So, one more day of September after this, and that means we're at the end of the 3rd quarter of 2024. I'm not quite where I planned to be at this point, but that's OK. I'm still here, we're all fine, it's all OK.
I took a walk this afternoon and I was amazed at how many trees are already changing color. Isn't it a little early? I looked at some old blog posts to see. Maybe not. Late September might just be when the trees start turning. Supposedly up in the mountains they're already at peak color. It'll be peak down here in a few weeks.
I'm tired today because I couldn't sleep last night. This happens sometimes, if I stay up just a little too late. I associate it with my phone, but last night I put my phone on the charger early, so it wasn't that. I decided to read until 1:00 am and then turn off my light, and that was a mistake. "But it's the weekend!" Doesn't matter, still have to go to bed on time. When I turned my light off at 1:00, I tossed and turned and ruminated about things that are not my business and which I have no control over (mostly politics) until 2:30 am, at which point I turned the light back on, went to the bathroom, fixed myself some warm milk, and read until 5:00 am, when I was finally tired enough to go to sleep.
I slept until 11:30 am, which might be a record for me, but I'm still really tired. Now I just have to keep myself awake until 11 pm, and then I can try to get back on schedule.
Even though I was tired, I drove to Longmont today to see Rocket Boy's brother and give him the vitamins he'd asked me to buy. He was in the hospital for three or four days this past week, and we don't really understand why. Something about his calcium being too high. When MY calcium was too high, I had to have parathyroid surgery, but in his case they put him in the hospital. It doesn't make sense. We will probably never find out.
When I was there, I studied him. He looked a little healthier than usual, although still desperately thin. He doesn't weigh much more than 100 lbs and he's Rocket Boy's height, around 6'1". He gave me a salad spinner and a bag of miscellaneous junk, "for your birthday." I asked him where he got the salad spinner and he mumbled something about someone giving it to him. He probably found it by the dumpster, which is where he gets most of his stuff.
When I got home I put the salad spinner and the bag of stuff on our front porch, to try to remove the heavy scent of incense. We'll probably put most of it in a free pile when it smells better.
On the way home I stopped at Safeway and bought a Chantilly birthday cake for Miss Sillers, who is 7 today. (I didn't know what flavor "Chantilly" was, but it turned out to be sort of almond flavored, with raspberries in the filling.) We had a little party for her, but she was highly displeased about it, meowed a lot and tried to run away. I put a tiny piece of the cake in her dish and Baby Kitty began eating it. I shooed him away and tried to get Sillers interested. Finally she ate a tiny bit of cake that had fallen on the floor. Baby Kitty got the rest.
Cats shouldn't have cake anyway, so it's probably fine.
***
I thought this would be a good time to review my plans for the year and see how I'm doing -- and make some plans for the last three months of the year.
Back in January I wrote my resolutions in eight categories -- I'd actually forgotten this -- so I can review them that way too.
- Reading & writing & culture
How am I doing? I've read 92 books so far this year (it's the one activity that's not affected by Mounjaro), including biographies of 3 presidents, seen 9 movies, gone to 4 concerts, 1 play, and 3 baseball games, blogged regularly, and wrote a short story.
Plans for the last quarter: go on reading -- it would be fine to slow down, but I don't see that happening -- including a biography of Herbert Hoover (I'll read that in November). I'll see more movies when Rocket Boy comes back, because he likes movies, and there will be some school concerts and plays to go to, and the Haunted House, and maybe the harp concert at the library in December. I'll keep on blogging and try to keep on writing, but I won't expect too much of myself. Whatever I manage to do is fine.
How am I doing? I did a lot of stretch videos in the first part of the year, walked a lot all summer, and right now I'm having trouble doing anything. I took some hikes this year, though not one every month as I planned. I got my braces off and have been very good about wearing my retainers at night. I worked on some of my clothes -- shirts, socks, bras, nightgowns -- and then kind of let it go, partly because I started Mounjaro and I thought I might be losing a lot of weight soon... and I guess here is the right place for my Mounjaro update.
- Weight the morning I took my first shot: 254.6
- Weight last Sunday: 237.4
- Weight this morning (after 15+ weeks on Mounjaro): 236.8
I'm still struggling, but I'm now down 17.8 lbs in a little over 15 weeks, for an average of just over 1 pound
per week. This will be my last week on the 5 mg dose -- I already have the 7.5 mg box in the fridge for next week. I haven't lost as much weight as I expected to, so my clothes still fit, lol.
Plans for the last quarter: keep trying to get some exercise every day, even if it's only 10 minutes. When Rocket Boy comes back we can do some hikes, maybe, and maybe go swimming. Get a flu shot and a Covid shot (and for the twins). Keep on taking Mounjaro, no matter how horrible it is. And don't worry too much about clothes. Try to get some boots this fall, because they're the one crucial thing I'm missing (well, and a coat, but I don't want to buy a coat if I'm going to lose more weight), and otherwise probably let it go for now.
How am I doing? Well, I guess pretty well. Neither boy has flunked out of school, though their grades could be better. Teen A got his license in June, though Teen B seems to have given up on driving altogether (my own fender bender didn't help). Neither one got a summer job (next year). And I got them signed up to get social security payments when Rocket Boy's start, in a few weeks. That's going to be interesting.
Plans for the last quarter: keep doing what I'm doing. Help the kids with homework, keep track of their grades so stuff doesn't slip through the cracks. Maybe do a better job of cooking dinner regularly. Try to ease the transition when Rocket Boy moves back in October. He can take over the driving practice!
How am I doing? I got the trees pruned and the volunteer elm in the front yard removed, so that's a win! But I did nothing else all summer and the back yard looks TERRIBLE, like our house is abandoned.
Plans for the last quarter: This is a tough one. Obviously I should work on the back yard, but I don't really have the energy, due to Mounjaro. I think this is something for Rocket Boy and me to work on together when he gets back.
How am I doing? I didn't do much work on this, I have to admit. I made some trips to Goodwill, but then everything fell apart in June when I started taking Mounjaro. I didn't work on the files, I didn't work on the kids' room, I didn't even keep the house as clean as before.
Plans for the last quarter: I'm not sure what to plan. Obviously I should get back into doing all these things, but will I?
How am I doing? Total bust. I did get an HVAC guy out and he cleaned their furnace, but he didn't even replace the filter because he didn't have the right size on the truck. I went out and bought a filter, but no one's been back since to work on this. I should note that OUR furnace isn't working at all. I did NOTHING on their yard -- but fortunately they did a lot of work themselves. We even gave them some rent credit because they worked so hard.
Plans for the last quarter: Get someone out to replace their furnace filter and do the HVAC repair. I am probably going to need Rocket Boy's help here, since I'm having trouble doing anything about it. He also needs to be in charge of OUR furnace repair. Winter is coming...
How am I doing? I managed to arrange (and pay for) our two family vacations (St. Louis in March and California in May/June), and I took the planned trip with my sister in August. I had one call with my friend who has Alzheimer's and then just dropped her, so that's not impressive. I saw an old friend when I was in Seattle and another old friend came by a week and a half ago. I haven't called any local friends or done anything with them. Do I still have local friends?
Plans for the last quarter: I'm going to give myself a pass on this one for the last quarter of the year. With all the holiday stuff coming up and school stuff and Rocket Boy moving back, I think my energy will be depleted. I'll try to go to my parent support group in October and November -- that's enough.
How am I doing? I can't really take any credit for this, but Rocket Boy has applied for social security, told his boss he's leaving, and probably has a new job in Colorado (still waiting for confirmation). We just realized he needs to retire, rather than resign, because there are good benefits associated with retiring from government service that I had completely forgotten about. So he probably won't be home by next weekend, as we had planned, but sometime in October. It will happen.
Plans for the last quarter: Help Rocket Boy come home, finally, keep track of our finances and our health insurance, which is complicated. At this point it doesn't look like I will need to get a job, but continue to be open to that, just in case.
Well, OK. Everything's going fine except for being on Mounjaro and having no energy. And we hope this is temporary. I wonder if it is.
Goodbye September, welcome October, the best month of the year. People already have their Halloween decorations up! This crazy neighborhood...
No comments:
Post a Comment