a bloody nose, a kiss from god

I've kind of enjoyed my break from the pool but I'm over it now. Erica was hopeful that they could get it open today which would be fine by me.

I do think I may have solved a bit of my shower issue, though. There's a toilet paper stand that is in the way and Amazon is bringing me a much smaller one that may make it less of a PIA to use the shower. It arrives today - assembly required. I have several Amazon purchases arriving today.

One is a pill shooter. Biggie has this gynormous tablet that he has two take twice a day. Plus a much smaller one. The smaller one is no problem but that giant one is killing us both. Actually, it's just annoying him but between his teeth and claws my hand is not faring well.

I can't put it in his food because 1. I can't guarantee he'd even eat it all and 2. Julio might eat it. I can't put it in a pill pocket because he's not allowed non-prescription food. So we're going to try a pill pistol if I can find one that will handle a pill this size. Cutting it in half is not an option. I actually have a smaller version and could do that twice making 5 pills a day. ugly option.

No plans for today. I worked up a little doll backlog so I spent some time on my mitered corner blanket yesterday. I may do more today.

Yesterday I had a particularly nice swim. My swim sessions are getting longer and longer because they are getting more and more enjoyable. Also swimming was Carl who is a bit of a weirdo. I can't tell if he's neurologically challenged or just thick or what but he's clearly a few pixels off. He sometimes plays volleyball with us but not often and not well.

Shortly after I got home, I got an email that the pool was closed til further notice due to fecal matter in the water. WTF????? Did I poop and not know it?? Erica (the fitness director) and I swapped a few emails and I learned that, apparently, Carl's colostomy bag sprung a leak. It will take until at least Monday and maybe longer to get the water cleaned and chemically adjusted again.

So... no volleyball today. The Mariners took their own sweet time losing last night so I got to sleep late-ish. And this morning I woke up at 5:30... I rolled over and decided to close my eyes for a bit and the next thing I knew it was nearly 8!!! And the cats were having fits.

Then, the second bombshell of the day dropped... I have gained a half pound and lost very little in the past week. So I quit counting calories and for the past two days have just eaten what I wanted. This morning I was down a pound and a half.

This is from yesterday but... wanna see my new comforter?



I got the most delightful email from Scott and Julie - my New Zealand friends - last night. They have their sights on one last grand trip to the US next year. While they were here last year, I gave them a list of places in the Southeast which is one area they have never been to. So Scott turned that list over to CoPilot with some parameters and CoPilot designed a wonderful 3 weeks from Nashville to Asheville to Savannah and Atlanta. With stops at places in between that I hadn't even thought of but will be spectacular. They are planning on arriving in mid-May and then stopping in Denver for Moab, Monument Valley, Silverado and then on to Atlanta for the Southwest Tour and then to here for a week of telling me all about their adventures before they take their over packed suitcases home. It sounds wonderful.

Time now to get dressed and ready for Elbow Coffee. Man, when you sleep in, your day sure gets cut short! (Captain Obvious reporting for duty.)

Well, the collected Skippy so far on the Facility guy so far is that he got pissed off at the parent company (LCS) and told them where to stick it. And he's now working at a Hyatt resort up the road about an hour. About half the people are 'it's such a loss' and the other half are not saying anything which I'm reading as 'not such a loss'. He had a tendency to make pronouncements about future stuff that then never happened. I was never overly impressed.

The Mariners beat the Padres last night in really the first real win of the series. It's the first game where the opposing team played really well and we still won so that's why it feels like the first win. It's about fucking time.

[edit later in the day... I turned the game off in the middle of the 9th inning. The Padres had done little and the score was Mariners 6 Padres 2. I was sleepy. While I was sleeping, the Padres scored 5 runs in the 9th. so... no win for the Mariners after all.]

I'm thinking about running a couple of errands today - I need to stop at Safeway but I just saw a new sandwich at Trader Joe's that looks interesting and I could use more Mandarin orange chicken. I need to inventory the fridge before I go.

I got a new United Health Care insurance card in the mail yesterday with some different numbers. No explanation why. The instructions said to activate, so I did and now I have no access to the data from the old card and the new card isn't valid til May 1. Weird. Oh wait. I just logged in again and now I can choose between the old and the new. Very weird but ok.

I've really got nothing else to report so I think I'll go get dressed and head on out.

So Jan's down an arm. And Dick (her husband) is suffering from 1st year at Timber Ridge Tax Return which is a real thing and painful. Now Bonny has bronchitis. And Joan has increasingly severe dental issues. This place is a mind field of old people fails.

Crap. Bonny just reminded me that we have a meeting of the 3rd floor today. Fuck. I went once and it was so painful. But the CEO is speaking today and talking about the near future plans for rearrangement of the first floor common areas. It might be worth going. Maybe. It's not til 3 which is way too late in the day for me to get interested in anything outside this apartment. Grumble grumble grumble.

At least today is cleaning day. Also the Blue Bin is outside Jim Across The Hall's Door. They station this big blue bin outside the door of any apartment where there is move in or move out - for boxes and trash. So maybe we'll see some action today.

They have a very delicious giant tortilla wrap on the lunch menu this week - it has all kinds of stuff in it and is delicious. 1/2 for lunch and 1/2 for dinner = perfect. I'm going to do it again today. Easy and handy and tasty!

Yesterday was lovely - good TV and good knitting. And, really, today will almost be a mirror. There is a very rare Monday afternoon Mariners game. I'm kind of out of scripted TV shows to watch but am making up for it with a house flip series that I found - Zombie something or other. It is out of Seattle and is very Seattle and enjoyable. And I'm catching up on some old Project Runway series that I skipped when they were current.

No swimming today. My skin needs a day off. I've got weird little patches of itchy dry flaky - one at my eye, one behind my ear, one on my hand, one around one corner of my mouth and my whole back. I need no water on any of it for at least a day. Probably a week would be way better but a day will be fine.

And I need to get out in the elbow and work on the puzzle and catch up on neighbor news.

I spent a long time this morning researching color laser printers. There is nothing really wrong with my current desk jet except the colors are too muted, it is often quite fiddly to connect up and actually print. But, it does scan and fits nicely in my space. And I can't find a laser printer that has high enough reviews to satisfy me and is small enough for my space. The front desk has a giant printer that does excellent work and they turn around stuff pretty fast. So when I want pretty colors... maybe I'll use theirs. At least, the buy decision is not punted for today.

It's now nearly mid morning and I haven't even made the bed yet.

My mp3's are all mixed together and I just dump a random group onto my player for swimming. It could be country, it could be Beatles, it could be The Big Bopper, it could be gospel or even a Sousa March. There is no order, whatever one is next, is next. It's a playlist with a neurological disorder.

In our family, we sang a lot. We took a lot of road trips and singing was required. Plus just around the house. Sometimes real songs and sometimes made up songs. A family favorite was What a Friend We Have in Mother. Well, maybe not the whole family but Mom loved it and burst it out often. Another one that I have no idea why or when we sang often and in jest was Love Lifted Me.

This morning, in the middle of my swim, just after a Bob Dylan song, I got Love Lifted Me.

It is very hard to swim and LOL at the same time.

The Mariners and Houston played horribly last night. Houston cannot pitch and the Mariners have no offense so it's pretty hilarious. BUT finally Houston ran out of time and the Mariners won in the bottom of the 9th. a walk off by my favorite player so I wasn't too made about having to stay up late.

Jim and Gayle - that's Jim Down the Hall and his girlfriend who lives on the other side of the Timber Ridge complex - got back last night from their very long road trip. Jim was born and raised within true spitting distance of where my brother lives now and that was a spot on their trip so they had lunch with my brother while they were there. I haven't seen either of them yet, I hope the whole trip was fun.

On down the hall a couple of more doors is Jan and Dick. They moved into Myna's apartment. They walk a mile every day. Last Thursday, on their walk, Jan tripped over a curb and seriously fractured her right arm. It's now stabilized until it can be surgically repaired. The soonest they can get in to see a surgeon is Thursday. Massive Ugh. And she's right handed. And they have a huge important trip to see family graduate on the east coast planned for the end of this month and she has been so looking forward to it.

At the end of the hall is Bonny who is getting a new hip on May 4. She has everything planned - help coming in and stuff - and I sure hope it goes easily.

All of the above was in case anyone wants to know what's new in my 'hood.

Today I will be glued to my knitting needles in front of the TV. First is Tia Watson's (YouTube) update on her house renovation, then CBS Sunday morning, then the Mariner game. BUSY day.

I tried the safety eyes on my mini monsters and Love them! But, then they didn't seem so monstery so I went with a smile instead of monster teeth. There will be more like this.

I ended up making a Costco trip yesterday. They now have this little graphic on my digital card that says, rather loudly, 34 years! And when you beep in, the little lady says "34 years?! Wow and thank you!" They are, clearly, counting the Price Club years which is kind of funny. Google confirms that the Costco/Price Club deal was in 1993. Anyway, I needed coffee and chicken wings and I also got some eggwiches. 3 things. I always consider it a win when I can carry out my Costco purchases in a normal grocery bag. They moved the self service area to the complete other side of the checkout so that you cannot even see it and assume they killed it. I was in line and griped about their removing it when a chipper Costocoian piped up, oh it's just over there! Bite me, lady, I'm already to the front of this line.

It is really ridiculous for me to pay for a Costco membership and I think this may be the last time. 34 years is enough.

I got up this morning and had coffee and an eggwich and was internetting and thinking about not going swimming when I just stopped and put on my suit and went before the not going thought could fully form. It was a very good swim. I've increased my time a little so that I am now swimming at least 1/2 mile without stopping.

My Peacock subscription is running out at the end of this month. I paid $60 for a year which I'd gladly do again except now they want $170. And, honestly, there isn't enough shit there to justify. I like Law and Order and Jeopardy. Are they worth $14 a month? Nope. If their baseball coverage didn't suck so much, I might even consider it but nope. So at least for now, it's buhbuh Peacock. I did resub to Netflix. I haven't had it for nearly a year so I have a lot of lovely catch-up to do.

My cell plan ran out of data yesterday which means once I leave the lovely confines of wifi, I've got a dead phone... until tomorrow when it rejuices. I think I can make it. No plans to go anywhere today.

I had my appointment with my doctor yesterday. When last we met, she said that the Medicare coverage of Wegovy was looking like April. Almost immediately that changed to July and now she's saying maybe Januaray and it's based on your BMI. BUT, they are planning on using your BMI as it was when you first started on the drug so if/when it ever happens, I'll be qualified. $350 to $50 will be a nice change but until then, I'm thinking of it like a car payment.

I can get a faster car for the same payment so she's going to increase the dosage for the next go round. I'm still several weeks away from the next go round so I thought I'd go back to tracking my calories for a while. Apparently she has lots of Wegovy patients. During our call, once we decided on dosage, my phone text beeped. Without thinking, I looked down. She said "Oh, that will be me - or my prescription rather." and it was. She said she's done enough of this that she now has a rhythm to how it all goes. I do like that she has good experience with the whole experience! She wants me to exercise more which I assured her was not going to happen. We'll meet again in July.

And so today I start the tracking - new app - Journable. This one really only tracks what you eat. It also can track exercise and weight but it's easy to ignore those bits. Very simple, and easy. The photograph nailed my breakfast.

I noticed yesterday that the Google Play Store has a new feature - AI ask a question about this app. I've been asking "how much does using this app in the US cost?" - it's a lot better than downloading, installing and then digging around for what happens when the trial is done or your xx free times are over, etc. Also it tells you if there is a way around the stupid video ads. Quite nice.

I put the laundry in before I went to swim. And now between swimming, breakfasting, cutting Biggie's nails and generally futzing around, I have 13 minutes til it's time to hang and fold.

The baseball game is at 11 today. The Mariners have lost way more than they have won so far this year. Not pretty. The Food and Beverage meeting is at 2.