(no subject)
I think I'm a bit of a better place mentally/emotionally, than I was a few days ago. I was able to see my Dad the last three days in a row, and we had three really good visits. We talked about all sorts of stuff. He's proud of how much I've been doing and getting done around the house. He did fall a few days ago, but thankfully not badly. His hand is starting to look better from his fall before that, but they did take his walker for at least the time being. Thankfully, so far, he's been behaving. I just hope to goodness he doesn't do something that injures himself again. Last night we watched "Dancing With The Stars", which I think was both of our first times seeing it in a long time. He's long appreciated it, and it was fun to see his reactions - he LOVES the actual classy/couples dancing, and pretty much finds the single dancing/stippery stuff ridiculous (especially on the men.) Yesterday, I surprised him by showing the new garage door that was just done yesterday morning. I think his word to describe it was "fantastic", and he's glad that the garage is now easily functional again. It's a bit of a saga of that door - I'm pretty sure it was original, like... 66 years old, and the most recent time it was refinished was by my Dad, my Mom and me, back in 1997 - but for at *least* the past... 5 or 6 years (who knows, maybe ten), it's been having more and more serious problems. To the point where, it looked to be on the verge of collapse just about all year. Yesterday morning, some guys came to install the new one (I came to the door not wearing socks). I'll say, they don't make things like they used to. This new door, I can literally lift with a finger, the old one was very, very heavy. And as silly as this sounds, I will miss the old one. I don't think until like... last night, I realized how when I saw the old door, for my entire life, I knew I was home. The new one does have maybe three or four issues that I do want to try to address in the next week, and hopefully it'll be set after that. To be honest, it's set, now, but, if it's brand new, I want it to be like... perfect. The most important thing is, it's functional, it'll keep weather out, it locks, it looks good - it actually looks so good, that now I'm like "man, I need to make more repairs on the garage and paint it, now." It's kind of funny, the other night, my Dad actually wondering how much getting an entirely new garage would be - which, I too have long considered - I just didn't know we would've been on the same page. At some point, I think I will want to have a new one built, but for now, this one is in better shape than it's been in who knows... a decade?
I've been getting things done. Last week, out of nowhere, I ended up having to install a new light fixture for the front light, which, also needs some work, but it's functioning, and looks good. The gutters are done. The massive electric work is done - never thought that would happen (as my Dad said, our electric panel "is in the 21st century, now"). I fixed the front steps in multiple places. I fixed the storm door in multiple places. The toilet has modern parts in it. I was up on a ladder the other day, fixing some places on the house. The washer is working exactly as it should for the first time in probably years. I got a new mailbox, that I installed, after fixing the mount for it, and placed better numbering on it. I've improved the illumination both at the front and the back of the house. Oh my God... how did I not mention this? Dude, I've done so much work on the inside of the house, too.
I decided I wanted to have people over on Halloween - so, I made the living room *actually* functional for the use of multiple people in maybe 15 years, or longer. About a month ago, I also got a new TV (which I felt was more fitting for it), sound system (to go with the TV), and I hardwired internet to it. I made it into an actual living space. On Halloween, I had Fluff, Clara, Eddy, Anthony and Clarktron over. We watched a little Twilight Zone, The Addams Family, the Garfield Halloween Special, part of Hobgoblins, then AHS 1984 (for Fluff and Anthony). But, it was nice to have people inside on Halloween. First time since maybe 1994 or 1995. And just like I remembered from that one, I got apple cider donuts to offer people, and they got gobbled up. And having a functional living space, I was able to have Alina randomly stop by the other night (she wanted to give me a hug), I've known her possibly as long as 30 years, and she had never been inside my house. Progress is being made.
Ginger Sara is visiting for a bit, and I had her, Clarktron and Anthony over on Sunday night. We watched Dark Knight and played some SNES. It's nice - I'm starting to feel like I *live* here, I'm starting to care about things more, I'm starting to take pride in my work, and my abilities. It's a time of growth, for sure, and I'm so thankful my Dad is around to witness it. He's been bragging to my Brother about it. Oh! Yeah, so, I got a "smart" air filter for the heater, which, isn't as smart as I expected it to be, buuut, it does filter a lot. ALSO, and maybe more importantly, I recently picked up a vacuum with a HEPA filter, and man. Between what it's puling out of the rugs, and cleaning from the house - it is a dream. I've been walking into the house lately, and it comparatively smells like something *clean* happened. For Halloween, I vacuumed with one of our original vacuum cleaners. A few days later, I got that one, and vacuumed the same rugs again, and dude... I'm pretty sure I pulled like a pound or a pound and a half of dust and dirt and debris from the rugs. Unreal. Just the other day, I flipped the rug, and there were piles of dirt, got all that, too. I've been dusting - I've been doing some comparatively deep cleaning, compared to what's been getting done for years and years, here.
And, I feel like, generally, I have a *little* support. Not any amount that the average middle class person in this country would have, but certainly more than I've felt I've had for a long time. My Aunt Linda said she's hoping to visit my Dad today, and would like to make it a weekly thing (supposedly, her "last" day of work is this week - though, she's said that for years - I think she keeps coming out of retirement). My Brother's brother and sister-in-law went to visit him on Saturday, which was unexpected and great. As aforementioned, Alina, stopped by just to make me feel cared about the other night. Last week, some people from the Prayer Group went to visit my Dad, after my Brother's bro-in-law visited the first time that week (he visited twice in a week!), and my Dad told me he had a "great" day with them all visiting, which was amazing to hear. The other night Chelsea said some meaningful things to me, which was really nice, too. On Saturday, I spent several hours with my Dad (my Brother's sibling-in-laws actually invited me over for dinner after they had visited him, which was sweet of them), after I saw him, I met up with Ginger Sara, Sean and some of his friends. We all hung out for a few hours - it was interesting, nice to be out socializing and getting to make people laugh, and great to see her.
Last Tuesday, I took my Dad to a doctor's appointment, that... it was mixed. He's clearly injured himself more than the last time the doctor saw him, and the doctor wasn't thrilled about it. But, we have a nice moment with the nurse (who's left-handed) and with the PA, who kept saying "he's so cute" to me, and I think we're going to try to go ahead with what they're planning. Time will tell.
I've been getting things done. Last week, out of nowhere, I ended up having to install a new light fixture for the front light, which, also needs some work, but it's functioning, and looks good. The gutters are done. The massive electric work is done - never thought that would happen (as my Dad said, our electric panel "is in the 21st century, now"). I fixed the front steps in multiple places. I fixed the storm door in multiple places. The toilet has modern parts in it. I was up on a ladder the other day, fixing some places on the house. The washer is working exactly as it should for the first time in probably years. I got a new mailbox, that I installed, after fixing the mount for it, and placed better numbering on it. I've improved the illumination both at the front and the back of the house. Oh my God... how did I not mention this? Dude, I've done so much work on the inside of the house, too.
I decided I wanted to have people over on Halloween - so, I made the living room *actually* functional for the use of multiple people in maybe 15 years, or longer. About a month ago, I also got a new TV (which I felt was more fitting for it), sound system (to go with the TV), and I hardwired internet to it. I made it into an actual living space. On Halloween, I had Fluff, Clara, Eddy, Anthony and Clarktron over. We watched a little Twilight Zone, The Addams Family, the Garfield Halloween Special, part of Hobgoblins, then AHS 1984 (for Fluff and Anthony). But, it was nice to have people inside on Halloween. First time since maybe 1994 or 1995. And just like I remembered from that one, I got apple cider donuts to offer people, and they got gobbled up. And having a functional living space, I was able to have Alina randomly stop by the other night (she wanted to give me a hug), I've known her possibly as long as 30 years, and she had never been inside my house. Progress is being made.
Ginger Sara is visiting for a bit, and I had her, Clarktron and Anthony over on Sunday night. We watched Dark Knight and played some SNES. It's nice - I'm starting to feel like I *live* here, I'm starting to care about things more, I'm starting to take pride in my work, and my abilities. It's a time of growth, for sure, and I'm so thankful my Dad is around to witness it. He's been bragging to my Brother about it. Oh! Yeah, so, I got a "smart" air filter for the heater, which, isn't as smart as I expected it to be, buuut, it does filter a lot. ALSO, and maybe more importantly, I recently picked up a vacuum with a HEPA filter, and man. Between what it's puling out of the rugs, and cleaning from the house - it is a dream. I've been walking into the house lately, and it comparatively smells like something *clean* happened. For Halloween, I vacuumed with one of our original vacuum cleaners. A few days later, I got that one, and vacuumed the same rugs again, and dude... I'm pretty sure I pulled like a pound or a pound and a half of dust and dirt and debris from the rugs. Unreal. Just the other day, I flipped the rug, and there were piles of dirt, got all that, too. I've been dusting - I've been doing some comparatively deep cleaning, compared to what's been getting done for years and years, here.
And, I feel like, generally, I have a *little* support. Not any amount that the average middle class person in this country would have, but certainly more than I've felt I've had for a long time. My Aunt Linda said she's hoping to visit my Dad today, and would like to make it a weekly thing (supposedly, her "last" day of work is this week - though, she's said that for years - I think she keeps coming out of retirement). My Brother's brother and sister-in-law went to visit him on Saturday, which was unexpected and great. As aforementioned, Alina, stopped by just to make me feel cared about the other night. Last week, some people from the Prayer Group went to visit my Dad, after my Brother's bro-in-law visited the first time that week (he visited twice in a week!), and my Dad told me he had a "great" day with them all visiting, which was amazing to hear. The other night Chelsea said some meaningful things to me, which was really nice, too. On Saturday, I spent several hours with my Dad (my Brother's sibling-in-laws actually invited me over for dinner after they had visited him, which was sweet of them), after I saw him, I met up with Ginger Sara, Sean and some of his friends. We all hung out for a few hours - it was interesting, nice to be out socializing and getting to make people laugh, and great to see her.
Last Tuesday, I took my Dad to a doctor's appointment, that... it was mixed. He's clearly injured himself more than the last time the doctor saw him, and the doctor wasn't thrilled about it. But, we have a nice moment with the nurse (who's left-handed) and with the PA, who kept saying "he's so cute" to me, and I think we're going to try to go ahead with what they're planning. Time will tell.