Something I'm doing when we finish all this medical catch-up is scheduling a regular podiatrist appointment.

Yeah, me too. Well, not regular, but at least one. And a dermatologist. Price of aging, I guess.

My wife is gonna fly to New Orleans (from Brazil) tonight and get herself a shot tomorrow. She arrives, great a shot, and tests right away then gets 36 hours in New Orleans alone before boarding another flight to come home!

I am jealous (though i may do the same thing in a week if all goes well), amazed at how easy it is to get a shot appointment in Louisiana (the Walmart had like 16 slots open for Friday), excited that she will be partially protected soon, frustrated that the US seems to have all this extra vaccine but still isn't distributing it well / sharing it well with the rest of the world. Many feelings.

I’m glad Karl and Gris’s wife are getting their shots.

The shingles shot I got on Tuesday hit me about as hard as Pfizer no. 2. And there’s another one coming the end of June. Yay. Still, better than getting shingles. I have so much deferred maintenance, what with being 53 and kinda slack about scheduling things going into COVID. This will be Calli’s summer of medical appointments. Good thing I have a ton of accumulated sick leave.

Yay for all the responsible health care! I love you all and want you to be healthy.

Ah, Beverly, my sister in floor care hatred. I can do dishes and laundry all day long, but I hate doing the floors. With 3 pets that all go outside regularly you can imagine how quickly they get gross. I have a robotic helper, but that only helps so much. I've forbidden Brendon from doing the floors because his notion is to use this huge industrial like rolling mop pail and slosh around dirty wet water on the tiles, then leave the pail of dirty water somewhere without emptying it, and it is too heavy for me to handle. The mop pail went to the curb. Now I will use a little broom and scooper from time to time when someone drags in muddy paw prints and once a week my miracle worker comes and makes it all better. Granted, now that there is only the two of us I could make it every other week, but she has been my savior once a week for so many years I can't see cutting back. Now that the kids are gone she has more time for things like getting rid of Skinner's nose prints on the front windows. She also does his laundry and the linens. I do my own laundry, but never did his and the boys had to do theirs themselves.

My brother came over to visit his 3 sisters yesterday. Not seeing him in a year resulted in being hit pretty hard with his deterioration. He has MS and lives with a lot of pain. He has a quite awesome solid white beard, but for some reason his once curly black hair is now a medium brown. I don't know what happened there. We stayed on safe topics since he is a wacko righty, but my sister did ask him if he was going to watch the president. He dramatically feigned being hard of hearing in response, which was more fun than him engaging. So, good to see him, but I am sorry to see him so clearly in pain. We'll get together tomorrow again for sister's birthday.

That sounds hard, Laura, but better than it might have been, politically at least...?

I hate the vacuum cleaner. Like, hate.it. Mostly the noise, but also the backing up into my toes--ow. And emptying the thing, and cutting hair off the roller brush.

I have said this here before, I'm sure, but the Roomba is the best thing I've bought in many years. It doesn't eliminate the noise (although it's much quieter than my other vacuum), emptying, or roller brush issues, but not having to DO the vacuuming makes the rest way easier for me.

I'll second the roomba love. It also makes me pick things up. I love it more than I thought I would and the bonus of good weather now means I can set it and go in the backyard with dogs and not even deal with the noise. I can also go upstairs, which is nice having floors swept while I watch a movie, or less fun, work.

I need to hire a housecleaner. DH and I are good on keeping up with some things (and we have a Roomba, which has been a life-changer for the first floor floors), but there are some chores that just NEVER get done. (Like dusting. Which I hate like fire but also I have allergies which is not, like, a great combination.)

Because of my allergies, I've decided to wear a mask while dusting. I mean in theory. I haven't done anything radical like dusting.

Yeah, I forgot that there was such a thing as dusting. Huh. I do have an annual big dusting event in Otter Lake. After the place is closed all winter there is a coat of stuff over everything. It is quite the project. I expect this year to recruit son's GF to help with the task. She is helpful that way.

Also I plan to have her give me a color streak in my hair because she is really good at that too. My favorite was last summer when she did half of her head white and the other black. It was super cute. I do not plan on being that bold.

Oh amyparker, sending all manner of health~ma for your dad and calm~ma for you.