missdiane | Reading

I usually take half an otc sleeping pill because my thoughts swirling prevent me from calming down. Yesterday I was very hyper at bedtime, having had a bad day, and I took a whole pill. I didn’t get awake until 11AM. Half the day gone. And it’s so hot here. Upper 90s(F). I had plans to do errands but all I did was water the plants. Yesterday the resident deer spent the day sitting under my azalea bushes in the deep shade.

My neighbor whose name I heard as Joanne is actually named Deanna. It happens. She is a talker, and knows everybody. Not malicious gossip but if you want to know how many kids someone has or who had a stroke, she’s your girl.

house_wren

At the clinic, a nurse was putting an IV in my wrist. We were chatting and I mentioned something about being old. "No, you're not!" she said, cheerfully. Our conversation moved on, but since then I cannot stop thinking about it.

My age is a fact. I'm old! The government thinks I am old, as I am on Medicare and receive social security. My hair is grey. I have all kinds of health problems.

The idea that being old is bad and shameful is pervasive; that is what underlies the nurse's comment that I'm not old. She knew how old I am; she was reading my records. I think she heard my acknowledgement of my age as some kind of admission of defeat. I think she was trying to cheer me up or offer support.

Or perhaps it was that my appearance, in spite of my grey hair, doesn't match my numerical age.

When someone tells me that I'm not old or that I'm not ill or that I'm not autistic or that I don't have ADHD, I want to politely and honestly explain why what they said is a problem. Unfortunately, my experience is that there is nothing I can say that will achieve this. I've tried. The need to deny that I am any of these things is so great that people won't listen. They keep talking, defending their belief.

I understand this is about their own discomfort, their own issues. But it annoys me no end.

Current Mood: annoyed

missdiane

I foolishly left the box of pads behind at the apartment and guess what decide to crop up and say hello this evening? It was such a joy to drive the few blocks and enter the stuffy apartment to grab the box of Always - thankfully I put the blinds most of the way down so it was gross but not totally a heatbox even though it got a little over 90F today.

While there getting that, I grabbed the two small grocery bags with cans of kitty food just because I didn't like them sitting in the heat and some other odds and ends to make the trip more worthwhile than tending to my damned pesky uterus with its giant attached blobs.

Small mercies I suppose that I didn't get the unpleasant surprise while down in Princeton at that conference yesterday but still. Bah.

Yeah, I know I need to schedule the stupid surgery. Need to get the apartment stuff done and dusted this month and hopefully by that time, the boy will be adjusted to the new place and his silly auntie Emily.

anais_pf posting in

thefridayfive

1. Have you ever been to summer camp?

2. Have you ever made a s'more?

3. Have you ever slept under the stars (no tent/tarp)?

4. Have you ever had a member of the opposite sex sleep over at your house?

5. What type of bed do you have (queen, twin, bunk, etc.)?

Copy and paste to your own journal, then reply to this post with a link to your answers. If your journal is private or friends-only, you can post your full answers in the comments below.

If you'd like to suggest questions for a future Friday Five, then do so on DreamWidth or LiveJournal. Old sets that were used have been deleted, so we encourage you to suggest some more!

missdiane

Bullet points would probably be easiest so here goes. Leaving out a lot

- JonJon is not a confident kitty, though he never has been. When moving, he at first was too scared to leave his carrier the whole time we had him confined in the new bathroom (with all the stuff we could put in there to make him comfy and smell like him). He did eventually move to the bedroom next door but it took a while before he was peeing, eating and pooing more normally. He is better on the bodily functions but is VERY clingy, shy of Emily and only wanders out of the bedroom on occasion. I had to put one of the litterboxes in the bedroom for now. But making some progress. He also does seem to love his kitty tree in the bedroom looking out onto the deck where squirrels frolic across and much more green small backyard.

- Move otherwise went well enough and junking too. I still have lots of dumb stuff to sort and bring over through this month. Amazing what can be tetris-ed into a small one bedroom place.

- The floors at the apartment looked far better than I expected after getting rid of the area rugs that were there for a decade. Still tons of dustbunnies and patching after I manage to get all of the stuff out.

- Emily is justifiably annoyed with her sister's wife who pushed us into hosting the birthday for her sister on this upcoming Tuesday but doesn't want to plan anything. Bitch. Fine, well since we can't do the screenprinting on the ice cream cake she wants, we're going to have a poster or banner made with more embarrassing pictures of her sister. We're also inviting her sister's ex since the ex currently has two of the kids living with her. We're getting catering from a local pizza/pasta place and I told Emily do NOT buy a gift because all this is more than enough.

- We may be hosting again for cake the week after since the twins birthday is then. Poor JonJon ain't going to get a break from STRANGE PEOPLE being in HIS house. Poor little dude.

- Had a huge OH SHIT this week. Looks like by the proposed budget, they are trying to completely eliminate USDA Hatch funding and slash McIntire-Stennis forestry funding in half (along with halving Extension funding and defunding SNAP-ED). If that happens, it will destroy many experiment stations around the nation. NJ will shrink and well, if it happens, I'll have a lot smaller job but eh, should still be employed. We got some hopeful news that the appropriations committee is going to fight to restore it but we need to make some hard decisions until then.

- I'm pissed off at the shitty union that I'm in by default. Thankfully I don't pay dues. But the raise this year is a flat fee which fucks me over. It's 3.5% of the average salary, but I am a grade 6 administrator (still underpaid and working on an upgrade) which means I get the same raise as someone many grades below me that just started. How is that AT ALL fair?

Ok, back to work. Whew.

lycomingst

Watch on YouTube

At least in the Northern Hemisphere.

caffeinatedcanadian

I usually have this particular sunflower peace flag on my garden shed during Spring/Summer months, as I really like it.

But this year I got a new flag to put up. 😍

The only complaint I have is that it's Not double sided, so you can only read it in one direction. But I couldn't find one that was double sided when I was searching it out.

I also got a BC flag and Canada flag, but I'm getting new poles for those so I don't have to choose between any*lol*.

Current Mood: cheerful
Current Location: Vancouver Island

lycomingst

I’m going to watch the finale of Dr Who and then opt out of Disney, Max and Hulu which I got as a package.

I thought the Dr Who stories were thin and not very engaging. I didn’t care about Rose 2.0 and this Dr Who didn’t charm me as much as he did other folks.

I never watch anything on Hulu. Max: I watched some of The Last of Us this season. In my head canon Joel and Ellie live happily after. The story on the screen is too traumatizing.

I watched about a half hour of the latest Capt America. The fights were bad. Bad guys pointing guns and waaaiting and waaiting to fire until the good guys jump them. Otherwise it was just guys talking.

But I’m enjoying the latest Taskmaster.

vysila

How is it June already? At one year in, it looks like 1/3 of the goals on the list have either been met or adjusted as no longer pertinent.

Big BIG activity month for the goals list, because the renovation started in May. It was delayed a couple of weeks but much progress has been made in very short order. I spent a massive amount of time and effort on decluttering possessions as well.

5. Read Vorkosigan series
Completed three more books in the series and have now exhausted my physical books. The local library only has audiobooks – which, tbh, put me to sleep almost instantly. I think more reading in this series will have to wait until I locate physical books.

17. Figure out financing for porch subsidence issue
Not exactly creative, but basically doing a quicker, less thorough fix (i.e., not demolishing the existing porch and replacing it) that still ought to make the porch more stable and less prone to water incursion. This will probably end up on a credit card after all, which I was hoping to avoid – but needs must.

28. Weight monitoring
Up another 4.8 pounds. I have completely gained back everything I lost in the last year and am now less than one pound off my May 1 starting weight. My only comfort is that I remain under 200 pounds. I am such a stress eater and between personal and political misery, all I do is snack and nibble.

29. BMI monitoring
Back up at 31.

Completed a cluster of reno projects, as follows:

49, 51, 52. Smallest bedroom – Painted ceiling, walls & trim, replaced the outlets,
switchplates and ceiling fan

54, 55, 56, 57, 58. Primary bedroom - Finished stripping wallpaper and repaired walls, painted the ceiling, walls and trim including interior of closet; replaced the outlets, switchplates and ceiling fan

59. Refloored the primary and smallest bedrooms to correct the existing problems and flaws

60, 61, 62, 63, 65, 66, 68. Did some major repairs on the walls in the middle room (destructive teen damage years), primed and painted the entire room – walls, trim, ceiling. Also replaced the subflooring, installed new flooring, replaced the outlets, switchplates and ceiling fan

72. The popcorn ceilings in the upstairs were removed
They used some kind of chemical that softened the ceiling enough that they could pull it down. They are currently patching and sanding the ceiling before painting.

92. Curate book collection
Much progress in May. Most of my books are stored upstairs and I cleaned out the upstairs in its entirety to prepare for the renovation. So I went through all my books, reserved maybe 50 favorites and rehomed everything else. The local library benefited hugely from this cleanout. I am thinking, though, to do one more pass on the books to see if there are any more I can declutter without too much pain.

93. Curate zine collection
I may have counted this as completed in April, but really it was done the first week of May. Overall I rehomed around 200 fanzines and kept only about a dozen favorite beloved Star Wars zines and two MFU zines

Deleted several goals as being unnecessary due to selling/moving. I figured I didn’t need to go the extra mile with some things. If I were staying on in this house, I would definitely do them.

48. Install pullout shelves in kitchen cabinet

50, 64. Install crown moulding in the middle and smallest bedrooms.

102. Schedule advance tasks like survey, appraisal, etc.
I belatedly realized these will be part of the closing process so I do not need to do them separately.

Current Mood: crazy

caffeinatedcanadian

I have a Lilac "Sensation" tree that gets purple blooms bordered with white, and they are so pretty. This year it had so many blooms. 😍 One bloom that took me by surprise and had me confused. It had a white swath of blooms down it? Never had one do that before. It was quite pretty though 😄.

Current Mood: confused
Current Location: Vancouver Island

caffeinatedcanadian

Spent a few weeks working on adding curtain rods and blackout curtains to all the big windows in the house. The hope is that they will help keep things cooler in the summer, and warmer in the winter.

Looking forward to no more sun glare from the half moon window reflecting on the TV making things unwatchable. *lol*.

Had to buy an 8' ladder especially for this one space (and get it delivered), as the 5' one we already had didn't let me reach that high at all.

Current Mood: busy
Current Location: Vancouver Island

caffeinatedcanadian

Current Mood: cheerful
Current Location: Vancouver Island

anais_pf posting in

thefridayfive

These questions were suggested by

malloreigh.

1. What sets you apart from your friends?

2. What sets you apart from your family?

3. What sets you apart from your coworkers/fellow students?

4. What is the one thing about you that is most unique?

5. What is your most interesting quality?

Copy and paste to your own journal, then reply to this post with a link to your answers. If your journal is private or friends-only, you can post your full answers in the comments below.

If you'd like to suggest questions for a future Friday Five, then do so on DreamWidth or LiveJournal. Old sets that were used have been deleted, so we encourage you to suggest some more!

house_wren

Nature report:
1. A fawn has been sleeping in the field behind the house. (This happens every year.)
2. A raccoon visited in the afternoon, hoping to get the suet out of the feeder. (He failed.)
3. A pair of swallows want to nest on the light fixture. This is not going to happen. (I put lemon oil on the shade.)

I have to have a biopsy of my liver. Oh, great. (I might have damage from a medication.)

I don't have to go to the clinic until Tuesday. Wow - this means six days at home. Unheard of!

It's been a long time since I had a good primary care physician. I have one now. She really looks after me. She will go to bat for me if another provider is ignoring my concerns.

Summer butter! Summer butter! I dislike butter generally; it smells rancid to me. But summer butter is lovely. I've also heard there is summer half & half, but I haven't seen it for sale.

I'm still listening to the old episodes of I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue. And watching Radio Star on Viki. And laughing.

Today's perfume: Cherry Punk.

Current Music: one song to the tune of another

lycomingst

The “put up a new fence” boys are here and have just about finished the job. Looks good. And I discovered my neighbor has a cherry tree. I am envious. I am out in the yard every day for about an hour or two. But the weeds and bushes are on a at least eight hour day and they’re racing ahead of me.

I took my first bath here last night. As opposed to the shower. I wanted to pumice stone my feet which are very hard skinned on the heels. The tub isn’t big but then I am not tall. I enjoyed it.

The Park has told me that I am on the list to have the very large, very dead tree in my backyard removed, at their expense. Later this summer. That will leave another stump but my plan involves having whatever I can afford ground down, in the future.

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missdiane

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Page generated 11 June 2025 18:52

You're inferring I'm stupid.

That's not correct. We implied you're stupid, you then inferred it.

Reading

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no, you're not

Note not to let down my guard until the damned thing has been removed and I've healed

The Friday Five for 6 June 2025

A little of everything

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New thing for my shed

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Mission 116 Update for May 2025 (Month 13)

Weird Lilac bloom

Project completed

Visiting Critters 💕

The Friday Five for 30 May 2025

may be

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June 2025

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