Thursday, July 18, 2019

Thursday morning things

* Weirdly anxious this morning, but that could be any number of things that isn't actually anxiety:

- it's too hot. (Even with the window AC in the bedroom - I didn't want to keep it up TOO high to use too much power, and also, with really cold air in the night I get a stiff neck). So I slept less well than I might have (though probably better than I would have if it had been 78 in my bedroom)

- I think I pulled....oh, I don't even know what the long muscles that run from the abdomen to the chest are called, but I know they've gotten a bit lax of late and I started back up doing the dvd workout more frequently (which has a certain amount of "core" exercise and also abdominal twisting). And also, I seem more prone to pulling things and muscle cramps in the heat.

- My allergies are bad. I'm hived up and it seems that "unexplainable anxiety" and "hives" seem to go together. Man, I wonder if there are any allergists/physiologists who have looked at it. Chronic idiopathic hives seem to be not all that uncommon but there also seems to be precious little research on them and I'd love to read some discussion of the conditions that come along with them, and also ANY possible things - even a Hail Mary sort of thing - for shutting them down.  I do notice it's a LOT worse when it's humid.

- Next Wednesday is my GI consult and I have to remember to take Wanda's and Dessie's phone numbers with me in case they press me to make the appointment for the colonoscopy at the appointment and I have to call them to find out when they could drive me. (I am still hoping beyond hope he'll take my medical history and go "You know, you're awfully healthy and don't have any real risk factors, why don't we do the less-invasive test this go round?")
And I know, I know, doctors say "yeah the prep is bad but it's the best nap you ever had in your life" but I still can't even with the whole thing.

* Purlewe: the small AC units like I have (like, big enough to cool a bedroom) were about $150 five years ago and might not be a whole lot more now. They are not hard to install ESPECIALLY if you have help, though I highly recommend drilling pilot holes into the sash for the screws that hold it in place. (And even if it's not a ground-floor room, I think I recommend installing the screws, though more so the unit won't fall out than for "security" purposes)

I do think it's maybe a worthwhile investment - if you can bug out to the bedroom, you can set the whole-house unit to a higher temperature and save it/save some energy. And then you've got the little unit if the big one cacks it. (Though there's not a lot you can do in power outages, sadly.)

And I really hope we don't get brownouts but I am bracing for one because it is unusually sticky/nasty here and I know people are gonna run stuff. I ran my dishwasher this morning even though I really didn't want to because it was full and I was almost out of certain dishes, and the idea of handwashing everything made me want to cry.

I think maybe I hold off on laundry for a couple days - I can make it, probably - it might cool down a little Monday. And fortunately I have enough food that can be eaten cold or just zapped in the microwave so I don't heat up the house. (And I NEEEEED to get myself an electric kettle for when I want to just make tea - the burners on the stove do seem to heat things up a lot)

* But yeah. As much as I might want to go antiquing this weekend (and hit the Bed Bath and Beyond to see what they have in the way of electric kettles), I doubt I will. Even if the "distraction" would be good for me, because it's gonna be just as hot Saturday as it was yesterday and I could not deal with yesterday and the thought of going ANYWHERE in the heat does me in. (And Wednesday next week I have to be down that way for The Appointment)

I don't know. I know this heat is coming every year and every year it hits me almost like I don't expect it. It's like I forget how miserable and unbearable it is. (Well, I guess it's not *literally* unbearable, as I'm still here).

I will need a few fresh things but I think all of those can be obtained from the Pruett's.

But yeah, I am really kind of jonesing for some fun (this has been a long week, for various reasons) but there's not a lot of fun to be had right in town, but I'm also loath to drive far in this heat (and I need to take my car in for an oil change very soon)

* I suppose if I get something done this morning/ early afternnon (need to sort two soil samples to stay on schedule and I also want to update the lecture on the Clean Air Act), I could try going to the new little toy store that apparently opened up downtown. And maybe to the Kopper Kettle, even though I don't really need anything (I don't think they sell electric kettles, and if they did, they'd be the very most expensive kinds). I don't know. Or maybe I tell myself it's really OK to go and get an ice cream after lunch even if I am trying to reduce a little.

* There's a lot made of the "Full Moon Effect" (which apparently isn't statistically real, regardless of what ER doctors and nurses say) but I honestly wonder if extreme heat and humidity brings out more stupid crimes. We've had bad-stupid - a couple of extreme instances of road-rage (one case: drunk guy running a car off the road and the resulting accident killed the people in that car; another case, someone shooting at the other car for no clear reason) and just stupid-stupid (there was some crazy shaggy-dog story involving theft and apparently drugs and I don't even remember what else because I was doing my Duolingo practice while it was on the tv this morning and all I remember of it is thinking "that's both complicated and stupid" when they wound down to the end of it).

And it does often seem people behave worse, and are worse-tempered, in the heat. I know for me even routine things like going to the grocery feel like a much larger effort than they do when it's cooler. I try to remain calm and civil because it doesn't do some random store clerk any good (nor does it do you any good) for you to take out your frustration on them, but I will tell you that of all the times I've been close to tears, close to walking out and leaving my food behind unpaid for, close to just sitting down on the floor and giving up in a grocery store - 90% of them have been in the hottest days of the summer.

* At least this story turned out the opposite of how I thought it would. (The girl was at a treatment facility in Colorado. There, she made a friend and they ran off. Both of them apparently needed medication. She was missing for like a week. My expectation was 100% that they hooked up with some creepo who killed them but it looks like not.

Interestingly: last night a large number of people held a vigil for her in Sherman. And then this morning we find out that she's been found, alive [we don't know how safe, yet] and has been reunited with her family. ) So at least there's that and I'm happy I was wrong in assuming I knew what the outcome would be

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