Monday was a pretty good day. Karen came in and fed the hungry pup, fed me, then got me dressed up in my chair. She started decorating the Christmas tree while I took Dude out for a bit of a cruise; the organizer was coming today to help me organize and purge, so I wanted to take the little guy out for a sail before she got here. Our intention was to organize the front bedroom, but since they were still boxes from the decorations, we decided to clean out the cabinet underneath the stairs in the kitchen. I didn't realize that I had nearly double everything in the kitchen; it's the same as everywhere else. I buy something, and then somebody stashes it somewhere, then I repurchase it. As I'm getting rid of stuff, it amazes me that I spent so much money, I always wanted to have a house where somebody could visit, and there would be anything they would need. Still, nobody used anything when people came, so I need to stop doing that. Another New Year's resolution? Rachel came in before we finished, and after the organizer left, she told me I should have a garage sale or something because I gave away a lot of excellent valuable stuff; the last thing I want is for a bunch of strangers to come and look in my driveway for a bunch of things that I don't need anymore. Next time, she told me to save it so that I didn't have a problem. I will still be getting rid of it, and the organizer will have to dump it off at Goodwill. Rachel came in and fed the hungry little guy, put me to bed, then fed me. I was really exhausted and fell asleep before Rachel left, but then I woke back up in a couple of hours; I wish I could just sleep all the way through the night like ordinary people do. I edited some pictures, watched another movie, and fell asleep again.
Tuesday was a hectic day. Cindy came in and fed the hungry hound and then got me dressed and up in my chair; I didn't eat because I had to do fasting blood labs. I didn't really want to leave the house because, as it turns out, today is the day they are supposed to deliver my new refrigerator and put the old one in the garage. They are supposed to deliver my new bed, it was just a coincidence how they both ended up on the same day and that day, but I have to go get my labs. Before I left, I got a phone call from FedEx saying that they had a massive delivery and when they delivered it, where should they put the crate? Crate?? I told them not to deliver it and let me call the company that I got it from because they are supposed to bring it in and install it, I called the company, and luckily the guy that I usually deal with answered his phone and said that he would take care of it… He called me back in a few minutes and said he was going to have it delivered to a warehouse nearby and somebody from the company would come and install it; thank goodness the guy decided to answer his phone, or else I would have an enormous hospital bed size crate in my driveway getting soaked. We got the labs done and decided to cruise over to get back in time to be there when they deliver the refrigerator; by this time, Omar was here, so I decided to take Dude on a cruise to get out of the way. While I was at the wharf, Cindy texted me and said they couldn't unplug the refrigerator in the kitchen because there was a pipe frozen in the back; they gave her a number and said that when the line gets unfrozen, they will come back and exchange them, but for now, they put the new one in the garage.
Since we were all here, Cindy and I walked down to the local Mexican restaurant, and we all had lunch together; we hadn't done that for a while. We used to do it quite often, but then the pandemic hit, and then everybody got busy trying to make up for when the pandemic struck. It was nice to relax and catch up! I miss those days; now I have employees who don't want to come to any work functions or want to get paid for it, so it's been dwindling down. After they left, I came inside, kicked back, and watched TV until Rachel came in. She fed the hungry goofball, gave me a nice shoulder and neck massage, put me to bed, massaged my legs and did some range of motion, washed my face, and then set me up. I have wanted to get back into exercise/massage, which is a good start. She set me up to the computer, got me something to eat, did a couple loads of laundry, dust mop the hairy floor, cleaned up, and went home. I love how she does all the dust mopping at the end of the day, and I'm really amazed at how much stuff there really is on the floor… No wonder I still feel the time. After she went home, I sat there for a bit of a while thinking of how chaotic the day started; usually, I would've been freaking out, but I think through my two-morning caregivers… Karen and Cindy have really combed me down and given me better ways to cope and a different way to look at things so as not to stress yourself out. At the age of 60, I still growing and learning; how about that? It feels pretty good! I decided tonight would be an excellent night to meditate, so I listened to some music, watched a movie, and then drifted off to sleep.
Wednesday was a pretty good day. Karen came in and fed the hungry hound, fed me, and we did some personal care and at the end and nice long hot bath. We got done early, and it was really nice outside, so I decided to get up and cruise around with my buddy Dude, I always think it's going to be nice to stay in bed, but then; when I do stay in bed, I really wish I would've gone out… Especially if it's nice outside. We cruised through Depot Park, down to Cowell's Beach, down to the end of the wharf, and back, down to the end of the Boardwalk and back and then home… It was a perfect choice getting up and going out! I tilted back and watched TV for a while until Rachel came in; she fed the hungry little guy, put me to bed, then fed me. The first thing I do when I get up to my computer I notice is to play a couple games of candy crush; I don't know if I think it's going to relax me for what, but that's always my first go-to. I think I pretty much played candy crush until my evening caregiver is done and goes home; everything else I need to do involves dictating, and it's tough to do when there's somebody else in the room because if there's any little noise at all Dragon doesn't pick up my voice. I just get frustrated, so I might as well wait. It would be a really excellent time to meditate; I'm still trying to learn how to do that, but for the same reason… I don't because of the caregiver coming in and out of the room. After Rachel left, I edited some pictures and blogged in my blog until I couldn't keep my eyes open anymore, and then I was out.
Thursday was a pretty good day. Karen came in and fed the hungry loco dog, fed me, then waited for the visiting nurse to discharge me. After she left, Karen got me dressed up in my chair and Dude, and I took off for a nice long cruise down Westcliff Drive, then back, over to the wharf, over to the Boardwalk, and then back home. I realized after I left that somebody must've knocked on my camera because it just wasn't working, so no pictures today. Just a pleasant memory! I kicked back and watched TV for a while; it was adorable to relax after such a long cruise and enjoy time by myself. Rachel came in and fed the hungry hound, put me to bed, then fed me. I am always torn between getting a massage before I go to bed and just getting into bed to eat; I really need to enjoy the massages because it's better for my body and then eat later… I sleep a lot better also, especially when it's cold outside. Rachel cleaned up and then went home, my favorite time of the evening. I listened to some music while editing some pictures, tried to catch up on my blog, then watched a movie and fell asleep.
Friday was a beautiful, nice long day. Karen came in and fed the hungry hound, fed me, then we did some personal care and a nice long hot bath. I've been really, really trying and making myself drink lots of water, every hour; my goal is to take 6 to 8 swallows of water, and I think it's really helping with my skin being dry; personal care goes a lot faster and easier, overall I just fill a lot healthier. Dude and I took off for a cruise through Depot Park; while I was cruising through Depot Park, I noticed a bunch of tents set up in the parking lot, and before I could piece it all together, I heard somebody say, "hello there lady" I looked over, and there was Blue. I met Blue several years ago, and I run into him every now and then; he belongs to a downtown destitute cleanup crew… although I see them all over Santa Cruz. He is a charming man with brain cancer; I remember the day that he told me he was in charge of the cleanup crew, and he was so excited! I talked to him for a while, and he said to me that the place he was before was flooded from the rain, so parks and rectus cited to move them to the parking lot at Depot Park so they could keep an eye on them. Many people stayed back even though there was flooding and didn't want to move because they didn't want to follow the rules. I cruised up the hill and then turned to go down Westcliff Drive, it was such a beautiful day, and I knew the waves would be amazing! We cruised almost all the way down to the end but then decided to turn around and come back; we went that far. I don't know why I didn't cruise all the way down to the end, but something told me to turn back. Of course, I took pictures all the way back until I got to the Sea and Sand Inn. I saw a group of surfers headed out to serve, and a lady was standing next to me filming it; I had my music blasting in the song. How do I live without you was playing? A lady was standing there recording it with her iPad, and she asked, "this is a perfect song. Do you mind if I stand closer to you so the music will come over the recording?" I said, of course, and we both stood there recording this beautiful event; they paddled out, dropped some flowers, and then gathered in a circle around the flowers… It was such a beautiful ceremony! She told me that a friend of hers named Shane asked me if I wanted her to send me the video; of course, I said yes, and she did. As she left, she told me, "it will also be on the website," but I didn't get a chance to ask her which website. I thought to myself, I'll just look it up when I get home and see if I can find it. It was getting pretty late, so we cruised back home, and I tilted back and watched TV for a while. Rachel came in and fed the hungry hound, then put me to bed. While she was giving me something to eat, I cruised around on the Internet, and after a while, I found Shane, all of his pictures on Facebook was with this adorable little girl. It was pictures of them hiking, surfing, boating, hiking… You could tell it was his daughter; it looked like they were so close it just broke my heart. He was very well-loved, not only by his daughter, but I could see all of his friends and relatives on his Facebook page who truly adored him! Rachel got me something to eat and then cleaned up and went home. I learned the guy's name was Shane Pierce, and I spent the rest of the evening learning about him and trying to find out what company website he was associated with. Before I knew it, I was getting exhausted and fell asleep.
Saturday was a perfect day. Karen came in for Cindy, who had the day off. She fed the hungry hound dog, fed me, then got me dressed and up in my chair. I took Dude for a nice little cruise down to the end of the wharf and back, There was a guy set up at the end of the wharf with his drums, and he was belting out hit after hit. I always find a place close enough to kick back and hear the music; I just admire anybody with any kind of musical talent. Karen set everything up for our yearly CCI Christmas puppy playdate party; there is nothing more exciting than watching a bunch of well-behaved puppies playing together! So playful and so polite! We didn't get up a lot of people RSVPing, so I didn't think there was going to be very many people there, so we were going to do a lot; I always feel more people are going to show up than we know, so I like to get a lot of food, I got some of those pinwheel wraps, some cookies and water and as it started out not a lot of people were showing up, so I didn't even take them out of the refrigerator. Suddenly, people started showing up and my aunt came over and got the food out of the refrigerator; we ended up having a perfect time. This is such a friendly group, and without giving a service dog, I probably wouldn't have got to know these people; I would've missed out on some really awesome people! I have a bunch of dog costumes and a couple of center costumes, so I laid them out so everybody could get the picture taken with Santa. Unfortunately, I couldn't get my camera to work, and I know somebody took a lot of pictures, but I can't remember who it was… I know who he was, but he took pictures with many cameras. It was really nice catching up with everyone, one couple in our group… Tim and Allison were bringing their successor pup Kapi, and we were all so excited to meet him. Apparently, I met Tim several years ago in cost-plus, and he was telling me how excited they were because they were going to pick up their very first CCI service dog; as it turned out, their service dog had the same father; as my Robby… Thank goodness I was really nice to him, or that's how he remembers it; I would hate to hear, "I tried to say hi to you in the store, and you ignored me" I would be so embarrassed. Years later, they ended up keeping Robby for a couple of weeks so I could get my successor dog, Dude. After the party, I just kicked back for a while and watched TV until Rachel came in. She cleaned up the table and chairs, and I assume that she put all the costumes back in the box so we could run them through the dryer before we put them away for another year. I found out that she didn't put them away the next day, and everything got soaked. It seems like more and more on the holidays it's just getting stressful to decorate and to have a party, a couple of years ago, I was just getting into loving to celebrate and having lots of parties or people just hanging out, and I guess it's just a different wave of caregivers. 2 or 3 years ago I had a group that loved to decorate and did an excellent job. Still, it seems like nobody's into it anymore, whether it be the pandemic or maybe it's just not their thing. Especially last year, I really didn't want to take out any of the decorations or decorate. The year before, everybody was on vacation, and the caregiver that I had here ended up getting her friend to help her clean up. All my decorations were either broken or shoved back into the boxes. I didn't mention anything about bringing out the decorations after that by my caregivers; the few that were left that like to decorate just went ahead and took the decorations out and decorated. Of course, as soon as everything is decorating and looks really nice, I can get into it, but I think this will be the last year. I was just starting to feel like I was coming out of my shell and making some friends, I've been in this chair for 26 years, and the only friends I seem to have were caregivers… Although I consider them friends, I don't think they did; of course, they were going to stay around as long as I paid them to. I always find these projects on Pinterest that look really cool, so I buy all of the stuff we need to do the projects; thinking that my caregivers will be into it as much as I am, but they're really not, and the sooner I learned that the better off I will be. And not paying everyone to decorate and set up and tear down parties will save a lot of money. After Rachel put everything away and fit the knucklehead, she put me to bed and fed me. We'll see how it goes, but this is how I feel right now. I watched some TV, edited pictures, and listened to music until I fell asleep.
Sunday was a fantastic day! Karen came in and fed the hungry little guy, fed me, then got me dressed and up in my chair. We usually do personal care and a back on Sundays, but I have a long-time friend, Angie, and her family coming to visit. They moved away before 2000 to Washington; when I was in high school, I used to hang out with her and her parents after school, and her dad and mom went to high school with my parents… He built my house and did a fantastic job! She's going to be here for a couple of days, so I'm meeting her and her family tonight at Mobo's, which was I was our very favorite place to eat. Dude and I took off for a cruise down to the wharf, where the clouds were amazing! I just took turns cruising down to the end of the wharf and Boardwalk, whatever gorgeous day! It was so much fun watching everybody run through the fake snow at the beginning of the Boardwalk; I was a little worried when I saw all the snow on the ground, but the kids were trying to slide on it, they couldn't, so that made me feel better. We cruised back home, and I tilted back in my chair to rest for a bit and charge my cell phone, so I could take more pictures at dinner. Angie came by to drive me over to Mobo's for dinner; her husband and the kids were already there. I never really got to know her husband or her kids very much, but they are all fantastic people! Funny and smart! Her lifelong friend Terry showed up with her husband, I meant Terry a couple of times, and I really like her! The dinner was excellent! I love that place, and the company was perfect! After dinner, Angie drove me back here, and I decided to stay in my chair all night long and go to bed in the morning when Karen came in. I just tilted back and watched TV all night.
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