Day 325: on fitting things in

Himself had the idea to take our old water jugs back to Palomar Water and switch them out for a pair of full ones. When we got to the office, there were a couple of refurbished models on sale for decent prices, cash only. Himself paid $30 to upgrade us to a hot-and-cold water dispenser. True to their advertising, the hot water was hot and the cold water was cold. I thought briefly about returning my Groovy Teapot, but both Himself and the Queen Mother said I should keep it, so I will. Besides, I owe y'all a picture of it at least. 

As we were leaving for Palomar Water, Inkblot tried to sneak out of the house. I caught him and put him back inside before he had gotten too far, but because he was showing interest, I put his harness on him and took him outside after we got back. He sat for a long time in the shade, then abruptly stood up and began to walk to the left. I let him lead me around, so he wound up taking me for a walk to the other side of the complex. He ate some grass, then looked like he was starting to eye the back fence to see if he could jump it. 

I turned him around and took him home, carrying him half of the time, and walking with him half the time. I knew it was time for us to go home because he was starting to pant. (Yep, it was hot.) I gave him some water and treats when we finally returned, and he spent a lot of time resting on the cool tiles of the kitchen and bathroom floors. From what the Queen Mother told me, it looks like one of our next purchases will be for Pippa, as she seems to have gotten over whatever spooked her and is now interested in Going Outside once more. 

Once I had rested and had dinner, I moved to gather up the trash. All of our bins are now empty, and what hasn't gone to the complex dumpster already is waiting in the green wheeled bin in our patio, which we cart over to the main dumpster when it's full. I was happy to get that done in slightly cooler weather, before sunset. 

Tomorrow may or may not be an early day; we shall see what happens.

Day 313: on needing more stepping

First, the Important Development: Himself had a vascular study done on his legs today, and it was confirmed that he DOES have something wonky in his right leg; a partially clogged femoral artery, in fact. I knew something was amiss when I looked at the monitor and saw the blood pressure in the right leg was much lower than it was in the left leg, the irony of that being that it was his left leg that was rather crunched in a bicycle accident in 2008 (he lost an argument with a car). There are surgical options, but he was advised that surgery was really not necessary at this moment. The best thing he could do was more walking, in fact, so we're going to figure out what the best way to accomplish this would be.

We got to the VA Medical Center an hour after we initially expected to, because we needed to fit in a shower for the Queen Mother. Her big appointment is tomorrow, where we sit down and go over ALL of her test results, and figure out what, if anything, we need to do next. We got most everything checked off at the VA today, save for a question about how best to treat Himself's weather-impacted sinuses with his heart issues. The Cardiac receptionist was not exactly cooperative, so Himself sent them a message directly. For the record, he will also be seeing his Primary doctor next week.

The other big thing today was my attitude: I got up on the wrong side of the bed this morning, hit the reset button a few times, but always seemed to circle back to the growly-snappy state - and for the record, yes, the full moon is tomorrow. To bypass a bunch of whining and complaining: I realized I'm (once again) feeling "stuck and powerless," unable to move forward while I lack any sort of discretionary income to help me unstick myself. Back to the first steps again, I suppose...

After the Queen Mother's appointment tomorrow, I am intending to work out with Himself and take in a caregiver support group. Goddess grant me these things!  

Day 311: on stepping out, a little

The day started reasonably well, but slowed down a bit with Himself's sinus attack, which threatened to become a migrane. With an increase in heat and humidity, he gets miserable as his sinuses start to hurt. They got very badly screwed up in 2008 after a gnarly accident where he was hit by a car while on his bicycle; in some respects he is lucky to be alive today. Anyway, this was one of those days where I had to break out an anti-migrane pill, which alleviated the pain and pressure enough for him to return to functionality. (The more effective anti-migrane pill had to be discontinued after his heart attack, but this one seems to be working okay.)

He recovered enough to get the recycling from the Alano Club taken over to our favorite place and turned in for a bit of gas money. By the time we got back, though, it was too late for me to go to his Cardiac session with him for my workout, as it would mean we wouldn't get back to the house before 5:30 if we were lucky. So he went down and I stayed home.

The Queen Mother complained once again about the cats being "indoor prisoners." She has admitted in the past that she is projecting some of her feelings onto the cats, who seem to be adapting better to the change than she is giving them credit for. For the record, I have offered to take the Queen Mother out of the house and go do fun things, but she always declines because "it's too painful." I try. 

At any rate, I grabbed Inkblot's harness and went outside with him. Twice. The first time, he basically sniffed the air before deciding to go back inside, but the second time, he warmed up to a little wandering around. Of course, I didn't have my shoes on for the second foray, so I had to watch where I stepped! I cut the trip short when it looked like he was wanting to jump over a fence, so I brought him back in. Both times he was rewarded with treats for being a Good Boy, and I gave Pippa some treats so she wouldn't get jealous. I did promise Inkblot that I would work on taking him on Outdoor Adventures more often.

Though plans changed today, we are good to go for tomorrow for sure.

Day 225: on stepping out

I got my contemplative walk in! It was so nice to be out in the fresh air and sunshine!

I went to Kit Carson Park - not the wildest of places, but they have a neat duck pond, which I have shared about previously. There were ducklings today swimming about with their moms and practicing their diving skills. As it was May, they were no longer the tiny cute fuzzy ducklings, but I identified them by their peeps and their slightly smaller size than the mature ducks.

I also took a small walk about the park, saving a long hike for another day. What struck me most was towards the end of my sojourn, when I saw an orange tree that had been previously burnt (?) that had new growth in its center, and was producing oranges again. It was in bloom, and the orange blossoms smelled Divine. I felt that tree was a lot like me: scorched by calamity in the past, but with new growth arising from its center today.

I find my Serenity and Inner Peace when I can step out of the Nonsense and Cacaphony of the human world, and connect directly with the Natural World, whether in a forest, at the beach, or even a semi-wild park. As I walk upon the bosom of Mother Earth, observing my Wild Relatives, I come back home to myself.

I have been needing to do this for some time, and I am needing to remember to do this more often. So I shall set down my Intention and see what happens. :)

Day 191: on pausing for a moment

Between the mental exertion of yesterday's meetings and the physical unpleasantness of last evening's walk, Himself let Discretion be the better part of Valor today and chose not to attend our Sunday Support group. I didn't blame him. This meant it was a good day to rest, and move forward in Ease, and take inventory of life. My "new" pragmatic perspective is fitting nicely,

The only "practical" thing we managed to get done was grocery shopping: using some of my remaining funds to get a few cans of cat food, using our gift cards to get some essentials, with a few "treats" thrown in - nothing too crazy, mainly things we haven't usually had an opportunity to eat recently. We're still good for the rest of the month if absolutely nothing else happens, and of course other things will happen.

Inkblot was feeling particularly ambitious today, as he brought in a dove (!) while I was preparing my dinner. That was tricky to get out of the house, even with Himself removing the cats from the immediate vicinity, but I successfully got it into our special Critter Transportation box, and the dove flew onto a neighbor's roof, so it didn't look like much damage had been done. Then Inkblot went and got a decent-sized moth (!!) and brought it in; this was much easier to get out of the house, as I was able to open the patio door and shoo it out. Poor boy must think we are "hopeless parents," unable to fend for ourselves and hunt down basic meals! ;)

After dinner, Himself tended to his business down in Point Loma, and I colored some more in my mandala, then had myself a walk of two (consecutive) laps around the complex. I took a moment to appreciate some rosemary (that plant I can recognize, at least!) and took a picture of the sunset. Towards the end of the second lap, I looked up at several flying creatures feeding on the nocturnal bugs, and realized that the wings weren't quite right for birds. Instead, I realized I was watching BATS! I got very excited, as this is the first time I've knowingly seen them. They're good totem animals in my book.

After tomorrow, next week is filled with appointments and the Seder of Pesach at week's end, so it will be a busy time. I will be taking full advantage of the Downtime.

Day 188: on revising...

Himself had an appointment with his "civilian" podiatrist today, then figured that Club Business was going to take up much of the rest of his day, so instead of grabbing a few things at Trader Joe's after his appointment, we went before his appointment, and I stayed home afterwards with the Queen Mother.

So what did I do with my free time?

I walked my own lap around the complex. I took a picture of what I believe is pink jasmine to post on my Daily Story thread. I might do some "Eye Candy" pictures of flowers over the next few days. Just don't ask me what they are, because I have no idea without googling them. I got to our mailbox at the back of the complex and got yesterday's mail just as the postman pulled up in his USPS truck, so all Himself and I had to worry about this evening was getting today's mail. 

I colored some more of my latest mandala, with Lemon Yellow today. It's a very tricky color to see in anything but natural sunlight, so I colored with it while the light in our room was good.

Once I was done, I filled out my renewal papers for Medi-Cal. I had to revise some of the information on it, because it was way out of date. It's all ready to be dropped off at the County office in plenty of time before the deadline.

I watched some television tonight with the Queen Mother. Normally she watches her programs just fine without me, but I suspect she likes it better when she has a Viewing Buddy. Most of the time it's Himself, but occasionally I'll come in and watch something. Tonight I watched SWAT, one of her cop shows, and the main reason I watched it was that it featured an "updated" version of the Symbionese Liberation Army for our heroes to try to outwit. I was alive at that time, though I only needed one hand to count my age on. I have, however, seen the relevant footage from that time when I was actually old enough to understand it, so I knew what they were talking about. I thought the show was well done.

Himself has a VA Medical Center appointment tomorrow, and I will be tagging along to make sure he hits up the Pharmacy for some of his medications. Beyond that, we shall see what happens.

Day 181: on taking strides forward

There are times when I wake up in the morning and can't return to sleep: when it's an a-ha! or when it's an oh no! Today it was one of the former moments, for I thought I had found a solution to my overarching problem of showing when the Queen Mother first was certified as Disabled: perhaps the Auto Insurance policy that we had once been on together could be traced back far enough to show her as a disabled driver! I called my company this morning, and would later stop by in person in the early afternoon.

Both times, though, I wound up a little disappointed: after I called in the morning, I received an email with some records attached. They didn't go back quite as far as I had requested, and even if they had, the cars were listed by their VIN numbers instead of by the license plates, which wouldn't prove anything. As for the office visit, the Queen Mother had apparently been a non-driver for so long, that she was no longer in their system. Whereas I might have had a meltdown in the past, today I took these (non) developments in stride. I had nothing to lose by asking.

After visiting the auto insurance company, Himself and I stopped by Trader Joes to grab groceries. Inkblot "helped" me with some recycling when I got home. I had the main meal of my day a little earlier than usual, so I was able to finish up everything in plenty of time to make it to my Caregiver Support Group. It was a small group tonight, but it was good to be among my main peeps. Himself and I then went to one of his meetings, and it was good to see some familiar faces.

Once we got home, Himself wanted to take a walk around the condo complex (where we live) to get back on the exercise bandwagon, and partly to help break in his new boots, which he purchased to get better support for his feet. They turned out to support his feet just fine, but other parts of his body chimed in their displeasure with actually moving and walking. My lower back has been acting up a bit, and I still walked faster than he did! We stopped to get the mail (the mailboxes are at the back of the complex), and once or twice more, but we made it back home. I'm hoping Himself makes this a regular part of our routine, as I generally like walking, and it helps me clear out my mind when everything is running riot.

We might or might not have plans for tomorrow during the day, so I will be playing it by ear once again.