Later That Same Day

You know, the crazy people in my family are always saying to me "Don't over-do!" Yeah, yeah; I always tell them that I can't do more than I'm capable of, so don't worry about it. Yeah, so I was leaving the mall this morning around 11:30, and wondering if I should go someplace else to look for the Christmas tree, and I was so hot, and chilled, and I thought, "Oh, this is what they mean. GO HOME." So I did.

I could not find calendars at Barnes and Noble, nor a tree at Target, so I stopped at the mall out there (where we usually go on Sunday since our malls are closed, but this just happens to be near the Target I like to go to) because they always have a calendar kiosk in the same place, just inside one of the doors, but of course it wasn't there. I had to walk through the mall to find it -- didn't have the ones I wanted anyway -- but there I was outside the Apple Store, so I went in and got the new portable hard drive that I thought would have to wait until January, since I wasn't going to our mall til then. And then I stopped at Lord and Taylor, the MIL's favorite store, and got her a bracelet, last gift for her, WOO HOO. And then back to the car, where I made the aforementioned wise choice to come home.

I haven't slept again this afternoon, but my head is not so right. K just went out to get me some chicken soup and matzo balls and gefilte fish for dinner; I told her I would go anywhere but I wouldn't drive, so she just went to pick up and bring home.

I ended up spending a chunk of time this afternoon with the hard drive, and got all my iTunes music copied over and set up, but somehow I managed to delete a bunch of apps from the iPhone. :( I got them back, but lost all the data in my Holiday Gift app. I emailed their tech support, so maybe they'll tell me how to get it back, but if not, I know what I still need, I just lost the record of what I already had and what was for who.

So I guess if I feel up to it tomorrow, I'll have to go to KMart, or Home Depot, or Lowe's to look for a tree. I got all our previous trees at Treasure Island, which no longer exists, so I have no frame of reference here for where to go. I think what I want is a size they don't make, which is five feet. Five and a half would be okay, I think. I have to ask the Hubs what size our old tree is; he's a better judge of that than I am, but I think it must be seven.

I am getting very hungry. I need protein. I need protein now. Where is that kid? (Just kidding; she just left. She'll be back in five minutes. I may be waiting at the front door.)


WATCHING THE BARBARIANS :: ENTRY #1929
READING: The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards

*sigh*

So I went to therapy, yada yada, and here's my big revelation of the day. Why is it that when I'm sick I'd rather keep it to myself instead of "being a burden" on everyone else? I've been trying to work this out for months, and I figured it had something to do with my mother, who coped much better with real illness than she did with hypochondria, which I supposed I had felt was a burden to me. Wrong! The therapist -- Ginny -- said something very simple that made perfect sense. Nothing to do with my mother. My illnesses are a burden to me. Duh. Well, they are. No wonder I'm afraid they will be to other people, too. Very simple, but I guess I never that of it that way before.

Yes, they are a burden, all this nickel and dime crap. None of it is life-threatening, but all of it is life-annoying, and I can't get a handle on it because it can literally take a different form every day. Last week an eye infection; I had no idea that was part of the mix, too. I read today that although weight loss is common with Crohn's, some people have weight gain instead. Well, I've been saying for years that I was gaining weight for no reason. There ya go.

I did get to mention y'all, though, because I told Ginny that it was the diary world people who convinced me that I'm not actually a hypochondriac (since my ailments are all real), as I always felt I was. One problem she didn't have to solve for me, so, thanks.

So, I am relatively bummed, but hey, that's why I'm going to therapy. I'm also considering talking to the doctor about a mild anti-depressant. I've never really been ready to take that kind of med before, but now, I just feel tired of struggling every damn day to feel good when my body is fighting me back. The struggle wears me out (oh hey, fatigue is another Crohn's thing, I found out today) and makes me much more susceptible to idiot interference, like anyone I feel is standing in my way or making me feel worse (aka, The Martian.)

I was good today, though; I called the hospital and got the name of the Crohn's support group and even called. The woman I spoke to was very, very nice and helpful, but unfortunately the group is not meeting during the summer. But I'll go in September, I already have it on my calendar.

I also got in nine holes of golf after a three-hole warmup game, and two games of bowling (on the Wii. You knew I didn't go outside or anything.) I'm getting much better at both of the those, but I can't play the tennis at all. I'm not only bad at it, it really hurts my arm. Oh, I even finally made another appointment for physical therapy, going tomorrow.

I think I'm going to try to get back to some reading tonight. I have to see if the eyedrops I'm using have worked well enough to clear up my vision for reading. The computer seems to be much better, so maybe the book will be, too.

Oh, I did actually take some garbage out of the basement this morning, and I bagged up a bunch of old (unmarked) videotapes. I did this to get to our old stash of vinyl record albums, so I could start getting the USB turntable I got for Christmas connected and get that project going. What I found was that almost all the record sleeves are mildewed -- ew -- although the actual vinyl records seem okay, but every album of mine that I found, I have on CD, or I've downloaded the mp3s in the last few years. Hmmm. Seemed like such a cool gift, but in reality, not all that useful to me. I only brought two of my albums upstairs: the original Broadway cast recording of Peter Pan, with Mary Martin, an album I've owned for at least 50 years, and the Temptations' Greatest Hits. I'll have to go through my John Denver more closely, but if I'm only missing a song or two from an album here and there, is it really worth the whole process? Looks like I may be working on a lot of the Hubs' albums, which he probably won't even want. (He is definitely not someone who gives a gift so you can use it to make something for him. And he doesn't listen to mp3s, so I'd have to burn each one as a CD for him, which he would then listen to and give back to me. Not the general idea.)

I am so rambling. Tomorrow, doctor, nails, physical therapy, and a trip to DSW (shoe store) if I can squeeze it in.

WATCHING FRIENDS :: ENTRY #1800
SUMMER BOOK #3: The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon

Maxx is Such a Trooper

I heart Maxx, my Mac. I heart the Genius Bar at the Apple Store. Over the weekend, I moved all my music to an external hard drive to make room for the system upgrade (Leopard) and last night, in a fit of boredom, I decided to put all of nephew JJ's music into iTunes, and when I fired up iTunes it was -- horrors! empty. Devoid of all music, audiobooks, little movie clips - all of it. Even though I had made sure that the program knew where I had moved the music to. Or so I thought. I immediately went to the Apple Store website, made an appointment for this afternoon, arrived a half hour early which is when I saw someone, and in minutes, all was well again. The guy also showed me where to buy more RAM (since they no longer sell it for Maxx) and how to install it myself. And how to install the Leopard upgrade.

*sigh*

In other news, I've been reading more of those student projects, and except for that minority of, let's face it, dopes, who handed it in late and don't understand why that should matter, or who uploaded it to the completely wrong place and don't understand why I didn't look there as well as where I told them to upload it to, they are really quite good. And fun to read. One kid's grandfather (or great-) was a general in Peru. Another one's served in the Korean War -- in the Korean army. (We have an extremely diverse student body.) Probably the most unusual ethnic origin was the kid whose grandma and grandpa are from France! We don't see that one much. We also have many, many kids with a fairly direct connection to the World Trade Center, parents or relatives who worked there or across the street, or whatnot. Kids who saw the smoke from their backyards. Anyway, a lot of the projects are very well done and often amusing, in a cute way.

19 days. I'm just saying.

Okay, I'm off to call R, who stayed home with the sniffles today.



WATCHING TWO AND A HALF MEN :: ENTRY #1765

Missions Accomplished

That really has taken on a kind of ironic new meaning, hasn't it: mission accomplished? Thank you yet again, Mr. President.

Anyway, I got a lot done between last night and all day today. I moved all my music off my computer and onto a separate hard drive that I already had, so now I have about half my hard drive free. And it looks like they don't carry RAM for my computer anymore anyway, so all I need to do now is get the new operating system -- Leopard -- and put that on. I'm all backed up and ready to go.

I went to the podiatrist this morning and got my orthotics, so now I have to get used to them, an hour today, two hours tomorrow, etc. And this should really help my feet. The podiatrist is a very nice man, but a little odd, because, you know, feet all day, but I got them and that's that.

And I finally got my tattoo. I'll put up a picture over the weekend; I just uncovered it a few minutes ago and put on its first layer of shiny. It's very simple, of course, and took five minutes. Chi Chi was ready and waiting when I got there. I had a 2.00 appointment and I was home by 2.15.

And it was a day off, which was just so lovely. I slept until 8.00, showered and had breakfast leisurely, and didn't have to rush with my hair or make-up. It was a much nicer day today, after a rainy, raw week, and promises to be in the seventies every day through next Friday.

Okay then. I have Enchanted to watch tonight, having caught up on my Law and Orders until next season, I guess.

Are you really, really excited for chaos? Everybody wave bye-bye and throw a big kiss!

WATCHING FRIENDS :: ENTRY #1761

I Ask For So Little

I made some changes to my computer dock -- where all the program icons are along the bottom of the Mac screen -- over the weekend, and you'd think I bought a new computer. I'm so tickled just to see the different icons, and to see the icons for the Mac calendar and address book applications that I started using. Really, I ask for so little.

Speaking of which, K is always asking me what I want for my birthday, Mother's Day, Christmas, etc., and I always tell her that I can't think of anything because I can't. I did tell her a couple of weeks ago that some day I would like to have a really nice sock monkey, which for some reason I don't have, and want. I seem to recall that I had a sock monkey as my cherished toy as a child, but I must have gotten sick or something and so my mother had to sterilize my environment and she threw it out. She did that. Anyway, it's not like I've been craving a sock monkey for the last 50 years, but I do like them, and homemade ones -- I've made them; even out of baby socks, which are adorable -- are just not sturdy.

But I did point out a back massagey thing at Brookstone on Saturday and said "This. You can get me this." And now she seems to think that I have demanded this item. I said hey, you asked. I don't care if I get gifts or not. Which is true. And we shall see.

The play was excellent last night, btw.

I am very achy today, though, partly from sitting on the straight backed chair and partly because I am an Old Woman. My hands were very, very sore today, so when I went to CVS for my bargain extravaganza -- eh, not so much -- I got a box of single-use arthritis heat wraps for hands. Well, I have very small hands. Typing with this thing on is killing me. So much for the cure. And which is why I shall post now and type no more tonight.


WATCHING MASH :: ENTRY #1748

And Then I Lost It

(second entry of the day, the links are over there >>>)

So after I posted my last entry and ate a salad like someone was chasing me for the shredded cheese bits, I said yes to this weeks updates from the fine people at the Fruit Computer Company, la la la la la la, and then K left early for the play because she had to stop someplace and then IT HAPPENED.

There.Was.No.Internet.

and you know .... gotta have the damn Internet.

I checked my settings, and according to Maxx the Mac, there was no network to be had. Now folks, I had just downloaded all the updates, so I knew there was a network. I looked over at the modem and all the lights were on.

So I tried one thing and then another and probably changed a million settings and no dice, and then it was time to go to the play.

Well. And well. R was totally flabbergasted when her California cousin walked up to her and gave her a big hug. The Sibs and her whole family did indeed make it, and they really liked it and couldn't get over that R had written this. Not to mention that two of her dearest friends, a couple, just came in from South Carolina today, so they were there, and her oldest childhood friend, who lives in Colorado, was, sadly, able to come to see the play because her grandmother passed away over the weekend so she was unexpectedly in town, and another of their best kid buddies was there, and his mother, so it was majorly old home week. And those little actors on the stage, they acted their hearts out tonight and were excellent.

So when I saw K at school, she said she'd been having network problems before she left. And I asked the Hubs when I got home, and he said that he'd had to reset the router and then everything was fine. But he was amused. I have a Mac. Aren'f they supposed to heueristically heal themselves, he wanted to know, like Data? But before I could try and see, I discovered this evening's festival of cat poo, so I have only just now sat down after running up and down with the laundry (towels on everything, man, it's the only way to go when you're living with an elderly feline, or maybe an elderly person, I probably shouldn't complain), but, ahhhh. And since I'm talking to you, you can see that yes, Maxx had heueristically healed himself, like Data.

I need to cool off and go to sleep. And probably eat stuff first, because I do that.

Okay.

Watching the news :: entry #1462