Ooof still exhausted from the Car Dealership Experience yesterday. The salesman was actually great, even though he was chatty. Super nice young man. If you go to Nissan of Portland, ask for Ricky Diamond. He wasn’t slimy at all. He’s from Micronesia, and he told us all about his island cuture and his family and everything. But he only talked a blue streak while we were waiting for other people to do stuff. He didn’t actually waste time. But the finance guy… omg. He talked instead of working! Talk talk talk talk talk. It was agony!
It poured rain all last night and most of today! I woke up in the night wondering what all the noise was!
Dave is working on installing a charging outlet for the Leaf, and I’ve been reading the manual. It’s sooooooooo exciting to have an EV. Now I need an errand to run (after Dave sets up a charger).
We spent approximately 23 hours today at the Nissan dealer with the Chattiest Extroverted Salespeople in the World (exhausting) but it was worth it cause I drove home a new red Nissan Leaf EV! Un-fricken-believable. It’s sooo nice to drive. Zippy, handles great, nice firm suspension, feels really solid and safe. And it’s fully electric! It’s the SV model, so it has a ~145 mile range (plenty for my purposes), heated seats, heated steering wheel, back-up camera, all the modern bells and whistles. I’ve been driving a 15-yr-old Honda Fit which is a GREAT little car but Dave and I wanted an EV to run around in. The Honda will go to Henry to replace his current hand-me-down car, and his car will go to his in-laws, I think. So it’s good all around. (The Honda has fewer than 80,000 miles and is in great shape so he should get some years out of it.)
Dave fitted shelves in my sewing closet! The closet has a funny angle so he had to measure the boards very carefully before cutting them to size. Pics tomorrow.
I cut out all the pieces for the girls’ outfits. Hope to start sewing tomorrow.
Henry and Co. came over and we had a jolly time together! Little Freyja can easily sit on her own now, and Lulu is a firecracker:D
I spent hours and hours tracing patterns from the Klimper books to make clothes for the littles: a short-sleeved skater dress for Lu and a warm long sleeve shirt with a shoulder placket with matching pants, all in lovely purple stretch cotton/spandex. And then I moved alllll my hideous fabric pile out of the closet so Dave can put up shelves! Shelves in the closet: Lady Catherine de Bourgh would admire them with her truly amiable condescension.
My friend Jen (hi Jen!) suggested the official Taskmaster podcast ( https://taskmaster.tv/podcast ) so I tried it today and omg it’s FANTASTIC!! Hosted by Ed Gamble with a different guest each week — sometimes a contestant, sometimes not. I’m about to start rewatching series 3 so that’s where I started the podcast. The guest was Al Murray, a participant in series 3, and it was just such a fun hour of Taskmaster chat!
Caught up on some of the housework I’d ignored for the past few days, and had my video session with Lovely Suzanne, the best therapist in the world. We’re gonna go back up to meeting twice a month for a while.
Right, my bird feeder! I bought the kind that’s like a sandwich-sized metal grid-box in which you put a cake of suet-and-seed (99 cents at Ace). I hung it right outside the glass bedroom door so I can birdwatch from bed in the morning. So far my regular visitors are Townsend‘s Warbler, a dear little black and yellow bird; Dark-Eyed Junco, who has a distinctive dark head; and the Bewick‘s Wren, who was rather hard to identify because it’s just… small and brown and plain. I thought for a while that it was a Bushtit but then I noticed that the beak was wrong — my bird has a longer beak. And a cute little upturned tail. Pretty sure it’s Bewick‘s Wren. I also saw a much larger bird once that I think was a Northern Flicker, which is a sort of woodpecker. Very excited to see who shows up in spring and summer, and I’m sure when they realize there’s year-round food we’ll get more nests and more bird families year round!
Woke up still depressed but did a big Self Care morning (i.e. stayed in bed till noon just goofing around on the internet , watching the birds, and ignoring the chores I “should” do) then went out to run a couple errands — bird food (more about my bird feeder later) and another test of my EBT card by trying to buy an apple. My card was declined again, which was puzzling because the automatic phone thingy says I have $650 credit. Hmm. Sat in the car and called again, battling through voicemail options until I got a HUMAN. She said yeah, everything looks fine. And then I realized that the automatic phone thingy said that that’s my “cash” benefit, not my “food” benefit. So I asked the human if that could be the problem and she said yes! So I went back into the store and tried to buy an apple again, this time choosing the “cash” option instead of the “food” option, and it worked!!! YAY! I guess Oregon is just kinder than California when it comes to benefits for the ultra-poor. With food benefits you can literally only buy food, but I think with cash benefits I should be able to buy vitamins, condiments, toothpaste, etc. Nice!
Then home for more Self Care. Dave asked me last night if there was anything he could do to help my depression, and after thinking about it all day I told him that the MAIN THING is to let me just feel my feelings, so I don’t need to put on a happy face and pretend I’m fine. And he totally understood!
Depressed today for no reason (other than, you know, being terminally ill and feeling physically awful all the time. But nothing NEW). Stupid broken brain. going to bed early because i feel too uncomfortable to sit in the livingroom. Gonna lie here and watch Taskmaster reruns until Dave is ready for bed and then I hope to watch our British cop show together.
My sewing room is finally useable enough for a proper project — guest bed is cleared of boxes so I can use it as a cutting table, ironing board is up, iron is plugged in, both sewing machines are up and plugged in, and I have a basic idea of where all my supplies are. The entire fabric stash in in a horrible pile, waiting for shelves, but that’s not a deal-breaker. Today I cut out pieces for a little purple skater dress for Lulu!
I went to the Department of Something this morning to get a replacement EBT card (food stamps) because the one they mailed to me in January never arrived. Neither did my insurance card but there’s a printable one on the website so it’s not a big problem and they’re mailing me a replacement. Then I went to Trader Joe’s to get milk for my Englishman’s tea, and fruit and juice and whatnot, but my EBT card didn’t work so I used Dave’s credit card. I expect it takes some time to become activated? Maybe? If it’s not working by Monday I’ll drive to the Department of Something again and I’m sure they’ll fix it up.
I’ve been having a terrible problem with eating for the last few months. I only get hungry once a day or so and then three bites makes me feel unpleasantly full, and then almost everything I eat makes me nauseated! I’ve lost a ton of weight that I can’t afford to lose. I was only 106 lbs last week. I don’t know if it’s caused by my medication, or a thyroid imbalance, or my heart failure, or something scary. I did take some Tums once and it helped the nausea, so today after I ate my Big Salad (the Trader Joe one with the mozzarella balls and pine nuts) I took some Tums preemptively and avoided the nausea completely.
One salad is not enough calories so I’ll take an apple and some goat cheese to bed to eat while I read and hope that more Tums will cure the nausea.
I made a beautiful Temari ball today! A red base with yellow swirl stitch all over it. Photo tomorrow maybe.
I sewed three pairs of boyshorts today, yay! My new sewing room is so nice to work in. I use the guest bed as a cutting table and I have a real ironing board right next to my sewing machines and three windows to let in lots of light.
Yesterday I made another Temari ball and it turned out much better!
Isn’t that a pretty thing? I did a much better job of making the thread-wrapped foundation ball smooth and spherical this time. It’s quite tricky. This afternoon I prepped another ball, wrapped in red thread, to work on tomorrow.
Got up early to go to the DMV to get my Oregon driver’s license. When Dave went in for his appointment last week, he found out that no written test was required, so I didn’t even need to study. Having an appointment made it easy and streamlined with very little waiting. I remembered to take my passport and some official mail to prove my address so I was able to get a Real ID, too.
Afterwards I went to Henry Higgins Boiled Bagels and got one to eat on the way home and one for later — pumpernickel and sesame, toasted with cream cheese. My god they were good! http://www.hhboiledbagels.com/
In the afternoon I tried my hand at the craft of Temari. https://www.japanesetemari.com/ My first attempt is wobbly and unlovely, but it was a lot of fun and I’m eager to try again and refine my skill! I haven’t learned a brand-new craft since I learned inkle weaving a decade or more ago.
Beautiful rainy day! I went to Fed-Ex this morning to overnight the keys to the truck that Dave forgot, and then to the pharmacy to pick up 15 medications. Lol. They owe me two more that insurance won’t cover until my doctor says yes, she needs these medications. Lol again plus an audible eyeroll. I mean… my doctor prescribed them, so that should mean I need them, eh? Ah the American “healthcare” system.
Then I came home and requested a replacement car title (I lost the original somehow and need it to register my car in Oregon), wrote to Em, and gathered up my library books to return. At the library I picked up my holds (about making temari) and got a whole stack of books for me and some to read to Lulu when she visits.
Our little library has a Seed Library, which is a big cabinet like an old-fashioned card-catalog (I miss them) full of seed packets! Very very cool. I chose seeds for tomatoes, mini-peppers, and bush beans which I’ll start indoors to planting outside when the weather warms up.
Yesterday was beautiful — clear blue sky, mild temperatures (about 60F) and today was the same, so I met Henry and Co at a beautiful park and we all hung out while Lulu ran about and played with kids. Love to see all the different ethnicities here. I overheard families speaking Spanish, Italian, and Russian! And there were kids in their pajamas, kids in costumes, a little boy in a tutu, and lots of happy bare feet, even in winter. Relaxed parents!
After Lu played for a long time, we went to the Neighborhood Creamery for ice cream, then back to my house for more playtime. I taught Henry and Lulu to play Mother May I :)
Beautiful clear day! Dave has to go back to the Bay Area again but this time he’s flying, so I’ll take him to the airport in a little while, and then I’ll come home and finish reading “The Case of the Murderous Dr. Cream” by Dean Jobb, which is GREAT! True crime story of a Victorian serial killer!
First appointment at new Primary Care clinic. This was just a mini-appointment so I could get my prescriptions filled. When I made the appointment they set me up with a nurse practitioner to be my PCP, but she took one look at my List of Ailments and said my case is too complex for her. Lol. After we went over my giant Spreadsheet of Medications for my refills, she sent me out to re-book my next real appointment with one of the MDs at the practice instead.
On the way home I stopped at the Neighborhood Creamery, our local independent family-run ice cream shop.
The owner, Melanie, was working behind the counter and we had a nice conversation while she made my milkshake (blackberry swirl). She and her husband ran the location as a Baskin-Robbins for years, but recently they went independent so they could use locally-made ice cream! I told her I wouldn’t have bothered to stop if it were still a Baskin-Robbins and she said TONS of people say the same thing! Hooray for small local family businesses.
This morning I made a big ol’ spreadsheet of allllll my meds to take to my doc tomorrow, and I made a list of all my ailments so I don’t forget anything when I have my real appointment next week.
Ran a couple loads of laundry and then we went out to run some errands. Library, to pick up a hold (_The Floating Feldmans_ by Elyssa Friedland, which I requested because I loved her _Last Summer at the Golden Hotel_ so much), and then the post office so I could mail Em’s Valentine gift. I made her a little heart-shaped zippered pouch and a beaded macramé bracelet in peacock blue, which was her favorite color last I knew. :D
Then down to the Honda dealer to get the battery replaced in my spare key, then Ace for toilet parts, then Rigoberto’s to pick up lunch, then home. It’s so great having all those locations on one main street just a few blocks from our house!
Now I’m watching the sunset from my favorite Sitting Spot, in the south-facing livingroom window in a big squashy leather rocker/recliner. It’s a great spot for needlework. Lots of daylight and a view to the misty forested hills. I think Dave is done with work now so we can start catching up on some shows that we didn’t watch while he was down south. I’m so happy and contented. *heart eyes*
Still wading through the exciting fun of trying to get my prescriptions filled. Luckily the Big Three (Opsumit, Remodulin, Sildenafil) that literally keep me alive come from a specialty pharmacy and were filled with very few problems (eventually) but I have 18 other meds that come from an ordinary pharmacy. My California doc said he’d keep prescribing till I got established with a doc up here. I called around, found a pharmacy that takes my insurance, and got my prescriptions transferred. Well, when I went to pick them up last week, it turns out that my Oregon insurance won’t cover them because my California doc doesn’t have an Oregon medicaid number. So yesterday I called my new doc, with whom I’ll have my first appointment next week, to see if she could send in new prescriptions for me. But she won’t do that till she sees me, and I’m running out of meds. Soooo she managed to fit me in for a 15-minute appointment this Thursday. Good enough, if it works out… super proud of myself for not getting all anxious about this!
I baked chocolate chip cookies today, and it was good timing because Henry and Co. came over tonight so I had someone to give half our cookies to because my recipe made TOO MANY lol.
Dave drove all night and got home at 4:30am! He was so wired from energy drinks that he only got a couple hours of sleep after he arrived, and of course I woke up and didn’t go back to sleep, so we’re both wiped out today. Soooo glad he’s home <3
