Friday

Friday, I chilled. I did shave and shower, but didn’t bother to dress (where would I go?) Mostly, I read books.

I ate the last of the tuna, pasta and peas for lunch.

I talked with my Brother Carl and a friend and that helped to break up the day a bit. I did talk with my Brother Joe, but I think that was earlier in the week (it’s easy to lose track).

I used a pound of ground chuck and fried up three patties. I ate one of them topped with sautéed onions and A1 steak sauce. So, I pretended it was a steak.

Come to think of it, I should have eaten the tuna and pasta with it and I could have pretended I was eating “surf and turf”.

I watched the Friday Night Fights and then went to bed. I hurt a lot today, so I didn’t sleep well at all.

Thursday and Friday

I spent a very, VERY frustrating day on Wednesday, dealing with health insurance, our HR department and two doctors trying to get some things straightened out. Which is why I didn’t fill in the Blog. I was still too p*ssed.

I did thaw out some peas and added them to my tuna salad for Wednesday’s dinner. It tasted great!

Thursday went a little better. I should mention that over the course of these two days, I talked with Jake, Melissa, Sadie and B___ on the phone. My Brother Jim stopped in Thursday afternoon (he had a meeting nearby).

I finally got my refills and more supplies for the home nurse at 5:30 PM on Thursday.

I ate the last of the pierogies for dinner. I also washed the bedding (it was time, LOL). Making the bed back up was a pain, though.

And, that’s about all that’s new.

The State of the Union (and San Jose)

I woke up early again on Tuesday. So, I took my meds early (half-hoping the morphine would kick in). i still hurt like hell.

I had Lu get me two dozen eggs just before she left, so I decided it was time to start using them. I made three soft-boiled ones for my breakfast and hard-boiled the other nine. Breakfast was excellent!

I got my rides to the two doctor’s appointments squared away.

Now, if you call a combination of breakfast and lunch a “brunch,” what is a combination of lunch and dinner? A “linner?” (Damn morphine, anyway!)

So, I ate some more tuna pasta salad for my linner. I added a rough-chopped hard-boiled egg to it to “kick it up a notch.” It definitely added to the flavor, but did nothing for the texture.

Wow! I may have just figured it out while typing this! Since I don’t have a crunchy green pepper, I’ll try adding thawed raw peas!

I took a few calls from friends, co-workers and my Brothers Joe and Jim.

I fell asleep during the State of the Union address. But, I can summarize: The State of the Union (and the State of San Jose) is we’re screwed.

Birthday Shoutout!

Happy Birthday to my Brother Carl!!!

Monday, Monday...

I wasn’t feeling too well on Monday. If anything, the pain is getting worse, not better. I’m becoming a bit discouraged...

I got cleaned up for my weekly nurse’s visit. She showed up around 1:00, drew some blood, changed the dressing on my PICC line and added an extension to my one port.

I made my two appointments for my rechecks. Both are in the beginning of February, which seemed far away until I thought about it. I guess I blew off January like I blew off December. Time flies when you’re having fun.

I took a nap and then some more phone calls from friends.

I decided to make a cold tuna and pasta salad for dinner (It’s easier to make a “big” dish of something and then eat leftovers than make several small dishes each day).

Sadly, I didn’t have any green pepper, so my salad was a bit bland (I compensated by adding red chili flakes). But, it tasted delicious anyway (and, I thought of something I can add to it to jazz up the leftovers).

I went to bed at 10:00 PM.

Sunday Short Story

Sunday was a peaceful day. I ate more of the hot dogs and beans for brunch.

I had three separate phone calls from people wanting to know how I was feeling. I hated to disappoint them by saying, “the same.”

I decided I needed some Sunday supper, so I dug out frozen pierogies. I was about halfway through making them when I realized I’d asked Luanne to throw out my sour cream (thinking it was getting old). So, I ate four or so of them with just salt, sautéed onions and butter. I did miss the sour cream, but damn they tasted good!

I fell asleep around 9:30 PM while watching TV. I woke up at 2:00 AM, shut off the TV and the lights and then went to bed for real.

 

Easy-up Chair, UP!

Just Another Case of Broken Dreams...

[Sidebar on the “terrible” storm Friday night: Bah! Humbug!! Although the official tally was 2.3 inches at Metro airport, I’d be amazed if we got even two inches here. Another over-hyped event.]

It was just routine day here on Saturday when I got another “brilliant” idea (Have you ever noticed just how many of my so-called “brilliant” ideas go so wrong?)

I had already administered my morning meds (takes about 1/2 hour), shaved and showered and was sitting in my chair reading. I noticed that the postal truck had just come, so I went out and got the mail.

Now, when I say I “went out and got the mail” I must tell you I DON’T get all dressed up warm, put on my boots, gloves and hat and trudge out to the mailbox, hoping all the while that I don’t fall and break a hip or something.

This really was a brilliant idea I had the night before Lu left for dealing with the mail (and probably the garbage, too): What I do is just put on my Crocs, go out in my bathrobe to the garage and get in the car. Then I raise up the garage door, start the car and let it run for a while (to heat up the oil and charge up the battery).

Then I back out into the street, pull up next to my mailbox and retrieve my mail. I repeat the process in reverse and end up back in the house, no muss, no fuss, no coat or boots and no falling down. Brilliant!

Anyway, back inside, I was thirsty, but was getting pretty tired of water and/or coffee (I don’t like soda, you may recall). What I really wanted was some homemade lemonade, but I don’t have any lemons. Hmmm... what else come close? Ice Tea!!!

So, I did some serious searching for the tea I thought I had somewhere and, guess what? I found it! [Sidebar to Lu and Riese: Sorry, I didn’t find the hot chocolate, though.]

I filled up the tea kettle and put the water onto boil. Then I couldn’t find my teapot! [Grrr...] So, I got out my big, beautiful, heavy, clear-glass lemonade pitcher. Now, I know you shouldn’t pour boiling water into a glass anything, so I stuck in a metal spoon (supposed to dissipate the heat).

I added in four tea bags and got the pitcher filled about halfway when it shattered! Fortunately, I had the foresight to put the pitcher in the sink before filling it, so clean up was easy and there was no glass on the floor or anything.

But, I loved that pitcher! It just “looked” like summer to me. I was sooo bummed.

For dinner I cut up four all-beef hot dogs and added them to a can of pork and beans. I ate some of that watching TV. Then, I did my night meds (much quicker because I just have to inject myself in the stomach with some insulin) and then I went to bed, burping...

T.G.I.F.

Oddly enough, under my present circumstances, the phrase T.G.I.F. has little to no meaning. But, to celebrate it being Friday, I took the day off.

Again, what does that mean? Well, instead of lying around and/or sitting and reading, I lay around and/or sat and read.

I did talk with Luanne in the morning and she said she obviously picked the wrong day to leave. I told her that she hadn’t, as we are supposed to get a big snowstorm tonight.

For supper, I heated up a Marie Callender’s chicken pot pie. Note to Carl: this is NOT the one mentioned in the article you sent me. It was a Marie Callender’s CHEESY chicken pot pie that was so bad for you.

I talked to Melissa for quite a while in the evening, which caused me to miss my Brother Jim’s call. So, I called him back. He wanted to know how I was feeling and to let me know of yet another website I could view pictures of his new Great-granddaughter, Emerson Jane Goerlich. Cute little baby, and so much hair!

I went to bed at 10:30 PM.