tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-315405712024-03-07T20:22:35.507-06:00The Ravelled Sleave“To be surrounded by beautiful things has much influence upon the human creature: to make beautiful things has more.” ~ Charlotte Perkins GilmanLynnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07712412874073377368noreply@blogger.comBlogger3015125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31540571.post-61203325930493842912023-01-09T21:19:00.000-06:002023-01-09T21:19:02.829-06:002023 Reading Challenge<p>I'm in a couple of virtual book clubs. One is Austen-related. The other is a local(ish) group managed by a shirt-tail relative of one of my friends. Here is this year's challenge:</p><div style="text-align: left;">1. Nonfiction book you know nothing about.</div><div style="text-align: left;">2. Book on New York Times bestseller list.</div><div style="text-align: left;">3. Book with a day of the week or month title.</div><div style="text-align: left;">4. Book with a person's name in the title.</div><div style="text-align: left;">5. Another read from an author you discovered.</div><div style="text-align: left;">6. Book that includes a map.</div><div style="text-align: left;">7. Book set in the 1990's.</div><div style="text-align: left;">8. Recommendation from a family member or BFF.</div><div style="text-align: left;">9.<span> Book with Fate, Dream, Wish, Silver, or Dance in title.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span>10. Book set during summer.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span>11. Book with a number in the title.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span>12. Cozy mystery.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><p style="text-align: left;"><span>In other news, I'm keeping up with my January challenge for Zentangle and also with my Tangle A Day calendar. Knitting has been minimal but not non-existent this month. Thanks to all of the mountain cedar pollen, I'm using my inhaler every four hours and going through a little over one box of Puffs with lotion per week. I'm still dealing with intermittent food aversion, wherein I fix something that I know I like, take a few bites of it, and am suddenly <i>done</i>. I'm generally able to go back and polish off the leftovers within a day or two, but it's still more than a little unnerving.</span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span>That's all I've got for you today. <br /></span></p></div>Lynnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07712412874073377368noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31540571.post-16884586776674918862023-01-08T08:11:00.001-06:002023-01-08T08:11:30.044-06:00Books read in 2022<p>I've taken all of the books from the sidebar and copied them here to archive them.</p>
<div style="text-align: left;">1. 101 Things You Didn't Know about Jane Austen 3.5 stars</div><div style="text-align: left;">2. Magpie Murders 4.0 stars</div><div style="text-align: left;">3. Manga Classics: Sense and Sensibility 4.0 stars</div><div style="text-align: left;">4. The Mysteries of Udolpho (incredibly long audiobook) 2.5 - 3 stars</div><div style="text-align: left;">5. Atlas of the Heart (audiobook) 5.0 stars</div><div style="text-align: left;">6. When the Body Says NO: Exploring the Stress-Disease Connection 4.5 stars</div><div style="text-align: left;">7. Major Pettigrew's Last Stand (audiobook) 5.0 stars</div><div style="text-align: left;">8. I Have Been Buried Under Years of Dust: A Memoir of Autism and Hope (audiobook) 5.0 stars</div><div style="text-align: left;">9. French Braid (audiobook) 5.0 stars</div><div style="text-align: left;">10. Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books 4.0 stars</div><div style="text-align: left;">11. From Strength to Strength: Finding Success, Happiness, and Deep Purpose in the Second Half of Life (audiobook) 5.0 stars</div><div style="text-align: left;">12. Vivid (Kindle) 5.0 stars</div><div style="text-align: left;">13. The Library of the Unwritten (vol. 1 in the Hell's Library series) - a re-read in preparation for vol. 2 - 5.0 stars</div><div style="text-align: left;">14. The Archive of the Forgotten (vol 2 in the Hell's Library series) 5.0 stars</div><div style="text-align: left;">15. The God of Lost Words (vol. 3 in the Hell's Library series) 5.0 stars</div><div style="text-align: left;">16. The Believer (Kindle) 4.75 stars</div><div style="text-align: left;">17. Jane Eyre (audiobook + print copy, for the French dialogue) 5.0 stars</div><div style="text-align: left;">18. Bookends: A memoir of Love, Loss, and Literature (library) 5.0 stars</div><div style="text-align: left;">19. The Lioness (audiobook) 4.0 stars
20.</div><div style="text-align: left;">Tuesdays with Morrie (audiobook) 5.0 stars</div><div style="text-align: left;">21. Bloomsbury Girls (library) 4.5 stars</div><div style="text-align: left;">22. The Jane Austen Society (library)4.5 stars</div><div style="text-align: left;">23. Come, Gentle Night (Kindle) 5.0 stars</div><div style="text-align: left;">24. Fool Me Twice (re-read; Kindle) 5.0 stars</div><div style="text-align: left;">25. Played for a Fool (Kindle) 5.0 stars</div><div style="text-align: left;">26. Rearview Mirror (Kindle) 5.0 stars</div><div style="text-align: left;">27. The Bookstore Sisters: A Short Story (Kindle) 5.0 stars</div><div style="text-align: left;">28. Peace Like A River (Kindle) 5.0 stars</div><div style="text-align: left;">29. Watching Amy (re-read; Kindle) 3.0 stars</div><div style="text-align: left;">30. Steal Like An Artist (re-read; Kindle) 4.0 stars</div><div style="text-align: left;">31. The Year We Stole Christmas (Kindle) 4.5 stars</div><div style="text-align: left;">32. On Edge: A Journey Through Anxiety (re-read; Kindle) 4.0 stars</div><div style="text-align: left;"><p style="text-align: left;">I haven't completed any books for 2023 as yet. There's a Madeleine L'Engle classic that I'm not sure I've read before, which I'd begun reading here on my computer, and an audiobook on my phone. My goal is to read (or re-read) everything in both my Kindle stash and my Audible stash from oldest to newest and somehow wrangle both lists down to only show items which I've yet to read, without inadvertently deleting them. I'm reasonably sure there's a way to do that. I just don't know what it is at present, and I'd rather spend my spoons elsewhere.</p><p style="text-align: left;">I'm still croupy. The usual fall allergies have segued into a possible case of whatever virus is going around. I'm using my inhaler every four to six hours, drinking hot concoctions, eating spicy foods, etc., all to encourage the not-yet-infected contents of my sinuses to make like Elvis and leave the building. And, of course, the mountain cedar is now blooming.</p><p style="text-align: left;">I am so very thankful for my inhaler, which thanks to my Medicare Advantage plan is the only baseline prescription for which I am out of pocket, and for my reimbursement plan, which works differently than the one I had when I was working. <i>This</i> plan rolls over at the end of each year, so there is no "use it or lose it" penalty. I may very well end up with enough in that fund to cover cataract surgery in a few years or maybe even a liver transplant should I take up drinking again.</p><p style="text-align: left;">Which, of course, I am not going to do. Just in case you were worried.</p>Lynnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07712412874073377368noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31540571.post-52380220091818889172022-11-23T06:58:00.004-06:002022-11-23T06:58:37.345-06:00Leftovers for breakfast<p>I awoke at dark-thirty with a stuffy head and a crabby cough. First step, after grabbing my glasses: out to the kitchen to nuke a mug of chicken broth, as it was too early to use my inhaler. Reheat the remaining square of cornbread in the microwave, add butter, and zap it for a few seconds to melt said butter. Nuke and polish off yesterday's oatmeal. Grab yesterday's leftover chipotle chicken flatbread pizza to finish the job of wrestling my sinuses into submission.</p><p>So now I am more than vaguely full and less than perfectly de-congested, but I am breathing somewhat freely and no longer wobbly from insufficient sleep or low blood sugar.</p><p>Yesterday I did a huge restocking of the pantry via Costco, and today I will finish the job via Kroger. I would far rather curl up in bed and aim for another three to five hours of sleep</p><p>Just got hit with another wave of the groggies. I'm going to fix some warm milk and go after that nap.<br /></p>Lynnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07712412874073377368noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31540571.post-75844216606084516022022-11-21T15:25:00.000-06:002022-11-21T15:25:03.299-06:00"Foyle's War" and other good distractions<p>I finished the ninth season last night. Anthony Horowitz is a genius. My sister sent me two of his books several months ago, one of which ("Magpie Murders") finished its TV adaptation on PBS Masterpiece last night. The man is a prolific writer, and I've been so impressed with everything he's touched, that I'm aware of. Michael Kitchen plays Christopher Foyle, a local detective in a small English town beginning in the early years of World War II. Honeysuckle Weeks plays his driver, Sam(antha) Wainwright, nee Stewart. The series gave me a real sense of how ordinary people fared during the war years and immediately thereafter. Answer: not well. Food, petrol, and clothing were rationed. Many people had been bombed out of their houses, and new homes couldn't be built fast enough. Profiteering and the black market were rampant, causing civil and political unrest and a general mistrust of the police and the government.</p><p>I spent an hour or two yesterday, unsubscribing to various vendors or newsletters and deleting nearly 300 emails. It's amazing how something so small can boost my mood and lessen my general anxiety.</p><p>We've received our updated boosters. The bipolar bears were having some side effects over the weekend. As for myself, I was a bit more tired and a bit more crabby than usual. I spent a lot of yesterday napping.</p><p>I also watched a couple of middling movies over the weekend. "Just Like Heaven," with Reese Witherspoon and Mark Ruffalo, two eminently likeable actors, was maybe 3.5 out of 5. "Win A Date with Tad Hamilton" had competent main actors, but three of the sidekicks (one hers, two Tad's) had potty mouths and a generally sleazy attitude. Blergh.</p><p>I just put half a dozen small potatoes into the oven to bake. We have just enough sour cream left to grace them nicely. And the dishwasher will be somewhere near the end of its cycle when the timer goes off, so we'll have clean dishes.<br /></p>Lynnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07712412874073377368noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31540571.post-66016201379156246542022-11-14T21:26:00.002-06:002022-11-14T21:26:28.743-06:00So, I'm feeling more than a little overwhelmed.<p>I knew, going into it, that this month would be hard. It's the first month in which there is no final paycheck to soften the finances. Just my first pension check and Beloved's SS check, which is significantly larger than my own would be, because he worked longer and earned more in his lifetime than I did.</p><p>I think I'm feeling mild depression on top of my chronic anxiety. It might be time to ask my doctor to up my dosage. Or maybe I should just grab my Ray Charles CD and boogie until my crabby hip says WHOA!</p><p>The bad news is that they took October's and November's Medicare Part B premiums out of my SS check. The good news is that I can set up an automatic reimbursement from the HRA account which is part of my retirement, and that anything leftover in that account rolls over into next year. (This is separate from, and different from, the reimbursement account I had when I was working, in which a set amount was taken from my paychecks to fund future reimbursements, and anything left at the end of the year was lost to me. I never had that problem, between my medical expenses and those of the bipolar bears. I usually exhausted the fund between April and June.)</p><p>It's not all doom and gloom. I have a carefully constructed, updated spreadsheet in which the regular expenses are all accounted for. There's very little margin for error, error being groceries and unexpected medical bills. There's also light at the end of the tunnel, in that next year I'll get the generous COLA increase and a decrease in the Part B premium, which will effectively give me a raise of nearly $200 a month.</p><p>I'm cooking a lot more, both in frequency and in volume, and I'm grateful for the strength to stand and stir. I'm portioning our servings and saving half in the freezer for a meal the following week, with a reminder on my phone to prevent freezer burn. I'm learning to use the Instant Pot, and I'm doing a lot more cooking from scratch, now that I have the time.</p><p>I had tithing settlement yesterday, and I promised the bishop that if it became necessary, I wouldn't be too proud to ask for help.</p><p>I don't think it will come to that. Meanwhile I'm going to make a pan of cornbread. Because cornbread plus a mug of milk or buttermilk is a delicious, joy-enhancing meal.</p><p>I know that we're in God's hands, and I know that He hasn't dropped me yet.<br /></p>Lynnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07712412874073377368noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31540571.post-1680355763795961422022-11-06T09:54:00.004-06:002022-11-06T09:54:43.547-06:00A month and a bit in.<p>I'm adjusting. My first pension check arrived last week. I paid as many bills as I sensibly could and will pay the rest when my Social Security check arrives later this week. I'm signed up for Medicare Part B and have received my updated Medicare card. I'm also signed up for a Medicare Advantage plan and am waiting for that card to arrive. I need my card in order to set up a profile with my provider and properly compare Rx prices with those from a couple of GoodRx providers and Mark Cuban's online pharmacy. Every penny I can save there can be applied to the bipolar bears' dental bill payment plans.</p><p>If my budgeting is realistic and proceeds forward on schedule, Diana will be paid off by my next birthday and Fourthborn's dental plan by midsummer. Middlest's dental plan should be paid off by the end of next year. And, depending upon how large and how often any additional principal payments are, the mortgage might be paid off in a little over two years from now. All of which are good things, indeed.</p><p>Right now I am teetering on the edge of sleep. For a moment, I was standing in the hall of my parents' last house, with one eye looking into their bedroom and the other into the bathroom. This is ordinarily the time I would be lying down for a nap, having stayed up until nearly dawn watching British TV. I'm sure that I'll return to a normal(ish) sleep schedule at some point. And I did go to bed significantly earlier than I have been.</p><p>Time to get off the computer and start getting ready for church. Thank goodness for dry shampoo!<br /></p>Lynnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07712412874073377368noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31540571.post-31774600030707923422022-09-30T19:59:00.002-05:002022-09-30T19:59:28.841-05:00Staycation's over<p>I am sitting here, waiting for the oven to finish warming up so that I may bake a cauliflower pizza. I haven't wanted one for months and months and months.</p><p>To bring y'all up to speed, last week I took Middlest to get a couple of fillings and the initial work on replacing two crowns. I also had a checkup with my <strike>herpetologist</strike> hematologist and another iron infusion two days after that.</p><p>I went to see the wound care specialist, who declared that the rogue eczema was technically not a wound and got me a quick referral to a dermatologist. I quite like her, and I now have two steroid creams: one for my forehead and jawline, and another for my legs. All of which are recovering steadily.</p><p>I had my appointment for a replacement driver's license, as the one which the state mailed out in March never arrived. The new license came in today's mail, so that's that for several more years. <br /></p><p>This week we had Fourthborn's disability hearing and will get the judge's ruling in six to eight weeks, about the time we're gearing up for Middlest's. I had a follow-up appointment with my PCP that afternoon re: the rebound Covid. While there I got my flu shot, brought him up to speed on my eczema and new meds, and left with a prescription plus his signature on the paperwork for a handicap hang-tag. Renewal is in four years, and I will not need another prescription for that. He also X-ray'd my lungs to make sure that there were no clots lurking after the rebound Covid last month, and they're fine.<br /></p><p>Yesterday I had a lengthy phone conference with the folks who will be my liaison with the corporation, now that I'm retired. I've spent a handful of hours over the past couple of weeks updating my spreadsheets to reflect the impending financial reality. I've also made double payments on Diana and the two payment plans for the bipolar bears' dental work. If I can keep up the over-payments, Diana will be paid off shortly after my next birthday and I can split that money between savings and the dental payment plans.</p><p>Tomorrow I am officially retired, and early next week I should get the form from HR proving that I have been insured up to and including today, which means that I can apply for Medicare Part B. Once that's established, I will then get to choose between a Medicare Advantage plan or a bushel of supplement plans.</p><p>In between all of the appointments, I have watched a whale of a lot of British TV. There has been minimal reading, but my overall priority has been to establish a reasonable sleep schedule built around the timing of various medications. I'm sleeping a bit better. I'm sleeping longer at a time. My overall level of anxiety continues to drop. Current plan is to get our boosters in late November.</p><p>Tomorrow and Sunday are General Conference. All bets are off as to whether I fall asleep during the sessions. I'd prefer to be awake and hear all of the addresses. My physical health is stabilizing, and it's time to work on my spiritual health.</p><p>Later, gators. I have a date with DCI Banks, Annie, Helen, and the rest of the team. I'm fixin' to begin season 4.<br /></p>Lynnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07712412874073377368noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31540571.post-55152759211073677702022-09-18T09:55:00.004-05:002022-09-18T09:57:17.290-05:00Staycation stuff + my farewell address<p>I've completed week 1 of staycation. Here's what happened:</p><p>Monday: pre-hearing meeting with our attorney's paralegal to prepare for Fourthborn's disability hearing later this month and Middlest's in November.</p><p>Tuesday: no scheduled appointments, but an impromptu visit to the nearest Social Security hub, only to be told by a gracious and professional clerk that I cannot apply for Medicare part B until I have the L564 form from HR, which will not be mailed out until I am fully retired on October 1.</p><p>Wednesday: eye exam (mine) with our friend, whom Fourthborn has christened Dr. Eye-Poky, after his teaching her how to insert her contacts. No significant changes. He had said last year that I'd need to consider cataract surgery in the next five years or so. In discussing that, he said, they were growing slowly. Impairment then was about 8%, which I have not noticed. Impairment now is about 10%. I'll wait.</p><p>Thursday: two fillings for me.</p><p>Friday: monthly doctor checkups for the bipolar bears, followed by the usual trip to our pharmacist and a Whataburger run.</p><p>Saturday: lunch with my bestie at La Madeleine and next month's date, time, and venue decided upon.</p><p>Week 2 has fewer appointments.</p><p>Tomorrow: Middlest has prep for a replacement crown in the morning. I see my hematologist in the afternoon. Anybody's guess as to whether there is another iron infusion in my future.<br /></p><p>Thursday: I have an appointment to renew my lapsed driver's license, which did not arrive in the mail back in March..</p><p>The following is my farewell address to my colleagues, which I had a coworker mail out on Thursday so as not to clog up my inbox on Friday, when I was trying to zero it out preparatory to handing in my WFH hardware, my parking pass, and my office badge.</p><p>"I wish we were not in the middle of a pandemic. Some of you will remember [my initial supervisor] in claims. It was she who persuaded me to take a leap of faith and come to work for [the corporation]. Ideally, she would be here today so that I could thank her face to face and give her a retiree-to-retiree hug.</p><p>"I have a former attorney [in this office] to thank for my segue to the Dallas [office]. She was in the Arlington claims office on a day when a claims supervisor who shall remain nameless irritated the fire out of me, and I discovered the posting for a receptionist here. I asked her what it was like to work here. She said it was wonderful, and that I would love it. She was right.</p><p>"[The office manager] was home nursing her broken ankle and participated via phone conference in my interview with [the former managing attorney]. So she didn’t get a visual until she returned to the office some weeks later. When I interviewed with [the managing attorney], I was luminous from pain, because I drove from the interview to my pre-surgical consultation for the eviction of my gall bladder. I think he was moved to hire me (somewhat unilaterally, as I recall), more because of my genuine vulnerability than because of his penchant for blondes. I was, at that time, exceedingly blonde. It’s important to state that I was not his type, but we did have a disproportionate number of blondes in the office at the time.</p><p>"During my drive home to Arlington, I took a call from my then-manager, who said something along the lines of, 'I do not know what you said in your interview, but they will be making an offer.'”</p><p>I began work here the day after Labor Day 2001, one week to the day before 9/11. In my four days at the reception desk, I managed to link names to faces, names to phone extensions, and when I came back to work on the 11th, I thought I was ready to take on the week.</p><p>"My second daughter and her husband were moving to Boca Raton that day. The original plan was that they would pop up to the office, exchange hugs, and be on their way. But I was up to my neck in fielding phone calls from my coworkers’ loved ones while the building’s PA was instructing us to vacate the building. My kids drove to Florida without a proper goodbye.</p><p>"I locked up the switchboard as quickly as possible and headed home. The skies were empty. Ray Charles was singing “God Bless America.” And I have never before, nor since, seen such studied and amazing courtesy from my fellow commuters.</p><p>"So I started out at the front desk, fielding phone calls. When [the office manager] discovered that I was a skilled typist, I moved off the front desk and began transcribing dictation from [three attorneys]. [The dictation from two of them] was impeccable. [The third attorney’s] dictation was a perpetual adventure.</p><p>"After [two legal secretaries] retired, I then moved up to be SemperFi’s secretary, with the late [former employee] as my trainer and attorney-explainer. I absolutely adored working with him, except when he was in trial prep mode. Then, I could have cheerfully pinched his head off. He and [his former secretary] had had a raucous habit of exchanging curse words between her desk (where [one of our paralegals] now sits) and his office. When he came up to the front desk (where I was filling in for somebody) he was gracious and warned me that his language might be a little rougher than I was used to. I smiled and said. “You’re an officer. And a gentleman. I’m sure there will be no problem.”</p><p>"There were a few minor lapses on his part when he was dealing with recalcitrant technology. I would just get up and quietly close the door to his office.</p><p>
"I took on an additional attorney when [one of the secretaries] had surgery. This was when we discovered that SemperFi routinely did so many of the things that a secretary does (scheduled his own depos and mediations, because he didn’t want anyone other than a judge telling him what to do, or when), that I was not an effective secretary for poor [new attorney]. However, we all worked together to get me up to speed, and for several years I had half-dockets for [several other attorneys in succession] then after SemperFi’s retirement, one full docket and half of another’s.</p><p>"I have loved working with my attorneys, and with my fellow secretaries and admins. Not to forget [the office manager and managing attorney]. I’ve learned so much from all of you.</p><p>"[Two years ago] I began having ongoing health challenges, about which the less said the better. But they affected my energy levels, my focus, and my ability to remain awake at my desk while engaged in work that I loved. [The office manager] was able to keep me usefully and gainfully employed by transitioning me to serve as your records processor. [The former records processor] has trained me well and continues to be a valuable and greatly appreciated backup. I had felt competent and productive at this monotask until the first bout of bronchitis this year. As some of you know, I had another bout during July, and then I caught Covid. And then I caught another bout of bronchitis with a side order of Covid. I have masked up so often that I feel like the Lone Ranger. Who was that masked ma’am? I don’t know, but she left in that silver Escape.</p><p>"I’d spoken with [a trusted colleague], off and on over the years, about my prayers to know when it was time to retire. I had certain financial goals that I wanted to reach first, and I was hoping to make it to 25 years with [the firm] or maybe even longer.</p><p>"However, I had my prayers answered the second week of August, and now here we are.</p><p>"Thank you all for being my work family. You are, individually and collectively, some of the finest human beings it’s been my privilege to know in my long life, and I will miss seeing you and talking with you and praying with you and asking you to pray for me. You’ve seen me through single parenthood on a small [corporate] beginning salary, which immediately improved once I got here, to remarriage, to widowhood, to being immensely blessed and peaceful, notwithstanding the occasional speed bumps.</p><p>"Here's how to keep in touch if you’re so inclined:
1. (personal email address)
2. Contact info on Facebook. I’m a little hard to find. If all else fails, find me among [a coworker's] friends.
3. On Discord, I’m [screen name].
4. I’ve been blogging since 2006. If you want to follow me there, please email me, and I’ll tell you how to find me.</p><p>
"You’ve asked me what I plan to do in retirement. There are a bushel of appointments for the bipolar bears and me in my [first three] weeks out of the office. After that, I hope to rediscover my innate biorhythms. I will probably be sleeping like a teenager on summer vacation for several weeks: up until well after midnight and sleeping through the day. I have faith that it will all settle out. There will be lots of reading. There are, as of this writing, 20+ books in my Audible queue, perhaps twice that many in my Kindle queue, and a very tall stack of physical books, plus two magazine subscriptions that are at least a year unread, each. There are two vocal scores that I want to buy: Carmen and Madame Butterfly. Because who doesn’t want to sing grand opera in the shower? And theoretically at least I have the range for both. You might want to check on the bipolar bears’ sanity this time next year.</p><p>"And then of course there is the knitting, and the Zentangle, and the desire to learn how to draw representational art. I will be writing and writing and writing. My blog. My memoir. Perhaps more poetry; I haven’t needed to write poetry since meeting and marrying Beloved. I have three self-published chapbooks written during the disintegration of my marriage to the children’s father.</p><p>"But first and foremost, there will be naps.</p><p>"May God, however you see Him and worship Him, or your higher power if you’re more comfortable with that, bless you all."</p><p></p>Lynnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07712412874073377368noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31540571.post-63131184001428936812022-09-02T19:00:00.000-05:002022-09-02T19:00:46.170-05:00*We* have Covid. And also progress towards retirement.<p>In spite of our best efforts, the bipolar bears also have Covid. We are all recovering and are grateful to have "light" cases. We also sound like the cannons from "1812 Overture" or the Anvil Chorus or maybe just a herd of bull seals barking.</p><p>Yesterday I had a quick phone conversation with my office manager, who initiated paperwork on her end for my retirement. And then I spent the better part of an hour in a conference call with a wonderful woman from Corporate who helped me fill out the paperwork which *I* had to initiate. Notwithstanding all of that time on the phone, I managed to remain alert and productive.</p><p>I wish I could say that today was equally productive, but I logged off at 12:30 and slept about four hours before logging back on. Thankfully, my OM determined yesterday that I have more than enough PTO to cover today's absence and any needful PTO next week. I am hoping to have the necessary vitality to go into the office each day, because I have a whale of a lot of stuff to pack up and bring home. Also, my trainer last year, who is my emergency backup and will train the new admin when she comes in, is home with Covid.</p><p>Right now I'm eating leftover lasagna and swilling orange juice. Our grocery order arrived 45 minutes ago, heavy on liquids in preparation for the long weekend and for the bipolar bears' Prednisone and antibiotics which will be delivered tomorrow. Four cases of water. Two large bottles of Simply Lemonade. Two additional half-gallons of 2%.</p><p>I'm sitting here rather like a bump on a log. I've coughed so hard today that I've pulled a muscle in my abdomen. Quelle joie!</p><p>I think I'm going to let the lasagna settle and then go back to bed.<br /></p>Lynnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07712412874073377368noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31540571.post-84041180683630486472022-08-29T04:59:00.004-05:002022-08-29T04:59:50.309-05:00I have Covid. Again.<p>Squishy took me to the ER on Friday night, and a Lyft driver brought me home around 4:00am on Saturday. I am now taking a quadruple dose of Prednisone (they need to figure out a way to make that taste better) for a total of five days, two of which have mercifully passed, and more Cefdinir for the bronchitis which has also returned. They can't determine from my medical records which variant of Covid I've had each time, but logic suggests that it was Omicron which zapped me earlier this month and which has circled back to try to get me again. Perhaps Omicron is the collection agency of coronaviruses?</p><p>At any rate, the meds are making me stronger, and wired, and tired. I went to bed after taking my inhaler and, I think, my regular evening meds at 10:00pm. I need to check that before I go back to sleep. I know that I took my Friday meds on Saturday night because I was in the ER when I should have taken them, and they were only letting me have a small amount of soft ice to convince Body that we were not dying of thirst. It would not be a good thing to skip my meds twice in one week, and two days apart. No anxiety meds + the possibility of roid rage is not something which I want to inflict upon my beloved bipolar bears.<br /></p><p>I woke up at 1:30-ish, and my next meds are due in a little over an hour, at 6:00am. My feet are swollen because I've been sitting so long without a pair of compression stockings on. But I <i>have</i> loaded and run the dishwasher. (I'm not allowed to touch the clean stuff, except to grab what I need from the periphery, while I have cooties.) And I've washed two loads of laundry, although the second will go into the dryer when I'm up for meds and supplements because I don't currently have the spoons to pull and fold the first load that's in the dryer.</p><p>I am basically living on FB at present. Lots of love coming in from many of my friends, and I'm feeling it. I'm also sharing articles that I'm reading elsewhere online, with lengthy preambles. Because Prednisone. And I'm grazing pretty much all day when I'm awake, but it's mostly healthy leftovers from the past few days. I'll send off an Instacart order that's been edited and added to multiple times overnight, when the store's been open a few hours. A recent order was something of a debacle because I hit "send" before the shelves were fully stocked, and there was at least one disastrous substitution because the options were limited. Every item on today's list has explicit directions for acceptable substitutions or what to delete if the original request is unavailable. I <i>can</i> be taught, even when I'm on Prednisone.</p><p>Later, gators. ^cough cough^ also Oh Look Shiny.<br /></p>Lynnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07712412874073377368noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31540571.post-73239968086266390242022-08-25T23:24:00.000-05:002022-08-25T23:24:10.019-05:00When I wake up in the morning...<p>...my line of credit at the credit union will be all paid off.</p><p>I looked at my paper calendar yesterday was amused / alarmed / dismayed to be reminded how many doctor or dentist appointments I/we have between September. cramming everything in on my calendar to ensure that they're all done while I'm still on the company's insurance.</p><p>I slept well last night, in part because I drank a cup of warm milk before lying down. I drank some tonight and am hoping for a rematch.</p><p>That's all I have for y'all tonight.<br /></p>Lynnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07712412874073377368noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31540571.post-27915123618239751652022-08-22T20:18:00.001-05:002022-08-22T20:18:59.702-05:00I am here. (Points to X on physical/mental/emotional/spiritual map.)<p> <u><b>Physical</b></u></p><p>Ambient stress level has dropped significantly, leading to less tension in my neck, traps, shoulders, and lower back. Redness where the eczema has been, continues to fade. My skin is dry in patches and generally itchy down my spine, across my "saddle," below my collarbones, in the spot behind my left knee where the lesion was, and pretty much all over my hands, wrists, and lower arms. Several times today I have caught myself scratching, once to the point of tiny pinpricks of blood. I have scheduled a massage after work on Wednesday, which means that I will go to bed that night with happy skin and muscles.</p><p>The weird thing with my fingers on my left hand continues to pop up, generally when I'm in the parking lot at Braums, preparing to pick up milk, OJ, and buttermilk. Forefinger and thumb form a very tight "G" (in fingerspelling), with thumb occasionally sliding between forefinger and middle finger. Sometimes the contraction involves my whole hand. Sometimes it travels up my forearm, producing a deep ache rather than a stabbing pain. I can usually slip or wedge the four fingers of my right hand into any gap, sometimes one finger at a time, and begin to massage a semblance of reasonableness into my thumb, and from there, to the rest of the hand. The spasm is generally resolved within five minutes. I don't know if it's stress-related or has something to do with electrolytes. When I'm working to reopen my grip, I remind myself that there are people with severe arthritis whose hands are like this all the time.</p><p>Now that I'm back in the office most days, I'm starting to have to fight sleepiness again, even on days when I've had a decent amount of sleep. Today I had to log off at 11:45 and take an hour and a half of PTO, which I spent blissfully asleep. I was less drowsy in the afternoon but still far less productive than I would have liked. I was home today because of the massive rainstorms and regional flooding. I expect to be back in the office tomorrow. I don't know if this is long COVID or simply stress about trying to get as much done, on time, as possible before I'm out the door in two and a half weeks.</p><p><u><b>Mental</b></u></p><p>I'm easily distracted, and my focus on work tasks has been frequently and significantly interrupted by tasks related to my upcoming retirement. I needed information from my doctors' and dentist's offices regarding which Medicare Advantage plans they accept. Naturally, they have no providers in common. So when I talk to my HR people (from whom I've as yet heard no peep, but Wonderful Office Manager has until September 1 to turn in the paperwork which will get that rolling), I will go with a plan which will cover my doctors and rely on the payment plan available through my dentist to cover Middlest, Fourthborn, and me.</p><p>Note to self: follow the link the dental office sent me to get signed up for a second payment plan. The first one covers Fourthborn's second extraction, which happens Wednesday morning at a different facility.</p><p>As noted above, my ambient stress level feels significantly less than it's been. Middlest and Fourthborn might say otherwise.</p><p><u><b>Emotional</b></u></p><p>I think I'm doing reasonably well. Again, the bipolar bears might argue otherwise. Today I proactively scheduled two massages: a 90-minute one for the evening of my last day in the office, and a 60 minute one for this Wednesday, after Fourthborn's surgery and the end of my workday. It will be interesting to see how long it takes me to get to the spa from home, as opposed to from the office. After the second massage, I intend to pause my membership for a month or two, until I get used to how the lower income shakes out.</p><p>I put massages here, because while they definitely include comforting and blessing my physical body, for me it's more about stress management and release of any emotions that bubble up.</p><p><u><b>Spiritual</b></u></p><p>My spirituality is off the rails at the moment. My testimony is still unshaken. But putting what I believe and know into action has a hole in it the size of that Sequoia in California which has a road going through it. I haven't studied Come, Follow Me all year. There was the bronchitis in January which exhausted me. I haven't gone to Sunday School in two and a half years. The Zoom versions have been pretty much inaudible, and on those Sundays when I'm well enough, and awake enough, to attend church in person, by the end of sacrament meeting I am DONE in all four of these buckets.</p><p>I have a year or more of unread copies of the Liahona, largely because of my tendency to fall asleep when I cease moving, no matter how interested I might be in what I'm reading or hearing. (I also have a year or more of unread copies of the Atlantic, for the same reason.) I can manage short articles from various media outlets which are connected with the Church. And I'm part of two vibrant groups on Facebook, in which we share thoughts, feelings, ideas, spiritual experiences. Most edifying, and I love reading others' perspectives.</p><p>I guess it would be fair to say that I'm currently experiencing spiritual anorexia. Sometime in the past few weeks, I got what I still think was inspiration, to switch my Book of Mormon app to French, and to follow along as I listened. I rapidly realized that 1.0 speed was warp-speed too fast for my present level of following along. So I geared it back to 0.7. which is still a little fast for comfort, but I mostly keep up. <i><b>However</b></i>, I could no longer listen to Le Livre de Mormon on my morning drive, because the narrator elides the words far more than I've done for the 20 or so years in which I've been reading it. (Basically, I discovered "you're doing it wrong, honey.") And then there's the matter of driving while reading, which is a huge NOPE. So today, I switched it back to English, and then I giggled when the narrator sounded like HAL from 2001: A Space Odyssey, when he was dying. I fixed that.</p><p>And then I listened to chapters 6-10 of 1 Nephi while driving partway to work in a downpour. I called in to say I'd been late, and my coworker who was handling switchboard told me that a text had gone out telling us all to stay home because of the torrential rain and regional flooding. So now I will be checking my text messages before leaving the house, and after the retirement party I will be switching back to Le Livre de Mormon at 0.7 speed and reading along while sitting up in bed.</p><p>Later, gators.<br /></p>Lynnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07712412874073377368noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31540571.post-53144149496718018032022-08-16T04:38:00.001-05:002022-08-16T04:38:30.476-05:00The healing has begun.<p>For the past couple of years, I have been dealing with eczema. Primarily along my left arm, but some on my right arm, some along my right jaw, and a small patch on my forehead. The repeated doses of steroids have each done their bit to help clear things up.</p><p>There have been no bits of peeling skin on my right earlobe for maybe a month and a half. It is soft and supple.</p><p>The itching and peeling on my arms has been gone for awhile as well.</p><p>And this morning I noticed that the worst patch, on my left arm, is fading fast. The skin is crepey, because I've yet to re-hydrate after waking up. It had been a vivid red-to-purple from where I'd scratched and scratched and scratched. It was visible in the pictures from Lark's wedding last year. Firstborn was able to cover the bits on my face with makeup. But the space from my left cuff to my hand was all too visible.<br /></p><p>Those of you who deal with eczema will laugh in recognition. My stress level has dropped so much since last week that it is no longer provoking my skin to scream for help. I may well be my normal little old lady pink in time for our modest office celebration in three and a half weeks!</p><p>Wonderful office manager sent the announcement email to my coworkers on Sunday night. I was off yesterday to take the bipolar bears to their monthly appointments and pick up their meds. I had hoped to work from home later in the day, but those two or so hours out and about wiped me out. I went to bed and slept for several hours. I noticed when I emailed my OM that I would not be WFH, that my inbox was jammed with messages from my coworkers.</p><p>I made the announcement on Facebook last night, and that has blown up as well. It's a lovely "problem" to have.</p><p>Later today, Fourthborn has her second pre-surgical consultation for a wisdom tooth which will soon be evicted. Her disability hearing is next month. We are hoping for the best.</p><p>We also got word yesterday that Middlest's disability hearing is set for early November. The court had been mysteriously and aggravatingly silent on that for months.<br /></p>Lynnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07712412874073377368noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31540571.post-58790836292649914762022-08-14T07:36:00.002-05:002022-08-14T07:36:15.765-05:00Retiring, but not shy<p>The announcement will go out on Facebook after it goes to the office sometime this week.</p><p>I've prayed off and on, for the past several years, to know when it was time to hang up my spurs. The answer came midweek. I was having a spectacularly frustrating day, verging upon a meltdown, because of some tasks that I'd inadvertently neglected that resulted in a terrifying round of emails and IMs from my office manager and our managing attorney.</p><p>I've mentioned here the cascade of physical symptoms I've been experiencing over the past couple of years, which resulted in my office manager graciously finding a way for me to continue working and keeping us medicated and fed, not necessarily in that order. Anemia requiring iron infusions. The distressing tendency to fall asleep while sitting bolt upright, but thankfully not while behind the wheel. Behind the wheel, I was consistently blessed to feel it coming on and to enact countermeasures until I was safely off the road.</p><p>I've had two lengthy tangos with bronchitis this year, both of which required multiple rounds of antibiotics and/or steroids. The most recent episode took up much of July and was followed almost immediately by my trip to the ER, overnight stay, and Covid diagnosis. I had successfully dodged the pandemic for nearly two and a half years. I finished the last dose of those meds on Friday but am still using my inhaler every four hours as prescribed.</p><p>My energy level and focus, as you might imagine, are fluctuating wildly. Twice last week, while working from home, I had to log off and take a nap. I'll be typing along, checking off boxes and updating files, and then I'll hit a wall.</p><p>(Good news is that, probably because of all the steroids I've been on, for several weeks I haven't tipped over sideways in bed while reading, playing games, or watching TV.)</p><p>And in the midst of that near-meltdown a few days ago, I suddenly had the answer (mixed with a healthy side order of panic) to those intermittent prayers. Time for the next part of my life to begin. My official retirement date is October 1, and I am now peaceful and calm about that. Phrases from my patriarchal blessing have been wafting over my mind recently. We will be OK financially.</p><p>My last day in the office will be Friday, September 9, and at first I was excited to have a retirement event with friends and family invited. But after a thoughtful exchange with Middlest, I realized that I didn't want to be the vector of a super-spreader experience. Covid is rampant in this county. (Witness my own personal gotcha.) So we will have a small, private family party after the fact. The in-house celebration will be limited to whomever happens to be in the office that day.</p><p>After the dust settles, there will be a family executive meeting in which we lay the groundwork for providing that my money does not run out before my days do. But that's a whole 'nuther blog post.</p><p>Good Sabbath, all y'all.<br /></p>Lynnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07712412874073377368noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31540571.post-37791600335570082382022-08-10T18:37:00.001-05:002022-08-10T18:37:09.175-05:00Fridge and pantry archaeology<p>Chez nous, we have among us an astonishing number of condiments and seasonings. We could probably use a double-fridge or smaller industrial fridge (assuming there is room, which there probably is not) to keep everything neatly corralled, segregated by type, and used or disposed of in a timely fashion. There is simply not enough space in the door of the fridge. Items in the back of the fridge get lost, sometimes for months. That's the back story. Here's the post.</p><p>What I <i>wanted</i> for dinner is a pint of Ben & Jerry's. What I <i>made</i> for dinner was a smoothie from bits and bobs in the pantry and fridge. As I inspected the use-by dates, the list of ingredients grew smaller and smaller. I have sent a carton and a half of Greek yogurt through the garbage disposal, one dated for June of last year and the other (unopened) from November. I'm definitely willing to consume food past its use-by date, within reason. This just seemed on the unreasonable side of the line. A couple of tablespoons of coconut oil, gently warmed in the microwave to encourage it to bond with the other ingredients and not with the sides of the Vitamix. A tablespoon of chia seeds. I am hoping for extra "body" but no slime. A quarter-cup of almond slices, to go with the almond milk that was also, sadly, past its prime. A generous splash of orange juice to join the bottled pineapple chunks with their juice. Half of an extremely overripe banana, which turned everything a lovely shade of grey. I think that's it. Between the gathering and the reading of labels and the running of the garbage disposal (twice) and the running of the Vitamix, it probably took me the better part of half an hour to accomplish a task which under ordinary circumstances would have required five, maybe ten.</p><p>At any rate, the smoothie is tucked to one side of a counter, hopefully out of the way of Middlest's upcoming food prep. And I am fixin' to take the last of the refrigerated black truffle Alfredo pasta out of the microwave and chow down.</p><p>I worked today. Not quite as impressive as yesterday's accomplishments, but I think productive, given that I logged out mid-day and slept for nearly three hours. (Last night was not a good one for sleep quality or quantity, but the nap was immensely helpful.)</p><p>That's what-all is floating around top-of-mind today. Later, gators.<br /></p>Lynnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07712412874073377368noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31540571.post-76729737389533920752022-08-09T22:55:00.002-05:002022-08-09T22:55:19.607-05:00Eating. All. The. Things.<p>So: I'm a bit over one week past diagnosis, and this was my first day back at my work-from-home desk. By the grace of Heaven, I killed it today. It will take me the rest of the week, again by the grace of Heaven, to get something like caught up, but if tomorrow is like today I'll make good strides toward that.</p><p>I've finished my Prednisone. I could feel a bit of roid rage coming on Sunday afternoon, so I sent myself to my room. When I was less agitated, I went out to the kitchen and baked a pan of brownies. The bipolar bears had their share. I divvied mine in thirds, so as to impersonate a sensible diabetic. They were <i>wonderful</i>.</p><p>The munchies came on yesterday. I ended up making myself a four-egg-yolk omelette with cheese for a late dinner, because I wanted some serious protein, and because the eggs had been in the fridge so long that they were thinking of becoming petrified. I stirred a little buttermilk in to improve the texture. It was <i>wonderful</i>.</p><p>Today I was miraculously alert until about an hour before time to log off. I never once felt drowsy, just bone-weary. Throughout the day I ate: simple cheese quesadillas, nuked in the microwave. A fat mug full of the almond-based granola with a splash of milk. A small glass of juice. Once the Costco order arrived on our porch, two slices of Dave's Killer Bread slathered with guacamole, plus a fat handful of sweet cherries. A little later, small bowl of cottage cheese and half a dozen triple ginger cookies. Before that, a larger bowl of the chicken black truffle Alfredo pasta gloop that I made on Sunday night. There's one serving of that left in the fridge, and another three or four servings in the freezer for next week. And an alarm on my phone to remind me to thaw and eat it before it becomes freezer-burned.<br /></p><p>After work, I noodled around on my phone for awhile, reading one article or another, and then I pulled on my galaxy leggings, purloined the water shoes that I gave Fourthborn some time back, and drove to Panera to get dinner for me and to In N Out (conveniently next door to Panera) to get shakes for the three of us. Over the course of three and a half hours, I managed to eat my sandwich (<i>wonderful</i>); drink my shake (<i>wonderful</i>), eat my portion of baguette, warmed in the microwave and slathered with butter (<i>wonderful</i>), and inhale my salad (you guessed it, <i>wonderful</i>).</p><p>The bill came from the radiologist at the hospital. $10.76. I am so thankful for good insurance. Had a good post-hospital virtual visit with my PCP yesterday. Have I mentioned that I got my labs back from my regular checkup, and my cholesterol was normal in all ranges for the first time in maybe ten years? Even my HDL, which has always been slightly-to-significantly low. Maybe it's all the steroids that I've been on since the first of July? Does that have any effect on cholesterol? I know that it does a number on blood glucose levels.</p><p>We have a consult booked for next week for a second oral surgery for Fourthborn. I am hoping they have a payment plan and I can break it up into two or three chunks this time without my credit rating taking a hit. Good news / bad news on the Middlest front: he needs two crowns replaced, but in speaking with the staff at our dentist's office today, they will be signing up with a company that will handle their payment plan, allegedly without affecting one's credit, and I'll find out more about that in the next couple of days and book Middlest's appointments. I just did not want to gut my 401K to pay for all of this. My financial anxiety, which spiked yesterday morning when I got the tab for the bipolar bears' cleaning and then the treatment plan for Middlest, is still there, but quieter, like when you've turned the burner off but the pot's still tossing up the odd bubble or two.<br /></p><p>The dishwasher is humming. It's almost time for the Atlantic crossword to drop. Pretty sure that I won't be staying up to play Wordle when it drops at midnight.</p><p>I'm grateful for the friends who have been praying for me. I'm sure that that's why I'm recovering as quickly as I seem to be. I'm trying to listen to my body. I'm thankful that my sense of smell and taste have been unaffected. I'm downright amazed at the resilience of this aging body.</p><p>Night, y'all.<br /></p>Lynnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07712412874073377368noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31540571.post-86547960263409265482022-08-01T17:47:00.000-05:002022-08-01T17:47:11.342-05:00In which your intrepid heroine has yet another adventure.<p>Betook myself to the ER last night because my lungs were mocking my inhaler. The bipolar bears were asleep (and anyway, neither of them can drive). I messaged them once I was settled in a room at the ER. (It was weird when the nice triage-man announces that he was heading to room X with a 70 year old woman, and I realized that that woman is me.)</p><p>X-ray, EKG, CT of lungs to rule out pneumonia and other bad stuff. Hospital-strength Covid test to follow up on the negative one I took at home before leaving the house. Two IV tubes in my non-dominant arm. Steroid into one of the IV tubes, anti-coagulant magic into my belly, various tubes of blood drawn throughout the evening, oxygen flowing in through a cannula (leave the gun; take the cannula).</p><p>About 3am, transfer to my own room with a real commode; shortly thereafter a CPAP. Got three hours of deep, uninterrupted sleep before my bladder woke me and the tech had to come unhook me from the CPAP. Then the nurse came in to check my glucose and something else.<br /></p><p>This morning into this afternoon, more stabs for glucose level, two shots of insulin several hours apart, echocardiogram to definitively rule out blood clots, second visit from wonderful ER doctor, wherein he countermands the ER's "nothing by mouth" order (although I'd been able to wheedle small amounts of ice chips). A meal, finally, in the early afternoon. And the most marvelous collection of kind, competent human beings I've met in one place in a very long time (almost like going to church, it was, without the music or the prayers).</p><p>Communicating via Discord with my bipolar bears and Squishy. Communicating via Marco Polo with the non-resident blessings. (Squishy brought a charger for my
cell phone to the ER last night and waited in their waiting room until
11, in case I needed anything.)</p><p>Restraining myself from an announcement on FB until I had a diagnosis and was safely home, which I am, with a couple of new Rx's due for pickup in the next hour or
two, and I already feel a thousand percent better than when I walked
into the ER last night.</p><p>After 2.5 years and full vaccinations + booster, Covid has finally caught up with me. This explains why my inhaler wasn't all that helpful (I forgot to mention the two nebulizer treatments I had today). It also explains the multitude of six hour naps that have occurred over the past two or three weeks.</p><p>Upshot? I feel loved and cherished and oh-so-blessed. Heavenly Father knows who I am and where I've been for the past 24 hours or so. He sent me where I needed to be, and he got me home safely.</p>Lynnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07712412874073377368noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31540571.post-86901517845656465502022-07-26T22:00:00.002-05:002022-07-26T22:00:18.112-05:00Booboo<p>The bronchitis appears to be well and truly gone. I saw my PCP this morning for regular diabetic blood work and also because I have a booboo in the crease of my left leg which came on about the time I started the Prednisone. Said Prednisone made most of my eczema go away, although there are signs it wants to come back along my right jawline. I was thinking this might be a patch of eczema trying to go rogue. There is a swathe about 2" tall above the crease which is weeping lymph. It doesn't hurt, but it's sticky and annoying as you know what. Other than that, I'm feeling pretty good. Well, other than having been a little crabby and unfocused because of the fasting.</p>
<p>Ah, the abbreviations I have learned because I work in a law office. Dx (diagnosis), Fx (fracture), Hx (history), Rx (pretty much everyone knows that one), Tx (which I am amused to know is not an abbreviation for a minuscule map of the Lone Star State, but <i>treatment</i>).</p>
<p>I'm glad that I went when I did. The booboo is a precursor to a diabetic ulcer (ick!), and I have an Rx for an ointment which targets that. I will also be acquiring a wound care specialist. I hope he's as cute as my hematologist (think Neil Patrick Harris) or she's as witty as Dorothy Parker.</p>
<p>In other news, the bipolar bears were both sleeping when I got home, so I had to bring in the grocery order. That's something that Fourthborn usually handles, given her "freaking [surname] man-strength." Well, I overbalanced while bringing in a 32-pack of DP and fell. My exasperated yell woke both of them up. Nothing's damaged except my dignity, although the shock of it wore off at 3:00pm, and I emailed the office manager and took what turned out to be a six hour nap. I've been up for awhile, and I feel fine. (Also very blessed to not have broken my tailbone or my bad hip.)</p>
<p>I will, of course, report this to my doctor, and the automatic check-in feature will ask me about recent falls for the next year and a half or so. A small but annoying price to pay.</p><p>Later, gators. My Trader Joe's Hatch chili mac & cheese is growing cold, and the alarm for my evening meds is going off as we speak.<br /></p>Lynnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07712412874073377368noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31540571.post-90328992073551699972022-07-20T21:15:00.001-05:002022-07-20T21:15:12.731-05:00I got a haircut???<p>Last one was at some point before the pandemic, so it's been at least two and a half years. Since then I've just twisted it up and clipped it. I think tomorrow there may be some foofing and barrette-ing.</p><p>My old Supercuts had closed since my last trim, so I had to consult the Google and Thummim to find a new one. I liked the stylist, who shares her given name with Firstborn.</p><p>I wore the new striped shirt with the old flowy pants and was well-pleased. I need to make a pair of earrings to go with. I think I have a string of semiprecious beads that would do.</p><p>Didn't sleep as well last night. Just shy of four hours, then up for long enough to do today's Wordle and the daily games on the AARP website, then back to bed for an hour and a half.</p><p>I've resumed watching the second season of an Irish legal show on Acorn, and the plot is definitely thickening. I think (another) minor character just got murdered off-screen. I'm about ready to gather up the things I will need in the morning, put on a nightshirt, and watch until it's time to take my evening meds.</p><p>I love posh British accents. I love Scots and Welsh and Australian accents (the latter, particularly, if spoken by a certain Aboriginal actor who's really something). And I think my favorite has to be Irish accents. I could sit at a table with the actors in this series and just listen to them natter on about anything and nothing. It's the linguistic equivalent of wind chimes or the oboe or the cello. Strikes something deep within my soul.</p><p>My hair feels like silk. I wish Beloved were here to mess it up.<br /></p>Lynnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07712412874073377368noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31540571.post-3825798337306325912022-07-18T21:09:00.002-05:002022-07-18T21:09:19.934-05:00 A stellar day at work.<p>It helps to have one of those, every once in awhile, especially after illness and backlogs. Today I got almost all the way through my resource mailbox, which is where the correspondence comes (and goes, just like the karma chameleon) related to my record orders. There were almost 50 invoices to sort out. I got them all organized and fifteen or more of them sent off for payment. I plan to polish those off tomorrow morning.</p><p>With my office manager's help, I untangled and updated my timesheet for last week.</p><p>I got a little over five hours of sleep last night and awoke with just the merest hint of fever. Not enough that I had to stay home, but enough to make my thermometer chirp at me like an angry hummingbird.</p><p>Last week's Gudrun order arrived today, at least a week earlier than I was expecting. They must have solved the distribution problem in Germany while I was out of pocket. I have a new stripedy shirt which goes with a pair of pants I bought a couple of years ago that didn't really go with anything else. And I have a crazy-cute tunic bright red tunic with all kinds of warm-toned flowers on it. I wish I hadn't waited so long that the copper (bright orange) petticoat was sold out when I went to buy it. Maybe there will be a similar color in the fall catalogue. I'd also like a bubblegum pink petticoat, but I'm not holding my breath on that. Gudrun's colors are usually softer than that.</p><p>I have less than an hour until my final dose of antibiotic. Time to grab a nightshirt and prepare to grab some Z's.<br /></p>Lynnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07712412874073377368noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31540571.post-45470444224245046832022-07-17T21:24:00.001-05:002022-07-17T21:24:30.298-05:00That's four days in a row!<p>That's one! <i>ah-ah-ah!</i></p><p>Two! <i>ah-ah-ah!</i></p><p>Three! <i>ah-ah-ah!</i></p><p>Four! Four days without using my inhaler <i>ah-ah-ah-ah-ah!</i> [lightning flashes, thunder crashes, and The Count rolls his eyes in glee]<i> </i> <br /></p><p></p><p>I have, indeed, spent the bulk of this weekend asleep. I might have been awake all of five or six hours yesterday. I am feeling suspiciously and remarkably human at the moment. I've not needed a nap all day, although I did get a bit drowsy at the very end of Zoom church. In an hour, I'll take my meds and call it a day.</p><p>I'm hoping to be productive tomorrow and each day this coming week. It would have been nice to have been able to work on Friday afternoon, but Body said NOPE! in no uncertain terms, and I was in no position to argue.</p><p>I've not had the focus to read anything substantial, aside of my scriptures. I discovered a bug in the audio for my French BOM and dug around until I found out how to report it. That was my bit for building the kingdom of God today. By reading along while listening at 70% speed, I am catching subtleties of pronunciation that I'd been missing for the past 20 years.</p><p>I watched the 2015 adaptation of "And Then There Were None" and have come to the conclusion that I don't care for Agatha Christie's stories. Have I read the actual books? No, and I don't intend to. I don't like the "closed room" format. Over the past year or so I've watched adaptations of three of her stories and a modern movie styled along the same principles, all of them with actors I ordinarily enjoy, and my lingering reaction is <i>meh.</i></p>Lynnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07712412874073377368noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31540571.post-46759060102830606222022-07-15T21:31:00.003-05:002022-07-15T21:31:44.582-05:00Nor did I need my inhaler today.<p>What I <i>did</i> need, however, was buckets and buckets of sleep. It's becoming apparent to me that the Prednisone has worked its magic. I'm not coughing. I can breathe easily. and I caught nearly five hours of sleep last night. It's also becoming apparent that the sleep deficit caused by the Prednisone is catching up with me.</p><p>I got the bipolar bears to their monthly checkup and on to the pharmacy. Came home, logged on, and fought sleep for the next hour and a quarter. Emailed the powers that be and lay down for a nap. Six hours later, I bubbled to the surface again.</p><p>Since arising, I've polished off my leftover chicken alfredo, one unadorned hamburger patty, a mug of milk, and the last of the triple ginger cookies. I've read the transcript of Carolyn Hax's weekly chat, played a handful of computer games with varying degrees of success, and checked my FB notifications. And now I'm trying to hang on for another half hour so that I may take my medicines and go back to bed.</p><p>I suspect that much of this weekend will be spent horizontal and unconscious. For the present I am fine with that, as I have the attention span of a flea.</p><p>Please send postcards from whatever adventures y'all are having while I am out like the proverbial light.</p><p>Later, gators!<br /></p>Lynnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07712412874073377368noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31540571.post-56608707275759258092022-07-14T22:34:00.001-05:002022-07-14T22:34:41.436-05:00I did not need my inhaler today.<p>And I slept nearly six hours last night. I've been reasonably clear-headed all day, which is always a welcome thing, although the drive to work was unnecessarily complicated. From my post on FB:</p><p><span class="d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz qv66sw1b c1et5uql lr9zc1uh a8c37x1j fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 d3f4x2em iv3no6db jq4qci2q a3bd9o3v b1v8xokw oo9gr5id hzawbc8m" dir="auto"></span></p><div class="kvgmc6g5 cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">"One of the great things about being my age is that things which once would have frustrated, angered, or embarrassed me now just make me laugh.</div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"> </div></div><span class="d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz qv66sw1b c1et5uql lr9zc1uh a8c37x1j fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 d3f4x2em iv3no6db jq4qci2q a3bd9o3v b1v8xokw oo9gr5id hzawbc8m" dir="auto"><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q"><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Lunch? Check.</li><li>Meds? Check.</li><li>New Fluevog boots (designed in collaboration with Zandra Rhodes)? Check.</li><li>Carefully coordinated petticoats, shirt, earrings? Check.</li><li>Laptop? [crickets] I realized three miles from home that I'd forgotten something essential.</li></ul><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"> </div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">I made a (legal) U-turn, drove home, and started over. And, even with a stop at La Madeleine to pick up some comfort food, I was only 35 minutes late to work. Our office manager gave me the option of working late rather than burning my PTO.</div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><br /></div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">The bipolar bears have their monthly doctor appointments tomorrow morning, and I'll WFH in the afternoon. I've asked, since I gave up three full days of PTO to attempt to catch up my desk from Bronchitisfest, if I may work a few hours of OT on Saturday. I'd like to start next week more or less timely with my To-Do's.</div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><br /></div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">Middlest is 39 today, just like Jack Benny. How on earth can I be the mother of two 40-somethings and three 30-somethings?</div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><br /></div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">This is the part where I change my sheets and try to stay awake until 11:00 for tomorrow's <i>Atlantic</i> crossword. Later, gators!<br /></div></div></span><p></p>Lynnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07712412874073377368noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31540571.post-7374582640902114642022-07-12T23:32:00.001-05:002022-07-12T23:32:39.522-05:00Eyedrops are my new BFF<p>I had watery, itchy eyes before I went on these new meds. Maybe about ten days' worth, and really annoying, and I kept forgetting to do anything about it. Tonight at Costco I bought a megabox of eyedrops, read the instructions, marked the first bottle with its 90-day discard date, and four and a half hours later remembered to put the <i>drops</i> into my <i>eyes.</i></p><p>And the angels sang. I also put an alarm on my phone for that discard date.</p><p>While I got maybe half an hour more sleep last night than I did the night before, it took forever to tall asleep, and I actually had to break out the Cherry Coke to keep myself alert and focused throughout the day. I'm hoping that that means I will be able to fall asleep more easily tonight and stay asleep longer. One can only hope. Tomorrow is my fifth and final dose of Prednisone.<br /></p><p>Fourthborn's oral surgery is tomorrow morning, and I'll be WFH once I get her settled in here afterwards.</p><p>This is the part where I guzzle some water and call it a day. Wish me luck.<br /></p>Lynnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07712412874073377368noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31540571.post-14874608601968219552022-07-11T22:09:00.001-05:002022-07-11T22:09:12.439-05:00On my second course of meds<p>And actually beginning to feel somewhat human, but that may only be the Prednisone talking. I went back to the after-hours clinic on Friday night, because Friday was frankly a slog. I could barely catch my breath. I was still needing my inhaler almost every four hours, when I should already have been able to taper off to a more normal every six hours. (When I'm feeling well, I may not need to use the inhaler for several days in a row, but that is not my current reality.)</p><p>This morning was my third dose of three Prednisone tabs. How can anything taste that vile? I mean, do they do that on purpose? I took this morning's allotment roughly three hours after I woke up. Yes. It took me a bit to figure out that that is my body on Prednisone. On the other hand, there was not one single instance of feeling drowsy, and I was wonderfully productive at work in spite of having had maybe three and a half hours of sleep last night.</p><p>My dreams, what there were of them, seemed to be about police procedurals where the folks in the observation room could hear the thoughts of the perps being interviewed, as well as being incapable of keeping their own opinions to themselves. Lots of embarrassing self-revelations going on, but nobody seemed to be aware of what they themselves, or their coworkers, were saying. Just me, standing there blushing redder and redder and redder.</p><p>The bipolar bears have recently gotten me onto Discord, because its notifications do not strike daggers straight into Middlest's cerebral cortex when he has a migraine, which he usually does. I finally decided on a screen name, and Middlest found me an avatar I adore.</p><p>I worked from home today, because I didn't know if I'd remain lucid and safe to drive on so little sleep. I have to drive in tomorrow, as there are things I need to do ASAP, that I can only do when I'm there. Plus I have<strike> five</strike> four days of work to shoehorn into <strike>two</strike> one if I want to be off all day on Wednesday after Fourthborn's oral surgery, maybe off on Thursday, and off all day on Friday after taking the bipolar bears to their monthly checkup and picking up their refills. In addition to that major miracle, I need to clear up my backlog before I can take more than the absolute minimum PTO necessary to get them where they need to be.</p><p>I'm hoping that the Prednisone is going to be my spiritual and physical ace in the hole to get me through the rest of this week, and then I can sleep all weekend. Maybe.</p><p>In less me-focused news, I tried something on my phone when I drove into work last Friday. I switched my Book of Mormon app to read to me in French and quickly realized that there's no way in hell (sorry, Sir!) that I can catch more than one word in ten at normal speed, so I geared it down to 70% of that and am planning to read along as I listen. Which I haven't done since Friday. Because bronchitis.</p><p>My phone tells me it's time for evening meds. I need to stay up for an hour after that in order to take my antibiotic. But y'all? I'm definitely tired <i>and</i> I'm definitely not sleepy. This could be interesting.</p><p>I think I've caught all of the typos and the weird grammar, but I'm typing faster than I have in years, and I'm hoping this all more or less makes sense, and I could probably draft another chapter or two of memoir before bedtime, but also probably better not.</p><p>Your intrepid heroine, Ms. Ravelled, on performance-somewhat-enhancing drugs. Yeehaw!<br /></p>Lynnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07712412874073377368noreply@blogger.com0