So we did keep the guinea pig papers after all. It turns out that Tom had them stashed somewhere in his closet. They say that Petco will gladly take back any pet that’s in good health regardless of age and find them good homes. I remember them saying this; I just didn’t think I kept the papers. So glad he had them!

So it will be a sad day but it’s still good news because we would rather not give them to a shelter that may end up killing them. This way we know that whoever gets them truly wants them and will almost certainly take good care of them as opposed to someone they’re forced on. I don’t know if Petco is going to charge a fee for them, but a shelter would have for sure, along with cavy rescue groups.

I filled the kitchen sink with an inch or two of lukewarm soapy water and put Rockefeller in it to give him a butt bath. It turns out it wasn’t just that he was dirty, but he also had some unusually long hairs that were knotted so I snipped them off. a little unusual for an American guinea pig. I also did his nails but strangely enough, Blitz doesn’t need his nails trimmed so I’m guessing he bites them off. Rockefeller didn’t mind the bath. A little nervous squealing as I carried him over to the sink but then he did his happy talk when I dried him off. It’s when I trimmed his nails that he got squirmy.

Did some more organizing, sorting, and packing. We decided we’re going to go with two U-Haul pods because we don’t want to play the game of Cram It and hope to hell everything fits. It’s one thing to run out of space for things you don’t really need or want but it’s another when it comes to things you do. Our stuff will be stored here in Citrus Heights and then once we know exactly where we’re going to be settling, we’ll have it shipped to us there.

We decided we would book a couple of months at a vacation rental although we don’t yet know exactly where. That way we can go straight there and then we’ll have two months to find a place. We may have to spend a few nights in a motel here in between closing and all that. The rental will likely be a manufactured home in an adult community. They’re cheaper during the summer because the snowbirds aren’t there at that time.

Yesterday was one of the best days I’ve had since this bad anxiety spell began over 3 weeks ago. I did read an encouraging article when searching for reports of how often anxiety dissipates when entering the postmenopausal phase as I’m hopefully about to do. Not only is that the second most common symptom next to hot flashes, but I found it interesting when one person talked about “morning” anxiety and how it would come out of nowhere even when their lives were going well, and they had no reason to be anxious. Sure, I’m nervous about the move and a bit overwhelmed because I know many things could go wrong but I still shouldn’t be feeling the way I’ve been feeling just because we’re moving. I’ve moved before and I know Tom will say that I get this way every time we have a big event coming up but the feelings are just manifesting themselves differently this time, and maybe part of that is true, but I’m definitely more excited than anything else. I still say the anxiety is connected to something physiological and I’m not so sure how much of it is on the medication at this point. I just really hope to hell this isn’t a life sentence, whatever it is!

It was pretty interesting how one person mentioned it coming on at the same time even though I don’t know if they had my exact same symptoms. That could explain why mine has been toward the end of my day. I was barely borderline for about 90 minutes toward the end of my day yesterday. It was still a good day overall and I took my meds when I got up. Just not sure when and if I want to restart the statins.

Anyway, they say that yes, anxiety can go away after menopause but if you had anxiety during menopause, you may really have to take better care of your nervous system afterward. They recommend things like magnesium and Vitamin D. Magnesium didn’t help me much and I don’t know if Vitamin D is going to make much difference either, but we’ll see. I should hear from my doctor at some point today, too.

I had many detailed dreams but unfortunately, I don’t remember all of them, particularly ones that pertained to moving. Instead, I was about to turn 48 and was single and living in my own apartment somewhere. Every time I would return from going out somewhere, some guy would call me. At first I wrote it off as a prank, assuming it was some lonely, bored jackass that lived nearby and could see when I would come and go. But then I realized he knew my name and would call no matter what door I entered. This was when it hit me that if he was someone who lived nearby, he couldn’t see both front and back doors from one place any more than someone within the building could.

So on his next call, I was a little bit pissed and a whole lot curious and demanded that he show himself and come to my door. His reply was some senseless thing about having to protect those he loved.

I don’t know if this was part of the same dream or not, but in another scene, the apartment had a mural along the living room wall with a few people’s faces. I wrote some less-than-kind comments about them but I’m not sure what they were. I definitely felt guilty enough about it to call the management office and tell them I just noticed the writing.

“I thought you wrote this,” one of the guys said that used this long stick-like thing to remove the writing, but I lied and denied having anything to do with it.

In order to use the cleaning thing, they had to use a special plug my keyboard was plugged into. After they left, I accidentally discovered that they plugged in their own keyboard instead of mine and had taken mine with them. Out of curiosity, I used some of the hotkeys in a document to see what information may come up. One of the things was a random string of letters and numbers that could have been a password for something.

So I went to call the office to tell them about the accidental switch when I realized I couldn’t call them because their number was programmed into my keyboard and apparently, I had no other way to retrieve it.