Making it through Monday
Good morning,
We’re up and have just finished eating cereal and am trying to convince the kitty we don’t want to pet her ALLL the time! She’s being pathetic though … laying on our mouse with chin draped over wrist. Hmpf!
Damn moved the coffee cup and she sidled right in. I think its sort of like Charlie Brown and Lucy where each season, she promises not to move the football, but invariably swoops it away as Charlie Brown goes to kick it. In our case, the kitties say, go ahead and move that coffee cup, we won’t like down between your arms … promise. Uh huh, uh huh.
Whoops false alarm we got very tired and then fell asleep for another two hours. We’re still groggy. We took our medicine and heated up our coffee.
Ok, this has not gone our way … fell asleep again … It’s now 9:15 am. We just umm wrestled with ourselves in the washroom. We’ll say maybe the vitamins and leave it at that.
Yes, we are pretty personal in this blog. Ok, let’s move it right along. We are feeling much better though haven’t focused too much on being up … I don’t think we’ve finished much past the first cup of coffee. We’d talked to V and missed our friend at 7 am. I think he was just going to say morning and run.
Hmm, my mother sent an email about a cousin of my father dying that we’d never heard of or met. Ok. I don’t need that kind of stuff. Then there is a lot of Flylady stuff in the email.
We weighed ourselves a few moments ago … 295.6. That seems pretty hard to believe, but that’s what she said …that be the lowest we’ve been so far and put the weight to 16.8 loss. Let’s hope for the best and not mess up, k? She suggests we also take our shower and get dressed. That might lead up to going to the gym too? Maybe? We are having trouble with our feet right now … they are pretty sore, but maybe if we got in the shower we could put some more of the special cream on them before putting on shoes. That would make it all better, right?
Just thinking we want a little time first. Why? I’m not sure … maybe because we don’t feel so up yet? That wouldn’t be the spirit though, would it? Maybe it’s best not to think about it so much, because then my mind sets up resistances. Ok, brb
Damn damn … had a little problem in the bathroom … the toilet overflowed. I set up towels, tried the plunger, then called our friend. He’s on his way over. Don’t dare take a shower at this moment. It’s 9:45, so I’m messin with the gym time. I’m soooo grossed out. Not sure what to think. I think if I could bury myself in a whole I’d be underground by now. Our friend is like its ok … just part of you, we’ll take care of it. But, this is not something you want anyone to ever see. Damn, damn. It was so horrifying to see the water spilling out … Don’t know what to think. I sure hope I didn’t get water on the guy down stairs. That would make things even more terrible. Our friend says that it will drain somewhat by itself. Shoot, shoot. Don’t know what to do. Let’s think reasonably. It’s not going anywhere. Ok, so do I get dressed, or stay in pajamas? And, if I get dressed do I get dressed in my gym clothes? I think I’d feel more comfortable dressed. Then I could fix feet and put on shoes. Ok, maybe that then. Hold on. Working through our crisis here.
Pshwoo … getting through things. We’re dressed, have shoes on, and hair up. AND, our feet are defoliated. Yes, there is no end to the gross things we discuss here. Bear with me … we’ll get back to regular … we just have to. I did a five minute pick-up that tookw 2 minutes. Everything is in order. Poured another cup of coffee. I went through Flylady’s list … we got up, weighed, didn’t shower but managed best possible, dishwasher is good, we ate, took medicine and vitamins and drank some water. We’ll wait the laundry on that load of towels on the bathroom floor and pretty sure the calander just says WORK! Tomorrow is Dr. M’s appointment and the endo doctor.
Flylady is in Zone #5 this week. Not sure what that is … might look it up in a few moments.
Ok, good … did another morning routine. I went and decluttered something. It might not have taken the full 15 minutes, but I got the area under the teacart in the bedroom. Now the only thing that is there is what is supposed to be there. Pretty much some old pictures, the telephone book, and some small cookbooks. We’re still having a problem with all the dust, but we’re not going there at this moment. Yesterday, we also made sure to scrub down the few places where the kitties had been and left a present. I know that is pretty gross, but it fits my day and was something that had to be tackled.
*Sigh* We’re feeling pretty lost here … our friend just left and he solved most the problems. He got it to go down by doing a better plunge than we had done. Then he threw the towels from the floor into the washing machine. Now we got 36 minutes to go down and put them in the drier. We have to wash the basket too. Then bring them up and STILL go to the gym. It’s a little trickier, because people are moving in across the hall. It is an Indian family with at least two children maybe the ages of my Grandchildren. Our friend said its one of those relationships where the wife maybe submissive to her husband, because of the way she lowered her eyes when our friend said hello. He says she’s about 30 some years old. I don’t know. I only saw the little girl who was 5 or 6 years old. She looked like she was a little frustrated with the day … Kind of like she wanted to know everything that was going on curious, but like it had probably been a stressful day and she was trying not to get in the way. She didn’t look so sure of us. We probably looked a little out of place because we have our hair up and our gym clothes on and am obviously to big to look much like an athlete, and probably way to old for all that too. I didn’t get a chance to see the mother yet and our friend didn’t mention how she dressed. Probably not in gym clothes though.
We washed the bathroom floor and through away the thing on the bottom of the swiffer. We’ll get a new one later. Our friend says we have to get maintenance to unstuck the handle that should have shut off the water if there was an emergency. And, he wants me to get them to clean the outside windows, but I think that is way too much mess. Especially since, I don’t really look out them, except the front balcony that is cleanable if you can stand up.
We talked about having maintenance come in to help with a few pictures and curtains in back. You know the ones we’ve been talking about for quite some time. He says that I’m to bring the drill home and withhold sex. I’m pretty sure he was being umm cocky about that, because he’s not going to want sex withheld. We’ve worked pretty hard over the years of not establishing that pattern. I wish I could go now and clear my head, but there is 25 minutes before I need to check. This day is getting away from me like most the others. If I knew what to put over the wall by the bedroom, I’d feel better about asking the maintenance people for help. Our friend says he doesn’t want anything there that might get knocked over. I’m thinking that we might have some cloth that might be decorative, or some favorite blanket or something, but it is buried in our bedroom closet. I’ll have to try for something creative. I think we are getting kind of light headed again. Wanted to hold up lunch for after the gym, but figuring we should probably check the blood glucose.
Hmm, not too bad … only 99. Ok, ok … we’re going to do this right. Need to wash the bowl. So far so good. 6 minutes left on the laundry. We better hold up on the bowl and just rinse, so we know we’ll make it back up those stairs. Stairs are very hard. I think we’re going to take some more of those boxes in back down too. We did that yesterday and felt better. Sometimes it takes our friend a long time to get to things. He usually gets the white garbage bags, but the empty boxes have been there for a long time. AND, they are in the way if I were to put up those curtains. It seems especially important now because we don’t know how often the new people are going to happen to glance in our place. I don’t want to give a poor impression. That’s usually how overweight, middle class, white women are. Oh please, please, let’s hope that we get a long. Still afraid of the possible position of women being submissive. I don’t want to be submissive to a new tenant. Ok, probably time to check things out. Timer’s going off, brb.
Damn … that hurt a lot AND we forgot to bring the boxes down. Weren’t we just talking about that? This is frustrating. We set the timer. I don’t know how well the gym is going to go. I think if we are going to go at all it will have to be in 43 minutes when we go down for the towels from the dryer. Maybe we can put them in our closet down there and bring them up later. Climbing the stairs is the particularly difficult thing. I’m feeling a little panic struck. Hmm, seems to be me all day. PLUS, I need to do something for work. That’s what I’m here to do.
Ok … breathe!!!!!! We’re back again … it’s been awhile. The time is quarter to 5 pm. We’ve since brought the clean towels up, talked to Deb AND our new neighbors, gone to the gym, and over to Walgreen’s. The most exciting part is that Deb motivated us to do some welcoming!!! We haven’t met the neighbors that just moved onto the second floor, but we did meet the neighbors across the hall. I think the kids names are Jennifer and Christopher. I’m not sure about the boy’s name. I didn’t catch the parents first round. We’re terrible remembering names and foreign ones are that much more difficult. Deb convinced us to that we could open the door and say hi. First time we did that we met the two kids in the hall. But, there parents were lugging up the couch, so we figured we better bide our time. After they got it up, we stuck our head out and we shared a couple of bananas. Wooo HOOO!! But, then again Deb reminded us that tomorrow was Halloween AND if we went to Walgreen’s, we would be able to make up a nice welcome basket.
So, that’s what we done! We found a plastic Tupperware type bowl and wrote a welcome note on it, Then in the center, we placed a very nice tall, thick candle. We figure that the couple is young enough to appreciate romance! Around the candle we wrapped a couple sheets of sparkly Halloween stickers for the kids. We included a couple of orange-pineapple drinks. I sure hope that will be ok on the kids stomach. Sometimes little ones don’t like their drinks mixed flavors. I got like 5 pretzel and cheese packages and stood them up like soldiers in front of the candle and juices. Then I sprinkled everything with little bite size milky ways and peanut butter cups. Can’t go wrong with them! And, then we just cellophaned over the top and tied it on. Wallah! Deb! I’m so proud of ourselves! We did good.
The lady already indicated that in a couple of weeks time the kids will be all over the place and we won’t be able to get rid of them. Hehehehe WELL, speaking as a professional grand mother, I certainly know how to send them back! BUT, in the meanwhile, I am taking very well to the idea that there should be small children around. They seem just the right ages to be delightful. They seem bright and curious. Please let us be a nice neighbor! No crabby stuff you! I don’t know why this couple seems different than the other people. Maybe because I’m still not sure if I’ve said hello to an older teenage daughter or the mother. We’re thinking since she was on her way to their SUV that she was going to drive somewhere, but she had the phone to her ear. Then she just sat down in the car and talked. So, we’re thinking an older teenage daughter. I thought I had recognized one dim-lighted night a mother and a daughter, but I don’t know if there is a husband, other sisters, or brothers.
Rightfully speaking, the apartments are only 2 bedroom. So, unless someone is going to take a living room couch … they are limiting in size. Hmm, 5 pm. Better make dinner … going to kind of ignore that candy eaten during the process.
Whoops … fraid of that. I think the family was coming up the back steps and lost a box of dishes. Lot’s of clattering. He had gotten a phone call too. He sounded so exhausted. Man. I can’t believe they didn’t have SOME one that could have helped them move. Shoot, feel so bad for them. I think it is different when you are a young couple moving a young family. Everyone is dependent on you and there’s no breaks. I don’t know how the other family moved in, but we’re pretty multi-culturally mixed now. Hehehe. That be the way … I’ll be interested whether or not the people on the first floor will continue to stay … hard to know what they are thinking. They never talk, though will hold the door open if your within 10 feet. Then there’s the woman on the first floor … she’s the one that gets our mail. She seemed more friends with the one who moved out on the second floor. She is scared of me and I’m scared of her. I’m still trying to figure out the last thing. One night she brought up the mail at 10:30. Of course, we were sleeping. And, I had rolled out of bed quickly thinking it was our friend. She had woke up Lucille across the hall too, but I only had slept in a shirt that night and was hiding behind our blanket. I said thank you, but didn’t go out to the hall where she left it in front of our door, because I WASN’T DRESSED FOR THE OCCASION! But, then a day or two later, I found the same bag that I’d forgotten out in the front hall, attached to my back door handle. Thank God for this neighbor who is helping us, but surely it wasn’t something I would have done. I’m guessing she was worrying about the bag getting inside, but at the time we were just worried about getting back to bed! The relationship has never gone further. Most often when she drops off my mail once a month or so, she will wait until my sweetie is here. I think she thinks of him as safer. *Sigh*
Hmm, sure are into the neighbors now aren’t we. Seems we’ve gone nearly 6 years without noticing them and now all this. It will fade again, right? DINNER!!
Shoot forgot I should have checked glucose before the candy Hmm. 174 … I don’t think we’re going to count that one. Too close to after eating
Ok, back again. It’s about 6 pm now. I think we are going to go for as early a bed time as we can. Pretty tired out today. I don’t think we’ve adjusted yet to the time change. We finished dinner, finished talking to Deb, and got to talk to Sweetie Pie for a few moments. He’s still wrapping up his day … he hasn’t left the office yet, or is just leaving now. We’re back into our pjs, took our medicine, and have a nice lime slushy. It’s one of those nights, I could turn on the TV, but it doesn’t make any sense to get hooked into something I don’t want to spend our time doing.
Maybe some music.
This is the first video on Sunday morning
Sunday morning ... nice morning :)
Good morning,
It’s just us again. ‘Cept now it is Sunday and the cat flavor of the moment is Missy. I think they must think I get lonely without a kitty to pet. Yes, I’m pretty sure they are trying their best to take care of me. Good kitties.
We ran into the v-guy this morning, but just for a few minutes … he’s down with the flu. L Not so happy with that. Missy isn’t either. Chief just said …Dude get the shot! He’s like that though.
It’s about 4:30 now and we’re not up to so much yet. We’re almost looking at the 2nd cup of coffee and figuring out whether or not we should have breakfast, because we know it will make us tired. The tooth/jaw is hurting more now than it had all of yesterday. I guess they give you a medicine to stop pain for the first 2-3 days, but it is starting to wear off. This is going to be wear the Tylenol 3 comes in handy. There’s not much though. It is only 12, but I guess there is one refill so that should be ok. We’re going to ride it a little longer to see what all total we are looking at. I hadn’t looked at the directions at first, because I didn’t know they were there till Sweetie Pie mentioned it. Thought we were going to sail through the whole thing without a smidge of pain … Ugh!
K … let’s move on from there!
Ohh, just realized that daylight savings thing did something … computer clock says 4:30 and the other timer clock says 5:30. I must have stole an hour sleep without realizing it. Good, good.
Umm not so sure of pain … It seems to be covering now the whole left side of my face. They said that after the medicine wore off it might start to swell too … drat, drat.
Ok we’re a woosey going to take the medicine. BRB.
Ahh, they were right too … it’s swollen. Tripple drat. Ok, we’re going to do this. Medicine at 4:39 am … we will watch for an affect change. We didn’t take our regular medicine yet, because its too early and we wanted to isolate the Tylenol 3 to see its affect. Ok, be batted around by Ms Kittie … We know this part. Ok, got the video tape on now … so I think she’s going to leave me alone. She didn’t want to be taped as a bad guy.
Just as we figured she jumps down and he jumps up. Figures. Ok, face it girls … we are a kitty run household … there’s nothing to be done, unless we were to try and leave, pretty sure they couldn’t handle the rent and then they’d be kicked out. Hmm, but then who would get the furniture??
That reminds me … there was a surprising development yesterday in our apartment situation. We had seen signs toward it last weekend, but this weekend it is for sure. That lady across the hall from us, Lucille, moved out! Woo Hoo. Sure hope we don’t get someone noisy in there though. At least Lucille minded her own business. Worker guys were up there all yesterday doing stuff to the apartment. I think there was some real work happening cuz they were sawing and hammering to all get out. We know Lucille was around a lot longer than us an we’ve been here for six years now. To bring to recall … we never had anything to do with her. The first weekend she left a note on our door asking us to take down her garbage … that kind of soured the relationship. And, it never got better. She wasn’t interested in a friend … just someone to take care of her and we were having a hard enough time taking care of ourselves. The neighbors down underneath her (we’re in a six apartment building – three high on each side, with us and Lucille having been on the top. We’re the southside and she was the north. Anyway the guy and his wife from below that moved out too. He was a character … kind of long hair and friendly … he was about the only one I would talk to and that would only be about once every 2-3 months for about 3-4 minutes. But, there was still a sense of people knowing each other … not closely, but in manner. I felt the building more safe. Now below us is a relatively new people too of Spanish decent … that isn’t the problem, but I don’t really like that there is all kinds of extra people in the building because he has people staying over a lot.
It’s nothing really in that I can’t hear them unless they go out to the balcony and our door is open, but it used to drive the people on the second floor opposite pretty crazy. I guess he’d complained several times. So, we don’t know what happened to him and his wife if that is why he left or for some other reason. I think for Lucille, she moved because she was older and having trouble with the stairs and taking care of herself. She was getting even her meals brought up to her. And, she had people both family and social worker types stopping by all the time. Figured … hmpf! One of them could get her garbage! Maybe I wouldn’t have been so insulted if she had at least introduced herself in person, beside “ordering” me to do her garbage from a note taped on my door. That was like so nooooooo way in Hell.
I don’t think we gave her too much other reason to complain. We didn’t play music too loud, rarely watched TV. And, had so few parties, they could be most likely counted on one hand. My only real guest traffic is our friend. In past years, we had our boys staying with us for a bit, but that’s at least 4 years ago. So … really we’ve been good tenants.
We celebrated another year between my friend and us last night. I think both of us had forgotten about it due to the oral surgeon, but it had been the completion of our 13th year of romantic interest in each other. Yesterday, then was the start of our 14th year together. Pretty something, something, isn’t it!?!! We were very happy. This should be ample reason to think back for a few moments.
Pretty much we’d known him for 10 months prior, he was our boss. We didn’t know he was attracted to us though. We liked him a lot and always paid attention when he was around (he organized other buildings beside ours), but we didn’t know it was going to lead to what happened. We knew he was married and he’d seen us get ourselves in some guy trouble because of co-workers hitting on us. He had had one guy transferred to another location, because he was so much trouble. We knew he was protective, but we were very embarrassed at the time because we seemed to be developing a pattern that we’d be vulnerable to guys … that and doubling our weight that seemed to help … hmpf, but that was BJ and another story for another time. ANYWAY…
The day our friend “announced some intention” was after he’d been to a going away party for a superior downtown. Our center was located a couple of blocks from Union Station (how I got to work every day). It was a payroll night which meant I would be at work til about 10 pm. He had always established that someone would stay with me … one of the guys (people that were between me and our friend in rank). That night he told the others, he would stay. He seemed a little goofy in that we were anxious to finish up, but he was throwing our concentration off by rushing us. Then somehow he was over at the big window facing the inner part of the city and we were eight floors up and he invited me to come look out the window. We were very conscious of sitting so close to him. Could feel a certain vibration. And, then and there is when it happened. Out of any belief possible, he put his hand on my right thigh.
Can’t explain the electricity that was coursing through our system at that moment, but everything that was alive, was REALLY ALIVE!!! I can still remember the lights on the buildings across the way being lit up against the darkness. We didn’t pull away, we were very still, not sure of the meaning of this new revelation. But, he said something to us and he’d invited us back to the workshop. I remember being slow to get toward him, because a younger part had come out and was being a little elusive by hanging onto nearby skids. But, he was slow steady and inviting. He’d stood/sat at a table from the front side and held open his hands … he told us he was going to kiss us, but that it had to be an adult part. That was pretty tough because we were pretty giggly by then, but that’s about all I remember about that part. I do remember being in the car to go home that night. He’d taken us before, but this was different. He told us the first night that he was married which was something we knew, but he was saying this would have to be a relationship that put up with the other. We were pretty much in a whirlwind. But, we were thinking this might be something like the others.
The next day at work (a Friday), we said something about it to our immediate supervisor … the guy between us and our friend who shared a big office with us. He told our friend and our friend calmed that situation down. Probably said something about me being off our rocker hehehe. We then went to our psychiatrist and we told the story again there and told him that our friend said he would be there after the appointment to drive us home. That’s where we got our first real serious talk. We agreed that I would be able to talk to my psychiatrist about it, because I had to always tell the truth in that relationship, and he understood how important that relationship was to us. But, he made it known that if anyone else knew it would be the end of our relationship, because he’d have to honor the one with his wife. That point has always been very clear, mostly rescinded, but clear.
Then comes the next 13 years and a lot of time put in to building a great relationship. I still coo when I’m in bed with him, and blush when he reaches for my hand. I’ve never looked at another man since and thought him more handsome than my Sweetie Pie. I trust, honor, and respect him more than anything imaginable. He’s been my best friend since the first day on. I just couldn’t imagine ever being without him. He’s surely the love of my life … and to be honest now … although we met him after the divorce, he’s been in my life now more than the life I had been married to a husband. Just the place we’re in is somewhere way, way different than it had ever been married. We like each other and are close and talk intimately and with care. That had never happened in the other relationship. This one with our friend is I’m sure what life was meant to be like. He’s cared for us even when we had trouble caring about ourselves. He’s stood the trials of time and still warms me with his glance and smile. My tremendous love.
Ok … ok … we have to stop. Having trouble with the tears of gratitude and love.
*sigh* V signed on for a second. He reminded me of time change and meds. We got the time, but forgot what it would mean to the meds. We better brb.
Our friend teased us last night about the romance of getting a tooth pulled. I had to agree with him it was pretty special … hhehehe silly guy, but he said that he had come back and watched us sleeping peacefully and that in itself was very romantic. My silly bunny.
*Sigh* Ok, what’s next? Just shooed off sir kitty because he was being to rambunctious. We had replaced the top on the chicken he knocked over, but there was gravy inside that he upset. We don’t put up with that kind of behavior HMPF!!
True to form as soon as we’ve eaten we start thinking about going back to bed. Shoot, shoot … don’t want to waste the time. Let’s think some more, k??
Well, you already know pretty much how yesterday turned out, cause we were working and cleaning at the same time. Our friend came over about 3 pm with dinner of chicken, mashed potatoes, gravy, and creamed broccoli. Very, very good! He was rather talkative and we were very into listening as to it being the best of each of our forms. I simply love to hear him tell stories. He makes things so interesting even if its only talking about cleaning out a corner of his basement or garage. I think its partly in the sound of his voice that is so relaxing to me, or maybe that most of the time he is talking we are laying naked next to each other while we maintain a light, but steady body massage. It makes every word he says so romantic. There are some times that we become so engrossed in the story that we stop massaging for a moment hehehe, but he is quick to remind us that we’ve fallen off the wagon. He’s such a funny goose.
After all these years the conversations grow in interest … where I don’t hear many things about his marriage, I do get to hear about the kids and the time he spends at home, most of which seems to be on his own. I relish hearing about the kids and I find it amazing that I’ve listened to 13 years of their life. Just hard to believe it’s been that long. Just don’t know where the time has gone. I think I’m as proud of them as anyone can be for having not really spent time with them. I’ve met the older two a total of three times, but in the context of work relationship to their father and for only a brief amount of time. Life seems so much a mystery. I remember once having watched the Alan Alda movie that I think is called, “Same Time Next Year.” It is about a couple who meet and keep coming back to the same hotel once a year although the rest of their life remains the same with their children and spouses, though after 25-30 years things change quite a bit. I loved that movie … maybe, I’ve been preordained to have this kind of relationship. And, it seems every time I’ve questioned it, I fall back to Dr. Woollcott having first and lastingly blessed the relationship. He said that it was a very unusual one and one to be respected. Each time I thought to pull away from it because of it not being “moral” he stopped us in our tracks for not appreciating what we had in each other’s company. I can’t say I ever understood that, but I have to admit the relationship is beyond what could have ever been hoped for. I love him to pieces! There’s also this kind of romantic model being played in the relationship of Spencer and Hepburn. She was and still is my favorite actress and she having the relationship she did with the marriage of Spencer and his wife, seemed to sanctify my minds better dreams. It’s ok … it’s ok.
Shhh, it’s ok … we can let this go … right now feeling pretty secure with all of it. I just wish you could hear the casual conversation between us. He’s such a mushmellow! That’s my Sweetie Pie!
OKKKKK … we’re going to move on.
I think that we’re going to try the gym again today. The jaw is feeling fine right now. Hoping that won’t be too much a problem. I would like to spend some time today looking at the CARF stuff, but will have to work hard to get in touch with it. I’m so far away from it now and I’m going to miss my time here just drifting, or the time I’ve taken to get in touch with the apartment. I’d really like to get a start on decluttering. Whoops, washroom hold on …
Yeeks, just checked bank … we’re $148 in the hole already … fortunately it’s about time for a check, but that is only going to leave us with $180 in the bank after rent is paid. Damn … Well, we’re just going to have to keep working at it. I know I owe my friend for grocery money and we’re not sure where our other expenses are going to be. I know we’re going to owe something for back bills on household just not sure where it is at. I want the maid desperately, but I don’t dare ask my friend for any more money. Things are kind of at a tense predicament here. We’re trying our best, but finances are tough for us. Ok, doesn’t hope to wish for anything than is possible through our own temperance. Just gotta keep putting maid as a motive for saving other money. $180 should be enough if we don’t spend any more except on gas. No doubt its going to be tough for a bit. Just think of the consequences of having a household that is taken care of properly. Oh man, oh man … do I want this to happen!
Ok, better look ahead … the decluttering part. Hmm, I think it is light out there, we just have to open the curtains. Might do that now and turn on a couple of lights. Let’s see what we can do with those bookshelves, k? Hmm, that’s a start … we turned on the music, opened the curtains, and turned on the living room lights. We found a couple of ashtrays, one with butts still in it over by the reading corner of the couch and out on the balcony. That seems pretty silly, especially since its been over 3 months of not smoking … that tells you how often we are getting around to our cleaning. We didn’t last too long with our back though. That might forecast some difficulty with the gym. But, we can do this, right? Nothing to stop us … it’s a wonderful day ahead … Sunday … just have to take care one step at a time. We keep looking over to the shelves next to us. Not sure where to start first. Just have to pick a shelve and start moving … let me try that right now … I’m going to get the chair. J
Ok, that first move is done. We cleared out about one shelve. Maybe a little more … don’t want to push it. We need to consolidate next … our friend said something about culling our books and it was like … hmm??? Get rid of a book??? I don’t think so. We love to have books around us … it makes us feel better about ourselves and the possibility of life. Sometimes we get a chance to look at a shelve and it makes us feel so good even if we aren’t currently reading the book, just to know that it has touched some part of our life that has been important. I think we have used books as time markers, like some people use pictures.
Hmm, just noticing that we have a couple of shelves that might be big enough to hold our horizontal black wired shelves. Might want to put some of those oversized books over on the other bookshelve top though … let me see what’s there. Ok, another little break. Got the one chair cleaned up. Still got the top of the files to move over. But, we started work over on the shelves by the TV. I think we really have one more vacant shelf over there … Not sure which books will get moved over. Have to think. Maybe some of the fiction from the first and second shelves on the left computer shelves. The books are really pretty messed up as to content … I’m not even close to doing that workover. One thing at a time. I need some surfaces cleaned.
Hmm, 2 hours 9 minutes better shut down the video. Ok, moving right along here … we’re still moving shelves. Just figured how to get the shelving unit out of the bedroom, by moving another half shelf worth over to the shelves by the TV. That will pretty much clear off the top of our dressor, beside some porcelain miniature vessels we have. They are really not the right size, but I don’t want to have a lot on the dresser … I’d rather see the maid clean it up and it just be a transitional place that stays cleared when not in immediate use. I’ve got over then on the Tea cart in the bedroom the top cleaned off except for the folded purple fuzzy blanket … we want that on top because we use it quite a bit, especially with winter coming up. Ok, ok … about ready to move again … let’s go!
Ok, little bit further and further. It’s now about 7:15 am. We’ve got the major stuff down … it’s hard though to think your through with all the dust. We want the cleaning service to think they are appreciated though. We need to pick up a few more things on this desk now too. Better give ourselves a little break. Don’t want to overdue it. Maybe get a little more coffee soon. I think we’re going to put our horsie back on top of the file cabinet. Hmm, maybe menus in the box. Need to keep the camera battery charger maybe by the wire mesh shelves. Places for some minor desk type stuff there. Twist ties back to the junk drawer. Earphones? Extra mouse? Maybe earphones … where? If I’m going to clean off the back of this table … we should have it ALL cleared off … We want the maid to dust or wash down everything … better if there isn’t stuff on it. Think we need to move back the CPU too … like to have the phone closer without displacing the calculator … that NEEDS to be at one’s right hand. Let’s try moving a few things around. BRB
Ok there goes a few more minutes. The headphones fit neatly on the back of the big monitor. Put the rubber bands away in there new place in the bathroom hair basket. Put mouse in the back bedroom. Moved the CPU back a bit to bring forward the phone. Didn’t like it before its’ fine now. We moved the calculator to the right a bit, but it bounced our place for the hand cleaner. I suppose we could move back one of the cups for the colored pencils … shoot liked that one. And it holds the extra USB cord. Hmm, let’s try that out … the handcleaner is very important. Ok, ok … Yes it will have to be. Phone deserves some prominence. Just one in the house … it should be conveniently picked up without having to stand up to reach it … even though we don’t get a lot of calls on it. Sweetie Pie calls. That’s good enough!
Ok, ok … Moved the animals around and stuff on the desk … Decided brush was going to need staying. Along with our new place for the blood glucose tester … that just slides in … it has a nice black canvas case that matches the camera bag. So that’s a good deal. Whoops forgot books in back of couch … better try to fit those in. Let’s see what’s next? It’s about the time we can sit back and look at our nice work. I just don’t want to start on the dust. Too much … even though I did find our duster. Hmm, now we have to think of the next room. We noticed when we were in the bedrooms we still had pictures we wanted to hang. It would be nice to get that maintenance guy back in here. I know that isn’t there job, but it sure would be nice. Just a couple pictures and them dam curtains. SHEEESH. How often have we referred to them without hanging them? We would like to take some of the stuff off the kitchen counter too. Specially like the cereal boxes and maybe even the coffee. Just like to have the machines and the boombox. That seems to have landed there on the first day and never moved, though rarely used. You never know … good for us if we’re going to be back in the kitchen working for any period of time. We really are spoiled with the music we get from the computer speakers.
Ok … next … we’ve turned around for a while and admired our living room and we even filled our water thanks to Flylady for reminding us. That’s for sure. We should really think now of the next room, which is really our bedroom. Hmm, back to those pictures need to be hung. Everything in there is really in place, except some pillows messed up last night hehehe. Well, we’ll go in there and straighten once more. Make sure the closet isn’t sticking out … that is a whole ball of wax we’re not ready for yet. Maybe after Christmas or maybe even during. Hmm, we don’t have a Christmas project yet. Wonder if we could go back to writing that paper we’d left off on for self-regulation. Hmm. That would be a good idea, but I think realistically, we have to put our heart into CARF. Starting this weekend, remember? Hmm, maybe we should plan gym by 11 am, out of house at 10:30 am, into shower at 9:30 am. That gives us another hour and a half to write and clean. Then when we get back we can turn on the ball games and work on CARF. Hmm, that seems like a plan! Good Sunday. I don’t think we’re going to see much of V today, he’s recovering again. Might see Sweetie Pie on line though pretty soon. Better plan not to go too far.
But, we’re going to check on our bedroom, BRB…
Ok, bedroom is checked out … and cleaned off top of that one shelve. Through out a box from 2 years ago that didn’t need to be here. Nothing much happening in the bedroom … I didn’t quite reach that back closet to close, but I can do that next time up. Just rearranged a few things and some pillows. Really need a back wall up. I keep thinking of that one tapestry I had wanted but never got because it cost $500 … It really was so cool … it was a big fountain with colors matching my bedroom. I had wanted something nice over the back wall of my bed, because the bed isn’t that high and any simple decoration it has is wiped out by all the pillows that came with my set of blankets and shams.
Hmm, now Flylady is reminding me of a load of laundry. I wonder if I should go try to throw in a batch. That would mean making a decision on those washcloths. Might throw in the old towels where it won’t matter so much. Hmm, on a gym day? They won’t be done in enough time. Better wait on that. Little bothersome though in that we got two laundry baskets going and that takes up more “dirty” room in the bedroom. We’re trying to institute one for the laundrymat and one for home. Until we get all those red washcloths checked we don’t want them included in our other cleaning, but once they’ve been in the wash once will they keep bleeding, or would it be better just to dispose of them and get some others that are good? They were like 16 for $4. Didn’t know why they were such a deal. Blah! We try and so often get burped on. Hmm. That’s quite the analogy Garvey. Let’s get back to where we should be!
Hmm, maybe we should take our shower at 9, or sooner? Might as well get it in there, make it more probable of getting to the gym on time. Anything we gotta get done first? Hmm, maybe it would be a good idea to look around that kitchen counter for clutter and then start up the dishwasher. I don’t think it matters if shower and dishwasher running, but maybe? Better do shower first. Ok, ready to take a look at that counter? Let’s go.
Ok, did that sorta … couldn’t put all the cereal down nor the coffee and didn’t know what to do with the bananas. Ok, heard from the V. He’s on his way back to bed. This is what a flu does to you. He sent an article on black cats not being adopted during Halloween so people don’t do weird things with them. Bleh, bleh, ptooey! Poor kitties. They say that black kitties are harder to place. I think if I were ever to loose my two, I’d consider two more black kitties. I would teach them manners! Hehehe … well, maybe not, but I’d consider it! I don’t know some people don’t get kitties again for a long while because they miss there’s. That’s a possibility too. We’ll have to wait.
Hmm, so which part of the cleaning project next. Seems like we gotta choose between wicker shelves, back of kitchen, or back bedroom. Oh ya, we were going to shower … then we could put on gym clothes so we don’t chicken out. Maybe a short time on the treadmill though. Hmm, maybe just 10 more minutes. That’s as much time as we have on this video. Hmm, we gotta remember to put that stuff on our feet too. That should help them not be so sore. Ok, let’s not get into the complaining thing here, k? Yes, maam. If we were real good … we’d finish everything else and then do something about that stack of mail in the back. That be a real good ann. Hmm, have to do that after the gym into CARF time. Ok, we’ll rethink that. Just gotta get some of the clutter gone. Surfaces clean enough for the cleaning service. That’s the goal. I think our friend has until Friday next week, and then we are taking matters into our own hand. We’re going to get our check Wednesday, deposit that night … Business days Thursday and Friday, be willing to spend $50 by the following week. Hmm, I wonder if I should make an appointment now. That’s what we want to do, but we’re supposed to wait for our friend. But, he’s taking too long. Just be a little call. We’re certainly not going to want to wait another week. Hmm, our son’s birthday is coming up … he’s looking toward a cash donation toward something he wants, but I think he isn’t going to get it until the middle of next month. I wonder was I going to get money back on the $99 and $50 over things. That sure be nice. Then I’d for sure have enough. But, I’d have to plan for paying out our friend. Might have to really start budgeting.
All reason says that I should be able to wait longer because I’ve lived with so much dust and kitty fur for so long, but you all know how well we wait. We’re the impulsive type. It actually hurts not to get what we want, because we devote so much thought to it. I suppose then the trick would be to distract ourselves like we would do with a client at work? Hmm, that sure seems like a lousy trick! Ok, ok … time for shower, even Missy says so. Be right back.
Ok, ok … we’re saying that because we’re back again. Outta shower and dressed, even shoes. Flylady would be so proud of us. Not sure I like the smell of that feet stuff on my hands, but I like the affect it is having on making our feet softer. Maybe so much that they won’t crack and be sore to walk on. They say diabetics have to be specially careful of their feet and we’re already complaining because they so often feel numb. Probably should be wearing cream, socks, and shoes more often. By the end of the day though, my feet are sore and want to be barefoot again. Think the shoes are ok, it’s probably that our feet swell. The last set of nurses, one of them said we have edema, which she explained to be swelling in our legs. I couldn’t tell because they look big in general. Ok, let’s not go there.
What’s next. I know that one more area back of the house. Why don’t I go try that now, brb.
Ok, good good. Now, we feel ready for the made … we left her dust everywhere, but a reasonable amount of clutter. I’m thinking about this chair next to me. I think there is one more chair of the set in the back that is not broken. So, do I put a third broken chair in the back? These are the chairs that came from my step-mother after she died. I’m not ready to let them go emotionally, just don’t want to hurt anyone who tries to sit down. They’ve been fine for stacking things just can’t sit down. I think my weight was too much for them, and I know they were old. They were nice upholstered chairs though with wooden frame and arms and they swivel. They went well with the table that I use for my computer that also came from Sandy. It is a very nice table. It is the kind that will be with me I figure the rest of my life. No reason to ever throw it. I’ve gotten so used to the open style of a table, I don’t see much need to going back to a conventional desk. I have to start thinking though of getting another chair. Needs to be like one that can hold 300 pounds. I didn’t see my office chair listed back at the school catalogue … that was purchased specially for the heavy weights and I don’t like how shaky its gotten. I think when the floors were cleaned last week, I must have gotten my friends chair, because it is still firm. *Sigh* Don’t spose it be proper to keep the better chair. *Double Sigh*
Ok, 10 am. What’s next? Think we’ll do ok on food, because we had a banana in the interim. And, there is a half hour to rest our back before getting in the car for the gym. Any errands? I don’t think I have enough money for another load of clothes. Already discussed the other load for down stairs. This is where we know we’re getting real obsessive, because we start to go over the same stuff again. I am having so much fun though in living in my home that I don’t want to let it go for CARF stuff. Hmm, that’s not the right attitude. Remember, we want to have the majority of reports done by Friday, because we know there is going to be another administration meeting. Shoot, no fun. And, staffings all Wednesday morning.
It will be either CARF of bills. We’re not ready for that, remember? Maybe it would help to get out some CARF work and see where we are? And, I think there’s some stuff downstairs in the car?? Ok, you look!
Ok, I have done the
Financial report
Resource allocation
Human resource reports
Technology analysis reports
Hmm, did we do environmental health and safety reports?
And, we gotta do …
Accessibility status reports
Surveys
Risk Analysis reports
Governance reports
Field trends
Service delivery system
I think I have the materials here to do accessibility, governance, field trends and service system delivery. Better make do at least. Want this finished by the Tuesday the 31rst. Means we still need to do surveys – could get by with summaries there in the annual report. Ok, then just risk Analysis report. I could do a risk report, but might need the lists that state what was fixed … I remember going through an exercise with that at the CARF meeting. Wasn’t a real big deal.
Ok, so then when we come up from the gym we’ll bring the other and start on the governance report. We’ll try to do that one and maybe do something for service delivery system or field trends. Neither has to be a major report. Ok, that’s the plan then, we’re going to stick with it. Hmm, one more thing … need to do something with the incident reports that could be something done this next day or two as well. Have to check on the environmental report. I’ll know it when I see the information I hope. Hmm, that’s right it should be on the flash drive, hold on … I can check that now.
Checked. No environmental health and safety report … that’s a big one … why don’t we do that one next and then from there the governance report. We’ll make the incident part of the first. Shoot lots of work to knock out. It feels different though today, because I’m not buried down in poor house or body health. And, remember nobody stops on the way back – Straight home and OATMEAL/FLAX for lunch … Remember to take the blood test first.
I think we’ve pressed forward enough so that we’re going to post now. We’ll be able to start another when we get back. Plus we’re almost ready to post the first video … Two more after that. We’re making progress.
Next Gym! Hmm, and maybe just one Tylenol 3 it's about time, right? Yeah gone six hours that's good enough. Should we drive though with it? Hmm, maybe not. Better go without. Be back soon.
This is the 5th and last Saturday video
This is the fourth out of five today.
This is the third song of maybe 5 for the Saturday ... At this time it is 3:10 and we're readying ourselves for our friend coming over. Wooo HOOOO!!!!
Us
Our Happy Faces
Good morning.
This is about how we start every time isn’t it. WooHooo … see I CAN do routines. So happy about that much. We just been going through a kitty pettying and now Chief is going down. Missy is sitting on the back of the couch watching for her turn. I don’t know how soon. It’s a beautiful Saturday morning and I’ve been up for a little over an hour doing fussing around stuff … nothing too much. Our blood glucose reading was 159, which wasn’t so good … It matched our very first rating when we were out of control.
I know this is my fault, because we were pretty sure that we should have a chocolate milk shake after getting our tooth extracted yesterday afternoon. Hmm … I think there was a lot of whining involved. It tasted very good, but only on one side of our mouth. Our Sweetie was laughing at us, but he got a paper towel because he said ever two bites the ice cream was spilling from our mouth. That was kind of tricky. Our friend stopped by for laundry and dry cleaning, and made sure we were set up for dinner. And then, he had to leave for a little bit to do an errand that would last a couple of hours. He told us we should finish dinner, get comfortable and he would come back with the pain pills. I think he must have known us pretty good because he said that if we fell asleep that he’d come in smooch us and go, but that he would stay and talk if we were still up. We’re thinking maybe it was a good thing for him to get home earlier, because as hard as we tried to stay up, we were pretty zonked out. ZZZZZZZZZ.
So that was our evening … we were up a couple of times, but each time convinced ourselves we could get more sleep and that suited us fine. So, another important thing done! One more that wasn’t so painful is that it turned out that my son’s school loan was going to come in this direction so he helped us to get it from the mail box and we then deposited it Thursday night in the bank. He should have access to the money then on Tuesday morning, because we use the same bank and I put it in his account directly. That made us feel pretty good and I know it sure helped him out! I believe in him!
One of the things our friend did for us the yesterday was to have picked up a couple of numbers while he was at the dry cleaners for a couple of maids!!!! Wooo HOOO. No, I don’t have them yet, but maybe pretty soon. He placed an initial call to both to see how much they would charge. Our friend was right in that the expense was less than a third of the cost of what it would have been from the first number I had called. We don’t know much about these two except he said they sounded like thirty’s and one was polish and the other also white. Both charged the same amount of money. I’d like to know a little more about their services before either is hired, but true to form I wanted one of them to start right away.
I showed our friend the list the other cleaners had provided and he thought it was reasonable. He didn’t go into the specifics, but it seemed like these maids would do almost anything. But, that might be too good to be true. The first one said $50 and $10 extra for each hour after, and the second one just said flat $50. I don’t know … He didn’t check out things like who paid for the equipment or supplies, transportation, etc. That all has to be figured out. I sure sure sure hope that one works out. He says that we should be able to have one come every other week rather than once every three weeks. That sounds a lot better to me. I would like for them to do floors, dusting, surfaces, fixtures, tubs and sinks, AND one load of towels and such. Maybe empty the dishwasher once if it were full. I am still going to need doing the picking up, but we figure that she would make it more like an incentive. I think too it would be nice if she could vacuum the furniture like once a month (living room). That was something offered by the other service. And, it would be nice if she could get the garbage if there were some. Though I think our friend is the one who would need to get out those last couple of boxes in the back to the trash.
I just can’t tell you how excited I am to being this close. Our friend challenged us a bit with it last night. He said that we couldn’t afford it if we were paying out to this and that automatically from our bank. So we went through and got rid of about $200 worth of charges, some from companies I didn’t even know were charging. Some were small like $5 or $10, but there was one company that charged $99. I don’t remember what it was again now. But, the thing is we cleaned up the account and all that feels better. I won’t have to worry as much about where the money was coming from. Almost all the companies (there were 7-8) were nice, but one lady was having a real hard time letting us go. She seemed desperate for our business as if her life depended on it. That was no fun, but we just kept saying no to all her incentives. We had our friend off our back right shoulder reminding us each time. He said, “Just say no.” So we did, and it worked!!
Let’s see … what else? We’ve got a relatively fresh cup of coffee and am still waiting on Vince. It’s about a quarter to 6 am now. We were thinking earlier that since we’re actually not in pain that we should be going back to the gym today. It wouldn’t be until about 11 am though. I’m not sure if the toothless space will be affected, but I can always stop if something goes wrong. As far as the surgery itself … eh a piece of cake. I remember the doctor talking about her kitties and then she stopped and we asked her if she would continue and she did and then it was all over and the assistant was asking me if she should get our friend. We, of course, said yes. She said that we’d only been asleep for about 5 minutes. They were very efficient. She sent us home with the tooth, but no sucker for me. I remember also commenting on the new wallpaper, but there wasn’t to much else to think about. The doctors kitty had ran away were 1 ½ days. She was very upset with him, but he cozied up to her that next morning and all seemed to be forgotten.
Silly kitty!
Ok, next? Hmm, going to the gym … that’s what we were thinking of. It’s been a while so we are going to either have extra strength or we’re going to whimper out … Let’s be nice no matter which way it is. Makes us think of our other friend at work and our assistant, her daughter. The daughter has decided to live with her boyfriend and there are hurt feelings either way. It kind of came up in talking about the gym. The younger one thought she might go to the gym early in the morning because she now is living farther away and the mother is saying no she won’t join the gym now … especially because of her daughter I think. We’ve said very little to each of them and both of them has cried with just the few words spoken. I know they are both extremely upset, but I’m not sure what has caused the break-up. I’ve told each that they love each other too much for this to last forever. But, then that seems to set the tears. Everyone just changes the subject as do we. It’s just a wrong thing to happen, but I know both women have strong personalities and it is the daughter’s time in life to take a stand in her own life circumstance, even if the mother disagrees for all the right reasons. It is still hard.
Ok, have to let that one go … I don’t want to be involved where I am not asked to be. They both trust me and I don’t want to dishonor that trust. I love them both. I didn’t know it would happen like this and so fast. The mother and I had talked about my sons leaving “empty nest,” but she had thought it was going to be different for her because she and her daughter are so close. I think the mother and daughter have been depended on each other and especially the mother for many reasons dependent on the daughter for companionship, help in raising a younger daughter/sister, and in even house tasks of cooking, cleaning, etc. This weighed more heavily on the daughter than it had the husband/stepfather and all those things have to be reckoned with as well as the daughter not having a very good role model for male bonding. I hope she’s learned more in that she can have a better relationship with her friend more than the mother talks of her relationship with her husband. Damm I’m way out of bounds here … stop, stop.
It’s just that this thing is kinda predominant in my life right now. I don’t want either of them to be hurting. I also am selfish enough to say I don’t want the daughter leaving, because it hurts too much to work with her mother. She is living far enough away from the center now that it would be easier for her to get another job closer to where she lives. She has one year of experience now so she is not in too bad a shape, although staying it out two years would be better as I believe the experience up to 5 years. I don’t know that would be jumping the gun. Let’s try to see it out this next week. It will be harder because I won’t be in either Monday or Tuesday and there is a double staffing on Wednesday.
Hmm… Ok, gotta let it go. Ok, washroom, blanket, medicine, and coffee … should be all set here. J
Hmm, doing better … just canceled an ad for putting together stories for $29.99 and $6.99 shipping. That’s better, right? Just gotta keep in mind that every $50 is a week of maid service. Maybe that will keep me on the right track.
Just sitting here rocking for a while. The feelings being affected by my friend and her family are still weighing on me, though we’re trying to let them go, we really are. Ok, we’re going to need impressing on ourselves here another significant set of thoughts.
We didn’t see Dr. Marvin this week … that’s kind of important. Been so spacey with all the appointments. Yesterday, we even left the x-rays at home instead of taking them with us to the surgeon. Our wonder-friend again had to take care of us. Shoot, what would we do without him. Shhhh, shhhh … let’s not go there k?
Better try thinking of something else. Gym? No, not yet …. Though there is one passing thought. We brought home our little book we’d gotten before to be recording what we are doing each day … it seems like now would be a good time to think that through. Though we left it down in the car … it has enough space for our cardio reps and aerobic activities. Plus food and comments and such … Would really like to keep that up, but it might mean bringing it with us to the gym for a bit. Especially as long as it would take to write down the equipment. There’s too many right now for us to remember. It IS nice to be thinking of going to the gym again. This last week has been a void in negative thoughts. Kind of felt stuck without a means of going forward.
There has been a lot of planning that has occurred with appointments, especially balancing up my medical with dental and such. This is where we are today … there has been some scheduling changes noted.
Ann’s Doctor Appointments
1. Th 10-12-06 8:15 am Sleep Consult – Dr. Jim Herdegen, 312-413-3631 UIC Taylor 1-C, Complete
2. Th 10-12-06 4:30 pm Psychiatry – Dr. Robert Marvin, 312-413-1718 UIC Psych 1rst floor, Complete
3. F 10-13-06 8:30 pm Sleep Lab – Polysomnography, 312-996-7708 UIC Hosp 5th floor 536 East, Complete
4. Th 10-19-06 1:45 pm Return patient – Dr. Maria Allbright, 312-996-2901 UIC Taylor 4E, Complete
5. Th 10-19-06 4:30 pm Psychiatry – Dr. Robert Marvin, 312-413-1718 UIC Psych 1rst floor, Complete
6. M 10-23-06 8:00 am Psychiatry – Dr. Robert Marvin, 312-413-1718 UIC Psych 1rst floor, Missed
7. M 10-23-06 2:30 pm Oral Exam & E-rays – Dr. Carolyn Bronke Wind, 708-354-1335 507 S. Lagrange, Complete
8. F 10-27-06 1 pm Tooth #18 Extraction – Dr. Cynthia Satko, 708-442-1414 345 E. Burlington Riverside, Complete
9. T 10-31-06 8:00 am Psychiatry – Dr. Robert Marvin, 312-413-1718 UIC Psych 1rst floor
10. T 10-31-06 12:45 pm Modern Endo – Dr. Ed Kasper, 708-784-9930 518 Hillgrove, Suite 150 Wst Spng
11. W 11-1-06 9:00 am Staffing (C)
12. W-11-1-06 10:30 am Staffing (L)
13. Th 11-2-06 7:00 pm Hypnotherapy – Dr. De Grazia, 708-383-1700 1110 Pleasant Oak Park
14. M 11-6-06 10 am Scaling & root planning LL – Dr. Carolyn Bronke Wind, 708-354-1335 507 S. Lgrn
15. W 11-8-06 10 am Staffing (L)
16. Th 11-9-06 4:30 pm Psychiatry – Dr. Robert Marvin, 312-413-1718 UIC Psych 1rst floor
17. M 11-13-06 12 pm Scaling & Root Planing LR - Dr. Carolyn Bronke Wind, 708-354-1335 507 S. Lgrn
18. Th 11-16-06 4:30 pm Psychiatry – Dr. Robert Marvin, 312-413-1718 UIC Psych 1rst floor
19. F 11-17-06 10 am Staffing (N)
20. M 11-20-06 8:00 am Composite Resin -2 Surface T29, Dr. Carolyn Bronke Wind, 708-354-1335
21. T 11-21-06 7:30 am Psychiatry – Dr. Robert Marvin, 312-413-1718 UIC Psych 1rst floor
Th 11-23-06 THANKSGIVING
22. T 11-28-06 9:00 am OIG Rule 50 Dept of Human Service, 847-608-3037, Elgin Rehab Auditorium
23. W 11-29-06 10 am Staffing (R)
24. Th 11-30-06 10:15 Sleep Establish – Dr Herdegen, 312-413-3631 UIC Taylor 1-C
25. Th 11-30-06 1:30 pm Return patient – Dr. Maria Allbright, 312-996-2901 UIC Taylor 4E
26. Th 11-30-06 4:30 pm Psychiatry – Dr. Robert Marvin, 312-413-1718 UIC Psych 1rst floor
27. F 12-1-06 2:30 pm Core Build-up for Crown T30, Dr. Carolyn Bronke Wind, 708-354-1335
28. T 12-5-06 3:50 pm Hand Specialist – Dr. Boonmee, 312-996-1300 UIC Taylor 2A
29. Th 12-7-06 4:30 pm Psychiatry – Dr. Robert Marvin, 312-413-1718 UIC Psych 1rst floor
30. W 12-13-06 9:00 am OIG Investigative Skills – Dept of Human Service, 847-608-3037, Elgin Rehab
31. Th 12-14-06 4:30 pm Psychiatry – Dr. Robert Marvin, 312-413-1718 UIC Psych 1rst floor
32. F 12-15-06 5:00 pm Ceramic/Gold Crown-Captek T30, Dr. Carolyn Bronke Wind, 708-354-1335
33. Th 12-21-06 4:30 pm Psychiatry – Dr. Robert Marvin, 312-413-1718 UIC Psych 1rst floor
M 12-25-06 CHRISTMAS
34. (iffy) Th 12-28-06 4:30 pm Psychiatry – Dr. Robert Marvin, 312-413-1718 UIC Psych 1rst floor
M 1-1-06 NEW YEARS EVE
Ok, ok … we’re all checked out there. What’s next?? I know SINCE WE’RE GETTING A MAID!!!!!!!!!!!! Let’s plan out what we need to do so that she can clean efficiently.
Living Room. We need to check bookcases to assure that all chairs and shelves cleared off for dusting. Problem … We need another book case. I think we have worn out our well wishes though as to new things coming in the house. We still need to be able to put away some of our books not yet shelved due to lack of space. For the time being, maybe we are going to need stacking books on top of book shelves. Which books? Hmm Maybe we can get up some of the fiction books over by the computer table. Ok, that sounds like a plan.
I would also like to make enough room on the shelves to place the small black shelves. Hmm, it doesn’t seem as if we’ve used them very well over time. What to do there? Hmm, thinking of the Flylady and her sheets used to keep track of rooms cleaned. Maybe I should look there for some direction. Hold on. Whooh quite a list … meet you on the other side …
FlyLady's Detailed Cleaning List - Zone 1: The
Office Area, Dining Room Area of Kitchen
Each day should start with one load of towels/gym clothes through the washer/dryer. I have trouble with the stairs.
Otherwise, this is my detailed cleaning list for Zone 1. Ensure you adapt it to fit your patterns and routines. I am still decluttering, please excuse my slowness of speed. Babysteps!
Office Area in back of living room
Start at the ceiling and work your way down to the floor.
1. Clean the cobwebs
2. Dust the top of pictures
3. Dust or wash computer, screens and keyboard, desk light, calculator and phone.
4. Wash down table and straighten (animals, speakers, mouse pad, and towel)
5. Clean area around table legs
6. Dust two shelve sets and files cabinet
7. Vacuum office area floor (in back of couch and closet)
8. Empty trash if necessary
Dining Area of Kitchen Detailed Cleaning List
Start at the ceiling and work your way down to the floor.
1. Clean the cobwebs
2. Dust window sills
3. Clean lights above dining area table
4. Clean the window
5. Clean off top of dining table and Polish
6. Dust the bottoms of the chairs and table legs.
7. Clean area by light switches
8. Dust the baseboards
9. Wash floor and area by kittys’ food dishes.
10. The only thing I like to keep on table is what is on green place mat (medicine, etc.)
FlyLady's Detailed Cleaning List - Zone 2: The Kitchen
This is Zone 2, the kitchen. This is my detailed cleaning list. I will try decluttering to make the process easier. The plan is to Spend 15 minutes a day decluttering and then some of the detailed cleaning will be easier.. Do not worry too much about this. The deep cleaning hasn’t been done in years and one more month isn't going to hurt anything.
KITCHEN: DETAIL CLEANING LIST
1. CLEAN THE COBWEBS
2. EMPTY REFG/CLEAN THOROUGHLY
3. CLEAN MICROWAVE INSIDE AND OUT
4. CLEAN STOVE/OVEN (Oven is rarely used)
5. WASH OBJECTS ON KITCHEN COUNTER AND PUT AWAY IF NECESSARY
6. WIPE FINGERPRINTS OFF WALLS
7. DUST PICTURES AND CLOCK ON THE WALL
8. CLEAN AREA ON DOMED WICKER SHELVES AND PIECES
9. CLEAN FAN/VENT AND HOOD
10. SCRUB DOWN CABINET FRONTS
11.CLEAN LIGHT DEFUSING BOWLS (GLASS GLOBES OVER
LIGHT BULBS)
12. CHECK FOR EFFICIENCY UNDER SINK AND CLEAN
13. EMPTY TRASH IF NECESSARY
14. SWEEP AND MOP KITCHEN FLOOR
FlyLady's Detailed Cleaning List - Zone 3: The
Bathroom/Back bedroom/Hall Closets
This is the Detailed Cleaning List for Zone 3. After a few months it will be very easy! Baby steps! It did not get dirty overnight and it is not going to get clean in a day!
Bathroom Detailed Cleaning List
1. CLEAN COBWEBS
2. CHANGE AREA RUG FOR NEW TOWEL IN STORAGE CLOSET
3. CLEAN MIRROR AND LIGHT GLOBES
4. CLEAN PICTURE AND CLOTHES RACK
5. CLEAN SINK AND COUNTER TOP
6. CLEAN BATH TUB AND SHOWER CURTAIN
7. CLEAN TOILET AND BACK OF TOILET
8. WASH AREA NEAR LIGHT SWITCH
9. CHECK TWO CLOSETS FOR SPOT CLEANING/STRAIGHTENING
10. DON’T WORRY ABOUT KITTY CLOSET – DON’T EXPECT ANYONE TO NEED DOING THAT
11. SWEEP AND WASH BATHROOM FLOOR AND FLOOR IN HALLWAY
Extra Bedroom Detailed Cleaning List
1. CLEAN COBWEBS
2. WIPE DOWN FURNITURE AND CABINET
3. CLEAN WINDOW
4. STRAIGHTEN AND CLEAN SMALL BOOKCASE
5. CLEAN SMALL DESKS AND TV
6. SPOT CHECK CLOSET FOR ITEMS THAT CAN BE THROWN AWAY
7. CHECK CURTAINS FOR DUST
8. DUST BASEBOARDS AND DUST RUFFLE
9. VACUUM
FlyLady's Detailed Cleaning List - Zone 4: The Master
Bedroom
This is my bedroom and closet. Keep in mind, I have not decluttered this area, be patient with me. It has been dirty for a very long time, work on the clutter first, and then the detailed cleaning is a piece of cake.
MASTER BEDROOM - DETAILED CLEANING
1. CLEAN COBWEBS
2. WIPE-DOWN FURNITURE
3. DUST DUST RUFFLE
4. CLEAN WINDOW AND DUST CURTAIN
5. SPOT CHECK CLOSET FOR ITEMS THAT CAN BE THROWN AWAY
6. DUST TREADMILL AND FAN
7. DUST BASEBOARDS
8. VACUUM
FlyLady's Detailed Cleaning List - Zone 5: The Living
Room, Family Room, or Den
This is my detailed cleaning list example for my Living Room. Start at the top and work your way down to the floor cleaning from Cobwebs to Dust Bunnies! Then you can start working on the detailed cleaning jobs that perhaps you haven't done in weeks or maybe years! Do not get overwhelmed by this list! Do not expect to get it all done this month.
ZONE 5: LIVING ROOM/Closet
1. CLEAN COBWEBS
2. DUST PICTURES AND LAMPSHADES
3. CLEAN GLASS DOORS
4. STRAIGHTEN AND DUST 4 REMAINING BOOKCASES AND TV/SEWING MACHINE
5. WASH OR DUST ORNAMENTS AND WHAT-KNOTS
6. WASH COFFEE TABLE WITH ONLY CLEAN WATER
7. STRAIGHTEN CLOSET
8. WIPE FINGERPRINTS FROM WALLS BY SWITCHES
9. VACUUM COUCHES AND RECLINER ONCE MONTHLY
10. VACUUM
We’re back again. Need to focus on decluttering events. Pretty much we know we’re going to be going back and forth between our messy habits, the habits of the maid, and what we know from the Flylady. We need to move some books around, but our friend also said that he would help getting some books up to a higher shelf. This is good … it will help us eliminate some problems with the room. I think the clutter that we could work on today is primarily in the bedroom. I think we have clutter there on the two dressers and on the tea cart. Maybe our friend when he is helping with the clutter on the bookshelves, he could look at again the wires from the back of the computer table, but I don’t want to push him on this … as the Flylady says, it didn’t get this way in one day, it isn’t going to fix itself in one day either. I know that I have the dresser cleaned off in the spare room with the exception of towels and pillows … shoot we’re being dizzy better slow down.
Ok, that helps … we started our John Denver music. That always makes us feel a little better. Giving ourselves a few reassuring looks into the video. We’re not going to get scared if we’re going to swell up in a day or two … sure do love John Denver. We’re listening to him now. We really, really want to get on with this made stuff. Maybe we have to go back to the timer … WAIT better do blood glucose test. Uh huh … 62 thought so. Pretty low … our low was 82 before this. We dropped from 159 earlier this morning to our 62 now … so we squirted in a little salad dressing, and followed that with a root beer hard candy. We are going to have an early lunch to with a frozen dinner … it is in the microwave. Starting to feel the back of our arms now … just went a little too low … I guess the shake is finally out of our system. Hands are still a little shaky. But, mind is feeling more stable. Pshwoo. I remember at 43 we were barely able to stand … didn’t want to go there. Feel a little flush, specially cheeks. Just listen to the music for a minute. Smile … not the end of the world. We can do this J J J
Some of my favorite songs … thinking on the Flylady’s words … “Concentrate on decluttering only. Baby Steps!” Mmm smelling lunch … that seems like a good idea. Baby Steps. Memories of love will be of you. JD J She remarked yesterday what a nice low blood pressure something like 106/60 or something close to that. Maybe that is the problem I have with hitting lower glucose numbers, not sure don’t know how that all works. Let it go … sweets!
Ahh better … brunch. We went for the extra flax seeds too … well, actually it is ground to meal, but that is plenty fine. We put two heaping teaspoons in and it stirred in invisible. So, I am eating same quality, but healthier. It’s supposed to have in it a lot of Omega 3.
Ok, a little more knowledgeable … it seems that flax seeds are good in preventing heart attacks and are better than other kinds of fats within the brain. They are supposed to be used in making receptors on neurons and the omega 3 rather than the omega 6 for curved receptors and the other flat so that the curved are better at receiving the necessary messages without being deflected off the receptor. That makes sense to me, but it seems that flax seed isn’t as good as fish, except you have to be very particular on eating certain ocean fish, because they take in the omega 3 when eating where home-grown fish do not. And, it seems as if fish contains more of what is needed than flax seeds, but the seeds (mashed) are better than most other. Cuz, I’m pretty sure I’m not going to start eating herring or sardines. Hmpf!
They are also studying the affect of Omega 3 on schizophrenia, bi-polar and depression. I don’t think I’m ready to dump my medicine yet, but it couldn’t hurt. I have found through the studies that eating too much of it isn’t healthier, but the amount I’m using is fine. We figure that we will use the new multi-vitamins every day, at work we’ll use the wheat germ on the oat meal and at home we’ll use flax meal in our frozen dinners. Small pains to pay for such great gains. I think that will be enough to test out for a month or two. I don’t plan to stop though … we have enough vitamins for 6 months J Good girl.
Hmm, somehow we’ve edged off of cleaning to be thinking nutrition. That can’t be real bad. Our friend said no exercising today, otherwise that’s about where we are up to now. That and turning out a new video. Ok, change here … this would make our fourth video? Hmm, we’re strumming along!
Ok, good … set timer for 12 minutes … we’ll refresh the living room. And, then move into the main bedroom to see what we can declutter there. That should be well worth the trouble. Remember … WE ARE GETTING A MAID!!!!
Maybe we better open up a few curtains too. Kind of dreary in here today. Wish I would have brought home that drill … maybe I could have messed with the curtains. I know, I know shouldn’t be up on a chair … just that I want everything FIXED!!! Shhh, slow down … baby steps remember?
Hmm. Think it is a while later … been drifting on the 15 minute breaks. Where were we? Ahh we’ve been through most the house by now … No, not deep cleaning, but surface stuff that is making it feel a little better. Both the bedrooms, bath, kitchen and living room are done. Just trying the back dining room floor with a broom, and then to mop both kitchen floors. I’m thinking this is going to take about an hour and a half, so should be done by 3:30 – 4:00. We’re not up as long as we had been before. Really got stressed out with kitchen floor and bending to pick up heavy pillows after being up for a while on making the bed.
We are doing this though. We’re trying to get ready for having a maid over. We know we gotta pick up the clutter. AND, not terrify her the first time in … those dust bunnies were the size of a small pony! Can’t imagine all the cat fur stuck to things … that was mostly the stuff that had gotten free and blown into the corner from the living room. Ok, ok … we’re not going to scare us. We’re going to get on top of this soon. Let’s not get into the mindset that it is cheating to get a maid. Hmm, or are they called housecleaners. Hmm, the European one goes by “Cleaning Service.” I like that fine enough. So be it we’ll have a cleaning service. I like that!
I had trouble deciding … we were in the main bedroom and we found some rubber stamps we had bought for our little parts that were in a thangsgiving container on the back of my tall dresser in back of a rack of papers. It’s like what do you do with something like that. The logic going on in our head is … hey, nobodies using them! But, then the logic comes in that when are we going to have such a nice collection of rubber stampers again?? Hmm, that’s an idea … Wonder if we brought them into Group #4? Maybe they could appreciate stampers? Just need a stamp pad then … Maybe we have an extra?? I bet she would like them. And, the others too. Oh oh timer…
Ok, ok … that was only a five minute up … Sweeping seems to be particularly bad on the back. We’ve decided that we’re only going to spot mop. And, we’re only giving it one more shot before saying we are over for the day. Too much on the back, although I like that we’ve made progress. I’m afraid there are quite a few spaces though where things can be thrown away to avoid clutter. Hmm peeking over at my bookshelves for example. See a cord, a duster – hey that’s where it is!!, a roll of toilet paper, a box of checks, keyboard cleaner, etc. It adds up and takes some of the value of the simple candles down. We’ll get there, we’ll get there. One day maybe even one of the boys could come over. Pretty much be too much for them, but it would be nice anyway. Ok, lets not get carried away this has to be for me first. And, of course our sweetie pie. I would like to take down his concern over us. He seems to think that his place is much more cluttered and I suppose he is right … I’d known his wife brought home a lot of stuff and is trying to incorporate it all around her and them. Feel bad for that. I don’t know how the majority of the house gets cleaned. I know he cleans up after himself, does the clothes, and cooks for himself. I would have to assume she does the same.
OK. OK. I’VE GOT TO STOP THAT!
I’m so not supposed to be there. I know more or less when the other woman signs on now. It seems to have not a good affect on me. But, I think I was crazy before I found it. I think it is going to make my sweetie upset though and we don’t want to do that. But, there is this morbid curiosity of who she is and what she does to my sweetie. This is probably the bad part of being a mistress. Ok, ok … we’re going to get a handle on it. That’s enough of that talk. Next!??
I got the floor spot mopped. That was better than not. It gives me a sense of completion. I also know now that I have a friend coming over and he’ll be here in about a half hour. We set our timer for just before that so we can get in the shower. We’ve been a pretty good girl today with the eating and recovering. I can feel a little more tenseness in the jaw now than I had earlier. That’s nothing to worry about, right? Hmm, we like the noises when the door is open, but it just about blew us out of the room. Now we’re thinking of our sweetie pie. How can we make it more special for him. He’s still got a cold … not sure how he did all that, but I think he didn’t do much with his day and that’ll be weighing on his consciousness. I get to this point, and I want to be touching him, soothing him. Helping him get to those deep sighs. Well those deep sighs too, but I wasn’t going there! You!
Ahh, out of the shower and the works all done for the day. He should be here soon … but, I have to allow about 20 minutes because he said he was going to stop at the store. Probably roast chicken today ANDDDDD maybe potato salad! I have been awfully good! I didn’t even cry! I think we are going to get this entry posted just in case he’s early. Not too many pictures I’m afraid … but if there was one it would show me happy!
This is the second of a series of Saturday videos
We missed a couple of videos ... too long ... this one is this morning at about 5-7 am. We are going to start another one now.
Chuggin up a small hill
Good morning,
Just a short one today, we woke up just after 5 am and its now almost 6 am. Not much done this far except do the numbers and drink and eat and be merry. Ok, ok … maybe not all that, but our tummy is happy with the left over pizza leftovers. It was just plain cheese pizza, but we had it with salsa. Mmmm… The number for the blood glucose was a little higher than yesterday. Our average yesterday was 106 and today it is 107. *Sigh* pretty much pulling your leg here, because we know 107 average is GREAT!!! We’re pretty proud of doing this well with the diet, even if it isn’t showing up on the scale yet.
Today is a pretty big day anyway … because …………drum roll ………. It’s 3 months official since NO SMOKING!!!! I wish I could say I don’t give this much thought, but I woke up looking for the smokes yet this morning. Not literally, but so to speak thinking of having the smoke. There isn’t any real feeling of need attached to it, but thoughts are still there. Just don’t feel the need to entertain them. No desparateness in getting them. In fact, yesterday when I came in the bottom door to our apartment building, one of the maintenance men I’ve liked was going out and he had a lit cigarette. I thought Yeeks my God does that stink! I couldn’t get away from it soon enough. They seem pretty repulsive all told. So … ok, V! hold on just a little longer and we’ll soon be celebrating TWO 100 day victories!
We worked yesterday, but I’m afraid worked on getting ourselves together with the medical stuff as posted in the last entry. It took a bit of time putting it all together, and then believing that it was going to happen. I think we’re still in shock. Maybe this would be a good time to say that you know what?? My doctor wears purple latex gloves!!! You just gotta know a doctor in purple gloves can be trusted. She’s a nice, pretty, AND smart lady so for this part we are looking forward to being with her throughout this deal. I’ve got the distinct feeling she’s been through this before. On the wall behind the office people there is this entire wall of people who she has taken care of over the years. Lotsa people have gone through her office. I sure hope she doesn’t get tired of us. It’s like signing up to take this long ocean voyage. After you get on there is no going back. So far all we got is the itinerary and we’re wondering where we packed the ocean sickness pills.
*Sigh*
Ok, ok that’s enough of that … I don’t think we have anything important to say at this point. We have a staffing coming up we’re not real prepared for. So, that is going to need being taken care of right away. We probably should get in the shower early. Bout that time … Just gotta keep going forward. I can do this, I can do this…
Ann's Medical Update
Ann’s Doctor AppointmentsTh 10-12-06 8:15 am
Sleep Consult – Dr. Jim Herdegen, 312-413-3631 UIC Taylor 1-C
Th 10-12-06 4:30 pm
Psychiatry – Dr. Robert Marvin, 312-413-1718 UIC Psych 1rst floor
F 10-13-06 8:30 pm
Sleep Lab – Polysomnography, 312-996-7708 UIC Hosp 5th floor 536 East
Th 10-19-06 1:45 pm
Return patient – Dr. Maria Allbright, 312-996-2901 UIC Taylor 4E
Th 10-19-06 4:30 pm
Psychiatry – Dr. Robert Marvin, 312-413-1718 UIC Psych 1rst floor
M 10-23-06 8:00 am
Psychiatry – Dr. Robert Marvin, 312-413-1718 UIC Psych 1rst floor
M 10-23-06 2:30 pm
Oral Exam & X-rays – Dr. Carolyn Bronke Wind, 708-354-1335 507 S. Lagrange
F 10-27-06 1 pm
Tooth #18 Extraction – Dr. Cynthia Satko, 708-442-1414 345 E. Burlington Riverside
T 10-31-06 8:00 am
Psychiatry – Dr. Robert Marvin, 312-413-1718 UIC Psych 1rst floor
T 10-31-06 12:45 pm
Modern Endo – Dr. Ed Kasper, 708-784-9930 518 Hillgrove, Suite 150 Wst Spng
Th 11-2-06 7:00 pm
Hypnotherapy – Dr. De Grazia, 708-383-1700 1110 Pleasant Oak Park
M 11-6-06 10 am
Scaling & root planning LL – Dr. Carolyn Bronke Wind, 708-354-1335 507 S. Lgrn
Th 11-9-06 4:30 pm
Psychiatry – Dr. Robert Marvin, 312-413-1718 UIC Psych 1rst floor
M 11-13-06 12 pm
Scaling & Root Planing LR - Dr. Carolyn Bronke Wind, 708-354-1335 507 S. Lgrn
Th 11-16-06 4:30 pm
Psychiatry – Dr. Robert Marvin, 312-413-1718 UIC Psych 1rst floor
M 11-20-06 8:00 am
Composite Resin -2 Surface T29, Dr. Carolyn Bronke Wind, 708-354-1335
T 11-21-06 7:30 am
Psychiatry – Dr. Robert Marvin, 312-413-1718 UIC Psych 1rst floor
Th 11-23-06
THANKSGIVINGTh 11-30-06 1:30 pm
Return patient – Dr. Maria Allbright, 312-996-2901 UIC Taylor 4E
Th 11-30-06 4:30 pm
Psychiatry – Dr. Robert Marvin, 312-413-1718 UIC Psych 1rst floor
Th 12-7-06 4:30 pm
Psychiatry – Dr. Robert Marvin, 312-413-1718 UIC Psych 1rst floor
W 12-13-06 8:45 am
Sleep Establish – Dr Herdegen, 312-413-3631 UIC Taylor 1-C
Th 12-14-06 4:30 pm
Psychiatry – Dr. Robert Marvin, 312-413-1718 UIC Psych 1rst floor
Th 12-21-06 4:30 pm
Psychiatry – Dr. Robert Marvin, 312-413-1718 UIC Psych 1rst floor
M 12-25-06
CHRISTMAS (iffy) Th 12-28-06 4:30 pm
Psychiatry – Dr. Robert Marvin, 312-413-1718 UIC Psych 1rst floor
M 1-1-06
NEW YEARS EVEDentist – Dr. Carolyn Bronke Wind 708-354-1335
507 South LaGrange Road, La Grange, IL 60523Ann’s Appointments (Initial Cost/Our Cost/Insurance Cost)Mon 10-23-06
Periodic Oral Examination $ 42.00 $ 0.00 $ 42.00
Complete Series X-rays 108.00 50.00 58.00
Fri 10-27-06
Tooth #18 Extraction Est. 750.00 370.00 380.00
Tues 10-31-06
Modern Endo Eval #7 & #8 Est. 90.00 90.00 0.00
------------------------------------------------------------------
Mon 11-6-07
Scaling & Root Planing LL 210.00 42.00 168.00
Mon 11-13-07
Scaling & Root Planing LR 210.00 42.00 168.00
Mon 11-20-07
Composite Resin -2 Surface T29 194.00 38.80 194.00
Ann’s Appointments - Remaining
Nov
Composite Resin -2 Surface T31 194.00 38.80 194.00
------------------------------------------------------------------
Dec
Core Build-up for Crown T30 235.00 235.00 0.00
Ceramic/Gold Crown-Captek T30 894.00 894.00 0.00
Irrigation with Chlorhexidine LR 18.00 0.00 18.00
Ceramic/Gold Crown-Captek T2 894.00 447.00 447.00
------------------------------------------------------------------
Jan
Core Build-up for Crown T2 235.00 47.00 188.00
Irrigation with Chlorhexidine LL 18.00 0.00 18.00
Scaling & Root Planing UL 210.00 42.00 168.00
Irrigation with Chlorhexidine UL 18.00 0.00 18.00
------------------------------------------------------------------
Feb
Hx, Chart, SRP, Polish, OHI 119.00 119.00 0.00
Whitening 78.00 78.00 0.00
Partial Upper Denture 1495.00 1495.00 0.00
Total Cost Approximately $6,012
Us $3,012
Insurance $3,000 (Years 2006 & 2007)
October 24, 2006 (Addendum to October 11, 2006 notes)
Statistics
Not smoking for three months (hypnotherapy) after 25 years smoking 1 ½ pack per day
Rare
drinking/no illegal
drugs Physical Fitness 45 min per day about 5 of each 7 days (3 weeks)
Diet – Appx target 1800 calories decrease 312.4 to 298.8 lbs = 13.8 lbs. loss (5 weeks), Height 5’6” added to diet GNC Women’s Ultra Mega, TR Tablets – 180 ea, GNC Natural Brand Super Flax Meal – 1 lb, and Kretschmer Toasted Wheat Germ 12 oz
Blood Glucose 7 day average 109 (86 – 129 range)
Hgb A1C 5.7 (4-6 good range)
LDL Cholesterol 171 (100-200 good range)
HDL Cholesterol 29 (40-60 good range)
Triglycerides 249 (45-150 good range)
Physical Concerns:
Sleep disorder – Was told our immediate tests were inconclusive/borderline and that we would have to wait 2-3 weeks for data to be read by doctor. Tech indicated we might need to come back for a test with C-pap machine. We’re being told our throat is confined and also affected by poor nasal.
Ulner neuropathy – Referred to an orthopedic surgeon Dr. Boonmde. No appointment yet. We’re waiting on a call back from Dr. Allbright to remind us why we’re being referred exactly. Dr. Marvin ordered from the 3-month pharmacy medicine prescribed by Dr. Allbright that is supposed to address sore nerve endings. Waiting for delivery
Osteoarthritis – Continue at gym. We have moved from 2.3 to 2.5 on treadmill up to 7 minutes. Bike speed is 8 minutes 2x at a 5 level. Weight machines 2 bars (12-24 reps).
Feet – Ordered special exfoliating foot cream because they are rough, dry, cracked
Private parts – no change (need to be strong enough to be checked). We were given a urine and blood test request to be completed before end of November appointment.
Stomach – no change/normal
Hypothyroid – no change/normal
Breathing/dizzy – still easily out of breath, frequent yawns, drowsy, hard to concentrate, easily confused (we’re confused a lot though due to parts)
Memory – Tried not to get overwhelmed by appointments, so wrote out schedule after missing one
Menopause – We’re at about 4 months without period – we found menopause just 12 months without a period. We’ll see how this next period of time goes between now and July
Hair loss – Dr. Albright thought this might be due to a loss of iron, so we made sure we had a vitamin with 100%, and we’re trying a more expensive shampoo to see if that helps
Ears – Dr. Albright prescribed ear drops because the ears were both dry
Dentist – See abundant notes centered on Dr. Carolyn Bronke Wind and referrals
Mental Concerns
Multiplicity – no change – we back to thinking we’re strange, but interesting J We’re not going to as many multiple meetings – maybe one of four offered
Depression – now about 5-6 weeks since last suicidal ideation. Feel better about Dr. Marvin being here, but a little weary of Christmas scheduling … lost the 10-23-06 appointment to forgetfulness. Trying not to feel frail. Holding the thought most often that I would like to just take care of myself without having to work.
Anxiety – Still having trouble facing work and deadlines. We can’t yet get the mail and our friend still shops and freezes dinner for us. We seem able to boil and microwave if not over 10-12 minutes one-step. Our friend is helping with positive support and financial assistance with dental loan.
Obsessive/compulsive – been trying to focus on health and improving living environment. Continue work on self-regulation. We have the house better picked up but still under-down dirty. Had to be called off after placing call to a maid service at $200 each 3 weeks. Our friend said NO. Check book balance about $50 – 6 days to payday. Sent in mail today contract to rent one more year. This will be six years at one place. Seem centered on not being able to do things without back pain. Trying to better focus on becoming healthier. Still tied pretty close to computer and stuffed dog fore security.
OVERALL: Easily overwhelmed, but resolved– trying to be cautious with crabbiness – especially with friend, because he certainly doesn’t deserve it.
This is our one video from Sunday and is about an hour and eight minutes long. Most of it is concerning and with our Grandma ... :)
Pretty Gosh Darn Good Day
Good Morning. I think it is at least … It’s now 7:41 am and we’re very frustrated with ourselves. It has been a good morning, we’ve been up since 5 am, but we forgot that we had a Dr. M. meeting today. Shoot, shoot. Just no fair. Why can’t we remember stuff???!
Pretty much we had been working through the post we didn’t get posted yesterday. It took some time because it needed fussy work done like pictures and color had to be done over again a few times to get it right. When we thought of starting this post, it had occurred to us that it might be the week we were going to have his appointment early, and then we looked and realized there was no way we could be at his office in 20 minutes. With traffic it would have taken 45-60 minutes, plus time to walk down to his end of the building. Too much … and I wasn’t showered and dressed yet, nor had I taken my medicine. D*mn … I really blew that. I wrote him a quick email, but he has policies nowadays that we don’t do phone appointments.
Smoochy face just stopped by for a moment. Dammm I forgot again!!!!! We just agreed to him coming over at 3 pm and I think at 2:30 pm, we have a dentist appointment. Oh Damn double damn. Better check that out.
Oh man oh man … am I screwing up. I just dialed our friend back, but apparently my phone had saved his home number when he had called me at some point, because he picked it up questioning me calling his home number. Oh man oh man shoot, where is my mind??? He called back on his cell phone and in a couple of minutes the situations were explained and everything is ok, but it means that I have to be at dentist appointment at 2:30 and my friend is going to be here by 3:00. Shoot I so hate to miss the times he can be here. He said he is going to do a little cooking today, so obviously I’m no help to him there, but usually we sit on the table side of the room and chat while he cooks. Hopefully, it will be a very, very short appointment. They don’t take things like that past an hour, right? I don’t think it is one of those dentists that back-up a lot of appointments. It’s pretty calm and relaxed over there. Though, I will have to remember to look up the address. Can I handle that?? Not sure.
Hmpf! I thought I was having a pretty good morning too. Shoot, shoot. Well, I guess it still can be a pretty good morning, but I’m going to need moving on with things. We’ve work to do today … and still we haven’t finished cleaning the house. If nothing else, I have to finish cleaning the kitchen. The cooking side isn’t so bad, except the floor and the table needs to be cleaned off again. We swished in the bathroom yesterday and removed dirty towels and such so that’s ok, besides the floor, but the two bedrooms need work. I have to start with taking out a big old box from the back room and getting towels and clean clothes from last time put away. That’s pretty much it there, except one day, I’m going to need getting the bedspread into the cleaners. It’s going to cost a gold mine, but there’s this particular spot that Chief has done his best to make hairy. I’m going to have to cover that place next time with a couple of towels, so I can keep up with it better.
In our bedroom, there’s always a bed to make and again we have some clean things in there that haven’t been put away. Really not too much else there, except some clutter on the dressers. Again, nothing in our house is impossible. Just at 7 minutes per shot … it takes a longggg hard time. I don’t think people understand what it means to be in such pain every time you stand up for a few minutes to do something good for yourself. I don’t know how I got arthritis, but it sure is a terrible, terrible thing to deal with. Sometimes I watch other people fly around and I feel so low in that what they are doing by simple task has become an insurmountable feat to me. I just get teary. Ok, ok … nuf of that … we’re not going to get down. Let’s think it through … Priority #1 today?!!
Hmm, 8 am … just took our medicines that’s good. We need to balance work work, house work, and writing work. Maybe we should finish the writing work, so we can get on to the other two. AND, we’re going to need taking a shower soon. Hmm, maybe we can put that off until about 1 pm. We are going to need stopping by at the cleaners either before or after the appointment. It would be better before than after. Then it won’t take-up so much of our friend’s time AND maybe he could help bring up the clothes. Though he’s already bringing up groceries and we are going to not want to overwork him! It will be a much bigger deal if I can finish the cleaning before he gets here. Let’s set the timer now to begin in 45 minutes or at 9 am.
Ahh, we got a response from Dr. M. We gave him a good report … this is what we had to say to summarize our weekend. J God Forgive me, but dear son … we’ve got to write a little about you, because our heart is bursting open in pride of you and your accomplishments and the wonder of your little girls.
Dear Dr. M.
As an update ... things are going pretty good. Though, we wish we were more motivated to be working on work stuff. Seems we get to the weekend where we think we're going to catch up on some stuff, and then we just want to be doing our own stuff and not deal with work.
We've gone quite a few days up to yesterday where we hadn't made entries in our blog so ... not sure exactly what's been going on. I know we were at work on Friday, but had some car trouble. So that took a bit of energy, and we had to leave work right after Thinking Group to get the car out of the shop. I think she'll be ok, the car, but we had to take her to a strange shop. The engine light isn't on ... cuz we got her out of their pretty quick ($65) and talked to the regular mechanic. The first guys were going to charge about $300 and our regular guy said make sure the oil is filled and that seems to be what took care of the problem. Our friend, of course, was on top of that, so we veered out of trouble.
I think we were home by ourselves Friday night and went to bed early. Saturday late afternoon Our friend cAbby over and we went out to eat and for a drive in the forest preserves south of here. That was very nice. Unfortunately, he had to go after about 3 hours, because of a card gAbby with his "officials" friends. *Sigh* I think that night we watched some movies.
Yesterday, we set ourselves up to get some housework done. It's part of our plan to concentrate on self-regulation, especially on Sundays. We got some work done - pretty much clothes, the living room, and wash room and now we're hoping to get through the kitchen today and maybe touch on the bedrooms. They are not real bad, since we rarely use them, but every task takes forever. We are in very bad pain by 7 minutes and do better again after sitting for 15-20 minutes. It takes a long time to get done with very little and the effort is great. Some tasks are harder like it takes two efforts to vacuum the living room sitting down between things. I find ourselves bending over on the couch while pushing and pulling the vacuum in front of us. Sometimes this all makes me feel like crying.
We talked to Our friend this morning and he is going to come over about 3 pm with some groceries and to do some dinners. I had to call him back, because I'd forgotten we have a dentist appointment at 2:30. I hate to miss out on any Our friend time.
The only thing else is that Macadam called in the late morning yesterday and asked if we would like to come out for lunch. I ended up paying for a delivery lunch, but that was ok. I felt he needed a break. He was so funny. Weekends he watches the girls while Lee works. She gives him a list of clothes to wash and rooms to clean AND of course taking care of the girls needs. Our time with them was wonderful!!! We spent about 4 hours. A lot of time was in just watching the girls. Lissel is crawling on all fours now and she's very speedy! Hehehe She also has learned to pull herself up by the couch to be in a full standing position. She's just amazing. I think she's on track, because she's about 9 months old. Word is she can say "mama" too :) Macadam says she also says "I have an excellent Daddy and he takes care of me so good." Umm, we didn't quite hear that ourselves, but don't think Macadam would lie to us!
The girls are relating to each other very well, with the exception that Abby is having some trouble sharing her toys. She wants Lissel to only play with Lissel's toys. Abby could be seen climbing up to the couch and pushing her things to the back of the couch where Lissel can't quite reach yet. She's thinking about it, but we have to allow here SOME time to process this new change of events. Lissel thinks the world of her big sister and follows her everywhere. I was very pleased Lissel would come over to me too; in that I wasn't such a stranger I scared her. That was very nice.
Macadam spent some time after Lissel went down for a nap showing me some work he'd been doing on his Fantasy Football team. This is his 4th year with this particular group and he has taken it on himself to be publishing to his league a "paper." By that I mean he takes on the personalities of various writers and speaks in each of their perspectives in writing articles that reflect what's going on in the league. He says that a lot of what he does is try to stir up controversy so that people will respond and start talking between them selves. He says it doesn't matter if they like him or not as long as there is dialogue, because he says that's the important part. There are 20 teams in his league and I very much respect and admire him for what he is doing. It seems the funniest thing because this effort is more like something we would do than anything else I've ever seen Macadam do, although he's using his particular talents in sports news and statistics as I might do things work wise or with the blog. I knew this for sure when he made an off-comment about averaging out the teams’ ages and years experiences so as to compare teams' abilities. I thought oh man oh man ... this is definitely MY KID!!!!!! He says sometimes people will comment on how much effort and detail he puts into the job although no one would have asked him to do so much ... I don't know how in the hell it happened ... but, I couldn't be more proud or pleased. I made sure he knew that ... and we listened to as much as time afforded us. He's soooo cool! I wanted to listen as if there were no tomorrow.
So, that's about it. We set our timer for about 20 minutes from now so we can write a little more before getting back to the cleaning and work work tasks. We figure to be in the shower by 1 pm, stop by for the clothes about 2 pm and on from there to the dentist. That means we've got at least 4 hours of work to do. It's not much ... but, we've got to start somewhere.
Thanks for letting me do this catch-up ... if there were a summary ... it would be we're doing fine. We're trying to keep up with the monitoring of diabetes too. We are averaging 110 at this point. We're about 70% ability at this point in remembering to take test at the right time. Hmm, ok this too could take some improvement. We'll keep working at it.
Hope you have a good start to your week. Thank you for being just an email away. :)
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