04/02/2009 Thr

We made it through April Fools Day. I went to exercise and Mariel has upped the ante somewhat on the weights and the exercises. There are LOTS more than we have been doing. We did fewer reps in order to get through the whole list but I am going in today to work on some of the new ones and to get in some time on the treadmill. I do enjoy her but the PRICE is out of sight if you do this for very long. Oh well, I discovered my tax refund had come in while I was working with Quicken yesterday. Nothing so mundane as a check, it was a direct deposit. I must have signed up for that and didn't remember it. Still, a nice surprise. The dentist will likely eat up most of it with the new cap he is putting on next week. I think insurance will pay half but half a fortune is still a fortune.

Good high school game on tv last night. Many of the recruits for UNC were among the players. We are surely going to miss our basketball once the NCAA is over. I believe UNC plays again on Saturday evening and Don and I'll be watching. However, the Bobcats are doing better lately so maybe we'll get more interested in them than we have been. (Larry Brown is the coach.)

Charlie is disinterested in things right now so we are afraid this is a bad sign. However, he seems to be resting comfortably so we are just letting him be. Sometimes sleep can do miracles and I hope it does so this time too. Unfortunately, Dr. Green is out of pocket for a few days so we might need to see one of the other vets at his office if we should need to take Charlie in. They are all good too, but I am just spoiled by Dr. Green and his infectious optimism.

In the meantime, Milo gets up anytime I do thinking that I might get in the shower without him and he is not having that happen. Grayson gets up too but he wants FOOD. I'd say Grayson is showing the more typical cat behavior. But I am getting aggravated about the 4 a.m. feeding that he insists is necessary. All that time I spent being unable to sleep and now a cat is wanting food at 4 a.m. I have to put a stop to this somehow. I continue to be "bemused" about Milo's fascination with shower water. Now he will continue to lay in the shower stall even if the water is pooling up on the floor right under him. I pick him up and put him outside the stall as I don't want wet cat running all around the house. Plus if he washes it off himself, it is bound to be mixed up with soap and YUCK, I bet that would taste bad and be bad for him too.

Don has his men's group at church today. Before he goes to that meeting, he is dropping me off at the Y to allow me plenty of time to play with my new routine. A lady at church tonight told me she does water aerobics there almost every morning at 8:30 a.m. It sounded interesting and I might try it sometime. What I want to try again is yoga. I used to do that and I might like to try again. I have gotten a bit stiff from all the time in bed the last few months. The Y offers classes and so does my church. I guess I am mostly after variety as I get bored with one routine.

There is a picture of Ben on his blog from yesterday, April 1 (at a place in Texas where he spoke. He is pretending (I guess) to rock climb and making a face like he is having a hard time hanging on. There are some beautiful pictures of the place and its surroundings if you are interested. His blog's address is

http://benwitherington.blogspot.com

I know I keep recommending him to you but I really enjoy his blog and admire his varied interests.

I joined the hospital visitation team at church and our first meeting is April 14 but I have taken April 7th as my first date to do visitation. Evidently, you are given a list of everyone in the hospital and you are expected to go visit them all. We go to local hospitals, not ones out of town or across town in University area. I think they let you know those names too but you go only if you can. I know this poor old guy from my SS class will be on the list and we have been asked to coordinate those visits with family because he seems to get worked up when someone comes. The staff at the hospital doesn't think it does him much good and causes them to have extra work trying to deal with the aftermath of the visit. He thinks he is in jail and wants to enlist everyone to help him get out - and believes no one is visiting him even though his two sons are there every day. One of them is taking a sabbatical from work in order to spend more time with his dad. I remember all too well my mom being in a nursing home and really being disoriented for a while. It was gut wrenching for me to try and leave after spending all day some Saturdays. She just wanted to be around family and there was so little of it left as she was the youngest child. I am sure she thought her children didn't do nearly enough visiting - but we did a substantial lot of it in truth.
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Finally got a call-back from my GP office and given a referral to a dermatologist for checking on my hair loss. My GP says the blood tests all look normal but he thinks it best to see a specialist anyway in case there are other things he knows to look for. My GP suspects I have felt more stress than I have exhibited and that this may be the cause of the problem. He says I need to give myself some credit for having coped with brain surgery and job loss all at the same moment in time. I felt he was very thoughtful in how he handled the call and I appreciate him very much. Anyway, I have an appointment with the dermatologist on April 21 at 3:30 p.m., his first available. The nurse or scheduler I spoke with said she would call if he gets a cancellation so I can see him sooner if possible. I did tell her about the October surgery and I could hear her typing away. This doctor has his initial forms online and I have printed them off to fill out prior to my first visit. Info about the practice is at www.nclaserderm.com. Address is 2310 Randolph Road. Sounds like it in the same area as all (or most of) my other doctors. The doctor's last name is Thompson and the person I talked with today was Nancy. Phone was 704-376-9849 and there was an alternate number in the phone book, 704-376-7546. Fortunately Don was here and heard my side of all the conversations.

Now, my new method for printing is to take hold of Milo around his shoulders - firm but not too hard, hit print, and then, if necessary, set Milo on the floor. He absolutely ATTACKS the printer anytime it is running. He is either going to break the printer or himself one of these days.