Tuesday January 21st 2025

No Stars In My Eyes · Jan 21

Jeeze-beeze Louise! Not only is it MORNING (8:30 AM, for real!) it is 20 degrees out there right now, and looking rather ominous. We ain't gonna have any -1 or -7 degrees like Joe was saying they will experience, where he is. Brr! But the chance of precip is something like 42-48%, and supposedly won't start until much later today. Probably "just a dusting". I am trying to decide if I want to dash out to the store like the rest of the fools here. The "Mact of the Fatter" is that I am nearly out of sugar, which I use in my coffee, and I don't know that I will enjoy it as much without sweetening. I'm wondering if we still have some honey in the cupboard? There are a few not-entirely- necessary things I could get, and maybe a few other "gotta have it" items, besides sugar. But I tell myself that this weather isn't going to turn this area into a dangerous driving situation right now, so I could go. Maybe I will phone SiL to tell her I'm going out, briefly, just-in-case, as in CYA.

Nannie was up at 2:30 AM, sitting in her recliner, in the dark, wrapped in two shoulder wraps, and sound asleep. I had left the electric fireplace going because the house felt so cold, even with the thermostat set at 74 degrees, but I gotten up to turn it off, around 2:30 AM. Last night it was so chilly in my room, I uncovered the vent that goes from my bedroom floor to the den's ceiling, to encourage the heat to rise.....there are times when I cover up that vent to muffle any noise downstairs....but Chatty CG isn't going to be coming regularly, so I don't need to 'stifle' her by blocking the vent. Anyway, I got Nannie up out of her chair and told her she should go back bed to sleep. No sense in her getting up to sit in the dark, and she can't tell me WHY she does that, but that's life with dementia, and it certainly could be worse, tho' I hope it doesn't!

So far, I have only glanced at a few of the headlines on the news-feed, trying to stay away from delving into Donald's "first-day" stories, which are numerous. Last night I was glad for HGTV, even if I had seen some of the episodes (one was for the 5th or 6th time....reruns of reruns!) Since it keeps Nannie's attention, I left it on and did a bunch of cross-word puzzles and word-search puzzles to half-occupy my brain to pass the time until about 9:15 PM when Nannie actually said she guessed she wanted to go to bed! I didn't ask twice, I just said OKAY and hustled her in to the bathroom to change into her pj's. We had a little argument when I emphatically told her she needed to stop putting her hands in the bathroom wastebasket! // TMI? She uses three squares of TP to wipe herself extensively after she pees. Then she takes the used paper and after inspecting what is left of it, she puts it in the wastebasket and pushes all the stuff in there down, to make more room for more trash. Then she takes 3 squares of paper to wipe off her hand. I told her she needs to STOP fishing around in the wastebasket, and she needs to wash her hands after she toilets. (This has been a running conversation for quite a while.) When I got irritated and told her to stop putting her hand into the wastebasket, she looked at me with a very cross facial expression and demanded to know WHY, because "I've done that all my life!" I said it was a thousand wonders she lived until age 95, and did she have ANY idea what germs lurked in that particular wastebasket. She informed me she does know what germs are, but "I don't TOUCH anything with germs!" Huh, whaddya know. I told her there was pee and poop and snot it the wastebasket, and she needed to stop pushing the trash bags filling down, because I change the bag every single night, at the end of our day, so there's no reason to 'make more room' for more trash. It might've been a useless thing to pick on her about as she ALWAYS has had that bad habit, and I hand her a warm, wet washcloth to at least use that to wash her hands off. The thing is, if I don't give her a washcloth, after she wipes herself and then wipes off her hands with another 3 squares of dry TP, THEN she takes another 3 squares and blows her nose, and wipes her eyes with more squares of TP. Honestly, it gives me fits sometimes, because her habits in that regard are SO disgusting. I had another patient that used to do that, too. Ick, ick, ICK!

Okay, I have jabbered on long enough. I'd better decide about dashing out to the store before any more time passes..... Guess I'll text SiL about it, This is such a P-I-A!

Later, y'all!

Tweety, BSN, RN · Jan 21

Good morning!

It's chilly and dreary here in the 40's and probably not going to warm up. I'm missing our Florida sunshine.

I don't remember what my teachers said about me if anything. I think I was just your average run of the mill student and my parents weren't very involved.

The work on my roof is incomplete. Sounds to me like he's moved on to other jobs and will finish me up. They first said Sunday, then Monday and now maybe today or tomorrow. I'm not holding my breath. I don't want to upset the apple cart too much because I don't want him to rush and do a good job, which it seems he is doing. But I am saving my thoughts for a complaint later.

My sleep hygiene is poor. I got up with the dogs at 6AM to feed them and slept in. Going to the movies later. Going to see "The Brutalist" which is supposed to be real good but is 3.5 hours long. I didn't want to go to a movie that long but best friend talked me into it.

No Stars In My Eyes · Jan 21

I'm back from my store run; fortunately Nannie didn't get up until I'd been back for almost an hour. She is now bundled up in her recliner, with a t-shirt, a turtleneck jersey, and her "favorite" jacket (she doesn't say it's her favorite any more because she doesn't remember having it on before; sometimes she asks, "Where did that come from? I like it a lot; it's pretty!") And folded in half but covering the length of her body-- chin to toes, --she has on a shoulder wrap. I have the pillow-roll behind the nape of her neck, and I lowered the back of the chair.....heh, heh, heh, my nefarious plot is starting to work----she has closed her eyes----so far, so good. S-L-E-E-P, Nannie, 😴 sleep. Shhhhh.

No slouches living here....even tho' we're only s'posta get a trace (dusting) to 1/2 inch of snow predicted to start around 5 PM.....the roads have all been brined and the parking lots have rock-salt sprinkled all over them. Asheville doesn't even do as good a job, and they NEED to! I mean, they certainly get more snow than we do here, so they should start out earlier. I remember in my home town, the roads were always cleared right away. You'd wake up at 2 AM and hear the trucks doing their thing, plowing away. We'd know if there was going to be school or not just from hearing the trucks! Everyone always said that you could tell when you got to the Essex town-line, because the roads were clear. Someone else would invariably remark that we OUGHT TO have clear roads because we paid taxes to have them taken care of. I always wondered if other towns didn't 'pay their taxes' because their roads were never very well taken care of. What's a kid know? Except when I moved away from my home town, I sure found out what it was like in other towns and cities after a big snow. And just fahgeddahbout it with the sidewalks! Walking 4-5 city blocks to the subway was not fun.....besides the footsteps in the snow that then turned to lumpy ice, there was blops of people's SPIT! I always hated that about Cambridge, all year round; if you looked down at the sidewalks and saw shiny, ugly spit, it was quite nauseating!

Yesterday at some point I got out my mother's collection of roosters....some photos, a 'real-looking' bantam-rooster figurine, and a few small drawings, plus a paInted cup and two coasters. They have been put on a wide shelf above the kitchen table where Nannie used to have an overload of (BLECH!) cutesy-poo country doo-dads, decorated candles, fake greenery, and poorly painted and lacy'd-up doll-thingys. Not exactly my style. But I felt free to finally start changing the things hubby didn't want me to touch, just in case Nannie were to see it. Although she does take the stairs if no one is around, she doesn't go upstairs to look around. Usually when she goes upstairs it is to see if anyone else is around. (Which is one of the reasons I spend so much time in the den with her.) I think she would not remember half the stuff she had decorated with, up in the formal living-room and dining-room. But, now the kitchen is starting to look more "ME" up there! And that makes me feel pretty good to see my things placed out where they should be, in the house in which I live.

Gotta go up and get a hoody to put on; not for the hood part, but because my turtleneck sleeves end about 6 inches above my wrists! I do not like my wrist bones (or my ankle bones for that matter) hanging out there like red-headed step-children (HUH?) When the cold air snakes up my sleeves and the back of my arms get chilly, it's time for more cover, hence the hoody.

Psst! Nannie's asleep! Say "hurrah!" very quietly.

Later!

toomuchbaloney · Jan 21

Tweety said:

Going to see "The Brutalist" which is supposed to be real good but is 3.5 hours long. I didn't want to go to a movie that long but best friend talked me into it.

A limited series is a better option, in my opinion.

Editorial Team / Admin · Jan 21

(hurrah!)

Hello all!

Brrrrrr, y'all have some COLD COLD temperatures, there! Stay warm!

Joe, how do you garner more referrals? I was under the impression those come when they come and IF they come.

Tweety, so disappointing that your roof and stucco work are getting delayed, for no clear reason. Yes, I know they have other jobs they are doing (it's called Making A Living, I know), but c'mon, seems like they would really like to finish one off??! Oooo, a 3.5 hour movie? Dunno if I would want to sit that long. I'd be interested in your take on it, after you see it.

Yesterday we spent the afternoon at Disneyland, dressed dapper. All the Christmas decorations are GONE till next year. Some of the flower beds had new, Spring arrangements in them. Saw two of our favorite bands, listened to the piano player on Main Street, heard the Dapper Dans sing. Walked, but only 9000 steps, as IT WAS WINDY! Oh my, probably 20 miles an hour, with gusts up to 40 mph! ALL DAY LONG, and into the evening! The wind dropped the temperature by at least two degrees, too, so it was probably 62 most of the day, and dropping down after sunset. We had a nice meal (IN-side!), then left at 7 to go home. You'd think I would sleep after fighting the wind all day? Nope. Had a hard time falling asleep, finally got to sleep after 3. eh, it's OK. It is what it is.

I will go walking with my friend S today. I think the winds will be lower today (I hope I hope!).

Have a good day!

nursej22, MSN, RN · Jan 21

It's chilly, but not below zero cold. Down to mid 20s overnight, up to mid 30s this afternoon, and the sun finally came out. I went for a jog, and then started washing bedding. When I got into bed last night I discovered that some creature had urinated a large amount on my side of the bed. Missed the comforter, but soaked top sheet, fitted sheet, and mattress cover. I just stripped off the wet stuff and put clean ones on. I don't like those, because they aren't cotton, and form those little pills and they feel like sandpaper. My princess and the pea moment.

Anyway, did some declutter, and worked on a jigsaw puzzle and watched some stuff online. Playing trivia tonight and the suggested category is The Expanse, a sci fi show I'm not familiar with, so I'm doing a little homework.

We have moderately good snow removal here, but because we only get significant snowfall every 4-5 years, many towns don't invest much in equipment. But almost no one shovels their walks, which is frustrating for those of us who walk dogs.

I don't remember my teachers say much except I spent a lot of time sitting in the hall for talking too much. As I got older and started to stand out as being a brain, I sort of shrank back because I didn't want to stand out. I would have rather been good at sports, but I was too slow and uncoordinated.

Ado Annie, ASN, RN · Jan 21

I think it was 6 degrees this morning but it has made it all the way to 28. There was a light dusting of snow overnight. I did manage to pick up my meds yesterday (yay!).

A good walk outdoors would do me good. Maybe this weekend I could get out to the lake at least? My anger and disappointment over the political world and my lack of desire to "make nice" about it is making Hubs angry with me. I would really like to just get away from e-v-e-r-y-o-n-e for a few days. No one wondering what I'm going to fix for dinner. No one complaining if my shoes and/or socks are left in the living room...

Have a good day, all. My attitude will improve soon.

Tweety, BSN, RN · Jan 22

The Brutalist was a good movie and the length wasn't too bad.

While in the movie my boss called and I called her during an intermission. She offered me a 10% raise and I accepted. Also she said that the other one accepted the offer as well and worked around my schedule preferences and I still will have Mondays and Tuesdays off for now. All in all a big win for me.

It's was lightly raining after the movie. I'm more used to thunderstorms and fast moving storms, not a cold drizzly days. Bleh....

Editorial Team / Admin · Jan 22

Hello!

I had a nice walk with S, then came home and scooped up a little of tonight's soup for her to try. Texted her, then drove over to her house to deliver it. LOL, her husband was the only one home, she had stopped by a store on her way home from the walk! So I handed over the soup, and he handed over a pumpkin dessert she had made, that she wanted us to take. We had a nice chat, and I was on my way out, when she pulled up! She got to then taste the soup, and we had a giggle over her not being here. Yah, I know, we didn't plan for me to come over, but I DID text her! Just got home. It feels SO COLD outside but it is, per the app, *only* 58 degrees, which is MUCH less than what you all have been dealing with! So, I am not complaining (but it FEELS cold!!).

Congrats on the new job, Tweety!

Ado, I hope you bounce back soon, it's miserable to be miserable. Especially for things over which we have no control. Hugs.

nursej22, ugh, I'd have changed those sheets too! Them dang critters! In school I was a goody two-shoes, and was able to study well and regurgitate information for tests. Critical thinking (some semblance of it, that is) came later, with life.

Have a good evening!

No Stars In My Eyes · Jan 22

Hooray for your raise and hooray you get Mon and Tues off, Tweety. Those were always the days I liked to take off, since I chose to work weekends all the time.

We got snow....not quite an inch, but more than a dusting. If I was 'feeling it' I would go outside and make a tiny little snowman, but there isn't anyone around here who would appreciate it. I remember up in Asheville I made snow-animals....one was a dog sitting beside the foot of the staircase that went up to my apartment. Another time I made a cat curled up on the trunk of the car (it was a very old Chevy and it had a considerable-size trunk) And both the snow animals I just mentioned were quite good, I must say I didn't sculpt them like ice or sand castles get "professionally" done, but They were quite identifiable!

Momo is up here on the bed waiting for me to stop typing so I will feed her the snacks, so I better go and git'er done!

nursej22, MSN, RN · Jan 22

Tweety, thats great that you get the schedule you want. And a raise is pretty okay, too.