Covering her food

It was a long day today.  I didn't have any cats in my bed last night, it was lonely.  I got up, took my shower, ate my protein bar, and got dressed. 

I did my God Time later, more on that in a minute. 

We went to Sam's club to get candy bars.  I was almost out of Snickers. 

I bought Snickers, 3 kinds of granola bars, and some other thing I forget.  Oh, peanut butter M&M's.  They are a good seller. 

I had one of my tote bags.  It all just fit. 

Our ride came to take us to work.  He tried to get out of taking us by saying he was "full" and would have to do a "send back".  I said there was plenty of room if Ron rode in his wheelchair, in the wheelchair compartment, and someone in the backseat moved over. 

I told him we were going to "work, not a workshop" and "We should at least try".  So, he decided to "let" us ride. 

As it turns out, he had a supervisor in the front seat, I was in the backseat with two slow people.  After they got out, the driver had to chase them down and give them their lunches. 

Apparently it was more important to get them to their workshop (translated: daycare) than it was to get us to work.  We rode almost an hour.  It's a good thing I work for Ron because the system is very unreliable about getting us to work by our appointment times. 

We got to work.  The supervisor got out and got into a supervisor vehicle instead.  I put the candy in Ron's lap and pushed him from visitor parking, into the building. 

First, thing, though, I had to clear out the stockroom.  Ron wanted to run change.  He worked on that while I stocked snacks.  I did candy and chips, but I didn't need to do a whole lot of chips, just plain chips and Cheez-it.  They love their Cheez-it.  I stock the original kind. 

I finished that up and Ron got to work on the bottled vendor.  I helped him get drinks, and replace them, in the fridge. 

Then I helped him with canned sodas. 

All done, time to go home. 

We had a very short wait to go home.  The ride was straight, which was great, and it was a "crazy" driver we both like a lot.  He's a really good driver. 

We got home and I tried to take a nap, but Ron kept talking.  I finally had to remind him I was trying to sleep.  He wasn't talking to me, but himself. 

I was so tired.  When my alarm when off I hit the snooze button a couple times.  I finally got up and did half my God Time (the Bible study portion). 

Then we went out to dinner at the taqueria.  I had 3 shrimp tacos.  They featured delicious grilled shrimp, lettuce, and tomato. 

I had to take my pills and I just knew tortilla, lettuce, tomato, and grilled shrimp would not hold them.  I would have gotten very sick and/or felt like I was getting stabbed to death. 

So I ordered a small cheese quesadilla and ate that as well.  It was very good, melty and crispy around the edges.  It worked.  I didn't get sick. 

Ron had a margarita.  Then he had a fajita quesadilla.  It had grilled beef and cheese.  He really liked it, and ate half (these things are huge).  I would like to meet the person who could eat an entire large quesadilla.  I know I sure can't. 

Ron called and got the bad news.  Dispatch said our ride would be coming in 2 hours, instead of 40 minutes.  Ron was pretty upset. 

We decided to call some cabs we know and no one was interested in the trip.  Ron called Yellow Cab and put the trip out there for them.  No one was interested.  Ron finally called Mike, who said he'd come. 

Ron got another margarita and started on it.  Suddenly, a paratransit driver walked in the door. 

"Oh, that's funny" I thought "She's here on her lunch".  Then she looked at us and called Ron by name.  Oops.  I guess we do have a ride. 

Ron called Mike back, cancelling, and apologizing for "bothering" him.  Mike seemed OK with it. 

Ron slurped at his drink like a baby with a bottle, then finally pushed himself away from the table.  I took him outside (leftovers hanging in a takeout container, in a plastic bag, on the back of the wheelchair).  It was a big van, we got Ron loaded. 

Ron's seat was very squeaky and annoying.  I had to fold my seat down and admired the tidy way the driver had fastened the seatbelts. 

Once we got home, I fastened the seatbelts on Ron's seat, the way I'd seen on mine, and folded Ron's seat up.  Good.  That way, if she has another "ambulatory", she can direct them to the quiet seat. 

I got Ron in the house and put up the leftovers. 

I fed the cats.  Baby Girl went crazy "covering" her canned food tonight, kept trying to drag a whole paper bag over the top of her food.  She wouldn't stop until I put a plastic bag on top of the food to "hide" it from other predators.  Then she spent as much time covering her waste in the litterbox. 

She's a strange cat. 

I finished my God Time and watched a little Intervention.  I always cry when they have a happy ending. 

Then I turned on the computer. 

Ron didn't want any trips tomorrow, and it might rain, so I agreed.  I can always go somewhere on the bus if I want. 

I just wish I wasn't so tired all the time.  At least my blood test proved I'm not anemic. 

Small prey

I woke up with a nasty headache at 3 AM.  I took some aspirin and went back to bed.  I woke up at 4 and reset my alarm for later. 

I got up, got dressed, and drank 2 Diet Mountain dews instead of one.  The second one seemed to help a lot. 

We went to work.  I had some stocking to do but not much.  We finally remembered to bring the toolbox today, now I have picks, pliers, and screwdrivers on hand.  I think the only other thing we might need is a socket set. 

But.  The only time I see one of those is when we've called the repairman.  If it's a "socket" job it's probably beyond my scope to fix. 

Ron ran change after the other vendor left.  I was happy to see the coinsorter is still working.  I give God the credit on that, showing me what I needed to do to fix it. 

God made the universe, He can certainly fix the ___ (fill in the blank). 

I didn't need to take any more pain killers but I did drink a lot (for me) of diet soda.  Something about a cold, sweet drink when I have a headache, really seems to help.  I really got some sugar when Ron and I split a bottle of the new juice we're selling.  It was pretty good. 

We'll see what the customers think.  I took the money out of the machines and it was a decent amount.  I guess I get paid this week.  Ron also ran some change to take to the bank.  They like presorted change.  We dump it in a giant plastic bag with an adhesive strip.  The bank teller fills out some paperwork, which goes in the bag along with the change.  We deposit it and they credit our account the same day. 

If needed, they would do an adjustment if it wasn't what we claimed it to be.  That has only happened once and Ron got it fixed.  It was some dollars and some cents, including pennies.  The deposit was only quarters.  How could we have pennies?  They fixed it.  Since then, no problems. 

So, that will happen pretty soon, I won't say when.  I wish we had a hand cart, because those buckets of coins are heavy!

Ron finished that.  We were done.  I realized I was out of Snickers. 

I managed to pull some from a less-popular machine but I still had to scramble.  We will get some more candy tomorrow. 

We came home.  I was pretty tired, the headache had worn me out.  I took a nap and woke up before the alarm. 

I did my God Time and watched a little TV before we left the house.  We went to Arby's and got some roast beef sandwiches.  They gave us the perfect amount of time. 

I bought another bag of cat food, too.  Now we don't have to go to the store for probably another month.  The cat food lasts a lot longer now. 

Speaking of, I need to feed Biscuit.  Done.  I'm putting the food on the floor (the plate, with the wet food) now, because Baby Girl keeps knocking it on the floor anyway when she "covers" it.  It's possible she is all, or part Bengal cat.  She loves to "cover" her food as if she were covering waste in the litter box. 

Easier to work with her than to fight it.  She's a stubborn girl. 

Biscuit brought home a lizard earlier, he had a lot of fun with it until I caught it and let it go outside.  Lizards don't bother me at all.  He did get part of the tail so hopefully it learns to stay out of the catio from now on.  It literally had to walk into the lion's (cat's) den to get caught, because Biscuit isn't wandering around outside anymore. 

I'm glad they can still hunt, and very glad it isn't any larger prey.  Ugh. 

So, now I'm going to watch a little TV and go to bed.  We have an early day tomorrow. 

Sunday brunch

I had a pretty quiet day. 

I slept in until 8, woke up, had a diet soda, took a shower, took my pills with a snack, and did my God Time.  I read the Bible through every year.  I've done it for a while now.  God knows how many times I've read the Bible through, I'd say "More than once, less than 10". 

I decided to take a nap, after my God Time.  However, one of my neighbors decided to play loud music, starting at 11:30.  It woke me up.  I think it was the people behind us.  Ron didn't want to investigate so I didn't.  I just made sure it wasn't #19.  We couldn't hear the words but the bass was very loud.  The people behind us had their patio door open, and a boy playing in the yard, so I think it was them.  He's probably the one who broke that board on my fence.  I had to cover it up with another board so the dog didn't get through. 

They have a vicious dog.  I wonder sometimes if that's who got Gravy before I had to put him down. 

I got up and talked to Ron for a little bit.  TNT was showing another Lord of the Rings movie, so I watched that for a little bit.  I cooked one of my frozen lasagnas, which had a hot-lava molten consistency when I took it out of the microwave.  I had to let it sit for about 10 minutes to make sure it was safe.  By the time I felt safe eating it, it was cold.  This is why I don't like lasagna.  It did claim to have a lot of protein, though, but it was definitely light on the cheese. 

I got that down and took my afternoon pills.  Ron said he was going to get drunk and go back to bed (after discussing tomorrow's trips), so I took another nap.  Biscuit joined me.  I slept OK in spite of the music, which went until probably 5.  Everyone else was pretty quiet. 

It was a nice cuddle with Biscuit.  He would lay his leg on top of mine, press his legs against me, etc.  Even when I moved, he stayed in the bed, cuddling.  He's such a sweet boy. 

He even gets in my lap sometimes.  He has become a real cuddle cat.  Bubba (the black cat in my photos) only got in my lap once, during his whole life.  I was very depressed about Ron's drinking and wondering if I would have to leave him.  I was sitting in a chair out back and Bubba came up to me, getting in my lap.  I was freezing out there but I stayed put because I knew this was a one-time-deal.  And, sure enough, Bubba never got in my lap again. 

Baby Girl gets in Ron's lap, when he's lying down.  She didn't transfer any of that to me when he was in the hospital, she just moped around the house crying.  I finally brought her some dirty laundry, an old shirt he had worn for a few days, and let her smell it.  She was happy after that.  Torbie is my most cuddly cat, and Biscuit comes in second. 

I finally got up.  Ron's still asleep.  He's really quiet.  Times like this I wonder "Is he dead?".  I'm sure he isn't, but I will probably go check before I go to bed, just to be sure. 

I have to get up at 4 AM, so I'll probably just watch a little bit of Hoarders before I go to bed. 

I hope you had a good weekend.  I pray for you every day. 

Saturday night

It's been a long day, but a good one. 

It started off terribly.  I had a nightmare Ron was rolling around a parking lot, looking sharp and on top of things.  I felt such a sense of pride in his ability, in spite of everything. 

Then a huge white box truck raced into the parking lot, crunching Ron in his wheelchair.  What a horrible way to wake up. 

I spent the next 45 minutes curled up with Biscuit, in my bed.  I did my God Time later. 

Biscuit and I got up, I brushed my teeth, and I fed him.  He was a happy boy and didn't vomit this time.  He's a puker.  I love him, but he pukes.  A lot.  He also walks around with a dirty butt because he apparently doesn't know how to clean it.  I put him on a diet in case it's his weight, but I saw him cleaning the base of his tail today without touching his butt area. 

I believe he was taken from his mother, too young.  A cat needs to be at least 8-12 weeks old to function OK.  They can manage, if you take them younger, or the mother dies, but it's best for their overall emotional and physical health to wait until the mother is hissing at them and chasing them off, before you take them. 

That's my theory behind his grooming issue.  Now Gravy was always happy to groom Biscuit, but Gravy's gone now and Biscuit's left walking around with a dirty butt.  And his butt is white, everything shows. 

Ew.  I never really wonder why poor Biscuit got dumped in the woods by his first family.  If it wasn't the puking, it was the butt. 

I still love him, though.  He's my boy.  He got in my lap a couple times tonight as I finally finished my Lord of the Rings movie.  We had a good time. 

I wish he let me kiss him on his head, but he won't.  He hates it.  Sometimes I do it anyway. 

Enough about Biscuit.  I took my shower and got dressed in one of my performance t-shirts.  We went to the warehouse. 

Ron had confirmed with "Jack" so we knew he was coming.  Ron only needed 19 cases, including 2 "smaller" cases of juice bottles.  I talked him into buying the "good" 100% juice drinks, instead of the cheaper, 7% juice, corn syrup laden drinks.  I was so ashamed to stock those. 

He agreed, and I think he will warm up to the idea.  I want to sell quality products.  So yeah, we don't make 12 cents a bottle.  I can live with that.  We make plenty of profit on the other drinks. 

I bought the snacks I thought I needed and checked out.  Jack came on time and we loaded the truck. 

We had a good ride to work and then I got the carts, brought them out, and we loaded them.  Jack remembers how I like things (I try not to be bossy or imperious), and does it.  He's a good guy. 

I hope he wants to continue helping us for a long time. 

I got everything in the building.  Ron decided to do the bottled vendor first, instead of last.  Made a lot of sense to me. 

I did snacks while he did that.  He needed, I think, 4 cases for that. 

I restocked the fridge and put our new water in there to chill, along with the juice.  I bought (with my own money) some sugarfree, caffeine free, "health nut" soda and managed to cram that in there too.  Now I have something to drink that won't make me fat, or hyper. 

I mailed my health insurance check, all $400 of it.  If I put the money in a health savings account I wouldn't need health insurance, just a catastrophic plan, although I guess what I have is a catastrophic plan. 

We finished stocking and left.  We came home. 

Two cars were in the driveway at #2.  I heard them moving in last night.  We shall see if they are "good" or not.  One of them blasted their horn several times as they came home tonight, after 10 PM.  I didn't think that was "cool", especially as we get up so early most days.  At any rate, two compact cars with Illinois plates.  I am guessing they're from Chicago.  If I get a chance to talk to them I will ask. 

I took a nap.  I didn't sleep very well, and overslept.  I meant to wake up an hour before our next pickup and do my God Time, but I forgot to set my alarm.  I only had 20 minutes, not enough time.  I try to "work" my God Time in like that if at all possible. 

Ron and I went out for BBQ.  He was very angry about the trips but, as I asked him, was nice to the driver.  They were a little slow making my pancakes, especially considering it was very slow at the time, but I got them eventually and they were good.  Ron kept wanting bites.  He got ribs. 

I don't like ribs, too fatty I guess, although I love sausage and that's like 90% grease.  Sometimes I can eat sausage, sometimes not.  It depends on my medication. 

Speaking of, I took my medication and drank my diet soda. 

We had a good ride home with a driver who hadn't seen us in a while.  He took the toll road so we paid the toll.  $1.25 seemed like a good deal to skip all those red lights. 

We came home and #6 had all the kids outside playing.  I was glad I planned to be in the front of the house, watching my movie.  The movie was 3 hours long.  They were pretty much done by then.  There was a strange car parked out front, two of them actually, so I guess they were having a small party. 

I know they're going to have a birthday party (read: loud, late-night uproar) next Saturday but it's forecast to rain.  It's possible they had the party this week instead, but I think they would have had more cars.  I think they are just having one this week and one next week. 

If I know they're having a party, I can plan for it.  I can be out of the house.  I can watch a movie.  I can work on the computer.  I can do something in the front of the house, where the noise is diminished.  I DON'T have to lie in my bed right next to the uproar begging God to please clear all the Bad Thoughts out of my head, and replace them with good ones. 

Happily, Ron also said he will not be doing the very early morning soda delivery next week, he's going to wait another week.  Nothing worse than a late night party next door when I got up at 2 AM. 

The movie was good, I liked it.  Lord of the Rings is always good.  They sure did a lot of commercials, though. 

You may find this funny, but I don't own a DVD player.  I have one, in my computer, but I seldom use it for that.  I have some DVD's but I don't watch them (maybe 5).  I generally just watch movies on TV.  And it's funny, because my Dad's side of the family was always so into watching movies at the theater, watching them on the VCR, renting movies every Friday or Saturday night was a part of my childhood. 

And here Ron is begging me to watch "a movie" once every couple of weeks.  I may let him pick a couple to watch next week during the party. 

I don't have a DVR, either.  I wouldn't know how to hook it up to my cable box.  Pretty funny coming from a woman who used to build her own computers. 

I need to download a freeware office program.  I, happily, have "a guy" I know online (known him for over a decade, from back in my message board days) who is a computer guru.  He can advise me on a good free program to use.  It's nice to have a computer guy. 

And I have a computer guy here in Houston, a couple miles away, if the new computer program eats my hard drive and I need to reinstall Windows 7.  [grin]  He, of course, charges. 

Torbie's been good, she sleeps with me almost every night.  Baby Girl remains Ron's baby.  She isn't "mine" in any real sense.  She is all about Ron, who is currently upset that she is now laying against his right leg, instead of the customary left leg, during their cuddles. 

But just when I dismiss Baby Girl as "just living here" I'm reminded how she slept with me the night Bubba died, at least until a drunken Ron went staggering down the hall waving the cat treats.  She loves to sleep in Ron's wheelchair, he always has to check it. 

Sometimes Biscuit will get into the wheelchair.  If I hadn't seen him do it, the white cat hairs on the black nylon would be a dead giveaway. 

That's one reason I'm glad I wear cheap clothes; the cats, when they get in my lap (Biscuit and Torbie) love to dig their claws into the fabric of my clothes and pull, leaving little snags here and there.  It doesn't matter with a $12 pair of jeans, or a $3 t-shirt.  It would matter a lot more if I had any kind of investment in my clothing. 

Not to mention the cat hair.  Easily half of my laundry time is cat hair removal. 

That's it.  Have a good weekend.  God willing, I plan to sleep late tomorrow. 

A short post, for a change

Today was better.  Ron made some noise last night and kept me up, but I was able to sleep in until 9 AM.  That was great.  I got up, took a shower, did my God time. 

Ron apologized without doing so, if you are married to someone like that you know what I mean.  He was solicitous and concerned. 

Have I mentioned how much more I like sober Ron? 

I took a nap and slept pretty well.  I had a strange dream about my earlobes growing.  I woke up and watched some crime dramas for a while, swept the front room, and waited for my Lord of the Rings movie to come on. 

Ron woke up and asked me if I would watch another movie, it was cute, he swore, and not depressing, no adultery, just "fun".  I said OK. 

It didn't have closed captioning.  I "get" more of the movie or TV show when it has captioning.  Most major productions have this but it wasn't a major production. 

I watched it.  Yes, it was cute.  When we turned it off Ron got a call from a friend, so they talked for a while. 

I got online and checked Facebook and my message boards, then set my alarm for tomorrow. 

People are moving in next door at #2.  Let's hope they are the married couple with the teenage daughter we were promised.  Let's pray they are quiet and we don't have any parking issues. 

The landlady has promised us they will not have any pets.  So I don't have to worry about a dog barking all the time like I did with the Barkappotamous back in 2010-2011. 

Here's to hoping I have a good time watching my movie and a good night's sleep.  Have a good weekend. 

Horrible movies that make me cry

Yesterday was pretty uneventful, a day off.  We went to Carl's Junior and had breakfast, came home, took a nap. 

Later on, Ron told me "I don't remember how many shots I've had, but I'm going to have another.  I might have a blackout."  He did. 

When he woke up this morning, his hands were covered in blood.  I don't know what happened.  I don't see any apparent injury on him, except maybe he bit his lip.  He was filthy and there was blood on my kitchen floor.  I think it is sad that I know what "blood on my kitchen floor" looks like as opposed to juice, BBQ sauce, etc. 

Just SAD. 

God help me if he ever dies at home, the crime scene people are going to have a field day. 

We went to work today.  One of my customers yelled as us and said "He'd been looking for us" in an ominous tone.  Another woman confronted me about "my" vending machine ripping her off for $3.  It belonged to the other vendor.  I explained.  She was still pissed when she left, but at least not at me anymore. 

I did snacks, I had enough inventory to do so, and helped Ron with sodas.  He got hung up doing canned sodas so I stocked most of the bottled vendor.  He decided to "improve" on my stocking, which meant I had to go fetch him another case of water, 25 minutes before our pickup. 

I really hate it when he saves "Important" things for last, then runs around with the pickup deadline approaching, and causes chaos.  It is a lot easier just to DO all that crap to start, then do the less important stuff (say, stocking the root beer), last.  I also helped him do his inventory.  We have 3 cases of Sprite, we don't need any more. 

We left and came home. 

I took a nap.  I didn't sleep well last night with Ron making noise, eating, probably falling, etc. 

It took me a little while to fall asleep but I did.  I slept pretty well for a couple of hours, and woke up with Torbie in the bed. 

Biscuit slept with me last night, but hogged the center of the bed.  At one point I had to physically move him so I could roll over.  Biscuit gets away with a lot I would never tolerate from Ron. 

After I woke up, I finished the laundry (I had started it yesterday).  I hung it all up. 

Ron got his booze delivery from Chuck, a whole case of vodka.  Chuck mentioned Ron looked pretty rough "With those black eyes that mean you haven't been sleeping".  Ron blew it off. 

I wish he could have seen my kitchen floor, and Ron's bloody hands this morning.  He really looked like he just murdered someone. 

Ron started drinking, then began bugging me to watch a movie with him.  It was a short film, 20 minutes long. 

I said I would watch it, if he stopped drinking.  I didn't want to watch it with him drunk. 

He said OK and set it up.  At some point he turned on a Spanish-language channel by accident and I had to deal with all the jabbering and talking bananas, etc.  I changed it. 

He got the film loaded.  It's called "Naked".  At the start of the film, the woman asks her husband what he would do on the last day of his life.  He tells her. 

During the course of the film it is revealed he is having an affair.  I wasn't happy about that.  I have repeatedly told Ron I don't want to watch movies about cheating, as it brings up bad memories. 

But he won't listen.  He tells me to "get over it".  I actually told him he wouldn't understand what a kind of blow it is to be cheated on, without me cheating on him.  Not that I plan to.  I plan to keep the high ground, thank you very much.   I didn't say that. 

Now he's telling me he wants me to "Hook him up with Mary" one of the women he cheated on me with, who friended me on Facebook.  He wanted me to teach her how to run the vending business.  I ended up blocking her due to her extreme personal dramas and devout adherence to liberal doctrine.  She also has, like, six kids.  Plus fosters and daycare kids.  Her boyfriend is on dialysis. 

I admit, I bit the hook.  I told him that was ridiculous.  I forgot to mention Mary has a health condition that prohibits a lot of walking or standing, so she couldn't help with the vending business even assuming she packed up the whole clan and moved to Houston.  Loading a truck?  Laughable.  Ron's not going to allow 6 kids, plus all her pets, into his space.  I told him this.  Where would they all fit in a 2 bedroom home? 

He said, if I hated him so much, I could just leave.  I told him I didn't hate him, I was just asking not to watch movies about cheating.  I didn't get a chance to tell him I was hurt, not angry, by the movie.  I certainly didn't mention the suicide theme at the end was very triggering for someone in "chronic pain" and battling suicide on a regular basis. 

I certainly wouldn't give him that weapon, because he would have told me to "go ahead and do it, and do the world a favor" or something like that. 

I just told him, again, I was asking politely not to be forced to watch movies about cheating.  I told him it was reasonable and he could certainly ensure that.  If not in the movie description, he would glean it from "watching" the movie. 

I didn't get a chance to tell him I'm not really into movies with gratuitous sexual content, either.  I guess I can gag my way through those if he'll just get rid of the cheating movies. 

So, he did his usual tirade, "Nobody wants you, everyone hates you, I should get rid of you and make my life better" routine.  "Even your family hates you"

Oh, the abusive ones, or the decent souls?  The decent souls seem to like me pretty well, thanks.  The abusive/dysfunctional ones I cut off.  I didn't tell him that.  I just did my stoic thing. 

Ugh.  He didn't sleep well last night, and I don't think he slept today.  I am hoping he will fall asleep pretty fast tonight and be OK in the morning. 

But it's going to be a long time before I watch a movie he selects, again.  He is always picking these horrible movies that make me cry. 

Homebody

We had a pretty quiet day off. 

I got up, did my God Time, took my shower, etc.  We went to Walmart.  I bought tools and a toolbox for work.  I also bought a multi-tool for the house.  I had time to buy a pair of capris (I only have one pair and they are tighter than I would like).  They didn't have very deep pockets but I can make them work. 

I even had time to try on a couple of bras, buy two, pay the electric bill, and make my deposit for the health insurance.  I tried on a new pair of steel toed work sneakers and threw them in the basket.  We can't forget buying more diet soda, and, of course more cat food.  I even stayed close to my budget. 

All in all a pretty productive day.  Ron called a cab to go home. 

The driver didn't want to let us go, and kept talking.  We let him. 

I got everything into the house and put it away.  I took my medication (I'd woken up with a headache and waited a little bit on the morning pills) and ate a snack.  I went to take a nap. 

I didn't sleep very well and finally got up around 3.  I balanced my budget and took out the garbage.  I did a little de-hoarding. 

I still need to talk to the boss about the disposition of the Rowe food machine parts. 

I've had a thought in mind for years now (I've been blogging for a decade now).  It's about the wheelchair.  I always forget to talk about it. 

When Ron ended up in the wheelchair, I had some questions.  We would need access.  We would need a near-ground level entrance, wide enough for the wheelchair.  The house/area would have to have paths wide enough for the wheelchair, and a surface conducive to movement. 

I never, ever, thought about the ongoing struggle I would have with removing chairs.  Everywhere we go, save work, we have to move a chair out of the way so Ron can "sit". 

I never thought of that.  It is so frustrating.  At work, they have special tables that have a vacant spot for a wheelchair to roll up "under".  Ron chains his work wheelchair up in one of those locations.  The only problem we had with that was a very large woman, who apparently didn't fit in the regular seats, pulling out Ron's "250 pound maximum" wheelchair, unfolding it, and sitting in it.  We could tell because it had been moved. 

When Ron made a comment about someone's "wide ass" in his wheelchair, another postal worker objected and said "She's not that big".  Ron asked her to please tell her friend not to sit in the wheelchair, she was going to break it, and he needed it to get around. 

She tried to tell us it was a postal wheelchair.  We told her it was not, it was personal property and NO ONE HAD PERMISSION to use it. 

The next day, we found it moved again.  Ron began chaining it so it cannot be unfolded.  You have to have a key to the lock, open the lock, take off the chain, and then unfold the wheelchair.  We saw the chair moved, like someone had tried to sit in it, but it was apparent they were not able to. 

Sad we have to do this.  You'd think we could just leave the wheelchair. 

Anyway, wheelchair seating.  It's ongoing.  Everywhere we go I'm having to move a chair.  Worst of all are the places with fixed chairs.  The chair is fixed in place and cannot be moved.  Where does Ron sit?  Usually we can find a table (it's nearly always at a restaurant) that has a movable chair, I move that, and Ron "sits". 

I suppose it's not cost-effective to have a special wheelchair seating area.  So I keep moving the chairs. 

After the accident I was very glad we had moved from our third flood apartment.  I loved living there but there is no way Ron could have gotten up the stairs.  The stairs wobbled, alarmingly, everytime we walked up and down.  It was one of those "clusters of small buildings" apartment complexes, so it didn't have an elevator. 

At the time of Ron's accident, we were living in a duplex, about 1100 square feet, the largest place we've ever had.  I didn't need all the space but I do miss the walk in closet.   Every apartment (3) I had in Houston had a walk-in closet and they were all pretty basic apartments. 

Ron was talking about fancy hotels tonight, and said he wanted to stay in one.  I said it's not that big a deal. 

My Dad wasn't poor, and when we traveled we stayed in basic motels.  All you really need is a bed, a toilet, and a shower.  One time, on a road trip, I stayed at a Motel 6.  It was fine. 

I stayed at a fancy hotel before my niece's wedding.  I believe we spent 2-3 days.  It was very crowded.  See, it was a very nice hotel but they only had so much money, so they crammed 4 of us into one room.  I had to share a bed with two other people. 

The first time, my sister's friend slept in my bed "because she needed a nap".  I remember thinking I was the one who needed the nap.  My sister never took my illness seriously when I visited.  She would keep me up late, late meals, etc.  On more than one occasion I had to tell her "I need to eat, and take my pills, NOW". 

So, I had some strange woman sleep in my bed - instead of my sister's, which would have been more appropriate.  Then I shared the bed with my niece (not the one who was getting married).  That was fine, I was OK with that, but it was odd. 

I would have just as soon stayed at a Super 8 and had my own room, or at least my own bed.  But it wasn't my wedding, it was someone else's, and enough drama in there for a lifetime. 

So, I told Ron, I stayed in a nice hotel.  It cost a fortune.  The showerhead was lousy, no water pressure.  The water wasn't really hot.  Plus side, it did have nice sheets.  I used to work in a linen shop and I know good sheets. 

I think it had a fridge but it didn't have a microwave.  Did I mention a Super 8 has both? 

If it comes to a hotel I would just as soon stay at a Super 8.  They have fabulous shower heads, plenty of hot water, fridge, microwave, clean sheets, nice décor (to me), and are usually located near a good, low-cost eatery.  The one in Galveston is just blocks from two grocery stores and a Walmart. 

Now, if someone bought us a couple nights at a nice hotel (and I knew it didn't have bedbugs), we could take the time off work, I would take it, I think.  I would worry about the cats, who wouldn't understand (particularly Biscuit), but at heart, I'm just a homebody. 

I see that as a good thing. 

I am, today

Today found me hunched over the coin sorter, hand in it's innards, trying to extract a dime.  It was quite a challenge. 

First, though, I got up late and took a shower.  I got dressed.  I took some aspirin for my headache.  It was supposed to rain so I wore my cheap Bible Handout shoes instead of my "good" ones.  We had a good ride to work. 

I didn't have a lot to do for snacks but I did what I could.  I got the sandwiches in the pouring rain.  I stocked them.  I forgot to empty the waste bucket on the coffee machine, I just remembered.  Oh, well, worst case it will shut down. 

The other vendor left and Ron decided to sort change.  He got to work on the sorter.  I was engaged in something else when I heard him hollering for me. 

You can imagine how I felt when I found he had taken the cover off the coin sorter, and had his hand in the mechanism, while it was still plugged in.  The machine even has a little icon showing a hand getting crushed where he was working. 

I yelled at him and made him unplug the coin sorter.  We took all the change out of the sorter (to be sorted) and I used the upside down and shake it maneuver. 

It's a very technical, professional, move, only used by the finest electronics experts (grin).  I picked it up and held it upside down.  Then I shook it vigorously.  We heard coins flying out of the mechanism and when I looked, all of the jammed coins were gone, except for the dime. 

The dime was tightly wedged at the inlet.  I tried to pick at it with my pocket knife but it wasn't budging.  Frustration.  I worked on it for a while and Ron and I yelled at each other.  I told him to try it, maybe it would work anyway. 

It didn't. 

I decided it was too crowded in the stockroom so I took the unit out to a table and sat down.  I found something that said "Up" and had an arrow indicating, I thought, that it swiveled up.  I was right.  Now I had better access to the coin.  I got it up at a 45 degree angle but it was still tightly wedged. 

After a little thought, I borrowed an adjustable wrench (he didn't have a set of needle-nose pliers) and managed to get a good grip on the coin.  I began yanking as a couple of electronic technicians watched. 

"Are you an electronic technician?" one of them asked. 

"I am, today."  They laughed with me. 

HA!  Gotcha ya little weasel!  I looked at the bent, scuffed coin and dropped it in my pocket.  I didn't want it going through the coin sorter again. 

I took it back to Ron, the triumphant technician returning with the repaired item.  It worked!  Thank God.  I really didn't want to send it off to be repaired. 

Especially if it was something we could fix.  That pretty much ate up our whole day, so we began preparing to leave. 

Ron and I have decided to stock a toolkit at work so that doesn't happen again.  If I had a set of pliers and some sort of pick, I could have fixed it a lot faster.  Of course, we agree, now that we're doing this we will never need to use the tools. 

Ron was very appreciative of my repair.  I probably saved him $100+. 

We went home.  It was still raining but I put him in a garbage bag.  I put it on him, upside down, so it covers him to his thighs.  Then he sits in the wheelchair.  It keeps him dry, he says he has plenty of air, and he doesn't need eye holes. 

We ate and I took a nap.  I slept really well.  The headache is still gone. 

We were going to go to Walmart this afternoon but Ron begged not to go.  He set up another trip for tomorrow. 

This, to my mind, perfectly describes paratransit: "We will have either 20 minutes, or an hour".  Yeah.  I'm hoping for the hour. 

I am thinking I might need to buy a new set of work shoes.  The heel cup is coming loose in my left work shoe.  It isn't bothering me yet but I don't want to wear shoes that are falling apart. 

They'd be fine to wear on a wet day, like today, when I don't want to ruin my "good" shoes.  Or I can leave them under a bus bench for a homeless person to scavenge.  I've done that plenty. 

I also need to get the stuff for the tool kit.  Maybe Thursday, we can clear out the underneath part of the snack machines and put all the "repair" stuff into one location.  I don't know why we haven't done this before. 

The cats can always use cat food but I am still OK for litter.  I just cleaned the box - boxes - before I sat down here.  Ron has a box in his room, that's his job.  I do the other 3. 

So, basically, it's my Friday night.  I get 2 days off which I plan to enjoy.  The weather will be nice, too. 

I "have" to make my deposit for the health insurance.  $385 probably seems like a good deal but I'm certain it's a crappy plan.  The only good thing about it was that I did get to keep my doctor.  All the crappy health insurance decisions run through him and I trust his training. 

OK, that's it for now.  Have a good one. 

"God wants you take the day off"

Yesterday, I woke up with a nasty headache.  It wasn't too bad, though.  I took a couple of aspirin and went back to bed for an hour.  Apparently I did my God Time later because my bookmarks were all moved forward today (to today's reading, not yesterday's). 

I got up and took a shower.  Headache still persisting.  I knew this would be a rugged day, as I had to go to Sam's Club and buy 20+ cases of drinks, put them on the cart, take them off the cart, move them around a lot.  Not going to be fun. 

I took my morning medication which probably flipped me into a full blown migraine.  Wellbutrin can make the blood vessels in my head clamp down, and that's bad if I have a headache already.  But I didn't want to be depressed, either. 

We went to the store and I bought everything, going light on the snacks.  We can always go back later for snacks.  I bought plenty of pastry and such. 

Since Snack #3, my "cookie" vending machine has been moved to a prominent location, I am really focusing on keeping it stocked.  Long story short, if you put in 3 quarters to buy a 70 cent item (our price on a 1 ounce bag of chips), you won't get your change.  2 repairmen have failed to fix the problem.  Cookies cost 75 cents, so they put in 3 quarters they aren't getting change.  If they put in a dollar they get their quarter back (at least, no one has told me otherwise).  So I keep it stocked with cookies.  When we raise prices, we can put chips in there but not until then. 

It does have what I call a "magic push" - if an item hangs up it keeps pushing the item out until it falls and breaks the laser beam at the bottom of the machine.  That is a very cool feature I have in 2 vending machines. 

I bought some blueberry muffins and ate one, with a cold soda, hoping that would help.  Sometimes it does.  It didn't. 

Jack was late.  Communication difficulties.  He finally showed and we loaded the truck.  I forgot to tip the guy who helped us.  I feel terrible about that. 

We went to work and unloaded.  On my way in with the mag-liner (a folding metal handcart), I got stuck in the door.  The door has an alarm, if it is held open too long it emits an earsplitting alarm.  It is horrible and the last thing I wanted with a headache. 

I had a choice, let the alarm go while I tried to fix it, or yank the cart through the door, letting a couple of cases of water fall on the floor.  I did the latter.  I got it in right as the alarm began to sound. 

Then I went out (there is a barricade, with metal bars and turnstiles for people without carts and wheelchairs), and examined the damage.  The water, as I'd assumed, was fine.  It's designed to take a lot of abuse, a 3-foot fall isn't going to do any damage.  The green tea, on the other hand, had a destroyed wrapper. 

Many soda products have less packaging now to please the eco-crowd.  Most items now have a small cardboard square on the bottom with a surrounding plastic wrap holding everything together.  The cardboard square does not have a lip or any way to hold the drinks in place. 

That's how they packaged the green tea.  The plastic wrap was destroyed, the drinks were fine, and the cardboard sat there looking at me, useless.  I had to leave it all over the floor and go find some kind of receptacle for the drinks. 

I found a reusable tote we use for coin dumps at the bank, and brought that back.  It fit all 24, 500ml, green teas just fine.  I propped the door open (only for about 30 seconds!) and quickly put the fallen waters back on the cart, then picked up the tote bag full of soda and put that on top.  Then I closed the door, before the alarm. 

I took that cart back to the fridge.  I unloaded the single tea bottles, one at a time, onto a happily vacant shelf.  Then I put the 8 cases of water into the fridge in their designated location. 

Now I could stock.  I took the cart back and viewed the machines.  The snacks didn't really need anything, so I will get them tomorrow.  I put the newly purchased snack items onto the rack and tried to help Ron, the whole while my head is ringing like a bell of pain. 

We finally finished and went home.  Our driver was a very tentative driver, going very slow.  I nearly vomited in his cab from the headache pain but I don't think he knew.  I was so happy to get out. 

Once I got Ron in the house, I took a Phenergan and went to bed.  Praise God the kids next door were quiet and let me sleep.  I woke up, a couple hours later, still feeling awful, ate another muffin, and went back to bed. 

I felt better when I finally woke up this morning, around 7.  I got up, took a shower, and did my God Time.  I don't know when I did my God Time yesterday, but I must have.  Maybe in the evening.  Still lots of sacrifices, which a pastor will tell you is to "remind us of our sinful nature".  Anything could make a person unclean back then. 

At any rate, I got dressed and ready.  We were going out to breakfast at the BBQ place. 

We had a good ride with a nice driver.  We had a long wait in line, which made me glad I had Ron in the wheelchair.  He ordered ribs with beans, I got French Toast.  I should have gotten some of those little breakfast links.  Those are so good. 

It was incredibly crowded, but a manager found us a table and put our food down (I can't carry a tray when I'm pushing the wheelchair).  We ate our food (mine, when it came), and left, because I told Ron they needed the table.  We waited outside for a while. 

Our driver was early, a guy we have had for years, but haven't seen in years.  It was nice to see him again.  We had a good time talking. 

We had a straight trip home.  I had taken "Everything" - a whole day's medication, at the restaurant, so I was pretty tired.  I took another nap. 

Torbie joined me.  I was going to do laundry but Ron talked me out of it, telling me God wanted me to take the day off. 

I'll buy that. 

I'm glad he's never had a migraine.  If he knew he was "making" me work with one, he would never forgive himself, but Jack can only help us on Saturday.  As far as he understands it was just a bad headache. 

It's my own fault, Friday night we went to Carl's Junior and I ate 2 chocolate chip cookies.  Chocolate can be a migraine trigger for me.  In this situation, it was. 

We have a severe weather front inbound and that may contribute, my aunt says that always sets her up for a migraine.  She has such bad ones she sees a specialist for them.  Ouch. 

It makes me glad I didn't have kids.  My cousins don't have migraines, but my mother did, and I would hate to watch a child of mine suffer with a migraine. 

So, I get a couple of hours to myself.  My vitamins came the other day so I gave Ron his Milk Thistle and B-12.  He says the b-12 helps with the neuropathy, enough that he asks for more.  I also got him some olive leaf, he was almost out. 

I think I'll go watch Hoarders for a while. 

Migraine

Migraine today. 

I'll do a long one tomorrow. 

"Retarded"

I got up at 2 AM, went back to bed for a while, and took my shower and did my God Time later. 

I got dressed and we went to work.  It was challenging. 

Don't get me wrong, the delivery came at 5:30 AM, but they increased the case price.  I stocked what I could and helped Ron, but he was in a very ugly mood and kept calling me "retarded".  I don't like that word but it's the one he used.  He was very derogatory and ugly to me. 

I was happy when he went off in the stockroom to run change (sorting it by denomination on a machine), but the other vendor objected to Ron's partial blockage of the door and reamed him out.  So I got to listen to the other vendor shouting at Ron, hoping desperately Ron would not respond in kind.  He didn't.  I guess he got it all out of his system on me. 

We agreed to only run change when he isn't around, that's easy enough to do.  Our section of the stockroom is so small Ron can't sit in his wheelchair, facing the wall, without blocking the door (partly).  We have 34 square feet.  It's tight. 

That settled to everyone's satisfaction, we got ready to leave.  Ron wanted to do last minute stocking.  My thinking, which I did not share, was "Why would you sort change with an unstocked vending machine?"  I always do "my" stocking first and then the other things. 

We left, had to wait a little while on the ride.  To think I rushed Ron out of there.  I could have walked all the way to the back of the building and back, in the time we waited.  Happily it was not raining. 

I have concluded my mood is "baseline" standard, normal.  I'm not really depressed and I'm certainly not manic. 

We went home.  I was pretty tired.  I had been exposed to several, clearly sick, people at work.  I took everything I could and drank a whey protein shake with glutamine.  Huh, the spell checker recognized glutamine.  I tried to take a nap but I was still pretty wound up from all the shouting earlier, and the 3 cans of diet soda I drank while working. 

I got up after a couple of hours and took my shower, then changed my clothes.  The "old" clothes went into the laundry room, on the floor. 

The cats appeared to be starving, and had eaten most of their breakfast, so I fed them again. 

We went to Carl's Junior, where I encountered yet more sick people.  I don't know what it is, but it's making the rounds in Houston.  It seems to be a cold.  If it is, it may be the one I already caught back in December.  I sure hope so.

I ate my food.  Ron had eaten at home, for some reason, but got a burger to go.  We had about an hour.  Ron wanted to do his whole doom-and-gloom-why-God-why routine.  I finally asked him to stop after about a half hour. 

"Would you like me to talk about my depression for an hour?" I asked him.  He had to agree he would not.  We talked about work, and the cats, instead.  Not great, but better. 

Our ride came, a driver we liked, and we went home.  It was about 3:30.  I decided to "try" another nap. 

I didn't sleep well last night, we had sick people everywhere I went, and the immune system is most active when you're sleeping. 

I laid down.  At first I was pretty wound up but I fell asleep.  I woke up when the #6 kids came home.  I went back to sleep for another hour until one of the kids screamed loudly, right outside my bedroom wall.  I got up and did my God Time. 

Maybe it's selective memory, but I don't remember my parents allowing us to be loud like that.  We were not allowed to scream at the top of our lungs unless we had just been badly injured.  The rest of the time, we were disciplined.  But I guess all this "new" permissive parenting says it will crush their little spirits to tell them to "Shhh!"

I need to gird myself, they are going to have another party in a couple of weeks.  March 6 is one of their birthdays (I don't know who, so it doesn't matter if I share it).  The weekend before will probably be the party. 

I did my God Time.  I am in Leviticus and it is hard going.  It's all about the various offerings and how they are to be prepared.  Rivers of blood, literally. 

I'm glad Jesus paid the price so we don't need to sacrifice animals anymore.  It must have been a whole industry for sacrificial animals.  Of course it had to be a perfect animal but I believe there is an offering that "allows" the congregant to offer an imperfect animal.  I haven't gotten to it yet. 

I checked Facebook.  Someone had a baby, and named it the same "original" name some other friends of mine used about 9 months ago, for their little boy.  It reminds me of Heather in my generation.  Every parent thought they were being unique and breaking barriers by naming their daughter Heather.  And we ended up with thousands of Heathers in my generation, all over the country.  I remember my Girl Scout troop had 3 Heathers.  We called each other by our full name.  Heather Smith, Heather Jones, etc.  Not their real names. 

Someone else posted a metal version of "Land of Confusion" by Genesis.  It is very similar to the original.  The video is better, though.  The Genesis video was just weird. 

Now I need to check on our pickup and see when I have to get up tomorrow.  It's early, I know that. 

Yup, it's early. 

That's it for now.  Have a good weekend. 

Poker face

My bed got a little crowded last night.  Torbie likes to sleep near my left hip, and recently Biscuit's been joining us, lying near my right leg.  They don't leave me much room to toss and turn. 

I had odd dreams about a little girl from India, involved in sex trafficking.  Sad but true, she exists.  Maybe not the girl in my dream, but the poor over there are exploited.  Desperate mothers will sell their children, knowingly or unknowingly, into prostitution just to put food on the table for a few days. 

I was pretty cozy, snuggled with the cats, so I hit the snooze button a few times before I got up.  I got up, did my usual morning routine.  I just finished my God Time, I didn't have time for it earlier. 

We went to work.  We discovered the dead food machine missing.  I hope our guys took it.  I tracked down the custodians and apologized to them.  The floor, under the machine,  had a layer of sticky crap, topped by a layer of dust.  I had planned to bring in a mop and clean it when they took the machine, but someone else had already done so.  I found who did it and offered her a free drink, on the house, and my apologies for "making" them clean up our mess.  She said that was OK, she didn't mind, and she didn't want anything.  I offered her a "store credit".  It is really important to stay on good terms with service providers.  They have the power to make life easy, or hard.  Not to mention I don't want to be an asshole who says "That's your job".  No, it's my machine.  It's my job. 

Snacks needed some work so I got to it.  I stocked them up and then helped Ron with the bottled vendor.  It needed 9 cases.  Clearly they like the new location.  I took the money out of the machines and counted it in the stockroom, while Ron stocked the bottled vendor.  We finished at about the same time.  He had enough to pay me and buy the sodas tomorrow. 

After work, we went to the bank.  We turned the $1 bills into "real money", and I got paid late.  I was OK with that. 

Ron called our usual cab driver to take us home.  He was out sick, he had a bad fall and is apparently bruised up. 

[bad word]  He's one of the few guys who actually comes to that area, which has a bad reputation.  How would we get home?  Ron had cancelled our ride home. 

Funny story on that.  Ron called the computer line to manage his trips.  He cancelled the 2 PM trip.  Then he realized they weren't his trips!  He had logged in as someone else, somehow.  Coincidentally, part of his client number equaled another client's whole client number.  And they had the same 4 digit password. 

Ron had to figure out who he'd done this to, and then call dispatch and tell them to please fix the trip.  The dispatcher knew Ron wasn't the client, who is another ethnicity.  Ron had to explain what had happened.  They gave him a really hard time, teasing him "We're going to tell him you cancelled his trips!"  But he fixed it. 

Ooops.  Won't do that again. 

Later on, he cancelled the ride home because "Lou would take us".  Well, Lou's apparently at home with an ice pack. 

What about the bus?  OK.  I pushed Ron over to the Jack in the Box and we ordered some lunch.  The pavement was pretty rough and one young man wouldn't get out of our way.  He stood there, staring at us, blocking the sidewalk.  He finally decided to move when I showed him my poker face.  Someone like that wants to upset you.  If you don't show any upset, they leave you alone. 

While we ate, Ron called a couple of cab drivers, none of whom expressed any interest.  Like I said, we bank in a bad area.  He left a message with Mike. 

We finally decided to call Chuck.  He came pretty fast, considering. 

Mike called Ron back, Ron said he already had a ride but thanks, and, we all knew he didn't want to come to that area anyway!  Mike laughed pretty hard at that last one. 

Ron had a terrible time trying to get into Chuck's vehicle.  It has a step up to - running boards I think they're called.  Anyway, Ron didn't have the strength to pull/push himself up into the cab.  I thought I would have to get up under him and shove. 

Ron's out of practice, getting into that truck. 

I put the wheelchair in the cargo area and we went home.  We chatted about inconsequentials.  We got home and I unloaded the wheelchair.  Gravity helped Ron with his exit, a lot smoother than his entry. 

I took my pills and had a protein shake, because I have been around a lot of very sick people lately.  I don't want to catch it.  I hope they have the thing I had back in December.  I'm immune to that. 

I noticed #6 has been home all day.  Is he sick?  I don't know.  Maybe he's between contracts.  He does construction. 

I laid down but I couldn't sleep.  I stayed in bed for 2 hours, because I have to get up at 2 AM tomorrow. 

Happily, it seems pretty quiet, so I'm going to go to bed after I log off here. 

The Great Escape

I woke up at 7 AM today to get ready to go out for my "'Valentine's Day" breakfast with Ron.  Yesterday, we had severe rain in the morning so that was out. 

We got picked up by a sick driver.  She kept coughing.  I really hope I don't catch it.  We heard a little drama on the radio, a driver and a client's caregiver had a he said-she said episode and the driver was told to document her side of the story. 

We got dropped at the BBQ place and I decided to get the chicken fried steak breakfast.  It was pretty good but I won't get it again. 

Ron got his egg sandwich.  He likes that, it has predictable "results", so he doesn't have any bathroom emergencies.  We talked a little. 

We got picked up by a nice Indian man (from the sub-continent) who was playing country music.  I found that interesting.  I would have figured he'd have something with a sitar or something. 

We had a fast trip home, no other pickups.  When we got home Ron opened the garage door. 

I was horrified to see Baby Girl, and Biscuit, wander out of the garage.  I ran towards them yelling "Bad CAT!".  Like that would help.  Baby Girl bolted but I was able to catch Biscuit.  It was windy today and apparently the wind blew the door open between the garage and the house, the cats went exploring in the garage, and then we came along and opened the garage door. 

We agreed we will keep that door deadbolted from now on. 

In the meantime, I tried to catch Baby Girl, and failed.  Ron had a moderate case of hysterics.  She is his Baby Girl. 

I figured she would come home when she got hungry.  Unlike Biscuit, she lived as an indoor/outdoor cat for years before we put her inside.  We used to make jokes about her having a house down the street, because she always went, and came home, from the same direction. 

I figured she was having a visit with her friends, or exploring some backyards. 

I wanted to lie down and take a nap.  I was tired.  I had taken all my medication.  I gave Biscuit a can of salmon for being a good boy and letting me catch him. 

Ron was pretty upset, though. 

I finally decided to "help" him.  I got the cat carrier (the "good" solid plastic one), put Ron in his wheelchair, and left the house.  We deadbolted the garage-to-house door when we headed out.  We went two blocks in one direction and came back.  I saw a lot (surprising, because it's midweek) of neighbors outside but they were all busy.  I saw another cat, a nice looking gray tabby.  It was scared of us. 

We gave up and came back home, Ron still calling for Baby Girl.  She came right up to us outside the garage door, from the direction of #2's backyard (one of her favorite playgrounds).  I caught her and put her in the box.  She objected, but I got her.  She fought from inside the box, making loud objections. 

Ron, horrified, told me to open the door.  But we had the deadbolt locked.  I had to set the carrier down and fish the keys out of my pocket.  I got the door open and released her.  She ran down the hall towards Ron's room. 

Ron headed straight for his room, right after her, and opened up a bag of treats.  He let her eat as many treats as she wanted, feed-bag style, as I gaped in shock. 

He wanted to apologize for "mistreating" her with the carrier, but I had to put her in the box.  The cats are scared of the garage door opener and I didn't want her bolting again. 

Then I took my nap.  I slept pretty well for a couple of hours.  I got up and did my God Time. 

I watched a little TV and helped Ron pay the credit card bill.  I ate a can of "Spaghetti Rings" and fed the cats.  Baby Girl knocked the plate of wet salmon on the floor.  I had to pick it up with my bare hands and put it back on the plate.  Yuck.  Then I washed my hands and cleaned the floor.  I fed them some dry food and filled up their water.  Baby Girl tried to knock the salmon down again.  I may need to start feeding them on the floor. 

I just need to do the litter boxes before I go to bed. 

After everyone was back home, I did tease Ron about catching "My favorite" before I went after Baby Girl.  Baby Girl is just not a cuddly cat, with me at least.  She just, in my opinion, lives here. 

Torbie and Biscuit are much more cuddly. 

Happy Valentine's Day

I slept in this morning and woke up at 9, pretty late for me. 

I got up, ate my protein bar, and took my medication.  I did my God Time, then took a shower.  I had to run the fan in the bathroom for a while after my shower, and also air-dry my hair before I took a nap. 

Ron basically drank, slept, repeat. 

I took a nap.  Both last night and today I had weird dreams that did not encourage sleeping. 

However, when I took my nap today I had 2 cats in the bed.  Biscuit, and Torbie.  Torbie was off to the side, Biscuit occupied center mass of the bed.  I covered him with a blanket and he moved.  Then left.  I was sad about that but I still had Torbie. 

I took my medication, and ate, when I got up.  I was pretty depressed and feeling miserable in general.  I hoped the medication would help. 

Ron woke up and wanted me to watch a movie.  I told him I wasn't in the mood.  He swore it was the best movie ever.  I told him he said that about a stupid murder comedy with two rednecks.  It was so bad I turned it off halfway through and never thought of it again.  It was just awful.  I just couldn't handle that again.  He threatened to take away my "trips" tomorrow (he does that on occasion, threaten to, or actually, withhold transportation).  I told him to go ahead. 

He stomped off (so to speak) and came back a little later, pleading with me to please watch the movie.  I said OK, but if it sucked, I was turning it off. 

It'll be a long time before I forget that stupid redneck movie, which Ron thought was just the best thing ever. 

I watched it.  "42", about Jackie Robinson.  It was a sports movie, I'm not really a fan of them but it was pretty good.  Ron appreciated the narration, there were visual aspects he didn't know about. 

That took a while. 

And that, friends, was my Valentine's day.  A drunken, depressed husband, leftovers, and a sports movie. 

Biscuit, old lovercat that he is, got his can of salmon pate.  He was very happy about that.  I'm pretty sure Ron gave Torbie too many treats today.  Baby Girl is very independent so I didn't see her. 

Pretty soon I'll go to bed.  Hopefully I will sleep well and get a good quality of sleep, no nightmares. 

Tomorrow we go out for breakfast and that is it.  Business is slow enough we can get away with it. 

Valentine's eve

I had a hard time falling asleep last night, so 4 AM came way earlier than I would have liked.  I hit the snooze button a few times and got up eventually. 

Biscuit waited eagerly while I brushed my teeth and put my glasses on, then fed him a can of cat food.  I took my glasses off and took my shower. 

By the way, a few nights ago I saw a giant spider in the shower enclosure.  It was so big I wasn't sure I could kill it.  Ron's no help, the one time I tried to have him kill a spider he broke a broom and the landlord almost called 911. 

The next day, it was gone.  Not very relaxing in the shower these days, wondering where it went.  I didn't have to shave my legs so I was happy about that. 

I got out, dried my hair with a towel, and got dressed.  I checked Ron to make sure he looked OK, he did. 

We got ready to leave.  It's actually interesting: when we leave the house we exit through the door to the garage.  That way, if a cat escapes, I can catch it.  It's not "outside".  We have a metal ramp leading down from the door-between-the-garage-and-kitchen, parallel to the actual garage door.  The ramp has a bump at the top.  I push Ron over the bump as he sits in the wheelchair, then I release and let him go flying down the ramp.  Sometimes he hits some stuff stacked by the far wall (by #6), usually he stops before he hits.  We find it fun. 

Then Ron turns around and backs up, away from the door.  I hit the button for the garage door opener and it opens.  I roll Ron out into the driveway and he shuts the door using his remote.  It works for us. 

We went to work.  We had an interesting theological discussion with the driver, it was very friendly. 

We got to work and hardly had anything to do.  I stocked about 15 bags of potato chips, that's it.  I didn't even need to do the crackers.  I helped Ron with canned sodas. 

The sandwich guy comes at 8:30.  The repairman called at 8:20.  I should have brought my cart out when I went to meet the repairman, but I didn't.  I had to let the repairman in, give him my keys, and then go out and get the sandwiches.  I paid up, got the sandwiches, and stocked them while the repairman took our old lock out of the dead food machine.  It required disassembly.  I can "usually" take a lock out of a vending machine, if the "wart" is visible.  I just push on the "wart" while rotating the key and pulling it out, and it generally slides right out.  But we couldn't do it with this one. 

So, I finished the sandwiches (all $20 worth) and watched as Ron asked the repairman to move some vending machines.  We moved the dead food machine out of the middle of "the row" of vending machines.  We have 3 soda machines, 3 snack machines, and some bill changers in a row.  Not necessarily in that order. 

If you really want to know, we now have 2 canned soda machines, the bottled vendor, a snack machine, a canned soda machine, and two more snacks.  We do, now. 

He put the dead food machine back over where the bottled vendor used to be, partially behind the ice machine.  It all went great. 

I only had one problem, when I got my keys back one of them had the removed cylinder lock stuck on the key.  It was covered in machine oil, which I got on my hands when I removed it. 

Hopefully, the repairman locked up the pallet jack when he was done using it.  I didn't see him do it so I wonder.  If he didn't, and it "walks off" the other vendor will be apoplectic. 

In that case, we would just buy a new pallet jack.  I can't do anything about it now.  I don't even know where they store it. 

We went to Walmart.  Ron got in the kiddie cart.  I had fun pushing him around the store.  I bought two cases of savory salmon pate for the cats. 

We finished up and headed home.  I took a short nap and actually woke up before the alarm. 

I got up and did my God Time.  That accomplished, I got ready to go out to dinner. 

We headed out to our local taqueria.  They have really good, cheap, food.  I got a barbacoa quesadilla.  Barbacoa, to my understanding, is a slow roasted cow's head.  It tasted like roast beef, but it needed more salt and it didn't really "work" with the cheese. 

I should have done shrimp. 

It wasn't bad, but I didn't love it either.  Normally I like everything you put in front of me, except mushrooms. 

Ron had 2 beers and some tortilla chips.  He ordered 2 burritos to go.  He had the staff cut them in half, and put each half into a quart ziplock bag.  They didn't quite understand what he wanted (they are primarily Spanish speakers), so they wrapped them in foil, too. 

At any rate, Ron got what he wanted.  I ordered a cheese quesadilla to go. 

I found it interesting, the parking lot was full of overpriced gift baskets for Valentine's day.  Ron asked if I wanted one, I said no, I just wanted him to "be good" tomorrow. 

That won't happen but he will behave, more. 

Our first Valentine's day was interesting.  I had a raging kidney infection and ended up spending a week in the hospital.  I had horrible nausea and vomiting, high heart rate, and a raging fever.  He brought me red tulips, and accidentally let the cat out when she went into heat. 

We got a nice litter of kittens a few months later!  Two of them went to live in Mexico, two went to a bus driver, and we planned to keep one. 

Our landlord said she got run over, but I believe he killed her.  She was a black cat and he was superstitious. 

Now, if you think a black cat existing is bad luck, how much worse the luck if you kill it! 

That was our first Valentine's day. 

I had Ron text the repairman and ask if he locked up the pallet jack.  I hate to bother him but this is really bugging me. 

Happily Ron gave him a bonus so hopefully he won't mind. 

Good.  He just got a text saying the repairman locked it up. 

Now we just have to get rid of the dead food machine.  When that happens, there's a layer of  ick on the floor underneath it.  We will have to bring - I will have to - bring in a mop, bucket, and cleanser. 

"Heather" you might ask, "The facility is over 20 acres, under one roof.  Surely they have a mop and bucket."  Yes, but they are specialty items, only a custodian can check them out, and they are accountable items. 

This is what they want me to do: if I spill a can of soda in the lunch room, or, more likely, Ron drops one, we are supposed to call and wait for them to send someone with a mop and bucket, and make this person clean up our mess.  That doesn't seem very fair, does it? 

So, I will bring my mop and bucket, I can store it in the stockroom, and clean up the mess after they get rid of the old food machine.  The equipment used to move vending machines tends to leave marks on the floor, as well, so I'll clean those too. 

I want them to like us, to feel like we contribute to them.  I don't want them to feel like we are pain in the ass vendors who are always asking for something.  Or worse, ruining their hard work. 

It's just pulling my weight. 

I don't mind mopping, anyway.  I just hope I can find a wet floor sign when the time comes. 

The cats have really been enjoying their pate.  I'm glad I got 2 cases.  I think I will save the old flavor for disaster kit/run out of cat food, and just buy the new stuff from now on. 

I like making my cats happy, and they're so excited about this stuff. 

Happy Valentine's day. 

Washing the washer

I looked up some reviews on the gym.  Not great, and a lot of problems with people when they wanted to quit. 

I decided to try to take a nap.  Worst case someone would wake me up.  No one did. 

I had a horrible nightmare about Biscuit, except, in the dream, he was a black cat (Bubba, maybe?), and I had to put him down.  I was so happy to wake up to Biscuit's begging. 

Ron got up too.  He was moody, depressed, and drinking.  I did some laundry.

Ron asked me to look up some BBQ restaurant reviews.  I did that, they weren't great.  I think we need to stick with the place we're using now. 

I decided to call my Dad.  He just had a cardioversion last week to fix his A-fib.  His mother had heart rhythm problems, too, so I need to keep an eye out for that and mention that to doctors if I ever have trouble. 

Anyway, I called.  Ron was sitting on the floor near me, drinking.  He kept trying to "contribute" to the conversation and I had to keep shutting him up.  I either ignored him or told him no, I wouldn't be "sharing" that.  It was very annoying, like having a 3 year old.  At one point Ron mentioned he was drunk and I passed that along. 

I'm sure they had already figured that out. 

When I hung up, Ron made some very cruel comments "They don't really want to hear from you, they're just being polite" "They wish you would never call them again" stuff like that.  I calmly told him he was wrong and he pretended to make a joke out of it.  "They hate you so much" ha ha. 

I didn't think it was funny, but alcoholics will try to split their partners from their families.  I think he liked it better when I hated them (I had my reasons).  I know he liked it better when I hated them. 

I think he has a couple of reasons.  One, he doesn't want me to have any allies but him.  It is safer for him, the alcoholic, if I don't have somewhere else to go.  Second, he is envious because his family disowned him.  If he called any one of his family members, they would hang up on him. 

Well, we reap what we sow.  Not that I think they are a great loss. 

They were always very judgmental to me.   I tried desperately to please them.   Until the accident, when I put Ron's welfare before all else. 

I still grapple, would it be better for Ron if I did an intervention, risking losing our business (it is dead, without me), to save Ron?  Is he functionally stable?  He still takes Tylenol with vodka, which is very bad for his liver.  The only thing he will "let" me do about that is buy him milk thistle, an herb with a good reputation for protecting the liver.  I feel pretty helpless.  I figure God will give me a sign of some sort when He wants me to act. 

But in the meantime, do I get another job?  I don't think I could get a job that would support me, with the hours I have right now. 

Ugh.  At least I remembered to "wash" my washer tonight. 

Flavor strip

I woke up yesterday at 4 AM to get ready for work.  I hit the snooze button a few times, I had a cuddly cat in the bed. 

I do feel a little bad pushing off my God Time to snuggle with a cat, but I figure He made them, He understands. 

I did get up eventually and did all my usual preparation work.  I also took a salt tablet as the weather is getting warmer, and I'll sweat more. 

Low sodium (Hypoanatremia) is a risk for me due to the lithium I take, and it is miserable.  I got it once when I was working in the garden, years ago, and I only felt better after I drank a glass of salt water. 

I'm one to treat things at home if I can.  If I'm in the doctor's office, it is serious. 

So, we went to the warehouse.  We were early but we didn't have to wait too long.  I think they let us in a little before "opening bell" to be honest. 

I grabbed a flatbed cart and went off to get our bounty.  Ron wanted 20 cases of drinks, he got them.  I got several larger cases of chips, a lot of cookies, and some candy because that's what's been selling. 

I paid up and we waited on Jack.  I'm a little worried about Jack.  He is a wonderful driver and a fantastic human being, but he has a side business selling food on the weekends, and his partners were blowing up his phone, yelling at him to hurry.  I worry a little he will dump us to favor them. 

I sure hope not.  Ron told Jack we can meet him earlier, so that may work better for everyone.  Assuming, of course, Jack wants to get up earlier on his day off. 

Jack arrived, we loaded the truck, off to work.  We loaded the carts and got them into the building.  We stocked.  Things were pretty depleted so we needed to stock. 

Depression nonwithstanding, an empty vending machine is "good" when we walk in the building.  Sold out means we made some money.  A full vending machine, when we walk in, is "bad" because we didn't make any money. 

So, that was "good" but it made for more work. 

I have been helping Ron with the bottled vendor.  I should probably tell you about the canned sodas, first. 

Each soda machine has, I think, 8 slots.  Each slot runs from top to bottom, down to the dispenser mechanism.  Each slot corresponds to a "flavor strip" on the front of the machine.  Although the flavor strip has morphed more into the "flavor button".  You get the idea. 

Ron's memorized all of that, times 3 machines.  24 sodas.  He will open the machine and feel the level of the soda in the machine.  Since he is in a wheelchair he fills it about halfway.  When I filled it, I filled it more to 3/4 to all the way full. 

He determines which sodas he needs and then goes and fetches them, putting the 12-packs in his lap as he sits in the wheelchair.  He rolls back to the machine and fills it.  Basically, we just slide the soda into the slot, top end first.  He does that again and again.  Let me tell you, he has a really ripped left deltoid that would be the envy of any bodybuilder.  When I tell him about it, he gets shy and then embarrassed. 

Hey, good to find something I can drool over, right? 

He's the only man, and will be until one of us dies. 

So.  He can do canned sodas pretty much on his own.  Bottled sodas are trickier. 

We have five rows in the bottled vendor (I think), times 9 slots per row.  Each slot can take 8 bottles of soda.  Ron checks it the same way, then (now) he tells me what he needs. 

"A green tea, a black tea, two Cokes, and a water" 

I get my cart.  I load the green tea, etc. onto the cart.  These are room temperature drinks.  I take them to the fridge.  I take out the cold green tea, etc.  Then I replace them. 

I take the cart full of cold drinks to Ron, who stocks them.  That way we protect his back.  He pulled it a while back and was miserable for about a week. 

I would rather get the drinks myself, then see him go through all that.  Besides, he is "giving" me more time at work now so I can help him more. 

In the meantime, I did snacks.  I put pretzels in two machines instead of one, because I am low on chili cheese Fritos.  I am debating buying a 50-count case of them next time. 

We finished up and we went home. 

I was happy to see #6 was gone.  I laid down for a nap.  They came home and the kids went out to play by my bedroom wall, making bloodcurdling screams and basically sounding like they were being murdered. 

I still managed to get some rest, but not as much as I would have liked.  I think I got ANY rest because I was so tired from earlier.

I got up and did my God Time.  I never even turned on my computer yesterday. 

I watched a little TV and Ron got up.  We were going out to dinner at the BBQ place. 

Our ride was late (they always are, on Saturday evenings), but the driver was a very nice man. 

We got there and had about 50 minutes, a good amount of time.  That's one thing about using paratransit, you literally have to plan your life out to the minute.  The day before the activity, at that. 

I got pancakes.  Ron got ribs, but got them to go because "I got into that burrito".  We had a good time, and Ron ate a fair amount of my pancakes.  I thought it was cute. 

It is good to see he can eat sweet things again.  For a long time he couldn't eat anything sweet, after he had that allergic reaction to the Bactrim.  I think it's called "flavor perversion". 

The ride home came right on time.  He was also a really nice guy.  We took the Beltway and paid the toll (we did, not the driver) to come home faster. 

When we got home #6 had a strange car parked in front of their house, but they were quiet at least.  I was pretty exhausted so I just went to bed. 

I woke up this morning at about 9 AM.  I was pretty depressed.  I had a headache. 

Biscuit and Baby Girl were demanding their breakfast, which I usually feed somewhere around 6 AM. 

I got up and fed the cats, then I took some aspirin and drank a Diet Mountain Dew.  I tried to go back to bed but I couldn't. 

So, I just gave up and got up.  I watched some Law & Order first, then did my God Time and then I took my shower.  Somewhere in there, I ate and took my pills. 

After my shower, I decided to do some laundry.  Last night, I had a nightmare I broke my washer by washing some kind of paper in it.  You can bet I inspected everything before I washed it. 

I found a $20 in Ron's shirt pocket, so I'm glad I looked.  I didn't have enough room to do everything.  I will have to do a smaller, secondary load for Ron later. 

Before I wash his clothes, I go over them with a lint brush (he wears a lot of black and we do have 3 cats).  Then I pretreat any stains with Shout Gel, which I love, because it seems to eliminate everything. 

I don't want ads in my blog, but that's a good product, well worth the $3, and you get tons of uses out of it.  It comes in a blue cylinder with an orange bristled tip. 

Then I load the washer, being careful to balance everything so the washer doesn't break.  I add my detergent pacs, push the button, and walk away. 

It takes about an hour to do a "heavy" "bulky" load. 

My new dryer is not as efficient as the old one, I think it is due to environmental energy use regulations.  It takes about an hour and a half to dry a load now on "medium".  But it does a decent job of drying the clothes if I don't mind putting in the extra time. 

Then I hang everything up (even t-shirts) and give Ron's to him, and put mine in my closet. 

My eye is still bothering me a little, I got some shampoo in it this morning.  It is my "good" eye.  My right eye is about legally blind without glasses, but corrected to 20/60 or so.  My left eye is my "better" eye and the one I use for everything.  That's what got the shampoo today.  Ouch. 

The water company puts "chloramines" in the water so rinsing it didn't help much.  Too bad I didn't have some sterile eyewash on hand.  But I can't have everything for what I might possibly need, my home would be overrun. 

I plan to eat something, take my medication, and maybe go to the gym and see about getting a membership. 

I don't want to, I'm depressed, all I want to do is sleep, but 1.  The kids will be out today, again, I'm sure and 2.  It's a really lovely day, upper 70's, sunny, a little bit of a breeze.  It's going to rain the next couple days so I had better do this today if I'm going to do it. 

There's the spin cycle on my washer.  Time to put things in the dryer. 

I only have so much money to spend

I slept OK last night, just not long enough.  The mania is either long gone or running a small background script. 

I got up, took my shower, and got dressed.  It's been pretty warm lately, we had a high of 87 the other day, which broke a record.  I wore capris and a t-shirt. 

We went to Walmart.  Ron complained bitterly about "having" to go, me "forcing" him, he could have been sleeping, etc.  But I had to go, for one, I was nearly out of toilet paper. 

Ron wanted me to leave him up front, and I did that.  I got my cart and began shopping.  I am pretty sure I will join that gym and I wanted a gym bag and accoutrements.  I bought some small containers for shampoo and soap, a small duffel bag, etc.  I also got the usual stuff, Diet Mountain Dew, drink mix for me, snack mix for Ron. 

I called him at one point and asked if he would like to try the Asian snack mix.  It looked like something he would enjoy.  He was on the other line so I went to voicemail.  He called me back and told me to get it. 

I did.  He also wanted some small apple juice bottles.  I bought those, too. 

Toilet paper.  I couldn't find my brand.  Well, I found it, but it had a large image of a baby on it.  I didn't like it.  The mother was caressing the baby's cheek. 

Remember I had a shitty childhood, full of neglect, starvation, drama, and hours on end in filthy diapers.  "Mom and baby" is not a good image for me. 

Now, if the toilet paper had an image of a small kitten getting out of a litter box, as an older one looks on approvingly, I'd buy it if it was made out of sandpaper.  That's just how I'm wired. 

I looked around.  It was the closest toilet paper I could find to my old brand.  I went ahead and bought it.  When I got home, I turned it around so I can only see the back. 

I bought small (6 inch diameter) foam plates for the cat food.  I put the wet food on the plate.  When the cats are done with it, I throw the whole thing away. 

God's giving us a New Earth, it says so in Revelation, so I'm not so worried about saving the planet. 

Now, cat food.  I had been thinking (and this may have been the manic script running in my brain) to try another flavor of cat food.  They all seem to enjoy salmon.  I have been feeding something that is bits of meat in gravy.  What about a solid cake of meat?  If you know cat food, you understand what I'm saying.  A pate, instead of bits of meat in gravy.  I bought 2 cans of "Savory Salmon" pate style in addition to case of the stuff in gravy. 

I found a cute 20-inch duffel bag, black with hot pink accents.  That will work.  It looks big enough to hold a change of clothes, a towel, and some toiletries.  It cost about $12. 

Torbie is very hard on luggage.  She likes to sharpen her claws on the "canvas" of a backpack, roll-on, or duffel bag.  I actually left a "trashed" rolling backpack out for her because she is so accustomed to sharpening her claws on it.  She leaves Ron's hospital bag alone if I do that for her.  I suppose I will just put the loaded gym bag on top of the hospital bag, if I join the gym. 

Ron asked me why I don't work out at home.  1.  I need to get out of the house 2.  I need to make some friends.  3.  I really like using gym equipment.  All we have at home, for cardio, are a plastic fitness step and a recumbent bike. 

Don't get me wrong, that's a lot more than many have, but that's what Ron wanted, not what I wanted.  And I have to go back to saying I need to get out of the house more, especially when I am depressed. 

The area is a little grim, but should be OK during the day.  I don't see a problem with transportation, the bus is a 1/2 mile away and it will be a good little warmup to get to the gym.  I can walk in the door and immediately go to my workout. 

I personally love stairclimbers.  I think that would be better to start.  Then, as I get thinner and healthier, I can go to running on the treadmill.  I wouldn't want to do that to my knees right now. 

The gym is $10 a month, too.  I can certainly do that. 

Then I got some pens.  I always need more pens.  Walmart didn't have a lot of stuff on my list today, like Vitamin A, the pens I wanted, and the toilet paper, but they had enough. 

I guess the "first of the month" crowd wiped them out and they have yet to restock. 

I paid, explaining that I had 24 cans of one flavor and 2 cans of another.  I know it is really important to have an accurate computer inventory, and happily the Mountain Dew is still on sale. 

I paid for everything and found Ron.

He gave me the bad news.  Lou the cab driver couldn't pick us up, and Ron had already cancelled the paratransit pickup.  He thinks we get a "better" trip if he takes paratransit "to" and a cab home. 

It seems to take the same amount of time and trouble either way, to me, but I don't fight him on it.  I would rather "make" him behave on paratransit, or at work, than "make" him take paratransit home.  I only have so much "money" to spend, so to speak.  I can get one or the other, but not both. 

I try to pick my battles. 

Ron called the cab company and gave them the trip.  He offered a $10 tip to whoever took the trip.  I thought that was excessive, but, like I said, I pick my battles. 

Instead, a cab arrived at the door, dropping off a little old lady with a folding metal cart and a support cane.  He asked if we wanted a ride. 

Ron cancelled our pickup and rode with this guy, instead.  He was very nice and helpful.  He didn't know about the tip until he got it (and, in my opinion, he deserved it because he carried all my bags into the garage).  He was very happy to see it, and we got his number, even better. 

I put all my crap away, ate, and took my pills.  Ron got upset, he wanted me to watch a movie about Jackie Robinson.  I told him I was very tired and I would watch it later.  Ron said it wasn't on later, and had a tantrum. 

I went to bed and had a pretty good nap.  Odds are I will not get a good nap for days to come, so I wanted to "milk" it while I could. 

I got up and did my God Time, then watched some TV (note the sequence).  I turned on the computer.  About that time Ron woke up and apologized for his tantrum.  I forgave him. 

I had a snack and did up my pills for the next week (minus the Vitamin A).  At least I have all my prescriptions done up, at least. 

Today, in the travel section, I got some small round jars.  They are about 1.5 inches all around, and round.  They have a screw on lid.  They are great for storing my medication, and only a dollar for two.  I got a total of 2 sets. 

That will be great when I am eating dinner away from home and need to bring my medication.  They have little ziplock type bags, but I had one come open on me.  I lost all my medication into my pocket, and I had to pick my Haldol out of a wad of pocket lint.  I wasn't too happy. 

I need to make a vitamin order, next, and then I'm going to bed. 

Shopping is always pretty funny when I am depressed vs when I am manic. When I'm manic, it's "Buy all the things!" and when I'm depressed, I question my need for everything.