My wife’s knee has been in bad shape for several months now. Of course our bedroom is on the second floor. She’s been getting up and down with the aid of a stick and the banister, which was put in when we bought the house fifteen years back.
I guess she’s been putting a lot of weight on the railing, because it broke when she was on her way upstairs tonight. I don’t know the terminology—the bracket, maybe? A metal piece broken right in half.
Luckily she was not hurt. Better going up than going down I suppose. But now we have to replace it, and as soon as possible, and no way do I have the skills…so…
I’m not particularly close to this niece, but because I’m family, there’s an unspoken requirement that I be there. I had to cajole TPTB at work to get the day off and they wouldn’t let me know until this past weekend whether I got it off (I did, btw).
Never mind that 1) I cannot afford anything on either of her registries, and 2) I have no idea what to wear.
Big spider ON the bed would cause me to be all granola and it would be escorted gently outside. Little spider IN the bed would cause me to first hit the ceiling then hit everything in a 6’ radius, sheets would fly off and I’d probably sleep on the couch.
My rant. One of the joys of kidney disease is Medicare becoming a secondary insurance. After 30 months on dialysis, it flips and becomes primary. This has caused a flurry of problems. Today I received a huge bill from my nephrologists office. One that I could not possibly pay. That’s supposedly the joy of multiple insurance providers. My employer provided insurance declined to pay as did Medicare. For the past few months I’ve been able to pony up money for prescriptions and copays, but this bill was a no way in hell. Called Medicare. They couldn’t count to 30, it appears. What should’ve flipped 3 months ago was done two days ago. I’m glad it was finally fixed, but seeing this bill jacked my blood pressure through the roof.
Oh, the health care in a America. What will we do. Good luck with your journey MissTake. I don’t know your whole story. Are you waiting on a kidney for transplant?
For years I’ve had this gap between two teeth on the right side of my jaw into which shreds of meat would firmly, *firmly *wedge themselves, causing me a fair bit of pressure pain while in place and another bit of pain when I either flossed or Water Pic’ed them out.
And now I apparently have one on the *other *side of the mouth. Just used one of those little pre-strung floss sticks to remove several bits of chicken, gaining both some blood and gum soreness in the process because the chicken was so very firmly and deeply wedged. Ugh.
Meantime I’m trying to find an ergonomic, mechanical computer keyboard. I want something that has a tactile feel similar to the old Northgate keyboards, which I truly loved. I was looking at some of the gaming keyboards (nice feel on the MX green and MX blue), but they’re all pretty standard layouts and I’m not sure they’ll help with the hand and arm positioning that would keep things un-, or at least less, strained. <grump>
It’s at the point where I look at the dog every so often to see if she’s breathing. She’s a few months shy of 17 and no longer walks, so I carry her wherever she goes. She had diarrhea yesterday so I gave her rice and banana, which she ate but without too much enthusiasm. I’ll give her some more rice with ground beef later, and if she won’t eat we’ll probably go to the vet tomorrow. ������
I am moving, so call up AT&T to get my internet transferred. Note I disconnected my landline 3-4 years ago, since I have my cellphone and didn’t need it…
…Or so I thought. To my utter shock the phone guy as he wrapped up the transfer politely informed me that my internet AND phone will indeed be successfully moved over by the middle of the week, to the tune of $120 a month.
Since, when I (thought I) eliminated the land line that it cut my bill down to $60 (after fees and taxes), needless to say I was NOT a happy camper. Yeah, my fault for not closely examining my CC statement each month and taking it on faith (so I thus Pit myself too), but how TF does that slip thru the cracks? I found a CC statement, it had the charge as $92, 30 bucks too high…
But, to my utterly pleasant surprise, I found a statement from them that I had missed in my shredding frenzy this past week which fully detailed the service change. They did give me back six months of refunds, but it would appear they owe me up to 3 years worth now (depending on when the error first happened). More to come when I have time to yammer for an hour+ (which I don’t right now).
Of my 2 Siamese, the male is more open to cat/human interaction. I taught him to target. First with his nose and then the paw. Very cute little non-trick. Or so I thought. It has increasingly turned into a useful trick for him to get my undivided attention. First he would pat my hand to pet him. Next he started patting my chin if I didn’t pay attention fast enough. Today I was singing to the dogs ( hey they like it) and this cat put his paw on my lips, I suppose, to shut me up. What now, he’s a music critic?? Any way he was sitting on my lap for a few minuted and I started talking baby talk to him, again with the paw on the mouth. So I am now not allowed to speak around his royal highness. All the time the female is watching with a smile on her lips. I am not even kidding.
Keys (and wallets) belong in only two places: your hand, and your pocket. Not on a hook, not in a basket, not on a table. Get into that habit and you will never lose them, and you will never leave without them.
I am a girl. Girl clothes don’t provide the right kinda of pockets for such rules. Sometimes keys belong in an ignition, btw.
I get what you’re saying though, if only my life worked in a normal manner.
I’ve been keeping track of my wallet, keys and phone, because I have a friend who loses all of the above. Almost daily.
He has the archetypal Costanza Wallet (named after George’s behemoth). He can’t sit on it, or his Otterboxed iPhone – he’d have instant sciatica. So he has to put them both on the bar when we go out. Then, after we leave, he has to run back and grab them off the bar before someone else does.
His girlfriend and I have tried to talk him out of carrying so many cards every day… to no avail (“But in case I suddenly drive cross country to visit my cousin, I NEED to have the loyalty card for the Thriftway near her house!”).
As a result, I’ve pared down to Driver’s License, Insurance Card, key card for work, two credit cards and some cash. So it all fits in a skinny card case in my front pocket.
Pared down my keys, too. They automatically get dropped in my right-hand jacket pocket, my phone in the left.
So I won’t lose my keys or phone… until it’s too warm for a jacket!
Everything goes straight from yesterday’s pants to today’s when getting dressed in the morning. The only way to forget my stuff would be to forget to get dressed.
The problem with hooks is the same as baskets or tables: the “must divest myself of keys when inside” mindset causes people to forget where they put them.
Everyone, without exception, I’ve ever known who had a hook to hang keys on has as often as not put them somewhere else, frequently with no memory of where they put them. Also sometimes forgetting to retrieve them when rushing out the door.
I want to repeat my advice: “Pare down.” Skinny card case, small phone, two keys*. That’s what made it all work for this ADD guy (who can lose anyth— oh, that’s where I put my duodenum!)
*Ok, I’ve gotta brag… I’m down to TWO keys! House and “my” car. Which means I can keep 'em in my pocket without being lopsided (heck, I’m thinking of switching them to that little watch pocket in my jeans).
My wife has a jailer’s ring of a dozen keys and fobs. But I got a skinny duplicate key made for my car – I can unlock my car manually, so I ditched the huge fob. If I have to drive the wife-mobile, the key’s by the door.
For me, it’s a “travelling light through life” sort of thing. Important as I fight to not be a crotchety old hoarder.
