All this smishing is wonderful, but we're neglecting a critical approach...

bites smonster

::smonster smish:: Like I'm not gonna get in on that!

My mother hates the phone as much as I do. She doesn't do computers but her husband does so I email him often and he prints it out and reads it to her. We can talk for hours on end in person, but never on the phone. Ick. Maybe once a month. One sister and brother are the same, but we have my other sister that loves the phone. We all make a ritual of getting in a comfy position with food and beverage and listening once a week. Ah, love makes you do the strangest things.

I'm watching dancers on TV.

I want to dance.

My parents don't much do email--every once in a while I get an email from my dad forwarding something, pictures or a random piece of info, or something my brother sent that he didn't cc me on.

My sister is on LJ and facebook, so that's mostly how we talk. Every once in a while on the phone, but not often.

My dad tries to have something to talk about other than "So, where are you going for work soon?" and "How's the weather?" But sometimes that fails. The other day when I called I was talking ot my mom and all the sudden he says "So, what did you think about Ellen's news?" and all I could think was that he'd neglected to share family news about my cousin Ellen--was she changing jobs? Engaged? Moving? No. Turns out he just figured, y'know, the gays. We're all connected like that, so....Ellen Degeneres. American Idol. What were my feelings?

I call my mother often enough (I hate the phone--she's really the only person I call) that when they're away on vacation, I get cranky, because I *can't call to ask a stupid question*.

I mean, it's only every few days, but still.

My mother hasn't replied to any of my emails in the past two or three weeks, and a couple of them were fairly important news on my part. I could call and ask why, but it feels weird. She's the one that wanted daily email contact.

I just skipped 1300 posts here (I kept telling myself I'd get caught up, but finally gave up) so I could tell you thank you so much for recommending Welness cat food for Amarna. I put her on it about three weeks ago, and she's already lost some weight!

Kathy, that's so good to hear. It was a hard-won lesson, the value of better nutrition for cats, and it is one I'm glad to share.

I'm going out for sushi tonight! Sushi and cupcakes, to celebrate my being well enough to LEAVE THE HOUSE. Also to celebrate my having a job interview tomorrow.

Yays and job~ma, Jilli!

I'm so tired of feeling so tired and shitty, like the smallest thing requires massive effort. And I'm seeing a shrink and a psychiatrist and am in DBT group therapy and I'm on medicine and trying to use all these strategies, and nothing seems to be helping.

smonster, I'm sorry you feel less than fabulous, and I'm sorry I missed the smish-fest. Have some smooshes for afters. Also, sloshes cuz sloshing with you is so much fun.

Went to the doctor today. I got a newer, better, more complicated ankle brace; a prescription for physical therapy; and a prescription for Tylenol 3. And a doctor who actually acknowledged that I am in pain, and that being in pain sucks.

Yay! It's about time you got some help, Hil. You may find yourself getting somewhat acclimated to the T3, so that the spacey effect is less intense. I doubt I could drive on it, but after years of having codiene cough suppressants, I'm now a lot less likely to be completely silly, more just drowsey.

How often do y'all normally talk to your parents? Especially those that live not in the same city/area?

When I first moved out of state, I'd call about once a week. After a while, with various and sundry family dramas I cut back on contact with her, so about once a month. Lately, I've been going several months, just to see if she will ever bother to call me.

Erin, ~ma for your dad.

What's the old saw? 7 languages at 7, 21 languages at 21? That's the story about that old man.

So he didn't really die, he just went through the Stargate?

This doctor had also obviously read through my file before seeing me. It is so nice when I don't have to give my whole history to a doctor that I've seen a zillion times before. And with him, there's definitely a lot of, "Hey, this is an interesting case -- don't see this every day," going on there, but I am perfectly willing to put up with being studied and looked at if it means that someone is actually paying attention.

Also, when prescribing new meds, he told me what he was thinking about prescribing, told me how well it usually works and what the side effects are, and waited for me to say that I wanted to try it before he wrote out the prescription. (With the previous doctor, I asked if there was something stronger I could take for the pain, and she wrote out a prescription and handed it to me without even telling me what it was. I had to ask what drug it was for and then look up all the info on the internet, because she pretty much just told me "it'll make you hurt less.")

When my dad was alive, we would talk every few weeks or so, Mom less so. I would call when struck by guilt or when something reminded me of her or I thought she would find interesting or funny. After Dad died, I tried to call daily, found that was more intent than reality. It's more every other day generally, and not so much on weekends.

Speaking of calling mom. I just did. After 90 minutes she let slip something about a rental car. Huh? Why a rental!?!? Oh ya, well there was a minor accident and both airbags deployed. Not a lot of damage, but because of the air bags, the 2000 car is totalled. WTF!!??!! I didn't want to call because there is nothing you can do. And then spent another 90 minutes searching for used cars for her in CA. Uggggg. At the end of the call I guilted her to stop finding reasons to not call, and remember the one reason TO call, unless of course you don't love me. We shall see how long it takes for her to call.