Leap Day!

I really had a hankering for roast beef the last couple of weeks. I don't know what it is but I just can't seem to get enough of the protein. So with that in mind following the weekly coffee social I decided I would take a bus trip down south to the lucky store around 6800 South Redwood Road and see what they are offering for beef roasts. I really go to this place called Lucky's it's a nice looking place and relatively new and I'm always impressed at their mail out advertisements that come in my box weekly. They really seem to have better prices than a lot of the other joints around the area so with that in mind I want to see what they would offer as far as chuck roast goes. The last roast I purchased I threw half away because I bought it way too large and it sort of went bad before I could finish eating it. This of course wasn't expensive lesson and I hopefully won't have to experience it again. The other roast I think was a rump roast with much more meat than the Chuck roast variety.

As I said the day was much warmer than the last couple of days and a lot of that's because the storms coming and there's a lot of wind blowing in from the south as the front pushes in. So even though it was a bit warmer the day was still cool enough that I had to wear my Hood from Christmas. I was glad that I did. I had a pretty good ride down it's about drop off point at 6800 South I grabbed a lunch while I was down there from an  Asian fast food joint. It wasn't the best Asian I've had after all it's just fast food but it was good enough I had beef and broccoli over noodles which was pretty decent again I don't know if it was worth the 10 bucks but you got to pay the piper if you're going to be in the dance. Lucky's advertises itself as a wholesale price venue which it probably is as I zoomed around the facility looking at different prices it was a little bit cheaper than the other places I don't know if it's enough to go out of my way to shop there anymore. The beef looked good All Things Considered and I was able to get a smaller cut of roast this time so it should take long to cook it all maybe enough to get me through S weekend should be fun I'm looking forward to it.

It's leap day many places are probably having Sadie Hawkins day dances and such. I appreciate the extra day of the month to get my kid letters Out even though I won't get them out tomorrow as I was hoping. That is a large part my fault I agree. The letters will go out and it's okay it's not like Jasmine's going to really know because she's in Florida right now for how long I don't really remember but she's on quite a trip that's for sure so she won't even see him till the middle of the month anyway if at all. The first of the month just gives me a great Target to shoot for it feels like I'm getting something done and doing something good. Who knows maybe the best part is the 10 bucks I'm sending to most of the grandkids. At least that's something to look forward to

Time management

Everything takes time it's a sad but true element of this reality in which I live. If I want to do something during the day something's going to have to suffer, whether I like it or not. Today it's just getting to my writing which is now middle of the evening. I should have done much earlier but this is one of those days for I jump the bus and went for a ride. It's not that I did it voluntarily I had an appointment down south at my podiatrist to have my toes done. Yes I have a podiatrist and I could haven't done here at the apartment complex if I wanted to go through the hole rig of a row of dealing with volunteer podiatrists if that's what they are. I would just assume go through my benefits from Social Security and whatever else I have that pays for him at a podiatrist even if I have to go out, right a bus then wait for the next bus to get to the toenail cutter. I don't think it's an elitist thing I just get out ride the system and get my toes worked on or any other issues my feet might be having. Usually a fast procedure I can't believe he gets the amount of money he gets paid to do this but it's the office is very close to a super Smith's and if you've ever been in one of those they're a grand store to wander around in and I did that today. If I had a very small snack two chicken legs and four pieces of potato wedges it was all good I enjoyed next time however I would get just a couple chicken strips. But that took a major piece of time out of my day. I was able to get the wash at least collected from the laundry and brought back. One of my kindly Neighbors saw that the machine was done and brought it back but I haven't finished hanging up the clothes yet like I said time. So possibly maybe I will work on hanging up the rest of the clothes tonight or maybe I'll do it tomorrow before coffee group. If I'm lucky I might be able to get one letter written tonight. Fortunately February has one extra day in it this year, yes it's leap year, and they'll give me time to finish writing the letters tomorrow and possibly getting them printed and enveloped who knows. As of now I think I just have the coffee group in the morning and then I should have the day free to myself if I don't go anywhere. The day should be fairly decent I mean even today was much warmer than yesterday when I was out on the transit system. My butt was even feeling better today I don't know what that was about but all in all it was a pretty decent day but I'm also paying the price for being out on a decent day by running behind on things I should have had done hours ago

The Talk

It was bound to happen in fact it had to happen it was only a matter of time. I've been dancing around the issue for some time now and this weekend at the Sunday breakfast it finally came out and that was what are we going to do with Dad when it's time for Dad to be gone? I brought up the idea jokingly at first and actually it was pretty light all the way through the discussion I was kind of surprised. For some time there's been some discussion about it might be cremated or am I to be buried and a funeral. Since I'm not going to be around at least in spirit I don't care what the kids do after I'm gone my biggest issue is how is it going to get paid for? And that's what actually brought up the whole idea of dealing with the remains at this week's breakfast. It really is an issue I have found. My two kids really want me to be intured somewhere a physical resting place where they can come and acknowledge my existence. I know there's a billion reasons for not having such things from saving the Earth to not letting the body decompose naturally. Again not that it matters to me. I even came around to Cremation which I never was going to do. Cremation for me was taboo I was raised with the idea that the LDS Church didn't believe in cremation I still hear both versions of the idea. But, Diane pretty much changed my mind on the whole cremation concept and I came around. To my surprise the kids did not want such a thing as I indicated earlier they really want a place to come where my remains are at to do whatever. I don't mind such a thing but such a thing costs money lots of it which I don't have. Even if I did have the money I would be hard-pressed to use it for for a casket and a spot. As it is right now I have a few thousand I guess I could contribute as I got closer to the end and knew I wouldn't need the money for something else. Or maybe look into one of those pay a little bit every month type of a thing and then they finish the whole concept. Anyway, the big point is for the first time I'm really beginning to visit with my kids about my end in this world and how I hope to be part of it to some degree. Sadly unless something major happens if the kids want the whole nine yards they're going to have to put a lot of the bill. Even The Cremation would be a lot more than I would have considered. I know my buddy and I were talking a couple weeks ago and I gave him the idea of donating his body to science I could do that but I don't think they want an old broken up body like mine I should look into it though but even then my guys want something to remember me by and not ashes. was bound to happen in fact it had to happen it was only a matter of time. I've been dancing around the issue for some time now and this weekend at the Sunday breakfast it finally came out and that was what are we going to do with Dad when it's time for Dad to be gone? I brought up the idea jokingly at first and actually it was pretty light all the way through the discussion I was kind of surprised. For some time there's been some discussion about it might be cremated or am I to be buried and a funeral. Since I'm not going to be around at least in spirit I don't care what the kids do after I'm gone my biggest issue is how is it going to get paid for? And that's what actually brought up the whole idea of dealing with the remains at this week's breakfast. It really is an issue I have found. My two kids really want me to be intured somewhere a physical resting place where they can come and acknowledge my existence. I know there's a billion reasons for not having such things from saving the Earth to not letting the body decompose naturally. Again not that it matters to me. I even came around to Cremation which I never was going to do. Cremation for me was taboo I was raised with the idea that the LDS Church didn't believe in cremation I still hear both versions of the idea. But, Diane pretty much changed my mind on the whole cremation concept and I came around. To my surprise the kids did not want such a thing as I indicated earlier they really want a place to come where my remains are at to do whatever. I don't mind such a thing but such a thing costs money lots of it which I don't have. Even if I did have the money I would be hard-pressed to use it for for a casket and a spot. As it is right now I have a few thousand I guess I could contribute as I got closer to the end and knew I wouldn't need the money for something else. Or maybe look into one of those pay a little bit every month type of a thing and then they finish the whole concept. Anyway, the big point is for the first time I'm really beginning to visit with my kids about my end in this world and how I hope to be part of it to some degree. Sadly unless something major happens if the kids want the whole nine yards they're going to have to put a lot of the bill. Even The Cremation would be a lot more than I would have considered. I know my buddy and I were talking a couple weeks ago and I gave him the idea of donating his body to science I could do that but I don't think they want an old broken up body like mine I should look into it though but even then my guys want something to remember me by and not ashes.

What?

 

It's funny how you don't notice something until you do notice something- I know that sounds crazy but it's true. I thought it's been weird that all the sudden the last year or so I've started noticing more and more ads for hearing aids are hearing aids devices. I didn't pay attention to these but I did notice there was more and more media attention being put to these devices. I noticed for the first time this morning that maybe I should start considering something like that. To be honest I've been somewhat doing major avoidance of these devices as I look around to my friends and notice are sticking in their ears more and more. I mean a lot of people here at the facility slash Apartments have the hearing aids but I just had never ever thought about them for myself. Remember I work on that committee that has assistive technology funding for people with disabilities and I've been griping about how many people have been utilizing our funding for these hearing devices. They're not cheap they're very expensive. I just sort of inwardly smirked that that's something I'm not going to have to worry about. However, this morning I really noticed possibly for the first time- - I mean there have been other times before that I'd sort of considered what was happening but I didn't pay much attention to it- - but this morning I was doing that real senior thing but asking everybody to repeat what they were saying. Luckily I caught myself and not being too obvious….. at least I hope I wasn't too obvious. I think I only asked people to repeat themselves like maybe three times but I can see myself in one of those TV commercials for someone's trying to follow a conversation and they're all just hearing mumbles and stuff. I have been kind of wondering what's the driving force that makes somebody realize the need for a hearing device aside from a y for something who just gets tired of repeating themselves and finally brow beats the guy into getting a hearing examination. I'd like to think I'm hearing just fine and it seems like I am actually except for moments like this morning when I realize I'm asking people to repeat themselves. I soothe Myself by saying that I'm in the public place there's a lot of background noise and that is the reason I can't follow a conversation at the other end of the table. I don't know maybe I'm expecting too much but in the back of my mind it's like I would never be able to hear that or those conversations anyways just too far at the other end of the table. But for the first time I'm willing to play with the idea that maybe just maybe I might need some kind of hearing device. Of course the next big issue would be if I were to get a hearing device or devices I just don't know how I would maintain them and self execute them as far as putting them in and taking them out when needed to be. They really look like they do need a lot of hand function to get things done right. But then again I seem to get by over and over again when the need comes up. I don't think I need the hearing devices yet but I can sure feel the need coming...

Sunshine Saturday

 I swear I dictated this and posted it sometime earlier today but I don't see any sign of it tonight anywhere so I'm going to do it again real quick. I'm glad I checked the journal that's when I realized that I may not have posted the blog for today but still sort of freaks me out. Anyway I wanted to get to bed somewhere early tonight so I could get up in time for breakfast with Marc Anthony tomorrow and I will it's just going to be a little more difficult to get up because I wasn't able to get to bed earlier enough and it's my own fault. Been watching a little TV and cleaning up a little bit and it's been taking all my time but I would have used to be doing this had I thought I had not already done it. But briefly, it's been a good day sunshine was out and the temperature was nice it was about 55° could actually sit outside if I really really wanted to. I went to breakfast with actually coffee with Janet and then later I crossed the street and picked up some items over at the market which I felt I needed for Sunday as well as the beginning of next week mainly pickled peppers beans and other things I used to put in my concoction and a few items I thought I needed to get through Sunday. Other than that it's been a quiet day. I wish I had some Fantastic Adventures to talk about but I sure didn't. Please that my butt wasn't hurting however and that the cushion I'm in today is much more protective than what I had yesterday and the day before. My Butt is sore tonight but not like it was yesterday and I've been trying to push the filling back as much as I could all day today. Hopefully it'll make a difference. Like I said not much is happening. I could have gone out and done some shopping I'm going to look for a pillow a hugging pillow. I didn't have one last night because I didn't see where Melissa had put it after she made the bed it was just in reach but I didn't know where it was at and I wasn't about to search for it in the middle of the night when I realized the thing was gone. So tonight hopefully we'll see. I hope I'll sleep well. I actually did my own bike about 8:00 tonight which is another weird thing that I hardly ever do is exercise that late but I didn't get around to it today cuz I was sprucing up the apartment a little bit here and there and hey why did you get some sleep so hopefully the half an hour workout will help me sleep tonight at least until early enough to rise and get ready to go across the street for breakfast aside from that was a pretty good Saturday..

Open wide

 

Finally the appointed day for my dental work has come. I don't know if I was excited or just in pain from surviving yesterday's and the day before seating on the cushion that was in backwards in my power chair. I don't know what I was thinking when I had Melissa put me down on it it felt weird at the time but I thought I was just getting used to the chair pet cushion again but in fact I think it was in backwards and it really hurt my butt I thought I was going to die during the night because my cheek on my right side burned I put some medication type stuff on there and that helped a little bit but I think that also kept me a little awake during the night didn't get a lot of sleep I don't do a lot of sleep anymore it seems like. Anyway I finally got up around 6:00 a.m. did the transfer which I was surprised when as well as it did got shaved and ready and she showed up here at 7:00 which is great. Got myself taken care of and dressed and finally got to the dentist office around 10:00 a.m. little bit before. I really do like being over there those people I really like they really treat me good I mean I pay for it that's for sure but still I enjoy hanging out with the guys that's nice.

I

It took a while to get going and stuff but finally they got me in the examination portion and tilted back and got some x-rays taken. Luckily just a little bit of drilling had to take place but I still got a couple shots of Novocaine and a good dose of nitric oxide my favorite reason for going to the dentist. Seem to take a while for Alan to get to work but when he finally did we went through it fairly quickly drilled out the bad parts then filled up my cavity space with whatever he fills it up with and then turn me loose. Almost $200 worth of work fortunately they were good enough to break it up into three payments- - actually I could have done it in one but why put any more pressure on myself that I need to right? Anyway, the day was actually visually beautiful clear skies and almost warm. I toyed with the idea of going over to the market to shop but never got around to it. Every time I thought that I would I found something to keep me here at the apartment or an excuse that I didn't need this I really didn't need that and I can wait a couple days before I got that and so I didn't go anywhere just up to the front a couple times and that was it. I watch the cartoon movie after dinner the first cars motion picture which I liked at least it kept me entertained. I was kind of hungry for dinner because the doc said I couldn't chew anything hard on my right side where the Dentistry went today so I just had a couple of hot dogs for lunch I mean wieners from the package and my concoction and that was kind of it aside from a couple treats here and there. I visited ed with Dave Allen on the text messaging as well as Diane who called me some more issues of people in her life. I listen to them was kind of glad to get back to my movie in the Afternoon News. Hopefully get some sleep tonight we'll see

Shoeless!

I've kind of been trying to get out of the apartment all day long but today's obstacle is the fact that I cannot get my shoe to stay on my foot. I know this sounds pathetic but it's true. There was a point where I could do this fairly well- - and I could do it now I believe if I really wanted to and there was something I really wanted to go out to do but as it is today's been cold and wet and cloudy and the only thing I really need is something I really don't need. If I could get to the market I would get a box of Ritz crackers a special kind that I have sort of gotten and another staple that has slipped my mind right now. I have the item written on a piece of paper on the table. I would like some more firm grapes but I don't know if that's possible and bottom line is I have a roll of Ritz crackers still and a complete new box of white crackers so I can get by, I still have juice orange juice so I'm okay there really. I'd like to have a backup bottle of juice but I really don't need that till tomorrow or Saturday. I think weather will be better by then anyway and I think tomorrow for instance I could or I will have Melissa put my shoe on herself and she can make sure the shoe is on tight. The problem I'm having with that shoe is that the velcro on the top tie just does not stay fastened when I put the shoe on. Part of it is my grip not being able to forcibly pull the top part to some velcro that will still stick and the other part is that the shoe tends to fall off when it hits my foot pedal. Like I said I used to be able to do this no problem now there is a problem. And if I really wanted to I could go out without a shoe and I don't care what people would say. I just feel more comfortable when I'm completely dressed out in public. I know these are pretty strange words for an exhibitionist maybe I'm just more cautious about my feet then my another parts:-).

Tomorrow's the day! I just got off texting my caregiver who I'm expecting to come expecting to come in expecting to come in early tomorrow morning because I have a 10:00 dental appointment to fix the gaping cavity in my mouth when the filling fell out last week or two weeks ago actually. Fortunately there's been no pain involved and I can't believe I've had to wait this long but hopefully tomorrow it will be done. I don't know how the dentist will make a fill in the stick in there maybe it'll be a two appointment operation but I'll just be glad when it's done that can stop cutting my tongue every time I forget and close my mouth the wrong way. I really don't anticipate much discomfort but then again you never anticipate the unexpected …

Wash day

 

It's gotten so the most ambitious thing I do on a Wednesday it seems is the wash and really that comprises of putting 3/4 in the slots and pushing the plunger in for the second dry and then throwing everything in the clothes basket and dragging it back to the apartment where I spend the next hour are usually shorter listening to something on NPR and folding clothes. That's right I try to fold all the clothes in the wash which includes hanging the shirts and folding the washcloths. It's not hard work it's just work that has to be done, which is not fun, but it's one of those things that you can get by in life without doing but doing it makes life just a little bit better. I have nothing to support that with it's just a feeling that I get sort of like making your bed every morning even if it's not a good bed making you can tell that the bed's been taken care of one way or the other that's just not a chaotic Mass writhing on the top of a mattress. I also updated my calendar and ordered a few things in on my general maintenance issues. My catheter company calls every month or 6 weeks to see if I need more catheters of course they know that they're going through this ritual/dance and they usually call and I don't pick up the phone if I know it's them and call back a day or two later and act like I'm just major busy guy and how much I appreciate them calling. Today I okayed for the next shipment of my catheters and then asked for a special lubricant in a nice shiny silver envelope which I really like. I mean I really like the shiny silver envelope not necessarily the lubricant cuz I think the lube is all the same just the packaging is different. And I like the silver package better than just the common plastic. I wandered up to the front of the building a couple times well of course I had to to wash clothes but to also check on my mail and to see who was moving around up front. This is many time I actually go up front and people see me and know that I'm actually alive. Now tomorrow is another exception because tomorrow is social coffee group and at least I make an appearance chat a little bit try to enjoy the company of the others and enjoy any if any treats are forthcoming. Sometimes Donuts actually show up but most the times it's just stuff that people bring in from their apartment. A couple times it's been homemade cookies as well as cake. I enjoy those almost as much as the donuts if ever any show up. They could get them every week if they wanted it's just a time thing someone to go out and get them. I know they have the money because I collected every week and it'll turn it into the money person. We have tons of money we can have Donuts every week if we wanted them.

So, once again I'm looking down the barrel of a weekend. It doesn't look like it's going to be too good to be going out and doing stuff just because more rain is forecast. We're quickly getting to that point where I don't have to worry about snow or freezing rain as we get closer and closer to Spring. However, we are certainly getting the atmospheric Rivers plow through more and more which is totally different than what we're used to. Fortunately, I don't have to worry about flooding or anything like that so far and I'm on the first floor water from the roof coming down doesn't get to me it spoils other apartments before that happens thank goodness. I'm going to look for a break in the rain tomorrow or Friday get some provisions and then just hunker down for the weekend again and wait for an early spring..

Lights out

 Thank goodness I did not have an assist meeting this morning. I don't know whether I would have made it or not. Last night was one of the weirder nights that I've spent in this apartment complex. Last night was a pretty regular night. I didn't get to bed till about 11:00 p.m. my usual time really this gives me time to read and maybe an hour before I turn in for the night. Last night I turned in and was situating myself under my covers to read and it did something and the Lights Went Out. I don't know if I've told you all this before but I have this wooden stand built by occupational therapist at one time that I keep next to my bed and I have a lot of stuff on there. I keep most of my catheter equipment there as well as my other backup materials like bed protectors different kinds of painkillers. One of my nightmare scenarios has been something happening and unplugging the power strip and being trapped in my bed all night are tell whatever I can get somebody in here to help out. It or I have nudged it once or twice before and the whole system's gone down but I've usually been able to put it together again so it functions and I have power to read and operate my bed. Last night I was not so lucky.k

I probably tried for an hour trying to isolate the plug that came undone but for the life of me I could not find it. I had already halfway situated by bed to how I wanted it with my feet up a little bit and my head piece that up a little bit as well. No whatever I did I could not find a power source are the power source to plug my little Woodstock back into. Then I entered into all kinds of weird behaviors of contacting folks on messenger. I messaged both of my caregivers. The one caregiver actually had a green light on her photo but I received no information back from them I also sent a message out to my son hopefully that he might be out running around but I received nothing from him as well. I was basically out of luck I thought about calling my older brother Carl but then you'd have to drive all the way across town and he could have done that they would have done it but I wouldn't have felt very good that way. The time it moved past 12:00 into 1:00 a.m. and I was still laying in bed trying to figure out what I was going to do. I don't know if I've talked about them before but I have a string Off the Wall here it's connected to a notification system to the resident advisor here at the building and I think if the ra does not answer it goes straight to the fire department who then sends out one of their big trucks to find out if there's a problem. I really did not want to go that route I have a theory that they're watching us and if we do that too many times call in somebody like the fire department then we may have to move on. Anyway long story short, I pulled the emergency pull string and sadly I thought nothing happened I pulled it again nothing happened there used to be a light on there that let you know when things are okay somebody has seen the cry for help and sure enough maybe 20 minutes later the ra shows up asking if I need some assistance and I said yes I do and with some coaching was able to get him to plug the power strip into the wall directly. Before I had the power strip stuck into a end of a purple extension cord heavy duty but it seems over the years it's been somewhat precarious and the plugs tend to fall out of the sockets. I've been trying to figure out how to make my electrical devices more secure but after some finagling my friend got the the plug for the light about the bed plugged in and the power strip put it in a place that should be out of the way. I'm going. To figure out a system to where the plug will not come out. Actually the power strips plugged in now out of the way and I think it's safe I don't think I'll have to do anything more to it right now…

  70

President's Day

 I've said it before holidays have their own particular feel just like weekends do. In fact holidays are probably distantly or even closer than that related to weekends it's a change in the flow of time. A day it's different even though all days are the same roughly 24 hours but the feel different and today even though it's President's Day which I think many people question is a real holiday has that feeling at least to me. It's supposed to be a wet day today and possibly the latter part of it will be but the part where I was conscious most of the time was dry and almost nice I think the temperature even got up to 50 today maybe even higher. I was surprised when I got an email from my friend Lori indicating that there's supposed to be a meeting of the friends for lunch today at 11:00. We had to go to Dee's Restaurant as opposed to the coffee shop across the street because the coffee shops always closed on holidays on Sunday which drives me crazy and that's a whole different posting.

My friend, bless her heart, this sometimes a bit traumatic. I think she wanted to have this meeting of myself and another individual who worked at the Independent Living Center the number of years ago to have this bit of a tribute lunch for the director that we worked under, who passed away a few months ago. I didn't necessarily want to do a tribute to Deb but that's a whole another posting also and one that I don't know if I'm ready to make yet or even close. But I felt I need to support my other two friends if they wanted to vent about their separation from Deborah the the director we all worked under for a period of time. This was really a strange lunch to say the least. You got to realize I do not really have a speech impediment per se. I communicate relatively well however both of my friends have cerebral palsy and significant audio involvement so you got to listen closely to hear what they're saying in the best of scenarios and it challenges even greater when you're in public there's a lot of conversations going on as in a restaurant. Added to that one of the friends is quite dramatic and speaks at a very high tone and uses a lot of profanity in this conversation which I'm totally glad that no one can really understand him when he's going off on tangents as he tends to do. Like I said thanks goodness they couldn't understand him when he was ranting about his ex-wife and about how and when he came out as a gay person. I may be just delusional and maybe everybody understood quite well what Ken was ranting about and what he was saying using the f word quite liberally to liven up this conversation. It was a long lunch we talked a long time we even came to some kind of solution which is going to require some more meetings which I think for the next couple months are going to be at this place at the apartment complex. We have a couple rooms on the third floor which might work or just such a meeting. I don't know how I feel about this since one of the big Reasons I'm involved in the conversation is because I'm on the board of directors of the agency they want to bring back into the fold as far as what Independent Living centers should be doing. I'm not going to worry about it now I have enough on my plate to be anxious about and the loose sleepover. Other than that it was a pretty nice day. I cooked the beef tips I purchased the other day and had them with gravy and mashed potatoes tonight for dinner and a couple bites of the jalapeno pepper concoction that I keep in the refrigerator. It was a pretty good day…

Simple Sunday

I'm pretty sleepy tonight I figured I would be. I woke up and had to drain about 3:30 this a.m. and I really did get back to sleep. I may have gotten another 45 minutes of some kind of sleep but wasn't much before I got up at 6:00 a.m. because it was Sunday breakfast over at the restaurant. Like it or not it takes me a bit to get dressed anymore. I kind of like to give myself 2 hours at least for the 8:00 a.m. breakfast. If I don't screw around I'll lose focus of the time I can actually do it and probably 1 hour but it's very improbable. I would really have to be focused and move quicker than I would like. 2 hours gives me time to drain, shave take my morning medications with juice or whatever I choose and then get dressed. It's the Sunday ritual if I didn't have to put my shoes on the process would even be quicker I could probably do the whole thing in an hour if I needed to. Today, after getting dressed I took my meds, did one or two word puzzles and waited for the clock to turn to a time that I can get to the restaurant on ti

me and not look like I'm over zealous.

, today not only Mark Anthony but the two kids joined us Jasmine and Jackson. This certainly made for a lively discussion at parts and times in the breakfast. I must caution myself always to not be as liberal as I tend to be and try not to be as political as I think the kids would like us to be. I still don't think the kids all of them understand a large part of the political process as well as the discriminatory actions are going on in the community. They're very conservative if they're political at all. I kind of think Jackson is or you understand a lot more then I think the other two might but he has the wisdom, great wisdom for a young man, to stay quiet and help out where he can. This morning he took great pains to butter my flapjacks and I thought that was pretty kind of him. I hardly ever order pancakes cuz you know it's one of the breads that's offered on a regular order and when they demand what bridge you want I figure Flapjacks is best it could be figured into the most options if I were to actually take them home with me. I'm always surprised when they're bringing the Flapjacks out with the order even though I remember ordering them I'm always quite shocked to see the three Pancakes on the plate and thinking how am I going to eat these? The funny thing is is that I do eat them or good portion of them every meal that they show up on. Today I had an omelette which came with three two pieces of bread or pancakes. Jackson covered the pancakes as well as he could with the little bit of butter they afford the pancakers. I like to tear my pancakes up in the strips kind of roll them up and dip them into syrup then eating as fing ger food. The Omelette was not as Gucci as I would have liked it to be but I covered it in green up sauce as much as I could and of course ketchup for the hash browns.

There was a cold wind blowing as I left the restaurant enough that I knew that I would not go out anywhere today being glad I had a good excuse to stay in and watch Netflix all day which I did Shameless to say that I spent the day binging on a series which is pretty stupid. I meant second season and hopefully I should be done with that season tomorrow at some point if I get the chance to do some more binging

Saturday Market Day

 Not bad for a Saturday how things considered. Today was cloudless enough to let the sun shine through so it gave the illusion of warmth it wasn't too bad I wore the frock the kids gave me for Christmas and that worded it off any chill that was around but it was Saturday which means that it's coffee day. So, I was up around 6:00 a.m. and Donald only here and there and finally got ready and I was ready for coffee when it was time at 9:30 to go across the street. Met up with Janet and we had a fairly decent discussion it just seemed a little less animated than usual seemed like a little energy. Perhaps we're getting tired of each other maybe we need new blood in the conversation or becoming somewhat predictable as old people are. Once coffee was out of the way I figured I better get off my day and washed up some dishes around the apartment swept the floors a little bit and then made a fast cast around the apartment and cruise to cross the street to the market

I really do enjoy going to the market not necessarily spending stuff money per se as much as seeing the people and seeing the different things I could get if I really wanted to. Today I got a few things actually quite a few things a lot of candy bars Melissa and I did get some steak tips are meat tips or whatever they're called so I can make this steak and tips and gravy for mashed potatoes are noodles. What I really wanted was the recipe for this chuck steak that I saw earlier in the week from a email that Diane sent over looked really good I wish I'd saved it I thought I could go back and find it but of course it seems to have disappeared now that I really am interested in it I don't know if I'm going to do so instead of getting the chuck roast that you can cook in the long-term cooker and turn into something really juicy nice and wonderful I'm going to try to do these tips and see how well they work. I don't necessarily want to do the noodle thing but I could put them on mashed potatoes so I got the packs or boxes of dry gravy mix and some relish and some grapes. Got some more orange juice I'm really going to town on this orange juice thing right now it's costed me a lot that's okay I think I dropped 60 bucks today at the market which is becoming typical maybe 60 bucks a week I can't believe that but I would spend 240 bucks a month on groceries. Obviously I'm getting a lot of entertainment out of this so I can justify it. I am getting a lot of fresh vegetables however like tomatoes and not cucumbers and cans of tomatoes and such and I use them in my concoction and therefore I guess I can justify it cuz I think it really does be good I mean I can't believe how much I've eaten so many servings of vegetables in such a long time and all of them based around the jalapeno peppers. That being said however I finished my shopping came back home and put some stuff away and really thought hard about starting the tips tonight and I may even do it tomorrow on Sunday but I don't want to I may wait until Saturday or Monday morning and start the the beef tips. I actually have the potatoes and the pork kind of gravy that I put together yesterday I had a few bites of it tonight for dinner so that wasn't it's not too bad so I can eat out that tomorrow if I really don't want to cook anything and that's only going to be in the afternoon since I've got breakfast with the kids in the morning anyway it was not a bad Saturday like I said. I watched a couple segments of the series that I'm currently Shackled to and they was enjoyable as bizarre as it is but now I've got to get to bed that 8:00 breakfast comes early..

Another flipping Friday!

 And so it's another Friday. I cannot hardly believe that since it was just a week ago that we had another Friday. And luckily I can see that the internet is back up and working again by the way the periods are coming out at the end of the sentences rather than the words. I don't know if that makes me so happy but it does. This week is not what I would call a failure because I got a couple things done, attended a couple meetings it had social Communications with a few folks here and there but by and large I pretty much stay to myself inside my apartment and enjoyed the new screen TV and my subscriptions to various internet options like Netflix and Amazon. I could certainly get into being a Hermit I think sometimes and maybe if you have an internet connection you can be a Hermit with privileges as long as you don't have to meet the people in The flesh. That's one of the best things about the internet is that's it is its own great buffer.

A couple days ago I got a invite from some person on the internet wishing to begin chatting which usually is something I really wish to engage in but this guy sounded really angry and hostile somebody I didn't need in my life and he almost demanded to know where I lived which of course raised immediately hyper red flags. I used to be pretty straightforward about telling anybody I'm texting with where I lived but now not So Much Anymore there are too many weird things going on in the world. In fact I'm even beginning to pull back on texting strangers like I used to. So the closest I tell people most the time is that I live in the Great Western USA and I think that's exotic enough. I can always increase the information if I feel safe and comfortable enough. I just don't need a whole bunch of weird people in my life more so than I already have. Fortunately, the weirdos in my life that I have now I really enjoy I hope to keep them there for as long as I can.

I cooked again tonight, I don't really know why except for that I wanted to get a piece of meat out of the freezer that's been there for some time and as I was searching for the meat I happen to find some tater tots, frozen tater tots that I've had in there for some time that really needed to be used. The meat was this package of pork chops that I've gotten for the food bank years ago and I've been taking up space in my refrigerator freezer ever since but I figured the day would that be a good day to get rid of them I had two frying pans that were clean and the will to cook. It was a little late in the day but I took the meat out to thaw and I started dinner after the national news. The pork chops are about 3/4 of the way Todd and I started the tater tots with salt and pepper and a couple of Garlic's that I smashed and threw into the mix. I should have thrown the tots away they look pretty hammered a lot of ice was with them so I guess they were pretty Fraser burned but I browned them some case black and some of them and then I started the pork chops. After I'd gotten those brown on each side there were four pork chops all together I added a can of Campbell's mushroom soup with a can of milk and it made it pretty decent dinner I should have had something green but I can always eat a couple spoonfuls of my concoction before I hit the sack and sometimes that's all it takes. Tomorrow if it's not raining too bad I need to get some potato chips because it's a holiday weekend and you know about me and holidays..

Damn internet

 Another day that I didn't do an awful lot I pretty much just tuned out that the apartment except for a short period of showing up at the coffee group and being a little bit social period This may be a shorter blog than usual since there's something wrong with the apartment complex internet connections making everything a little bit more difficult to use period I noticed this with that meeting now just came from period It was a board meeting and At first I could even get on the zoom connection and then when I did or I was able to I was really unprepared and this was because I couldn't download the documents I needed for the meeting like the notes in the minutes of the last medium things of that nature period corporate as working on the internet that services this facility that's the problem we're having today period should be done in time or by the end of the day period I would like to try to see if I could watch the jazz game tonight even though I'm losing faith that the guys with every game they lose period I should be more supportive however because it's not their fault they lost a couple good players in the trades this last go around period I can see them struggling to try to get to know the new people they're working with and bring the rookies up to speed of the professional status period There's a couple I really like and have faith in so I guess I just have to cut him slack and keep watching the game is a televised maybe even start going some of the home games in a couple weeks when the darkness holds off a little bit longer period sends out have to travel on the train down to the Delta Center period

I don't know how easily it is to correct but anyway right now dear reader be aware that every time you see the word period that should be “.” for some reason the speech to text is monkeying up a little bit and not taking those verbal cues for the proper symbols period I hope that eventually when the computer stuff is up-to-date that the dictation will go back to usual. I'm not sure when I can be able to post this Since it will have to be when the internet link is back up and accepting posts period not quite 500 words but it'll have to do for today period

Wednesday's worry

 Have you ever experienced that feeling of how huge things feel in your mouth as you explore things with your tongue? Just like a tooth for example you play with it you would go around when it's loose and you move it back and forth continually and this is especially true when you're a kid, and eventually the tooth comes out it's just a little thing just very my mute but in your mouth it felt like it was huge like it was a boulder. I've had several of these experiences of the last couple of years and this morning again, I've had another, I've been eating a bag of Frito corn chips( one of my favorite snack foods) and all of a sudden I feel this Bolder wandering around my mouth. Instantly I search my teeth because I think I know what it is but I don't find any thing out of the ordinary just then. I isolate the boulder and push it onto my fingertip an examine the little thing. It really does look like a rock but I can't imagine how it would have gotten on the corn chip and I didn't notice it when I put the chip in my mouth. I kind of washed my mouth out and did a search again and there it was on the top row of teeth on the far right it's huge Cavern left by the removal of this Stone. Luckily I was feeling no pain. And it seems to me I've lost this feeling more than once over the years. The good doctor has been trying relentlessly to save this tooth for as long as possible cuz all my grinders this is the only one that remains in contact with the lower molar so I have something to grind with. I have noticed the past couple of months flossing this area that I seem to be hooked up on something and many times shreds the floss entirely. However it's caused no problems per se so I just continue on with the exercise Patty myself on the back for at least doing this on a regular basis and hopefully it's going to have some positive result. However, I'm beginning to think that the result is that I eventually pulled the filling out. So of course I immediately call the doctor's office but because it's close to the noon hour my calls not answered and I have to wait till after lunch and today is a renter Appreciation Day and the owner of the apartment complex is having lunch for all of them renters. Since there's no pain except for body my tongue and stuff on the jagged edges of the cavity I go to lunch and then contact the office on the other side.

I was kind of hoping they would say yeah come on over we'll work on this today, particularly since I live just across the street, but no they actually put me off and I ended up getting an appointment and March like the 5th of March which is like 3 weeks away. I'll let them know that I'd be willing to come over on a moment's notice time open up and 20 minutes later they called back and found me a place in the service line for the a week for this Friday. I hate to wait that long but since there's no pain involved I think I can get by it's just awkward and worries me a little..

Tweaking Tuesday

Another weird day to say the least. I struggled all night believe in I had to take a poop or a poop with imminent to the point that what I woke around 6:00 a.m. 6:30 and saw that Melissa was up at least online I sent her a message indicating I needed to poop today and when would she be able to do it how quickly because I still anticipated going into my assist meeting. I soon received a message that she could come relatively soon and with Melissa that's always a wide variants. But eventually she was able to get over here and we did a poop was this big as I thought it was going to be but it was significant and oddly enough I was able to get out of the apartment on to the buses and out of the train and to my meeting on time I was totally surprised that I made it. Interesting I really had difficulty getting out of bed this morning spent a lot of time struggling on my transfer and I didn't think I was going to make it. I finally was able to get myself into the chairs well enough that I could tip it back the slide myself into the right seating position. I wasn't too worried because I knew that eventually Melissa would be here and she would save my butt. Speaking of butt it seems like I have some lesions on the back of my rear end or at least on the leg portion. Melissa says they're not significant and she'll keep an eye on them and she put some medication on there and we'll just have to keep an eye on what's going on but that's kind of spooky between butt sores and difficulties in transferring I'm wondering if I'm getting ready for another change in my life. I sure hope not. I may be just overreacting you know how I get.

It was a good traveling day. I didn't have any issues with transportation no problems with bus drivers and the train seem to come and go on time. I stopped at Taco Time on the way home they got lunch a meat stick and potato tots. I thought they were supposed to be cheesy potatoes but it's not what I got but that's all right I actually got soda in my water glass so I guess we're even. I worked out on the arm bike when I got home and I even thought out chicken and made myself some chicken rice. I stopped at the mochi place across the street and got some rice for dinner. I was a little concerned about the Integrity of the chicken sauce but it worked out okay had to be patient I had to keep stirring water into the can of sauce. Clearly I'd waited too long and I need to use the other can of quickly as well. I was able to eat half for dinner have it saved half for tomorrow sometime or maybe Friday hard to tell. Luckily I will have Melissa come in again tomorrow for the regular morning routine maybe poop some more and get back into some kind of a schedule.

Moody Monday

I thought I could write this with the volume down during the Utah Jazz basketball game this evening. I can usually do that not really pay attention to the game well I do something important like update my blog but the game is so pathetically taxing on my mental acuity because the Jazz are choking so badly I had to remove myself completely from the TV room of my apartment so I'm in the bedroom and the sound is still muted. I know even if I was able-bodied I would never stand a chance against some of these folks at the Jazz are playing but it just seems like from a supporter standpoint they should be able to make some of the shots they miss so many options to make points they just sort of blow away it seems like to me but like I said that's arm chair basketball which is pretty pathetic in and of itself. Possibly, the team could pull themselves together and make it go of the fourth quarter and pull the game off but I doubt that's going to happen seriously given the track record. It's funny because I look forward to watching these games. I don't know if it's the game itself or the fact that I have something to do on the day that these guys play. I'd like to say I'm supportive and I probably would yell a little bit if I was there in person but as it is I just watch from my spot in front of my big screen television and Hope and pray that the guys will get together and win the game. I sensed these guys are tired however not only the Jazz but the team they're playing it's got to be tough this late in the season to play these two or three games a week.

Today was the writers lunch, the three of us get together every so often and have lunch and basically talk about what we're doing and what we wish we were doing or perhaps what we should be doing in the area of literature, writing acting Etc. Now it's just a good time to get together and have Jerry the real Rider by us lunch. He always does he's pretty cool that way. These two are actually continue to do things on the writing level and the only thing I do is write my blog everyday which I think is important if no one else to me. It's not like it's a story or anything just a little bit of me everyday, for I'm at mentally perhaps, and what I think is interesting from day to day in this time of bizarrass and mentally psychological political catastrophe. Jerry will soon be heading out to go to Arizona or wherever he goes to an early spring to watch professional Spring ball guys workout. Lori's just involved with all the stuff that she does particular area of writing and creative writing and teaching writing at the community college. And I continue just to hang out at the apartment thinking about being creative and never really bringing it off 

Sober Sunday

It was a cold cold morning but clear well that's probably why it was cold I guess. Anyway, I was up super early for reasons I don't understand maybe it's because I didn't work out yesterday and my body wasn't as tired as it should have been but anyway I went to bed around 11:00 p.m. and woke up around 3:30 and sort of hung around the bed till 6:00 then got up got ready for breakfast. Jasmine had too much homework or seem to be stressed out with homework and such and so she elected not to come to breakfast today and it's always Mark and I and that was good we enjoyed each other's company and enjoyed the breakfast. He had a number of things he had to get going to so we met for about an hour and then went on our way. That was about it for me I really didn't do anything else today except sitting in front of the big screen watched a couple movies and enjoyed the effect of watching movies on this giant screen almost like having a home theater. I ended up watching the Super Bowl which was a major mistake I really don't like football that much but I felt some compelled to support the 49ers since they were a western team. They almost seem to win but in the end they lost they choked they went into overtime and it was a weird overtime just seems like so much artificial stress at least from the visitors point of view are the Watchers point of view.

I wore a pair of my shredded shorts today. A pair that's been born so much one of the legs fabric is shredding to the point where it's just basically a rag. I can usually get away with wearing it if I wear something else over it and that's what I did today I had on the hood that the kids gave me for Christmas. But I think I'm going to have to retire the shorts shortly I really like them however because they have an elastic waist on them so they stretch which allows me to button them up independently at least a lot easier than the fabric that does not stretch very much if it all. So I think I'm going to have to bite the bullet and order a couple pair in since I threw a pair of way last week if I throw these away I'm going to be really really short on shorts. I think I'm going to order them in this week and if they won't work I'm going to actually sit in the back I haven't really done it that much but I really need to do that so I'm not so intimidated as far as ordering clothes that I need to wear in since I don't have anyone else to order for me. Boy that sounds pathetic but Diane certainly did a good job on that. I would like to order in about seven new pair of shorts if I could find shorts that really fit me well. It's just a matter of doing it but that might be a good project for this spring so I'll have shorts to wear over the summer that are new.

Saturday's song

 Finally the clouds have moved out and the sun came out but it was still quite chilly temperature never getting out of the middle 30s all day and tomorrow is yet to be colder. That's okay because I don't plan to do anything tomorrow after we go to breakfast. I'll probably just come back to the apartment like today and just hang out playing with a new big screen and eating the snack food I have all around the place. I ate a lot of the concoction today and a few crackers here and there and I did something interesting which was toast the hamburger buns I got the other day at the giveaway table a toasted them up this morning and had them with some bread which is really pretty good. They would probably be pretty good with sausage gravy as well. I have not got that much energy though even if I have a whole pot of sausage gravy from Clarissa's last week attempt to have sausage biscuits at the Thursday morning group. I did end up meeting Janet from upstairs over at the coffee shop this morning. There was some issue earlier in the week when she was having some blood pressure issues she didn't think she might make it to the coffee today but she texted me yesterday that she would be there this morning and she was. We did some good gossiping and finally left after about an hour or so. Other than that, I really haven't done a whole lot today to be proud of our to even not be proud of. I watched a couple movies on the big screen and then just hung out for the rest of the day. I could have gone outside and I actually thought about going over to the market or something but I just couldn't sum up the energy to do so or the well. I did empty the bathroom garbage can that have been collecting for some time took it out to the dumpster so I did do a little cleaning which I don't think taking one garbage can out to the dumpster is that.

Looks like we'll be doing breakfast in the morning which is okay with me. I'll just need to get to bed early enough that I can get up enough that could be sure I can get dressed in time for breakfast. Last week I really had some challenges trying to get my shoes on and everything else for for the breakfast event. I'll see how I do tomorrow today it took me quite a while to get motivated to the point of shaving and everything else that I usually do before an event or before getting ready for the day actually. I still have two hamburgers that I cooked yesterday and I did have a frozen burrito at some point in time this evening as opposed to a real dinner. I really kind of do myself a disservice by digging into my concoction it seems like every time I open up the refrigerator. This keeps me actually full enough that I don't end up eating real food but I still might have half a burger before I go to bed just so I have something to keep me from feeling hungry all night long. Part of my plan is to not have enough food in my belly that I'll have to poop before Monday morning. As it is I think I'm doing okay I think I'll make it tomorrow

Burgers and scammers

I was jolted awake this morning when I checked my emails and saw there was a message from somebody named Desi who was thanking me for subscribing for another year of computer protection- which I did not do- - which is going to cost me $629 or something like that! Needless to say I was totally freaked out. Once I got up and got my bathroom duties taken care of I started trying to figure things out. There was a weird phone number on the bottom of the email for questions which I called and of course got some barely English-speaking person on the other side of the planet it was adamant that I get to a keyboard of a computer somewhere so I could type in my information and then they could stop the process. Lucky for me I was insistent that I was too paralyzed to do such a thing and that they should just take care of it or I need to talk to somebody else which the little guy told me that if I waited for an hour somebody would call back and I would be at a computer somewhere that I can take care of the information. In the meantime I share this information with Melissa who indicated of course that's a scam and that as soon as I type the information into the computer it would Rob the rest of the stuff in my account. This totally made sense. I called my credit union and hopefully they're on the watch to see any weird things going on in my account particularly in respect to computer protection subscriptions. I don't know why I hadn't figured that out maybe I was just too freaked out and Melissa grounded me and brought back the reality of what was happening. I've been checking into my account off and on all day nothing's happened hopefully that's the end of it but I still feel kind of spooky about the whole ordeal.

It's Friday night and yesterday somebody from the bakery dropped off a bunch of bread products on the giveaway Shelf and I grabbed some hamburger buns. I still have a bunch of hamburger patties from the Omaha Steak Company which I figured I'll make three hamburgers tonight and that'll get me through most of the weekend. I threw away half of my roast that I purchased a couple weeks ago I didn't eat it quick enough and now I had to throw a lot away because it smelled bad. Kind of broke my heart but certainly is a lesson maybe I don't need to be buying roasts or maybe I should start purchasing smaller roasts. Anyway my apartment smells delightful three wonderful hamburger patties cooked just right placed on hamburger buns coated with ketchup and mustard and then tossed into the refrigerator to be dying down sometime this weekend. Still plan to cook if I get a chance but it's nice to have a lot of the cooking done already in case I don't get a chance

Perfect lenses

 

It's board meeting today for the Independent Living Center on which I am one of the board members and fortunately today it will be a zoom meeting. The weather continues to be cold and wet outside making the trip into the center a bit harrowing at best. I think I'm just getting soft in the old days I wouldn't have bothered me at all but now I'm more than happy to be able to set up my cell phone turn on the camera and then just zoom into the meeting all from my kitchen. Seriously how easy is that? I'm wearing my new glasses by the way they came in today. This is most fortunate that the glasses came in because during the morning I ran over my old glasses once again and this time I broke the screw in the temple that holds the lenses in place making it almost impossible to have both lenses in. As I said fortunately I got a email this morning indicating that the organization which provides these low cost glasses for people with disabilities, seniors and whoever else seems to be in need will be in today and my appointment is for 1:00 p.m. when they will do the fitting and adjusting of my new lenses and frame. I included an image of these glasses in today's post. It is so nice to have totally clear lenses for however short period of time that that might be. In fact since I've gotten custody of these lenses I've dropped my glasses once and minimally damage the lenses since of course the glass is lit lens side down. I just have to accept the fact that I will have these lenses for just a short time in their perfect state and that little by little the lens as well be damaged and eventually look pathetic as my other lenses have. Interesting however is that when I came in with just the one lens glasses the little mechanic had me go back to my apartment and get the Rogue lens which she fastened into the old frames with a new screw and now I have a great set of backup lenses! Things don't get better than that granted those lenses are obscured seriously making watching anything through the lenses somewhat challenging but at least it's something that feels natural to me and would get me by. I thought the most interesting thing happened when I grabbed my glasses and then went through the interview process where they take pictures of me wearing my new lenses then asked me all kinds of historical information biographical information about how much I'm going to appreciate this gift from this agency that provides frames at a significantly marked down price for people who need them. I was more than happy to comply and if they only knew how much I enjoyed the exhibitionism at being interviewed and photographed they would have stepped back put on rubber gloves and quietly dropped my application into the Dustbin…

Clothes

I should be diligently folding clothes from the days wash but you I should be diligently folding clothes from the days wash but you know what it can wait till tomorrow. I don't know what's happening to me I used to always fold and hang clothes right after I would get them from the wash but today somebody, a good samaritan, actually took the clothes out of the dryer put them in the basket and brought the basket to my apartment. I don't know why they did that I know there was other dryers available so it wasn't because I was taking up the dryer time though I did go an hour after the drive was finished. The dryer clothes have sat in the basket all day at the foot of my bed well I watched a movie on Netflix and hung out at the apartment. For the first time in a couple of days I did go out to the market even though the day was cold and wet I was almost out of sweet little sugar stuff for coffee and I wanted to make sure I had everything when melissa, my home health person, returns for coffee on Friday morning and to help me with my morning routine. I was astounded I purchased it a few things and the bill stuck into about 40 bucks was totally shocked to me. My trip to the market was not so bad. I kind of think I've been letting the dark days and wet atmosphere get the better of me causing me to stay in and not push myself. I probably need to get out and get to the market other than Macy's and maybe a movie and just look around for some things I feel I've been needing some time. I've just been complacent to the point that I've elected to stay in the apartment all day playing with my new big screen, doing my arm bike or just messing around. For dinner I just had another piece of pizza left over from my birthday dinner a week or so ago. I've had it in the refrigerator and it tastes just fine to me for lunch I consumed the rest of my roast beef hash that I've had in the refrigerator for a couple of days. I broke in a couple of eggs and then threw everything in the microwave for 2 minutes on high and then another minute or so after the first two minutes had stopped or finished. I thought the meal was great even though I did not drench the materials in ketchup which I was attempted. Earlier in the day l made coffee and wash dishes so there would be a coffee cup for Melissa when she came around this morning to enjoy fresh coffee. I counted as a successful day the odometer on my power chair has 2.0 miles on it which has become a rarity this winter as I've elected to stay in as much as possible and not have to deal with the cold wet weather of winter. what it can wait till tomorrow. I don't know what's happening to me I used to always fold and hang clothes right after I would get them from the wash but today somebody, a good samaritan, actually took the clothes out of the dryer put them in the basket and brought the basket to my apartment. I don't know why they did that I know there was other dryers available so it wasn't because I was taking up the dryer time though I did go an hour after the drive was finished. The dryer clothes have sat in the basket all day at the foot of my bed well I watched a movie on Netflix and hung out at the apartment. For the first time in a couple of days I did go out to the market even though the day was cold and wet I was almost out of sweet little sugar stuff for coffee and I wanted to make sure I had everything when melissa, my home health person, returns for coffee on Friday morning and to help me with my morning routine. I was astounded I purchased it a few things and the bill stuck into about 40 bucks was totally shocked to me.

Drifting

I think I've rattled on about this before but today was a reprieve day, last afternoon I called before work was over and asked Andreas if there was going to be a meeting today. Andreas indicated to me that there had not been a lot of intakes done so there was very few if any that need to be looked at today so we decided to scrap the median until next Tuesday when there should be a few more intakes to be finished so that gave me my whole morning. I really didn't do much with it except enjoy the apartment. It's cold and overcast outside I return of winter with Gray skies and cold temperatures and threats of snow and ice and rain. I wished I could have been more productive today but I spent too much time watching the new screen that I got for my birthday and marveling at how great the quality and a sound of the screen is. I didn't watch it complete movie but I watched parts of some of my favorite Marvel presentations today was Captain America. It's been a while since I really did any of the Marvel folks.

Another reason I may have blown off the day was when I got up the hot water was again off and so I had to go today without shaving. I like to shave before I get dressed and once I'm dressed I don't want to go back in shave because of getting stuff all over me. So I really didn't get dressed until mid-morning and then it was just basically hanging around the apartment. The last time I checked the hot water was back on so hopefully tomorrow morning I get back on my schedule. Last night I had Melissa come in at the end of her day which is around 9:00 p.m. and give me a shower since I didn't get one yesterday morning which also means I didn't shave yesterday either so today I feel like a real gross face with little hairs sticking out all over. But tomorrow I'm excited to start a new getting up at 6:00 a.m. shaving the face making the bed and basically getting ready for my day after meeting with Melissa for my regular scheduled bathroom events. The days are going to get cold again with possibly snow down to the valley floor really scheduled for the rest of the week so I doubt I'll be going out much in the next couple of days. I'm sort of caught between two dishes I'm thinking of making one would like be another chicken and rice dish or spaghetti both of which would totally keep me going for a couple of days. I'm still thinking of baking the chocolate cake that I didn't bake at my birthday. I have a couple more bites of the chocolate cake that Mark brought over for the birthday party on Friday. It's just like sometimes you feel like baking something. I should do some bread or some rolls or something I just don't know if I have enough energy as well as space in the oven for such an event

Rainy Monday

The day was overcast and cold according to my caregiver this morning when she came into take me to the toilet and do my business. I could not shower this morning because they had turned the hot water off for some absurd reason the hot water was off from 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. the last we talked, Melissa my caregiver and myself is that she would return this evening at some point and do the shower when the hot water comes back on. Now 721 p.m. I have not heard from her since this morning I assume she'll be here directly or whenever she gets done with her late client. I hope she does return I'm feeling a little unstable like to have another go at the toilet before the shower if it's possible. As I said the days are cold and overcast again as the atmospheric River continues to flow over head dumping all kinds of moisture out along its way. I am pretty much staying inside the apartment for right now just because it's easier and warmer and as I always say there's no reason for me to go out. Everything I have is here now I'm okay for the next couple of days.

I'm totally enjoying my oversized television screen. I'm getting to know the different options the screen of Fords as far as viewing capability goes. Still seems quite awkward but that's just because I'm in the new phase of learning everything is awkward and slower at that point. I did watch a couple hours of media today. I'm watching a couple of the old Marvel series I'm watching Loki right now which is fairly entertaining. I cooked this evening had already baked a potato and I really need to use the rest of the roast beef that I made last week. So tonight I cut off a lot of the fat ends of the roast and the roast itself about half of what was left minced up the meat as best as I could added half a red onion, garlics, fried potatoes, potato chips and cheese and fried them up for dinner saving half for tomorrow or whenever. It's one of my favorite meals, it's a clean up meal making quite a fragrant apartment for the time being. The potatoes are Never As Good as I'd like them to be like them to be like my mom used to be but that's impossible you got to have a mom for that. I don't remember if I hinted last night about doing my blog at the same time that the Jazz are playing basketball. The Jazz look like they're being caked like they're really losing so I lost interest came in at the blog when I came out the game was over. I was shocked the Jazz and come back in the last quarter and actually won the game buy a healthy margin like I said I was shocked and I could not believe it. Perhaps that's best if one person has to sacrifice for the team maybe my absence from the second half is what allowed the boys to clog together and win the game. We may have to put that in practice on tuesday, tomorrow, when their next game is scheduled. We shall see

Shoeless

 I really hate those moments when you realize you really are just the sum of the events of your life and that your life is soon or sooner than later going to come to an end abruptly or painfully drug out. Bottom line is I don't want it to come to an end. I totally enjoy this life too much to think about not having this life anymore. Anyway, Sunday morning of course and that means that I'm going to go to breakfast with my kids that least my one son and his offspring daughter or my granddaughter and her boyfriend. So as you may know we meet usually every Sunday at 8:00 a.m. at the restaurant just down the street from my apartment. It's easy for me to get to only takes me about 3 to 5 minutes on a good day. I usually allocate myself 2 hours to get dressed from 6:00 a.m. to the 8:00 a.m. meeting time. Typically that's more than enough time unless I dally along the way. This morning I dialed too much right after I got up and ended the morning before going to breakfast without my shoes on or just one of my shoes on. It's getting more and more difficult for me to put my shoes on and fasten them up so they don't fall off or I kick him off along the way. I do need to get some new shoes besides the ones I just got that seem to be too narrow for my feet and I have to break them in like I did with the shoes I'm wearing now that won't stay on my feet. There's a few shoes I've seen on the internet that might be usable and easy to put on at least they would get me in the door as far as no shoes no shirt no service type places though they've never stopped me from coming in barefoot, but they could that's the point. So until that time I am struggling on those days when I don't have a caregiver to put my shoes on putting my own shoes on. If I have enough time I can usually do it at least to the point where I can pass as seeming to have shoes on.

There were a couple of minutes but I thought I was going to be able to pull it off having the one shoe on my right foot then raising my foot on the other leg my left foot and trying to get my shoe on that foot. I just didn't have enough time so this morning I put all my clothes on and the shoe on my right foot and the shoe on the left foot I was just going to rest on top of the foot along with my man sac/ purse on top of it so hey you would not be able to see my shoe less foot right off and then I pulled it out the door. When I got to the restaurant I did not have a shoe on that foot so I figured I must have lost it somewhere along the way this worries me a little bit just because it's the only shoe I can really wear right now since the other shoe gave me a blister on my little toe. Long story short after fretting now morning about the loss of a shoe my son mark followed me all the way home and hope so finding the shoe on the way home we did not. And as I came in the door there on the table right where I put it so I wouldn't forget it was my shoe. Was this a senior moment? Or an honest forget either way it's quite vexing to me that better order some new shoes quick…