My day so far

So I woke at 2 am to pee.   With my new heart medications, I pee at night almost every hour.  I also went to bed at 8 pm.  I tend to go to bed early due to both my medications and insulin / food at supper making me very sleepy.  So last night I went to bed at 8 pm.

Ron and I do not get tired normally at the same time.  I go to bed early and he normally doesn’t come to bed until 10 pm or later.  But we have a system.  I put my pills in little paper cups.  When I go to bed I set up and take my evening pills for that day, then set up my pills for morning and set it aside on the headboard, I then set up the 10 pm pain pills and set in a spicfic spot.  I set the night ones in one place and the morning ones go next to the morning other pills I take.  Then I set up my nighttime long acting Lantus insulin pen.  I take 25 units at night around 10 pm.  So I set the dial, put the needle on, but leave the cover and get the alcohol pad packet ready.  Yes we use them for our blood sugar sticks and our shots because the teaching over the years spent in the hospital ICU systems still resonate in us.   Then I go to bed.

Ron then comes down about 10 pm to wake me or remind me if I have not been sleeping to take the pills and shot.  Often by then he will be ready to come to bed, but sometimes not.  It is something that works well for us, as I get up much earlier in the morning than Ron does.  

Back to today.  I woke up at 2 am to pee, but couldn’t go back to sleep.  So I figured it was a great time to get up and deal with all the open tabs I have on both computers.  Also between 4:30 to 5:30 am I try to feed the two “outside cats”.  I am normally up by 5 am and they are used to that.  The outside cats are one feral distrustful female and one former inside cat that often spends days in our home to go back out at night. We wanted him to be out during the day and in all night, but after a month or two of fighting with him, he won.  He comes in during the day and sleeps or what ever, and is out all night.  So I fed them and made of him as he wandered around inside.

Later that morning when Ron got up.  

Ron and I took the skirting off parts of the back and the side at the back of the house to inspect the old internet coaxial cable that was run for us in 2007.  The current cable is a two part cable because when we first signed up with the internet company we got the entire package, TV, phone, and internet.  We soon dropped phone for cells, then dropped cable for internet entertainment.  So all we have is internet.  And we are happy with that, if not the price.  As I said before we use the max out of our internet.  The company recently forced us to go through a week of on and off internet to double our speeds, which I am sure they will soon jack the price for.  When I talk to others around the country about their internet speeds and costs a lot of people get far greater speeds for less cost, but what can we do?  We really are dependent on our internet for everything from our TV, computers, to our security system. 

The first thing we did after breakfast was go out and remove panels of the skirting on the back of the house and the side near the back.  The intent was to see where and how I had split it off when it was first put in on the beginning of 2007.  Because we had signed up for Phone, cable, and internet they ran a large two-sided cable from their box at the back of the yard which they then  split a distance under the home to send one half to and hooked into the home, then I split the internet part off to several rooms in the house.   Over the years we got rid of landline phone service and then cable.  So the old cable stayed only with the second part cut off at the boxes at the end of the home.  

Since I hope this is the last office change and both Ron and I want to get it as perfect as we can we have decided to replace the existing large two-sided cable with a new modern upgraded coaxial cable just for the internet to the spot we plan to put the modem and router.  

Which saw Ron and me outside at 10 am in the Florida sun / heat taking the skirting off spots in the back and side of the house to determine what we needed to do to run new coaxial cable.  Ron insisted on taking the side panels at the south side of the home off while we were in the direct sun because he was sure the answers we needed were further up the house.  I knew how the cables were run because I was deeply involved with them when they were being done back in 2007, but I also know enough after 33 years of living together to just let Ron do what he is sure is right until he is proven wrong.  Then if I know what is good for my future affections for a while I never let on that I was “damn well right in the first place”

So to make the longest story shorter after taking off the back panels I had seen the place their orange cable came in and our double cable was hooked to and ran under the home, split off to a now cut line, and ran the rest of the way under the home.  So the solution was clear and simple.  So simple it leads to an argument until Ron and I got on the same page and he understood what I was saying.  So we measured the length of the back of the house to the corner and then up to where we thought roughly that the wall from the new office to the current office room.  Leaving room for “stuff” we came up with 45 feet.  So Ron then decided to add to that length of the rest of the home.  He came up with 70 feet.  

At this point I felt the need to remind Ron that the official length of our home was 56.5 feet long.  He was not happy and insisted we needed a new 70 foot cable in case we ever wanted to move the modem from my office to another part of the house like the planned for new living room.  I knew when trying to fight a point was not worth doing so, and agreed to look the cable length up at either Home Depot or Lowes.

That is when things got a bit tense.  First let me say I have made many cables, both coaxial and Ethernet.  I did it for years.  I have all the tools and supplies.  But I just don’t want to do it now.  I want this to be the last time we do it, open the skirting which is a bitch to open and harder to close and then run this cable.  I trust the manufactured cables more than my ability these days.  Ron was angry I did not want to do it because at the stores we could only get 50 feet or 100 feet in the lengths we needed.  Ron wanted to buy 70 feet which both stores will sell the cables by the foot with out ends and have me put the ends on.  I told him to get the 50 foot for about 30 dollars or the 100 foot for 40 dollars.  I am not sure which he will get.  He finally gave in.  I just don’t want to do it anymore, even though I am sure I can.  

Then after being outside and kneeling in the grass, my allergies were in full bloom.  My hands that were in the grass to look under the house and help me get back on my feet were turning red and itching.  I stayed out with Ron while he closed up the skirting, which is a true bitch, then I came in and took a shower while he mowed the lawn with the new 6.5 amp 18 volt batteries we bought for the mower.  Now let’s move on to the rest of the day.

One of the great things of my new Scotties Playtime Pink Palace is that I can swivel the video monitor and put on headphones and do the dishes while watching the video screen from the kitchen sink / counters!  Those video monitor arms are awesome.  So I did the dishes.  Now I want people to understand, we have a very fancy expensive dishwasher that has not worked correctly since Ian.  We paid a repair company $110 to come in, run it for 10 minutes, hear it run, see it had a bit of water and leave saying nothing wrong with it.  So after it wouldn’t fill or run, Ron replaced a bunch of parts, including the pump.  Then he gave up and we just continued doing dishes by hand in the sink using the dishwasher racks to drain the dishes.  The problem is to replace the dishwasher will cost about $700 dollars and I need new glasses as mine have a chip out of them and my eyes have gotten worse.  The glasses I get have always been around $700 dollars at the least expensive place.  The one time Ron and I tried a different place, they wanted 1,400 dollars for the same glasses.  Screw that.

But while there was not really a large amount of dishes, only about 24 hours worth for two people, it took me 2 and a half hours.  Yes sorry but I struggle to stand, move, work with my arms and shoulders.  So those dishes took me that long.  During it I needed to take pain medications.  While I was doing dishes, Ron took a well deserved break.  He offered to dry the dishes but I really felt he deserved more of a break.  The man is 68, has his own health issues, and was out in the Florida sun / heat mowing our lawn.  I wanted him to sit in his recliner after he took his shower, watch his TV, and relax.  And tonight he is going to make supper of burgers and salads.

A few hours later:   Ron made two burgers each and two small salads.  Small salads for us means a regular size bowl and a large salad which is what I normally have is a very large pasta bowl full of salad.  So I made two burgers the way I like and took them to my new office along with my salad.  But I soon realized I wouldn’t be able to eat both burgers and the salad.  As I was finishing my first burger, Ron opened the door and asked if I needed anything and I offered him my second burger.  He smiled.  He knew that was coming.  I wish I did.  He told me he had not made his second burger because he figured when he saw me take both of mine I wouldn’t be able to finish them.  He asked and I explained what was on them.  He ate my second burger and I finished my salad.  He then told me he loved it, the way I make a burger on a bun is great, but I only put salts, lettuce, pickle slices, and a tad bit of both mustard and A1 steak sauce.  But it worked out, I did not over eat and he got a great burger along with putting in the fridge the leftover burger which he will eat later.  He loves cold hamburgers, which I find abhorrent.   It is sad in a way, in the old days we would both eat two or three burgers and a whole bag of store bought french fries.  These days when Ron asks I don’t have him make fries.  No way I can eat that much.  If I am going to have fries I can only have at most one burger.  Or instead of the burgers I will just have fries which is horrible for my blood sugar.  

So everything I normally do at the end of the day is done.  The cats have been fed, Odie has been fed, and will get his shot closer to 8 pm.  I am going to bed with my muscles aching and my body pain starting to rise.  Ron has already popped in to ask if I want a back rub or something before I go to sleep.  Gods he is wonderful.  But I told him we will cuddle when he comes to bed many hours from now.  

So that was / is the highlights of my day.   I am sure I forgot some stuff.  If you ask me questions I might remember what I forgot.  Otherwise I love you all, and wish those that like hugs many warm ones and those that don’t want hugs I extend best wishes.  Good night.  Scottie