Sunday, April 13, 2025

119 - after 1.5 donuts yesterday

I did not power wash yesterday. I put my foot down and did indoor cleaning only. Top to bottom scrubbing in bathroom and kitchen, dusting and vacuuming in other rooms. The younger woman who arrived last night is going to do some heavier stuff like washing the wood floor in the great room and oven cleaning. The other 2 jobs for today include sifting through all the condiments in the refrigerator to toss anything outdated, washing it down thoroughly, and sorting through old bedding to determine what to donate vs throw out. The outdoor folks will be spreading the mulch and perhaps raking one other area on the side that is sometimes neglected.

We had a great lobster dinner last night and will probably go out with the group tonight (8 of us). DSD can't eat much as she is on an extremely low-fat diet due to gallbladder removal surgery on Tuesday. She has lost a lot of weight getting ready for it which she had started losing on Zepbound. She looks good weightwise but her diet is incredibly restricted right now so she is craving everything (she also had to stop the Zepbound).

Have a surprising Sunday!

127.0 lbs. -- not sure how/why those extra lbs. disappeared so quickly. Oh, wait! Now I remember that earlier this week I had a couple of consecutive days when my bathroom productivity was nearly legendary.

Liz, I'm still chuckling over your DH's desire for you to bond with him through power washing on a cold, windy, nasty day. I have one of those DHs as well and frankly think he's nuts on that topic. I do appreciate that it's satisfying to see dirt and mold and tree pollen disappear rapidly. I also think that a power washer is a very useful toy. ("Tool Time," anyone?) However, access to noisy equipment isn't the only requirement I need to join in.

Yesterday we spent most of the day downstairs--cooking breakfast for the first time since November, eating at a folding table, doing 6 loads of laundry (!!!), and soaking in the guest bathroom tub. It felt like we were staying at the Ritz!

Today we'll be looking at wallpaper, but that's pretty much it on the remodeling front.

CC, I'm sorry about your friend's rigidity. My take is that she knows that all along she was in the wrong and violated the rules she understood, feels loyal toward her son, and is now trying to justify her behavior. I think it's a pretty common human need to think we're the ones who were right. But it's hard to stand in "the public square" and admit we committed sins.

Gotta jump up and get dressed. Y'all have a good one.

I'm sure your home is closer to the Ritz than the Red Roof Inn!

Liz, I'm glad you weren't out powerwashing! You sure got a lot done inside. And lobster dinner is a very nice follow up to all the hard work.

A new routine for us is watching Fareed Zakaria on CNN. He interviews a wide variety of people (but not pundits), without hysteria, and with a global and historical perspective. I wish all news could be delivered like this. I cannot abide with many of the shows that allow spin, raised voices, and outright false statements.

Not much on the agenda today. Paper reading of course, a bit of laundry, and some retirement paperwork.

Will have to look into Fareed Zakaria. We watch very little TV news other than the local stuff lately.

Zakaria is a smart, excellent interviewer who asks the important (not silly) questions of the day and/or knows how to marry the issues of the day to the interviewee's expertise and experiences. He's also one of the most effective interviewers of businesspeople and can go deep into lots of industries' issues.

Interesting development on the "friend" front. I think I mentioned we were both invited to the neighbor's (Claudia) house last night. I got this text late in the day, "Thanks for your call. I was hoping to go to Claudia's tonight and hang with you but I am just worn out."

Shocking to get, really, after 10 days of mostly crickets. I texted back saying maybe we could talk soon. No reply. Now to think about what I want to convey if we do talk. 1) She doesn't get to sweep this under the rug and pretend it didn't happen and put the blame for this on me. 2) setting a boundary that I won't accept this kind of silent treatment/argument style again. 3) convey 1 and 2 without sending her into a second round of victimhood. Hmm. Trust has definitely been broken, so we'll see.

I did go to the party and I'm glad I did. They are great people and their friends were all very nice. The food was delish. The house is beautiful. Very sterile in a uber-modern way (who knew there were so many shades of off-white), but they don't have any personal items in it as they haven't moved in. But it's super high tech with powered walls that slide back to disappear, multiple kitchens, a soundproof theater room, etc. It makes me want to start from scratch every time I see a new house in here! It would be fun to get exactly what you want. Funny thing about the sliding walls, I'm always going nuts about the screens and doors not being left open because of snakes, lizards, bugs, and scorpions. They had them wide open and while we were eating dinner a bat flew in and was flapping around the house to much squealing! Eventually it flew out, but I felt vindicated for my door vigilance.

Case in point, I had the first snake of the season by the backdoor yesterday. A baby gopher snake:

Unfortunately I slept like doo-doo last night and have a headache. And my bff and his new squeeze are coming over today, so I need to finish cleaning. I got some done yesterday, but left a bunch for this morning, which my morning-self is very displeased about.

So off to clean... Take care!

I hope you had a good visit with BFF and friend. I don't think I could handle the possibility of sleeping with scorpions either. Are these new neighbors native to Arizona? If not maybe they didn't realize how many critters are waiting out there when get designed their home?

They're from Scottsdale! And said they loved there were less bugs up here. (???)

126.1. I ended up eating just over 1400 calories yesterday! And I'm still on the hungry side today but did take my 2mg shot, so that should diminish in a day or two.

Today was my last Character Development class. Well worth the time invested in it.

Plan to made grilled tuna steak Asian salads for dinner. Was going to grill outside but it looks like rain now, so may have to bring out the cast iron grill and do on my stovetop.

DC1 and DH are napping (not together, lol). I may join DH once my FB marketplace transaction of selling my old printer is complete. A 1:00 pick up time is looking like it will be closer to 3:00.

Lobster dinner sounds delightful, as does soaking in a tub! Hope the neighbor does have the talk with you CC and I love your boundaries!