Day 183 of Sheltering In

Saturday. Had a visit with my daughter. Brought her some workbooks, treats, medications. She was really happy about the surprise visit. My son texted her when we were 5 minutes away.

Why is it I can’t have anything not be ruined? A $250 carpet shampooer I bought last year is suddenly missing the Accessory Hose Door. Without the door the shampooer doesn’t suck. No suction for the foot (the part that holds the brush and you maneuver across the carpet) if that Accessory Hose Door is not closed tightly, or in my case, the flipping thing is missing, there is no suction and the carpet will be soaking wet. I need this damn shampooer working because we are shampooing the carpet in my daughter’s room in preparation for her stay to recover from surgery at my home. This shampooer was da bomb. It’s the best shampooer I have ever owned and it’s lightweight enough for me to maneuver. There is no way I could handle a rental shampooer and I shouldn’t have to because I own an excellent shampooer.

My ex-friend’s brother who passed away recently...drug overdose. Police found all kinds of drugs in his bedroom (lived with his parents). Apparently whatever he took was laced with fentanyl. The fentanyl caused his heart to stop. My sister-in-law got the info from her future brother-in-law and we are all sworn to secrecy. The parents are not to be told and my ex-friend are not to be told. If my sister-in-law told my wife, she’s told others. Just sayin.

Lola’s Diner cc.  2008-2020

Day 182 of Sheltering In

Friday. Did not have N for PT. Had the new woman. She did the deep tissue massage on my R shoulder first before anything else. That just does me in and everything after that was really painful. When I got home I took a pain pill and ice packs and laid down for awhile. Surprisingly I didn’t fall asleep. 

My daughter found out she got scheduled for the Chicago gynecologist the same day I have an appointment. She got one of the transportation people to call the doctor’s office and had them change it to a phone/televisit because she told them transportation doesn’t go that far. Kudos for creativity. I never would have thought to do that.

My daughter is having symptoms of her illness. I think she’s ruminating on the surgery too much and Day Program has not been sending worksheets for her. A couple weeks ago I printed off a bunch of math worksheets, but she blew through them right away. So now I’m on the lookout for math workbooks, either Dollar Tree, Wally World, or Amazon.

Lola’s Diner cc.  2008-2020

Day 181 of Sheltering In

Thursday. We went to J town to pick up a handcrafted housewarming gift. Came out great.

On the way to pickup the gift I saw the minivan whose driver keyed the 💩 out of my car. I drove along side of it because I needed to be in the turn lane to turn. I got a view of the driver. Yup. It was her. Thank goodness I was driving! My wife was having a fit and no doubt would have done something requiring bail money. I am 99% certain of that. How do I know? Because she got into it last year with a guy waiting for a train to finish crossing. Apparently he screamed at her because he felt they both could have gone through before the gates came down. My wife turned off the Pilot and put the key in her pocket as he walked up to her door screaming as she got out. He tried to take a swing at her, missed, she kicked him in his privates, then swung her knee up in his face as he bent over reeling in pain and grabbing his privates. Words were exchanged, she asked if he was done and he stumbled away still holding himself. There were a lot of people on the Metra platform and a lot in their cars waiting for the gates to go up. There was applause and shouts of ‘you go girl!”. Several nice gentlemen asked if she needed any help. The guy left, never called the police. My wife thinks he had been drinking. Anyway, had my wife approached the minivan it would have been on the local news for sure.

All day today I was asked by everyone in my household, and my daughter, and my brother in law: what day are we going over for laundry and poker? I’ve said multiple times that I have PT on Friday and I don’t know how I will feel on Saturday. Sunday I want to be home for da Bears game. I bought a bunch of healthy, low carb game day food. We weren’t home for the game last weekend. I have lost my 💩 over this. How many times am I going to be asked? It’s not like I didn’t give an answer. Each and every time I reminded whoever that I have PT Friday.... So why am I being badgered? About an hour after the last ask, I was told it was canceled this weekend because my brother in law had something come up.

I’m really getting tired of getting yelled at because I ask something that I was told the answer to the day before. My memory is not very good. I’m not asking again to be an asshat, I’m asking because I don’t remember. Chalk it up to stress or that brain tumor. Give me a break! Maybe I should get a doctor’s note...’Please excuse Lola. She  has memory problems and may not remember recent events or conversations.’

My daughter was able to get some info from Dr B’s office. He does surgeries at both area hospitals, one takes her insurance. He couldn’t schedule it until November. That’s not a problem.

Lola’s Diner cc.  2008-2020 

Day 180 of Sheltering In

Wednesday. My daughter is driving me bat 💩 crazy!

2 things, well 4:

1. She canceled the pulmonologist today and they won’t reschedule until Oct 1, too late for her LOA  paperwork. Team lead claims her PCP letter that goes til December 31 will work fine, no problem. The group home main office accepted it. ‘Do you think it will be ok? What should I do?’

2. The surgery. ‘How long is the surgery? How long will the incision be? Will I get stitches? How many stitches will I get? Will I have to get the stitches removed? How long will I be in the hospital? How long will my recovery be?’ Thank you Dr B for saying the “S” word and not providing any of that information.

3. ‘I talked to staff about post surgery. Staff keeps saying I will go to a nursing home or rehab facility. I’m not going to a nursing home. I don’t even want to go to one when I’m old enough. I asked staff why can’t I go home. Staff never heard of that happening.’ 🤦🏻 

4. ‘The team lead wants to replace my mouse eaten $90 Nike duffle bag with a $10 Wally World rolling suitcase. She can’t do that, it’s not right.‘

If all that seems even slightly annoying, it was much worse than that. It was like she was on speed, talking 500 mph and those questions are only part of what she asked me. Some of it I missed because she was talking so fast. 

I sent her several Amazon links for a suitable replacement duffle bag and told her to tell the team lead to order one of those. You don’t replace a very large $90 name brand bag with a Wally World child size $10 suitcase. I told her I was turning it over to her now, that she is to stand her ground and advocate for herself. It’s the organization’s fault they delayed taking care of the mice problem and they need to replace her Nike bag and 2 brand new, never worn polo shirts she bought for her new work uniform with “like” items and I explained what that meant. I told her to continue trying to get the team lead to do the right thing and if she won’t, go straight to the top and if necessary I will back her up. A replacement bag will cost $50-$60 on Amazon and if she sets up her Amazon properly, the organization will get a % donation. The links were for Adidas or Nike bags, either would be a suitable replacement. (If you buy from Amazon and aren’t already doing Amazon Smile for an organization, comment with your email and I will let you know how to have Amazon donate a % of your purchases to the organization that runs the group home and Day Program my daughter is at. It doesn’t cost you anything. It costs Jeff Bezos. 😂)

I’m trying to figure out how to find out where my daughter can be for her recovery, without first going directly to the top. I know a current and a former employee. I think I’m going to have my wife ask them.  Maybe she will have better luck than I do getting a reply. I Googled to see if I could find anything online, like on the IDPH, or DHS websites, but couldn’t find anything.

I had the new lady (girl, she’s less than 1/2 my age) at PT today. Ugh! She acted like I was conning her about not being able to do the elastic band overhead pull downs. I stood my ground and did ALL the other exercises. My back is still bad since last Tuesday and I have sciatica which feels like a chef’s knife 🔪 is being stabbed into my back and shooting pain down my leg if I move in certain ways. What ways? The wrong ways. What is the wrong way? The way that causes pain. I was told by N he needed to switch me from Thursday to Friday. Np. I just hope I have him on Friday. He is tough, but I’ve been going there long enough for him to know I’m serious about the pain. The first day I walked in with that pain he knew by looking at me. She’s only been my therapist twice. He even said something when she was asking why I couldn’t do the bands. I’m all about not wasting these PT visits and getting the most out of them. If I aggravate this back situation, my doctor will make me stop PT and I will have to take the good drugs until whatever is going on heals. I know this because it’s happened at 2 previous PT stints.

Now for the 🍒 on top of the day...I got an estimate for the Buick from the guy our mechanic recommended. I’m going to at least 1 more shop, hopefully tomorrow. I’m still in shock. To repair ALL of the scratches (2 of them are deep and not from the keying incident) it’s going to cost $1,071 and some change at Shop B. I think I want to go back and have him do an estimate for just the keyed spots and if that’s over my deductible, then I will submit it to my insurance. The other estimate from Shop A is a super lowball estimate that will dramatically increase once they’d start the work, if I ever let them touch my car again. Shop B has so much work because of the storm with tree falling on car damage he couldn’t do it for a month. And because there are 2 panels to be painted it will be in the shop for a full week. If I keep it a cash deal I will be taking the Pilot key and using it for my appointments and grocery shopping. If it becomes an insurance deal, I will get a rental car for the week because the insurance pays for it.

Hey Lola, why spend over $1,000 to repair scratches? I hear ya. I plan on keeping the Buick for a long time and want to take good care of it. I spent a lot of money on it and can’t have it looking the way it looks now. Not only that, scratches are breeding grounds for rust.

Lola’s Diner cc.  2008-2020 

Day 176, 177, 178, 179

Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday. Sunday we went to my father in law’s. I think it’s becoming a weekly thing. At least we got some laundry done and my wife and son won a lot of games of poker.

Where to begin with this 💩 fest? My daughter has an appointment in W town with a pulmonologist who is subbing for my daughter’s doctor. Her pulmonologist is on maternity leave. The new pulmonologist INSISTS that my daughter have an in person appointment to fill out paperwork. Why can’t they email the paperwork and do a televisit? This forks up everything! Because if she’s not provided a ride then we have to drive her and she’ll have to stay with us for 2 weeks, then provide a negative COVID-19 test. That’s not the problem. The problem is that she needs surgery and that’s going to extend her home visit. I wanted the home visit to be for the start of surgery. This messes up the plan. Not to mention I will have to drive my daughter to bum flippin Egypt because my wife will want to be in on that appointment so my daughter walks out with the proper note for her asthma.

My daughter needs to have surgery to remove the cyst on her ovary. The J town gynecologist and Chicago gynecologist apparently cannot come to a consensus as to which doctor will remove it. We do not want it in Chicago because that is the doctor who is out of a hospital in a very sketchy area.

I had to buy 2 twin mattresses today. My daughter had a full size bed but I just don’t see the need to spend that much money, and it would be nice to have some extra space. I honestly don’t know how their mattresses and box springs get into such bad shape. I think they must be jumping on them when we aren’t home. I went to the mattress/appliance store in J town and got 2 inexpensive twin mattresses. When the guy rang me up he was surprised to find me already in the system. It’s because I have been there a few times over the last 15 years replacing a mattress. I told him I was a regular and asked for a discount for paying cash. He gave me a discount. It wasn’t big, but every bit helps.

Now I just need a twin bed frame. I’m going to check storage before I begin to search elsewhere. We had bunk beds in Chicago, so we had 2 twin bed frames. 

Can I have just one day, ONE DAY:

Where  someone doesn’t ask me about the weekend on Tuesday?

Where I’m not constantly getting calls from a family member when I am on the phone with a different family member?

Where I’m not getting blasted on text by a family member while I am on the phone with a different family member?

Where 2 other family members aren’t fighting/arguing constantly over stupid stuff?

Where said family members stop holding grudges against one another over said stupid stuff?

Where I can be left the hell alone for a day...or at least a few hours? I’ve had to give up my Sunday time for the past month and I do not like it at all.

I am too stressed. 

Lola’s Diner cc.  2008-2020

Sunday Stealing-Bankerchick

Welcome to Sunday Stealing. This feature originated and published on WTIT: The Blog. Here we will steal all types of questions from every corner of the blogosphere. Our promise to you is that we will work hard to find the most interesting and intelligent questions. (Past hosts include: Our first - Judd Corizan, Mr. L, Kwizgiver and Bud) Cheers to all of us thieves!

Stolen from Bankerchick

1. Tell us about any lawn or garden plans you have for this month,
My plan is to get something edible out of my garden. We started late. I was told “we” were going to lower the base of our raised garden and put in more soil so the plants have more room to root. I even bought an excessive amount of soil to insure there was enough, but apparently “we” decided not to do that and not tell me until after I discovered it myself when I tried to put tomato cages and stakes in. We planted tomato, green pepper and zucchini plants. We have gotten ZERO anything from the garden. The zucchini flowers keep falling off, the tomatoes are the size of ping pong balls (and those are the big ones), and the green pepper is the size of a marble. Total waste of money on plants. The only plants that flourished were the Rosemary, lavender, and petunias.  

2. "Many things grow in the garden that were never sown there."~Thomas Fuller. What does this quote mean to you?
Pass.

3. What's the first thing that comes to mind when you think about God?
Prayers. Thoughts and prayers. My ex friend (fiancée of my sister in law ) younger brother passed away early Friday morning. Their mom found him when she went to wake him because he overslept. He was only 25. He had just gotten his life together, quit drinking, got himself a good job. The coroner told them it could have been a brain aneurysm. Their mom told the coroner he had been having terrible headaches, but refused to go to a doctor, that’s what led the coroner to brain aneurysm as cause of death.

4. If we were chatting in person, how would I know if you were nervous.
I wouldn’t say much.

5. Do you like the color yellow? Would I find any in your home or wardrobe?
I have a Sponge Bob yellow t-shirt I wear as a night shirt.

6. Daffodils, tulips, roses, sunflowers, day lily, black-eyed Susan...which yellow bloom on this list is your favorite?

Iris. Not on the list, but my favorite.

7. Flip flops or bare feet? 
Bare feet. But I always wear slippers around the house, and shoes when I leave the house.

8. Fish out of water, big fish in a small pond, living in a fishbowl, packed in like sardines, this is a fine kettle of fish, plenty of fish in the sea, fish or cut bait...which fishy phrase most recently applies to some area of your life?
Probably a fine kettle of fish. There is just so much stress I am under now.

9. Have you ever been fishing? Did you catch a fish? If so did you keep it or throw it back? If you haven't been fishing is that something you'd like to try?
I went fishing once. I caught 2 small fish, each the size of my hand.

10. What's something you're always fishing for in your purse, wallet, desk, or kitchen junk drawer?
Wallet. I’m always searching for my register coupons (the ones that spit out of the printer as the cashier scans your groceries). I fold them and put them in my wallet, but lose them in the dollar bills.

11. Your favorite fish tale or movie?
Finding Nemo.

12. Are you sunrise, daylight, twilight or night? Explain why you chose your answer.
I don’t know if I’m answering correctly...night. I have terrible insomnia, so I am regularly up until 2am. Sometimes much later. Even when I need to get up before 10am, I still can’t get to sleep. Chalk it up to back and shoulder pain. 

13. What's the oldest piece of clothing you own and still wear?
Probably that Sponge Bob t-shirt.

14. What's been the best and worst part of your summer so far?
Was summer that 2-3 weeks we had upper 90° temperatures? I haven’t had my daughter home for a visit for 177 days. We do go visit her at the group home she lives in, but the visit must be outside. We can’t even go inside to use the bathroom. I can tell it’s getting to my daughter. I can’t think of any “best part”. It’s been a 💩 fest. My new, to me, Buick which was in pristine condition, got keyed. There is not one panel or body section that did not get keyed. A con-woman accused me of slamming my door into her crappy, old, rusted minivan. My door never touched that pos van because I am SUPER careful to not scratch or ding my car. She wanted me to give her cash. She didn’t get any cash so she searched the parking lot for my car, which I had moved far away, and keyed it. I parked by cameras, I called the police, filed a report. Even if she were found, she wouldn’t have $$$ to pay for the damage she did. I should have left and shopped elsewhere.

15. Are you a Jimmy Buffet fan? If so, what's your favorite JB tune.
I'm not a big Jimmy Buffet fan, but who doesn’t love “Margaritaville”? I even have a Margaritaville t-shirt which I wore Saturday. Got it from Sam’s Club.

Lola’s Diner cc.  2008-2020

 

Day 175 of Sheltering In

Friday. I called in sick for PT. My back is still really  bad. My ex-friend’s younger brother passed away during the night. (My younger sister in law’s fiancée.) He hadn’t gotten up when he was expected to, their mom went to wake him and found him. The coroner suspects a brain aneurysm because he had been complaining of headaches. They will do an autopsy to find out for certain what the cause of death was. 

We made an unplanned trip out to the middle of nowhere to their trailer. We ordered pizza and talked and laughed for hours. Tomorrow is laundry day at my father in law’s. We’re supposed to have pizza...again. At least the pizza will be good pizza tomorrow. Tonight’s pizza was a waste of carbs, but since they are out in the middle of nowhere it was the only option.

I’ve started drinking Diet Coke. I haven’t been able to find Fizz & Co. Cola Sparkling Water at Mariano’s. It has been months. I think it’s been discontinued. 💔 I’ve been wanting it to mix with Bubly Cherry Sparkling Water to make cherry cola sparkling water. I know...weirdo! So I bought Diet Coke Mini Cans and I’ve been making Cherry Diet Cola. The Cherry kind of kills the aftertaste. I have 1 mini can a day, or none. I decided to try the mini cans because I get headaches when I drink a can or bottle. It’s actually pretty good and it takes care of my craving for cola and cherry cola. Like I’m a good judge of that, only having a mini can of Pepsi when my blood sugar is too low. I know...weirdo!

Lola’s Diner cc.  2008-2020