one, lonely donkey chewing on an electric fence

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!

Man, it feels like my body is trying to wave a whole bunch of yellow flags at men and IDK what to tell it. Capitalism, bb. So, I somehow consumed some shrimp on Sunday because I spent yesterday morning with a lot of unpleasantness.

I would really like to not call out of work all the time. ISTG I need a sticker chart at this point.

In other news, the weather was gorgeous this weekend. I got to sit outside for a while and read while my laundry was going. I wish I still had access to my laundry room because Friday Night laundry was great. And being able to just run a rug or two through when needed. The manual laundry I have is ok, but mostly for t-shirts and non-heavy stuff but Winter Is Here. Plus it is kinda nice to go to the laundry? It's in a good little shopping center and I can get some errands done while it's washing/drying.

I also got a bunch of cleaning done Saturday and tackled a couple long-term sorting projects. It's not perfect, but progress is progress. Now I just have to figure out how to get rid of a bunch of stuff. Anyone want a full version of Sims2? For shipping + $20, it's yours!

Next weekend is gonna be a bit busy, but it's all fun stuff. I accidentally scheduled meet ups with friends on Saturday and Sunday, which should be really nice! I also am getting a massage. My shoulder's been begging for it for weeks, but due to scheduling, it is gonna be this coming weekend. I have another one scheduled for the end of November and one in December, so that will be nice!

In other news, Teddy Sinclair remains a fabulous artist and I want all of you to listen to her music, please. Her Cruel Youth stuff is just so good and you all deserve nice things.

Traditionally, August/September has been a challenging time for my brain. These days it's medicated and I found something interesting happening. For the last few months I've just not had the energy or interest in doing more than the very basic minimum. This got rubbed in my face last weekend with the mountain of laundry I needed to tackle.

I mention any of this because I actually felt motivated and engaged this weekend. I did some long-standing house chores that had been neglected AND I started tidiying my home. I also put a date on the calendar to get a friend to come over and help me clean/get the stuff taken down to get donated. I am going to try to get something on the calendar later to deep-sort my storage closet. There's a lot in there that can be passed on. I really want to downsize a lot of stuff because I can just feel it closing in. I need to do a deep sort of my book cases as well, but that can wait a while. So can the dvd weed.

Anyway, it's nice to have a tiny little glimmer of motivation. I need a lot of it in the next few months, but I will do my best to protect the wee bit I have.

I had a solid weekend. I spent Saturday impersonating a lump. It was excellent. There was a three hour nap that was delightful. The cats were thrilled that I did not put on pants (signalling ~outside~), and I used the shitty air fryer I got at a second hand store to eat a sweet potato. I also purchased a cake (I never got one for my birthday back in May) and ate a couple pieces. I also watched most of the first season of Fantasy High, which has mostly confirmed that it's not really a narrative for me.

I do enjoy Dropout as a service (for real, it's worth the money if you like even some of the shows) and really like their work practices. That said, there is just always going to be stuff that's Not For Me. I'll finish the season, but I'll probably just rewatch The Seven again because that's more my vibe.

I also have all of the newest season of Misfits & Magic to catch up on next year. I love that series with my whole heart, but am not in that mood right now.

ANYWAY. I also decided to use some of my time last week to actually do a wardrobe cull. I know I can do a deeper one, but I did a first sweep of stuff that is falling apart (rags) and stuff that I just don't like or don't wear. I had a giant rag bag and an equally giant donate bag. I dropped the rags at GW and will try to drop the nice stuff at Brown Elephant some time in the future.

I did want to do a big electronics I Don't Use round up, but just didn't have the energy to do it on Saturday. Chicago's electronics recycling is only open the first Saturday of the month, so I decided to just kick the can down the road until January 4. I need to actually try and see if there's anything salvageable on the 2007 desktop that's been a paperweight for the last decade. PRETTY sure it isn't because the last time I plugged it in, there was a pop and it smelled weird. Still, if it's junk, I want to pull out the hard drive and smashy smash first. I also have a junk drawer of old mp3 players and weird shit people have given me that I just don't care about. I should also probably just bite the bullet and do a GreenCycle bin for old VHS tapes and dvd's. There's a bunch of stuff I just want gone.

BUT. I also spent a chunk of Saturday night shredding old documents and stuff with my name on it. I do love my tiny little shredder. It's a beast when I actually use it. I also re-organized paperwork and refiled a bunch of stuff. My printer (that I want to get rid of) is now clear of stuff I "keep meaning to put away", as is my craft table. The bags of shredded paper are in the recycling, and I even managed to get the donation bags down to the car.

I don't know. I feel the desire to do another deep, Swedish Death Clean. I know it's my anxiety driving it, but it is what it is. And I just want a good 40% of the stuff I own gone. I did a quick scan through my larger bookcase last night and I pulled a good ~20+ books that I'm going to dump in some local free libraries. I'm going to try and go through my larger books again to see if there's anything I want to pass on as well, but that can be a project for break. I've decided that I'm not going to do anything I don't want to do over break and while I am going to a bunch of medical appointments, I finally have some time at home and I want some structure to do things there.

That's for later though. Sunday morning I decided I wanted to be done with errands as early as possible so I could relax and be a lump again. Got my grocery shopping for the week done (including stuff for the holiday get together potluck Thursday and Cookie Day), dropped off some donations, washed and fueled the car, and got cat supplies. I was done by 1pm, and spent most of the evening playing Stardew Valley. I think this is my fifth play-through and am having fun with the new update content.

I remain absolutely in love with my dishwasher. It is, hands down, the best purchase of 2024. I wish I'd bought one years ago, but I remain deeply grateful I even have it now. (Runner up is the plastic basket that fits inside and holds little bits and bobs that would otherwise fall through the rack. It's great for lids and weird-sized pieces.)

I got a bit of a bonus weekend. Because of the surgery reschedule, I didn’t really have anything planned, so I didn’t do much.

Yesterday was a bit of a gift. It gentle-rained all day, and I decided that meant it was just a quiet day. I chilled with the girls, read a book, and put a Hozier album on with the windows open. It was a lovely day, all told.

Today I did some actual errands. I cleaned out the fridge of leftover veg/food and took that to the compost bins. Someone apparently made some kind of lemon dish because there was an entire top layer of rinds. And yes, I did get rid of the lentil dish. Kept the rice because it was fine. I also took stuff to the laundry, went grocery shopping for minimal stuff, and went to the local garden center for some plants. We’re due some warm, rainy storms in the next few days, so I think it’ll be fine. If not? Eh.

I also got to relax with the girls again and take a nap. My last task is to wrestle the AC out of the closet and install it in the living room. Ok, and I need to call and make a hotel reservation for Wednesday night. Mom and I decided it is smart to be closer to the hospital for her surgery than have to travel early on the day of. Due to some really weird circumstances, the close hospital she had her last surgery at is no longer an option, so the new one is, like, 25 miles away. Which sounds like a lot, but it’s not really. Technically, she could have had surgery in the hospital behind my job.

Eh. For now, the cat sitter is set, the rugs are mostly clean, the bedding will get changed before I leave, the girls have food and litter, I paid my rent, and I just need to pack on Tuesday. Woof.

Update: AC installed. Reservation made. \o/