In which there is a quote and some rambling

Today's quote:
There comes a time in a man's life when to get where he has to -- if there are no doors or windows -- he walks through a wall. -Bernard Malamud, novelist and short-story writer (1914-1986) 

I read this and thought about the many guys who have told me that at some point the need to be true to their homosexual feelings overpowers their fears. This applies particularly to men who come out in midlife, though younger guys sometimes feel like that. So I've been told. And some have walked through walls to come out.

In other news, Christmas. I'm about ready for Christmas now. I've started my Christmas baking. I made an eggnog custard pie this afternoon, and baked my first ever fruitcake. It's my mother-in-law's recipe, and I love hers. Not sure if this one will measure up. Let me go taste-test it.

Meh, it's OK. Not as good as my mil's. A little bit dry. Superman likes it. The pie is fantastic, though.

Superman and I are watching "Despicable Me" on our new TV set*. We got a wall bracket with which to hang it this evening. Sproing crawled under the house today to move the cable from one wall to another so we can get a bunch of channels with nothing to watch on the new TV. It was Sproing's first time under the house. He claims it is his last. Silly boy didn't like it much. Superman has never liked it either. We are watching Despicable Me because 1) there isn't anything good on broadcast TV and 2) I want to see Despicable Me 2 so figured it'd be good to remind myself of the original first.

C was admitted to the hospital this evening. His left ankle is swollen and red, and after consulting with his mother over the phone (she's a nurse) he had us drop him off at the ER. He called us about an hour ago and said they were admitting him. Something about a possible infection in his leg/foot. And he has septicemia marks running up his leg. I guess I'll go see him in the morning, see if anyone knows any more.

A few days ago I took the space bar key off my keyboard and ever since it hasn't been as responsive. So my words are running together in type as well as in my head.

And speaking of running together in my head, my thoughts. They do that. I wonder once again if I should take medication for ADD. I get so befuddled when I try to do any work around here. There's this, oh and that, and wait, wasn't I doing something else? I need to remember to do the other thing before it gets too something. All at the same time.

*Does anyone call them TV sets anymore? A set of what? Not cathode ray tubes, that's for sure. An array of liquid crystal displays or something, maybe. No wait, this one is an LED. I don't know what LED stands for.

Oh look! A blog! I wonder what it's for.

Yeah, I'm still here. It is Christmas day and we have survived. Thrived, even. Neither Twitch nor Light came home for Christmas. I knew Light wouldn't be able to come, but Twitch decided he didn't want to. But I talked to him this afternoon and he is woefully depressed. Things are a bit rough for him right now, but he's doing alright in the whole scheme of things.

Twitch says he realizes now what an annoying prick he's been for years. He works in food service now, and is very irritated by customers who do things that he used to do. That he did not that long ago. He is aware and now feels terribly guilty about how he has acted, but doesn't know what to do about it. I said "Change." He complained or made excuses, I don't know. I quit listening to him there for a minute when he got mopey.

Light is sharing her holiday with good friends of hers. I talked to her for a while this afternoon. She sounds good. Also talked to my Mama, who is spending the holiday where we spent Thanksgiving, with my brother Jim. My other brother Mike called me earlier when he was on his way to Jim's  house to do the family thing. They sound good.

Sproing and Diva got a flat screen TV, 32", for Christmas. Well, it's a family gift, really. We haven't had a flat screen in the living room, and now that everything broadcasted is formatted for the wider screen, it's hard to watch a lot of shows. Ya' miss half of them - the left quarter and right quarter of the picture. Cable isn't hooked to the new TV yet, but the DVD player is. Sproing is in there now watching a show on the old TV, but had a movie on the new one earlier.

And I had a lovely nap this afternoon. I feel much better, sort of. We had a minimal Christmas this year. Superman and Sproing went out and got a tree yesterday. For $10. If you wait until the 24th, you can finagle a good price. We also just got the turkey yesterday. Had to get a fresh (not frozen) one because we didn't have time to thaw the bird. Have I mentioned that I love turkey? The only ones available were rather large. We got the smallest one at 18.6 lbs. It's out of the oven now, resting as turkeys are wont to do. Superman has prepared the gravy, he tells me. And it's good. I'm eager! My rolls are rising, should be ready to bake in half an hour, maybe less.

Diva was pleasant today. She was a bit grumpy yesterday, but I was worse. We worked it out. I apologized for being a grump. Sproing, on the other hand, was an absolute ass yesterday. He's been better today. He's just an argument waiting to happen almost all the time.

Superman has a very long holiday. Last Friday he worked a short day, and doesn't have to go back to work until Jan 6. I LOVE having him home like this! It's hard to keep up with what day it is, though. Garbage gets picked up on Tuesdays, and I was so proud of us that we remembered to get the roll out thing to the curb Monday night. The next challenge is remembering to get the recycle bin to the curb Thursday night.

Are you bored yet? One reason I haven't written recently is that there isn't much to write. Well, Diva got herself suspended the Monday of the last week of school before the winter break, so she effectively gets an extra week of vacation. Don't know if I mentioned that here. Yeah, I was pissed. But it's over now, and we're moving on. Because, really, what else can we do?

I have also been a bit depressed. I don't want to do anything. Nothing is fun. The lead-up to Christmas pisses me off. Although I did enjoy a few Christmas movies. We saw "It's a Wonderful Life" last night. I am glad Christmas is over if only so the commercials and bad music will stop. There will be other annoying commercials, of course, but what can you do?  I'm looking forward to baseball season. About 3.5 months until the season openers. Spring training starts in just over a month, but I'm not sure those preseason games are broadcast on any channels we get. I can at least follow the scores.

Maybe I'll be in a contemplative mood, ready to expound upon meaningful topics soon. Right now I'm going to finish getting Christmas dinner ready.

I hope everyone had a good holiday.

That Christmas TMI Tuesday meme thing

... which comes from Dirk and Heart in Hand, originating with Just a Jeep Guy (who's blog I don't follow and don't have the link). And yeah, it isn't Tuesday anymore. Deal with it.

THE WAR ON CHRISTMAS 2013
1. Which religion or faith do you belong to, if any? Humph. This one is a blog post in itself. I used to be conservative Christian. Then I caught the gay, in a way, and "we have turned everyone to his own way" as Handel's Messiah is singing me right now. The Church and I have some significant differences now. I still, however, believe in a spiritual deity of sorts, but even I don't really know what I mean by that.
2. What is your opinion of Merry Christmas vs. Happy Holidays? People get their panties in a wad about it and I think the whole mess is stupid.
3. Holiday music on the radio? When and how much? HATE IT!! I hardly listen to the radio at all, and when I do, it's usually NPR classical stuff.
4. When do you start decorating? Do you? Not much. Less and less every year. We hang stockings on the mantle, all of which (or most, depending on who's here at Christmas) are handmade quilted works of art that I've made over the years.
5. White lights or multi-colored?  Whatever.
6. Gift cards, cash, or actually shopped-for presents? This year, not much. I made a nifty fleece scarf for my mom. It has pockets on the ends so she can warm up her hands when wearing it. She loves it. So do I, so much so that I think I'll make one for myself with the leftover material. Not getting anything for anyone outside the family. Amazon gift cards for the kids and some kind of candy/treat for each. (Light, pretend to be surprised.) Superman and I gave each other tickets to the Beer Dinner at our favorite restaurant. Redeemed last week.
7. Christmas cards and/or family update letters are... I used to enjoy sending out cards many years ago before I had kids. Since the kid count got above one I haven't done much. I enjoy receiving thoughtful cards from the few friends who still send them, mostly my gay blog buddies. As for family update letters, they mostly depress me. I've pretended to consider writing one, but it would go something like "We had a very successful 2013! Neither of the younger kids ended up in jail this year." I can't be bothered. I've seen some good ones, though.
8. Snow is...A rarity here in The South (TM)
9. Have you been a good little boy or girl this year? Bah Humbug.
10. RAPID FIRE FAVORITES:
1. Food: Roast turkey, stuffing, gravy... pretty much a repeat of Thanksgiving. And since I was not with the husband and kids this Thanksgiving, I'm definitely going to do Thanksgiving Redux for Christmas dinner, whenever we have it.
2. Dessert: Yes, please. Pumpkin pie is a must. Thanksgiving throwback.

3. Drink: Eggnog with or without some Captain Morgan Spiced. My intestines are getting old, though, and I can't drink very much of that rich eggnog before I'm in the bathroom with regrets. 

4. Holiday movie: "It's a Wonderful Life" is a longstanding tradition around here. I like movies that "prove" the existence of Santa. "Miracle on 34th Street," "The Santa Claus," "Polar Express" (which I like for the production value as much as the story)
5. Holiday music: Listening to Handel's "Messiah" right now. Love it! Also like the old traditional carols, even though the religion doesn't move me anymore. I like to listen to the BBC's broadcast of "Nine Lessons and Carols" on Christmas eve, which kinda goes in the next category "traditions." It always begins with a boy choir solo first verse of "Once In Royal David's City." I also really like "Lo, How A Rose E'er Blooming."
6. Holiday tradition. Superman having the whole week off. Usually ends up being between 10 and 14 days off in a row. It's difficult when he goes back to work in January. I miss him a lot during the day for the first week he's back. 

BONUS(ES) - Christmas sex:
What have you done under the mistletoe? Mistletoe?
Have you caught daddy kissing Santa Clause? Uh, that'd be a No.
Have you done it a Santa suit? Never.
Did you come down the chimney? Um, I think I am the chimney in this metaphor.
Just how merry have you made Santa's helpers? "Santa" really likes me, does that count? 

Comment and Commenting

Y'all, check out this comment on the previous post:

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "This isn't what I expected from today (A rant. You...": How could anyone talk about a child this way. So very sad. You are a bad mother; its no surprise she doesn't respect you. 

I am very amused. All the years I have spent trying to be kind and loving to her, (and for that matter I still try) and the child treats me like dirt. One can only be hurt so many times before lowering the level of effort.

We had a rough evening yesterday, but about an hour after she took her meds she calmed down (because they make her sleepy) and was kinda nice to me. She wanted me to help her crack her back because it hurt. She was sitting at an odd angle and fell asleep in the chair in her room and her legs fell asleep. She called me "Mom! I can't feel my legs!" So I helped her get up, explained about cutting of the blood supply, etc. We were very civil to each other. Then she went to bed.

This morning I got her up at 10:00 and offered to take her with me to the fabric store. Simplicity patterns are on sale for 99 cents and fabric and notions and all kinds of stuff is marked down significantly. I offered to let her pick one or two patterns and either I'd make her something or she could make 'em. She liked to sew at one point in her life, maybe three years ago. She declined. She's not been antagonistic (so far) today, but she hasn't been pleasant either. I've been about as nice as I can be, which is pretty darn nice under the circumstances.

In a sense, the anonymous commenter is correct. I am a bad mother. Well, probably not "bad" exactly, but I have many faults, and I don't parent my daughter as well as I could. Nor my son, either. I (we) have not been as consistent as we should be with rules and consequences, for example. Both of these kids are very difficult to parent, both are emotionally disturbed to one extent or another. Clinically. Like, with psychiatric diagnoses and shit. And that shit is HARD, dude! Normal stuff doesn't work with these kids. We do what we can with what we have.

So, Anonymous, if you'd like to take Diva for a few months and do a better job with her than I have, come on! You'll need a six month minimum, better eighteen months to get a genuine Diva experience. She does the "honeymoon" period really well. New situations usually bring out the best in her. She can be quite sweet. Maybe if you are truly a better parent than I, she'll respond well and have a smooth transition to adulthood. I know she and I aren't a "good fit" personality wise, and that is part of our problem.

I genuinely wish the best for Diva. I want her to have a good relationship with her parent figures. I want her to have honest confidence in herself and her abilities.* I want her to have good people skills, respect herself and other people. I've done what I can to teach her these things, to model them for her. It saddens me that our relationship is so poisoned. We've had good times. Recently, things haven't been so good. If you can do better, please come forward.

*By that I mean not delusional about her capacity to, for instance, sing and dance. She tends to think she's American Idol winner quality about stuff like that. She's got rhythm, sure, and she has dancing potential, but she's not that good, and when we gave her dance lessons she didn't commit to them the way she needs to in order to be that good.

This isn't what I expected from today (A rant. You have been warned.)

And it's early yet.

As I begin this post, the time is 8:40 a.m.

Superman left about an hour ago to visit his family in northwest Georgia. That's south of where the winter weather is, but smack in middle of lots of rain. I resent that he is going, which is totally not fair. I was gone for six days last week. He hasn't seen his family in a few months, and his Dad's birthday was two weeks ago. He intended to visit them the weekend before Thanksgiving, but shit happened and the trip was postponed until now. All very well and good. I want him to see his Dad, celebrate his Dad's birthday. My dad didn't get to have a birthday this year, and Superman's dad is even less healthy (we thought) than my dad.

I expected Superman to leave this morning. But I expected him to be here for a little while after the kids left for school so we could have some quality time together, whatever form that took. Diva shook that plan all to hell.

Diva, as you may recall, wets the bed. Still. At 16 years old. (She turned 16 two days ago.) Her birthday week has been fraught with bullshit drama. The latest shit is piss. Not on her air mattress, which she uses because she wets the bed and air mattresses are made of plastic, a generally waterproof substance. For reasons known only to her (and I use the term "reason" sarcastically) she got the foam mattress that I fixed up for our daybed/cot thing. Light used it when she was here over Thanksgiving, and we hadn't put it back in the attic yet. I spent much effort making a fabric cover for the piece of foam, and it fits the cot beautifully. Stupid Diva took her air mattress off her bed last night and used the foam instead. And son of a gun, she wet the bed. The foam bed. With fabric cover permanently sewn on, not easy to remove, no zipper or anything.

And I'm very angry at her. Superman is, too. Any plans for cuddly together time are superseded by frustration. Again. This happens all too often, and I resent it. I resent her. And now Superman is gone until Monday and I'm stuck at home all the long weekend with The Bitch Diva.

Diva has been acting the bitch for days (weeks?) now. She has quit doing her work at school and is failing all her classes. This after passing everything on her latest report card. Actually, she has a high B in math, F in everything else. WTF? We had an IEP (Individual Education Plan) meeting with/for her on Wednesday (her birthday). She was sullen and uncooperative. Put her head down on the table and refused to participate. Idiot.

Last Saturday Superman took her to the phone store and got her a new phone. A smart phone, no less. Do you know what kind of trouble a bitch like that can get into with a smart phone? A lot. She hasn't had a phone in months because she broke the last one. Being stupid and bitchy. (Do I sound angry? I am.) Monday or Tuesday Superman discovered that the bitch has been "sexting" at least three different guys. What age are these fellas? I'm not sure, but the last guy she flirted with on facebork was in his early 30s, so I'm suspicious. We took her phone away again on Wednesday.

She's been telling people at school that she's pregnant. Again. Not pregnant again, but again saying she is. She isn't pregnant. I take her to the gyno every three months like clockwork for her to get her Depo injection. The Bitch ain't gonna get pregnant on my watch if I can help it. Abstinence won't work, that's for damn sure. (Not that it's effective for the general teen population, but that's a political discussion that I don't want to have right now.) Anyway, there was some drama surrounding the pregnancy rumor that SHE started. Somebody called her on it, demanded to see her ultrasound pictures. The other pregnant girl in the class had ultrasound pics of her baby. Where is Diva's? "In my aunt's car." (She doesn't have any aunts living within 250 miles of here.) Yeah, they called her on her bullshit and she got spastic, as she is prone to do. Caused a scene, got obnoxious with the teacher, was written up and sent to the office.

Which resulted in the punishment of spending the day in In School Suspension (ISS). Which was to be served yesterday. Superman took her to school yesterday morning, and he had "a talk" with her about her recent behavior, so she was in a mood. She told him she was going to get herself suspended. Which she did. She refused to go to ISS. So she was sent home. Gee, thanks. Superman brought her home, and she almost immediately left. In the rain. Alone. To walk to the emergency room because she didn't feel well. WTF? She called to tell him she was at the ER. He went to get her and there was a bit of a scene in the ER waiting room. What's new? Superman handled himself remarkably well. He gave her choices. She goes with him, or he calls the police. Her choice. She chose wisely this time.

We have a primary care physician, you know? She feels a bit sick, we take her to our doctor. The ER isn't necessary. She's all about drama, though, and her stupid friends all have Medicaid and use the ER for everything. She didn't even tell her dad (or me, but she didn't talk to me at all) that she felt sick. Anyway he took her to our doctor's office. Turns out she is sick; she has a urinary tract infection. OK fine. Now she's on antibiotic. Which I suspect she didn't take this morning. I have to go look, and if she didn't take her meds this morning before she went to school I have to take them to her. This will not improve my mood or my opinion of her.

I don't know. There's more. As I was reviewing this missive I thought of a couple of other things to add. For instance, her aunts that live 250 or 500 miles away from here won't claim her anyway. She has put me and her dad through so much shit she's basically been punted from the extended family. Now that my dad is dead, my mom is the only one who recognizes her on her birthday or Christmas. And Mama doesn't want to see her. Mama is a good woman. She tries to do the right thing, but with Diva it's hard to know how much to participate in her life without putting oneself in danger. That's the shit of it all.

She was a total bitch (Diva, not my mother) over the weekend and the beginning of this week. Then Wednesday was her birthday and the last thing I wanted to do was be nice to her. But I try to do the right thing. You know we had her party about 5 weeks ago when she wanted it, right before Halloween. Tuesday night after she went to bed I pulled out the two frozen cake layers left over from the fancy cake I made for her party. I went to the store and bought a birthday card* and frosting, frosted the cake all pretty pink and strawberry flavored for her. Wednesday morning she seemed to appreciate it. Wednesday afternoon at the IEP meeting her teacher was telling us how she told her friends in class how we dissed her, didn't do anything for her for her birthday, etc. What the fuck ever.

I've been ranting for an hour. I need to check the bitch's meds, see if she took them this morning, and probably need to make a trip to the school. FML.

Here are the pictures of the cake I made for her party.

 The top layer is a spider web, middle layer a grave yard with Kit-Kat fence. (I love Kit-Kats!)

 And the bottom layer is a pumpkin patch. 

I did the vines and leaves with a piping bag and decorator tips. It was fun. All her friends thought it was the bomb. By now she doesn't give a shit because I am a shit mother and she knows everything and is always right while I'm always wrong. Raising teenagers is shitty business. 

P.S. Yes, I have to take her meds to the school. You figured I would, right? 

*Picking out a card was HARD!! I got a "for our daughter from mom and dad" thing. There were so many cards that said happy b'day to our wonderful daughter, we love you so much, enjoy spending time with you, you are so precious, etc. BULL SHIT!! I could not in good conscience get a card like that. The one I got was kinda pushing the envelope (pun intended) but wasn't too over the top. Oh, and she got super mad at me on Thursday, cut the card to pieces and delivered it back to me. We gave her the card and cake Wednesday morning because Superman and I had a dinner date Wednesday night and wouldn't be here. She got pissed about that, too, but hell, Bitch! What makes you think any of us would enjoy spending time together on your birthday with you acting like such a bitch? The only enjoyment you'd receive is the fun you have making our lives miserable.

I have been away

I went to Florida. See? This is what Florida looks like.

 Bermuda grass in my brother Mike's back yard. Salt marsh beyond.

 More of Mike's back yard, with oak trees covered in Spanish Moss. 

 The neighbor's house and more Spanish Moss, oak trees, and this time a banana tree and some Spanish Bayonet. Very Floridian.  

 Here is New Smyrna Beach on the east coast of Florida. Looks like a beach. 

 The tide was near high. Here's some sea foam. It isn't green. I didn't taste it, though it looks like merengue. 

Palm trees! This time in the Orlando area in a Publix (grocery) parking lot. 

I went to Florida by myself, the immediate family stayed home. Light came home from Pennsylvania on Wednesday, but I left for Florida the Sunday previous. Stayed at Mike's house for one night (he wasn't there. It was peaceful and I enjoyed it.) Then went to Mama's for a couple of days. Then Mama and I (in separate cars) went to Gainesville so as to spend Thanksgiving with my brother Jim and his family. Jim and his wife host Thanksgiving dinner nearly every year, with the family and various friends in attendance. Since I live so far from the rest of my extended family, I have never been to one of Jim's Thanksgiving meals. I was thrilled. See, pictures! 

 A blurry picture of my mother, not posing. In the first picture I took of her, she had her posed smile on. It isn't as nice as natural. But then she did the whole "I'm drinking a glass of wine" thing, so what's a daughter to do? 

 This is my step-mother, the recently widowed one. She's doing as well as can be expected. She lives next door to Jim. I stayed at her house. 

This is part of the thanksgiving spread, the appetizers. I was too excited about turkey and a nap to take any pictures of the actual feast table. The food was excellent. I love a well cooked turkey. And stuffing. And turkey gravy. And a nap afterward. 

The real reason I went to Florida for Thanksgiving is that we, the family, buried my dad's ashes the day after Thanksgiving. But I'll leave that for another post, because I want to, this might get too long, and Light (who is here visiting still! I get to see her!!) is waiting for me to finish this mess and go out with her to visit a friend. Light is, however, glad that I'm getting another post up, because that strange oriental gentleman with the underwear on his head from the previous post scares her.  

I don't know, but oh my!

And here we are again

I have my computer back now. It had a nasty Trojan (is that supposed to be capitalized in this context?) that was erasing my registry or something. The nice fella at the repair shop fixed it, maybe. He said it was a particularly nasty one. The first time I started up the computer it did well, but since has been very slow to start. I may need to call the guy on Monday. Nevertheless it is good to have my own computer back.

I had the esophagogastroduodenoscopy on Wednesday. Did I tell you about that? I know I mentioned that I was scheduled for the procedure. It's an upper G.I. endoscopy. The doc snaked a tube with a camera on the end down my throat, into my stomach, and on to the first section of my intestine (the duodenum). It all looks good, he said. He took a few "clippings" from my stomach for biopsy or something because he said it was ever so slightly darker pink than perhaps it should be. I suppose I'll hear something from my family doctor once the results come back. I'm not worried.

My body heard that we are anemic. So what does the uterus do? She decides to bleed profusely for a couple of days. Not cool, uterus. It's not even time for that yet. You're supposed to wait another week or two, according to our most recent schedule.

Have been pretty depressed this week. Why? I dunno. Why does depression happen? I think that's the wrong question to ask, though I can say that hormones probably contribute to this episode. I don't want to go out anywhere or do anything. I had an appointment with my psychiatrist for this coming Monday but I called to cancel it Friday. I intend to reschedule, but the office was closed when I called so I have to call back to reschedule. There was a menu option to cancel appointments, though, on the answering program. I appreciate that.

I'm supposed to go to Florida for Thanksgiving. Have we discussed this? We're to bury my dad's ashes on the day after Thanksgiving. Light is coming home to South Carolina for this holiday, and Twitch got Tuesday through Friday off work so he'll be here from Charleston. All of this means that if I go to Florida, I'll go alone. Anyone who's read this blog for any length of time knows that I'm all about solo road trips! This time, though, I'm just not feeling it. A practical reason: my truck needs a work-over from the mechanic. That "check engine" light that started blaring on my way up through Vermont is still shining as soon as the truck warms up. We haven't had room in the budget to get it checked out. And otherwise, I kinda don't really want to see my Florida family. Especially not all together at one time. I usually do OK one on one with each of them, mostly, for brief periods. I'm supposed to spend a couple of days with my Mama in the Orlando area before T'giving, then go up to Gainesville for the holiday. Friday we'll go from Gainesville to the little town where my dad's family has cemetary plots. His parents, grandparents, and uncles are all buried there and it's where he wanted to be placed. Then either Friday or Saturday (depending on how long this thing lasts Friday) I'll drive back home. If I go.

I will get to see Light if I go to Florida because she doesn't fly back to Pennsylvania until the Monday after Thanksgiving. I'll miss Twitch, but I've seen him fairly recently anyway. He's only about four hours away, which makes for a nice drive especially if Superman and I go together without other passengers.

And now that I've discussed the Florida trip, I'm more willing to go. I don't know what's going to happen. I'm not making any decisions about it now because the hormones and depression influence me too much. I'll think about it in another week or two. Of course that gets really close to travel time, but I've told the family that I'm going, and if I end up going, they'll not know I almost didn't. You know what I mean?

My last post was way too long, so before this one gets any longer I'm going to end it.

A little bit more then lots of rambling

I took my computer to the repair place today. Probably won't hear anything until late tomorrow at the earliest. So here I am struggling along on Superman's laptop. I miss mine.

Diva saw the doctor. She's sick, but not with the flu. They did a nasal swab. Diva was all like "WTF?" when the nurse came at her with the long one-sided Qtip lookin' thing. I was good and didn't even laugh at her or nuthin'. She had a fever of 101 at the office. We didn't have a working thermometer so I wasn't sure what kind of fever she had. The doc prescribed a course of antibiotics for her. I feel sorry for the poor Diva. She obviously feels like shit. I picked up a new thermometer at the drug store when I got her medicine, and this evening her temp was 102. I gave her some Tylenol PM (the generic version) and she's sound asleep again. I got her some fruit juice and Gatorade and encourage her to drink a lot. Which means she'll wet the bed profusely, which sucks, but she needs to wash this ickiness out of her system.

Light has been in communication this weekend. She and her boyfriend have terminated their romantic relationship. Thing is, he moved into her apartment a few months ago and doesn't have anywhere else to go or enough money to get his own place. So now Light no longer lives with her boyfriend. Now she lives with a roommate who just happens to be her former boyfriend. She said they are on friendly terms, thankfully, which is the only way this roommate situation will work. I met the guy. I like him. But evidently they aren't good as sweethearts.

Light also told me that she'll be graduating either in May or August. I didn't realize she was graduating so soon. I'm so used to her being in Pennsylvania in school, it seems like that's where she belongs. I'm sure she is ever so ready to be done with school now, though.

While at the doctor's office with Diva this morning I got the results of my blood work. I had my annual physical last week with accompanying blood work. My cholesterol numbers are better, not that they were bad before. My glucose was a little bit high, but the nurse did an A1C check while I was there today (it was supposed to be part of the blood work, but didn't get ordered or something) and my A1C was only 5.5!! It's supposed to be less than 6.0, and a few years ago it was hovering at 6 or slightly above. My doctor had me coming in for blood pressure and A1C checkups every 4 months. When I changed my eating habits a couple of summers ago and started losing weight, my bp and A1C numbers went down. Duh. It's what the doc had been telling me to do for years! Last A1C about 4 or 5 months ago was 5.8 if I remember. Today was 5.5! Yay me! No, I am not diabetic. Doc says perhaps I'm pre-diabetic, whatever that means, but it is NOT "diabetus." With my numbers improving, it looks less and less like diabetes. So it's all good.


And now in interesting stuff from my inbox, I present a very expensive house. With what they're calling a "wrap around pool." Call me old fashioned, but to me, a wrap around pool is really a moat. I mean, what else could it be? Perhaps the moat doesn't encircle the palace house entirely, but in the olden castle days of yore not every moat completely circled the structure, right? Especially if there were geological structures that prevented bad guy access to the place, then the moat didn't need to go all the way around. Like for instance a cliff or very large rock beside the castle probably would work as well as a moat right there. So imagine this: a castle surrounded 25% by a steep cliff and 75% by a moat. Trust me, it'll work.

OK, this moat circles the castle. But not all moats did, right? 

Back to the more mundane. I have pictures to share. Not the ones of palaces and moats, but ones I took myself with my camera that I can't find the battery charger for. I can take the SD card out and load the pics to my computer.... wait, I don't have my computer. Shit. I also can't take any more pictures until I figure out how to charge the damn battery. If only I could find the box the camera came in. I bought it in April of this year after the disastrous canoe trip down the Juniper Run when I took my old camera swimming with me. Twitch was living here in my office, using my desk (OK, it's actually his old desk that I took over from him when he moved, but that's beside the point). So I doubt the camera stuff is in the bottom drawer of that desk, which is where I think it ought to be. Maybe it's on the little desk we moved into our bedroom when Twitch moved back home last December. That desk has accumulated a LOT of stuff on its surface. I'd show you a picture, but my camera isn't charged. Actually, I probably wouldn't because it's embarrassingly messy. Anyway, I might try excavating this little desk tomorrow and see if I can find the camera peripherals. Since I'm looking for the camera peripherals I probably won't find them. I'll find many other interesting and useful things, but not what I'm looking for. That's the way of the Java. 

But what I came to tell you is that I have pictures of the room we've been painting. This is the room that Twitch most recently occupied. It was my office before he moved home in December. It's meant to be a formal dining room in the overall design of the house.  We are tentatively planning to move our bed in there when we finish painting it so we can clean out our bedroom and do these major upgrades to the master suite. So right now I don't know what to call that room. Office/dining/bed/guest room? We painted it yellow above the chair rail and gray below. And I intend to put yellow vertical stripes on the yellow field. The yellow was supposed to be cream, but it's a bit yellower than the paint chip implied. Paint does that, I forgot. It's a pleasant yellow. Sproing says it looks like the color of Blue Bonnet Margarine. (I think that's the brand he indicated. We use dairy butter, so I'm not too familiar with margarine brands.) We have many partially empty cans of yellow paint from other projects, and I know there's a very light yellow that I hope works well against the not-cream margarine color. I've painted a test patch of the Blue Bonnet Yellow and need to get out my contrasting yellows to give it a try. My goal is a very faint contrast yellow on yellow, vertical stripes of approximately 12 inches. Coincidentally and conveniently, the paint stir sticks available for free at Lowe's are 12 inches long. Ain't that a treat? 

Superman and I were very efficient this weekend and got that room all painted. We'd done the priming a few weeks ago, just over the very dark blue/gray that was there before. When it was Light's room she painted half of it as a dark storm, the other half as a light blue sky with lighter blue or white sponged over the sky. We didn't need to prime the light parts. The dark bit needed three coats (maybe it was only two) of primer. The whole thing is yellow now and looks all kinds of solid. Nice. No light blue/dark blue bleeding through the yellow. 

It's late, I'm tired, and I don't know if this still makes any sense. Or if it made sense to begin with. 

OH, wait! I have more blood work news to relate. I'm anemic. My new doctor (actually a Physician's Assistant - PA) (because my old doctor, who wasn't old, retired this summer and I'm still in mourning over that) wants me to have a test... EGD? Yes! Thank you Google. It's an esophagogastroduodenoscopy. How cool is that!? I don't know how to pronounce it. Aka an upper G.I. endoscopy. I know how to pronounce that. Anyway, the PA, Jillian, wants to make sure I don't have any internal bleeding. I just had a "scopy" of the other end this summer, so that's been checked out. The procedure is scheduled for Wednesday the 6th. I'll need a driver, and can't eat anything for 5 hours preceding the procedure. (Alliteration, for those English majors out there.) But about the anemia thing, I've been cutting back on my meat consumption and I suspect I just haven't been getting enough iron in my diet. I'd much rather have to eat more leafy greens or take iron supplements than have internal bleeding or esophageal cancer, you know? I'll be sure to update you on this esophagogastroduodenoscopy, though. (Damn, that's fun to type!) 

The anemia would explain why I've been so tired lately. Anemia and staying up too late. Yeah, I'm going to bed now. Goodnight. 

Oh heavens to Betsy!

What a technological mess! The SIM card in my phone went wonky and I was unable to send or receive calls for most of last week. On Saturday my computer refused to allow me to log into Windows, so all I could do was look at the log in view or the error message saying I couldn't log in. Boring, and frustrating. So I used Superman's computer which didn't work so well either. He has some kind of malware advert infection preventing me from doing anything about posting here except to title the post. He has since fixed part of that, so I am writing this post now. Obviously. OH! and another thing, the Anonymous comments on this here bloggie thing have gone wild, so I just put a word verification step on the comments. Sheesh, what a mess.

I need to take my computer to the repair shop then take Diva to the repair shop doctor's office as she has been feeling poorly most of the weekend. I will post this short message now, and hopefully get back soon for something a bit more significant.