Can You Hear Me Now?

I had a really busy week, it was great. On Wednesday, I was visited by my Home Care OT and a sales rep from the medical supply store I deal with, and he installed my stripper pole in the front window. Now I can safely step out and in from my patio doors with something to hold onto. He will be returning soon with another pole for beside my bed, and another grab bar for my shower. He also left me with information on elecronic lift chairs and how to go about getting funding for one. I swear, the recliner I have now is going to break soon, I push and pull on it SO HARD every time I struggle to get up from it. Plus, the cats have clawed it to death so I’d kind of like it replaced with something they don’t recognize so I can train them to NOT claw at it. ‘Cause I CAN train them, you know.

Show times are daily at 3:00, 5:00 and 7:00 pm and involve lots of… um… kitty action.

Pita practices her moves.

On Thursday, I worked at the Pub, although I barely got anything done. I really only had time to organize all the work I’ll be doing when I go back next week. I haven’t been there in awhile, so there was a lot of paper to sort through.

Christine made me a stir fry for lunch, most of which ended up on my white shirt, and my Tide to Go pen didn’t help much. Needless to say, I didn’t feel classy enough to be going to the salon we went to afterwards. Kevin drove Christine and I to Scentorini for our pedicures. It is one of those beautiful, tranquil spas where before your treatment you sit in this comfortable lounge with those BIG armed chairs and sofas and are served coffee or tea while you wait. Because it was my first time there, I had to fill out a bunch of forms about my health, and because filling out forms isn’t something I do anymore without a computer, Christine did the writing for me. She actually wrote “too many to list” when they asked if I’d ever had any accidents or surgeries. We just sat there and laughed as we went over everything that has happened to me over the years. What else can you do?? Christine remembers cooking meals for me and bringing them over after a surgery I had about 12 years ago, and then she did it again this past August, and she has pretty much been around for everything in between.

Anyway, we had our pedicures and it was lovely. Paraffin wax and everything. I also found out, via the girl doing my pedicure who lives near me, that there is a new Nail place in my mall I didn’t know about. It’s tucked away in an area I never go to, and last time I checked it was a hair salon that didn’t do nails. So, YAY, I now have a place next door again where I can get cheap pedicures. ‘Whew.

It was POURING rain, so we had time-called a taxi to pick us up at 4:30 (and it took forever to get through). We sat in their reception area and our cab never showed up. We kept calling, but we couldn’t get through. We ended up having to wait for Kevin to finish up at the Pub so he could pick us up. I was finally home by 6:00.

Shortly after that my mom and Bob arrived, bringing McDonald’s with them because we had all had long days and they just wanted to grab something quick on the way here. I said “get me something, too!” because I was too tired to do anything food-prep wise. Bob returned to Strathmore to face life on his own for two days while I kept my mom. You know, he really doesn’t know what to do without her. It’s kind of sweet, but it’s also kind of annoying for me when the phone rings constantly and it’s him. At one point I yelled “you’ve had her all week! Give me two days!” Heh.

We watched TV (Yay for the Office!) and then went to bed.

The next morning we did a few things around here, and my new duvet arrived, before we headed out for the afternoon. I’m not going to go into great details about what we did, because it involved seeing a psychic/medium/medical intuitive/energy healer type woman, and I know lots of people don’t believe in that stuff and I don’t want to go into it too much here. However, she was amazing, right on about so many things and so many people, and had a lot of interesting things to say about my health. Basically, she confirmed a lot of things that I already knew and believed, but it was nice to hear it from someone else who has never even met me before. Then I went for a biofeedback treatment, and I’m going to go back a couple more times. My health problems, I believe and she confirmed, are mostly caused by my emotional health and things from my past and issues with my Father. (I haven’t spoken to my father in almost 4 years). Although I have disconnected from him physically, I still have a lot of work to do to disconnect from him emotionally. So that is my goal this year, and she said this is MY YEAR. That I will be in much better health once I accomplish that, and I’m 50% there.

Oh there I go, already saying more than I wanted to! Anyway, she was the real deal. She said so many things about me and people in my life that was right on the mark (even AH, she talked about him having been estranged from his son, [and how did she even know he has a son, never mind that he was separated from him?], and that I can trust him as a friend. She said he is trying to be a better person now and needs to be forgiven for his mistakes from the past. Which is so true. And that he has “managing issues” (whether she meant time-management or control-management I don’t know, but she would be right on both accounts!)

This woman put any other psychic-type person I have ever seen to shame. But I still say, even a meeting with a not-so-good psychic is worth more than paying a therapist. You just get so much more out of one visit, they are such intuitive people. You walk out feeling very hopeful about your future and how to make it better. My mom was with me during everything (she was my note-taker, Pat doesn’t record sessions) and gets why I think that now.

I’ll be going for another biofeedback session soon. I want to give it a good three tries before I make up my mind about its benefits.

After all that, mom and I went for a bite to eat at a nearby Vietnamese restaurant and tried to get through to a cab company. It took awhile (it was pouring rain again), but we finally got one and made it home. Flaked out, watched Thank You for Smoking, and went to bed.

Saturday (a beautiful day), we went to our chiropractor and for a quick lunch, then came back here, hopped on our scooters, and headed to the mall. My mom has a mobility scooter too, and it was finally removed from the back of their van so she could use it while visiting me. It’s not possible to talk while shopping when you’re both on scooters, so it’s really more about getting from A to B without hitting people and making sure not to lose the other person. We went to Cotton Ginny (I bought a top, mom bought pants), Wal-Mart, and I showed her the wonderfulness that is Dollarama. She spent $10 and came out with loads of great stuff. All hail Dollarama!

Bob picked her up around 6:00 and they went back to Strathmore. I stayed home and tried to watch Clerks 2, but I couldn’t do it. Sorry Clerks fans, I just couldn’t make it past the first half hour. Yes, Joi, it was worse than the Trailer Park Boys movie. I was in bed by 10:00.

Today, my friend Pam came by to take me for dessert and coffee at Olive Garden. We ended up starting off with a pizza to share before going into the lattes and dessert, because it’s really hard to go to Olive Garden and not eat breadsticks (which come with everything). It was lovely. Afterwards, Pam came back here and put my new duvet into my new duvet cover, so my bedroom is FINALLY complete! We even went to the mall and bought new pillows to fill the shams that came with the duvet cover. My old shams were smaller and the thin pillows I had were fine, but the new shams are a lot bigger and needed bigger pillows! So, the bedroom re-decorating project is now complete:

I can’t wait to sleep there tonight!

My birthday present to myself? My new bedroom (decor and bedding). I told you about a week or so ago I bought the duvet cover and pillows and stuff. My brother’s birthday present for me was a picture to hang over my bed, and I picked up a runner for one of the dressers the other day. AND just last night I ordered a new duvet. I did! Not a $1,000 one, but I went to hbc.com and ordered their goose down one. I’m sure I’ll be thrilled with it, and be able to cross #37 off my list. Last night I was attempting to put my new duvet cover on my old thin duvet, and I realized just how sad it is, and the cover was way too big for its flimsly thinness. So I did what I do best, solved the problem with shopping. Now I have more charges to pay off on my Bay card, BUT I didn’t order it from Sears, so that card is still paid off, and I plan to keep it that way. Anyway, it’s my BIRTHDAY.

I should have the new duvet by the end of the week, hopefully by Thursday because my brother is coming over. He can help me put it all together (I realized I can’t put the duvet cover on myself). And my Mother will be the first person to sleep with my new bedding… how is that fair?? Heh. She’s staying over Thursday and Friday nights.

Anyway, yeah, it’s my birthday. I’m 39. I didn’t make any plans with friends this year, I’m laying low. I was hoping to meet up with AH for our annual “our birthday is on the same day, so we should go out” dinner, but that didn’t work out. Not surprising, it’s so hard to see him. I wish he would just let me meet his wife so she knows I’m not after her husband, and we could all be friendly. But, apparently, she thinks every woman that talks to her husband wants to marry him, so she would have NONE of that. It’s complicated, but he continues to be someone I yak on the phone with a lot and he helps me with banking runs and stuff. Other than that, we don’t really see each other. We’re just going to win that house on May 22, because I know we met for a reason, and I’d like that to be the reason!

My mom gave me what I wanted for my birthday, a spot at Eva Marsh’s workshop on May 12. She is an incredible woman who healed her MS many, many years ago. She does tons of research and has multiple degrees (she got her Masters in Electrical Engineering and a BSc in Physics so she could understand the research she was reading, and the physics of a nerve cell). I attended her workshop several years ago, and she is amazing. Apparently she has learned a lot more and has tons of new stuff to talk about, so I look forward to this. I think there will only be about 8 people, it’s a very intimate and interactive workshop.

So, that is from my mom, who also dropped off a gift bag yesterday filled with little goodies such as sunflower placemats and perfume and stuff, which I did not expect. And THEN, as if that wasn’t enough, today she had flowers delivered to me:

I’m so lucky. Beautiful flowers, and beautiful cats!

My friend Christine from the Pub is taking me for a pedicure on Thursday, BLESS HER SOUL!!! I haven’t had one in ages. She is taking me to this fancy salon she goes to. It’s a good thing I wear Crocs most of the time, because they don’t show my toes. Now I can wear open-toed sandals if the mood strikes me.

Tax season is over, and all tax returns I needed to get done were filed on time. I’ve still got lots of work to do that didn’t have that deadline, but I’m over the big hump. I took today off, because it is my birthday, and I just wanted a “me” day. I went to the mall and got a latte and a piece of their pineapple coconut cake (it was either that or buy an ENTIRE McCain chocolate cake from Wal-Mart) for my on-my-real-birthday cake. (I’m sure there will be more opportunities to eat birthday cake in the next week, but there is just something about THE ACTUAL DAY). I also paid my rent, which is the worst thing about having your birthday on the 1st of the month. I always think I should get this month free, but “they” don’t see it that way. I still haven’t heard about being subsidized, I hope they can get that in place before June 1st!

Speaking of money, AISH overpaid me by $227 this month. I actually called them and told them, because I am THAT honest. She called back after looking into it and said it was a computer glitch, and she has no idea why or how it happened, (in other words, “we never would have known if you hadn’t said anything, you IDIOT! Now I have to do extra paperwork!”) and they will deduct it off my next payment. Sigh. I hope I earned some karma points for that one.

Oh! The cutest thing happened today. On my way back from the mall, I saw this little girl, about 3 years old, walking with her father in my parking lot. I couldn’t take my eyes off her, she was soooo cute. Shortly after I got inside and parked my scooter, I opened the patio doors to see the little girl (and her dad) standing across the way from my patio, staring at Pita, who was in the window. I beckoned the little girl over, that it was okay, she’s a friendly kitty. As she came to the door, I started to open the screen just a little bit so she could pet Pita, but without letting Pita run outside. The little girl FLUNG the screen door all the way open and cooooed at Pita. I held Pita in place (she is now at the point where she wants to run out there… I need to watch it! The hallway is one thing… but outside and cars is something else all together!) The little girl pet her, and then planted a quick kiss on Pita’s head before she ran back to her dad. It was so cute I almost pissed myself.