Necessary Mutilation

Weight: 192.7 lbs.

Yesterday was a day of more healthy physical and emotional exertion and balance, and I am very appreciative to have had a chance to catch my breath. Tom and I shopped for more plants and gardening products, and are on a good roll with this. It feels so good to distract myself from life’s hardships and realities this way, and it looks so pretty now that everything is freshly planted, mulched, trimmed and edged. There is much more to do, but it doesn’t feel so overwhelming anymore, and I am enjoying the process more than I used to over a hundred pounds ago!

Also, Callie remains much better, and we are relieved that she seems to have bounded back from her wierd arthiritis or pinched nerve attack. Pilling her twice a day is no fun and if we screw up, the poor thing foams at the mouth and looks rabid, not to mention looks at us like we are the meanest owners ever - and it breaks my heart. It takes both of us to get the pill down her, and I only hope she will not need them for much longer. They are for pain and the script is for 10 days…and I hope that she will remain ok once off them. Later today the vet is to call with the results of her bloodwork, and our fingers are tightly crossed that she is ok internally too.

Yesterday we also went to Petsmart and spent a small fortune on cat stuff, including pet steps that we hope she will figure out how to use so she can be more independent climbing into our bed and other now too high places, like she used to. So far, they are more like a curiosity to her and to Gingerbread, and something to sniff and scratch rather than climb.

Later today, our air conditioning coil is being replaced. We will be glad to have AC back, but remain furious and disgusted with Heil, as they never took our complaints seriously and in fact, the main rep. from their company was as frustrating and enraging as anyone could possibly be, when I finally got connected with her last week. She and Heil itself now makes my blood boil, and I am taking every opportunity to ensure that others know what crap they sell, both literally and figuratively. Tom took pictures of the only 3 year old inside evaporator coil, and you should see how rusty it is. And this is the part that is IN our house! It literally rotted out after only 2 1/2 years of useage - and we are talking Buffalo, NY summers here. Its not like we live in Arizona!

Anyway, I am very mad that it is going to cost us over $500 for everything, and this is with the part itself being free (IT is covered under the warranty) and with a major (supposed) discount that the local AC company is giving us. Between this, Tom’s cars AC, his rotors, the emergency vet visit, the car insurance, our upcoming cottage rental, doctor bills and back taxes, we are suddenly being deluged with extraordinary bills, and are feeling rather poor and sorry for ourselves. Geez…when it rains, it really pours!

But, at least some of my struggling friends seem to be doing better, and Zoe’s fathers wake and funeral have now been planned (for this coming Friday and Saturday). She still has a million things to do and I am helping as I am able, but some of the hardest stuff is coming along, and she seems to be coping as well as anyone might in her shoes.

This may allow me to focus on ME again soon, and I need to get back once more, into an exercise and diet regime that is reasonable and sustainable. I am doing  just ok with diet, but I am quite a slacker exercise wise, unless planting things counts. After I post today, I have no excuse to not work out, and plan to hit the basement for all I can do before the AC people arrive.

Hopefully this better momentum will replace that of recent weeks, and some order will be restored to  our lives, our routines, and more importantly, the cosmos!