Song: “Holiday Road” by Lyndsey Buckingham
Mood: 6.5
Nightmares: 0
Ghosts: Pack
I got to bed later than I hoped last night, but aside from an average number of times my worrying brain woke me up, I slept pretty well. I was having trouble getting back to sleep after J left for work, and I almost got out of bed but pulled the blankets over my head (one of the advantages of having a CPAP machine!), flipped over, and gave it one last shot. The next thing I knew, it was about an hour later.
My worry and mindfulness exercises went pretty well today, too. I’ve been doing them upstairs a lot more lately, which I think is a little more healthy than retreating to the dim stillness of the basement every morning. I know Dr C is concerned that I’m going to become reliant on the worrying and mindfulness time, so I don’t do it every day anymore. It’s weird, but I can feel it on the days I don’t do it or when it doesn’t go well. Do I need it to function? No… but it makes the day better when I do the exercises.
I sent out my texts today and had a couple of conversations. My friend DA picked up a brand new, custom-built Jeep today from the dealership and he’s ecstatic about it. I don’t think he’s ever bought a brand new car or truck in his entire life. I sent him a text the other day warning him about “new car smell” in case he got into the car and didn’t recognize the smell. He found that pretty amusing. Now that he’s got it home, he’s got to figure out what to do about the first dent or scratch – wait for them to happen or just toss a couple of pebbles at it and get it over with?
I did some more cleaning in the kitchen today. It amazes me how quickly J and I manage to use all of the plates, cutlery, and pans. We both tidy up but the odd thing here and there that doesn’t fit in the dishwasher and gets left for the next load multiplies and brings friends over to visit. It’s crazy. Sometimes I think we should just use chunks of bread to eat food off of paper plates. Hmm… maybe we should eat out of bread bowls. That’d solve a couple of things at the same time!
I called my parents today. Spoke with Mom first and we talked for a good 15 minutes about all kinds of stuff. All three of my uncles are doing fairly well and are in good spirits. My uncle who had cancer is having a great time hanging out with family over the holidays, my uncle with the diabetes related amputation is expecting to be getting a prosthetic leg soon, and my uncle with the ALS is getting progressively weaker but is still in a great mood. Mom was in a good mood, too, and I enjoyed our chat.
Then she passed the phone over to Dad. We talked about the normal stuff for a couple of minutes and he told me that he’s been reading a book about how the universe started and the work being done to understand it. We spent the next 60-70 minutes talking about physics and the various minds behind the hypotheses or theories. It was pretty neat – every once in a while, Dad reads something that really interests him and he likes to talk about it and I am happy to oblige, particularly when it’s something I am quite interested in, like physics or microbiology or tons of other topics. I had a great time chatting with him – we kind of geeked out about stuff over the phone and it was neat.
I am happy to report more success with the printer – both pieces of the phrenology bust adhered wonderfully to the print bed and printed perfectly flat. Tomorrow morning I will trim them and clean them up, then glue them together and spray on a thin coat pf paint. Hopefully a fan will help it dry faster so I can do all of the painting, dry it, and then spray on a clear coat. With luck (and more than a few stretched nerves) I will have it ready to give to Dr C at my appointment on Friday.
I also printed up a little dustpan for the printer. I’ve been using a sheet of paper as a dustpan but I’ve had several oopsies with it and wanted something better.
I also sewed the last of the handles on the last of the bags today. I took a look at them after I finished and I’m pretty sure they’ll be serviceable. They look like they’ll hold more stuff than I anticipated. I hope they’re helpful!
Next on my list is to use up that towel material that J’s aunt brought over. I’ll need to look at it again but I think I can get a towel and a couple of facecloths out of each piece.
This evening, J and I turned on Netflix again and watched the first two episodes of The Good Place. Looks pretty decent so far – I really like Michael and Janet.
Tomorrow I plan to give the printer and the area around it a good cleaning, get that phrenology bust done, work some more on the kitchen, get some more towels made, listen to some records, throw in some laundry, print up a bunch more stuff, and go for a drive in the truck. There’s no way I’ll be able to do even half that stuff, but I find it’s good to have a list.
Stay safe.