Time for a Day Off…

I can see why Ambien can be so addicting.  You quickly become reliant on it to get a good night’s sleep and worry if you don’t take it, you will be miserable without it the next day.  I slept so well again last night – going to bed around 8:00pm and waking up at 4:00am.  Giving me eight good hours of sleep.  I really haven’t slept this well in years.  I also feel so relaxed after taking it – almost as if I took a muscle relaxer.  I got in the bed last night with the biggest smile on my face the covers felt so cool and comfortable, and I was so relaxed and calm.  It had been many years since I felt that way about going to bed often dreading it in that it would often take an hour for me to fall asleep previously.  I was asleep within minutes of laying my head on the pillow thirty minutes after taking the pill and then going to bed. 

A Steak on a Plate…

Dad grilled steaks last night for him and mom.  He brought me by a plate of a large sirloin steak, baked potato, and toasted barbecue bread around 7:00pm.  I had just called him warning him big storms were on the way.

“You were right,” dad said, always so excited about the weather. “The heavens opened up just after you called.  I had just gotten the steaks off the grill.”

It is hurricane week on The Weather Channel and it is hard to get current and local weather information.  Dad is still finding it hard to adjust to using the Internet as a weather resource like I do. His computer just doesn’t interest him.   And our favorite local weather television station, WeatherNow, is broken again as usual much to our chagrin.  Dad couldn’t keep up with the weather last night.

“The Weather Channel is just going to die as far as weather fans go,” dad said with a sigh. “I wouldn’t be surprised if it goes under.”

“They are catering to a mainstream audience now for the advertisement dollars,” I replied. “It was a shame NBC bought them.”

We both have lots of misgivings about the “new” and “improved” weather channel. You know it’s pretty bad when two weather nuts are not watching a channel that is supposed to be devoted to all things weather related. 

Dad didn’t say much last night other than asking me if I had taken my medications.  He is relieved that my current psychiatrist still has me on an antipsychotic still insisting that mom and I are schizophrenic. I like to call myself eccentric these days rather than mentally ill.  I told him she has dropped it to 2mg and he grumbled some. I didn’t tell him that I hoped to be off that antipsychotic before Christmas and that my psychiatrist is working with me on this.  Dad is so medication obsessed – feeling medications are a panacea for all that ails us humans.  I guess it is only natural with him being a pharmacist. 

The Talk…

Stacy and I had a talk last night about our argument over sleeping arrangements the previous night.  She went shopping for beds and realized it was going to be very expensive. She wanted to discuss the “situation” one more time before she put a new mattress and box springs on her credit card.

“I worry about Maggie and Caramel,” I told her. “I don’t think I can get them both in the car to drive over and it would devastate me if one of them would to get away from me. I can’t sleep without Maggie snuggled up next to me as well.”

Stacey sighed, not giving in.  She can be one doggedly determined woman.

“I will start to sleep over one night a week,” I finally told her with a sigh myself. “I will just leave the dogs at home.”

That was all it took to make her happy.  I know she wants to be with me and to sleep in her own bed as well. I can understand that. I will just have to take some Klonopin and an Ambien to be able to sleep over at her house. I am just so set in my ways after all those years of living alone. The things we do for our loved ones.

Just and Cookin’ and a Paintin’….

I got all my windows in the den painted yesterday afternoon.  It took hours in between bouts of cooking and checking the stove. All my windows and trim have this natural pine finish and it looks old and dated – like all that pine paneling that was so popular in the 70’s.  This new cream color I am painting my windows and trim makes the room look so bright and fresh.  I was very pleased with the results.  As busy as I am these days, it is going to take many weeks of off and on painting to finish, though.   

I also cooked tangy chicken, sour cream and mushroom chicken, and beef lo mein yesterday afternoon.  They are all in casserole dishes covered with aluminum foil in the freezer now.  Today, after mowing my lawns, I plan on cooking the spaghetti sauce and the lasagna – mom’s lasagna being a convoluted affair, but oh so delicious.  This will give Stacy and I meals for the ready for nights I just don’t feel like cooking.  I was afraid all that food was going to ruin if I didn’t get busy and do something about it.  I also hate to eat out, which Stacey loves.  But Stacey also loves my cooking so it is a good compromise between us.  She doesn’t cook much.  

Plans for the Parole Hearing…

I talked to Mrs. Florene last night with George’s parole hearing being only over a week away.  We were making plans about how to get down there and who was to drive.  It is about a five hour drive to Atmore, Alabama – just thirty minutes from the Gulf of Mexico.  I had already talked to my supervisor about taking the 9th of September off which will be a Thursday.

“We need to line up a job for George when he arrives home,” Mrs. Florene told me.

“If my business picks up in the next few weeks, then I would like for him to work for me,” I told her.

I told Mrs. Florene about putting business cards in every prescription bag at dad’s pharmacy. I am hoping this will make my business take off.  September is just another summer month this far South.  Our first frost usually doesn’t come until the first of November before all the grass goes dormant for the season.  And then the leaf season begins which I hope will keep George and I busy through November and December.  

“We will just tell the parole board that you are a businessman and he will be working for you!” Mrs. Florene said excitedly.

I kind of cringed some at the hyperbole she was using, but told her I hope it does help George get parole.

I will be so glad to have my friend home again.  It has been so long.  He’s been a faithful friend writing me almost everyday from prison.  George is my “Jay” friend.  Jay was a friend I had when I worked in Calera, Alabama and lived in a little apartment above a pet store.  Jay wouldn’t take no for an answer and would get me out of the house.  It was the perfect fit for a shy guy with social anxieties.  We went to a lot of hockey games over the years I lived in Calera.

Biting the Bullet…

I still feed Joyce’s cat Lucky every morning.  He is anxiously awaiting his can of tuna on the back deck before I drive over to get my diet Sprites for the day. He sleeps under my house on an old quilt i put down for him.  He refuses to be a housecat.  I noticed this morning he had been in a big fight and there was a large sore on the side of his head and it has gotten infected. His left side of his face is swollen. I am going today to buy a pet crate and am going to coax Lucky into the crate with a can of tuna tomorrow after work.  Off to the veterinarian we will go.  I am going to get him neutered and his shots administered while we are there as well.  I am hoping this will stop his tomcat ways and the territorial fighting as well.  He looks beaten and battered these days – worn like he is living a rough life.   It will probably take weeks to regain his trust after this ordeal, though. He is still much like a stray cat and fiercely independent.   I hate to do it, but it must be done.