My Mom is Hilarious

 My mom can’t stop talking about her new recliner chair. It’s one of those that lifts you all the way up, can lay all the way back, and has several other bells and whistles. 

This morning she told me how she got it. She called lazy boy and told them what she wanted and that she needed it delivered and assembled. They said they couldn’t. 

So my mom called the main number for Gallery Furniture and asked to speak to The one and only Jim McInvale, otherwise known as “Mattress Mack”. Mattress Mack is very well known in Houston for his philanthropy, and he is the owner of Gallery Furniture Stores. 

Well. They put her through!  I said, Wait. You spoke to THE Mattress Mack?  She said “Yes!  THE MattressMack!”  She said, “I could totally tell it was him!”  And she probably could tell it was really him, because he talks very loud and with a specific accent. She told him the same thing she told Lazy Boy and then added that Lazy Boy couldn’t help her, and she said as soon as Mattress Mack heard that Lazy Boy wouldn’t do it, he was on it. Lol!  

My mom is set to have a medical procedure (as soon as the orders get off of some scheduler’s desk). I guarantee that she exaggerated the situation to Mack, and she said he proceeded to tell her how he slept in one of these chairs for three weeks following major surgery. I was laughing so hard. My mom and Mattress Mack had one of those elderly people conversations where they compare aches and pains!  

The chair was delivered today, and she wants to give me her old one. Even when I go back, I’m not going to have a vehicle that I can put it in. 

I still can’t believe the store staff let her talk to him. 

Great Wall Cat

 I saw this cat on TikTok and fell in love. It basically lives at the Great Wall of China and is very personable with all of the tourists. My mother in law’s cat Buck was like this. He would just run up to you like you were his long lost friend. 

In the comments of that video, most people who’ve been to China have their own pictures of that same cat. I love that he’s so famous!  Some people actually commented to rescue him. 

No, please never move that cat. That cat was meant to be there. That’s the reincarnation of an ancient guard. There are other cats you can rescue!

10/1 Benefits

 My benefits for my job kick in on October first. I’m going to max out my 401K and have health and life insurance through them. 

My husband and I had a talk today about how the new insurance is actually a new opportunity to possibly get to see a neurologist. The symptom I’ve had since January of 2014 that I’ve called “anxiety” is probably actually a neurological issue. 

It causes anxiety, but it itself isn’t anxiety. It’s a physical symptom that feels like a dull itch or static under my skin in my arms, legs and upper chest. I’ve also called it spaghetti legs. It causes stiff muscles and rigidity. It causes me to have some difficulty walking. 

It has caused stiffness, spasms, and a weird gait. I am often “paralyzed” in my bed or in my driver’s seat just before getting out of bed or out of the car. I can walk just fine, but starting the walking process takes me having to kind of tell my limbs to do it. I’ve been considering getting two fold up quad canes- one for the bedside and one for the car- so I can use them to help me tell myself to get moving. I hope this makes sense. Once out of the car or bed, I would just fold it up and keep the car one in the car and the bed one on my nightstand. 

It’s feeling better this evening, but it’s hit and miss. I came home from work this morning and tried to sleep but had trouble. Then I turned on a YouTube documentary about Caligula and decided it would be a good idea to fall asleep to that.  It wasn’t!  I slept six hours and could hear the documentary in my dreams/nightmares. When I woke up, YouTube was showing me prehistoric humans and what kinds of spears they used.  

My husband came home and at dinner and instantly fell asleep. They did four stores today- I’m not sure how that’s possible. A usual day is two stores. They must have been really small hole in the wall places. I then went for a walk and got about 5500 steps. Hopefully in about a week or so, 100 degree temps will be a thing of the past- well, at least until the summer of 2027. My 5500 step walk helped tremendously 

Registration Sticker

 I had to get my registration sticker for my car by the end of this month. It’s funny how, when you get the new sticker with the date on it one year into the future, it seems so far away. Then, it creeps up on you so fast. 

The first steps are to get and inspection and then withdraw $80. I lived in Waller county for two and a half years, and I think they didn’t require it. I know it’s been a while since I had it done, but I passed with flying colors. 

Then I went to get $80, and I was ready. I looked up the tax assessors office near me and went. I always get so much anxiety about this, and I have no idea why. 

There was a very young girl in the office with me doing the same thing. She looked about my daughter’s age. She was at the teller next to me, and there was no one else in the office. So I could hear everything the teller told her. The teller was basically scolding her, because the car was registered in Florida, so she needed to do extra paperwork and pay extra fees to make it a Texas car. Then the teller rudely told her, “The car isn’t even in your name!”  

I realized, ahhhh. That’s why I have so much anxiety over stuff like this. It’s because I was once her. I was once the young adult whose parents basically taught her nothing about adulting. If you’re on TikTok, you know there’s a lady going viral right now for being mad at her 17 year old daughter because she wants to live in a dorm next year and not stay home to attend community college. The girl told her mom, this tiktoker, that she found the waitlist for the dorm she wants and was wondering what to say when she called the number. The mom, all pissed off and bitter told her, I don’t know, you want to be an adult so bad, You figure it out!  

She wasn’t trying to teach her anything, she was mad that the girl wasn’t making the choice she wanted her to make.  This woman must be around my age if she has a child that’s a graduating senior. A lot of tiktokers are calling her out for her immature brat behavior. I would too if I wanted to show my face. I would have thought that Gen X would be better at launching our kids to leave the nest, but I digress.  Just simply tell your kid to call and say, “Hi I would like to get on the waiting list for ___ please.” 

Anna also didn’t make the choice I wanted her to make. Through Anna’s life, she’s going to do that. She’s a different person than me.   Seeing that young girl in the tax assessors office and remembering having the same issues (when I was that age, it took several days and several tries to get my car completely legal because I had no idea what I was doing- my parents were also mad at me for wanting to be an adult and withheld helpful information from me as a punishment. A lot of people on TikTok say that’s neglect. Maybe it is. Maybe it’s neglect when it happens to others. I’ve found that other people get validation that I just don’t get. 

At least I now realize why I have such anxiety over doing these things. I need to recognize it again next September and just do the steps and do it. It really was a simple process and everyone was so nice. I just hope Florida girl is ok. 

 Kevin is so much happier working on the Austin crew of his job. He said that for the first time in months, he isn’t “dreading” going to work every day. I understand what that’s like, and that is huge. It’s huge to not dread going to work. I actually kind of dreaded working for gift card boss, whom I worked for in Houston between February and June of this year. She was a great person, but she considered me her damage control (because I’m so wonderful 🤣) and sent me to people who were pissed off from a bad experience with another worker. That was rough. I also had one pervert client working for her. Ugh. 

Kevin’s mood is awesome. He loves this apartment too. He said he thought living in a large complex would mean hearing loud noises all the time and partying. But, the only thing we really hear regularly is the man upstairs walking around. That’s it!  

This guy (upstairs) is a personal trainer. He didn’t tell me that, I can just tell. He’s always doing hardcore stuff outside on the sidewalk of the parking lot in front of our building. I think he wants to show off, because why wouldn’t he do stuff either in his apartment or in the fitness center? 

Sunday morning, I saw him carry two cases/ 24 packs of bottled water up the stairs at the same time. Immediately I thought omg what a show off. Not two cases of water at the same time. I would bring a plastic bag and carry half a case or less and make 4-6 trips if I bought two cases of water. I told Kevin. Then later on, we heard him walking around upstairs and Kevin jokingly said, “I think he’s walking around his bedroom with both cases of water.” 

Lol I can’t with my husband sometimes. 

Who Knows

 What were you doing on 9/11? 

Well back in May of this year, I saw a therapist who didn’t believe key parts of my story. She would literally ask me if I was sure that happened or something else?  She even second guessed me on the year something happened. 

Ever since then, I seem to not know what’s true and what’s not. I have all but given up on the book I was writing that was based on my experiences working with kids. This is because I had to change names, characteristics and circumstances of the story. As long as the main point got across, it was all good. You need to do this to protect identities of people. This combined with the therapist not believing me about some stuff has thrown me off. My biggest fear now if the book got published is someone coming forward and saying “I knew her back in the day, and I worked with her, and that’s not how it happened!” But I have a pen name to reduce the instance of that. 

What does this have to do with 9/11?  Because why even share what I was doing that day if I am not believed?  How Do YOU know that is what I was doing that day? I don’t have proof. The camera wasn’t rolling. 

I just feel like there’s no point in me telling my story anymore. This is very difficult as a writer. I posted my dilemma in a facebook group for “women writers”. They were all great in their responses. I’ll post some screenshots later. 

On a happier note, today is Kevin’s first day working with the Austin crew!  He lives here now!!!

Chicken and Dumplings 🥟 🍗

 

I took my coworker’s advice and used my bread recipe to make dumplings. I cooked the chicken in the crockpot first. I seasoned it with lemon pepper. I then cooked onion and celery in chicken broth and stock and mixed it all together with the chicken and dropped dumplings balls into the boiling broth. It was really good!!!