shopping | Another Splendid Day

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>Keeping up the happy patter…

February 17, 2011 at 3:27 pm · Filed under exercise, house plants, knee, medication, perfume, satisfaction, shopping, the Exfactor, tobacco shop, Tyke

It is with some amount of satisfaction that I sit here, because I’ve had my outing for today. It doesn’t happen very often that I go somewhere out of the ordinary, because I usually don’t have the desire to. Today I took the opportunity to go buy fake plants, because the Exfactor came by to drink coffee and I talked him into walking to that discount store with me.

It wasn’t difficult really to talk him into it, because he likes going there for all the good buys you can get there. Everybody else in the neighborhood likes going there too, as is evident by the long lines at the cash registers and the very full parking lot. We didn’t let that bother us and shopped to our hearts content.

I finally bought a set of tall drinking glasses that I had needed for the longest time. There are six of them and I will have to make room in the kitchen cupboard for them somehow. I haven’t got around to doing that yet. I have to sit and think about it first.

I also bought Tyke two big rawhide bones and he is very happily chewing on one of them right now. Actually, he thought everything in the bags was for him like he usually does. He thinks I go shopping just for him.

Of course, I hung out in the perfume section, where they sell the best ones at discount prices, and I tried out a couple of them on various parts of my body until I found the one I liked best. It was very inexpensive and I got a big bottle of it. When I got home, I spritzed myself liberally and I’m completely swooning over the smell of me. It’s so delicious. It’s too bad that you get used to it after a while.

I’ve got the fake plants and they are of a decent enough quality for me to be happy with. There wasn’t that much choice, because some of them were just plain ugly, but I picked out the best ones. I put them in their pots and they look good and the most important thing is that I won’t be able to kill them. At most they will get dusty and then I will rinse them off under the kitchen faucet.

We went to the tobacco shop after we were done shopping and I was greeted with a lot of compliments by the owner’s wife about how I looked. She had not seen me in a while and was pleasantly surprised. I had not realized what a difference there was between me now and a few months ago. I guess it is really obvious. I certainly was pleased about that. It seems that reducing my medication is very good for me.

So, now I’m sitting here with a tall glass of milk resting my legs. The exercise has actually been good for my knee, which was bothering me a lot earlier. I must walk over to that store more often. There are enough reasons to go there. Anywhere there are that many discounts is a good place to go.

I hope you’re all having a good day.

Ciao,

Nora

Comments (4)

>Digital.

June 17, 2010 at 5:29 am · Filed under books, chores, hairdo, house cleaning, ironing, nap, shopping, Tyke, vitamins, weight loss

According to my new digital scale, I have lost 3 kilos. I bought my scale at the housewares store and I got it on sale. It is an expensive scale that also measures your body fat and body water content and muscle/fat percentage. It was marked down to the price of a cheaper scale. Of course, I have to program it to do all those things, but for now it tells me my weight and that is good enough. The rest will come later.

I now have about 4 kilos left to lose to reach the weight that the Obesitas Specialist said I should aim for, but I am going to try and lose more weight and aim for an additional 5 kilos, but if I lose the 4 kilos, I will have lost a total of 40 kilos, which is the equivalent of a small person.

I had planned to do more things, but I was so worn out from making that one purchase, that I laid down on the sofa and slept for 3 hours. Yes, I can´t believe it myself. I didn´t know I was short of sleep. I thought I was all caught up. Without realizing it, I was very tired and needed those extra hours. I felt a lot better when I woke up, but still pleasantly drowsy and tired enough to want to go to bed on time in the evening.

I slept like a bear in hibernation, but I did get up early and doubtlessly that means I will have to take another nap this afternoon. I have to do some chores today and I will get those done in the morning. There aren’t that many to do, but just enough to make the place look cared for. My domestic help isn’t going to be here tomorrow because she is moving and I will have to do some of the cleaning myself. I really don’t mind. I’m more than capable of doing that.

I walked around the housewares store for a bit and saw all sorts of things that I needed, but it would have wiped out my budget if I had bought them all. A woman could go crazy in there, there was so much neat stuff. I saw the glasses I wanted and a new shower curtain and a new waste basket, but I just couldn’t spend the money. The bathroom scale was more expensive than I had counted on. I’ll see what I can buy with my next check.

Today is already Thursday and it seems that the week is flying by. Today is officially my day off. I never have any appointments on this day. Or very rarely anyway. I try not to have any commitments, but keep the day free for whatever I want to do. I think I will be reading a lot. I got “The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo” two days ago and I’m already fascinated by it, so I will read it. I’ve also got to go to the tobacco shop and buy two lighters, because the one the Exfactor got me is starting to run low on fuel and all I have is a box of matches that don’t work well. So you see we are the victims of shoddy products and just have to accept that because they were cheap.

My punk hairdo is still very punky. It only got more so by sleeping on it. I’ll rough it up a little more in a while and spray some hairspray on it. It should hold it sufficiently even when the wind is blowing. I like being just the slightest bit abstract. It matches my clothes. Oh, that reminds me, I’ve got to do a little bit of ironing today. There are some clothes that I want to wear that need to be ironed. They will look a heck of a lot better if I do. There’s no getting around it. I have to put distilled water in the steam iron. Our water is too hard and it plugs up the holes on the bottom.

I’ve got to take my medicines and get dressed. It’s time to take Tyke for his walk, though he is sound asleep on the coffee table. No doubt he is just waiting for me to get up, but at least he’s not breathing down my neck. I’ve taken my vitamins and minerals pill an hour ago. I want to see if that way it doesn’t interfere with my medication. I would be good if it doesn’t, because I really need that those vitamins and minerals for my health. It would be very foolish to completely do without them.

I hope you have a nice day.

Ciao,
Nora

Comments (6)

>The second time…

June 16, 2010 at 9:21 am · Filed under bicycle, blogs, clothes, coffee, early morning, emails, friends, hairdo, shopping, sleep, Tyke, weather, weight loss

I’m up for the second time this morning. I was up much earlier, before the early birds had even started singing. I drank my coffee and answered my emails and read blogs and then walked Tyke, but decided that I wasn’t really awake at all and went back to bed, where I slept for another three hours. That was just what I needed and I feel much better now and like I’ve had enough sleep.

I’m very cozily sitting here in my bathrobe now, nice and warm, with a cup of coffee. When I walked Tyke early this morning it was cold outside and I wore my jacket and a scarf, of which neither was a luxury, but now I’m toasty warm and very comfortable. I’m so comfortable that I may never get dressed, but that is silly and I do have to get dressed, because I’m supposed to meet my friend Yvonne later today for a cup of coffee downtown and I still want to go to the store and buy that bathroom scale.

I’m very curious about how much I will weigh and I can’t wait to step on the scale. I have the feeling that I’ve lost a lot of weight, judging by how my clothes fit me. I wore my tight jeans yesterday, but they weren’t so tight anymore. They were a bit baggy in the legs and I wore a smaller belt that I really had to pull tight. I’m going to wear some different jeans today and I can’t wait to see how those will fit me. Oh, vanity, all is vanity…or is it sanity, all is sanity? I think maybe the latter.

It’s cloudy and windy outside today, typical Dutch weather. The sun shines off and on. If it weren’t for the beauty of the clouds, it would discourage you. You almost want it to rain to get it over and done with, but then the sun comes through and that really looks good too. It’s the kind of sky the Old Masters painted, except that we don’t have the endless horizon to go with it or the ships on the stormy sea. To be by the sea now would be a great thing. To have your hair blown to smithereens by the wind and to see the waves pound on the shore. You don’t worry about having a bad hair day then like I do now. All it takes is a good haircut, right?

My friend Yvonne let me know she would call me at the last minute to say if she was going to be there, but that she was having a hard time and that she didn’t think so. I just wrote her an email saying that I assume she is not going to make it and that I’m making different plans. I’m not going to sit here until 1 pm and wait for that phone call when I could be doing other things. I also have to buy new accessories for the bathroom and go to the post office.

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I’ve just roughed up my hair into a punk hairdo and put on my other jeans that fit me surprisingly well. I pulled them on without any problems. That sure did good things for my self esteem. I put the smaller belt in them and pulled it tight. I’d hate for them to slide off my rear end. I don’t have a lot of hips yet to speak of. They will reappear last, I’m sure. I took Tyke for a walk and it was a little bit warmer outside. I still wore my leather jacket, but left it open. It’s warm when you’re in the sun and out of the wind, but when are you when you are on your bike like I will be shortly?

I’ve got to get going now. I’ve dawdled enough. I have to get my purse and my wallet and hop on my bike. My trusty steed.

I hope you all have a wonderful day.

Ciao,

Nora

Comments (11)

>One more for the road.

June 15, 2010 at 5:23 pm · Filed under activities, bank account, bedroom, blog post, food, football, ironing, motherhood, nap, news, pajamas, Paris, shopping, sleep, sunglasses, Tour de Fance, Tyke, walks

I’ve just written a post, but I thought I would start writing another one and see where it would take me. In reality I’m just a bit bored and don’t want to do any of the things that I could be doing, like the ironing. Besides, who wants to do the ironing with a sore thumb? I really could if I had to, but I don’t know if I’m quite in the mood for it this time of the day. The afternoon is just about over and the news will be on in an hour. Of course, that’s a perfect time to do the ironing, so I’m just making excuses. I’ll tell you what. I’ll do the ironing tomorrow when I don’t have anything better to do. When I’ve run out of excuses.

With Tyke’s help I managed to eat a small apple. Tyke had three bites and I had the rest, not counting the fact that I left a large core that I could have cut down some more. I didn’t know dogs liked apples. I’ve never seen a dog eat one. Tyke looked for more when I had thrown the core in the trash. He looked mighty disappointed when he saw it was all gone. He does try to drink my coffee and my lemonade, so maybe he has strange tastes for a dog. The apple tasted good and my little stomach could just handle it. One bite more would have been too much, so it’s a good thing that Tyke liked it too. I’m going to be living on apples for a while now.

I took Tyke for another walk, because he was begging for it. He was sitting in the arm chair and breathing down my neck again. I guess he’s figured out that it’s the best way to get my attention. He grumbles in my ear very gently and won’t stop. That’s his way of telling me that we really need to go now and that I need to get up off that chair. It’s funny how he figures these things out on his own and the fact that he needs to “talk” to me to get me going. He’s a pretty smart dog. On our walk we saw other dogs, but none of them came close enough for a proper greeting, so Tyke was very disappointed and sat on his rear end watching them disappear down the street. I always feel sorry for him when that happens. I want to call those dogs back to us and have them at least greet Tyke. Just to make him a little happy. I know, I’m an overprotective “mom.”

I wear my sunglasses when I go outside and it’s a bright day. I do it so I won’t squint and get wrinkles by my eyes. So far I hardly have any and I want to keep it that way. I forget I have them on when I go back inside and wonder why I can’t see a thing when I try to open my front door in the stairwell entry with my key. It slowly dawns on me that I’m wearing my sunglasses and that’s why. I want to buy myself a really good pair, but I need to find a lost wallet with a lot of money in it first and borrow some. If there’s no identification in it, I’m keeping it. I figure that’s drugs money. Anyway, then I can get a decent pair of sunglasses instead of this pair from the lost and found at the film house. I want to look like a movie star too.

I’m a bit sleepy. Last night I went to bed at 8 pm and I woke up at nearly 4 am. I decided I wasn’t quite awake enough yet and went back to bed at 6:30 am and slept until 8 am when the alarm clock awakened me. I’ll go to bed early tonight too. It’s so wonderful to sleep, especially now that I’m wearing some really comfortable pajamas and I like my present duvet cover. Tyke likes it too, because he sleeps on the bed with me every night. There’s just enough room for the both of us. Tyke rolls himself into a ball and lies by my feet. It’s a good way to wake up in the morning, to have your trusty four footer lying there.

When I don’t feel well, I take naps during the day, but when my mood is good, I don’t. I do get tired, though, and as soon as it starts to be evening, I look forward to going to bed. I think it also helps that I like my bedroom, although it needs work done on it. It needs new wallpaper and new curtains. Staying up all day and just participating in life, though, does tire me and I wonder how I would do with a busier schedule. I’m not afraid of one and would gladly participate in it if I knew I could handle it.

There seems to be a threshold that I can’t cross right now, so I have to increase my activities within the possibilities that I have. Make longer walks with Tyke, do more with my personal helper, go out more on my own on small errands. These are conscious choices that I have to make and I really need to stop and think about them and put them into action. They’re not huge changes, but big enough to shake me out of my complacency and make me more involved in life. I will check my bank account balance once again and tomorrow I will go buy a new bathroom scale. That will take me to a different shopping center where I haven’t been in a long time. It will be good for me. It’s a little thing, but it’s a big deal for me.

I’m going to put on my pajamas and hang out in my bathrobe for a while. There’s nothing but football or football related programs on my favorite channel. It does get tiresome after a while. As if there’s no life besides football. Pretty soon the Tour de France starts. That’s more interesting to me, because I like the scenery and the commentary. The scenery especially and I imagine being there. I’ve been in France, so some parts of it look familiar. I’d love to go back to Paris, but in September when there are less tourists there and go to all the museums and visit them properly. One day for each museum and then lots of strolling and coffees and cafes.

Have a good evening.

Ciao,
Nora

Comments (5)

>In the early morning.

March 15, 2010 at 6:24 am · Filed under early morning, eczema, fruit juice, grocery shopping, household help, porridge, rules, shopping, sleep, weather, weight loss

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I wemt to bed on time last night, because I was sleepy early, and for a change I am up early also and completely done sleeping. I double checked to make sure, but I really was and felt comfortable enough to get up. I´ve had one cup of coffee, but that´s all the caffeine I need for now and I´m drinking a glass of cold milk now. I think the new medication makes me thirsty, because I´m constantly in need of something cold to drink, and no, it can´t be water. I´ll never forget the insult of my first mother in law when she finally came to our apartment for a visit and said she could only stay for twenty minutes and that all she wanted to drink was a glass of water. Really! By European conventions that is a very bad thing to do.

Well, that´s pulling old cows out of the ditch, as they say, and we won´t do that.

So, I´m wide awake and now it turns out that I can go grocery shopping this morning with my sister after all, so I have to call her at 8 o´clock and let her know. She´ll be pleased to hear it, because we had planned to go at 4 this afternoon when it will be crowded. This also gives me the opportunity to clean the refrigerator before the domestic help gets here this afteroon. I think that´s the least I can do. I don´t want the poor woman to think that her task is hopeless.

I have to make a shopping list of what I have to get, though it´s not that much, at least not a great variety of things. Very much milk and catfood and rawhide sticks for the dog and coffee pads and Nutella! Some other things I´m not thinking of right now, but hopefully will soon.

I´ve lost 2.8 kilos in the past week. That´s good because I had gained 15 kilos this past year or so. It was due to the increase in my antipsychotics. It made me eat more and gain weight. I think they just make you gain weight period. This Welbutrin that I´m on now suppresses your appetite, so you lose weight. That´s better than the Effexor that made me gain weight. My mood stabilizer also makes me lose weight, but that effect had become undone by the effects of the other medicines.

I tried to eat my regular bowl of porridge the other day, but I ate it without the usual good appetite and I haven´t had any since. I have no desire to eat it and that´s saying a lot. I just eat bits and pices of things now and I drink a lot of milk. I´ve even finished the fruit juice and will buy a new container today because I think I need the vitamins even though it makes my ear and head itch where my eczema is.

Oh, I see it´s time to take my medicines. I wasn´t paying attention, so wrapped up was I in writing this post. I also have to get dressed and walk the dog.

Hav a good day, you all. I hope the weather is good for you. It´s supposed to be 7C here and we may have some light rain. Whoopie!

Ciao,
Nora

Comments (4)

>One of those nights!

August 1, 2009 at 2:53 am · Filed under art supplies, bicycle, creativity, Jesker, jewelry, love, middle of the night, shopping, sleep, sofa, therapies, ubuntu, Von, weather

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I completely fell asleep on the sofa while watching the 8 pm news and didn’t wake up until midnight. I felt very good when I woke up, and full of energy, and the computer was in its sleeping mode, so I woke it up and checked my emails. Well, you know, one thing leads to another and then you have to make yourself a cup of decaf and answer all your emails and that takes a little time, so before you know it, it is very late and you’re still not in bed. At that point, I figured I may as well stay up a little longer and really break the night. Besides, tomorrow is Saturday morning and I don’t have to go anywhere, I really officially don’t have to go anywhere and I don’t even have to go grocery shopping.

Actually, playing with Ubuntu has taken up a lot of my time, because I’m figuring out how everything works. I have to do it on my own and I don’t have an instruction booklet, which would be mighty handy, so I just work my way through things and figure them out as I go along. Sometimes I’m stumped and sometimes it works. Sometimes the help section really helps and sometimes it doesn’t. Slowly but surely I’m getting things to work, though, like the music systems, which would not play at first, but there is much more I have to work out. I’ll be busy with it for a while yet.

So, I did not go to therapy today and that means that I’ve been home all week this week and I’ve had a whole week off. I’m not going to claim that it was like a vacation, because it was not enough fun for that, but at least I had a break. I become a basket case thinking about it, so I’ll just say that on Monday I’ll go to creative therapy and hope to talk to the head therapist then.

Well, that’s quite enough of that.

Actually, I can’t wait to get an extra table and chair to place in my bedroom by the window so I can start creating art there. That’s what I’m really looking forward to. I’m so excited about doing that and I can’t wait to go out and get the supplies. There is a store close to here called “Action” that sometimes sells art supplies at really low prices so I must go and have a look there at what they’ve got. I also have to remind my sister not to throw out any of the magazines she reads for the images and the texts.

A good blog friend is sending me a box of art supplies from the Sates and I can’t wait for it to get here. That will be the start of it, along with some of the things I still have myself, which are scant.

The weather was beautiful today. The sun was shining all day long, but it wasn’t too hot. The bike ride into town was really nice, especially when you consider that I have a good working bike now and the Exfactor had pumped up my rear tire so I really moved along well.

Some people were sitting at our table, but it looked like they were just about done and just as they were getting ready to leave, I grabbed a chair to prevent anyone else from claiming it. You have to be just a bit rude to get what you want and I wanted that table, because all the tables under the sun cover and on the square were taken. It’s tourist season, so things are always busy.

Von and I had a heated discussion about love and men. Is there another subject more worthy of discussion? We both thought that falling in love was a horrible thing, but loving someone was good. Falling in love is like temporary insanity and makes you behave strangely and do odd things. Things you wouldn’t do under normal circumstances. Loving someone is a totally different ballgame. For one thing, you can think clearly and you don’t make a big mess and you aren’t blindsided by your overheated emotions.

I ordered a piece of apple pie with whipped cream with my second cup of cappuccino, figuring I had deserved it after a week of despair, but I couldn’t finish it nor could I finish my cappuccino.

So, we went shopping instead, first for Von and then for me in my cheap store. We found a see through blousy top that I can wear over a sexy tank top and that Von said I should wear in my boudoir. It was only 7 Euros. I bought another set of matching bracelets to go with it, this time in reds and pinks. I just have to stop spending money on myself!

On my way home I didn’t run over any pedestrians, although several made suicidal attempts by stepping of the sidewalk into the street and instead of using my bell, I still yell at them. People are so oblivious! On the way into town, people were walking in the middle of the street and I yelled at them to use the sidewalk, because it is hard enough to ride your bike over the very rough cobblestones. Yes, they get upset with me and no, I don’t care. I just don’t want to end up face down on the street.

I stopped by the pharmacy to get a supply of drugs, which they gladly gave me and when I rode away on my bike, my necklace broke and it is one of my favorite ones, but luckily, I noticed it and caught it in my hand before it fell in the street.

Jesker was so happy to see me. He had been laying behind the front door again. I always make a big deal out of greeting him as if we’ve not seen each other for ages. He’s so cute.

When I was fixing my necklace, I managed to spill a whole glass of fruit juice all over the table and all over my cigarettes. Guess what I said then? You’re right! I sopped it up with a towel and laid my cigarettes out to dry, which did not even taste that funny when they were. I did fix my necklace. It had broken because of the strap of my purse. It had gotten caught underneath it when I turned my head to see if there was any traffic coming. That’s what happens when you wear your purse across your chest against purse snatchers.

I put on my boudoir top and walked Jesker and I wasn’t propositioned once, which I think is probably for the best. You don’t want to pick up men off the street.

Well, that just about was my day. I am going to try to add some photos to this post, but I have to resize them first and I don’t know yet if I can do that, so we’ll see.

Ciao…

Comments (6)

>Whacky World.

May 27, 2009 at 5:13 pm · Filed under blogs, dance class, domestic help, jewelry, life, psychology, self trust, shopping, therapies, tobacco shop, weather

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More then half the week of therapies is behind me and I’m beat. I don’t even have the energy to go to the store and I’m eking out the supplies that are in the refrigerator and the cabinets. I will have to go tomorrow when hopefully I will have the time and the energy. All I did today was make it to the tobacconist for tobacco and filter tubes and the special trash bags and one chocolate bar for a quick pick me up, because I was seriously dragging my butt, going there straight from my dance therapy.

It feels so good to sit here with my mug of coffee and my cigarettes and to just rest my mind and body over nothing complicated at all. I’ve just read new posts to a lot of blogs and that was very enjoyable. Not that people all have uncomplicated lives, but somehow it all seems manageable. There are no catastrophes out there. At least none that I’m aware of. We all have our difficulties, but they are all human sized and within the norm of what is standard.

I guess somewhere along the line you have to make up your mind about that. About what you as a human being can accept in your life as tragedies and how much is too much and how much time do you need to grieve over that before you feel that you can be normal and join the human race again. I suppose the answer to that is different for every person, but maybe much more alike than different for all of us.

I notice that in all of my groups, that each person in their grief and depression and pain and sadness is so much alike and exhibits such similar behavior and has such similar thought patterns. It’s like we all read a big book somewhere that said, under these conditions you act that way. So much of it is very predictable. The beginning, the middle, the end, if it ever comes, all have their own sets of behavior and thought patterns and language and if you’re a patient long enough, and know a lot of things, you see this and get as smart almost as the therapist. I do have to point out that I say almost. That’s very important. You never get as smart as. Patients lack the objectivity.

Hell, I don’t even know if I’m qualified to write that stuff down. They are just my own observations. You do learn a lot in my line of activities. People around me in the groups say I have a lot of courage and inner strength and that I am verbally strong. I dare to talk about subjects that they are afraid to bring up, but are relieved when I do. But I’m not always courageous. I get insecure too and wonder if I say too much or breach the wrong subject and I pay a price for that afterwards if I don’t get the answer to my questions quickly. I have to settle my own sense of insecurity on the spot or walk around with it and it will nag at me until it hurts.

Well anyway, today at dance therapy, we learned to dance with a veil and if you think that’s easy, think again. Your arms get very tired lifting this thing up and around you and twisting it around your shoulders and in front of you becomingly. Then try to do that while dancing with the emphasis on your hips.

I have to tell you very honestly that I’m the worst student in the class and do not move gracefully, but more like a stiff rake with arms an legs attached to it. I have no swing in my hips and no easy bend in my back and all my movements cost effort. And I can’t walk and chew gum at the same time. I lean to the left and forget to breathe. My hip and my back hurt and I have to take mini breaks. I loose the rhythm and have too start all over again. I’m a lost cause.

But still I’ll keep going, because the music is wonderful.

The weather has been gray and cold and windy all day and now it is raining. It’s feast or famine here. We’ll have sunshine again on Friday, but it won’t be warm. That I don’t care about so much. I don’t mind wearing an extra layer of clothes. In fact, I prefer it, it makes for interesting dressing up. And you know how much I like that.

I gave away all my jangly earrings that I never wear to a very nice woman who loves to wear them and I made her very happy with them. I only wear my titanium studs, at least, I think that’s what they are. They never irritate my ears. This woman was wearing a necklace that I very much admired and she’s going to get me one just like it. I’m a necklace person and feel naked without one. So, that’s great.

Tomorrow is music therapy and relaxation exercises and only a short morning. In the afternoon, someone from domestic help is coming for an intake meeting to see what needs to be done to the apartment to get it back to normal again and how much help I need with that. They had lost the original application that was put in when I was depressed and my SPN sent in a new one, because it seems I still need help now with all these extra classes and no idea of how to get things back on the rails.

I’ll leave it at that and walk the dog for the last time and get my pajamas on and do the dishes. Oh, somebody needs to do them. I live here, so it must be me.

Have a great evening.

Ciao…

Comments (12)

>The medicines.

December 13, 2008 at 6:51 pm · Filed under comments, medicines, neighborhood, shopping, sleep, the Überhund

>I want to first of all thank you people for leaving me such great comments of support and encouragement while I go through the trials and tribulations of taking the wrong medication and now am adjusting to a new one. You know I very rarely comment on the comments, but I think it is worth mentioning here. You’re all a great bunch of people.

The reason that I didn’t notice that my medication was different to what I normally take was, that the Exfactor had gone by the pharmacy for me and had picked up a 3 months supply of 4 different kinds of medication and brought them home in one bag. I didn’t check then to see what was in the bag and just deposited it in the cabinet where I keep all my medicines. It is possible that the pharmacist said something about the medication being different to the Exfactor, but if he did, he neglected to tell me. I think the pharmacist didn’t say anything, because the Exfactor would not have forgotten something as crucial as that.

I didn’t realize the medication was different until the very morning after I had used up the batch of the previous medicines. I read the enclosed information sheet and figured it was okay and took my usual two tablets, expecting them to work as they normally do. Imagine my surprise when they didn’t.

When I talked to my psychiatrist that day and he told me that those medicines had not been prescribed to me and that I should go back to the pharmacy. He did say that the new medicines should work the same as the old ones, but I knew that they did not. At that time, we both believed that it was a mistake that the pharmacist had made and that I would come home with the right medicines.

When I did not, it was too late to call my psychiatrist and to be sure, I took an extra dose of the new medication at night, hoping that would help, but the next day I realized that it had not. When I talked to my psychiatrist that day he suggested doubling the dose, but I told him that I had already tried that. I think he realized that I had lost faith in the new medication altogether and that this was the reason that he allowed me the option to choose for a whole new anti psychotic, feeling that I would have more faith in that.

I take the new anti psychotic 3 times a day, 5 mg at a time, so that it is slowly building up in my system. The old medication I took all at once. I like the fact that I take this one 3 times a day, because it makes me feel that I am actively doing something to keep the level of medication steady in my body and I look forward to taking the next dose as if it is a little miracle pill that will take my troubles away, which is not far from the truth. It makes me feel very proactive. I am silently cheering it on. I think the anti psychotic and the mood stabilizer are my two most important medicines. I could live without all the other ones maybe, but not without those two.

I needed some more milk today, but I was not up to going to the supermarket, so I went to the little neighborhood market instead and when I walked in, I was met by an overwhelming odor of alcohol and a crowd of people shouting above loud Christmas music. Apparently they were having a Christmas party. Much shouting and laughing was done. I pushed my way through the crowd to the milk and managed to grab a hold of three cartons and also two packs of cookies. There was a woman ahead of me buying loads of sweets and cookies and cakes and she was obviously feeling no pain. She must have been partaking for some time. That’s what you get when you live next to a working class neighborhood. Lots of cheer like that and lots of singing and shouting and partaking. It’s the stuff that clichés are made of the world over.

I took many naps today and did not accomplish anything but the dishes. When not in balance, sleep, it’s the best cure for what ails you. I always feel so much better when I wake up. Sleep really is like a heavy blanket that lies on top of you and covers you from head to toe and separates you from the world. Even the Überhund did not bother me this time.

I am in my pajamas now. The Überhund is sound asleep under the desk, he is snoring. It is a cozy sound. A while ago, he was hungry and I told him to go eat his food, so instead of that, he walked to the cats’ dishes and ate all of their food. Stubborn fool. I think he was trying to make a point. It wasn’t lost on me.

Have yourself a great night, full of cheer and pre Christmas excitement.

Ciao…

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>As I write this…

December 5, 2008 at 9:08 am · Filed under cafés, cats, clothes, downtown, google reader, newspaper, shopping, sisters, the Überhund, the water heater, writing

>As I write this, I am waiting for the men to come to install my new hot water heater. They should be here any minute now. I heard a van pull up, but since then all has been silence. I think a hot water heater is called a boiler in England and I am not sure what it is called in the States, but it is the thing that gives me hot water throughout the apartment, including the radiators for the central heating, so getting a new one is a big deal. I hope this one is even more efficient than the old one, so more cost effective and ecologically sound.

I forgot to tell you about the great cardigan that I bought on Wednesday afternoon at a textiles shop. It is black with a big collar and two big buttons and it is almost as long as my skirt. I got it for 10 Euros and, although I did not want to spend any money on myself this month, I could not resist getting it at that price. It looks very classy and more expensive and it is very warm.

I also had to get a present for my sister whose birthday it is tomorrow. I got her a pretty necklace with beads that shimmer in any kind of light and look like crystals. They are threaded with very thin wire and seem to float in the air and there are three strings of them at unequal lengths. My sister loves necklaces as much as I do, so I know she will be happy with this one.

Well, the men with the boiler are here now and they’ve started the job. I am curious as to how long it will take them too install it. This is the first time in my life that I’ve ever gotten a new boiler, so it’s quite an event. The cats and the Überhund are quite curious as well.

I’ll try and not be too distracted by all of this and get on with writing.

Yesterday wasn’t a very eventful day, it being Thursday and so far a day off for me, although it may not be much longer. I have an appointment next week with someone to see if I can fill up either my Thursday or my Friday mornings with a useful activity. It will be in the same building where I have my creative and ergo therapies now, but in a different kind of program and a special request needed to be made for it. It is possible that I will do another creative class on Thursdays, but anything is possible. We’ll see. I am glad that I’m getting the opportunity.

I swept the apartment with a broom, because I didn’t want to be bothered by the noise of the vacuum cleaner, but now, of course, I still have to vacuum the furniture, there’s no way around it. The Überhund is shedding much less, but there still is an amazing amount of hair after a few days that all hides under the furniture. It is very satisfactory to sweep it all up into the dustpan.

The Überhund is having a wonderful time. Full of interest he is watching the men at work and commenting on their every move and when they go out to their van, he trots along behind them to see what they do there. He is so alert and in between this, he comes back to me and lies at my feet as if to reassure himself that everything is okay. The cats are climbing over the boxes and the equipment and are very curious. We don’t often have such entertainment here.

At the end of the afternoon yesterday, I fell asleep on the sofa and was out cold for a while until the phone rang. It was someone who wanted to know if I wanted a subscription to a newspaper and I would, except that it is so expensive and I really can’t afford it. If I could only get the Saturday newspaper, I would do that and I have to look into the possibility of getting that kind of subscription for my favorite newspaper, which was, believe it or not, originally a Christian newspaper, but it is a very informative one with excellent opinion pages and very interesting articles. I miss reading it.

The google reader keeps me updated on the blogs I read, but lately I have decided that I read too many and I have eliminated a few of them. There were just too many I was trying to keep track off and, although they all had their appeal, some of them had to go. Some were new to me and I had to make the decision if I wanted to invest my energy into really getting to know them better or to stop reading them. If they were more than fascinating, I kept them. It is really bad if you don’t get around to reading your very favorites, you can’t have that. I really do have my favorites, but I’m not going to tell you here who those are. That’s for you to figure out.

All of the shops are open one night a week until 9 PM once a week on Thursdays. I purposely forget that this is so, because it is very tempting to go downtown then and walk through the festively decorated streets and sit in a café and watch all the people go by and maybe pop into a store and buy something very appealing. The café terraces are even pleasant to sit on, if you keep your coat on, because they are heated by space heaters that are quite efficient.

You can bet that it is very busy downtown now, because there is Winter Wonderland on the big square with an ice skating rink and the Christmas market with many stalls. Since I am not in that kind of mood, I try to ignore that bit of it and only incidentally try to catch glimpses of the festivities, which, I admit, is difficult.

I suppose that this weekend, I should write some Christmas cards and get in the mood a little bit. I am feeling some resistance, but I suppose it must be done. This will be the first time that I’ll sign the cards with my maiden name. I have never done so before and it will be quite an experience. Some people I will have to inform and I will have to add a little note.

The guys that are installing the boiler are quite funny. They want to know everything about me and the animals, so in between all the activities, they are getting to hear my life story and are entertained. They also saw my young, divorced neighbor and wanted to know all about her, so I told them what I could. They are hoping to install a new boiler there soon.

Well, everything must come to an end and so must this. It has become a rambling sort of thing, but that’s okay.

I hope you have a wonderful day.

Ciao…

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>A Dye Job.

September 22, 2008 at 5:54 pm · Filed under clothes, creative therapy, emotions, hair coloring, shopping

>After not having done so for quite a few years, because of the eczema on my head, I have today pulled on my brave boots and colored my hair. The eczema prevented me from doing so before, because the coloring mixture would burn quite badly on that part of my head, but my sister has given me olive soap to wash my head with and it is starting to work and my eczema is clearing up and I thought it was time to test the waters and satisfy my vanity, because a woman will do anything to look better than she already does, especially a woman with short hair who doesn’t have a lot to lose.

So, this afternoon I went to the drugstore and with the help of a sales girl picked out a nice color that is called golden blond, which means it has the slightest hint of red in it. I was all ready for something completely different than the ash blond hair that is my own and that hovers somewhere between gray and blond. I thought, if it turns out awful, it will grow out in the shortest amount of time and I will only have to suffer for a little while.

I read the instructions carefully, but basically nothing much had changed since the last time I colored it, and very bravely I set out to slather my hair in the creamy concoction that I had mixed in the bottle. There was more than enough there, with my hair being so short and I piled it on, covering every teeny hair. It is impossible to see what your hair is going to look like while this stuff is in your hair, because it changes to a dark color that is no reflection of the outcome.

After I washed it out and had applied the conditioner and rubbed my hair dry, it turned out that I had a beautiful head of hair. I am so pleased with it. The color is just right for me and it matches my skin color just fine. I should have been born with it. So, one point for me!

Then I had to get my hair to look nice and casual and windblown, so I messed with it until I got the desired effect and I must say that I look pretty spiffy now and to celebrate that, I put on a whole new outfit, which only the Überhund and I can enjoy right now, but that’s okay. It isn’t wasted on us and I can parade around in it when I take him for a walk. All’s well that ends well.

This morning I had creative therapy and I am done with the collages that form a book together. I have to tie the pages together with some sort of ribbon, but that’s it. I am relatively pleased with it, considering this was my first project of its kind. I have gotten some other people enthused about the upside down images technique. It’s been a great hit. People come over and look at my collages and want to know what I did and I explain it in the least complicated way, which still leads to confusion sometimes.

I like creative therapy so much that I don’t want the morning to end and I almost have to be dragged away from the table and my project against my will. I very reluctantly leave and as far as I know, all the other creative classes are filled up. I have been offered a class in dance or music, the dance is free flowing to world music, the music is a lot of drumming and singing and making joyful noise. I don’t know what to do and it requires further investigation on my part. Both classes require that you get in touch with your deepest emotions. I hope mine are of the joyful kind.

I had been shopping at the store most close to my house, but it is also the most expensive one and today, during our break, we were discussing supermarkets and what a difference in prices there are between them. That got me thinking that I should go further afield and look for a cheaper place to shop, so this afternoon I rode my bike for 15 minutes to a different supermarket that I had never even heard off and shopped there instead. I didn’t have to get a lot of stuff, but I walked around a bit and compared prices and it sure makes a difference, their prices are a lot lower, especially on the store brands and who am I to say those aren’t good enough in most cases?

So, with a little bit of physical input on my part, I will be saving euros with every shopping trip. It’s not going to be fun in the winter time, but I will just have to do it and not be chicken about it. Wrap up real warm and peddle like crazy.

Tomorrow is apartment cleaning day. Oh, yippee! And looking at the bank account day. Oh, hurray! Tonight, I am done with being responsible. I may walk the Überhund one more time, but now I am going to watch the news. I must stay well informed, after all, and I am already running behind.

Ciao…

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