Emergency Meeting

 Thank goodness for volunteer boards or indeed I would be worthless. I spent a good part of the day just hanging around the apartment really not doing anything at all except occasionally staring at the computer screen / TV screen. It all starts in the morning with the news I was awake at 5:45 I didn't get up to 6:15 and the first thing I do is go into the living area and play with the remote control enough times that the computer screen whatever it is flat screen comes on it allows me to dial into the local CBS affiliate news Morning News broadcast show local as well as National. I played on the internet after I got shaved and had coffee made and kind of cleaned up the kitchen a little bit. I did this until my home health person got here spending time with me getting me on the toilet and then helping me get showered. During this time. That my brother called and the first time I was not able to contact her speak with him because I was on the toilet but the second time I was able communicate with Ross and all he wanted to be sure was that I got the Christmas card that is sent and actually it included $250 bills! I don't know what this change of person is happening to my brother at this age in life but certainly something is I was really interested the other day even visiting with him that he admitted that he was such a mean kid growing up- - and he was. I tend to try to forget all that now and I will take the hundred bucks I'm not proud. Later on I did my arm bike and got my 60 Minutes in and when I finished I was kind of just hanging around the apartment and I decided to check my email and there was a message from the executive director of the board of directors I serve on at the Independent Living Center. There is to be an emergency meeting today at 4:00. Fortunately the time was about 3:35 so I knew that I was okay time wise. My friend Kim had set up a zoom account so I was able to dial in to the meeting when they opened it up the access parameters.

Interestingly, the emergency meeting was to do with financial issues the centers going through. They're having some real problems with how they bill their government agency for funding. It seems towards the end of the last Administration they got a bookkeeper who really didn't know what he was doing and sort of really messed everything up and they're having to spend a lot of energy and time now into going back and finding out what the problems were and how to get going again. This seems very taxing to the new executive director. It was great however to see my friend Kim and friend Julie on the internet as we discussed the issues and problems. We will have other meetings soon and seems like we're going to get quite involved in the reestablishment of our financial capabilities. It's totally doable just a matter of time of sitting down and working it through. I think I'm going to like working the financial end of this. We should be doing some significant fundraising too somehow. So at the end of the meeting I felt like I had helped the something today and the day was not wasted now if I can just manage a few more of these I should have a great month….

Sunday's statement

I'm getting pretty frustrated it's 10:39 p.m. and having to rewrite this blog which I've spent the last 20 minutes trying to find after it screwed up. For some reason I had dictated probably a quarter of a page and the bottom of the screen on my tablet cut off liability to see anything more that I was dictating. I tried to save it and was going to add it to a new page to see if it still acted the same way but I lost it somewhere in the intro and rather spend any more time trying to find those few silly words I decided I would start all over again. So once again, but the most productive thing I did today at least enjoyable was having breakfast with Marc Anthony over at the restaurant. We were a little late getting started because he had a work assignment coming in just as we were getting ready to meet at the restaurant and asked if I could give her 20 minutes which is no problem. I was already I had been in my chair since about 5:45 a.m. and so even taking time to take my meds and such I was on time actually I was on time to do the 8:00 time but the other extra 20 minutes gave me the time to mess around the kitchen a little bit. The kitchen is a mess again I don't know if it's from just the production of my concoction or piling stuff up on the table. That's where I put everything yesterday once I got home from the market. Jasmine and Jackson were not with us today they are in they're in Wilmington North Carolina not far from Raleigh where there was Major tornadoes today I guess which makes me a little bit worried about the kids but I haven't heard anything so no news is good news I'm sure they'll be fine just please just punch to be back next week hopefully. Aside from the restaurant experience I pretty much stayed at home the rest of the day. It was just cold enough to defeat me from doing anything more productive like going to the movies or going up and wandering through the shops doing some window shopping just wanted to stay home in front of the heater all day.

I did email Colleen Hammond, Debra's sister, to get some service status on her. What little bit she gave me indicated that she was kind of out of the danger zone but still they're still pieces that sounded pretty serious and it's going to be a while before she gets out or maybe she'll go to a long-term care rehab type place like I did. I'm trying to figure out if I want to go visit her or not. She's at iamc which would make it easier to visit least for me. Just hard to say with people need visitations or not. Quite frankly I don't know what I would say if I did go up to visit the girl. Still she was kind of a friend as those things go. Hoping for an interesting week. I don't have to do assist this Tuesday so I've got more free time than usual. The temperatures are going to raise a little bit up into the 40s which would make being out and about a little bit easier it's a couple movies that might be good especially the timepiece called Napoleon. It's Christmas season and it begins to feel like it now… 

Savoring Saturday

 I think I'm getting acclimated to the season, at least that's what it feels like, today was one of those days for the temperature didn't get above freezing however there was Sunshine which makes a lot of difference and tolerating cold weather. But I went out twice actually today once was to have coffee with my friend Janet who lives upstairs at the coffee shop across the street and then of course over to the market for weekend recreational shopping. Today I spent $58 probably on stuff I didn't need but sure enjoy having couple more cans of peppers, a lot of tomatoes on the vine type of things that they have there in the vegetable section, candy bars for Melissa and a potato and sour cream and I'm sure there's a few other things that I have forgotten. But it was chilly there's no question about it and I didn't wear a lap blanket and then I actually spaz my shoe off at the market eventually having my buddy who is part of the vegetable crew and asks me all the time if he can do something for me so this time I said yes if I tip back where you put my shoe on and he did. That was after I rolled around for a bit looking sort of pathetic. But like I said it's cold out there. I loved looking forward to coming home to my house after my shopping trip and knowing that I'd be able to stay inside all night long watching TV eating whatever I wanted to fix or in many cases just big spoonfuls of vegetables from my container of fresh vegetables in jalapeno pickle juice. It's really good sometimes I can't stop myself from having them the Crunch and the sour and the the first this is so good. In fact I bought way too many Tomatoes I hope I can use them all before the tomatoes go bad. I chopped up three of them and added it to the batch. I also got a box of Ritz crackers and another block of sharp cheddar cheese. Like I said recreational shopping for recreational food is what I like to do on Saturdays if I have the opportunity and today I did.

Diane sent me more images today of her new place in Mesa. I think she's going to do quite well there especially now that she's gotten away from her son where she was staying for a while. They just weren't getting along which is too bad. But now she's actually into a home, a prefab home but it's very nice and came with a lot of perks, in Arizona specifically Mesa. She even has her own orange tree that is so cool and all honesty I'm kind of jealous so nice that's a nice house I think she'll be pretty happy there at least I hope so. She even got a golf cart that she can drive around the senior housing area she lives in too. Fitz are just perfect and she can start doing some saving again. She should be okay. Maybe you should fly up a couple times a year like she did the other month or we can go out to have lunch or dinner or whatever.

Open House

 

Wouldn't you know the only day of the week it snows and the only time during the day where it snows is the time that I have to leave to catch the train to go into the city for the assist open house which is this afternoon starting at 4:00 p.m. to be honest I would rather have not really gone to the open house but since I missed my meeting on Tuesday and really it's one of the only open houses in the community that are worth going to as far as alcoholic beverages served and some of the better finger foods. It just seems so late in the day after all it is December and we're fastly getting to the shortest hours of daylight during the year. But I sat around all day at the apartment building up my focus to get totally dressed up warm in transit into the meeting or open house. Today I wore as always by shorts then I wore actually a t-shirt my Iron Man t-shirt and then over that I decided to wear my red jacket which is smooth going on and keeps me fairly warm and I found a pretty nice blanket I can put over my legs. I was set to go I checked the times again when went up again got the bus inbound. I timed it pretty well and I got to the assist office the little after 4:00. It was not really crowded which I didn't think it would be but still I made my entrance and at least it was warm inside the little office.

It's a cold day there's no question about it with menacing dark clouds spitting snowflakes off and on it was only after I started my trip that the snow did start coming down with a greater frequency. The snowflakes were strange they were little round Pebbles as opposed to flakes. So technically it probably wasn't even snow it's probably some sleep former some weird Alaskan name for snow. It's pure joy when the bus pulls up and the door is opened and you roll up into the heated belly of the Beast. It's the same feeling I get when I board the train. The right over from the park to the transit center wasn't very long a little bit of worth seeped in but the ride in from Murray Central to downtown Salt Lake to the library stop was nice and warm the rocking help to keep me almost awake. As I've said before the darkness comes quickly this time of the month this time of the year. Even though it's not really late it seems late when you're talking aimlessly to folks that you see once a year at this function is you keep an eye to the outside to see if it's snowing again or how dark the darkness is for 5:30 p.m. eventually however you start putting your little pile of trash you've created from the finger foods, chip dips and salted nuts. I make the rounds one more time and ask someone to take the blanket around my legs and Tighter to make sure they don't get caught in the wheels on the way home then head out in the Darkness of the Salt Lake December night

Self-absorbed

 I think I developing a wound on my butt. It's on the right hand side and I think it's related to my power chair. I blame everything I can on my power chair just because it makes me feel so uncomfortable. That's probably my scoliosis that's getting out of control and costing me to put all my weight on my right side over my hip which basically breaks down the skin over time. If you remember, I'm doing that tattoo tape on my butt, using it as a second skin which I think has been working admirably over the last couple of years but I think now my skin it might be breaking down for just direct pressure. I don't know if there's a fix wheelchair-wise. Perhaps maybe UCAT fix my power chair my backup chair.. and I can use it and this elevator chair I can use asthma backup chair which is a shame because I like the elevator chair quite a bit it's just that it's so fragile that I think I've turned it apart which really bums me out. Anyway the right side seems to be having some issues and wet my shift all goes to my right side and that puts weight right over my hip. Hopefully, Utah Center for assistive technology we'll take little time and repairing the chair. I can't believe they would not have Motors they could just attach to the chair. We shall see. In the meantime that means more lying back in the chair as much as I can watching Netflix or some other platform which offers minimal televised entertainment.

I've been in my chair all day so my butt's hurting but it's also the second day since I had my Band-Aids changed and maybe that's what I'm feeling is just the Band-Aids wanting to be changed again I don't know we'll see tomorrow when Melissa is here. I don't really want to peel off this dressing she's got on now because I think the adhesive is still quite strong and I don't want to tear any skin off my buttocks. If it does look like it might be skin breakdown I'll have to go in to the wound clinic and see what they say. Fortunately, I really have been blessed with fast healing skin repair. If I would have to go down I think it wouldn't take long to have the wound care guys over I'm taking care of me like they did when I had the burn that was really and interesting experience.

Speaking of interesting experiences but on a totally different note. One of the new people who have moved into this property in the last couple months I actually worked and still works at my old company The Independent Living Center. It seems the boss who's been the boss there for almost 40 years and just retired a year ago seems to have taken a bad turn and has landed in the hospital with a very very poor prognosis. I don't think she'll make it through the week but she's quite a fighter and you never know. I'm surprised I have become as emotionally involved with this information as I have been. We were not particularly close. We along pretty well if it remained topical and didn't get too deep. It's so weird having folks that I know fairly close begin to die. I suppose it's natural it just feels very weird…. 

Woeful Wednesday

 It's amazing how good a decent bathroom run feels after a day like yesterday and the night like last night. I didn't lose it but I sure thought I was close to the point where I basically wrap myself up in plastic sheet or sheet Savers or whatever they're called just in case I did let go during the night but I didn't! I really feel like I was close all day long to the point where I didn't do anything, canceled my appointment/ meeting Etc. Today I just felt a bit rested and that's good. I really didn't do a whole lot except for I did have a meeting that I had a zoom meeting that took basically 2 hours of my day in the middle of the day but aside from that I finished washing my clothes and then hanging them up later on in the day after I'd worked out on the arm bike for a while I'm just went about my Wednesday scenario. I did clean up the kitchen a the kitchen really needed it. I finally got my long-term cooker clean to the point that I could put it back in its casing slide to the back of the countertop. Actually, after a few days I finally did get the rest of the kid letter sent out- - remember, I had to get to the credit union to get some cash out so I'd have enough money to stuff the envelopes with? Well I finally did all that it was good to get that done into the mail this morning that did take a weight off my mind.

I know it's kind of dull for the day and it was a beautiful day I should be shot for not going outside and doing stuff but I did get what I needed to get accomplished and that feel good aside from that I'm looking forward to a night without stress and the hopes of a civilized and social coffee social tomorrow at the weekly social and being around to speak with Robert when he comes to pick up my power chair to take in to see about getting new power motors put on so I'll have a functional backup chair aside from that it's been pretty much a woeful Wednesday.

Ps. I made the mistake of watching a couple of Utah Jazz basketball games couple weeks ago and now I'm sort of committed to watching this team lose over and over again so frustrating. I've been watching the game this evening not because I'm a supportive for that jazz guy but more because I want to see how much they can lose or how consistently they can lose. Or maybe it's me maybe I'm such a bad luck entity that just by watching the game their luck changes to bad the last couple games I've watched they've lost and I haven't watched they won I don't want to say there's a pattern there but there does seem to be a pattern there. I wish I were that powerful I know that I'm not but now I'm like the Greek character who's doomed to push the rock up the hill for eternity Sisyphus or whatever Doom the watch game after game as they lose over and over again

Tuesday's Predicament

 I lost another totally beautiful day today! I was all dressed and ready to head out it's Tuesday so I dress myself and was doing great until halfway through my morning procedure of dressing and such that I started feeling pressure on my bowel yep like I had to poop and I think it was more significant than usual like for sure if I didn't do anything soon I would be in a mess. So with great reluctance I called my person over at assist where my meeting was today and let him know that I was not going to be able to get in. The way I was feeling I knew that if I travel anywhere on my chair or with my chair as well as on the bus that I'd be having a major bowel blowout and not too long. I pretty much had this feeling all day that I was close to having to poop. I even called my home health person to put her on alert. I didn't think I heard back from her but when I checked my cell phone tonight in fact she had responded and wanted to know if she wanted to come over and assist in any way. I couldn't believe it it was like half an hour to an hour after I called her but I didn't check for like 3 or 4 hours. I don't know why my phone isn't alerting me to when I have these messages coming in. Kind of freaks me out but anyway that tag went on off and on all afternoon and now it's almost bedtime and I have a pooped but I feel like I might and I remember the last time I felt like this to a certain degree when I rolled into bed I did poop so I don't know if it's going to happen tonight or not but I'm going to cover my bed with blue sheetsavers and see if I can catch most of the stuff if it does happen on these pads bed pads. My person will be in earlier than usual tomorrow and so if there are issues we'll clean it up then I guess. But I just basically just hung out at the apartment all day watched a couple of movies and that was basically it. I was impressed that the coffee container/ pot that I ordered yesterday came in and I was able to drag it in from the outside hallway and get it on the table and open it up. I've got the little doohickeys fixed into the top now so that it will fit underneath the coffee maker. Need to rinse out the coffee maker I think that's the adult thing to do.

The kitchen is becoming a mess again dropped nuts on the floor then being rolled over by my chair as well as Ritz crackers that looks pathetic. Dripped juice on the floor from the pickled pepper concoction that I have during the day so there's pickles that have escaped and hit the floor as well as pickle juice that's escape the handle of the device I used to fish the peppers out of the brine. I also had some roast this morning I'm wondering if the roast is too rich I haven't had it for some time but sure been good but maybe it's not well for me. Other than that districts are piled up I'm still haven't got things cleaned up from when I made the roast. I might do that tonight who knows what I can do before I hit the sack hopefully the extra movement will cause me to poop. I wish I could just get back to some form of the malacy and stop missing meetings…

Brothers Help

 I must say it's kind of weird but the weather outside is delightful it's not at all frightful. It feels more like spring than winter and technically we are still in autumn but we should have much colder weather and much more snow. But putting that aside it's certainly nice to get out and about. Finally, today I jumped on the bus and went down Redwood Road till I got to my bank, Mountain America Credit Union, I could finally get some money/ cash to finish the December mail out. It's getting pretty late in the month that kind of perturbs me a little bit but it'll have to slide this month and hopefully it'll be just as well. While I was at the credit union I once again got new PIN numbers. It's really drives me crazy but I guess it's for my own good. Probably forgot the last pin numbers they gave me probably this summer so I couldn't use the cash machine nor could I get the money from the service desk at my local market. Or I could even use the cash machine at the community college just down the road MCU has an ATM at the community college. I'm surprised always how long it takes to accomplish anything doing public transit. You only probably do one or two items a day with any effectiveness so after my Mountain America Credit Union work I stopped off at my local market and picked up my baclofen which I dropped off last week and forgot to pick up when I left the market. I got a couple other things while I was there. Like I said feels good to be out and about again.

I was home again for a little bit actually I was actually working out on my arm bike when my brother called and was interested in coming back and working on some more stuff at the apartment. And soon he was back he was here we are both working at trying to fix the shower chair that has a Caster that's gone bad and it's really a puzzle for my home health person myself to get me around in and out of the shower sometimes when the cast are freezes up because the bearings are long gone. We spent a lot of time going over the shower chair trying to get any contact information possible let me finally did but by the time we got the phone number called it was way too late they had gone home for the day. Tonight I was looking at the materials and I think now I know how to go about at least sizing the Caster that I need so I don't act totally stupid if and when they should call after I left a message on their answering service. I really enjoy working with my brother again it's been a long time since I've seen him I'm glad that he's well and doing fine and healthy. Interestingly enough, my other brother called today and we spent some time visiting. He always calls when he sends me money for my birthday or for Christmas to let me know that the money is coming and to be sure that I get the money or the envelope that's coming in as soon as possible. It was good to talk with him as well. I wish the three of us get together and iron out some of our differences that would be sort of fun if not healthy

Sunday supports

I am so lucky or blessed are both. Today of course was breakfast over at the restaurant not far from my apartment complex. The place we go every Sunday morning. A darken ed moist morning not a lot of rain just a mist at least it wasn't snow I was thankful for that. My chair that I've been using, the backup chair seems to be getting worse and worse. Fortunately Sunday morning is very little traffic on Redwood Road which I have to cross to get to the restaurant. But the chair was pulling a little to the left more so than usual but I didn't think much about it until I got to the restaurant parking lot and my granddaughter's boyfriend came out to greet me. They had been watching for me. By then my chair was actually almost not going forward at all and tending to go around in circles if I let it but if I'm patient I could go a little bit in a forward motion. Follow it a good breakfast and good conversation Marc Anthony basically pushed me home and we looked at my chair a little bit but couldn't find anything that we could figure out to make it any better. At least I was home and I have Netflix and the Disney Channel so I can keep myself occupied if nothing else which I pretty much did till a little after lunch when I decided I would call my older brother who's very mechanical is good at this kind of stuff.

Fortunately he was there at his house and came right over and soon began tickering with my chair no matter what we did we couldn't resolve what I think is a bad motor. Then we looked at the other chair the one the newer one that I seem to be having problems with but at this point in the game to have anything that would let me go from point A to point B in a straight line I would totally cover it. We examined the chair very carefully or at least Carl did and he has a much better eye for this kind of stuff that I do. Essentially, he could find nothing wrong and I guess that's good enough for me. He looked at the end of carriage and the Fasteners and he looked at bolts and nuts and make sure everything was tightened up and everything looked okay. Before I left I had him sling me up and put me in the big chair and I've been using it ever since. I swear it was listed on me the other day when I thought that the seat was for sure broken. It looks like I'm back in the race and now I have to figure out a way to get my power chair, my backup chair over 

Tto you cat just see if I can put new Motors on the thing.

Today's experience sure makes me thankful for the chair that I've got. And really makes me Focus on making sure I have a backup chair. The weekend has been totally enlightening in that category. I should be playing catch up all week. I've got to get cash for the kids letters and just get cash. After all it's Christmas……

Satisfying Saturday

 You know when you have one of those extraordinary events you just leaves you almost in disbelief? Well I had one of those last night. I actually turned the light off at 11:30 p.m. after reading a couple chapters then slept till about 5:30 or so and then laid around till 6:00 a.m. and got up. It was a great night no disruptions, no gaseous events or happened to get up a pee or anything else like that. I don't have those nights very often and truly appreciated coming through last night as well as I did to the point that even though the weather seems somewhat inclement I went out and did some shopping for groceries and such. I went out shopping after I went out to coffee which is by myself by the way since my coffee partner didn't show up today which is okay no big deal but it's always nice to have someone to visit with when you're drinking coffee and trying to look cool at 9:30 in the morning. However, the big event of my day was purchasing a beef roast!

It's been quite a while since I actually cooked a roast and felt a little uncomfortable but I gritted my teeth and went for it. I purchased a $21 roast! I can't believe I spent that much money on a piece of meat basically just for me. It was a beautiful piece of meat and I was pleased when I got home to find out that I could easily put my hands on the slow cooker and all the parts. You know what now that I think about it I bought the roast last night and put it on this morning before I went to coffee across the street. I cooked it all day and it was pretty decent by the time I finally dug into it this evening. I was going to put vegetables with it but I never got to that point I lost interest after the potatoes I purchased a few weeks ago had gone around the band and decided just to go for the meet. Of course to finish product is not as picturesque as the starting piece but still it was kind of fun. I'm going to put the roast as it's cooled into a plastic bag and throw it in the refrigerator to enjoy this coming week and then Harvest the juice and use it for gravy for the coming week as well I don't know if I'll make it but we'll see either way it's going to be fun I just know it. The biggest issue however is it took a toll on the kitchen and I think once I get the roast put away and the gravy accumulated I'm just going to let it go until Monday. Sometimes  the best you can do. I'm still in the middle of doing my mail out. Those letters that did not need cash in them mainly the ones going to grown ups are pretty well mailed out now I'm not going to be able to mail anything more until I can get to the bank Monday or whenever. I thought I could sneak some money with my debit card at the market or the cash machine but for some reason I cannot remember my password or whatever that is I need to get money out when I want it. The secret number or whatever it is. Got to go set up another one on Monday when I get the cash for the Christmas letters but then I won't need the secret number change. It's all such a drag…

December already?

 It's official, we turn the page, it's December 1 2023. I could say unbelievable but I use that term way too much it just is. It's the last month of the year and it's Christmas time and fortunately for me there is a break in the clouds this afternoon which allowed me to run to the market pick up a few items before the clouds roll back in tonight and do some snowing. I don't think we're going to get much snow here on the floor but it's just the idea that storms are coming and I don't want to be in need over the storm.. I almost dropped the hammer last night or this afternoon or this morning and setting up an account for home delivery. I did this in large part because of the cold weather as well as a funky wheelchair that I don't have a whole lot of faith in but it keeps getting me to where I need to go. I've been trying for 2 days now to get the stupid guy over at the wheelchair shop to call me back to set up an appointment to pick up my chair, my main chair, that needs to repair. He must not like me as much as I dislike him. And it's not that I dislike him I don't know it just seems flaky. But anyway I figured in this inclement weather time when it does snow a lot I am housebound/ apartment bound and maybe it's time that I really consider home delivery shopping for groceries I got to the park where I was trying to pay for what I had ordered and it wouldn't take any of my information even if I tried to use another paying system through the Google Network. It was just enough frustration for me to just put on my jacket and head across the street. I still think I need to at least get registered with this organization so if I do need home delivery I can get it. Have I ever mentioned that next to my grocery store is a dollar store? I don't know if it's all a dollar or what but they have milk in sealed containers that can be put into storage. I like the milk and use it on a daily basis just because it's good and the boxes are square that can handle it very easily and I can have a pile of cartons of milk in my closet to use as I need but I'm currently almost out. Today when I went to the market I stopped by the dollar store and got me three quarts of whole milk my favorite. I was carrying a lot of stuff actually and I had plastic bags full of sliced peppers which are kind of heavy and the three quarts of milk are pretty heavy too. Anyway I got home and I only had one quart of milk and I was just too exhausted to go out and try to find out where I dropped him. I think what happened was the fat sacks for two low and rubbed against the wheel which or a hole in the bags and I dropped the milk. I should have had two bags or three bags and thickness but I didn't and I should have had a basket but I had not done that either I just wanted to run over and run back. And like a white American I figured well it's only $1.25 a box I can lose it. And I can live off the one quart of milk for some time. But I still might go over tomorrow before the storms come replace two more items of milk and maybe a couple more cans of peppers

So long November

I was really quite proud of myself for staying on task most of the day. I wasn't going anywhere that's for sure the only was it too cold my power chair is just real finicky right now and I want to stay close to home as much as possible. But I spent a good part of the morning finishing the letters as far as the dictation went then I decided I'd see what I can do for printing. I got the envelopes printed and then I actually figured out my tablet to the point where I could print right from my tablet to my main printer. The only issue I have now is that I don't have the cash I would like the stuff the envelopes for Christmas. Maybe tomorrow I can Dash too A Credit Union and get a number of twenties for the kids. I've got to be careful however and make sure they get to the actual people they're supposed to and not get taken by mail thieves. Thank goodness today we started back with our Thursday morning coffee group. It was not well attended however which is kind of a drag. We've missed two weeks with Thanksgiving and I can't remember the other reason maybe that's why however attendance was poor today. But the coffee was good and those who did show up we had some good conversation. I was yanked out early however because my technician my wheelchair technician showed up and I had to go to the apartment to show him the problem is I was having with the chair. It took a minute or two but I was able to finally show him the issue with the seat which seems to be disconnected from the main base of the power chair. Of course he's not going to be able to do anything to rectify the problem. I'm going to have to send the whole kit and Kaboodle into the shop again and who knows how long that's going to take. The good thing if there is anything from this whole scenario is that I'm learning the process a little bit better. My technician is a man of great patience and it's taking a lot of time and abuse and trying to school me on the proper way to work within his organization and get supports for my power chair. We did come to the conclusion not for the first time but I am super hard on my equipment. It's not my fault, he says, but it is me and I have to take some responsibility if not most of the responsibility. Chairs as fragile as these elevator chairs tend to be may not be the right mix for me. However I would have a hard time now trying to exist without an elevated chair. Being able to raise a couple feet like it does me certainly helps me through my day. So hopefully, bye next week I hope I have a chair that is functional again. So hopefully I'll have the letters folded in their envelopes tomorrow and stamped and just maybe I can get everything out by tomorrow evening. I would like to have had it done before the first of the month but some things just take time…

Hump Day Hassles

 It was so weird last night when I finally went to bed. My stomach have been gurgling and making weird noises all day nothing different really than usual. I felt that I just had a lot of gas and that once I hit the mattress at the end of the day I would just shoot it all out my system well on his way off on that. When I rolled off my chair onto the bed I did break air but a lot of it was poop. Fortunately I was able to minimize a lot of the poop creep but it was still there I wish I had a towel or something which I could have used to wipe things up luckily I did have a diaper that I had stuck on the bed for that very reason it didn't catch a lot of the poop but it got enough thank goodness and luckily Melissa had a mattress protector underneath the sheets. It wasn't as bad as it really could have been. I'm just hoping now my stomach will settle down and I'll stop the girdles as well as the fear that I'm going to have a bowel explosion.

I am so blessed in that Melissa has no problem with any of the issues I have particularly with poop issues she just jumps in cleans everything up and tells me not to worry that's not a problem. This morning she stripped the bed right off and started two loads of wash as well as washed down my wheelchair cushion in my power chair. On top of sweeping the floor and making the apartment look really good. I am so fortunate to have Melissa in my life I hope we can continue to be together for some time. She does a great job and I really cannot fault her particularly with the struggle she has in her regular life. He's quite fun to have around.

On top of everything else that was happening this last 24 hour. I thought that I had one more day before my toenail appointment but it was today. Last night before I rolled into bed I had plugged in my chair to get charged but the charger wasn't plugged in all the way so it looked like I was getting a charge but I was not. So when I woke up I only had 3/4 of a charge in my battery really not enough to go from her I need to go on the bus to the end of the line and jump another bus to go further and then still have to roll a couple blocks today's appointment was just not going to work. Luckily I did call the podiatrist gave her/ the receptionist my problems and she forgave me the 20 bucks penalty fee if you call to cancel your appointment within the 24-hour window. They indicated today that I would be okay since it wasn't my fault. Like I said it's been a busy 24 hours and I've been watching the Utah Jazz get their butts kicked so I think it's about ready time for me to get to bed with the diaper ellipsis

I suffer

 I think I'm doomed to exist in bad poorly built power chairs for the rest of my life. I may be overreacting a little bit but this is the second day in my backup chair, which I am pleased to punch to have, but is really unworthy and unreliable I think. I I can't really use the chair outside of my apartment or maybe the local community to some degree but for things like getting on and off the bus and finally it's just too difficult with the poor motor that it has on the left side. The motor for some reason will not power up enough to power the wheel and so everything pushes to the left and takes me forever to try to get my chair situated in the wheelchair tie downs that people in chairs must deal with when riding the bus. To make matters worse I was kind of hoping that my technician guy was going to be here today at 9:00 a.m. this morning. We set it up yesterday when he couldn't make it yesterday and of course he didn't show. I wasn't too surprised and by that time I had called the office and told them I wasn't coming in for today's meeting and they seemed okay with that but still I hate looking like a flake and I hate when my equipment makes me look like a flake. He finally called this evening about 5:30 to let me know that he had forgotten me earlier in the morning. Now we're set up again I think for Thursday morning sometime after my coffee break or coffee Club. The sad part is that even if he does show up I don't think there's going to be a whole lot he's going to be able to do. I think it's going to be one of those situations where they take my chair in to the shop and then return it when it's repaired.

The power chair has been sitting in my bedroom all day. It's out of the way so it's no problem for me getting around but what's odd is how functional it looks I've tried to push it here and there see if I can make the seat come precariously loose like it did the other day but it doesn't seem to do that now I will have to maybe have my person put me in seat tomorrow to see if it messes up on me. I would hate to have her put me in a chair only to have to have her come back and pull me out and put me back in my backup chair. It's so frustrating. I really actually like this backup chair that I'm in if only the foot box was a little bit bigger and that motor was repaired or replaced. I don't think they'll repair or replace just one motor I think it's like tires you have to replace both of them to do it right. However I think if I get the other chair functional again, which I will, I'm going to dump some money into this chair at least get that motor Replaced so I don't have to suffer so much. I'm pretty pathetic at how much I suffer

Questionable

Yep you're correct that's my power chair the one that I just got back from the shop about 2 or 3 weeks ago and once again I'm not in it. I don't know what happened but this morning when I got up and got into my chair as okay for a few minutes then something happened and something shifted in my chair and I went almost to one complete side like tilted over to the right side. I didn't fall out of my chair or anything- - though I think that I probably could have- - but I was totally uncomfortable and had to deal with that uncomfort until my home health person got here about 2 hours later. She got me in my sling Lifted Me Out of the chair and we tried to find out what was wrong but that was a no use it did straighten itself back out once I got out of the chair and my home health person sat in the chair and sort of straighten it back out again but I don't know what happened but it's totally frustrating. I spent all day putting calls into my technician who finally called me at the end of The Working Day which meant that he wasn't coming out to look at the chair today. We finally decided on tomorrow at 9:00 a.m. which I don't think is going to help me very much even if he can somehow put a fix on the chair. I have a 11:30 a.m. meeting tomorrow morning I doubt I'm going to be able to make it because all I've got is my backup chair and now it's having issues but I don't really dare take it out if I can help it. I think I'm losing the motor on the left hand side cuz I can't barely get the chair to turn to the left side. I'm afraid I'm going to have to have the chair shipped back into it shop and have them do some work on it. I don't know how long that will take I hope it will not be weeks like the last time. I'm past the point of being angry, or getting angry or yelling at my technician or the people at the office or whatever because obviously this chair is going to be my challenge for the rest of its duration. I know I still have a couple years to go before I'm eligible for another chair and just leaves me frustrated.

It's the December cold snap a group of days when the temperature doesn't get above freezing and it's really not enjoyable and probably even dangerous to go outside for any significant amount of time especially with the chair that's not dependable. Hopefully, I will have my main chair repaired by Thursday when I have total Nail clipping appointment a few miles away that I can take the bus to. I think if I had to go to the podiatrist with my backup chair I could actually make it but would be a little uncomfortable. Hopefully we'll have decent weather for the next couple of days just cold. Possible snow at the end of the week but I'll stay in during that point in time right now I'm just thankful to have two chairs even if one is kind of questionable- - well they're both kind of questionable.. 

Simply Sunday

 It's a pretty charged Sunday evening. I'm not sure but I think I'm about ready to blow my pants. I wonder if I can get to bed if I do that I'll take the pressure off and maybe I can make it till tomorrow morning when it's time to shower and Melissa gets here. I don't think I've eaten that much this weekend and I did have a fairly decent poop on Friday but still I've certainly feel crampy tonight. I must confess though it is Thanksgiving weekend which means I may have eaten more than usual. That thought crossed my mind this morning at breakfast with Marc Anthony and the kids. I ordered sausage and gravy biscuits ate quite a bit of it and that was about the real only meal that I really had for dinner I made some concoction of chili from Melissa with three tamales from the can. It was pretty good maybe a little spicy but not too bad but still again more food in filling up that bowel even though it's at the top of the stomach. It's cold these days temperature didn't even get out of the low 30s. It wasn't too bad going to and from the restaurant. I wore the new sweatshirt Jasmine and Jackson got me for Thanksgiving. Fairly decently it's a little tight I just never be able to wash it in hot water that's for sure. But so cold though that I didn't have any desire to go anywhere once I got back from the restaurant. I'd pretty much did my usual of watching Netflix as well as old Marvel movies or whatever Disney has to offer and focused on trying to keep my anus closed so it's not let the poop out. Like I said just hope I can make it through the night I may have to get something to wrap up in.

I thought about starting my letters for December but I never got around to that point I'm a little gun shy now at least sending the girls and Shelly's letters because of the problems I've had trying to get letters through to them. I'll try again but this time I'll let Shelly know when I send them so she can be on the lookout. I've had the best idea regarding the problem I've had with trying to get parts of turkeys that I could have her Thanksgiving. What I plan to do maybe next year if I'm still around is to purchase a turkey I don't know late summer Early Autumn and cut it up and freeze portions of it and then cook just exactly what I need for my own Thanksgiving. That's the way to do it I don't know why I didn't come on that idea sooner. I think I've been relying on trying to have other people do it when seriously I think I could do it or at least supervise somebody else doing my turkey. I still like the idea of doing half a turkey at a time. I saw an interesting video this evening and how the sky cut the turkey all up to put into a cylinder to put into you know hot oil to cook it in deep fat frying oil thing that's the same thing I'm thinking of doing not not deep fat frying as much as just cutting up into individual pieces and then just roasted the individual pieces like a leg and an arm and a breast. That's the way to go that's the way to do it

Driveway Danger

 The temperature is way cold outside. We're getting that cold air from Canada I reckon. Even though the Sun was shining all day then looked inviting I didn't really leave the apartment till later on in the afternoon and that was just doing a fast shopping run across the street. Picked up a few things I really wanted to get by Sunday with so I'll be ready for Monday morning when Melissa shows up got some more bathroom cleaning materials got some grapes and some candy bars.

As I said it was very cold outside but I wanted to get these materials and get home and get warm a little bit before I went to bed sitting in front of the heater. I didn't take my basket with me which is probably a major mistake but I didn't have a really good hook with me either. I've been battling my feet all day the one right foot that pearls under and I have to do something with this padding that I have in here now cuz it's making my foot twist even more. So I asked my buddy at the produce area for a box and he provided me one just not bad I've had better boxes but this one will work. I did my shopping got the clean materials, fresh grapes and the candy bars that I think Melissa enjoys most. Coming back I had quite a bit on my lap I had to make sure that I had the Box hooked down appropriately. I'm a little vexed because of the construction that has almost got all the sidewalk completed except for there are a couple spots that have to force me into the street to go around the sidewalk area that's not fixed yet and normally this is done a major problem but tonight coming home from the market just outside of the market getting ready to head back towards the apartments I came off the sidewalk and somehow became High centered. You know like where the road is crowned and when you come off the sidewalk it comes down a little bit well I think because of the way that the groceries I was carrying over my lap in the Box whatever that it hit it just right so that the front end of my chair are front wheels hit the ground portion of the street and my back wheels and still come off leaving the drive Wheels not touching the concrete. I was totally high-centered I couldn't move no matter what I did and I didn't want to spill all my groceries but even then I was in a pickle. I sat there waving my arms frantically trying to get somebody's attention, it was almost completely dark at this point in time. I was hoping someone might come around the back way and then they would see me and I could flag them down. I guess the worst case scenario I guess I could have just called 911 we had the boys from the fire department rescue me but I wasn't ready to go to that point yet. Long story short somebody did see me as they were coming around in fact he mentioned that he almost hit me which I don't really think the case but still I was in a precarious and a dangerous spot. Once back on the sidewalk however I was okay and zoomed right back to the apartment. It's cold like I said even with the heater going I'm still feeling kind of chilly and I think I'll have that same feeling tonight as I sleep through. Oddly I have not heard from mark Anthony yet. I assume we're going to breakfast in the morning but usually I hear some Intel from him regarding the meet up we'll see. I suppose I'll get up early anyway get dressed and hang around until I find out whether or not they're coming and if they're not then I'll make garbrock if they are I'll just have my regular…

Adult lunch

It was almost 7:00 before I got up this morning that rarely happens. I didn't sleep all those hours that's for sure but I didn't realize the time was getting away with me as fast as it was. I must have dozed off a little bit after I saw the clock reading at about 5:45 a.m. and the next thing I knew it was 7:00 a.m. but I was able to get up and get most of the stuff done before my home health person got here. Kind of excited for the day my ex is in town and we're planning to go to lunch. Of course that means public transit for me and the bus system all seem to be messed up because they were running on but they call the Holiday system and times are all a little bit different. I ended up having to call the agency because none of the internet bus system times seem to be operating.

I was dressed in red for the most part today except for my shorts with your black but I'm wearing the red sweatshirt my granddaughter gave me a Thanksgiving and then I had my red leg blanket( that garment I wear around my legs in the winter time) which was red I was Mr color today which is so different than my regular Grays and blacks which I tend to like to wear. I was a little bit late to the meeting after all I am writing public transit and there's a lot of waiting that goes on but by just a few minutes maybe 10 or 15. Diane, my ex was with one of my old best friends for my working days Amy where Diane is staying. We made it this French type restaurant Bakery. You know those fancy Dancy joints that a lot of women like to go to has a lot of cute little Bakery things and coffee and tea and all kinds of upper middle class weird things. They do have a good menu I was surprised I was able to get a half a sandwich that sandwich with sauerkraut and stuff on it and corned beef plus a bowl of soup which I can't remember what kind it was right now just the kind of got the cheese in it and some kind of broth onion French onion soup. I always forget how difficult it is to eat french onion soup especially with a a spoon that's pretty small even if it's a soup spoon if it's not large enough it's hard to Corral all that cheese floating on the top of the soup. Diane paid for lunch I was going to but she paid for it anyway which is okay with me I'm not proud. But we had a long talk it was good we must have spent two hours there before he finally broke up and went home. I think I kind of overdressed for the event as far as blankets and hoods that I had wrapped around my shoulders for warmth and such. It was fun to sit and visit and go over some of the old things from the old days since we all seem to use to work with the same people. Diane's not in town long should we headed back to Arizona in a day or so and we'll all get on with our lives but it was so great to have some time and go out to a restaurant and visit with friends like real people do…

Thursday feels like Sunday

 It Feels Like Sunday. I have to keep reminding myself every time I think about tomorrow that tomorrow is actually Friday and not Monday if that makes any sense. Well there is more action than I anticipated I would experience this Thanksgiving. I was contacted early on by Marc Anthony indicating he wanted to come over as well as the kids. Which was fine with me but at the same time I was pretty highly motivated to put my idea of two TV dinners mixed together into motion. Remember last night or yesterday afternoon when my home health person is here she actually put together my green bean casserole so all I had to do was put that in the oven and cook it for a while and I was also at the same time trying to figure out how to do the sweet potato casserole. I had actually found a can of sweet potatoes for my neighbor and so I was kind of jazzed for that so I wanted to have my lunch around 12:00 noon so they said the kids wouldn't come over till a little bit later.

I don't know if I'll try this ever again but it certainly was doable. I figured what I would do was to cook each microwave dinner halfway through then dump the contents of each dinner on a plate the same plate then microwave the whole plate until it was good and hot and edible. I cooked them at first about 4 minutes what are the dinners got fairly done and the other one still had a block of ice that look like for the mashed potatoes. It took a while of microwaving and a whole lot of faith and Hope but by the time I had microwave for about 7 to 10 minutes the concoction was boiling down to a fairly recognizable dinner of turkey Parts mashed potatoes and a little bit of dressing. There was so much food on the plate I never did get a chance to really serve up any green bean casserole and I sort of gave up a totally on the sweet candied yams. I just didn't have any brown sugar and it looked pretty complicated but I did put together something I found an 8x8 pan deep in my closet and just dump the whole can of yams that have sweet juice with them into the pan then dumped a bunch of ancient marshmallows I've had forever on top my mistake was there was too much juice in the candy jams so it was very soupy and I didn't even want to try to lift that out of the oven I think I'll have Melissa do that tomorrow when she gets here and then put the whole kitten Kaboodle down the the disposal. It's no great loss and I had a fairly decent Thanksgiving dinner. It wasn't beautiful and it wasn't a bunch of Turkey and photo perfect mashed potatoes and gravy as well as dressing and cranberries but it was enough to get the whole concept across and not break my back with time spent trying to prepare and then trying to save afterwards. As I indicated, I have enough left over to have one more meal particularly if I were to warm up some green bean casserole and I still have the box of stove top dressing that I purchased for backup. If I had more turkey parts I would probably shoot for another total meal but as it is I'll just have what's left. It will taste great. The only thing I did not get was pumpkin pie and whipped cream or whatever. That would have been perfect and I guess I could have ran over and cut the pie but I just sort of wanted someone to bring me a piece of pie is that too weird? Jasmine was talking like she was going to bring me over some pie but I don't think that came about. They were going over to her mom's families place and I think Jackson's as well and they were going to try to score the pie then but like I said I have not heard anything and it's just as well I'm sure I put enough calories on this week just as it is. Luckily I did not get much damage done to the kitchen so it's still relatively in good shape. It's going to be severely cold the next couple of days so I don't plan to be out anymore than I have to. But Dianne flew in today and I think I'm going to have to meet her and Amy for lunch tomorrow down in Midtown area almost 30th South. I imagine it'll be cold but it'll be nice too see the people. Enjoy the rest of the weekend.

Pecan pie day

 

It's quite funny how a day begins when you think you pretty much know how the day is going to go and all the sudden one thing happens and everything changes. That's kind of Tina what happened today this day before Thanksgiving. Of course it's Wednesday which means it's my day for a program and shower and in the midst of that this operation I mentioned that had not heard from my previous Home Health person G for some time and I was hoping that she's okay. Melissa who is my current Home health person indicated that she would give her a text message just to see what's going on and she did and to my surprise Gloria shows up about 2:00 this afternoon!

I have to admit things about getting a little out of hand at the old apartment lately. I haven't really done any real upkeep aside from just the day-to-day survivable shelf space here or tablespace there to just do the essentials. There's been no cleaning to speak of. My Melissa just does so much and I am pleased with what she does and haven't really pressed her to do any housekeeping for say. She does the occasional sweeping and some mopping on the floors periodically but that's just about it. And she will do anything I ask her to actually anything from meal prep to washing my clothes or at least starting the wash we're having to leave then I can finish it up without having to do a lot of the lifting that I usually do when I have to wash myself. So having Gloria come, who was aghast at disarray throughout the apartment. But she went to work I have to bet she was a bit Tanked and I offered her a little incentive as well with one of my frozen margaritas in the freezer. But she did more than she usually does which is basically just the kitchen she worked in the bedroom and just a little bit in the bathroom. If I could catch her with as much as zealous as she had today we could do the whole apartment but as it is I'm pleased with what we were able to get done and make me feel that I'm ready for the holiday whichever comes. In fact Gloria went so far as to forward together the green bean casserole. I was a little bummed out because I couldn't find any yams or sweet potatoes to put together the candied yams but I guess I have to get by with what I have. She left I gave her addition amount of money to fuel her Thanksgiving Day holiday whether it's hard booze or cigarettes or both to some degree you can only do so much with $40 especially with $10 of that being in quarters for her wash.

As I mentioned I was totally out of sweet potatoes so I was thinking that why don't I just knock on a few doors in my apartment complex and see if anybody had a can that they could spare I didn't need a lot just enough for a taste. Anyway just as I was leaving my door my next door neighbor across the hall was pushing a small with a carton of ice cream and a number of pecan pies pieces on little plates she's going around offering them to people for Thanksgiving! Long story short I got a great piece of pie and ice cream and when I asked her if she had any yeah those are sweet potatoes she came across the cab the sweet potatoes. I don't know if I'll have the energy tomorrow to put together a sweet potato casserole but you never know I certainly have enough for my own Thanksgiving dinner Come What May. The only thing I don't have is a pumpkin pie piece and you never know what will happen in the day's time….

Timely Tuesday

We didn't have enough names or records to pull together a meeting at assist this week which is just as well it being Thanksgiving weekend all. So I didn't have to go into the city at least all the way to her assist ink is at. With the time that I had when I spoke with Kim likely the other day I suggested that we meet today and we decided to do so at 10:30 a.m.. that's a good time except for it's just the middle of the day and I have to figure out something to occupy myself as the clock strikes closer and closer to that time I have to make connections with the 47 over to the bus station train station and then I decided that will take the 200 into the Independent Living Center. I get up and make pretty good time no really good time I had breakfast, coffee did a game or two on the word mix up. I got dressed pretty quickly so it was a fast morning which means I had to wait about 45 minutes until it was time to catch the bus which I did. And I caught the train and I made pretty decent time finally getting off route 201 across the street from what used to be the badass coffee company which is now turning into something else. And then I motored into the office.

I was meeting with Kim today since he's associate director there at the Independent Living Center. He and I go back a long long time. I wanted to get some sense of what was expected of me as a board member particularly as a financial group member. I just don't know how severe or how significant they expect this job to be done. If it's just reading the report every month about the status of the bookkeeping that's one thing both they expect a full-fledged Financial person that's quite another. When I told Shelly about this opportunity to be a board member and that they stuck me on a financial committee she thought that was a great idea and I could actually go to different videos on the internet basically teaches someone how to be a board member and probably even the financial board member. At least you can learn that jargon for finances probably better than I already have luckily I listen to Marketplace which has been sort of a teaching thing as well. Well the meeting with Kim was okay we really didn't get anything accomplished to speak of except visiting and that was good maybe even worth the whole trip. He did finally link my tablet and sign and cell phones to the website of the Independent Living Center and to the special Communications folders that the board is privy to. I have not checked them myself since I pretty much been on the run for a large part of the day.. after the Independent Living Center I got off the bus and rolled for the graveyard over to the market and purchased more jalapeno peppers sliced, candy bars, potato chips, and vegetables to put in my sliced pepper concoction cucumbers and tomatoes. Then I came home did a late workout on my bike for 60 minutes been kind of had dinner and that was it for the day it went pretty fast. Outside it wasn't bad today I wore my red coat but even then the sun was out and after the morning cold had been burnt away it was a pretty nice day to be out and about. Wasn't too cold for me tomorrow should be about the same but I don't know where I'll be going tomorrow since it's wash day and I want to stick around and make sure I get that done but Thanksgiving is the day after that so I got to make one last step to make sure I have what I need to have for my little meager Thanksgiving dinner. Today I got two I got two turkey dinners one with dressing one with mashed potatoes and gravy I'm going to cook them both together and sort of mix them together on Thanksgiving so I'll have a full Thanksgiving dinner I also got a box of hamburger help not Hamburger Helper but turkey dressing and stove top which means I'll have backup dressing in case I run out of the dressing from the frozen dinners to buy Marie Callender and I expect them to be pretty decent. I'll be able to enjoy the Thanksgiving dinner on this minimal basis now I just have to figure out how to get a hold of a couple pieces of pumpkin pie. I guess I get a whole pie but just as soon have a pumpkin pie one or two pieces alone enough to get through the holiday…

Sunny Monday

 The sun shown beautifully today but the temperature was cold very cold. I probably should have gone more places today than I did but under the circumstances I felt somewhat please with myself to have gone to the one place that I did which was across the street to get my haircut. I really should have gotten the Harris cut last week and giving it more time to grow out by Thanksgiving but since I'll probably not be doing anything Thanksgiving anyway what the hell. I'm sure I will look just fine for the day of thanks. I'm in a bit of a quandary this year not sure what I want to do I keep vacillating between going to the market and getting a couple of heavy duty thanksgiving/ turkey deep dish TV dinners or just ordering Domino's on the eve of Thanksgiving and have delicious cold pizza for the day. Something to chew on as I watch movies and possibly a football game or two. That's right you can believe your eyes I might even watch a football game or even the basketball game. I'm finding watching the sport is a bit more interesting than I anticipated. I'm still not a great fond viewer of the sporting events but I find it kind of interesting to watch especially if I know the team in the game. Whether it's the local basketball team Jazz are University football teams IE Boise State, University of utah, Utah State or even teams from San Francisco I tend to support over any of the teams that might be playing though I still like the Crimson Tide just because I knew somebody who went to University of Alabama University whatever the school the Crimson Tide is. If it's the Jazz I kind of like to see him lose I know that's kind of bizarre but it's true just like with BYU root for any team against them pretty much. I even watched a little bit of pro football yesterday on Sunday. I marveled at how big some of those players are and holler able to move with the intensity that they tend to move with it just blows me away. It's a good way to crap out a weekend afternoon or a holiday afternoon when you're too tired to do anything else.

Dianne called this afternoon and she's flying into town sometime this week for Thanksgiving. We plan to get together maybe Friday for lunch before she flies back to Arizona. We're going to a place I've never been before some place like 27 South State Street area should be interesting it's a knock off of Gourmandise home by the same company same Bell affair. She'll be with Amy at least and maybe Amy's partner Linda. Should be an interesting lunch. I hope it's not too cold should be okay Cloud wise I don't think it should be precipitating. I hope this relocation too Arizona let's forget some peace of mind and enjoyment out of the rest of her life.

Favorites

 It has been dark overcast and rainy all day and it indeed did feel cool if not cold. Early on I Rose even though I didn't go out to breakfast but I turned on the heater by my computer system and made breakfast. That's about as active as I've been all day. Of course I watched a couple of movies but really enjoyed frying up the sausage and making french toast. The loaf of bread I got for the food bank last month was still in the refrigerator and on the verge of going back so I thought I'd better use it up as well as enjoy some french toast which I did along with the sausage. I of course have not seen anyone else all day. Haven't been to normal Sunday with mark Anthony being around I would have visited with him and the kids and even seen people at the restaurant and travel a little bit. That's okay I don't mind being quietly alone all day.

Tomorrow begins Thanksgiving week which is going to be pretty much the same except for in my mind I kind of celebrate the concept of Thanksgiving all week long. I really am thankful for what I've got, where I'm at and those I know. I'm going to start thinking of what and how I plan to celebrate the holiday. I'm not going to do a major cookout as I've done before I am going to think about picking up some high-end TV type dinners that would be Thanksgiving oriented IE turkey and our mashed potatoes and dressing. Maybe I can mix and match you know by a TV dinner with a lot of Turkey and mix it with another TV dinner that might have more dressing and mashed potatoes. I was thinking about this last night that might be the way to do it or maybe two TV dinners just so you'll have an abundance of the Thanksgiving items for your individual Thanksgiving meal that might be good too. Or, and I think it's too late to consider this now. Order one of those like homemade Thanksgiving meals brought to you by someone who does this for an ungodly amount of money but actually does taste like real life Thanksgiving. I don't know how much I was spend for such a treat but you know I'm worth it I don't know if I would spend that kind of money on myself but maybe just once. It may be the thing to do cuz I never knows if one's going to see the next Thanksgiving. And maybe, if the weather's good, which it's supposed to be, maybe I'll try to find a restaurant that's serving of Thanksgiving dinner. It would be nice if there was some place close by cuz I don't think bus services are going to be operating that day very much if at all. If I had a van but we know about that. I was kind of thinking of possibly ordering a decent Pizza on Wednesday and having it for Thanksgiving or even making the batch of Garb Rock I haven't done that for a while that would be sort of good too I have all kinds of options Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays…

Saturday's thoughts

 Well, today was the last good day for the next couple of days. Rain tonight and tomorrow and then the cold front comes down from Canada and might even bring snow to the valley floor but I would be surprised if that happens but just the same the only thing I did with the good weather today what's to run across the street and get a few things to cover me for tomorrow, sunday, and until the precipitation gets it out of its system. I have more than enough food and whatever but sometimes just to make sure I have backup treats I picked up another sack of Ginger Snaps and pretzel sticks. I'm really going through a a thing of pretzel sticks right now nice to have around. As far as real food goes I'm pretty well covered with canned meat up in the closet are covered spam and good old corned beef plus Frozen hamburger in the refrigerator freezer and who knows what else is up there. I have a couple pieces of mystery meat that I should use one of these days. I think it's some sort of pork product but I'm not certain. I think the pork product would fry up nice and perhaps I could use it in some secondary dishes. But that was it as far as traveling. I went up and checked the mail of course but I pretty much stayed in the apartment aside from a couple of garbage runs to make sure I had ample space to get me by until Monday. I'm thinking really heard about what to do about Thanksgiving. I'm not going out anywhere that I'm aware of and I certainly don't want to go through the process of cooking another turkey just for me that was a waste of time and effort and meat. I thought about going to the market again maybe on Wednesday and picking out either Frozen turkey dinner but the elite Upper Crust frozen turkey dinners or maybe just get turkey Frozen like a turkey roast and then make some dressing and such. Trouble is it's always a risk as far as getting a turkey roast it's always ends up being pressed meat, it's turkey that's been pressed into some sort of a shape that fits the package. I've thought about the old standby of buying a breast and cooking it which should be okay but that's a lot of white meat and you still have to mess up the kitchen- - even though it's a mess already. But it would be nice to have some sort of a token Thanksgiving dinner. Now of course the food bank is providing turkey dinners for many folks here at the apartment complex and all over Salt Lake we're talking about thousands of dinners which pretty much rests my case. I appreciate their efforts they do a great job but I've had their Thanksgiving dinner before which left a lot to be desired as well as cold and I guess I could microwave it heated up. I may have to consider that though I have not registered but they always say the they have backup meals for those who didn't registered still wants to dinner for one reason or another. I'm not going to worry about Thanksgiving dinner it's going to come and it's going to go and I just want to make sure I get a piece of pumpkin pie….

Autumn Leaves

 Another beautiful day I completely blew off under the excuse of I had to wait for my wheelchair technician to get here and fix my chair. Granted I was ready to go at 10:00 this morning that's when Melissa finished me after the morning program and theoretically I didn't think my technician would be here till close to 5:00. So in reality I could have gone somewhere and done a lot of stuff I've had really wanted to. I could have done some shopping could have caught the bus and got some other shopping done I could have gone out and done something but I elected to stay in enjoy my apartment maybe I could hide behind the concept of I had to take it easy because of my taking the medications I'm taking but that would be the LIE. Truth of the matter is I just wanted to hang out watch some more Netflix or prime enjoy my little apartment.

I woke up sleepy. I guess I didn't sleep well through the night I had to wake up at 3:00 a.m. to drain which took a little bit of technique and stress but I was able to get back to sleep not having to wake again till about 5:25 am or so. I ate a lot of pickled peppers today along with cucumbers and such. I have a need to dice up another cucumber now and maybe the rest of the tomatoes through in another can of peppers before I hit the sack or maybe when I first get up I like doing it before I go to bed because when I get up they've had time to cool down, meld and basically get it together. I'm still going through the cans extremely quick. I don't think it's doing me any damage per se and certainly not adding up any calories at least I don't think significantly. Now the amount of nuts I'm eating is another issue entirely but I eat them one pinch at a time so I don't really eat a whole lot at once maybe three or four pieces usually the cashews at this point. My rationale this week is at I'm calling this a salad since I'm not really mixing the drinks as much as I used to I'm actually fishing the peppers out of the big container with a slotted spoon, a big slotted Serving Spoon. I certainly get a lot of peppers and maybe that's why the whole thing's going quickly. I thought about going back to the giant cans even though I don't necessarily like the outfit that's got them in the local stores but it's really not that much more expensive than buying four or five cans of the smaller cans. It's all good I look forward to eating them with cottage cheese then it'll be like a real salad. Speaking of not being able to eat dairy, my last Cipro tablet will be taken tomorrow. Obviously I screwed up somewhere in the week and taken one pill more than I should have or less than I should have cuz I have, after tonight, just one tablet left I should have two to finish it out the way it should be. I am really looking forward to getting back on Dairy though I really have to admit I might be feeling a little bit better all around not having any dairy in me to speak of. Melissa swears dairies detrimental and I've certainly played that car before. It used to be such a dynamic discussion regarding the dairy industry pushing their evil product on the American public in the world stressing the thought that bovine milk was good for us.

Like I said the day was beautiful probably pretty warm outside, I don't think I went out once today, I've included in tonight's photographs images of my favorite trees across the street from my apartment more specifically directly across from my bedroom window. It's taking him a while this year to deck out in there Autumn Glory but the trees finally got there and I'm enjoying them every bit