And then, there's a bearded fetus.

Boodle let me sleep til 6:30 today! Which was very helpful.

I realized that yesterday when I was so very tired, there was a good reason for it. The reason is that I'm a freaking idiot and took pills from the wrong side of the pill case! So at 6am, I took Ambien, Benadryl and Trazadone. Go team fucking me. At least I did it on a Saturday. I still managed to do everything, I just needed naps between them. Today I was super careful, and double checked that I was taking the sun and not the moon side.

Today we have cleaning, then at 5:30pm, we have our Rise of the Ice Dragons game with poisontaster. She left us all in perilous situations with the party split in two, so it could be a tough game. I'm looking forward to it!

We had two games yesterday, both smaller ones. I had three people in each and both were super fun. The first was one that I came up with that was an evil one shot. Everyone was playing an evil character. They were also all only 3rd level, and terribly incompetent. The dice yesterday on Roll20 were not kind at all. They seemed to want me to do a total party kill. Except that when they got to the big bad, he was also incompetent and so they just all flailed at each other until someone landed a lucky blow.

I'm plotting my grocery list for the week. I'm hoping to get to pick it up on Wednesday night, earlier if MD state sends my taxes back on Monday or Tuesday. I'm getting low on some stuff like Eggs and milk and coffee creamer, so that would be lovely.

Either way, I have a bunch of shit to get. My Sam's club cart floweth over. I'll probably pare it down some, because I don't know that I need quite that much frozen vegetables, so I might switch them to the food lion cart and get one or two smaller ones so I don't have to scramble to figure out where in the freezer to fit them. I usually get my meat at Sams, but I overbought last week, so I probably don't need a ton of it. Just some variety.

Okay, time to consider pants and a shirt instead of my nightgown. Gotta do laundry today and some cleaning! Everyone have an outstanding Sunday!

It's Friday!! The weekend shall now commence. Except that I've got work to get through first.

I'm a little congested this morning and I have a bit of a headache, but I'll take some meds and a lot of coffee, and that'll get better. I really need a shower, but I'll probably take it after dinner tonight, or right before work, if I have time. Which I probably could if I shift things, but we'll see.

I'm debating what I want to have for breakfast. Normally it's two fried eggs and a piece of smoked sausage, but on the other hand, we do have rice, and I could do a little prep work and make fried rice. I will think on it. I'd have to slice a bit of onion super thin to do that, and it would take a little bit extra time. But we'll see. I did get up early today, so I would have time to do that.

I've actually been getting up early every day. Not sure why, but my brain seems to be set on 5:20 as the time to wake up. It's annoying the shit out of me, but I can't seem to stop.

It's been 3 days with a Dexcom, and I kind of like it. Aside from banging it on the door once (which was painful) and the cat standing on it (which was painful), it's been pretty fuss free. I can watch my sugar in real time, and it's kind of fascinating.

My sugar is in range 92% of the time, apparently, which is pretty good. I'd rather it was lower, but it's not bad.

There was a study of GLP-1 medications, of which Rybelsus is one have properties beyond just lowering sugar and weight loss. As they're studying it, they're also finding that it may protect against kidney disease, sepsis, Coronary Artery Disease and possibly preventing alzheimers. The studies are still early, but it's definitely showing promise.

Work was a bit of a slog towards the afternoon yesterday. The morning was awesome. Everyone was sweet, and I got lots of compliments--it was lovely. But by 2, I was tired of talking. People were more demanding towards the afternoon, and I just didn't have the openings.

Okay, time to go forth and get myself together. Everyone have a most excellent Friday!

My body seems to have decided that my time to get up is 5:30 instead of 6:00. It's annoying, but I'll deal. I rather like having the first half hour of quiet time before my sister awakes.

I actually managed to sleep last night, which was nice. I wasn't sure I was going to, since the dog had a bit of a bark right before bed that kind of set me on edge.

The first few days, I was very chill, but then I kind of fell in love with the place, and now I'm terrified about getting a noise complaint. To the point that it's been giving me anxiety attacks. We're doing our best to keep him quiet, and he doesn't bark at night, it's strictly between 8am-7pm.

I'm going to try to make him some good peanut butter treats to see if they'd work as a distraction. It's not as high-value as meat, but it might do the trick.

Yesterday was absolutely busy as hell at work. Our queues were in the red most of the day.

I was talking to poisontaster yesterday, and said that I feel woefully unprepared to be a Real Adult (TM) I just feel like my family did nothing to prepare me for reality. I have no clue how to budget, I feel like I'm just floundering. I have this lovely home, and I'm having to look up how often to clean it. I know how to cook, but planning reasonable meals is out of my wheelhouse. I can plot out somewhat lavish or special meals, but beyond that, I'm out of my depth. Thank god for the internet. TikTok is actually incredibly useful. Videos that not only tell me how to do things, they also show it. That's hugely helpful to me.

It's funny, I thought once dad died, we'd be able to travel, but we're kind of right back where we started because my sister cannot possibly walk the dog. She has enough trouble getting herself up and down the stairs. To do it with the dog is an impossibility. What we're thinking is that the probate case normally takes about 6-9mo and we started at the beginning of December. So, with a little luck, by July-September, we should have judgement and be able to pull the money. Then, we will begin putting the little fucknugget into doggie daycare, and if that goes well, he can board there for a few nights. We're hoping to go away the first weekend after Labor Day.

Honestly, despite the penalty, I may pull all the money and reinvest it elsewhere. Both of these companies were 100% incompetent. The one basically lost the policy for 5 years. The other screwed up the beneficiaries. I do not have deep and fuzzy feelings towards either of them. One, I will probably transfer to Fidelity, as they were easy to deal with for my IKEA IRA. Depending on how much the other is, I'll see what I do.

For now, what I do is go get dressed and ready for work. Everyone have a beautiful Wednesday!

It's Monday. Happy MLK day, everyone. We're going to just ignore anything else that might be going on today. I am up early to begin getting ready for my 10 hour day today. It's not going to be easy, but I'm going to push through and make that good good time and a half money.

My sister is off from work today. She was supposed to go out, but she got my little cough and decided to stay put. I need to call UPS and schedule a time for the boxes to be picked up, but first, I need to call the nice people at the fireplace site and get another box added to the order.

Then, I need to call the apartments, and ask for advance notice when the dishwasher comes in for installation, so I can take the day off.

As the snow started yesterday, we had the first blip with the apartment--Shelly's toilet failed to flush. We didn't have a plunger here, so off to the house we went. Good lord, it's depressing. It's no wonder we were all a bit wiped out there, even after we lost Dad. We were always going to lose, living there. There was just no way to fix everything. We got the plunger and some other small things that we needed. I finally have my cutting board, which is awesome. And I have my knife sharpener to go along with it.

The rest of the day was spent watching the snow, and playing Strixhaven. Our lovely DM poisontaster was feeling well enough that she was able to DM. One of the players dropped the campaign in the most disrespectful way possible. They didn't show up for game. And ten minutes later, when they were messaged, they informed Erin that they were quitting the game. Disrespectul of the woman who spent hours prepping things for the session and disrespectful of the time of everyone who sat there for ten minutes waiting.

DMing is a funny thing. There was a big debate of whether DMs were Service Tops or Power Bottoms. According to Brennan Lee Mulligan, a good DM is both. And some nights everything crackles, and you have an amazing game, full of laughter and role play and a bit of fear. Some nights, you can pull out all the emotion. Others, it can feel like the game is slightly out of sync, and you're scrambling to hold the pieces together. And at the end, you're exhausted and you feel like you are the shittiest DM to ever DM a game. You're sure that you ruined the game for the players, and everyone is just being nice when they say they had fun.

The truly funny thing is that the players hardly ever notice that you're frantically juggling, and really are having a good time. I have more than once apologized to Jess after a game and been like "that wasn't how I wanted it to go." Only to have her look at me with a puzzled look.

Okay, gotta start work early, so I'm going to hop off now and consider the merits of clothes. Everyone have the best possible day!

The cat was rowdy last night. She wanted her food and she wanted it at 10, 2, 4 and 6. Baby was a little piggy today.

I continue to cough in an annoying way. I ended up cancelling D&D last night because of it, which annoys me. I feel a little bleh, but nothing major, so it's just serving to piss me off. in a little while I'm going to put on my coat and go fetch the shit from Sam's Club that they failed to give me on the last trip. I'm planning to make some delicious (we'll see) beef stroganoff, and for that I need onions and beef broth.

At some point, despite our reluctance, I need to go back to the house and grab my knife sharpener. My newly sharpened knife is wearing down a bit. (It was a Temu knife, no shock there-I just needed $3 to get to free shipping.) Despite it's lowly origins, it took an edge beautifully, and has become my go to. And let me tell you, I've been using it a LOT.

I took a half day off work yesterday, because it was increasingly difficult not to cough in the patient's ears. We watched the first two and a third episodes of Great British Bake Off. I'm immediately drawn to Dylan, who is a human disaster boy with amazing skills. For bread week, he made Gochujang and garlic buns, and, honestly, I would fuck those up. They looked amazing. These shiny orangeish rolls that got him a handshake from Paul Hollywood.

We were on our third episode when we heard sirens, very close. I looked out and lo, it was flying past our window. And the building across the circle from us was very much smoking like a motherfucker. That started a three hour odyssey of trying to keep Yoda quiet. My sister had to wait to come home, because there were cops blocking the entrance to the circle. Finally around 7:30, they let her in.

Okay, I suppose I should consider getting my ass together to go to Sam's. My order should be ready soon. I also ordered a box of coffee, but that won't arrive til Tuesday. It's a limited edition Mardi Gras coffee from community Coffee. I'm very excited to try it. It's supposed to have a mild cinnamon and vanilla flavor. Now, I go consider pants. Everyone have an amazing Saturday!

Well, I'm sick. I started with a little tickle in my throat and cough yesterday, but I was hoping it would improve by today. Instead, I feel run down and am coughing a good throaty cough, and am a little nauseous. Yay. I can't imagine where I got it, because I have been nowhere at all. Literally nowhere. I kind of feel like ass.

I do have time I could take from work, but I'm going to go in and try. With judicious application of sweetened tea and coffee, I should be okay. If I feel bad, I will leave early.

I got exciting news yesterday. One of my former IKEA coworkers, who is an absolute sweetheart, got a job on my team. I sent in a rec for her and she apparently dazzled them. I'm really glad. The last few years for her have been a shit sandwich, and she needed a win. Now she just needs to get the offer letter and have it be a good number.

It would be nice to have someone to talk to during the day. Would make the day go faster, I think. Hopefully, she's going to start soon, but knowing Hopkins, it'll be a month.

She's already plotting how to use all her holiday pay and sick time before she leaves. She plans to put in her resignation the day she leaves. It's possible that she hates IKEA more than I do.

In other IKEA news, the 2nd tier manager who I thought may have blocked my promotions got fired for...blocking promotions of people who were "too valuable" where they were. I should be angry or vindicated, but mostly I'm just like "yeah, that scans." The Swedish home office is righteously pissed and are sending someone to ostensibly take the deputy director role, but we all have a feeling that it's just getting someone in place to take over.

I don't know if it'll make any appreciable change in the Call Center over there, but we'll see.

I've still got spies over there, so I get all the good dirt.

Okay, time to get ready for work. Everyone have an outstanding Thursday!

I am so tired today. Boodle was a little terror last night. We started feeding her on her cat tree years ago, but last night for the first time, she decided it would be an awesome idea to launch it off the tower with a clatter. Then, she made several personal visits to pat my face. It did not make for a restful night.

Yesterday was busy in general. Mondays are always busy, but yesterday was constant. When I went into available, I never had to wait for a call. I had several new patients, so my call count was only 44, but it felt like 55.

I was good and let Jess cook last night. We had chicken legs with maple bacon sugar, paprika, salt and pepper. It was so good! Tonight is pot roast, cooked in the oven until it shreds apart with some nice potatoes.

I had my psych appt, and then went to the pharmacy. With Jess' and my psych prescriptions, plus my two inhalers, rybelsus and my new Dexcom 7, it was a cool $205 with insurance. Thank god for the FSA card, because I do not have it right now otherwise. To be fair, it was about 10 prescriptions in all, so I guess that's not horrible, especially with the Dexcom. I'm going to take a shower and then put that on, so we'll see how it works for me. If I don't like it, I will certainly not continue to use it.

Tomorrow is payday, which will be lovely. It's almost all gone already, between rent and car payment, but it does mean that I can get some tasty foods. I need to look at how much meat we have in the freezer and buy accordingly.

Okay, time to go forth and get myself together for work. I've gotten into a routine. At 7, I start getting myself together, then at 7:30, I sign in early to make sure everything works. Then I cook a couple of eggs and whatever else I want for breakfast and some more coffee. I clock in at 7:53, and start my day.

Anyhow, everyone have a wonderful Tuesday!!

For a day when I don't have anything "planned," Sunday is looking awfully busy. I've gotta drop by the house and pick up some stuff, get prescriptions, do laundry, clean the house and cook dinner. Oh, and assemble some furniture. I'm exhausted just thinking about it.

Yesterday was an equally busy day, with work from 8-12, game #1 from 12:30-3, and game #2 from 4-6:45. In between games, I was cooking dinner and generally trying to get stuff done. Maybe that's why I'm tired, too. And I didn't sleep for shit last night. I was up and down to pee a lot, but then also the cat demanded another can of food at both 3,5 and 7 am. At 7, I gave up and got up.

I haven't been sleeping great at all since we moved. The changes in the timings of our schedules has screwed me up. Waiting to have dinner with my sister has pushed the water intake back by about 2 hours, which is messing with my sleep. Totally worth it. I like sitting to the table and chatting while we eat. It's nice.

I may bemoan that the cat got me up so early, but I do love watching the sun set fire to the sky. There's a light cloud layer, and right now, it's baby pink and blue, but as I'm watching, the pink is brightening into orange, heralding the coming day. It's very pretty.

Today, I managed to sneak out without waking the dog, so I have a very quiet morning. Boodle wandered around, but is back in her room, possibly under the covers. She did come out during daylight hours yesterday while Jess played. So that was good.

Okay, time for me to go forth and make some bread. and then get myself together to go to the pharmacy.

Tomorrow, it's back to work, which may feel like a vacation after today. lol. Trying to decide what to make for dinner.

Everyone have a fruitful Sunday!

A little bit of Queen to end the week right. It's Friday! Of course I'm working tomorrow, so it's not that big a thing. But it'll be nice to have the weekend. Saturday, we've got two games, one of which I had better get to prepping for. I'm thinking of tormenting one of my characters with things from their past. Put them on what should be a milk run and fuck with them. The other party is attempting the dungeon of Mad Mage at level 15. They're in Hallaster's lair, and now it's about to kick off.

Last night we had pot roast, carrots and mashed potatoes, which were excellent. The potatoes had some issues with lumps and not being quite fully done. Still, it was very tasty and I'm pleased.

Both pieces of the fireplace has arrived and are HUGE. This is going to be a motherfucker to put together. The fireplace itself weighs nearly 100lbs. The cabinet is only 57, whoo. I'm hoping we can take the 57lb piece out and see what we've got tonight. Though tomorrow is going to be busy, and Jess does have a game tonight.

I took a nice hot shower this morning, which was lovely. I need to lotion the everliving shit out of myself now, but I'll wait for things to air dry a bit.

Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers.



And on that note, time to start getting myself together for work. Everyone have a amazing Friday!!

It's Wednesday! Halfway through the week! Yesterday was busy at work, I felt like I wasn't getting much of a break between calls. By the end of the day, I was thoroughly sick of people. Not that anyone was mean, I just was tired. After work, I relaxed for a few minutes, then cooked dinner.

I'm really enjoying having the stovetop. I sautéed some mirepoix and a slice of bacon, and then added some sliced up chicken breasts and fresh thyme. Once they cooked a little, I added some cornstarch and then some cream to make a sauce. It turned out really well. It made a tasty dinner. I might add some more thyme and maybe a hit of lemon juice next time. Also more parmesan, but we were getting low.

Can I just take a moment here to mention how much I love my ceramic pans? I know I'll have to replace them in a couple years, but goddamn, they're smooth. Everything I cook just wipes right out. I got the Sam's Club Members Mark brand, which were 1/3 of the big companies like Green Pan's cost.

Tonight, I shall make pancakes, which is very exciting. We have butter and a big jug of maple syrup, and of course the rest of the bacon.


Tomorrow, no clue of what we'll have. Maybe a big old roast. I can put it in the dutch oven, too.

Tonight we have our blades in the dark game, which should be a lot of fun. I have to remember wtf they were all doing as it is a continuation of a game we played in November. (It's been a crazy few months for scheduling games, lol)

Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers.



I feel profoundly boring right now. My entire being is focused on nesting. We're still slowly putting things together. We still have a desk, half a bookshelf and our fireplace frame may come today. The fire part of it came yesterday, weight 97 lbs. They promptly put it on the freaking first landing. Jess, through a combination of muscles and sheer desperation, heaved it up the stairs and into our living room. It's goddamn enormous, and I'm not sure how we'll get it into the console. It might be a bit of a challenge.

The cat continues to hide during the day and be more active at night. Last night she wasn't so bad. The main problem was my 10pm anxiety attack. Gotta love my body and brain.

Yoda is trying. He's trying his best, but this is all new to him, and he's a little bit barky. He's doing pretty well when we're out walking. Hopefully poisontaster can come to visit soon, and we can work with him on meeting strangers. And then, she can see our apartment and it's many broken down boxes, lol.

We do have a recycling bin, but it's over on the other side of the complex, so that we have to load stuff into the car and drive it down. Plus, we had a LOT of boxes.

I think tonight, I may consider building my sister's desk. Or finishing her bookshelves. We'll see.

Okay, time to get myself together for work. Everyone have an awesome Hump Day!