Ice Pack

Sometimes I get a glimpse of the old Ron, the one who couldn't bear to leave me with my family.  The hard worker.  The sober one; before he got poisoned by all this negativity. 

I got up early this morning.  I wasn't sure of our exact pickup so I guessed.  I took my shower, got dressed, and had some time for the computer.  I ate my breakfast (grapes and bananas) and went to work. 

Work was pretty uneventful.  Ron didn't have good soda sales, but "my" snack sales were pretty good.  Good.  We need to pay for our inventory somehow.  We got our sandwich delivery. 

And that's where I had the problem.  It is a cold food vending machine.  It rotates, and has about 10 shelves.  Each shelf has slots for various products.  I was stocking the sandwiches ($2.50 each) when the machine ground to a halt, made horrible noises, and reversed. 

Uh-oh.  Something had jammed.  I tried to pull everything out but it still jammed.  Great. 

I got Ron and asked him to help.  While he bitched, moaned, and cursed, he did help.  We figured out what was jamming and took it out.  Looks like I won't be selling Gatorade anymore. 

That's the Ron I remember, the problem-solver, the fixer.  He has the soul of an engineer.  It was only a little glimpse but it was hard to see. 

I miss that man.  Do I think everything is restored and he will be a good husband now?  No.  Absolutely not. 

It's just sad to see the man I fell in love with, hiding inside this drunk. 

We went home.  Our ride was late, I left him under the tree.  Our driver was a nice guy.  When we got home, I took a nap. 

I woke up with a headache (not sure if it was the eclipse, or the bag of peanuts I ate earlier) and took some aspirin.  I watched the light out the windows, it never really got dark. 

I called my aunt and chatted, I got a bonus of my second cousin babbling into the phone (my aunt babysits a couple times a week).  I went in the house and woke Ron up. 

Ron wanted to call a cab to go to Walmart today, because paratransit "Messed up the trip again".  OK.  We ended up having to call Yellow Cab. 

The driver came pretty fast, he lives nearby.  We got to Walmart. 

I spent some time in the produce section.  I wanted some greens, grapes, maybe some other fruits and vegetables.  I got the grapes, then I looked at the greens.  Kale.  [shudder]  No thanks.  I settled on some mustard greens.  I got some sliced carrots.  Then I looked at the precut fruit.  I got a nice tray of watermelon, not a whole wedge, but chunks.  It had a nice deep color.  I also got a smaller, mixed fruit, salad to have for a treat sometime. 

It was pretty busy in the produce section.  Everyone there was a reasonable weight, too.  I found that encouraging. 

I got Ron a couple of TV dinners because I wanted to keep my stuff cold.  A frozen TV dinner acts like an ice pack. 

Then I got my vitamins, etc.  I decided to buy some canned Vienna sausage because 1.  It's shelf stable.  2.  It has a easy open lid.  3.  It has plenty of protein and fat.  4.  It's cheap.  I thought those were all good reasons to buy it. 

So I did. 

I got Ron his popcorn.  He's been on a big popcorn kick lately. 

I got cat treats for Ron (actually, got them for the cats), and some food for Biscuit.  The other day, when I fixed myself some Tuna, Biscuit carried on like I was eating his food.  So I decided to buy him some tuna flavor.  Just tuna.  Not "tuna and fish".

That reminded me I needed to get tuna for myself, and also some mayo.  I did that.  I figured I was about done and checked out. 

I had a nice cashier.  I liked her.  I paid her and found Ron. 

I left him with the shopping cart ("Put your arm on it") and found out he wanted a double cheeseburger from McDonald's.  I ordered that, and a chicken salad for me.  If nothing else I would get my greens for the day. 

I grimly ate the salad (not as bad as kale, but not very exciting, either) while Ron's hamburgers sat on the table in front of me.  I didn't want to eat them, though, they had onions.  I don't like onions. 

I ate most of it, noted the time, and decided I had better get back to Ron.  I took the salad with me and ate it, standing next to Ron, watching out for our ride. 

We went outside about 5 minutes before the pickup.  A weird guy in a plaid outfit (both short sleeved shirt and shorts, in the same plaid pattern) came up and started bothering us.  He kept looking in my cart.  The popcorn was on top of the other merchandise, you could maybe see the mayo (for the tuna) but that was it.  He smoked.  I hate it when people smoke in front of me.  It's very rude.  At least ask if I am OK with it. 

A "hot" woman in skintight leggings walked by, he threw his smoke on the ground and ran after her. That's why I don't wear provocative clothing, even if I weighed less, it attracts a lot of unwanted attention.  I got a lot of unwanted attention at work, and sometimes still do, because my breasts got bigger taking my antipsychotic.  A lot of men had a very hard time keeping their eyes on my face and not my chest, it was very uncomfortable.  And I am wearing modest and appropriate items that adhere to the dress code. 

A week or two ago, someone I know pretty well said hello to me, then surveyed my breasts, then looked at my face again.  I found it very rude.  As if I don't have enough problems already! 

Now, everyone knows that woman who dresses provocatively, puts a bunch of cleavage shots on Facebook, and then gets upset when a man responds.  I think that woman is in the wrong.  Don't dress that way if you don't want the attention.  Don't put yourself out there as a sexual toy if you don't want to be one. It seems simple to me. 

Anyway, our driver came right after that.  I only had 2 bags (one of them the produce) so it was easy to put everything away.  Unfortunately, we got stuck behind the schoolbus on the way home.  It stopped about every half block.  The kids took forever to get off, the parents had to show something to the driver proving they were the parent, I guess, and it was the most tedious thing ever.  And all the kids were idiots, running in the street, too. 

It's so bad I've gotten to the point, if I see a child around I warn the driver all the kids run in the street and don't have any safety sense.  The driver thanks me and drives that much more carefully.  No one in the subdivision is teaching their children pedestrian safety, don't run in the street, don't walk in the street, don't dart out in front of vehicles, etc. 

I learned it the hard way.  Once, and only once, I ran into the street in front of my home when I was about 3.  My father beat my little butt.  "Don't run in the street!"  I learned my lesson, it only took the once.  He did it with my younger stepbrother, too, when he ran in the street. 

But parents aren't allowed to spank these days, that's "child abuse".  Sigh.  And people wonder why I never had children.  I would want to be able to discipline them properly, and that includes the occasional spanking when required. 

I got in the house and put away the cold things.  I put Biscuit's food on the table.  He was pretty excited to see a whole case of Salmon and a couple cans of tuna (I wasn't sure he'd like it). 

I looked at the TV, nothing much on.  I got on the computer.  About 5:30,  Biscuit lay down next to me, reminding me it was almost time for dinner.  At 6, I fed him the can of tuna (cat food tuna, not human).  He and Baby Girl loved it.  They gobbled it.  Good, I'm glad they liked it.  I wanted to give them a different, fun, taste and it looks like I did.  I will have to start buying the Tuna flavor Fancy Feast now.  I gave them some dry food, too, for later. 

Torbie left me, she had been sitting under my feet.  I'm pretty tired.  I plan to clean the litter boxes and go to bed early tonight.  Tomorrow I plan to de-hoard the house as much as possible, I have an almost empty garbage can that's just waiting to be filled.  I also need to do laundry. 

I already cleaned out the fridge, which mainly meant getting rid of that old kale.  Boo. 

I was happy to see the last of that.