Monday, December 27, 2021

Decorating for Christmas is always great to get in the holiday spirit!

 Monday was an exhilarating day. Karen came in and fed the hungry hound, fed me, then got me dressed and up in my chair. The nurse came by to do another infusion, and like she always does, set it up, and when it was finished, Karen put me back together. Cruising over to the wharf, I met a guy jogging named José; he was so sweet and friendly… He didn't seem to know a lot of English. My original plan was to cruise down Westcliff Drive, but I'm happy I decided to go to the wharf first; there were hundreds and hundreds of pelicans on the Cowells side of the beach from the short to as far; as you could see… Pelicans are one of my very favorite animals, so needless to say, I spent most of the day taking pictures and videos. I kept seeing this little white round thing on the ground and kept thinking to myself, "that looks really familiar" when I cruised down towards the boardwalk, my phone was beeping, and it said that I left Dude back by the wharf… It dawned on me that that little white thing I kept saying was Dude's Apple air tag. Thank goodness I didn't really lose him, and thank goodness I recognized that little white plastic thing. I cruised back and found it and had to pick it up and put it in my lap. I can't wait to get home and read about why they were all there this day, I don't know if they hibernate, but they all looked really skinny. I made it over to the boardwalk, and they set up the bubble machine that puts fog inside the bubbles; I love that! That's about all the time we had left, so I stopped and took a couple more pictures of the pelicans on the way back home. I ran into my new friend José again, he was even more friendly and wanted to give me a hug, but I didn't think that was a good idea, so I told him I was late. He told me that he worked at the dream inn and if I ever wanted anything, he would give me half off; he was such a sweet and happy guy. On my way back through Depot Park, I noticed what I thought was a food truck, but as I got closer, I realized it was a Covid test vehicle. I cruised on home, and when I got to the back door, my phone died before I could unlock the door and come in; usually, when that happens, I can text my mom or my aunt to go and help me get in, but I remembered that all of them went over the hill for a doctors appointment. I knew Karen was home, and I knew that they had a camera right outside their door, so I went over and tried to get her attention; they have three steps going up into their place, so I knew I wouldn't be able to knock on the door or anything. Luckily she saw the movement in the camera and came over to let me in; once again, thank God for Karen… I can't even count how many times she's come to my rescue. I keep saying I'm going to hide a button to one of the doors outside somewhere where I could reach it if something like this happens; I'm going to get a little more serious about that now. Now that I'm home safe and sound, leaning back in my chair watching TV, I realize how awful I felt; I can't wait until I'm done with these infusions. Rachel came in and fed the hungry hound, put me to bed, and then fed me. I was out before she left.

































 Tuesday was a pretty good day. Cindy came in and fed the hungry hound dog, fed me, and then got me dressed and up in my chair. The nurse came in to give me my last infusion; I'm sure not going to miss that. She said she would come back around 2 PM to take it out. Cindy drove me over to Capitola for my appointment with Jennifer. After that, we cruised over to Costco to see if there were any gloves; there weren't. We went by Safeway to pick up my prescriptions and then cruised home to meet the nurse to get this PICC line taken out of my arm. She told me on the count of three to hold my breath, and I did as she yanked it out; I was surprised how fast she yanked it out but then scared at the look on both of their faces… There must've been a lot of blood because Cindy raced towards the bathroom, and the nurse scrambled to find some gauze. I pretty much held my breath all night, hoping that it wouldn't start bleeding again; she told me if it did to call her and if it was terrible, call 911, that did not help at all. If I would've known all this, I would've just stayed in bed, so I didn't have to move at all. Joy came by to take Dude for a bit of cruise. Rachel came in and fed the hungry little guy and then put me to bed; she fed me then washed a couple loads, vacuumed and dusted, cleaned up and wiped everything down, then went home. I spent the rest of the evening listening to music, editing, and watching the videos I took from yesterday of all the pelicans… I meditated a little bit before I fell asleep.

 Wednesday was a pretty good day. Susan came in to give me a massage; it's been a couple of weeks, and with this cold weather, that sure felt great. Karen came in and fed the hungry hound dog, fed me, then we did some personal care and a nice long hot bath… I'm in heaven! Melissa, the groomer, came to give Dude's biweekly spa day, and when he came back, he not only smelled delicious, he had a holiday bandanna on, and he loved it; he was so proud! Melissa is so adorable! It was getting pretty late in the afternoon, so I decided I might as well go back to bed and stay, it's really not worth all that work getting up to go outside for an hour or two and then come back and another couple hours to put me back to bed. I keep thinking I will catch up on my blog, but mostly I end up playing games on the computer. I took many pictures of her baby photos through my niece's account for photos, such an adorable and happy baby! There were many of them, and there were even some pictures of my other niece's baby, still in her belly. My sister-in-law from Georgia posted a couple of selfies, she doesn't post many photos on Facebook, and I don't know why because she's just so beautiful inside and out. There are rumors that she might be coming out here in January, and I hope it's true🤞. Cindy sent me some pictures of her office all decorated for Christmas; she is so creative and seems to find the cutest stuff! They have a contest in their office, and she gets my vote! Rachel came in and fed the hungry knucklehead and then took him on a nice little cruise; when she came back, she said there were two or three people that asked her, "is that Dude" he's pretty famous around here… Sometimes people turn around and say hi to him that I don't even know. I think he sneaks out at night and parties with the locals. She brought them back and got me something to eat, then cleaned up and wiped everything down before she went home. My favorite part of the day, I'm sure I said this a million times, is when I'm back in my nice warm bed, and my caregivers are gone, so I have the rest of the evening to myself to do whatever I want. Mostly if I want to blog, write an email, send a text or check a message, I always have to wait until it's tranquil or the dictation doesn't pick up my voice. I watched elf again and then fell asleep.















































 Thursday was a perfect day. Karen came in and fed the little knucklehead, fed me, and got me dressed up in my chair. Another whole day to cruise around, and I'm not mad about that at all! I always think I'm going to head out in a different direction, but I always end up in the same place, at the beginning of the wharf. There is always something going on there, and if there isn't, I can always go cruise around Westcliff, the boardwalk, through the lagoon, or downtown. Luckily I went to the wharf because there was another frenzy going on, I spent most of the day around the wharf retaking pictures, and then I cruised down to the boardwalk for a while to check out the decorations… They really go all out more every year, and I love it! I feel like life is getting back to normal, everybody is so happy, and everything looks so festive! It's just so beautiful here. I want to go somewhere new every day, but I guess you could say going to the war for the boardwalk is always like going somebody new because you never know what's going to be going on. I'm starting to get more and more in a festive mood; I was almost tempted to not take out the decorations and decorate my house because I just don't feel very cheerful, but I'm glad I did it! We cruised back home, and I watched TV for a while until Rachel came in; she fed Mr. knucklehead and then put me to bed… I got one of those massage guns, so she usually massages my neck, shoulders, and back before she puts me in bed. After she puts me in bed, she uses the massage done on my legs before she does a range of motion; I'm so glad that somebody finally uses this stuff. Within the next couple of weeks, or maybe after the new year, I want to start getting on my exercise cycle; I hear about so many people in chairs passing away because of bedsores and bladder infections. I haven't taken care of my body for a very long time, and now that I'm getting older, I can see it; I seem to be aging so fast. I will try to do whatever I can to keep my mind and body healthy. I watched a couple of TiVoed programs and then a movie before falling asleep.






























Friday was another great day. Karen came in and fed the hungry hound dog, fed me, and got me dressed in up in my chair… Fridays are another favorite of mine because I just get dressed and get up and out of the house, another long day of just cruising around and taking pictures of this gorgeous town that I live in! We took off for a cruise through Depot Park to Cowells Beach… If we get there early enough, you can still see the clean lines from the early morning  Sandboni machine before people walk across it; it just looks so clean and fresh! We cruised over to the boardwalk and took some more pictures; I just love Christmas time! Even with all this horrible stuff happening in the world, Christmas just makes you feel festive! Once again, I spent most of the day taking pictures at the boardwalk, and before I knew it was time to go home, I just couldn't stop taking pictures, and I want to remember this time forever. We cruised back home and kicked back to watch TV for a while before Rachel came in; it seems like I'm always trying to steal some time by myself to just kick back and relax and watch TV… I don't know what I would do without my caregivers, but it sure is nice to have time by myself when I can get it. Rachel came in and fed Dude, put me to bed, then fit me. She washed some clothes, did some light housekeeping, and then home. The rest of the evening, I just relaxed with my cannabis gummies and my TiVoed movies; I just couldn't stop watching the movie Elf. Eventually, I fell asleep.






































 Saturday was another great day. Cindy fed Dude, fed me, then got me dressed, then up in my chair. Dude and I took off for a nice long cruise through Depot Park, down to the end of the wharf and back, and then down to the end of the boardwalk and back. Everybody looked so happy, and the decorations looked so awesome! When I got back, Cindy had decorated the living room for Christmas; she is so creative and always does such a fantastic job! I kicked back and watched a movie before Rachel came in; she felt the pup, put me to bed, got me something to eat, washed some clothes, cleaned up and wiped everything down, and then went home. I found the pictures that Cindy sent me; I love how she took pictures of everything she had done, mainly because I forgot to look into the living room and look… It's so beautiful! It's funny how everybody complains about my decorating, but then there was inviting people over to look and see how beautifully my house is decorated?? I worked on my blog for a while; one of these days, I'm going to get caught up… I get all caught up, and then somehow, I lose another week. Hopefully, it's keeping my memory sharp, trying to remember everything; I've gotten to the point now where if something really cool happens or something I don't have a picture of, try to come home and write it down on my calendar so I can remember when I catch up to that date. I watched some TV and then I fell asleep.



































Sunday was the usual Sunday. Cindy came in and fed the hungry hound, fed me, and then did some more decorating in my room… Now, this is where I get excited about Christmas! I turned on some Christmas music, and we sang along while she decorated. I can't wait to see how everything looks when she's done, last year, one of the girls had the idea of putting upstream lights along the back of the wall in my room and hanging up the Christmas cards that I got, and it looks so awesome! The best part about it, the part I didn't realize until after she left and until I took a bath, was that she decorated the shelf at the bottom of the bathtub, and it was just amazing! Karen came in and fed the hungry pooch, and then I had a little snack before we started personal care and onto a nice long hot bath. We finished up, and she put me back to bed and got me something to eat and a little something to relax me before she went home. I looked at all the pictures and then watched a couple of movies before I went to sleep.
















































 I found some really awesome pictures of this town I adore so much and decided to post them…