Current State of Affairs

I woke up this morning to find that the satellite receiver was on the blink. I'm sure it has nothing to do with the dried cat vomit on the corner of it. Being without broadcast tv has ruined life for my mom and I today. It's not that we're such huge couch potatoes around here... it's just that we both have to have the tv on to sleep. Her bedroom tv and my living room tv are on the same receiver. Since it wasn't working... neither one of us slept well.

I gave up on sleep around 5am... got up and took a shower... did a semi-glam routine. This means that I wrung all the water out of my hair, dried it with the hair dryer for about five minutes and put it up so that it wouldn't drip all over my robe. I didn't bother doing the full blow dry and flat ironing because the humidity is so high right now that it's won't stay straight for a hot second. I got dressed. Got some good study time in since the tv was completely turned off. Put on makeup. And drove down to Gainesville to see the pain doctor. It's about a 35 minute drive.

I love my pain doctor's office. There is hardly ever a wait. They greeted me by name as I walked in the door. (Never expected that the place "where everybody knows my name" would be a pain doctor. My life.) They took me right back. Actually, the doctor came and got me, trying to speed up the process. My blood pressure was a little high (no surprise there). They have two new treatments they want to try on me. One is a migraine treatment where they squirt this medicine up your nose. Or I can do botox for the migraines. Not thrilled with either option. I haven't mentioned the evil gut pain recently because... the hysterectomy took care of that, right? Wrong. Still have it... which leads the pain doctor to suspect there is a nerve that is being compressed that's causing that pain. He wants to try a nerve block to help with that. My answer to both new treatments was... let's wait. I just can't handle anything else right now. I can't risk being in too much pain to function when I absolutely have to function. I can manage the current pain level most of the time. New treatments usually equal increased pain level, at least initially. If I have to deal with *ONE MORE THING* I might end up on the news.

I made the long drive back home... it was longer because I came the other way just because I didn't want to turn left. True story. In my world three rights always equal one left. I stopped off at the pharmacy to drop off my prescriptions... picked up a new dog toy for Oscar, some Halloween Kitkats for me and a cat toy for the grandbabies. I don't know why my grandchildren love cat toys but they do. They were in the dollar bin. Oscar can tell the difference between a regular grocery bag and a bag from the drug store. Bags from the drug store always contain a "new baby" for Oscar because of the dollar bin. It's our thing. I get a discount for having spent so much money at the pharmacy so the dog toy is really only 80 cents. I mean, it gives him a few minutes of joy and it only costs me 80 cents, how could I not?

I got an email from the lawyer's assistant. She's going to have us come in next Thursday to fill out all the paperwork we got yesterday because the lawyer will be there that day and can help us do it. This makes me happy for so many reasons but the biggest is that I don't have to go anywhere today. Yes! Also... less selfish reasons like having professional help with these really ignorant questions such as, "how many times in your child's lifetime have you changed her diaper?" Because a 22 year old father who works full-time is going to keep a tally of diaper changes. "How many times have I changed my child's diaper? Every time it needed to be changed." See why we need professional assistance? (Incidentally, that was my answer, not Austin's. Just for the record.) (And yes, that is an ACTUAL question on a legal document. Welcome to my insanity life.)

Once all those important tasks were completed and I had my chobani flip yogurt breakfast - with added granola because gosh-darnit, I'm worth it- I made the frustrating call to India, the Phillipines or wherever it is that "John" from DISH Customer Service lives. He. thanked. me. very. kindly. for. my. call... and wanted. to. do. whatever. he. could. to. help. me. with. my.      satellite.    service. We went through all the troubleshooting and ... yep... it's a broken receiver. Seems like we go through about one a year. It's frustrating because... HELLOOOOO the Olympics are on! And because the replacement won't be here until Monday so Mom will miss seeing the "swim dancing" (synchronized swimming), at least on her bedroom tv... and the process to install the new receiver is sooooooooooooooo frustrating. I'm not a techy person. Don't know it you can tell that via the blog but... no. Not a technical girl. But between myself and my parents... I'm the more technical of the bunch which means I'll be the one dealing with installing the new one. On Monday. After we go to court. Worst. Timing. Ever. Although Austin will be off that day so maybe he will do it for me. If he's not homicidal after another day in court.

One happy thing for today... no, I have two. Well, three if you count not having to go anywhere else today.

1. The temperature has been lower outside. We've been below 90 so I don't immediately melt into a puddle of sweat when I step outside. That makes me happy. 
2. Due... (that's Italian for two)... I have several figs that are ripening so I may have a couple that are ready at the same time. #figfeast
3. And third, what I already mentioned... not having to go anywhere. I have to go pick up prescriptions tomorrow but today, I'm done. Austin is off work so I don't have to pick him up. I can just sit here and stare at my tv that is NOT showing the Olympics and learn as many new Italian words as my pain-filled brain can stand. 

So I'm a happy-ish camper.

Photos all taken today so you can see the true, current state of affairs.

Happy Friday Eve, y'all. Love and hugs.