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December 10th, 2019
 | 12:21 pm - Holiday cards
Sending out holiday cards has been one of the fun parts of the season for me for a very long time. I sent out my first cards as a teenager and when my mother lost interest in the whole process a year or two later I just took over, setting aside the cards going to family members so Mom could add her own signature before I sealed them.
It seems to be a dying custom, though - not so many people bother anymore. It's time and money and trouble -- and a shrinking address list as people move away and I don't have their current addresses. Also a shrinking address list as people die over the years, which is adding a layer of gloom to the whole proceeding.
So. If you got a card from me last year odds are fair I'll send another this year. If not, or if you've moved since then, and you'd like one, drop a comment - they're screened, so you can give me your adress without making it public. (As if anyone still reads these journals anymore.)
Crossposted from Dreamwidth with  comments made.
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June 12th, 2019
 | 07:35 pm - All is dead and lost
Noticed Amelia was in bad shape last night just as I was leaving for work. No time to do anything about it.
Came home expecting to find her dead, but she was still breathing so after making a couple of calls I found a rabbit vet willing to check her over today if I just dropped her off. I did so and stopped off on the way home to try to pay the fee for placing my father's headstone. Which it turned out I couldn't do because the guy who handled the arrangements with my sister was out (possibly to lunch) and his notes didn't say which of the two headstone options my sister had gone with. So I couldn't get that cash safely out of my wallet, but at least Dad's temporary death certificate had arrived and I was able to collect that (after a bit of fuss calling Lauren for her verbal okay to send the certificate home with me).
Came home, fed animals and did dishes and went to bed. Woken from a sound sleep to a call from the animal clinic asking me if I wanted the vet to put Amelia down so she wouldn't suffer any further. I had just woken up and the call kept cutting out and then after I'd given the okay and and hung up I found I'd missed two earlier calls regarding her being ready to pick up and bring home. Which -- did she suffer a major downturn in the next couple of hours after the second call, or did I just get asked to go ahead and euthanize her if I wasn't going to pick her up before they closed? The tech I talked to seemed to be implying she'd be untended all night at the clinic and almost certainly die alone, so were they just trying to get her out of the clinic before she died when they called me this afternoon, or did they figure I'd have a shot at pulling her through myself with overnight care (which I wouldn't be home to give anyway)?
Not happy. And her new mate Norwood probably has no idea what to think about me taking his ladybun away and not bringing her back. They'd only been together a month and actually were bonded at the rabbit sanctuary while Amelia was being boarded to get her away from the living room renovations last month. Norwood barely knows me and today was not a trust-building exercise.
(Did I ever mention Hrothgar the Easily-Startled in this journal? Adopted late last June, died between Xmas and New Year -- presumably due to the dust in the air from the kitchen renovations, which is why Amelia was boarded for the next round and why I postponed finding her a new mate until the living room was handled. I didn't predict a love-at-first-sight bonding for her next mate and feared having to board two rabbits that still needed separate cages.)
So, yeah. Losing Amelia so soon after the storm-induced power outage (from around 2pm Sunday to 8:30ish Monday morning) makes me want to blame the greens in the fridge having gone bad during the outage, or possibly a touch of heat stress Monday afternoon. (Let the bunnies play in the yard that morning, couldn't find Amelia that afternoon when it started getting warm enough to want them in, left the back door standing open until I finally got them both in and had the AC off all day and the inside temp reading was 89°F when I finally got them in and turned the air back on.) Also she could have eaten something she shouldn't have while out in the yard. Cause of death gastric stasis but why she stopped eating I don't know.
Also, how much fun is it to get bombarded with Father's Day ads a month after your father was found dead in his house? (Cause of death also unknown by us, at least until I get that autopsy report request printed and mailed. The going assumption is that it's due to spending the last several years trying to subsist on a diet of beer and cigarettes -- but the hospital telling my aunt and uncle last February that bringing him plates of dinner was "enabling" him and they needed to stop doing it was probably a contributory factor.)
Crossposted from Dreamwidth with  comments made.
Current Mood:  sad
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December 29th, 2018
| 09:25 am - Not a fab ending to the year
This has been a really shitty year for pets. I just got done burying Hrothgar the Easily-Startled in the backyard.
He was obviously sick yesterday and should have gone to the vet then. I postponed to today and found him dead in the cage when I got home.
Definitely a respiratory infection, though I don't know of what variety. I googled when I got home to see if there had been much chance to save him had we gone yesterday, and found there was a lot of really expensive stuff that probably would have happened. Also, there's a fair chance he's had a mild case for as long as I've had him but this past week (remodeling in the kitchen, with noise and stress and dust in the air giving Mom and me asthma attacks and the rabbits spending the whole time shut in the cage) stressed his system and caused a fatal flare-up. Apparently I should have been more concerned about the occasional snoring noises coming from the cage...
And I'm about to go to the rabbit sanctuary, too, for a fresh box of hay. Ah ha hah. Apparently I'm really infectious right now to other rabbits, and also I should get Amelia out of that cage and clean the shit out of it (pun intended) with vinegar and water. Perhaps when I get back.
Crossposted from Dreamwidth with  comments made.
Current Mood: sad
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September 24th, 2018
 | 03:14 pm - Podcast rec
Listening to the podcast miniseries Dr. Death and the second episode (describing the central character's schooling and early career) gave me the can't-unsee-it mental image of Martin from Cabin Pressure taking his utter determination to learn despite a complete lack of talent and becoming a brain surgeon instead of an airline pilot.
Oh, and developing a drug habit along the way.
This is not a feel-good tale of plucky determination winning through against the odds. (Unless you're talking about the doc who decides to end Dr. Death's career. I've only heard two episodes out of six, so I don't know if he succeeds.) This is the Dunning-Krueger effect as applied to spinal surgery.
Oh, and apparently it's a true story. Which took place right here in Dallas. (I think the hospital in the first episode is the same one my oldest nephew was born in.)
Crossposted from Dreamwidth with  comments made.
Current Mood:  cheerful
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September 21st, 2018
 | 03:03 pm - Last of his line
In the interests of reclaiming some free time, things have been culled from my schedule that became more of a chore than I felt they were worth. Evidently posting journal entries (that no one but I would be likely to read anymore) was one of the things that dropped off my schedule. So many things in recent months have gone unrecorded, like the continuing process of my father's dissolution, or my minor stresses and triumphs at work. No more manicure or baking photos. I made no note of the date when Ju-Ju died.
But I feel the need to mark, for my own future reference: Today is the day when I had to take Dizzy in to be put to sleep.
Crossposted from Dreamwidth with  comments made.
Current Mood: sad
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May 30th, 2018
 | 07:32 pm - Familial buck-passing
Caught on the way out of Dad's this morning by my uncle for a few rounds of buck-passing on the topic of Something Should Be Done about Dad. Butch seemed taken aback when I said outright and matter-of-factly that Dad's in the process of drinking himself to death, and finished out the conversation by trying to guilt-trip me with the statement that he's my father and I'll have to live with the knowledge of what I did or didn't do for the rest of my life. Which, I can't make him want to live if he's decided not to bother.
And spending my monthly visits housecleaning (as per Butch's suggestion) is right out -- today and last time I just visited for a few hours in the morning and didn't spend the night, since I didn't finish my baking till so late I fell asleep on the couch afterwards. I come later and later on every visit because the house reeks and is so uncomfortable to be in, and I feel so futile and unwelcomed. Sometimes I find myself getting a headache or a suffocating feeling on the drive down. I make the trip out of duty and escape as soon as I think I decently can.
The one practical thing I could do is find someone in the area who cleans houses and arrange a session. Or look into a home healthcare nurse. And Butch was asking about whether Dad has any ideas about funeral arrangements, or an updated will -- which, maybe the guy who lives next door should try asking these questions sometime. But anyway.
Crossposted from Dreamwidth with  comments made.
Current Mood: sad
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May 16th, 2018
 | 10:10 pm - Well-spent Wednesday
I got permission for overtime Saturday morning and stretched it to make up for missing out last Friday. So according to the online pay stub, the check I'll be getting this Friday is going to be a pleasing amount to cover not too many bills. So last night's shift was exhausting (not enough sleep beforehand) but filled with a sense of relief after last paycheck being only barely enough.
I spent too much of my weekend reading and did no baking (though I traded dishes for sleep last night) so today I came home, slept all afternoon, and baked pumpkin chai cupcakes and cinnamon-pumpkin cookies. I can hit the gym tomorrow. And also visit Grandma.
Still need to vacuum the living room. I've let it slide several weeks in a row and the carpet's a mess.
Crossposted from Dreamwidth with  comments made.
Current Mood: cheerful
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May 11th, 2018
 | 10:48 am - Not thrilled
Second Sunday in a row of running out of work an hour or two early, leading to my second week in a row of spending my first couple of shifts staying late trying to claw back the lost hours before I could start adding any overtime to my paycheck. This morning was the first time this week I could have gotten any overtime -- and there was enough work left to do to justify staying late to my supervisor.
Half an hour before the end of my shift I assessed the amount of work left, looked around for the supervisors -- both gone, off course -- and texted mine asking for permission to stay. I got back a yes -- an hour later, being half an hour past the end of my shift and -- more importantly -- past the time I'd given up on her reply and clocked out and gone home.
So this is why I hate hate hate that we're still having to do this bullshit of requesting permission for overtime, since this isn't the first time I haven't gotten the permission until after giving up on it and leaving. Also there's been a time or two where I was told no, there wasn't enough work left to justify letting me pick up a little extra time on my check. (I especially resent it on the week where I was told surely I'd have more opportunities to pick up extra time later, and then had several short shifts later that week.)
Counting down the months till the car is paid off (the first week of July) and frees up $400 a month from my budget. Then I focus on getting the emergency card paid off (which I should have done by the end of the summer, since it's just a $1000 limit), and then I'm down to just paying off the one big card...
Crossposted from Dreamwidth with  comments made.
Current Music: K. D. Lang - Constant Craving
Current Mood:  aggravated
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May 5th, 2018
 | 03:48 pm - Spring warming rapidly into summer
So a weekend ago the little sugar skull tin in my purse that I use to hold a week's supply of caffeine tablets (I take a tablet and drink a bottle of water on each break at work, and my weight and blood sugar are both creeping down in response to the switch from Dr Pepper as caffeine source) disappeared. It was in my purse last Saturday night when I took my breaks, but it was gone from my purse pocket when I tried to refill it on Monday or Tuesday. I looked around the house and in my car (and in my locker at work on Tuesday night) but it hasn't turned up. I actually have a goodly stash of caffeinated mints that I haven't been using, and so over the past week I've been taking Jolt mints (which are delicious, but which I can't find on Amazon or at ThinkGeek (where I probably bought them from) so now I'm out and can't buy more) to tide me over until I replaced the tin and went back to my regular Jet Alert tablets.
Problem #1 related to the temporary switch was getting the dosage right -- I wasn't taking enough at a time, and getting caffeine withdrawal headaches as a result. Problem #2 was having my emergency Naproxen pills in the same skull tin as the caffeine and having forgotten to restock them in my purse when I switched to the Jolt mints. Wednesday night I had a headache that turned into a migraine at work -- and on my break I went to take a Naproxen only to discover I had none. It was a grim and miserable shift, and I made a point of getting a small replacement tin to stash some Naproxen and allergy pills in when I got home that morning. But now I've emptied the Jolt tin, and as of tonight's shift I'm back to Jet Alert. (I could replace the sugar skull tin now -- it's available on Amazon -- or just wait for it to turn up in stores this fall and keep using the Jolt tin in the meantime.)
The other item of note was ordering Mom's Mother's Day gift. I had made a note in my "to do" list to shop on Friday because it was the payday before Mother's Day and left enough time for shipping. It wasn't until I saw "May the Fourth be with you" e-mails that morning that I remembered last year when I was just a few hours too late to get a discount on her Star Wars-themed gift, so I made a special point of ordering her T-shirt (and another one for myself) before going to bed yesterday.
I need to rewatch The Force Awakens, now that I have the bluray of The Last Jedi and can go straight from one to the next. I really need to fit more TV time into my regular schedule. Though I'm enjoying the reading time I'm getting instead, and getting a tolerable amount of sleep on a semiregular basis. Not yesterday, though, and I don't have as many hours left for today's nap as would be really helpful. Especially since I have a couple of errands to run outside the house before I can come home and crash...
But I can't regret the amount of time spent on the computer. I hadn't actually turned it on for at least a month or two, and I had a page to print up that has to be physically mailed. So I read some DW journal entries on my reading list and was able to use a regular keyboard to type this entry. (Still have a bunch of files on the Android that need to be moved to my computer. But I'm not going to take the time today.)
And I have a couple of things to go stick in a mailbox, and need to pop by and see Grandma.
Crossposted from Dreamwidth with  comments made.
Current Mood:  productive
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April 26th, 2018
 | 01:09 pm - What I did with my night off
I had a really productive Monday -- left the vacuuming and all of the kitchen stuff for the next morning, but I did garden stuff and cleaned the catboxes and rabbit cage and avoided the urge to spend the day reading. I finished up by going to Dickey's for a barbeque taco and some fried okra and a salad (because it had been a while and I had earned it) and then passed out on the loveseat around the time Mom got home.
Tuesday was a lot less productive. I can't really remember what I did with my morning -- no, wait, I had breakfast and watched stuff on the DVR while shaping my nails and doing the base layers of my manicure. And then I had lunch and crashed on the couch till 6pm, which wasn't at all helpful when I was supposed to be visiting Dad that afternoon or evening.
What wound up happening was me getting all my kitchen stuff done (no cookies, but strawberry-cream-cheese bread and chocolate-Irish-cream cupcakes along with all the dishes) and finishing up around 9:30. I called Dad -- no answer, of course -- and decided not to hit the road and arrive at 11pm, even though I figured A) he was as likely to be awake as not and B) I had a good chance of not passing out on his couch as soon as I arrived, what with the long afternoon nap and all. I wound up sleeping on the loveseat (again), waking up early and feeding cats and leaving for Dad's around 7 or 7:30 in the morning. I hung out with Dad for a few hours (including making a grocery run for him) and left around 12:30.
I visited Grandma on the way back into town and then got home with not much needing doing but getting ready for work that night. (No vacuuming, no cookies.) I watched some TV, napped till Mom got home, and then went to my room for another couple of hours. I had a headache when I got up for work -- I had a headache when Mom got home, and I really should have taken a Naproxen on the way to bed for the second half of my nap, but if I don't take it with food I get nauseous, and I hadn't wanted to lose sleep time to making a snack and eating it. (I took a Naproxen last night with the rest of my evening pills while getting ready for work, and didn't quite get to my Cliff bar on the drive to work in time to keep my stomach from getting upset. I had an unhappy belly for half my shift -- but at least it got rid of my headache.)
And, so. Time to nap till Mom gets home, and then go hit the gym before getting ready for work...
Crossposted from Dreamwidth with  comments made.
Current Mood:  sleepy
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