SHEs Organized

What is on your agenda for the day?

It's snowing here. I just put my car into the garage.

One of the cats decided to pee on a towel that dh left on the floor after his shower. So my day started with a mop and some very hot water after I sprayed the floor with Nature's Miracle. The kitten kept going over to smell the floor before I got it cleaned up. I'm fairly certain I know which cat made the mess, and dh immediately blamed that particular cat. We have three, so I'm trying to not blame the tortie.

We are having a steak and gravy pie (!) for supper. I will make mashed potatoes to go with it.

Cathy, you have to deal with more pee than I do! (Mind you, I haven't started toilet training yet!) There was one time I took of dgs' clothes in the bedroom and then went to the bathroom (opposite side of the apartment) for bath. He followed me and later I found a little puddle outside the bathroom door. Aside from that, he just pees into his diaper so is low maintenance.

I'm up.

I woke at 6:30, so over 8 hours after I turned the light out. I was up once in the night. I worked on rigging up a 'bedside table' for dh and finally came up with a solution. The hospital bed is against our bed on 'his' side of the bed and then there's another 28" to the closet wall so there wasn't room for bedside table there. But it is a water bed, so balancing stuff on the water mattress isn't possible either. Plus our lamps are touch lamps so I figured out a place to mount the metal plates one touches to turn them on that should be within reach. I have put a sturdy tray on the bed with a sturdy small box on top and hopefully that will balance his phone on its charger through any tossing and turning I do. In order to do all this, I had to move his existing night table again. It is heavy so I ended up putting it on a towel and sliding it out of the way of the bed. Unfortunately, it will be in the way of the drying rack for the next month but, worst comes to worse, I can move that to the spare bedroom. Just not as convenient for putting away the dried clothes.

I will take this moment to recognized I am blessed with a HUGE bedroom. It is as wide as our old, large, bedroom was long and on other floors, this room is actually 2 bedrooms. Most of the time, it is just 'luxury' or wasted space (depends on if you are a glass half full or half empty person.) It is certainly underused as living space. But then something like this happens (or dgs6 sleeps over) and there's room to put in a hospital bed or a tent in the room. If we lived in a normal apartment, the existing bed would have to have been removed to make room for a hospital bed (or it put in the dining room which is where my grandmother's was, or living room, which is where my MIL's was.)

I'm sore this morning, mostly muscles, as if I've been doing heavy work. I don't recall doing anything out of the ordinary yesterday or the day before. It has been far too long since I held dgs for 3 days for that to be the problem. I'll try and make time for some physio. And maybe take a hot shower without hair washing.

I need to be at the hospital in 2 hours so I'll get moving now. I just finished tea and chocolate (having some of the special chocolate I bought last night.) I remembered my meds today. Then try and get some more housework done.

Other goals for the day: Costco after the hospital and then any other groceries I think I need. There's a covid outbreak on the other nursing ward so I'm preparing to be locked down again after exposure, just like last time dh came home.

If it happens, it will mess up the birthday party plans (dgs is supposed to sleep here.)

Technically, unless dh's roommate was my exposure, I should be fine since I wear an N95 mask all the time at the hospital so it doesn't count as an exposure. I don't reuse the hospital ones so I hope dh is home soon, I'm down to under 20 of them and if we go into full covid precautions, that means I will have to order more (the last order from Amazon was a complete failure: wrong mask, wrong quantity, AND not in original packaging with expiry date.) I've been experimenting with the blue 'procedure' masks but they really don't fit me well and are much harder to breathe in than my N95 mask. Plus they aren't a tight fit so my glasses fog up (which they don't with the N95 masks.) For filtering both are close enough to equivalent but only if fitted properly which is why I love N95s I found. I don't have to think, they just fit.

I can hardly wait for this to all be over so I can stop masking for every little thing (although right now, because of my cold/cough, I'd be masking anyway, just not N95 to protect me, but procedure mask to protect others. Once dh can have major coughing without risking his sternotomy healing, I'll relax things a lot (i.e. take the garbage out without a mask.) The other day I was sitting in a lobby, 8' away from the person I was conversing with and the area is well ventilated, but I kept my mask on in order to protect myself from getting a cold but that is the exact situation where I'd be happy to unmask. Rather ironic that, since dh wasn't masked during the angiogram and came home from that with a cold which he gave to me. Sigh.... There's only so much one can do to protect oneself and others but until dh can handle a respiratory illness safely, I'll stay masked.

Harriet: the sheet garters were cheaper and appear to be working well. We'll see once he's sleep on it. Originally I had planned on buying sheets and then realized I had twin sheets and in a pinch could use the queen sheets. My instinct is always to not buy new stuff if I can avoid it unless it will be permanently in use. I'm still trying to get rid of things, rather than adding. That's why we are renting the bed (it would have been cheaper to buy a twin bed) and why we are borrowing whatever aids we need from neighbours.

Hope your day goes well, Kathryn, and even better for Ken.

In the 'straw that broke the camel's back' vein.......we've been without water since early this A.M. Dh tried to take a shower about 5:30. Only had 1/4 pressure. Now we have none. And of course dsonil and dd are a couple hundred miles away or more. Know he just talked to dsonil about it and plans to go out and work on the pump. I'm in tears because I know he's definitely not up to it. And we have no neighbors/friends here to help. Arrggghhh! This too shall pass. I hated to have to call DD/Dsonil but dd needed some info. The water pump does recycle from time to time and we won't have water for a short time, but this is not that unfortunately.

Oh no, Dee! I'm so sorry, your tsuris (troubles, aggravation) just doesn't end, does it? Hoping you guys can get it going on your own. Does dd have anyone she calls for repairs etc. that dsil can't do?

I was up around eight - earlier than yesterday - and dh remarked that my alarm had been going off an hour. I've told him him what trouble I'm having getting up in the a.m. and he thinks I just need to do it, i.e. get on up. I'm not even aware that the alarm is going off. I've had on my OMM list a note to set up a dr appointment but rationally, I think a lot of my issue is the waiting and the fact I finished a major goal and have nothing driving me right now. And with four nights away coming up (Sunday - Thursday) I suspect I might get worse, not better when left to get up on my own schedule.

Weather at the beach at this point looks like some showers and cool weather. Not the sun that I'm needing. We have freeze warnings here, although we don't have anything out that needs covering.

The first order of business this a.m. was to call for vet appt for dMillie. She's limping and I examined the paw last night and one of the pads is swollen. She took off like a shot when I touched it. I'm not sure how she's been running when she plays with dBoston next door but she does, and she's not noticeably limping. The vet appt is for 2:15 which meant I needed to move my workout appt - so moved it to tomorrow.

And dh took my car on Saturday because he saw a nail or screw in the tire, and it turns out my tires are dry rotting. So I need new tires on my car. He got a quote at Good year and wants me to call or go to Honda dealership for quote also. Would be nice if I could do before this upcoming trip, too.

So I think I'm going off to the Honda dealership - even before I finish a.m. routine - to see about tires.

DD does have "Home repair warranty" but I'm not sure any of this is covered. Plus the fact that where they are there is little to no phone service. Dh has tried talking to dsonil a couple of times. I'm mostly upset because I know he's definitely not up to messing with this. Plus the fact that it's actually quite chilly/windy out here -this after at least a couple of weeks of really warm/hot temps. (I was even more agitated when I mentioned something to dh about how I've been smelling the sulfur for a while but hated to mention it. His answer: the chlorine pump is broken and dsonil had told him this. Dsonil of course did not go ahead and get it fixed. He'll wait for dd to do something about it. Grrr.... Trying to remember which side my bread is buttered on,)

EDIT: Dsonil evidently called dneighbor and he came over. But by that time, Dh has it somewhat fixed. Evidently the contacts are all corroded. Dh got them all filed off and we have water. Such little pleasures! He is going to have dsonil buy and put in new contacts after they get back from GA.

Quick CI it is pie day! Yea! I just remembered I have two in the freezer for I might need these some day!
Maybe I will be able to share them.

BS is great today.
I was up late but slept better than the other nite.

Trash is dumped and ready to go to the curb.
F32* 49* today''s temps.
journaling*
s2s*
got pies out for the fire dept. today.

~~~waving Hello to all~~~

Cathy - Thank you for the start and reminder of PI day.

(((Dee))) I'm glad you have water again.

I am feeling renewed & refreshed after taking a slower day yesterday to recover from the hard weekend. I tried to talk myself into staying in bed this morning but couldn't make myself do it. I was eager to get started on the day.

I planned to not follow my hourly schedule during spring break but have discovered that I really want to follow it. It gives me great pleasure to play this hourly game with myself as I seek to get the things marked done. The more I do it, the more energy I have....which fuels my desire to do it again and again. I'm not sure I understand the whys but I just know it is something I enjoy doing.
I just looked up the explanation to whys... The reward pathway of the brain is connected to areas of the brain that control behavior and memory. It begins in the ventral tegmental area, where neurons release dopamine to make you feel pleasure. The brain begins to make connections between the activity and the pleasure, ensuring that we will repeat the behavior.

ANYway....When/If it stops giving me pleasure and doesn't feel like a fun game, then I will stop doing it.

Today is the monthly elderberries luncheon. We are expecting 20-25 to attend. We are having fried chicken, mashed potatoes, multiple vegetable dishes and several desserts. I am looking forward to this time with treasured friends.

Ds14 has left for work. DD11 is sleeping in. DH slept in until 9am and is now getting ready.

Interstate up that far isn't so very bad, busy but not like I-4. Don't ever go April 1st or close to it. You'll find a steady line of traffic going north, all the snowbirds going home. I hear it's a tough drive then.

I've been searching for this post, Harmony, to see what you'd said about traffic around the 1st of April. So when are we planning to go North? Yeah, right, just about then. Dh has an appointment on the 29th so we'd probably leave the 30th if we drive up. So up in the air as to what we're going to do. I'm trying to plan out my days between now and then -but of course there's always the variables that crop up I know!

Sure dh is more than ready for a good nap now that we have water again. That's the most work he's done in over 6 months, if not much longer.

It gives me great pleasure to play this hourly game with myself as I seek to get the things marked done. The more I do it, the more energy I have....which fuels my desire to do it again and again. I'm not sure I understand the whys but I just know it is something I enjoy doing.

I'm pretty much the same way. It's like body energy -you have to expend energy in order to increase energy. Thus how good we feel after we exercise, etc. I love the explanation you looked up as well!