Bonehead Move of the Day

I attacked the A & P this morning with a Plan. I knew what was on sale, I knew what I had coupons for, I knew what I needed. K contributed her shopping list, and when the newspaper came, we gleefully pounced upon the five coupon inserts and carefully cut them into shreds, each insert gone over by both of us.

We shopped carefully, and well. The popcorn I had a coupon for was still more expensive than her favorite brand, which was on sale, so we got that instead. Some things I didn't need right away (like vitamins) I didn't get because they weren't on sale, even though I had a fabulous coupon. We rocked the A & P.

We went to the self-checkout, as we always do. She scans, I bag. I had three or four full bags and a bit more to go -- my own bags, I always bring my own bags -- when out of nowhere came the realization: I had left my wallet at home.

Needless to say, the kid was not happy, but the cashier who manages the self-checkout was very nice, told us to finish the order, at which time she selected an option for us to pay her instead of paying where we were. We parked the cart at our station and hightailed it for home, running the balance between driving fast enough for the frozen food not to melt and not fast enough to draw the attention of a police officer, because, duh, I did not have my wallet with me.

So, done. I have lunch for the week, I have breakfast, I have frozen meals for dinner, and each of us is going to make one home-cooked meal this week. Mine is fish; I bought all the ingredients -- not many -- except the actual fish, which I will get at the fish market on the day I need it.

Next up, taking the decorations off the Christmas tree. Or maybe next weekend, eh?

Still Spinnning

Actually, lately I've been afloat in a sea of Mad Men, season one last weekend and seasons two and three this weekend just past, mixed in with a visit to the ILs. Good to be with the whole family. Not good to see him declining, very sad.

Perhaps the new meds I'm taking are helping. I had to stop physical therapy last week because the work on my neck triggered some way serious tinnitus, pounding in my head so loud -- not painful, just loud -- that I couldn't keep count of the exercises I was doing. And then the PT said he wouldn't touch me anymore until the doctor cleared it, because that was too weird for him. It's about 2:20 now as I'm writing; I have a meeting after school at the central office (which is to say, not in my school building) and then the doctor at 3:40. After which I'm going to run by Old Navy because I have nothing -- nothing, I tell you -- to wear.

All is well with me and the Sibs, until our next phone call anyway. (Just kidding.) All is well with other family members, as far as I can see (except the above-mentioned FIL.) All is well with therapy, which, thank god for. And lexapro. I like the lexapro.

As for me physically, perhaps the pain is less; it's hard to say. It's at its worst at night, anyway, so for now, mid-afternoon, it's very manageable. My head does seem to be cloudy whenever I sit down to write, although I'm coping well enough with everything else, not bummed, work is good except for the foolishness, which is not quite over, but almost.

Dang. I always think I have a lot to say, but then I put my hands on the keyboard and poof!

Oh, here's something. I've become a total GPS slut. I don't have a GPS as such, but I got an app -- there's an app for that, you know -- that works pretty well. How do I know that, since I rarely go anyplace I haven't already been? By turning on the GPS app when I'm going someplace I have already been. It's funnier that way. You know, the man in the iPhone says "Turn left. Turn left. Turn left." and I say "NO! I know where I'm going!" or some such foolishness. The Hubs and I very much enjoyed the man in the iPhone to and from his folks yesterday, especially each time he said "G - AR - den state PAR - kway." Okay, it's not the same in print. It was funny.

I'm home, it's six, I can go back to physical therapy on Wednesday, and I even got some corduroys at Old Navy. Score.




watching THE GOLDEN GIRLS :: ENTRY #2127
READING: Say You're One of Them by Uwem Akpan
READING: Reading Lolita in Teheran by Azar Nafisi

After All

today was another day. (with apologies to Scarlet O'Hara)

So. I really did let myself get out of hand yesterday, but I got my control back, with a little help from my daughter friends, and today was a much better day, in general. We did go dress shopping, but before we went to J.Crew and the like at the mall, we went to Target, where K got two dresses, the same but with different prints, and she'll try them on and see which one looks better. Which was good, because the mall was a big fat zero.

She's like a different person, pulled all the way out of the doldrums. (Still needs to see someone, I think, but after the trip. Me, too.) She's not worried about the dress; if these aren't good, she has a few days to look, and is, after all, not employed, so she has the time. Does that mean everything works out? I don't know, I'm just happy she's happy. And I specified adjoining rooms at the hotel, and we have three seats together on the flight down. (We have no assigned seats on the flight back for any of us yet.)

In other news, I really cannot say what is going on with me health-wise, other than the Crohn's seems to be very nicely controlled. Other than that, I'm in a lot of pain all over most of the time. The worst pain is in my arms, shoulders to fingertips, and my feet. And of course, not wishing to be left out, my back went into spasms a few hours ago, and that's been nasty, too. I assume arthritis, but we shall see; more doctors to see after the trip. My sister was recently diagnosed with a form of arthritis, but with the pain, she gets a kind of debilitating fatigue. I don't have that; in fact, I'm less tired than I usually am. Go figure.

Despite the book title I have down there -- I'm still working on that -- I've been reading a YA fantasy series, The Olympians, by Rick Riordan. There are definitely some similarities to Harry Potter, but it is not at all a copy, and it's fun to read. (Twelve year old boy discovers that his father is Poseidon, has to save the world, yada yada yada. But it's written with humor and contemporary references and reads fast. I'm on book three out of five, with a mission to finish it by tomorrow night so I can get it back to school on Monday.)

My plan for tomorrow is to work on doing my hair better, with some new products I got. And a possible visit to or from R. And yes, now I'm fully packed for Friday's trip. Really.




watching L&O:SVU :: ENTRY #2116
READING: The Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell

Catching Up

My state of mind is improved today, although it comes and goes. It's lots of things, but I think mostly physical, and that's been better today. Today's big annoyance is that one of my eyes is irritated; I'll have to go out and get some lubricant gel since the eyedrops aren't doing it today. Otherwise, okay.

I did go out this morning and spend the gift card the ILs gave me --- at Toys R Us! Of all places, huh? But I got two Wii games, and the DVDs were on sale there, so I got the new editions of both Sleeping Beauty and Peter Pan, and there went the card, which was just fine. I'm going to open up the games shortly and see how they work and stuff. (One is another fitness game, and the other is Wii Music.)

Tomorrow is promising: a haircut, followed by lunch and shopping with the Sibs, followed by a visit to the therapist, which was cancelled last week. And we all know I could use a visit there.

Here's the big secret of the last few days -- shh, don't tell anyone! It looks like R and her sweetie are going to be moving in together in a few months. I had expected this come next summer, and so did they, but the manager of her apartment building is just not keeping up (no plowing snow out of the parking lot, no lights in the central hallway), and they have been offered a house to rent, starting when the the sweetie can leave his apartment in February or so. R has already spoken to her rental agent and they won't hold her to her lease (I think, because they're trying to clear out the building, which is why they're doing what they're doing) and then she will move in in April or so, after she's finished with a time-consuming annual project at work. So. It's a little farther than I'd like (and a little closer to his family than I'd like), but it's all okay, and a side benefit is that she would really be within easy distance (a half hour or so) of the ILs. Anyway, it's a plan; they'll know within a week or so if all the details work out and they can really go ahead with it.

I've been sleeping a lot, but for some reason could not fall asleep when I tried to nap this afternoon, so I'm dragging a little. But again, it's okay today. Depression really sucks, I'll say that.


WATCHING WIFE SWAP :: ENTRY #1950
READING: ????? by ?????

All Frazzled Out

Gaaaaaaggghhhhh. There, I said it.

I did not like Bedknobs and Broomsticks, which I watched last night. I'm just saying. Although the scene at the end where all the armor and uniforms come alive and push the invading Germans back into the sea was jingoistic and all "For England!" and so naturally, I loved that part. Otherwise, not so much.

Next. K is either going to have to start taking prescription migraine medicine or move out, or I will move out. So we have some options.

People at my school are stupid. Nothing new there.

Now, you may recall that The Boyfriend is joining us for Christmas Eve dinner. You may or may not recall that I have not prepared a meal involving company for ten years at least, and that was just Wonderful Niece and Good Guy Nephew, so if we're talking real people, then it's at least fifteen. I swear to god, I used to know how to do this. Sadly, old age is not the time to be relearning skills. I'm not stressing out, I'm just having trouble keeping things straight. K and I went shopping before, because apparently it was our afternoon to be stupid, and I couldn't decide between placemats or a tablecloth, and she thought I was crazy for buying cloth napkins. (Keep in mind that this is house where everyone but me uses cloth napkins at every meal.) I had to get a bowl to serve the pasta that wasn't Tupperware (which is what I normally serve in) but I forgot to get a serving spoon. None of my silverware matches, either.

K thinks I am crazy because there's no point in trying to impress him since he's a boy and won't care or notice anyway. Which is probably true. However, it's just a matter of knowing how to serve a proper meal and not knowing, and I know, I really do, I'm just terribly out of the habit. I don't mind being quirky and certainly he's going to have to take us as we are if he wants our daughter, which he seems to, and his parents aren't going to care about how I serve either because according to R, his mother is ready to send out invitations now (which means she's officially crazier than I am.) Oy. I just don't know.

Oh, why was this our day to be stupid? When I got home, I said brightly to K "Let's go to Ikea!" because I needed a serving bowl and stuff, and she was looking for a table for her room, and I figured Ikea wouldn't be crowded (and it wasn't) and it's only a mile from out house and it took a half hour to get there, because DUH it's across the highway from a giant mall and it was about two degrees short of gridlock out there. On the way home, K said "Promise me we won't go out on the highway again until after Thursday" and I stuck out my pinky and we pinky-swore on it.

About twenty minutes ago, I was sitting quietly, scanning for heart attack symptoms, because man, was I having chest pain, and then I remembered that I had eaten this incredible chocolate/caramel cookie that came in a Christmas gift I got today and that IT WAS HEARTBURN. I rarely get heartburn that intensely or that soon after eating the offending food, but the upshot here is that I AM A MORON AND I AM NOT HAVING A HEART ATTACK. If I have a heart attack, which I do fully expect to have, it will be in my eighties, because even those who went before me of heart attacks were way older, and didn't even have the benefit of the fistfuls of pills I take every day. Repeat after me, Self: I AM NOT HAVING A HEART ATTACK. I AM NOT HAVING A HEART ATTACK.

Cripes, I'm not even having a panic attack. I took Tums, it hurts less. What I need to do is make more lists, and then more. Yeah, that's the ticket. I need lists. That will make my kitchen bigger, or get me a dining room built on by Thursday. Yeah, lists.

Yeah.

(I'm thinking of making a new label just for this post: Mental Illness. Hey, it'll probably come up again.)


WATCHING FAMILY GUY :: ENTRY #1945
READING: ????? by ?????

Where the Day Went

Okay, so I went off to my mammogram this morning with my sister and the upshot is that I had a needle biopsy, which is probably nothing, but you know, it's not officially nothing until you get the call with the results, which will be tomorrow.

Other than having a very good time with my sister, despite what we were actually doing together, it was a mostly sucky day, I guess. It was sixty-ish here today, which is odd, but very rainy and windy, so deciding what to wear was pretty much a no-win situation. After I dropped the Sibs off at home, I went on my missions, first to Fortunoff's, which had a sign in the window that Christmas trees were 40% off. Yeah, right, 40% off of the most overpriced Christmas trees I've ever seen. They actually had one priced at $850!!! They had nothing small, and the smallest one they had was $250. Not. Happening.

I did get calendars at the mall; I got them both Futurama calendars. Then I went to Home Depot, which had a nice tree on display, but of course, none in stock; however, the nice guy who helped me told me they had fourteen of them at another store. (And I have a bridge if you're interested ...)

Then I had a 1:00 at the lady doctor, who said after the whole examination "Good! There's no ovarian cyst!" and I said "Is that what you were looking for?" Hey, tell a person. Anyway, I was done with that, and even though the other Home Depot was in the same town as the doctor -- Hackensack, our county seat -- I completely blanked on how to get there and went by way of China, but they did, in fact, have one tree in stock, so I got that. I'll put it up tomorrow, but it looks like a nice, pre-lit with colored bulbs, six and a half foot tree for $72. Yeah, way more like it.

Last stop: supermarket, and then home. It was nice to be home. I got a call from the people fixing K's closet tomorrow to confirm, so I expect to be here all day, and the kid is working, so I'm thinking I may get gifts wrapped if I have enough paper left from last year, since I didn't plan ahead and think I could wrap tomorrow and get gift bags. (I know I have paper, just probably not enough bags.) And I'll get a wash done and maybe maybe maybe a little writing, too.

Less sucky once I got home, I guess. Just tired now, and somewhat bruised, although not sore. I was such a good girl during the procedure they should have given me a lollipop.


WATCHING FAMILY GUY :: ENTRY #1934
READING: Flatland by Edwin Abbott

Why, Hello There!

So it's been a quiet day, more or less. I slept delightfully late, til nearly 8:00, and then got around to my missions. My head wasn't foggy, and really wasn't all day, so I guess I'm more or less better. I went to Lowe's, where every tree was seven feet or more, and then stopped at KMart because it was on the way, where I saw The Perfect Tree, but of course, it was out of stock. I ended up getting a six foot tree that really has a much smaller profile than our old tree, without lights built in. (The perfect tree was nicely shaped and had colored lights, but all they had in stock was that tree with clear lights, a definite no-no here.) And the tree I got was very reasonably priced. It's still in the car, but I may set it up tomorrow morning, even though we won't be decorating it for a couple of weeks, because R is going away next weekend.

Of course Barnes and Noble had calendars, just not the calendars I was looking for. I get each of the girls a calendar each year with their current favorite TV show or movie, so this year I was looking for a Torchwood for R (filmed in Cardiff, where she lived for a year) and a Dr. Who for K, but it seems I will need to go to a store in the United Kingdom for these, so, no luck. But R tells me there's a good calendar kiosk in one of the close malls, so I can go there and pick up a Futurama and a Simpsons, both old stand-bys. Or maybe two Futuramas this year. I'll see what they have.

And I got my other errands done, and then when R came for the afternoon we went out to IHOP for lunch, and other than that, I've been in, reading and whatnot. I re-created my Christmas list, and I swear something's missing, but I went through the pile of gifts (which gets smaller in year, not in number, but in physical size) and everything's accounted for, so I don't know what I think is missing, but I know the total money spent for each of the girls is less now than it was. Which would be fine, but I think it just means that I'm not counting something.

Tomorrow morning, I have no intention of waking up until I'm absolutely interested in doing so. Nowhere to go, no errands to do. What a lovely luxury it is to sleep in.



WATCHING HARRY POTTER AND SOMETHING OR OTHER :: ENTRY #1930
READING: The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards

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

Still Resting

Well, still home, anyway. It seemed the thing to do this morning. And then I went back to sleep and slept for three more hours. Again, I don't feel bad right now, but I wouldn't want to use this head to make any important decisions. (When I said that to R last night on the phone, she said "Oh, about that money I wanted to borrow ..." but she was kidding.)

K has gone to the mall, and when I get myself together, I'd like to go out and get two errands done, one small, one not small. I need to get the girls calendars for Christmas; I get them every year, so that should be a quick Barnes and Noble stop. And then I need to get us a new Christmas tree.

We're downsizing, not a lot, but some. It would be very nice not to have to rearrange the entire living room every Christmas, and I may get a pre-lit, although that's not a big factor. K has reminded me that we have A LOT of ornaments, and I know we do. We'll manage. It's time. And our old tree, which is not that old, will be there when one of the girls needs it, or if they don't, we'll donate it somewhere in a few years.

Now I'm having an eensy weensy hot flash, because I just finished my coffee. And now I can take some excedrin for the headache, and then get dressed and go out. So I can come home and crash again later. All good.



WATCHING WIFESWAP :: ENTRY #1928
READING: The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards

Wiiiii!

Here I am, thanks to Cosmic, who created her impression of me on the Wii! I haven't gotten to it yet today, but I hope to a little later. And yes, this is exactly what I really look like.

I slept until almost eight this morning, at least sort of, for me, so when I got up I did not pass go, did not collect $200, but got dressed immediately and went to Whole Foods to get a turkey. I don't know if I mentioned it, but R and K were after me to order this year's turkey from a farm -- there is actually a turkey farm fairly close by -- so that we would get something locally raised, no preservatives, etc. I agreed, but never remembered to go order it; I probably would have had to order it in July. But K saw free-range, chemical free turkeys at Whole Foods the other day, so that was the next best thing.

Of course, I assumed it would cost more than a Butterball, but I didn't give it much thought until I looked at the label and saw that my just-under-fifteen-pound turkey cost over $56.00! So today, when I ask you Am I crazy or what? feel free to go with a resounding YES! If my father can see this wherever he is, he is appalled and horrified. Hey, it was only a few years ago that we stopped getting the free turkey from Shoprite. (You know, x amount of dollars worth of receipts over x number of weeks and you got a free house brand, or a Butterball for 29 cents a pound.) Thanksgiving around here is nearly as expensive as Christmas.

K was flinging out gift ideas for people I need to buy for today; I was madly scribbling them down. All I need now are ideas for ... let's see, my husband and children and my in-laws, who are of course, the biggest gift receivers. But it's nice to have all the others taken care of, even if I have a little shopping to do. I don't mind the shopping; it's the ideas that are hard.

So I have many errands to run after school tomorrow, which all could have been done today if the stores here were open on Sunday, which they are not. And yes, we also don't pump our own gas in New Jersey; it's not a custom, it's the law. Things are strange here, I'm thinking.

I'm thinking that if they cut open my brain after I'd dead, preferably not before, they will find that it's about 45% I Love Lucy. There's a marathon on this weekend, and I've had it on in the background for hours and hours, both yesterday and today. And I've been watching these same shows literally since birth. I still think it's funny. So there's today example of brain damage, I guess.

And IT'S SPIRIT WEEK at school. Yay. This used to be such a big deal for me, when I was junior class advisor, and now I just want them to leave me alone. But I will wear school colors Monday and Tuesday, and my football jersey on Wednesday. (Seniors buy football-jersey-like shirts to wear for Spirit Week, all with their class year on the front for the number, and they go get their names on the back. One year, I had a shirt made with my number -- 71 -- and my name on the back. I also have both of the girls' shirts, so I could wear a 99 or an 02, if I so chose.)

It must be officially winter today, because the Hubs made soup. I think I'll have some for dinner, and if I don't die (veggies, beans, etc.; smells heavenly), I'll take some for lunch tomorrow, too.


WATCHING I LOVE LUCY :: ENTRY #1917
READING: The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd

Always Be Prepared

Wasn't much of a day today; my MRI was postponed because they were doing some kind of equipment maintenance. So I'll do that on Friday.

I did a couple of little things today, and then my sister called and asked if I wanted to join her on a little shopping excursion. So that was fun, and she even drove. She's supposed to be driving me to the eye doctor on Thursday too, so I can finally get my eyes dilated for an exam. Big plans.

So I can go to therapy tomorrow if my cold isn't worse than it is now -- I called her to be sure -- and then I'm off to the high school to talk to the principal and possibly the Martian. I was a little concerned because some of the materials I'd like to refer to are in the library, and I won't have time to go there first, but between my flash drive and remote login, I managed to gather and print out most of what I sneed. I hate to be unprepared for any kind of meeting. I always like to go in with a folder with more printouts than I'll possibly be asked for, but when asked, I can always pull out just I need and hand it over. Also, at some point before school starts, I will need to use the library computer to update the library website, since I don't have FrontPage or anything else I'm happy with on the Mac. So I'm bringing what I need to do that tomorrow, if I decide to stay once I'm already there. It all depends on my talk with the boss.

And that's my story for today.

WATCHING FRIENDS :: ENTRY #1816
SUMMER BOOK #3: The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon

Catching Up

Okay, let's see.

One of the interesting revelations that yesterday brought me was that hey, not only do I find sharing my vacation with K to be somewhat lacking in alone time, so does she! Well, whaddaya know. Really, I should have figured that one out. So this morning, after I got up slowly and attempted breakfast -- not working out for me lately -- I went out and did some errands and things so that she could have the house to herself for a while when she got up. And she wasn't going to want to go to K-Mart with me (where I got those sports tools for the Wii, more on that to follow), or to get my car washed, and so on. We were actually home together for a brief time today, since she went out while I was home, and then I had the other doctor to go to, and then a pedicure, and then she was gone to class.

It also turns out that the edge I was teetering on a few weeks ago is still just under the surface. I let a few things get to me yesterday, although I didn't blow my top and got myself back under control, and I came close to letting someone have it at K-Mart this morning. But that's what made me realize where I am, so I'm working on it. I don't like feeling this way. The near-constant sinus headache is also not helping.

There is a very grungy K-Mart in the town next to B-Town, so I thought I'd make a quick check for the sports pack there, since it's convenient. I made my way into the empty electronics department and started looking around, at which point a male employee, maybe in his thirties or forties, started following me around, saying, rudely, "Hello? Hello? Are you looking for something?" I said I was looking for Wii games and accessories. He pointed me to a wall of games, and then said, again rudely, "The accessories are here" and pointed to another aisle. I found exactly what I was looking for, and asked him -- because he was still following me around -- if I could return it if it didn't work. "No," he said, quite firmly, so I put it back, and said "Why would I buy it, then?" He said that of course it would work, and I pointed to another set and said I had bought that but had to return it because it didn't work. And he said "Impossible."

So I said "Then I guess I'm lying to you. Bye." when what I really wanted to do was rip his smug head off and call a manager over. Fucking asshole. So then I went to another K-Mart in another town, picked up the same item and took it to the cashier, who said that of course I could return it if I wanted to, and that was that. I got it, it works, I was unnecessarily aggravated by an idiot. What was his point, anyway?

I liked the new eye doctor very much. She confirmed the other guy's diagnosis, but gave me stronger eye drops for it. She also explained his whole diagnosis; get this. The doctor had said something I didn't quite get for what I had, so I asked him to write it down. He said his assistant would write it down, and when I reminded her, this is what she wrote on the back of a business card:

Episcleritis
Blepheritis
Trichiasis

I said "I have all three of those?" and she said "Well, in that order."

Excuse me?

The doctor had said one thing -- episcleritis -- and hadn't mentioned anything else, and what was that supposed to mean: "Well, in that order"? Today's doctor explained. Episcleritis is the infection I have, a side effect of which is irritation of the inside of the eyelid, which is blepheritis. The last one, I'm not even typing it again, means I have an eyelash that is growing in towards my eyeball. Which I know; I've had this ever since the brain surgery and subsequent eye surgery (which was done by an idiot and has since been repaired.) Once a year or so, my optometrist removes the bad eyelash. Today's doctor told me what it meant and asked if I wanted her to remove it for me, which of course, I did. Yesterday's guy noted it on my chart but didn't think to do anything about it. (Takes two seconds to deal with.) So yeah, very glad I went to a better doctor. I liked her, and need to follow up with her next week.

R is currently waiting at the airport for a flight to visit friends over the holiday, a flight which I checked online so I know it's delayed. Sucks to be her.

So I had nothing in the house for dinner, and I stopped and picked up a box of frozen White Castle cheeseburgers. There are six in the box, which would probably be piggy of me -- although I've eaten six in one sitting fresh off the steamer; they're very small -- but I'm contemplating four. What's a little heartburn among friends?


WATCHING THE TWILIGHT ZONE :: ENTRY #1797
SUMMER BOOK #3: The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon

Hot? Is This Hot?

Heavens to Betsy, it is. According to the little weather ticker at the bottom of my browser, it's now 97 degrees, down from a high of 103. One hundred and three degrees Fahrenheit. This is not June weather, my dears, but really, what is anymore?

I shall share with you the glory that was public education today, but first this. If you have ever had a colonoscopy or are ever goingto have one -- so that's every last one of you -- you must read this. Not only is it a 100% dead-on account of what the experience is, it's Dave Barry, so it's pee-in-your-pants funny.

I am off briefly for physical therapy for my feet. Now, even I think this is overkill, but I'll go, once, anyway. I don't know if I have time in my life for more than that. The orthotics help, and I'm good with that. (Unless they do some sort of massage or something that really feels good, in which case I'm all in favor of my health insurance paying for foot massages. I have to pay for pedicures myself.)

I went to the little mall after school because that's where the big Chico's is, and I got an outfit to wear to the couples' shower at the end of the month. And I did it smart this time. Instead of buying clothes and then trying to figure out what kind of shoes to get, I wore my tan Merrill sandals and bought an outfit that goes with them. Score. Then I went to the big mall because that's where Sephora is, and I wanted to pick out a flavor of Philosophy body scrub. Except they didn't have the actual flavors (like vanilla, cinnamon, gingerbread) only the perfume-y scents and they were no good for me. So I'll just have to pick a flavor I like, all of the above, actually, and get it from QVC. Because what I need in my life is More Product.

Ah, I see by the clock on the wall that it's a quarter to six, so I'm off to see the feet people. The heat story is to be continued upon my return.

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I'm back. For whatever that's worth.

So, it was hot. The kid whose schedule was supposed to take over the computer lab never showed. I mean, he was in school, but in each of his regular classrooms, when the teachers asked him if it was okay there, he said it was. He's apparently not a complainer, although I guess someone is on his behalf.

Rooms were hot, rooms were air conditioned. It was pretty much a random thing; even one side of the new building, which has central air, didn't work until the afternoon. Most of my school was built in the forties and fifties, before anyone was even thinking of putting central air anywhere except movie theatres. Kids were going to the nurse's office in droves and then getting picked up to go home. I don't know how many people on the staff went home sick. One of these was the SCM, who went home with a toothache; once again, I had trouble getting the V.P. to understand my situation and provide coverage, but it ultimately worked out. (I had asked her what I should do if no other teacher was there and I had to go to the bathroom, and she said to call her. I was imagining the announcement in the office following my phone call: "Hey, Chai has to go the bathroom!! Can anybody go up to the library and cover for her?" And since the answer would be No, since nobody there puts himself out for anyone, it would have been twenty minutes before the Martian herself made it up there, by which time disaster would have struck. Although the lawsuit for that would have been a beauty.)

Every neighboring town declared last night that their schools would only be open for a half day today, and half already called a half day for tomorrow. B-Town, not so much. At 2.00 today, they declared that we would have a 1.00 dismissal tomorrow at the high school only and only for students. But I'm guessing that a lot more kids and teachers both will just stay home. If we don't have enough kids in -- I don't know what the number is -- the state will not consider it to have been a school day, in which case they could have used the final snow day in our calendar after all and given us the day off. It's an interesting gamble. We'll see what happens.

Okay, I must eat. I don't feel like eating; I never do when it's hot like this, but I already have the headache. This is how I lost a ton of weight many years back; it was a hot summer and I was out of air conditioning a lot so I couldn't eat. I only stopped looking skeletal when I got pregnant the following summer. And of course I can't lose that way again, nor would I want to, but it's worth remembering. I'm not losing an ounce tonight, because I think I'll faint if I don't eat something within the next five minutes.


WATCHING MASH :: ENTRY #1776

Oh, Might As Well ...

.. start writing in school. I haven't done that this week, I think. But I am now brain-fried, brain-dead, wiped out. I stayed up for Lost last night, and then, as anticipated, couldn't get to sleep until maybe 1.00. And I finished grading those projects just before lunch today. They were mostly not bad, but those kids who made the mistake about not spelling the town's name right -- there were three of them -- I just don't know. One of them spoke to me about it, but I hadn't even given their papers back yet, and he didn't know if I had graded his project yet. (I had graded it just about an hour before he came in.) Which means he knew the mistake was there. And this is the kid who checked it with me just before he handed it in. So I'm guessing he did it on purpose as a kind of test to see what I would do. I do not appreciate that.

I reached a last-straw kind of moment last night and decided that I will not bring my lunch anymore, or even have breakfast and coffee at home before I leave for work in the morning. Believe it or not, this leaves me a fair amount of down time, even though I get up around six and leave the house around seven. This morning, it gave me time to run by McDonald's on my way to school, get a breakfast burrito and eat it in the car, and then have coffee to bring into school with me. I also bought my lunch in school, which is going to take more thought to get right because all I had today was one slice of less than lovely pizza and a horrid salad.

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Just took a break here; a kid was showing me his iPhone in great detail and ooooohhhhhh wantwantwantwantwant. But will not get, not at least for some time. I just got a new phone in January, so I'm not switching away from that until the contract expires, and anyway, I'm not doing it. Unless. I have a ticket for the PTA raffle next Wednesday and first prize is a $1000 gift certificate to the mall, which I would happily spend at the Apple Store and the Bare Escentuals Store, and have half leftover to split between the girls. I'll keep my fingers crossed, but I won't hold my breath. Although I do think that a person who buys a $10 ticket to the PTA raffle every year for 32 years should eventually win, no?

So now I have a mere twenty minutes left in my workday, after which I will go home and kill an hour before going to visit the therapist at four. That gives me an hour to try to remember all the stuff I wanted to talk about yesterday. Who makes an appointment for a Friday afternoon?

And today, of course, would be the birthday of Jack, which I mentioned earlier in the week, which means my cousin's grandtwins are six today. Their mother has no interest in visiting the East Coast, so although I saw them when they were a year old (because I was in Colorado), I am unlikely to see them again. That first year, we got daily email bulletins from their father -- they had been born at about 29 weeks, I think -- and they were apparently the only adorable children ever born on earth, these days we get nothing except a printed picture at Christmas along with a tacky newsletter, which really, I thought the kids' dad, who writes them, was way beyond, especially considering that he writes for a living. But whatever. Did not mean to get into any sort of weird rant today.

Oh god, why are kids still taking books out? Do they not see the photocopier right over there? Any book checked out today will only have to be ruthlessly hunted down in two weeks when it is overdue, even though I'm telling each one of them that all of our books are due back next Friday. I can see how June is shaping up for me. At least they're not seniors.

And .... at the bell ....


WATCHING FRIENDS :: ENTRY #1767

The Report

But first. I was just about to start typing here when I got an email that distracted me. A dear friend sent me a video of her four year old granddaughter, who has cerebral palsy, walking. First with a walker. Then with tiny little pink canes. And then, just walking, without crutches or walker or anything. Very excellent.

So I did go to the radiology place today, along with the Sibs, and we had our boobies variously x-rayed and whatnot, and I had no needle biopsy. Hooray! So now we both need to have mammograms and sonograms every six months, and I need to get that MRI once a year. This is all okay.

Our appointment was pushed back to 2.30, so after lunch, we had time to go to Barnes and Noble and Target. A very big day for all concerned.

After I got home, K and I dropped off my car for service and then went out for some foodie, and I got to drive her very cute little car for the first time. I like it mucho. I will have my car forever now, which is fine, but that little bitty Toyota Yaris was a nice driving car, if anyone's interested.

I set my alarm for later this morning -- six -- but I woke up at 5.30 anyway. Even so, I didn't get into the shower until nearly 6.30, and I still got out of the house by seven. How this all happened I do not know, although I did have my breakfast before shower, and I didn't need to make my lunch today because I was leaving school early, before lunch. (And went to the Olive Garden, yum.) So this is a good thing. And now I also don't have to walk to school tomorrow -- no car -- because K, who isn't going in to work, is going to get up early and drive me. (She's staying home to write a final paper for class, and figures she might as well get an early start at it.) So that's good for me, too, and now I can bring my lunch, which I wouldn't have wanted to carry if I was walking.

And now I'm off to put tomorrow's jeans in the dryer, and then settle down for Ugly Betty. I'm going to go to sleep right after, and we'll watch Lost tomorrow night.


WATCHING MASH :: ENTRY #1749

So I'm Thinking ...

I am so tired and I have so much to do after school today, I'd better write this now -- about 1.45 -- and post it later. And maybe have something actually interesting to say then, although I doubt it.

We journeyed south yesterday, down the Garden State Parkway to where all the old people live, for the FIL's 80th birthday. We brought his sister and her husband, who live in Bizarro Town, with us. It was really a very nice day. The niece and nephew on that side are really turning into lovely people as they hit adulthood, although their father was at his goofiest best yesterday. (He's suspicious of everyone -- not family, just anyone else who might be trying to cheat him -- and was telling some crazy tales yesterday. Among other things, his town started picking up the trash earlier, before he put his barrels out, and this infuriated him so much that he boxed up two weeks of trash and mailed it to the town hall. Oh yes. And then they moved the pick-up back to the old time, which I'm sure was a coincidence, but he thinks he won.)

For my newest trick, I'm having a lot of discomfort in my arms and hands, especially my right arm. It's hard to write by hand. Part of this all is the tennis elbow coming back, so I made an appointment to see the physician's assistant at the orthopedist's office next week. We'll see what all this is. (I know, I know; as I said to my sister, How long you been using those arms? But it's worth looking into, there may be an exercise or something I can do.)

I never had time to shop for food over the weekend and I got nothing, so I have to go this afternoon, even though my usual shopping partner, K, will be in class. I'd also like to return something to Target, if I can, not to mention get to CVS for the great toilet paper/paper towel/liquid Tide sale, but I may have to put that one off until tomorrow. Tomorrow night I'm coming back to school to see the drama club's play, which was written by the club's advisor. I've actually seen this before, but he's staging it completely differently this time, so I'm curious to see how that is.

I got an email today, out of the blue, from the person I have called here the HMM [the Horrible Mean Man], who was the head librarian here before he retired and I got his job and the SCM was hired for mine. He is not so actually horrible when I don't have to work with him, and he did retire 18 years ago, so I guess I ought to let that all go. Anyway, he and his wife will be in the area next week and they want to come by and see the new library. Now, here's the irony. When he retired, I used to say that my goal was that one day when he came back to visit, the library would be so changed that he wouldn't even recognize it anymore. So hey, be careful what you wish for, eh? Laughs on me, ho ho ho. Anyway, he'll be by a week from Thursday.

This Thursday, of course, is my long awaited needle biopsy, thought with any luck, the ultrasound that comes first won't show them anything worth sticking a needle into. (I'm not keeping my hopes up.) Again, not that I'm at all freaked out over this because I know it's nothing, but really, getting a big needle stuck into your boobie? That just falls into the category of Nobody Likes It. But you gotta do what you gotta do. In other words -- you knew this was coming -- que sera, sera.

(Oh, bluesleepy mentioned in a comment last week about que sera, sera and my saying that not everyone gets it; she said "What's not to get?" You have to forgive me. I spend lots of time with people aged 14 to 18, and there is just a whole lot of common knowledge that they don't have yet. I've had to explain it to every kid so far who's noticed it. They never heard that before.)

Okay, I'm going to stop typing now because apparently that hurts my hands, too. I'm going to have to get one of those Stephen Hawking things that you blow into the end of the tube and it communicates for you. Or something.

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Back from my many missions, and now I'm not just tired, I'm hot and I have a headache. (I am what they called in the old country a kvetch.) No idea what I'm having for dinner, but at the moment, I'm thinking ice cream. Or maybe just tylenol.

WATCHING MASH :: ENTRY #1746

VaCaDay 7

So here it is:



This has been the most amazing week of weather for a vacation week. Every single day has been sunny and warm and perfect. The colder temps and rain are coming back tomorrow, I think, but this week was delightful. Never had to wear a jacket once.

You know, I wanted this week to be relaxing, and it was. I never made a big list of tasks to do, I just kept a little running list on a post-it and erased the stuff when it was done. Today I threw out the little blank list. (Okay, I didn't actually erase the last thing because that would have been weird.) I saw the podiatrist this morning, speaking of weird, and then had a nice lunch with the Sibs at The Cheesecake Factory and then we went to Costco. I was so good at Costco, too; I only spent $35, which you wouldn't think was even possible there. All I got was a box of plastic knives, some ankle socks, one DVD and a book. I got the first volume of The Spiderwick Chronicles. I'm not sure why, but it's a cute little book, and that appeals to me.

Speaking of which, after I finished A Thousand Splendid Suns the other night -- excellent book -- I went on a tear to find something else to read on the Palm. I downloaded and started Julie Andrews' memoir, Home, and then last night, I thought to check a free ebook site for something I'd been looking for, a book written over a hundred years ago called Looking Backward, and they had it because it's old and out of copyright, and I downloaded a few more from there, too. And I have a real book pre-ordered from Amazon coming next week, The Yiddish Policeman's Union by Michael Chabon, whose The Adventures of Kavalier and Clay I liked so much last summer. I love it when I'm on a reading binge. I haven't had a real good one in years and years.

As I mentioned, I've been looking over a lot of old entries, and seriously, I have to apologize to you all for the typos and spelling mistakes. Foxfire, the browser I use now, spellchecks, so I'm finding all the mistakes in the old entries as I bring them up. (Spellcheck, btw, is a mistake. It must be spell check. Okay, it is.) Oh, and I'm really really sorry I wrote so much about food and losing weight. Something else I think I'm over in this life.

One of the things I didn't get to this week -- I erased it off the post-it yesterday -- was cleaning. Well, I'm on vacation. I'll get back to it, but it's not bothering me, so there.

WATCHING THE GOLDEN GIRLS :: ENTRY #1738

VaCaDay 3

John Adams is dead, finally. (And Thomas Jefferson survives. No, wait ...) It was a good mini-series, but it seemed never-ending, which I suppose has something to do with Adams living into his nineties and being a relatively unpleasant person throughout. (The phrase used to describe him repeatedly in the movie 1776 is "obnoxious and disliked.")

I think I have not slept well the nights I watched those episodes, for some reason, and last night, after all the tearful moments of everyone dying here and there, I just tossed and turned for hours. So I'm very tired today. But it was a good day.

I went to Kohl's twice, even though I tried on what I bought in the store, I realized at home that one pair of cropped jeans were okay, but the other fit me really well. So I took back the okay and got another really well in a different color denim. In between, I took stuff to recycling, dropped off my tattoo design so they can prepare it for Thursday, bought lottery tickets, and listened to more Harry Potter in the car. I'm also eating a lot of jelly beans. If I have them in the house, I will eat them. And I have them. But I'm closing the jar now.

I thought I would try one of my exercise videos this morning as soon as I got up, but you know, that early morning exercise thing is a part of my past. I got up mentally prepared to do it, and as I limped into the bathroom on the hip that aches for the first hour or so that I'm up every day, I said to myself "Who are you kidding? You're lucky you can walk at all early in the morning." So. But I did do arm exercises with weights last night, and I'll do that again tonight. I'll have to see when I can work in anything else.

Otherwise, I'm just tired. I really hope I sleep tonight.

WATCHING MASH :: ENTRY #1734

No Wire Hangers!

I've gotten in touch with my inner Joan Crawford today. No, the kids are fine. But I purged my closet of all wire hangers, which I have always felt were the tools of Satan anyway, but you know, you get stuff back from the cleaners and don't wear them right away, you've got wire hangers in your closet. No more! My closet is very neat now. It's still too small, but it's neat, and my shirts are hanging in groups -- wool, denim, striped, plaid, solids -- and my sweatshirts are also categorized: hoodies, zipped hoodies, pullovers -- so I can find what I'm looking for. (Yes. There is a purpose besides OCD. I found stuff I totally forgot I had because I couldn't see it was there. I swear.)

I also found about a half dozen pair of slacks. I said this to my daughters, who said "Slacks? Who says slacks? That's an old lady word." I reminded them that I am, indeed, and old lady and they let it go, not before asking me if was also going to tell them that "their outfits looked sharp." Uh ... something wrong with that? Not seeing it here. (And anyway, why on earth do I even own slacks? All I ever wear is jeans.)

I also got two pair of new jeans to try at The Gap, same jeans in different sizes. I am pleased to report that the larger size was the wrong one, but I still haven't decided if the cut of these jeans is good for me. I'll try on for the jeans maven when she finishes dinner. (She worked at The Gap, I remind you, and knows what to look for when people are trying on jeans, and also how to not make them feel like crap no matter what they look like.)

Between the two of us and closet cleaning, we also have five big bags of clothes to donate. Now, this is something I have always done because it would just be ridiculous to throw out clothes that someone else can use. I saw something on TV years ago about which charities to donate clothes to and which ones to avoid. Basically, if you give clothes to the Salvation Army, Goodwill, or Vietnam Veterans of America, the clothes will be sold to used clothing stores (or sold in their own second hand stores), so poor people will have the chance to buy good clothes and those charities will make money for their other projects. If you give to the Red Cross, the clothes go directly to people in disaster areas. However, if you give to other random donation boxes -- DARE, for example -- the clothes are sold for rags, and cut into pieces and recycled into other stuff around the world. So I avoid those boxes. If I have clothes that I can't wear but that are in good shape, I want someone else to be able to use them.

Anyway, there is also a tax benefit to this, which I never cared about much because I was giving the clothes away anyway, so I estimated their value at tax time. Now my accountant says I have to keep a record, so I looked up the value of the stuff we were donating this time, and damn, it's about twice as much as I would have estimated. I'm sure this would never have made even a five dollar difference on my actual taxes, but really, who knew?

Once again, I have messed up my dinner time, not realizing what time it was, and had a big snack -- leftover boneless spare-ribs from last night -- at five, so now I have no interest in any other real food. (Which would be leftover sweet and sour shrimp.) I guess I'll have that tomorrow. The girls and I went to The Cheesecake Factory at the mall for lunch today, so, aw, poor me, I'll just have to have my Dulce de Leche cheesecake in an hour or so. That's what I like, go right from the appetizer to dessert, and skip that whole pesky main course thing.

More John Adams tonight. Is it just me, or did he just turn into a schmuck as he got older? (It's not me. I've read the book; it was him.) It makes for a less entertaining TV show is all. But I've already invested in the first five hours; I can't pass on the last two.

WATCHING YOU'VE GOT MAIL :: ENTRY #1726

No Such Thing as a Free Toaster

Alas, it was not to be. I went to Macy's today to get the toaster I had reserved with a rain check, and it was the stupidest toaster ever. In order to make toast, you first had to set the temperature (from a dial) and then choose the time in minutes (from a dial.) Yeah, that's what we need: toasters that are more complicated. This was not the toaster for my house, which left me with a Macy's gift card to spend, and they didn't even have the socks that I wanted. I came home and went online, and seriously, all I could find was underpants. So that's what I ordered. Big whoop.

I'm having a family-is-making-me-crazy day (but not R), which is always stressful. Add one more thing to my next-life list: family members are not allowed to make me crazy. And also not treat me like I'm already in my dotage, have no memory, and can't complete simple tasks. I'm fine. My kids just need to get married and/or move out on their own. My husband needs to normal up and start having normal conversations. (Oh, he does sometimes, usually unexpectedly, but otherwise is just silent, until he has a temper outburst. Oy.)

So, what's fun? Oh, I don't know. Maybe a Target run tomorrow, that would be nice. It's supposed to be a nice day, just cold. Today was gray, with occasional flurries. Ick. And then back to school on Monday. Joy.


WATCHING WILL & GRACE :: ENTRY #1686