It's time to start decorating for Christmas!

 Monday was a long day. Karen came in and fed Dude and then got me something to eat. She pulled me out to roll me on my side for a while, and I fell asleep. And she didn't want to wake me, so she decorated my room and did a couple of other things. I woke up and felt so great… I felt like I slept for a whole week. She sent me back up to the computer, and we noticed Penny wandering around outside, and we let her in. She curled up on Robby's bed and just wanted to be left alone. She's losing a lot of weight and hasn't looked good for a while, so I decided to call Westside Animal Hospital, and they said to bring her in, so Karen cruised down there with her. About an hour later, Dr. Loganthetti called me and said that Penny is not doing well at all, she took some blood work done and called me back, but we decided that it's time to let her go… It just broke my heart, but I'm relieved that she will no longer be suffering. After that, it was tough to concentrate on anything, so I just kind of floated through the night. Rosa and Adriana came in and brought me some flowers… they are always so sweet and thoughtful! Rosa fed Dude and then fed me, and I just kind of blindly watched TV until I fell asleep. I did edit the Christmas decorating pictures.

Tuesday was a long day. Cindy came in and fed the hungry pupster and then fed me, got me dressed, and up in my chair. She took us over to Costco, and I got a couple of poinsettias along with some caretaking supplies that I'm getting low. They actually had gloves today… We went there for Christmas lights, but they were all out of them. After Costco, we went over to Home Depot to see if they have any lights, and they didn't, so I bought a couple more poinsettias and some disinfecting wipes because they didn't have anymore those that Costco. It turned out to be a wonderful day, the sun was out, and everybody was trying to be nice. Cindy took us over to Sutter Hospital for what I thought was an appointment with a urologist, but she told me that Dr. Owens recommended her because the salt level and body were shallow. I was a little annoyed because I was hoping to get my urine/bladder problems under control. She said while we're there to just leave a urine sample so they can test my salt level again. We came back home and cleaned out the freezers because I ordered some artichoke bread and three or four different kinds of soup. On Saturday we were going to have soup and watch a Christmas movie. I threw out a lot of stuff and then realized most of the soups were flat and didn't take up much room. Oh well, I'm sure my freezer needed to be cleaned out anyway. Right now, others making me a bunch of soup, and I'm really enjoying it, Adriana maybe some salads, some going to try to eat like for a while. Adriana came by, and we visited for a while, and then Rosa put me to bed after she fed Dude. I watched Dr. Phil for a while and tried to keep still because, for some reason, the right side of my body feels really strained and sore, it's tough to lay here and not do anything, but I'm trying my hardest. Luckily Susan will be here in the morning, and hopefully, she can help me out with this.

Wednesday was a pretty good day. Susan came in to give me a nice long two-hour massage, my neck still hurts, and it hurts so bad that my whole right arm and most of my left arm are numb. I'm trying so hard at night to not use my hand on the mouse, but either I forget, or I'm so bored I can't stand it. I'm learning how to make myself, but it's not easy. Karen came in and got me something to eat, and then we started personal-care, and of course, we had to stop a couple of times so Karen can use the massager on my neck. I have never had pain like this in my life, and I don't like it. I can't wait until everything gets back to normal, whatever normal is. Omar texted me this really adorable Christmas seal, so I added it to my photos. My uncle Ronnie sent me a picture of his backyard, he decorated it for the kids, and of course, it looks awesome! My uncle is the decorator King! He has the most elaborate Halloween decorations, I'm sure he has all of the best holiday decorations, and most of them he made. He doesn't do Halloween anymore, and I wish I had a video of what it looked like when he did it. I wish he didn't live so far away and I could borrow his decorations. My aunt came over and said that a friend of Rich's will come over and take one of those old-fashioned farm couple pictures and another really nice picture, the old-fashioned picture is for Rich for Christmas… The guy did an excellent job taking the pictures. My friend Trish texted me, and we were talking about shall treat at home again. And she sent me a picture of her dog Kona, and it looks like Kona is practicing sheltering at home and doing a great job. By the time we got finished with personal care, I was so sore and exhausted. As soon as I hit that nice hot water in the tub, my body always instantly feels so much better. Adriana came in to show me the pictures of the Christmas lights that my cousin Rich put up on the triplex. It's so nice to have more than a couple of houses on this block putting up decorations… Usually, I'm the only one. He did a really nice job, and I could tell that it already got everybody in more of a festive mood. Rosa came in and fed Dude and then fed me. She buzzed around and cleaned and sanitized before she went home. I watched TV for a while and trying to limit my computer time to one hour on in one hour off but usually when I doing stuff online, I lose track of time. If I was smart, I would have Alexa remind me, but I always forget. Eventually, I fell asleep.

 Thursday was a perfect day. Karen came in and fed the hungry pooch and then fed me and got me dressed up in my chair. It's Thursday, so I have pretty much all day, and the weather looks gorgeous! On the way out, I took some more pictures of my yard. Pretty soon, Christmas will be over, and then Mallard will look bare again… It's kind of sad at first, but it's nice to have everything look nice and clean. I think my New Year's resolution is going to be to start uncluttering and purging my house. Every time we do it, we keep saying going to keep everything cleaned and organized, but it doesn't happen… I think it's just too hard with so many people in and out of this household. We cruised through Depot Park and over to Cowles Beach to take some pictures. We cruise down the wharf to the end and back, taking more pictures… One of these days, I'm going to figure out how to get my GoPro camera to stop tilting sideways when I cruise in my chair. My chair bumps around so much by the time I get even over to the wharf, my camera is sideways, and by this time, I straighten out the picture when I cropping there's not much of the picture left. We cruised over to the boardwalk and cruised as far down as we could and back. We decided to cruise down to the end of the wharf again and then back home because it's starting to get really cold. I came back and just tilted back in my chair for a while and watch TV and listen to music. Adriana came in, and we cruised over to Safeway to do some grocery shopping and pick up my prescriptions. If it wasn't for my prescriptions, I would really rather go to a new leaf, staff of life, or shoppers corner, but it seems silly to go to more than one store since all I'm getting is stuff for salads and fruit… Thankfully I have Heather to cook the rest of my meals. We cruised back, and she fed Dude, put me to bed, and then fed me. I ended up watching TV and trying not to move my right arm. Ever since the terrible infection on December 3rd, my right arm just can't take a lot of movement anymore… I hope it's just a temporary thing. Since I'm driving my chair all day and using my trackball mouse all night, my neck is sore all the time. I hope this is just a temporary thing. It's tough to just lay here and not move my arm, probably because of my ADHD and OCD. I just know many pictures that I took, but I want to look at and crop/edit… It drives me crazy.  I looked at my calendar, and today was supposed to be the ribbon-cutting ceremony for part of the all trails trail, and I completely forgot. I turned everything off at 11 PM and fell asleep.

 Friday was another miserable day. Susan came in to give me a two-hour massage to try to get these kinks out of my back, neck, and shoulders. Sometimes it hurts so bad, and there's nothing I can do about it, I'm basically living on gabapentin, and I don't like that either, but it's the only thing that works. Susan brought her dog, Ari, into an adorable little cattle dog, so she took them out to play with Dude for a while, Dude has so much energy, and he just loves running around the yard playing with other dogs. Karen went out to take some pictures, and it looks like they had a blast! She came in and got me something to eat, but I just not hungry. I ate as much as I could. We did some personal care and, of course, had to stop a couple times so she could hit my neck with the massager so we can go a little bit longer. We finally finished with personal care, and now it's time for a nice long relaxing bath. As soon as I get that water, all my aches and pains go away but only while I'm in the bath. I really missed myself up this time. After the bath, I just went back to bed to lay there and try to not move my arm. My cousin Debbie sent me a picture of her brother/my cousin Mike, and he is hot, holding Carmen when she was little. She is so gorgeous I just can't stand it! She looks and acts just like a little princess, and she is so sweet! Westside Animal Hospital sent me this adorable card that everybody signed for sweet Penny. Sadly, we will never see her around here anymore. They gave us this little doily inside the card that you plant in the yard, and it will grow flowers, what a sweet idea! I watch TV for a while. I tried not to move my arm. It's tough! Adriana came in and fed the hungry fur baby and then fed me. It's weird because the only thing that I can really eat that tastes good right now is these packaged chow mein noodles, and they have so much salt… Luckily the salt in my body is, deficient and the doctor is concerned.  She washed some clothes and cleaned up and then went home. That's my favorite time of the evening because I have my room all to myself, and nobody's running in and out here, don't get me wrong… I'm so thankful for my caregivers and having my mom and my aunt and uncle close, but I just love being by myself, and the time goes by way too fast. Eventually, my neck/shoulder/back is a little relieved, and I fell asleep. Thank goodness for cannabis chocolate.

 Saturday was a perfect day! Cindy came in, fed the hungry fur baby, and then fit me, got me dressed, and up in my chair. She cleaned up inside and set up our garage for our soup/bread party. We got chicken tortilla soup, Pazole, Chile, and ribs from Goldbelly… I LOVE their stuff! We also got four loaves of bread from a little country store in Pescadero; they have really killer bread… I made to get all of their artichoke, but I got various kinds, and it was good, but it wasn't my favorite artichoke bread. Dude and I took off for a cruise over to the wharf just because I love looking at the ocean every day. We cruised down to the end and back and then cruised home. Omar came in and set up my new bubble/fog machine. This thing is incredible! We played with it for a bit and then everybody came to have soup and bread… It was really nice! I like to have some kind get together with the people who help me out here to get to know them a little better when they're not on the job. Everybody laughed, and Adriana put me to bed after she fed Dude. I watch TV and edited pictures until it was time to shut everything down and then meditate and then listen to an audiobook or a podcast.

Sunday was a pretty good day. Cindy came in and fed Dude, fed me, and since I decided to stay in bed, she wrapped many Christmas packages for me. We listen to Christmas music, and it was really nice and peaceful! I love hanging around festive people! After Cindy left, I watched TV and listened to music until Karen came in to feed the dog and do some personal care. Everything went pretty smoothly and fast. I love that! The bath was prolonged and relaxing. I also like that! I listen to some music for a while and then turned everything off and meditated, and I was out.