Thanksgiving week is finally here!

 Monday was a perfect day. Karen came in and fed. The Dude fed me, then got me dressed and up in my chair. It was such a beautiful day, and there's not going to be too many more of those, so I want to get up and take advantage of it. Dude and I took off for a nice long cruise through Depot Park, down to the end of the boardwalk and back… The Christmas decorations are back and just immediately put me in a good mood. Cruising around on Mondays is excellent because there's not a lot of people about; I just love running into local people and catching up with them. I wish I had a way that I could take a picture of Dude around the Christmas decorations, but the lease is too short; tomorrow Cindy will be around, and maybe if we have enough time, we can stop at the boardwalk and take a couple of really cool Christmas pictures. We cruised over to the wharf; sometimes, one is a little warm outside. I like to go over to the boardwalk first because I know if it's to provide after that, I can cruise up and down the wharf or even cruise down Westcliff, and it will be more relaxed. They still had the Thanksgiving decorations up; the Thanksgiving decorations consisted of a blowup turkey over the door of the wharf headquarters… It looks adorable! They are trying really hard to make the wharf look more festive, but there's a lot of food that they have to jump through to do it; it sure looks incredible and is a lot more fun with the decorations, adorable pictures, and contests, and games. It was such a gorgeous day.

I'm just so thrilled to be out and about again and not have to worry about my cheer dying. We cruised back home, and I tilted back and relaxed, watching TV until Rachel came in.  Rachel came in and fed the hungry pooch. Susan still isn't feeling her best, so thankfully, Rachel has been giving me a message before she puts me to bed, she leans the top part of me over the wedge pillow, and it feels so good. She put me to bed and then used the massage gun on my legs, which has really been calming down my spasms. She sent me up to the computer and then got me something to eat. For some reason, the first thing I usually do when I get into bed is play a couple of games of candy crush, I think it whines me down, but I don't know why I can't stop playing this game. I feel like I don't really want to get into anything until after my evening caregiver leaves; that's when I really feel like I can relax and be alone. I am so thankful for my caregivers, but it's so lovely to have some time to wind down after a nice long day; I love living here so much, and I feel like I'm getting close to having a perfect life. She climbed up, wiped everything down then went home for the evening. I found some more really awesome pictures on the Internet, so I cropped pictures and tried to catch up on my blog; I am getting closer; I am only about a week behind… How did I ever stay ahead of it in the past? I think when my arm started hurting, it was just too hard to keep up; I'm hoping that if I rest my arms enough, they will quit breaking. Otherwise, it'll probably be back to outpatient rehab. I watched TV for a while, listened to music, and edited pictures until I could feel myself falling asleep.

 Tuesday was a pretty good day. Cindy came in and fed the hungry pooch, provided me, then got me dressed and up in my chair. Our first stop was a companion bakery to pick up my free lemon buttermilk pie; ever since I moved in here 13 years ago, the lady that sold me this house sends me a card with a free pie from the companion bakery, she is such a sweet lady… I ran into her all over town, and she still remembers me. Why first pulled into the driveway, I couldn't believe the line, luckily there was another door with no line, and that was the door to pick up the pies you had already ordered. We drove out to the farm in Apos to get a fruit tart for my mom; they are so delicious! As we were parking, the only parking place with ramp access was in a place where we had to end up backing in so the ramp could come out; apparently, this lady was annoyed with us, and she was just really freaking out.

Giving us dirty looks, rolling her eyes, and all because she was blocking the busy street and everybody was talking at her, so she was pointing at us. What is wrong with people? It seems like everybody is in more of a hurry and more pitstop since the pandemic; I can understand why but just settle down and don't be in such a hurry… You're not going to change anything by yelling at everyone, and it's not nice to make everybody share your bad mood? We brought everything back home just in time for the CCI puppy play date, it was an excellent turnout, and everybody stayed a lot longer than usual… It was adorable! Just as everyone left, Joy came in to take Dude for a cruise. Cindy cleaned up and went home, and I went in the house and watched TV until Rachel came in; she started to put me to bed, and then Joy came back with Dude, and of course, everything has to stop so Dude can get fed. She continued to put me to bed and got me something to eat, we decided to do a facemask, and it was so relaxing I fell asleep. The other day Karen suggested that I look into a massage table headrest because I like to lay in my hospital bed with my head above the back; I don't know why I panic when I'm down lower… I feel like I can't move my arms. I'm going to ask my uncle to come over and put it on my bed for me, he can do anything! Somebody sent me a picture of one of the airline's attempts to make their playing wheelchair accessible, so you don't have to transfer into that little puny aisle wheelchair, well bless their heart, but the space they provided looked even too small for the aisle wheelchair. My little brother Dave sent me pictures of what he ordered for my new computer; let's hope I don't screw this one up before it's time. More baby pictures!! How could you possibly fall so in love with someone you haven't even met? Every photo I see of her loves looking at someone while looking back at her; she will have the best life! After Rachel cleaned up and went home, I just watched TV until I fell asleep.

 Wednesday

Wednesday was a pretty good day until it wasn't.  Susan came in and gave me a relaxing hour massage; she still recovering from her vehicle accident, so she wanted to try coming back slowly… I hope it works out for her because I really miss seeing her, and I miss not having my neck, around, and shoulders sore. Karen came in and fed the hungry hound dog, provided me, then got me dressed up in my chair. Yesterday Dr. Owens called and said she's apprehensive about a bacteria my UTIs growing; apparently, she talked to my urologist and some infection resistant to oral antibiotics, so they want me to go to urgent care to get a PICC line for antibiotics. Every time I get a bad UTI, this happens, they send me up to urgent care, and urgent care says they can't do anything for me and I need to go to the emergency at Dominican. On my way back home, I decided to cut through the lagoon, and as we were heading towards the boardwalk, I saw a lady pushing a stroller. She kept turning around quickly and looking at me, my first thought was maybe it was somebody without a home, and that's where she was storing all of her stuff?

Then I noticed she started looking back more frequently, and she actually had a terrified look on her face; she had a mask on, and she kept holding her hand out like she wanted me to stop, and I could see that she was saying, something… I don't know what this woman's problem is. I saw her headed towards the boardwalk part of the lagoon, so I went out towards the street; she kept watching me and then turned around when she saw I went out to the road and went down the way I just came back, so I cruised through the boardwalk part of the lagoon and went home. I thought about it later, and it dawned on me that maybe she thought Dude wasn't on a leash and was trying to protect her baby, she immediately went from weirdo and the lagoon to caring mother, and I felt terrible. I called my doctor back, and she was on vacation; before she went on vacation, she and my urologist decided and thankfully set up a referral to go to Dominican Hospital and have the PICC line inserted. I miss getting out and cruising around and really enjoying it; anymore, I just feel a headache, dizzy and sore… All I want to do is go home where it's warm and lean back and watch TV but unfortunately, this poor little knucklehead that puts up with me needs to get out and get some exercise. We returned home and rested for a bit before Rachel came in; she fed the hungry hound dog, put me to bed, and then fed me…  I got a card in the mail from a lady I worked with 26 years before my injury; we got back in touch on Facebook and started talking. Although I never really knew her very well when I worked with her, we got to be pretty good friends on Facebook, and I really like her; she is so funny, sweet, and caring. She's living in San Jose now and is having problems with her bunny, so she had a bunch of tickets for the beach trying that she knew she wasn't going to be able to use, so she sent them to me! I love the train so much, and now I can go on it whenever I want for a while.

I was exhausted! I fell right to sleep but woke up a couple hours later, and Rachel was gone. My mom sent me a couple of pictures of the lemon buttermilk pie and the fruit tart we got for Thanksgiving; they look delicious! My aunt brought over an image of many younger kids in the neighborhood when her kids were small; that's where all the kids used to love to hang out. The reason she brought it over was that one of my caregivers, baby daddy, used to hang out there, and he was in the picture; I picked him out right away because he looks just like his son. I got to know him through Rosa, Adriana, and Cindy and then come to find out he used to hang out with my cousin when he was younger. It really is a small world? He grew up to be a fantastic guy; he still takes excellent care of Adriana, especially his son Nico… During this pandemic, whenever one of them came in, I couldn't really tell them apart because they not only looked the same, but they had the same voice and mannerisms. I watched TV for a little bit more extended until I fell asleep again.

 Thursday was a perfect day; it was Thanksgiving! Karen came in and fed the hungry turkey, fed me, got me dressed, and up in my chair. While I took Dude out for a bit of cruise, she set up tables and chairs and decorated my room for Thanksgiving, she is so creative, and it's always such a pleasant surprise when I come back, and everything looks fantastic! I laid back for a little while until my cousin Rich came over with his dogs, and we hung out in the back for a long time while the puppies played; it was charming to catch up with him. I always remember how close we were when we were younger, all of us cousins hung out together, and we had such a great time… It's sad when everybody starts going there in different directions and just don't keep in touch like we used to, although it seems like now that we're older, more spread out settled in our lives were starting to get together a lot more, and it's like we never stopped hanging out. I knew that my cousin Rich was in a Huey Lewis video filmed here in Santa Cruz, but he told me that he was also in a movie that Clint Eastwood filmed in Santa Cruz; I'm going to have to look that went up to now. Thank goodness we only had eight people because that's all that we can fit around the big roundtable; it was such a nice dinner. My uncle and aunt made turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, green bean salad, cauliflower with mayonnaise onions, and cheese… It sounds really gross, but it's delicious. We also had a fruit tart, lemon buttermilk pie, and pumpkin pie. As we started eating, Rachel came in, so she helped me eat. Unfortunately, right after dinner, everybody got up and started cleaning up; that's the problem with eating in my room that I really need to start going to bed when my caregiver gets here. She fed the hungry little knucklehead, put me to bed, put all the decorations away, cleaned up and wiped everything down, and then went home. I just relaxed and watched TV until I fell asleep.

 Friday was a nice relaxing day. Susan came in and gave me an hour massage, I'm so sore these days, and it felt so good. Karen came in and fed the hungry hound dog, provided me, then we moved on to personal care and, of course, a nice long hot relaxing bath. I thought that we were going to get off lucky, but it ended up that we had to start all over again with personal care; by the time we were done, I realized I was not going to be able to get up. My phone kept ringing, and it said it was Rachel since I didn't answer; she tried Karen; it seemed really urgent, so Karen ended up talking to her. She said she was in Oakland trying to cash a check and wanted my bank information, even if I was dumb enough to fall for that Karen is not. I got to take another shower, and by this time, there was way too late to get up, which turned out really well because I remembered after I had given Rachel the evening off, I had to write everything down anymore, and I still forget. It was charming to get back into bed and have the whole night to myself with nobody running through the room; I really appreciate all of my caregivers, but I'm so happy when they're through, and they leave, and I got a whole night to myself with my snoring puppy. I finally got to catch up on my blog, and I'm so excited; let's see how long this lasts. I listened to some music for a while and then watched TV until I fell asleep.

 Saturday was a lovely day. Cindy came in and fed the hungry hound dog, fed me, then got me dressed up in my chair. It's been a while since I've really been up and felt good, and it's a beautiful day; usually, I don't like to cruise around the boardwalk and the wharf on the weekends, but it's so beautiful I just have to. One good thing about getting closer to coming out of this pandemic is everybody's so happy to be out and in such a good mood; it's true what they say if you run into a bunch of people who are happy and in a good mood, it really makes you happy. If you run into a bunch of grumpy people who are mad at the world, it ruins your day… I'm trying to learn how to get myself out of a bad mood when grumpy people upset my day. I cruised over to Cowell's beach, and it was so gorgeous! I took many pictures and then decided I would go over to the boardwalk first; if it does end up getting too warm, I like your cruise to the boardwalk first, and then I can go down to the wharf or Westcliff Drive where there's a nice breeze. As I started cruising to the boardwalk, I noticed many canopies and people were selling crafts and stuff for Christmas, I think it's really cool, but there's barely enough room to cruise down to the boardwalk as it is. It was really cool being able to roll down and look at all the stuff, but I still don't have up enough courage, just somebody to help me something; it's funny because sometimes I do and I will cruise right up and buy something, and other times I just sit there and try to push myself, and nothing happened... Today nothing happened. I just love the boardwalk when it's all decorated; they even had a Santa, but I'm always scared to ask if they will take pictures of my puppy is off; they say no, I know that will also ruin my day. It was getting a little too crowded into warm, so we got out of the boardwalk and cruised over to the wharf, we cruised down to the end and back, and although it was so beautiful I wanted to stay it was getting hot, so we needed to cruise back home. I tilted back and watched TV until Rachel came in; she fed the hungry mongrel, put me to bed then provided me. I was exhausted, so I fell asleep pretty early.

 Sunday was a typical Sunday. Cindy came in and fed the hungry knucklehead, fed me, then went out and straightened up the garage. It's always nice on Sunday to just go back to bed and have the whole rest of the evening to myself. I found a channel that plays a lot of excellent movies, so I'm going to try to play candy crush less and watch a film every day, I watched part of a couple of them, and they're not really movies that I would've chosen they look outstanding. When I keep seeing is with Billy Crystal and Tiffany Hadish, Billy Crystal's character is a brilliant comedy writer who lost his wife and is estranged from his kids and then gets dementia, I haven't seen it all the way through, but it looks like he befriends Tiffany Hadish's character… It's just an adorable story. I was supposed to have a refrigerator delivered today. Still, after they got here, they said they couldn't give it because the ice feature was plugged in, even though I didn't know I had one, and the connection was frozen, so they couldn't install it because they were afraid were going to break it. Cindy made a space for it out in the garage, and it sounds like I'll have to get a plumber out to unfreeze the connection, and then they will come back and install it; I think I'm just going to keep the old one out in the garage. Karen came in at noon, And we did some personal care, a nice long hot bath, and then me before she went home. One of the girls I met in a previous wheelchair support group texted me and told me that a friend of hers has a boat and gives people with different abilities a free ride; how sweet is that? When she said the guy's name, I thought that it sounded familiar so I looked it up, and it's a guy that I see all over town, we have a lot of friends in common, and I know who he is and say hi to him all the time, but I don't know a lot about him. He looks pretty nice and always says hello; he has an adorable little friendly dog, so he must be okay. My brother sent me the most attractive selfie he took with the new baby, they are just so thrilled with this adorable little bundle, and there's another one on the way. I entered some pictures, listened to music, and continued catching up on my blog before I fell asleep.