Earth Day 🌳 🌍

 Happy Earth Day 🌱! 

This picture was taken 13 years ago today when my daughter decided to celebrate Earth Day by picking up trash. 

I sent her this picture as a reminder, and she responded that she was doing the same thing today. San Marcos has an annual river clean up. 

I really did get such an awesome kid. 

I fell off the bandwagon with exercise when my mother told one of my cousins about it. “Oh, Danielle’s been walking in the park and going to the gym.”  Sounds like a harmless conversation, until they started accusing me of “trying to uphold society’s beauty standards.”  

I got extremely discouraged and depressed and stopped going. 

I have never felt pressured by society to be thin. 

Maybe some other people feel that pressure, but I’ve personally never experienced it. I have been shamed by some for things they consider “upholding the patriarchy” and maybe this is one of them. I will say that exercise and working out has made me feel really really good. Like I’ve said, I have a very uncomfortable feeling in my muscles that this has really helped. It wouldn’t matter to them how I feel, though. I really let my cousin’s remarks get to me. 

This morning, however, I got back on the bandwagon. I went to the park with Kevin, did 6,000 steps, and worked out on three of their workout machines there. 

Then in the afternoon, I had a doctor appointment which was a follow up ever since he gave me phentermine for weight loss a month ago. He said I lost 6 pounds since my last visit. (I was wearing the same thing as last month.) He also said I could have a higher dose of phentermine or stay where I was and I asked for the higher dose. He submitted it, then a few hours later, the pharmacist called me from the Walmart pharmacy and was absolutely belligerent and pretty verbally abusive about how phentermine is a controlled substance. I was caught off guard. They have acted like this before about gabapentin, but I was still speechless. This pharmacist was REALLY nasty about it and I just told him not to fill it and hung up. I kind of fell apart after that phone call. It’s one thing to have pushback from someone who doesn’t matter, like my cousin, but a pharmacist is in some sort of position of authority. More so than a random family member. 

I do have another follow up on May 27th, but I don’t think I can go through with this “weight loss plan” any more. At least not with the doctor. The doctor is my PCP.  I had really never heard of phentermine before last month, and I’m so confused why the Walmart pharmacy would treat me like some sort of drug seeker because I went for a follow up and the dose was increased by my doctor. 

I would really like to eventually get down to about 165. I’m going to have to try and not let set backs get me down. I also want to feel better from this unnameable problem in my muscles. I really really need to push back on the haters. And who knew someone could have haters for this. 

On the work front:  I’m going to be working with the 11-7 couple for the next four days at least. That will put me into overtime part of Friday and all of Saturday. Someone actually no call, no showed to them today. Gift card boss actually called instead of texted, at 11:30, to see if I could go. But I was driving home from the park, sweaty, no scrubs in the car to change into, and I had the afternoon appointment. 

It was a little bit of a challenge to help her in the kitchen the other night and do things entirely her way, but honestly, I did learn a couple kitchen tips/tricks from that fiasco. Don’t you know, the next day, she wanted to make a steak?  She said she was already sick of chicken. 

Thanksgiving in April

The couple that I’m working with today, yesterday, and the day before, are not permanent clients of my company. The husband is the primary caregiver of the wife, and he recently had surgery. Today is his follow up appointment from that surgery, and once he gets “clearance”, he will not need us anymore. 

Yesterday I worked with them from 11-7. The husband was in his office most of the day, and I helped the wife with whatever she needed. The first four hours were boring. She didn’t need anything or want anything really. We just watched tv. Then she wanted to start dinner. When I tell you, we pretty much made an entire Thanksgiving dinner!  The only difference was that we made chicken instead of turkey. Making this meal is tiring to begin with, then add in the fact that you’re in someone else’s house, and you have to do things the way they do them. Then we ate. They let me have a plate, and I made myself eat it- the chicken was very bland. So was the stuffing. Then I had to help them pack up all the leftovers and do the dishes. Her husband is retired military and has an exact way of how everything must be placed in the dishwasher. 

At least today, I won’t have to help her cook. There are plenty of leftovers. I think she’s going to want me to take some home. If so, my cats will be happy. 

Cute Cats

 I worked with a new client today, and actually it was my second time working with them. Today while I was working with her, it started raining. Her window was open, but there was no screen. Pretty soon, about five or six cats started jumping in from outside. One after another. She had a name for all of them. Her husband then explained that they were all strays and always came in when it rained. I was like oh, ok that makes sense. They kept coming in out of nowhere! It was like a parade of cats coming through the window. 

Fun With ChatGPT

 I have been having loads of fun using ChatGPT to help me write “a book” based on me and my first boyfriend, “if we had ended up together.”  

ChatGPT is the most horrible author on the planet, but it’s great at helping me develop character arcs and plot developments on a life that never actually was. It’s so interesting to me. The ideas it comes up with and developments it suggests are practically genius, but the actual writing of the scenes is pathetic. “That’s so you!” And, “That makes it so real!”  are common sentences. 

My first boyfriend and I used to say we wanted seven kids.  That most likely realistically wouldn’t have happened, but in the book, I make it happen. Like I’ve said before, I write them as having a boy first, then a girl, then boy/girl twins, then adoption of a sibling group of three. Of their biological children, one has a limb difference and one has epilepsy. Of their adopted children, there is an infant, a preteen girl who is parentified, and a middle child who is a school mate of their biological children. 

The character based on me who’s a mother of 7 ends up with a career building marble and granite (and perhaps other) countertops for a living. And maybe other kitchen remodeling. That story arc is still building since I don’t know how to do countertops. It’s a long story. The father, of course, ends up a store manager. The story of why is a few posts down. 

ChatGPT is also helping me with my other book called The Child Advocate. I want the main character, the child advocate, to begin her advocacy working with a toddler who was born to drug addicted parents and fostered from birth by two women who’s husbands both died in freak accidents a few months apart from each other. In the story, people speculate on the sexuality of these two women more than the best interest of the child. I really did work with a situation similar to this, but I’m changing details. There was a whole lot of, “Are they gay? Or are they just two grieving widows?” (Why not both?) The baby starts walking at 2 and a half years old, because babies born exposed to methamphetamines have motor skill and developmental delays. 

There was another time when I was a CASA volunteer that I was an “assistant volunteer” on a case with a sibling group of ten. In the book, it’s a sibling group of 11, just to change things up. They are in every kind of placement you can think of- some in good foster homes, some in crappy foster homes, some in group homes, some with their biological father, some with their biological father’s family members, and some aging out. The CASA has to visit all of them and this way the reader is exposed to different types of placements that kids end up in. There’s no way for them all to be placed together. This really happened, but I have to change details for the story. 

ChatGPT is helping me with all of these story lines. It just can’t write scenes worth a damn. In one, I go see a five year old in her foster home, she shows me a painting she made and I tell her, “That’s so you!”  (Facepalm!) why does ChatGPT LOVEEE saying “That’s so you”?

Tiktok Ragebait

 I recently discovered this one guy on TikTok who basically goes into different stores as a prank and tries to buy three eggs and two slices of bread taken out of their carton and package. The store employees and managers try to explain it to him that he has to buy a whole carton of a dozen eggs and a whole packaged loaf of bread. He acts like he can’t speak English, and is wearing an African traditional print shirt (you can see his sleeve often in frame). He makes up a fake African language and reverses “sir” and “ma’am” on men and women. 

It’s HILARIOUS. 

What’s even more notable is that most of his videos are in Dollar General locations, but some aren’t. What’s funny is that when he’s in a regular grocery store, the employees are generally very polite and sensical. But when he goes to Dollar General locations, the managers just get extremely pissed off and completely unhinged.  I will never know what it is about dollar General staff.  After almost 8 years of doing mystery shops and retail audits, I can safely say they are some of the individuals you most do not want to piss off. 

Sometimes, this guy will even take a couple slices of bologna out of the package. In one clip, the bologna was disappearing under the conveyor belt. It was hysterical. I know what you’re thinking- does he break his cover with these people and pay for the items?  I hope so-  I mean it seems like he brings them in with him. One Dollar General employee was over by the refrigerated aisle looking for “where he got them from” all the while saying, “But we don’t even have any eggs.” 

I have had my laughs this evening. 

Cat Grooming

 I’ve never had a long haired cat. Jordan smacks us when we brush him and has gotten a little bit of matting. We found a cat groomer who took him today. I think he looks ridiculous! 🤣 

He looks embarrassed, and his brothers are hissing at him. 

I was hoping she’d trim his tail, but I was actually able to get a couple mats out of his tail. 

Happy Greek Easter Tidbits

First of all, I’ve lost 3.8 pounds in the last ten days. This is what the scale read each of the following mornings:

April 2: 206.0

April 4: 205.6

April 10: 203.2

April 12: 202.2

This is what Google has to say about a 3.8 pound weight loss in ten days. It’s completely fine. 

Today, we had flash flooding, so I didn’t go to the park. I am also afraid to go back to fitness connection, even though I have a membership until May 31. I can go to another location, but I’m afraid once I swipe in, I’ll be flagged as the woman who ditched the pushy salesman/personal trainer, and alarms will go off or something.  

I need to find a new gym. It’s going to be too hot soon to be going to the park. 

 

A good resource for working out is Heather Roberts on YouTube. I’m not sure I’m in any kind of headspace to just be exercising at home though. 

I want to make a quick vent about something. Some people who consider themselves big “mental health advocates” and really try to raise awareness about the validity of having a mental health diagnosis and will say things like “erase the stigma”.  You know who I’m talking about. Well, it seems like the very minute they don’t like someone or disagree with someone, they will use a mental health issue in order to insult that person- Thus creating stigma. I hope what I’m saying makes sense. And they’ll use unpopular diagnoses. They won’t insult someone by saying they have depression or any sort of neurodivergence, because those things are trendy. They’ll use personality disorders, especially narcissism. And EVEN if they don’t use a diagnostic term. They will tell the person they are trying to insult to “seek therapy.”  When, every other time, they are trying to make therapy into a respectable, commendable choice that should be celebrated. They’ll say there’s nothing wrong with going to therapy, but when they want to demean someone, they’ll use go to therapy. It’s such a weird juxtaposition. I’m not saying this because people do this to me. It has happened to me here and there, but I see it happening publicly all the time, in particular with celebrities, politicians, and the person’s own estranged family members. Please be aware that if you do this, then this is what creates the stigma that you want erased during awareness month. I’m just saying. 

On a brighter note, it’s Greek Easter, and my mom partied with about 50 people. She’s been trying to call with the gossip updates as I’m drafting this. These kids have been trending on TikTok for two weeks, even though that performance was more than a decade ago. I think they sound so cute!  They bring tears to my eyes!  

And I have fewer hours this week with my usual easy client who asked “where I had been”. She’s mad at gift card boss for sending different people all the time. I told GCB that I can do split shifts sometimes but not all the time and that they wear on me. I explained gas prices, ability to make other commitments, etc. I don’t have a lot of hours this week, but I’m absolutely ok with that. I have been through a ton the last few months.