Day 362: on making it a tiny adventure

Today was Bill-Paying day, where I visited the credit union to get the cash I need to pay the homeowner's insurance, the water bill, and the gas & electric bill. As the Queen Mother is feeling better, Himself and I turned it into a fun outing day. 

In between paying bills, we stopped by Michael's, ostensibly to get some double-sided tape that would help keep Himself's kippah (the little cap he wears for religious services and during special occasions, like High Holidays) securely attached to his head. Then we took turns drooling over our special sections: he drooled over the baking & food decorating sections; I drooled over the journals and lettering in the scrapbooking section. We escaped there with our wallets intact. ;)

The topic of eating came up, so we went elsewhere in the ersatz mall to visit Firehouse Subs for the first time. I got a veggie sub and he got a turkey with avocado and cheese sub. I didn't realized the subs were toasted, so getting a warm sandwich with melting cheese was a pleasant surprise. The Five-Cheese Mac and Cheese, however, left much to be desired, and I shall be informing them of such on their website.

The bills have been paid, the tummies have been filled, the double sided tape has been secured and is being used, and I managed to get more cat litter and ice cream - you know, the important things in life. I got the Queen Mother's dinner ready, then settled down and drew my Inktober doodle for the day. I believe that I will jump on to Instagram very briefly during the weekends, just long enough to post the day's drawing, before jumping off again. I feel good about this because I'm going to be off social media for most of November, avoiding the drama llama stampedes during Mercury Retrograde. I'm three drawings in and having a lot of fun. 

Not sure how the day is going to unfold tomorrow, other than I will be completing another drawing. 

Day 327: on venturing out once more

Today flowed nicely, and I am grateful for that. :)

I managed to accompany Himself to his latest Cardiac session, and finally got an opportunity to move my muscles. Needed to make a few adjustments since I'm a bit out of practice, but I felt like I had accomplished good things when I was done. I walked on the fancy treadmill at the end of my session, and was entertained by watching a video of walking on the beach. I'll take this option over plain old TV any day of the week.

We had enough time between the session and Himself's appointment at the Pain Clinic to get some lunch. He got a chicken sandwich; I got a black bean burger with all the fixings and some salt-and-vinegar chips to go with it. I love salt-and-vinegar chips. They might not be number one all the time, but they're definitely in my top three.

Then it was a (roughly) five minute drive from Scripps La Jolla to the VA Medical Center, where we totally lucked out in finding a parking spot at the front of the facility. The disabled license plates do come in handy sometimes. It was a new physician Himself spoke with today, so there was a little more review than usual of Himself's previous medical visit. In the end, we're going to see if we can't get the VA to pay for some more chiropractic sessions, probably get a bit more physical therapy for Himself's shoulder, and see about free Yoga for Veterans. That would be nice.

We got home in a reasonable time this afternoon, and I prepared the Queen Mother's dinner as usual, then went and laid down to rest my back (speaking of chiropractic visits, I need to schedule a few for myself). When I was finally ready for dinner, I was content to have a nice big salad, mixing in some baby greens and mushrooms to the remains of a veggie antipasto salad Himself had brought home for me a few days ago. It was all very tasty.

Tomorrow I will be going with Himself to a social luncheon tomorrow to meet with friends. I am getting back into circulation and it feels lovely. :)

Day 303: on a superb sunday

I made myself an egg sandwich for breakfast, then brought some much needed order to the chaos that is the recycling area. I changed out the litter in the cats' box, took some newspaper and cans outside into their bins, and took out the trash, along with a bag of old pill botttles, with their labels removed. I got a jump on the next load for the dishwasher and swept the kitchen floor. Dinner was some much needed comfort food: my mac and cheese with a salad, then some dark chocolate balls for dessert.

Besides paying bills tomorrow, I am going to do a bit of harness shopping. There have been coyote sightings in our complex this week, and something scared Pippa so badly last Monday that she hasn't been outside again since, and has only recently emerged from hiding in our closet! The harness is going to be for Inkblot, who is not a happy boy being "indoor only." He has the right temperament to be harness trained and to go on adventures. (I lost one little boy cat in 1998 to an outdoor tragedy, and I'm NOT going to lose another one.) I've been pricing harnesses online and I can get a decent one for between $15-$20, which is doable right now.

There was one final change of plans for the week: the Sunday evening person "forgot" they were supposed to have a shift at the Club this evening, so Himself found himself pinch hitting once more. He's back home and showering as I type.

Personally, I had a good day, even though some did not. I will be lighting my Peace Candle tonight and chanting some mantras for Kuan Yin.

On *300* Days of Blogging!

Wow. I have reached the home stretch. Two more months (-ish) to go! When I began, I was only hoping I could reach this point. Now I am taking a moment to look at what I have accomplished in this space and am giving myself a wee pat on the back. :)

As for today: I returned to my Spiritual project. I went out and did some significant grocery shopping with Himself, as mom's Social Security money arrived. I paid some bills and figured out which other bills to pay tomorrow. I am coloring a new mandala to celebrate the start of the Harvest Season, Autumn.

We had to shift a few more plans around, namely when we could have someone come over to repair our rear windshield; yes, we found someone who could do a house call! Himself has already squirrled away the $250 for our deductible, and our insurance will pay the rest. I'm halfway expecting our rates to go up after this is all said and done, though...

I have returned to that wonderful calm and stable place. Things might not be that great, but they're not that horrible either. I'm looking forward to building on this momentum and perhaps even getting back to some decent Adulting next week.

Tomorrow I will be dropping Himself off at the Alano Club in the afternoon - for a planned shift, this time - and gifting myself with a small treat before heading over for my Friday meeting. The energy is shifting, and Just for Today, I am breathing much easier.

Day 252: on being back home!

This will be somewhat brief, as I am very tired right now...

We took full advantage of the free breakfast at the motel this morning; I brought some cereal and tea to the Queen Mother, and Himself and I feasted on waffles. (The thought of having waffles four mornings in a row would have appealed to me forty years ago; now, not so much!) Then we took two trips to schlep everything back to the condo, and opened up some of the windows. Moving back in the day after it was certified as "okay" made all the difference. Neither one of us had a reaction at all. :)

On the third and final trip, the Queen Mother accompanied us out to Petsmart, where we picked up a pair of grateful cats, then headed directly home. I broke out the "people tuna," which they didn't eat right away, as they were more concerned with checking out all the smells. Eventually, they settled down enough to eat, first the tuna, then a can of regular cat food.

We had to do a bit of grocery shopping to restock some essentials, but we settled down soon enough for our own dinner, followed by our regular Friday night meeting. Although I wasn't sure if I had enough oomph to go, I'm glad I did.

I will expound more tomorrow evening. For now, good night from SoCal. :)

Day 99: on a rainy saturday

The first of several days of ran unfolded today, mainly in the morning to early afternoon. I enjoy the rain the most when I can observe it from indoors. ;)

Much of my morning was taken up by a business call; fortunately, my phone was on mute most of the time, so I was able to get breakfast together for the Queen Mother, and get my breakfast together by degrees. I was finished with the call by about 12:30.

Today I gathered up trash and recycling from the master bathroom, the Queen Mother's bathroom, and her bedroom. One of the items of recycling was taking down a mini "tower " of cardboard glove boxes that had built up over the past few months. (Himself gets medical gloves from the VA to help with his bathroom hygiene.) As I got each box ready to recycle, I was met with an unexpected surprise: a lizard had taken up residence in one of the boxes! I suspect one of the cats had brought it in, and it had eluded being lunch by hiding in our bathroom. I was surprised to see it alive and hale! So I took it outside (after it had stopped raining) and I released it atop a low brick wall across the way. It was long gone when I stepped out a few minutes later to double check. I finished up by rearranging a few things in our bathroom.

I made a second round of Mock Chili for dinner. This time I used black beans and kept the "bean juice" to add a bit of flavor. I was going to have it with some pre-cooked quinoa, but it had gone very bad, so I combined it with some rice instead. I also added a bit of salsa for spice, and it turned out to be delicious.

Before blogging this evening, I had a bit of a nap, as the sense of Tired I was feeling finally became too much to ignore, and I found myself getting cranky with the Queen Mother. I'll be off to bed at my usual time, no worries.

We're not expecting any rain tomorrow, but it is forecast to restart on Monday, and could possibly go all week. We haven't received a lot of rainfall as of late, so it will go a long way toward replenishing some of our reservoir lakes. We will be grateful, but the cats - not so much. ;)

Day 11: on being a year older

My original plan for this blog was to begin on this day, the 16th, since it was my birthday, and document everything that unfolded over the course of the year to come. It became my "odyssey" after I came up with this blog's title as a hashtag on Twitter, and it began ten days earlier instead. Fun fact: the doctors originally set my date of birth on 10/6; my mother, who was actually carrying me, disagreed, saying I would be born 10/17. Guess who was more accurate? ;)

I don't feel any older, and I haven't really felt "older" at any point along the way in my life. What does that mean anyway, to "feel older"? I do feel wiser, though, and I hope to continue growing in Wisdom.

Here's an interesting observation: as horrid as I felt yesterday, today I felt pretty good. As disjointed as yesterday felt, today I felt In Sync and On Point. I was back in the Flow, and some sychronicities popped up to add Sweetness. I also went to Trader Joe's and got some of their Queso (semi-spicy) cheese dip, a small birthday treat for myself.

This leads to my other interesting observation: I'm at the point where I really don't need a big party attended by a ton of friends, eating decadent food, and receiving a huge pile of presents. Some quiet time where I can do a birthday reading for myself, and grab a few birthday treats, while being honored by my loved ones, is more than enough. While it's true that I had some more elaborate birthday plans earlier this year, and that I went through some Resistance when I realized I had to let go of those plans, today - now - I am Content. Besides, Himself promised to spoil me rotten in the near future. ;) Nevertheless, I'm still content. 

Today I have completed another orbit around the sun and began my next orbit. We shall see what this year has in store for me...