Ughhhhh!

My spouse has refused to allow me to go in the attic. I don’t know how Jaime Sommers thinks she is going to accomplish that. She’d probably tell my son to stop me. She can barely do stairs. Something is seriously wrong with her right implant. She sees the ortho doc after Christmas. Praying this isn’t caused by an infection because she would have to go through a year + of surgeries. I do have a feeling he will need to do one surgery to reposition the hardware. Not looking forward to that.

Even though my son can’t remember where the combo tv/vcr he got from Grandma (Anastasia), he did remember the same Grandma gave him a vcr to set up a man cave in the basement. Anastasia’s Mom was always very generous. Even though they were hand me downs they were like brand new. You may be thinking, Lola, how does he not know where the tv/vcr is? It’s part of his illness. He moves things around, goes through stuff (probably why we can’t find all that Christmas stuff) and he doesn’t put things back. For all I know, that tv/vcr could be in a closet or armoire behind his clothes. We go on treasure hunts a lot. 

I pulled out my VH-C tapes. They go back to 1999. That sounds about right. I got the camcorder in CA when I picked up the ex from his 5150. There were VHS tapes of the kids from birth but the ex stole them. After we moved I asked if I could make copies and return them to him, he refused.  He doesn’t trust me. Really? After all I did for him and all I went through, I’m going to steal the kids baby tapes to get back at him? I don’t operate like he does. Still makes me angry. He is supposed to grace my son with his presence in January (Yes, not my daughter. He refuses to see her because she cut off phone contact shortly after we moved here. Props to her.) I’m going to try to get him to bring the tapes. I’m probably going to have to talk to his wife. 🤡 Wish me luck on that. 

A handful of items were found off the list. The search will continue...good times!

Lola’s Diner cc  2008-2018

Murphy’s Law and...

Tree has some bows and a few ornaments. 

Two family members, who shall remain nameless, insist up and down that ALL the totes and boxes of ornaments and Christmas paraphernalia have been brought down, along with a bunch of Tupperware that someone felt the need to randomly grab items, bag them, and put in the attic some time after I came home from surgery. It’s holiday time, I need my serving stuff. Who takes someone’s stuff and randomly bags it and puts it in the attic?

I took a Sharpie to paper and filled THREE pages of items I know for a fact are missing and still must be in the attic. There is no way they brought everything down. I am not pleased. I’m that other “p” word!

I went through the tote that was marked with Sharpie “Do not place anything on top of this tote.” Before I even opened it, I could clearly see the lid was indented, meaning the note was ignored. My Mom’s antique ornaments were in there. (Not all of them, because there are many, many missing, including the jumbo 5” diameter one. It was the last one left after some kid knocked the tree down and the rest got smashed. I treat it gingerly, it has a place in a clear glass bowl on the entertainment center bridge, far away from kids and cats.) I found 5 broken ornaments, ornaments that can never be replaced, ornaments that held memories. 😰

Murphy’s law:

My spouse messaged me a gift idea for herself. I promptly went on the website. 50% off most items, sale ends soon. Created an account, placed the order, took screenshots of the onscreen order # and confirmation. I still haven’t gotten an email confirmation. Half hour after I order she sends me another gift idea. I try to sign in and it’s saying my email is not recognized or password doesn’t match. I wrote down the password, triple checked what I typed in, same message. So I put in the required information to check on my order:  order number, email, zip code. Same thing. I have to call customer service in the morning. Good times! This is a legitimate website, not some oddball, questionable site. 😡

After my phone call guess who’s going up in the attic? Lola. Cuz whatever Lola wants, Lola gets, even if I have to go up in the attic where I shouldn’t be going. If you want something done right, you do it yourself.

No worries...the attic floor is finished, no falling between rafters like Clark Griswold in “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.”

And where is my train set?

Lola’s Diner cc. 2008-2018

Tree update

We are moving closer. There has been some progress.

The bookcase has moved to the dining room closet and my daughter’s love seat has been moved. Not much was accomplished yesterday because my daughter needed a ride to PT. Thankfully she had a cookie decorating event by us and caught a ride with her group back to her house. 

Car issues again. I didn’t want to drive far after I saw what it was. Looks like a rear brake caliper rusted and broke, so I’ve got 3 brakes instead of 4. (Caliper holds the brake pad against the drum to achieve braking) My spouse took the car to the shop today. Our mechanic, what a sweetie, he kept trying to reassure my spouse, if my diagnosis is correct the part will be $60 + a little for labor, but he won’t know til he takes it apart. He’s always teasing my spouse about our key fob. The screw kept loosening so I bought a rubber cover on Amazon to protect it and keep it together. 

He calls it a key condom.

Anyway, vacuuming and carpet shampooing will commence today. Fans are out of storage and at the ready to speed up drying. If all goes really well, boxes could come down tonight, otherwise tomorrow and then the tree assembly can begin. Or as I’ve been calling it “The Santafication Process Can Begin!” It’s a riff on one of the Tim Allen Santa Clause movies where an elf says “The Desantafication Process Has Begun!” I think it’s the 2nd movie where he has to find a wife.  Yeah, I’m weird like that.

Lola’s Diner cc. 2008-2018

Is there a way to fix the “WRONG” in the world?

Last night I was reading the news stories on Google. I don’t watch TV news, but I pick and choose what I read on Google, CNN, and HuffPost. 

There was an article, from the New York Times. It was about opioid overdoses. Several videos of overdoses. First, a young woman on the side of the road near a bridge that opened for a boat, barge, whatever, to pass. Thank God the bridge went up. People waiting for it to go down saw her. One video taped the entire thing. The other jumped into action and started chest compressions. A man was there, said she was his sister. He called 911 and the operator instructed him how to try to resuscitate her and prompted him when to do the breaths. The woman had to be an angel. She kept up the chest compressions until paramedics arrived and took over. Then she disappeared. The young woman was revived and was given Naloxone. She survived. Another video was a woman lying on the floor in a dollar store. Overdosed. A couple of people watched and took video on their phone while the woman’s 3 year old screamed and kept trying to wake mommy up. They called 911 and WATCHED. They did NOTHING. They didn’t try CPR or try to talk to the child. Police and paramedics arrived, the woman survived. Another video, 2 women in an SUV overdosed, children in car seats in the backseat screaming. A man parked next to them, saw them, called 911. Police arrived and the video was from their body cameras, not from a phone. The next video, even more disturbing than the dollar store video. Two people overdosed in unusual positions. One was squatting and face planted by the curb. The other was sitting on something and fell backwards and overdosed. Several people taking video on their phones...LAUGHING. Someone did dial 911, but no one did anything but LAUGH.

Saw an article today (why can’t they show the blood and gore photo in the article after you click, instead of on on the Google page?) A woman shot earlier this month in a foreign country, I can’t recall. People just took video on their phones and watched as she cried out and said the name of the shooter and fell over and passed out. Someone called for medical help, but they all  just WATCHED. No one even tried to put pressure on the wound. The woman survived, I don’t know how, all the blood loss. 

What’s my point? We all know this world has already gone to hell in a hand basket. How do we as a society get back to respect, decency, and helping our fellow man? Where have all the Good Samaritans gone? Do people not know about the Good Samaritan laws? Even if there weren’t Good Samaritan laws, do you just watch and laugh? We’re just going on this downward spiral. Is there a way back, or are we destined to continue the downward spiral? Is this the beginning of the end? Are we in the end times? (Yes, I’ve read the entire Left Behind series written by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins.) 

Have I lost my mind...talking about the end times?

Where is the Good News? Where is the care for our fellow human beings?

I need to read some happy news. I wonder if there even is any.

Lola’s Diner cc. 2008-2018

Side-Tracked Sunday

So remember how my Christmas tree was to be up by Sunday night without fail? Yup, fail. However, much was accomplished.

The end tables were wrapped for storage in the attic. The dining room chairs were finally removed from my car and wrapped for storage. The dining room closet was gone through and we found a few treasures. Found my VHS-C to VHS converter so we can watch some videos from when the kids were little on  Christmas Eve or Day. That was a cool find. I can’t wait to watch them. Found a power tool everyone claimed they couldn’t find (someone, not me, put it in the closet). Found a DVD player for our next project room. Found my receiver so we can hook up my spouses surround sound system upstairs. When watch any channel on Roku the sound drops and we have trouble hearing programs even at max volume. We also found a certain hair cutting device popular in the late 80’s. My son’s hair is out of control, kind of Peter Brady near the end of the series, but unkempt. So he will be our first...ahem...volunteer. I usually cut his hair with electric clippers and do a darn good fade, so if anything goes awry, I can make it into a fade.  Lol! I think this will be quite entertaining. Also found my bookshelf cd sound system, which will make a nice gift for my daughter. 

The closet clearout is done. This should allow for a bookcase to reside there for the holidays so we can move furniture around to make room for the tree. 

Daughter going back in the am and spouse has PT. I don’t expect much progress Monday, however, my son is in the holiday spirit and anxious to get decorating for the holidays. 

Not much I can do other than supervise, but I can start researching the menu for the holidays. I’ll do that in bits and pieces so I don’t aggravate my back. I feel some of the low carb side dishes for thanksgiving bombed. Anyone who says otherwise is just being kind. I think the only way to get a palatable dish is to mix some regular carb food into the low carb. I may just go rogue and find some low carb dishes that aren’t trying to imitate a high carb dish. 😯

This week should be much less stressful than last. I have only one appointment, and both doctors were happy with my MRI results. Next check-up MRI is June.

Lola’s Diner cc  2008-2018

Great News

I had my MRI an hour early (good thing I got there early). Different machine, more space. I got through it with my anti-anxiety meds and counting backwards. I felt close to falling asleep if it weren’t for the painfully pulled something that happened in my lower back right after I got locked in. I suffered for 30 minutes + 10 for the contrast dye, then 20 for the last scan. I was so happy when she unlocked the head cage!

An hour later I had my neurologist appointment. He didn’t show us the scans, but read from the report. No change! Excellent news!

Lola’s Diner cc 2008 - 2018

Mixed bag

A lot of very good things were said about my daughter at the meeting to talk about an apartment. That’s good. 

The 2 openings they have are in a building where 2 clients have “issues” and they are trying to figure out how to handle them. They wouldn’t elaborate, but I’m sure my daughter knows all about it because she has a friend in that building. They don’t want my daughter to be put in a bad or unhealthy situation. That’s good.

They bought a property in my town and expect to break ground on a 25 unit apartment building in March or April 2019. They purchased a property in a nearby town, it’s progress being they broke ground in March 2018 and expect to have it up and running 1st quarter 2019. So that means the new building in my town would likely be ready for residents 1st quarter 2020.

It’s disappointing for my daughter, but to be so close to home and live in a brand new building would be something she would prefer. It would also be easier transportation wise. Everyone would also be starting out fresh there. (Yes, my daughter did ask if she could move into the unit with 2 openings and then when the new building is done move there. They said no, it’s going to be all new people.) I know my spouse and I and her brother would love to have her closer. They expect to have a mix at the new building. Behavioral Health, Intellectual disabilities, and seniors. 

The meeting was jam packed with information. Each one of us, including my son asked some questions that appeared to be stumpers, but we did get answers.

Will I stop thrifting for awhile, since the wait is so long? We stopped at a thrift store on the way home. So that answers that. We got a couple of pieces of Corningware, and a Temptations set of canisters. She wanted to go retro in the kitchen, but I think we can work around that and still have it be retro/kitschy. My spouse picked up a favorite movie on DVD and a gift for one of the kids. Because cable tv is a lot extra and we’re not sure if it can fit in her budget, we have been collecting DVD’s, and DVD boxed sets.

My MRI never happened because they scheduled me on the wrong machine. They are squeezing me in tomorrow. The neurologist is 1 building over, so at least I won’t be racing across town.

My daughter has off work Friday so we told her to arrange to take that day off program. She needs to help get her furniture in the attic. The end tables, coffee table, 2 dining room chairs, and probably the dining room table (already disassembled) and 2 chairs. Then she can help bring the Christmas stuff down. It’s all on the kids to get this done because neither my spouse, nor myself can do any of that.

So now I have to psych myself up again for the MRI. I was all set, took my medication for claustrophobia, even started nodding off at after my blood work. I was rrready to go. I can do it! I have to. I’m anxious to find out the results.

Lola’s Diner cc 2008 - 2018