A better day all around.

.
.
At least for my purposes.  More energy is always good, knowing what is causing problems helps, and being rested adds to teh joy.  I was awake late, so, of course, got started late.  And I needed to wake up first.  Gaming fit that bill and did it's job.  The goal was to get started on the kitchen, to get as far as I could, then reassess.  I'm in the reassessment stage having cleaned the stove top and all the counters but where some of the dirty dishes remain.  Then I nuked the sponge as it was smelling hinky.  Finally I hit the dishes.  I didn't get all of them, one of them truly needed to soak.  I did most of them though, with only a chili pan, in which the remnants had dried, thus needing soaking, and some popcorn and other greasy type of bowls and pans (which I do last, as they kill soap water).  Dishes are much easier, now that I use mostly disposable dinnerware.  There are times where metal utensils, and more good solid large ceramic bowls, or such, just seem more appropriate.  And there are always the pots and pans.  But on the whole I have cut my dish washing down by 80% or more... that, I think, will be quite manageable even in the depths of my miseries.

While I take a break, I am figuring if I can finish everything in time to make cookies so that when the folks that bring me dinner arrive, I will be able to send them home with a small batch.  Home-made, fresh, warm probably still, chocolate chip cooks.  My mother used all the nuts, I think, so no walnuts would be added.  But for my part, as I have said, I don't really care for nuts in anything, especially walnuts.  I don't mind a handful once in a while, or in a dish that deals with their acidity or in small amounts.  They can literally burn my mouth like a hot pizza, leaving... gunk hanging off the roof of my mouth.  They seem to have tamed walnuts, of late, though.  Still, once in a while, I get that hit no matter what brand.  Cookies, home-made, from scratch.  That's what I'm talking about.  If not, perhaps I can perfect the recipe and offer it to them some other time.

Tomorrow I have to be out of the house by 6:00.  Depending on traffic and weather, that can be pushing it.  Leaving any earlier, however, has seen me sitting there an hour or two early.  Bleh.  It's always a guessing game, but this seems to be about as close to the sweet spot as I can bet on with relative confidence.  But don't miss the exit!  I rarely do, but it has happened.  Hmm, I ought to go at 5:00 a few times, and miss the exit on purpose, then figure out the best/fastest reroute.  No, no, that will always be traffic and weather dependent.  Never mind.  Up by 5:00?  Gah!  Bah!  Phooey!  Malarkey!  And two more like those.  I'll do it.

It looks like the sun lost this day.  It isn't going without putting a bit more of it's stamp on the day though.  It is not as dark as it has been or could be, but it is possibly fading fast.  Never mind, I got enough of a spot of sun today to lift my spirits.  I don't need that everyday, or even weekly.  There are times where it just... helps.  Today was one of those days.

Well, back to... goofing, until I am ready to finish the dishes.  The stuff I washed is already dried and put up, so it really shouldn't take long once that pan has soaked, if I may need to reload dishwater with fresh dish soap, depending on how fast the greasy items cuts the suds.  I absolutely despise trying to wash dishes in dirty water.

I keep looking for parkas.  Now, they are pricey, if you go for really good ones.  I don't mean leather, haute couture, or such, either.  I mean, ones that can handle serious winter cold, have the features that actually improve the function and range of the item, and ones that will last a few years with heavy use, maybe more, so might last a lifetime of minor use (if I can't get to things).  What I don't like is when I see a sale that takes the price to...  where the price was before it went on sale, boosting the new "old" price, in the bargain.  They often bring "new" product up, and offer it at the "sale price" of what the old was.  No...  thank...  you...  I'll wait until I see a real sale.  Oh, the other thing that is quite annoying is when they suggest that the sale is 50% off, but any dolt can look at the new price and the scratched off price and see quite plainly that it is not 50% off, not close.  I don't even think it was 30%...  what was it...  27% when I ran the numbers (and the 27% off merely took the new item prices "down" to what the old prices had been!  LOL!  (my ass).)?  Bleh.  Thankfully, for them, most women are terrible at math and love sales enough that it covers for their shenanigans among women who can count.  Bah!  I am pleased not to be burdened with boobs, and all that goes with them.  That's... all I'm saying.  Doh!  That's going to come back to bite me.  Thankfully I like those kind of bites.  *evil grins*

Cookies!?!  Later.

To bed late, up late, looks like the day is slipping.

Hl.
.
I have had worse.  The thing is I have an early rise coming up.  I realistically need to be awake by 4:30 or 5:00, then be on the road by 6:00.  It isn't an actual appointment, but a walk in clinic, the heart clinic.  My guess is they started to realize that guys with severe heart problems CAN'T MAKE EXACT TIME APPOINTMENTS.  Now, they didn't bother to share this with other clinics, but they know it and rather than face an absolute disaster of serving no "clients", they changed their practices to make it easy enough for us.  The rest of the clinics just get us when we can make it, then make it on time, and such.  Now, the heart clinic is pretty gnarly about being there, but they don't harp (or too much) if I miss.  They just reset, without too much bite or tongue.  Especially since they know I should/they would prefer/I could be on, the heart transplant list at this level of heart corruption.  They don't like that I won't allow myself to be a guinea pig, but that is not my problem.  As I said, from what they have said and the numbers I see, the life I have lived and am living, and all else, put into my probability machine and given a whirl, I will outlive most of the people harping about it, and maybe the next generation below them.  At least if I forgo the heart transplant.  Actually, I already have.  I'm just thinking double or nothing, it's an easy bet for me.  I've already won and I have little, if anything, to lose my way, the world and access to it would be lost, either way, with a heart transplant. 

Anyway, to bed by... late.  I think it was 2:30.  I tried to hold the line on getting up, so set the alarm for 11:00.  That's a bit tight, but...  And, I did wake pretty much with the alarm.  There is always a bit of... leeway there, for me, for anybody.  For me that leeway can be quite a bit, as much as an half hour, before the alarm gets me up, if it is going to get me up (I've woken hours later with it still rattling on, but it wasn't the alarm, but being rested, that allowed me to wake).  Today, just 5-15 minutes of alarm klaxon was needed, most of that was an unusually slow rising time.

The sun is trying to get out again today.  It's been out enough for my morale, and the struggle between storm and sun is beautiful, as epic battles often are in their terrible natures.  The drapes have been pulled, the furnace turned up just a tad.  I am running it at 68 at nights, now, 72 during the day.  This will be changing.  On low yield days, when these flu symptoms reside, I will be tacking the furnace back to 68 in the days, 64 at night, unless I really need to hit some things and otherwise have the energy to do it.  Then a 74/76 set will help get me to my doings.  Actually, 76 will almost force activity, if it has been on 68 or lower for the most part.  Bp is a little higher, 160/104 today, but pulse is down to 74.  My weight, inexplicably, went back up 3.8 pounds!  *shrug*  I had been thinking of cutting the water pill in a few days, looks like that won't happen as soon as I had thought.  When I do that, I will probably be cutting back to 1 1/2 pills, down from 2 pill and up from the initial 1 water pill per day, and pretty much leaving it there.  Ackh!  Do I have enough pills to be messing?  I hope so.  I hate when I forget one thing because I am focused on another, both being of equal importance, or even the one being neglected is of paramount importance.  Gah!  Oh well.

I am going to rest this day as well.  The symptoms aren't quite as heavy this morning, or yet, or such.  So... the kitchen being straightened and the few dishes done, is the goal.  I might also do a bit of tinkering on the drywall.  Beside forgetting anchors that are long enough (I will check the ones I have though, just in case) I also forgot to buy any drywall to do the actual repairs!  Close, very close.  As usual, I remember to make a list, and I remembered where it was... the list was right where I left it, at home.  Heh.  Then again, I didn't know how long the anchors would have needed to be nor did I know what depth of drywall to get, at the time I was shopping.  So, I won't be getting too far into the repairs.  I can finish cutting out the other repair area, then finding thinner 1x2s,3s, or 4s, and getting those mounted and screwed in place.  Now, getting the hole on those backboards so that they fit with the light, is going to be a trick...  I'll be... thinking on that.  But I am thinking that I will cut a throw-away board into the repair holes I have cut, fit rightly, then mark and drill a hole through those, making sure they are snug in the area, then attach the permanent backer boards to the drywall, remove the light (which won't be attached yet anywhile, and... never mind.  I'm not sure I am even writing it correctly.  I just have a plan that I think will work, involving a type of template and such.  A form of mechanical algebra?  Who knows.

Hmm, a bit of tinkering and waking, first, though.  I know God loves me, he gave me a huge world to play with, lots of little and big problems, even if He did sandbag me.  Bah, He only sandbags those with the... heart... to handle it!  Heh.  Good day.

(And, yeah, I think I'm funny... Shush it!)

A pleasant day, of rest.

.
.
While still going through flu like symptoms, now that I know what it is I am able to just relax and enjoy my day around or through that.  I have pretty much just been gaming.  I knew I would need some recharging, I just didn't know when that would happen.  It seems now is the time.  Even better, my down time is rather enjoyable, not like a crash as I had feared.  Medicines might have something to do with that though too.  And dumping fluid sure doesn't hurt.

The other day, while in the store, home-made chocolate chip cookies sounded good to me.  I know my mother bought a pack of semi-sweet, and I bought a pack of milk chocolate, chips.  I am not sure what the real taste difference between the semi-sweet and milk chocolate really is.  I suppose I could make a batch of each.  I would probably have no difficulty giving away some of the excess, even of the kind I prefer.  I just want, perhaps, a dozen.  I checked with a lady who worked at the store, one who, to me, looked like she would know what those take.  And, yep, she knew the recipe by heart!  I didn't need to buy a thing, for those.  I just haven't gotten my fingers to the task.  Hmm, I will probably brown them a little crisper than most like them, too.  I love my crispy critter chocolate chip cookies.  If I can get around to them.  Oh, and my mother purchased a blender, since the two I had in Iowa seem to have gone AWOL on me.  It's good for these types of things.  If I could just get to it.  Here is the recipe I am considering.

I remember one of the things, for longer term prep, that I would like to have, eventually.  That being a hand (manual) meat grinder.  The problem is finding a quality stainless steel one at an affordable price.  Coated cast isn't bad, I suppose.  But usually those are made by low quality manufacturers, and... there are lots of problems with them.  There are several sizes, from #10 (or is it 10#?) to #32.  The larger the number the more meat it will process, with a #32 putting out five pounds per minute.  That would be some serious work, but going without ground meat would be worse.  Prices range from, say, $30's to almost $400 (that one is for chumming though, and comes with a fish cutting tray, fishing pole hole stand, a chute for the ground fish, and such).  Few grinders get really good results, most suggest that there is rust on the device when received.  I can't tell compainers from serious reviewers... or plant workers trying to brag something up.  I'm still investigating.  I have as much time as I have, but probably at least a year before I would be interested in investing the money.

Finally, a good day, for the most part.  The sun was out, my ailments made sense, dinner was pretty darned good, I have a few short and midterm things scheduled, and I am awake, five pounds lighter, and my bp is coming down quite nicely, better than ever before.  I'm on the right meds, possibly adding diabetes meds soon too.  I just can't complain today.

Good night.

I love it when it makes sense.

.
.
I went through hard lethargy the other day, then flu-like symptoms today, and have other odd complaints in the last few days I didn't mention.  I have pretty much just restarted meds, and while there are some issues with those too, these things were very different.  Then it hit me, I had a flu shot at the last clinic.  Those usually, if they do cause minor issues, do so in a delayed fashion for me.  Several days after getting them whatever is going to hit me hits.  And, so it has.  I was getting nervous about some things there for a bit.  All good.

While I am still going through various minor flu symptoms, off and on, nothing serious and rarely more than one or two symptoms at a time with one waxing while another wanes, when things make sense I begin to feel better about it all.  So, I am feeling much better.  I'll just let 'the machine' go through it's cycle and worry no more about it.  Plus I know I should be over any problems very quickly, no more than a day or two will see me back on my feet.

I backed the furnace down to 72, it had been on 74-76.  Between the flu thing and holding extra water, I suspect my internal thermostat was very off.  Even now 72 seems a bit chill, but... tolerable.  And since today is pretty shot, I won't try and stoke my world up with extra heat.  I called my friend.  He and a friend of his are having problems getting the new site in his pistol.  He has the new barrel in.  It may be a day or two, and he has to do some shopping with his sister as well.  I have something tomorrow and Wednesday, though I may have to cancel the event tomorrow.  Going outside the way I am feeling is going to be difficult.  I will do it for a needed heart clinic appointment, but little else.  Hopefully, though, by Friday, his gun will be together and I will be of a more adventurous mind.

Supper will be arriving before too long.  I took my medicines a bit late, but then I woke late, today.  Noon thirty, I believe, is about when I scrambled to my feet.  The girls were in my room, trying to wake me for food.  Yeah, fair enough, so I did feed them right away.  I will clean up the kitchen a bit this evening, a few dishes, vacuuming and sweeping, and deciding what to do with a few items and boxes of items.  Tomorrow will probably see me to tending the living room and computer room.  A few things, through life, just get out of place.  I'd like to try and keep the place neat for as long as I can, and think it should be easy enough if I do even just a bit now and again and try to stay on top of any major project right while I am doing it.  I think I can.

That's it.  Later.

Late it was before sleep came calling.

.
.
I tried to sleep a number of times before finally settling in at 3:30 or so.  I was tired, ready for sleep.  I suspect my lethargy of late actually stores enough energy to make sleeping impossible.  How to break the lethargy in order to use some of that energy though?  I don't know, for sure.  But that is what I need to look at.  I have been dealing with this problem, if much more so after truly becoming disabled by these issues, since I was young.  It is just that before now I was able to keep up with demands, simply foregoing sleep as was required.  When I fall now I simply can't push through regularly or fully.  When I try to go without sleep I can fail hard.  I'm in a position now, like never before, to begin working on it though.

The water pills are definitely doing what I proposed for them.  I lost five pounds since yesterday and my blood pressure dropped from 194/117 to 141/106, but my pulse rocketed to 97.  I haven't had a pulse like that since I was initially diagnosed with heart failure, and enduring hard-core edema.  Ugh, but I feel odd this morning.  I do feel rested, but a bit dizzy or something.  I'm not unsteady on my feet, it is more when I am sitting that the feeling comes over me.  I can get up just fine, and at a terrible pace (my normal).  But just sitting here I am feeling nauseous. 

The sun is shining!  After... days... a week... of darkness the sun broke through and is spilling light everywhere.  The curtains are no longer partially drawn, but opened in full, and the heat and light is pouring in.  I needed that as much as I needed anything else.  Morale was slipping on that front.  I was starting to think I was back in Iowa!  Hmm, they are getting a lot of sun there though, more than us.  On average though I think we win, winter long, with much more sun.  At least from what I have seen.

As bed time approached, the first one, I decided to get the trash and recycling to the bins.  If there was little in the bins I thought I would simply forgo taking the bins to the curb.  Well?  The trash bin was empty before I added the one sack.  The recycling bin had one bag in it, plus the bag I added, so only a quarter full.  Oh well, though, I thought.  Since I was out already, might as well take them to the curb, if nothing else for propriety or regularity or domesticity...  something.  Plus, it was so pleasant of a night.  It felt, to me, as if it was in the 50's.  I tried to go to bed after that but it just wasn't happening.  I watched Pandorum instead.  It's an okay sci-fi, with a typical Hollywood ending though.  I think I have watched it before, but... probably a very long time ago and not in full.  It beats most of what H-wood is putting out these days.

Today?  I have no idea.  I'm hoping to... get a grip on this off-sensation.  I'm hoping the nausea goes away.  If I do anything, it will be light cleaning to restore the general tidy nature my mother left in my home.  I haven't lost it but the edges of that are fraying.  I knew, however, that at some point, wanted or not, I would have to fall, to some degree or other.  The pace I had been on was greatly unsustainable.  Last week I kept working, if slowing over the week.  If this weeks is, mostly, an idle week, then that is no loss.  And yet I don't want to go completely cold if I can help it.  Yes, a bit of home-keeping might be the goal.  The drywall and light in the back room will just have to wait until conditions of energy and health allow it.  I might keep tinkering on it though.

Good day.

Hmm? Oh, not bad.

.
.
Actually the day has been splendid.  I haven't been overly tired.  I haven't been overly active, either.  Still, I certainly have, and am, enjoying the day.  I have mostly been gaming.  Taking my time, figuring things out, then feasting on the combat, the little of it I get.  I have split some of my time investigating a few other topics of interest.  Coffee, tools for that, ideas regarding it, sources for green coffee beans is of interest.  A bit more research will go into canning, since the final device needed for that will be arriving shortly.  Uhm, wait, I actually have some more tools for that required, and of course bottles, lids, and gasket lids.  But I am very close.

As it stands, the next items I will be buying include all of the canning goods and two propane tanks (grill size).  Then I will begin planning for the grain mill.  The one I am leaning toward is a bit pricey, but all metal, with a very good yield per work ratio, and of course I will be buying the bike hook-up for it, since I happen to have a 'spare bike' that will fit.  After that I will begin saving for wallpapering the kitchen (unless I end up being able to get all the paper off even the drywall in the kitchen... unlikely as that is).  I can't remember what next, regarding prepping, other than keeping my short term stock in order, but I believe there is another large purchase out there.  But for the home, the next bit of saving and spending will be for installing a new floor in the kitchen, most likely to include sub-flooring.

I am sure watching me wrangle through prep and home improvements makes watching the grass grow seem exciting.  It amazes me how long it seems to take but then how, looking back, things, big and small, end up done, one way or another.  Oh, and I certainly fall into traps, where what I thought was needed was a quarter of what turns out to be required.  With some help, even these have been tended.  I still hope, next year, assuming a new water heater has been installed in my personal bathroom, to dig a 3'-4' trench from that bathroom to the back of my home, in order to connect the cold water to the water softener, so as to have softened water home-wide.  That I can work on in bits and pieces, at my pace, and know exactly what to do and how to do it.  I don't know if I can, but being back on medicine and with a cool home to hide within should I work a bit too much, might make the difference.  This summer was truly a disaster.  That heat though, it absolutely slaughtered my intent.  Not next year!  One thing at a time, even if I didn't see that coming, I have finally fixed it too.

I am anxious to get the grain mill.  But I need to finish purchasing production systems whole or I will end up with parts and pieces, and nothing complete.  I would rather have five complete survival systems than 10 systems with only half of the components.  And more, with a complete set, the devices can be tried (or fully put into production) so that those little things you might need or even want for the system, that might not be on the list, can be purchased before it is too late.  No, I'll stick with ordering full systems and then moving on.  Any additional needs, which are usually minor, can be gotten along the way, out of spending/pocket money.  Ugh, but... it is coming along nicely.

Just think, four years ago or so I was living in a nasty city, in a duplex rental, surrounding by tribal criminals and a police system that worked on quota arrests so didn't bother with petty stuff like trespassing, drug selling, and such.  I had no food stored.  I had a legal system that favored the criminal right through the courts, and a state that handed criminals their rights back right after parole (save gun ownership, though merely as a technicality).  Now I have a home, with enough room for a massive garden, chickens, and larger livestock.  I have a year of long term food stuffs, plus two to three months or more of mid-term food stuffs.  I have hand and power tools, some building and repair supplies, and places to use those.  I have neighbors who can help, trade, and work with.  I have a legal system that is on the side of the right.  I have money in the bank, am learning home care and updating, and... enjoy my life every single day without worrying about having to kill in self defense and then be forced to defend my freedoms from a "liberal" judiciary.  Oh, and I see mountains every single day.  Plus, I am not done.  A small garden, heirloom with seed collection, this year.  A freezer for meats, with some already put up and a hog in the works, a canner for non-freezer meats and other things in time all in the works, and... more to come.  All on my own, on my own nickle, and much of it with my own sweat.  More to come, folks.  Enjoy the show.  (That'll be one dollar, thank you, thank you.  Too slow?  Then... pay me three dollars, that'll put a fire in my belly!)

Later.

Grasping at straws as I slide into darkness.

.
.
I don't quit, if I have a choice.  Chances?  I let those worry about themselves.  Whatever is wrong with me is a bit lighter today.  My blood pressure is well up into the middle of the old high range, mostly, at 194/117 and my weight is sticking right in the center of the 270s.  I realized, the other day, that my fingers were beginning to feel like sausages.  Having not been on meds for so long, I had forgotten that a bit of tinkering with those might help.  What the finger sensation means is that I am taking on water.  Sometimes that goes to the feet, sometimes the torso, sometimes the hands.  Or at least I feel or otherwise notice water gain in certain parts first, at various times.  So... I doubled my water pill.  I refilled my med-set as well.  If the sensation of having bloated fingers subsides, and I lose "weight", I may cut the doubling down.  If things stay good, I might then again cut the water pill to levels heretofore.  Then again, I may really need a dose and a half, right between what I was taking yesterday and what I am taking now.  I seem to always have trouble at the lower dose, yet the higher dose brings about it's own problems (cramping in the legs, and even lethargy from slight dehydration I think, which can only be overcome by massive fluid intake, which itself is problematic and unsustainable).  Tinker, try, see, and find.  Learn, and... Next!

As I said, today isn't as bad as yesterday.  I didn't get to sleep until 4:30, but I woke just slightly after 9:30, feeling rested.  A crazy dream was in between.  I had this off, incorrect, but humbly foolish thought that I wished to share with Christiandom.  So, at a major rally, I rose and presented my notion, along with a physical representation in the form of a minor show, sort of like what a magician or science class may present to bolster an idea (is there a difference between the two? at least one is honest in that the representation isn't what it seems to present).  Now, either I didn't have the notion correct, or in the... passion of the showing, with the crowd and such, I lost the crux of what I was exposing.  I could no longer fully explain, when it was demanded.  I was called a heretic and stoned.  I realized, in my dying, that my sin was so much smaller than the sins of the body whole, even if I had been incorrect, that it was silly, and sad.  Christiandom, it seemed, was lost to devices and mechanics, much as the Jewish faith, as Christ declared, had been lost to laws.  Oh, in real life, that is something I have queried, and it is a concern.  The dream was just a... presentation piece regarding that notion.  God's children have always, and continue to, disobey, egregiously, daily, even to Moses.  Just... well...

I'll... try to get to some things today.  I simply won't promise a thing.  It is still stormy looking.  It could darken more or lighten up though, I don't attend the weather news save for travel.  I gain more enjoyment just seeing what will happen.  Snow?  Rain?  Sun?  A mix?  Surprise me!  On cooler days I only partly open the drapes in the front room.  It allows some light and yet maintains some bit of insulation.  But the views, from my home, are worth a bit of chill.  Natural lighting, too, is much preferred.  In these overcast days, the light is peacefully quietly subtle, which matches my mood, or state of being.  Even the girls like my sort of window trim.

Ah well.  Have a great day.  Remember the day of the Lord, and to keep it holy.  While I can do little to attend that notion, I keep it in my heart, in my mind, on my tongue, and even here on my fingertips.  I pronounce it.  There is little more I can do, today, with this.  I hope that is pleasing enough.  Good day.

Hmm, the computer it is.

.
.
One can get lost, without much energy, in the cyber world.  It's almost self-powered, as if I had a USB port and could just jack juice over.  Though web browsing is pretty low energy drain.  In any case, dozens of things, ideas, and many more than that sites were visited.  A couple of things popped up of interest, and two tasks ended up being tended.

I finally ordered the camp stove.  I didn't check with my accounts, but at less than $100, I can gamble on that.  As well, I went looking for seed for peppers.  Fresh produce just isn't all that available online, at this time.  But seeds are very available.  Though I don't necessarily think heirloom is better, and most heirloom crop hasn't been nearly population based food-tested for many problems to even declare it generally better thus making it inferior (for most). However, since I am radiantly healthy (in spite of being on death's door... again... hehehehe) I had to think.  But, no, I have to go heirloom, for the seed production, due to prepping.

I got the seed for all the peppers and on a lark ordered tobacco seed as well.  I ordered a wide variety of very short maturity plants (some as fast as 50 day, others no longer than 60 I believe).  I suspect, if nothing else, they make for interesting landscaping crop.  But the idea is to actually be able to harvest, dry, then cut my own chewing tobacco, and blend it out of curiosity.  No smoking, for me anyway.  Smoking really is harsh, pipe being the worst, then cigarettes, then cigars coming in much more mildly if still powerful.  No, I am thinking about cutting my own chewing tobacco.  No flavors, no sugar, no chemicals.

I also ordered seed for things that were not included in the heirloom prep cans I bought this summer, including rutabaga, parsnips, asparagus (plus a minor manual on it), and a number of other what I consider garden indispensables.   All heirloom.  Probably most of those are not for this spring (or early indoors prep in January), depending on what can happen with the garden this year, other than the peppers.  If I can get an area plowed and fertilized(or not) and going for a few crops this spring, then next year I might go a little more whole hog on the notion.  First, to find out about seed production and then soil viability.  Rather than testing I will simply plant and see.  All those seeds, and heirloom, multiple packs on some of the things I am more sure of, for $60 and change (with shipping, less by itself).  Not bad.  This is the company, Sustainable Seed Company, I went through.  I had a... good feeling about them.

Well, that was my big spending and prep spending, altogether, for this month.  Next month it will be limited to two more full propane tanks.  At least it is something, right?  Christmas, home devices and updating, tires, and travel expenses have me... pretty tied up.  I haven't seen how much I dipped into my savings, but I am pretty sure I won't like it.  That on top of taking on some debt (for tires and the freezer).  *shrug*  Such is life, sometimes.  Well... later or good night.

Gaming will have to do.

.
.
I took a bit less than a two hour nap.  While it did rid me of the tearing yawns it did not allow me to step things up, at all.  So, on to gaming.  I did that for a while, but being tired still, puzzles are a real pain.  The joy they normally bring began wearing on me.  After an hour or two it has proven too much.  Still tired, but without a chance of sleeping, I am not sure what to do.  Sam is begging for... outside?  Yep.

Hmm, I've been meaning to look up what the local tech school offers educationally.  I will hold off on welding classes until I am closer to buying such a tool.  But medical, communications (ham radio) classes for licensing, and even sewing classes are of immediate interest.  I might also see if those peppers I want are available for online order, and at what price.  Most likely they would be far too expensive to buy that way but you never know.  I thought about reading but I don't really have stock reading material around, that hasn't been read or rejected.  Hmm, I do have a few G.K. Chesterton and C.S. Lewis books, but those aren't really... easy reading.  Or more, those are for reading when you have your wits about you.  Those are thinking readers.  Same goes for the Latin manuals. 

Hmm, what to do when even gaming is too much and yet you aren't tired enough to sleep?  See?  That is where I get stuck way too often.  There really isn't a way to work out of it, either.  I added warmth, which at least brought some comfort.  I have eaten, taken my medicine, and done everything I could to break the lock.  I tried to work through it but pretty much fell apart.  I even took a nap, and kept it short.  Gah!

I did have a dream while sleeping.  I had just married a woman, and she was asking me about something.  Okay, I had snuck her into a closet at the home of some friends, so... she was curious as to why.  In the dream, remember this was a dream, I indicated that I liked to 'play around' where I shouldn't.   So, we did.  I got her onboard the gig, after the first few times, and we had more fun in all the wrong places, than you can imagine.  Both our parent's homes, most of our friend's houses, even in public buildings, in closets, side rooms, basements, but never anywhere rude (like dining tables... although washing machines and dryers were fair game), if not in public view.  Never got caught, though some of our friends and family were suspicious.  Heh.  Never mind, it was a good dream.  I'm not sure what I think about the whole thing, personally.  But... it could happen.  That's all I'm saying right there.  Damn kids!

Something I noticed about the girls.  Since the house has been cleaned, they have been keeping themselves cleaner that I have ever known them to be.  While they usually keep themselves fairly good, they have stepped up a level to...  I don't even know how to describe it.  The hand feel is incredible.  Usually they feel as good as silk to pet.  Now?  Twice that luxury.  Go figure?  I suppose they are responding to their environment while the environment makes it easier to maintain? 

Hmm, I'll figure something out.  I do still have cable television, I just haven't gotten that back.  What I can't figure out is how people can watch crap mostly, then have to sit through stupid multi-culti commercials to boot.  It seems like catching someone pissing down my back only to be told that this is being done for my benefit.  Well, it seems like the right guy is in office, for the majority of people though.  At least there is that.  Still, there might be something somewhere that might be worth watching.  Oh, yeah, I do have the Catholic Channel.  That can be pretty good.

Later or good night or something.

Dragging the bottom.

.
.
Lunch was good.  That chili just works well on cool to cold days.  Turning up the heat has been therapeutic, I just feel better.  Coffee has been good.  And yet, here I sit.  Oh, I did get back and measure out the cut-out sections of the drywall.  I even went so far as to cut out one of the sections.  I guess I thought the cutting would be a lot easier.  I started shallow and went over and over it, until I could extend the blade.  There are only two depths available on this cutter.  But I can use only portions of the available blade depth, and did.  It was still a monster to cut deeply enough.  And then it took the rubber mallet, with careful use, to open up what had been cut.  It doesn't help that I am working overhead like that.  With the cutting, as much as it actually requires, I don't want to be on a stool or even a step ladder.  The cutting tool is brand new.  Could the blade that came with it be that dull?  It is the paper that is proving a chore to cut.  I did buy replacement blades, and the thing came with three or four extra blades, perhaps it is just a dull blade... I'll check that.

So very tired though.  While the cutting has proven more difficult than anticipated, that isn't the problem.  It isn't wearing me out.  If anything, it is the time standing that is more of a problem.  But that isn't really a problem either.  There is an underlying exhaustion I just can't shake.  Yawning to tears, the mind clouding over into uncertainty, tired.  TIRED.  Oh, I'll keep trying to do bits and pieces... hmm... maybe right after a nap.

While I was in the basement for something I measured the exterior of the canner. The camp stoves D.C. recommended should work just fine. I kept reading the stats given, online, and it seemed (in my mind) as if they were offering the interior measurements. Perhaps I pulled a psychologically based form of dyslexia though and transfered the meaning of interior with exterior measurements. In any case, now I know. That will probably be the next piece of gear I order, either this or next month. Then I have to save like the dickens for further work in the kitchen and a grain mill. That camp stove would also be good for roasting my own coffee and making my habanero sauce outside, as would the jet stove. Thing is, for those things I would want a cast iron pot and pan, one dedicated to those uses, and to being fire-licked. I don't want that soot in my home. So, the camp stove (52k btu is the favored) would really be for more than just canning. Hmm, toss in a couple of new, filled, propane tanks too. Yeah, but... those things pay off. Just in coffee savings I am guessing the gear would pay for itself in a couple of years. The canning might or might not be a savings regarding vegetables, but it would allow meat protein to be more readily on hand, at a substantial savings. All savings are over time, seeming invisible during the living of it, but real if numbers are watched.

Could it just be the overcast day?  Could it be a sense of winter finally having arrived?  I don't know.  I even watched what I ate, keeping the portion within reason, and eating didn't make a difference, so it wasn't that.  I gave the girls their lunch.  I put a bit of Lime Away around the toilet to soak some of the mineral build up down (easier to do and see too when the toilet is being kept clean daily or more).  But I can't get a grasp of the day!  Tired!  Sleepy!

Later.

What to do?

.
.
A good night for sleep and of rest.  I didn't sleep until midnight thirty.  The nap, while needed, might have done that.  I set the alarm for 10:00, hoping I would rise on my own before that.  Two trips to the loo through the night, but that is the water pill trying to work I suppose.  When I get normalized on those I sleep the whole night, and covet that sleep.  Especially since my en suite bathroom is down and I have to navigate furniture (which I think I am going to fix shortly) and the cool of the night.  I was up by 9:30.  The first thing I did was turn the furnace up.  I might crank it another little bit as I am just not warm.  While 72 is fine once I get warm, I think I need a quick shot of 76 until my bones are toasty.  Then I can coast on that.

The storm clouds still hover, but the sun has come out for just a bit.  With my home mostly sorted, I have been restarting traditions and forging new ones, regarding the "trim" of my home.  Curtains open, at least when it offers some warmth, or sun, in this, the computer, room.  Closing them at dark, or when the cool starts invading through them.  I am keeping, when it gets dark but before bed, the light in the 'hall' to the bathroom lit.  When I go to bed though, I turn the 'hall' light off and turn the bathroom light on, which shines less through the bottom of my bedroom door.  Little things to add to feeding and tending the litter for the girls.  I am feeding them three times a day, with treats in between those times, when I remember.  Sam is going out less and less as the season grows colder.  Eventually she will become a minor basket case.  When it snows, after the cold keeps her in before it snows, if the day is suitable and I keep the drive and walkways clear, she will brave the wet that remains for a little time out.

Terribly tired today.  I have my goals but I know this feeling.  Keeping it simple, doing it in parts, that may be the way to go.  While the sun is shining, I may get back and cut out the part of the ceiling I want to work.  The rest of the work isn't as, to me, light dependent.  The one thing I did not remember to buy was anchors long enough, potentially, to go through the depth of the drywall and the depth of any backing board I might wish to use.  What I have might work, too.  I simply haven't checked that yet.  Never to worry.  I suspect my friend, if his parts came in and his pistols are up to his idea of snuff, will be calling Monday or Tuesday to go for a shoot.  If I don't hear from him by Monday, I will call.  If all else fails, I will be in early in the week for the shoot, so...

Gah!  Can't... wake... up!  Heat, a little more heat.  Could be the ticket.  A bowl of chili while I am at it, if not... quite as big of a bowl as last night.  I was quite hungry, it was quite good, one thing lead to another, and bam...  three quarters of a quart of chili down the gullet.  Meh, it doesn't happen often.  Oh, right, I did a little research on hot sauces, peppers, I might add to my stuff.  I can't swear that I will make this, but I sort of buy the premise.  Store bought stuff often will add the chemical part of the hit to bolster it.  The author of the recipe seems to think (and I generally agree) that this leaves a bit of a chemical taste.  Most other sauces are simply too mild.  So, she went and worked up a recipe.  The difficulty might be finding the peppers, all of them, that are recommended.  It is habanero based.  I will probably start off with milder (store bought) for now.  Then again there probably isn't a lot of choice.  If it is too hot, I can probably work with that, work it down.  If it isn't hot enough I will have to grow my own peppers, which is on the list anyway.  At least I don't have to worry so much about those being stolen by school kids looking for a munch, not more than once, not hereabouts.  Heh.  Still, I'd love to see the "once".  Video-tape that bad-boy.  Oh, the recipe is here (it is a combination recipe/article, if you just want the recipe, scroll down).

Well, on to some more heat, a bite of chili, uhrm, but first I think I will get to cutting the bad drywall in case the sun is retired for the day before I otherwise get to it.  I want that part done.  Later, good day, God bless.

The bachelor way.

.
.
After the trip, then cleaning off the drawer top, I pretty much took the day off.  Gaming seemed to be on the menu.  Looking to see what bloggers are writing about, to a degree, also went on.  However, since today isn't a work day, I didn't want to eat the rest of the chicken.  I received cans of chili and tomatoes recently as a gift, so... I started digging through it.  I grabbed several various sorts of (usually hot spiced) tomatoes, a can of beans from in there, several cans of my usual black beans, and I had the hamburger thawed.  A little of this, a little of that, and... well done.  My hobo chili, this or my usual kind, will win no prizes.  What it will do is well satisfy this humble hungry ogre and any guests I happen to round up.  My local friend doesn't like my chili, he prefers his from a can or I would take him some.  Mine is probably just way too hot, even when I tone it down, for him.  Beside the spices in the various sorts of canned tomatoes, I added a tablespoon of chili flecks and a heaping teaspoon of my 100k powder.  While it did get my nose to run a bit, I just didn't get the bite I was looking for.  I'm not sure what it is going to take.  To that end I will be looking for a few things online tonight.  Tabasco Sauce, while still relished in memory, no longer even offers more than a hint of spice to my tastes, no more than a bit of black pepper might for a typical eater.

Some things for bachelors.  While my mother was here, and since I check to stool to make sure everything flushed rightly, I was checking the toilet after every bowel movement.  Since I was doing that, and usually do anyway (I hate coming back to use the toilet only to find I have to plunge it first), and wanting to keep her stay pleasant, I started taking care of any... cleaning that might be needed after such an activity.  It dawned on me, right then, probably the second time... OH!  That's how they (women folk) keep ahead of things.  Cleaning as you go, rather than waiting for some mythical "cleaning Saturday" or some such.  Heh.  Yeah, ladies, we really are that clueless.  A few tricks like that and we might really think you slave all day on cleaning.  *wink*  Another thing for men types, when in the domestic jungle...  While I like the notion of doing dishes every day, the reality is and always will be a little different.  Tonight, after cooking a big meal, and eating plenty, my chances of doing all the dishes before crashing into bed are slightly worse than winning the lotto, including the fact that I didn't buy a ticket (never do).  So, what to do.  Well, soaking, as I have seen and shown here, does not work.  It leads to a very nasty mess some time down the road, potentially, probably.  So, I just rinsed everything very well and am leaving it to dry.  If I get to the drywall repair tomorrow, I won't be doing dishes then, either.  Which, goes to that second to last sentence.  In any case, don't soak until you are going to wash.  But don't just leave food and gunk to rot on things either.  I will be putting the chili up in various containers, some to be frozen some to be refrigerated, shortly.  I will simply rinse out the pan a bit after that, as everything else is done.  Then I can sleep with a good conscience to boot.  As well, if I really need one of those things sooner than I can get to the dishes, I... can cheat it a bit and either wash it separately or... urhm, take what I can get as is.

I have gained a bit of muscle while my mother was here.  I muscle up extremely quickly, but only when I work.  I wish I could keep that up, but...  We will see if I can actually get in to swim even twice a week.  It is good to be tight(er, than usual).  I love feeling the difference, if it is still... sub-par from even my weakest moments of true health or what others might consider as tight.  Why be strong?  More, why not?  It does take effort.  It does cost, choice-wise.  It does take time.  What it does do is open possibilities that might otherwise go missed.  It is good for the ego or whatever they are calling it now.  It looks good.  But don't think it will truly help when your time is up.  And without some prudence, it can well lead you into situations that could be your end.  Still, all else being equal, it is better to be a bit tighter than a bit flabbier, if you have the way to it.

Good night.

A nap.

.
.
I almost made it to 14:00 when I decided that pulling over and shutting down the machine would be the best of options.  I set the alarm for 16:00, hoping the alarm would rouse me.  Sometime later, and I thought I remembered shutting the alarm off, I woke.  Dark!  Very dark.  It must be quite late.  As is often the case, it took me a bit to truly wake enough to even be able to read the time... and know what my eyes where seeing.  Almost 4:00?  Hmm, that seems... wrong.  Ah, just before 16:00?  Really?  I woke before the alarm?  But why so dark.  Between the sun going down earlier than ever and a true rain system settling in over the valley, the sun was pretty much dead by then, and it seemed more so in my even darker bedroom.  Even with my room very dark, if it is really dark outside that outer darkness still creeps in somehow.

Well, so that day wasn't ruined.  What to do?  Hmm, hungry.  A piece of chicken.  I am saving that, really, for tomorrow, or whenever it is light enough to work in that back room.  Still, one piece... okay, two pieces...  Just, no more.  Ah, the enclosed bench top could be cleared.  So, I dug in.  It wasn't half the job it seemed as if it would be.  I found a few more tools, a few more bits and pieces, bicycle stuff (lock, extra light and reflector, etc.) for my bike, some gun stuff, paint, and just... well, a little bit of everything.  I sorted what was what, and generally at least put them in small piles to be put where they need to go, or wherever they will end up, but as a group.  Some tools aren't going to be put away because the collection or device they go with is currently in (suspended) use in the back room.  Some groups of items are meant for the garage, but I'm in my pj's and I'm not going out in the wet and dark in them.  The paint and bug spray and machete, plus a few other things, found their place right back on top of the 'bench', but in a very orderly and easy to obtain fashion..  Other things were put away, in various specific kitchen drawers (tape drawer, marker drawer, etc).  As I said, it was much less work than it seemed.  Bags, which I collected and will leave there but as a group and in their place, for various projects, fluffed the area, making it look much fuller.  A few tools were larger, and at angles, so also inflated the sense of fullness.  There is a great deal more order now.

Now to figure out what to do with old partial sets of tools?  Is it best to put them in a random bin?  Toss them (as usually it is the common items that are missing, like 3/8, 5/16, sockets), or should I try to rebuild the set with individual buys of the missing parts?  I'll think on that.  I have two complete (standard sized) socket sets, up to 3/4 drive for one set, 1/2 inch for the other.  Still, three 1/2 sets isn't bad either, especially if I have to work on nasty things or in places where loss might be more likely to occur.  I'm... thinking.

No, not bad at all.  The nap helped.  Getting that area somewhat more organized if not quite done feels good.  Even the sound of rain, even at this late date, is soothing and comforting.  It doesn't even have that chill feel that rain can bring, especially this late in the year.  It... feels like early spring, to me.  I will probably use some of what was offered the other day to put together a smaller chili soup/stew concoction, tinker on my game, and just enjoy what I can of the night.  I hope the nap didn't steal my sleep thunder for later.  The goal is to get to bed before midnight again, then try to rise a bit earlier than usual.  I'll pass on the 5:00 riser, but... an 8:00 or 9:00 rise wouldn't be bad, even a 10:00 would be somewhat okay.

With any luck the sun will be up tomorrow, or enough so that I can get to work in that back room.  If not, perhaps I will be of a mood to mess with alternate lighting scenarios.  I really want to get that knocked out and get that light up there in a by-the-book manner, with... what I have to work with anyway.  It isn't just getting a light in, getting the tools finally organized, or completing the job.  It is the job itself.  While thinking about a Christmas present for myself, as if I had been nice not naughty, I began looking at... Tinkertoys, Matchstix, Legos (motorized), and electronic kits.  It hit me, in the middle of my doings, that... I have one of the bigger kits most civilians will ever get, a whole house!  Heh!  So, perhaps I will buy that home electrical book and the NEC manual, to go with a couple of minor electrical formula and advice books I have already purchased.  From there I might be able to formulate how, first, to get my fuse panel indoors, then figure out whether I need to upgrade the panel itself (sure would be nice to have 220 for the garage, and maybe somewhere in the home, but I do need to make sure I have enough fuse/juice capacity for my electro-centric world in any case).  After that I would need to seriously investigate what wiring that is live needs to be updated and what is fine, then how to do that, stripping out the junk, old, unused, unusable.

Of course, the wiring, switch box(es), conduit, connectors, splices, and such... none of that is cheap.  Oh, yeah, I think I can get to it, and probably survive.  I'm almost lucky enough to survive a major hit AND not burn my house down.  The trick, considering it is best to consider ourselves unlucky however, is not to depend upon luck.  Luck is the ace in the hole, and if you say that too fast without the "in the", well, you get what you get.  Just saying.  Yeah, the mind is wandering.  But after a few more successes, I am thinking more is possible.  A lot more.  And maybe more quickly than I had initially supposed.  Another reason to get on moving the switch box and doing wiring?  In the hopes something comes through in order that I might be able to begin buying batteries and components to set up my own solar power station.  With skills in hand, and a knowledge of my own electrical system, cutting out the installation would save me a very substantial sum, allowing for doubling, maybe more, the system.  Just...  Like I said, I already HAVE the tinker kit.  If... none of the components for upgrade, let alone maintenance, came with the toy.

Later.

Painless?

.
.
The drive was splendid.  I would say it felt like... 52 F or better, even through the sprinkles of rain today.  Traffic was reasonable in method and numbers.  I arrived ten to fifteen minutes early and was seen almost immediately.  I have the same doc (P.A.) I had last time, which is a good thing.  Generally I trust him, if I still don't believe him.  Two different things.  No blood work was wanted, so my fasting had been unnecessary.  Though if I hadn't fasted, they would have gotten all gnarly.  They play games, all doctors do.  I think even they know, for the most part, that it doesn't really matter.  Much of their advice isn't good, or at least won't work, for most of the people they give it to.  I just go in because it was asked of my and to keep some kind of... opening for any real issues.  Believe what you wish, I certainly do.

On the way home I stopped at my favorite stop in Logan.  Angie's is just a great place to eat.  I call it a greasy spoon, but don't take that to mean quality isn't there.  It is just reminiscent of those, in all the good ways.  The food is like home cooked or better, portions are "healthy(tm)", and service is fast and painless.  The last three times I have eaten there, in an unusual series of events, I have ordered the same thing.  For some reason Sicilian omelets have been the thing.  A side of bacon this time though, four pieces, thank you.  Oh, and I ordered an eight piece bucket of chicken to go, so when I start working on the drywall I won't have to tinker with food much.  Their chicken reminds me of what KFC used to taste like, if memory serves (that is a good thing).  After breakfast a quick stop in the grocery store.  Milk, soda (4 x 12 @ $10), and... some other things. Soda is mostly for when my coffee production breaks down though, now. That is a month of two of soda, usually.

Everything today has been painless.  Easy.  Kind.  I must be dying.  Heh!  Well, probably not.  I am still tired as all get out.  No, if this were the painlessness before death thing I wouldn't even be, or notice being, tired.  I've been there before.  It is quite peaceful as you die.  The run up to it can be havoc, but not those last few (or many if the pain of death fades) breaths.  Blood pressure was much higher there than here, by 20+ points top and bottom.  At 170/130 vs 151/103 they were considering giving me something to lower it (which I would have taken).  When I told them that it was not only normal, but even at that it is one of the lower bps I have had in a while, they decided not to treat me.  I really must twitch them out.  Over a decade, I tell them.  You would think it would eventually sink in that I ain't a regular critter.  At least from my conversations, I am understanding that most people with a bp like that die, or at least fail, very very quickly... weeks, days, hours, not decades and still going.

I'll just take the good day thing.  I had thought to try to get to the drywall patch today.  That isn't going to happen, if for no other reason than that it being rather overcast, the light back there is too dim for my tastes, intent, whatnot.  To top it though, I am tired.  I won't nap for a bit, but I might have to hit the pillows before too long.  I'll try to tinker through my game.  That game is getting just a wee frustrating.  There sometimes simply are no clues to where to go, it isn't obvious, tracking down where to even figure out where to go, or even how to get there even when you do figure out where to go, has become a bit lamely intensive.  While not necessarily a genius, I can tell by most of the walkthroughs I have watched on YouTube that I am far above those averages.  The other problem is reading a walkthrough is difficult as tired as I am, and often they aren't any more complete.  Still... it's... something.

Later.  

Wow, there IS still a world!

.
.
I was pretty done in most all of yesterday.  I couldn't get to much of the few things I had planned and barely made it out of the home in time to pick up meat.  I hadn't even bothered with the few dishes there were to do.  I did do those this morning though.  Heck, I couldn't even think straight enough to simply play my game.  Gaming became too much of a chore?  Huh?  Yeah, it happens.

I made it to bed, and pretty much to sleep, by 23:00 and, perhaps, some small change.  Sleep was good.  One middle of the night run to void, but getting back to sleep was a breeze.  The alarm at 5:00 was not welcome.  I thought about snoozing, but that rarely works as I would like it on any front.  No.  So I reset the alarm for 5:15, a tricky operation when the mind isn't fully in compliance with reality.  No worries though, I had my cellphone set to give an alarm at 5:30.  Thankfully the alarm clock worked, because for whatever reason, the alarm on the cellphone simply... doesn't make any real sound.  I might begin looking for an improved calender app that actually stores data well and has good options for various sorts of alarm clock features.

But waking was a breeze this morning.  I cheated though.  Not wanting to risk figuring out the timer on my furnace, I simply set the furnace to 74 or 76 when I went to bed.  I sleep in a room with no ducts, keep my window open and door shut, on top of it being outside of the stonework so that the house itself keeps the air from going into my room even better than the door does, or I couldn't do it.  I absolutely can't sleep in a hot room (for sleep, 68 is often too hot by far for me).  Never mind that part.  The thing is, when I woke at 5:15, I got some instant hot-juice upon entering my living areas.  My weight is up to nearly 275 (another up 6 pound in a day thing), but my bp was 151/102 or something close.  Fair trade if you ask me.  I think that is lower than it was in the ER.

So, I'm off to a good start.  I'm hoping to get a shower in, then shove off by 7:00, which gives me almost an hour (considering I run 12-15 minutes fast).  I would absolutely love to eat but I am betting ten to one that my doc wanted a fasting blood sugar for this morning.  I hate having to just guess but that is the way of it.  Still, getting up there by 8:30, and they usually process me fairly quickly, after giving me a lecture about dying and horror and all that cheesy jazz.  I figure I will be putting something edible down my gullet by 10:00 or earlier, probably.

It's a good, pain-free, easy seeming, good morning.  I wish I could have a bit of coffee though, with Splenda and milk.  But they say, for fasting, npo other than straight coffee or water, and small amounts at that.  Bleh.  Straight coffee makes me hungry, water fills me but makes me really thirsty (gives me cotton mouth something awful), so it's best to forgo both, mostly.  Since I bought supplies for drywall yesterday all I have to do is a bit of grocery shopping on my return trip through Logan.  Just... have to find the list and remember to take it.

Good day.

Is that even possible?

.
.
While my mother was here, I wasn't paying attention to little details.  One of those details, toilette paper, just him me.  I go through a twelve pack of t.p. in about six months.  Oh, no, I use it like it was... well... toilette paper (and not just because it is).  I use it leisurely, happily, right down to the point of eradicating diminishing returns.  While my mother was here, in three weeks, she went through nearly two twelve packs, perhaps more I'll have to look.  That would have to change.  I fear for the guy with two or more daughters and a wife.  Could you imagine putting up two 12-packs for each female for each month?  That is absolutely insane!  American women flush more product, just in toilette paper, than most of the world's population of men even make!  Oh yes, a discussion will take place, at one time or another.  Me?  I'll split the paper, they will have to begin figuring out how to deal with that on there own once they run short.  Period.

I didn't get to the shelf.  I did go back to look at the drywall to be repaired.  After measuring, this time, it looks more like a 6"x6" repair is needed.  No problem, especially since I didn't buy, and won't be using, screen.  I am hoping, somewhere, to find a roll of drywall repair screen.  It is way too expensive piecemeal.  It is simply too dark and I don't want to mess around with it using only a flashlight.  No, nothing else is going to be done today, either.  The drawer top can wait.  I ran out of the little steam I had.  I'm even too tired to mess with my game at the moment.  Perhaps I can get to bed early tonight.

I did do one thing.  I had a steak that had been thawed and really needed to be eaten.  I might love steak, but I hate throwing away otherwise good meats more than my love for steak.  Time-wise, it was right on the edge.  In reality, it probably could have lasted a few more days.  But you never know.  It seems like I test it, call it good, turn around the next day to use it, and it has gone bad.  I was really hungry tonight anyway, even after that late lunch.  Some days are like that.  I did cook peas with it, and ate the last of the peanut butter laden celery.  I have half a bowl of candied yams, then I think I will be done with leftovers, save white meat that my mother put in the freezer.  I'm not sure I will end up eating that though.  I don't like white meat, and cooked then frozen means it will probably be grainier than ever.  Bleh.  Still, I'll... try it as soon as turkey sounds like a possibility again.  Pork chops and hamburger are thawing now.

Yeah, I want to crash.  I just don't know if I can.  I hate that.  I hate lots of things as I start to wind down sometimes.  Grumpyville here we come!  Good night.

Slow down, he said.

.
.
So I did.  Today went by very quickly.  I just could not get a leg up.  As I was about to finally do something, take a shower, I noticed it was nearly 15:00.  Further I noticed the furnace was set to 68.  That is probably at least part of the problem.  A jolt of heat juice first thing seems to help.  I turned the furnace up, which made the shower better, dressed, and headed to pick up the meat.  He had some other items available, if I wanted, and I decided to try some of what was available, thankfully.

But I didn't want to cook, and clean, tonight.  I decided to drive on to one of my favorite local eateries.  Not only were they closed, they were out of business and the place was up for sale!  Well, since I was at it, I just went a little further, stopping at a fast food joint.  While paying for my meal I noticed that I might have just enough money to pick up my needs for the drywall from a hardware store right near by.  While there, I looked in the Christmas light section, but saw none of the roof clamps.  Those may be online only?  Could they have sold out?  It amazes me how people will just push there cart into an area, then stand, with cart, right in the middle of an aisle.  Even without a cart, people will simply plant themselves in the middle of a section and stand there for minutes or longer, concerning themselves not a bit with other shoppers.  Ugh.

I found two sections for drywall.  The upper-crusty/housewife one (which had little but an over-priced "spackle") and then the contractors area.  The contractors area had everything from bags to pre-mixed, mixers for smaller amounts to five gallon (and larger) amounts, and all the tools you could want.  Pricey, true.  But I suspected that the prices are what they are, wherever, and seemed in line with what I had seen online.  I had choice and quality and prices seemed right if not reasonable.  So, I have my kit.  It cost a cool $60, which is a bit more than I had hoped to spend by $10, but hope and reason are not always well aligned.  I didn't buy screens, as those are based on size, expensive per, and I won't be using them.  They are too specific to consider keeping on hand unless you do that sort of thing often.

The 'enclosed workbench' still needs cleaned off and sorted.  The meat has been put away.  The girls have been fed.  I just need a little breather after picking up meat, eating, then shopping.  Tomorrow I have to be up and at it so very early.  I'll try to be to bed just a wee earlier, but that isn't always in my hands.  Later, perhaps good night.

Morning seems more normal today.

.
.
I am still tired, but I probably will be every morning I wake up for the rest of my life.  It isn't as if that hasn't always been true, it is the depth of it that is different from anything I had known.  Still, this morning isn't as bad as it has been for a long time now.  Pills and food were taken, weight and blood pressure first, potassium was the morning drink.  I didn't get to bed until 12:30, which wasn't too bad.  I set the alarm for 9:30 but didn't rise until about 10:30.  The alarm was still sounding when I finally crawled out of bed.  That, too, isn't too bad.

I don't have a lot on my list for today.  The final push to finish the tool area, normal care and tending of home and person, then picking up the meat later today.  Tomorrow requires an early rise.  I am thinking I need to be awake by 5:30 in order to wake, shower, and drive to my appointment at 7:00, in order to be there on time plus a few minutes.  As well, I will be shopping for drywall repair kit.  Further, since tomorrow is effectively payday, I might do a bit of grocery shopping as well.  I had to break into my wet cat food reserves in the basement.  I need to replace what I took plus get four more boxes, for a total of six boxes.  I will simply move the new into storage replacing it with what I bought, to cycle even that food.  I mean to do that every other large purchase of cat foot, as a rule of thumb.  I don't need heavy, or many, groceries beside cat food.  Milk, tortillas, bread, perhaps a few other minor things on the side.

I didn't end up figuring out how to get to something minor in my game, or what to do at a certain juncture.  I have spent several hours tinkering, in game, but I just can't suss out the solution.  I am well and truly stuck.  Although, the way the first installment of this game worked, some things cannot be had the first time through.  Special tools or skills might be required to get to some areas... which to me is more of an annoyance as I despise chewing cud twice (or anything else). It is most irritating if a treasure or way is plainly visible directly or in the map, with no way easily visible to it, but nothing suggesting there is a block.  It does give me something to do.  At some point though, either you simply set it aside and move on, or dig for a solution by someone else.  I rarely simply set something aside unless I can see that, say a swing hook is the way to the area or object while I have no tool or skill to employ such a mechanism, is involved.

A little sore in the hips this morning.  I've had worse, and I have been sore for a while, off and on.  But it is stiff enough a discomfort that I might take a smaller group of aspirin or such.  And getting to wakefulness is a bear this morning, on top of it.  Oh, whatever.  Today is my rest and complain day, I suppose.  Saturday I am hoping to begin repairing the drywall.  Depending on how long the cure takes (add salt for a fast set, but will it crack?), I hope to start early and end by day's end.  I might well be sore, even using a step stool or ladder, as all the work no matter what else is overhead, something non-native to all but fruit pickers among the children of God.  You know, if we had just put the forbidden fruit down, backed up, and gone for a nap...  :p

Something I discovered last night while rooting through trivia and such, was that salt truly has proven not to be the problem.  Too much is not truly an issue, save when there is also too little potassium.  I doubt if most doctors know that, they just follow some stupid guide book that is incomplete, or don't bother to investigate the rest of the story.  The few who might know that don't share the fact, possibly for professionally social reasons (they don't want to be ostracized for being right, true, whatever).  Which... I am satisfied with, since I am taking a heavy packet of potassium and am taking a lower dose of the water pill (thus cutting salt retention and potassium loss while adding potassium to boot).  Ugh.  Now I have a better understanding of the heart, potassium, and sodium interactions.  Really, was it too hard to just say that?  Half truths make liars out of everyone who employs them, which then makes me not believe another word out of their mouths until I find out if there is even a grain of truth to it.  

Have a good day.

Oh yeah?

.
.

Oh, that's why I never messed with Christmas lights.

.
.
I'm not a humbugger.  I won't belabor the point as, well, those people usually really are.  So, what is my problem with Christmas lights?  Well, when I start something I often end up completing it.  But with Christmas lights, there might be no end!  I went looking, initially, for clips to attach lights to my roof.  I was not willing to spend (and keep spending) on temporary disposable attachments.  I certainly would not use a stapler, nail, or other attaching device which would damage the wood.  Okay, so I find a good selection of clips fairly quickly.  Now, for me, $60 on Christmas lights, plus another $30 in extension cord and timer, was about it for this year.  I spoke with my mother, watching the other Christmas lights going up (I think, think... we were the first locally, more by accident than (at least personally) drive or such).  We both agreed that the eerily odd white was pretty good, that regular white wasn't bad, and that electric (darker albeit) blue was a fine color.  So... I decided to look at those while I was looking.  Just looking mind you, I have a wheat grinder and bicycle-mount to buy before too long.  *cha-ching*

So, there I am, all helpless and alone, online, looking at lights.  I was almost blinded by the options.  Okay, where to start.  Sort out by outdoor and LED.  Check.  Hmm?  Thousands?  Okay, how about white, then blue?  Okay, manageable.  But, the best price?  The best quality?  The best blend of those?  That isn't even science, it is guess and by golly.  This one is this length, with this many bulbs.  That one is twice the length with only 70% of the bulbs, these are not rated by users, those by only one, few are rated by many users.  Some are in metric (which I can do, roughly), others have a mix of standard and metric measures (or even something else... what length goes with 16.4 feet that equals 128? [tip: 16.4 feet ~ 500 cm ~ 5 m]).  Plus, figuring out how much I would need will require some measuring.  Oh, and they do have solar powered strings of light, though they get hit for being very dim.  And they have strings that are self-contained, timered, battery operated, operations, lasting (according to the manufacturer) 30 days (4 AA) or 60 days (3 D or C, didn't look that closely).  Hmm, something to be thinking about through the year though.  My guess is, right now, Christmas lights are at a premium.  If you can find them, it would be right after Christmas but before they bundle them back to the keeper of value warehouse for next year.  Over Whelming.  Still, I'll... do just fine, over time.  At least I know there are clips to hold the lights that fit both budget and common/home sense.

Supper arrived just a bit ago.  I really do feel spoiled.  It isn't just the food, but that it is someone's dinner, that they are sharing.  It is... like being a distant part of the families.  While we aren't breaking bread together, we are breaking the same bread.  It is an intimate thing, in the best of platonic, or social, or familial intimacies.  Food, as I have suggested, is special to my notions of life, friends, family, and God.  Well, that it is good and balanced doesn't hurt a bit. 

Oh, in a bit, I will be calling to see if I talked over what my guests from yesterday(?) had been suggesting.  Call on the quarters and halves, in order to call during commercials.  Yeah, I know.  I know some things, even for not having television here.  Well, save when my mother is here.  Which reminds me, that thing needs to go back, the cable box.  Yuck!

I just now received a call about the meat.  I just wanted to make sure they knew I was coming and the time fit their schedule.  I could have gone in this evening, but that would mean a shower (which I missed today).  No, it gets too complicated, I still have tool sorting left, and I am starting to wind down.  Tomorrow morning was another option, but I just am not sure if or when I can or will rise on any given day.  I hate to plan for that, especially in partial recuperation from three weeks of heavy work (to me).  Tomorrow afternoon seems about right, and the earliest possible time.  I would rather have done it tonight, partly for embarrassment for being a week off, partly just to get the job done.  But some things must be the way they are.  If we never fully learn to live with shame, we can at least know it will happen, again and again and again.

An hour of goofing, then I will hit the tool drawers, I suspect.  I've gotten most everything else I planned to do completed already.  I might even, if I have the energy to lift a leg, get a shower in yet this evening.  Just because.  Hmm, didn't even hurt, mostly.  But then I might still be jazzing on mom-work-power-fumes.  Time will tell.

Good night, most likely.  Yeah, no.  I won't be going to bed very soon, but... I've been posting enough.  That and nothing much else will probably happen.  What a busy day considering I had thought there were only two or three things, give or take, to do.  Much more incoming and outgoing that I had... even thought possible!  Sleep well, I think I will.  Again, good night.

Okay, that... didn't hurt too much.

.
.
There are two things that remain on my list, calling about the beef and straightening the tool drawers a bit more.  I keep thinking about bins for the bolts, nuts, nails, and other tiddly bits.  In time, perhaps.  I am waiting to call about the beef until slightly before what I suspect might be dinner time.  After work but before dinner, say... 16:00-16:30?  It's how I try to work when I have options.

My friend is going to be doing work on his pistols, so did not want to go shooting tomorrow.  Which works out since I have to get to Ogden by 8:30 for an appointment Friday.  And two days out in a row is not all that fun.  I called the V.A., asking for a transfer for my primary care.  There is a waiting list, six months I am told.  It beats nothing, and I am now on the list.  I may ask the heart clinic if they can expedite that, given my situation.  It's worth asking.  Oh, and my whole home is back to pre-freezer clearing shape.  Everything has been put back in place, the kitchen normalized, the rug as centered as possible with the table centered on it.  Even the dishes have been done.

I had left-over candied yams, steaks that we thawed but did not eat, left over olive mixes (green stuffed with blue cheese and black), plus a soda.  I finished the dishes right after that, so the kitchen is done.  Uhrm, it could use a sweep, but that is what tomorrow is for.

I even dealt with a little problem I was having with my PS 3 game, Darksiders II.  I couldn't get the code to work, so dug through to an email address, sent it off, got a return and code, and used that code successfully.  Even when I'm gaming, it seems, nothing is without complications.  As far as THQ goes, they get a passing grade and a bit more.  Anyone or system can stumble, it is a matter of how they deal with a stumble.  They turned a belly-flop into a swan dive, mid-air.  All good.  Hmm, speaking of which, I think a bit of gaming while I wait to call might be just the ticket.  Dinner will be arriving in a few hours as well.  I've been giving the girls a few treats mid-way between meals.  It keeps the edge off and... keeps me safe!  Sassy, especially, when she is too hungry?  GrooooWlllL!  *hiss*  "Feed me you hunk of hunk!"  Heh.

Later.

Still recovering or... is this just the way it is?

.
.
I can't tell, immediately, if my body still needs to catch a breather from the last three weeks or if the way I feel is the way it has always been, well, for most of my adult life.  I am tired, just plain and simple.  Getting to things, without a guide or director, is like jogging in sand, swimming in mud, pick your idiom for difficult.  I have been up since 7:30 or so, I've had coffee.  Hmm, nothing to eat yet today.  I'm going to give that a try.  Though too I didn't get but six hours or less of sleep.  Just trying to bargain with the details (devil?) on the issue.  It's a bit frustrating realizing that the cause could be physical (food, sleep, energy levels, or just the heart), it could be psychological (or, more, mental from the heart), or... it could be something else.  I suppose I will try to nail down the factors I can tend, then tend them as I may... when I realize there is a problem.

I do have a number of lighter things to do today.  There are a few dishes, from Thanksgiving dinner leftovers.  On the good side, at least I am eating the leftovers rather than wasting them.  I need to adjust the rug in the kitchen.  While I could simply tuck it under the freezer, I would rather not.  I want the freezer to be as level as possible.  The rug would only fit under one corner.  I would also like to look through my tool drawers and do one final push to get tools in two of the drawers, and expendables like paint brushes, bolts, screws, nails, and such in another drawer.  I might even consider putting the tools in the top two drawers since they are more used than the expendables.  Beyond that, I just need to feed my face, possibly take a shower, and enjoy the sunny day.

I received a number of calls this morning.  Beside the first one letting me know the freezer was coming, I received a call asking me to rate the delivery.  The delivery team got an A+.  They did nothing wrong and somehow also did everything right.  They were courteous, clean, quick, and professional.  The actual sales rep, however, got a marking of 2 out of 5, and I left a message as to why I was put out with him.  It may or may not mean anything, but it saves me having to talk to some manager who probably could give a rat's petunia about the situation so long as he gets paid next Friday.  Then my mother called.  I had worried, after talking to her when she finally actually arrived at her home.  She seemed... disinterested, perhaps displeased, angry... or very tired.  I wasn't sure if I had stressed her, or said things that bothered her, and she had been holding back.  Nope, she was just done for the day.  I had just been thinking about calling her myself.  Another minute or two would have seen that done.  Funny thing, we do that often.  I let her know I was trying to keep up on things, and get a bit ahead, what I have been doing, and such.  I asked about her foot, how she was doing, the usual.  She hopes to have her Frankenstein boot given the boot in a week or so, with her next check-up.

Hmm, a few calls myself today.  I need to call the V.A. and try to transfer my primary care to SLC, I need to ask when would be best to pick up my hamburger, and then I want to call my friend and see if he wants to go out tomorrow.  I suspect, with two new (unshot to my knowledge, and I believe he said) pistols, shooting will be on the menu.  As well, he might want to hit a store for this or that.  So, you see, I have things to do and people to see and with whom to speak.  And I am tired.  Bleh, I'll get over it (no I won't, but sleeping won't help, I have things I want to do, I am just... not sure when or how. heh).

I am seriously hoping that, in January when I have rebuilt some of my lost reserves of cash, that I might begin swimming.  I had really hoped, with weight loss doing so well (from additional eating, go figure, save when mom was spoon-feeding her baby, no complaints on that, mind you) that I would be down to 250 sooner, some time ago.  Why?  Well, when I start swimming I will gain weight quickly.  I would be surprised, even eating more rightly, if I don't gain 20 pounds in the first month or two (if I am up to a mile a swim by then, should be).  I might back off swimming to just twice a week though, and try to figure out something for another day, here at home, due to the cost of gasoline.  Monday and Friday/Saturday for swimming, Wednesday for?  Initially just warm up calisthenics (read (scroll) down into the article "Workout of the Week") with the goal of working up to straight weights?  I dunno, but something.  Yeah, I know, a year with a program I never used.  But it has been on my mind, and as I have seen the money go, the incentive grows.  Just... work with me a little longer.  Though too, it would be nice if I could get the Apple system to work on this computer.  I might have to tinker with that.  Having a waterproof iPod is useless without being able to put music on it.  Grhhh!  Never mind.  Just... rambling.

Well, I best find some stuff to put in my throat on it's way to the boiler room and on through.  Then a few calls.  Hmm, and then... whatever hits me.  Dishes first, there are only a few, but after lunch.  Then the drawers?  No, rug and kitchen reset first, as that is the easiest and most aesthetically pleasing to boot.  Something.  Just know I'm... right on it.

Good day.

Is it early or am I late?

.
.
GAH!

I received a call first thing this morning, indicating the freezer would be here shortly.  I set the alarm for 7:00 but hadn't made it to bed until 1:30 or so.  Just couldn't go down!  The alarm was sounding, but hadn't roused me.  The phone usually will.  Of course, being (seemingly) in the middle of a dream, figuring out how to get it to my face (oh, unplug it), then mustering the physical coordination to swipe the "answer" touch screen swipe mechanism, were pushing my limits.  Never mind.  I am glad I had moved furniture last night.  I just needed to move a few things this morning, and more for an abundance of caution than was probably necessary.  Still, I prefer to do that for everyone's comfort.  I made my hi-pro coffee, and offered the men some.  The lead had already had coffee, Hawaiian, the expensive stuff.  He was using it to coax his wife away from smoking.  Last I heard, long ago, that stuff was $50 a pound, so I queried.  He said it is now $150 a pound.  Yikes!  Okay, my squirrel girl wasn't so bad pushing for three pounds of (at the time) $12 per pound coffee.  But she wasn't quitting tobacco either.  pfftftf!  Never you mind.

The freezer had been 'growing', in my mind.  I kept thinking it was longer and longer, and wider, and heavier.  The thing is not five feet long and probably 28" wide at the most, and I can easily manipulate it across the floor with one hand and little effort.  Still, I let them unpackage it, cart it in, and set it where it was to go.  An abundance of caution again, and their insurance.  I brought one extension cord but it needed a grounded cord.  Next!  I then went to plug it into one of my outlets, but it didn't have a ground on it.  Next!  Finally, I found the right cord and outlet and the thing is smoothly churning away.  I have it in the kitchen, for now.  I may, before loading it (doh!) check to see if I might prefer it in the back area with the washer and dryer.  But I tain't awake enough to go do no figuring none, zilch, zip.

As for what time it is?  It feels like somewhere between never and always, half past sometime.  My brain simply hasn't caught up with my body yet.  I think I'm writing well enough, but... I'll have to read this later because I sure ain't editing!  My blood pressure was the lowest I have seen it outside of the ER.  At 169/110 or some such, I was impressed.  Pulse went from the 70's up into the 80's though.  I am not sure why, even at a rather high dose of the particular med, my pulse remains... impossibly high (it should be in the 60's, perhaps 50's for others on this high a dose at which time they would back it down).  I don't use enough caffeine to put a hex on it, I don't use any other stimulant, and my tobacco usage is minimal to say the least (think about the equivalent of smoking a pack a week).  Oh, and weight keeps going down.  A few pounds a day.  I am back into 260's, barely.  But for two weeks I have been sparring with 270's and fearing 280's.  All good.  And, yes, medicine has been on the menu.  I am even remembering to take my night medicine at night and to add in the potassium swill in the morning.

Oh!  Mornings are RUDE!  Who invented them?  Can we sign a petition to have them exiled?  Shot?  Seriously.  Well, you have to know what I mean if you are a night owl.  I'm stumbling here. 

Hmm, on to some of that coffee, a few bites to eat, and figuring out if I am alive or dead, and what to do about whichever happens to be the case.  Have a good day.

Another day.

.
.
I did get back to the drawer.  I didn't do all I thought I might but I did get the three drawers... mostly sorted.  I would like to get all the fasteners and miscellany in one drawer and all the tools in the rest of the spaces.  It would be good to get everything in a specific regular place, or at least small area.  The chair helped a bunch.  I did little beyond that, which was fine.  Then I received a call saying the freezer would be arriving in the morning.  Hrmm?  Well, okay.  I hadn't thought about getting the device into my home until right then.  It won't come in the back door.  The hall is long but I think the cut would be too much to bring something that long and wide through.  So, the front door?  I can hope.  To that end I moved the kitchen table over, several chairs and some furniture out of the way, and I will move a couple more pieces in the morning.  I would move them tonight but the only place I could move them tonight would require me crawling over them should I need to use the facilities at night, a common thing on water pills in the beginning at least.

I am also starting to think about getting serious about setting up a shop in the garage.  A couple of benches that I can size to my height easily and adjust to fit the spots that work better in the garage as well might help.  There is room, if I go without the middle shelf, to put in pegboard.  I am currently using one for my reloader, so I know it is both heavy enough and solid enough.  I was even able to put it together, or finish it off, in a tight spot.  Plus, it is rather cheap, if I will need to buy more plywood and perhaps 2x4s.  I wouldn't keep most of my tools out there though, but I would have work benches, a place for a vice or two and a double grinder, and better storage (off the floor) for everything from my chain saw and gas tanks to some of the other equipment.  And it might head me to figuring out how to hang things like my weed trimmer.  Yeah, yeah, but... if I live long enough, it will happen.

I have only been feeding the girls three times a day.  Oh, they are trying to get more out of me but I just won't do it anymore.  I figure I was spoiling them a bit too much.  Sam has put on weight.  After I got Sassy down a bit, she has been staying just a little heavy (same dimension, still a lot heavier than Sam though but not like it was there for a while).

I'm making my list for my drywall repairs.  I won't be buying that until December.  At least all of my Christmas expenses are handled.  Travel, tires, gifts...  I sent my home with a little extra money as well.  Nothing fancy but it will have to do.  Oh, well, maybe one other thing needs to be sent, but that should be within typical spending money, not like tires or a freezer or tickets.  All good.  Still I had best cut back on spending for tickets and wallpaper in May.  Ugh!

Hmm, you know, I think...  Someone told me something the other night.  Someone else, on the same subject, said something tonight.  I think I am just now getting what they mean.  I have a way of talking right through things.  And... when people are speaking with me, I baffle them.  Never worry, I eventually get it.  I will call them tomorrow and see if what they really meant to suggest was what I now think it meant.  Ha!  Why people just don't say things directly?  Perhaps I am difficult to stay on track with?  Hmm...  I'll find out tomorrow.

Good night.  Wait, I'm a bit hungry, even with supper.  Yeah, a bit to eat first, then on to bed.  Sleep well.

What to do?

.
.
I did do the morning routine, as I expected.  It isn't, as I have suggested to family, taking medications and stats daily that fails.  It is keeping up on doctor appointments and such.  Hmm, today, in an hour so I don't mess with the lunchtimes and all that, I should call to see if I can get my primary physician moved to SLC.  The problem, at this point, is figuring out what to do.  I have had someone here for the last three weeks with more job prospects than a quest giver in EverQuest!  :p  And, of course, we didn't get everything done plus some of what was done has to be revisited.  The thing is I am still quite wore out.

I started by looking through my top tool drawer.  I have begun sorting that out.  I... actually do have quite a set of tools.  Oh, not by professional standards.  Any plumber or auto mechanic, even most farmers, have much more serious tools.  But for homeowners, I have the beginnings of a serious set of tools for a home diy'er.  Well, and there are more things on the list, now to include expendables and tools for drywall repair.  However, other than a very rough sorting, the tools are mixed and matched.  More, when I finish using a tool, so long as it gets back to the general set of drawers and cabinets, that is enough.  Which means my tools are a disorganized collection of everything in three huge drawers and a medium wall cabinet (actually two cabinets, some tools were too big so have gone into a larger wall cabinet).  Anyway, I started... sorting.  Beside tools, I have fasteners, padlocks, tapes of various sorts, and such.  I finally wrestled a very long extension cord onto a reel while my mother was here (much to her surprise and pleasure, and mine).  I bought two shorter ones as well, as much for the Christmas lights (as it turns out) as to have some handier power tool cords.  Along with tools and fasteners is a decent collection of the rest of the things that might come in handy, from sand paper for doing things by hand when necessary to glues and such.

Well, I did dig into that first top drawer.  I am not finished, but standing the whole time, especially while I am this tired, just won't do.  I need to get a chair over there and just tinker.  I am giving my legs a break, playing a new game.  I may revisit Skyrim in the future, but for now...  I'm burned out on it.  I guess I am disappointed that I can't keep up doing things like when my mother was here.  Then again, and as I said, I doubt if she works this hard for this long at her home.  She keeps on top of things, which means lots of little work but little big work (save when it is time for her to do her carpets or such).  Crazy woman types, crazy like a fox sometimes.  In any case, I am hoping to stay more on top of things, plus do a few more things, plus do some repairs.  Yeah, that's pushing it, for me.  But I can't quite stop thinking that if I can keep up and get a bit ahead, I will eventually be set enough to just keep up alone.  Okay, I lie.  If I get that caught up I will more likely try to push on to rebuilding lots of things, starting with my home electric system.  I just don't want to let the advantage I gained having my mother here slip completely from my grasp.  To be honest, despite already having received inheritance, I consider her work as additional inheritance, not so much simply as a favor or care.  As such, it is... a valued item, or works of value, or some such... not to be squandered.  I will do my best.

Back to the drawer(s and maybe cabinet(s)) I suppose.  But this time with a chair.   After those?  Perhaps my other small areas, like the reloading station room and maybe the upstairs.  When I get back on my feet a bit?  Then I would like to hit my bedroom and ensuite bath, both for their own reasons as well as prep to make a final push to get the water heater replaced in there.  Hmm, I might have a much easier to live in home by the time my mother returns?  We will see.

Get to it!  Good day.

Youch.

.
.
I couldn't shut the show down last night.  I tried to go to bed at 20:00 or so, then another time, and finally got into bed at 0:00 or a bit after.  Even after finally being able to settle in, sleep just would not happen.  Worse, it felt like my heart was stuck on stupidly fast.  I just couldn't get everything to back off.  I was a little worried.  I've had this before, a few times, so I wasn't panicking completely.  It is a really uncomfortable thing though, much like, for me, getting stuck in an odd angle when reaching for something in a tight space.  That fear of being stuck is part of it, the discomfort of the situation doesn't help.  It worked itself out, I guess, and I slept well.

Taking my weight, bp, potassium, and medicines first thing... after voiding and taking care of the kitty litter that is.  My weight is already on the way down.  I am not absolutely sure my weight gain was from over eating, there is a chance I was just eating a lot more salt, too.  Now, I do believe in eating a full amount of salt.  I don't believe the doctors on this one, at least in my case.  But if I am eating often, and some of it is processed, I will be getting even higher doses of salt than usual.  And, my mother doesn't like using the R.O. water tap, so will often just use straight softened water for cooking.  That adds bunches of salt.  So...  No, no, you can tell her, but...  I will know in a few days if that was mostly the case.

The girls are used to bullying my mother into feeding them first thing.  That doesn't work with me.  I will get them used to being fed when I am ready, again.  Especially as these mornings for a while, as I work my way back to a more sustainable pace, as I limp around and reset.  I am pretty sore, still a bit tired, rough around the edges, and not in the mood to be harassed.  I won't be bullied.

Hmm, something something about today?  I have no idea what to do today.  I could research whether to get a pail of pre-mixed drywall compound or dry and mix myself, what type of finish material would work best, and all that.  If I think talking to the store clerks at some of the stores might actually be the better bet.  Still, sounding like you know some of what you are talking about leads to... better outcomes.  You can at least spot a bullshitter right away.  And, some people may have done a repair but simply not done it well.  Lots of people just toss things up and call it good.  I really could do that, being the patches will be under the light for the most part, it just isn't how I do things.  Actually, if I wanted to, I could just cut holes, put up wood to span the distance, place anchors through that, and call it good.  But I simply won't.  THAT is what gets me hated, more than anything else, in this world.  That if it gets done, I expect it to be done correctly.

Hmm, on to tinkering or something.  Good day.