one, lonely donkey chewing on an electric fence

1. I fried up some of the chicken crumbles I got at Costco a few weeks ago. I made ricepaper wraps with them and the basil and mint I've grown. They were pretty tasty! I'd use peanut sauce next time though.

2. I chipped away at a couple more adulthood tasks. This includes scheduling bloodwork and surgery for Wink. August is going to be expensive, but it is what it is. *sigh* That said, I'm tap dancing up to starting a GoFundMe for this. I have the $$, but it will absolutely bite into my remaining savings in a pretty severe way. My surgery (out of work), plus Tea's teeth cleaning, plus this is... well, it's a lot. I'm ok, but woof.

3. My book binding class is coming up! It's not until the 25th, but I am super excited to go learn things in a structured environment. My nerdy little brain is ready.

4. I had a nice meet up with Mom on Sunday. We went to see Bill's grave, got breakfast, and I got to do a couple loads of free laundry. We also talked abit about some possible future stuff, and we played a card game.

5. I have had many naps.

At some point, Wink broke her remaining front fang. I only noticed it this weekend, but it's definitely broken and now I need to take her in and get it removed. I was all cheerful Tea's cleaning wasn't as $$$$$ as anticipated. Guess that's on me for thinking I caught a break.

Still, she gets to go impress all the nice vet techs with how lovely she is. For real, when I took Tea in (drugged to the gills) and apologizing, three of the four techs on duty remembered Wink and did the "Oh! Wink! She's lovely!" face while staring at her terrible sister.

In other news, I've started ESA paperwork. I'm also doing some long-term planning which may or may not work out. We'll see. Otherwise, the medication adjustment is ongoing. I fell asleep at 7pm last night and slept all the way through until 8:45am with only a short detour at 6am to feed the girls so they'd stop yelling at me. I could go for another nap too. Uuuugh.

IDK, man. There's just a lot going on and I haven't done the work to plan anything fun this year because that feels like a lot of extra work and stuff I don't have the capacity to plan for. Also, everything seems up in the air and all this uncertainty has my anxiety at an 11.

I am doing to work to get things in order to address current problems, but man. I could use a nap, a snack, and a week by a lake in the woods that magically has zero mosquitos.

But in the spirit of reframing things and not just staring at a mile-long list of tasks, here's some nice things that have happened lately.

1. I made bread and cinnamon rolls! Both ended up fine. I do need to have cream on hands if I make cinnamon rolls again. Also a plan on who to gift them to. I ended up throwing out half of them.

2. Apparently, you can mix zero sugar Jello pudding mix into yogurt and it makes a tasty flavored yogurt? Cheesecake has been delightful. Also, I found a carton of strawberries for $1 on sale, and now I have breakfast for the next few days.

3. At the recommendation (request) of my management company, I am buying a new bracket system for my AC. I was a smidge grumpy (the board I paid $3 for back in 2012 works fine!) but honestly? I am down for new, more secure options. Plus, the board is gross and a metal bracket is easier to clean when I uninstall the whole thing.

4. Tea's street legal for the next three years and in really good shape for an 8yo lady. Love that for her.

5. I signed my lease and that's mostly over. Just waiting for a sign off from the land lord.

6. My house is still in good shape from the deep clean. For real, it's so delightful to have a clean home. I really do want to tackle some decluttering/Swedish Death cleaning though. I have a lot of stuff I can just get rid of, and it would make my life a lot easier. But that's life-long, so it is what it is for now.

Otherwise things are toodling along. Hope everyone is well!

In the last month I have had the following issues:

- Management company won't get back to me (at all but especially) re: lease renewal (it is due on the 30th)
- Friend's spouse went into hospice
- Friend's spouse died
- Cat went in for teeth cleaning (she's fine) and vaccines, but ANESTHESIA
- Advocate, my health organization, rolled out required AI permissions for virtual appointments without a.) telling anyone and b.) having an opt-out
- Follow up appointments with new specialist (now with multiple blood draws and more appointments)
- I now need to find a new therapist due the Advocate thing
- BIL is in hospice
- Barometric pressure remains an asshole
- Everything just HURTS and I'm tired of it and I just want to go for a walk
- The whole situation with my phone
- Dealing with getting everything together to get my house cleaned

I am very tired.

I paid a lovely human an exorbitant (to me) amount of $$ to come and deep clean my home. It was SO. WORTH. IT.

My home is delightfully spic and span. I spent most of the time deep cleaning, reorganizing and weeding my bookshelves and DVDs.

Everything hurts and I refuse to do anything tomorrow.

Interesting few days. I had a reasonable and efficient encounter with the healthcare system, so my luck for the decade has been expended. Still, hopefully things will start turning around re: my health. If not? Eh. I'm doing my best.

Had a nice Saturday too. Got a massage, which means my back and ribs got put back into place. One day, I'll have another massage where I relax and fall asleep, but Saturday was not that day. I also got to have dinner with the lovely annieeats! We tried Union Dumpling House in Lincoln Square. My takeaway was that the Mapo Tofu Bao were delightful and delovely, and the other dumplings were pretty nice too!

Another nice thing about the day was that I got to go to the Sulzer library branch! I hadn't been in a hot minute, and I forgot how nice it was to just wanted around and enjoy the space. I even borrowed a book that I've started!

Sunday was mostly house chores, although I have not gotten around to doing what I need to do to have the house prepped for this Saturday. (I am getting my house cleaned!!!) Tonight, my goal is to sit and shred/sort a bunch of documents and mail so they can go in a filing box and be out of the way. AND I am going to hang all the shrugs/hoodies in the closet so they're not in the way. Small goals, right? And if this place does a good job, I think I might try and go for a cleaning once a month or once every other month for a bit. I deserve a nice, clean space and I just haven't had the ability to do it right in a long ass time.

Saturday, I'm also going to be taking ALL the rugs (AGAIN), and all the house textiles to the laundry. Also, some coats. Might as well clear the decks, right?

Tea's scheduled for a vet visit and a teeth cleaning later this month. I've been working with her on a routine to get her used to taking medication. She now doesn't get fed at night unless she goes through the motions (getting picked up, put on the freezer, me pulling the pill bottle out, getting out the pill, opening her mouth, and touching her tongue lightly), and she's been really good about it! I know this will not last once I pill her with the damn gabapentin, but if I can get her mostly doped up for her check up, I'll take it. (They'll dart her ass for the teeth cleaning.) Wink will be delighted for the entirety of Juneteenth because she will be freed from the bonds of dealing with her sister for 8 whole hours.

UGH, I am so tired of spending $. I've budgeted for all this, but man. It'd be nice to have a few months off. I'm also staring a $100/month increase in rent in the face starting August, and I know I have some car stuff happening AND I need to get a new phone come December.

Also, if you're reading this and haven't received a text from me in the last three weeks, please text me with your current #. I thought I'd gone through my contacts to write out all the numbers in my little physical address book, but NOPE. Or it's an iPhone and hates specific people. One of my Canadian besties can't get through, but another is 100% fine. *throws up hands*

I am excited to start my class in book recovering/binding in July. Hopefully it will be fun and informative. I'd definitely like some guidance in labels/materials. I can always be better!

So, I've been running a book club at work for a decade at this point. Some of the people who participate got together and gave me a card. It was just really nice? Moreso that than award that I theoretically won. (For real, I've heard nothing about that since.)

I guess it was just nice to feel appreciated in a way that was spontaneous and not really required?

I also think I need to work on being more genuine with the people that are in my life. I appreciate all of you!

IDK, it was just a really nice thing during a stressful time.

I had a busy and not busy weekend.

Saturday involved a lot of planned time, including a spa day w/some buds. It was nice, if expensive. I also got complimented on my skin, which is nice as I am haphazard at best with any kind of skin care routine. Huzzah, spf 60. But! I did get a new (to me) phone, got my emissions check done, found a Le Crueset tea kettle I'd been eying @ Goodwill for $4, and had a nice chat with Mom.

Sunday, I did All the laundry (including the sheets Wink defiled) then decided that I didn't have plans, so I was just gonna go shop at rich people stores as you can usually get better deals. As such, I drove up through the Norther suburbs. And fuck me, I forgot Northbrook was Like That. Anywho, I hit up a Woodman's in Buffalo Grove and spent entirely too much in beverages. For real, I spent, like $85 on soda and cider alone. I also picked up some Memorial Day picnic-type snacks. Namely, some hot dogs, mac and cheese, and cabbage. Did y'all know you can roast hot dogs in the oven and get a not-quite-grill-like experience, but pretty close? I also made mayo-based coleslaw for the first time.

I also picked up a few cupboard staples. I always forget how non-traditional my grocery shopping experience is compared to the average American grocery store. I blame my parents and friends for basically being an ingredient kitchen person. Y'all are such good cooks and normalized it! So when confronted by walls of processed goods I'm always a bit thrown. What the heck am I supposed to do with canned soup? I mean, sure, casseroles, but come on! Though, the giant tub of Jif for $6 was appreciated.

Yesterday, I mostly just chilled out with the girls and played some video games. It was really nice. Hope everyone else had an ok weekend!

Short list of birthday events:

1. Woke up to Wink yelling @ me at 6am with a poopy butt.
2. While chasing her to correct said issue, I knocked my (very fragile) phone off the desk and smashed the screen off. (I was transferring it to a different phone TOMORROW.)
3. Hauled myself out for the professional conference @ Rosemont.
4. Talked to a bunch of library staff people!
5. Ran into a coworker I had not seen in a minute and got to lunch w/them.
6. Got home in time to pick up stuff from the pharmacy!
7. Bought ice cream and Crunch bits for my birthday snack.
8. Got a present from mylittleredgirl and am thrilled with cat-shaped ice cubes!!!
9. Have dinner in the oven!

It has been a week and it is only Wednesday.