Good morning!
Keanna came to clean on Tuesday. Got a letter in the mail telling me SNAP (EBT card for food) had been overpaying me for several months, that it was their error, and I'd be getting a notice as to how much. A couple days later I get another letter telling me I owed them $12.00 and a form to fill out as to how I wanted to pay them back and when. I chose for them to take it out of June's amount. Two different envelopes mailed. Where's the government efficiency? That's the kind of efficiency I'd like to actually see addressed--lol! I'm just glad they didn't overpay me more than they did...and I found out they make you pay them back. Never happened to me before, but I know they've been understaffed for some time. For the first time I haven't even had an actual worker assigned to me for a couple of years now. I just get a random employee to deal with me. (It's because my case is easy and never changes--makes me low priority.)
Then I got a call (that I missed because this smart phone will not even ring if it is an unrecognized phone number and has some AI guy instruct them to leave a message) from the dermatologist's office to tell me that the surgeon has left Sanford. They will contact me when they have a surgeon to do the procedure. You may recall that the original guy I saw before they told me was booked up into January and they had a couple of guys helping out. So--one is done helping and that other young guy--well, I wouldn't feel comfortable with him doing it anyways. He was young, nervous, and inexperienced even just taking the sample. Meanwhile...since my face cancer is going to be around indefinitely...it's a good thing I splurged on a huge box of small band aids that weren't Band-Aid brand but do stick really well.
I started to suddenly feel better on Saturday, so I caught up on laundry, did a few things on the to-do list and even cleaned the patio door. (Keanna isn't allowed to do windows.) I don't talk about the fibromyalgia much, but it kind of rules your life in a very erratic way. I can have flares that last days or weeks or months. No control over it. I've been in a flare for a few weeks. It might be gone. Might be right back today. Never know.
For example, when I was in college back around 2001 I had an art class where we had these high stools to sit on with no backs. For some reason it set off this awful sharp pain in my tailbone. Not sciatica--only in the tailbone. I had to stand in class rather than sit in that high hard stool most of the 2 1/2 hour class twice a week. That pain lasted for TWO YEARS. (Longest specific pain flare I've ever had--knock on wood.) Back then they still made Darvocet I could take on really bad days (nothing else worked), had special pillows to sit on at home, and totally believed that was never going away. But surprise...it did.
Even my fibro issues have been altered by Keytruda so that they aren't as familiar to me and are worse than they used to be. But at least I finally feel like I am probably mostly in fibro territory again. I still have even more issues with inflammation than I ever had before, more pain, and the flares tend to last longer than they used to...but it feels like progress towards returning to my old disabled self, if that makes any sense to you. At least I hope that is what's happening. (About time!) (I'm whispering so as not to jinx myself.)
I had run out of bird seed for over a week. Had ordered a bag of something special for the Critter Cafe before I move away...but it was delayed and delayed. Finally arrived this last week. It's a bag of sunflower chips and peanuts! Allie was so excited she couldn't wait and was right up next to the screen as soon as I got some out there--lol!
Didn't take the birds too long to realize there was food here again--lol! It's perfect for this time of year because the grackles fight over the peanuts and gorge themselves on those and leave so then all the small birds can eat the sunflower chips in peace--ROFL! Just perfect!
Been so warm! It's like we skipped spring and jumped right into summer. Went from 50s to 70s in a couple days. Was 83 degrees on Sunday!
I do love seeing pretty clouds again. Not so many in the cold months.
The partridge duo was back also. I think these are two females without mates because they are less colorful...less orange on their faces. BFFs. I'm glad they have each other.
Being in a flare for a while...well, I admit I did some retail therapy this month. Ordered some more shower curtains! Yes. I really did. Realized I didn't have that many spring/summer ones...saw this one that reminds me of the transparent flowers I want to learn to paint! How could I resist?
I also found some wildly bright colorful ones, too. I'll show them to you as they go up every two weeks. Yes, I still put a new one up every two weeks (after Keanna has been here) and I still get excited every time. ;)
I also had already picked out a thicker tablecloth with a flannel backing after I got the really thin one for art with the boys because the really thin one slides around when I go to move my laptop, etc. So depending on what we are doing...we'll have a grippier one and a slippery one. I need the grippier one for now.
I had to laugh, Dorothy, when you mentioned me maybe having tablecloths that I could change all the time like the shower curtains. I don't think so--but you never know. LOL! ;)
First Saturday of the month is Home Depot Day for the boys.
This month they made little bird feeders. Cute!
With the weather being so nice they have already been out at the fire pit at night.
And then Sunday was "May the 4th be with you" Day. Fargo shows Star Wars films.
I thought they just showed the original movie, but I see this year it is Empire Strikes Back.
No people in costumes outside the downtown Fargo Theater like there was when they went two years ago, but they had cutouts of some famous characters--lol!
Regular old-timey seats. Not the fancy plush recliners in the new theater.
Leah said they went for Chuck's (her sister's husband's) birthday. I know they all enjoy it as much as the kids do. :)
So, that's how the week went. I hope the noticeably lower level of pain and exhaustion over the weekend sticks around for a good long while. Didn't even have a headache on Sunday. Hope I'll be feeling good enough to switch to the summer clothes. Never bothered to bring the bins to the garage last fall. Time for baby steps...baby steps...baby steps...until I finish a big project like that. Top of my to-do list for this week.
What is the weather like where you are? Any plans or projects for the week? You all brighten my days. Till next week...
But it finally got so hot I had to close up and put the AC on this last weekend for the first time this year. Beginning of May! 90s! So weird.
Today--May 12th--is the 24th Fibromyalgia Awareness Day. Fibro and I became intimately acquainted right about the time of the first awareness day. Kind of funny to me. But then I have a weird sense of humor, as you must know by now. ;) 
Supposed to be calming and stress-reducing.
I found a jar that this set of colored pencils fit into...so I could color in my chair. Not in the mood for markers.
Got a couple of them done when my neck and shoulders weren't protesting too much--lol! They're so simple that even when you have to do them little by little they don't take very long to finish.
Definitely mindless and calming. You don't need to think much at all. Didn't worry about what colors I chose...just wanted to quietly color away.
And the great part about these are they are spiral books so you can easily color on a nice flat single page!
