Afternoons are the best...

When I go to my volunteer job in the morning, I get to the downtown area before 9 am. This means I can ride my bike through the shopping area and I don't have to make a detour through the various little streets around it. The timing is perfect and I don't break the law. I don't get to do this on the way home but I know my way better on the way out than I do on the way in. I am getting good at finding my way around and figuring out how all the crooked little streets are connected and where I'm allowed to ride my bike. There are various ways to get where I want to be and I try to find the shortest one.

When another volunteer and I make our rounds with the beverages cart, I'm actually starting to find my way around the various wings of the Help Care Floor too. At first I got turned around and lost but it's starting to make sense now and I don't think I will forget any patients and leave them dry without anything to drink. We've got lots of all kinds of beverages and when we run out of something halfway through our rounds, I have to dash to the kitchen and get it so I do have to be able to find it.

I still have sore feet at the end of the morning and it takes me all day to get over that. I want to take my shoes off first thing when I get home but I have to take Tyke for a walk first. He greets me very happily when I wheel my bicycle into the hallway and I do have to give him the proper amount of cuddles and assurances before I can do anything else. I am sure that he's not very concerned with how sore my feet are. It does feel lovely to be greeted so gladly by him but I hope he isn't too miserable while I'm gone. I don't know if Gandhi keeps him the proper amount of company.

I've got a bit of a luxury problem in that all of my skinny jeans are now too big on me and even the smallest ones are starting to slide down my hips. This means that I have to wear long tops so my underwear doesn't show. I saw the obesitas specialist the other day and made an appointment for next Monday to have my gastric band emptied just a little bit so I will be able to eat a little more at one sitting. It is not my purpose to gain weight but to be a bit more comfortable when I eat. As far as I'm concerned I'm the perfect weight now.

I got complimented on my coffee this morning. A patient came in search for company and a cup of coffee and I had just made some and she said it tasted as good as what she made at home. I spent some time talking to her because she was bored. She was a very feisty and intelligent woman and really wanted to be home and not in the hospital recovering from a hip operation. Those are the kind of people who will do well in physical therapy and go home quickly. All the physical therapists are relatively young people and very cheerful and patient. I think that must help a lot too.

Tyke is going to have his fur trimmed tomorrow and he will look like a strange dog again. It will take me some time to get used to his appearance. He always looks so different. He looks like a cuddly stuffed animal now. Of course he's totally oblivious of the change and just knows he's more comfortable when the weather is hot. I will do nothing but look at him all day.

Being lazy on the weekend...

I've lost two kilos this week and I honestly don't know how I do it. I do eat three times a day. Getting on the bathroom scale is a pleasant surprise each time but I now weigh what I weighed when I was a teenager. As a matter of fact, I only have a very vague memory of being this weight. 

I'm not complaining, don't get me wrong. I like being skinny again. I have to go into my closet and get out all the clothes that are too big and put them into a recycle bag. It will be a real pleasure to do that after just having done this last year. My closet isn't very big so I can use all the space I can get.

It's because I've gotten off all that evil medication that I've regained my figure. They are what made me gain weight in the first place. I never was a fat woman until I started taking them. All that medication sure messed up my life.

It's an overcast day outside and rain has been predicted but I don't mind. It gives me the opportunity to wear some decent clothes for a change. The heat wave is over and done with and there's no other one in the forecast. It's now possible to take Tyke for a good long walk and not worry about him burning his paws on the hot sidewalk. 

I've got a different route that I take him in the evening. We started taking it when it was so hot and I had to find a way to walk in the shade. It is a real treat to him to go this way because it's still a novelty and he hasn't grown tired of it yet. We dawdle a lot and take twice the time it should take us. I do try to make his life interesting. 

Having worked at my volunteer job, and now being idle all day, sure is tough. I like being busy so much better. I have been wearing my sneakers instead of my nicer shoes and my feet like me ever so much more. I think I'll keep wearing them for a while. But I don't enjoy passing the time without enough to do now that I've got more energy and cheer. 

The good thing is that it's time to take Tyke for a walk. I'm sure we'll both enjoy that. It doesn't look like it's going to rain yet so we're safe for now. There's a blustery wind and my hair will get blown all over the place but it's a good hairdo and falls back into place easily. 

I hope you all have a terrific weekend.

The job...

I started my volunteer job today and I can actually say that it wore me out as much as I hoped it would. Of course, I'm not used to working that hard anymore having lived a physically sendentary life all this time but I do enjoy the tired feeling that I have now. No doubt I will recuperate after I have sat here for a while and be in great shape again soon but I do have to say that my feet hurt from all the walking around that I did. I should soak them in a basin of hot water and get a massage but there's nobody available for that. 

I've taken to the job like a fish takes to water and I don't experience a dull moment because there's enough to do to fill the whole morning until it's time to go home. It does feel great to get on my bike and ride the twenty minutes home in the wind and the sunshine and get another kind of work out. I've got to walk Tyke when I get home so I do get my exercise. I think I'm going to be in great shape in no time at all. I know the people there are happy with me because they've told me so.

There's nothing like being cheerful and having a smile on your face from the moment you walk in until you leave and knowing it will be that way again the next time you are there. It's very thankful work and I indiscriminately am kind to everybody. I have no need to be any other way.

I did put my feet up for forty-five minutes before I had to go to the hairdresser to get my hair cut. That was my treat to myself today. I very pleasantly had my hair washed and cut while making some nice conversation. My hair turned out wel because I've let it grow longer and more flattering and now when it's cut I don't look like a punker anymore. With the new haircut and the weightloss, men actually check me out on the street. Little do they know that I'm not in the least interested. 

My GP has told me that I can no longer eat greasy and fatty foods, nor spicy foods, nor driink milk any longer. It causes my system to go into an uproar and it was getting out of hand. The reaction was so strong that it was hard to ignore. I've completely changed my diet and I'm doing a lot better now. I do miss drinking milk but I don't miss the consequences. I drink water and green tea instead. 

I've got to go and make another cup of coffee and sit and watch the news and catch up on what is going on in the world. The political campaigns have just started and on September the 12th we vote. I think I know where my vote is going but I want to make abslutely sure. 

There will be more of me next week.

How do you do today?

I find myself in an excellent mood while I drink my cup of coffee at the end of this lovely Thursday afternoon. It has been a hot day today but by closing the blinds and having the windows open on a crack, I have managed to get it a bit cooler here in the apartment than it was earlier in the day. Tyke and I are both comfortable now and the temperature reading on the thermometer is dropping.

We will have tropical weather through the weekend and that's something we're not used to this summer with all the cloudy skies and rain we had. I'm sure the majority of people are thrilled, though I like it not quite so hot and humid but I don't have a shortage of skimpy clothes so I can dress myself appropriately and when you're riding your bike around town, the cool breeze is very refreshing.

I have very much enjoyed the Olympics Games being covered on television from early in the morning until midnight and I took every opportunity to watch them. I am very sorry they are over but the timing was very good because they took place in a time in my life in which I would otherwise have been very bored. I did not have my spare time and energy occupied with other activities yet so I was very grateful for them.

Actually, I did manage to get around a bit and find interesting things to do that took me around town on my bike. I have not been idle. I'm learning how to navigate the little one way streets downtown and how not to get lost on the crooked little ones. None of them make sense and they all change names halfway through.

Today I rode my bike to the Recovery Care Facility of the University Hospital. It was located on the edge of downtown in a place I had never been to. I had looked on the map to see where it was located and thought I would easily find it but in the end I did get lost a bit before I did and I was five minutes late for my interview.

I was hardly nervous for it and felt very confident and was sure I was the proper candidate for the job. The interview was with three people and was very thorough but went well. They just wanted to make sure I was well suited for the work. I felt relaxed enough and made a good enough impression and I was offered the job. I am starting next week.

It's a seventy patients facility for mostly older people who are post operation but who can't go home yet and need to be cared for anywhere from three to six weeks. I will not be doing any nursing jobs, of course,  but will be a helper and companion and activities person. I am looking forward to starting very much. There was a good atmosphere there and lots of optimistic people. I feel very privileged that I will be allowed to do this work.

I am all balanced out on the proper amount of medicines and won't have to worry about the right doses for a long time. I just saw my psychiatrist briefly amd also my therapist. I won't see them again now for quite some time unless something unforeseen happens which none of us expect. I feel like I've broken the chains that bound me and left many things in the past.

Well, there will be another update down the line soon again I''m sure. I will have more material to blog about now that I'm about to have such an interesting life. I wonder in what other ways I can fill my days?

On a splendid Tuesday...

I'm sitting here with a nice cup of coffee and a cigarette and it's time to give you another update on my exciting life. At least it's become more exciting than it used to be and I'm enjoying it ever so much more. There's the sheer thrill of being alive and happy and free of stress and sadness. That in itself is a lot to be joyful about. I can't believe I get to exist in this incarnation but it's real. It's a dream come true.

After having looked at many volunteer jobs, I think I may have found the perfect one. It is working five mornings a week for the long term recovery care of the university hospital. The job is from Wednesdays through Sundays and of course nobody is going to be bothered if I work on the weekends.  I have an interview for it next week and I'm looking forward to it very much. Do keep your fingers crossed for me because I so count on getting it.

Tyke was sick and on two courses of antibiotics. He had a gastro-intestinal bug and a fever and it was a little tough getting rid of it. The poor thing was feeling pretty bad there for a while and was not his normal perky self at all. He seems to be a lot better now but is still not eating all that great. I'm feeding him rusk toast and bananas and other easy to digest food. Other than that, he's still as lovable as ever but has become very grown up. He's become a lot more mellow and not half as naughty which is a good thing I guess.

Things in my life are going well. The only thing I haven't gotten quite worked out is sleeping well at night but I'm not about to take sleeping pills for that problem. You'd have to hold a gun to my head before I'd take them. I get bursts of sleep and I suppose that in the end I do get enough. Sometimes I have to take a little nap in the afternoon. I assume that sooner or later I will start sleeping normally again.

Have a wonderful week!