I hate to say this but I suspect my cat is tired of looking at my face. Since I’ve been sequestered at home, the loving gazes she used to welcome me with after a long day in the trenches have recently been replaced by toothy yawns. Aside from needing a definite attitude adjustment, the treat situation has gotten out of hand as well. Used to be PP (pre-pandemic) treats were given out once a day. The cat, a true creature of habit, showed up around 3:00 each afternoon on the little lemon carpet for her chicken snacks. Lately she seems to be appearing on the hour and has added meowing to her cutest cat ever routine she normally performs when expecting to be served. I mentioned to her yesterday her girlish figure was beginning get a bit blurry around the edges but as usual she tuned in with only one eye open.
I went to the doctor Friday for a follow-up on an oxygen test I had several months ago. This was precipitated by the fact my asthma was not well managed and they wanted to monitor how I was oxygenating while asleep. To be honest, sleep is something that toys with me of late. Some nights I’ll manage to pack in a good 8-9 hours but more often than not I am enjoying my first cup of coffee around 3 a.m. and have put in half a days work by the time the sun comes up. Most annoying. I’m a little hesitant about taking a sleep aid. Being a rather small being, medication often overtakes me delivering a strong impact to my body. Since the cat has never mastered calling 9-1-1, I don’t like to introduce something new to my routine while here on my own.
When Rick was alive he slept with a C-Pap. Often it was like sleeping next to an extra from Star Wars but if it had helped his heart and kept him breathing properly, I wouldn’t have cared if he had a diving helmet on when I kissed him goodnight. Seriously hope this isn’t in my future as well, but if that’s the worst thing I have to look forward to I’ll say “thank you” ahead of time. The tech asked me if I snored. Again, I deferred to the cat but she’s not talking. I suggested I could stay awake and see if I hear any sounds emanating from my nostrils. She didn’t seem to find that as amusing as I did. Ah well, everyone’s a critic.
Yesterday was Saturday so visited my mother. The visits these days sometimes leave me feeling a bit sad. Our communication has become more limited, as I have mentioned, due to the dementia exacting a firmer grip on her thought processes and the window we must keep between us due to Covid-19. Always though when I arrive she says, “there’s my daughter”, and before I leave, “I love you, dear”. These two statements are more than enough for me. Most of friends call her Mom because I am the only member of my peer group who still has someone to send a Mother’s Day card to. For this I am immensely blessed and happy to share the wealth with those closest to me.
It says August on the calendar today. Where did the summer go? Not that I’m going to be sad when the air conditioner goes off and the windows are opened to allow in some natural ventilation. Having allergies, most of the hot months my windows remain closed and I must defer to my A/C unit for cooling. Being a fall person at heart, I won’t mourn the hot weather moving on to allow room for crisp autumn days to reveal themselves. Born in November, I am a fall baby and fall is without fail my favorite season of the year. What a show off fall is with all it’s glorious colors and lovely sunsets. Already I am dusting off my pumpkins and primping my ghosts and goblins in anticipation of the golden months (for me at least) to make their arrival.
I sold my old dining room table yesterday as well. That turned out to be somewhat of a project. I listed it on Craigslist as well as a local marketplace on Facebook. Wasn’t prepared for the stampede of people who showed up. I try, when I sell something, to be as fair as possible. Whoever shows up first is the first person to see the item, and if they make a reasonable offer, the first offer considered. Today, however was kind of weird. The first person wanted pictures of the undercarriage of the table. Fine, done and done. Then she said she was shopping for a friend and would have to send her friend the pics. Okie. Then people started coming in on both sites asking for additional measurements, color of wood, age of set. I began to have to remember in what order people had come in after two or three exchanges of information. Whoa. This is why I would never have made a good cocktail waitress. The first time a customer said “another round” I would have thrown in my apron and gone home.
To add to the confusion people can be a bit flakey when dealing with you “unseen”. They say they are coming and don’t show up or contact you for a lot of additional information which you provide and they have moved on to something else and never reach out to you again. I’ve had enough experience selling on line (I sold on EBAY for several years) to have seen about everything. Then you get the scammers. Two came in this time. Usually you can identify them quickly because their command of the English language leaves something to be desired and always they are out of town but will send a check. Delete. Once my son-in-law was trying to rent a house on Craigslist. The ad read lovely house overlooking a lake (which it was) available for rent $1800/month and $2000 deposit. He drove by the house and loved it so contacted the supposed owner via email. The “owner” said he was living in Nigeria but would mail the key once he received the deposit. Hello? Anybody out there? Rick and I decided to drive by and see this place after dinner We found lights on and people could be seen sitting around a dinner table inside. Deciding to investigate we knocked on the door, apologized for interrupting their meal, and explained the situation. Turned out they owned the house and we were the fifth people to ask about renting it. Wonder how many deposits they got before pulling the ad? It is sad there are humans who pray on other humans but that seems always to be the case. Thankfully like everything in nature there are kind, generous, thoughtful people to keep the scale balanced.
Anyhow, the old table is gone and a large empty space is glaring at me in my dining room. Surprisingly, tears rolled down my cheeks as I took in the vacant space. Memories go with that table. Family dinners were held there and it holds the laughter enjoyed over holidays or when family and friends coming for dinner. Change isn’t always easy, but I think sometimes you have to fling open the doors and let the moths out of the closets to keep things from getting stagnant. Life, as I know very well, never stays the same forever. Always we are in a state of flux. I try to roll with the waves and not rail against them. The new table arrives next week. I will welcome it and make new memories for it to store for me.
While in the mood to rearrange, probably the pandemic blues, I also got rid of a huge dresser in my second bedroom which housed a lot of photos, and miscellaneous items like office supplies, linens, party supplies and some clothes. I ordered two wall units with doors to replace the needed storage area. The units were to arrive last night. I noticed there hadn’t been any forward progress on tracking so I called the number on the website and they contacted their supplier. Shortly I got an email from the supplier saying my items were on the truck but would be arriving late last night. Great. Got up this morning and there was nothing on my front porch other than two chairs and my neighbor’s cat. Fine. Once again I called the number on the website and the lady asked me what I wanted to do. I replied, “I want the truck to drive up and deliver my wall units but that doesn’t seem to be happening.” She emailed the supplier once again and this time I got no response which I’m assuming is because it is the weekend. I don’t know. Perhaps I have bad customer service karma. Maybe in another life I was rude to shop keepers, put rotten peaches in the pies I sold at the marketplace, or stole pickles from the jar at the corner deli. Very frustrating. Sooooo, I have stuff all over my floor in the spare room and no where to put it. I think I need a bag of Double Stuff Oreos. No, I know I need a bag of Double Stuff Oreos. Be back in an hour, maybe thirty minutes depending on how much milk is in the fridge. Ach.
Ahhhhh, much better. Chocolate really is the cure for almost everything. It is blessedly cooler out today so that will be a lovely break from the persistent heat of the last few weeks. Perhaps I can even get outside for a walk and look at something besides the inside which is my view of the day lately. This is a birthday month for both my son and several friends so I do have to spend some time on the computer finding an appropriate gift. I will hope, unlike my storage units, they will arrive on time or at the very least, arrive. I work on actually spending time researching gifts for my loved ones. The money tree in my back yard isn’t producing as well as it did when I was working full time so when I pick a few leaves I want to make sure it is well spent.
I hope your Sunday finds you well and engaged in something that brings you joy. Until later. Signing off to finish my Oreos.
I currently sleep with a CPAP machine. I have multiple hypopnœas at night and CPAP really helps.