I drove Mom over to Henry’s house to spend a couple days with them. Beautiful day, lots of rain. Should be clear and warm over the weekend so I hope to plant some more seedlings. I think there’s a nursery or two right in my neighborhood. If I feel ok tomorrow I might go have a peep and see what they’ve got.
I’m absolutely itching to do some sewing but so tired today after waking up too early and doing that drive (and having Company for two days), so I spent a lot of time re-re-replaying My Brother Rabbit on the switch. It’s a sweetly surreal little indy puzzle game that Em and I like to play over and over. Hmm, need to write to Em tomorrow.
Mom brought some Stravinsky piano duets, so after the piano tuner was finished the morning we played through them several times. Super fun, and Dave was really impressed by my sight-reading skillz. I haven’t really played piano for him till now because I really don’t enjoy playing solo; give me an ensemble and I’m happy.
Btw the tuner was Britney, whose piano tuning and repair business is called Little Orchestra. She was fantastic! If you’re in the Portland Metro area, I recommend her highly.
Lovely Spring day! Mid-60s and mostly sunny. Mom came to visit and I picked her up at the airport and gave her the grand tour of our sweet house. So great to have a proper guest room for her. We watched a lot of Escape to the Country with her before bed. Fun!
The fabric is a beautifully soft and drapey cotton double gauze from Minerva.com. It was fun deciding whether to use the big checks or the little ones for different parts of the dress! I think I made a good choice. I lengthened the pattern by two inches because I’m tall and it was drafted for a 5’6” figure. Also I skipped the interfacing for a softer look.
I made a Schoolgirl Error when attaching skirt to bodice and got the pockets flipped to the back, but a few minutes with a seam ripper and my pockets are now correctly oriented. :D
The pattern is from Helen’s Closet. You absolutely cannot go wrong with Helen’s patterns; they’re well-written, well-drafted, and so versatile! I will be living in this dress all summer. I can’t wait to make another one.
Oh, by the way — seven trips through the dryer on “air dry” and the Great Lint Disaster of 2022 is resolved! My clothes are completely lint-free. *whew*
I had the world‘s worst laundry disaster today. It was so bad, just BEYOND bad, that I was standing in the bathroom/laundry room howling with laughter! Turns out I somehow got one of those padded brown envelopes mixed up with my washing, one of those with a layer of gray fluff between two layers of thick brown paper.
When I opened the machine to take out my laundry, all these odd brown flakes fell out. I looked deeper and OH MY. I’m actually laughing again just thinking about it! Imagine sending a kleenex through. Now multiply that level of lint by about a hundred.
I usually hang everything to dry (saves energy and keeps your clothes nice for much longer) but I had to do something about the lint so I ran the whole load through the dryer on “air dry”. Cleaned the filter and ran it again. And again. And again… it’s on the sixth time through and I’m still scraping a big wad of fluff out of the filter every time.
Here’s a pic of my floor before I swept it. Note the great wads of wet brown paper in the basket.
A few days ago I asked Teacher Nick, who runs Lulu’s beloved Nature School (at which six preschoolers run around having adventures in a forest all morning) if he needed any supplies. He said — play dough! So I set about trying to find a recipe, because I’d rather make it myself than buy the little plastic cans. Ugh.
Mix dries in a bowl. Mix wets, including food coloring, in a pan. Stir dries into wets, cook over medium heat, stirring, till it thickens and stops being sticky. Turn out onto a big plate, let cool a few minutes, and knead for a few minutes. Done!
Drove over to visit Henry and all! Lulu has Nature Preschool on Tue-Wed-Thu mornings but is at a Loose End on Monday and Friday. It’s so nice to spend time with them in their new home! I took a backpack full of picture books to read to her, and we watched some YouTube amd hung out. Wonderful!
Came home around noon totally exhausted and did pleasant nothing for the rest of the day. Got into a conversation with a twitter friend about one of my favorite movies, Holiday (1938, Grant and Hepburn) and realized I only had a crappy VHS rip, so I dl‘d a nice blu-ray rip and began another viewing.
In the evening we got caught caught up on Taskmaster (13 is a great season!) and Survivor (42, also great!). The cast is so likable! Really good players, too. There are 6 left and we will be happy no matter who wins.
I finished the entire top half of my dress: bodice, sleeves, sleeve bands, neck band. All that’s left is pockets, skirt, join everything together, and hem. Tomorrow will be a bit busy but I’m sure I’ll be wearing my new dress next week.
We had the best time watching the Eurovision semi-finals! Absolutely bonkers. Highlight was the band whose singer wore a black lace bodysuit over a black Speedo and ended up ridings a bedazzled red velvet mechanical bull while the guitarist shot flames out of the neck of his guitar. As one does. I think it was North Macedonia. Anyway no act came anywhere near the quirky clever singable charm of Iceland’s entry into the (cancelled) 2020 show.
Woke up too early (Dave usually gets up before his alarm but it went off this morning and I nearly leapt out of bed. It‘s LOUD) and felt crappy but lazed in bed for a few hours and then felt good enough to do a little sewing! I finished the bodice of the March Dress. Sleeves tomorrow.
98.2 lbs this morning. Argh. Nibbled cannabis gummies until I had an appetite and managed to eat an entire serving of lasagna for dinner.
Another beautiful day in Portland Paradise. I drove out to Henry’s new house to give him some cash for gas — he’s driving so much because of the move and he’s feeling the pinch. A little gas money makes everything easier. It’s so amazing to visit them in their own house! There’s always parking in their driveway. No stairs — up one step and you’re at the door. Henry was working (from home) so I drove Jayla to the store for a broom and a shower curtain. Sweet sweet couple. *heart eyes*
I swung by Trader Joe’s on the way back to return two expensive boxes of horrible, flavorless blueberries. Trader Joe’s is so nice about returns — no questions asked, no receipt needed. Got some milk, juice, onions, raisins, and peanuts. I’ve been keeping GORP (good old raisins and peanuts) on my nightstand to cram some calories and nutrients in before I go to sleep.
This morning I cut out all the pieces for a new summer dress, and then I was tired so I didn’t do much else. But I felt cheerful so that’s ok. Maybe I can start sewing tomorrow.
My endocrinologist got back to me about my cortisol results: not low, so not Addison’s. A little high, but that’s to be expected for someone who’s not getting enough calories, so not Cushing’s. So that’s good! Still waiting for the results of an special thyroid test, so maybe that will provide answers. 100 lbs today.
We finally got caught up on the shows we missed while Dave was out of town and my laptop was in the shop. Omg this series of Taskmaster is So Good! The shoe task. Little Alex Horne’s Stag Minute. Lololol!
Survivor is great too, especially after re-watching season 30 (blue collar, white collar, no collar), in which nearly every contestant was loathesome and, after Jenn and Joe went home, I didn’t want any of them to win. Season 42 is full of intelligent, likeable people and I’ll be pleased no matter who wins.
I felt better today than I have in weeks (months maybe?) so I got a lot of housework done finally! This place was becoming a tip. I sent the Roomba through the whole house (not insignificant because I need to make sure the floors are clear of things and cables), I cleaned the sink and toilet, I did the dishes, did a load of laundry for Dave (he can’t see the black-on-black washing machine buttons), and made him sort through three or four boxes of his bathroom clutter while he was watching TV. He filled a garbage bag!
Then I rested in the afternoon, and then I made dinner! I definitely haven’t cooked since my most recent hospital visit. I wasn’t hungry but it was pleasant to eat. I made mac n cheese with peas and tuna. I added cream cheese, sour cream, and a pinch of cayenne to the cheese sauce. Quite tasty.
I think my new higher dose of remodulin has kicked in. Thank goodness.
Henry and Jayla got the keys to their nee house yesterday! Yes, a Millennial couple bought a house! (With downpayment help and advice from someone wonderful) It’s a sweet little 1959 tract house on a quiet street in a nice, diverse, family neighborhood, walking distance from elementary, middle, and high schools and plenty of parks and other amenities.
They have a back yard for the dog and the girls to play in. A double garage to keep things in. An apple tree. Rose bushes. A gas stive and a window over the kitchen sink. A driveway to park in and no stairs! (They’re been living in an absolutely hellish apartment building for the last couple of years)
Today we went over to hang out and let the Internet Man in while Henry drove around getting things done. Lulu took Dave by the hand to give him a tour and my heart melted.
You have no idea what a relief this is to me to know that they’re no longer at the meecy of rotten landlords. They have their own house! They can hang pictures and paint the walls any color they like! Lulu can run around without being shushed for fear of pissing off the downstairs neighbors.
Saw my new endocrinologist. I guess I had a fantasy that she would look at my symptoms and labs and know how to fix me — but no. She, too, says my bloodwork is really odd. So she’s running more tests to see if my cortisol levels are off. Need to get blood drawn at 8am tomorrow. Ugh. Judging by the tests she’s ordered, I think she suspects it’s Addison’s Disease. Which is, of course, serious, rare, and incurable. Because that’s how I roll.
I’m lying on the sofa waiting for Dave to get home from Trader Joe’s. Our home is so peaceful. Double-glazed windows and a quiet neighborhood. Minimal clutter. No quarrels, no shouting, no bickering. Love, trust, respect, and companionship. My health may be endlessly frustrating but everything else is going great. Gotta remember that when I feel blue. (But I’m still allowed to feel blue.)
Bad insomnia last night but then I slept till 10:30am so I feel fine. Thought I had a cardiology appointment today but when I got there it turned out I was confused — somehow I simply invented this appointment because my real appointment is in my calendar too, in June! It’s ok, it was a pleasant drive on a lovely Spring day, and I stopped at New Seasons on the way home for a huge veggie sandwich. Eight years after leaving San Diego I’ve finally found a sandwich equal in quality to Sandwich Emporium. The Bay Area was a sandwich dead-zone for some reason. Look at this beauty:
Marbled rye, provolone, mayo, mustard, avocado, tomato, roasted peppers, pickled peppers, cucumbers, lettuce, and red onion! I swear it was six inches thick before she wrapped it up. Ate half when I got home and half for dinner. Nutrition and calories yay! It’s such a tempting sandwich that I was able to eat it despite not being hungry. Still 100 lbs, so at least I haven’t got even thinner.
Dunno if I mentioned it before, but we let the previous owners stay here in their RV for “a couple weeks” after we moved here in early January. Very nice couple but omg they finally left THIS MORNING! Four months later. Lol. Now I’ll never be ambushed by Conversation when I go outside. I don’t need to check if the coast is clear before I get the mail. It’s JUST US!!! Hallelujah!
Apple finished repairing my laptop and I picked it up today. They had to wipe it, which is fine; I have a backup of course. I use backblaze.com. They are shipping me a usb drive with all my data on it, and in the meantime I had a very happy afternoon reinstalling all my software, getting my DNS proxy working, getting dropbox and 1password set up, etc. I’m not being sarcastic! I really enjoy setting up a minty-fresh computer or phone or ipad.
I went to Trader Joe’s, yay! I tried to find some things that looked appetand have a lot of calories… bought some dried apricots to snack on, and some peanuts and raisins. Kefir, too, and my usual green apples and goat cheese.
In the afternoon we had a sudden intense rainstorm. It was bonkers. It rained harder than I’ve ever seen, just absolutely gushing down, and we got an inch of hail too. And the basement flooded! Dave’s office got the worst of it since it it’s nearest the back door where the water came in. We’ll need to replace the carpet and flooring. The actual basement-basement only got a few puddles. Dave ran out to Ace and got a mop and one of those yellow buckets that squeezes the water out of the mop and mopped up the worst of it, and then Henry and crew came over in the evening to move their stuff out of the water. (They’re storing some boxes and furniture down there while they move)
This morning I woke up at 7 and realized I hadn’t taken my handful of pills last night, so I took them and went back to sleep… till 11am. Lol. And then I dozed till noon! Couldn’t figure out why I was so sleepy until I realized that I take a bunch of meds at night that have a “drowsiness” side effect. Yup.
So I got up eventually and did the dishes and, since it’s a gorgeous spring day, I worked in my garden for a while. I say garden, but it’s really big grow-bags (like fabric pots) on our deck just off the livingroom. All I do is step out the sliding glass door — no steps. I have my shower chair out there so I don’t need to crouch on the ground. There’s even a hose. My peas, sunflowers, spinach, and pole beans are doing nicely. Today I filled up a ginormous grow-bag with potting soil and planted my last three tomato seeds from the library. They get ONE MORE CHANCE to germinate and if they fail again I’m just gonna buy nice fresh seeds at the nursery.
Now I’m eating broccoli and reading Marian Keyes’s new novel “Again, Rachel” which is so damn good I need to ration it and make it last.
I think the doubled dose of mirtazapine is helping. I wouldn’t say my appetite is back, but I can think about food and eat a bit at appropriate times without feeling disgusted. Perhaps it’s helped my mood, as well. I felt positively cheerful today. I weighed 101 lbs this morning! Never got lower than 98, and maybe it’ll turn around now. I miss my round face. I look haggard when I’m this thin.
Dave had his booster shot scheduled for 1:30 today, and I had happened to notice, while browsing Portland restaurants, a German restaurant called Gustav’s near his Kaiser compound, so I drove him to his appointment and we had a lunch date afterwards! I even wore a frock, the blue flowered one I made over a decade ago. Good lunch. I ordered side dishes (the red cabbage was the best) and Dave had a cabbage roll, a bratwurst, and about a gallon of excellent German beer. He got a bit tipsy. Adorable.
We were both wiped out when we got home, so sat on our comfy couch and watched Netflix and Hulu and such till it felt like bedtime. It was 7:45. We’re old. Lol.
And now I’ll read till I feel sleepy. I’m working my way through the Miss Read novels again.
