Week in Review: Week 193
If you read last Wednesday’s post, you already know about my Monday, so we’ll just start from Tuesday.
Tuesday
I stayed home from work. I barely slept all night and after two nights of that I’m so so tired…and I’m achey from throwing up SO MUCH…and I’m still percoceting every four hours as long as I feel twinges of achey/crampy. I keep trying to get a little sleep but I think pain killers tend to keep me awake – not like in the good old days when they knocked me out. But I am resting. Scrolling through Instagram, laying still in the dark room with my eyes closed, forcing myself to read a few more pages of this boring book.
Who chooses Pulitzer award books, anyway?? This is the third one I’m reading recently and two of the three have been such YAWNS. Maybe I’m missing something.
Remember The Scholastic Book club? The little newsprint flyers would come to your classroom a couple times a year and you’d (well, *I’D*) go home and beg for as many of the softcover books as my parents would allow. They were like .50 each, ha ha. Anyway, when I was around nine I ordered a book called Little Vic about a jockey and the horse he loved. I read it, I didn’t like it. I don’t remember why, it just didn’t appeal to me. When the teacher asked me later if I liked it and I said no, she said (which infuriates me to this day), “It’s probably above your reading level and you just didn’t understand it.”
I UNDERSTOOD it. I just didn’t LIKE it. Ooh, she made so mad!
But maybe these fancy Pulitzer prize-winning books are above my reading level and I just don’t understand them. HA HA HA HA HA. I think of that teacher’s condescending comment everytime I don’t like a book. Fifty years later. Talk about teachers making an impact. Ugh.
Wednesday
Back to work. Got painkillers in my purse Just in Case…and a loose dress on. I made the mistake when hurriedly getting dressed in time for the ambulance the other night, of putting on leggings, which SEEMED like a comfy choice, but in reality, were far too snug in the waistband Right. THERE.
Started The Great Shoe Assessment, which is quite laborious and time-consuming. I will share my findings with y’all once my research (ha ha) is complete.
thursday
Trying to appreciate Every Single Leaf as they will all be gone before we know it. I was thinking today, it’s too bad that trees don’t have nicer looking trunks and branches. I mean, some do, like paperbark maples or birches or sycamores or a graceful Japanese maple. But for the most part, the weedy trees along the roadside are (sorry, Mother Nature) unattractive without their leaves. And that’s how we see them almost half the year. It just makes the world so ugly during the winter.
Barely staying awake during the workday. Just hanging on for the weekend.
The book stack is growing since I have barely been reading the past few weeks. It’s that dopey Breathing Lessons on top that’s holding me up. Has anyone else read it? Do you have anything redeeming to say about it that might inspire me to forge ahead??
This is the description from Amazon, “Regarded by many as Tyler’s seminal work, Breathing Lessons celebrates the small miracles and magic of truly knowing someone, and evokes Jane Austen, Emma Straub, and other masters of the literary marriage.” AND it won the Pulitzer Prize in 1989. I am just not getting it.
FRIDAY
Went to the urologist this morning. He confirmed that they would not be able to do a lithotripsy for (on?) me at their out-patient center, and he explained why. I would need to lose about 30 more lbs to be at a safe BMI for the procedure. I get it. I do. SO he referred me to a “kidney stone specialist” who might be able to help me. I called there for an appointment and was told the next available appointment was January 10!!! I panicked and might have turned into a bit of a cry-baby and was like WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO FOR THE NEXT TWO MONTHS?? I would check myself into the emergency room if I could, but…I don’t think my insurance company would foot THAT bill. So, Specialist Reservation Boy SAID he would see if he could get me an earlier appointment…and if he comes up with nothing early this week I’ll see if my urologist can call him and tell him I need to be seen asap.
THEN had trouble at the pharmacy getting my pain killer and flomax prescriptions filled and I was heading towards Painville and I was just tired and OVER IT ALL and headed home, and when I was ALMOST home the pharmacy called to say my prescriptions were ready.
Sigh (note: pharmacy is by work, 25 minutes from home).
I really had not felt well all day and was in bed by 5:30, reading and IG scrolling.
Saturday
My brain is SO not my friend anymore. I’m forgetting things and losing things and mixing things up. But I did get a couple outfits shot and met friends for early dinner, like the old people 🙂 It was nice to be home from dinner by 6:30.
I made the Facebook group “Plus Over 50.” If you want to be added (for now it’s by invitation only for quality control…and it’s private and hidden so no one can see what gets said there), email me at fashion_schlub@yahoo.com and I’ll add you. I’ll need whatever email address you have that is affiliated with Facebook.
Sunday
My only real accomplishment of the day was helping a friend move six cats from one place to another. So I will leave you with Sounds of Six Cats in a Car….
Susan Sommer
Hahaha! Those cats!
The rest of your story is . . . super temporary, I sincerely hope. For some reason I thought the kidney stone passed. I am ignorant of this subject, so far.
As for Breathing Lessons; it does start out slow but hang in there. You will like it. Unless it’s above you 😝
bettyewp
Nope, not passed. And there’s two of them. Good times! At the moment they’re behaving but I can’t take my eyes off them for a SECOND!
Re: Breathing Lessons: At the very VERY end, I felt a slight tug of feeling for Mr & Mrs whatever their names were…with the “daughter in law” (ish) and grandchild. But it was literally like in the last 10 pages. Ha.
Love you, Suzy! Come to NY sometime!
CiM
What a kidney ordeal! I hope it is over – for the better – soon…
Surely they can do better than to say How About You Wait Months For POSSIBLE Relief???!
I’ve just upset four cats by playing Sounds of Six Cats in a Car. General panic due to the suspicion their space has been infiltrated by Six Unhappy Cats, although they cannot locate them…exactly. But they seem to be in my laptop.
Why do hurtful/unjust comments last a lifetime? While kind ones might be easier to forget? Such is the way with me, at least. I wish I could switch them. Sadly, I have my own stash of the unfair/unkind ones. Years pass, but they have a way of sticking around. I think it is the injustice, even more than the unkindness, that makes them linger.
Still love The Spot pictures. I will not get tired of them, ever.
Rhonda
Lovely pictures! Sure hope your KS problem gets resolved soon! The pain killers may be contributing to the brain fog—those things can have nasty side effects if used too long. The cats in the car amused my Westie, who could NOT locate the noise no matter how far she tilted and rotated her head!😂 Take care and hope you have a better week!
bettyewp
Yeah, I’m not taking them just as a matter of course, only when I feel pain coming on. So like the last one I took was Sunday night, and Friday night before that. As much as I am not reluctant to use them when I need them, I’m also mindful of not running out cuz it can be So Hard to get more!
julia
My cats are looking around the house now for the cats they heard! Even got OJ up and out of his kitty basket! Ok, I’m sending you good vibes right now so you are feeling better! Can you feel them? I am thinking of you and wishing you get better super duper quick!
bettyewp
I FEEL them even when they’re not painful. Sometimes it feels like someone pressing their thumb into my stomach/side/groin. Not hard, just enough that you feel it. Sometimes it advances to cramping, like period cramps. That’s when you have to start paying attention “is the cramping more intense now than 15 minutes ago?” If yes, pill time. The pain pills take an HOUR to take affect, and if the cramping is graduating to CRAMPS OF DEATH, they can get a lot worse in that hour. And you can’t let the pain get too bad cuz then the pills can’t touch it. And that’s bad. That’s when I wind up in the ER. But sometimes you just have uncomfortable, unpleasant, but not PAINFUL cramping for days and days. That’s where I am now. Ha ha, probably more than you asked for!
Yeah, Janey was quite interested in The Kitty Chorus as well!
jodie filogomo
I’m so sorry things didn’t go so well this week. But I have to ask. How did you even think to record the kitties in the car? I think I would be too meshuggah. Unless you practiced with them for the month before and got them all calm like we did!! LOL . The practicing and a lot of the rescue remedy!!
Xoxo
Jodie
bettyewp
I guess recording sounds just comes to my mind like taking pictures. Must. Document. This.
Iris
Hope you’re feeling better by now.
Koda was not impressed with the cat audio 🙂
Grace & Peace,Iris
http://www.IrisOriginalsRamblings.com
bettyewp
Apologize to little Koda for me 🙂
Cheryl
I really hope you can be treated asap, and feel much better.
My daughter’s cat cries when he has to travel in the car, but wow six cats, you are very brave!
Deborah Stinedurf
Where oh where do I start? First of all, this kidney things needs cleared up asap! Definitely make sure that your urologist calls to try and get you in sooner. Second, the whole teacher story…that is why I am always very very careful with my words. My high school guidance counselor told me that I wasn’t smart enough to go to college. His words almost worked…I didn’t start immediately after high school because of him…a**hole! And finally, your assessment of winter. Literally just this morning on the way to work I was saying to my daughter for probably the millionth time…”I hate how ugly winter is. It’s like 10 months long and there’s snow for maybe a total of 1 month and the rest of the time it’s just dark, drab and ugly…” If it has to be cold, there at least needs to be snow so that it’s pretty and a little bit brighter. xo
Debbie
http://www.fashionfairydust.com
Debbie from Illinois
Bettye, If you can’t get through the book Breathing Lessons, watch the movie. It has James Garner and Joanne Woodward in the lead roles. 😀😀😀
bettyewp
I did manage to get through it at the end of last week and I’ve moved onto the next one. I just have been sort of out of reading mode altogether with the time change. It has to do with the lighting in the apartment, blah blah blah…
But thanks for the movie suggestion. Did you see it?
Debbie from Illinois
I’d watch anything with James Garner in it, he reminds me of my dad. ❤️