The above is exactly how things are in my house right now. I got the tree decorated last night. It's not my best work but it will do fine.
Our new source of stress is that our brand new eavestroughs appear to be leaking. Found water in the basement yesterday. Of course the company is closed over Christmas week so I'll have to take a day off in January to deal with this. SIGH. 20% of my weekly income is still a big hit for us.
Nothing can be done but get it fixed.
Sending best wishes to Pepper, down in California. Hope the surgery goes well and that the mass is benign.
My cold has migrated-- I feel better but I'm coughing and snotty. I promise I'm not contagious at work even though dd in Texas swears she caught it from me-- from California!
Two more days of work....
I have the new pet sitter coming by tonight to get the key, instructions, and let dh meet her. I hope it goes well.
We are also going to facetime with my younger dd tonight to open dh's Christmas present and dd's Christmas present that we don't want to haul to Texas due to size.
I have a ton of packing and planning to do as well. Busy, busy!!
I feel crummy. I'm not coming down with anything but I feel bloated. My rings are too tight. I've resorted to eating some old, leftover Nutrisystem things I had lying around in order to keep my calorie intake low throughout the day. DD and SIL will be home for dinner tonight. I'm making a bacon wrapped pork roast and either roasted butternut squash or carrots as the side.
I've been unmotivated in the exercise department since Sunday. That is not good.
Thank you Birchie, Dagmar, Michele, JayZeeJay, Allison, and everyone for thinking of Pepper. He should be in surgery very soon and I'm waiting for a call.
Michele, I hope the new pet sitter works out. We were hoping the new neighbors would be suitable as ranch/pet sitters because they have 11 or 12 dogs, but they are quite dysfunctional and not very detail oriented. I would not trust them to follow instructions.
Allison, set a timer for 5 minutes and do some easy exercises. You'll feel better!
I'm at 160.5 on Thursday morning. Yesterday began well but ended up being too much for me. I concluded judging of the writing contest, got the winners in on time, and held a 45-minute meeting orienting my writers on future state. But then my one-on-one with my manager ... what can I say? Part of it was how her manager was so "shocked" that I had not copied my manager on a particular email. I feel like I can't do anything right.
And then, of course, my mother showed up and though she knew I was working at my desk, she wanted to talk. And not about anything important. Her troubles with her snowblower, the arrangements she made with a neighbor on the driveway, how she had the mail stopped, etc. It's just a constant stream of all the things that people take care of routinely, usually without sharing with others. She had to call a friend back Upstate to tell her it had been snowing when she first drove out. This was worth a phone call?
I went to bed despairing of how to cope with my manager and my mother.
Alice-- thinking about Pepper!!
Yes, I'm praying the new pet sitter works out well. I actually have pretty high hopes that she'll follow directions well. She is a young woman with autism, and my co-worker that recommended her said she follows directions to a T. She came by last night and I gave her our printed directions, a key and gave her another walk through.
I am obviously the world's klutziest person. I'm chalking it (mostly) up to being anxious about all I need to do for our upcoming trip. Last night we facetimed with our younger dd so she could open her big Christmas presents-- we mailed them to her as it didn't make sense to mail them and then have her schlep them back to Arizona. So, dh and I also opened our gifts to each other. Dh gave me a bottle of perfume which I dropped while trying to open. Totally shattered. Then, this morning I was making my shake for breakfast and I dropped it when I was halfway done-- the biggest mess ever-- goop everywhere.
I'm also unhappy about Wilbur. Dh is losing his patience with Wilbur as he (Wilbur) throws up quite a bit. He always has which is why he has to have special food made for him-- dh cooks him this nasty chicken smelling stuff. We got into bed last night at 10 pm and realized Wilbur had thrown up on the bed, including the comforter, pillows and sheets. So... dh was beyond ticked. I couldn't sleep well as I was upset about that. I hope Wilbur doesn't pull that trick on the pet sitter!
My last day of work this year! I had to take tomorrow off (I get 2 days per year I can take off) so we could travel. After work, I'll go home, hopefully exercise, finish packing and get ready to go!
I'm planning on drinking my shakes, doing my workouts, and eating (mostly) healthy while we're gone-- we'll see how far my good intentions take me. We go to Houston first, then Arizona, and will be back on December 30. I'm most excited for the first week in January when dh and I are both off from work! Minus my doctor visits (including colonoscopy) anyway....
Saef~my MIL is kind of the same, only different. She cannot internalize anything. She has to say all her thoughts out loud. It's really annoying to hear someone talk to themselves all.the.time. She also doesn't complete things all the way. For instance, instead of Bed, Bath and Beyond, she calls it Bed & Bath. Best Buy becomes Best (which in Utah is a completely different store). She also mixes things up. We live in Palm Desert, but she often calls it Desert Palms. She also has a bad case of ADD and simply cannot do any chore start to finish without stopping to do two or three other things (that don't really need to be done). I once watched her take 10 minutes to slice a tomato for burgers because she kept stopping to fill the cat's water dish and stuff like that. It's hard for me to have her help me make dinner because it infuriates me how she can't just do what I ask her to do. Frankly, I don't understand how she can read a book.
Our dinner with the kids went well last night, but I don't think I'll do that roast again (it was pre-wrapped by Trader Joe's). Although very tasty and just the right amount for the four of us, the bacon drippings caused a lot of smoke in the house. Maybe if I do it again, we'll do it on the grill outside. We had to open the doors and turn on the fan to get the smoke out of the kitchen.
Pepper is alive and recovering, although that's all I know for sure. I never did get a chance to talk directly to my vet, but the staff told me that Pepper had a very inflamed area of upper intestine, which was removed and a sample sent out for analysis. This morning they will offer him food and see how he does. I'll call this afternoon to get an update. Thank you all so much for your good thoughts and well wishes!! I will keep you posted.
Saef, does your mother socialize much where she lives? It sounds like she is saving up all her mundane chit-chat for when she sees you. I am "shocked" that your manager would make such a big deal out of an email. Ugh.
Good luck with your eating plan while travelling, Michele. Just do your best. Everything you can resist will be that much less to lose when you get back. I'll be going to Sacramento for a night next week and have the same misgivings about staying on plan with food. Three good days in a row so far. Today will make four and I'll weigh tomorrow.
Thanks, Alice, for suggesting 5 mins of easy exercises to Allison. I set the timer this morning and managed that. And then managed two more 5 min sessions. And, yes, I do feel much better!
Food has been a bit better today. I ate more at breakfast and lunch which seems to have carried me through better. Interesting finding. About to have tea (curry, dahl, possibly spinach).
Alice, if the intestine was diffusely thickened it sounds like it could be severe inflammatory bowel disease or lymphoma, both common in the small intestine of older cats. I hope he recovers well.
Alice I'm chuckling while reading your comment about saef's manager. That's one of the huge benefits of being employed the way I am. Yes I have clients that pay me but I rarely have to accept anything but praise from them. I do my job really well but they really haven't a clue what exactly I'm doing every day. Nor do they care. Suits me!
And now the cash and wine and chocolate are starting to roll in. DH got an eye-popping (for us) bonus from the company where he's worked just 3 months. We attended an evening function for the bosses and the employees and it was really nice. DH is at the management luncheon today. He's never worked at a company that gave the employees much of anything except criticism and obstruction and indifference to their work.
I'm happy the exercise made you feel better, Birchie It always does for me too. Dagmar, I wish you could be my pet sitter. Maybe some day you could combine a California vacation with a week of ranch sitting. You don't even have to walk the dogs.
Thanks as always for your input, JayZeeJay! Just spoke to the vet. He thinks it is intestinal lymphoma, as you guessed, but wants to wait for the biopsy results and allow healing before beginning treatment. Pepper is still throwing up so he will stay in hospital at least until tomorrow. But he is licking at his food.
Friday morning at 160.7. Not bad, after dining out last night on Chilean sea bass and some kind of risotto.
Thanks, all, for insight into my mother and her stream-of-consciousness. Yes, she's alone a lot, but also on the phone a lot. There's a round of daily phone calls to family & her friends to share narration of the quotidian. I wish I could be a more patient listener but I find talk of household and yard tasks or news of relations of some friend of hers so boring.
I operate under the assumption that if I throw enough activities into a day, it will stimulate her and give her something to think of other than that stuff.
I do have to work today but ... this is amazing ... no meetings. Just desk work. We'll see what I get done with my mother in the background.
I'm heading for the gym, of course later than planned, but without anything urgent to hurry back for.
Sending best wishes to Pepper, down in California. Hope the surgery goes well and that the mass is benign.
It always does for me too. Dagmar, I wish you could be my pet sitter. Maybe some day you could combine a California vacation with a week of ranch sitting. You don't even have to walk the dogs.