We really can’t go long without a project here, can we? Five-Star Restoration is at Lawrence’s place now, parked in the street between our houses. They do mold, fire and water damage removal. Thought I’d been hearing door-slamming back there the last couple of days. Today, I not only saw the van parked back there but they added some thumping to the mix as well. Knowing this will go on all day and no doubt be a multi-day project, I’m under the headphones. With these many houses this close it’s always a stressor as I get close to appointments, not just due to traffic, but dreading if someone breaks out a project at the wrong time. Really hope they’re done before I roll onto nights! I can’t express just how sick and fucking tired I am of having to hear it every time someone around here has a project.

Other than the usual annoyances, I’ve been doing much better these last couple of days. I have felt calm and did a half-hour of cardio outdoors and will soon do my strength training indoors.

Becky made it to Missouri yesterday. So happy for her! But envious too, since we’ll certainly never get to live in the place we vacationed in and fell in love with.

With this being the longest time since I’ve had to hear that loud car, I looked in on the punk’s account to see if I could learn why, but there haven’t been any updates since April. I’m sure the prick will be back one of these days, though.

I ended up being quite the social butterfly yesterday. I’m still wary of people as too many bad experiences have taught me that people can’t be trusted, but it’s nice to socialize every now and then.

I emailed Dixie early in the morning to let her know I would be available to visit if she wanted company and she said she’d call after a phone appointment with her doctor to discuss some blood test results.

When she called, I grabbed a container of pistachio nuts on my way out for us to munch on while we chatted.

On my way down, I spotted Bob and Virginia on their patio, so I made a quick detour to say hello. Virginia loved my hot pink tank dress and pink strappy shoes.

She asked what I had with me and I told her they were pistachio nuts and that since Dixie usually feeds me when I visit her, I thought I would return the favor. I guess they’ve met because Virginia said, “Isn’t that the one with the little girl that rides the Pride bus?”

I said, “Well, she’s 72, but yes, that’s Diane who rides the bus.”

When I got to Dixie’s place, she said she’d just eaten a bunch of pistachios, haha. Sure enough, there was a small plate of shells by her chair.

Then I was surprised by a few things she told me, though I’m not sure if she’s talking about who I think she’s talking about or if she’s even remembering things correctly. As she herself admits, her memory has really gone to hell.

She said that shortly after moving in, she asked Bob if her taillights were working and he was grumpy and in a hurry and all that. I’m just not sure if it really is Bob she’s referring to.

This was the motor mouth’s funniest…she and Santa hit it off right away, she said. But then she looks at me and says, “Does he look like my type?

Before I could tell her that she never told me what her type is other than that she’s been happily single for 30 years after 3 shitty husbands, she said, “No! We just get along well and find each other friendly and easy to talk to.”

Then she tells me that his wife, whom I had yet to meet, was to go to Texas to a wedding and leave him behind. But then she decided not to go because she was jealous that something was going on between the two or would if she left town.

LMAO! Anything is possible as I wasn’t there, didn’t see what happened, and don’t know these people well, but somehow this strikes me as highly unlikely. Unlikely that Santa’s wife got even a teeny bit jealous, let alone enough to keep her from attending a wedding out of town.

I also learned that Dixie not only has a daughter but a son as well. That one she is connected with and I guess he calls and visits about every week which is typical.

Then when I asked how Diane was doing, she goes, “I don’t care. I don’t know and I don’t want to know.”

She really caught me off guard for a minute there until she realized I was asking about Diane and not her daughter. She said she realizes she must sound terrible speaking so harshly about her own daughter, but she’s had it with the way wealth and cocaine use have changed her for the worse.

She said something about her daughter picking on things she did when she was a kid and Dixie said, “I wasn’t perfect and I didn’t do everything right, but I didn’t do that bad of a job.”

Again, I wasn’t there, but I do find it hard to picture Dixie as an abusive mother. I’ve heard plenty about what cocaine can do to one’s mind and behavior, too.

Dixie has admitted that most of her family has had problems with drugs and alcohol. Even Dixie used to drink heavily.

She both likes and doesn’t like living here and said that the Tuesday landscaping frenzies get to her, too. It’s worse on those days, even though it’s a daily annoyance that’s soon to get worse as the leaves start coming down.

She doesn’t know if she’s going to stay here permanently or not. She doesn’t even know if Diane will always be with her, but assuming Dixie dies first, she’s going to have to eventually go somewhere. Although Dixie finds Diane a challenge at times, she feels that she gives her purpose in life.

Diane loves living here but is terrified of the shower for some reason.

She also threw me for a loop when she said the doctor said her thyroid was high because when I asked her what her TSH score was, she said 88. As I told her, that would mean she was off-the-charts hypo and not the other way around. Hell, my own score is in the 30s untreated and that’s considered severe. Then she told me 88 micrograms was what they were lowering her dose to, not her score.

She’d been taking 100. Damn! I cannot imagine taking that! Eighty-eight damn near killed me and I can barely handle 75. That’s why I’m thinking I’m going to stick with 50 indefinitely and take a 75 only once a week. If the number of anxious days per month goes down, then that will answer my question about the dose.

As Tom said when I expressed my fears of never being able to fully treat my thyroid, I’m treating it enough. It’s true, too. My skin is soft, and my hair and nails grow fast. I have no hypo symptoms at all. Also, my T4 has always been normal. So my body is definitely not starving for thyroid hormone.

I was surprised Dixie didn’t have any symptoms of being hyper. She wasn’t having a racy HR, losing weight, the runs or anything.

I sure had the runs from hell myself yesterday and I’m not sure why. Probably the change in diet. I’m down to 152, but as usual, I don’t look it because I’m solid. One my height in the 150s is typically going to have a waist in the 40s but mine is a 36. So I’m no skinny-mini but I’m no giant either.

While Dixie chatted non-stop, occasionally not making much sense, I was happy to fetch her mail for her as I offered to so she wouldn’t have to get in her car and drive to the mailboxes since she can’t walk well. A little out of it or not, nothing positive to say or not, I always enjoy our chats.

On the way back home was when I met Santa, whose real name is Ed, and his wife Joan. They were sitting out front and their two dogs were barking up a storm when they saw me and then I heard one across the street go off as well. I’m really glad I’m not further down that street!

I told Santa he met my husband Tom and that I was his wife and we all started talking. The dogs had been abused before they rescued them. The cuter one was barking and lunging toward me on its leash and Santa said she didn’t bite and just wanted attention. She did stop barking once I patted her.

Joan liked my dress too, and I laughed at the thought of one day dressing in something really boring and surprising everyone in the neighborhood since this pink princess is known for her colorful fashions. Maybe navy, white or gray. The thing is I have almost nothing in those colors.

Yesterday I rearranged my bedroom office a bit so now I have a coloring station and office in one so I can color while I listen to docs being read. Then I can stop and edit whatever needs editing.

I have nearly 300 entries posted on Tumblr which has gotten one known view so far from Houston.

I’m up to the fall of 1990 when I was with Brenda, and boy I’ll tell you, my struggles to find women were absolutely ridiculous. Even back then when people were less open about it and it was harder to connect with other lesbians or bisexuals since social media didn’t exist yet, I shouldn’t have had such a hard time snagging a woman. Oh, I could have had the butches from hell, but the feminine and in-between women shouldn’t have been so hard to obtain. All I could think was wow, was that not meant to be or what?! Now that’s someone who wasn’t meant to be with women. Women weren’t even that out of reach 100 years ago!