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 251: on finally decompressing

Today finally matched my expectations about how I had envisioned this "staycation" to be like. My mind was relaxing on Tuesday, then jumped back into Overwhelm on Wednesday. Without any outside commitments today, I was able to sink into the relaxed pace and enjoy myself (at least until my lower back started kvetching).

I have reorganized the various bags we brought with us: Our Bathroom, the Queen Mother's Bathroom, the Kitchen. It wasn't as complex as I first thought it would be, which is good. I also did a Timed Writing exercise that I had been putting off for a whlle, considering my What If's. I only came up with two this time around, but I tucked this into the back of my brain in case I needed to use it again later. 

We will be doing some packing up tonight, as tomorrow will be another early morning and we have much to do after breakfast: a bit of vacuuming and opening up the windows, schlepping things back to the house, then bringing home the Queen Mother and the cats. (We didn't get any calls from Petsmart today, so I will take that as No News Is Good News). We actually visited the home today, and I am very glad that we are taking this extra night away: within about five minutes of being inside, I could feel tightening in my front sinuses and a tickle in the back of my throat...and if I could feel these things, the cats would feel even worse. So yes, one more night away, with the central fan on at home. I do have my house keys back. :)

The "forced adventure" is almost over, and we will be easing back into more normal routines tomorrow and through the weekend. I will share more thoughts about everything in my next entry.

Day 250: on still dealing with life

I knew today was going to be busy, but not quite as crazy as this...!

I helped the Queen Mother get dressed and served her breakfast, then Himself and I went to a local restaurant, Pegah's, for our breakfast. Before we left, we got a phone call from Petsmart: the cats were not just unhappy, but they have apparently gone on a full hunger strike! Their in-house vet took a look at them (at no charge to us, fortunately), and determined they weren't constipated or in significant physical distress. Still, they wanted to know if we wanted to administer subcutaneous fluids. I advised them we would be in touch.

After we finished with breakfast, we chose to go over to Petsmart ourselves and inquire after the cats. It turns out the situation was not as serious as we had been led to believe, but they were still not happy campers. We spent some quality time with them, calming them down as best we could, though they both turned up their noses at the special "highly palatable" food we had been given to see if they would eat. Inkblot even started eyeing the door handle as though he was calculating how high to jump to grasp it just enough to yank it down and open the door! I went in to Petsmart wearing a black top; I emerged with it almost white due to shed cat fur. ;)

Though we were beginning to consider leaving the motel early and just going home as soon as the fumigation was complete, the vet confirmed our belief that one extra day would be much better for them, as their respiratory systems are much more sensitive than ours. So until Friday morning they will stay, and then we will take them over to Mohnacky Animal Hospital for evaluation. Once we explained our situation to them, they were gracious enough to offer to examine them for free.

We checked in quickly with the Queen Mother, then headed down to the VA Medical Center. Himself rescheduled his eye appointment one more time, to a day next week when we will be at the VA anyway. We did manage to renew some of his medications at the Pharmacy. Then we stopped at a dispensary to pick up some CBD oil to keep those nasty little gastro-intestinal polyps at bay. Finally there were stops at Trader Joe's for the Queen Mother's dinner, and Carl's Jr. for our dinners. I have become a big fan of their Beyond Star veggie burger; I'm also waiting to sink my teeth into an Impossible Whopper when it's introduced in San Diego County. (It's just been introduced in San Francisco.)

I prepared dinner for the Queen Mother, then ate my dinner with her. She said she had "gotten bored with reading" and looked through her suitcase in the other room, pulling out a few things that she had not been using. I have been helping her work the remote so she can watch TV (she's currently watching a Blue Bloods marathon, as she loves most cop shows), and I have been resting in the bedroom. Although she wants to go home badly, she wants to take the motel toilet and shower with her, since she likes them better. ;)

Tonight I'm going to add up our receipts so far to see how much money we really have left. Tomorrow I might actually get a full day of relaxing in! We shall see...

Day 249: on the "fumigation staycation"

Himself actually woke up early, voluntarily! He has challenges with sound sleep away from home, and his brain kicked in to Fully Awake mode right after 7am. Mine kicked on about 7:25.

As we rose early, we chose to take advantage of the free hot breakfast offered by the motel, which consisted of cereal, bread to toast, mini muffins and cinnamon rolls, apples, and make-your-own waffles. Coffee, hot water for tea, and juice (apple and orange) were also offered. We made our own waffles, but the thought of eating waffles for four consecutive mornings was not appealing, especially when paired with live testimony about the status of Latin American Migrant Children on the TV in the room. We agreed to break our fast elsewhere tomorrow.

Once we had full bellies, we drove back to our condo, grabbed a few last minute things, and waited for the fumigators to arrive. They were scheduled to show up between 10:00 and noon; a few minutes after ten, they showed up. I handed them the house keys, Himself and I said a few quick prayers under our breath, then we headed back to the motel. Our unofficial staycation had begun. I tended to the Queen Mother's breakfast when we returned, which she enjoyed with the daily paper.

Since Himself and I woke up way earlier than usual, we visited a Subway to get some sandwiches for lunch; I perused the paper while I ate mine. I got a double chocolate cookie for the Queen Mother, which she enjoyed immensely.  I also finally got a shower in, after which I felt like an entirely new person. It also helped that today was a bit cooler than yesterday.

I accompanied Hiimself out to a meeting, and we had dinner before we came home. We swung by the condo once more to walk the perimeter of our buiilding, then returned to the motel. The Queen Mother is getting ready for bed as I type.

Tomorrrow features another trip to the VA Medical Center in La Jolla for Hiimself's eye appointment, which has already been rescheduled twice. Witth a few other things to take care of, it will be a bit before we return, so we will grab dinner on the way home. Life continues on...

Day 248: on the neverending day of schlepping

I'm checking in from our motel room, twelve hours or so after we first woke up. Much of the day has been spent packing perishable foods in the special bags, figuring out what to take along with us (which is probably ten times too much), and hauling seemingly endless bags and a pair of suitcases and a wheelchair and a portable commode from Point A to Point B. Of course it would have to be during the hottest day of the year so far! It felt like Murphy's Law was definitely in play in that regard.

Before the grand haul, we took the cats over the special "pet hotel" in Petsmart. We gave the staff their food and said goodbye as they were whisked back to their own Kitty Cottage. Pippa once again protested all the way, while Inkblot was calm for most of the trip, until he realized there was a Doggie Daycare nearby, with a lot of dogs present. Then he started growling and expressing his displeasure, but he was soon whisked back to the cat section to be with his sister. We won't be able to visit them, but that's probably for the best, as that would only confuse them all the more.

We stopped at the Mexican restaurant next door to the facility and gratefully had dinner between the first and second trips to the house. We will be headed back tomorrow morning to hand off a set of house keys to the fumigators so they can gain the necessary access to the house.  Himself is already vowing to stop by frequently to keep an eye on events.

I will definitely be sleeping soundly tonight. 

Day 247: on the important business

Himself and I awoke earlier than usual to pop the cats into their carriers and drive over to the Humane Society today to take advantage of their Sunday Vaccination clinics, where we can get their shots for $10 a pop. As they needed their FVRCP vaccines and their Rabies vaccines, that waS $40 total - perfect for folks on a budget like us. Pippa was none too happy with the experience, vocalizing her displeasure all the way down and back; Inkblot, in contrast, barely made a peep. I'm not sure whether he took comfort from his sister's presence, or whether he might actually be getting used to riding in a car. :o

I'm glad we got up and moving when we did: the clinic is on a first-come, first-served basis, and they cut off their intake at 75 critters. We wound up at the "tail end" of the line at numbers 67 & 68. The cats have been hating on us ever since they got home, being friendly for mealtime but not much else. Starting tomorrow, they will be really hating on us once we drop them off at PetSmart! That's where the post-fumigation can of people tuna will come in. ;)

The other miracle of the day came when I tidied up in front of our bed in our bedroom. I managed to get rid of a whole bunch of magazines that I was initially saving for collaging, but popped into the recycling bin instead. There will always be more magazines to peruse and harvest images from! I'm very proud of myself right now for managing to Let Go where I had Clung Tightly before. We also dropped off some clothes and shoes at the Goodwill up the street, as I'm on a bit of a mission to empty out all plastic bags before we leave for a week. I don't want any of the noxious gas to be left behind, waiting for a chance to shoot up any unsuspecting nostrils.

Side note: I have tried in the past to sell clothes before, but the amount I received for my wardrobe castoffs didn't even cover the gas money used to transport them. Unless you're a fashion- forward size two through size six, don't bother; just donate instead. Besides, I found myself holding onto the bags while waiting till the "perfect moment" to sell them, and that meant they were just sitting around doing nothing while I was occupied by Life. I'm working on Just Letting Stuff Go instead of waiting for that Perfect Moment to Sell and Make Money. In the end, I'm remembering it's more about clearing out space and less about gaining pocket money.

Tonight and tomorrow is the packing of all the food we are not taking with us into the special bags. Tomorrow is the day we depart onto our "forced" Fumigation Staycation. I choose to believe I am doing the best I can do, and will just leave the rest for when we return home.

Day 246: on further romping

Outside of our master bedroom there is what we call the "ventricle." It's not a full patio, but a small place of privacy outside of the bedroom door. It has a couple of hedge bushes and a bouganvillea bush which can provide further privacy. The foliage can also grow quite explosively and rapidly during seasons of significant rainfall, which we had this past spring.

Today I armed myself with clippers and tacked the jungle outside our door. Not counting breaks, I spent about an hour and a half first chopping down all the excessive growth, then using our handy wheeled trash can to haul the clippings out to the closest (and emptiest) dumpster. I took a picture when I was done and sent it to Himself.

Afterwards, I took a nice long shower, then prepared dinner. I found myself napping briefly after dinner, but I woke up to take a lap around the complex to make my activity goals for the day, along with getting the mail. I love the long warm Summer days, even when I have to tackle pruning. The temperatures are finally hitting their seasonal average - it was 81 today, and forecast to be in the high 80's at the start of the workweek - but the secret is the lower levels of humidity in the SoCal air. Comparatively speaking, it's a dry heat; anyone tired of the East Coast humidity is welcome to come and stay for awhile.

Plenty to do tomorrow, so I will stop here and assemble our second cat carrier.