Yawn
This is what my life has come to. It's so slow there's not even much to write about. Is that good or bad?
I guess it depends on how you look at it. No drama, whether of my own making or the extension of someone else's. That's a good thing. However, no movement=stagnation. Not a good thing.
I got to the doctor's last week. There was some excitement there. Not of the good kind, but then not as bad as it could have been. A lunch of terriyaki chicken wings and fried rice is probably not the best thing to eat before seeing the doctor. You may just be, as the nurse put it, "the lucky winner of an ekg". Extreme sodium does tend to shoot a person's blood pressure up. Dr. Raad didn't see anything that concerned him on the ekg, though, and I've never had a high reading before, so he's not worried right now. We'll see what it's like in 4 weeks.
We talked about the thyroid issues. My results from 2005 were normal, but from what I've come to understand, "normal" thyroid levels are rather subjective. We'll see what this year's results say, and take it from there.
I came away with a renewal for the albuterol I haven't used in more than 2 years, and a prescription for Chantix. I am in dread, taking steps to part myself with something that has been a part of my life for more than 30 years. I haven't picked the prescription up yet. I haven't set a date. Just getting this far has been daunting enough.
The blood pressure thing has got me all off kilter. Even if Dr. Raad's not overly concerned, I am. And I'm looking at what I can do to make sure he doesn't have a reason to become more concerned. First things first, I'm working on cutting back salt. I've been looking at the DASH diet. While I tend to be dubious of any diet that has a definite preference for one food group over another, and has lots of backing by associations (the dairy industry in this case) linked to that particular food group, I could see this being livable. Livable for me, anyway, unless they start trying to forcefeed me bananas. Grains are probably my favorite food group, and it calls for lots of whole grain. I need to knock up the fruits some more, but that's not exactly hard, and veggies could use a small boost upward. As long as I stay mostly with yogurt, kefir and aged cheeses me and dairy coexist alright. Nuts, seeds, legumes? Yay! I remember the days when nuts were strictly verboten for diets (says the woman with an ungodly amount of nuts in her pantry at any given moment.) Cutting back the meat is where it will get a little hard, but not that hard.
The real difficulty is meshing Paul's diabetic nutritional requirements with my own. Complex carbs are a big part of DASH. While complex carbs aren't totally evil for diabetics, they still must watch their carb levels carefully. And then there's the whole fish thing. Paul only considers three fishes edible---cod, catfish and tuna, and two of them must be covered in batter and deep fried. The other one only comes out of a can---ever! Actually, I have to amend that. He will also eat salmon from a can on occasion. I detest salmon. At least we agree on makeral, herring, ocean perch and sardines. Yuck! Of course, those would be most of the fishes I should be eating more of.
I have a funny feeling we're going to start looking like Jack Sprat and his wife.
In other news, the front room is painted. The painters did a lousy job, but I'm not going to complain any more than this. At least it's done. Paul and I touched up the areas they should have hit with Kilz, and Paul's going to get new receptacle covers for the ones the idiots painted over instead of removing.
I'd hoped to get a little further along with the room this past weekend. Paul put up the new vertical blinds. We pulled out the Bissell carpet cleaner that he had curbside recycled a couple years ago, and never used. This thing was put on the curb looking virtually unused, complete and even had the owner's manual. Too bad we never checked to see if it actually worked right. It didn't. I hadn't gotten 1/4 of the way through the room when we realized that the water from the tap was backing up into the solution bottle. Even after going over every inch of the assembly we couldn't get it to work right, so it's been consigned back to the curb, and I'm going to have to go rent a machine. The carpet cleaners that Aldingbrooke contracts with won't even touch our carpet anymore. It's so old it's disintegrating. I could throw a fit and make them give us new carpeting, but I won't. We don't have a cat problem. Both cats are meticulous about the litterbox. We have a dog problem, and many more years before it's over. She's only 8. Beagles can live to 20. That 1/4 of the room that I did get finished doesn't look half bad, though.
I haven't given a Rudy Report in a while. I guess I do have some extended drama.
When Rudy last had a meeting with the referee some two or three weeks ago, in his attempt to get custody, Ms. Scary Crazy Lady never showed. At that point Rudy asked the referee what he thought he should do about Deb. The referee said, "just emancipate her". Are you shocked? I was. Rudy was. It could have been done right that day, but Rudy asked to be given some time to think it over (and now, looking back, that was probably a mistake).
He did go home and think about it. Fed up as he's been this would have been the easiest out in the world. In the end, though, he decided that this was his child, his responsibility, and he didn't think she was ready to be responsible for herself. He wanted to go ahead with the petition for custody. He sent a letter to the referee stating that.
They went in front of the referee again yesterday. The referee entertained no arguments, brooked no objections. None. He emancipated Deb. Right there. Right then. Done.
Ms. Scary Crazy Lady, needless to say, left the court triumphant, pumping the air with her fist as if she'd won some huge victory. This really did deal Rudy a major blow, and deprived him of the chance/right/responsibility to raise his child. But she didn't win. She's a huge loser. What else could you say of a woman who absolved herself of the responsibility to raise the child she wanted and brought into the world?! Just out of spite?! Gah! That woman just disgusts me. And what could you say of the court that just wanted the fastest, easiest way to wash their hands of the matter? Even knowing the work that Rudy has done to become a better parent, and having evidence from locally respected therapists of his progress? That disgusts me, too.
So, you ask, where the heck is Deb anyway (as I have been a slacker about updating)? Living with Dad only lasted a few short weeks. He acted like a dad. She didn't like it. She left. Of course, she also didn't like living with Mom and Mom's new boyfriend either, and she wanted to continue attending the Grayling schools she'd attended most of her life. Very shortly she moved in with the family of a friend (Sound familiar? Anyone? Anyone?). That's where she is now.
This isn't necessarily a bad thing, well so long as this woman sets and keeps boundaries, responsibilities and rules. She's a woman with a good head on her shoulders, and was an emancipated minor herself. Last night she, her boyfriend and Rudy sat down with Deb and talked to her about what her new status meant, and gave her a little further background and insight on things she hadn't been aware of in the battle that raged around her. They gave Deb quite a bit to think about. Rudy said he experienced more co-parenting going on across that table last night than he had in the last ten years with his ex.
There. Now you have a Rudy Report.
I think we're headed out to the herb farm this weekend to pick out our tomatoes and basil. I've got to replace my thyme, too, and one of my lavenders didn't make it through the winter. I think the Greek Oregano is going to be fine, though. Every time the snow melted back the damn thing popped out as if to say, "OOOOOOOOO Sun! Shiny! Now I can take over the garden!" Then the snow would cover it again. Now that the snow is finally gone it seems to have gotten a little shy, like it's afraid of getting dumped on again. But it's sending out a few little green leaves. I'm sure in no time it will attempt to reign the garden again.
That's it. Yup. I do believe that's it.