Thursday, October 23rd, 2025 07:18 pm
I went to my doctor today, for an annual physical and so she could write the next Ritalin prescription.

So: I had a fasting blood test last month, and the glucose number was high enough that she is ordering a re-test and an A1C test, which means another morning trip to Somerville on an empty stomach. My "bad" cholesterol is high, but not high enough for her to be prescribing statins right now. My "good" cholesterol is also high, but apparently that's less protective in older patients, and I'm approaching that age.

I also asked her to look at my calves, because I frequently have swelling by the end of the day, especially in the left calf. She said it sounded like a vascular issue, then measured the circumference of both my calves. The left calf is noticeably bigger, which supports the idea that there's some kind of vascular issue.

What I'm supposed to do for that is try to reduce my sodium intake, and try wearing compression socks for at least a little while each day. Reducing sodium intake means I'll be looking at ingredient labels for quantities--right now, I'm mostly checking to make sure that various things don't contain any of the various things that we know that one of the three of us needs to avoid.

Carmen also did a breast exam (no longer part of the standard physical exam, but she asked if I still wanted one, and I said yes), and looked at my back for any suspicious moles or freckles. Also, before the appointment they asked if I was OK having them check height and weight, and I said yes, then asked the assistant how tall I now am. Five feet two inches, confirming what I think is what the neurologist's office said, which is an inch or so less than when I was 30.

grumbling about paperwork and MyChart )
Thursday, October 23rd, 2025 08:55 am
I posted several times when Cory Booker was in the midst of his long talking streak in the senate. I didn't do the same thing the other day when Jeff Merkley did 16 hours.



The easily distracted woman (me) wonders how many shift changes there were for the stenographer, hands seen lower right.
Wednesday, October 22nd, 2025 09:27 pm
 

Review copy provided by the publisher. Also the author has been a dear friend since the mastodons roamed the plains.

It seems like half of the reviews out there claim that the book they're reviewing is something really different, but this, in fact, is something really different. It's like Marguerite Yourcenar's A Coin in Nine Hands, where the story passes from person to person as they encounter each other, showing different facets of life. But it's also very much not like that, because the story is a fantasy story with crucial worldbuilding, and the quiet nature of its plot makes it easy to miss that it's about massive social change.

Serenissima is not Venice, though they are connected. Serenissima, city of the mists, is the point that joins nine worlds, each filled with a sentient humanoid species, living and trading and growing and learning across worlds. No matter how long anyone has lived in Serenissima, no one person knows all of its secrets--so they need to work together to cure the blight that has stranded some of them there.

Because yes, this is a Venice Carnival mask book--but it's also a book that couldn't have been written in 2019. It is a book with strong awareness of the pandemic we've been going through, and all the ways in which it's only one possible way that we could suffer--and need to help each other. It's a book with a strong sense of forming community with others, even when those others don't fit our preconceptions of what a friend, an ally, a lover might look like. I really like the gentleness and the hope in this one. I think you might like it too.

Wednesday, October 22nd, 2025 07:09 pm
I accompanied Adrian to her doctor's appointment this afternoon, to provide moral support, take notes, and ask any relevant questions she didn't think of. This was last minute on my end, because she only realized this morning that she wanted company. So, some rearranging of my (vague) plans, but it worked.

It seemed like a good appointment, with a doctor who explained things pretty well. We walked home, which would have been a better idea if the google maps estimate of the distance had been accurate. Instead, we spent a lot of time walking around the parking lots of the hospital complex.

This used enough energy that I decided not to go to the optician tomorrow morning, before seeing my own doctor in the afternoon. I will go to Somerville, eat lunch in Davis Square, see Carmen, and then decide whether to come straight home, or stop for ice cream and/or other shopping.
Wednesday, October 22nd, 2025 04:06 pm
After a bunch of back and forth, it appears that the reason Chase would provide a medallion signature guarantee for my brother, and not me, is that he's an executor of my mother's estate. (Mark and I both have accounts at Chase, which is part of what confused me.)

The banker at Chase suggested talking (again) to either Vanguard or TIAA and see if they will do this. She said she looked online and it said TIAA does provide these, and I've had an account with them for at least 30 years.

Also, Attitude's and my joint account at Chase is dormant, and to wake it up, one of us needs to go to a branch, talk to someone, say we want to take the account out of dormancy, and make at least a $1 deposit or withdrawal. And no, I can't pick up a deposit slip, take it to a teller, and make the trivial transaction, we would need to actually talk to someone. To keep it active, we will need to poke at it at least every 364 days. But doing this once would at least reset the clock of "inactive account, transfer funds to the state for safekeeping."
Wednesday, October 22nd, 2025 09:14 am
I can't find the discussion, but sometime in the past year, [personal profile] kshandra and [personal profile] nosrednayduj suggested that I buy an electric mattress warmer. I considered it, but since I don't like buying things online, especially not from Amazon (1) I didn't get it. This fall I decided to start looking earlier. I read reviews. A member of the knitting group said that as long as it's UL listed, the differences aren't big, so buy whatever was available. I called around. I looked physically. I heard that Kohl's might have them. On the phone they said no, but when I was in the area yesterday anyway, I stopped by. They had one Serta brand version for each bed size. One was enough, so I bought it. I didn't start early enough in the evening getting everything set up, so it was at least an hour later than I planned before I went to bed. The directions were clear that it had to be plugged directly into the wall, so I had rummage around behind the desk instead of just plugging it into the surge-protector extension cord. I read that much of the instructions, but apparently missed the part where you're supposed to push not just the power button but also the "preheat" button. I spent a long time wondering whether I'd bought a defective one, but caught the error eventually. I probably should have put on my reading glasses. I had it on long enough to warm things up, then turned it off. I spent a while being the princess and the pea, convinced that I could feel the little wires, but got used to it and slept warmly, under only three layers of covers instead of four. Sample size of one night, but it does seem to be a quality of life improvement.

I had never had an inflatable yard decoration until this year. Over time, I admired a large dragon that used to be in Lowes in the fall, but never invested. Last year I saw a BT21 (2) decoration and decided that if I could find one this year, I'd buy it. I got it on Ebay for $106. More directions to be followed. I immediately lost one of the little tent stakes, but I had all the others and it seems fine.



The large outdoor-rated extension cord is plugged into the socket on the screened-in part of the porch, so the screen door is propped open. I have a timer somewhere, but haven't looked for it. Maybe I should, because I keep forgetting to turn it off, and it has had two overnights on. Last night may have just as well. It seems to cope OK with the rain, but when it was deflated during the day on Monday, puddles formed all over it.Possibly last night's rain just rain off the inflated item.

(1) I was unaffected by the Amazon outage, but know someone who teaches CPR classes. He couldn't register people through the American Heart Association page because it was down.

(2) Each BTS member made up creatures for some sort of promotion. Merch is available. See icon above, with Koya on my backpack. It's the same Koya that is on my lawn inflatable.
Tuesday, October 21st, 2025 10:56 pm
Today Belovedest had to bust the teenagers for playing "the penis game" in the library.

[You say the word increasingly loudly, in turns, until someone loses the game by being told to cut it out or being asked to leave.]

The weather's getting colder, but I have evolved myself an outfit to wear outdoors for lounging while the weather's in the high 50s F -- my slightly ratty plush bathrobe underneath my much more windproof corduroy floor length duster. And the ta'al fingerless mgloves Mama knitted for me, in rainbow stripes. They're just the thing for keeping my hands warm while I'm on the phone.

I've discovered I do enjoy cauliflower "wings", even though I don't enjoy chicken wings.

The scooter has arrived. I am plotting how best to bedazzle it. It does have its own USB power outlet! It also has head and tail lights. It's better for approaching counters than the wheelchair, since the tiller is so close to me.

[personal profile] norabombay points out that given all the poorly supervised international visitors who have been in and out of the White House, they're going to have to take it down to the studs when they refit it for #48 to use. So the general devastation in the East Wing is small potatoes as far as outrage fodder. And anywhere that the last major update was 1947-ish must really need some yanking out of the century of the fruitbat.

My legs are doing better. In part this is because I stuck ibuprofen in my nightly pill box, since I'd been waking up with aching legs and shouting knees pretty consistently.

Medication: the medication definitely has some activity. The main activity seems to be that my appetite has been fading in and out of "did we recently have chemo?!" mode. I'm tempted to give myself a week off every few weeks.

Makeup: currently waiting on a liquid formulation of the eyeshadow that promised to match the eyeliner, because the color is fantastic and I want it in a wide brush. I guess the powder can work for blending it out. (The powder just does not want to cooperate and layer on thick enough to get the color shift effect, even with a wet brush.) My skin continues to behave itself better than my ability to use foundation; there are only a few spots where I want to color correct if I'm doing Full Battle Makeup.

Games: keeping up with all the Gems of War events is sometimes tiring, but it does make winding down my brain at night much easier than other things I could be doing.

Perfume: went through my massive perfume spreadsheet and filled in the formulation for all the BPAL (which is the same except for that one spray). Cracked myself up at some of the descriptions I've left. One particular exceedingly long-lasting one
Read more... )
Tuesday, October 21st, 2025 09:27 pm
We had a roast chicken a few days ago, then [personal profile] adrian_turtle used some of the leftovers to make a salad with greens, pieces of chicken, and grapes. [personal profile] cattitude just turned the remaining leftover chicken into matzo ball soup.

There will be homemade chocolate cake later, because Adrian wanted to check whether the springform pan would hold cake batter. We eat well around here.
Tuesday, October 21st, 2025 09:12 pm
I took last Wednesday off of work to haul and winterize the power boat, because I was going to be busy the next several weekends, and I'm tired of winterizing it in late November when it's 30° and blowing a howling gale.

I had the usual trouble with everything. Starting with not being able to find the right socket that is needed for installing the hitch. Turned out we had a same size socket from a different set. It said it was an impact wrench socket but it fit on the extra large handle from the main socket set, and so even though it didn't stay on properly, I was able to make it work. Then I couldn't find the waders that I wanted to use. I only found the ones that are too small and the ones that leak. I made do with the ones that are too small. Eventually I got the boat out of the water without any further unexpected trouble (I always expect a little trouble trying to back up the trailer).

Then the winterizing job just takes forever. You have to drain the oil out of the lower unit and the main engine, and this takes a long time, even if you warm up the engine first so the oil is less viscous; the lower unit oil is very viscous. And then you have to try hard not to spill it anywhere. I was especially concerned because this is the first time our brand-new garage floor has been threatened with oil when I was draining it out of the oil pan into containers for taking to toxic waste next spring. I managed not to stain the floor. We have a special gadget for getting oil into the lower unit which is supposed to have less drippage, and I had notes from last time that said that the old one was starting to fail and so I bought a new one, and the new one is much worse and much less useful and I'm sad about that.

I got the neighbor to agree to take the extra gas from the tank and put it in one of his cars, since we no longer have any other gasoline burning vehicles.

Finally it was done and I got help to move to the other trailers out of the way (both of them had flat tires and had to be pumped up) and towed it into its winter home and covered it. The cover is getting kind of shabby, but the previous week I had tried patching some of the larger holes with iron on patches, which surprisingly worked and did not melt the material, mostly nylon I think. Some of my iron on patches were clearly from the 70s, based on the packaging. I did use one of those, and I think it's going to peel off. It proudly said it cost 29 cents!

Then over the weekend there was some beautiful waterskiing weather, and I had no boat. I knew that would happen, though. And I was pretty busy this weekend with No Kings Saturday and a game party Sunday.
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