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Experiences and thoughts based on my everyday life |
| This book will contain my daily thoughts. |
| Zoe's 25th birthday was yesterday. Today, she dropped the bomb that I was half expecting... she's moving to Seattle to live with her boyfriend. She was supposed to go up to visit for her birthday and possibly Thanksgiving. Today, she let me know she'll be driving down to pick up her belongings from our apartment. I know this is divine intervention, but it still triggers my abandonment issues. Rick and I have been concerned about going against our lease by having a third person here. There was also the issue of possibly not being able to have Rick's kids here for any overnights during Christmas break. I want Zoe to want more out of life than being a stay at home girlfriend. Her boyfriend texted after the text with their big news and tried to calm my anxiety about it by telling me they had already looked at colleges for Zoe to attend. We are planning on eventually moving to Vancouver, Washington. That is only like four hours from Seattle. My rejection sensitivity is going a bit bonkers. It does solve a few issues, which is kind of a relief. But I didn't know that our hasty goodbye at the train station was going to be it. I would have said so much more. I am planning on staying busy with organizing, planning holiday menus, and baking treats for Rick, with a few extra for Rick to share with his coworkers. We have been having power outages here about every other day, and I have not had data on my phone. No Wi-Fi, no ability to distract myself with Facebook videos, or tv, or podcasts, So I decided to knock a major chunk out of my Christmas gift to do list. Monday, I spent the first part of my day concocting potions of scented bath salts, body oils, bath teas, and and calming face mists. I made custom scented blends based on requests from the gift recipients. It was a lot of fun. Wednesday, I made a double batch of cranberry chocolate chip cookies. I saved eight cookies out of the batch for us, froze ten raw dough balls, and packaged up the rest for Rick to take to work. Rick took the cookies to work and reported back that that his co-workers gave great compliments! Mission accomplished! Admittedly, I moped around after Zoe's news. Today, I am planning on being a bit more productive. Cleaning, prep cooking, packing Zoe's things. She had spread her stuff all over the front room and bathroom, including taking over my very long mid century desk that housed my laptop and reselling supplies. Having that space back will free up much needed shelf and table space. I have made a goal for myself that I will have the apartment looking tidy and decorated in time for Thanksgiving. I am planning on opening our home up to anyone we know who may not have family to spend the holiday with. Lord knows I will be cooking enough to feed a crowd. I am going to get a move on. I want to have a decent dinner planned for tonight. Looks like Rick will be working Saturday, and we will head over to K.'s house to help him pack up his library. he said he will pay us. That money can be used for Christmas. |
| I had so many plans for this weekend. I was looking forward to the perfect mix of productivity and pleasure pursuits. Friday night, Rick came home from work in agony. A tooth that has been giving him issues for a long time had erupted with razor sharp pain. Ibuprofen wouldn't even take the edge off. Neither of us slept well that night. By morning, my normally calm and collected fiancé had turned into a hunched and twisted figure mumbling cuss words between groans. I immediately Googled "dentist open Saturdays that accept Delta Dental". Called an office 3/4 of a mile from our apartment and secured a 10:00 appointment. It was 9:35, so we dressed quickly and drove over in the pouring rain. There were no parking spaces for almost a block, so I had him drop me off so I could get the paperwork filled out while he parked. When I checked in with the receptionist, she said, "I am really sorry, but we are super short staffed today, so there's going to be a long wait. We only have two dentists working and a bunch of people called off." I asked about how long of a wait it would be and she said an hour and a half. Rick had five people in front of him in line. I told her that we didn't mind because we just needed it done today. We sat there for over two hours... I went up to the desk and politely asked where he was in line at this point, because Rick had lost all ability to remain composed in a waiting room JAMMED with people. She said he was next. About ten more minutes. Rick was pounding his fist on his knee, his face was in a grimace. I tried rubbing his back, his neck, his hands, anything to distract from the pain. Forty-five minutes later, they finally called him back. He texted me, "Come get my phone. They're going to pull the tooth." I went to the front desk and she took me back to see him. They had given him the Novocain shots, and he was much more calm. I grabbed his phone and went back to the waiting room. I sat there for another hour. I looked at the time, it was now 2:15. I was tired, and pretty sure hypoglycemia was setting in. I was feeling a bit grouchy by this point. The receptionist called me up and handed me the receipt for his procedure. $400.00!!!! And that was AFTER insurance. Rick came out after another half an hour. On the way out, he told me the four hundred was for a bone graft. I know it was needed and necessary, but it felt like all of the overtime he earned had just floated away. Maybe the universe had a hand in making sure we would have enough of a cushion to handle the extra expense. In any case, he was feeling better, so that's all that matters. We headed to the pharmacy to pick up an antibiotic and ibuprofen for him, and my new scripts from my psych. Mine were ready, his were not, so we had a seat to wait. The tech told the pharmacist to expedite Rick's order, which was kind of her. Rick's prescriptions were almost $100. We came home and he immediately went to take a shower, and he called to me from the bathroom. I went in and there were hundreds of ants all over the bathroom. There was a trail from the bathroom to the kitchen. We're now at an approximate thousands of ants. I spray bleach spray along the trail, then while the bleach is doing it's thing, I tried to make something to eat so I could alleviate the wobbles. I made fideos pasta with soup made from chicken and tomato bullion. Simple and satisfying, known for it's restorative powers. I made myself a bowl and offered some to Rick but he just wanted to sleep. I checked on him three hours later, and could feel the heat rising off of him, and knew he had a high fever before I even touched him. I got him out from under the covers and asked him to come sit in the living room by the open window while I spooned soup into a bowl for him. He looked terrible. He took one bite of soup before laying on the chaise portion of our sofa. I tried putting a soothing show on for him, but he just wanted to go back to bed. I brought him water that I mixed an Emergen-C pack into. Not long after, I went to bed, completely forgetting to wipe up all of the dead ants. Woke up in a panic early this morning. I quickly got out of bed and wiped up the colony of dead insects and then steam mopped the bathroom and kitchen floors. It was exhausting, and it was not even 7:00. I made coffee and took a cup into Rick, who was still in bed. He said he felt a lot better, far from one hundred percent, but better. We talked about making a store run later to get needed items like coffee and milk. I just made him a bowl of oatmeal. I am hoping it will give him enough energy to run a few errands. I am thinking this might help him decide to put me on the auto insurance so I can drive myself around when he's not feeling up to it. I am hoping to run to a crafting thrift store so I can grab some fabric and yarn. Rick can sit in the car for both errands. I would completely abandon this quest, but time is very limited when it comes to crafting gifts for the holidays, and I should have started weeks ago. We only NEED a few things at the store to get us through the week. I am going to eat some leftover soup and relax for a bit. |
| We arrived home very early Thursday, after five days house sitting for my friend, K. K. just closed and took possession of a castle like house just outside of Portland. We video called him on Sunday, and he gave us a tour of his kitchen, which is bigger than our whole apartment. The front of the house includes a turret at the entrance, and a winding staircase leading to the front door. The hot tub out back makes for a perfect morning relaxation spot. We are assuming that he is planning to keep his house in the San Fernando Valley, outside of Los Angeles, and will go between the two places, depending on his work schedule. He is in the process of sorting through and packing his many treasures, and deciding what will go to Portland, and what will stay. We spent our days and nights relaxing with his four cats, Molly (the MENACE) she's a Siamese, Oliver (the OG, man in charge, but mostly just sleeps on any human surface he wishes) he's a flame point Siamese, and the twins, Nandor and Nadja, who are Molly's litter mates (Nandor is a man of mystery, and Nadja, who is a total creeper, who chooses to bide her time playing gargoyle at the very top of the canopy on the bed) both solid black, and the only way to tell them apart is by their weights. We also took advantage of the hot tub one night. Was great to have an evening relaxing in the 120 degree water. We got Jersey Mike's sandwiches two of those nights. What can I say? We love a good club sub, Mike's Way, on rosemary parmesan bread. SO GOOD! We made a point to spend time in K.'s tiki room, which houses his 34 year old macaw, Max. K. has had him since he was born. Rick thinks that because Max is in a cage, in the furthest room in the house in the dark most days, and only having human contact when K. is in the kitchen, or feeding him, that Max is BORED. When we spend time in the tiki room, Max LOVES to talk with Rick. I have cared for Max for extended periods while K. is away, and he still prefers Rick over me. If Max can hear Rick in any area of the house, he freaks out, climbing to the top of the cage and hanging upside down, by one foot, while squawking loudly and flapping his wings to get Rick's attention. It is really delightful to watch their interactions. Rick discovered that Max REALLY enjoys music, and we use music to keep him calm. He has taken a liking to Rod Stewart's "Handbags and Gladrags". He likes it to be played on repeat. We have noticed that if we leave the phone in the room and are hanging out in the living room, we can hear him softly singing along. He doesn't have the lyrics down yet, but it is awfully cute to hear him try to keep the tune. Rick has been working with a company that designs and fabricates animatronic characters, costumes, and props for movies and tv. The current job had him designing the characters and the remote controlled cars which are used to promote a movie that premiered yesterday. Rick was tasked with puppeteering one of the characters in a van, via remote. There are three puppeteers per character. One for the car itself, one to move the character's head and mouth, and one to man the voice. He was at the premiere of the movie yesterday and mas able to meet more than a few of my favorite actors, and even met SHAKIRA. The job includes grueling 15 hour days, but 15 hour days mean massive overtime, and at one point, Rick was making well over 100 dollars AN HOUR. His regular hourly rate is 37 dollars an hour. This project will be finished this weekend, but we are hoping that a new project is in the works. I am so grateful for the money, which has given us a little breathing room. They had requested that Rick fly with the characters and cars to Miami and New York for influencer events, but because of the government shutdown, flying ANYWHERE was a risk we were not willing to take. Rick really is a cool cat. I look at my life lately and I am feeling so blessed to be living the dream that I have been manifesting for over a decade. An artistic, kind, intelligent weirdo for a husband, an apartment in Los Angeles, my daughter back in my life, and the ability to pursue whatever strikes my fancy. I am grateful. Rick should be home this afternoon, and I am hoping we can have a little quality time together. We have an art show opening Saturday night, and I am planning on a craft night together, painting ornaments for our holiday tree. I have committed to finding other ornaments and decor at thrift stores and yard sales. I want to make other decorations and gifts for friends. Life is good. |
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