Where is My Ear? Sleep Paralysis

 I went to the doctor and someone, surely not a nurse, took my temp in my ear. She wiggled the thermometer around in my hair and settled on the very top of my ear in the little fold at top. She read my temp as 93.1. I was still trying to process what happened as she wrote it down. I spoke up and said, "You did not put that in my ear." 

"YES, I DID!"

"No, you put it in the top of my ear."

"NO, your hair was over your ear, so you could not feel it in your ear!"

"Okay, I will do it again and show you." She put the thermometer in a crook a little bit lower, but still not in my ear canal. Temp was 96F. It was still not in right place and surely not my temperature. I objected to that location, too. But, she was adamant and getting hot. 

So, what do you do? I decided it was not a hill on which I wished to die that day. Sorry healthcare! I will mention it to doctor next time. 

Cleaner called me when I was asleep and asked Tommy to tell me to call. He did about an hour after I got up from nap. Her cousin died a week before Halloween and her aunt died this last week. So, she was busy. She is having surgery on her hand again, so can come early next week.  She said she was not upset with me, just busy. 

Cleaner mentioned she had 'sleep paralysis.' I read about it to see what it was. I have been awake and could not move at all. But, it was not frightening to me or anyone else. She was at the dentist. He called paramedics to dentist office. Then, she had it after surgery and frightened nurses. Have you ever heard of 'sleep paralysis?' Have you ever experienced it? 

Tommy said he had heard of 'sleep paralysis' in regard to UFO abductions. It seems people with sleep paralysis feel like they are being held down and often have hallucinations. 

We had six paring knives. Now, we have three. Tommy suspects I lost them. Maybe I did. But, I know where to buy more. They have probably fallen under my recliner. But, I am the suspect...lol. 

This is a sad night, and I fear it will get worse. I cannot bear to watch the election returns. 

Have you heard of sleep paralysis, know someone who does, or had it yourself?

Have you had your temp taken not inside your ear canal?

Are you ever the suspect?

Not Much Today

 It appears my car has sold (will be) for the $6K Firm I am asking. Mower called and said in about two days, his son would buy it. I hope I have not spoken too soon. Tomorrow, I will change the oil. He will pick it up in two days.

We mailed our ballots today, none too soon. We asked a neighbor to be a witness to our signatures and drove to his house across the street on the way to the PO. Then, we brought bread and milk, drove through the park and home.

There are so many silver SUVs out and about. Every time I get out of the car at a store, I cannot find Tommy. I try to put groceries in different cars. So frustrating. He honks when I am off course.  With the Nissan, I instructed the guy helping me to put it into a police SUV. Guy said, "Are you sure?" He would not open the police SUV even when I insisted. 

Do you ever lose your car in the parking lot outside a store? Or anywhere?

Return of Humidity

 Sunday, Tommy finally woke at 5:30 pm. Later, I questioned him. He said he woke three times, went to bathroom and was asleep again after fifteen minutes. He said his temp was up and he felt awful, stuffy, feverish. But, later he felt better after he woke. I would be the last person to criticize a person's sleeping habit. But, I was curious.  Every time he sleep most of a day, he has elevated temp and congestion. 

Friday and Saturday, My sinuses were stuffy, so I had Hall's Mentho-lyptus. One day, I was so congested, I was choking. Cheeks/sinuses hurt now. October was a wonderfully dry month. Alabama is very humid. Surprisingly, this is the first October I have not been ill and required antibiotics. 

I failed a course at UAB and had to drop a course because I was so sick that first October. It was a horrendous experience. This October sort of made up for that first September. 

Now that humidity has returned, I am feeling miserable again. We did absolutely nothing today. I asked Tommy if he had been outdoors. He said he opened the door once and looked out and closed it. More than I did. 

Tonight, I will be freezing most of the turkey breast. DONE. Maybe he will look for the frozen bag of cranberries. He said he did not even look. Oh well.

Do you find damp weather causes you congestion? 

Kudos to Tommy

 I forgot what I wanted so much to cause me to have Tommy wake me at 8 am, But, I was out of the door before 8:30. I went in Publix to return the original Cheerios and the Public peanuts I thought were the bogo Planters Peanuts. I bought the Honey Nut Cheerios. The Planters peanuts were no longer bogo, so I let that go. 

We tried to buy the screwdriver at the hardware store. I am going to take Skelli to ACE and get them to help me. The screwdriver size looked too large. I just need to get the batteries out. 

After we came home, I realized I had not bought one thing we needed. Maybe we were still out and about. Soooo, I had to go back for one item. 

I was in bed by 11:15 and probably asleep two minutes later. Then, I awoke at 3:15 and back in bed two minutes later. I slept until 5:30. Tommy had watched the Auburn game. They lost. He had gathered all the Halloween decorations from the yard, mostly hanging ghosts. He also washed a load of laundry  for me. He knew what I wanted, so turned the ghost decorations wrong-side out to dry the moisture. So, I need about 30 seconds to get those in storage.

Tonight, Tommy cooked a pizza. He had a ten-inch naan bread, found old spaghetti sauce, pizza cheese and a bit of leftover ground beef. It looked great. He said it was delicious. Later, I suggested he throw bits of vegetables on the next one. I suppose I need to chop onions and bell peppers, at least. 

I had baked chicken breast, lots of tomato, and lima beans. 

Tommy started eating lima beans. I am quite sure those were not cooked. He insisted they were. Tonight, I had some. They were raw and just heated. Gross!

Earlier, between the two of us, we got a 9 pound turkey breast in the oven. It was massive. I prefer a smaller turkey breast. The breast had lots of sage, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, and a tiny bit of salt rubbed into the skin. 

I took it off the bone and it is refrigerator to be frozen in bags in the morning. I wanted a boneless turkey but obviously got one with bone in. Tommy put it in the refrigerator on Monday, and it was still partially frozen on Saturday. I baked it with the giblets inside. The little bag was still intact when it was baked. 

In Publix I found Ocean Spray 12 ounce package of cranberries for (sit down first) $4.99. I will not be buying at that price. Thankfully, I have a package in the freezer that I only paid less than $2 somewhere, not sure. 

Sunday, we need to find a neighbor to witness our ballots. We will not put them in an outside box. So, Monday, we will mail them inside the PO. We made the deadline. 

So, the day was quiet which pleases me. I now have turkey frozen for Thanksgiving along with sweet potatoes and 

 

At Last!

 We sent in our request for a mail-in ballot about two weeks ago. I have been afraid we would not get a ballot in time. Our mail-in ballots came today. I have been fretting over this situation. Usually, Tommy gets the mail at noon, as soon as it comes. Today, he did not get the mail from the box until after 6 pm. I was so relieved to receive the envelope. It is filled out, just waiting for two people to witness my signature. 

The large white envelope held Five (5) other items: instruction sheet, secrecy envelope, affidavit envelope, brown mailing envelope. Whew! And there were lots of instructions on the instruction sheet. Now, we either have to have it notarized or have two witness sign. We are going the witness route. We can witness for each other, then find one witness to use for both of us. 

At 8 pm and rushed off by 8:30 to find marked-down Halloween items. There was little to be had and certainly not pumpkins, fake ones. A furniture store did have Fall items and pumpkins, but none were marked down. All specifically Halloween items were packed away. So, that is that. I refuse to chase a bargain right now. 

I did find an orange container and a black and orange pick.

We needed a nap. We got up right when we were supposed to be elsewhere, snatched on clothes and left. The people asked why were so late, thinking we had forgotten. We sheepishly told them we were asleep. 

Last night, we did a bit of decluttering. I had saved boxes, large and small for a specific reason. Well, we overdid it. So, Tommy broke down boxes I brought out to him. They are in the garbage truck. 

Publix was next. I bought the wrong Cheerios for Tommy. So, one of us will return them. I like original Cheerios and cannot stand Honey Nut Cheerios, his favorite. They even stink when he eats them.  I did get two half gallons of a2milk that is 2/$9. 

I switched to Quaker Old-Fashioned Oats from Special K which is too expensive! I rarely find them bogo. Besides, I like oats. I would eat them all the time except for the fact they have to be prepared. I am not lazy, just in pain. Tommy would do all the dipping of oats, measuring of water, and heating, but he does so much for me. 

Something strange happened here just before Halloween. I had changed out all batteries in things around the living rooms, candles, Red Kiss with lights inside, pillar candles. Tommy was standing and trying to use the tv remote. Suddenly, the Red Kiss fairy lights came on. He had not noticed. I certainly had noticed and was a little dumbfounded. He could not get the tv remote to turn off the lights. I had to turn them off manually. What on earth? Has your tv remote ever turned off another device that had its own remote???

Today, as I got out of the car and tried to turn and walk up the ramp, I stumbled and almost fell, stumbling toward the ramp until I could grab it. Later, I asked Tommy if he saw me. He said, "No, but he did see me stumbling/staggering in Lowe's parking lot when I dropped my debit card. Then, he let go of his walker here in the living room and held out both arms and slightly wavered back and forth, knees slightly bent, saying, "You looked like you were hanging ten. He really did look like a surfer. We had a good laugh. 

I was feeling woozy when I got out at Lowe's and then saw my debit card flutter to the ground, I momentarily assured myself I could pick it up. No, I cannot. I looked up and a man was exiting his car. So, I called to him and asked him if he could help me. He approached me eagerly and asked me what he could do. I pointed to the card and asked him to get it for me so I would not fall. Nice guy. 

I love DST, but I hate the early evening. We had to be home by 5 pm tonight as it quickly became too dark to drive once we came home. Soon, the day will end an hour earlier. DST has never bothered my sleep. Now, how could my sleep habits get any worse? In the past DST never disrupted my sleep, school, work, or health.

Ooops, I stored away Skelli with two AA batteries in his head, so we have to buy the proper screwdriver, take them out tomorrow. It's the only thing in which we put batteries. 

Tomorrow, Auburn plays at 11:45 am. I want to go out to stores. So, he will willingly get up and take me in order to get back in time for the game. Fall is the only time he will go out in order to get back here for a game. Otherwise, he is sleepy or watching something else. Tomorrow, he will be encouraging me to go soon. Then, I can take a nap while he watches to game in peace. 

It's late; my nap has worn off. 

What's on your agenda for this weekend.

Painful Doctor Appointment

Slept two hours last night and then had to get ready for podiatrist appointment. It was painful. Tommy's visit was painful, too. 

On the way home, we saw the church that sells food to pay off the church mortgage and bought lunch. It costs too much, but there was enough for dinner, too. I forgot the hamburger had two thick pieces of meat. So, planned dinner will move forward to Friday. 

It is dark and the spooks are out. It might actually rain here, so I brought in the Halloween trash bag with face on it. There is no use it getting wet after a month of no rain. Tommy will remove Skelli in a bit. No one can see him, just his eyes, and no kids will be out coming down this road. 

Tuesday night, I went to kitchen barefooted and screamed and staggered about moaning. Tommy was equally alarmed. I was so grateful I managed to keep my balance. I looked as well as I could and saw something quite large sticking out of my heel. 

When I got to my chair, Tommy looked and saw lots of blood. He pointed out three drops almost as large as a dime on the carpet. I asked him to get the Oxyclean for carpet spray bottle. After I took care of the spots, he spotted another about the size of a quarter. Then, I saw an even larger spot on a white plastic bag that I cleaned off before it dried. 

I still poured blood. That was actually a good thing, hopefully clearing out anything toxic from the puncture wound. Then, I put several layers of a Kleenex on the bottom of my foot.  Tommy could see a cut, doctor could see it, too. She said it seemed okay. 

What did I step on? Tommy dropped a chipped plate on the porch. It was already chipped and was being used under a plant on the table outdoors. Well, he walked in shards. I found another shard in the kitchen. Since Tuesday, he has been too busy to vacuum the kitchen floor or in front of my chair. 

He thinks I worry too much about shards of these cheap plates he has had for forty-four years. They are sort of a Blue Willow pattern and he won't give them up because someone gave them to him. Two went in the garbage Tuesday. From now on we use plastic under plants since he drops stuff. I know plates are prettier. 

The shard was only about 1/4" on each of four sides. That was large enough to leave a cut on my sole near heel. 

Rats! Kids just now showed up at the door. The porch light is off! But, Skelli's red eyes are on. So, Tommy needs to turn those off. I cannot figure out how to turn them off. We have nothing to give kids. Maybe a tiny fake pumpkin? They are gone now, giving up. These are the first in five years. Tommy just told me we have tiny bags of Cheetos. 

On September 28, we had our last rain. it looks like we will get rain later tonight. Tommy went out to remove Skelli. I looked out the door and Skelli was sitting on the walker like we would. Cute! He is in his box he came in, ready to sleep until next year.

Now, on to Thanksgiving! 

First, I need to box up Halloween. The plain pumpkins will stay out until after Thanksgiving. I have fall and Thanksgiving items to add the plain pumpkins, fake pumpkins, of course. I store Halloween and Thanksgiving together.

The weather will remain in 80s for the next week. 

How did Halloween go in your world? 

Are you making lists, mental or actually on paper for Thanksgiving plans? 

Exhaustion and Cancelled Appointment

 My sleep was so messed up that I have been exhausted all day. One time, I lay down for an hour nap, woke in 15 minutes, thinking Tommy had called me. Nope. Lay down for another then minutes, kept sleeping and waking up--about three times in ten minutes. 

So, nothing much was done, just got the laundry ready and Tommy washed and dried. We went out for 3 store ads. I shopped a bit. Good news is that my milk is on sale for 'only' $9/gal. Bad news is that there is a turkey breast thawing where the milk goes. 

One store had all the huge Halloween decorations down. I wonder why. I hope they were not vandalized. 

Quaker 42 oz. Old-Fashioned Oats were bogo, making them $4. Progresso Chicken Broth was bogo. I got one for $1.39. Of course, I needed bananas. 

The turkey breast thawing is going to be frozen for Thanksgiving. Tommy is going to find the frozen cranberries from the first of the year. So, we will have turkey and cooked and frozen cranberry sauce done for the Thanksgiving meal.

I cannot stand up to bake. So, I have a plan. I will get a small, folding table, put it in front of counter, find a chair, and mix things there. I told Tommy he would have to be present to hand me ingredients or whatever I need. He did not moan at all. I think he wants homemade baked goods. I want to bake some for the guy who takes out the garbage and brings in the empty can. 

Pumpkin bread and pumpkin are on the list of things to make. I cannot find a chocolate pound cake recipe to replace the one lost in the house. I want to bake a pumpkin pie without crust. But, Tommy wants a crust. So, I will bake another without crust in a casserole dish. I have not made a pecan pie in ten years or more. I may make one this year. 

I am afraid for us to put out the garbage on Halloween. It seems it will be a good target for vandals. I will probably bring in Skelli when it gets dark. 

We ate our only Halloween candy. Tommy said to divide them up. So, we each had twenty candy corn pieces. I ate both the pumpkins. 

Dinner was turkey, tomatoes, and turnip greens. I think Tommy had the same thing. Not sure since he eats different things than me most of the time. 

Since I have the Impala title, I have called mower about four times. So, I had Tommy call. Mower said "okay." He said not one word more. Tommy screwed up and said, "was he willing to buy the car?" Bad choice of words! Now, it sounds like we are begging him to buy it. I know he thinks he can wait me out until I lower the price. NO WAY! I have other people interested. I have been saving it for him. 

Are you ready for Halloween?

Do you wear a costume?

Have a party or go to one?