We both had our eye exams today. Same doc, same assistant. Everything looks good for both of us, but as expected, I’m more farsighted. No matter how many years I try, I can’t get used to progressives. I hate ‘em. I want to try trifocals, and she said both Walmart and Sam’s should have them. Walmart’s service isn’t very great so we’re going to have me get trifocals from Sam’s. If not, bifocals. I can get a pair of reading glasses and mid-range glasses from Zenni, though.

The OH is actually a little better. Last time I was 25 and 26, but this time I was 23 and 24. She took pictures of my eyes, but I opted out of having them dilated. Tom had his dilated, though.

She said the nerves look healthy and my “freckle” (I forgot the medical term for it) isn’t worse either.

Walmart’s cooked food isn’t much better than their eyeglass frame service. We got a whole bunch of stuff to share…cheese sticks, mac and cheese, chicken strips, popcorn shrimp… But the only thing that was good was the mac and cheese. He liked the cheese sticks, but to me they were so-so. The chicken and shrimp were horrible because there was way too much batter for the meat, and it was so dried out. I wouldn’t even finish it.

Went on a half-hour walk, as usual, and I’m finding I’m getting too heavy to run as easily as I used to. Even though I always look about 20 lbs lighter than I am because I’m muscular (this is hard to see unless I’m practically naked), I’m just too damn weighty for that much running these days. I do what I can, though.

The scale threw me for a loop. I stepped on it and it said 162 and I said, no way. Just no way I’m there yet, though sadly I likely will be someday. Until I’m old and dying or unfortunate enough to get hit with some kind of disease or illness that causes weight loss, those numbers usually continue to climb throughout life and not the other way around unless we have great genetics. Anyway, I stepped off the scale and back on and found I’m where I have been since getting close to hitting menopause…low to mid-150s. Meanwhile, I will keep active and eat healthy most days just so I can stay 35 pounds overweight. rolls eyes

I was hoping that the “dream people” would give me a story idea since I get a lot of my ideas from dreams and I couldn’t think of anything for the longest time. I finally came up with the idea of having someone falsely talked into the Witness Protection Program by an obsessive FBI agent on my own, but actually, they did give me an idea. I was thinking of the dream I had the other night where I broke into this guy’s house and he made me make him a turkey sandwich in exchange for not calling the cops on me. Well, maybe I could do another story sometime where a home invader was given a choice of either being turned in (with outstanding warrants hanging over her head) or doing whatever the homeowner demanded.

I was glad to see that whoever borrowed one of my books read 119 pages as of last night, and 274 pages by this afternoon. So they must have enjoyed it at least somewhat to get that far. Now let’s hope I get some positive reviews! The thing is that most people don’t bother to leave reviews and I’m guilty of that as well.

Since our devices need to be replaced, we’ve been discussing what phones, Kindles and other devices to get, and whether or not I should go back to Windows or stick with Macs. And should I get a desktop or a laptop?

Well, all good things really do come to an end at least when it comes to Macs these days. The Mac is becoming much slower to boot and incompatible with different things, and we’ve had all kinds of problems lately, even though they do continue to be pretty secure. The cursor jumping when indexing is annoying as hell.

Windows has gotten much more secure than it used to be, so since he’s used both operating systems for work and his apps, he’s more familiar with what Windows is like these days. It’ll take some getting used to with the different setup, but just like I got used to the Mac, I can get used to Windows again.

Probably going to stick with Androids because we don’t see the point in spending hundreds of dollars on phones that can pretty much do the same things the cheap ones can. Androids may not have the type of resolution the iPhones have, and their blocking feature is worthless, at least on this phone, but they work fine. 95% of what I use it for is Google Docs, Skype and WhatsApp. The other 3% is for pictures and 2% is for calls.

I’m looking forward to having a faster computer, which is likely going to be a Windows desktop and then being able to keep my MacBook Air in the living room for doing puzzles on the treadmill and hanging out there at night with the animals. With it being quieter at night and rats being nocturnal, I could use that for a bit while they’re out running around. They sure love to visit the pigs!

I began to feel slightly borderline anxious yesterday, but it passed quickly. Depending on how I do this week, I’ll decide whether or not I should scale back the meds a little. Menopausal or not, better brand or not, it can still cause some anxiety.

Been having fun doing Duolingo Stories. Every now and then I like to practice my languages to keep them fresh, but you have to know the languages in order to do the stories. That’s where you follow a story in whatever language and fill in the blanks and choose what they’re saying based on what you read and hear. They don’t have Italian stories, so I’ve been doing Spanish and German.

The ants are entertaining and amazingly persistent little bastards. I guess one of the perks of getting older is that you just don’t give a shit as much about what others think and since no one’s bothered me in quite a while, not that I would put up with as much shit as I used to, I didn’t see the harm in being more open and public, so I’m sharing pictures on both Twitter and Facebook that anyone can see. They finally completed a tunnel they started early yesterday evening. So, it took them less than 24 hours to complete it. It will be interesting to see where they dig next.

LOL, I asked Carolyn if she wanted some ants, knowing that she and Jon must be horrified by the crazy shit going on across the street from them since she’s seen the pics, and she laughed and said no thanks, they have possums to deal with. And of course, those fucking skunks. Worst place I ever lived when it comes to that (among a million other things). I smell the fuckers just about every day.

Tammy made me laugh by saying I was crazy. I was wondering how long it would take her to tell me that, LOL. But she’s also annoying the shit out of me once again by bragging about her narcissistic brat’s accomplishments. She already congratulated Sarah on her new job to everyone following her, and today she just had to congratulate her to all her friends once again for actually starting as manager of Dollar General and in our group. Funny too, as this is right after I posted that I hate it when people congratulate people to whomever and that I prefer not to hear about those no longer in my life. Bad memory or not, I highly doubt she missed or forgot these things. It’s just too coincidental. Tammy does tend not to pay close attention to things and to be selfish and do whatever she wants, so unless I’m reading more into it than there actually is, I can’t help but wonder If she would have posted again, this time in two places, had I not said anything. Plus, she used a rainbow background and she knows I love rainbows. This makes me wonder even more if she was trying to get my attention and rub the bitch in my face.

Just like I couldn’t care less if a former friend started a new job, why would I care about a selfish family member who chose to exit my life, even if I may not wish anything bad on them? I seriously cannot bring myself to care about those who don’t give a shit about me. That’s the old Jodi. They put themselves out of my life and therefore I have done the same and I’d like to move on without hearing about them. Maybe I’m just as selfish in some ways, but I don’t do crazy and I don’t do people that don’t give a shit either. I hope she doesn’t force me to have to spell it out for her because, at the same time, I don’t want to be made uncomfortable, I don’t want to offend her, and telling any mother you don’t want to hear about their kids is definitely going to be offensive.

I hope she’s annoying them by mentioning me just as much as she’s annoying me by mentioning them. Unless she practically grabs and shakes me by the shoulders and leaves me without much choice but to be brutally honest with her about how I feel, I’m going to just ignore any talk about her kids. Why not? She ignores a lot of the things I tell and ask her. She still won’t tell me if they located where her infection was and how her kidneys are doing. While she’s definitely not healthy, I still think she’s probably exaggerating the severity of her health issues. I highly doubt she’s “done,” like she said her doctor said. I hate to say it but a part of me wishes she was so I could tell her brats off and be done with them forever.

Bottom line - Becky and Sarah have proven to be very selfish and Lisa showed me her crazy side a long time ago. I just can’t handle the intense, erratic mood swings of bipolars. They aren’t just moody but they’re very paranoid and accusatory. I went through that shit with Lisa, Marie, and others, and I won’t be doing it again. Anyone that’s ever been so damn intense, dishonest, contradictory, suspicious, obsessive and stalkerish is not someone I want to connect with. One doesn’t have to be as emotionless as a machine or the biggest genius on earth but there are so many more people out there who are much less selfish, smarter, dependable, compassionate, honest, easy-going, and much more stable on an overall basis. So why would I want to lower myself to diving into toxicity?

Might have forgotten to mention that I also got a pink translucent bath brush at the dollar store and a 2020 calendar with tropical scenes. This calendar that I got for just a buck is just as nice as the $15 one I was going to get on Amazon. It’s just palm trees and beaches instead of rabbits.