Busy Monday

 Some mornings, I should say MOST mornings, it is a struggle to get up and get my day started.  My sleeping routine continues to change. Some days I need a nap; other days I get by without one. Some nights I can stay up past 10 and other nights, I'm stuggling to hit 8:30. Last night  I moved from my bed to the recliner at 4 a.m.  This used to be a regular routine and then it stopped. Now, it's back again.  I think one thing I'm going to invest in when I have more money to throw around is a single bed (I can use the room) and a really good mattress.  I think the mattress I have now is one of those "in a box" mattresses that I probably got at Walmart.  It's good enough but I did add a memory foam type pad to it and I sleep pretty good on that. For a long time, I'd wake up with a backache, blame the foam, take it off for a couple nights to see if it helped (it didn't) so then I'd throw it back on the bed again until I felt the need to take it off again.  Really a stupid routine but I got it in my head that sooner or later it was bound to help.

Another stupid routine I've been following is changing shoes two or three times a day. Just can't get comfortable in anything I own. I've also tried different shoe inserts and going without inserts.  My shoes (mostly tennis shoes) are perfectly fine and the foot doctor said so but another bad habit I have is not trusting most doctors.  I don't distrust their advice until I get home and rethink our conversations. Then I generally think they're all just blowing me off.  I don't recall when I first starting mistrusting doctors but it's been going on for some years. I suppose the fact I research online a lot might be contributing to it.  And then too, I've had some pretty poor doctors.

My neighbor asked me if I would mind taking this guy down on the first floor to Safeway this morning as he was upset that he didn't have any heart pills left.  I've been wary of this guy (although I say hello) because he's a Trumper.  Real skinny dude who wears a big cowboy hat and has two yippy dogs. He's from SD but they call him Tex; I guess because of his hat.  I threw my walker in the back of the car as I figured he might have to stand in line. Getting pills at Safeway can be a challenge.  He seemed happy to use it. My neighbor went in with him while I sat in the car to read and people watch. More on that in a bit.  My neighbor told me later that she was amazed at how the male Safeway workers bent over backwards to help the guy. Even running to get what he wanted in the cheese aisle.  She said "I never get service like that.  I told her it's probably a man thing.  She also told me that once he got waited on, the pharmacist took his bottle and showed him that there were still 40 pills in it.  He was confused but you see that a lot here.

The EMTs were here early this morning for a guy down the hall. Apparently he has fallen five times in the last few weeks. Has Parkinsons. This time he must have fallen during the night and laid on the floor until his caregiver came because he had dried blood on his head.  They didn't take him away, though. Said they didn't have any orders from his doctor on file to transport him.  He's a real big guy (tall) so his caregiver is unable to get him up if he falls.  You hear a lot of sad stories about the old folks in these retirement buildings who live alone because their kids live elsewhere.  Caregivers are hard to come by too. At least good caregivers. Sorry situation we have in this country for the elderly.

People watching at Safeway was interesting.  Lots of folks struggling to walk and somehow that comforted me because I struggle to walk when I have to hit the grocery store. I'm okay once I can hang on to the cart but man, getting there sometimes and getting back to my car can be tough. Not always. Sometimes my body is fine and dandy but I'm noticing more and more often now that walking is iffy.

I was kind of surprised at some of the old folks I saw who pushed their load of groceries in the cart over to the bus depot next door. Most looked very poor and walked with difficulty. Makes you stop and think about how lucky you are to have a car and still be able to manage under your own steam. While sitting in the car I started a new book. Pulled my camera out and took a picture of Claridge Court, where my sister lives.

I decided I needed to put all my knickknacks away to make room for the Christmas stuff I hope to set out after Thanksgiving.  Of course I have to do this when my back is killing me!  Still, I got them up there and now I can rest.

They don't look half bad up there out of the way so maybe I'll leave them be after the holidays. I have another box of smaller things set in the closet. It's just clutter but it's my clutter and I need it.

Two of the three items I ordered from the Women Within catalog needed alterations.  The pj bottoms were too long and too big. That was easy enough to fix but the black slacks were also too long and required I take my time hemming them up. Last time I ordered from WW, nothing fit 'cause they were too tight. I spent money sending them back and swore I'd never order clothes from a catalog again. Famous last words. This time I ordered the next size up and of course, they were too large.  I guess I'm just going to have to drop 50 pounds and wear normal size clothes.   I'll work on that. Ha!

I set up my little neon Christmas tree last night just to see how it looks. Ended up having to use a jar of unpopped popcorn to have something to hold it up. Works fine if you don't knock it over -- which I already did once.  My neighbor was here and told me to sweep it up and she'd pop the popcorn for the birds.  I popped them myself and then stunk up the apartment. Then I had to pull out the vacuum for all the kernels that the broom didn't capture.  Irritated me no end because by this time, my back was really sending me reminders that it wanted to sit and relax.

My puzzle is coming right along so I guess I'll play with that off and on today and forget about doing anymore sewing on the crumb quilt until tomorrow.  I had hung this quilt design little tablecloth in the window a couple hours ago because the sun was hitting the apartment wall across the courtyard and the glare was giving me a headache. Now, the sun is gone and the room has suddenly gotten very dark. I won't take down the tablecloth just yet though. I know mother nature and her tricks.