Cylin's birthday!!!! I went to bed before 10 and slept well till 5:30. I stayed in bed till right before 6 when my alarm went off. I walked Elsa, did my oil rinse, made my smoothie, washed my dishes, boiled two pots of water for the weeds. I have tons of weeds.
During Bikram, I worked on tightening my right thigh muscle. When I tightened it enough, my glutes and then my abdominals tightened. The changed alignment puts a lot of pressure on my injured inner left thigh muscles. But even those muscles must be getting better because I could never have raised my right hip as I am doing now without being in screaming pain. Now, it hurts a bit, but look at the difference in my alignment.
On the way home from Bikram, I stopped to get gas from Costco before the store opened. The lines are always much shorter then. While I was waiting for my turn at the pump, I called Cylin and sang her 'Happy Birthday.' This is the second time I have sung it to someone without Mike singing with me. Mike couldn't sing. When he was on the altar, Fr. Lio would tell Mike to turn off his microphone. He was reliably off key. To accommodate his lousy singing, we developed this way of singing which was deliberately off key. Cylin calls it off-key warbling.
I went to Costco to pick up a salad and dried apricots. I called Cylin again, still no answer. I told her I was planning to sing it while I was walking in the store. Thought she would enjoy the image of me caterwauling in a public space.
When I got home, I took care of the garbage first. Yvette came up and put a load in the washing machine. I threw my Bikram clothes in with hers. Later in the day, she came up to help me set up the Square app. Josh showed me how to download it but didn't know how to set it up. We hit snags in the process that Yvette was unfamiliar with and gave up. I figured I'd call Square customer support to figure it out. I took my shower, did MELT and used the Tiger Tail. I got dressed.
I emailed Raymond James to ask for the legal department's decision on the Affidavit of Collection. Would it suffice or would I have to go to probate? I hadn't read the emails in my inbox before I sent it out. When I did look, there was the information from Raymond James, sent out this morning before I sent out my request. Yes, they could accept the Affidavit of Collection, but it had to be modified. I sent them an email asking how this was going to get done. Were they going to make a change in the document or did I have to have my lawyer do it? Also, what was the number of the account in question?
I had an appointment with Petco to have Elsa groomed. I was to drop her off at 12. I walked around the house reminding myself to take Elsa with me when I went to town. Worst-case scenario I would have wound up at Petco without Elsa.
Right after I dropped off the girl for her beauty treatment, I went to Office Max next door to Xerox the tax form from State Teacher's Retirement Pension fund for Social Security. Once my marriage certificate arrives, either from the other Social Security department or from Princeton, I can send in the necessary paperwork to Social Security to start collecting my widow's benefits.
I stopped off at the bank to deposit some checks and get a $100 bill changed into 20s so I could pay JJ on Friday when I had the small group class. Then I went to the church where I knew Zola would be to return the food containers she left at my house. Some of them were glass. I wanted to make sure got them to her before I broke one. The 12 o'clock mass was over, but Zola and several other women were there doing an adoration. These women are so welcoming to me. I talked a little bit about Mike, my sadness over his suffering and my continued amusement about that time he told me to cut the bibble babble and laughed. Such a joyous moment.
I went to the parish office to say hello. I had asked Brenda to come over to my house for dinner. She said that I wanted her to cook for me. I told her no, it was because I so enjoyed our shared laughter when they visited the last time. Cynthia was there and happened to talk about a young woman she knew who had recently separated from her partner and baby father and needed everything. I said that I had cooking utensils at home. I would bring them in. Susan mentioned that there was hula practice on Friday. She had just heard. Fr. Badding was celebrating his 50th anniversary as a priest with a mass and dinner on May 6. and requested a hula to a specific song.
I'm plowing through CS Lewis's Mere Christianity. I remember enjoying some of his other books that I read years ago. Some insights have been helpful, but I am finding some of his arguments weak, ineffective.
I spoke to Judy. While she is certainly not feeling better, she reports feeling more relaxed as a result of the work we did. We had not had a chance to work specifically on the nausea yet.
I made two stops before I went home. The first was at Island Naturals, our local health food store. I picked up pumpkin seeds, dried cranberries, flax seeds and progesterone for my hot flashes. I've had them now for 28 ½ years. My first one was on March 18, 1991, at 5 pm as on the front lawn as Mike and I were approaching the car to drive into NYC for Barbara Kutner's 50th birthday party. In the beginning, I had 100 a day. I timed the;. I had a surge every fifteen minutes. Oh, that was so much fun. I'm so used to them now. Unless they're bad, I don't even notice.
I stopped off at Costco to pick up a package of their great salads. As I wandered around, I came across an aisle with dried fruit. When I got home from Oahu, I found a package of dried apricots and was enjoying them. I picked up another bag.
When I got home, I looked for Elsa. Oh, yes. She's not home; she's getting groomed at Petco. Another family member that I have trouble understanding is not here.
I worked on the blog. I was expecting a healing telephone appointment at 2. I got a text at 2 saying, "5 minutes?" That was fine with me. I was engrossed in writing and figured he would call when he was ready. After a ½ hour I looked up. Five minutes? I called him. He said he didn't hear back from me, so he went about his business. He was not able to speak to me at that moment. I told him to call when he got to where he was going. In the meantime, I continued working on the blog. During the telephone session, Petco called. My Elsa dog was ready.
I drove down and picked her up. Gorgeous. Mike would have taken so much pleasure in how pretty she looked. She brought him much joy. The groomer put a pink and orange flower with two small pearls in the center in her hair to match her pink collar and her orange tag. I drove home with her on my lap. She's pretty good; she doesn't run around the car or try to get under my feet. She's happy on my lap.
When we got home, we went for our before dinner walk. I did some more work on the blog. I had two long entries to work on. I also looked up what submitting Mike's manuscript to the Paulist Press would entail. I got stopped at, "Title of Book." I don't know that he had a title yet. Also, it asks for a book proposal. This book is already written. I feel skeptical that I can get Paulist Press to publish the book. If not, I plan to put it on Amazon. I will have contact with the people who might be interested in it. Mike wouldn't like it on Amazon. I'm a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants kind of gal. I don't seek the approval of the powers that be. Mike was quite different. I hope he will forgive me if I'm not successful through with Paulist Press.
I ate dinner, still finishing up the leftovers from Easter. Yes, they are still good. I always smell them first, and I haven't had any bad effects. However, I did decide to throw out what was still left over after I ate dinner tonight. I watched some TV and cataloged some books. I took Elsa for the final walk of the evening. I went to bed, and then said, "Goodnight, Elsa. Goodnight, Mike."
