Well, I had to cancel my usual trip to visit my folks for Christmas. 

Unfortunately, the vet gave me the news I was expecting, but just not this soon, Gotham’s kidney issues have gotten markedly worse and he found a mass on his lower left tummy area. I asked him if we were looking at a couple of years and he said “weeks, months max”. I’d taken him in as the appetite stimulant was finished and he’d stopped eating again. Well, he ate, but only a few bites. He gave me some steroid pills to give him and asked that I come back in 2 weeks. We went back and he’d made some improvement, but not much.

We decided to give him a steroid injection instead of the pills and I went home. Everything seemed fine until I got home the next night. I walked in the door and he took a while coming to where I was. When he finally came in the room, he looked weird. His head was crooked and was walking oddly. He looked at me, but looked blank. He managed to get on the bed and laid down, but looked really flat and wasn’t breathing much and didn’t raise his head. I put some treats dow, but he ignored them. I thought I was losing him. I spent a couple of hours telling him what a good boy he is and he could go now.

After a while, I guess he heard a noise and lifted his head. I pushed a treat towards him and he ate it. Then he stood up and ate the whole pile of treats. Slowly he started to get back to normal. I don’t know if he was having a reaction to the injection or a seizure or stroke or what. What I decided at that moment is, if he starts failing like that, I’m going to keep him at home where he is comfortable and loved.

I’ve had this silly cat for 16 years and he’s just the best. Going to the vet really agitates him and makes him so unhappy. I wish he would eat more though.

Now, I’m aware time is short. I don’t want to deal with losing him in an empty house….so I adopted an 8-week old kitten. And Gotham fucking hates him! In fact, I think the hatred is what’s keeping him alive. So far I’ve kept them separate, apart from trying to introduce them last Sunday. It resulted in a guttural growl and hissing from Gotham, lol! The kitten is MAYBE 2lbs!!! So scary! I’ll try again this weekend. I got him a week ago today and the papers said to wait a week to introduce them anyway.

This kitten is a teeny, tiny monster! His micro-poops and pees smell worse than anything that ever came out of Gotham, lol! I have him closed off in the sun room and it constantly sounds like he’s tearing the joint apart! He is literally the size of my palms! I noticed him eyeing the curtains and just bought nail clippers. He’s very sweet though.

Anyway, I didn’t feel like I could leave for a trip. Plus, we moved our office to the new location last week and some clients have waited until the last minute to get me year-end paperwork. I guess I’ll see my parents in either January or February. Probably January. I have a short business trip in February and I may take a couple of days off beforehand.

Who knows?

I love this darn cat so much (he’s right here). Christmas here at home will be fine! I can’t believe it’s supposed to be 81F though!!!

Enjoy your weekend everyone. Darn! I forgot the Christmas roast in the work fridge! I’ll get it tomorrow morning. It’s a better fridge than mine anyway.

Taking a shower earlier I had music on shuffle and a song came on a that made me remember how much fun it is to sing Amy Winehouse’s “Valerie” (feat. Mark Ronson 2007) at the top of my lungs. Don’t get me wrong, I have a TERRIBLE singing voice, but there’s something about that song. I hope my neighbors couldn’t hear me, lol!!!

That song lead me to an hour of Two Tone ska. The rude girl of my past is still in there somewhere!

Sooo, apparently I’m going to be a blonde! My hairdresser has been trying to convince me to do it for a few years now  and I just kept saying no. I was a blonde once in my mid-20’s and it didn’t work out too well. My hair grows really fast so the roots were always there and the blonde looked really brassy and bad.

She emphasized: hair colors are much better now, the gal who did it back in the day didn’t really have a lot of experience and most of my roots aren’t coming in brunette any more (compared to back then). I visibly flinched when she said that about my roots! HAHAHA! She’s got an idea in her head about the best shade for me and has a plan. That’s what finally sold me, besides the fact I was tired of saying no. She. Has. A. Plan.

I’ve been coloring my hair dark brown for the most part since I was 17 (I was a redhead for a few years too!) then with highlights for about 6 years now (I also did it back in the 90’s, I’m so old!) so we’re partially there. She’s lightening the brown more and more each month and adding more blonde. I think she said I’ll be totally blonde by February or March. Like I keep saying, she has a plan. It’s scary though! I’ve always been a proud brunette!

I think I need to change something about my appearance. Something that can be controlled. So much in life is out of our control, like…

So we found out our office is moving in the first week and a half of December. End of year is our most stressful time, so it isn’t going to be easy. Luckily, my folks are as awesome as they are and gave me the option to celebrate the holidays with them in January if it’s just too crazy. I may take them up on that! Actually, we’ll be moving twice; once to a temporary spot at the new address, then again once they build out our new offices. I should be excited, but the new office is going to be really close to my house. I mean REALLY close. Like a 15 minute walk/ 2 minute drive. I’m weird in that I don’t like living that close to where I work. You always feel like you’re at work when it’s that close! Plus, I can’t take advantage of walking because my hours are so early. No way I’m walking to work at 4:15am! Oh well, I guess I can always move.

After months of failing at getting my cat to eat every day, I broke down last week and asked the vet if he could prescribe an appetite stimulant for my handsome boy. I tried everything I could think of and he would only eat sporadically. So far, the pills seem to be working. Only thing is, he keeps barfing on my living room area rug. The CREAM colored area rug. Luckily, I have a small carpet cleaner! It’s only been four days, but I think he looks better. I got 14 days worth of medication, so I’m hopeful we’ll be in a better place weight-wise when we’re done! It’s been heartbreaking watching him not eat, so I’m thrilled to see him clean his bowl.

I felt like I needed some sparkle in my life, so I put up the Christmas tree a bit early this year and did it yesterday. I usually wait until the weekend after Thanksgiving or do it December 1st. I really like sitting in the living room looking at the tree. It gives everything a nice glow.

My apartment is a disaster zone, lol! Boxes with decorations dragged out and strewn about. Furniture shoved aside. I’ll have it nice by the end of this next weekend…I hope!

If I don’t add another post Happy Thanksgiving, if you celebrate. If you don’t, have a great week!!!! I’ll try to take a picture of the tree for my next post.

Well, I took today off work. This has been a really stressful and busy year!  So far I’ve only been able to take, I think, one vacation day so far (and I still logged in from home and worked!).  I’m sure one day isn’t going to be enough, but it’s all I can do in the short term. I have to report for jury duty again in a couple of weeks and that’s supposed to be for a long case (they separated out everyone whose employers covered 27+ days when I reported in September and told us we had to come back in October). So, with other vacations scheduled and preparing to only be in the office sporadically if I get picked for the jury, I can’t see me being able to take time off before Nov/Dec.

I can’t believe it’s already October! 

So what are my grand plans for this “free” day? Absolutely nothing. I managed to clear off and dust my nightstand, and I have plans to do the other one but I don’t know if I’ll actually get that done. I’m thinking about going down the street and getting a pedicure as I haven’t had one since before the pandemic but I’m not sure I actually want leave the house. I might just stay in and watch “Confess Fletch”. I bought it when it was released a couple weeks (?) ago, but haven’t watched it yet.

I’m so glad to be out of the office today, the dynamic there has changed a little bit lately. We have a new employee that transferred in who is best described as a “psychic vampire”. No one likes them. I keep having to give my speech about giving people a chance to settle in and get comfortable before deciding you don’t like them. Welllll, they’re awful.  Every time they come into the room they bring everybody down. Seriously! It seems like nothing is ever good enough because they did it better where they were at before, but the thing is no one liked them where they were at before (hence the transfer to our office) and this person always complained about everything where they were at before, so I don’t know. I’m just glad that I’m at completely the opposite end of the office and we rarely have any interaction. But whenever I do, they have a pretty bad habit of making me feel “less than“. Does that make sense? For instance, my boss and I have a routine in the afternoon when we leave. It’s nothing big, just something we do. One day, he wanted to leave earlier than usual and I couldn’t as I had a meeting. The vampire happened to be near us for some reason, overheard and jumped in to do what I usually do. It was weird, I mean I didn’t say I wouldn’t do it, just I couldn’t leave for the day. Then they started showing up every day when he and I normally left, doing my thing for me and purposefully making me feel like I was intruding and a 3rd wheel. Jeez, if they want to do it, fine! I can wait 5 mins and leave later without having the hassle of helping! They didn’t even go home, they went back up to their desk. They did the same thing to another co-worker when I was helping another office in another city and this co-worker went to a restaurant to pick up an order for him to take home to his family (my boss has mobility issues). They went over, got the order and went to take it with him to his car and at the elevator, the vampire made a big show of saying “thank you sooo much, I’ve got it now”, taking the dinner from her and basically dismissing her to go back up to the office. THAT did not go over well.  Oh yeah, they also called a co-worker a slut. Now, if you know someone well and are friends, it might be okay if you are joking, but they don’t know her like that and wasn’t kidding and the co-worker was pissed (plus, she’s not a slut, lol!). There are so many instances of their bad behavior!

Most recently, yesterday there were only three of us in the office other than this person. So there was really nobody to handle the day-to-day boring stuff that takes place so all of us had to chip in and process the mail, deposits, etc. It was no big deal, we’re a team, so we all help out. I didn’t know this person was even in yesterday so I went to the other employees I knew were there and asked if they had any outgoing mail as I had one piece to take down to the mail room and as no one did, I said “OK I’m taking my mail down”. About 45 minutes later the vampire comes up to my desk and demanded to know where the outgoing mail goes because they had items to go out. I calmly said I already took it down and they demanded to know what the mail schedule was, where the mail room was, who handles the mail, etc. Now, this person has nothing to do with me or my job, but I’ve been the only person who has treated them kindly and with respect, without exception and didn’t appreciate the tone they were taking. They have offended everyone, but I’ve still been nice. At this point, I’m exhausted from not having taking time off and covering the office when others have been out all year that I’m not having it. I coldly told them I will go back down and put their mail in the bin. They were surprised at my tone, but still started to bitch. I cut them off and said “I. Will. Take. It. Down.” And put out my hand. They gave it to me, muttered “thank you” and scurried away. Look, I could have told them to go to the fucking post office themselves, but it was easier to just do it. Side note: EVERYONE knows I hate taking the mail down. I’m lazy and it’s not on the way out.

The vampire has a good relationship with my boss as they’ve known him through their parents for years. They use this to try to get in between him and all the other employees. This is weird, because honestly, we’re not precious about him. We all have our own relationships with him and he’s just a nice guy and we don’t really care enough to say anything since we are all solid with him no matter what this person does, which I think pisses them off to no end and causes them to act like they are our boss or we report to them. We don’t, but it’s still annoying.

Okay, I just got another tabletop cleared off and dusted! I guess I’ll do the top of my dresser next. Then the hope chest and maybe that other nightstand. Heck, maybe I’ll rearrange the bedroom today. It’s an odd room without a lot of options as far as furniture positioning goes. I have four regular doors and one set of two French doors and one wall that’s just windows. That means most walls either have doors/windows or are too short for the bed or putting the bed there means you can’t open another door. Oddly, it’s a huge room! Such a shame. I’ll figure something out! It’s supposed to be in the 90’s this week, so maybe I’ll leave everything as-is since I have my fans and a/c already set-up for the heat.

I’m rambling!

More later!

Ack! I feel like crap. I don’t have Covid, but I don’t feel great. I was going to go to the gym, but I don’t think I should. I’m just going to have an early dinner and go to bed.

Work is okay so far this week. A couple people are in negative mood cycles and they seem to feed off each other. It’s sick, one goes from desk to desk, office to office spreading their bad attitude. It’s really draining. You can hear them telling each person the same thing, with a nastier tone with each new victim. I always know it’s going to be challenging when I come in and ask “how’s your morning so far?” And I get “Shitty, you wouldn't believe how stupid people are and what they’re making me do”.  Guys, I get in around 4:30am!!! How bad can it be when you’ve only been there 20 minutes before me??  I try to change the topic, say something positive or pretend like I have a call to make, but they don’t leave! I really hate it when work gets like this. I work at a great firm, but sometimes….

I also came home to a stinky house. I forgot to take the trash out this morning on my way out to work and there was raw chicken packaging that I apparently didn’t rinse very well before throwing it in the trash can. 🤢

Hopefully, the smell will be gone soon!

Tomorrow is going to be AMAZING!!!

Oh yeah, if you haven’t watched Shang-Chi, give it a spin. It’s a really good, underrated movie. I rewatched it and had forgotten how much I enjoyed it.  

This weekend has been pretty routine. I got most of my chores done, but not everything, which is frustrating.

I watched “The Gray Man”, which I was very excited about. What an amazing cast! Evans and his mustache, Thornton, Woodard, de Armas, Gosling…the Russo’s directing! My only question is, how can I love everything about the movie, except the movie??? Acting was terrific, filming, score, soundtrack, locations, everything was great…except the movie. I’m confused. Maybe I need to watch it again?

Because I’ve seen two moths, I meant to douse the apt in the cedar oil/vodka/water mixture that usually keeps them away, but I just didn’t get to it. I’ll have to take care of it when I get home from work tomorrow. It’s such a production to get it all done, grrrrr.

Fingers-crossed work will be easier this week. It’s been challenging, which is getting old. My weekly Zoom meeting is back on after having last week off and I don’t have anything to contribute. They moved the meeting from Fridays to early in the week and it’s difficult to come up with talking points when the week just started.

Well, it’s going to be a great week, I can feel it! We’ll tackle anything that comes along head on!!

Oh yeah, if you miss the discontinued Trader Joe’s Caribbean Fruit Floes popsicles, the 365 brand on Amazon fresh (is it a Whole Foods line?) makes a pretty close duplicate. Pineapple, Strawberry, Mango, Passion Fruit and coconut. It’s gonna be a looong hot summer.

Yes, I’m probably, definitely for sure going to complain about or mention the gym. Again. Probably will for a few weeks, until I either get used to it or quit. Sorry!

 I got home from work, changed into comfortable clothes and was enjoying that fact it was an “off” day from the gym as I went Saturday and Sunday when I remembered I have an eye appointment tomorrow after work (when I should be at the gym). GAH!! I scheduled that appointment months ago and I’m about 8-9 months overdue, so I can’t change it.

Aside from the fact that I just don’t want to go today, it’s too late to change and go now.  That place gets really crowded in the afternoon and it gets difficult to get done what I want to do. I guess I’ll have to go Wednesday and Thursday. Not ideal, to be honest. I really do feel worse for wear without a day off in-between. I guess I’m just too out of shape. Depending on how hot it is here tomorrow, I’ll try to do something here at home.

Currently though, it’s 87 in the apt, and that’s not even the room that gets all the sun where the equipment is. Reaching for the controller to the air conditioner now…

Work was okay today. Really busy catching up after being out on Friday. It’s amazing how much piles up just being out one day!  There was also the added twist that a co-worker tested positive for Covid Thursday night, so we’re shorthanded again. They closed the office Friday, on my day off, no fair!!!  

I came into close contact with them, but luckily, I’m still testing negative and feel fine, but I guess I’m back to taking my laptop home every day, just in case I get it or they close the office again. It’s a pain, but oh well. This strain of Covid seems to be more easily transmitted than the others, which is saying a lot! Luckily, everyone I know who has recently contracted it was vaccinated and boosted, so they’re able to get better at home with fairly mild cases. Not so mild it’s a walk in the park, but better than being in the hospital!

I’ve got a ton of stuff still to do when I get in tomorrow, BAH!  At least we have sweet, sweet air conditioning at the office! 

 I started back at the gym Sunday and went again yesterday (Tuesday). Guess what? I still hate the gym! I figure I’ll try to go 3 days a week and use my home equipment the other days, if it’s not too hot.

Sunday was “leg day”, so I can barely walk, even now three days later. Yesterday was “ab and arm day”, so now I can barely move anything else.

Hopefully, if I can keep at it, this dumb steroid weight will come off and I’ll be back to normal. I can’t believe that having those injections into my spine and shoulder would have such a reaction! Doctor said it could take a year for my body to let go of the weight, so I’m just gonna try to help it along a little bit.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not the size of a house, but I’m heavier and not comfortable like this. At. All.  

Working out still sucks though.

I decided to take Friday off work. I think I’ve only taken one day off so far this year, so I capped out and stopped accruing vacation hours months ago and need to free up some time. I’m going to do glamorous things like get my oil changed and get my roots done. I’ll probably still work a little from home though. Jealous? 😂

It’s Wednesday People!!! The weekend is coming-up fast!! I hope.

 This post will probably be a potpourri of topics!

What’s gone on since my last post? I had another birthday, I’m not too pleased with that, lol! Getting older has it’s positives, but it’s still a bit unnerving at times when I think about the actual number of years I’ve lived.

I flew to Oakland in early June for the Midnight Oil show at the Fox. It’s their last-ever tour (so at least we’re all getting old and it’s not just me!), so I wanted to go to at least one show. I had a ticket for the local show a few days later, but I was still isolating and trying to make sure I didn’t get Covid from the Oakland show (I was in the minority wearing my mask at both the airports and the general admission show with an audience traveling from all over the world) and wasn’t sure I should go. Plus, it was really hot and I didn’t feel like waiting in line on Hollywood Blvd. under direct sunlight all day to get a good spot.

Oakland was fun! Great show. Interesting hotel, The Moxie. Nice, cool weather. Got to see a friend I hadn’t seen since before Covid, which was pretty awesome! PLUS, there was a Shake Shack near the theater, so we had kick-ass burgers while waiting in line for hours!

Work has been crazy hectic and busy the last few months. I’ve been exhausted every day when I get home, but only managing about 5 hours sleep a night if I’m lucky.  This heat hasn’t helped at all. I’m glad it’s supposed to cool down a little over this long weekend. Perhaps I will finally take these loads of charitable donations over! Bags and boxes blocking the hallway!

Frustratingly, I haven't shed the steroid weight yet. I was hoping to by my birthday, but it’s just not going anywhere! I’ve dropped a tiny bit, but nothing I can tell. I think I mentioned getting a Total Gym on sale (basic model for less than $300!). I assembled it and had it in the bedroom, but it’s way bigger than it looked on tv and while I had room for it, it looked weird and I was afraid I’d knock into it in the middle of the night. I ended up moving it to the sun room (i.e. the tiny extra room addition that gets hot as fuck because it faces south and west with windows taking up all the walls). It’s okay in there, but it really does get hot. It’s fun using it, if I do it really early in the morning or in the middle of the night.  Only got my hair caught in the pulleys once! HAHA!

A friend at work gave me a fancy silk pillowcase set for my birthday and oh my gosh, it’s amazing! How did I not know about these things??? She also brought back Polish dark chocolates with booze in them for the office. How did I not know about Polish booze chocolates??? Everyone knows about the amazing vodka, but the chocolate is fantastic too!

It’s 4th of July weekend, so I need to get Jaws out for my annual viewing. I think this is year 30, with maybe one or two times where I wasn’t able to pop it in either the vcr or dvd player.  I love that movie. Robert Shaw is legendary.

I have to admit, I don’t feel particularly patriotic, not that I ever do in general, but this year is an all time low. You know, I watch a lot of tv shows from the 1970’s and watching them I think to myself “how fucked up is it that women and people of color have more rights in 1974 than they do today?”. I’m so angry and so, so sad. Why is it conservatives only take things away from people? Things that have nothing to do with them. You never see proposals from the right that actually go towards helping people, especially not on a basic needs level. What are they so afraid of? Why do they hate everyone that’s not like them? 

Gotham is doing about the same. Not eating much, etc. he’s acting fine. Being an asshole if I’m honest. 😂 I’m clinging to the fact that if he can run around, jump, climb and play, I’m not going to take him to the vet for a bunch of appointments just to be told I need to get him to eat, when he won’t. It just stresses him out too much. With the hypertension, I think it will do more harm than good at this point. If I see a change, he’ll be there like lightening! I love my little old man so much!

Not much else is going on. I’ve got tickets for Thor on 7/15 (my friend is in Europe when it opens, so that’s the first day we could go). We’re going to the same fancy theater we saw Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Btw- I enjoyed it in the theater and have since watched it on Disney+ and am amazed at all the stuff I missed in the theater. Captain Carter is such a badass!

Speaking of Disney+, how do people find the time to watch all the shows on there???

Ah well, maybe I’ll add more later, I think I’ll make dinner. Something that won’t heat up the house!

Okay, being woken up with my cat biting my ear, licking my face then settling in next to me stretching his paw out across me while purring is a pretty great way to start the day….if it wasn’t at 1:52am. 😂

I love the adorable old guy.

It’s a new week! Work is still really busy and it seems like I’m playing catch-up all day. Even when I’m not!

One change- My dumb nosebleeds have decided to happen in the afternoon now. Two days in a row! I thought for a day I was actually getting a break! My nose laughed at that and said “not a chance, sucker!” lol! Thing is, throughout Covid I had this fear I would get one while wearing my mask when I wasn’t in a position to get Kleenex. I made it all the way through without it happening…until yesterday. Bah!  So, as my boss and I were leaving for the day, I had my mask on, my bag, my bosses bag (I carry it to his car since he still walks with a cane) and my travel cup in my free hand. All of a sudden, when we’re almost out the door, that familiar warm rushing feeling happened. I stopped short, tilted my head back, tore off my mask and scrounged quickly through my left pocket for a Kleenex. My boss was like “what the fuck is wrong with you?”, then he saw and started laughing. I could only find an old balled up tissue in my pocket. Dumb thing is, had I looked in the other one, there were plenty of fresh tissues, because OF COURSE THERE WERE!

Then today I was telling a co-worker about it and how stupid it was and it started bleeding AGAIN. About the same time too, give or take 30 mins. I usually have them before 7am, so it’s weird. 

Not much has happened since my last post. Saw my uncle for the first time since 2019, which was nice. I was able to watch the new Marilyn Monroe and the new John Wayne Gacy documentaries on Netflix. Meh, they were okay. They both have audio tapes that are more creepy than anything. Some new footage/photos, but not much. Probably won’t re-watch either of them.

Not much else to report, then again, it’s only Tuesday.

Ah well, I’m gonna hope tomorrow is a good day. No, it’s gonna be a GREAT day!!

So, yesterday (Friday) sucked as well, lol! I didn’t even get to leave very early. It’s pretty common for us to go home around 1-1:30pm on Fridays, but I was there until my usual time. Now, before you say “Stop complaining, most people work until 5pm, you have it easy!”, working as though I live in another time zone means I get to work at 4:40am every day, so by the time 1-1:30pm rolls around I’ve been at the office almost 9 hours. Those 9 hours are usually pretty non-stop too.

I finally got home around 2:45pm, threw all my stuff on the floor, changed, fed my starter, began another loaf of bread to give to my uncle, ordered tacos for delivery and settled in to watch The Winter Soldier and tried to unwind a little. 

My handsome cat woke me up at 3:30am and I couldn’t get back to sleep, so I think today I’m just going to putter around the house and try to clean. Cozi has a pretty good line-up on Saturdays so I’ll have that on. Sure, I have all of Columbo and Quincy on dvd, but there’s nothing quite like watching them on tv, ha! Plus, MacMillan & Wife, Banacek, Emergency and The Six Million Dollar Man are on as well. It’s my growing-up years in a TV channel!!

Although…for some reason Murder She Wrote is on again for the 2nd hour. Weird. McCloud was supposed to be on at 6am, but it’s been MSW instead. Thank goodness Pluto is 24 hours a day, so I’ve had Cold Case Files to distract me until the sun comes up.

Probably will add more later. I’m bored! I think I’ll troll Ebay for a while to find stuff I don’t need.

Have you ever had a day so challenging, you didn’t know what to do with yourself? That was my day today. Stuff at work is supposed to ease off after tax day, but boy this year is different. It’s not just my workload either, talking to a friend on another team, they’ve been inundated as well…and everyone seems to be in a crabby mood.

Yesterday afternoon, I had the idea to pack up the sourdough starter I’ve been working on, along with the other ingredients for bread and my little bread maker and take it to the office this morning. I’d put the machine in an empty office near me (some co-workers are still remote) so I could keep an eye on it. So while things pretty much sucked, at least we got to smell baking bread most of the morning. I get in so early it was done by about 9:30am. A co-worker brought butter and jam and folks seemed to enjoy it. I had no appetite because of the type of day/week it’s been, so I didn’t have any. Smelled good though!

I love feeding the people I care about and I work with some pretty great ones.

By the way, maybe it’s the sourdough starter recipe I’ve been following, but jeez, I’m not sure it’s worth all this work/waste of flour. 2 feedings a day, every 12 hours, discarding all but 113 grams (1/2 cup) each time??!!?? And the bread recipe I have asks for A LOT of starter so I have to have 2 batches going at a time.  I think I’ll use up what I have going and freeze the loaf or something.  Now that I know what I’m doing, I can always start again.

Tomorrow is Friday and the office should be pretty empty. Hopefully, we can close out the week better than how we started.

I’ve been trying to put my finger on what the state of the world since Trump came on the political scene and I think I’ve figured out what it’s been reminding me of for the past few years…

Is it just me or does it seem like a Wonder Woman comic plot where Ares is somewhere pulling strings and feeding off and getting stronger from all the hatred, violence and war?

Maybe I’ve read too many comics in my long, long life. George Perez did a great job with him, if you want to check it out.

Too bad we don’t have a Wonder Woman, or Superman for that matter, to fight the bad guy so we can all wake up from this nightmare.

Tough day at work, feeling a bit worn out and tired. I guess it shows, lol!

 Work holiday today, YAY!!!!

So, this Moderna booster I got yesterday is no joke! My arm is killing me. I don’t feel sick or anything, just pain in the area of the injection site. Hopefully, this is all the discomfort I’ll experience. I’m glad I went through with my plan to get it before a 3-day weekend where I have nothing big on the agenda.

The mild weather seems to be holding and the neighborhood is quiet.

In a rare occurrence, I’m actually still in pj’s, listening to an audiobook and laying around and it’s 8:30am! I’m so very fortunate!!! It’s gonna be a good day y’all!

 Weird post today! 

There is nothing quite so sexy and alluring as coming home from work to finding my cat has coughed up a gross, cold, wet, sizable hairball on my favorite moss green velvet bedspread. 😂

He’s lucky he’s so handsome and that I love the old guy to bits.

 I’m not sure why, but I always enjoy this 3-day holiday weekend. Maybe it’s because the weather is usually mild with blue skies? Maybe it’s because there is candy everywhere? I haven’t bought any candy though!!! Well, not yet!

Our office is closed tomorrow, which is awesome as it’s been really hectic and stressful lately and won’t really let up until the 19th. It is going to be nice sleeping in a little in the morning, not having any place to be during the day and then picking up pizza for dinner! I always crave pizza on the Friday that falls just before Easter, weird right?

I got home a little while ago, threw open the windows and put a little Cougat on the stereo. It’s a Rumba/ Bossa Nova afternoon!

Because I’m old, I qualify for the next booster shot, which I got a couple hours ago. The pharmacist said I would probably feel crummy for a bit since I haven’t had any of the MRNA vaccines, but instead had the JnJ and I got Moderna this time.

I think I’ll catch-up on a couple of shows, hang out with my cat and just veg for the rest of the day.

What a glorious way to spend an afternoon… I’m fortunate to be able to do it!

Okay, so this post shouldn’t be a total downer, lol!

My cat is hanging in there and being an asshole on the reg, thank goodness. His new(ish) habit of waking me up every night between 11:30pm-1:45am to feed him is really annoying, but if he eats even a few bites, I’m happy. I think he’s doing it to be a jerk though. 😂

Work is still a bit challenging, but it will hopefully pass in the next few weeks. This time of year is always crazy, plus a few toxic people are transferring, so while that means more work, the atmosphere should get better. 

I’m so glad I asked my boss if it was okay to stay in our current complex and office, rather than transfer to the new office about 2 minutes from my house! Yay! He said it was okay! I think he likes having me close at hand to help with stuff and to make fun of. 😂. I went into his office yesterday and he said “what?” “I needed to get up and not look at my computer screen for a minute, so I wanted to look out your window” “oh, ok”. Then I proceeded to knock my face on the window in the process of leaning towards it (my depth of field isn’t great!). He howled with laughter! I clearly wasn’t hurt and laughed myself, lol. I make fun of him too though, so it’s a good time. 

Since the move was originally offered to me, the back office decided to make a change and a new manager was brought in to oversee it and while he’s a nice guy, he’s boring and not necessarily going to have a work atmosphere that’s a good match for me.  I love working with my current boss! We laugh every single day, what could be better? Plus, he’s amazing at his job and highly respected in our industry, the other guy….not so much. He’ll do a good job, but I don’t think it’s going to be a place I’d want to work. Plus, working in DTLA, I’m central to things. When I get a hankering to move house, I won’t be limited too much, at least not compared to if I was working here where the new office is, in the city where I live now.

Enough about work!

I finally got my hair done about a week ago. It was WAY overdue, LOL!  We’re almost to the point where the damage that crazy lady did a year ago is about 3 inches from being gone. I figure a few more months and it will all have been cut off or have broken off. This is the first time it has looked even close to normal. It’s been so long!  My hairdresser asked if we were going totally blonde this time and I laughed in her face! “Let’s wait until my hair is at least half healthy before we fry it”. I’m so grateful to my hairdresser, she saved the day trying to fix someone else’s mistakes. It was a weird situation since she was my hairdresser and I’d gone to someone else (it’s a long boring story) who, as it turns out, had no idea what they were doing. 

I had my last physical therapy appointment about a week ago and it was bittersweet. Those folks achieved miracles, while not taking a bit of my bullshit. We had a fun time, if PT can be considered fun. I’m really going to miss them, what a great crew! And I can use my arm again! Not 100%, but close! Now it’s up to me to keep doing the exercises. Yikes!

I need to write a letter to the director of the place letting him know about how awesome his team is! Maybe send a cake too. I’m so grateful to them!

I got tickets to a couple Midnight Oil shows. It’s going to be tough now that dear Bonsey passed away. Haven’t missed a tour since the ‘80’s though and this is their farewell, so I know I have to go. I’m sure it will be amazing. Luckily, they’ll still record, just not tour. We’re all getting a little long in the tooth for live Oz Rock tours/shows!

I was thinking about getting a ticket for Franz Ferdinand, but they haven’t listed a local gig yet (at least I don’t think they have). I’m torn, after not being able to go to shows the last few years, I’m not sure I want to start going again. Weird, right?

I’m still going through my crap and making steady progress. I’m not sure how I’m going to break down the huge tv box and styrofoam that’s inside. Perhaps I should save it for the dumpster I’m going to rent? The city has a good deal on them. I need to call on it today! And Am Vets. I need to call them too!! Phew! So much to do!

Well, it’s 1:54am and my precious cat wants to play, now that he’s eaten a few bites and knows I’m up. It’s difficult to type when I keep getting face-bumped, HA!

It’s gonna be a good day, I can feel it! I have one Zoom planned, but it should be quiet. Fingers-crossed!

Have a great day everyone! Posting without proofing…

Happy Birthday CBLMW, as always I wish you all the best life has to offer. You are a special person and deserve it.

This is probably going to be a downer of a post.

 Feeling melancholy lately. I’ve had a lot on my mind the last couple of months or so. 

A few of you know I take my handsome senior boy to the vet every January to make sure his kidney issues and hypertension haven’t progressed too much. In this years visit, I told the vet he seemed skinny and I feel more and more bones when I cuddle/pet him. He doesn’t like to finish his food most of the time, even though he yells at me to feed him. The vet looked concerned, which is rare for him.  Turns out, he’d lost quite a bit of weight since last years’ appointment, but it’s hard to tell when you see something every day.

The vet told me to put him on emergency/urgent diet prescription canned food. It’s supposed to stimulate his appetite somehow and encourage him to eat. He seemed to like the two cans the vet gave me, so I breathed a sigh of relief and ordered a case (at $73, this stuff is pricey, but for my cat, I’ll manage). As soon as it arrived, I busted one can open and put out a generous helping. He ignored it, and apart from a few bites here and there, has ever since.

I feel so helpless, begging him to eat, only to have him bump my forehead and walk away.  I leave the plate out, adding a little water every now and then in case he goes back to it. After a few hours, I give up and wash the dish so it’s clean for the next meal. I’m sad to be wasting cat food every day, trying to entice him to eat. I’ll do whatever it takes, but I know that kidney problems tend to make cats nauseous, which is why they don’t eat. He still enjoys his cat treats, so instead of always tossing them on the floor/bed, I toss them into his bowl of dry food a few times a day with the hope he will eat some of that while he’s there.

He’s normal in every other way. Plays like a kitten and acts like an asshole, lol. Quality of life is still there, thank goodness. His new habit of yelling at me between 11:30pm-2am every night to feed him (right in my face while I’m sleeping!) is annoying, but I get up and do it, because I’m glad he wants to eat, even if he doesn’t finish what I give him.

He still gets around great and jumps all over the furniture and his ginormous cat condo too. I’ve noticed he slips with his back feet sometimes, but I don’t know if he’s always done that or if I’m just hypersensitive to things being wrong.

He’ll be 16 in a couple of months, so I know he won’t be around forever, which is completely and totally heartbreaking. Still my handsome boy though, thank goodness. I hope he hangs around for a while more. As I type this, he’s laying against me, purring loudly and being just the best boy. 

I took this picture a couple of weeks ago and thought I’d post it, he DOES love his velvety throne!:

Apart from being thinner than usual and two white whiskers, he looks the same as always. It’s funny, I was looking through the thousands of photos on my phone and probably more than half are of him! 

Fingers-crossed he hangs around for a while so I can take thousands more.

❤️❤️

I’m not going to talk about world events here, there are better forums for that. ❤️🇺🇦

So, since I’ll be ending physical therapy at the end of March (health insurance deductible resets and I’ll have to pay 100% until the $3,000 deductible is met. I hate my insurance plan, but we don’t get a choice), I decided to get a piece of fitness equipment that will help keep my shoulder from getting messed-up again. Now, I don’t have a ton of space and needed to get something that I might find fun, so I got an inexpensive rowing machine. My physical therapist said it was a good idea, so I was excited. I’d missed out on getting a basic pilates style Total Gym when it was on sale for less than $300 and regret I’d waited too long. The rower has great reviews everywhere I saw it and arrived super fast. Plus, it was even cheaper than the Total Gym had been and the exercises are better suited for my shoulder.

This thing was a bear to assemble! They called the parts different names in the instructions vs the pack they came in and the tools didn’t fit the spaces they were supposed to be used in, lol!  I was catching up on Conan’s podcast, so I wasn’t too bothered it was taking a while.

I was going to keep it in the bedroom, where I have the most free floor space, but, for now, it’s in the living room. That way, I can use it during the day if I’m working from home and maybe spend more time in that part of the house.

I’ve been back in the office most days the last couple of weeks, which I like. It’s been weird working from home so much, when I’d been able to go in for most of the pandemic.  To have been sent home late December/early January wasn’t fun.

My company is going to start bringing folks back in mid-March, so I thought I should get used to waking up and leaving for work at the proper time now vs taking only 15 mins to get dressed/ready and walking to the living room.  Plus, my plate is really full work-wise and when it gets like this, it’s just easier being in the office.

I will say though, having the option to work remotely is rad. Last week, I went out to my car to go to work and my car wouldn’t turn on. At. All. It was really early, so I couldn’t call the dealer and didn’t want to call AAA, so I plugged the laptop into my station at home and worked until I got everything fixed. I was able to use that waiting time instead of wasting it!  Too bad I stayed in work clothes all day, sweats would have been better, HA!

It’s supposed to be hot Tues, Weds and Thurs, so I’m looking forward to free a/c at the office. It’s the little things, take the joys wherever you find them.

Be kind to each other and help where you can, if you can. 

Hey Everyone!  So, it's been a few months since I posted last, sorry.  I've been meaning to reflect on the year, but just haven't done it. I don't have any excuses to give, I just haven't done it.

How was 2021?  I'm torn.  I've had it better than a lot of people.  I'm very fortunate in that I have a roof over my head, a job I enjoy and my friends and family are healthy.  Does this mean there haven't been challenges?  No.  Definitely not.  I'm hesitant to complain about anything simply for the fact that so many people DO have it worse.

Physically, I'm doing better now than I have in well over a year.  Most of you know, a year ago December, my left arm started to bother me.  I went to the doctor and he decided to take a "wait and see" course, which was fine by me as I was convinced it would get better and I didn't want to take any pills. Unfortunately, it didn't get better.  After many months of medical appointments, MRI's, x-rays and exams, all the while, losing all use of my left arm, we found out that I had bulging, arthritic  cervical discs (the discs in your spine, in the neck region) and degenerative disc disease.  The main concern was getting the swelling down, taking the pressure off the nerves in my arm (the initial problem).  Two procedures later, they got the bulging down enough to where I could have the manual manipulation of my shoulder / arm, which I believe I've said here before, is putting me out under general anesthesia (for a third time) and breaking the shit out of my shoulder and arm and making it move in ways I couldn't do on my own anymore (and, apparently, taking photos of him doing it!  I was mortified when the doctor offered to show them to me!  NO THANK YOU!!).  It worked, thank goodness.  I've been in physical therapy now for a few months and have about 75% use back.  I'm so grateful.  You have no idea what it's like to not be able to type with two hands, open a door, put on a seatbelt, tie your shoes, get undressed/get dressed properly.  It's been expensive, painful, time consuming and everything else that I could gripe about.

Because I was raised the way I was, I have had a difficult time dealing with the weight gain from the medication and not being able to get any proper exercise for over a year. I've been cleared to go back to the place I hate the most, the gym.  I keep telling myself that Omicron is keeping me from going, but I'm just kidding myself, I hate that place. Yes, I'm hesitant because of Omicron, but let's be real, the time I go is so early, there are only a few people there so it shouldn't be an issue.

I have been getting out an about a little though, so I've gotten started and hope to be back to my normal size by the time my birthday rolls around.  It's been a blow to my self-esteem / confidence though. It's not like I had a lot to start with, so it's been hard.

Work has gotten better.  It was difficult the first 6 months of the year, then we lost a team member who was a drain on everyone.  Sure, it was more work without them, but it was easier.  Does that make sense?

I was able to visit my parents at Christmas and it was great.  In the span of a few days, we got so much snow it wasn't really safe to be out, so we stayed in for pretty much my entire trip.  Mom made cocoa, dad made cocktails, it was amazing.  The snow finally stopped the morning I was all set to leave, then it started again and I was worried my flight would be cancelled.  Luckily, we only got delayed a few times.  It was weird watching "The Ice Man" drench all of the planes on the runway (including ours) with what looked like antifreeze.  We were all bright green!  I touched down back home in pouring rain and was drenched by the time my Uber/Lyft driver came to get me, but I loved it.

For New Years Day, I invited my friend over to celebrate their birthday.  Since it was so cold, I made pot roast.  It was going to be an all-day thing, so we had appetizers, wine, dinner and cake for dessert.  I always have fairy lights up in my home, but I added big pillar candles to my faux fireplace and it made the place even more homey.  After presents (she is the only friend who always gets presents right for me), we put on Infinity War, then End Game.  Infinity War is a favorite of hers, she likes "Dirty Sexy Cap", LOL!  One of the presents I got her was a Funko of Dirty Sexy Cap, HA!

I don't normally do resolutions for the new year, but I do look back on the prior year and try to think of things I could do differently in order to make the next year better.  2021 was such a shitshow, I can't keep track of everything that could be done to make 2022 a better year.  I'm going to try and keep a positive attitude, which I did last year (mostly!) and I hope to be more content this year.  That's not to say that I am going to settle for just anything and get into a rut, but I miss that sense of calm I love so much.  It's been a while.

Because of Omicron, we were sent home to work at the very end of December, but I've managed to sneak in a few times (after getting negative test results, of course).  I managed to work from the office pretty much all but 3 weeks of Covid, so it's taken a bit to get used to.  Unfortunately, there have been so many people coming down with this new variant, my company is taking a prudent approach and having everyone work remotely wherever possible, which I appreciate.  They really do care for us, which is so, so rare.  I'm going to go in tomorrow, but will probably work from home the bulk of the week.  I've really fine-tuned my work set-up here, so it's easier to work from home than is used to be.  I've got my three screens, trackball, wireless keyboard, everything.  The only things I can't do, which means I have to go in every so often, are print (we aren't allowed for compliance reasons), scan and mail/overnight things out to clients who don't use esignature.  The only thing that keeps me from working (sometimes) is my handsome, smart, asshole cat.  He's getting old, so I let him get away with everything though.  I get tired him laying on my keyboard and knocking my pens to the floor, but he's earned the right to be a jerk.  I love this cat so much. (Yes, I say "this", because he's lying on my arm right now as I type this.). 

Oh yeah, I do have a goal for the year - one thing I really am going to do this year is, I'm going to rent a dumpster and just chuck all the worthless crap I own.  I have to wait until my arm and shoulder are a bit better, but it's going to happen.  It's less than $200 to do it and they drop off the dumpster, pick it up and get rid of your shit.  I've currently got bags all lined up for donating, but I need to find a place actually taking donations, LOL!  The places I used to give to are out of business and I don't want to give to the larger local charities that don't put most of the money raised towards helping people.

If only Ebay was easier to sell stuff.............

Well, that's enough for now, I need to start getting stuff ready for work tomorrow.  More later.....

Happy New Year!