Time Warp

Because of certain pressures, and extra meetings at work, I was unable to complete all of my documentation at work yesterday.  I hate this.  For years, I was able to stay late and complete my documentation, but because of Federal wage laws, I am no longer allowed to work overtime.  I could have stayed over, but would have had to shorten another day. I could do that, but I am concerned about doing, in case I mis-plan and find myself needing to stay late yet again.

Today at work, I saw all of my patients for group, individual, a psychosocial evaluation and case management. Then I started doing paperwork, late notes for 1/29/18 and current notes for 1/30/18.  I hate doing late notes.  For multiple reasons, including it delays getting the information in the record so others cannot use it until it is in the record.  For me, personally, it puts me into a time warp, and I don't know if I am working yesterday or today, and I have to keep re-orienting myself to the current day and time. That is mentally challenging and I really dislike it. It makes me have a mental vertigo reaction that is very disorienting.  But, once I finished the notes from 1/29/18, I moved on to 1/30/18 notes, and was able to get re-oriented.  

Crashed

I can usually make it through the work day with enough energy to finish.  About 20 minutes before my work day ended, I lost my energy, but made it through the day, ran an errand and made it home.  When I got home, I sat for a while and just rested, but then went on to do errands: empty the dishwasher, feed the cats, clean the cat pans, take my pills.  It took me several hours to do all that, with lots of resting in between.  I am still tired, but I hate to go to bed too early, because if I wake up in the middle of the night, I might not be able to go back to sleep. I do not sleep well, and that would be my history. 

Not only am I tired, I cannot get comfortable.  Sometimes I am cold, sometimes I am too hot, and my bones ache.  I hope that I am not getting sick, again.  

I will plan to go to bed early tonight.  

Drought

We are in a drought.  Friday morning, there was some heavy condensation, but no real rain.  It is getting warm, although the overnight temperatures have been in the 20s.  We are looking at dry and windy weather, which means we are in danger of wildfires.  Not so good.  

Laundry

I had two baskets of laundry to put up tonight.  I had one in the computer room, where I was binge watching "Blue Bloods" and the other was in the bedroom. Haiku jumped into  the basket in the computer room, and when I moved into the bedroom to work on that basket of laundry, Taki was in the other one.  I never know how long they will stay in a basket, but sometimes it is hours.  

Well, Haiku blinked first, so I worked first on the basket in the computer room, and later, on the basket in the bedroom.  I had resolved myself to spend the night on the sofa, if need be, but it was not necessary.

Once Again, Chores and Errands

So today was another day of chores and errands.  Mostly the chores were laundry, taking out the trash, recycling, and going to the supermarket.

These are easy chores to do. But by mid-day, when I got myself together to do them, the wind was blowing, and the dust was up.  

It took me less than 90 minutes to do these chores, and much of that time was spent in the car or in the supermarket.  But being out in the wind and dust did have an effect on me, and I having a heavier cough this afternoon, than this morning. But, not a more frequent cough. So, in my mind, my body is doing its job: the heavier cough is in response to the dust, and my respiratory system is doing its job, filtering the junk in the environment out of my system. 

I still have to finish laundry.  

Escape? Not!

When I was in the front yard, watering in the pre-emergent the second time today, I had the garage door open.  I thought I had the door to the house from the garage closed, but it did not latch.  At one point, I looked up to see Haiku standing at the garage door, looking around kind of lost, and crying.  Haiku does this a lot inside the house, so I really do believe the veterinarian was correct in saying she has dementia.  I went over to her, and tried to pick her up, and told her "No, you cannot come out."  She turned around and ran into the house.

While I was dealing with Haiku, I noticed that Taki had made her way into the garage, and when she heard me, returned to the house.  

Disaster averted!  Neither cat  has an identity chip, nor do they wear collars and tags, as they are not every allowed outside (except, evidently today.)  If they had escaped, it would have been a disaster.  I cannot count on them to come to me when I call their name.  They do not know about cars, children or dogs.  They could not suffer the cold, and they could not fend for themselves by hunting.  

Thank you, for tending to my cats.

Watering In

So, watering in the pre-emergent on my lawn involved its own set of events.  In the backyard, I actually ran two hoses, and let one soak, especially around the trees, while I used a nozzle on another hose.  I knew I should put in a new washer in the nozzle, but did not bother, so I became soaked as water leaked out at the juncture of the nozzle and the hose.  

When I stopped watering and prepared to go to the Lady Raider game, of course, I had to put on entirely different clothing that was dry.

When I returned home after the basketball game, I put on another set of dry clothing and finished watering the yard.  By then, although the reported temperature was in the 70s, it was much cooler than it had been earlier in the day.  

I was so glad to get inside, strip the wet clothes off, and get into the warmest clothing I have.  It actually felt like a blessing to be so warm and dry. It brought me back to when I lived in New England, and we would be out in the winter for a day of winter sports or shoveling or other winter activity, and when we went inside, getting out of the wet, cold clothes and bundling up in something warm and dry.  A nice memory. 

Saturday Chores and Activities

This was a busy Saturday.   I got up early and did housework.  I was not planning to, until I learned of the deceased, but it was important to me to go to a funeral today.  It was the funeral for a co-worker and I wanted to show support for her.  Then I came home and watered in pre-emergent on my lawn. I did not finish.  I quit to go to the Lady Raider game.  And somewhere along the line, a friend from my book club called and said she had an extra ticket to the Lubbock Symphony.  I would have loved to attend, but I am still hacking and coughing, and did not want to be a distraction at the symphony.  So, when I got home from the Lady Raider game, I finished watering in the pre-emergent. 

So, after all that, I was able to sit quietly with my cats and relax, do activities on the computer, and binge watch Blue Bloods.  

Pre-emergent

My lawn service sprayed pre-emergent on my lawn about 10 days ago.  I think it was too early in the season, because this needs to be watered in after a few days.  Well, I had thought to do that last Monday, a holiday, but it was bitter cold that day and for several days later.  Today, it was in the 70s, so probably too late, I sprayed the pre-emergent in.

It took me longer than I had thought it would, and I had some other things come up that took up time that I was planning to use for this task, but I got it done.

Finding things

The other night, I lost a pen and remote control in the overstuffed sofa.  Actually, stuff slips through between the cushions, and ends up underneath the sofa.  I was able to find the remote control, and some ping pong balls that the cats enjoy playing with under the sofa.

Today, once again, the remote control slipped into the sofa cushions.  I looked again under the sofa, and found not only the remote, but the pen, and once again, the ping pong balls.  And lots of cat hair.  Because it was so late when I was looking for these things, I did not pull out the vacuum cleaner, but that needs to be done the next time I vacuum. 

Cold Front

It was seasonably cod this morning, but the sun was out and there was little wind.  Part way through the day, the predicted cold front blew in.  It was bitter cold, with a  strong north wind, and grey cloud cover that made it seem colder than it really was.

I had a few things to do in and out.  And, the plumber returned today to finish the sewer line project.  He said he timed it so he would not be outside in the very cold early morning, but he would hopefully be done by the time the really bitter cold flew in.  He did pretty good with his timing.  And, the plumbing is fixed.

I had some things I could have done outside, but chose not to do.  I also could have run errands, but decided the errands could wait until tomorrow, when I will already be out coming home from work.  

Why Would You Take A Chance?

I was leaving a sporting event recently, and came to a crosswalk, with many other people leaving the same sporting event.  There were vehicles coming down the street towards us, and many of us stopped.  One woman came up to the curb with several children with her.  The diversity of the children made me wonder if they were friends, not all family.  The children stopped at the berm, but the woman walked into the street and said "Oh, no.  They (the cars) have to stop."  

Well, I agree with her, the law expects the vehicles to stop for pedestrians in crosswalks.  But why would anyone make that assumption, especially when some of the children in her charge may not be her own.  

The cars did stop, and we all crossed the street safely.

My New Nest

So, I usually work at my computer in the computer room.  I like the office chairs, but I only have two (I still regret not buying a third when I could have at the Resale Center. I need to go back and look for another chair.) Anyway, I usually sit on a card table folding chair. I have a space heater at my feet, and sometimes use a throw or wear an extra light jacket. Sometimes, when a cat is missing, I move to an office chair, as it is more comfortable.

When I felt poorly, recently, I moved my nest to the living room sofa.  I discovered that it actually feels warmer than the computer room, I suspect because the overstuffed sofa helps hold in the feeling of warmth. I also had two throws that kept me very snug, and a space heater near the sofa.  I was doing a lot of reading, because I had the time, and because I could, and because I could fall asleep and recover where I was in the book I was reading. I really enjoyed napping and reading, and napping and reading, and having a bowl of soup and napping and reading.  It was a most comfortable time, in its own way. It was very cold outside, and I was so thankful for a warm nest.

Haiku seemed to like being on the sofa with me.  She likes the computer room when the space heater is on, but she just seemed more content on the sofa with me, and I suspect that if I thought my nest on the sofa was warmer than the one in the computer room, she thought the nest  on the sofa was warmer, too. She also would ask, from time to time, to sit on my lap.  Sometimes, she asked to sit on my lap when I was sitting up, and sometimes, when I was reclining. She just likes to snuggle.  

Taki was less interested, but she would come by from time to time. 

I still use my new nest in the living room.  Sometimes, I sit on the sofa and work on the laptop on a TV tray. Sometimes, I recline on the sofa, with the laptop in my lap.  Sometimes, it is plugged in. Sometimes I am using the battery.  I use all the options I can, except with the printer.  

Although I purchased a printer that had a wireless setup, I never did set up the wireless option.  I have been thinking that I need to poke through the materials and information for the printer, and set it up wireless.  However, it is not much work to go back to the computer room, hook up the printer and print.  

Laryngitis

So, I had hacking and sneezing and an upper respiratory infection in mid-December.  I expected it to turn into laryngitis, and true to form, about 10 days later, it did.  I did not have fever with the initial infection, but Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, I had fever and weakness.  I worked for a couple of days, but by that Friday, I was exhausted from trying to breathe and talk, and had no voice.  So I took that day off, and it was otherwise a three day weekend because of the New Years Day holiday.  So, the four day weekend helped. I worked the next 4 days, except I had plumbing problems, so worked a short Friday the first Friday of January.  I also worked this past week.  Each day, my voice is getting  stronger. My multiple past experiences with laryngitis is that the best way to recover is minimize using my voice.  But, I cannot do that and work, and since I otherwise did not feel sick, I worked. I am still getting better. 

December 28, 2017 Where are the Celtics

The Boston Celtics were scheduled to play the Houston Rockets on December 28, 2017, to be aired on TNT.  My cable provider provides programming on TNT.  When I tuned into TNT, there was some sort of notice about due to contractual reasons, they could not air the Houston Rockets vs. Boston Celtics game.   I understand that, if it is a home (Houston) game, and the game is not sold out.  But we are some 530 miles from Houston.  In other parts of the country, there would be no geographical considerations at that distance.  But, additionally, the game was in Boston, so the geographical consideration of Houston should have been mute. 

Nevertheless,  I did not get to watch the game. 

Gag Reflex

I posted some titles to blog about when I was not feeling so good. This one was posted on December 28, 2017, but I am going to let it post on today's date, for a reason.  I had noted, for the last few weeks, I was having a serious gag reflex when I took my medication.  I was not sure what that was all about.  Hmmm.

So, now it is January 12, 2018, and for the last few days, I have been feeling much better, and tonight, it occurs to me that I have not had an exaggerated gag reflex the last couple of days.

I wonder if it had anything to do with not feeling well. 

Blogging

Sometime before Christmas, I contracted an upper respiratory infection.  I did not have a fever, just coughing and hacking.  A few days later, true to form, laryngitis set in.  I do not feel really sick most of the time when this happens, although this time I had a couple of days of fever and weakness.  It was during my holiday break.   When I am on break from work, I often to a lot of blogging.  This time, I could not seem to clear my head to do any blogging.  I have now had laryngitis for almost 3 weeks.  It has only been in the last few days that my brain has been clear enough to spend time after work doing something creative or industrious.  So, tonight, I am starting to blog.