I Hope This Goes Well

Song: “Fraggle Rock Theme” by Jim Henson, Jerry Juhl, and Jocelyn Stevenson

Mood: 7

Nightmares: 0

No nightmares last night and waking up fewer times than usual made for a decent sleep. It still took a while for me to get my brain working but after the normal morning haze left I didn’t feel too bad at all.

It has been dark and gloomy almost every day since autumn arrived but this morning there was some blue sky and sun for a while so I got out for my walk before it got grey and dreary again. The sun felt nice but it was very good to be back in the yard again.

Once I got home, I went into the garage and did my homework, which included me backing the truck out of the garage but not down the entire driveway and sitting in it for about 50 minutes before putting it back into the garage. I’m hesitant to back it all the way down the driveway, partly because I’m a little worried about my aim, but mostly because I don’t want to be sitting there for an hour while the neighbours try to figure out why I’m acting all creepy. But… I did get out of the garage (and back in) and nothing horrible happened.

I hate knowing that the garage door was opened. It bothered me quite a bit today and I spent far too much time peeking out the kitchen window in addition to all of the other ghosts I chased today. My usual trick of taking a picture didn’t seem to help very much. I’m also worried that one of the rabbits that frequents the yard scurried into the garage when I didn’t see it and the poor thing is going to starve to death or gnaw through wiring or hoses.

The local charities were on my mind quite a bit again today. Some more research showed how naive I am about this stuff – there are a lot more out there than I thought there were. It’s wonderful that they are there but at the same time it’s too bad that they’re needed, and in a lot of cases the demand for their services outstrips what’s available.

The big news today, though, was that J stopped at the store on the way home and picked up that sewing machine that we had been talking about and some supplies to get started (thank you!!!). We unboxed it this evening and took a quick look – I was tempted to fire it up but I want to wait until tomorrow during the day when there’s plenty of light for when I try to figure out how to thread it the first time. I expect that things will be quite frustrating the first little while until I get used to how everything works but I’ve got some nice dyed leather and some buttons (no way am I going to start out with zippers) and I’m looking forward to turning it all into a fine jacket.

Bahahaha! Just kidding – I have some ruined pants, old towels, and other rags that I’m going to cut up and I’ll be happy when I successfully attach two pieces together without accidentally sewing myself to them. J bought some felt but it’s far too nice to use until I at least have a clue about what I’m doing.

J and I watched some more Parks and Recreation this evening. We’re into the sixth season now and things are starting to change – looks like some of the cast will be leaving, they had the often-seen “we’re not sure how much longer we’re going to be on so let’s blow the budget on a vacation/trip/quest episode after we agree on where we all want to visit” episode, things are getting predictable, and the feel of the show has changed with some of the new plot lines. It’s still good, though, and we are enjoying watching it.

Tomorrow is Halloween. I am really, really not looking forward to it. I have a Dr W appointment (the scheduling of which may not have been my best idea) and then shortly after we get home the foot traffic and weird sounds will begin. J has taken charge and has everything under control but I’m still very uncomfortable about it all. Hopefully everything will go well and the lights will be off and the doors locked and everything will be quiet by 9PM. Fingers crossed.

Stay safe.

A Good Long Weekend

Song: N/A

Mood: 7

Nightmares: 2

This has been an extra long weekend. J took Friday and Monday off so we had all kinds of time to hang out, get stuff done around the house, watch movies… all kinds of stuff. I really enjoyed our time together and I’m going to miss her tomorrow when she’s back at work.

My mother-in-law came over on… Saturday, I think. The three of us had a very good time chatting and gossiping, and we had fried chicken from the best place in town for supper. She also brought a beautiful big quilt that she made for us (I will take a picture when there’s better light) and a nice big warm scarf for me for the winter. She also brought over some amazing homemade grape jelly that is taking a large portion of my willpower to not sit down at the table and eat all of the jelly straight out of the jars with a tablespoon. I don’t know if she reads this stuff but if she does – thank you very much for coming over and for all of the wonderful gifts!!!

A package came for me today, and inside it was a pair of mad scientist/steampunk looking safety goggles. I can’t wait to use them (and thanks, FA)!!

I’ve been spending a lot of time thinking about helping people out, and J and I talked about it at length. There are a lot of charities in town that everyone knows about – some get radio/TV/community paper advertisement spots, some have been around for every and everyone knows about them, and some show up once or twice a year to run funding drives. I’ve decided that I want to try and help the smaller charities that most people don’t know about, and, in particular, those that provide assistance to people with mental health difficulties or who are in crisis.

I’m not sure why I feel so strongly about this. Part of it may be how good it made me feel last year when J and I went to the dollar store and bought a box full of colouring books, markers, and notepads and gave it to the Recreational Therapist at the psych ward I stayed in. We gave it to her just before Christmas (which can be a very difficult and lonely time for people staying on the ward), and it was very nice to get a hug and see how much she appreciated it. What really made me feel good, though, was when Dr W mentioned that he had seen a lot more supplies around and people using them last winter than usual.

I don’t want to be rich (although I won’t complain if that happens). I don’t want to be famous. I just want to help make someone’s life easier – even if it’s for only a short while. A short while could be all that someone needs to get their life back on track. I don’t have a social work degree, I’m not a therapist, doctor, nurse, psychiatrist, psychologist, or have any training whatsoever that would let me work with someone who needs help. What I can do, though, is try to help the people who DO work with someone who needs help. All of the small charities that I’ve looked up are in short supply of something, whether it’s money, particular types of clothing, bedding, underwear, soap and shampoo, towels… the list is extensive and quite broad. I want to help.

We watched Ant Man and the Wasp this past weekend, it was a very good movie. Much more lighthearted and fun than Infinity War was, and the action scenes were great. They did the very end (at the credits) really well so that I wasn’t suspecting anything until suddenly I got hit by a bolt of dread just before the reveal. Very well done.

I am also looking into buying a sewing machine. I’ve been talking about it for a few years now, and between some clothes that need alterations and some projects I’d like to try, I think I’m going to pick one up. Not a big fancy one, just one of the little cheaper ones that do a couple of different kind of stitches. Found an inexpensive one that has a stronger motor and is quite inexpensive. So, if it gets used twice and then ends up in the closet or sold at a garage sale, no big deal. Likewise, if I make nine parachutes and two spinnakers in the first week and burn it out, not the end of the world. One of the things I’d like to make and give away at the hospital are some little stress bean bags. J’s cousin made me a bunch of them and I have found them very useful.

Argh… I just read this over and I spent so much time babbling that I’m not going to get a bunch of other stuff written down, and I need to get to bed.

Not sure what’s going on tomorrow yet. Hopefully I won’t have any nightmares.

Oh, and we had bacon and egg bagels for supper. They were wonderful, and the whole house now smells like bacon. I can live with that.

Stay safe.

Trying To Sneak This In Before I Fall Asleep

Song: “Does Your Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavour (On The Bedpost Overnight)” by Lonnie Donegan

Mood: 6.5

Nightmares: 0

Well, it’s pretty late and I’m still awake. Fortunately, J has tomorrow and Monday off so we’re at the beginning of a four day weekend. I’m hoping to get this post done before I wake up and find my face stuck to the keyboard and I’ve drooled my laptop to death.

I woke up worrying a lot again last night and it took me a while to get going this morning. I had to refer to my phone a couple of times to make sure that I’d remembered the hot water tank and the garage door. Everything was fine but the next time I woke up I had to look again. I think Dr C is wondering if me taking all of those pictures as part of my nighttime routine (water tank pipes, water tank leaks, washer/dryer, front door locked and alarm set, J’s keys and purse, the stove and dishwasher, the keys on the hooks in the kitchen, the garage door (big and small) and gate, back door locked and sidelight closed) isn’t going to be a good thing in the long run but it sure beats getting out of bed at 3:17AM and stumbling around the house half worried and half dazed. Now that I look at that list, though, it seems longer than it feels when I’m taking the pictures. I just took a look at my phone and I have about 1700 pictures in the camera folder. I scrolled through quickly and I’m guessing that about 1400-1500 of them are pictures that I’ve taken when I’m doing my night routine. I have no idea why I’ve kept them all…

Today went alright. One of my uncles (the one who had cancer last year) ended up back in the hospital and had to get some more emergency surgery. Fortunately, it went well and he should be home soon. Unfortunately, his doctor told him that this was likely to happen again. I feel bad for him and I feel bad for my mom, too. All of her brothers are been having medical issues – one with the cancer/surgery, one with the diabetes/amputations/infections, and one with ALS. I wish there was something I could do but not matter how much I think about it, I can’t come up with anything. I just hope everyone is okay and that good things happen.

I spent more time at the microscope today. There’s something pretty neat about seeing something that small moving around and going about its business. Colour is hard to see with a regular brightfield microscope, but I wonder – at what point does something no longer have a colour? Something like a proton is far too small for visible light to bounce off of and various wavelengths get reflected or absorbed or transmitted… but what if you were somehow able to get a bucket, wash it out so it was nice and clean, dry it thoroughly, take all of the air out of it, and fill it to the brim with protons. What colour would the stuff in the bucket be?

Which reminds me of another question that I was pondering today: water normally exists in three stages (solid, liquid, gas). Everyone knows that. If, however, you were able to isolate a single water molecule, what state would it be in? There’s only the one molecule so it can’t make a crystal and become ice, it’s not jostling around and interacting with other water molecules so it can’t be a liquid or a gas. Is it just a molecule of water? Or would you consider the temperature and pressure that the molecule is at and determine it that way? To any of you physics or chemistry people out there – please enlighten me!

My appointment with Dr C went alright. The building her office is in is very warm at this time of year so between that and the flop sweat that normally happens when I’m doing something out of my comfort zone, I felt pretty uncomfortable. We talked quite a bit about how things went last week when I spent all that time outside working on the truck. We also talked about receiving compliments and how I’m not very good at it, particularly when it comes to compliments about my mental health. My homework in that regard is to simply say “thank you” the next time someone says that I sound better than I did a while ago or they’re really happy that I got some stuff done. I will try.

We also spoke about Halloween. I hate Halloween – not because I don’t like kids in costumes (some of them are so cute!), and not because I don’t like candy (I love candy!), but because I find it very difficult to deal with that many people walking around outside, their voices, and the sounds they make. Dr C suggested that I try handing out candy so I can see what’s going on outside but I expect that I will spend this Halloween like I have the last few – cowering in the basement with music blasting in my ears while J does all the work.

Oh, and Dr C told me a joke today:

Q: How many psychologists does it take to change a light bulb?

A: Only one, but the light bulb has to really want to change.

On a completely related note, I think this today was the first day I booed a therapist.

Okay, I’ve really got to wrap this up, having trouble keeping my eyes open…

J picked me up from my appointment (thank you so much!!!) and we went straight home. We talked for a while before J headed out to get a couple of things done. Once she was back, we made supper and talked for a while and then J asked me to try on some new clothes that she picked up for me over the last few days. I’ve been very unhappy (and very uncomfortable) with how my clothes fit. I can get them on, but it feels like I’m wearing a sausage casing and I’m being cut in half. J went online to a couple of places, did some ordering, and went into a couple of other stores in the area to find me clothes that’d be comfortable to wear. I really, really appreciate the effort and time she put into that, and how it’s making me more comfortable in my own skin. If you read this, thank you a million times!!!

After I tried on the clothes, we did our own things until around 10PM. We decided that we wanted to watch a movie, and J had just picked up Game Night from the library so we threw it in the player, got comfy, and watched. It was pretty good. Confused the hell out of me but I think if I watch it six or seven more times and have a pen and lots of paper available, I might be able to figure it out. When they’re in the parking lot with the sewing kit and magazine is probably my favourite part. Definitely worth another watch.

I’m not sure yet what’s going on tomorrow. My mother-in-law is coming by at some point and may stay for supper. It will be very good to see her again and be able to sit down and catch up on all the gossip.

There’s a whole bunch of other stuff that I wanted to write in here but I can’t think very well right now and I need to get to bed anyway. Maybe I’ll write about it tomorrow.

Stay safe.

Keeping Myself Pretty Busy

Song: “Sleeping Single In A Double Bed” by Barbara Mandrell (I like the bass line)

Mood: 6.5

Nightmares: 0

Sorry I didn’t post yesterday – I was too tired to put anything together so I just went to bed. I had planned to post about yesterday this morning but while I sat in front of my computer and tried, I just couldn’t scrape more than a couple of words together. Suffice it to say that Monday was a decent day other than the irritation from what felt like near-constant garbage calls from spoofed scam phone numbers. Fortunately (I guess), I still have trouble answering the phone, and if it’s some fake or otherwise suspicious number, I won’t answer it (even if I wanted to).

I was pretty active today. It was pleasant out again this morning (about 4C, blue sky, and no wind) so my walk and time in the truck weren’t unpleasant because of the weather. Since I’ve still got the tender hooked up to the battery, I don’t have any concerns about playing my music over the OEM truck speakers. While they’re pretty crummy as far as car speakers go, they sound like I’m at an opera house with perfect acoustics when compared to my phone’s internal speaker. Getting through my time in the truck is much easier with good music cranked up. Dr C is the one who suggested I listen to music, but I don’t know exactly how far I can go with volume and types of music and still be doing it in a healthy way. I will ask her at my appointment tomorrow.

My exercises today went better than they have for quite a while. I’m still dragging pretty bad so I lost focus quite a few times but overall it went pretty well.

I spent some time today doing some more writing. Oh, and I heard back from The Mighty – they rejected my post. That’s okay, I don’t mind at all. Their site is enormous already so I imagine they have to be pretty picky about what they post.

I spent more time at my electronics bench, too. There’s a project idea somewhere in my head that’s dying to get out. I can feel it bouncing around in there. I just need to somehow rattle things the right way so it comes out.

Gave more thought to our broken recliner controller. The good news is the cable and mechanism still works well, but the lever that pulls the cable and the piece of plastic that holds the cable sheath in place are broken. I thought about using epoxy but the plastic is old and very brittle so I don’t think that’ll work. My next idea is to replace the whole assembly with one made out of steel. I have the materials but the thing is pretty small and I haven’t done much “small” work when welding. Still, the steel might be the best idea if I want it to be sturdy and not break again. Yes, the recliner is old (20+years!) but the company doesn’t make ones like this anymore and I’ve sat on this one for so many years that it’s so very, very comfortable.

Sat in front of my microscope today and looked at some goop I found. Pretty disgusting stuff. Lots of bacteria.

Listened to a bunch of records today, too. Haven’t done that in a while. I’ve said it before, but it bears repeating – there’s just something about listening to music on vinyl. The things that would normally detract from a recording (like the hiss and pop) add something to it, somehow. Maybe it’s because I’ve heard a LOT of music on vinyl since I was born (and possibly before then). Pretty much grew up with music, and the sounds coming over the speakers of the giant wood console record player (it was actual, real, chopped down wood. I know this because it weighed a ton and because when I was teething, I gnawed on it a lot and the surface was definitely not veneer) were always present when my family would hang out in the living room on Sunday evenings after supper and enjoy the music.

Alright, I’m sorry but I’m going to have to cut this short as my typing rate has slowed to a crawl and I’m being swamped by waves of exhaustion. I really need to get to bed before I feel ill. The rest of my day was not too bad, I have a Dr C appointment tomorrow, and I will try to be better about posting!

Stay safe.

Puttering For Puttering’s Sake

Song: “Theme From Simon & Simon” by Barry De Vorzon and Micheal Towers

Mood: 6

Nightmares: 0

This past few days have gone by very quickly. The weekend was good – both J and I got some stuff done around the house, we got some relaxing in, and we finally watched Avengers: Infinity War. We’ve been trying soooo hard to avoid spoilers and it really paid off. I was quite surprised by a lot of things that happened in the movie, and there were a few parts where I wanted to stand up and wave my arms at the screen, saying “how could you possibly thought that was going to be a good idea?”

But yes, it was good, and we are both looking forward to the next one.

I didn’t sleep great again last night and it took me quite a while to get things in order enough for me to get out of bed after I woke up this morning.

I went for my walk this morning. The thermometer said 5C, and when the sun is shining on the deck that usually means the temperature is two degrees lower, so 3C. I put on pants and a jacket and a hat and was unpleasantly surprised by a wind that made it feel a lot less than 3C out. Heck, 3C on a windless sunny day is practically shorts weather! So yeah, there was a little more hustle in my walk than usual today.

I also did my time in the truck. I feel dumb saying this, but when I went in the garage today I was surprised at how clean it was. I know I just washed it, but it was dirty for so long that it’s great to see it nice and shiny. I spent about 75 minutes in the truck today, just sitting there, listening to music (I’m piping it from my phone to the truck speakers which is much better), and doing grounding and breathing exercises to try and make the time less unpleasant. I’m afraid to say anything but I think it’s getting easier. I also reconnected the battery tender so the battery will be nice and fresh.

Sent out my texts and had a couple of good conversations. I ended up hooking a keyboard up to my phone so I could type out my texts faster and more accurately. It helped a lot but it would act strange pretty frequently – for example, if I typed too fast, the phone would jumble up the letters.

I spent some more time puttering downstairs today. DA came up with a possible solution to his cabin stuff so the thing I was working on became obsolete so I stopped working on it. Today, though, I thought what the heck and continued working on it. The thing is, I enjoy playing with that stuff, and if I do put everything together I can still give it to him and he can do whatever he wants with it. I used to be able to spend days at a time in front of my electronics bench, puzzling something out, but I haven’t had that kind of drive for anything for quite a while now. For now, I will tinker. Who knows what will happen. Same goes for all of my hobbies.

Did a bit of writing and another post this afternoon. I think I’m going to try to keep doing my usual four or five regular posts per week and at least one extra one. Oh, and that reminds me – I submitted my Healthcare Visit Template post to The Mighty a couple of days ago. Hopefully they think it’ll be useful for other people!

This evening J and I hung out and watched some more Parks and Recreation. We’re getting closer to the end of the series. People are marrying other people, people are changing, people are getting different jobs, and somehow the show hasn’t been ruined yet. Plus, this season has what I consider to be the funniest Ron Swanson stuff I’ve seen yet. What a neat character.

I’m not sure what it’s supposed to be like tomorrow but I might see if I can get that bit of painting done on the truck and check the spare tire. Other than that, I think I will spend some more time puttering around at my bench.

Stay safe.

Songs That Make Me Smile, Part II

Here are some more songs that can help chase the clouds away when I’m having a rough day. If you’re interested, you can find more in Part I.

“I Believe I Can Fly” by Me First And The Gimme Gimmes

Me First and the Gimme Gimmes work wonders with every song they cover (and they have covered a lot of songs). They take what is often an overly long, boring ballad, and turn it into something fun that takes half the time to listen to. That, my friends, is magic. I listened to this song on repeat while I was studying for my Statistics exam and sang along with it while I drove to write it. Got an A+ in the course!

“Combine Harvester” by The Wurzels

FA introduced me to this song, and two bars in I knew it was going to be great. A parody from the mid-70s, it hits all the buttons with its themes about love, romance, booze, corduroy pants, and farm equipment. You can’t go wrong.

“Skyliner” by Charlie Barnet

Back when CD players were starting to become popular, my folks replaced our giant console record player/stereo (it was made of real wood and had SOLID STATE in chrome under the lid) with an (at the time) amazing CD player/stereo setup. One of the first CDs that we got was a set of three Big Band discs. We listened to it constantly, and my sister and I called this the “water song” because the saxophone parts reminded us of those cheesy water effects on TV where the screen would slowly ripple. Yes, I’m a child of the 70s.

“Play That Funky Music” by Wild Cherry

Do not – under any circumstances – listen to this song on tinny little speakers. You need something with bass. Lots of bass.

“Super Mario Bros. Theme Song” by Koji Kondo

https://youtu.be/wGX4obVl64w

Think of an instrument. Any instrument. This song has been played on it. Think of any combination of any instruments. This song has been played on it. Now think of something that’s NOT an instrument. Guess what? This song has been played on it. Think of any inhabited region of any country on the planet – someone there has heard this song and would probably enjoy whistling it with you. Any alien ships that land on Earth to spread goodwill and technology (or eat us) will probably play this when they land because they’ll think it’s our planetary anthem.

Stay safe.

Five Hours Outside!

Song: N/A

Mood: 5.5

Nightmares: 0

I tried to post yesterday evening – I really did. Unfortunately, I only got about three words into the post before I realized that I was sitting there with my eyes closed and there was no way I’d be able to type out much more than that. I went and sat on the couch to have a sandwich and talk to J but I kept falling asleep and smeared peanut butter over the front of my shirt. Yep, that’s me – keeping it classy. J went through her spectrum of voices to try and convince me to get off the couch and go to bed, everything from “friendly reminder” to “supportive” to “stern wife” to “I’m pretty sure that’s a threat”. Finally, I managed to get moving, brushed my teeth, and then I fell asleep when my head hit the pillow.

As has been pretty common lately, yesterday I woke up tired. I really need to figure out what’s going on with that. Anyway, I had breakfast, did my exercises, sent my texts, and did some stuff around the house.

Much to my surprise, the weather forecast turned out to be accurate – it got up past 20C yesterday! J and I had moved the truck out into the driveway Wednesday evening and it was still sitting there, covered in dead leaves and still wearing last winter’s dirt. Despite that, I really didn’t want to go outside and had to argue with myself for half an hour or so before I finally forced myself to go outside.

I got all of my motorcycle/car washing stuff (bucket, wash mitt, Zip Wax, nylon scrubbie, toilet brush, bottle brush), hooked up and untangled the hose, and went out to the truck. Just as I was about to start, I noticed this:

Puddle Under TruckWell, crap.

I ran my finger over the puddle, gave it a sniff, and determined it was dirty, oily coolant. Or dirty, coolanty oil. Or coolanty, oily dirt.

I popped open the hood, grabbed a flashlight, and tried to find where it was coming from. Then I grabbed my ground pad and very ungracefully scrabbled along the ground until I was mostly under the truck. The truck has a skidplate, which is great up until you want to find where something’s leaking from – everything leaks onto it and drips from the edge so there’s no telling where things are leaking from. I was too lazy to take it off, so I spent the better part of an hour shuffling from one side to another, feeling around, and stretching and bending parts of me that don’t normally stretch or bend, until I found this:

Coolant LeakAH-HA! So there’s obviously a coolant leak. The stuff on the ground was dirty and oily because it puddled in the (dirty and oily) skidplate before ending up on the ground. I hope that things are leaking because of the clamp – it looks really rusty and might be broken, which I may be able to fix myself. A couple of years ago I would’ve been able to replace the hose myself but I don’t have the self-confidence to do that right now. If the radiator is cracked or has a hole, then I’m definitely not going to be able to fix it. Fortunately, the truck isn’t being driven right now, so there’s still some time to investigate some more and figure out a plan. If it has to go to a shop, the local garage has been pretty good so far.

After I was done investigating, I took a 15 minute break to relax and calm down before I gave the truck a good wash. It took quite a while – it was pretty windy and parts of the truck would dry so quickly that I’d look back at them and couldn’t remember if I’d properly washed and rinsed them – but eventually I was done and the truck looked nice and shiny – not bad for a ten year old truck!

Washed TruckAs I was washing the truck, I kept an eye out for rock chips and scratches so I could go back with some touch-up paint and a q-tip to fix them up. There were quite a few of them so it took me quite a while to get to them all. Where the bottom of the tailgate meets the truck has quite a few deep scratches and chunks of paint missing (there were rocks stuck in it) so I took the tailgate off and put it in the garage. I’m going to lightly sand and then spray down the whole area with fresh paint to try and keep rust from starting there. If the paint doesn’t 100% match, it’s no big deal – it’ll be hidden by the tailgate.

By the time I was done putting everything away (and taking pictures), I’d been outside for about five hours and I was getting pretty anxious to be back inside. I went back in, fired off a couple of texts, and got an interesting one from my mom. She asked, “Did you enjoy it (and you can’t lie)?”

Well… I enjoyed the fresh air, the rabbits that kept scooting around or sitting and watching me, the music that I had playing, and I enjoyed the feeling when I stood back and looked at the truck and saw how clean and shiny it was. The first and last hour were quite difficult, though. Finding a puddle under the truck right at the start did not help at all – I wanted to go back inside and forget about it. I took a picture of the front door with the deadbolt in the locked position before I went outside and I looked at the picture quite a few times for reassurance. I also took short breaks every so often to sit down in the garage or in the truck and do some breathing and grounding exercises to try and keep myself from winding up too badly. As the afternoon went on, that became more difficult to do. Still, I think I’ll consider it a success.

Bunny!Of course, once I was back inside, I had to fight to keep myself from going back out and checking the garage and truck doors were locked. I ended up going back out twice but managed to keep it at that.

J was at a meeting and didn’t get home until around 8:30PM so I caught up on some reading and made myself a quick supper. By 9:00, my evening medication was already starting to kick in. By 9:30, the combination of being tired all day, the medication, and five hours of working out in the fresh air had me sitting on the couch with my eyes closed and peanut butter on my shirt.

Looking at Wednesday’s post, I didn’t get a few things done – I didn’t get the rust protectant applied, and I didn’t check out the spare tire. Still, I think I got a fair amount of stuff accomplished. Rumour has it that there’ll be a couple more nice-ish days coming up so perhaps I’ll get back outside to get more stuff done.

Stay safe.

Sun And Blue Sky!

Song: N/A

Mood: 5.5

Nightmares: 0

I don’t really know how well I slept last night. I remember waking up several times and don’t remember having any nightmares, but I still feel like I’m running on fumes.

My homework went reasonably well today. It still sucks, it just seems to be sucking a little less. The weather was really nice for the walk part, though – blue sky and sunny. No water on the road, no mist hanging in the air… it was sitting around freezing but it sure was nice to see the sun for a change.

I sent out my texts today and had a couple of interesting conversations with people. I enjoy sending the texts and having little “no obligation” conversations.

Talked to my folks and my sister today. Everyone is doing well – my parents aren’t too happy about the weather (but that’s pretty normal at this time of year) and my youngest nephew’s hockey team has won its first two games so he’s pretty excited.

I spent some time hanging out with Lloyd today. He will follow a laser dot around in the tank. I don’t think he considers it food because he just kind of meanders toward it but it’s still amusing. Buddy is not a fan of the laser pointer, and Ralph doesn’t care.

It’s supposed to be very pleasant here tomorrow and I’d really like to give the truck a wash. J got home this evening at about 8PM and helped me slowly get the truck out of the garage and into the driveway. It was VERY difficult for me, but J was there helping and I was only going about 20 feet, very slowly. Once the truck was out, J gave me the OK sign, I shut off the truck, jumped out, and locked it. As we were on our way back into the house, J checked the truck door for me, too, so I’m a lot less worried about it than I was. Thank you, sweetie! 🙂

Tomorrow is supposed to be really nice and then it’s supposed to get cold and crappy again so I plan to grab a bucket, some rags, and the shop vac, and wash and clean the truck in the driveway. If that works out and I have some more time, I’m going to see if I can squeeze under the truck and apply some rust protectant in anticipation of that nasty road salt. I also need to remove, clean, and check the spare tire to make sure it’s ready to go in case I need it.

But I’m very tired again and need to get to bed. Have a good night, everyone.

Stay safe.

Yesterday (The 16th)

Song: N/A

Mood: 6

Nightmares: 0

I was very tired yesterday evening so I went to bed early instead of writing a post.

It took me a long time to get out of bed yesterday morning. My alarm went off at 8:30AM and I spent the next hour and a half rubbing my eyes and alternating between trying to encourage myself to get up and cursing at myself for not getting up.

I did some tidying around the house and then went out to the garage to sit in the truck again. I didn’t go for my walk because I wasn’t sure if I had the time and didn’t want to worry myself more than usual. Unfortunately, I could feel that I was starting to wind myself up so when I went back inside I took a PRN.

FA stopped by just after noon, burritos in hand. We’d planned to play some board games but got lost in a very in-depth conversation about everything from fabric stores, to smartphone screen replacement, to the relative messiness of the various methods of capital punishment. J got home at 4:30 and surprised both of us – the last time FA noticed the time was at 1:30, and the last time I noticed it was at 2. The time just flew. I had a good time – conversations with FA often take some very curious and interesting paths, and yesterday was certainly no exception. I am very lucky to have a friend like her!

After J got home, the three of us chatted for a little while and then FA headed home. We need to get together with FA and DM again sometime soon!

J and I talked for a little bit and then headed out for an appointment. Fortunately, it only took about 30 minutes and we were back home. We had a tasty pasta dinner and then settled in for the evening.

[Oh wow, it’s sunny out! I can see blue sky! It’s still below freezing, but at least it’s not grey and raining/snowing!]

J spent a lot of the evening reading and playing a game on her tablet, while I played some Star Trek Online while fighting to stay awake. Unfortunately, it was very laggy last night so I quit playing a short while later. Now that I think about it, I’m not sure if the game was lagging or if I was. Either way, it was pretty much unplayable.

Instead of watching a show like we usually do, I decided I had to go to bed. Between my evening medication and being very tired in the first place, I was having trouble keeping my eyes open and holding my head up, so I brushed my teeth and headed to bed.

So… yesterday was a pretty decent day. Hanging out with FA is always fun, and I’m really looking forward to being able to go and do the aisle crawl through the hardware store with her again!

Stay safe.