BORING DAY

 I had another day of PT today. He is working on my shoulder. My shoulder hurts so much. 

Instead of my meditation class today I decided to do my own thing. 

It was a boring day!

Until tomorrow...

LUCKY IN A CONVERTIBLE

Well, my ex-foster kid made it to school today. I texted and called early in the morning. I got a text back from on the school bus.  Good! 

I took Lucky in the convertible to run some errands. It was her first time with the top down and I think she liked it. She was sniffing the air. 

I went to acupuncture later in the afternoon. It really made my shoulder feel better. 

I had my planning meeting for the arthritis group. We are going to have meetings once a month. It is my job to get a speaker. 

Until tomorrow...

NO ICE CREAM

Well, my ex-foster kid missed the first day of school because he overslept. Urg. I have an alarm in my phone to call him tomorrow. 

I went down to a market today to get presents for the people I am going to visit. They are just a little thing to thank them for hosting me. I wanted to get ice cream at a nice ice cream place but they had no vegan ice cream. 

Until tomorrow...

HEARD FROM THE INSURANCE COMPANY

I had a busy day. I had my rheumatologist appointment and that went really well. She is happy I have decreased the Prednisone to 4mg. 

First I called the school about my ex-foster child. School starts tomorrow. Then I got a package with my new hiking hat, windbreaker, and jacket. They go with my new hiking pants and shoes for a future trip. 

Then I got a call from the insurance company about the damage of my house. I have been approved and they are going to pay more!! I guess three times is the charm. 

I worked and then I had evening meditation. We discussed other things we can do such as online restorative yoga. I am going to try the next class. They also have laughing yoga. I think I will try that too. 

Until tomorrow...

FRIENDS TODAY

Today was a busy day because it was my volunteer day. I volunteer at an event in the park one day a month during the summer/early fall. 

I got there early and helped with set up. Once that was done, I sat down and meditated for a little while. The event went really well and there was awesome weather. As a surprise, I ran into a friend I have not seen since Dec 2019. It was so great to see him. Then I ran into three folks I was on my group zoom back in 2020/21. It was such a surprise to look up and see them. 

I had to leave around 3:00 so I could get home and let Lucky out before my friends adopted kid came over. Kid, he is 21 years old but I have known him since he was 16. We sat in the backyard and caught up. We were supposed to order dinner but he forgot and just ate late lunch. 

It was a great day seeing all these people. 

Until tomorrow...

PRODUCTIVE DAY

Today was a productive day. I did laundry, put on new sheets, swept the floors, washed the floors, cleaned most of the bathroom, washed dishes and picked up all over the house. I went to my neighbor's to have my exercise ball pumped with air and walked the dog twice. 

My neighbor told me last night someone siphoned all the gas out of his car. Can you believe it? People are crazy. 

Until tomorrow...

STRAY DOG?

Today is another hot day. I took Lucky for another long walk with the dog stroller. We walked 3k steps. That is 1.5 miles and half of it uphill. I was sweating when we got back. I had a few minutes before I had to go to physical therapy. 

At therapy I ran into my neighbor at my physical therapy appointment. He was at OT because of his stroke. He was surprised to see me. 

I got a text from a neighbor because he found a stray dog. Then I got a second text stating the dog is being used as a decoy, as the person with the dog steals packaged. No one suspects a guy with a dog. 

Until tomorrow...

WHY IS IT SO 🔥🥵 HOT?

I had tai chi this morning and the Master says I need to practice more. It was so hot at 8:00 am that I got light headed from the heat. I had not eaten breakfast. 

My meditation group was a bit of a bust tonight. One person texted they were not coming. I got on the video conference and the other person was not there. After waiting a few minutes, I went ahead and began meditating. A few minutes in, I got a text asking why I was not on the zoom. We worked it out and finally had time for a short meditation. 

I hope tomorrow is cooler. 

Until tomorrow...

NO MERIT IN THE COMPLAINT

Big news! For you regular readers, the complaint against me from a neighbor to the city, has been closed. It was decided that I did not need a permit. I sent the complainant a very nice email (since the city did not redact the email) thanking them for watching out for the neighborhood, telling him the complaint had no merit and maybe next time, come and talk to me first.  All very nice. And thank you, neighbor!

I have been sore for two days. I sort of tripped on the stairs over the weekend. I landed on my knees and my ankle hurt the first day now my thigh hurts. I think I strained something. I am sure it will be all better tomorrow. Doing qi gong on Monday did not help. It requires more stretching than tai chi. 

I had a meeting about my ex-foster kid today and gained a bunch of knowledge about housing after a foster kid turns 18 years old. 

My meditation group had another mishap tonight. Last night I had a post office delivery and an Amazon delivery AND I forgot to put my phone on DND and my foster kid texted me. All sorts of doorbells, pinging of the phone and dog barking is not relaxing.  Then tonight, no one attended but me, because the one person who was going to come had the wrong Zoom link. By the time we figured it out, she decided to skip tonight. I sent out a new zoom link to everyone. Meanwhile I had a very relaxing 30 minute meditation by myself! 

Until tomorrow...

CRAZY WEATHER

I went to tai chi and a friend of the tai chi master showed up. We ended up doing qi gong instead. 

Today was weird weather. It was 61 degrees, then 75 degrees, then 86 degrees, then 62 degrees, then 90 degrees. It was still 74 degrees at 7:30 pm. Crazy day. 

I realized I forgot to pay a bill. I rushed out and took care of it and filled the tank with gasoline. Then I took Lucky on a long walk (during the cool weather) where she walked down hill and I put her in the stroller and got a workout on the way back. 

Until tomorrow...

IT IS HOT, REALLY HOT

Lucky and I woke up early and went to a car show. There a bunch of really old cars this time. Cars from 1930 to today. Most of the cars are from 1950-1960. My old car is a baby in comparison. 

I had another easy day and thank goodness. It was 90 degrees in my house. It was so hot. I was really happy that last evening my new fan arrived. Now I have a ceiling fan in the bedroom, a fan in the living room, a really, really strong fan that I can only use in the kitchen (or everything blows away), and now a fan in my office. And it has a remote control! 

I spent a bit of time with my VR headset. I downloaded an app that shows me different places in the world in 3D. I learned about elephants and their keepers in Kenya. There were little orphan elephants who were abandoned, probably because their mom was killed. It was really cool. There are other locations I can "visit". 

Then it got too hot. The VR headset gets sweaty and my glasses got fogged. I had to stop. 

By then, it was time for bookclub. I actually read the book and watched the movie "And then there were none". There were so many attendees that I didn't get to talk much. It was fun to listen to everyone's comments. 

Then it was too hot, so Lucky and I went to sit outside where it was shaded and cooler. I had my dinner outside too.

I made a cold dinner of Cole slaw, vegan chickpea "tuna" salad in a tomato and green beans. It was perfect for a hot day. 

Until tomorrow...

LAID BACK DAY

What a relaxing day! I started with breakfast in the garden. After luxuriating for awhile looking at my travel book, I went inside to practice with my Oculus. It is a Virtual reality headset. After losing horribly to my family member, on my last trip, I realized I needed to play more often. I am getting better. I went from a score of 34k to 78k. 

Then I watched my photography course for about an hour. I just happen to check in and saw that the second course was on sale. From $235 to $50. I snapped it up. I also saw another course I liked was $40. I got that also. 

It was a very laid back day. 

Until tomorrow...

FOCUSING ON SELF-CARE

What a beautiful day! It started out in the park doing tai chi and qi gong. I walked Lucky on a long walk with the doggie stroller. I ate breakfast in the garden while reading my book. 

I spent time playing with my Oculus VR. I took a trip under the sea and played Beat Saber. It is a game where you have two light sabers and use them to virtually slash blocks. It is all done to music. It is quite fun. 

Then I had accupuncture and meditation. I started thinking about the time I am spending on self-care. I spend 3 hours on tai chi, 1 hour in accupuncture, 1 hour on PT, and 7 hours on meditation. I certainly feel better. I can now walk 6,700 steps a day. 

Until tomorrow...

FIXING THE NEVERENDING LIST OF THINGS

I had another breakfast in the garden. I got so carried away, I almost missed my meeting. I set up my umbrella and sat in my Adirondack chair. I am reading a book for my vacation. 

My handyman was here and he did some work. Okay, I made some holes in the wall to hang something and it didn't work out. He had to patch the wall and hang the item on another wall. The contractor hung my blinds. The blinds are three blinds in a row over three windows. The blind the contractor hung was not in the correct place over the window. He took it down, patched the holes and rehung it in the correct place. Then he fixed my non-functional ceiling fan. It turns out it was hung wrong. It works good now. 

Until tomorrow...

FLOOR GUY ARRIVED

When I came home from tai chi this morning, the floor guy was there. The floor guy is back because two days ago I found problems with my floor. The wood was coming up. The guy came today to fix it. He had to take part of it up so he could screw it in. He had used the glue but that didn't work. It definitely sounds much better. 

I ate my lunch in the backyard. I put my umbrella in my new stand. I could sit out without burning up. 

Until tomorrow...

VEGGIES IN THE GARDEN

Tonight was my first time as facilitator of my arthritis group. It didn't turn out the way I envisioned. I could not get into the video meeting. After struggling for almost 10 minutes, the other facilitator sent me a link. After the meeting I found out the link went into the promotions folder. I didn't even know there was a promotions folder. 

I went into the backyard this morning and this is what I saw: 

i have a bunch of yellow squash and cucumbers! In a couple of weeks, I will have tons of veggies. I also have another head of lettuce. 

Until tomorrow...

AND THEN THERE WERE NONE

 I can't believe it was another beautiful day. I ate in the garden again. I finished my book club book. So, I cheated and watched the movie made from the book. It is an Agatha Christie novel. I know I was a little sleepy when I watched the movie, but I swear the ending in the movie did not match the ending in the book. I may have to watch the end of the movie again. It is the book "And then there were none".  I quite enjoyed both the movie and book.

I took Lucky for another long walk and she walked all the way on the down incline. She did really well and then I put her in the stroller to come back up. Then she fell asleep. 

I spent part of the day invoicing my clients. The worst job and I hate it. Yes, I like the money but the invoicing is blech. 

Until tomorrow...

IS IT A LIMO OR A PRISON?

 What a beautiful morning it was today. I sat outside in my garden and read my book. I had my breakfast. 

I have been wanting to take longer walks but Lucky, my dog, can no longer walk uphill. Since we live on an incline, it is hard for her. Today I took out a dog stroller that I bought for my previous dog. I had us walk downhill until she looked tired and then I put her in the stroller. At first she would not sit down but she got used to it. Now, I can walk longer distances and bring the little dog with me! 

I am not sure if she thinks this is a prison or a limo. It is certainly going to allow me to get more exercise pushing a 14 pound dog uphill. 

Until tomorrow...

MINDFULNESS CARDS

I have these cards that are called mindfulness moment cards. In the morning I pull a card and it has a morning side of a mindfulness moment and then in the evening I flip it over and there's a night time mindfulness moment. This morning I pulled the card and it said "if you have a troublesome relationship take a step back. Be patient. Breathe. The solution may come from an unsuspecting place."  Wouldn't you know it today was a day that I was going to have a challenging conversation with someone. It was very serendipitous that I got this card. Before I had my challenging conversation I took three deep breaths and the challenging conversation went very well. I'm not saying that the card was magic but I am saying that by remembering to take deep breaths before I had this challenging conversation, it really affected how I reacted to the other person.

Today I went to my PCP for a check in. I love that she will spend an hour with me for a check in. Nothing too exciting to report but I need to work on my balance. No shock there. 

I went to the dentist to get a check on my braces. She said I am doing well and she is happy to have a compliant patient. I do my best! I should be done with my Invisilign trays in three weeks!

My friend in Hawaii and I spoke about a plan for my trip to Hawaii. We already have helicopter reservations. I may do ziplining. I'm thinking about it. I'm trying to be bold since I may not get back to Hawaii for a long time. I decided I am not going to night swim with the manta rays. I am sure it is cool but I am not a night swimmer. 

That is all the news today. 

Until tomorrow...

WHAT'S ANOTHER WEEK?

Another busy day. I had the insurance company call to tell me they have not gotten the info they need so they can't tell me how much money I will get. What's another week? 

This evening was the meditation course alum meditation. They did standing meditation yoga. While they did that, I practiced tai chi. I realized yesterday I hit photo instead of video and didn't record the new movements. 

I have to make a difficult phone call tomorrow and I spent part of the day writing a script. We shall see how it goes. 

Until tomorrow...

STARTED PHOTOGRAPHY COURSE

 I started my DVD photography course today. I was given this course years ago and I never had the time to watch it. I decided to start this week. I want to be able to take gorgeous photos in my future trips. 

I want to take the second course also but it is $200 right now. I hope it will go on sale. 

I had another meditation segment with "the girls". I am in charge of choosing the guided meditation and tonight's was a bust. The person talking through the meditation giving affirmations was quite loud and had music that was sort of aggressive. We took this guided meditation out of the circuit. A guided meditation is when a person talks you through the meditation. Sometimes it is a person telling you to relax parts of your body and other times it is someone verbally taking you for a walk on the beach or through a garden. It is all supposed to be relaxing but today's meditation was fast paced and stress inducing. 

Until tomorrow...

TIRED

I think I have the "after vacation hangover".  You know, the let down and exhaustion from the end of a vacation. I felt it when I had to wake up at 6:45 am. 

I got up early to attend tai chi class. Another person also came and after a small bit of tai chi, we did qigong. It is supposed to be an easier for of tai chi. I did not find it easier and I had to keep lifting my arms and bend over. Those are hard for me. 

Then I went to pick up the bird, Sunny. I got his wings and nails clipped and beak trimmed. Now that I have long hair the owner and wife didn't recognize me. They were saying, there is another bird who has a broken toe and overgrown beak. I took down my mask and they were shocked. My long hair makes me unrecognizable. 

In the evening I had the nightly meditation group. Well, I think our group is now a group of two. That's okay. 

Until tomorrow...

DROVE HOME

Last night after I posted my blog, the people renting the house next door had a party. I wouldn't have cared since I am accustomed to noise from attached homes but this was loud. Like LOUD. There was a couple screaming in the street at around 11pm. There was thumping of music well past midnight. (the city code says no loud noises past 10pm) At 2am there was screeching of tires and reeving of engines. At 4am there were two guys trying to get their drunk friend in their LOUD truck. Since all this commotion was 10 feet from the bay windows where I was sleeping, I could not help but be woken up.  My relatives were quite upset. 

Then this morning, there was garbage outside and someone threw a ceramic plate with Chinese food on it into my family member's garden. (I cleaned it up) There was a catering company that showed up and removed 22 chairs and tables. My relative is making a complaint to the Board at the community. 

In the late afternoon, I drove home. It was 3.5 hours in the car. We stopped twice to let Lucky pee and eat her dinner. She was a trooper. I think she really enjoyed the trip. 

It was a fun trip. We will be going back. 

Until tomorrow...

VISITING FAMILY

I visited with some friends that are like family members. I was so excited to see them. We played with our Oculus' and they taught me some new things to do and see. We are planning to play virtually. I think that would be fun. Then we went to get pizza. My pizza was okay. I have had better. 

I got a new puzzle. (I know what you are thinking.) This puzzle is nowhere as hard as my last two. It is a cute Christmas puzzle. 

Until tomorrow...

INSURANCE CLAIM

Lucky and I went to a friend's house today. I will tell you all about it in a bit. 

Yesterday the inspector for the insurance company for the leak in my house came by again. The first time he measured things and then today he measured more things. He says that he is trying to get me the most amount of money that he can within the limits of my policy. I'm hoping that he is telling me the truth but he's already gotten some of my clean pushed through. That is good news considering this claim was denied the first time. 

Until tomorrow...

CAR REFRIGERATOR

 I am going to be doing a few road trips in the future. I always worry about my Orencia when I am traveling. When I go on planes, I have this little handy pack that has a frozen ice pack. But when I am in my car, it is harder to keep the medicine cold. Once I put it in the trunk and got caught in traffic. By the time I got to my destination, the medication was warm. I frantically called the helpline and checked to make sure I could still inject it. I was lucky that my injection day was 24 hours later and I could keep it room temperature and inject it the next day. 

So, I bought a car refrigerator. It looks like a cooler but it plugs in to a car lighter or a regular plug. I was skeptical at first but I tried it for a few hours and sure enough it gets cold. It isn't exactly refrigerator cold but cold enough. Plus, I read somewhere that it gets chills faster and gets more cold if you put an frozen ice pack inside. 

I am going to try it out soon and will report back. 

Until tomorrow...

EYES

I don't think I mentioned this yesterday, I have a tear duct that is blocked. If you have never had a tear duct get blocked, I will try to describe it. Imagine having a stone in your shoe that hurts your foot each time you step. Now, image your foot is your eye and each blink is like having a stone in your eye. That is how it feels. This blocked tear duct is not as bad as others I have had. 

I would be putting medicine on it but I have called twice and the eye doctor has not yet called in the prescription. I have been super nice up until now but tomorrow that will change. I have to drive a lot on Friday and this will annoy me if it is not fixed. 

I had my tai chi course this morning and the Master wants me to come every weekday morning 1/2 hour later. He says I am picking it up quickly and am taking it seriously. 

Then I spoke to the meditation zoom group and they want to do it every night. They are a great group of women. 

I guess my days are planned out for awhile!! 

Until tomorrow...

CAN YOU BELIEVE IT'S AUGUST?

I went to the dermatologist today. She looked at a spot on my forearm and said the spot is probably nothing. I said probably nothing is too much something for me. I said cut it off. She thinks it is benign but is sending it the lab just in case. It is weird to see someone cut a piece of your arm off especially when it is numb with lidocaine. 

Tonight was my first zoom meditation with some of my classmates from MBSR. I selected a guided meditation and played it over the zoom for everyone to hear. Everyone liked the selection. We decided to do it four days a week. On Thusdays another group is s gathering on zoom so I am going to join them. In a way this is better. It has been hard on me getting up so early to meditate. I have been flaring a bit and I need my rest. 

Until tomorrow...