Trip Preparation

I am doing the last of the laundry to get ready for the trip; I cleaned the CPAPs this morning and sorted out my medications. Bob and I are eating out and my youngest is going to see her boyfriend for lunch, we think. I’ll pack this afternoon and tonight. I think I will be busy all day long getting ready to go. And tomorrow night I get to see my grandson again! Fun!

I filled out yet another SSA form on my work. They sent me the same form I got earlier in the month saying they didn’t receive the one they sent before. So I am filling out the same information again. Nothing has changed. Please make a decision on whether I continue getting benefits or not. Stop sending forms.

I go back to work next Tuesday–as far as I know I go into the office. I have my review on Thursday. I think. We will see. The new person starts on January 10. So that will be interesting. I hope she is nice. I will be sharing an office with her so hopefully everything will go well.

I am so sleepy. I woke up a lot during the night. And so far I haven’t had any caffeine. So that’s been good. I will have to go to the grocery store and get some granola bars for my youngest to eat with her medications at night. But I think that’s the only errand I have to run, and I will do that after lunch with Bob. If I don’t forget.

I don’t feel bipolar today. So that’s good. Maybe the new year will go well and then I can get through my most dangerous period from February to May well. I hope so. The past couple of years I have been so on guard through February to May that the summer is actually when the problems sneak up on me. We will see how it goes this year. I hope Bob does well after New Year’s–that’s when his dad started having the severe problems that wound up killing him. So the stress doesn’t end after Chirstmas–we will see how it goes.

Godspeed–I won’t blog again until the Tuesday after New Year’s. Happy New Year to all!

Advertisement

I’m Fine

In other news, my ears are fine now that the wax has been scraped/sucked out of them. No scarring, but the doctor did see signs that my psoriasis is affecting the ear canals and gave me a medication to use for the itching/etc. She said that the left one was a little swollen and red but that should disappear now that the wet wax is no longer sitting on it. It should take about a week to clear up and I go back if it doesn’t. I was actually able to turn my car radio down to level five volume and still hear it, which it hasn’t been the case in quite some time.

I’m going to work on laundry today and picking up from Christmas. Or I might not. Depends on how I feel after lunch. I also need to go to the pharmacy and get medicine for the trip this weekend. So I will do that after I eat, too.

I guess that’s it. I’m in a good mood so that helps. Just feel lazy, that’s all. Hope everyone has a good rest of the week. Tomorrow will be the last day I blog until the new year when we come back from Florida. Godspeed.

Still In A Holiday Mood

I am relaxing today. The kids got the trees down and put away yesterday. Bob and I got the new tree, too, and they put that away for next year. Now we have all three the same size so we can put them up in any order we want to next year. Very cool.

I am going to the doctor to get my ear checked this afternoon to see if it is clogged up with wax or infection or what. It doesn’t hurt; I just can’t hear out of it. I go at 12:45 for a one p.m. appointment. So hopefully we will clear that up.

All of my new clothes I got for Christmas seem to fit so that is good. My mom found some really cool blue jeans made out of recycled plastic bottles for me for Christmas; I’m wearing a pair today. So that makes me feel good. I think she got them from Belk’s, so I may go buy more using the Belk card I got for Christmas. We will see.

Me and the youngest are just hanging out today. I need to start picking up the house soon and cleaning up. And sorting laundry.

But I will get to all of that after seeing the doctor, I think.

My mood is good. Not high and not low. I slept in a bit this morning, got up around 8:15 a.m.

I have two stories due out from NAMI Blog in the new year so far. I am looking forward to seeing those. Not sure what other writing I am going to get to work on in the new year besides my new short story project I hope to start when we get back from Florida seeing my oldest and her family. I start back to work the day after we get back from Florida, too. I think it’s going to be a great trip. We will see.

Soon it’s going to heat back up and we will be rid of this crazy cold for a while. Not that I like that it’s going to be in the 70’s for New Year’s, but that’s better than these subfreezing temps in a place that’s not prepared for it on an ongoing basis. Some places in Jackson have lost water again in that never-ending nightmare. I am so glad Brandon had the foresight to build its own water treatment plant instead of continuing to depend on Jackson’s.

I suppose that’s it for today. I hope to hang on to this good and even-keel mood for a long time. We will see how it goes. Love to all through the week and Godspeed.

Post-Christmas

My youngest announced we were taking the trees down today instead of when we got back from Florida. We usually leave them up through New Year’s, but we were going to be gone and she didn’t want to be taking them down after the trip, and I can’t say I blame her. So her and her boyfriend are working on them–the poor thing :). I will probably send him home with some cookies once I bake them. But that’s the way it goes around here–when the youngest gets her mind set on something, it usually happens.

We went on our annual ornament spree at Hallmark this morning, and we’re going to pick up a few things at the stores when my youngest and her boyfriend go out for dinner tonight. We need a new Christmas tree–my VERY VERY old one has finally lost so many needles that it looks kind of Charlie-Brown-ish. My youngest one was clear when we put it up–it was going to the end of the driveway after Christmas. I bought it back in college in 1992 and it has been in our house ever since–so I got my money out of it. We also bought next year’s Christmas cards, and my youngest bought new thank-you notes.

My middle daughter and her boyfriend headed back to Georgia this morning. They are probably close to home by now. I hope so at least. Things went better this Christmas than they did at Thanksgiving, so that was good. Or maybe he is just growing on us. Probably a bit of both.

My mood is good. Not too high, and not too low. I am learning still to adjust my expectations of myself during the holidays. I’ll limit what all I do so I can enjoy what I do. I still have a few Christmas cards to send and will do them tonight so Bob can mail them tomorrow. And we will pack this week to get ready to go to my oldest daughter’s house for New Year’s. It should be fun.

I don’t work this week so that will be a nice break as well. I will likely spend it cleaning up the house of all the Christmas litter. Gifts, bags, dishes, etc. etc. A bit havoc-looking right now, but I will get it done.

That’s it for today. Hope everyone can keep the spirit of Christmas alive throughout the year. The next few days are about reflection on the old year and planning for the new. Love to all and Godspeed.

Christmas Day

So we had a good if subdued Christmas Day. We opened presents here and then went to my mother-in-law’s. She snuck something along asking all the grandchildren to write down a memory of my father-in-law and send it to her; she had them typed and printed up and passed them around. My girls all had various stories about their granddaddy so it was nice to read. Bob’s sister’s boys wrote good stories too, but they weren’t nearly as wordy. :). That’s my girls, too.

We’re all acting like it’s time to take naps. I need to put dinner in the crockpot and then I might take a nap. I’m not sure. I’m not terribly sleepy, but I know me–I could probably go to sleep if I lay down long enough. Or I might clean up some. But I don’t like doing housework over the weekend. So we will see how it goes. We go shopping tomorrow for Hallmark ornaments and etc. We have a few things to pick up other than that so i think we’re going to have successful shopping day and then lunch at Enzo’s Robert St. John’s new restaurant.

I got an Amazon card so I think I will see what all I can find to buy with it. Hope everyone has a good rest of the holiday and enjoys their time however they spend it. Merry Christmas!

Christmas Eve

So we’ve been traveling today, and I’ve finally gotten the chance to sit down and type while tomorrow’s breakfast is cooking. I also need to cook for tomorrow’s dinner at my mother-in-law’s. So we will be up for a while.

Bob, me, my girls, and my middle one’s boyfriend went upstate today so we had a mini-caravan. We ate lunch with my parents. my sister’s family, and a couple of other people who are family, but the connection is too complicated to list out here. We hug out for a while and helped my mom cook dinner and all, then we opened presents. The best present was my parents gave a memorial to a charity that my father-in-law loved as a note to Bob, and he just about cried. I imagine there will be more of that tomorrow so I am braced for it.

We open presents here at home tomorrow morning and then go to my mother-in-law’s for more. Today I got some puzzles, pretty dishes, clothes, fun stuff. We try our best to just have fun with the presents, trying to keep everyone’s interests in mind. We also have happy accidents–we got my brother-in-law a Christmas ornament themed to “Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer” and found out it was his favorite Christmas song. So that was good. My middle did a good job with presents, finding cool things online for everyone. So I am looking forward to seeing what she picked out for me :).

Hope everyone’s holiday is all you want it to be–Merry Christmas and Godspeed.

Gathering The Flock

So my middle daughter is on her way with her boyfriend for Christmas. We went out to eat and went to the grocery store for the final time this week, I hope. 🙂 Hopefully we won’t go out except for the Christmas lights tonight while my youngest is with her boyfriend’s family. So that will be today’s festivities. I will probably cook cookies this afternoon once my middle one comes in–she usually likes helping with that. So we will see.

We’ve hit the high temperature of 22 F today already; I dressed warmly so I didn’t feel all that cold out. Sweatshirt, fuzzy socks, jeans, big coat, hands in warm pockets. My youngest told my husband that she didn’t have a warm coat that fit, so I am going to buy one after Christmas and give it to her for her birthday as well as other fun things. Not that we usually get as cold as we are right now, but she’ll be a little further north next winter and might need it. So.

I’m off work all next week so that will be nice. I will likely goof off quite a bit until we go see my oldest for New Year’s weekend. i am looking forward to seeing them and my grandson. We sent their Christmas gifts already so they will have fun tomorrow and Sunday. I look forward to seeing them and seeing what else they were sent. So it should be a fun trip.

I feel good today. No depression or mania. That is such a good feeling. Hopefully it will last all the holiday time and afterwards. Hopefully I can get out and exercise by walking some next week when the weather warms up. It’s supposed to be 70 F on New Year’s Eve. Back to normal!

I suppose that is all for today. Bless all of you this holiday season. Godspeed.

Gaming

My youngest daughter’s boyfriend is on his way over for gaming this afternoon, so I need to wind up pretty quickly. No depression or mania so far this week so that’s been good. Still need to do a little on that to-do list I mentioned yesterday, particularly the cookie baking, which I will probably do tonight in between the gaming. so that will be good to wrap that up and deliver all the snacks to my neighbors tomorrow. Probably give some to my daughter’s boyfriend as well to take to his family tonight.

The temperature is going to drop tonight really, really low and hopefully we won’t have ice on the roads tomorrow. We will have to see. It’s supposed to be 70’s this time next week, so we won’t be frozen long, and that’s good to know.

Getting closer to Christmas! I get just as excited as a kid does because it’s just a fun time in my family to get together and talk and celebrate. I enjoy it as much as a little kid because of that. Seeing everyone is fun to me and always has been my whole life. I know not everyone has this kind of family background, and that makes me sad. Hopefully you can find a way to celebrate even without that if that’s your case. I will pray for all of you to be able to celebrate the season in whatever way you are able and wish to. Godspeed.

Last-Minute Tasks

So I have a very short to-do list before Christmas:

–wrap the final presents

–cook cookies for my neighbors

–address final Christmas cards

I look forward to doing these things TOMORROW! (I am taking the rest of today off!)

Friday my middle one and her boyfriend will be driving in for the holiday unless the weather is bad on the roads. I am looking forward to hosting them. Then Saturday we go see my parents and Sunday spend Christmas morning at home and lunch and some of the afternoon at my mother-in-law’s house. A good time will be had by all.

My mood is holding well today and that is good. I am glad. I have been praying that it would even out that and I would be in a good mood for Christmas. It seems like it is happening. So that is a blessing.

We host my youngest daughter’s boyfriend tomorrow night for some gaming. Bob is looking forward to that. He’s been planning what they will do for about a week-and-a-half. I regard this as a good development in their relationship. We will see how it goes.

I hope everyone is having the Christmas season of their dreams. Thanks so much for reading this year. Godspeed.

Good Day

My lassitude is starting to lift. I don’t feel so dragged out today–I plan to go to the grocery store and just pick up stuff that didn’t make it into my cart yesterday. Which turns out to be a good many things. But the shelves are kind of bare down here for this time of year. But I will find it all this afternoon, I hope.

Went to my liver doctor today and I gained weight. I’m not surprised–I had seen the difference in my clothes and was expecting it. But I’ve given up cokes and tea and trying to watch carbs and sugar. I am trying to ease into a low-carb diet by not doing it all at once. But it doesn’t seem that it’s working out well. I guess I just need to go hard on eliminating sugar and lowering carbs even more. I plan to start exercising by walking outside once this bad cold snap eases up next week. We will see what happens.

My work has hired someone new for the marketing department next year–she starts January 10. I am looking forward to that and seeing what all she can do to help us catch up a few more post-production tasks since I have all the pre-production stuff caught up. I’m looking forward to it knowing that there’s going to be some help pitching in.

Well, i need to run get the other groceries. Hope everyone is doing well with the season. Praying for those that will need help with the cold coming in the next few days. Godspeed to all.