Feels Good to Be a Gangster

So glad I didn't have to fly to St Paul this week.  That being said, the task we were supposed to do virtually isn't being done.  I am ready to ditch this PDT all together.  The national manager is super smart, like off the charts smart, which turns into more of a hindrance than anything.  He is in the guard and speaks several languages, including farsi and all of those Persian languages so he gets called up on some super secret spy stuff all the time and leaves us hanging.  Last time he was gone for a year, this time it is supposed to be a month.  I am just tired of having a half finished program with no training and a revolving door of field contacts.  I guess that is par for the course when you work for the feds.  

I finally got in to see the new rheumatologist on Monday.  My old one left over a year ago but apparently there is a shortage here?  I have been seeing a PA or NP in the meantime.  I like the assistant I normally see, the jury is still out on the new doctor.  He is older with Einstein hair and a thick german accent and isn't one for long discussions.  My appointment was at 9:40 and I was rescheduled for my quarterly follow up, checked out and in my car by 10:15.  My weight was up a little but I wore my shoes and jacket and was still 98 pounds.  He is taking me off one of my medications and increasing another one to see if that helps with the sudden appetite change and weight loss.  I was in to see the assistant in June and have lost 10 pounds from that visit.  Other than that he looked at my hands, which is what triggered the diagnosis in the first place, asked me a few questions and was on his way.  Not sure what I expected but it seemed the last doctor was just more engaging I guess?  That being said I have had more stiffness in my fingers and still having stomach issues.

My sister sent me a text yesterday saying "27 days" That is just crazy.  When we made the plan to go to NYC it seemed like the date was so far out.  I made a hotel reservation with the plan on making another closer to the date using my points.  I knew I had travel coming up and wanted to make sure I had as many points as possible to cover the stay.  I didn't pay a lot of attention because I knew I was going to cancel the original reservation.  Well when I went in to make the reservation a few days ago I accidentally hit the Hilton Garden Inn instead of the Hilton Times Square and tied up the points at the wrong hotel.  I got that one cancelled but had to wait for the points to process back into my account.  I looked at the reservation I had and the total for the hotel was over $1,500 for 3 nights.  Now don't get me wrong, I love to be bougie but I am not about to spend more than my house payment on a 3 night stay!!  Luckily I got it fixed and had enough points for the stay and 2K left over.  There will be a resort fee but I can live with that!!  I didn't really expect to get enough points to pay for the entire stay but fell so much better that I did.  Especially with Dennis not working.  I almost cancelled the entire trip but he insisted I keep my plans.  He got unemployment and is going to try to get on disability.  We really don't mingle finances much anyway.  

Baby Daddy is becoming a fixture at my house.  Dennis is getting really attached to him.  I teleworked yesterday and he came really close to following me in the house.  He has not been tested for FIV or any of the other diseases 'feral' cats can carry so I really don't want that to happen.  If we decide to try and integrate him, we will get him tested.  We obviously don't know how old he is but he is really starting to settle in and wants to play a lot.

He is also less interested in food and more interested in attention.

He was at the door when I left this morning.  

I finally took Olive in to my vet to get her shots.  Even though we treat the animals for fleas and ticks, fleas have been a serious issue this year.  We have never had this problem but we have never had a stray cat living at my house either.  Poor O has been so itchy at the base of her tail that just touching it will cause her to react.  The vet said that Frontline and Revolution isn't working like it used to and put her on Bravecto.  Since she had never been to my vet we had to get her seen and weighed (12.6 lbs) before they would let me have it as it is prescription.  This is the first time I have taken her out of the house since we brought her home just a little over a year ago.  She is usually so quiet but she let me know she wasn't happy with this plan at all.  She really did well but she was so mad at me when we got home.  She still wanted to be in the same room but as far away from me as possible.  I guess she got lonely because the next day she was even more clingy than usual.  I got cold so I sat in the chair and covered over with a blanket to work and she decided she needed to be in the middle of my work.

My little assistant 

I would have never thought that I could ever love a cat as much as I love that girl.  She didn't even want me drinking my water, she wanted me to have my hand on her.  The vet tech asked me what Bai thought about her and I told her that they are typical siblings, he doesn't want to share and if he is sitting with me he will let her know it is his turn.  Oh to be the pet of any of us.  What a life.  

Food has been hit or miss this week.  For some reason Wednesday I felt really hungry.  I had an onsite meeting that provides lunch and they catered deli boxes.  I ate about half of the sandwich and a few chips.  Later Dennis asked if I wanted to eat and I told him that I was oddly starving.  We went to a Tex-Mex place and I ended up eating a couple of chips with salsa, one corn tortilla, and one chicken enchilada.  I really went in thinking I was going to clean my plate but that is still better than normal.  Since then my stomach is doing it's usual game.  I wasn't hungry at all yesterday.  About time to go to bed I swore the trash smelled.  Dennis said he couldn't smell it but it was to the point that it was making me gag.  There wasn't much in the trash and the only thing that could have smelled was the can of cat food we had fed the cats just a few hours before,  but we got it taken out.  I slept like crap last night and O was pretty upset that I wanted to sleep balled up and not flat on my back so she could sleep on my chest.  I had dreams that I couldn't wake up, that I was at work and couldn't hold my eyes open.  It has made for a brain fog of sorts today.  Stomach wasn't much better this morning as I got the ick brushing my teeth.  It is about 10 am now and I am still not even interested in the thought of food.  All week I was looking forward to going to lunch at a bbq place by my office for lunch today but I'm thinking that isn't going to happen.

We got a message earlier this week looking for volunteers to work remote for Hurricane Lee for one of the New England Districts.  I said I would do it but I don't think anything will come of it, the hurricane mission, I mean.  They ended up getting someone closer to the impacted area.  I probably make almost as much from per diem as I do the OT so my first choice is to do a TDY but I won't turn down 44 hours of OT a week.  It is getting close enough to the trip that deploying would be risky.  They like us to do 30 days and the way our system is set up we don't get true time and a half until we work the 31st day and then it is for the entire period.  I don't pretend to understand it but I do work my ass off so they ask me to extend so I get that fema $$$.  

I broke down and ordered some clothes from Shein.  I am not a big fan but I don't want to spend a lot on clothes that I probably wont be able to wear for long.  I thought about signing up for NUULY, which is one of those closet rental type places but I just can't bring myself to do that.  Besides, if I take any of those clothing items on a checked bag and they lose the bag am I responsible for the replacement cost?  I think I would rather do Threadup and fast fashion.  I went to the mall and got some jeans on sale at least.  I normally buy jeans or Sam's but they don't carry my size and again I don't want to spend a fortune on stuff knowing that the weight I am at is not sustainable long term and as soon as we figure out what is causing the issue I will no longer be able to wear it.  Dennis told me to shop in the kids department because I am short and the stuff is cheaper.  That might not be a bad idea.

That being said, my weight has been holding around 95.

Ok, my computer has decided to not recognize the wireless keyboard so I am going to go office space....