Friday June 5th 2026

Good morning!

4AM is quite the commitment Joe.

I slept pretty well out of fatigue on half my sleeping medication and didn't get up through the night but got up before 6AM in time to feed Waffles. I have my sheets in the wash and am having breakfast and will head to the gym and grocery store. I need to meal prep lunches for the next two days at work. I think a pasta dish I made the other day should feed me for dinners the next three nights. I need to make some sides. Best friend is making chicken wings for lunch and invited me over.

I made a promise to myself to not fall apart during the coming weeks of being short staffed and working some overtime. By that I mean just being disciplined to get stuff done, meal prep, not let things pile up but also self-care through some rest and doing relaxing things like reading or watching TV. That includes saying no and putting stuff off that doesn't take priority.

I made a nice paycheck today due to overtime and it paid for my shelves, so that's $1,000 off my credit card and it's back to zero. I want to get some stuff done but not retire in debt thus the overtime. I'm still looking ahead to retirement. Each rotten day at work, which is every day, reminds to trudge on towards that goal.

Hey, I got up....well I woke up at 8 AM and I told myself I did not want to sleep 1/2 the day away 'cause I've got things to do. And this time, I pretty much listened to myself, even though the room felt cold-ish and the bed was nice and warm, Every time I started to fall asleep I somehow managed to give myself a little shake and would open my eyes and look at the clock. After the 4th or 5th time of doing that, I just got out of bed and pulled some clothes on, including a sweatshirt, reminding myself that it is supposed to get up to 90 degrees today, so it is a good thing the house feels cold right now. I went down to the kitchen to make my coffee, and when I came back up, there was Tinker, curled up into a tight little ball, giving me this "You've GOT to be kidding me!" look. So here I am back on the bed, sitting up against a pile of pillows, the quilt pulled up over my legs, but intent on staying awake. Tinker has moved up right against my hip and when I pulled the comforter over her, she cuddled in and gave a big SIGH! Now she is snoring!

My legs and knees, well, surprisingly they didn't screech at me when I got up, but as I was up a bit longer the knees woke up and the thighs started aching (another editorial comment along the lines of Tinker's "You've GOT to be kidding me!") So I have taken a couple of the Hyland's Leg Cramps pills to give the legs a head start with the hot coffee dissolving the pills. Quite soon I have to go back down for that all-important 2nd cup of coffee!

Last night I decided to move the head and foot-boards and side boards of the bed-frame into the formal LR so I could set it up and clean it today. Will leave it that way so BiL can measure twice and cut once to make the wide slats to act as a platform. I don't intend to buy a box-Spring if I can help it, unless by chance I run across one that isn't 18-20 inches thick that doesn't cost a massive bunch of dough. And they make mattresses so thick these days, like someone decided you can't possibly sleep comfortably unless it is also big, thick and bulky, That makes it difficult for me to remake the bed, and this mattress I have, for some strange reason, does NOT have the hand-grip thingies on the sides of it; it would help so much if it DID have those!. Carrying or moving even a twin-size mattress is hard if you can't "get a grip!"

Time for that 2nd cup of coffee. Then when I come back up I'll take my routine meds, and peruse the news threads to see what idiotic things have occurred overnight, and what more our great leader (cough, choke) has decided to do to desecrate the land around the White House and the Washington monuments. 🙄😵‍💫

While I waited for the coffee to make itself. I went into the living room and put the bed frame together, and you know what? It's NOT a four-poster like I thought it was! It has shorter, rounded head and foot boards, kind of like whatchacall a "spool" design! So much for the powers of observation! (Zoinga!!) Nowhere to hang a hat, but that's okay, because I have that Teflon hair that does not let a hat stay on my head for long without sliding off, and I don't really have any hats, and whoooo needs too wear a hat in Flow-reeda, anyway? (well, I DO understand that hats are needed in some circumstances, to keep the sun off, and absorb sweat in the headband.)

So, what now? Oh yeah, the news. I hope not to spend more than 1/2 hour on that!

After I do that it is time to start in here and there on this and that! I don't specify because we ALL know what happens when I do......NOTHING that I said I was going to do! (Know thyself, Stars!)

I did get some serious stuff taken care of, so far, today. I have a wicker shelving unit that goes above the toilet tank and it had, oh, about 3 years of dust on it, yep, that much! I took the little vac brush that does not fit on the vac, and used it by hand to brush out the cracks and crannies; the dust was a'flyin'! Then I folded it up, dragged it down the stairs and out to the back yard. I put the hose together with the sprayer and all, but the hose end is so old and rusty as was the faucet tap, so once I turned the water on, I got an unexpected shower all over me, as the water was spraying out vigorously in all directions. I tried to "fix' it, but it wouldn't fix, except it then only had water spraying out in two directions, so I decided I'd use it anyway. I sprayed off the wicker shelves up, down, under and sideways, then left it to dry itself in the breeze and the sunshine. But *I* was SOAKED!. I sat in the sun for about 15 minutes and maybe it did sort of help, but not enough for me to want to go back into the AC and shiver. I dragged the little painted wrought-iron rocker-slider to the part of the patio that was NOT in the sun, and relaxed, listened to the birds and the wind chimes, which I had tied a plastic grocery-bag around LAST FALL when we had a big wind storm. It was so annoying at that time, but I had forgotten about it until this morning; but today the breezes are gentle, making the chimes pleasant.

Eventually I folded the shelving up and leaned it against the house.When I came back inside, I went up to the kitchen and sorted silverware, leaving behind the ones that belonged to she- whose-name-will-not-be-spoken. SiL can do with it what she will! Gathered some coffee cups and dog dishes, and some other miscellaneous kitchen-ware that I will keep in my 'new' room, to box at a later time. Most of the kitchen stuff will be stored for such a time as when I might have my own kitchen.

Tinker didn't eat at all yesterday, so this AM I gave her some shredded (dogfood) chicken and doused it with pureed chicken baby-food, and she did eat about half of it. I asked her if she was on a diet, but rec'd no answer. Every few months she does this not-eating-all-day thing. She acts normal otherwise, happy to go for a walk, and brings her monkey or squirrel toy to me so I will play with her. Maybe she was pre-menstrual? Whatever, it doesn't seem to bother her, but it does bother me when she won't even eat her bedtime snacks!

So, what else? I went upstairs and ended up sitting on a footrest that is only 6" high, for approximately 45 minutes going through the contents like um, a pair of Barbie-doll sunglasses I found in a parking lot, a marble with the letter 'S' in the swirl of colors, some old tiny wishbones, a little purple bat that I think was on one end of a pair that were bobbling once on a headband from some Halloween of yesteryear, just a bunch whimsical 'found' items in them. My little Finnish Nana (dad's mom) had a few small boxes with small things in them, and we used to love exploring them when we visited. I have done the same, but on a much larger scale. So in addition to dusting them off prior to packing them, I went through all of them while still sitting on that dreadfully short foot rest. Shouldn't have done so, as when I got through, it was extremely hard to get UP! The knees, they complained LOUDLY! I had to stretch out on the bed, which made Tinker very happy, as she likes to glue herself to the side of my hips. Later, I sorted some books, making a big pile to take to the thrift shop. I sorted out my pills and filled the brand-new mediset that WON'T open randomly when I try to dump out just one AM or PM's worth of pills. Set aside the ones needing refills before I make the move. I have to stop by the doctor's office to be able to make an appointment during the next three weeks. If I call, I get someone who covers appts for all the docs in the practice, and she won't care that I HAVE TO see MY PCP before I leave. He doesn't know about the house being sold out from under me and me having to move I don't know how many miles away, and I DON'T want to have to jump-to-it to find a new doctor who might not want to prescribe Xanax for a 77 year old person she/he doesn't even know. "Know whut I mean, Vern?"

I sorted out my PRN OTC meds and found out some of them were 'best used by January 2024'! YIKES! Tossed a bunch of other odds and ends out that were cluttering my bedside shelves. Next I am going to clean out my small Queen Anne desk and prolly will have lots more stuff to toss out from there; I am somewhat of a sentimental 'saver' of items, thought NOT to the degree of my ("I-am-not-a") HOARDER sister! But there's not going to be a lot of room for ALLLLL the stuff I've saved, so I am being of a practical mind about that. I do sort of dread when BiL comes back from their vacation and helps me pull out the 10 years of not explored boxes I packed way back in 2016, which have sat in the back corner of the shed all this time! I am quite sure it will not all be 'pristine' and not have mouse droppings and chewed edges of paper in the boxes. I also expect to find some liquids in bottles that have not only separated, but also possibly have exploded in the heat or the cold over all this time. It will be a real adventure for sure!

Will be time for supper and TV news in about an hour. Tinker is stretched along my left hip, and groaned at me a few minutes ago, which translates to "That AC is blowing on me, put the little blanket over me 'cause I'm freezing!"

I put capsaicin patches on my poor ol' knee-balls, so they will shut the H up for a while. I will have to do more dishes and laundry tomorrow, but tomorrow is, yes, another day!

I'll go through the newspapers I bought yesterday and take out the puzzles, and set the rest of it all aside for when I begin wrapping whatever needs wrapping pre-move. Also can pack up some of the dry goods and canned goods.

Oh, incidently, I found out the flat screen TV in my new room IS hooked up to cable, and my friend loves the same HGTV shows I like to watch (most specifically CASTLE IMPOSSIBLE). So that's nice. I still can't get over that I will be hangin' 'round with a longtime friend with whom I have a shared history, who ALSO stays up late and sleeps late, speaks in understandable words about subjects that make actual sense! The very thought makes me GIDDY!

Stars, it's so great to read how your new life is moving forward and you are leaving behind you know who.

Dianah, I know what you mean about a 3 month wait for cardiology. I will need to be seen in September, I suppose I should make the call pretty soon.

I got the expected, yet dreaded, letter from the GI doc with the forms to fill out prior to being seen. One of the forms was a "Notification of Care Letter" which I thought would be like a patient bill of rights: we treat you like a human, you keep your appointments, etc. But this read more like "you are responsible for your bill and will pay on time." I crossed out the word "care" at the top, and changed it to "financial", then signed it and returned along with my insurance information. I know it won't make any difference, but it didn't seem very caring.

Took some cough syrup with codeine last night, and boy, did I sleep! I'm glad I took the smaller dose. Today, I've got less cough, more wheeze, but I feel better.

I agree that 4 am is early. I hope you raise lots of dough, pun intended.

Time for me and Tink to go up to bed and relax. I've got more things and more things to do tomorrow. At least I don't have to wait on she-whose-name-shall-not-be-mentioned any more. Now I have to practice taking care of myself!