QOTD- I don't hate flying, I just consider it a necessity. I always have noise cancelling headphones and books on my tablet to read. When I moved to Maui I had to come home to Oregon and pick up my cat and turned around and flew back the next day. That was a long weekend and I wouldn't care to repeat it. My last flight was to come home from Maui. No flights in my future.

The rain is here and they are still talking about a chance of snow next week. Portland pretty much shuts down when it snows. Too many hills and too many stupid drivers.

My lovely Vee enjoying the new heating pad.

Have a great day everyone!

QOTD- It's a struggle to find the right doctor that will work with you and not against you. Insurance is a crap shoot, they make money by restricting your access to care. It should not be a for profit industry in my opinion. I still have no answers from my last Dr visit.

My Mom is 89 and lives alone, she is on a blood thinner and gets tested every few weeks. She had a valve replacement a few years ago. But is pretty healthy. She has someone come in a few days a week to help her with things she can't do on her own.

My BFF is 80 and lives alone, she has 2 horses, 2 corgis and 2 cats. She has 3 sons that do help her with some things. But she feeds the horses twice a day, she has one lonely chicken the only one left of her flock her name is Pamela Anderson and she is a banty with feathers on her legs.

Another cold start to the day at 22, but at least it is sunny. It's supposed to start raining on Friday and they are threatening snow on Monday. Honestly I doubt it will happen, when they predict it, it doesn't usually happen.

I need to get to work.

Have a great day everyone!

QOTD- Water, but I think I'm dehydrated.

The blood tests at the Dr were all normal, so no idea why I have no appetite and am so exhausted. The Dr is supposed to review them probably today. I know I am depressed but it is situational depression. I hate my job and want to retire but I can't afford to. I am working on it though. I'm trying to attack my credit card bills to eliminate them, but it's probably going to take me about 20 months.

It's cold here but the sun has been shining so that is a plus. It was 22 when I got up, it's 31.5 now but the clouds are coming in.

I did order sushi last night, so I ate more than I have in a while. I didn't weigh myself this morning, but I know I'm down about 16.5lbs since November. Too bad it isn't always this easy to lose weight. When I gained I had to buy new jeans and now they are baggy, so I may be able to fit in my old ones. I've been afraid to try, thinking that I may be deluding myself, but I need to give it a try.

I need to get back to work. I've been working on a pain of a job, and it's been a real struggle. I could have figured it out in the old system in about 5 minutes, but it took me all day yesterday. Now I need to finish drawing it up and get it out of my hands.

Have a great day everyone!

QOTD- I used to have an unlimited pass for Regal Cinemas, but so few good movies have been coming out I cancelled it. I realized I don't go often enough to make it pay. My favorite theater has the reclining seats and I try to find the early showing with very few people. One movie I was the only one in the theater.

I haven't worked many hours this week due to my back and other ailments, so I'll probably work tomorrow to make some of it up.

I'm pretty much done with football. Once my teams are done playing I qui****ching. I doubt that I will watch the CFP championship game, but I'm rooting for Notre Dame, since Ohio blew up the Ducks season. The Seahawks sucked this year, so I just don't know. Not a fan of Geno Smith but the whole offense pretty much stunk, so who knows. I miss Pete Carroll, but no telling what will happen now.

Have a great day everyone!

QOTD- I try but sometimes it's a struggle. I like my water ice cold, so I have a 25oz insulated stainless steel bottle that I carry everywhere.

I've been feeling crappy besides my sore back. I have no energy, no interest in food and just general malaise. I called to get into my doctor and left my callback so I wouldn't have to wait. They never called back. I was really more worried about my back, but that seems to be better. Something is just not right. I feel weak and tired. Work is a struggle. Yesterday it was nausea, diarrhea in addition to the back pain. I have no appetite and struggle to just get my protein in. Hopefully it will get better.

I really need to get some work done.

Have a great day everyone!

QOTD- I usually do a half a tuna sandwich on Dave's Killer Bread. I also discovered some tuna pouches lemon pepper, and deli tuna salad 90, & 80 calories with a ton of protein the lemon pepper I just eat out of the pouch, no bread required.

I hurt my back on Christmas eve and haven't truly worked since. I can barely walk, I tried to move a yard debris bin from the street back up to the side of the house. Uphill and the bin weighed more than I do, so I woke up in the morning in excruciating pain. Then when it was starting to feel better I fell on my butt, I was untangling the electric blanket cord from my recliner and lost my balance. So now it hurts even worse. Sitting at my desk is unbearable so I haven't worked much last week. I know it is just muscle pain so no need for the doctor.

The good news is that due to my lack of appetite and bouts of nausea I have lost 5 lbs. So now I'm only 10 from my goal.

Yesterday was my birthday and I got several calls. I was hoping my roommate would make me a cake, not that I need it but he makes a good cake.

Have a great day everyone!

QOTD- No not a Bruce Willis fan.

Work has been a little slow so I decided I had 2 Amazon returns that I needed to run to Whole Foods. So my car doesn't start. I ended up having it towed to the dealership the tow truck driver thinks it's just a dead battery. So I'll have them look at it do the oil change, tire rotation, wiper blade replacement and whatever needs to be done. Hopefully they will replace the bad sensor on one of my tires so the low air pressure light goes out. I know it's not low as I have checked and filled the tires many times. If my roommate isn't home I'll probably either walk or Uber to pick it up. If it's not pouring down rain I may just walk as it's only 2.3 miles and there are sidewalks the whole way. I have roadside assistance on my insurance so the tow didn't cost anything.

After all the hassle to put in the cat door I think I'm going to take it out. This is dead bird # 4 and I can't let him go back out anymore. It's not fair to the birds, the cats will just have to adapt to being totally indoors again. I wish I'd never bought the stupid door it hasn't ever worked right, and it was just a pain to install. It's supposed to only let in the microchips that are programmed but it worked for a day and stop recognizing my cats. This is the second one, and I'll just close the hole in the wall and call it good.

Have a great day everyone!

QOTD- I love both but only have cats now. Dogs are too much maintenance and I'm not sure I could do them justice. I don't have a totally fenced backyard so I couldn't turn them out. I love my cats I can't imagine my life without them.

I tried a bell collar on my "bird killer" cat, 3 dead in 2 days. He absolutely hated it. He got his paw stuck trying to take it off, and when I put it back on he hid under the couch and then under the bed. Even after I took it off he still spent most of the day under the bed. I feel so bad that I traumatized him, I was just trying to prevent more bird deaths. Of course he brought them in the house and there are feathers everywhere. When I tried to take the last one away from him he growled at me multiple times. He's never done that before.

The Ducks ended the regular season at 13-0, so much for them not being able to hang with the big boys. Both of the former PAC-12 teams came out well AZ State is the Big 12 champion and Oregon is the Big 10 champion. The Ducks have a first round bye and play either Ohio State or Tennessee in the Rose Bowl. But Jan 1 is a long wait, and I'm not sure I can get ESPN without cable, and ESPN+ doesn't show the ESPN games. Maybe I can see it on Hulu.

I've been dealing with vertigo since last week. I didn't work Thursday or Friday and tried not to move my head very much. On the plus side I hardly ate anything all weekend. I know what it is BPPV, and usually it goes away in a few days or I learn not to turn my head or bend down. Just not fun.

I'm not sure how the Seahawks won on Sunday but a win is a win. Not that I expect them to do anything in the playoffs.

I need to get back to work. Have a great day everyone!

QOTD- It's pretty to look at, but I hate driving in snow and ice. We rarely get any but one year we had 2 feet and I couldn't get out of my driveway. I also hate being cold.

Not much going on here, it's been cold currently 26 and highs in the mid 40's. Another bad air quality day, no wind and stagnant air.

I ordered a tablet for my Mom so she can get library books. I'll have to set it up for her. I have some concerns she had called me with computer issues and when I talked to her yesterday she didn't remember it. Granted she was really tired and frustrated so I can understand. I'll have to check with her more often.

I need to get back to work, and make my mocha.

Have a great day everyone!

QOTD- Traditional but I don't know if I want to decorate this year.

Now that I finally get Social Security I get a notice that I made too much last year so they are going to increase my Medicare costs by a lot. I appealed because the only reason my income was high last year is that I did a distribution from my IRA to pay for my home purchase and other expenses. I appealed and sent them my earnings year to date and my last years taxes that show the distribution. I have no idea if that will help. But it doesn't seem fair to penalize me for an entire year for last years earnings.

I got my new windows and I can't believe how much better they are. It should help a lot with heating and cooling. Not sure if I can get a rebate I need to find out how to file for it.

My bone density scan came out that I have low bone density. So I need to be better at taking calcium but the last time I did my vitamin D skyrocketed so I'm not sure what to do. I had switched to a chewable and I'm not sure if that's what caused it but it took me 4 months to get the levels back in the normal range. So what do I do? Historically my vitamin D levels have been low, especially since I live in the PNW.

I'm procrastinating and need to get back to work.

Have a great day everyone!

No bears but coyotes are a constant threat to domestic pets. My neighbor caught a cougar on her backyard camera and then it was spotted about a block away. My kitties do not go out after dark. No turkeys but I've seen a bald eagle right in our trees.

My cat called it the cone of death. He got stuck in a corner and couldn't figure out how to get out.

Beautiful dress and the offending shoes are not visible. You guys look great!