Maggie May Tuesday

 Seriously if I don't watch a movie right after the news I usually just turn the flat screen off for the night. I really watch Network not trying to be all snooty and stuff but really is there anything on network that I really want to watch. However, tonight I got sucked in because I was making myself dinner and Entertainment Tonight was on those too busy to turn it off and sometimes I get a little intrigued on some of the stuff they report on Entertainment Tonight so I let the television run and then I realized they were doing a tribute to the Maggie May Guy Rod Stewart! And I'm not really that head over to Gaga with Rod Stewart but I do like a lot of his music and he was a significant part of my youth. So I got sucked into the tribute. You getting a Grammy or something I just got he's getting something that CBS has made a big deal out of. Anyway, he's going over a lot of his old pieces of music and somewhere in the commercial aspect of the show they indicated they would be doing Maggie May. I will probably miss that because I'm doing this trying to make sure I get my document in for the day. I was afraid if I waited till the end of the Rod Stewart special that I may not be that excited to sit down and dictate.

For me Rod Stewart was one of those guys singers who was always in the background when I was growing up. I like the stuff that he's saying about but I really never sat down and listened to him until I started dating Meg he was a really fun person in my life. She adored Rod Stewart thought he was totally cool. With Meg I had to listen to a lot of Rod Stewart and I really enjoyed them. Of course lost track of Meg someplace or sometime in the semester she started University. But because of Meg I have a special place for Rod Stewart and so tonight I was listening to him. I was surprised at how many other folks looking my age but a lot more wealthy and beautiful we're rocking out with this show. I wish I could just sit down and talk to them and ask them about their experiences would they listen to this guy on the first time that'd be so cool. So listen to the old rockers and I get the impression that the whole Rock seen in those old days it was pretty much upper middle class middle class and upper middle class kids and middle class going to be. The biggest worry in the world was if they're going to have the money for a new Rod Stewart album or the money for Rod Stewart tickets or whoever was the new rocker that was coming to town to play the stadium. I think I only went to one or two concerts in my time one of them was the Beach Boys and I can't remember who the other one was. I think this whole Rod Stewart specialist survey free-commercial commercial letting people know that he was coming to town for his last concert in this area this is his last tour. I think it all works together kind of silly. I don't know even if I could get to the place where they're having the concert and even if I want to spend that much money on the concert they'll probably have to go by myself I doubt that I would it's certainly be fun to say that I had gone though that's for sure but who knows maybe I'll grow a couple…

Monday moans

 It's cold and I'm just riding the weather out until the better days come. I didn't even venture out today. I had enough to keep me busy in the apartment there are a couple things I needed to attend to one being filling out this document that should be easily done that would insure me a couple hundred bucks if I can get it filled out, signed then return to the state of Utah. To do this I need to visit with the client representative here but she was busy with other people all day it couldn't answer my questions. Hopefully I'll be able to get a hold of her tomorrow but that's kind of iffy just because I've got my assist meeting in Salt Lake which takes up a good part of my day traveling. So maybe Wednesday. I think I've written about the heaters I have that help me get by the worst of the winter nights or days when I need a little bit more heat than I can get from the unit here in the apartment. Remember they weren't working for me? Well anyway Melissa my care person who is here today responded when I asked her to take a look at the tall one the one I really like she flipped the switch and it totally turned on I've done it a thousand times and it hasn't. Good I thought it's taken care of. I made the joke that she had the Magic Touch and probably wouldn't work after she left. She just laughed at me. Sure enough I was going to lay back in my chair and enjoy a heat pack afternoon with Netflix and the heater would not work. I think it just likes to mess with me. We'll see what happens on Wednesday when I ask her to look at it again and see if she has any special techniques that she uses to respond.

I kind of cleaned out my refrigerator today well not really I just removed two or three large items that's been in there for a couple months I figured it was time. I was pleased that when I opened up the containers there are no signs projects inside just food that had been left in the cold of the refrigerator. One was a number of potatoes that I had nuked in put in with a stew that I made a couple weeks ago not as stupid a roast I ate the roast and left the potatoes to the cold but I chopped them up and fed him to the monster in the sink. There are a couple more containers which needed attention. They were taken out and soaked this evening I washed out a couple more items including frying pans the but needed attention for a couple weeks. It's not like you could tell anything had been done clean my eyes except looking into the sink. I dried off the washed items and hung them back up on the rack. I still want to go after the table at some point I keep saying that but nothing never happens. The table is just too daunting for me it knows my weak spots and knows what troubles I have reaching and then putting things away. I'll try again however throw some stuff away put some stuff where they belong back on the racks and get the table to a point where it's somewhat manageable. I'm okay I've got my place cobbled out between the paper towels in the large bowl full of knick knacks and things around the table. My one caregiver she's the best at cleaning off the table she's the best cleaning the apartment when she ever shows up. She has a knack for seeing something clean. I really admire that. Cold front should move out tonight it'll still be cold tomorrow when I go to catch the bus for my meeting but the high pressure systems coming in and the days will get warmer…..

Sunday morning order up

I promise that this whole entry is not going to be about how cold it is and how uncomfortable to turn in the weather has become but I've got a vent a little bit after all it's spring. I will long sleeves today of course just because they forecast that it might be cold or that it would be cold and there might be rain and stuff but I didn't see any rain today just the cool weather and it was basically cold. Had we not had the stretch of above average temperatures like in the 90s this probably would have been just another spring day and maybe down his dad and it felt. But that's all I needed was the long sleeves. I didn't take me long to realize, on the way back from this morning's breakfast, that I was going to spend the rest of the day inside the apartment probably watching Netflix or Prime video and trying to get my heater operational. I've done something to the big heater and it won't even turn on really there's a shortage somewhere because if you knock it it makes it sound like it's coming on it's a high beep but it doesn't stay on it acts like it's something loose cuz you got to strike the body of the heater pretty hard for it to basically light up for a second then turn itself off. I like having a heater especially the TV room I like the the Canned Heat on these cold days. I may try to see if Melissa can do anything to the heater tomorrow. I think however you would have to get into the machine itself and maybe re-solder the connection or whatever. And I definitely do not have that skill set.

Cuz I indicated it was the last Sunday. I think I watched mostly Netflix movies oh I did finish looking at a Marvel movie that I had spent some time watching a couple weeks ago. Once again I had a meal off of the senior menu at the restaurant which is just one egg one pancake one order of bacon and Bacon's crisp. It's fairly low in price think around $6.95 which is one of the lower prices on the menu these days. I get pancake and the rest of the order because it's all I need. Otherwise I get two bits food to eat and I've sort of gotten tired of trying to eat it after I take it back to the apartment. Sometimes it's good but of the times it's sort of a pain to eat that's usually the breakfast part. The other meals I don't mind for leftovers but breakfast usually just bread of one sort or another. The biggest issue I had all day was wishing that I had a heater that worked. As I talked about yesterday the big heater doesn't seem to function anymore. This morning I wanted to make sure it just was the plug-in situation so I spent time forcing to plug into the plug-in thing and I found I can wiggle the heater and it would almost come on indicating that something was loose in the system cuz I kept striking the body and it would keep flashing on for just a second. Again it's not my heater actually it belongs to the apartment complex. Like wowed a couple years ago when it was so cold in here and never returned the system I've used it quite a bit obviously. No I think I better look at getting another one before winter returns.

 

Where's the roast beef?

 I'm really beginning to enjoy using my crock pot on a regular basis. I've always enjoyed the simplicity and ease of using the Crock-Pot to cook but just recently I begin to really enjoy using the pot to make decent meals for me. I just pulled out a roast so I've been cooking for the last 7 hours- - on high! I think I should have paid closer attention because I started sensing things for getting burnt on the inside which I didn't think you could do with a Crock-Pot for some reason. I actually tried to follow a recipe that I found on the internet for long cooking projects like a roast. You will remember I cooked a roast I think last week or the week before totally enjoy the experience. So if that in mind yesterday afternoon I purchased another roast from another store or Market. This was a Smith Market quite a way south of my apartment but I was in the area because the Smith Superstars right next to my foot podiatrist guy. So I can go over there and kill time until my appointments ready and then purchase something on the way home cuz I've got to go up to the corner to catch the bus across the street to catch the bus. That's where I saw this roast a $23 roast on the label to purchase the meat for $18. I guess some sort of a quick sale deal . I don't mind buying old meat particular like the roast since the older meets the best meat anyway . I totally believe this . I think that's a deal certainly helps make the pain less more than 20 bucks for a piece of meat. The meat was nicely wrapped and even though it was supposedly old meat you're still kept its color quite nicely. I would like to put the roast on earlier in the day but I didn't get around to it till about 1:00 p.m.. once again I totally destroyed the kitchen and I don't think I'm going to have the time with energy to do a cleaning tonight. Anyway, the roast is cooked I fished it out of the Crock-Pot put it into a nice container with a lid and popped it into the refrigerator. The most effort on this project was cutting up some potatoes and cutting up one onion. Luckily I had or still have a bottle of ground garlic but I just shake on to these kind of projects I tried to do something with the didn't turn out the best that I wanted but it works. I added a cup of beef broth to the vegetables in roast. I should have put in some sauce I can't remember the name of it but it's a sauce I really haven't used before and it kind of intimidates me anyway. This sauce is just weird enough that it might really enhance the flavor maybe next time. I enjoyed hearing the roast cook all afternoon you know how it gets so hot the vessel that it begins to Rattle under the glass top that kind of noise. Cold fronts coming in tonight bringing the temperature down significantly I think this roast will be just what I needed to get through the next couple days until warm weather returns. Anticipate a chili roll over to the restaurant tomorrow for Sunday breakfast…

Addicted to InstaCart or not?

I just canceled my account with instacart, that program that issue shop for groceries and probably everything else via the Internet. It's really quite convenient and subtle. They have almost our delivery times it's amazing to me. I can order a fairly significant amount of items I have it delivered to me within 2 hours and usually less time than that. I keep ordering the convenience and then chicken out when I finally get the email that says they're going to charge my account $99 for a year of service which is really kind of a deal cuz that ends up being less than $10 a month for the service. I should accept that and go with it because I really like having it there when I need it like on super cold and rainy days that I don't feel like going across the street to the market. I always sucker for their free trial and then chicken out when it comes time to pay the piper. I mean I can do it there's no problem money wise except for I am beginning to be concerned about the amount of money I'm spending and how much it's affecting the small pile of wealth that I've developed over years. I just can't pull the trigger or step off The Ledger whatever made me want to use to start the program. I don't want to get into the habit of using instacart every time I turn around. It's just so convenient. I'll try to curb my internet ordering for groceries. It's just so convenient and so exciting to have three or four plastic bags of stuff sitting outside my door. I guess I could look at the situation where I look at these poor people manically almost hysterically running up and down the aisles of the market when I'm there this little notes of paper in their hands trying to fill up four or five bags of groceries for four or five different individuals who assume get there groceries at their door delivered supposedly with happy smiling people. I noticed they don't knock on the door anymore, they used to, it was so weird to go to the door and not find anyone there and just a couple of plastic bags sitting on the ground. Then the guys who delivered my stuff stopped knocking down the doors completely and I would just open the door and there would be my groceries. But I found out it was really interesting is that I could actually see the darkened images at the bottom of the door from the light in the hallway shining around the packages. I have to admit it is always kind of thrilling to me to get my groceries this way but it's just not me. I'll be a good boy and lay off ordering from instacart for the next couple of months maybe all summer actually until the bad weather starts again and I pussy out and not go out to get my groceries by myself…

 

The monolith

The picture of the closet if you look closely you can see the white boxes of catheter stacked chaotically inside and of course the chair in the monolith.

 My stomach is grumbling tonight and I'm having some cramping I'm hoping Beyond hope that it's just gas and that material in the colon is just three Distributing itself to make things more comfortable but I wouldn't be surprised if I let go with a giant blow out tonight. I'm not too worried if that were to happen except for I know I'd have to pretty much sleep in the poop until tomorrow when Melissa gets here. Hopefully the grumbling noises and cramping is just gas. 

It's been a pretty decent day plenty of sunshine and the temperatures didn't get hot it got pretty warm. I think I'm a little depressed just because a cold front moving in and that's all I can talk about is how cold it's going to get following the summer like temperatures we've been enjoying the last couple days. I shouldn't get so impatient after all it's just the middle of May. I just hate going backwards. I didn't go anywhere today surprisingly no need. Had coffee this morning with the group and that was about it I started a new book another John Grisham. I was surprised to see how many volumes we have of his in the library here at the building. A lot of paperbacks it feels like they've never been red and there's a number of hardbacks as well they all still have their paper are the rapper or whatever it's called the books covers or whatever which they appear to be brand new. I don't know where this place gets there books but we got lots right now. I can probably read John Grisham for the rest of the year if not longer. I would like to get back to some sort of Science Fiction however and give the attorney's arrest. My new shipment of catheters came in today or yesterday afternoon actually. The box was sitting outside my door and like I've written before the people here just hate to have stuff outside the door when they feel you need it. I got the knock on the door and pretty soon Maria and her broken German slash English if she could bring the box in and put it on the table. I was just leaving but I didn't care if she did that or not it seems important for these people to get me covered one way or the other. I was surprised to come back a few minutes later and the box was sitting on a chair in my kitchen looking like the monolith from 2001 A Space Odyssey. In the old days I would just jumped right on it got my racer knife slit it open and pulled out the boxes of catheters but now I just let the Box sit there and we'll have Melissa open the box tomorrow. She's really good that kind of stuff. Will be three or four each box has about 50 catheters I think Plus I'll have some catheters in a plastic bag that didn't get into the box. I actually get way more Cassidy's that I need every month and I like to put those that I don't use a side into a storage area letting me have a stockpile of hundreds of catheters. I've never felt the need to back up catheters like this until this year and the war going on wherever it's at. All I know is that war takes up lots of plastic and plastic takes up lots of materials we get from the Middle East that we don't have now that wouldn't be surprised to see if we'd be kid to have a shortage of medical type things which I believe catheters would be part of. That's really hope it doesn't come too squirreling away catheters and other Plastic Products that people need to get by on but again, things like this won't surprise me…

Qaq

Washing Wednesday and watermelon

 I know it's difficult to make out but it's an image of my folded shorts sitting on my bed. After all, you guys know it's wash day Wednesday. I still have clothes to put away those that are folded on my bed and the shirts on hangers still in my front room waiting. I may not get the hanging shirts put away tonight but I'll have to move the shorts before I go to bed since they're on a bed, my bed. I included this image just because I want to get back to an image of anything and everything I write about day to day. I know I sort of slacked off the last couple weeks and not having a image to post with the days posting and I hate that and I'll try to do better but no promises. I'm trying not to be all neurotic about the blog and my postings it's bad enough that I try to keep the blog to at least 500 Words. I'm getting sober most that I may have to put a stopper on the other end and not go over a thousand words so I don't think I'm going to have to worry about that very much.

I cooked yesterday you all know that and you all know that when I cook I sort of explode my kitchen that's like everything that I used to do my cooking is like all over the countertops as well as a lot of stuff is on the floor. And I'm less than the best housekeeper in the world everybody knows that. I think a lot of people here at the complex knows that as well but for the most part they leave me alone and that's cool. As I've always stated between caregivers that. Periodically grab a broom and sweep sweep sweep and my grandchildren who go to work picking up and sweeping and washing dishes sometimes when they come to the apartment I have held off employing a real housekeeper- which I know I need to get- - I just can't seemingly justify it when one of these groups of folks get done with my apartment and I'm good for a couple of days if not a week or so. I was almost on top of doing some sweeping today from the cooking I did yesterday. I cooked Frank like I said rice vegetables specifically celery , White onions, carrots and sometimes I go above and beyond the celery for green stuff it might throw in a couple heads of broccoli. I love the food that it makes but it does leave a terror on the kitchen floor usually. Anyway I don't know if I really talked about Larissa that much but she's this elderly person that I got a share with her on my Costco card. We both went in and renewed our cards I added Larissa to my card. So anyway I'm getting a little spooked thinking that she now comes over to the apartment more than she's ever done before. Tonight she came over to offer me some watermelon and when I did she then brought it over started talking and soon wanted to sweep the floor up in the kitchen. I usually don't mind this kind of stuff but Larissa is very old she has a hard time getting around. I told her I don't need her to do that I told her I would rather do it myself and I will do it but she doesn't see it that way. She's totally old school ignores me finds the broom and starts sweeping up the kitchen that shit that's pretty decent job. I really don't want the watermelon she brought over but she brought it over in good faith that I did want the watermelon and that I would eat it butand I am eating the fruit just not very fast. I found it easier to just let her in do what she's going to do and talk about what she's going to talk about then trying to keep her out she's pretty committed. Next she wanted to take the garbage out and I told her I would do it but she would not have it. I really would just easier for me to do it but I had to wrestle the garbage bag pull it out and then she grabs it ties it in the knot and eventually takes it to the dumpster. All this was going on she was telling me the story of I think yesterday that she fell in her apartment Landing in the basket of clothes that took everything that she had to get out and get back up. I don't know why she told me this it's pretty scary I know because it's happened to me more than once as far as being trapped and not being able to get myself free. She eventually did but she indicated she was worried and I told her about Alexis then she says that she has it too. I told her that she should use it when these things happen make sure that the machine can hear her so that she can get the fire department or whoever she's going to call for assistance it's just that simple. I don't know if she will but it's such a revelation to know these people are falling just like me and maybe I'm getting along better than most of them really some degree. I don't know what would happen if she didn't I wasn't able to get up that's a little perplexing

Stir fry Tuesday

 I did some serious cooking tonight. I've been meaning to to cook for some time now. I'm surprised I had the energy to be honest with you. It's been a fairly hot day, I haven't done very much mind you but still the heat takes it out of me, but I got some sort of a second wind around 4:00 and I started processing products for the dinner. It's one of my favorite meals call Frank. I think in the past I've gone over the history of Frank one of my old roommates actually learned the meal from. Anyway I bought a couple chicken breasts the other day at the market cooked and ready to go. I also picked up the celery a handful of sticks of celery and I got a bag of white onions. I'm trying to cook right in the right kind of onions. I have tended to lean towards yellow onions for some reason I believe that's the way an onion should look. But talking with Alexa and reading a little bit on the internet white onions have a probably cleaner sharper taste than the other onions so I'm going to give it a shot. About a bag of about six onions that should last me for a while. So I got the onion, found a carrot in the refrigerator in one of the bins on the bottom. I really need to use these more but I got the tear it out cleaned off a spot next to the stove chopped up the celery put them in a container, then chopped the carrot in The Fairly fine Wheels then I went to work on the onion skinned it and then pretty much chopped it up into fine pieces. Put all these things together in one container to carry them over to the stove. I was doing all this during the 5:00 news hour. I wish I had something more green than just the celery but that'll have to do I do have some frozen broccoli upstairs in the freezer but I wasn't motivated enough to dig it out of the top of the refrigerator maybe next time. I had to wash the frying pan and the spatula I'd let them go for a couple days and it was best that I put some soap on the items and then scrub them free of dirt or his freeze I was able to do or care about.  

I put the frying pan on turned on the stove before that however I fixed the serving of rice two cups of water, one cup of white rice put it on the boil then simmer. I finally got the ingredients in the frying pan as far as the processed vegetables with a couple tablespoons of cooking oil. After about 5 minutes the onions were looking pretty opaque so I figured it was time I dumped the rice into the concoction that I melt mixed it up and then lower the heat to simmer. I mixed the vegetables quite well and then clamp the lid on the frying pan and let them milled for a while. After about an hour I took the lid off again and the vegetable said quite cooked together well. I fixed a small paper bowl filled it with rice and vegetables and had that for dinner it was perfect. I sprinkled the base with garlic powder it all smelled very good and I had a small bowl for dinner, a paper bowl so I could get rid of the evidence quickly. It was fun, I enjoyed cooking now I have to go put away the frying pan stole the fried rice in the refrigerator and dream about other meals that are done

My buddy Kent Saves the Day!

 Okay last night around 11:00 I was making sounds like I was going to bed I getting ready to do what I need to do you know floss brush your teeth get undressed all that kind of stuff and I reached down to undo the arm of my chair like I usually do and to my horror I couldn't find the lap and do the lock that secures my arm in the place. Somehow it would have been broken during the day sometime and I didn't really notice but I do now because if I can undo the arm of the chair there's no way I'm getting into bed and no I'm getting up either. I wasn't too worried about that because I knew on Monday morning  Melissa my caregiver would be here eventually and she then could get me up. I didn't get to bed till after 12:00 a.m. I finally had to roll over the arm of my chair into my bed and I was surprised that I made it as well as I did. Sleeping didn't come easy just because I was so worried about what was going to happen but eventually wandered off to sleep waking up around 4:30 worried about getting up. I stayed in bed as usual till around 6:00 a.m. then decided to try getting up and of course I got halfway out of bed and that was all she wrote. I was trapped as it seems to be coming the usual drama for me these days. I don't know what's happening to me. I don't know if I'm making too much out of a small thing or the Small Things much bigger than I anticipate but all I know is that I certainly didn't want to call my possible son-in-law, or my son or the fire department or even the helper guy here at the building is not really the helper guy for pulling me up out of the bed and looking at your naked body that's stranded halfway in halfway out of the bed draped across your power chair. I kept my cell phone close by just in case and I'm glad I did. I checked the messages and contacts and look like my caregiver was awake at least awake and possibly not up but conscious. I should find her a message that she didn't respond to for like 45 minutes but eventually she did respond and come over and we did the whole throw me on the bed thing then get me into my power chair and do my morning routine. While I was on the toilet she worked with my chair trying to at least get the arm disengaged from the chair so I can at least come and go in my chair. Well it didn't happen that she had to leave. I ended up calling one of my buddies over at UCAT which I ended up leaving a message and worrying for the rest of the day about what I was going to do. After a short and meager lunch I went across the street to the market to pick up some medications and some bananas. I got home and I did my workout on the arm bike for an hour then I was finally called but my buddy and I explained to him as best I could the problem I was having and he told me that he would mind working on it but I need to come down. He didn't think I was going to meet today but I told him I would be there as soon as I could it was about 2:45 when I caught the bus and it took me forever to get down 40 streets roughly. Everybody and their dog was riding the bus today eventually however well it's just an hour to go before 5:00 I get to the office and this is the state office so things are done at 5:00 regardless.

 My buddy's name is Kent we work together on a number of projects. I was impressed because he actually found apart on one of the many donated chairs they have there at the building the exact part I needed. I was just thinking he was going to be able to undo my arm and I was going to leave it at that but he went way ahead it actually found the right part for my chair and changed it I was out of there by 5:00 I was so excited so happy. Tonight's going to be a great night…

Almost hot!

The weird thing about hot days even semi hot days like today is that you sit out in the sun and you absorb good quality and quantity of heat and then when you go into the apartment for the rest of the day or evening you feel chilled because it's so cool in your apartment compared to I guess your body heat. Today I didn't use the heater just because it's sort of stupid now to do that but I would have considered seriously turning on the heater if I was going to sit out in front of my big screen watching TV tonight but luckily that wasn't the case I watched my two installments of the current series I'm watching and turned off the tube. I read a little bit toyed with the idea of putting together some sort of dinner but decided it would just wait until Monday. I've got a few things I can snack on that will get me through the evening a cookie or two a tangerine and I still have quite a few the joy Noodles for Chinese food. I had beef chow mein yesterday which is okay but sure doesn't taste as good as it used to when I was a little kid and we would have La Choy noodles and chow mein for dinner. But then again nothing taste the way that it used to. I guess the high point of my day would have been the time I was able to spend with my son mark. The other kids got stuck into Mother's Day stuff and couldn't make breakfast so it's just my son and me. It was a good discussion sometimes it gets a little sensitive but most the time we work around issues and problems that doesn't need to be brought right out at the moment until he feels with so strong enough to visit with me. I still don't really have a lot of credibility as a parent hopefully that's still coming if it comes at all. That's okay though I don't mind just that he takes time to visit with me about his life I find that very appealing and enjoyable. We finally shove off however after about an hour and a half he's got things he's got to do and I'm trying to take in an early movie which I end up doing actually. It was kind of a waste of time I sat through the whole thing but it was animation it was a movie about that video game character who jumps around a lot and I can't remember his name right this second. But it's the only movie playing right now about a video game character. I almost rolled out two or three times cuz the whole thing was so bizarre. I didn't though I stay till The Bitter End I even thought about going to another movie but thank goodness there wasn't anyone close time wise so I basically just came home. I picked up a handful a couple of handfuls of celery sticks on the way home from breakfast how to make Frank this week. I had rice from yesterday that I made yesterday evening and I got two breasts of chicken that one I can use to chop up for the chicken stir fry I have the rice have some eggs got an onion so I think I'm pretty much ready I even got some carrots that I might use I'll take care of me for a couple nights this week. I'm ready for the new week..

Coffee Talk

 Another Saturday early at the coffee shop watching the people visit with their group. Interesting, I was there early today for one reason I don't remember why but there weren't many people at the big table I was able to watch the people filter and sit down and great each other talk politics, local politics local issues. The coffee shop People Now set up a table for me just off the big table I don't know why they do this and I'm not focused enough to say no that's okay I can find my own table. I just go with the flow grab the table and this time was good because it let me listen to two or three tables at one time. Not long tables just small tables one or two people are more. They all yammers so it's sort of fun to listen into the conversations. It's funny how many games are being played at one time around these different tables. The guys trying to impress the girl he is with they're definitely not together yet. He's definitely trying to impress it's really high school. The guys at the other table they're talking about what they're going to do this afternoon and tonight. They like the weather being warmer they can play softball not necessarily on team just to pick up game in the afternoon they'll take a sense of who's going and who can't. Then the table next to me it's kind of sad he's visiting with a friend wishes he could buy a house but he can't because financially he just can't make the payments partially because of his work and partially because he still suffers from a divorce suffers I mean paying all the support she has to pay. Please hoping someday he might be able to get back into a house but right now he's looking for an apartment out of West Valley. Pretty interesting morning but I can't stay long not as long as I usually do. I'm hoping and planning to get to an early movie. I semi rush back to the apartment download my coffee pick up a little change and head out across the street and hope to catch the bus in time to get me to the movie before it starts. Surprisingly I make the movie time with about 3 Minutes to Kill. I was totally impressed. It's a cute show cheap Detective. Kind of silly but pretty good as far as voicing goes and lips moving to the voices on the beasts sheep. I almost went to another movie but it didn't start soon enough now I wasn't going to wait 2 hours for the next movie I was thinking of watching perhaps I can pick it up in the next week. It's getting hotter and dryer we're a month ahead climate wise it seems. We're getting temperatures now similar to what we would get in July .or late June. We may have 90's next week. I'm totally up for that but do feel a bit concerned about what it'll do for possible range and Forest type fires. It's going to be dry and hot any Sparks will do it we'll start a fire it's going to be an interesting summer..

Trust your bed sleepyhead

  My fully electric high low adjustable bed it's been working just fine I just wish I could trust it especially after the comments made by the guys that put it together yesterday or day before. Like I said it's operating like a dream but now I'm just waiting for it to snap or crack meaning the plastic case that quasi protects the elements that make the bed so functional has cracked the soon fall apart now that hasn't happened and maybe won't for a couple of years. So it's not that I did the whole day trying to research these beds but I did spend some time on eBay and other type vendor sites and hopes that I could find a bed if and when this bed crashes. I don't know if I want to have a backup bed just sitting in the closet waiting for this bed to fail. That would be the best case scenario I don't know how realistic it is but I can do something like start a special fund that I could add to periodically so what I need to make a full out purchase I could do so or by a backup bed on time paying a little bit each month until paid off. In fact I did find a couple of stores that seem to do something similar to that where you paid a little bit each month for how long I don't know probably eternity. I should be able to get a very low interest loan from youcat here in Utah. That's the program that I'm part of that works in assisting people with disabilities acquire assistive technology and I think an electric bed would certainly meet that criteria. There's always been some sort of unspoken pulled back at least that's been my feeling of not being able to work with the board on their own special projects. That could be in my head though entirely. I think I may have even used it once or twice a long line and maybe time to use them again if I can get away with it.

The temp was not necessarily hot today but it's certainly a good deal warmer than it has been the last couple. I did another trip like I did yesterday back to Costco this is my friend who wasn't able to get her Costco card renewed that we were working together on. So once again I took off around 12:00 to get done at the Costco by 1:00 and I made it I'm still kind of surprised. The weather wasn't perfect I wish I had some sort of jacket with me to begin with coming home the climate or the weather was warm enough that I didn't need extra clothing but I would have used it if I had it. Luckily I did have a hat and lots of sunshine I should have got used to the temperature until I got on the bus or in the market when temperatures plummet fun management is trying to keep the temperatures low enough to meet everyone's criteria except those that are temperature challenge that the UTA wishes to serve keep them happy at all costs. Sort of like the coldest place in Salt Lake that is open to the General Public and that's the fruit and vegetable Chiller at Costco! I swear I can see my breath when I go to that room look at the perishable fruits and veggies it's really quite interesting but I'm always glad to zoom out of there back into the heat of the General Building.

Seventh day of May on the trip to Costco

May the 7th always is a special day for me it's sort of the title of one of my favorite books and one of the first books I read that was an adult book thick and very interesting it was 7 days in May. A great book and a great movie. Sure hope I'm getting this down right maybe I didn't read the novel maybe I just watched the movie and was so impressed. All I know it was 7 days into this month and that's where we're at right now. I'm kind of freaking out kind of the repair guys finally showed up are my part finally came in to repair my bed that's been broken for gosh months and months now that I finally got around to ordering the part for it which finally came in today and we scheduled today at 3:00 to put the new part on. I could have waited till tomorrow but I just wanted to sleep on a working bed tonight and tomorrow get up on one. Anyway I was rushing around quite a bit this afternoon I went down to Costco with one of the folks here at the apartment complex well I met her down there she wanted to use my Costco membership and get a card for herself. Theoretically we can do that you can get another person on your Costco card so you both have a Costco card. Traditionally I usually gave that to Diane but since we're not together anymore might as well go to somebody and get some good juice out of it. I have to meet her down there since I can't ride a vehicle in my power chair. I actually got down there about oh half an hour before 1:00 when we were supposed to meet. I wandered around looked at stuff always amazed it just how much stuff is inside Costco building and how much good stuff there is. Kind of blows me away every time I go to see how rich people really shop they get stuff lots of stuff and then large quantities - guess that's why Costco works so well for all these guys. It seems like it took forever for the clock to reach 1:00 and then my friend was about 15 minutes late which made more adding on waiting but finally we got out and into the building and finally got to the person that's supposed to check our cards for new ones I'll read new old ones. It's pretty straightforward process we are surprised it how quickly is she seem to reprocess our request to both of us have a card. I didn't get home until almost 2:45- - 15 minutes before the guys from the power Bed Company arrived. We got back home I'm sure at different times but she contacted me when she got back indicating that after I left and she purchased our one to purchase some stuff for some reason they didn't check her card it didn't take so we have to go back tomorrow morning or afternoon and do it again hopefully it'll get done right this time

 

Wednesday's alarm

Reader beware this might be a short blog. For some reason my stomach feels upset tonight and I want to stay close to the toilet not that'll do me any good just because I can't get on to it by myself. I'd have to have an accident and then get a hold of my caretaker person who then have to come over and clean me up. This is so weird it's beginning to happen more and more just like the bed issue last week. I don't know if this is a signal of change in my ability to live independently but something seems to be happening. My caregiver says it's all in my head and I want to believe her but she's much younger than me and somewhat naive but she's also very bright in many ways and she's always willing to come in about the Call of Duty. This morning for example I was having a piece of toast and it seems like if whatever I'm doing renders any smoke at all like when I'm cooking and are making toast and I like my toast somewhat crisp and dark the fire alarm goes off I thought I just went off of my apartment you know the flashing light and horrible sounding signal blaring for what seems like eternity. I didn't pay much attention to it this morning I've gotten so used to it and I always thought turned itself off if I opened the doors to the outside or to the hallway. And they turned themself off in good time then I got a knock on the door and it was from resident advisor of the guy who sort of steps in there's nobody else to help and emergency situations like a fire alarm. He asked if I was okay and I appreciated that held up my piece of toast and I said I thought it turned itself off he says he turned it off. That's the first time I learned that that happened. He always calls or comes over when I inadvertently pull the string on the wall which I guess lights up his area and if they don't hear response goes to the county it's just pretty weird then you got firemen showing up at your apartment. I suppose I should be happy that they care enough to have a working fire alarm anyway. Not that I've had a fire but I do produce a lot of smoke from time to time with my attempts at cooking especially toast but I don't see myself changing anytime soon. Hopefully we'll work something out. Wednesday wash day and that means I need to stick around relatively close by to make sure that I get my clothes out when they're dry and are on the dryer stops. I used to just automatically put in another set of quarters for a second drive but I stopped that take out the clothes as damp as they are hanging ones up that need to try just hang up the rest of them in that closet. This works out pretty well but it's time consuming. Then I do an hour on my arm bike which turns out to be about an hour and a half when I do the cool down and everything else after the arm bike ride. I also went to the market this afternoon picked up some tangerines and some bananas. I really need to have more fruit in my diet. And that was it for the day actually I didn't do any reading or anything just seem to be focused on trying to get the immediate things done. Hopefully tomorrow it'll be warmer outside though it was pretty warm when I did finally venture out not perfect but I could have been out in the sun earlier today maybe tomorrow and for sure this weekend at some time

Early morning bed trauma

 

Once the Apollo Burger, great corn dog great fries

Another day of waking up early, first wake up around 3:15 a.m. and I forced myself back to some kind of sleep I was kind of shocked to wake up again about 4:41 then later on about 5:25 and decide to stay awake at that point. I was doing just fine push the blankets back rubbed ointment on my butt and began to swing my legs over to get in my chair. I'd taken Great Lengths the night before to make sure that my foot pedals were up high enough to hold my feet while I made the transfer. Then and I don't know why or what really happened but I couldn't reach back to get my hand behind the back of the chair to pull myself over onto the seat. I know I think I had my chair too far forward and made reaching around the back of my chair to pull myself up difficult and I guess seemingly impossible to the point that I struggle for about an hour trying to pull myself back into my chair. I had got myself 3/4 of the way over and should have been able to do it from there on pulling myself up into my chair but I just didn't happen I just kept getting flattered and sinking between the bed and the chair. My legs keep spasming out not giving me the support that I needed and I just kick getting exhausted. Somewhere deep inside I thought perhaps if I'd take a rest then try it I might be able to get myself back into the chair but I was worried because at 11:00 in the morning I had my meeting over at assist Inc. And I know that sounds like a ridiculous amount of time but I also knew that if I didn't get going that time would just evaporate and I'd still be here in my chair struggling to get up or be so tired I wouldn't be able to make my presence at the meeting. Once again I called out to Alexa it took me awhile to wake her up but she finally responded I had her call Jasmine because I knew Jackson would be there with her, and he was. I told him I was stranded I need an assist and could he please come over and help me. This is twice now this has happened that I've had to call him for one reason or another and I'm so pleased that he responds so nice I'm just amazed. Anyway it seemed for everybody finally got here and he got me back up into my chair and then he stayed around swept the floors mopped them and helped me get dressed. I was set for my day, granted a little tired but totally doable now and looked much better than if I had had to dress myself. No I'm just kind of spooked I don't want to think that I'm going to call him every time there's a problem, but I might because they're just so nice he and my granddaughter. Hopefully I'll not have to have this problem much more if my part to the power chair gets here soon and it should. I ordered it more than five working days ago so the piece should be coming in anytime and that will give me enough support on the transfer that I should be okay. I have to admit this morning's Adventure leaves me a bit shaken. I've been looking on my own about 3,655 days and then that time I've had to have assistance maybe four times. I think those are fairly decent numbers however I must confess that since the first of the year I've had to instances where I've had to call my grandson for assistance. Any swears up and down that that's exactly what it's supposed to be like and he's glad that I called him. I don't know if I believe him it was pretty early when I woke him up this morning. You'll just have to see…

The 4th was with me!

 

Following the movie I had a corn dog and fries at the Apollo it was a good day

I went to the movies again today I really do like going to the big screen. It's quite surprised that I even made it to be honest. I did my arm bike early on in this reward that was my trip to the movies. I was able to get there in time only had to deal with about 5 minutes previews and that's pretty decent. There was one other person that I could see in the movie theater besides myself but they're up in the second levels. I went to Prada 2 The Devil Wears. The movie was okay actually pretty good I don't know if I liked it as good as I did the initial movie but it was good enough for today and I didn't sleep at all through the movie even though I did take my blanket. Temperature wise the day was pretty warm not hot but warm enough I didn't have to use my blanket and I was able to wear short sleeves. I doubt I'll be able to do that tomorrow it's only supposed to get up to 67 if possible showers. Today I thought there was going to be great thunder showers thunderstorms the clouds look very Thunderheady fortunately however that habits didn't open up and Rain didn't gush down on my head. Are pretty much just hung out in my room until the news hour started. Thought about doing some reading but I didn't want to get caught up in something didn't have to cut myself off. I'll free tonight as usual till I conk out. Last night was kind of weird I couldn't really get to sleep I don't know what was wrong I finally got to sleep later on I remember the last time I looked it was after 1 a.m.. I hope I will have better luck tonight. After all I've got to get up early tomorrow to catch the bus downtown for my Assist meeting.

I have not heard anything yet from the shop that's supposed to repair my bed. It's been about a week since I talked to them I guess I'm a little anxious like to get this bed fixed the swiftly as possible. I'm making my transfers okay sometimes I get a little nervous but in 10 years I think I've only dropped myself three or four times which I don't think is too bad. Once I get the bed operational as far as being able to sit up in the bed or have the of the bed section be able to rise again it'll make the transfers much easier and safer. But I am pleased that I can still be as independent as I am. I would like to think that I was more busy today than I am reporting but that's okay. I was able to get showered, dressed do my arm bike for an hour catch the bus go to the movies come back and enjoy the apartment until the new starts did the news then did two of the series stranger things as I said not bad for a Monday…

Forever long Sunday

 Today was one of those days that felt like it was going to go on forever not necessarily in a good way or a bad way maybe just a boring way. One of those days where you don't necessarily want to take a nap but you end up falling asleep then waking up again and still feeling like you've got to go through the rest of the day. I guess I burnt out on the series I'm watching right now- - stranger things- - I felt good when I finally turned off the television for the day. I didn't have anything else to do at that point in time really. It's too early to go to bed I didn't want to get anything going that I'd have to leave undone before bedtime if that makes any sense. I also think I have something to do with the extended hours of daylight that one has to basically suffer through making the day feel like an eternity. Oddly however it all ends up collapsing in on itself as time tends to do off and on. I first walked this morning around 3:15 a.m. which kind of shocked me. I've tried to try to get back to sleep after that. Important I may have traded until unconscious a couple times but not many times eventually stayed in bed until about 6:00 a.m. getting up then really only because I had to get ready for making the trip over to the Restaurant to meet with the kids for breakfast. I actually had a hard time with getting the shoes on my feet which means also getting to my shorts on cuz I put my shorts on first or I try to and then struggle to put my shoes on after I've got my legs inside the pant legs of the shorts. Had a hard time getting my left leg up and situated where I can slide the shoe onto my foot I finally did after a significant amount of time. Sometimes worries me but not too badly today cuz I was able to get everything done in time for the meet up and luckily mark asked for some extra time so I did okay I even finished a fairly large word puzzle I've been working on all day yesterday then finally finishing this morning before heading over to the restaurant. That made me feel a little accomplished I guess that's the whole point of these puzzle magazines makes you feel like you did something.

I brought home about half of my breakfast that I didn't eat at the restaurant this morning. There a gravy biscuit, sausage and some scrambled egg. At least one piece of bacon possibly too as well. I don't know if it was suffice to be a full breakfast but I look forward to having it one of these mornings before my care person arrives for my shower and such. Last night is a little worried about my butt and put some extra doses of ointment on my butt and surprisingly my butt has felt better all day. On Friday my caregiver Melissa switched out the old cushion cover for a washed cover which I think is a much better cover and somehow I feel that gives my butt more protection. All I know is that my butt isn't hurting tonight as my rear end has the last couple of nights. The dark has finally fully descended on my little part of the world. I'm feeling sleepy now most likely from the early morning hours that I got up. I'm ready for bed before the beginning of a new week…

A movie and a pie

 Once again I sat like a zombie at my table at the coffee shop this morning. The only real conversation I had was with somebody from the big table it went out of their way to point out that he had set up my table and he's going to keep it open for me till I get there. There's a long line this morning at the coffee shop. It took me awhile to figure out that something new had been added to the concept of the coffee shop and that was the gambling bus, the bus that goes from Salt Lake to Wendover the closest real small Casino town now has a morning bus stop at the coffee shop so that's why the place was crowded booming with people. I would just have to say it was amazing. It's a great idea I'm sorry the owner hadn't figured it out before I don't know how this came about it's certainly got to help his end they receipts for Saturday. I don't know if a bus leaves any other days from the coffee shop but it certainly be who the owner to increase that capability. All kinds of people I've never seen before were in the coffee shop this morning. No one sat at my table though not like the other time that's cool what was really interesting was that I've become such a fixture that somebody of the staff brought me over a quiche and an avocado toast for one reason or another had not been picked up and he wanted to know if I wanted it- of course I had wanted it just wish I hadn't eaten for breakfast before I went over this morning. I left not soon after that. I decided that I was going to take you in the morning movie and I need to get back to the apartment drop my stuff off and get out to the bus stop. The movie started seating at 11:00 a.m. so I figured I had good time- - which I did. Sadly however as I was leaving the facility I had my coffee sort of balanced on my lap with the my hook on top of it thinking that it would keep it from spilling and I was trying to balance the avocado toast and quiche with my other hand and drive the chair at the same time and of course the first bump I hit I lost the coffee all over the parking lots. That's okay I have coffee at home.

The movie was okay it was an animation adaptation of the famous classic Animal Farm. I don't know what I was expecting but it was actually really good but really dull to a certain degree. I took my black blanket with me because I knew the place would be freezing because once they turn the air conditioner on the first couple days of the spring they never turn it off so they're always cold. Well I got so comfortable watching the movie with my self covered up that I went to sleep! I don't know for how long not very but I don't think it mattered it was still kind of boring to be honest. I'm glad that I went however but I don't think I'll be going again I stopped at the market on the way back from the movies and picked up a few things I thought that I needed the most important being soap packets for my wash. I made a point of getting them today but you know I didn't really need them because I still had two left that Melissa will take care of on Wednesday. Well actually now I know I remember the anxiety for getting the soap packets was that I was thinking of doing a load of wash today just so the wash on Wednesday wouldn't be so big but I didn't get around to it but that's okay I got what I needed. Best of all I got half a pie half an apple pie. I had a piece just a few minutes ago and it was great perfect for what I need it for a Saturday night …

First day of May

 There's just something about the first of May that gives me hope that I'll be able to make it through the next part of the year. The sky was bright blue and the temperature was relatively warm not as warm as I would like it but it was good enough. I was in short sleeves today and was able to sit out on the patio and read today and finished the book finally it was a long one and it ended better than I thought it was going to and that's a plus. The big event for my day as small as it is the event that is was I ended up using one of those shopping services that does your shopping and brings it back to your apartment or your front door. My caregiver opted to replenish my supply of what we call the concoction. That accumulation of roughage to help with making better bowel movements. It seems I had everything for the concoction except Colonel corn. I thought sure I had some corn but it was all creamed corn. So I was going to settle up and head over to the market to pick up number of cans but I had some other things I needed to pick up as well and to be honest I felt like staying home so I thought I would give the shopping service a try again. It's not that I don't believe in them or trust them it's just that I really like to do my own shopping but today I just thought I would give them another shot at since I had to get about or I wanted to get about six cans of kernels of corn. And that would be sort of awkward and heavy for me to carry plus the other stuff I wanted to purchase. It was kind of expensive I thought but I figured if I could tell myself and hold myself to a small shopping the rest of the month I should be okay. Overall the experience was okay. Except for they gave me the bigger box of crackers saltines then I really wanted and they gave me two packages of corn chips they only ordered one I thought that was weird and costly. And they said they didn't have the V8 that I wanted which I really don't believe but it's not worth contesting on a Friday night the first night of May. The shopping service of course is all automated and high-tech they wanted an immediate feedback on how well they did. I gave him the 75% and of course they want to know exactly what's going to make it better or what they can do to fix whatever problems I thought they had. Took me quite a while to figure out how to do it but I finally got to the page where I can type something back to the shopping overlords. I don't know if that's going to do anything and I had the option of taking almost half of the order off financially but I told them just to leave it as it is now be happy with what I got. I'll eat the second bag of chips that's not a problem I I like Fritos I just don't know if I need two bags and be charged for two and I only wanted one. They keep telling me I have however much money I have when I enrolled in the program for restaurants. I'm totally unfamiliar with this concept of getting food delivered and I need to be careful on something like that groceries is one thing restaurant meals is quite another..

Two task Thursday

 I'm not sure if I'm going to have enough power to finish this blog but I'm going to give it a shot. I don't know what's wrong with my charging systems but it's hard to this tablet charged. I've got to watch it all the time I plug it in it says it's charging and then somehow it becomes unconnected and I never get a full charge. That's not totally true because many times I get it fully charged almost daily.

I really had only two tasks I figured for the day one was to attend the coffee group this morning and the second is to finish the mail out of the kid letters. I figured I had ample time to do both. Coffee social was okay poorly attended a few folks showed up but we yammered for a little bit but all it seemed pretty loose and limp. I don't know how long we're going to continue doing this but just a lot of folks no longer come that used to it's kind of sad. I do enjoy visiting those that do show up though. The rest of the day however was taken up with processing the letters. I started out with the envelopes had a bit of a problem starting but finally got everything working right and printed out the envelopes then the letters themselves. Then I had to sign them fold them and stick them in the envelopes. It's a process but it just takes time and focus and a commitment. All through the process I can feel chaos trying to get me to not finish the project but it's important for me that the letters go out for my own benefit. No one ever tells me they're bad letters or that they don't want to have the letters come anymore so I figure what the heck I'll just keep sending letters until they tell me to stop or time takes care of itself.

The day looked pretty good, actually lots of sunshine temperature in the 60s but there's a wind that blew which made it a little uncomfortable. I actually went out to the patio and read for a while until it was time for the news to start. Kind of looking forward to the weekend and some decent temperatures. I don't think I'm going to go anywhere to speak of at the most, maybe a movie in the usual for Saturday and Sunday. I've been watching this silly feature or series called stranger things, it's on Netflix. I finished a season today each of the episodes is 45 minutes or something like that. I usually watch two in the evening but tonight I watched three in a row just to get the season finished. There's three or four more seasons but I don't know if I have the tenacity to stick with this series. I was expecting something a little bit different. I'm going to watch a couple more episodes and see if I can get more interested in viewing this thing.

That's pretty much it for this Thursday. I didn't do my arm bike I still have 20 minutes to do before I reach 200 minutes for the week so sometime tomorrow hopefully I'll be able to do the 20 minutes.

Meatballs and a whole lot more

 All right, it was a pretty good dinner there's no question about it. But in order to get to the dinner you must go through the rest of the day first sort of. Not bad for a Wednesday the weather seems like it's trying to stabilize still lots of clouds but fairly warm for this kind of a weather day. Melissa dressed me with short sleeves I detested it first but thought better of it thinking that if I have to wear something over my self it would be easier to slip on and off with just short sleeves and I still would be able to keep warm and that's what I did actually. After I got stabilized after Melissa left, that I had some server breakfast felt good enough to head out. I retrieved the jacket that I was going to throw away because the zipper doesn't work and then slipped it on to see if it would work with what I had in mind. Easy on easy off arms covered but no zip up I looked casual but not as hobo like as I just pull the jacket that's already shipped and tried to pull it over my stomach which won't work which leaves the jacket just half on and half off. The Casual look worked and off I went to catch the bus to go to the credit union to pull some cash out. I'm on the downside of trying to get the kid Letters Out- - one day left till the 1st I'm sure I'm going to make it. I probably would have two today if the phone call hadn't come. I was in the middle of my arm bike workout when my phone rang and I didn't pick it up just because I thought it was another spam call. In fact it was my granddaughter when I finally did go get around to checking calls. She was calling to invite me to her graduation type dinner. This was a special occasion for individuals who got special accommodations for graduation. I was to meet them at 5:00 at the community college just not far from where I live. I only had 20 minutes to get changed get out catch a bus and get to the college by 5:00. You know what? I did it I even took off the shirt I was wearing and I put another one on Dugout One of the jackets I haven't worn in decades didn't even try to put it on I just put it across my lap and then took off. Caught the bus made it to the Community College before the kids did and the rest is history. We sat together even Mark Anthony showed up and we did a great dinner again it was a buffet with a number of different choices I went with spaghetti and meatballs two big meatballs, salad The Fairly nice dessert a can of Mountain Dew. It was really great actually plus the kids totally papered me with napkins so I wouldn't get tomato sauce on my white shirt- you know that was daring of me to wear a white shirt but I didn't know there's going to be a dinner. It was a nice event and I got the bus home thinking of done something good for today just showing up sometimes make sure you look like a good guy

Just waiting for May

I didn't go anywhere today I didn't have to go into my regular Tuesday morning meeting which is a gift. I like my Tuesday morning meetings but having my day off every once in a while it's a great reward I think. Of course this leaves me with the responsibility of trying to fill this time this whole morning with something productive. Usually I'm out the door around 9:00 9:30 to catching the bus to go down to the meeting so the whole morning is gone. It was a clear morning but very cold and I didn't need to be freezing my butt off just to be out. I stayed in and made a breakfast out of oatmeal and toast set off the fire alarm just once. My fire alarm is so sensitive that even making toast we'll set it off momentarily. Nobody knocked on the door nobody called they just figured I was cooking. Soon enough the alarm stopped even though I did go and open up the side window door which I think does something take the heat away from the sensor on the alarm I guess because the alarm always goes off after I open the door to the patio. Sometimes if I have the fan turned on above the stove the alarm doesn't go off. I think it's all just superstitious behavior on my part. I just have an alarm that wishes and loves the vex me. I worked on kid letters this morning off and on. I tried to clean off the table top. This didn't work too well but I did get some of the cans back onto the closet pantry and threw away some miscellaneous papers on the table into the garbage and this was after I take the garbage out to the dumpster. But the big thing I did today was workout the problem with my broken Halo bed. Remember from past blogs that the mechanism are the motor on the bed has been breaking. I had it reattached by a friend of mine who did a great job of figuring out that he could at least turn the motor around and get some more use out of it even though I would not have some portions of the bed usable. Well today I gathered up my paperwork from early on for the last time I had to order something from the company that made the bed or their representative close by. I finally got the guy at the company who knew what they was talking about he sold me the new motor hundreds of dollars. Luckily I have space on my credit card to shove it on and we'll try to pay it off as soon as I could. He's talking five working days before I should get the product and then he'll have one of his folks come over and install the motor on the bed. This will greatly Aid me being able to get get up and transfer into my chair without incident. There will also assist me in reading my book before I go to bed at night or turn the light out as well as let me sleep with my head elevated a little bit. I didn't want to spend this much money but I just I had better cuz the last thing I want is the mechanism that raises the bed up and down to break and at that point I would be out of luck. It's just been done luck that I've been able to figure out a way to put myself in my chair from the bed and then pull myself out of the rest of the bed. It's frustrating to write about because I can't really put it into words but at least with a new motor I should be on Easy Street for the days to come at least bedwise. So that was the most significant function of the day now it's just a matter of waiting and hoping the bed will! hold together until the other piece comes

 

Raindrops falling on head

It seems like there's some Unwritten rule that you don't have state meetings on Mondays or Fridays but the days in between those two days are okay that's why I felt it odd when I got the email that the meeting for the at Council was going to be on Monday today. Or whatever it was also probably the wettest day of the year so far. This of course is great for the folks trying to Stave off the drought but it's a day that sucks if you've got to travel on public transit. It was a lunch meeting of course I enjoy lunch meetings most just because it's a lunch and it's not the greatest lunches in the world though I shouldn't be picky. I've rambled on before about how State lunches used to be great when they were catered you actually had real meat in this lasagna and are spaghetti. Then everything changed in the late '80s and '90s well now it's a sandwich and a salad and some kind of a dessert in a styrofoam box or clear plastic. Don't get me wrong it's not a bad lunch it's great but it's a cold lunch. I only have, really one jacket left to my name for public transit or for foul weather. All my other jackets are kind of worn out usually the zipper is broken off completely there's no way to close the jacket. My other jacket has big rips in it I don't remember where they came from, the rips, and if I were Brave I would throw them away but I just have a hard time splitting with them but I think I'm going to get rid of them this year. The jacket I have left, the jacket I wore today is my rain Red Jacket. I never unzip the jacket cuz if my limited hand function there's no way I can zip the thing back up where I to get it on. So now I just sort of try to pull the whole thing over my head which never really does well. I con myself into believing that nobody really looks at me I'm just that hobo on the bus and the power chair. I kind of feel bad until some really freaky people came on the bus and then I didn't feel so bad at all at least I was warm more or less. I didn't get totally soaked but wouldn't have to be uncomfortable. I was glad when I finally got on the bus to come home. I was going to get off at Walmart to buy some envelopes but the rain is just too hard now it's too cold and two worn out and two freaked out by the other zombies on the bus. I did stop at the polygamist store across the street from my apartment they have a weird department store but they did have boxes of envelopes just 40 but that will get me by the next two or three letters months who can ask for anything more. Tomorrow I need to get to the bank to get cash for the letters it's almost the first…

 

Breakfast foTwo

 Cool dark and damp that's how I describe the day today. Sunday morning and Mark and I had a breakfast date at the usual place. I was a little worried I was going to have to battle the wet driving rain to get to breakfast but the last it was just a few sprinkles and very damp surroundings cool and damp. And that's the way it's been all day there are a couple times when I noticed the rain was coming down pretty hard through the window of the apartment. I was going to maybe take it another movie today but I didn't want to have to roll home in the driving rain that just would not be comfortable at all. So I decided I would just do a Netflix and art movie Sunday I finished watching the trilogy of Guardians of the Galaxy. Cranked up the heater and dozed off and on through the movies it was really a great Sunday to be honest with you. I ended up having a roast beef dinner from yesterday's roast beef that I had in the refrigerator. I pulled off a couple pieces of beef and vegetables microwaved and enjoyed. I didn't overdo it but I enjoyed the the roast beef. I still don't have vision of roast beef as I see on the internet of people who do really good looking real but mine wasn't half bad I enjoyed it I still have quite a bit of the roast beef left and I think I have enough for maybe a sandwich or two or maybe roast beef hash and perhaps just another roast beef dinner.

I have been trying to get motivated to start the kid letters for me almost there but I still need a little more encouragement. One of the things I do have to do soon is get to the bank and get some cash to put in some of the envelope as well as be able to get them envelopes I don't think I have any envelopes left that can really put my hands on. This is a sprint out tomorrow since I have to go out anyway in the morning or near lunch maybe I'll stop on the way back and pick up a box of envelopes. It's the the 26th I still have a few good days left to do the letters stuff the envelopes and get them in the mail by the 1st. The days they are flying past. I had breakfast with mark Anthony today it was pretty good I spent a lot of time counseling. Jasmine and Jaxon we*  just were involved in doing other things so they did not join us it was probably good with Mark...

Seizing Saturday

 Wow! I almost let the day get away from me entirely. I was right in the middle of the second- something of the Galaxy and I realized I hadn't yet blogged. I hate it when that happens. I've been busy all day so I don't have a excuse except for that I was too focused on other items that I was doing. The most interesting thing that I did that I enjoyed the most was cooking and roast. That $21 piece of meat that I purchased the other day from Macy's. I figured I better get it done or I'm going to lose it and I don't want to be that foolish to spend that kind of money and not use it properly. It was one of those things of course that you start early in the day then you can just forget about it for the 8 hours it takes to cook the meat that's what I did. I put together the roast I wish I had a few more things like mushrooms but I got the protein cooked finally. Once I got the meat in the Crock-Pot I run across the street and hung out at the coffee shop for a few minutes finally coming back to the apartment I was able to get ready and cross the street and catch the bus up to the movie house in time for the movie called normal which is pretty decent. Violent as hell but what isn't anymore when it comes to the movies? Falling a movie I came straight home. I wish the day it didn't warmer even though it looked beautiful no clouds and it was just a little bit chilly. There was a wind off and on during the day which certainly made me an out in the elements a little challenging. I did have the red blanket on my lap and I wore a long sleeve shirt today that makes a big difference. I would have been totally uncomfortable if I've been in short sleeves. Oh and by the way I was able to get up this morning regardless of the back not Rising I still need to get that fixed as soon as Monday gets here I've got to find out a way to either get the part and get it fixed properly and are buying a new bed and either one of them is so intimidating that I don't know really what to do. I sure wish I had someone to do it for me that would be the easy thing to do but maybe this is a growth experience that I need to go through

With Mark being back from his trips to Europe it's time that we started the Sunday breakfast again I put out a message earlier in the evening and Mark finally did respond that sure he was up for going to breakfast in the morning so I plan to try to hit the sack earlier than usual tonight be able to get my reading done and then hopefully get some sleep before morning. I miss not being able to raise the top of my bed so I can breathe better and sleep better but I do okay for a flat mattress. I can rest not as well but well enough. It was a good spring day looking forward to warmer days however

Adjustable bed headaches

I'm kind of freaked out. When I was getting up this morning I was raising the top part of my bed and anticipation to make the transfer from my bed to my power chair, as I do every morning. The function that rises the head of my bed up it's fairly valuable to me cuz it allows me to push myself forward far enough to actually make the transfer into my chair easier than if I was trying to do it from laying flat on my back and trying to do the same lift this of course is with a conjunction with my trapeze. This morning when I was going through the process I heard a large crack and I wasn't sure what it was but I had a sick feeling that it might be my power bed somehow. Sure enough, it was the Riff mechanism that tells the back of my bed up so you could actually set up in it if it went that high. And now stays flat. I'm only halfway concerned because I'm pretty sure that I can still make the transfer. The transfer will not be as easy as with the raised bed but I will still be able to do that cuz I'll have the bed itself raised up high enough to try to fall into the power chair. As I've said it is difficult and I must be very careful but I should be able to do it. Now of course, I have to start the arduous and frustrating task of either buying a new bed, trying to find the p i e c e that would fix this bed and then make the purchase of getting the pieces here to the apartment and put together one way or the other. As I said it's going to be a long process and it's going to intimidate me because I'm spending all my money it seems like it's not getting replenished as it has been in the past. And of course those of you who read this log on a regular basis no that this happened before the number of months ago and had I been any kind of a diligent person at all I would have had this problem already solved but as it is I was the grasshopper with the fiddle playing Tunes while my bed continue to wear out. Now I'll be getting next Monday I'll be getting the process I'm trying to find something a replacement for this thing that's wearing out that I call a bad. I must not be too critical of this piece of machinery it really has served me well and I will not forget that. I'm also going to toy with the concept of maybe if I fiddle with my chair itself the power chair I can get it to a point to where the transfer might be easier. The Big Challenge now is not to become totally ineffective and not get the problem solved. But I'll wait for Monday for that

 

Cafeteria Pizza

 

I don't know why but when I set up today's doctor's appointment I did it for 9:50 in the morning. I knew today was not a Melissa day where she helps me poop and shower and get dressed thereafter. Today would be one of those days I dress myself completely so I knew I had to get up early earlier than usual for a Thursday. This also means that I would not be around for coffee social which is every Thursday at 9:30 a.m.. so I started waking up around 3:35 I think laying in bed dozing till finally at 5:40 ish I ended up rolling out of bed and doing my morning routine. I actually was pleasantly surprised because my shorts and shoes went on far more quickly than usual. I found a shirt that I thought I would be okay with but I have to figure out a way to get rid of it because it's just too raggedy. I really do look like a hobo when I wear it I love it the shirt but I think I probably look pretty bad. I had to make a shift breakfast . It could have been so much better but I got enough to get me through even with an aging banana.

I had enough time actually to stop at the cafeteria at the IHC Hospital where my doctor is at. I got myself a small coffee they run out and sat in the area overlooking the helipad. I was hoping that I was lucky enough to watch a chopper either left or land neither happened while I was there. I was hopeful because the one Chopper that was sitting on the helicopter pad back propeller was spinning around not fast but enough to make me think that it was getting ready to Launch which it never did. It was cold today skies are overcast and THC hospital is in Murray close to the mountains and I forgot how nice the clouds look there's hugging the mountains closely on these  semi-cold days. Eventually I spend enough time just drinking coffee and looking at Murray from the hospital windows and trying to listen to other people's conversations that it's time for lunch. I grabbed a piece of pizza pepperoni pizza. I'm glad that I did because it was a pretty small piece I'm pretty thin but it got me out of my pizza craving stage. I enjoyed every bite of that small little piece Pizza. I washed it down with a small cart of chocolate milk a positively delightful lunch. This hospital really does have a fairly decent cafeteria there's so many other meal options I could have enjoyed. Particularly there fried food section where they've got everything from corn dogs to pretty nice looking hamburgers and all kinds of other hot sandwiches that would be delightful to enjoy and somewhat questionable as far as wise food choices in the weight Department. I figured I'd just did all right with the pizza in the small carton of milk

It smells like... dinner

 My apartment spills great tonight, I cooked. I love the smell of cooked food in a person's living abode. I don't get to have this Aroma as much as I would like in my little apartment. I have a lot of frozen food that I like to live off of particularly at burritos and such often started chicken fingers and other Frozen things that I've never really tried before but now I'm looking into them. I like them and they certainly fit the bill for dinner and stuff but just not the same as blowing up your kitchen preparing a meal. I still had the preparations for corned beef hash that I made the other day. I still had half a can of corned beef hash and I had a bag of Frozen shredded potatoes that I got I don't know how long ago but they've been in the freezer and there's a pretty big bag actually and they were frozen hard. I dug them out to the other day when I made the corned beef casserole or hash and I still have 3/4 of the bag left so I decided I would file them out use up the rest of the corned beef chop up another onion and use the rest of the green pepper and Garlic's which I did. Actually I did not make as big a mess as I did on Sunday which I guess is good. I even Friday night to put on top of tonight's dinner. It's basic but it's good real meat potatoes type stuff. I should have had something green somewhere along the line but at that point I just wanted to get done with the meal and get on my evening. I'm trying to focus now on getting things done so I can get to bed early tonight. Tomorrow I have to go over to the medical high-rise and see my physician. It's nothing weird or anything it's just a checkup which I think is pretty lightweight. Just basically going there and waiting then when the guys come in and ask how I'm doing and tell him I'm fine I'm doing okay and then they turn me loose. I don't know why but I made the appointment pretty early in the morning actually it's at 9:50 but they want you to be there at 9:35 so that they could do everything that they want to do to you before you actually see the doc I'm going to be waiting a long time anyway cuz I always do even when I'm in there early. Of course everything rides on the fact whether I get my bus rides on time and such. I think I'll be okay even if I'm late they'll work me in one way or the other. They may not be happy about a late appointment but it's not like I'm going to have anything done or anything it's just a look see- - at least that's what I keep telling myself and that's what I really want to believe.