Getting By

I was so sick this week. It must have been the flu--aches, sore throat, runny nose, sinuses hurting, etc. It lasted from Monday through Friday. Today was the first half-way decent day--and I had a migraine! It was interesting to see how little energy I could get by with. How little care I could take of myself and Mary and still get by. Luckily, she was perfectly healthy the whole time. I guess I picked it up in Lexington last week.

I was rather scared a few times, wondering if I was going to be able to make it, taking care of her. I thought it was interesting that in taking it easy on myself, I reverted to the tactics I use when she's not doing well--I used the portable potty (putting it next to her bed), pushed her around the house instead of walking her (I didn't have the energy to keep her going), and ate most meals in the living room. After two nights of little sleep due to aching sinuses, I used Nyquil. I hate that stuff, makes me feel so much more ill, but when you give in to it and sleep, then you do sleep through your cold symptoms. Just thinking about how it makes me feel makes me ill! Ugh! Talk about a necessary evil. Anyway, along that vein, I purchased some Advil PM today. My legs and joints hurt so much at night that I often can't sleep. When I take one of Mary's Darvocets, I sleep really well for about four hours, but that's prescription medicine and not mine, so want to try this other stuff out. I also hope that when I can get some saucony tennis shoes, my legs won't hurt so much at night. I know, I should do yoga every night. Easier to pop a pill. I've tried doing a certain exercise for plantar fascitis, but it's so boring and seems to take so long, even though it's only about five minutes. Isn't that stupid? Of me, I mean. Yes, yes, all the things we should do for ourselves and yet we choose shortcuts.

I was lazy tonight and fixed Mary a grilled cheese for dinner. She just kept commenting on how good it was and asking me what it was and how it was made. She always loved grilled cheese sandwiches. I guess I should make them for her more often. They're not very healthy, though, and I usually burn them because I don't have the patience to stand there and watch them.

The guy next store has had a friend staying with them. At least I guess he's staying with them, I don't know what the deal is. Anyway, he's very friendly and always waving at me and talking to me. Alfreddo, the neighbor, isn't as friendly. Maybe his English isn't as good. Well, anyway, I went to cut the grass today and half of the front yard, the half next to Alfreddo and Joliami (sp?)'s house, was already cut! I couldn't believe it! Sure enough, Alfreddo's friend cut it. He acted like it was no big deal, but it was like a gift from an angel for me this week, since I'd been so sick and really didn't feel like cutting the grass. It was actually kind of funny because I'd already cut part of it before I saw what he'd done and I'd had this thought going through my head over and over. I kept thinking that life is constantly giving us opportunities to... do good, to help others, earn brownie points, however you want to look at it. And that it's just up to us to take advantage of these opportunities. That there are so many chances that we don't even see, even. And then I find that this guy has done this wonderful thing for me! I should make him some brownies or something. I automatically think, though, what if he doesn't like them. Argh!

Getting Things Done--Almost

I'm so proud of myself--I actually got up and worked out to an exercise DVD. OK, it was only a 1-mile Walk Away the Pounds thing, 18 minutes, but that's better than nothing. I went to Lexington yesterday for my annual ovarian cancer testing (all clear) and realized while walking around campus that I've gotten so out of shape, which, considering I was never really in shape, is sinking pretty darned low. I was so glad I didn't have to take Mary because it was extremely windy and rather cold. I was able to meet with some old friends as well as a niece, so I just ran from one place to the next.

I also got over my inner hounddog, as the Germans say, and dealt with Mary's taxes today. I called her tax perparer from last year and took the appropriate documents over to her. Luckily, it was a beautiful day, so it was no problem to take Mary out--except that they were redoing the roof accross the street. When Mary saw that--forget it! She didn't want to move! She had the most interesting thing in years to look at all day! I promised her that they wouldn't be done before we got back. She just kept counting how many men were up there working. As they finished, it must have become increasingly unclear to her what they were doing because she has asked increasingly or made comments such as, "Look at that over there! What are they doing over there? You ought to look and see on this house!" When I ask her what they're doing, she says she couldn't tell me :-)

I also applied for a job today. Well, I got it together and will mail it tomorrow. I read about it on the American Association of Teachers of German Listserv about jobs that I get. The University of Maryland University College is looking for a Teaching Assistant for some online German courses. Wouldn't that be great? Well, we'll keep our fingers crossed.

Money, Money

I feel like I've got a hole in my change purse at the moment. I told you about the plumber having to come twice recently and the bills adding up to almost $500. Now they need to come again because I finally called the gas company about the gas I was smelling outside. They said there was a leak on the meter--on our side, of course. They're coming Monday.

While my brother Kevin was here, he cleaned out part of the gutter that was clogged and said that part of the wood had rotted and needed to be replaced. He looked at the roof, too, and said the roofer could fix the gutter problem. He also said there was some thing I need to jiggle around about four times a year so the gutter wouldn't get clogged up. Yeah, right! I have no idea what he's talking about and don't have a ladder to do it. Argh! So I finally called a roofer. He sounded like he thought I should call the insurance company and see if they'd pay for the roof. The insurance guy was a lot of help. He took pictures with a digital camera and explained what was going on to me and how it could be fixed. He wrote out a check for about $1200 and gave me a few names of contractors to call. I decided I didn't want to go with the original roofer because he'd told me the whole roof needed to be replaced as well as the electric vent, which he said needed to be cleaned every year or it could catch fire. The insurance guy said the whole roof didn't need to be replaced but only patched and that he had the same vent system on his house and had never heard of them needing to be cleaned or catching fire. Hmph! The roofer called back today and tried his best to make me feel bad for not getting him to do the job. Almost worked! Also, the insurance guy said that the hail season wasn't over so it wasn't a good idea to get a new roof right now. He promised that if we ever did really get bad hail damage that he'd pay for a whole new roof. I felt like I could trust him. Now I just need to call one of those contractors and get the job done.

Yesterday the cat threw up twice and was hissing at me and meowing around. She'd been draggin her butt around the carpet and leaving marks for a few days, so I called the vet and they got us in. When the vet stuck a thermometer up the cat's butt, she bit me--yikes! He said she had infected anal glands and gave her two shots after expressing the glands. $70--yikes again. And then I forget how much for half a year of heart worm pills for Rudi. Oiveh!

I'm going to Lexington tomorrow for my annual ovarian cancer test. Bonnie is on vacation, so she's able to stay with Mary all day, only coming once this week. I'm going to meet some friends and my niece, too, so that ought to be nice. I hope we have something to talk about! I've always taken Mary with me, so it ought to be much easier without her. Still, it seems kind of lonely to go alone.

Good Day

Today was a good day. Seems like a long time since I've felt that way. I really should keep track of them because it seems like they're so few and far between. That's probably just my imagination. I might be surprised at how many there are. Or I might decide to do something about it if there really are so few. Anyway, I felt like I got a fair amount done today--I'm trying hard not to see what I didn't get done--plus, I took the dogs out (for our 10 min jaunt down the street, even adding on a bit) twice today. The weather was glorious. I gues that's what inspired my effeciency.

I didn't feel efficient for most of the day. I felt just plain lazy. But I somehow managed to get everything on my list done. Maybe I'm learning better how to make a list! Hm. I even got some other things done, now that I think about it. I did my Monday chores (vacuuming, dusting, tidying up, putting out the trash), cleaned up the decorations from the party, and cleaned up at least half of the dirty dishes that were left. Doesn't sound like much, does it? Oh, I also took a stab at the Monday crossword puzzle. That's on my chore list, too :-) I didn't give Mary a shower like I had wanted to, but I did wash her privates, which is a sort of new resolution I've made. If we don't shower, I should try to keep her clean. It doesn't take long and it's so worth it. I got some pink grapefruit showergel to try to inspire me to shower more often. That's a definite problem area for me. Oh, in addition to all this, I set up an email account for Gina's boys, found out the telephone number for Jim to contact about the headstone, got my pics of Aunt Angie's 90th birthday party off my camera and even emailed some and put one on my myspace page. And I knitted several rows. Gosh, I'm starting to scare myself.

What I didn't do was start my diet (I'm now getting into the scary weight range) or exercise. Gina always wanted Mom and me to do weight lifting for our bones, particularly the Strong Women program. I start it over and over again but peter out by the end of the week. I also didn't completely take care of the mail, even though I did open it. (That's another problem area for me.) I'm hoping that having the house neat and tidy (as good as it's been since I first moved in, I'd say) will help me stay focused and not get into my bad, depressed-sort-of habits. Yes, I think staying focused is exactly what I need to do.

Wow, I think that party for Angie was cathartic for everyone. I could just feel this releasing of tension going on. Oh, maybe I'm just crazy. Who knows? The sad part was that one of Angie's daughters didn't come and was upset that she didn't get an invitation, when I did mail her an invitation. Hmph, maybe I'll call her, but I don't want to. I don't feel like dealing with someone who is injustly indignant and trying to placate them, you know? What an enery zapper. Especially someone who holds you on the phone for an hour. And who it sounds like has a lot of emotional baggage going on. Well, here's a picture of Angie, the Perfect Princess, as her sash says:

Well, I'd better get to bed before midnight or I'll have ended this great day in an unfitting fashion.

By the way, I hate to end on a downer, but I think Uncle Tom's not doing so well. He seemed so good, from what I heard, after his operation, but something odd seems to have happened to have taken away his desire to live.