Nearly Normal

the zen of painting part 2

Yesteray I achieved zen while painting.  It was a beautiful sunny day and I knew that we were going to friends for a wonderful dinner - lobster pizza in fact.  OMG YUM.

Painting was actually, read almost, fun.  I was by myself enjoying the birds singing and the bees buzzing while a delight breeze played upon my face.  Like I said almost fun.  Today was a close second.

The whole zen of painting thing

I didn't get there.

We're working on one of our rentals.  The previous tenant just trashed it.  We're trying to untrash it.  To that end I painted the floor of the small bedroom.  Not bad, satisfaction of a job well done, etc.

Then I moved on to one of the outside walls.  I tried to go all zen with the painting really find some space where I was not cursing said tenant the entire time I was painting, not so much.  Next I tackled another outside wall which needed patches primed before it can be painted, again no zen.

I've come to the conclusion that painting in this particular place is always going to suck no matter what.  Too bad I still have the kitchen to paint - curses.

Medicare part D and me

I'm on medicare and take multiple medications.  I am one of those people who fall into the dreaded "donut hole" in drug coverage.  It's a scary place to be and it happens fast.  You get there once your drug spending gets to $2930.  However it's not when YOUR drug expenses get that high, it's when you and your INSURANCE company's spending hit that target.  Medicare picks up again at $6,657.   Yes you have to spend $3737 to get back into what is referred to as catastrophic coverage. 

While you're in the donut hole, thanks to Obamacare, you only have to pay 50% of the retail price of a brand name drug.  In my case that means that I pay $785 for a 3 month supply of a single drug, $1006 for 4 prescriptions in addition I pay a monthly $99 premium.  I can't imagine what people do when they have multiple high expense drugs. 

Yes I want Obamacare fully implemented asap.

I can ...

oh wait I can't because we lost our power again.  Twice in one week because of downed trees.  So I can't

do the laundry, check that recipe on the computer, check that knitting pattern on the computer, cruise facebook, etc., etc. etc. on the computer

Fortuantely today the power was out in the daylight from 7:34 am, I was looking at the clock when it went out, until 7:55 pm just in time for Larry to watch the end of the Ohio State game in the Final Four.

And while I'm no big fan of PG&E or their policies I do appreciate the fact that my power was restored in hours not in days as has happened in the past.  Our record outage was 8 days.

Little house in the forest

Yes it was like the 1700's here last night.  We got 6.6 inches of rain yesterday which had a detremintal effect on a number of trees so it was lights out.

Larry was trapped on the town side of the downed trees until this morning.  Once I established that he and Colin were OK by driving down to the fallen trees and talking to the PG&E crew "Is there a guy in a white truck with a dog?"  "Yes"  I came home and settled in.  I had my propane lantern, my knitting, a glass of wine at my side and a cat in my lap.  I had a fire going, not to say it was roaring but it was going.   All in all quite cozy and safe.

Yoga for my ear?

Yep that's what she said.

I found out yesterday that I have another ruptured eardrum, second since January.  Boo hiss.  No pain and this time no antibiotics.  My regular doc was out of the office so I saw the new and cool Dr. Manfredi.  She recommended yoga to keep the muscles of my head and neck toned to keep my ear canals open.  I love it.

Oops

Just discovered my email me address is very, very wrong.  I apologize to any and all of you that have tried to contact me.

Working to correct the problem

Striving

 

I can feel guilty about the past, apprehensive about the future, but only in the present can I act. The ability to be in the present moment is a major component of mental wellness.
Abraham Maslow

Where's Cathy?

I have a new blog dedicated to weight loss.   Probably boring if you're not into weight loss so I decided to chronicle my adventure apart from Nearly Normal.

Welcome

images

Earlier today I was sitting a the computer trying to find programmable thermostats, very exciting pursuit let me tell you.  It's been raining here for days and as I was typing to most beautiful ray of sunshine came in through my window.

It's food for the soul.