial.
The landscaper also put in the path to the standing garden and the bench. It is really coming together.
Until tomorrow...
There is movement on the backyard!
First there were huge bags of soil and rocks delivered. Then the landscaper moved the many rocks to the backyard. The soil will have to wait for tomorrow. You can see how many rocks he moved by himself. Better him than me! I think that is what Lucky is saying. The backyard is moving along.
Until tomorrow...
Today was my breast MRI. I do not have problems with MRIs since I have been having MRIs since I was 19 or 20 years old when I hurt my back. Beck them it was the old MRI machines where the circle you went into was really little. I learned to zen out when I was in there. Never open your eyes and just try to go to sleep or a deep relaxed state. The MRI today had music so I was able to listen to rock music (my choice.) The only thing I forgot was I hate when they say "3 more minutes", "now it is going to be 2.5 minutes". I would rather they just let it run until it is over. Their talking brings me out of my zen.
I will have the results in a few days or more since it is Christmas. You may be asking if I wore my special Tiara and yes, I did. Of course I got weird looks since the MRI department was moved during lock down to a larger building. I don't care. That Tiara has magical powers and was given to me by a friend who helped me years ago when I had my first breast cancer scare.
Until tomorrow...
I had a foster meeting today for my ex-foster kid. Then I went to the post office to get my mail and drop off a package. My final gift arrived and wrapped it and boxed it up to send it out. I was so happy to have all my packages gone. I need to rethink this next year. Definitely lighter gifts!
I contacted Amazon to return the headset I bought and didn't work with my phone system. Amazon won't take it back but refunded my money.
Until tomorrow...
I didn't feel that well in the afternoon again.
Earlier in the day I made Gingerbread Blondies with White Chocolate Chunks. They are really good. I will share a photo soon.
I decorated the house more and decorated the tree. I had a light situation. I tested the string of lights before I put them on the tree. It takes two strings of lights for the tree. I put the two strings on the tree. I plug it in and the top string doesn't light up. ERGH! I take the top string off and test another string of lights. It lights up. I restring the tree. I plug it in and, guess what? It doesn't light. The top of the tree is cursed! I gave up.
Later in the day I had to rig the angel on the tree. It is the angel from my childhood. I took a chopstick and attached it to the top of the tree so the angel can stay. Then suddenly the lights flash on. Now the lights work. I didn't want to move anything because the lights work.
Until tomorrow...
I spent the day decorating the house more and resting on the couch watching Christmas Movies. I did not feel very well in the afternoon.
I did laundry and picked up. I cleared out the area around my workout area in the garage.
Until tomorrow...
It is Friday and a busy day for me. Early morning doctor virtual appointment. Then I had to take my car to get smog checked so I can register it for another year. I showed up on time but they were running late. I told the guy that I saw his advertisement on line and I got 20% off. I really didn't but I remembered from last year that he had one. Hey, I go to him every year. My car passed!
Then I had to rush home for a food delivery. My handyman cancelled because he was ill.
My client was supposed to meet with me at 1 pm but postponed until 2:45. It was supposed to be a 15 min meeting and it turned into an hour and a half meeting. On a day that I was not working. I was a little annoyed and tired when it was all done.
I started decorating the house. I set up the Christmas tree. It is a silver retro tree.
Until tomorrow...
I had my big dental appointment today. The dentist filled four areas on the side of my teeth where the gums receded and the nerves were exposed. The dentist said it was because of my grinding and tooth brushing. I need to use my electric toothbrush more. It is great seeing my teeth all white instead of my exposed ugly nerves.
I am going back in January to talk about Invisiline. My grinding has screwed up my teeth but mostly my bottom teeth. She said the Invisiline can fix it. I am going to be lots of fun to sleep with. A mouth guard on the top teeth and a retainer on the bottom teeth. This will be worse than when I was a teenager with braces and rubber bands. :-)
The landscaper was here most of the day. He and his assistant worked very hard moving dirt and lifting up pavers (slate). Almost all of the pavers that are being moved are lifted up now. The big mound of dirt is spread out. More work is being done in the next two days.
This afternoon when I was putting the four packages in the car to take to the post office, I took Lucky with me to give her a car ride. All of a sudden she started limping. Her front paw seemed sore so I took her back in the house to take a nap. She seems better now. I hypothesize that she stepped on something sharp that didn't leave a mark.
I only have one package left to mail. I am waiting for the gift to arrive. It is very annoying that the gift has not arrived yet.
Until tomorrow...
I managed to get some more decorating done today. The most important thing I got done was I figured out how to have my angel stay up on top of my tree and while doing that, I accidentally fixed the top string of lights. The lights either have a short in the wire or a bulb is loose but when I affixed a chopstick to the top of the tree in order to have something to put the angel on, I tweaked the cord and the lights popped on. I’m not going to touch anything.
I finished wrapping the gifts that arrived. I am waiting on three gifts. Once one more gets here tomorrow, I am mailing out three boxes. I have one more box and a small package to go.
I went to physical therapy to figure out my feet. At first I wasn’t sure I was going to like the guy. He came highly recommended but he was so serious. By the end he loosened up. I have a plan of attack that includes riding my stationary bike, rollers, towels and heat. He isn’t quite sure what is wrong but says we will figure it out.
Until tomorrow…
I am trying to feel better. You know that feeling when you are trying really hard to feel better but you just can’t get there. That is me today.
It is still so cold here. It is so unusual to wear a turtleneck here but here I am wearing a turtleneck.
More Christmas gifts arrived for me to wrap and box up. The gifts I wrapped and boxed over the weekend were picked up and are on their merry way to their récipients. Now I remember why I started buying gifts online. It is harder to buy gifts, get them delivered to my home, wrap them, and then box them up and ship them out.
Until tomorrow…
I am not feeling better today. In fact I took another COVID test today. I didn’t think I had it but I wanted to make sure. It was negative. I am pretty sure it is just a flare of some sort. I am tired, sore, in pain and achy. I pretty much laid on the couch all day.
I finished packing up three boxes to ship and took for a walk. I took the lights off the top of the Christmas tree and put another strand on the tree and (yes,I did test them) they didn’t work once I got them on the tree. I’ll fix them tomorrow.
I just got lots of rest on a rainy day.
Until tomorrow…
There is lots of rain today. During a quick break in the rain I ran Lucky around the block.
I started decorating for Christmas. I put the shiny silver Christmas tree up. I put some lights on it, I tested them first, and once I got them on the tree, part of the strand didn’t work. Ergh!
The landscaper was supposed to come and bring dirt but it is raining.
I received some Christmas gifts and wrapped them so they can be put in the mail first thing Monday.
Then I started to not feel very good. Just tired and achy. I went to bed at 8pm.
Until tomorrow…
What a day! It started with the termite people coming. That was a bit of a fiasco because the inspector was not a good communicator and the guys that showed up to do the work were confused. The work was completed.
Then the roofer came to look at the leak in my roof. He went up om the roof and found five small cracks that need to be patched. He has to wait until it stops raining.
Then the landscaper arrived and worked for the rest of the day. The backyard will never look the same.
I finally got to sit down around 6 pm. I was exhausted. But happy the backyard is finally getting started.
Until tomorrow…
I am a horrible cousin. I forgot to call my cousin for their birthday. We talk all the time. I knew it was their birthday but I didn’t want to call during work hours and then it slipped my mind. Then it was too late to call. I did text and post a Facebook post so I didn’t completely ghost them. I just felt badly.
I had a handyman here today doing a bunch of work. He was here all day doing various tasks such as cleaning out my dryer duct, bracing my fireplace, fixing a wall, fixing a lock, moving stuff and taking junk to the dump. So much stuff got taken care of.
While he was doing that, I was making appointments to get my car fixed, my car checked, and the termite guys coming. It was a busy day.
Until tomorrow…
I got a good report on Lucky. She went on a walk and she ran! It is her final day of the medicine and she no longer breathes with a snort from her stuffed nose. She is still sleepy but no longer stuffy.
Today is St. Nicholas Day. In the United States, one custom associated with Saint Nicholas Day is children leaving their shoes in the foyer on Saint Nicholas Eve in hope that Saint Nicholas will place some coins on the soles.
The American Santa Clause, as well as the British Father Christmas, derive from Saint Nicholas. « Santa Claus » is itself derived in part from the Dutch Sinterklaas, the saint’s name in that language. However, the gift giving associated with these descendant figures is associated with Christmas Day rather than Saint Nicholas Day itself.
Until tomorrow…
Today went by in a blink. It started with me bringing Christmas decorations upstairs. I only brought the light things upstairs and I am hoping my handyman will carry the heavy bins upstairs. I am going to purge.
Then I got a message that my free VR game is going to expire if I didn't claim it today so I had to figure out how to claim and install it. Once I did that, I watched a VR documentary on blindness. It was very interesting and educational. There were many parts that I closed my eyes to feel what it would be like to not have sight. At one point it added sound from a playground one sound at a time. It is amazing how much we hearing folk take the amount of sound in our daily lives for granted. I learned when you can't see, those sounds are so frightening and some are threatening. A car door closing is a scary sound.
Using my VR game was all a way to avoid doing work. I had to finish invoicing clients, my most hated task. I am trying to get better at it so I don't get behind. I finished this evening.
I had to make dinner for the week and decided to try a quick curry. It is okay but I should have stuck with my regular curry. I put broccoli, sweet potatoes and chard in the curry.
I had to get ready for my rheumatoid arthritis doctor appointment tomorrow morning. I have my script of what I want to say to her about my last appointment. Wish me luck!
Until tomorrow...
It rained again today. It is SO cold again today. Those two things are miserable together. Lucky does not want to go for walks. I finally got her out between rainstorms and she only wanted to go around the corner before she ran (and I mean ran!) back home. She is also not too happy about her new coat. I think she is happy she has it on when she is out in the cold but she doesn't like putting it on.
Update on Lucky: she is growling more which I am taking as she is feeling better. When she was not feeling well she never growled. Now she is much more feisty! Back to normal.
I did almost my entire Christmas shopping today. I had some ideas of what I wanted to buy for some folks but I had to research for others. I think I have some fun presents.
Until tomorrow...
Today I made the decision that starting in 2023 I am going to a four-day work week. I have been on a trial for the past few months and I quite enjoy it. I feel more productive and like having one day to do administrative tasks. I do handle emergencies if they come up and if I am working on special project, I have time to work on it uninterrupted.
As a favor, my neighbor came by to check my oil and antifreeze. He works on old cars. He said my oil and water were low. I have no fluids at my house because I always go to my "car husband". A car husband is a bit like a "work husband". My car husband works at my dealership and is my friend. I have known him for way too many years (hint: this car is 20 years old and I had another car before this one) and he has always checked my oil and antifreeze and put air in my tires. I know that sounds spoiled but if you had someone who (such as a car husband) who did these things for free, would you do them yourself? When my neighbor told me I needed to drive to a store and buy oil and antifreeze, I called my car husband and he said to drive over. He dealt with it in 15 minutes. Then he put air in my tires. I just stood there and chatted with him. I know spoiled.
When I was younger I had a very inexpensive car and I did everything myself. I even bled my own brakes (with help). I was a wiz with duct tape! I feel like I did my time!
Until tomorrow...
The landscaper came by to double check everything. I put a string around where I thought the pavers should go. It was helpful so we are now on the same page. He gave me an estimate and we agreed on a start date. He said it could be done by Christmas but I looked at the weather report and I think that is optimistic. I think by New Year's is more realistic.
Lucky's new coat:
Until tomorrow...
