msconduct

My IBM money was there in the bank this morning and usual and also my social security money which was early due to the weekend. So yeah. I got a notice from the Seattle Electric company that my credit card was due to expire. Hmmmm. Ok 1. it's a card I use very rarely and 2. none of their beeswax since I do not now nor will I ever again have an account with them. But, it did send me to check on the expiration date of the card I do use which turned out to be trickier than it should have been. Turns out the only place to really find that info is on the card itself which I also rarely use (because I use it via the phone) and almost couldn't find. But I found it and it's got another 2 years so ok. Plus it turned out to be in a logical place.

Next on the agenda is to stroll downstairs to pick up next week's menus. Not so crucial this time as I have my meal spending limit under good control this month. So if there is good stuff on the menu, great. If not, I'll double up today and tomorrow on this week's menu.

Last night was pizza night and it was so yum. Plus the leftovers will be even yummier. I'm set for the weekend regardless.

Hazel came in last night. I think she wanted something but forgot or lost her nerve. But, she did report that she's had lots of visitors/support. Bonny had told me that the latest is that John has some kind of blood cancer. They think. He goes in Monday for some long, involved procedure. Hazel said that Tina, a retired doctor who lives here, had offered to go with them. But that their granddaughter wanted to go. She (Hazel) cannot sort out what's happening or why or when and it's getting worse. Bonny said yesterday that Hazel is disintegrating faster than John. Hazel did say that Rae Stewart, the head of Health Services is coming over today which is wonderful. She will set them on the right path. I hope. I will listen and sympathize. End of services.

Joan is ambulatory again. At least inside. She has a motorized chair and now can go anywhere inside. She seemed pretty chipper yesterday.

I'm going to try something today. Don't tell Christian, the designer. My couch is too low. Getting up is tough so I don't. Yes, I could do exercises routinely to strengthen those muscles and make it easier OR Or Or...hear me out, RAISE the couch! Guess what I'm going with? Yep, coming today from Amazon. Will they be an Amazon return?? Stay tuned. I have a plan for installation but if it fails, I plan on roping in Jim from across the hall to help. Worst case, I'll put in a work order and get my muscle from Timber Ridge. Four inches. Wish me luck.

My Mariner game watching is working out better than I expected. It's not great like it used to be but it's doable. The one horrible guy is joined by a rotation of also pretty bad broadcasting partners. I generally tune it in with sound at the beginning. Depending on the partner du jour, I'll switch to radio for sound which is out of sync but usually keeps me from throwing things at the TV. Towards the end of the game when everyone has worn out my patience, I move to the bed and finish on my tablet with the sound off and my book on. It's a pretty darned good system. I like that I don't need a TV in the bedroom, too.

I want to clarify about Joan and Hazel and John and others. I am not opposed to doing favors for people. If Bonny or Noelle or Jim down the hall, needed bananas, I'd make a special trip to get them. They would do the same for me. Joan and Hazel and John would not. They could not. They never will be able to again. They may be alive for months and become more and more needy if so. They need to rely on the resources they pay for. If Joan calls the front desk about getting her prescription filled, theoretically, the front desk will contact Health Services and tell them that Joan needs help and they will step in. Eventually.

I made some very bad decisions/choices with Myrna that actually, I believe, caused her more pain than was necessary. I did this in my desire to help and my total lack of knowledge about what the right thing to do is. I will not make that mistake again.

And...

oh crap, I forgot the other thing... Oh yes. Feet.

That funny weird podiatrist did some magic. I have not been woken up by foot pain in weeks. I can walk where ever I want whenever I want pretty much pain free. The skin on the bottoms of my feet is no longer hard and even the cracks are beginning to clear up. A guy on Reddit posted his experience with the same stuff I'm taking with photos and wow. He also said it was a good 9 months before he got the full benefit and I've only been taking it 3 weeks. I can wait. I go in for my second cortisone shot next week. The first one is still making a black and blue mark but maybe that's so he'll know where to shoot again. Don't care. Doesn't hurt now and that's what matters.

There is a charge from Google Pay for $2.06 on my credit card. Not a charge from someone else through Google pay but a charge from Google Pay. I didn't even know they sold shit. And I can't fathom what I would have bought. AND there is no record of it on any Google account - Pay, Play or any Google balance I can find. Weird. At least there is a Google place you can report charges so I did.

I'm ok with losing $2.06 but I am not ok with that possibly being a gateway to a lot heftier charges from some evil entity. So I chase it down.

Timber Ridge has offered up puzzle enhancements!! They sent a note yesterday asking if our elbow wanted a fancy puzzle sorter thing and a lovely floor lamp made for puzzling. I responded immediately - YES!! And they said they were going to get us an actual puzzle table!! Woohoo!

I think I'm going to pop out to Trader Joe's this morning. If I were a decent human, I'd ask Joan if I could bring her anything. She loves Trader Joe's. BUT I am not a decent human and I want to keep that can of worms tightly closed. So I will just feel sufficiently guilty when I walk by her door. After yesterday morning, I've heard no more from Hazel and John. I'll feel guilty when I walk by their door, too.

Tonight is the dinner with Dick and Jan and Bonny and the Never-Shuts-Up Jackie. Should be interesting. We're meeting in the bar first. But I have a whole day before those shenanigans begin.

Turns out that 82 degree water (in the pool) is ok for laps but too friggin' cold for volleyball. The water this morning was 82 degrees. We only played for an hour and a half and were all thinking hot oatmeal for breakfast.

I just finished mine.

Yesterday, after Hazel came in to find out how to work her telephone yesterday, just before I left for aqua yoga, Joan called and wanted me to pick up a prescription at Target. She asked "are you going out?" and I said no that I was on my way to class. Then when she told me what she wanted, like an idiot, I suggested she call Bonny.

Dumb. The correct answer was Call the front desk.

When I got back from the pool, I went to Bonny's to apologize and she was very gracious. She did say that she told Joan that she needs to start looking into Briarwood (nursing care). And I think she's 100% correct.

We, Bonny and I, agreed that neither of us are interested in being on call or on demand. Anyway, Joan has her drugs.

And, Hazel's son knows she does not know how to work her telephone.

Baby steps.

My New Zealand friends called last night. They are on their last leg. They leave out of San Francisco tomorrow. They think they have one more US trip in them... in two years. I hope so.

This morning was the first morning since winter that I had to turn on the lights to feed the cats on a volleyball day - so 5:30. Times, they are a changin'!

It's house cleaning day. I just ordered two lunches for pickup at 11. One is an Italian sub and one is shrimp salad with croissants. And fries. I'll have one for lunch and one dinner.

Hazel was just back in here. I think this time she was just looking for someone to talk to who wasn't John or John's doctor. It does not sound like John is doing any better. But I think she just wanted to chat with someone who wasn't him or his doctor. They go back to the doctor this morning. Their granddaughter is in town so she has been added to the transportation team.

Now it is almost 9:30 and I'm still naked. Well, except for my pool robe. I think I'll go find some proper clothes.

Dropped off my return and then headed to the bank. They are so weird in that bank. Not a sole around but a young woman at the first desk. She asked me what I wanted and I said 'help with my accounts'. She did not ask me to sit (I did anyway) but just said 'ok'. And then nothing else. So weird.

But, way better than the phone and their ridiculous telephone tree and annoying hold music.

I got the money moved, an account I didn't want closed, a debit card turned in and info on how much I needed to have on deposit in order to avoid their outrageous banking fees. Done.

As a backup bank, they aren't that bad. I just have no bank patience.

I came home and verified she had done it all and fitted up my Tiller spreadsheet for the changes and all is good. Tomorrow, I'll move a bunch of the cash over to BECU where the interest rate is much better. (The commercial bank has higher interest rates if you jump through a bunch of their hoops which I do not want to do.) BECU is fine. At the end of the year, I'll probably send most of it to the finance guy to invest.

When I got home, Hazel was sitting in the elbow. John is back in the hospital. She says that now they think he had a stroke about a month ago. Honestly, it sounds like either they are are old manning him or she's just not understanding or both. In fairness, preventative medicine and/or complicated diagnostics are hard to justify in someone 89 years old.

Oh dear. Hazel just came in here with her phone. She has forgotten how to use it. It's a 50000 year old landline phone set that does not work correctly on a good day and today is not. Plus she does not understand that the hand set is not going to work unless she is near the base. This is not going well.

Plus, her son was trying to call. He's been waiting downstairs for 10 minutes. So now she's gone with him to the hospital.