For the past few weeks, ever since I came home from hospital actually, I’ve been taking my morning handful of pills when I get up to pee around 4-6am. And then I fall back asleep till 7 or 7:30, get up to pee, and then fall back asleep until 9 or 10. It’s like clockwork. I think some of those morning drugs must be soporific. It’s highly atypical for me to be able to get back to sleep so easily if I wake early. Hallelujah, though!
Slept till 10 this morning, and was groggy till noon. Weird. Nice, but weird. Owen slept on the foot of my bed all night. He gets up and follows me to the bathroom and then I tell him it’s time to go back to sleep and we climb back into bed and zonk out again. Sometimes he sits by my head and sniffs the night air through my window for a while. Good cat.
I finished making macramé plant hangers and got all seven of my tasty plants hung up out of his reach. Thank goodness he’s not tempted by my geranium, baby lemon, or ficus, so those can stay in the foyer on the table in the bright sun.
1000+ steps again today! Fourth day in a row.
I took a bath this morning and changed my bedding and tidied up my room so bedtime will be a real treat tonight. The night sweats have been so awful lately, and I can’t change my sheets every day, so they get yucky. I sleep on a towel to try to soak some of it up. Yuck. The apple Health app has a place to track your night sweats, so I know for a fact I’ve only had TWO non-sweaty nights in the past 30 days. UGH.
Operation “Keep Owen from Eating My Houseplants” has begun. Dave helped me hang a chain from the ceiling today. It stretches across my windows from one side of the room to the other and is about six inches below the ceiling. Now I can hang all my plants from the chain and they will be out of Owen’s reach. I’ve already made three macramé hangers and need to make three or four more. Had to give one of the pothos a severe trim to keep it from dangling too low, but I stuck the trimmings back into the pot to make the plant more lush.
I felt more tired than yesterday but less crappy than the previous week so I count that as a win. And I walked 1200 steps yesterday so I’m not surprised I felt a bit more fatigued today. Since I can only walk very slowly today, I’ve been getting my step count in by distance rather than time. I’ve taken many very slow walks today from bedroom door all the way to sliding glass door in living room, and I’m at 838 steps with plenty of time for a few more laps before bed. I’m sure I can get to 1000 without any trouble. It’s nice to have an easy goal.
For the past few days I’ve been practicing my hand/eye coordination by copying a Hungarian folk art-style illustration. I know I was only copying, but it was tricky and fun! Super irritating that pixelfed still won’t embed. Grr! Here’s a boring old link.
I felt less crappy today, yay! Not great, but less bad.
Played some Tears of the Kingdom this afternoon. Made my way back to the tower thingy and got Fast Travel and um the other thing that makes time go backward. Recall! Another nifty new mechanic. So now I’ve Fast Traveled to the southernmost shrine and am ready to try it tomorrow.
Ken inspired me to try to up my physical activity in the most gradual, low stress way possible so today I set a timer for one minute and walked back and forth in the house, three times. And that got me to 1200 steps! Significantly up from my daily average of 650 or so. Very proud of myself.
Owen is OBSESSED with trying to eat my houseplants. He’s totally insane about it. I keep moving them to higher and higher places but he figures out how to reach them every time. Crazy cat. Now my plants are shut into the bathroom until I can hang them from the ceiling. I’m growing a little pot of alfalfa seeds for him to snack on, but I suspect he won’t care for them. Crazy cat. Good thing he’s so soft and affectionate. Lol.
Blah. Still not feeling right. Is this the new normal or will I snap back again? My weight has held steady in the 101-102 range for five days so at least my heart isn’t drowning in fluid.
Did some drawing, did some stitching, played some Zelda. Got the third hand-thing. Fuse? Yeah Fuse. So now I can Create, Ascend, and Fuse, and it’s so cool! I need to practice fusing things quickly. Such an amazing game! It takes a lot of brain-energy to play but is so immersive and so much fun!
Realized I forgot to finish Survivor, so I’m off to bed now to watch the Final Episode. Another great season full of likeable players.
Owen is the softest cat in the world and such a good companion. He slept on top of me for a while last night. He also likes to sit by my head and smell the fresh air blowing through my window at night. My fresh air friend. He’s a weirdo, though. He LOVES his dry food (fancy expensive grain-free) but hasn’t been enthusiastic about any of the wet food we’ve tried. Three bites is enough. He also doesn’t like butter, or tinned pilchards, or any sort of kitty treats we’ve tried. He just wants to be petted, sweet boy.
Blah, feeling kinda crappy. Not sick. Just yuck. Poor appetite. Little waves of nausea. Big fatigue. Low mood. Made a tiny pot roast in the crock pot, yum. Owen has lived with us for a whole week and is a good boy.
Felt much better today. Totally recovered from Tuesday’s migraine, and my appetite came roaring back at the end of the day. I haven’t stopped eating since about six and I’m taking an apple and goat cheese to bed with me now.
Such a great visit with my dear siblings. We spent many quiet hours together today, and were happily together when the indictments hit the headlines! They went out to look at the river in the afternoon so I could have a nap, and then the Henry crew came over in the evening to hang out — in the back yard, in case they had any lingering germs from their recent cold. I fixed them a picnic of quesadilla, apple slices, cherry tomatoes, and homemade cookies, and Kathy played fairies with Lulu, and Freyja ran around chuckling. It was so wonderful to watch them all together.
Reading such a good crime thriller. “Close to Home” by Cara Hunter. I’ve been reading a long string of Good Enough thrillers, and then WHAM I hit one that blows the others out of the water! Hope this author is prolific…
My new pill organizer got here! it’s amazing! I’ve had the old one since 2007 and it has gotten too small for my requirements. My four darn potassium pills are so big, even the 10mg ones, that I need to put the morning ones in with the noontime meds, and the evening ones into the otherwise empty nighttime compartment, and they get stuck crosswise and I need to fish them out with tweezers and it irritates me. This new organizer one is big and cheerful, and the daily columns lift out of the case so I can put one in my purse if I’ll be away from home at dose time. When I loaded it up I noticed that the inside corners of the compartments are curved so the pills won’t get wedged. I’m so pleased!
I’m so annoyed that pixelfed won’t embed anymore. Here’s imgur being all gross and commercial but actually embedding. With giant unavoidable white space GAHHH why won’t things just work? Oh because I’m cheap, that’s why. Scroll image to left to see a removable column IN ACTION.
Arghh now they’re worried I’m too thin. Well, I AM too thin, it’s true, but they are worried I’ll get thinner. My appetite hasn’t been so great lately. Lots of nausea and other fun stomach tricks. Argh.
Owen is still settling in nicely. He climbed into my lap three times today. He spends a while doing his own thing, and then he finds me for a chat and some petting, and then he’s off to do his own thing again. He enjoys sitting on our wide windowsills, birdwatching, and he likes to lounge in our big leather recliners. He also wants to SCRATCH our leather recliners, so on Chloe’s advice be ordered him a tall sisal scratching post to redirect that scratching instinct. Should be here Wednesday.
I drew and drew today — a tutorial of a watercolor forest which turned out surprisingly well, and a pretty little repeating pattern of leaves and berries. Also did some blackwork.
I’d better find a bedtime snack and ingest some more calories.
Yesterday wiped me out. I slept until ten and I’ve been napping all afternoon.
Owen is a wonderful cat! After decompressing for a couple hours in his safe space in the bathroom, he started doing a Lonely Meow, so we went in to make friends. He didn’t hide, and he was only a little bit nervous at first, but soon let us pet him. We visited together for an hour and he purred the whole time, sweet boy. Then we went out to give him his space and go to bed, but pretty soon he let us know he was lonely again! We decided it was more stressful for him to feel lonely than to explore one more new room, so we moved him and his stuff into my bedroom for the night. He even let Dave pick him up! He slept on my bed and purred and purred when I petted him in the night (at his request). He is a lovey-dovey fellow!
In the morning he was calm and friendly and curious about the other side of my door, so we went ahead and gave him the run of the house. He was cautious but not especially nervous, and prowled around the whole house, sniffing and exploring. When he wanted to go down the spiral stairs to Dave’s basement office, he called for Dave to watch him go down the stairs! He came back up pretty fast — it’s cold down there.
When I came back into my room at 1pm for my nap, he followed and hopped up on the bed to nap with me. The purring never stops when he’s near us. *heart eyes*
He’s not interested in treats or hiding places or cardboard boxes or toys, at least not yet. He’s not obsessed with food, even wet food, though he’s eating and drinking and using his litter box. So far he’s only really interested in exploration and love, lots and lots of love. He’s the perfect friend for us. <3
Forgot to say I gained a few pounds of fluid so I took my Ultra Diuretic on Wednesday. Today I weighed in at 97.8. That’s a full nineteen pounds less than my heaviest in the hospital (116.8). If you figure out what percentage of my body weight was just spare fluid… it’s a lot. Good lord. Nineteen pounds.
All that time over the last few months when I thought I was gaining healthy weight? NOPE. Just fluid. Blergh! Gross!
Owen’s pick-up time is 2:30pm! It’s only a 35-minute drive, but we’ll be leaving at 1:30 to be sure we’re early because that’s how we roll.
I did a lot today and I’m fairly wiped out. Drove out to Kohl’s for an Amazon return. I hadn’t been there before. Usually I use the UPS drop-off for Amazon returns but this time it would have cost like five bucks, and the Kohl’s drop-off was free. Anyway the Amazon returns counter is wayyyy in the back of the store. I walked very slowly but my goodness it was tiring. More walking than I’ve done in weeks.
On the way home I stopped at the Asian market, on a whim, but it’s no 99 Ranch. They didn’t have any of the candy and snacks I like. 99 Ranch has bags of cooked chestnuts and those little crunchy bars of sesame brittle. Need to figure out who sells those in Portland. So again, lots of walking up and down the aisles. They do sell frozen udon noodles, so that will be a treat sometime when there’s room in the freezer.
Then to the local pet store for a litter box and litter. I signed up for a Skoon subscription but our first box won’t come till Sunday, so Owen needs an ordinary box to tide him over.
Then a quick trip through the Burgerville drive through for a small strawberry milkshake, then home. Whew!
Then I got Owen’s food and water and litter box set up in the bathroom, where we’ll let him decompress after his stressful journey. There’s a cupboard propped open a little bit with a special towel inside, just for him, so he can be cozy, and another special towel in a cardboard box for another hiding place. And I put a basket of our dirty laundry in there so he can get used to our smells. Chloe sent me a video about setting up a “Homebase” for your cat, with all his comfort items and plenty of “scent soakers” that he can rub on and make them smell like himself. Then we can move those to another room once he settles down, and everything will smell familiar.
Now I’m decompressing with an Art with Flo tutorial and kefir and pasta salad :)
Made my famous summertime pasta salad today! Did a lot of blackwork embroidery while catching up on podcasts, and finished my book — “The Intermission” by Elyssa Friedland. I just love her style.
Owen is on the truck! He’ll arrive on Saturday midday-ish at their Vancouver stop. Poor boy will be so stressed, but we’ll give him all the time he needs to decompress.
A tired day, and I felt a bit grumpy. Did art all day. Discovered a wonderful YouTube channel called “Bardot Brush”. She makes excellent tutorials, very clear and easy to follow. Mom wants to learn Procreate too, so I sent her this one. I watched it and learned some stuff too!
And then I did her tute on how to draw seamless repeating patterns. Wow! I’ve seen several different methods but hers works really well for me. I had to watch the tutorial twice but I’ve got the hang of it now! I’ll try something more imaginative tomorrow, maybe. Here’s mine. The left panel shows how nicely it tiles.
Slept so much better last night, despite horrible night-sweats. Felt great this morning after about ten hours of good sleep, and did a complicated art tutorial all day. Em and Sal flew home today. Such a nice visit! My goodness, the house is so quiet now :D
I picked up some Udon soup and California rolls for lunch/dinner from Sushi Kata, a tiny hole-in-the-wall place that was JAMMED at lunchtime. It’s so close, like a three-minute drive, and so tasty!
Tired, bed early. Reading for a while (The Intermission by Elyssa Friedland) and then I’ll catch up on Love and Death on HBO.
Slept much better with no sneezing child on my floor. Rather tired today anyway — I’m putting it down to having two extra people in the house, easy though they are and much as I love them. Extra logistics, extra conversation, extra energy floating around. I did a big Art with Flo tutorial all day.
Sal and Em spent the afternoon with Henry and all, which gave me a chance to watch the Succession finale. It was *amazing*. Utterly perfect. Lordy I’m tired. Bed early.
