Just lifeing

Life has been life-ing. I feel like I am always running around doing stuff, but none of it has been particularly interesting.

We survived the evil loud Fourth of July holiday, which was probably my biggest accomplishment. We had a terrible storm right at nightfall, and I’m still not sure if that made the fireworks better or worse. We drugged Bailey, but he remained thoroughly unamused. I woke up around 1 a.m. and some jackwagon was still shooting them off. I still hear a few here and there, but thankfully they are finally starting to go away.

We had a terrible storm right at nightfall, and I’m still not sure if that made the fireworks better or worse. We drugged Bailey, but he remained thoroughly unamused. I woke up around 1 a.m. and some jackwagon was still shooting them off. I still hear a few here and there, but thankfully they are finally starting to go away.

It has been an odd summer. We had another bad storm this past Saturday. I did my normal Sunday morning errands before the church people got out, and there was quite a bit of tree damage. I wasn’t expecting it to storm, so Bailey raw-dogged it. He only freaked out once, and to be fair, it was a huge clap of thunder that made me jump too. I have never been so glad I replaced my roof last year.

Going in reverse, assuming I can remember anything else from the last few weeks…

I did my mom date Saturday morning. There is a porch bake stand a few miles from my house that gets stocked on the weekends with fresh cinnamon rolls, cake pops, cookies and various little snack cakes. I made the mistake of stopping there on my way to Mom’s a few weeks ago, and now she expects a cinnamon roll every time I come over. Honestly, they really are that good. Dennis is obsessed too.

I

Mom finally had cataract surgery on both eyes, and for the first time since she was a kid, she doesn’t need glasses to see. I told her this was unacceptable because after more than 50 years, I’m not sure I can get used to her without them. When she went with me to pick up my new glasses a couple of weeks ago, I offered to buy her some frames with plain glass in them. She declined. It is genuinely strange seeing her without glasses.

A couple of weeks after her surgery, she lost vision in her left eye for several minutes. She did not freak out nearly as much as I would have expected. That is the thing about my mom. She freaks out over every minor inconvenience, but when something genuinely serious happens to her, nothing.

My younger sister and I are pretty concerned. Mom didn’t even call the doctor because she was already scheduled to get a shot in her eye a few days later. Heather took her to the appointment and made sure they knew what happened. They adequately scolded her for not going to the ER and scheduled her for a Doppler.

She has also been reluctant to leave the house lately. I thought it was because she wanted her eyes to heal before riding around in a car and risking motion sickness, which she gets pretty badly. Now I’m not so sure. When I tried to get her to go do something this weekend, she said it was too hot. Granted, it is hot, but the car has air conditioning. I guess we will see.

She turns 80 next month, and apparently if I don’t start planning something, no one will. FML.

After leaving her house, I was supposed to get my nails done, but I canceled. My friend’s birthday is next week and she is going out of town. I was her last appointment before the trip, and I could tell she regretted suggesting that we hurry up and squeeze them in. She was very happy when I canceled.

Instead, I went to my favorite thrift store because they were having a one-year anniversary party. The place was packed, which made me happy. There was a newish girl working whom I hadn’t met before, and she was a hoot. She started pulling all kinds of things for me, including a perfect vintage dress.

When I tried it on, about four women were standing nearby, and every one of them said they would hunt me down if I didn’t buy it. It’s a mixed-media sort of thing with a polyester bodice and a silk skirt slit way up the front. It would need shorts or something underneath it. The bodice also needs to be taken in, and naturally, it is too long for my short ass.

One of the spectators gave me the name of a seamstress near my office, and the entire dressing-room committee decided the skirt should be turned into palazzo pants. I’m hoping to take it by there after work. I am so excited to see whether this works because it could be amazing.

Work is insane right now, which is part of the reason I haven’t updated. Once I get home and away from screens, I don’t want to get back on a tablet or laptop until I absolutely have to. Luckily, nothing major is going on. It is just the staffing shortage, high water from the storms and approximately 900 things that need to be done at the same time.

It isn’t all bad. The days go by quickly, and I can leave an hour early three days a week to go to the gym, assuming work doesn’t interfere.

Speaking of the gym, I am officially out of the honeymoon stage. I hate it with every fiber of my being. If I weren’t getting the hour off work, I’m not sure I would go.

The first cycle went really well, but then the machines made me redo my strength test. The new weights have been a struggle, especially paired with the TMJ flare-up. At this point, I would almost rather stay at work.

I decided the strength test must have been a fluke, so last week I redid it, thinking the machines would adjust everything back to a reasonable level. I’ll be damned if that motherfucker didn’t increase my weights again.

I can do the first 12 reps just fine, but the last eight kill me. Obviously, I am only doing one round right now, but I would almost rather do two rounds of 12. I don’t know if there is a way to set it up that way, but there needs to be because this current arrangement is bullshit.

The TMJ is slowly getting better. I found a place that does TMJ massage, and it was certainly an experience. I went in blind, able to open my mouth about half an inch before it stuck and hurt. The entire left side of my face and scalp was also sensitive to the touch.

This man stuck his big ole man hands, gloved thankfully, into my mouth and manipulated my jaw like he was trying to separate it from my body. It hurt so bad, but when he finished, I could open my mouth all the way.

I went back a second time, and it was much less dramatic. I canceled physical therapy because I feel like the massage is working better, and I’m going back again next week. My face no longer hurts, and the clicking had gotten much better, but it has returned over the past few days.

I was talking to Dennis earlier while he was sitting across the room. He did a double take and asked if the noise he heard was my jaw. Then he told me I needed to get it fixed.

Thanks, Einstein.

I had just started eating crunchier foods again, but it looks like I’m going back to soft foods.

It hasn’t helped that my appetite is gone again. This happens every summer when it gets hot. Eating becomes a struggle. I had made it back up to a little over 90 pounds, but now I’m down to 86 again. People had even started commenting on how “toned” I looked. I know the weight loss and the gym struggle are probably related, but so far nothing has helped.

The medication change was also a big failure. The medication it replaced helped with my ADD, and I could definitely tell a difference without it, but I probably could have learned to adjust. The deal breaker was that the new medication muted my taste buds, so nothing tasted right. What is the point of having an appetite if nothing tastes good? I gave it a month and then noped right out.

There are at least a few checks in the win column.

Dennis has an interview Wednesday for a substitute teaching position in a vo-tech small-engine repair program. This would pretty much be his dream job. To each their own.

I think I have talked him into looking for part-time work instead of another full-time job. Between his health and his mom’s, I’m not sure he needs to be tied up 40 hours a week. We will see how that goes.

HMF and I also saw the final show of this Broadway season, The Notebook. It was meh.

I was worried about how she would handle it with her dad having passed away so recently. We agreed to see how the first half went and leave at intermission if she needed to. She had one small emotional moment, but it wasn’t terrible, so we decided to stay.

All that buildup about bringing tissues was for naught. The cast was great and the vocals were incredible, but it went completely off the charts on the sap meter. Not my style at all.

The new season starts in September with Spamalot. HMF has parents’ weekend in Waco, so she won’t be able to go. I’m also going to have to move my tickets to a weekday because I got tickets to see The Outsiders in Denver on the day of the Tulsa show. 😬

Brooke and I are makin