We got a Christmas tree! I haven't had a tree since I lived at home, before I left for college. I.e., nearly 30 years ago. I'm enjoying it tremendously. We got a really beautiful tree: 6'6" tall and very full. It looks great with the lights and ornaments on it, and I plug the lights in whenever the room seems even close to dark enough for them to ( Read more... )

Window guys were here from 10-4 today, banging and drilling and making a non-stop utter unholy ruckus. It was jangling my nerves the entire day, except when I put on headphones to watch a movie on my iPad, which resulted in the workers not being able to get my attention when they had questions, and so I didn't do it the rest of the day, which left ( Read more... )

Hung out with Crystal for a few hours this morning/afternoon & that was nice. We worked on a big puzzle on her coffee table (she almost always has a big puzzle in progress) & it was very relaxing. It made me want to work on puzzles here at home, but I've never done so because there isn't really a good place to do it & the cats would be a problem. ( ( Read more... )

By mid-afternoon today, my vertigo had passed and I was feeling mostly fine. Weird. Debbie mentioned my breathing, referring to my problems with hyperventilation more than a decade ago, and that very possibly may have been the cause. In any case, it was weird. The worst vertigo I've ever felt. I could barely walk two steps without careening into ( Read more... )

I totally fell apart at Ben & Jerry's with Shannon tonight. I just feel like I've had nearly 2 years of shit, and I never get a good chance to get mty feet under me before the next shit storm hits me ( Read more... )

Haven't written in a while.

Birthday: Good. Busy. Vietnamese food with the in-laws. Sundaes at Ben & Jerry's. Beloved people singing "Happy Birthday" on the answering machine. "Spirited Away" with wonderful friends and crazy snacks. Walking with Shannon in Tilden Park and enjoying all the green. Delicious Mediterranean dinner at La Mediterranee. ( Read more... )

Last night, a woman from Home At Last (the rescue organization from which we adopted Callisto) came by to do a "house check," and we showed her around: food, water, litter boxes, toys, screens on the windows, etc. Hopalong Rescue never did this after I adopted any of the 3 cats I/we got from them, so I was a bit surprised that they wanted to do it ( Read more... )

No coughing in quite a while. Maybe a week? I'm cautiously optimistic and, per the pulmonologist's instructions, I am tapering off the meds she gave me, one by one, and crossing my fingers.

( Possibly triggering but fairly brief weight-related stuff )

So … we have a new cat! (See icon for photographic proof.) We've named her Callisto, primarily because her tortoiseshell coat looks a bit like the surface of that particular moon. She's very pretty, and while we were filling our her adoption paperwork at the mobile adoption, pretty much everyone who walked past stopped to coo into her cage and tell ( Read more... )

Warning: Entry rated R for language and implied violence toward Girl ScoutsThe official Girl Scout website has a "cookie locator" that allows you to type in your zip code & get a list of where/when cookies will be sold near you. I and/or Shannon have made at least 4 trips to locations where these fucking Girl Scouts are supposedly selling cookies, ( Read more... )