Category: introspective

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Catching Up – July 2024

I wanted to write a catch up post since it has been a while. The main areas I want to cover are Michael, work, health, church, and friends.

Michael left his job in May. He was having an emotional crisis and just couldn’t handle it anymore. I’m not going to post the details because it’s not my story to tell, but it was a difficult time. It has taken a while to get new services in place, but we are meeting with a new employment agency next week, and he is planning to complete a community based work assessment. This will involve working for a few hours at several different jobs to see what he likes and has aptitude for. It will also help the new agency to get to know him.

Work is going well. I am continuing to enter new products and also supporting the staff with the ERP. I recently approached my boss about reviewing my title and compensation and did get a new title and a raise. My title has changed from Data Specialist to Software Analyst, which I feel is a good reflection of what I have been doing for a while now.

I have been making a lot of progress on my health lately. I met with a new psychiatrist. She is a nurse practitioner at the Penn State Hershey autism clinic. Our first appointment was about an hour and a half, and we covered a lot of information in that time! We decided to keep my meds where they are for right now and reassess at our next appointment. I am currently taking Risperidone and Sertraline. I am thinking of trying to switch from the Risperidone to a mood stabilizer that would be less likely to cause weight gain.

I also had an EGD recently to check for the level of eosinophils in my esophagus. The pathology report seems to say there weren’t any, which is good news, although the doctor did say there were rings and inflammation visible, which is continued evidence of EOE. I have a telehealth appointment scheduled with my allergist to discuss next steps and what medication would be most appropriate for me.

Another important step I took was visiting a new dentist. I have had one bad experience since leaving my previous dentist due to an insurance issue, but I was hopeful about this one because I had gotten a good referral to them. I was so pleased with them – everyone was friendly and helpful. The doctor explained everything very well, and we are going to work through my dental issues over time. I am scheduled with them for a cleaning and two cavities to be taken care of. I also got referrals for one tooth extraction and one possible root canal. I think that will be a good start, although there will still be more to be done.

My diabetes is going okay. I have had a harder time lately keeping my carbs down. My A1C recently went up from 5.9 to 6.4. The doctor was still happy with that, but I know that I need to do a better job. It’s a constant struggle!

I am still loving my church, The Journey. I am actually watching the service from this morning as I write this post. I didn’t go because I was feeling depressed when I woke up and couldn’t get myself together to go in person. Thankfully, they stream the service online. I have joined the community ministry team and am looking forward to my first event with them, the Back to School party. It’s a Saturday afternoon community event with free food and haircuts and backpacks with school supplies. I am going to help with registration.

With regard to friends, I am still seeing Kim most Saturdays for lunch and a movie. She is going through a difficult time right now. Renee has been busy, but we still text and talk sometimes. I am hoping to plan a visit soon. I have done a couple of things with Suzanne, and she is a good support if I am having a hard day. On a sad note, I haven’t had any contact with Jessyca for several weeks. She lost her job and the last I heard from her was two days after that happened. She has not responded to any of my messages since then. I am so sad about this because I miss her a great deal and I also am quite worried about her.

So that’s an update on my life right now. I feel good about the progress I have made in a lot of areas, and I am looking forward to continuing my efforts to make things better.

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Festival of the Nine Birds

Festival of the Nine Birds is a 1000-piece puzzle from Cross & Glory, which is a new puzzle brand for me. I had seen this puzzle online a while ago and put it on my wishlist, but it was pretty expensive, so I kept holding off on the purchase. At some point, it went on sale enough for me to spring for it.

I thoroughly enjoyed this puzzle. The image was so interesting with a lot of different colors and textures, and the piece quality was quite good as well.

Here’s a picture of the finished puzzle:

Normally I post images of my puzzles to Instagram and Facebook. On Facebook, they go on my feed and on two puzzle groups I am a part of. When I posted this one, I got a comment on one of the posts saying that this person won’t do puzzles from the brand because they use AI generated images and lie about it. Another person then commented that they didn’t care if they were AI because they liked the images so much.

I looked into it and there is some discussion on Reddit about this company using AI generated images. Apparently, they used to have an artist’s page that was AI generated but took it down after some people questioned it.

I’m not totally sure how I feel about doing puzzles with AI generated images. I know some people are totally against it on principle and other people just don’t like when companies aren’t upfront about it. On the one hand, the art is generated based off the AI’s consumption of existing art, so it could be considered unfair to those artists. On the other hand, every artist is influenced by what they have seen and experienced in their lives and that is okay.

I am going to have to think about this some more before I come to a conclusion. In the meantime, I already have another puzzle from this brand, and I will be putting it together since I already own it.

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Catching Up – February 2024

My new decor.

A lot has happened the last few weeks, so I wanted to jot things down for myself to remember.

Michael started working his first job in mid-December, and he is currently working 12 hours per week. The job is at a laundry facility that supports the Fort Indiantown Gap. He is working with linens and towels. There have been a few challenges as he learns the job, but he is continuing to improve.

Also in mid-December, I started having swallowing issues again and went in early February to have an endoscopy with dilation. In the meantime, I also visited an allergist to discuss my problems eating eggs. Now that I have been diagnosed with diabetes, it would be helpful to be able to eat eggs. (I can eat them as an ingredient in baked goods, just not in their original form.) The allergist told me about a new medication, Dupixent, that treats EOE and said I might be a candidate for it. She is requesting my GI records to evaluate my case.

After my endoscopy, the GI doc said he did find increased eosinophils and prescribed a steroid called Budesonide. I can only get it in a capsule, however, and I am terrified to try to swallow it because I have gotten pills stuck before. It also can increase blood sugar, and I don’t have a way to check my sugar right now. My PCP said she could put me on a continuous glucose monitor if I needed it. I have decided to just wait until I meet with the allergist to discuss the Dupixent again before I choose whether to take the Budesonide. Another factor is that the GI doc didn’t answer my questions about the medication despite my sending multiple messages to his office, and the allergist is very thorough in explaining things.

In other news, I have been getting more involved at my new church. The women’s table group I was a part of last fall has started again, so I am enjoying that. I also attended my first Ash Wednesday service. It was quite moving, and I have joined a Lenten book study that the pastor is leading weekly over Zoom. We have just had one meeting so far, and there were eight of us including the pastor. I was very nervous to participate, but I did force myself to speak up one time during the session. I am hopeful that by preparing my thoughts ahead of time, I will be able to participate more during the rest of the sessions.

Another thing I am going to be doing at church is greeting one service a month. I met with the hospitality team leader and she showed me what was involved, and next Sunday will be my first time doing it. I am actually not nervous about interacting with people because it should be pretty straightforward. The only thing I am nervous about is whether the arthritis in my right hip will act up. It does bother me when I am standing during worship at church, but I think if I move around a bit while greeting, it will be okay.

In friend news, Renee had her third back surgery. The doctor replaced her remaining rod with two new curved rods and also put in something to help the vertebrae grow. I am seeing Kim weekly for lunch and a movie. Yesterday, she helped me hang the two puzzles in the picture above. I’m really happy with them.

I have also made two new friends at church – Suzanne and Jessyca. Suzanne and I have gotten together three times for dinner, and Jessyca is coming over tomorrow to do a puzzle. I have met some other people that I talk to at church as well. It feels good to be expanding my circle a bit!

I’ll wrap up here as that is quite a lot for one post!

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Winter Break

This year, I took off the week between Christmas and New Year’s. I like having off at this time of year because work is usually slow, and it’s nice to have a few days to just putter around.

Christmas Eve fell on a Sunday this year. I went to the family-friendly morning service and the evening candlelight service. I really enjoyed the evening service, although the wax from the candle did drip onto my hands a couple of times! After church, I redid the puzzle Michael Storrings New York City Subway.

Christmas day was pretty quiet. I watched a few episodes of Silo and did some reading. My mom had sent money for Christmas, and I had bought a few books that had been on my wish list for a while because it didn’t seem like the library was ever going to get them. I have read the first two already and loved them!

Michael came home around 6:30. He had forgotten my presents at his dad’s house, so I gave him mine and opened the couple I had gotten myself, lol. We had dinner together, and then later on, his dad brought over the presents Michael had gotten me. Of course, he got me two puzzles – one for Christmas and one for my birthday!

Wednesday and Thursday Michael had work from 10-2. On Wednesday, Kim came over, and we ate lunch and watched a movie. After I picked Michael up, we went to Target to get a drive up order. I have decided to use Target instead of Amazon when I can due to a package being stolen last week.

On Thursday, I had therapy, which went well. I also went to Barnes and Noble to check out their puzzle selection. They had a good number, but I didn’t see anything I had to have. After I picked Michael up, we went to the Colonial Park Mall to pick up a package from the Amazon locker. That’s what I have decided to do for things I have to get from Amazon.

On Friday, I went to get an oil change. In the afternoon, we attempted to build two dining room chairs. We had built the first two when Bill & Jenn were coming over, but we had more people coming over that evening, so we needed them. One of them was fine, but the other one had an issue with one of the screws not going in properly. I also made artichoke dip and monster cookies. Along with that, I served veggies and dip plus meat, cheese, and crackers.

Friday evening was a lot of fun. Renee and her boys, Evan and Hans, came over along with our friend Chris. They enjoyed the food, and we played part of a game of Star Munchkin. Chris cleaned up my kitchen for me and superglued the chair piece that was causing a problem. It was a wonderful evening!

On Saturday, Kim came over for our weekly lunch and movie. I took a nap that afternoon because I had stayed up way too late the night before. I also went to bed early and woke up Sunday just in time for the online pre-recorded service my church did for what they call Sabbath Sunday. They are closed the week between Christmas and New Year’s to give the staff a rest.

Sunday afternoon, I started a 1000 piece puzzle that I had won in a contest a little over a year ago. I will share that in a separate post. I did stay up until 2 am on New Year’s Day to finish it.

Monday was New Year’s Day and the last day of my break. I slept in, and then Michael and I drove to Target to pick up a vacuum I had ordered. I got him Chick-fil-A since we were near there (I had already eaten lunch). When we got home, I did a 100-piece puzzle as part of the Winter Bingo for The Casual Puzzler’s Facebook group. I also did a 500-piece puzzle, also for the Winter Bingo. I’ll post both of those later this week.

All in all, this was a fun and relaxing break for me. I really like having some time off around the holidays.

Edited to add: I forgot to mention that my friend Kim gave me a 500-piece puzzle when she came over on Wednesday, and I put it together that night.

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Cats In Quarantine/Thanksgiving

Today was Thanksgiving Day, and it was a good one. I got up early to start the turkey. It was my first time cooking a turkey. We were given a full Thanksgiving dinner from Michael’s caseworker, so I decided to give it a try.

My friend Ren̩e was already planning to come celebrate with me and Michael, and she was bringing the asparagus and dessert Рchocolate cheesecake for us and chocolate chip cookies for Michael. She ran a bit late, so I just let the turkey rest until she got here. Then I made the rest of the food.

While the turkey was cooking, I got out a 500-piece puzzle called Cats In Quarantine from Exploding Kittens. The artist is David Kantrowitz. It was super fun. I loved the image and the quality. The pieces fit together well, and you could easily move small sections around. The only weird thing was that some of the colors on the included poster didn’t really match the puzzle.

Cats In Quarantine

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Catching Up – October 2023

Wow, it’s hard to believe it has been over seven months since my last post! A lot has happened in that time.

  • Told my husband I wanted a divorce
  • Found a new home for our dog
  • Sold our house
  • Paid off our debts with the proceeds
  • Found an apartment for me and my son
  • Finalized the divorce
  • Went back to my maiden name
  • Found a new church

I am really happy in the new apartment, and I love the church I found. I have only been going for about six weeks, and I just attended a mixer for new people yesterday. It was a lot of fun. I am also part of a table group that meets every other Wednesday night, and later this month I am going to a three-week class called Intro to the Journey to learn more about the church.

I was recently diagnosed with diabetes, which has precipitated some huge changes in my life. I have had to change a lot about how I eat, including quitting Mountain Dew cold turkey. The combination of the new diet and the medication I am on seems to be helping, as I have a lot more energy now. I have been able to get a lot more done at work and even work some overtime again. I had been feeling discouraged about my energy levels for a while and assumed it was autistic burnout, but it seems like the way I had been feeling was actually a physical issue.

I have even started puzzling again. I am working on The World of the Bronte’s. It is the same style and size as The World of Jane Austen, which I did a while ago and framed. Once this one is done and framed, I’m going to hang them both on the wall above my TV. So far I have sorted the pieces, done the border, and worked on a few of the buildings.

Michael seems to like the new place as well. We finally have a good Employment Specialist, and he has two phone interviews this week. I’m really hoping they go well!

So, that’s the update for now.

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New (to me) Car

Last week, I purchased a new-to-me car, a 2011 Ford Fusion. For the last few years, I had been driving a 2006 Hyundai Santa Fe which belonged to my husband before we got married. I started driving that in 2018 when my Ford Focus got totaled in an accident and the replacement car we got was a stick shift that Joe drives. (I haven’t driven a stick in many years and am sorely out of practice!)

I have always liked Fords. My first car, which my parents bought me my first year of college, was a Plymouth Horizon, but my second car, which I picked out, was a black Ford Escort Pony with hot pink striping. Both of those cars were stick shift. After that, I owned a Ford Taurus sedan, a Ford Taurus wagon, and a Ford Focus (all automatics).

It was a bit strange driving the Santa Fe at first. I had to get used to being up higher since it was an SUV. But it was a good vehicle for the time I drove it. Unfortunately, it had gotten to the point where there was enough stuff wrong with it that it wasn’t worth fixing anymore. I thought about getting another SUV, but now that I have arthritis in my right hip, it can be difficult to get in an SUV.

The Fusion has some great features which I have never had before. It has a navigation system along with a rear backup camera. It also has heated seats (black leather) and dual temperature controls. It also only has 58K miles on it. I am looking forward to driving it for quite a few years.

Here are some pictures:

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December Update

I started my personal winter break today. I will still be doing some work, but I won’t be working my regular hours until after the New Year. I was so productive today:

  • Took Baxter to daycare
  • Took Michael for bloodwork
  • Went to the store and got a few things, including stuff to make Peanut Butter Blossoms (requested by Michael)
  • Cleaned the cat box (I don’t do this often enough!)
  • Called the gas company
  • Emailed the lawyer about Michael’s SSI appeal
  • Did some filing
  • Went to Rite Aid for Michael’s new weight loss medication and the rest of our stocking stuffers
  • Went to the library
  • Made lunch
  • Made Peanut Butter Blossoms with Michael (used dark chocolate Kisses because that’s all they had at the store)
  • Went back to the store to get stuff for chocolate chip cookies (Joe’s favorite)
  • Picked up Baxter from daycare
  • Made dinner
  • Wrapped Christmas presents
  • Checked my work email

Tomorrow is Christmas Eve, and we are going to make the chocolate chip cookies. Michael asked if we could watch a Christmas movie, so after dinner we are going to watch Christmas Vacation.

For Christmas Day, the three of us are celebrating in the morning with stockings and presents. Then Michael’s dad is picking him up at noon, and Joe and I are going to his parents’ house at 2pm. His dad has recently stopped treatment for his stomach cancer, plus he has a lung disease, so he wants to have his kids there for Christmas. There won’t be any grandkids, so it will just be ten of us.

Sunday night Michael will come home, and then he has all of next week off school. He does have some past assignments that weren’t turned in, however, so I will be working on those with him. Monday I get to do something I have never done before – prep for a colonoscopy. I am having my first colonoscopy on Tuesday morning. I have had many endoscopies, but never a colonoscopy.

Wednesday a friend of mine is coming over with her boys. She is going to work remotely in the afternoon while the boys play with Michael, but then we will get to visit after she is done with work for the day. I am really looking forward to their visit!

Thursday I will probably work, and then Friday (New Year’s Day) I am going to make the turkey dinner I had planned for Christmas Day before we got asked to go to Joe’s parents’ house for Christmas.

So it should be a nice holiday season. Hope you all have a happy holiday season as well!

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November Update

I thought I would sit down and write an update as to what’s going on these days.

The holidays are going to be different this year.  Normally, we get together with my husband’s family for Thanksgiving Day and also for Christmas Eve.  But my father-in-law is still undergoing chemo and needs to be very careful to avoid catching anything, so we are not going to be getting together this year.  My parents both live in Illinois, so we don’t usually see them at the holidays either.

My in-laws decided to splurge this year and got us a grill as an early Christmas present.  It’s the same model they have, and it’s really nice.  We have used it a couple of times already.  Speaking of early Christmas presents, we have done a little shopping for ourselves as well.  I got new drapes for the dining room and a replacement set of Little House books since my originals are in bad condition and I still enjoy re-reading the series from time to time.  Joe got barbecue tools and a cover for the new grill.  Michael has been updating his wish list on Amazon for any family that want to get him something.

Michael has been struggling a bit with the hybrid schedule his school is on this fall.  His grades aren’t as good as they normally are because he has missed a few assignments or not read all the directions for the week when he is online.  He has also been feeling a bit stressed/overwhelmed with things.  His psychiatrist has increased one of his meds to help, and we are also back to biweekly sessions with his therapist.  The autistic support teacher is also meeting with him over Zoom once a week to review his assignments and the directions for the week in his classes.

For his senior year, Michael is taking English, Chemistry, Financial Algebra, and four credits of Electronics Technology.  He was originally going to take a couple of half-credit electives, but he doesn’t need them to graduate so he decided not to take them.  The seniors have online school Monday – Wednesday and in person school Thursday and Friday.  Thursdays are his academic classes, and since there are only three of them he gets out at 11am.  Fridays he has his shop all day.  The shop teacher has them working on individual projects for part of the day, and Michael is programming a video game for his project.

Work has been busy but not overwhelmingly so.  We are still working towards our new computer system and are finalizing all the product data uploads now.  We hope to be live before Thanksgiving.  I think the timing is good, because we will have a few weeks during our typically slower time to get used to the new system.  Then when things pick up in January, everyone should be pretty comfortable with it.

So that’s the news for now. Hope you are all doing well and staying healthy.

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One Year with Baxter

It has been one year since Baxter joined our family. There have been lots of ups and downs as I adjusted to having a dog, but today I can say that I’m glad he’s here with us.

I wasn’t so sure I would feel that way at various points over the last year. There were a few days where I felt like I had postpartum depression – the feelings of being helpless and overwhelmed were so strong. Sometimes I could not figure out what he needed – when he regressed on his potty training after I introduced some wet food when he stopped eating the dry food. Thankfully cutting the wet food back to a very small amount mixed with the dry fixed that issue.

Getting outside help has made things substantially better. First we hired a dog trainer once a week for a few weeks. She helped us work with him on some of the issues we were having. He still has a lot to learn, but she gave us some tips on how to train him which were very helpful. Another thing we did is start taking him to doggy daycare once or twice a week. That way he gets to be energetic and social with other dogs while I get a little break from him. He loves it there and gets excited when I mention going to daycare. Plus he is super tired and chill in the evening after he goes and even somewhat the next day.

One thing I can’t believe is how much money we have spent in the last year on him. I have only ever had cats before and spend very little money on them. Part of it was us going overboard buying stuff for him like treats and toys, but also he has needed to go to the vet more often and now we are paying for the daycare.

As I’ve mentioned before, I don’t think I want to go through raising a puppy again, despite how utterly cute he was. But I am glad now to have him in our lives.