“Ask your doctor if trephination is right for you.”
I did eventually get to sleep, but I had to break a rule to do so. As Cookie said, anything topical is verboten, but the doc told me this held through the four-week mark, so I was hoping I could use cookie’s experience as a sort of carrot. I can’t begin to describe how unbearable the itching was. I was pounding the bed with my fists. Eventually I got an unopened tube of Rx triamcinolone, a steroid that calms inflammation and itching, and carefully applied it around the incision and where the keloid scar tissue had obliterated the incision, which is most of it. Within a few minutes, the itching subsided enough for me to sleep.
It’s still there today, and it’s just itchy enough to make it hard to concentrate on typing this. I’m not sure what to do. I think the knee docs have little knowledge of my kind of autoimmune crap and so are only familiar with the “Itching means it’s healing!” level of itch. I’d already asked the care team about what I could do for the intense itching, and all they said was, “Don’t scratch.” Wow. Very helpful. Thanks. 
I’m sure that if I told them how unbearable it gets, they’d ascribe it to me being melodramatic and a woman. I’m not scratching–I know better–but they’d probably decide I am.
rocker, how frustrating. I hope you get into permanently-negative territory today.
Too clever! 
{{{sari}}}, I hope you listen to the others. Your body seems to be crying out for a break.
VanGo, I’m so sorry about your friend’s dog.
Tobias had sketties for lunch, and of course, he put his fork in his hair. Then he asked for a bath, so I filled the tub with Mr. Bubble. Now we’re in the basement watching Bluey and playing for the next 3 hours or so. Unless I can get him to nap.
Hah!
Ursala and I are trapped in the bedroom. The guys have to remove the tile in the hall and bathroom so there is plastic sheeting at the bottom of the stairs to keep the dust down. We both
have water but I’m getting peckish.
I read that as “Skittles for lunch” and decided you’re the best Grandma ever. Then I got to the part about the fork and got confused; nobody eats Skittles with a fork. You’ve since been demoted. 
But overall it sounds like you’re both having a fun day. Kinda boring here.
He didn’t get Skittles, but he did get iced animal crackers!
My phone just got weird. MIL called and I couldn’t answer for some reason. Then I tried to call back, but I couldn’t. So I restarted the phone and I called her just fine. The mystery of technology.
Back to Bluey. I highly recommend it, if you have Disney+.
Iced animal crackers. Iced animal crackers! What a wonderful treat.
Which brings to mind the eternal debate: Which taste better, the white ones or the pink ones? For sure the tastiest of all are the ones you snuck and ate later after the grumps weren’t looking.
Such fun. I can’t stop smiling.
So there was a mountain of stuff to reprocess to go out either today or tomorrow, so fairly busy for a “Monday”
Also, as I was doing damages/fallouts/overgoods, I had some metal rings with cracked plastic caps.
< reads invoice packing directions >
“use small box, put in padding, issues with cracked caps, do not ship item 2600-30-20-O via UPS.”
the item in the box according to the invoice? Item 2600-30-20-O 
Anyways, it was a long day, and I stopped at the likker sto, and bought some rye.
Ska!
Still got plenty for Tiki Thursdays. 
HAPPY BIRTHDAY vroom and FCDaughter!!!
I need trephination like I need a hole in the head.
Let’s hope they finish before you and UrsalaCat turn on each other.
I retrieved the trash bin, refilled it with a coupla big Amazon boxes (yanno, to get the garbage party started) and gave Monkey some gooshy-food.
More stuff is coming, including a little shelf that atraches to the side of your bedframe, which will help tremendously with my tiny little hobbit hole of a bedroom. Gonna beat leaving my phone, water bottle, etc. on the floor and hoping Monks doesn’t hockey-puck it under the damn bed.
Folded & put away a nominal (if not phenomenal) amount of clean laundry, and have nuked a butternut squash ravioli thingie for my own pre-work meal.
It’s one of the last stashed in my freezer - Lean Cuisine doesn’t make 'em anymore, apparently.
Sad Shoe.
I’ll hafta find some replacement.
Oh, and a few of you fellow potheads may be familiar with the plastic pop-top “doob tube” that joints come in … ? Well, one of those (with the label peeled off) is just the thing to bring a shift’s worth of chocolate-coated coffee beans in my apron pocket. Holds one dosage, basically - if I bring more, I’ll just eat all of 'em, and I have a low caffeine tolerance.
But this way, I can snack slowly all night and micro-dose a tiny caffeine hit here & there.
My apron pocket currently holds my box cutter, a baggie of gummy candies (non Rx), a slightly stale grape Dum-Dum lollipop, plus the aforementioned doob tube o’coffee beans. My other apron pocket has an assortment of colored Sharpies, cuz I got tired of the red ones we always use at work.
… plus, a couple of other non-writing (e.g. vape) pens, one of which is just CBD and the other is … uh, never mind that one.
You’re not the only one.
It’s hotter and sunnier than I prefer. Imma bring a popsicle to work.
Oracles predict tunder-boomers for overnight.
Happy birthday, carnut! 
(and FCM’s daughter!)
All day I’ve been kinda grumpy about work, for no good reason. Nothing particularly annoying is going on, I like most many several of my co-workers, etc. I’ve been feeling ever-so-slightly congested all day, and a little tired (I woke up to pee 3 damn times last night), so that might be part of it. I think I’m also ever-so-slightly stressed about the upcoming travel: I get a little overthink-y about planning (like being annoyed with myself because I forgot to do the laundry today, even though tomorrow will be perfectly fine), but I’ll be good once I’m on the road. Hmm, perhaps I simply don’t want to bother with today/tomorrow/Thursday and just want to be on the way north already… 
In less than 30 minutes it’ll be time to head to the gym. On Saturday I told my trainer that I’ll be cancelling Thursday’s session, because I’ll be packing, etc., for Friday’s drive. I went back and forth about working out that evening anyway, but I go right after work and by the time I get home and showered and eat something it’s 8pm and I’m tired; waiting until then to finish getting ready for the trip will just stress me out even more.
Thanks, both of you! Luckily, I was already going fairly slowly; I think I might actually have been approaching a red light. It definitely could have been dangerously distracting (duh). Part of me still can’t believe I actually saw what I saw. I’ve never seen so much as a shooting star before!
Oh how maddening that must be. Grrr. 
I go through phases with food: currently, my favorite snack is sugar-free mini iced oatmeal cookies. If there were sugar-free iced animal crackers, I’d be all over them!
I freaking love little things like that: I’m all about finding new ways to find efficiencies and organize, especially small spaces. I have a convertible kitchen table, lots of “just right” shelves/drawers, etc. The Container Store is fairly dangerous for my budget.
I feel like I still see them around here pretty regularly…seems like I’m always looking for the regular Lean Cuisine ravioli and finding butternut squash instead. Maybe what I see is the last of them, though, and they just don’t sell well here.
Tangential rant: Ain’t no scam like the Lean Cuisine “protein kick” scam! At least, for items that are also available in a regular version. For example, when you compare labels between the “protein kick” ravioli and the “comfort cravings” ravioli there’s hardly any difference. Except, of course, the price.
Howdy Y’all! Laundry got done and all put away. Then much sloth ensued. Then sup got et and the kitchen cleanded up. Also, we got a bite in our search for a new Priest! There is much info to peruse etc. before the search committee meets after deheathenization this comin’ Sunday. Oh well, I need stuff to keep me off the streets and outta trouble. The info is, of course, confidential. OYKW knows I have it and can’t share stuff, plus we are good about not gettin’ up in each other’s bidness. He’ll understand when I hole up to go through it all.
MOOOOOOM happy birthday to FairyChatDaughter!
VanGo do get the gas thing checked out soonest.
WetOne hope the floor installation is not too stressful on Urusula Kitty and you.
Home from the birthday dinner. Glad for the quiet. Tobias was wired, as was Roxy. As her mom says - she uses up all her quiet at school then comes home and needs to let out the noise!
I’m about to assume the recliner position for some chillage. I need it today.
I’m glad that your friend is doing better JtC.
Yay for the negative test rocker!
I’m in agreement with getting the gas thing checked out VanGo.
Happy birthday vroooom and FCDaughter!
I remember butternut squash ravioli shoe. It was one of the Lean Cuisines that I used to pick up for lunch on occasion. Too bad they’re being discontinued.
It appears that about half of yesterday’s post was eaten and I was just too tired to fix it yesterday.
Today, I started to push both my present supe and the prospective new supe for a timeline of the transition. Right now, present supe is using the cow-orker in my area and me as pawns. She didn’t really want either of us, but she also doesn’t want to let us go if she thinks she can get something out of it. I just want to get things done.
Stay safe and healthy y’all!
Evening all. Soccer has been practiced with the 7-year olds, it went pretty well with a few drops of rain, and got a few more drops when coming home, which the lawn will appreciate. Mac-n-Cheese has been consumed so belly is happy. Pretty much in for the day, just reading and internetting planned in the next few hours before sleepy-bye.
Nellie, sometimes a lady’s gotta do what a lady’s got to do; hope the itching stays in the bearable range. And sadly you’re probably right that the truth would be turned against you.
FCM, I hardly bathe anymore, taking showers after my workout at the gym almost every day keeps me pretty clean and reasonably un-smelly. But maybe once a week I fill up the tub and just relax for awhile, just like Toby.
wet one, hope you haven’t starved; if they are there tomorrow, take some provisions for both of you upstairs.
red, stay after the bosses; don’t let them play their games with you as the pawn.
OK, need to keep up with my internetting; all y’all take care.
Oopsie, you have a lot on your mind, so an occasional grumpy day is standard. Hope you remember to write down all the ‘to-do’s’ for your trip (I always have a list–and always forget to put something on it…)
Google ‘sugar free iced animal crackers’. Most of the recipes are for cookies, but close enough…
swampy, good luck on the Priest Hunt.
Well somebody has to pay for all that extra ink they used to plaster “protein kick” all over it. Kinda like all the “Gluten free!” labels plastered on apples, meat, canned tomatoes, booze, and soda.
Great phrase! And good on Roxy for using quiet at school. My contacts in that biz tell me it’s kinda rare these days.
I wonder what the bag limit is on those?
Seriously though, seconding metal mouse’s hopes for your every success. That’s a tough problem to have and getting the right solution is vital for the congregation’s future. No pressure on ya’, not even a little bit.
As to me:
Today was a great success. I ate, I napped, I ate again, we visited the ice cream truck for a yummy snack of which I ate just a couple spoons, saving the rest for another day, and now I’m wasting time again and enjoying a nip o’ fine Scotch while contemplating bedtime soon.
Tomorrow should be beach. As well as my very last day of potential overtime. The omens for which sucketh greatly. C’est la guerre.
No, but I love the stuff. I decided not to make it once I found out how much you need to pound the dried meat. I haven’t got the energy and I don’t want to dull the blades of my food processor in the effort. I make jams with the berries, and treats, too. My latest jam is blueberry, peaches, and bourbon. I added too much bourbon. But it will be fantastic as an ice cream topping.
Mammo makes sense for a squash-o-gram. I pay some extra bucks to avoid it, getting an abbreviated MRI instead.
Hey, guys. I’ve been scarce. My mom passed late Saturday. She was able to die in her own bed, as she wanted, with me and my sister nearby.
I don’t know what to do with my time now. I keep expecting her to call or text, to ask me to give her a ride to some appointment or other, or ask me to bring her a mocha. Damn, I miss my mom.
I’m glad it ended as well as it could have. And that you and Sis were there for her.
Yes, the sudden change from heavy demands caring for them to suddenly … nothing is very, very jarring. Take some of the time you used to lavish on her and lavish it on yourself in her name. It will help. Really.
Have some {{hugs}} from a stranger. Really.
Happy birthdays @carnut and FCDaughter.
That sucks, but at least you got birthday presents wrapped in actual birthday paper, instead of “one big gift” for Christmas, which was of course wrapped in Christmas paper.
They won’t taste nearly as good if they aren’t shaped like little circus animals and have those little sprinkles taste like nothing, but make it look fancy.
Our housekeeper was here today so we decamped to the Cracker Barrel in town. They now have a drink menu that includes mimosas and bloody marys. BORING! I didn’t order one. Back in December when they had the fancy drink with glitter? Yeah, we went there ever Tuesday.
I’m agreeing with the others VanGo, please do have someone check out your gas line.
Also, may I suggest you go to the shelter and adopt a barn cat. It might never be a cuddle cat, but barn cats are usually good hunters. Be sure that kitty is well fed because then kitty won’t need to eat the damn squirrels and will bring them to you so you can see that kitty is earning its kibble.
She is such a delight and I’m slightly in love with her husband as well. He reads the stuff I like and corrupted NF so they are both cultists now. I’m REALLY looking forward to going to the Lowell Observatory with them, college students (the observatory is mostly staffed by ASU students) know all of the “when the stars are right” references and love to share.
I now need some chirping scissors!
About 40 years ago, Mom made a frame weight and beaded scissors cover for me and used the same colors to make a fob on a pair of generic gold plated needlework scissors. I have used the scissors so much that I’ve rubbed the plating off the handles, but the hinge is good and they have never cut anything but thread so are as sharp as the day she gifted them to me.
Well, crap. I hope tomorrow’s test will be better.
This whole thing just sucks. What does heat do for your pain? I’ve noticed that running really hot water over my hands stops them from hurting for a while, is it possible a heating pad would help?
LOL!!! I have non-head friends who beg for them because they are so stinkin useful. Being the good friend I am, I smoke more weed just to be able to hand the tubes out.
I was standing in our back yard, smoking and looking at the dark desert sky. I was so enthralled by the sight that I stepped back and gave my head a good whack on the fence. Driving would have not been good.
You forgot to list bottled water. I have actually seen Diet No-Carb Gluten Free water bottles at various c-stores. I’ll have to take a pic next time.
That sounds super yum! It will go on proper french vanilla ice cream, right? I’ll bet it would be nice on some Greek yogurt as well.
We are on the road early tomorrow to Madison Wisconsin to attend the largest Quilt Show in the Midwest. We are not sure what to expect, but we have been stuck here in our neighborhood for too long. I may, or may not, have time or access to check in here so if nothing works I will be back in a few days.