My Thoughts for the Day…

Food Situation Rectified and Dad’s Obsession…

I went to bed last night at eight.  I was just exhausted from the previous week. George woke me up at ten with a knock on the door.  He had a vegetable and cornbread plate from his mother on his way to work in Lagrange.  On it was a cauliflower, broccoli and carrot medley with a lemon butter sauce, creamed potatoes, and white creamed corn.  There was also three pieces of Mrs. Florene’s scrumptious cornbread.

“I know you,” George said. “You are thinking this is charity.  Just enjoy the meal and call momma in the morning and tell her how good it was.  You would thrill her soul and she loves you to death.”

I promised George I would call Mrs. Florene and let her know how much I appreciated this meal.  I sat sleepily in the bed eating the meal as I listened to the radio and Maggie begged for cornbread.  

I went back to bed only to be awakened at midnight.  It was dad with my medications and some groceries.  He had brought two large loaves of bread, sliced cheddar and pepperjack cheese, and plenty of deli sliced turkey.  I was so thankful and relieved. 

“I now know what being addicted to something is like,” dad said, piquing my interest as we sat in my den watching The Weather Channel .  “I have been staying up till two or three every night on the Internet until I am exhausted.  I slept till eleven today and that is unheard of for me.  I haven’t done that in years.  I am obsessed.”

“Oh, how the mighty have fallen!” I thought to myself as dad left saying he was going home to get on Wikipedia.

We had gotten on a discussion of the Shroud of Turin and dad couldn’t wait to get home to read about it.  He was surprised what I knew about it with me being kind of irreligious these days.   I am fascinated with the theory that Jesus lived until his seventies, married Mary Magdalene and had four children by her. 

On Returning to Work…

Sometimes, I get a wild hair up my butt and want to go back to work.  Part of yesterday was spent filling out online applications for employment at local businesses.  The impetus for this was that I read on Social Security’s website that I could keep my Medicare health insurance coverage for up to eight years with no premium after I start back work with the “Ticket to Work” program.  I could also keep my disability benefits for up to nine months as I worked during a trial work period.  Through “expedited reinstatement” I could get back my benefits any time I was deemed ineligible to work due to medical reasons for three years after the trial work period.

I know it is just a passing thought, but I so long to be independent.  I want to be able to buy me a diet Coke when I want to, and I want to be able to go to the grocery store and just buy me some food when situations arise such as what happened these past few days.  It can be very demoralizing for a 37 year old man to be completely dependent upon his parents for everything.

Global Cooling in Andrew’s Casa…

A few months ago, I wrote about an experiment were I was trying to lower my thermostat to save on heating costs.  Well, in my all or nothing fashion, I lowered the thermostat to 62 degrees and was miserable for about a week – having to wear multiple layers of clothes to stay warm.  I am very, very cold natured.  For the longest time, my thermostat has been set on 82 degrees.  I have gradually lowered the temperature every few days until I am now on 75 degrees and I am actually comfortable.  I have grown acclimated to this new temperature.  Someone wrote on the blog to try this and they were right.  I am hoping dad will congratulate me any day now about my new lowered utility bills.  Mind you, he has never complained about my utilities, but I want to do my part to conserve my disability allotment.  It is just one small way that I can feel “in control” of my situation and life.

Computer Project for the Day…

I dread this, but it needs to be done.  I need to uninstall the ATI Theater 550 TV tuner from my Dell and put it in my newly built makeshift computer.  I dread even getting out the screwdriver and flashlight, but it’s bugging me that I can’t have The Weather Channel playing all day in the corner of my big screen LCD monitor.   I’ve got both computers working perfectly, and I am so afraid I am going to screw things up.   That computer repairer’s nemesis, static electricity, is always in the corner of my mind.