Man, I'm tired. I allowed myself a half hour nap after church and could have slept longer, but I'm glad I didn't. I'll be heading to bed early.
I'm going to pull the trigger on the short story submission tomorrow. Thanks for all the help. The story is stronger now, and I've done enough research that it shouldn't be too hard to expand the world into a longer book.
The house inspection went well. We should be getting the report any time, but the inspector was really trying to find things. It's all pretty minor stuff. I'm mostly doing mental furniture placement while we wait for the VA appraiser. That's the big obstacle right now to getting out of dodge. Can't come too soon for me. Fireworks season has begun here. Every stinking night, but so far none from the roof. Oh, and our car got keyed Friday night. Some jackass walked into the carport and ran their key down the whole drivers side. We filed a police report, but I don't expect anything will happen. I think my stepdad will be able to fix it, so I'm not worried.
The games begin Thursday. Looks like I have to get someone to cover a couple hours of my shift on Thursday so I can make the first airport run. Eric has done a lot of the prep work so we're in good shape. He has found it's easier to just do the work than deal with freaked out Wendy. Works for me!
As far as decluttering, we took a big box of miscellaneous crap, an old TV, and 2 trash bags of clothing to Salvation Army yesterday. There's more to do, but that will do for now.
I think there might be a correlation between sugar intake and my allergies. Yesterday I binged on sugar and caffeine, and I didn't take my allergy pill because I didn't feel like I needed one. Today I woke up with one eye irritated and tearing, and it cleared up pretty quickly after I took a pill. It might be coincidence, but I can use a reason to avoid sugar to see if there is a connection.
I think that's about it for now. Hope y'all have a good week.
Sunday, June 28, 2015
Saturday, June 27, 2015
Back To Work Soon
Yes, I think I'm nearly to the point where I won't be able to use this knee as an excuse not to work. I still have to pace myself, but stamina is returning. I got a little of everything done on my list for this week: medical records mailed, annual exam at VA (plus an additional appointment, quickly given, to get something wart-like cryogenically removed from my arm), physical therapy (two solid sessions), pre-op consult (scheduled for July 16), three weed whacker batteries of weed whacking done, but very little housework.
My VA nurse practitioner cautioned me about getting the carpal tunnel release done. Her nurse's husband had it done, but still had problems. The nurse practitioner advised to wait longer, because often the results aren't so good from this procedure. My doc is confident I'll see good results, and my physical therapist said it's important to get it done before I experience muscle loss, because that won't come back. I like my VA practitioner, but in this instance, based upon results I've been getting from them so far, I trust my orthopedic surgeon and physical therapist in this matter.
Our town is having a tree limb and brush drop off day on July 18th, so I'm going to see what I can get trimmed and gathered in time to participate in this event -- it's rare for the city to do this, and I want to take advantage of it.
In clutter release, four empty boxes have left the house. Three toner cartridges have made their way into the UPS truck for recycling. I boxed up the coffee maker in preparation for putting it in a yard sale this summer (It's still on the ktichen counter, though -- I need to find a staging area for this stuff).
I'm identifying little tasks that need to be done in the overall housework realm. Unfortunately, it took me most of the week to bring the broom and dustpan into the downstairs bathroom to sweep it. I'll get back into the swing of things soon. I'm not a great housekeeper, but I can be a lot better than I've been able to be since the surgery.
The Week Ahead:
My VA nurse practitioner cautioned me about getting the carpal tunnel release done. Her nurse's husband had it done, but still had problems. The nurse practitioner advised to wait longer, because often the results aren't so good from this procedure. My doc is confident I'll see good results, and my physical therapist said it's important to get it done before I experience muscle loss, because that won't come back. I like my VA practitioner, but in this instance, based upon results I've been getting from them so far, I trust my orthopedic surgeon and physical therapist in this matter.
Our town is having a tree limb and brush drop off day on July 18th, so I'm going to see what I can get trimmed and gathered in time to participate in this event -- it's rare for the city to do this, and I want to take advantage of it.
In clutter release, four empty boxes have left the house. Three toner cartridges have made their way into the UPS truck for recycling. I boxed up the coffee maker in preparation for putting it in a yard sale this summer (It's still on the ktichen counter, though -- I need to find a staging area for this stuff).
I'm identifying little tasks that need to be done in the overall housework realm. Unfortunately, it took me most of the week to bring the broom and dustpan into the downstairs bathroom to sweep it. I'll get back into the swing of things soon. I'm not a great housekeeper, but I can be a lot better than I've been able to be since the surgery.
The Week Ahead:
- Evaluation appointment with a VA contractor on Monday, and there may be more appointments related to this at some later date
- Physical therapy X2
- Set up the deer camera and fill the deer feeder
- Maybe we'll finally cut up the tree that's been sitting on the motor home for a couple of years
- Bring the flat fender Jeep trailer back from the ranch and stow in the shop.
- Head to San Antonio to celebrate the 4th with friends.
- Yardwork
- Housework
Sunday, June 21, 2015
Looking up
We've had interesting developments here. We have a signed agreement on our offer to buy the house in Berwyn. I'm leaving work a little early on Friday to go out there for the inspection, although I'll be surprised if they find anything. It's a recent flip, and the city is very strict on code enforcement, or so our realtor tells us. We're hoping for a quick close, ideally mid-July. We'll still have to pay August rent, but that's fine. We won't have to make a mortgage payment until September. It's going to save us a lot of money, which is crazy. We're going into debt to get out of debt.
Still no movement on the downstate house, but with the breathing room we'll be getting, we're a little less concerned. We'll see how the market looks in September or so before we decide to renew the listing for another 6 months or take it off the market and try to rent for 18 months. That'll put us back to April, and hopefully the market will have picked up, plus we'll have another 18 mortgage payments covered by rent and our break-even point will be lower. It's not the ideal situation, but if we find a good rental agent like we had in VA, it'll be fine.
The Chicago Games went well yesterday. It's been wet, so the area was a little muddy, but we talked to a lot of people and the weather cooperated. It didn't storm until we were home this time, even after we stopped for dinner along the way.
Work has been interesting. I'm doing more managerial duties, but I don't have the title or the pay yet. I'm supposed to be training with one of the other managers for a couple hours tomorrow morning. Honestly, I don't know what else they could have me do. I'm already doing inventory and ordering, scheduling, and bank runs for change. The kids already call me when something goes wrong or someone doesn't show up. I'm already reminding them of what to do and what to wear. (We have a couple of girls who think it's fine to show up in white short shorts as long as they have the t-shirt and visor.) I already meet once a week with the district manager. And they've gotten me the info to take the Chicago food sanitation course, which I'll be reimbursed for once I pass. I guess I'll find out tomorrow what else I need to be doing to get to the next level because, frankly, I'm getting to the point that they're not paying me enough to put up with this crap. I'm my own worst enemy, of course. One of the girls called me this afternoon to make sure we don't have a repeat of a situation last week, and I told her we wouldn't, but if it did happen again she could call me and I'd come in. But I vent to poor Eric when they call and pester me, or when I have to cover a shift because someone didn't call in sick in time to get someone to cover for them. Working with teens is so much fun.
Writing has been going better. Blogging has not. I really need to get a handle on that.
I think that's about it. The latte I drank at 5 p.m. seems to have just worn off. Maybe tomorrow won't stink after all!
Still no movement on the downstate house, but with the breathing room we'll be getting, we're a little less concerned. We'll see how the market looks in September or so before we decide to renew the listing for another 6 months or take it off the market and try to rent for 18 months. That'll put us back to April, and hopefully the market will have picked up, plus we'll have another 18 mortgage payments covered by rent and our break-even point will be lower. It's not the ideal situation, but if we find a good rental agent like we had in VA, it'll be fine.
The Chicago Games went well yesterday. It's been wet, so the area was a little muddy, but we talked to a lot of people and the weather cooperated. It didn't storm until we were home this time, even after we stopped for dinner along the way.
Work has been interesting. I'm doing more managerial duties, but I don't have the title or the pay yet. I'm supposed to be training with one of the other managers for a couple hours tomorrow morning. Honestly, I don't know what else they could have me do. I'm already doing inventory and ordering, scheduling, and bank runs for change. The kids already call me when something goes wrong or someone doesn't show up. I'm already reminding them of what to do and what to wear. (We have a couple of girls who think it's fine to show up in white short shorts as long as they have the t-shirt and visor.) I already meet once a week with the district manager. And they've gotten me the info to take the Chicago food sanitation course, which I'll be reimbursed for once I pass. I guess I'll find out tomorrow what else I need to be doing to get to the next level because, frankly, I'm getting to the point that they're not paying me enough to put up with this crap. I'm my own worst enemy, of course. One of the girls called me this afternoon to make sure we don't have a repeat of a situation last week, and I told her we wouldn't, but if it did happen again she could call me and I'd come in. But I vent to poor Eric when they call and pester me, or when I have to cover a shift because someone didn't call in sick in time to get someone to cover for them. Working with teens is so much fun.
Writing has been going better. Blogging has not. I really need to get a handle on that.
I think that's about it. The latte I drank at 5 p.m. seems to have just worn off. Maybe tomorrow won't stink after all!
I Can See Normal on the Horizon
While I can see normal on the horizon, I'm also experiencing momentary despair that the knee will ever be "normal." I know this is silliness. It will, and it will be in a few months, but right now, in these moments, every now and then, I'm tired of it. I know this will pass.
It's the busy season for routine medical appointments. With physical therapy on top of the appointments, I have some long days running around in Temple. Last week was with my primary care doctor. Thankfully, anticipated prescription problems did not materialize at Fort Hood, but nearly everyone in the waiting room was speaking some language other than English. Do you know how strange this is in an American military hospital? This week, I see my primary nurse practitioner at the VA where the women's health exams will take place. I'll update her on my knee and my next steps I'm taking to alleviate my carpal tunnel symptoms -- a visit to my orthopedic surgeon on Wednesday to discuss surgery. Other than issuing me braces for my various ailments, the VA has been useless to me for anything other than Women's Health (the primary reason I see them). I'm so thankful I have other health care available to me. On the 29th, I see a VA contractor doctor for my increased disability evaluation.
If surgery is indicated for my carpal tunnel (and I think it is), I'll schedule that for mid-July. I should just be finishing PT for my knee, so I can begin it for my hand. Interestingly enough, my PT place seems to do pre-employment physical fitness tests for employers that need it (the jail being one). That sounds like a good way to supplement income.
We got the birdbath installed in the side yard this week. I got the lawn mowed. I still need to do trimming. I'm barely keeping ahead of yard work, and I'm not doing well on housework. Stephen, I spoke too soon about being thankful I didn't have to pound laundry on rocks. A couple nights ago, while we were working on a jigsaw puzzle at the kitchen table, Mr. L looked down, and water was oozing across the floor. The washer was leaking somehow. We think at the drain pump, but we haven't verified it yet. I guess we're in the market for another washer again (we bought this one used from our former neighbor in San Antonio two years ago). Will Mr. L find the time and energy to move the 220 outlet and the dryer vent to the other side of the laundry room so we can buy the new stacked unit we prefer? We'll see. Until he figures it out, I'm hauling dirty clothes to the laundromat at the end of the street for washing and bringing them back here for drying.
Quin is published. I think I haven't done a blog post for it yet, so I should do that. Thank you, Stephen, for your help with the cover image as well as reminding me how much revision we did from my electronic copy to the final version in BFF -- and for sending those copies for my use.
I have the Glaring Upheaval and Malone's Way file assembled. I'll need to select cover art, and do a quality check. I plan to release that next month. I've kept up with my blogging schedule. Stamina is seeping back in. Despite this, I'm still not getting much creative work done.
So far, Rossie is responding positively to the us putting her in the cage. We hope she feels safe in there, and her behavior so far indicates she does. Or she is beginning to feel safe. Either way, we feel hopeful for the first time in a long while with regard to her. Will this work, and how long will it take? We have no idea.
The Week Ahead:
It's the busy season for routine medical appointments. With physical therapy on top of the appointments, I have some long days running around in Temple. Last week was with my primary care doctor. Thankfully, anticipated prescription problems did not materialize at Fort Hood, but nearly everyone in the waiting room was speaking some language other than English. Do you know how strange this is in an American military hospital? This week, I see my primary nurse practitioner at the VA where the women's health exams will take place. I'll update her on my knee and my next steps I'm taking to alleviate my carpal tunnel symptoms -- a visit to my orthopedic surgeon on Wednesday to discuss surgery. Other than issuing me braces for my various ailments, the VA has been useless to me for anything other than Women's Health (the primary reason I see them). I'm so thankful I have other health care available to me. On the 29th, I see a VA contractor doctor for my increased disability evaluation.
If surgery is indicated for my carpal tunnel (and I think it is), I'll schedule that for mid-July. I should just be finishing PT for my knee, so I can begin it for my hand. Interestingly enough, my PT place seems to do pre-employment physical fitness tests for employers that need it (the jail being one). That sounds like a good way to supplement income.
We got the birdbath installed in the side yard this week. I got the lawn mowed. I still need to do trimming. I'm barely keeping ahead of yard work, and I'm not doing well on housework. Stephen, I spoke too soon about being thankful I didn't have to pound laundry on rocks. A couple nights ago, while we were working on a jigsaw puzzle at the kitchen table, Mr. L looked down, and water was oozing across the floor. The washer was leaking somehow. We think at the drain pump, but we haven't verified it yet. I guess we're in the market for another washer again (we bought this one used from our former neighbor in San Antonio two years ago). Will Mr. L find the time and energy to move the 220 outlet and the dryer vent to the other side of the laundry room so we can buy the new stacked unit we prefer? We'll see. Until he figures it out, I'm hauling dirty clothes to the laundromat at the end of the street for washing and bringing them back here for drying.
Quin is published. I think I haven't done a blog post for it yet, so I should do that. Thank you, Stephen, for your help with the cover image as well as reminding me how much revision we did from my electronic copy to the final version in BFF -- and for sending those copies for my use.
I have the Glaring Upheaval and Malone's Way file assembled. I'll need to select cover art, and do a quality check. I plan to release that next month. I've kept up with my blogging schedule. Stamina is seeping back in. Despite this, I'm still not getting much creative work done.
So far, Rossie is responding positively to the us putting her in the cage. We hope she feels safe in there, and her behavior so far indicates she does. Or she is beginning to feel safe. Either way, we feel hopeful for the first time in a long while with regard to her. Will this work, and how long will it take? We have no idea.
The Week Ahead:
- Mail surgical medical records to VA
- Annual exam at VA
- Physical therapy X2
- Pre-op consult with orthopedic surgeon
- Do some yard work
- Do some housework
Saturday, June 13, 2015
Glimpses of Productivity
Thanks to Stephen's no too gentle prodding, I read through the Amazon KDP terms of service and accepted them. Then I looked through some stock photos. I created a book for Quin. I found the same photo I'd liked for Quin on colourbox on my stock photo site that gives me a photo a month, so I downloaded that photo and created a cover. It's not ideal, but it's a start. Ideally, I'd make the background transparent or find a way to make the photo a little smaller on the cover so the "an" of Jean isn't obscured by the mannequin's foot. Other niggling things like that, but I have a cover. Maybe the fonts aren't right. Maybe the colors aren't right, but I have a cover. Then I played with the document file. I added the front matter, added the three poems from BFF at the end, and added a bio.
Wendy observed the indentations were too large. I agreed. I made the indent smaller in the file. No change in .mobi. I removed the indentations, and .mobi had no indentations. I added three spaces where every indentation should be. That sort of works, better on some e-readers than others from what I could tell. I'm nearly ready to move to the pricing page, but I'm letting it cool for a while first.
I'm looking for cover images for Glaring Upheaval/Malone's Way. Nothing really grabs me yet, but I'm also looking with an eye for title, subtitle, and name placement visibility. Now that I've seen the cover wizard in action, I see what some of the limitations are and am trying to work with them.
I've kept up with my blog posts. I drafted an opening scene to a post-apocalyptic story. Writing-wise, this is the most productive I've been for a couple of months.
I troubleshot the iMac wake from sleep problem yesterday. After I exhausted all the cures I found on the internet to no avail, I called Apple Tech support. They exhausted everything they had (not much more than what I'd already tried), and the next step is to lug it into the Apple Store next time I'm in San Antonio. At least I have a trouble ticket on it with everything we've done so far, so we shouldn't have to backtrack much. The interim solution is to never let it go to sleep, which works well. I make a point to turn it off if I won't be using it for a while.
Mr. L is on his way back from San Antonio, where he had a productive week, repairing siding, a window sill, painting, and fixing two water leaks. Probably a few other things he's not mentioned which are likely to be impressive, because he does stuff like that.
I got the tree down for a very reasonable price, mowed at the store, tried to trap cats, trapping all the wrong ones (and letting one I sort of wanted to trap escape when I foolishly tried to transfer him to a carrier -- just take him to the vet in the trap; I should know that by now). We probably have some things to do to prepare for the upstairs AC tear out and install next week. We're looking forward to having a new system installed and hoping it will be more reliable and efficient.
I have physical therapy for a few more weeks and several medical appointments, routine, but important, as well as the evaluation appointment for the VA to determine not only my temporary 100% disability but my request for an increased rating for my right knee (I didn't specifically ask for that, but they interpreted it that way, and I'm fine with that). I know the knees are not 0% disability, but they may still see it that way. A replacement with no complications, according to the chart, is an automatic 30%. I don't want it rated any more than that, because that means I'm having serious problems with the implant, and I do not want that. Thankfully, I don't think I'm having problems with the implant, so I imagine after one year, the temporary 100% will revert to a permanent 30%.
I still need to try to trap Boomer -- he needs medical attention. Junior is in the good to trap category, because he needs to be evaluated for health, neutered if healthy, and vaccinated. He probably needs treatment for parasites as well.
I cannot believe Walter walked into the trap yesterday afternoon and caught himself. Then he cussed me out but good for a couple minutes while I was holding the trap open for him before deigning to walk out and go under the house. He cussed so loudly, Boomer came to the steps to investigate. Not long after, I'd rebaited the trap, and Boomer looked inside but chose not to go in. Nobody even approached the trap this morning.
I've been trying to walk in the mornings and am slowly increasing my time. My knee "clunked" in a disconcerting way (I felt a vibration all the way up my body). I've since learned if I pick my foot up just a little more when I walk, the clunk does not happen. This leads me to believe it's a gait thing, and if I'm clunking, I'm not walking properly. I'm going to run that theory by the physical therapist on Tuesday, but it seems sensible. The new knee walks fine, but my old knee complains at the 8-10 minute mark. That's going to be a problem until I get it replaced.
The Week Ahead:
Wendy observed the indentations were too large. I agreed. I made the indent smaller in the file. No change in .mobi. I removed the indentations, and .mobi had no indentations. I added three spaces where every indentation should be. That sort of works, better on some e-readers than others from what I could tell. I'm nearly ready to move to the pricing page, but I'm letting it cool for a while first.
I'm looking for cover images for Glaring Upheaval/Malone's Way. Nothing really grabs me yet, but I'm also looking with an eye for title, subtitle, and name placement visibility. Now that I've seen the cover wizard in action, I see what some of the limitations are and am trying to work with them.
I've kept up with my blog posts. I drafted an opening scene to a post-apocalyptic story. Writing-wise, this is the most productive I've been for a couple of months.
I troubleshot the iMac wake from sleep problem yesterday. After I exhausted all the cures I found on the internet to no avail, I called Apple Tech support. They exhausted everything they had (not much more than what I'd already tried), and the next step is to lug it into the Apple Store next time I'm in San Antonio. At least I have a trouble ticket on it with everything we've done so far, so we shouldn't have to backtrack much. The interim solution is to never let it go to sleep, which works well. I make a point to turn it off if I won't be using it for a while.
Mr. L is on his way back from San Antonio, where he had a productive week, repairing siding, a window sill, painting, and fixing two water leaks. Probably a few other things he's not mentioned which are likely to be impressive, because he does stuff like that.
I got the tree down for a very reasonable price, mowed at the store, tried to trap cats, trapping all the wrong ones (and letting one I sort of wanted to trap escape when I foolishly tried to transfer him to a carrier -- just take him to the vet in the trap; I should know that by now). We probably have some things to do to prepare for the upstairs AC tear out and install next week. We're looking forward to having a new system installed and hoping it will be more reliable and efficient.
I have physical therapy for a few more weeks and several medical appointments, routine, but important, as well as the evaluation appointment for the VA to determine not only my temporary 100% disability but my request for an increased rating for my right knee (I didn't specifically ask for that, but they interpreted it that way, and I'm fine with that). I know the knees are not 0% disability, but they may still see it that way. A replacement with no complications, according to the chart, is an automatic 30%. I don't want it rated any more than that, because that means I'm having serious problems with the implant, and I do not want that. Thankfully, I don't think I'm having problems with the implant, so I imagine after one year, the temporary 100% will revert to a permanent 30%.
I still need to try to trap Boomer -- he needs medical attention. Junior is in the good to trap category, because he needs to be evaluated for health, neutered if healthy, and vaccinated. He probably needs treatment for parasites as well.
I cannot believe Walter walked into the trap yesterday afternoon and caught himself. Then he cussed me out but good for a couple minutes while I was holding the trap open for him before deigning to walk out and go under the house. He cussed so loudly, Boomer came to the steps to investigate. Not long after, I'd rebaited the trap, and Boomer looked inside but chose not to go in. Nobody even approached the trap this morning.
I've been trying to walk in the mornings and am slowly increasing my time. My knee "clunked" in a disconcerting way (I felt a vibration all the way up my body). I've since learned if I pick my foot up just a little more when I walk, the clunk does not happen. This leads me to believe it's a gait thing, and if I'm clunking, I'm not walking properly. I'm going to run that theory by the physical therapist on Tuesday, but it seems sensible. The new knee walks fine, but my old knee complains at the 8-10 minute mark. That's going to be a problem until I get it replaced.
The Week Ahead:
- Upstairs heat pump installation
- Primary care doctor appointment
- Physical therapy re-eval
- Mowing and yard work
- Walk
- Attempt to capture Boomer and get him in for medical attention
- Publish Quin to Amazon
- Gain traction on other writing projects
Monday, June 8, 2015
Climbing The Health Ladder or Ways To Go Crazy
It's been a rough, rough, rough past few days. We changed my diabetes meds, and I'm going through a drastic "adjustment period," as the doctor so nicely put it. That's because, of course, he's not going through it.
Just to add to the general stress of it all, my insurance company -- the one I was so proud of for insuring me for the first time in my life -- denied my new drug. It's so frustrating. The rotten thing is working, I'm enduring this danged adjustment period, and they won't pay. No explanation for why they won't pay. They just won't pay. I'm appealing the decision. And I have enough samples for a couple of weeks. I certainly can't afford it if they don't pay for it. So I might be doing the whole danged adjustment over with a new drug.
No writing for the past two weeks. That is also annoying, but I can't seem to find the concentration necessary to hold a story in my head. Part of the adjustment, apparently, and it will get better, they say, and soon I will be writing again, I hope. Yeah, a lot of commas in that sentence. Want to make something of it?
Okay, I'm a bit grumpy, too.
But I am doing To-Do lists again and getting things done. Not as much as I once did, but it's getting better. I'm hoping that in a couple of months I will rev up enough to make people jealous again. Or at least keep up with them.
This week:
- Household chores.
- Family newsletter.
- WRITE!
Have a great week, whether you want to or not!
Just to add to the general stress of it all, my insurance company -- the one I was so proud of for insuring me for the first time in my life -- denied my new drug. It's so frustrating. The rotten thing is working, I'm enduring this danged adjustment period, and they won't pay. No explanation for why they won't pay. They just won't pay. I'm appealing the decision. And I have enough samples for a couple of weeks. I certainly can't afford it if they don't pay for it. So I might be doing the whole danged adjustment over with a new drug.
No writing for the past two weeks. That is also annoying, but I can't seem to find the concentration necessary to hold a story in my head. Part of the adjustment, apparently, and it will get better, they say, and soon I will be writing again, I hope. Yeah, a lot of commas in that sentence. Want to make something of it?
Okay, I'm a bit grumpy, too.
But I am doing To-Do lists again and getting things done. Not as much as I once did, but it's getting better. I'm hoping that in a couple of months I will rev up enough to make people jealous again. Or at least keep up with them.
This week:
- Household chores.
- Family newsletter.
- WRITE!
Have a great week, whether you want to or not!
Saturday, June 6, 2015
Six Week Post-Op Blues
Yes. I'm whining. Everything hurts. I'm sure it's ergonomics and compensation while I try to minimize weakness in my leg. Trying to figure out what it will take to get past this lower back and both legs pain.
The iMac is set up. I'll add things as I need them now. Dropbox is still synchronizing. And I don't seem to be able to wake it up from sleep. Does it just turn itself off? Do I have a setting wrong? I'll explore more.
I got my haircut. Therapy, despite my lower back troubles, is going well. My follow up with the doctor went great. My last granddaughter graduated from high school today with her cosmetology license as well, so she's thrilled. Not sure what she has lined up. Vacuuming did NOT happen. I guess it's too early for that.
The Week Ahead:
The iMac is set up. I'll add things as I need them now. Dropbox is still synchronizing. And I don't seem to be able to wake it up from sleep. Does it just turn itself off? Do I have a setting wrong? I'll explore more.
I got my haircut. Therapy, despite my lower back troubles, is going well. My follow up with the doctor went great. My last granddaughter graduated from high school today with her cosmetology license as well, so she's thrilled. Not sure what she has lined up. Vacuuming did NOT happen. I guess it's too early for that.
The Week Ahead:
- Rest to see if this back will ease up
- Walk -- some of it behind a lawn mower at the store unless Mr. L has time to load the riding mower into a trailer and take me over there tomorrow so I can "get 'er done."
- Physical therapy; schedule my 12 week follow up with my surgeon -- forgot to do it Friday before I left
- Probably some other stuff I'm forgetting. Good night.
Catching myself coming and going
I don't know where this week has gone. It's a little disconcerting.
I had a meeting with my district manager on Wednesday. Their plan is to get me trained for Assistant Manager this month, and move me to Store Manager at some point after that. They're not very specific with timelines. One of the new tasks is to take over scheduling. It's currently being done by a guy at the home office, and he doesn't know who is good at what. He had a train wreck for tomorrow night (one weak closer with an opener who's never closed), but I fixed it with the DM's blessing. I have to have a schedule for the week of June 15 ready to go for approval this Wednesday, and rumor has it I'm going to have one of the other managers back in the store to train me that week. It's great to have a challenge again.
I'm pulling the post-apoc short together. I haven't started writing yet, but I have a good feel for the plot, stakes, and characters. I'm building in conflict already. I have an retired Navy MD and an eccentric herbalist in the same compound. The main character, a former Corpsman (Corpswoman?) lost an arm in combat and has PTSD, and one of the other characters is a guy she dated several times before she deployed. They Skyped and e-mailed while she was in country, and after her accident she cut off contact with him as well as most of her Navy friends. So she won't be happy to see him. I hope it comes together quickly. I've put a lot of work into it so far.
We've pretty much decided we're going to move out of here when our lease is up in mid-September. I'm not sure yet if we're going north or west. Both options have public transit options for both of us. I can't say I'm happy about it, but the city has made the building management do several stupid "improvements" to bring the building up to "code." I don't know why they've been allowed to have tenants in here for so many years with it not up to code, unless they're new codes. They've virtually made one of our parking spots inaccessible by making the spots next to us handicapped and painting the yellow lines in our front spot. (I guess they never notice the handicapped plates on our car. The one parked in the carport now.) Then they moved the garage door from the outside to the middle and placed a curb in front of the door--just in our spot--to prevent parking on the lines, thereby chopping out another foot of parking space. The Impala barely fits in there. The van won't. That was three weeks ago. Building management has no idea what to do about it. There is a lot I like about living here, but the burbs are looking really good right now.
So that's what I've been up to. This week is more or less the same except I'm driving up to Mom's for a couple days on Friday. The timing is good since my hours are supposed to increase a bit.
This week:
- Finish the schedule.
- Start writing the story and figure out the title. "Luci In The Sky With Demons" isn't going to work after all. I guess I'm saving that for another time.
- Get going on the guest room.
- Make a Salvation Army run. (They call it Salvo here.)
- Fight like crazy to not get overwhelmed.
I had a meeting with my district manager on Wednesday. Their plan is to get me trained for Assistant Manager this month, and move me to Store Manager at some point after that. They're not very specific with timelines. One of the new tasks is to take over scheduling. It's currently being done by a guy at the home office, and he doesn't know who is good at what. He had a train wreck for tomorrow night (one weak closer with an opener who's never closed), but I fixed it with the DM's blessing. I have to have a schedule for the week of June 15 ready to go for approval this Wednesday, and rumor has it I'm going to have one of the other managers back in the store to train me that week. It's great to have a challenge again.
I'm pulling the post-apoc short together. I haven't started writing yet, but I have a good feel for the plot, stakes, and characters. I'm building in conflict already. I have an retired Navy MD and an eccentric herbalist in the same compound. The main character, a former Corpsman (Corpswoman?) lost an arm in combat and has PTSD, and one of the other characters is a guy she dated several times before she deployed. They Skyped and e-mailed while she was in country, and after her accident she cut off contact with him as well as most of her Navy friends. So she won't be happy to see him. I hope it comes together quickly. I've put a lot of work into it so far.
We've pretty much decided we're going to move out of here when our lease is up in mid-September. I'm not sure yet if we're going north or west. Both options have public transit options for both of us. I can't say I'm happy about it, but the city has made the building management do several stupid "improvements" to bring the building up to "code." I don't know why they've been allowed to have tenants in here for so many years with it not up to code, unless they're new codes. They've virtually made one of our parking spots inaccessible by making the spots next to us handicapped and painting the yellow lines in our front spot. (I guess they never notice the handicapped plates on our car. The one parked in the carport now.) Then they moved the garage door from the outside to the middle and placed a curb in front of the door--just in our spot--to prevent parking on the lines, thereby chopping out another foot of parking space. The Impala barely fits in there. The van won't. That was three weeks ago. Building management has no idea what to do about it. There is a lot I like about living here, but the burbs are looking really good right now.
So that's what I've been up to. This week is more or less the same except I'm driving up to Mom's for a couple days on Friday. The timing is good since my hours are supposed to increase a bit.
This week:
- Finish the schedule.
- Start writing the story and figure out the title. "Luci In The Sky With Demons" isn't going to work after all. I guess I'm saving that for another time.
- Get going on the guest room.
- Make a Salvation Army run. (They call it Salvo here.)
- Fight like crazy to not get overwhelmed.
Tuesday, June 2, 2015
This Space Intentionally Filled
George Carlin was clearly anti-Conservative. But he wasn't fond of certain Liberal sacred cows either. Watching one of his DVDs where he was hammering the Baby Boomers. His response was the audience wasn't entirely adoring. I think as he was going off, he realized he needed to generalize a little away from that demographic, because they were most of the audience. He,s awesome on the immune system and terrorism.
I've resumed my regular blogging schedule. It's the next step to returning to intellectual normalcy.
I'm still adding more household and yard tasks. This week I added the riding lawn mower, walking around the yard for two hours, and changing the sheets. I've felt worse today than any day since the surgery -- my six week anniversary. I checked on the hangnail infection, and, according to my surgeon's nurse, it's nothing to worry about. Despite all that, I was able increase levels on several of my physical therapy exercises, so I'm gaining strength and stamina.
The Few Days Ahead:
I've resumed my regular blogging schedule. It's the next step to returning to intellectual normalcy.
I'm still adding more household and yard tasks. This week I added the riding lawn mower, walking around the yard for two hours, and changing the sheets. I've felt worse today than any day since the surgery -- my six week anniversary. I checked on the hangnail infection, and, according to my surgeon's nurse, it's nothing to worry about. Despite all that, I was able increase levels on several of my physical therapy exercises, so I'm gaining strength and stamina.
The Few Days Ahead:
- Finish setting up the iMac
- Get a haircut
- One more therapy session
- See if I can do some vacuuming