James had dialysis two days in a row this week. Since Christmas fell on a Wednesday this year, and they obviously didn't want to take the dialysis patients away from their own celebrations, they scheduled James for Monday and Tuesday dialysis. Monday went fine. I bought last minute foods at Kroger and made gravy with boneless pork ribs for Christmas Eve dinner. James watched Landman and Battlebots on his tablet.

Tuesday seemed to go as well. James had dialysis. I did some last-minute grocery shopping. We had spaghetti and pork ribs and watched The Homecoming and some of Midnight Mass.

We had plans with friends for Christmas which went down the drain on Wednesday morning. After making and eating breakfast and post gift opening, James suddenly got lightheaded and giddy. It happened twice. His blood pressure was something like 83 over 45. I looked it up and this often happens after consecutive dialysis sessions. So we rustled the emergency turkey out of the freezer, paired it with Yukon Gold potatoes, and a cucumber salad, and had a Christmas dinner on our own after giving James some salt and more liquid, and we both had a nap. Then we watched this year's Call the Midwife special, which was fabulous; there were several intertwined plotlines, including a tense but sweet incident involving Reggie, the young man with Down Syndrome.

Before bed, it was time for The House Without a Christmas Tree. A quiet ending to a quiet day.

Thursday we had a better day: James was feeling much better and we drove out to Books-a-Million and then had lunch at Brooklyn Joe's. We got a large pizza and once again brought half home. [Later: We had it as another meal several days later.] On the way home we stopped at Barnes & Noble.

Early Friday morning we got a call from DaVita. They were shortstaffed and couldn't accommodate James at Bellemeade that day. They had found a seat for James either that afternoon in Hiram at three or Saturday in Douglasville at 10:15. We chose Hiram even though it was a chilly, wet day because Douglasville was just too far to drive. However, getting there at three meant James wouldn't be out any earlier than 6:30. It's only fourteen miles, but it would be in the dark. I wasn't driving back that distance in the dark. Driving the two miles to the one near the house had been bad enough. So I basically packed up the laptop and planned to spend most of my time in the lobby waiting for James.

We got there and they were slammed. Two ambulances delivered patients that they weren't ready for yet. One of the ambulances would have to wait until 3:45 and they were expected in Douglasville at 4 p.m. and the driver was fit to be tied. Anyway, after 45 minutes they finally called James back.

I took the truck back down a mile and gassed up at Sam's Club. I have never seen that Sam's gas station when it wasn't five to eight cars deep at each pump! Today, only ones and twos--maybe the damp, chilly weather? Next I went to the next shopping center over, got some candy and a cool gift at Five Below, then went to Michael's.

If you're not looking for anything on clearance after Christmas, Michael's has to be the most depressing place on earth. I did get James a storage box. Went next door to PetsMart to get cheered up only to find all their budgies gone and one poor little lone conure left; I feel bad that I didn't stay longer and keep him company.

Finally I bit the bullet and went to Walmart because I was out of yogurt soon, then went back to DaVita. The Hiram location is in an area with all doctors' and dentists' offices (except for a gym) and parking was wide open.

The waiting area at the Hiram DaVita had a lot comfier chairs, at least (Bellemeade has nasty bucket chairs). They had a sofa, but there was no electrical plug at either end, and my laptop is old enough that the battery only lasts about an hour. There was a plug at a chair next to the Christmas tree, so I sat there. (No one turned on the Christmas tree, either, so I did that, too!)

James got home way after seven, at which time it was raining lightly. We stopped by Dragon 168 and had Chinese for dinner.

On Saturday we didn't do a blessed thing except I made a meat sauce so we could have spaghetti for dinner and Tucker got his two daily walks. Watched season one of Law & Order on Hulu (this began on December 16 and I've been looking forward to it, because as many times as I've seen the show on USA, WEtv, Pop, BBC America, and Sundance, I've never seen them in order and, indeed, have actually never seen some episodes at all, as first season proved), and then the final three episodes of Bull. I liked this series pretty well; it was enjoyable watching most of the characters grow and change, especially Chunk and Dani and Taylor. Jason Bull himself wasn't the most likeable character, but Michael Weatherly made him fun to watch. My absolute favorite character in the series was Geneva Carr's Marissa Morgan. It was nice to see her get her due in the final episode of the series.

On Sunday we found out that Jimmy Carter had passed away. Of all the presidents, I think he has had the most notable post-presidential career, and was just all around Good Folks. God bless, President Carter. You're back with Rosalynn at last.

Labels: Christmas, errands, events, food, health, outings, sickness, television, weather

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 10:52:00 PM

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We saw our first Christmas lights Monday night, November 4! I love Christmas decorations, guys! But, too early!

Tried to avoid election coverage on Tuesday by watching a movie, but after the film curiosity got the better of us and we stayed up until midnight watching the returns. I will admit I am not happy, although I disliked both candidates. When your new "leader" nominates an anti-vaxxer to run a health organization there is something wrong. Our parents worshiped the ground Drs. Salk and Sabin walked on, because their children were not crippled, were not confined to an iron lung, did not die from polio, all because of vaccines. Smallpox was a dreadful thing. Just not right.

Chores for the rest of the week, and a visit to Dr. Salazar on Friday ended the week. We had not yet seen the orders for the tests, but he assured us they were in the system.

So Saturday was a very busy day: we were up early to get in line for free electronics recycling day. Yay, that stupid microwave James keeps barking his leg on is gone. Also my venerable vacuum cleaner, which gave me much joy. The new one works wonderfully, but it's still too heavy. Then we had Hair Day and got to see Mel and Phyllis! We nipped home afterward for a meal (James made pork chops and we ate at three), and then went to Kaiser Townpark. James had two CT scans starting at 5:40, and then we had to wait the hour until his 8 p.m. MRI. It was a relief to get home.

It was chilly and cloudy on Sunday, such wonderful weather! Tucker and I had a long walk, me clad in my favorite fabric, flannel! Later I put up the upstairs and foyer Thanksgiving decorations

Labels: Christmas, election, events, exercise, friends, health, sickness, Thanksgiving, weather

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 10:25:00 PM

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...that we may have to break it into parts.

Might as well get the nastiness out of the way first. Hurricane Helene was in the news a lot starting September 24. Supposedly this monster was due to gather a lot of strength and not lose it after it crossed the Florida/Georgia line. I immediately began gathering every small power supply we had in the house just in case we lost power for more than an hour, as our internet and main computers are already on APC power supplies, as is the television and Roku, but they would be needed for emergencies. On Wednesday it poured and we took the rollator to dialysis because the power chair isn't supposed to get wet. On Thursday we heard that a 15-20 foot storm surge would probably hit Tallahassee when Helene made landfall, and then the damn fool thing was going to come directly up I-75 and hit Atlanta head on with 75 mph winds. These were the conditions predicted when we went to bed on Thursday night. Instead, we slept almost soundlessly until five, when rain lashed at the windows and we could hear the wind raging outside. By the time we got up it was sprinkling, and then partly cloudy, with some very blue sky visible. Just south of us the storm had turned east, so Atlanta and Chattanooga were marked "safe" except for some downed trees around town.

Instead Helene barrelled into western North Carolina like a gigantic watery freight train. All the beautiful towns and villages there were lashed and pounded. The "Rainbow Bridge," a little tribute place where you could fasten a memory of a beloved pet, was washed away. The gatehouse at Biltmore Estates was 2/3 covered in water. The little town of Chimney Rock was completely washed away. Big chunks of the freeway in eastern Tennessee and western NC are gone, as well as smaller roads. The Blue Ridge Parkway has been chewed up in many places. In fact so many roads are out that they cannot bring in supplies to many places and are resorting to helicopters, small planes, and, in one case, a mule train! Mountain Mule Trackers have been using their mules to get supplies into that part of the state. Fall is the time when much of western NC and eastern TN make money due to leaf peepers. They'll have no business this year. Dolly Parton personally donated a million dollars to recover efforts.

James' sister, in Gaffney, South Carolina, lost power, but they are in the country and have a generator. [They only had power restored on October 6, thanks to tree cutters shipped in all the way from St. Louis, Missouri, followed by the local linemen. Electrical linemen are the GOAT. These folks need to be paid more money, not overstuffed politicians and performers.]

So while Nature was doing her damnest, we were able to carry on: I cleaned out under the bathroom sinks and used shelves to get extra storage space; we stopped at Trader Joe's on the way home from James' surgical followup and found lots of fall goodies; Thursday it was cool enough for me to go for a full walk!; on Saturday after Hair Day we drove out to the Costco in Paulding county, gassed up my car, and found more Belgian chocolate mousse in the handy little glass containers as well as lamb chops for $5.99/pound; and stopped at the local Walmart and finally found some of my yogurt! I bought two weeks' worth and need to check the local Wally Worlds for more.

In James news, Dr. Coyle seemed pleased with his fistula so far, even though he complains he cannot feel what they call "the thrill," the buzzing that a successful fistula makes. I can feel it plain as day, it vibrates like a purring cat. The skin around the surgical area has also swollen up like it's supposed to, which the original fistula did not do. Oddly, his blood pressure was rather low on the visit, but she did not seem concerned. And Friday he got lucky and got an early chair at dialysis!

Sunday he got the nicest surprise of all. His best friend J.P. called ... um, from wherever he and his wife are living now; I've totally forgotten. You should have heard them on the phone exchanging their health challenges. Apparently J.P. also twitches in his sleep and has been diagnosed with narcolepsy.

We had some of the lamb chops tonight, in the air fryer, with mint jelly. So good!

Labels: chores, errands, food, friends, health, local, relatives, sadness, shopping, sickness, storms, weather

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 10:26:00 PM

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The highlight of this week was the second annual occurrence of Marietta: The Gathering. This is a fannish event held on the Square in Marietta. No celebrities or anything, but there was a "dealer's room" in booths out on the street—I found a new kitsune pin! and James bought me the cutest fox pin—and a Star Wars presence and lots of attendees (and their dogs) in costumes or t-shirts. We stayed an hour or two, also went to the candy store to get James some sugar-free candy and to the British store. Discovered a new Italian market/café is going to open downtown!

The preceding day was cold and rainy, so we stayed in all day and James made biscuits in the air fryer. They were so good! I spent the day reading Barbara Feldon's book Getting Smarter, some about her time on Get Smart, but mostly about her relationship with Lucien Feldon, who turned out not at all what he portrayed himself to Barbara. I was surprised that she believed some of his wilder stories.

In other news, I posted the conclusion of a fanfiction, finally put up the knife holder I bought for James (we mounted it on a cupboard door, having no other space for it), and went to Sam's Club and bought some nice sirloin steaks.

Labels: events, food, shopping, television, weather, writing

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 11:24:00 PM

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"Doggedly I continued." And finally today, Sunday, January 21, it is all put away in the closet and I vacuumed downstairs to boot.

It took a while, although there was a Monday rush: I had to get everything downstairs removed and stored because we were going to have a severe cold snap (lows in the teens) this week. I didn't want to freeze my feet off downstairs. So Monday, between chores, I took down everything in the library and the airplane tree in the hallway. Happily, the foyer stuff was already down. On Tuesday I took down all the dining room decorations and the Christmas village and the board it sits on over the mantel shelf. The latter killed my back, so I spent Tuesday evening watching Killers of the Flower Moon, which I was so interested in seeing after reading the book. I found it turgid and overlong, and wondered why Martin Scorsese chose to center the narrative around Molly's useless husband Ernest, played by Leonardo DiCaprio, and his larcenous uncle, played by Robert DiNiro. It was gross watching these two slimeballs plotting the deaths of Molly's family so they could take over their oil shares, while Ernest professed to love Molly! Oh, the cinematography was great: there's one haunting scene where Molly is dying because blockhead Ernest is slowly poisoning her via her insulin, and there's a fire outside, and her sickroom is lit with flames as she burns up with fever.

It doesn't help that I'm not a DiCaprio fan at all; I would have liked to seen more of the Native Americans and also of the FBI search for the culprit instead of Leo as a lazy horse's ass.

The cold came rushing in on Wednesday; I wore my "Rhode Island weight" winter coat to physiotherapy—finally, already, Kaiser!—and to Publix. The wind had a blade edge. Compounded with this, our internet service was dead all day. It's not like we didn't have stuff to watch, and we both ended up hotspotting on our phones and could get on the internet, but it was still frustrating. It was very localized, too, just in our neighborhood; I suspect that some idiot with a backhoe or a ditch witch severed the fiber line and that's why it took so long to restore.

Thursday we had a big fat dose of reality. James goes to podiatry every six weeks to get his feet inspected due to the diabetes and get a proper nail trim. Pretty much every night I rub lotion on James' legs and feet and treat any injuries on his legs where the skin is fragile. Today the doctor found a sore on the right side of his right baby toe, about 5 millimeters in diameter, with evidence of penetration under the skin. I put the lotion on from the left side and usually check his feet and toes, but this got completely past me. James got an x-ray to see if there is infection down to the bone—there is no pus but the toe is faintly redder than the others—and I have to keep Mupirocin on it with a covering of Mepilex AG, and we have to come back in two weeks.

James thinks it might be because he's wearing the Skechers instead of slippers and they are a little narrower, and the wound came from the shoe rubbing his toe. But he's been wearing them around the house since October and the raw spot was not there when he went to podiatry six weeks ago! I'm just appalled that I missed it in the first place and am kicking myself. The tests came back by yesterday and the infection is not in the bone, but he does have staph. I hope the Mupirocin works.

I took the Christmas tree down on Friday, to the accompanying scream of my back, taking solace in Lassie episodes. There has been a "Lassie channel" on Xumo for a month or two, but they were mostly repeating the Jeff episodes and the transitional episodes over and over and not in order. Well, the same channel is now a Roku Live Channel, and they appear to now go through eighth season. So seventh season Lassie took my mind off my aches and pains on Friday, and when we got done at Lidl, Publix, and Kroger on Saturday, then had a nice trip to Barnes & Noble, I lucked out when we got home and "Lassie's Odyssey" was just starting! Solid gold Lassie, my favorite story from when I saw the original broadcast in February 1962. (Of course the asshole chimpanzee story "Casey" came next, but one can't have everything.)

I wish I could say "now we can relax" but starting Wednesday we have a marathon three days of doctors' appointments (and of course it's going to freakin' rain) and then another spate of them starting Monday the 29th. ::groan:: And I still need to bathe the dog and change the bed.

Sunday I got all the Christmas stuff back into the downstairs closet. Yay!

Labels: Christmas, Christmas decorations, internet, Lassie, movies, sickness, television, weather

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 11:29:00 PM

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This week began with the Rose Parade and ended with party cleanup.

The Rose Parade was covered live on KTLA in Los Angeles and we watched that feed cast to the television instead of the commercial-ridden network broadcasts. Other than sorting medications for the week, did nothing on New Year's Day except eat junk food and watch Galaxy Quest. The day ended on a satisfactory note with the two-hour M*A*S*H retrospective: just the cast and the producers talking about the show and the changes of format, no dubious celebrities telling us how much they loved the show.

Tuesday I updated all the copyrights on my web page so I could do my monthly web site backup. Except when I went to do the backup, the backup drive was gone. It usually sits next to my computer desk and has been in that location for over a year. But, apparently, it, and the container it was in, at some point tipped over and fell in the wastebasket, and it was sometime previous to when I emptied the baskets for trash last Thursday. Annoyed that I now have to go waste money on a new one.

Kaiser still hasn't reupped James' referral to physiotherapy, so we went to MicroCenter on Wednesday instead; I got the cutest little two terabyte (it's about the size of a deck of cards) backup drive that can be hung up on the side of the tower instead of near the basket. It was a grey, bitterly cold day and it was good to get home after we went to Publix next door.

Thursday we did our monthly trip to Canton: strolling the aisles of Books-a-Million, then lunch at Uncle Maddio's Pizza, and finally a stop at BJ's for maple syrup and fruit cups.

On Friday James had his second iron infusion. I posted a short story on AO3 and cross-posted on Fanfiction.net. We ate supper out so as not to have to dirty dishes. Alas, it seems the Okinawa on Dallas Highway doesn't have beef bulgogi like the one on the East-West Connector. I had Mandarin beef instead, but it wasn't a fair trade.

And Saturday was our Twelfth Night party! We ran to Hair Day quickly to get James' hair cut, then came home to finish tidying up and then it was time for food and conversation. We had a couple of call-outs as the Spiveys and the Butlers both were under the weather, but it was a great time anyway. Clay and Maggi and Bill and Caran were here until midnight talking up a storm.

Sunday was cleanup day, and I went outside and took down the lights as well since there's a massive rainstorm coming on Tuesday.

Watched three good movies this week: Operation Mincemeat (now I can't wait to read the book!), Feast of the Seven Fishes (which kinda reminded me of Mystic Pizza but more low-key; I liked the Italian family dynamics more than the jerky Yuppie mother who was trying to force the rich boyfriend on the blond girlfriend), and Knives Out, which was so really convoluted (and I thought some of the families on Law & Order: Criminal Intent were bad).

Labels: books, computers, electronics, fanfiction, food, friends, movies, New Year, nostalgia, parties, shopping, television, weather

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 11:08:00 PM

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You've heard of 1001 Nights? This week was 1/3 dozen doctors. (And, to be honest, 1/4 dozen doctors, since physiotherapy doesn't really count.)

The tally:
Last visit with vascular doctor.
Podiatry.
Pre-sleep study consultation (in Decatur, no less).
Also, physiotherapy.

So doing housework on Monday was actually sort of relaxing. 😉

So James' fistula appears to be healed properly. Not sure if it's ripe yet. The doctor keeps asking "When are you going on dialysis?" Well, not yet, I hope. It's not like anyone's told us. James has no symptoms: he's still urinating fine, the urine looks normal, he has no loss of appetite, edema, nausea or vomiting, or shortness of breath. (Dr. Kongara keeps asking.) On the steroids Dr. Salazar gave him, he lost five pounds.

Since we were at Glenlake anyway, we went to Merchant's Walk and checked out the new Barnes & Noble in the shopping center where the Borders used to be (the B&N is in the old Bed, Bath & Beyond). The new store is...quite trendy. The bookshelves curve and "float" around the store so you are led in a certain path around it; James didn't like it, said they didn't have enough stock. I thought it was kinda cool (but, yeah, all the bookstores can use more books!) In fact, I found a cool book about Josephine Baker's spy work there, and bought James Travis Baldree's new book. I also had to get Victoria Finlay's new book, Fabric. "But, Linda, you hate to sew." Why yes, I do, and I can't tell one type of cotton fabric from another (except flannel). But I love Victoria Finlay's writing, and this book is no different. It starts out with barkcloth and tapa, both made out of the inner bark of palm trees, and she travels to New Guinea and other South Pacific islands to meet the few Polynesian craftswomen who still practice doing the fabric the old way. She also uses the book as a way of assuaging her grief after the deaths of her parents.

We also went to Trader Joe's, where most of the Christmas stuff is out. Where are the Candy-Cane Joe-Joe's? All they had were the chocolate-covered ones.

Wednesday was Doughnut Day Physiotherapy. It was a warm day, like the previous one, and James was still in minimal pain due to the steroid treatment, so we took the rollator instead of the chair so we could use Butch and take him by the cheap ($15) inspection place. Everything was okay, and then we went on to what was a very extensive workout, and yes, the doughnut. On the way home we stopped at Publix to do the weekly shopping.

Thursday we took a box to Goodwill, dropped off our good duds at the cleaners after their appearance at Neil and Emilee's wedding, then James got his feet inspected and a good pedicure at Kaiser before we went on to Lidl and two different Publix stores, since the Scufflegrit store on Wednesday had none of my favorite yogurt flavor (chocolate hazelnut). (They had plenty of that nasty coconut almond, though!)

Friday was our 33rd wedding anniversary. (Rodney pointed out that in March we would now be an LP!) We celebrated by having to get up at a hellacious seven a.m. to drive out to Decatur, as James has not had his C-PAP vetted in a long time. The only way to get this done is have a new sleep study, and when you're on Medicare you have to have a neurological exam before the sleep study. So this was the exam part, at 10:30. At the Emory sleep center. Off North Decatur Road. (What I call the "old neighborhood" since if you drive a few miles and a couple of turns and you're at Clifton Road and CDC headquarters.)

It was cloudy and rained most of the afternoon, which made it a PITA with the power chair, but we managed to have a good time. We found the building in one shot (thanks, Waze) and the exam itself was anticlimactic (James' opinion was "I had to drive all the way out here for that?"). I'd seen there was a Whole Foods across the street, and the last time we ate at the Whole Foods in Kennesaw they had a killer salad bar, so I said, "Let's go there for lunch."

Mistake. It is (or at least at that Whole Foods) no longer killer (no more of the delicious cucumber/tomato salad!) and there wasn't a darn thing on the hot bar I could eat without risk of (1) eating something spicy or (2) eating something that didn't give me massive indigestion even with a Protonix. They had clam chowder, but it was watery. I just had a salad while James found meatloaf, tikka masala, lasagna, and something else. He brought half of it home and the darn lunch cost $34! We could have gone to Tin Drum for less and gotten better food.

We did get some nice chocolate tarts for an anniversary dessert and two chocolate bars for other desserts.

There was a Half-Price Books across the street with a JoAnn next to it, so we took refuge out of the rain there. I got lucky in HPB and found another John Douglas book; also a hardback of Stephen King's On Writing and a "Bottom Line" book for $2 (we already had it, but I wanted to make sure!). James got some cool Lego Christmas sets (polar bears, a snowman, and a train) in JoAnn. I just bought a yard of good flannel...in case we get another bird. I cut off part of Snowy's cage cover for a shroud.

Anyway, James has become addicted to his new air fryer. We went from a 2.5 quart to a 5.something quart, so he's been making everything in it: warming up burritos in it if he has frozen burritos, making egg/cheese/ham/etc. egg dishes, cooking drumsticks and thighs, etc. So instead of putting it back on the dog's crate after using it, he's just left it smack in the middle of the kitchen counter, pre-empting prep space. We have very little kitchen counter as it is.

So Saturday I did a little cleaning in the kitchen pantry closet and cleared a space wide enough to put the two clear containers we have for English muffins and for Toufeyan wraps. If I then moved the tea machine next to the toaster, there was enough room to put the balsamic vinegars, the air fryer, the Magic Bullet, and the two-level lazy susan against the back wall next to the refrigerator. This means the entire counter got clean, and also the other counter. It was a long afternoon's work, but it worked out.

Finally on Sunday we went to Costco, as we were running out of probiotics. We've been taking them for three months and it has really helped my lower GI problems, and I think they've made James more "regular." Bought toilet tissue, almond flour crackers, and a few other things, too, then dumped all the stuff at home and went to IKEA.

I remember when you could get a decent lunch at IKEA; now all they have are the meatballs, veg meatballs, or chicken strips. I had a salad that there was no dressing for, and a kids' meatball dish (four with mashed potatoes). I was famished when I got home. Found a cool light to plug into my desktop that will throw light on anything I'm copying from, a clip-on light for my side of the bed, and a cheap squirt bottle to use when I iron creases in anything. Also got some ginger cookies. IKEA's new self-checkout screens are terrible. They're not sensitive to the touch at all and take you forever.

I'll tell you, though, that I'm so glad we moved into the current house when we did. IKEA has gone back to their "roots," which means plastic bucket chairs, ugly square sofas, lots of blond and white woods, and other junky 60s-looking crap. I'm glad we got all the Leksvik furniture when we did, as there's very little I would buy there now, except for the Billy bookcases. It didn't help that they are remodeling the entire bed/bedding department.

Labels: anniversary, books, cooking, crafts, errands, exercise, food, health, shopping, sickness, weather

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 12:47:00 PM

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Well, finally! Tuesday was Hallowe'en, so now that all the Fright Night/Spooky Season stuff is over, there will be better stuff in the stores. Watched It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, of course, and the Hallowe'en episode of Law & Order: Criminal Intent, "Masquerade," with a very troubled Liza Minelli playing the mother of a little girl who was murdered years earlier, but whose attacker, a spaced-out child molester, was just recently escorted by Goren and Eames back to the United States; they soon begin to believe he was not the murderer. Would have watched other things, but James just discovered there were new episodes of Forged in Fire, so we got on Philo and he watched those instead.

The other "event" of the week was the weather: it was cold enough on November 1 to wear my Vermont sweatshirt. In my world, this is exciting!

Otherwise it was nicely routine, with no falls, the usual physiotherapy for James on Wednesday followed by our weekly doughnut treat. Also tried a new breakfast/lunch place with Alice and Ken, Eggs Up, in the shopping center at Brookwood near Hobby Lobby. There was also a trip to Barnes & Noble (finally the November/December "Yankee"!), and I put up the Thanksgiving decorations while James was at his club meeting on Saturday.

The fly in the ointment: it got hot over the weekend, into the 80s. It was disgusting. At least there was a nice breeze so that things didn't sizzle. How ridiculous to have beautiful leaves on the trees and the scent of autumn when the air smells like a heating pad.

And we are happily back to Standard Time, where the clocks need to stay.

Labels: decorations, friends, Hallowe'en, seasons, standard time, television, weather

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 10:53:00 PM

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James had a really good surgery followup on Wednesday; I guess the fistula is "maturing" okay. It will take several months to be completely functioning, and then it will be ready when James needs it.

Am I just being desperate hoping that he won't need it for a long, long time?

Afterwards we went to Barnes & Noble. I bought two "buy one, get half off on the second" books, and also a nonfiction book called The Murder Room, about detectives and forensics experts who get together to solve cold cases.

We have found something interesting to watch on Apple+, For All Mankind, which is an alternate universe story (you see, it's not just for fanfiction!). The Soviets landed on the moon before Apollo 11, so the Space Race is still going on. Things are the same—Neil and Buzz still land on the moon—but there are fictional astronauts, and now some of them are women because on their second moonflight the Russians sent up a female cosmonaut, so of course the United States had to have female astronauts, too. The ERA gets passed in this universe and Teddy Kennedy doesn't go to the party on Chappaquiddick—but once in office he is having an affair with Mary Jo Kopechne. Some of the social advances still seem kind of quick, but it mostly jibes.

Friday we got things done: took our clothes to the cleaners to be ready for Neil and Emilee's wedding, brought the boxes for donations to Goodwill; after physical therapy we grabbed some quick food at Krystal to go on to Kaiser for James' Procrit shot, bought gas at Costco, then finally picked up some craft supplies before going home.

Saturday I did a lot of tidying, and also finally put all the fall decorations up. In March, I had just left the winter decorations I had taken down in a box because I wanted to go through the rest of the winter decorations to get rid of some of them, the ones I didn't put up last year. So I went through the winter box and gathered a dozen or so things that "didn't spark joy" anymore and put them in a donation box. Then I finally put the rest of the winter decorations away.

I guess the truth is that I have been in kind of a funk most of the year from James' different falls and the wretchedness of summer. This makes it hard to be enthusiastic about decorating or crafts; I just want to brood. When it gets at its worst I can escape into my stories, but it doesn't do a lot for my wanting to do anything else. It got so cool over the weekend we could ride in the truck with the windows down and I felt like taking a longer walk with the dog. It's such a relief not to sweat because the moment I do my rash flares up again.

Maybe once it gets cooler permanently—but that's always such a fluctuating thing in a Georgia fall and winter—I will be in better spirits. At least I hope so.

Labels: books, chores, decorations, donations, food, health, mood, television, weather

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 10:58:00 PM

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The heat has been relentless, in the mid- to high 90s. We have not even been going out to do the shopping regularly, but stopping at Lidl on the way home from James' physiotherapy and then stopping at Publix erratically. It means staying inside, but it's better than not being able to breathe properly and having burning skin.

Our only respite was Saturday, when James went to his club meeting. I followed him there to make sure he made it in okay—he told me he leaves when the other guys leave, so if he does fall, there is someone there to help him and call for help if needed, and he won't be out there lying in the heat—and then I went to Book Nook, but it was closed, so I went on to Walmart and then to Sam's Club next door. Got the most delicious-looking steaks and pork chops at the latter, both under $3/pound.

For supper we went to The Tomatoes Buffet (formerly Fried Tomato Buffet) and then went to Barnes & Noble. We stayed a lot longer than usual because as soon as we got into the store the skies opened. For several minutes the rain was coming down horizontally! Talk about Georgia Monsoon Season.

Labels: books, food, shopping, weather

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 10:34:00 PM

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Of course, Sunday was better, but the con was almost over, too!

Another morning, another breakfast. Alas, no bacon today. Had to content myself with oatmeal, toast, milk, and a bagel and cream cheese. Walked Tucker in the green area behind the breakfast area/pool, and then it was back to the con.

I still hadn't found the art show or the dealer's room, so James escorted me there first. James bought an attractive piece of a spaceship against a starfield, and also an ironically whimsical print of an atomic cloud as part of a scoop of ice cream on top of a cone. He bought me a pretty blue-and-silver bracelet made of links. So blue. No purchases in the Dealer's Room.

LibertyCon always has a charity; this year it was Ronald McDonald House. One of the things that was auctioned for charity was a chance to play Larry Correia's roleplaying game "Gritty Cop Show," which is basically an amalgam of every cop show you've ever seen. Six people bid a total of $5000 to play, and we went to watch. The first hour was fun and I wish we'd stayed. Instead we went off to a panel that was supposed to be about care of your old books. But mostly the moderator talked about valuation and buying of rare books, which I find a bore. I don't buy books to collect, I buy them to read.

Finally we went to the tribute to Eric Flint. Yesterday was still affecting how I felt and I think I dozed through most of this. James enjoyed it, since Flint's 1632 universe is a favorite of his.

Finally we went to closing ceremonies, where they told us how much they earned for Ronald McDonald House, the guests for next year, etc., and then people complained or complimented and asked for different things for next year. It was lively and upbeat...

And then we emerged from the room and holy hell was going on outside!

It was pouring. Can't call it Georgia Monsoon Season. Let's call it Tennessee Monsoon Season. So we talked to Sue a little while and then walked the last time down the long, long hall, made it across the street without being drowned (the rain had slowed down). We waited a little while and the rain finally stopped, so we went out to go to McKay's Books (I bought a Valdemar book I didn't have and a book about a couple who sold their house and live permanently traveling in Europe) and finally get some decent food at City Café: James had a shepherd's pie (he should have sent it back; he said it was way too salty) and I had two exquisitely grilled pork chops, a baked potato, and of course City Café's outstanding chicken soup with broken-up spaghetti in it.

We brought a nice slice of Death by Chocolate cake back to the hotel. Whatever channel I found had Law & Order: Special Victims Unit episodes that were a tribute to Raul Esparza's Rafael Barba character, including the one where he left the show, so we watched those and went to bed at midnight—checkout time wasn't until noon, so why not? During commercials packed a few things up.

Monday morning we packed, made it down to breakfast just in time (have to remember ends at 9:30 on weekdays), then proceeded to walk Tucker, and pack, pack, pack. Then it was checkout time, and then getting on the road time.

We had stopped at "Buc-ee's," one of those giant rest stops, on the way up, so I could pee. Buc-ee's is a chain from Texas, with a restaurant, lots and lots of gas pumps, and a huge store that specializes in jerky. They have opened about a half-dozen of them down here, and one is on the way to Chattanooga, in Calhoun. Walking in is overwhelming: it's a big store and people everywhere, and noisy. I went in and pee'd and that was it. We talked about stopping on the way back, especially as Tucker had gone crazy when he saw the tumult, but we were tired.

So of course there was a traffic jam. We waited over a half hour in Adairsville for them to clear a fracas that appeared to have involved two tractor-trailer trucks. It was exhausting.

We got home safely, and the house was okay (the big storm we'd had in Chattanooga roared south and had hit Atlanta like a cannonball in some places; supposedly trees were down in Cobb County, but around us was safe). I shoved clothes in the washer and that was the end of LibertyCon.

We will go up on Thursday next year (if we get in) and stop at Publix or whatever, and buy food like pot pies or Hungry Man dinners. $26 for meatloaf indeed!

Labels: books, conventions, food, travel, weather, writing

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 8:49:00 PM

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Self-medicating this week: instead of drugs I watch Law & Order: Criminal Intent. My own kind of music to "soothe the savage breast." Otherwise chores and doing the monthly backup of the hard drive. We'd planned to go to the buffet at Fried Tomato on Saturday and couldn't even do that.

I can't believe it's February already. Around here that means it's already getting ready to get warm. Winter—the entire cold season—is much too short here. When I walk the dog I try to enjoy the nice cool air. I stand there and breathe deeply to refresh myself before the hot, stultifying winds of the summer come, making the air thick even in the late night after dark when I walk the dog, when otherwise in other venues it has finally gotten cool and the air is pleasant.

Looking forward to March and Atomicon, but not to it getting warmer.

Labels: television, weather

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 10:44:00 PM

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Remember that headline? From the opening scenes of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer? Headline of a newspaper reporting the "big storm" Santa Claus needs Rudolph to lead the sleigh for? (BTW, to the folks who complain about "everybody only liked Rudolph after he proved he could lead Santa's sleigh on a foggy Christmas Eve"...um, 𝐠𝐨 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧. Hermie and the deer—followed by Yukon Cornelius and the Bumble—get back to Christmas Town and Santa apologizes to Rudolph—as well as promises to find homes for the misfit toys—as does Donner—and presumably the others—before Santa gets the weather report and asks Rudolph to lead the team.)

Well, we didn't get the blizzard (thank goodness, because Atlantans would have thought it was the apocalypse), but we did get the cold! On December 22 the temps were in the 40s. The next day the high was 19°F. Christmas Eve the high was 21, and it only got up to 31 on Christmas Day. It was cold, even for me. I put Tucker's sweater on him and bundled up in my RI-weight winter coat, lined hat, and lined gloves and was pretty warm outside except for my face and knees. Thank goodness for the boot socks!

I prepared early: shut the outside faucets off, took the flags down due to high winds on the 22nd, and left the faucets dripping downstairs. But boy was it cold, even in the house with the heat. Snowy fluffed up and we put on sweats and warm socks and it was still chilly; the heat couldn't keep up. I kept warm by making gravy for Christmas Eve spaghetti and pork ribs.

Christmas Day we lay slugabed and didn't even open gifts until noon. (Both of us gave each other lots of books. I also got a CD,  Dinner was spent at the Butlers with friends and good food and a gift exchange near the Christmas tree, and when we got home I watched The House Without a Christmas Tree. Good times.

It was good earlier in the week: we were vindicated! James had a video visit on the Winter Solstice with the nutritionist, which the doctors at Wellstar had insisted on, to purge us of the Evil Sodium! This was the first appointment we could get. She asked us a series of questions, which we answered honestly, and talked a lot about the low-sodium foods we ate (we even knew the numbers). At the end of the interview, she admitted that, based on our answers, we were doing everything we could.

So there.

Later on that day we went into downtown Marietta and walked around so we could see the Christmas decorations before they got torn down on Monday. Had a nice time there, too.

Labels: Christmas, Christmas decorations, friends, health, television, weather

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 11:10:00 PM

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"Summer is icumen..." Eh.

Yeah, the big news here is that it's going to be 90s, presumably from now on, starting out with 90s and high humidity (thanks a lot, Florida), which makes the heat index on Monday the 13th a nice jolly 100 plus.

At least things got done this week: the bushes got trimmed and the dog was drowned...uh, bathed. (He only believes he's drowned.) And he's so happy afterward, but he doesn't want to admit it.

James did have a frustrating work day on Wednesday. Somewhere after eleven o'clock he couldn't receive any phone calls, although he could make them. So, between trying to resolve the problem all afternoon, he could only follow up on cases. It turned out to be a server problem and it was okay when he checked again on Friday.

Thursday we didn't do much besides the grocery shopping, but we did go to the Smyrna post office to see if the HOA bank had mailed the checks for the HOA account. They told us they wouldn't mail to a post office box, so we had expected them delivered to our address on June 6. Well, they never arrived. And they weren't at the post office, so James had to call the bank again. It turned out the original order got cancelled "because they couldn't find your address," so the order was only put in two weeks ago when James called the first time and the person we talked to ("Amanda") assured him they would be delivered on the 6th. We found out when he called that "Amanda" had left the company! So on Wednesday I had to pay the lawn guy out of my account because the stupid bank can't get this shit right. Anyway, the lady at the bank he talked to this time said they would put a rush on the checks, so maybe someday I will get paid back.

Friday we had lunch at O'Charley's with Alice and Ken and John along with a nice long chat (John is currently fixing his own deck, which makes my back hurt to hear about), then waited in line for what seemed like hours for gasoline at Sam's Club in Hiram (there were lines of seven or eight cars at all ten pumps) due to it being at the "low price" of $4.24 a gallon. Finally we went to Walmart because James needed new mats for the truck. We also got sugar-free candy, more slippers for him, a new floodlight for outside, and a few other things.

Saturday we had nowhere to go and didn't want to spend any money, so we went nowhere. I did send a note to a friend, but mainly just did junk around the house, like putting the new mats in James' trunk and trying to make some order of all the wires on his dashboard (he have the GPS that plugs in, as well as the radar detector, plus the charge cord for when we use the phone for navigation, so it's rather a tangle up front). I finally taped everything down with duct tape and replaced the reflector on the wheelchair lift that got knocked off when I loaded the chair about a dozen times ago. Because MMR car repair went out of business a couple of years back and I thought the new place, True Automotive, overcharged me when Butch needed fixing in February 2020, we don't know where to take the truck to get the A/C repaired (we think all it needs is a freon or whatever-they-use-now charge, but it might be the fan). Plus I need to get Butch to the Kia dealer for the five, count 'em, five recalls on the stupid car and I really can't trust to driving the dumb car after it lost power on me in the middle of the road over a month ago, but I really don't care about the stupid car, either, and wish I could just avoid the whole thing.

Instead of thinking will spend time watching more episodes of Law & Order: Criminal Intent...

Labels: annoyances, cars, chores, shopping, television, weather, work

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 9:40:00 PM

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Well, summer has officially arrived. Yeah, I know, it's not the solstice yet. Actually, meteorological summer started June 1, and on Thursday, June 2, it was 93℉. That, folks, is summer.

We braved it anyway after doing a morning of grocery shopping; we ate a sandwich each and then went to Barnes & Noble. I gave in and renewed my discount card; I mean, someone has to keep them in business. I ended up buying five books (including a birthday gift for James), four of them at "buy one, get the second for half price," including the one about forensics in Agatha Christie novels, plus both of the Jurassic World magazines that have just come out. The "Hollywood Spotlight" version has a killer pic of Sam Neill. Yum.

Something else was put in motion on Thursday, but...let it simmer for now. Hoping things will be happier when...it's done.

The rest of the week was quiet as we really didn't have anywhere else to go. On Friday we just decided to get takeout from Dragon168. This gave me a chance to duck into Publix and pick up the ramen noodles we forgot, and they also had unsalted vegetable broth; neither of the Publix we shop at carry it any longer. I spent Friday afternoon blogging, finished my latest L&O: CI story, and, in the best news, The Orville is back! The first episode dealt with the aftermath of Isaac's treachery, and introduced a new character, Charly Burke, the Orville's navigator. She's very good, and the score of the episode was spectacular.

James went off to his club meeting on Saturday afternoon, and I was going to watch Emerald City, but my lower GI decided to rebel. Instead I washed the winter jackets and did the weekly vacuuming and watched Law & Order: Criminal Intent on Peacock instead.

Labels: books, events, food, magazines, movies, shopping, television, weather, writing

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 10:29:00 PM

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It's spring, dammit. Yellow pine pollen everywhere. Did housework all day Sunday and then had the rest of the work week to do some editing and, as always, unloading and loading the dishwasher and doing the laundry. But...James is not in the hospital. Happiness is relative.

Thursday was our usual shopping day. It was sunny and warm after the storm we had during the "wee smalls," but unfortunately it didn't get all the pine pollen out of the air. It makes you feel like spitting the "dirt" from out of your mouth. We found chicken drumsticks on sale and ground beef at 30 percent off at Lidl, had very few BOGO items at Publix, and then had to go to Kroger anyway (even though I had bought milk at Lidl not to have to do that, since I knew they would no longer have my yogurt) because Publix didn't have any lightly-salted Pringles. Annoying. I was able to get James more Tina burritos anyway.

We came home, put everything away, ate a sandwich, and then went to Town Center where they have a better class of Walmart. Needed a certain toiletry, pants hangers since I found two new pairs of pants at BJs, sugarless candy and canned corn beef for James, a few other items, and yes, they did have my brand and flavor of yogurt, but this means if I want it, I have to go to Walmart. And they only had fourteen, so I'll have to go in two weeks. Barf.

James wanted to go to Hobbytown, but they were redoing the aisles and he couldn't get to the models. So instead we had ice cream for dessert.

Hey, we're adults, we can eat dessert before dinner!

In the evening we watched CSI, and then Young Sheldon, United States of Al, and Masterchef Junior, which had all recorded while CSI was on. Anything not to have to watch those meshuggenah network commercials (there are commercials on Hulu, but nowhere near as many).

On Friday James had an appointment at Emory St. Joseph's doctors' center at the neurology department as a followup for his fall. We saw a very nice nurse-practitioner who (1) liked our mask "leashes" and (2) was impressed that James makes his own burritos to keep his sodium down. We talked a lot, and basically she said James should have more physio therapy and also consider spinal injections to keep the pain down in his spine. (No one has ever suggested this before, even his rheumatologist.)

For lunch we went to a place called The Lazy Dog, which Alice and Ken recommended. We had a chicken and rice and veg dish that was very nice (I had teriyaki and James had sweet and spicy), and for dessert had "triple chocolate mousse" that was to die for (not as good as the Black Tie Mousse cake at Olive Garden, but you can't have everything). When we finished we went to Barnes & Noble. Didn't find much, and my card has expired anyway.

On the way home we stopped at Best Buy to look at phones since I cracked the screen on mine about a month ago. It still works fine, but the phone is getting to the point where it's discharging quicker. Leo LaPorte says the batteries start to fail on phones after two years and this one is almost two. (Liked it better when you could swap out batteries, thank you.) We were looking at the Moto G Stylus. Wondering if the green one with the better camera is worth the extra $50.

During the evening we watched the newest episode of Picard season 2 (with a reference to Gary Seven on the original series!), and then some CSI. I think we just hit the episode where the "GSR" ("Grissom-Sara Romance") kicked in.

On Saturday we stayed in to do chores, including scheduling our COVID booster shots for next Friday. For supper we ate at O'Charley's at a birthday dinner for Ken Spivey, and that was nice.

Labels: electronics, food, friends, health, shopping, television, weather

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 10:34:00 PM

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It was cold enough today that we could open the curtains and let the sun in; can't do it any other time but in the winter because it makes it too hot in the house and the air conditioner will immediately snap on and labor away wasting energy. Better to keep the shades down and the curtains closed and save the energy; the LED bulbs can't use anywhere near the power the AC does.

Other stuff: watched the remake of The Magnificent Seven. Denzel Washington was great as the lead (but Vincent D'Onofrio's character could have been much, much more fleshed out... 😁 ). Slowly working our way through the end of season 14 of Murdoch Mysteries (love Detective Watts, really hate Constable Higgins (or maybe it's his dippy wife I really hate) and season 2 of CSI.

James is planning to make another stab at coming shopping with me; so far just the doctors' visits have been wiping him out.

Labels: chores, health, movies, shopping, sickness, television, weather

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 10:39:00 PM

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Had Christmas gifts early Christmas morning—James bought me season two of A Discovery of Witches, Joe Straczynski's book about writing, a book of Bryant and May short stories, a book about geology of the Old West, and a nifty butter knife that will make it easier for me to have a treat occasionally. I bought him books, including three about the space program, a Larry Correia book, and a "Politically Incorrect" book for his collection. Tucker got a tug toy and some Paul Newman dog biscuits, and Snowy got a big sprig of millet.

Christmas afternoon was spent at the Lucyshyns home, having a killer dinner and lots of conversation. We were happy that one of our friends had been sprung from the hospital to be able to come to dinner; she had been in the hospital for a couple of weeks. We also had another friend who was looking rather sad at Thanksgiving but who was looking much improved at Christmas. He was using a cane instead of a walker and seemed much more alert and happy.

James had to work Sunday, of course, so we headed home in time to watch the Christmas episode of Remember WENN and prep for the next day.

Christmastide or no, Sunday is still my chore day since James is working all day. He had a bit of a bumpy day as he woke up with the runs—and James so rarely gets that; he usually has to take Metamucil—that it was a little concerning. We got some Pepto Bismol in him, he kept up drinking, and we had a bland lunch of rice and plain broth, and by the time suppertime came he was doing a lot better and he'd only lost about ninety minutes of work.

Monday it was my turn; no idea what caused it, but it least cleared up in time to go to Alice's birthday dinner at Okinawa. This was very small, only six people besides ourselves, but dinner and conversation were great.

Tuesday morning I did what I'd planned to do Monday, make a trip from dollar/discount store to dollar/discount store in search of after-Christmas deals. I went to Dollar Tree, Publix, CVS, Walgreens, and Big Lots before my bladder betrayed me. I didn't find tinsel, but I did get some cheap decor for out front of the development for next year, two rolls of wrapping paper, and a string of lights with 2.5 wattage bulbs to serve as spares (since the library tree has been almost completely dark for a week now; it was fully lit when I put it up the first week of December! first the middle went out, then the top). I didn't see any bows, either.

Wednesday was laundry day, and I also did another load of dishes, loaded up the old books to go to the library book sale, and reviewed books on my blog and prepped my dozen best books of 2021 blog entry.

All this is being done in miserable weather: it's been high 60s or 70s almost every single day this week. It's revolting. And then with rain coming in on Wednesday, it started smelling like a swamp outside, all moist and heavy like a terrarium.

2021 is counting down fast...next thing you know it will be the new year.

Labels: books, Christmas, food, friends, gifts, shopping, weather

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 10:14:00 PM

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We had a good weekend despite James' toe (which is now not red and looking better although the wound appears a little larger) and the news we got on Friday afternoon.

Alas, first we had to get through the shopping on Thursday as well as getting James a blood/urine test for his nephrologist appointment next week. But that was pretty painless.

Although it was cloudy and a tad chilly on Friday, we drove up to Ellijay and had a nice day. We listened to "Travel With Rick Steves" on the way up, and once we got past Jasper we started seeing some very nice color on the trees considering Georgia doesn't always get brilliant color. We stopped at Panorama Orchards as usual for fresh apples, fruit spreads, pot pie noodles, sugar free taffy, fruit teas, goat's milk lotion, and a few other things. Then we drove another 15 minutes to Blue Ridge to go to Taste of Amish. We can't get into this store with James' power chair due to a curb, so I went in alone to buy more "soup greens" and also found Necco Wafers (James uses them for low blood sugar instead of those icky lemon tablets they give you), some smoked cheddar, and a packet of seriously delicious ginger cookies with a nice ginger bite on the "back end."

We had lunch at Shane's BBQ, and then headed home. James' right leg was getting twitchy, so we stopped at a Cracker Barrel so he could stretch his legs and use the bathroom. While I was wandering around the gift shop (if you've never been to a Cracker Barrel, it's a country style restaurant that also has a gift shop) and found an adorable Christmas/winter sweatshirt in my size with two chibi-type foxes, pine trees, and snowflakes on it. They had a couple of other shirts that I liked, including one with chickadees on blue, but none in my size. A lovely piece of serendipity.

For some years we have been recommended a small convention called "Conjuration." It started as just a Harry Potter convention, but has branched out to encompass magical media. Our friends Alice and Ken go every year. Well, this year they went to Disney World instead, but we decided we would go on Saturday.

Things changed as we drove home: James got a phone call from his boss. Once again, they forgot to renew the purchase order that pays his salary until too late. So they have no money to pay him next week. So guess what, he's on furlough until "the board" re-ups the PO.

To look at it positively, I don't have to cook next week. And now we can go to Conjuration both Saturday and Sunday.

Labels: conventions, excursions, food, shopping, weather, work

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 11:30:00 PM

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How amazing! It seems like we wait years for October to arrive and then the whole month goes by like the wind.

Still looking for some real fall weather, but the temperature is dropping to better levels, and next week looks heavenly: nothing over 68℉! (Fifties would be better, but beggars can't be choosers, as they say.) Plus I had a first this week: cooked my first "stir-fry." It was actually pork bits in a sesame-seed sweet sauce, and it came out pretty well, especially when I did a reduction on the leftover sauce.

Thursday was our usual shopping day, and then I started uploading some of my fanfiction to Fanfiction.net. This is fine for my Remember WENN fanfiction, since there's already a category for it, but there's no category for the other fic I want to put up there: my Lassie, Doctor Simon Locke, and Addie Mills stories. I contacted someone at the website and still haven't heard from anyone yet.

Friday James had two doctors' appointments. In the morning we went out to Glenlake to see his cardiologist as a followup for him being in the hospital a few months ago. That worked out fine, and he doesn't want James to have another echocardiogram as his last one was so recent. Since we were so close we went to Trader Joe's, and it was actually chilly enough for us to buy things and leave them in the back of the truck! So we got chicken sausage and pub cheese and other good things; alas, no more pumpkin bars.

There was a Mellow Mushroom nearby, so we had lunch there. Their crust is almost, almost as good as Uncle Maddio's, and I got quite full on a personal pizza and still took a slice home. Then we went next door to Half-Price books for about a half hour. I bought Jill Lepore's history of the U.S., Mike Douglas' memoirs, and The Autobiography of Jean-Luc Picard, plus a Blu-Ray copy of Jurassic World for only $6!

Then we got to go to Kaiser again, Cumberland this time, for James' podiatrist appointment. He was only supposed to have his nails trimmed, but the nurse didn't like the look of his "ring" toe on his left leg and got us in to see the podiatrist. He has this small ulcer on the toe and it had become a little irritated on Wednesday night, so we were glad we were seeing the doctor. He didn't like what he saw either, and gave me some collagen to put on it and says James is not to get that foot wet (so I basically got chewed out by the doctor for not treating it the way he wanted me to). He also gave him doxycycline for any infection.

I had kind of a bad night on Friday. Snowy had been acting kind of quiet when we got home, and I was worried something was wrong with him, so I spent a lot of the night crying and James a lot of the night comforting me, and of course that did a number on my lower GI. He seemed better in the morning, but I was a mess. Finally we did go out—we had to go back to Half-Price Books because the Blu-ray disk in my Jurassic World combo pack was actually a copy of Jurassic Park. There was a new Lidl two stores down and I went in and found eggs for James and some pork chops for dinner. We also had lunch at Panera, but that was a dead disappointment. I haven't been to Panera for a couple of years, and I don't know what the hell they've done to their chicken soup, but it's dreadful now: tastes like a can of Progresso!!! I ate half, enough to dispose of the nice big piece of French bread they gave me and some of the noodles, and James dipped his bread in it and ate the rest of the noodles, and we left some of the soup. Ugh.

Labels: books, food, health, movies, seasons, shopping, sickness, weather, writing

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 10:59:00 PM

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