Today was weird

First, James's company laid off 15% of their staff. Then James went in for an emergency dentist's visit because one of his fillings was loose and instead of it just coming out, his whole tooth crumbled. He was going to take my car because his needed gas, but he couldn't get it into gear. We've known the transmission was going out for a while and I had planned to take it in this morning, before we had to make a last-minute appointment at the dentist's office.

However, I was able to get the car into gear, so Mal and I dropped it off and walked to a nearby McDonald's to hang out and play until James got done with his three-hour tooth ordeal and picked us up on the way home.

Also, I'd made a late lunch and when we left, I accidentally left the stovetop on. D noticed and turned it off, which is a life-saver. I'd thought to move the beans off of the burner, so they weren't ruined/didn't start a fire.

Furthermore, I have an HEB order on the way right now and decided that since we were across the street form HEB at McD's that I'd just pick it up. I called and learned that delivery isn't always the closest store, where we do curbside.

I don't know. It's just felt weird. James kept his job (for now) and we're grateful. But it's sad to see people go; he's hearing all kinds of stories about people who were just about to put in for maternity leave or have just come back from disability leave or who just closed on a house. I hate it. This economy sucks.

This has been your ray of sunshine for the day. Bleh.

Je suis inquiet?

We were supposed to go on a big blow-out vacation to Southern California in April 2020. Toward the end of February, there were some whispers about a big virus spreading through China. Then it hit the US. I remember making myself a couple of pair of Mickey ears, thinking, "We still have six weeks to go... this thing could resolve itself, and I want to be ready." Obviously, it didn't happen. We were fortunate and got all of our money back, even the stuff we'd pre-paid that was "nonrefundable." But it sucked.

What ended up happening, though, was that later that year, in October, we took an all-outside road trip around the Hill Country, and it was truly awesome. Cost a whole lot less, too.

Now here we are, on the verge of our first really big trip since the start of the pandemic. Don't get me wrong, we've gone to Port Aransas, West Texas, Galveston, and have done short jaunts to OKC, Dallas, San Antonio, and Waco, and really enjoyed ourselves. But this is the first full week, major travel trip we've planned in three years. And I am tentatively extremely excited. And also a little anxious about being excited. Because I hate letdowns. I'm a giant wuss about disappointment, and there's little I enjoy more than traveling.

The world doesn't want me to buy things today

Except for our oven (which we're going to simply throw out and not replace as soon as James builds me a cabinet to hold an induction burner), we've replaced every appliance in our kitchen since we bought the house 6 years ago. The garbage disposal was supposed to have been replaced by the seller but wasn't, the fridge and dishwasher died, and the microwave was murdered by a power surge (the day we activated our solar panels, and the company that installed them reimbursed us for a new one, so no harm/no foul).

Sadly, the dishwasher I chose was garbage. I don't know what to tell you. I'm a cheapskate. I spent a very few hundred dollars, not realizing that LG is widely known as a crap dishwasher. We've had issues with it pretty much from the beginning, with the door making a LOUD noise when opening and closing. Also, the fat doesn't get enzymed away, and instead builds up in the nooks and crannies of the drawers, and all over the floor of the dishwasher. When I go to "rinse off" the filter, it makes me want to barf. I have to wear gloves, because holding it leaves such a layer of orange, thick, sticky fat that if I use my bare hands, there's no effective way to wash it off. And it grosses me out that we still put our dishes in there. They come out mostly clean, but the idea of it is sickening. I spend almost as much time trying to clean the dishwasher as I would if I just hand-washed the dishes (which wastes water, so I try not to).

We decided that the time had come to bite the bullet and spend a few extra hundred dollars on a more reputable dishwasher. I had looked at several and finally found a model that seemed to work for us. I called the local distributor and he helped me make sure we were getting the right one (this one has a water softener, so hopefully that will help keep the enzymes active enough to wash that nasty stuff down the drain like it's supposed to do. The sales guy said he'd send me an estimate for the washer and installation, I'd get 3% off if I wrote a check, then they'd call to schedule as soon as they'd gotten a picture of the check from me. Cool.

But he didn't send me an estimate. And, sadly, after about noon, I didn't get a chance to do anything so I guess I'll call him back in the morning and follow up.

The guy who's been mowing our yard since 2018 has been getting busier and busier, harder to nail down. We often go two weeks beyond when we actually need the yard mowed, and I feel like I'm harassing him. So we've been talking about buying another electric lawn mower for a while. The one we had before only lasted about a year and a half before the battery wouldn't fully charge, and I learned that you can't get a replacement because both the lawn mower and the battery itself are no longer manufactured. I knew the lawn mower had been discontinued when I bought it. That's why it was on such a great sale! Again, I DO NOT LIKE TO SPEND A LOT OF MONEY. But in this case, it bit me in the butt.

So today, I looked at a bunch of reviews and ended up picking out a mower and an extra battery (having to charge 3/4 of the way through the job is a real bummer). What's wild is that the battery alone costs 4/7 the price of the lawn mower! Anyhoo, I ordered it from Lowe's and then realized a couple of hours later that the sale hadn't gone through. They requested a different payment method. I got James's credit card and tried that, but it didn't work, either. Turns out that both Apple Card and the Amazon Visa we have declined the charges, probably because instead of processing it as one sale, they charged the battery and the mower separately, and two several-hundred-dollar charges in a row at a place we rarely spend that kind of money looked sus. We informed our banks that they weren't fraudulent, but I have to wait to call Lowe's tomorrow and have them process the sales.

I do hate spending money, but today I really tried to! The internet just didn't want to let me.

Then this other thing happened that was pretty significantly cooler.

We had a Panda Express coupon that expired today, so of course we had to use it (savings!). D had requested PE this weekend, actually, so it was a perfect time to get a discount. We'd pre-ordered food and I ended up there about 10 minutes before it was supposed to be ready. I ran in to use the restroom, as Mal and I had been running errands for almost an hour at that point, and then Mal mentioned that he was hungry. We'd just picked up groceries, and he wanted to go out to the car to get a Clif Kids Z Bar, then go back inside and wait for the food. He ran like a crazy person through the parking lot, and a man getting out of his car seemed amused by it.

When we got back inside, Mal practically inhaled the granola bar before noticing this cute panda plushie that was for sale at the cash register. He brought it over to show me, and I told him that he couldn't just walk off with it and asked him to put it back. He said, "But I kind of wanted it." I told him that I'd see how much it was when we got our order, but that he needed to put it back until then.

A couple of minutes later, the gentleman we'd seen in the parking lot walked over and asked me if it was okay for him to give Mal a gift. I said sure. He asked Mal's name, then said, "I want to tell you one thing: Never take a present from a stranger if your mom isn't around, okay?" Mal said, "I already knew that!" The guy said, "Good. Here you go." He'd bought Mal the panda! It was so sweet.

On the way home, Mal said, "That guy gave me two things: advice, and a stuffed animal!"

The Wonders of Modern Medicine (and TMI, maybe?)

A few years ago, I'd read more than one study showing that there was a correlation between people who were on an antiviral like Acyclovir to treat herpes and a lower incidence of Alzheimer's development. There wasn't and still isn't a clear answer as to whether this is at all causal, but it was of interest to me for two reasons: 1) I have a family history of Alzheimer's, and 2) at the time, almost every month, toward the end of my cycle, I would get a cold sore.

If you've never had a cold sore (or fever blister or whatever colloquialism you use for it) before, then... well, I guess good for you, you smarmy devil. But they initially tingle, then hurt like the dickens for 3 days, then seep for a couple of days, then dry up and scab over, then take a good week to heal. So we're looking at 2-3 weeks of dealing with this. Every month or couple of months. I HATED IT.

Sometimes I didn't get one. Sometimes, I'd get more than one (like the time I spent a whole day on a boat on Lake Mead and got super sunburned then ended up with at least 5 cold sores all around my mouth). Once or twice, it tried to come up INSIDE OF MY NOSTRIL.

As soon as I'd feel it coming, I'd apply Abreva topically and swallow a ton of Lysine. Sometimes, I'd stop it in its tracks. Many times, it didn't matter what I did. It was going to break out.

My doctor had no problem putting me on acyclovir. Ever since then, it's been perfect. I hadn't had a cold sore in years. I'd had a couple of instances where I'd felt the tingling, but then between the preventative, medicine, and supplement, we'd stop it!

Until last month.

Ugh.

As I've mentioned, my body is vaguely trying to stop having menstrual cycles. I went about 120 days last year, then had regular periods for three months. This past month, I didn't have a period. But when it got to what would have been my last day if I had, I started feeling that tingle. I've since gotten topical Lysine, which is a lot cheaper than Abreva and as effective, if not more. Except this time, all efforts were impotent. I got a stinking cold sore and it reminded me of how much I appreciate how effective the anti-viral has been for the past few years.

A further complication here is that I've stopped wearing make-up in the past year. I didn't have any concealer, so it was just out there, doing its disgusting thing (I do wear tinted lip balm and sometimes eye-liner). 

This was about a week into it, when it had started crusting over.
I did break out the left-over powder to try to even out the screaming red color.

Here's the thing I hate the most about it: It's all I can think about when I have one. First, it just hurts so badly. Then I know how messed up it looks, and sometimes I realize that part of the dry skin or scab has started peeling off, and then I wonder how long it's been that way. It's just such a dang focus and I despise that it takes up that much mental space for me.

The moral of this story is maybe that I'm super vain, maybe? Or is it that life is demonstratively better when you can afford or have offered to you "good" insurance that allows you to see doctors for non-life-threatening conditions. My quality of life is improved so much just being on maintenance meds for asthma and cold sores. Using my inhaler once every other month instead of 6 times a day is like a miracle. Being super bent out of shape about the first cold sore in 3 years instead of being super pissed that it's happening for the eighth time in a year is the same. I feel like that sort of peace of mind and care should be equally available to everyone, and not just lucky and/or "rich" folks. 

Another cheap adventure with Mal

We're still about 2.5 months away from our big family vacation, and this past week, D was really having a hard time with noise. Meanwhile, of course, Mal is the source of all noise in the universe. 

We were already planning to attend free admission day at the Zilker Botanical Gardens today (Monday, Presidents' Day), and it turned out that I had a free night at a Wyndham Hotel. SO it seemed like a good time to get Mal out of the house for a bit, go to a hotel (which is his favorite thing in the world), and give D a good quiet 24 hours.

Sunday morning, we usually meet up with one of Mal's friends for them to play and have lunch at McDonald's, but his friend's grandmother is in town so instead, we went with James to his usual (except it was unusual, because we drove a ways and he usually stays pretty local) Sunday brunch.

We chose Garbo's Seafood ft. Maine lobster. 1) Maine lobster. 2) Small outdoor play area for kids. Everyone was happy, especially my belly.

We got one Cincinnati lobster roll, and one Main lobster roll. OMG.

Mal made a new friend, as usual, and they had us parents exchange phone numbers. Then James headed back home, and Mal and I set off for adventure.

Our first stop was the Tyler's outlet, which was having a huge sale. I was particularly looking for a pair of flip-flops to replace D's favorite shoes... they've had them for at least 8 years, and we bought them at Tyler's back when they had a storefront on The Drag and we could just walk over. Anyhoo, they didn't have the brand in stock Sunday. I figured I'd look for a cool tie-dyed "Keep Austin Weird" shirt for Mal, but he found another shirt he really wanted. It, of course, was not among the $5/$10 sale clothes, so we ended up getting a $5 t-shirt for me and a $20 t-shirt for Mal. Sigh.

Next on the agenda was to go play mini-golf at Peter Pan, which is Austin-famous. Unfortunately, on a holiday Sunday, it is PACKED, and we couldn't even turn in to its tiny parking area, much less actually park. We ended up skipping it and going down to South Congress to visit Big Top Candy Shop. That involved a lot of driving around trying to find 1) an available spot that 2) wasn't neighborhood-permitted parking.

I've been to South Congress on the weekend, but not in many years. It was packed. Once we got into the store, it was fun to look around. We both picked out a couple of things. But the sidewalk was just walls and walls of people. We were more than ready to check into our hotel at that point. We drove through a McDonald's because, of course, Mal hadn't eaten any lunch at the seafood place.

This is a weird stand-alone LaQuinta just off of Mopac, kind of in the middle of nowhere. I think I redeemed a free room there almost 3 years ago, after a few months of the pandemic "lock-down." We were going to visit my sister for the first time in months, and decided to sleep in a hotel the night before just because we were going stir crazy. 

After we got comfy and rested a bit, Mal was ready to go to Windmill Run Park, where we used to visit when we lived in the apartments in Oak Hill. Mal didn't remember it at all, but still liked it just as much as he used to.

We had a free pizza at Domino's, as well as a $3 "tip" from our last carry-out order. I used that to get a 2-liter beverage, so we had our dinner back at the hotel completely gratis!

We walked around a bit, defaced a poster that Mal got with his Happy Meal, and watched some TV before I fell asleep super early. Mal said he ended up going to bed about an hour earlier than usual, as well.

This morning, we had a free breakfast. Mal's "hotel breakfast" staple is Froot Loops. He also had a left-over slice of pizza. Then we checked out and went to the botanical gardens.

Zilker doesn't have any greenhouses, and it's just gone from being below freezing (last week) to over 80 degrees today, so there isn't much in bloom. But the grounds are pretty, and Mal really loved the Japanese garden. I did, too... especially the place where they had a bunch of native Texas trees pruned in the bonsai style. It was extremely beautiful and thought-provoking, even though most of the trees didn't have leaves.

We were going to play at Zilker Park for a few, but Mal said his legs were tired. So we drove around to the Austin Science and Nature Center. Admission there is always free (not just Presidents' Day!). Mal wasn't super enthusiastic about going -- "You lost me at 'science'." -- but he ended up having a good time. His favorites were playing with the small, smaller, and nano magnets; seeing the rescue birds and bobcat; and playing in the dino dig, which he took very seriously. He also was able to look into a microscope for the first time.

By then it was approaching noon and getting pretty warm. We were ready for the half-hour+ drive back home. The afternoon was pretty low-key. Back to our routine tomorrow, with our homeschool library/park meet-up. Then Mal is having a friend over to play after school lets out. 

Well, that was a fast month

I've opened this up to write a blog post several times over the past few weeks, but there's really not much to talk about. We're staying busy, but it's minutiae-type stuff.

Mal had his first friend sleepover last weekend (as opposed to the time his grandma stayed here several years ago, he would like to point out) and that went well. 

D has a learner's permit and has a driver's test scheduled in about six weeks.

It's maybe our last freeze of the winter, and everything is closed down for a couple of days due to ice accumulation. Today, the surface roads weren't terrible, but anything up in the air was treacherous (including our porches), and tomorrow will undoubtedly be worse.

(It's "tomorrow" now. I'm NOT closing down this window without posting this time!)

Today, we do have icicles, which will make Mal happy. He won't wake up for a couple of hours, but it's supposed to be cloudy all day, so the icicles should hold out. I might try to get out and get pictures, but see above about our porch. I might send D out to snap some shots instead. You know, youthful balance and ability to recover from minor falls. 

We're also in tax prep time, and James got his W2 last week. This happens every year, but I just cannot fathom how people afford health insurance if they don't get it through their employer and don't qualify for reduced rates in the Marketplace. We pay a few hundred dollars a month for D, Mal, and me; and James working for Indeed has been the first time that we've been able to afford it. He's had other employers before who offered lower rates than market and we still couldn't swing it. So we're lucky. But the shocking part to me is that James's work's portion of our health insurance is more than 10% of his gross income. Ten percent! Call me a socialist all you want, but access to healthcare should be a basic human right (along with safe shelter, food, and water). It's not fair at all that I can be on a maintenance plan for my asthma and someone else can't, simply because of finances. It's been three years that we've been able to handle this for me, and it's a life-changer. I wouldn't die without it, but I'd be shelling out $30 a month for a rescue inhaler and using it 4-6 times a day, as opposed to using it maybe once or twice a month. 

I need to empty the dishwasher and get dressed for the day. It's super dark because of the clouds, so I feel like this is going to be a sleepy one. I'm mostly off caffeine but am partaking at the moment because I only got 7 hours of sleep last night (my average is just under 8) as Mal and I both slept in the master bedroom with James since Mal's new rule is if it's below freezing, that's what we do. We have all camped out in there when it's been in the 20s because Mal's room has drafty windows on 2 sides, and it gets super chilly. I have a space heater in there to help out during the day, but Mal doesn't want to sleep with it on (even though once I'm under my blankets, I'm fine and being cold doesn't seem to keep Mal from sleeping at all). But sleeping with two people who both go to sleep later than I do and also getting punched in the face when my son rolls in bed doesn't lend to a super night's rest. Here's hoping for an afternoon nap, after I crash from the caffeine hit. 

Happy February, friends!

Packing Light? A Test Run

We're going on a trip in the spring which will mark our return to flying after more than three years (don't tell Mal). The environmental impacts bother me, but we're going far enough away that we can't afford (time or money) to drive up, spending more nights in hotels and having to take more time off of work.

Because of how expensive it is to check bags, and because we're going to be relying on public transit to get to our hotel and back to the airport, we do not want to take anything more than a carry-on and personal bag for each of us.

The past couple of trips we've taken, I've tried paring down what I pack. This time, we took half of the clothes we'd "need" if we were wearing new clothes every day. I also had some Febreze to freshen everything up at night, and some laundry soap if we encountered stains. I didn't have to wash anything, but I did have a couple of "wardrobe malfunctions" that I hadn't anticipated.

Getting undressed the first night, I realized that the seam of my (many years old) leggings had worn through. Again. I've sewed them probably three times. They just gave up the ghost this time. So there went one pair of pants I couldn't rewear.

A couple of days later, as I was changing into pajamas, I realized that the jeans I'd worn that day had a quarter-sized hole in the right buttock!! I'd worn them so much, they'd gotten "concrete butt" and had just rubbed straight through. (James assures me that it wasn't visible when the pants were on, but he's also not super observant, so I'm skeptical.)

Finally, one of the shirts I'd worn has elastic around both sleeves. The elastic came untacked from the seam on the right arm. I have a small sewing kit in my purse and was able to darn 2 holes in socks while we were there, but this is more of an operation than the tools I had could handle. So I did rewear that shirt, but it felt weird with one fitted arm and one loose one.

My lesson: Closely inspect clothes before packing them! Also, I needed to replace the clothes I discarded. When we were packing to leave, I realized that I've also worn the bottoms of my sneakers through in a couple of places, and have worn the tread down the rest of the shoe. As much as I hate spending money, I needed stuff. So I ended up buying shoes from the same brand I am replacing (Keen) when I looked and saw that I'd bought those shoes in July 2021 and have worn them walking almost every day since about a year ago, when I had to take my Skechers out of rotation because the bottoms of those are worn out, as well.