The Day After

So another Dooms Day has come and gone. We’re still here ... or are we? Maybe this is all an illusion, a dream or ─ depending on your experience, a nightmare.

At any rate, dream, nightmare or illusion, I did what I normally do, which today was a run to the market.

“I miss seeing lipstick”, said the cashier as I was checking out. “Everyone is wearing a mask”.

Well thank goodness for THAT, thought I. Everyone in the market wear masks and, as far as I know, we’ve had no incidents of a Karen or a Ken causing a ruckus over having to comply with the simple request.

As far as her missing lipstick, I went on to say, “I still wear mine. Even though no one can see it but me. It makes me feel good to know it's there and when I catch a glimpse of myself in a mirror (at home)”.

“I just do my eyebrows, my eyes and leave everything under the mask alone”, said she.

That’s interesting, thought I. I wonder how many faces I’m looking at are only half done.

Every morning ─ even when I have no plans to leave the unit, I go the full nine yards ─ SPF skin protection, followed by Bobbi Brown repair moisture cream, then Derma Blend cover cream. Then it’s on to applying lipstick, penciling in eyebrows, polishing it all off with Derma Blend setting powder.

I generally do not wear eye makeup, because I don’t see the necessity for it, but I do spritz myself with Estee Lauder Cinnabar perfume after which I’m locked, loaded and ready to seize the day. Which now days consists of moving back/forth from the couch to one room or another. But at least I look good and smell nice doing it. LOL

While at the market, I spied an oddity.

One of these things is not like the other

Did you spot the oddity right away? You'd be surprised how long it took some to find when I posted on facebook.

I almost bought it, just because it was different, but opted to stick with a regular dozen.

Also at the market, my coin purse came in handy, when the bill rang up to $100.04 ─ and if that seems excessive for one person, you’re right ... it is. But that’s the reality when one can no longer lower one’s food costs with simple meals like peanut butter and crackers, or ramen noodles, a tv dinner, can of soup, etc., and instead must purchase healthy ingredients and cook.

At any rate, the casher questioned “You don’t have four cents?” and I was able to say “Why yes, yes I do” as I whipped out my coin purse and gave her four pennies.

My bib number and swag bag for the virtual DC Wonder Woman 5K, which I completed almost a month ago, finally arrived.

Most of the virtual races coming out are offering hair buffs (which I like), but this iconic 5K offered a tote bag, jacket, two wrist wallets and an awesome medal of course.

Back side of the medal is even more awesome than the front.

What a difference a year makes. Last year the DC Wonder Woman Inaugural Race had me staying in a fancy hotel, and having tons of fun at the race site with thousands of other participants. Crowds and cheers and excitement at the finish line. This year it was me, all by myself, alone, trying to avoid Knife Guy and ultimately having to call the cops so I could get TO the finish line (home).

Nothing to See Here

My life is back to being quiet and uneventful, nothing interesting or entertaining going on ─ and I like it like this.

The latest needlepoint project ─ now 11 months, 1500 hours in, is coming along.

Progress: January - May

Progress: May - July

Other than needlepoint, it’s been cooking ─ which I hate to cook and cleaning ─ which oddly enough I don’t mind at all, probably because cleaning is like exercise, burns a lot of calories.

When I say a lot of calories, I do mean a LOT. For instance, the day I steam cleaned the bathroom, the fitbit tracker logged 3,577 steps, 1.7 miles, 1,348 calories. The day I washed kitchen cabinets, steam cleaned the tile floor, and shampooed the carpet, fitbit logged 2,859 steps, 1.3 miles, 1,274 calories. I even managed to log in 1.5 miles, 3,161 steps, 1,125 calories just grocery shopping. Probably because of walking up and down the stairs to/from the car, unloading, then putting groceries away.

And I need to burn as many extra calories as I can right now because, following the Gut Specialists orders to “Eat gluten free and low Fodmap” I put on a few pounds.

I don’t need a Specialist to charge my plan $1700 for one session and a follow up phone call to gain weight, as I can gain weight all by myself ... for free. Plus, the Specialist tried her hardest to set me up with a Dietician. No telling how much that was going to cost ... and she tried so hard to get me to sign up for it that I began to wonder if she was getting a kickback.

At any rate, after enjoying gluten free eating ─ and I did enjoy it because I was able to eat cereals, pasta, cake, etc., so long as it was gluten free or I myself made it with gluten free flour, but I didn’t enjoy loosening the belt on my fanny pack ─ twice. So I took what seemed logical from what I learned on Fodmap, dropped anything having to do with gluten free, and became my own Dietician ─ with good results, as I’m having no gut episodes of late, slowly coming back down on the weight side and don’t feel hungry all the time which, I learned from the experience, was another offshoot of gluten free eating.

During that last telephone appointment with the Specialist ─ the one wherein she tried to get me to sign up with a Dietician, she indicated she’d check back with me in a few months to see if I was ready to sign up for it. I think she knew following her instructions was going to cause weight gain, resulting in getting more money out of me with a Dietician, but the joke is on her. I’m good now. Don’t need either of them. So, I’ll not accept the telephone appointment.

Speaking of appointments ─ deciding that if the world did not end on the scheduled Dooms Day of Wednesday, July 22nd, that early morning dental appointment on Friday was going to be too much of a hassle. So, I called the dental office and asked that my 7 a.m., with D on the 24th be scheduled to the next available appointment at a more reasonable time of day.

“We don’t show you with an appointment on the 24th and we don’t have a D”.

“That’s impossible. I just scheduled it. This is Dr T’s office is it not?”

“Yes, Dr. T is still here, but your hygienist was M and she’s no longer with us.”

Long story short, after much confusion as to who my hygienist was/is, I did get a rescheduled appointment and a new hygienist, but you can’t imagine how upset I would have been had I pushed myself to get up early and to the dental office by 7 a.m. only to find out I had no appointment.

If I don’t get a card from them verifying the rescheduled appointment, I’ll be sure to call the day before ─ just in case.

Living to 76 years of age, I’ve seen three well-liked hygienist move on with their lives through retirement. I’m surprised Dr. T ─ whom I’ve referred to in the blog as Dr. McDreamy because he’s a silver fox, hasn’t retired. On the other hand, he probably can’t retire because he became a father late in life. He’ll probably have to hang on until his son, now about 15, gets through college.

So along with outliving three hygienists, if the world does not end on Wednesday, I will have also made it through three End of the World predicted Dooms Days.

There’s probably been more, but I only remember one when I was in my early 20’s, another back in 2011 labeled “The Rapture/Day of Judgment” when “the chosen” were to be lifted.

Pranksters got a good laugh out of that one.

Living in Long Beach at the time, where I’d interrupted my retirement to relocate so granddaughter could have a place to live and finish school after her mom ─ deep into her lost period, had gone off the deep end, deserted and left granddaughter on her own. A move I came to deeply regret as granddaughter, instead of blaming her mom, took it out on me ─ spurred on by her mom, unable to accept responsibility for where she found herself in life, would call granddaughter, instill blame for the way she’d screwed her own life on me, furthering granddaughters cruel words and mistreatment. After all I'd been through and was giving up at that time, it was the unkindest cut of all and cut so deep that it broke me emotionally, mentally and darn near financially to where I had no choice but to Let Go and Let God with the both of them in order to survive.

I relocated to where I am now and divorced myself from family for a number of years, until I received an apology from granddaughter through Twin 2. Twin 1 never ever apologized because it’s not in her to do so ─ at least not to me because she sees the past differently than I do. Instead, she invited me to Thanksgiving in 2017. She'd had an awakening of sort, was on a more positive path, and Thanksgiving was her way of mending fences ─ to go on with life as usual, pretend as though nothing happened. LOL.

At any rate, it had taken years for me to mend, but I felt it was time, give the family thing another go and reconnected to where I now have a decent relationship with granddaughter and her mom. However, it will never be what it could have been had I not had the experiences I had with them. I wish I could forget, but some wounds won’t heal, so I play lip service to it all, play the game, go through the motion of giving a damn, act as a mother should, a grandmother should, but I’m happy all by myself ... alone.

For a minute there, I got so off track that I forgot where I was going with this, which was I was living in Long Beach, out walking that Day of Judgment, and lucked up on the work of a prankster.

"Lifted" right out of his clothes

Now here we are in 2020, with yet another Dooms Day End of the World prediction ─ this one with the caveat of a Second Coming.

I have my own theory about the Second Coming of Christ, which I’ll keep to myself, but I dare say that with all we’ve had to deal with thus far into 2020, and the possibility No. 45 might cheat himself into another win, some of us probably wish this really was the End.

Well, it looks like though I titled this post "Nothing to see here", I ended up saying quite a lot.