I decided to pee on a test strip, figuring I'd still get the same, if not very similar, results that way as I would by dunking it in a cup of pee. The leukocytes are still mostly mild but moving toward moderate—about 1/4 of the way there.

Last night, I had tons of burning, and nothing I did seemed to soothe it. I tried ibuprofen and hydrocortisone to no avail, but some Tucks cream seemed to help. Right now, it's not too bad, but since alcohol is listed as an irritant and I just sat down to enjoy some wine, it’ll be interesting to see if it gets worse within the next half hour to two hours. From what I’ve read, that’s about how long it takes for liquids to reach the bladder.

I grabbed a cheap Disney-themed coloring book at Walmart. It's cute, but the paper is rather smooth, which makes it a little tougher for some colors to bond well. Now that I have more experience with this sort of thing, I can judge brands of mediums and books better, and I think Creative Haven coloring books are the best. The paper quality is good, the lines aren’t too thin, and the drawings are bordered, which I prefer.

Looks like Ray’s taken off somewhere, so now his driveway can be a community parking lot. I didn’t expect him to leave so soon. I wonder if his house in Michigan sold.

Last night, I heard tons of coyotes going off after midnight, and then, all of a sudden—dead silence. It was weird, but it’s a reminder that even if I had the energy, going out for late-night walks like I used to in the old places is probably not a wise idea. In the city, it's the people you have to worry about; in rural areas, it's the wildlife.

I asked Chat for some bladder-friendly soup recipes and decided to try one of the three it gave me. Originally, it was a potato and leek recipe, but since leeks are rather pricey, I swapped them out for shallots. When I first tasted it, I thought it was pretty lame and wished I had used two shallots instead of one. Once I seasoned it with some rosemary and oregano, it was actually quite good. When the diced potatoes softened in the boiling broth, I chose to mash them rather than use the mixer so there would still be bits of potato to give it more substance.

Not today, but soon enough, I’m going to make stuffed portobello mushrooms. I’ve also got a couple of different chicken-based soups I want to try.

Since I’m sensitive to dairy and shouldn’t have too much of it, I’ve been having smoothies early in the day using unsweetened almond milk. I’m surprised by the energy they seem to give me. When I woke up, I was pretty damn tired, even though I slept 8.5 hours and got a sleep score of 89 but perked up after the smoothie. I remember waking up a handful of times, as usual. Nane was in one of my dreams—she had her hair in pigtails and was asking me about some military base in the strangest accent. It definitely didn’t sound German.

Nothing bad has befallen me since that horrible dream the night before, but every now and then, these dreams turn out to be meaningless, or bad things don’t always follow in the timeframe that they usually do. Hopefully, this one was meaningless!

Not that I’m desperate to get out of here, but I wonder if we ever really will move someday. I think we likely will, although I don’t know exactly where or when. All I know is that until then, I’m going to enjoy the climate, having two bathrooms, and having 1,000 square feet instead of 500. I know we’re going to have to start off pretty damn small, and knowing how things usually take longer than expected, it could be quite a while before we have more space and an extra bathroom.

In Phoenix, back in the rentals, I used to hate waking up having to pee only to find him in the bathroom. I don’t know what it is with guys, but they spend so much time in there taking their dumps. He says it isn’t the same for them—I guess they don’t just feel a dump coming on and go take it. They have to sit and relax on the toilet with a magazine or their phones or something until it happens. As a kid, I remember my dad spent quite a bit of time in the bathroom, too. That’s why the ladies of the house usually used the upstairs bathroom while he used the downstairs one.

We're going to have to adjust the slant to Tinkerbella's ramps because she's been having a harder time climbing them since she's getting old and is kind of fat too, thanks to her mommy spoiling her.