A Couple of Photos: Silly and Sad

I went into Starbucks last night, to kill a little time knitting, between getting to the Post Office before it closed and going over to a friend's house. I was a little surprised to see that they had octopus cookies in with their holiday treats.

It took me a few moments to realize that it was, in fact, a reindeer, upside down. He looks much more like an octopus. As Mary Ellen said, an octopus that is worried about his hat.

~~~~~
After Carlos died, I decided to get one of my favorite photos of him put on a canvas wrap, and it came today.

My baby, slightly larger than life. I have to decide where to hang it up.

Update to Sweater Seen at Rhinebeck

Do you remember that I had an incomplete item from Rhinebeck, a sweater that I saw in a booth, but couldn't find info about afterward? (It's waaaay down at the bottom of this post.)

One of the things I did, to try to track it down, was put up a question on Ravelry to the booth I thought it might have been in, and weeks later, I got the answer! I had written down the pattern name as North Point Godte, and it turns out that it was Godet--so close! And yet wrong. But now I know, and have a link to the pattern in Ravelry.

Although, interestingly, they don't actually say where you can buy the pattern...but that's okay for now. I don't need to have it now. I just wanted to know what it was.

A Few, Very Random Maine Photos, and a Couple of Details

I didn't do a good job of photographing the amazing scenery inside and out at the Cliff House, but I do have a few random shots (besides the ones of the room).

I spent more than a little time on a couch by this fireplace, knitting, and sometimes chatting or just hanging out with friends.

It's a gas fireplace, so the logs are just for decoration. Which made me wonder if they have to dust them once in a while.

I took this photo one of the few times that no one was in front of the other fireplace, so that's why I didn't sit by it while we were there. But we saw people there playing games, including the giant tic tac toe set on the table.

The restaurant was to the right, and a gorgeous view that I somehow never took a picture of was to the left. Water and rocks and tide and endless view.

This seating area was by the elevators on our floor.

The carpet in the elevators made me think of knit stitches.

Speaking of elevators, here is my self-portrait, titled Reflection in Elevator.

As for the rest, well. Some of my friends walked the Marginal Way, or went into the pool and hot tub, or even did a little shopping. I sat and knitted, and tried to manage my sadness enough to be social. Mostly successfully.

We had Thanksgiving dinner at a place called Roost, and it was delicious! And, interestingly, faced with four meal options, only two of us, out of 11, had turkey! Yes, I was one.

For the anniversary dinner, we went to a place called MC Perkins Cove, and it was fabulous! Of course it was dark, so we didn't get to see the famous view, but they gave us a small room upstairs for ourselves, and it was a great setup. As for the food, I had the beef tenderloin, and every single bite was perfect. I mean, perfect. How often can you say that?

One last photo, of a gallery across the street, glowing in the dark.

Unexpected

I've never been one to weigh myself regularly, but every once in a while, every few weeks or months, I do weigh myself and write it down, just to have a ballpark idea. There were a few years there where the numbers trended up, which was a bit depressing, but for the last two and a half years, it's been remarkably consistent: too high, yes, but staying within about a six-pound range. Even with the regular exercise I instituted in that time period, I seemed to be stuck there (which clearly didn't bother me enough to do anything more about it).

A couple of weeks ago, the Saturday before Carlos died, I realized I hadn't weighed myself in a while, so I got on the scale, and saw to my surprise that I had lost a little--not much, but below that range for the first time since, oh, spring of 2015. The odd thing is that I hadn't changed anything--in fact, I wasn't even exercising as much as the little I had been--so it was hard to figure out why it would happen.

Then, of course, Carlos died, and any pretense I had at good eating was out the window. More chocolate? Sure, why not. Buy this chocolate or that one? Hell, get both. Buy some ice cream and pudding, too. And after that, I went up to Maine for two days of wonderful food, which I did not hold back from. Thus, this morning when I decided to weigh myself again, it was with the full expectation that the pound or two would be right back on.

I lost another pound.

This is so weird! I mean, it is good news. But it's weird.

It does explain one thing that I had been vaguely wondering about: why my favorite jeans need pulling up all the time. They don't fall off or anything, but they slip down enough that I was wondering if they had stretched out or something. Apparently, it's "or something."

Getting the Only Complaint Out of the Way

I had a perfectly lovely time at the Thanksgiving/50th wedding anniversary trip with my family-friends, and the Cliff House in Maine is amazing, but I just want to start by pointing out something quite odd about the room, or more specifically, the bathroom.

This sign was in the bathroom.

And this type of policy isn't limited to high-end hotels, of course; I have seen similar messages in much more basic hotels/motels. If you want fresh towels every day, drop the dirty ones on the bathroom floor; otherwise, hang them up.

But here's what the Cliff House did not have, that other places I have been (Best Western, Courtyard by Marriott) did: places to hang those bath towels up, if you're willing to use them again. And there was plenty of wall space to put up some hooks. Here:

Or there:

But there was nothing, either in the room I was in, or in another friend's room (she asked me if our room had them, wondering if it was just her room that didn't). So strange!

(I also noticed that our shower curtain did not extend the full width of the shower, which I found very odd, but that isn't exactly a complaint. If it works for them, fine.)

Still, the room itself was lovely.

The beds were really comfortable, too.

And the view made up for a lot.

I Am Not Feeling Thankful

There are still many things in my life that I am thankful for, but right now, without Carlos, I am not feeling thankful.

So I guess for the holiday, my wish for you would be that you are able to feel grateful.

And that you don't get stuck in any traffic like this, from last night:

Holy cow, 81 minutes to go five miles. Happy Thanksgiving, travelers.

To Gym or Not to Gym

I think I'm going to cancel my gym membership.

This isn't just about being depressed since Carlos died; I mean, doubtless I am depressed, but I was actually thinking of doing this before. The holidays are coming up, it gets busy, then I'll be away for two weeks (in swim-class time, not in calendar time), and then it will be January, and I can get my exercise from getting ready to move. Instead of giving up an evening or two a week to swimming, I can spend that time cleaning out the basement storage, and the linen closet, and all the other corners I need to go through, making all the decisions I need to make before I can sell the condo, and get ready to move.

I would be more likely to keep up the membership, even if I only went irregularly, if going made me feel better. In any way! But it doesn't, and instead of giving me more energy, it takes some of the little I have, and I just don't see the value.

Looking at the contract, it appears that since I paid for first and last month when I joined, cancelling now means I can still go in December. So maybe I'll go again--I'd like to thank the teacher, if nothing else, for exercise I found tolerable (I won't say it that way to her, I promise)--but I'm not going to put pressure on myself for that now. Take it day by day.

A Functional Wreck

I could write about how tired I am, despite getting decent sleep (thank you, unisom), how my eyes ache all the time and I feel sore all over, as though the burden of grief is a physical one.

I could write about how I saw a tree, perhaps a birch (do other trees have white trunks, or only birches?) that leans to the side, and then all the branches swoop down to the ground so that it is almost U-shaped, and I looked at it and thought, I can relate.

But instead, let me show you this. I was paying bills yesterday, and noticed this on the electric bill.

How is it that I have never noticed that the first letters of July through November spell JASON? Did you ever notice that?

Without Him

I know you'll understand that I'm not up to managing coherence at the moment. So here are some random thoughts.

• I haven't not had a cat in my home since 1999. 
• And even then, that was when I was sharing a house with a friend, so I didn't live alone. The only time I have lived alone without a cat was the few months after I moved to North Carolina, before my parents brought Honey down to me.
• Every single time I stand up, or move around, I look around my feet to make sure I'm not stepping on the cat. This is going to take a long time to stop doing.
• And so far, I've only come in from outside the once, but that too is going to suck for a very long time.
• Also, I'm used to hearing small noises (or thinking I see motion out of the corner of my eye) and attributing them to the cat. Particularly when I've spent the last week or so on alert, going, "Was that him? Is he eating something?" Today was very loudly windy, the kind of day that makes the walls creak, and I kept having that moment of oh-shit.
• This is the third of my cats who has died in November. In fact, Carlos and Harold both died on November 16.
• So, first, fuck you, November. What did I ever do to you? Other than complain about you getting colder and darker, which is just FACT, I have done nothing to you. Why do you hate me?
• And second, when I next get a cat, how freaked out will I be during November every year? Very freaked out.
• And yes, I will get another cat, but not soon. After I move to Florida, I imagine.
• While I may be in better shape to focus a week from now, I decided it probably wasn't a good idea to test out the "is it good social knitting if I try harder" pattern as my knitting project backup over Thanksgiving. What I really want is just to make this shawl, Mioget, so I decided that if I finish it, and don't want to rip it out to make it bigger, I'll cast on another one. So there.
• This is called a knitting jag. To quote the Yarn Harlot, "It's exactly like the two year old who will only eat peas and scrambled eggs for a week."
• I did some poking around the stash, and I have two skeins of Socks That Rock Lightweight that go together pretty well, so I will wind them, and bring them and an appropriately sized needle with me, and feel good about that safety net.

RIP, Carlos

Situation Progress: Not Great, Not The End

It's been an up and down day for Carlos, and by association for me. At the end (spoiler alert) we're both still here, but wrung out.

Carlos spent all day on the bed, other than a brief water-and-litter-box trip after I got up this morning. I checked on him regularly, waking him more often than I'm sure he appreciated.

At 3:30, I ran out to a quick appointment, and when I got back 45 minutes later, I went to check on him before getting back to work.

He wasn't on the bed. He wasn't anywhere.

After about five minutes of increasing panic, I found him, behind a big bookcase I have in the bedroom; it's one of the ones I got when I worked at Barnes & Noble, and they were getting rid of some shelves, so it's massive and heavy. I have it pulled out from the wall a bit, from when I pulled it out to get at the plug behind it and didn't bother to push it back.

He has never gone back there, that I have seen.

And he wouldn't come out.

At that point I called the vet to see if I could bring him in there or should go to the emergency vet, and they said I could bring him in. To sum up, he had fluid in his chest, and they couldn't determine exactly why on x-ray, but they did aspirate some of the fluid, and got (I think she said) 60mL out, which is quite a lot for a nine-pound cat*. She said he was more comfortable after that, and while I could still get an ultrasound on him, to try to figure out the "why" behind it, that wasn't something they could do, nor was it something she thought had to be done tonight.
*Though actually, I don't know if that weight was before or after the fluid came out.

So I brought him home, and though I carried him to the bed, he promptly jumped down and went to his food bowl to eat, then had some water, then had some more food ... which I found very comforting. He then went back to the bed to rest.

Which is where I will be heading before long. I guess it's the two hours of holding myself in readiness for bad news, but every muscle in my back hurts. And I'm emotionally wrung out.

But I didn't bring an empty carrier home. So tonight could have been worse. I'll call tomorrow about the ultrasound, and if you're the praying sort, I would appreciate a few prayers sent our way.

Avoidance Behavior

First, updates on the concerns from last time: Grandma is much the same. Carlos ate better yesterday/last night, so I was hopeful for today, but after not much happening, I made a vet appointment for Thursday.

Oh, and the Bruins might be getting one player back from injury, but lost two more for their west coast road trip, aka "I won't be seeing any of this week's games anyway."

Now, back to knitting. I've been working on the Mioget shawl, and making good progress. Since I shifted to the center/left section, it looks as though I won't be in any trouble of running out of yarn after all, as I had worried. In fact, I'm starting to think I may have too much left over, in the sense that I might want it to be a little larger than it's coming out. I've decided to keep going, but before binding it off, I will make a serious assessment of how it is, and how much yarn is left. I may even do a test blocking on it, still on the cord, to see how much it might grow. I don't have any objection to ripping back and knitting the center section again larger, if it comes to that. I know I like both the look of it, and the process of knitting it, so that wouldn't bother me.

However, last night at stitch and bitch, I realized that if I don't need to do that, I may have a different problem, which is that there isn't much more to do, and I have a two-day knitting opportunity next week, for Thanksgiving*. I'll need to bring a backup project, and deciding what that should be is proving tricky. Cast on something new? But what pattern and what yarn? Pick up something in progress, like Farfalla? But can I make it successful social knitting?
*I usually celebrate the holiday with local family friends, but since this year is their 50th wedding anniversary, we're all going to an inn in Maine to celebrate there instead.

But it sounds like a better thing to think about than some of what's on my mind, anyway.

More Serious Concerns, No Solutions

Yesterday's post sounded, I think, fairly typically lighthearted, or at least not burdened, but in fact I have a couple of non-frivolous worries on my mind right now--and by non-frivolous, I mean I am excluding the Bruins, since just because they can't win two games in a row this season doesn't make them a serious concern, even to me. Disappointing and not fun to watch, yes; serious, no.

Serious is that my grandmother is in the hospital right now, and not doing very well. She may recover and she may not, I guess, which is not so surprising at 103, but still a concern to me, of course.

And I am concerned about Carlos, who isn't eating as much lately as he used to. It may just be a blip, but I don't know, and I'm worried. He's still drinking water, and he does eat a bit, sometimes. Just not very much. Though I am hesitating to call the vet about it. And I can't explain that. Am I overreacting? Underreacting?

For some reason, it feels very serious, but I can't pin down why. I had a terrible time getting to sleep last night, lying there and thinking, This is it. (Meanwhile, he was snuggled up, purring, acting totally normal.)

I opened a fresh can when he came out this afternoon, and he ate some, then came back later and ate a little more. Still not much, but it's something.

My Weekend, by ccr

I don't feel too bad about the end of the weekend approaching. I mean, don't get me wrong, I'd love another day of it! But I balanced out what I did this weekend for rest-and-rejuvenation, and what I did in the accomplishment category, and I feel pretty good about where I've ended up.

In the first category:

• Friday night I went to dinner and a movie with friends. It was great to catch up with them, it had been far too long. The movie (Victoria and Abdul) was very good: basically a comedy for the first three-quarters, then rather sad to end, but still enjoyable. There's an interesting article about the story in Vanity Fair, and if you want a spoilers-and-all summary of the movie, the Wikipedia article sums it all up. Also, we had dinner at Lexx, in Lexington, and as it was a cold night, I had to get something cozy. I had the mac and cheese with bacon, and oh, that was soooo good, even reheated for lunch Saturday. I wanted it again last night.
• However, I did have fun last night, taking my friend's daughter to Barnes & Noble to get books (as her 13th birthday present). We wandered around for a good hour, asking each other if we'd read this or that, then had cookies in the cafe before I brought her back. This is what she got.

• Speaking of reading, I've also been doing some of that this weekend. I'd been in a string of start-and-not-finish books lately, and I missed really getting into a book. 

In the second category:

• I ran and emptied the dishwasher, and did some hand dishes.
• I did my first pass through the yarn stash to get rid of some of it prior to moving: this was the easiest pass, since it's fairly basic stuff that I've accumulated here and there, nothing special to me, and it might as well be used. Someone in a local Facebook group for giving things away had asked recently if anyone had any spare yarn, and she's coming by tomorrow to get two kitchen-trash-sized bags from me. This feels good. I will make at least one more pass through before moving, and I know each time will get harder. Baby steps.
• I also filled a small bag with more books to get rid of, and have three winter jackets in the car to donate.
• I went to the pet store, and the grocery store.
• I got my hair cut.
• I filled that car with gas before I ran out altogether. I know, it isn't much of an accomplishment, but it is something I got done.

Anyway, some of this and some of that and here we are, Sunday evening. I'm off to do some more of this and that.

Playing Hooky* On a Wednesday

I put the * in the title because technically, I wasn't playing hooky when I took half a day off on Wednesday: I had permission, and in fact I worked longer days the rest of the week to make up the time, so it wasn't even vacation time. But taking a five-hour break in the middle of the week felt like rule-breaking!

My friend S was staying up toward the north shore, so of course our plan for the day included Coveted Yarn and Woodman's. I picked her up at 10, and we went yarn-ward first, chatting all the way (it's three years since she moved, and keeping up online just isn't the same as being in person).

We had a good time wandering around Coveted, poking at this and that, and then learned that we had lucked out, since they had started their ninth anniversary sale the week before, and it was still going on. Which meant that they had a handout with a list of the yarns that were 20% off, and virtually everything else was 40% off. Yeep! So much for my idea of not buying (much). We went on with renewed purpose.

I took a picture of the tag on this scarf, the Preppie Scarf, since I liked the look of it; it's knit the long way, in alternating ridges, and seems like it might hit my preferred spot in the overlap of "interesting to knit" and "not too complicated." Good social knitting.

And I may use some of what I bought to make it, specifically the green in the center and the blue on the right, which are both Mirasol Nuna, a silk/merino/bamboo blend that is just so soft and lovely.

The light blue, on the other hand, is 2-ply Mongolian Cashmere from Jade Sapphire, an indulgence I can generally resist at $47.00. But at 40% off, that means I paid less than that for all three skeins together. A bargain I could not resist!

And yes, as soon as we got in the car, we were both taking pictures of what we bought to put on Instagram. Naturally.

From there, after a quick packie run* for pumpkin beer (not for me, obviously), we went to Woodman's for lunch. S was very excited about getting whole clams, not clam strips, and also had a pumpkin beer. Hey, why not?
*Or stop at the liquor store, if you're not from around here.

I asked S if there was anything else she could think of that she really wanted to do, and she asked how close we were to the ocean; she lives right by one of the Great Lakes, but was missing that ocean scent. A bit of research later, we drove a few miles to Manchester by the Sea, and stopped at Singing Sands beach. The day was cool and very breezy, but it was gorgeous.

And no, we couldn't hear the sands sing; the tide was pounding in, so maybe that was why.

But there were several people there walking their dogs, and S is a big dog lover, and she had a great time. I mean, I did too, but it's a pretty short drive for me, so it wasn't quite as novel. But I was happy to see her so happy.

It was a great day.

Ice Stick Advice

Time for something totally frivolous! If one cannot be frivolous for one's 3,000th blog post, when can one? Yup, big round number!

As I have mentioned, I have recently acquired new, wonderful water bottles from Corkcicle. Well, I wrote here about the first one, which holds 25 ounces. I don't know if I wrote that I got a 16-ounce bottle as well, later in the summer. The larger one is an all-day-out size, but a bit large/heavy for days when the need isn't so great.

Or, sometimes, I use both, as for instance when I went to Apple Festival last month. I loaded up both Thursday night, and driving on Friday, I drank from the smaller one. When I got into the car Sunday to drive home, I shook the larger one, and it still had ice in it. Very impressive.

Anyway, I recently had a bit of Amazon gift money to spend, so I went ahead and got the ice stick tray I had mentioned, figuring that it definitely counted in the "get something you want, but wouldn't buy for yourself" category. And it's fun! And easier than fiddling around with filling the regular trays half full. But there is a little learning curve, so I thought I would share that with you.

The tray makes a dozen ice sticks, and one of the things I really like about it is that, because of the silicone lid that you press down over it after filling, the tray does not have to be completely level in the freezer. The package, in fact, says that it can be up to a 45-degree angle, and while I didn't check with a compass, I can confirm that tilting it does not lead to a flood, as long as the lid is pressed all the way around.

Now, about that "after filling"; I found it very awkward to fill by the standard method of holding the tray under the faucet, since it tilts pretty easily as the weight of the water shifts it around. This could be partly because my hands are not as strong as they once were, but I found it much easier to put the tray on the counter, and fill it from a water pitcher.

Then you press the lid down to seal it over the cube spots, and tilt the tray over the sink to allow the water that got into the outer area to drain out. Not that it's the end of the world if it freezes there; if you look closely here, you can see I hadn't gotten all the excess water out last time, and it froze around the edges.

But it wasn't a problem. One thing that IS a problem, though, is if you believe one of the photos on Amazon, which makes it look like you should be pressing the lid down as you tilt it. Don't do that; you just lose some of the water in the end ice stick spots. Trust me.

The other tricky thing I found was when I tried to follow the package advice to run a little water on the underside of the tray before getting the ice out, to help keep the sticks* from, well, sticking. If you do that, hold the lid on with one hand! Otherwise, it will give in to the pressure as the ice loosens, and some of your ice sticks will end up in the sink. Again, ask me how I know.
*It feels surprisingly odd not to call them ice cubes. Apparently I have somewhat dissociated the literal meaning of "cube" from "ice cube."

But just lightly pressing it in place worked fine; the second attempt was far less tricky than the first. I also advise lightly holding the lid on as you are getting the ice sticks out, so that you can get one row at a time, instead of having them all jump out at once.

Unless, that is, you don't mind picking them up off the counter and the floor. Feel free to live dangerously, if you want to. I won't judge.

Such a Fun Day!

Can you guess that I didn't work a full day today, with a title like that? Yes, it's true; I'm flexing my schedule this week, so that I could visit with a friend who was in from out of town, and only free during the day. We had so much fun that I want to detail it as it deserves, which I don't have time for tonight. So here.

Later!

Tiny Mystery Solved

I bought a new heated mattress pad* this weekend. The old one had been giving me trouble more and more often, turning itself off (so the display would show an E for error, instead of H for high). I was getting tired of dealing with it, but hesitant to spend the money on another, when Ocean State Job Lot had them on sale last week for $40, and I decided it was worth it.
*I got the first one in 2010! Well, that lasted a good long time, didn't it, for daily use?

It's been so nice not to wake up cold, and have to switch it back on, which was happening multiple times a night lately. And I didn't realize how ingrained the habit was of glancing at it during the day, to see if it had turned off underneath his lordship, until I don't have to anymore, but I keep looking at it anyway.

The new one isn't exactly the same as the old one, which had a digital display versus this one's dial, just for example, but the concept is the same, and I noticed something on the packaging that may explain something that has puzzled me a little over the years. Carlos often sleeps on the corner by the window, and sometimes tucks himself over at the other side of the pillow, but frequently, he chooses to sleep at the bottom of the bed instead, and I never could figure out why (not that he has to have a reason that makes sense to me, of course).

Well. See what the small print says?

More heat at your feet. Clever kitty!

Looking for the Bright Side

While moving to Florida is something that I am quite certain about doing, that doesn't mean that there aren't plenty of people and things here that I will greatly miss having as part of my daily life. I can get rather maudlin, if I think about it too long, so here are a few good things about leaving.

• No more cold weather. I know, duh, but honestly, if this is my last winter in the northeast, I don't mind that at all. Shoveling, scraping off the car windows, being freezing cold, no more!
• The end of climbing stairs, and needing quarters, to do laundry.
• In recent years, I have spent the majority of my vacation time going to Florida. Now I'll have it to use coming back to visit!
• No more MA allergies! I know, I may be allergic to what Florida has to offer, but I may not. There's hope.

Obviously, this isn't a comprehensive list, just a few things as they occurred to me.

More Knitting

I did, in fact, progress on the shawl I mentioned the other day. I had to do a fair bit of pondering, as, well, the pattern. Well, to quote what I put on Ravelry, "It wouldn’t be fair to criticize a non-professionally published pattern for being not completely professional, but it is fair to say that this is not the easiest thing to follow along with."

In any event, after some more pondering to be sure that I at least thought I was doing what would end up being what I wanted, I moved to the center section. After the straightforward triangle of the right side, it was kind of funny-looking.

But after a little bit, I pinned out that part, and so far, so good.

Once again, though, the color gets washed out.

I had a bit of breakthrough on that, though. I took a progress picture against a blue cushion and, dissatisfied with the yarn color, tried again against a beige cushion.

Now that is closer to how it really looks.

See? Same time, same lighting, but the top one shows a bit more of the blues, at least, if not all the tones of green and purple within.

Photography can be tricky.

Counting to 30: A Month of Gratitude At Once

I've noticed some people are doing a month of gratitude, posting on Facebook every day a thing that they are grateful for. And I'm not knocking that, if it works for you, but for me, the do-it-every-day method is a hard one, and I won't feel very grateful if I find myself lying in bed one night and realize that, oh crap, I didn't do it for that day, and is it worth getting up for? Not to mention, how many times I would have to ask myself, "Have I said this one already?"

So I decided that I could come up with 30 things I am grateful for, all at once, and while it won't have the same effect as sprinkling it through the month, it's still worth something.

In no particular order:

1. Having a roof over my head
2. That I can pay for 
3. And that I can pay my other bills (if I control myself)
4. That I have a job
5. And one that uses my innate skills
6. Working from home
7. A home with heat (and air conditioning, in summer)
8. Modern plumbing
9. Carlos the therapy cat
10. My family
11. A family of good and great friends, near and far
12. A working car
13. Sunshine, when it comes
14. And warmth, or at least lack of cold, when it comes
15. The ability to move to Florida (and that I want to be closer to my mother, and that she's happy about it, too)
16. More than enough possessions, enough that I can pass some on to others who need them more
17. Pictures on my walls that make me smile
18. All the lovely yarn in my stash, all that possibility
19. The display of straight knitting needles that I rarely use, but that remind me of the knitters who have come before me.
20. Knitting friends who understand why I'm so frustrated by this project, or pattern, or yarn, that is misbehaving
21. All the blogs I like to read (with a pang for the ones I loved that have stopped...I understand why it happens, but...)
22. The readers of my own blog (hi there)
23. Modern medicine. It is flawed, but where would I be without pain medicine, contact lenses, and so on?
24. Technology. Again, flawed, but I love having email, tablets, caller ID, and the internet.
25. Books. Old technology, in a way, but so different, and I get so much pleasure and entertainment, as well as knowledge, from them.
26. Having hockey to watch. The Bruins aren't always winning these days, sadly, but I still love watching them
27. The days when my hands don't hurt. I'm not quite at the point where I'm grateful to have arthritis, but it's true that if they never hurt, I wouldn't be aware of that and be grateful for it.
28. Today, I'm grateful that even when your Friday starts off feeling more like a Monday, at the end of it, you still get the weekend.
29. And I'm so glad that I can sleep in tomorrow!
30. Finally, I am grateful for my own, weird brain, for doing things like throwing me this earworm out of the blue today. No idea why!

Which took me down a rabbit hole of songs from that era, when I was really starting to get into music. One Night in Bangkok, Come On Eileen, 99 Luftballons, Rock Me Amadeus, Major Tom, Video Killed the Radio Star, and then Forever Young and others from Alphaville (I wore that cassette out; I was amazed how much I could still sing along with). Ah, memories!

I Prefer "Detail-Oriented"

But the term nit-picker is also apt.

I was at the pharmacy tonight, waiting to find out if I could get my flu shot there (which turned out to be yes, so that's one more thing crossed off the to-do list, pleasing me so much it's a little sad), and I glanced at the shelf next to me, along the front of the pharmacy, which held boxes of diabetes monitors. And there was one, with the side facing me, that showed the expiration date of 10/2017.

It's expired. That shouldn't be on the shelf. A customer might not notice, and buy it.

It took all I had not to pull it off the shelf and give it to the pharma tech, who I am 99% certain was not responsible for such items. The store must have a rotation for stocking and checking dates, and even if the pharmacy people are the ones to do it, they would do it when they wanted to, not when some busybody pointed out a problem to them. He was busy, they were all busy, and he wouldn't have thanked me for it.

But, man, did I ever want to.