Monday's Madness

I believe I rattle on about this before but I think in lieu of the fact that I have been stressed out about it today I think I'll do some more rattling. Actually what's happening now to me is that one of the things I go through for my medications is Express Scripts. I think I got into this while I was still married and I didn't have to deal with it anyway cuz Diane took care of everything. Well seems that I'm still on Express Scripts though I don't think I use it very much. And, they've had everybody renew their subscriptions or prescriptions or whatever they do at the beginning of this new year. They made it sound very important that it be done at a certain time or people will lose their options with this program. Fortunately for me, I don't really use that many medications and so it doesn't really affect me that much I don't think. Maybe more than I think and I'm going to find that out in the next couple of days just to be sure but you have to go in and first of all get on the website which means passwords and names and all that kind of stuff. I have a morbid fear of passwords and I just know that I'll never be able to work with them in any significant manner. And particularly nowadays that they've become so worrisome that they're changing the passwords every couple months it seems like. Anyway, I have resisted having to do anything with this password changing thing until today and so and Diana's made it really important that I do this and so I'm trying to figure this out but it just defeats me each and every time. I'm going to have one of my kids come over probably Mark Anthony since he's only lives in town and see if he could set it up so everyone's happy and that I continue to get my two or three drugs on a regular basis. I think theoretically the whole concept of Express Scripts was to get all my meds through the mail and have them keep records of everything. However, I kept defeating myself and ended up going to the pharmacy of my market which I like to do and have that interaction with people. So they've been providing my drugs for my prescriptions but I get some other prescriptions through the mail and which I imagine is through the same program but why the difference is I don't know or what the difference is I don't know either way all I know is it's driving me crazy and I'll be happy when everyone's happy.

It's late Monday night. I don't know what happened but the evening got away from me and now I'm just finishing up on this particular project and have one left and I can get ready and get to bed. Tomorrow I have an assist meeting and so I'll be up sort of early dressed and out to catch the bus to go downtown. It feels good to get back into normal life again after the holidays. I always enjoy the transition back to normalcy

 

Sunday's ramble

 Now that the holidays are passed it seems like the world has begun to speed up. Not super fast but quicker than it was that's for sure. Having said that I really didn't do much today except have breakfast with Marc Anthony and Jasmine at our local place is the first time we've been there since before the holidays began. Was kind of nice to get back into the old routine. We have some good discussion and probably spend about 2 hours there before we found the se broke up. I basically just came back to the apartment and spent the rest of the day watching movies. I really tend not to do very much on Sunday so that's not a justification for wasting the whole day playing movies but I just don't know what else to do that's not real physical labor. I reckon I could be reading or doing more puzzles but that's somewhat trite and somewhat embarrassing to acknowledge. I'm just kind of enjoying the day oh well actually I was sort of Killing Time till the Jazz game started and I tried to watch the Jazz game, which I did to a certain degree till I got boring and then I watched a Marvel movie coming back to find the Jazz ahead and then the third quarter. The team eventually went on to win the game and I was totally surprised that's two wins in two days things are looking up for the boys on the hardwood. I'm curious to see how long this is going to continue. Maybe the guys are finally clicking and the rest of the season will be much more positive for the lads.

When I was out and about this morning heading over to the restaurant to meet up with the guys I was once again struck about how much I enjoyed being out and about. And that once I am out I'm feeling much more energized and open to different experiences if not generating new experiences. I think when I start thinking I am somewhat apartment Bound for whatever reason that's when I need to suit up and head out and just see what was going on on the outside world. This week I hope we will resume our meetings at the assist office and if that's the case I will get me up and out on the bus and downtown rolling around. Even if it's during rain and such I can always dress for that and enjoy my downtown time. One other thing just in passing I'm not sure how much of an issue this is but I've been feeling quite anxious at different parts are points of the day. I've become somewhat aware of a weird phenomenon happening it when I try to Exhale through my nose and keeping my mouth shut it seems like the wind gets caught up on something in my back of my mouth area. I don't think it's getting worse I mean it's not painful or anything it's just blocking the wind from leaving my body. I think I've had it before so I know it's not life-threatening that would be a drag but still I'm becoming more and more aware of the blockage each time I tried to Exhale and pay attention. Like I said it does not prevent me from breathing but sometimes gets a little I don't know chunky when I'm trying to blow out through my nose area. I thought maybe it was keeping me up at night but I don't think so cuz I sleep on my side and so that's not an issue. However this morning I woke at about 4:00 15:00 a.m. and thought I had to pee for the first time in weeks that I tried to use my catheter in bed. I really didn't end up using it but certainly took away the urge to pee. But I just don't know if anything's happening and I need to be aware. Tonight watching the flat screen I felt the anxiety in my chest a little bit but it passed thank goodness I just don't know what it is and I don't want to go through the whole process of having to go in and get it checked out and everything unless it really starts interfering with my day to day life then I'll take action…

Corner Crock-Pot

I just finished scrubbing out the crock pot that I used for a day of cooking. I took the roast that I purchased a few days ago actually before the New Year's and finally got around the cooking the meat today it was really a fun project I really enjoy cooking. I knew that the Crock-Pot project was going to take all day because I think it was a pot roast or a rump roast or something that's pretty tough it needed a lot of time under the Heat and I was willing to do whatever the job took. So I started at around 10:00 this morning after I got back from coffee with my neighbor. It snowed this morning really the first snow of this year where the snow actually came down to the valley floor and it looked like winter. It's pretty warm however the snow did not stay it melted quickly and soon the storm itself had moved on by that point in time however I was into my cooking project. I got the vegetables I also got the same time as the roast the small potatoes and the carrots. I had an onion and the last part of a clove of garlic which I smashed up and threw into the mix and I dug around and finally found a package of lipton's beefy Lipton soup mix which I found really does a good job on roasts in the crock pot. I turn the crock pot to low and then just hung out around the apartment for the rest of the day. Sweeping up here trying to put things away there cleaning out the refrigerator so I'll have a place to put the roast and vegetables once they get roasted. I did all that and like I said just a few minutes ago I finished the crock pot. I remembered to put in the garlic sesame seed oil I think helped a great deal because there was hardly any residue left in the bottom of the crock pot when I finally dumped the meat into their vessel that I stuck in the refrigerator leaving just the dirty crock pot. Took it to the sink filled it with a shot of dish soap and then turned on the hot water and let it sit for 2 or 3 hours or the length of the Utah Jazz basketball game.

But I think I like best about cooking is the ability to take a bunch of unrelated items put them together add Heat or whatever and a edible item turns out at the end- - usually. I'm pretty lucky that most of the things I make turn out relatively okay. Since I cook for myself I'm easy to please. If I were cooking for somebody else that would be another matter and I don't know how well that would turn out however my ex-wife- - who my regularly communicate with- - always enjoyed my cooking especially since I was excited to do it and turned out well enough that she enjoyed it and I enjoyed it worked out pretty good. What was really fortuitous in that relationship was that she had real cooking experience in the number of different areas and was more than willing to instruct me on the better ways to cook and most proficient ways to cook. Before that. I just threw together whatever I had especially in all guy situations they'll eat anything they don't have to cook especially if it's warm and got enough salt and there's enough cold beer in the refrigerator to wash it down. I usually cook the apartments that I lived in that I had roommates with and they are more than happy to let me do it. Well, the crock pot is clean but the rest of the kitchen took a major hit no question about it. I tend to drop a lot of stuff on the floor when I'm around the refrigerator and I cook right next to the refrigerator so well a sample spoons full of food Falls onto the floor floor gets quite messy somewhat sticky and all together gross. The one person I have that is a fairly good cleaner won't be here until Wednesday so until that time unless the grandkids show up the food projects on the floor we're going to stay where they're at. The crock pots clean and then it's a little space under the cupboard and unplugged from the power strip so no problems can happen there I'll let the rest of the kitchen fly until Monday I have food for Sunday and I've got to go to breakfast in the morning so far

 

Clarity please

There's a storm coming in and that's supposed to bring snow to the valley floor. No I'm not spooked by snow and I doubt there's going to be enough on the valley floor to really worry about but still it's going to be messy and cold and possibly a little bothersome. So, with that in mind I figured that if I needed to get anything done important I would do it today so I can just hang out at the apartment for the next couple of days as a giant cold front supposed to race through the area in the next couple of days. The only thing I really needed to do was get over to my Credit Union pull some cash out so I would have currency to work with here at the apartment are going over to the market are the coffee shop or wherever. I tried to not use my plastic anymore than I have to so I get a couple hundred bucks of cash that I can use for tips to my staff as well as cash for my person that comes in and cleans every once in a while for me. I don't have a standard cleaning person- - though I said on a regular basis I've just never pulled the hammer back and pulled the trigger on that particular project.

I checked with the local weather guys who indicated it was going to be above normal temperature wise basically the war before the storm phenomenon but there wasn't good to be any sunshine. I didn't have anything else slated for the day so after I got done with my shower and got dressed and got a little something to eat I suited up it went out to catch the bus. I tried something new because the bus I was going to get on was also going to try to be boarded by a family with a giant baby carriage and about three kids and I just didn't have the patience to see if they would all get on the bus and still have room for me. So I figured I would catch another bus that would really get me to the credit union perhaps even quicker. And it kind of worked that was okay the day was warm as they promised felt like spring. I still had my hood on just in case but I was definitely warm enough and I didn't mind waiting. I probably waited as long to catch the 47 as I would have on the 217 but that's okay the bus did come and I climbed on board got off at the bank. I didn't even think about today being Friday which means everybody in their duck would be at the bank. When I finally got into the credit union and I realized it was soon after the first of the month and it was a Friday and there was a line that almost went outside that building. Luckily I'm sitting down I don't know what those poor people standing have to go through. I settled in and waited for the line to move which it did eventually getting me to the front of the line. All I wanted us to pull out $200 10 $10 bills s and 5 twenties and somehow in the conversation with the tiller- - and this was all my fault I totally realize this- - I conveyed that I wanted 20 $5 bills. I thought the envelope was a little fat when you handed it to me but I didn't pay that much attention it's only when I got home, tonight coming into the bedroom to put the money away did I realized I had 20 $ five bills. I freaked out for one second then decide it's not a big deal they would spend just as well maybe even better. I was just glad to be done with the day and home in front of my big screen and thinking about dinner…

 

Getting back to normal

 It almost feels normal again. I can almost see the holiday at the rear view mirror now. I woke up this morning as normal got up made the transfer safely and made me feel comfortable made me feel good. I got dressed went down and had coffee with the group which wasn't very much and seemed to be somewhat meager compared to what usually is going on on Thursday morning coffee group. It could just be the first of the year blase or something and everyone still might be confused with the day changes and such. Anyway, following the coffee group I cross the street and went for my haircut. This is where I think I'm just having to reevaluate my whole concept of price and affordability. It ends up that I paid 20 bucks plus a $3 tip for a haircut which I could have gotten on Tuesday had I had the Africans do it and when they said 20 bucks it totally freaked me out. But the time in between days I had time to think about how much a haircut goes I guess for these days and so when the girl at the haircut place I didn't even bark at paying the 20 bucks maybe it's because I was playing with my plastic and that didn't feel as painful as forking over 20 bucks for a fairly quick haircut. I wonder if my regular haircut Lady will ever get back and I can go back to pain 10 bucks for the whole shooting match. I spoke with Diane for a while this afternoon and she did some searching and found some fairly economical hair clippers that if I were to get those I could have my care person Melissa do the hair cutting which I think she could with one of the plastic hair things on the Clippers that makes everything the same size. I mean seriously I have such little hair to begin with I doubt it's $20 worth of work. Melissa seems up for it however and it would be nice to have her or whoever is doing my care be able to give me a quick Buzz once a month or something. 

I'm getting kind of excited now. At the market today I was able to get the vegetables I want to put in my roast I'm going to make on Saturday. Got some baby potatoes which I think will be just right plus the turnip as well as a bag of baby carrots. I have the onions already so I don't care on that level. Now it's just a matter of throwing it all together for my Saturday dinner I'm totally excited. I plan to save the drippings from the roast or whatever it's called when you take and cook your roast in the crock pot. The juices which are left over and use that to make a gravy. I had gravy and mashed potatoes the other night at the restaurant we went to when Marc Anthony was back from his trip and I forgot how much I love potatoes and gravy but a good gravy. The gravy they had at the Chinese place is a bit of a wash. But if I can get something very savory from the roast I think it would make a great gravy… a good gravy.

New Year's Day!

 It seemed I spent a great part of the day and confusion for some reason I couldn't wrap my head around the fact today was the first of January! I thought yesterday was the first for some reason somehow I transposed New Years Eve into New Year's Day. It was such a comfort and I realized that I in fact wasn't crazy and today was not the second day of January. I think it was Marc Anthony who eventually sent me straight on what day of the week are the year actually it was. Mark sent me an email earlier on indicating that he's back in town and he wanted to meet with me and go out to lunch or something. We eventually did this going over to the Chinese restaurant across the street and it was a little awkward at first because it's one of those places where you have to cook your own food and make your own dinner and stuff after paying an ungodly price to even be there but it was my gift to Mark Anthony so I figured what the heck. He was impressed with it. He's back from Europe and we had a great visit regarding his trip he brought me Christmas gifts for this trip and that was a lot of fun. About candy from different parts of Europe they visited austria, Frankfurt Germany, and a lot of other cities he was able to make contact with and with his friends slash work folks. I'm still not quite sure what his long-term goal is as far as working with these people over the internet and such he's been doing the last couple years but I think it's real important to him to have the Hands-On contact with them and just have the whole thing become real to them and to him. I have to say I'm impressed and it's not just because he's my kid. Anyway, we had a pretty good meal at the restaurant then came home because it looked like the weather was getting very inclement and I could tell that he was really beginning to get tired he's still having to deal with jet lag and getting back to a sleep schedule. I really should have done this blog earlier in the night but I was sort of caught up in watching too much flat screen. Tonight it was the Jazz getting beat once again and finishing watching a movie that I started earlier. So at least I got out to dinner with Mark and Anthony for my New Year's Day that was great and it certainly made me feel like I did something on the holiday and isn't that what I've been trying to do this whole Christmas season. I did visit with Shel briefly when she called Mark and I and we had a good visit.

Had a good session with most of this morning. She was in a good mood and we did a good job with the shower and the toilet session. She also really enjoyed the food in the refrigerator as well. I'm glad she will eat these things because that's the best tip I can give her and I think that's what she says too all she would like for a tip if somebody to feed her. I was also pleased that she sort of jumped in to the lasagna she found in the refrigerator and got a good plate of it so that takes a lot of pressure off me as far as trying to figure out what I'm going to do with that much lasagna. Between she and I it'll be fastly gone or quickly gone. So, it was a good first day of the year and I think hopefully we'll have better days too. If I would have a resolution it'll be at least read one page a day regardless of my situation. I didn't get any physical stuff in today so I'm way behind on my 200 minutes and I don't know if I'll be able to make them up this week but maybe I can try tomorrow. All I've got to do is get my haircut and hopefully that's enough