Okay, time to cover our busy and productive weekend now that it’s back to my least favorite time…the start of the week when I’m alone even though I’m not feeling bad at the moment.

It’s a surprisingly quiet morning so far. I thought the planes would have been in full swing by now but I haven’t heard anything yet and it’s pretty clear out there.

We went out to Sam’s Club and the pet store on Saturday. Picked up some things we needed at both stores, including another fleece-lined hammock for the animals and hay for the guinea pigs.

We didn’t know this before but we wouldn’t have gotten the two hairless pigs as brave as they seemed anyway because they were going for a hundred bucks each! We didn’t notice this at first. That’s a lot of money for a guinea pig but one of them sold since we were last there. I feel bad for the one that’s left. Because the store is so greedy who knows how long it will be before it finally gets a home? Meanwhile, it’s all alone in the store.

Nothing against those who like hairless animals but it would be awfully weird to pat an animal and not feel fur or feathers or something. Never cared for the way they look either, though you would definitely not have to worry about shedding hair or allergies that way.

Our piggies are pretty typical but the rats are still very timid and I definitely don’t see any way they’re going to be even like Tinkerboy was and he was a pretty brave and friendly guy. Not the best rat we ever had but he was a good one. It’s like they’re curious and they’re friendly but that hardwired instinct takes over and they give in to their fear and try to run and hide. Really, really sick of having animals that run from me rather than to me when I approach them and I honestly don’t know why I even bother at times. But there is some good in it despite the mess, work, money, and time they take to care for. They’re adorably cute for sure! Maybe someday we’ll have a dog that won’t run when we go near it and that will actually come up to us without bars between us.

Tom stopped using his Waterpik because he said he found that if he lets plaque form over some of his exposed roots, he doesn’t have as much sensitivity. Damn the fucking doctor that gave him a phobia of dentists! Dying or infected teeth can actually kill you so I worry about him even though he reminds me that there are countries that don’t have dentists and they’re not all dropping dead like flies.

I have been feeling calm (for now) and sleeping better, so overall I’ve been feeling well except for on-and-off backaches and hip pain I can’t explain. The hips may be getting arthritic but I don’t know what’s up with the backaches. My weight is still up a couple of pounds so I will have to start the process of elimination to find out what could be driving it up. I have two theories and one of them has already been eliminated. That would be those high-calorie peanuts. They’re not LS-friendly, anyway.

Another culprit may be the wine coolers, though I find it hard to believe that one wine cooler a day could have that much of an impact on my weight, Hashimoto’s or not. I think I’m just getting older. Unless you’ve got hyperthyroidism or some other disease that prevents weight gain or at least gives you that option and makes it easy enough to lose anything you do gain, aging means getting heavier, no matter how active we may be. I’m actually on the treadmill right now. I’m going to aim for an hour today but I’m going to break it up into quarters. That way I don’t get a chance to get all sweaty and I’m giving my joints a break in between. My hips are already feeling it, though.

The Sacramento Fire Department sent a piece of mail to the woman that used to live here so we wrote “Not at this address” and I’ll drop it in the mailbox in a few hours.

Yesterday I ended up taking a nap and it was weird because I had slept well the previous night. I wondered why it was that I ended up napping after sleeping well yet I’m often unable to take naps after sleeping shitty. Then Tom reminded me I took a Benadryl before bed because I was itchy. This definitely leaves me feeling drowsy the next day and I know I should avoid it as much as possible. Even the sleep curse doctor advised against it. Benadryl has been shown to mess with cognitive thinking as well.

The best news is that I may be able to get my LS cured one day. I don’t mean treated or put into remission but cured! There’s this new thing called the Mona Lisa Touch. It’s a laser treatment and I’m getting the impression it’s similar to what they use for hair removal, so it would take a few sessions, unfortunately, and it’s also pretty expensive so I’ll have to get more information on both that and the hair removal thing when I see Amy in June.

Since my bike had been sitting unused for months, its tires were down to just 15 lb of pressure so Tom pumped it back up to the 40 lb standard, and off I went around the circle. It was surprisingly difficult even on the level parts of the road. Perhaps I’m in worse shape than I give myself credit for. Or am I just aging that fast? I know we use different muscles for different exercises so I’m guessing it’s just that I’m not in riding shape at the moment. I haven’t used those muscles in several months so they’re going to have to be re-strengthened.

The loud car has been coming in on weekends, as predicted. Fortunately, they’ve only been in and out once each day but they stay for hours. Again, it’s so weird seeing someone that young spend so much time with their parents, especially on weekends when you’re usually hanging with friends and spending time with significant others. Wasn’t up late enough in the afternoons last week to say if it came in after work but it definitely wasn’t here in the mornings. Since the Twenties were too sick to complain, maybe the office really did get my message and take it seriously.

Was clicking on headlines when gathering Bing points and I couldn’t believe what I was reading. If a woman is willing to have four kids in Hungary, she’ll never have to pay taxes again in her life. This offer is a means of driving up the dropping population. The US isn’t the only country that is getting less interested in having kids. Either way, a woman should never have kids for the sake of profiting or saving money. It should only be because she wants them, can afford them and can handle them. Why can’t people see that a dwindling population is a good thing??? There are way too many people in the world. Fewer people means fewer resources are used up, there is less pollution, and there are more jobs and doctors available.

Went treasure hunting at Goodwill yesterday and got a couple of dolls as well as about 10 packs of incense. They never have Patchouli but I got vanilla, Jasmine, China rain, love, strawberry, Chanel Number 5, opium, lavender and a few more.

One of the Dolls was a friend of Barbie’s and I’m guessing she’s from the Fashionista collection. She’s a very pale redhead with brown eyes. She wears faded jean shorts and a pale pink and white floral tank top that I wasn’t impressed with so I put a burgundy top on her instead that I’ve had for a while.

The other was a porcelain doll that’s about 20 in tall, and even though she’s wearing a Victorian gown, it’s quite lovely and feminine in shades of cream and pale pink. She’s a redhead too, with long flaming curls and green eyes. She’s part of a set, so I found when I looked her up online, sold by Paradise Galleries and made by Donna Rupert, the same person who made Bailey. Megan and baby Moira. Only the baby looks more like a toddler. She wasn’t with her, though. I just got Megan.

I’ve come to realize that Aly is the same old hypochondriac Tammy is with a few exceptions. She doesn’t lie or exaggerate her problems and she actually cares about me as well. But Aly is definitely cursed in the health department. She had to go to the ER for an emergency blood transfusion because her iron was so low and her white blood cell count was very high. She’s got tummy issues and all kinds of shit going on with her. On top of this, she’s thousands of dollars in debt.

Not much in the way of dreams lately. I was having a fun and relaxing swim in a pool a couple of nights ago, doing a backstroke and making sure I didn’t accidentally ram my head into the side of the pool, and last night I seemed to have several dreams of Joe, but don’t remember anything we said or did. Just that I met what was supposed to be his daughter in one of the dreams.