Unfortunately due to me having the flu, Vince and I weren’t able to meet up to exchange Christmas presents and spend time together. I know that I’ve been on an antiviral for about a week but I didn’t want to get him sick. I doubt that I’ll need to take the second antiviral medication.
My birthday is in a week so hopefully I’ll be feeling better and we can spend the weekend together.
I’ve been feeling under the weather for about 2 days so I called my doctors office. Due to current constrictions due to Covid, the office has certain guidelines if you will; anyone who has symptoms of Covid or the flu must have virtual appointments...if the office deems it necessary, the patient with said symptoms can come to the office, park in the parking area, call the office and someone on staff will bring out a Covid or flu test, swab you, go back in, run the test and call you/come out to you with the results.
I had a virtual visit yesterday and they had me swing by to swab me. I waited the 10/15 minutes for the test to be run so I closed my eyes and I was out cold in seconds. I didn’t hear my phone ring so someone on staff came out and knocked on my window - which was rolled down a bit - and called my name. I woke up, put on my mask and rolled my window down all the way. They confirmed that I had the flu. I’ve had it before 2 yrs ago and it was brutal; even with the antiviral it was bad.
So they sent two prescriptions of the same antiviral; one to fill right away and the second one as back up. They knew that my insurance would cover the first prescription but not sure about the second so they said that they already called my insurance company and the insurance company said that there should NOT be an issue with the second one. I thanked the staff and called my pharmacy to let them know that I’m on my way. They said that they’d fill the one and put the second on hold (meaning that they’d put the information into my profile but not fill it unless I call to request it).
My pharmacy is almost as good as my doctor’s office. They are on point no matter how busy it gets. By the time I got to the pharmacy 15/20 minutes later (had to go past my house - 8 minutes from the doctor’s) and drive another 9 minutes to the pharmacy. Thankfully it was ready when I got there.
I put on my mask and gloves as I wait in line at the drive-thru; the less people that I infect/get sick, the better. I don’t want anyone to get the flu...especially the ones that are medical professionals.
After waiting in line for less than 5 minutes, it was my turn. I gave my name - spelling the first 3 letters of my last name - and my date of birth. They came back with the antiviral, a bottle of vitamin c and a bottle of zinc supplements (this is why I said that they’re almost as good as my doctor’s office). They rang me up, I paid and they said that they wish I feel better soon. I thanked them profusely for their help and getting the zinc and vitamin c.
I got home, took off my shoes in the garage, sprayed some Lysol on my clothing (just a light covering), ran upstairs to shower, tossed my dirty clothes in my hamper, ran downstairs to start my laundry, ate and took the antiviral, the zinc and vitamin c then went back to bed.
My family cooked for me, thankfully, since I achy and felt miserable. They left a tray of food for me outside my room and went downstairs. I then opened my door - mask on - grab the tray, eat, put the tray out and let them know I was done. They put on a mask and gloves, grabbed the tray, went downstairs and put the tray and the dirty dishes/glass/silverware right into the dishwasher to wash right away. I’d fill up my water jug from the tap in my bathroom - which, surprisingly, is filtered. I’d spray Lysol after me even though I was wearing a mask. My family members are both in their late 60s and high risk for both the flu AND Covid; I’d rather be safe and protect them instead of infecting them. Isolate away!
Finally feeling a little bit better and in a few days, we’ll finally be able to exchange Christmas presents. Within a few days of that is my bday. Hopefully, I’ll be able to NOT wear a mask and eat with them.
It’s been a few months since we last saw each other. School started up again and he’s been busy with virtual and in school classes as well as marching band. We’ve texted and called each other almost every day; he’s busy with lesson plans and shit and I definitely don’t want to bother him constantly. When I’m the one starting a conversation, I ask how he’s doing and wish him a great day....then leave it at that. Just want him to know that I’m thinking about him. When he’s the one reaching out first, he also asks how I am and wishing I have a good day, he calls me by my favorite nickname....I’m NOT sharing it! #sorryNOTsorry
Vince knows that I respect the time he’s teaching and writing lesson plans and won’t bother him so I usually let him continue the conversation. The less drama the man has, the better. I don’t want to come across as a nag. If I nag, no sex. Plus he’s a man...men need their space and they hate nagging. He appreciates the space. In the past, he’s shared with me that a few of his previous relationships ended because the gfs were constantly nagging him no matter what he was doing; at school, with friends, out on his motorcycle, etc.
Even though he and I have a relationship more along the lines of a “friends with benefits”...we also maintain a real friendship where we just hang out and talk. We both feel that it’s healthy to have both type of relationships. When one of us or both of us are unavailable, we maintain the ‘normal’ friendship but when we’re both single - which is more often than being in a relationship with others - we have a good time. We definitely do something a little “special” for each other’s birthday! 😉 It’s not really wild but we cook the other one’s favorite meal, favorite wine and favorite dessert..... and a little hanky panky.
We have a great thing going on. We’ve discussed taking our friendship and turn it into something more serious; dating. We tried it out for a few months but it was just awkward. We felt like we ALWAYS had to spend the night with the other, spend almost every waking second with each other, etc. but that put a bit of a strain on our friendship.
We decided to take a month break from each other - no calling/texting/emails - just to recenter ourselves as individuals. We came back stronger in our friendship; we could now say: “I love you!” to the other and know that it’s 100% platonic. Sure we kiss each other’s cheeks when we greet each other and when we say goodbye (and make out as our foreplay - among other things - before we have sex) but it doesn’t mean that we’re in love with the other...we both tell our other friends (mutual friends and our different groups of friends) that we love them so it wasn’t anything unusual for us to say it to each other or other friends.
I do miss spending time with him but we both are being careful right now due to Covid. I’m high risk due to a chronic lung condition and history of cancer and he’s high risk because he is approximately 18 years older than me. We both get tested for Covid before we make plans to see each other; we both need to have negative results, no coughing (from colds and/or infections) and no nasal congestion (from colds and/or infections). We don’t want to get the other sick with what we may have.
We hope to see each other next weekend and again for my bday weekend (2.5 weeks after Christmas). Next weekend will be holiday stuff; I was raised in a Christian household and he was raised in a Jewish/Catholic household. We want to cover both Hanukkah and Christmas. We’re both of Italian descent so it’s the Feast of the Seven Fish but the kicker is that the seafood we get....is kosher seafood - which is typically eaten by non - practicing Jews - (the other food we order/make is also kosher when possible). We go through 8 bottles of wine - between the two of us - for the Christmas and Hanukkah meal (we start around 11:30 am)
For my birthday....it will be all pasta and carb related. Gnocchi, fettuccini, bucatini, lasagna, angel hair, orrechette, etc. Vince makes many mean pasta dishes that comes with plenty of Italian bread on the side. We tend to go through 6 to 8 bottles of wine (we start closer to 11 am) throughout the day that we celebrate my bday (not necessarily on my actual birthday but near it; that way I can spend time with my family on my actual birthday).
What I appreciate about Vince is that he’s always the calm in the storm, my rock, an amazing listening, great at massages (which always gets me in trouble, lol!), great friend, wonderful and generous lover, great kisser, kind hearted, slow to anger, and all around great person.
I know that I don't speak often of my pets often....or at all but they are a big part of my family. We have 3 dogs and a cat. They all get along very well and they're quite spoiled. They live indoors and the only ones that go out are the dogs; they go out to take care of business and to play...thankfully we have a decent sized property and the backyard is fenced with 8 ft high fencing around 3/4 of the backyard and 6 ft. fencing around the remaining 1/4. Our cat is NOT allowed outside at all; although living in the middle of nowhere, our road is super busy (we have Amazon trucks, 18 wheelers, etc. driving our road daily and they go WAY over the 35 mph speed limit); we used to have indoor/outdoor cats until the one went into the road and was, unfortunately, run over and died.
We have three large dogs (all over 75 lbs.) and a 12 lb. cat that used to weigh a whopping 18 lbs. Two of our dogs are the same breed and the other comes from the same country and our cat is a rescue cat; a number of years ago, there was some construction done on our road by the river and the construction workers would feed the cat and as they were finishing up their last week, they called the local animal shelter/vet to let them know. The animal shelter/vet found the cat and took him in, checked him out, vaccinated him and named him "Trout".
We noticed Trout at the animal shelter/vet as we used to take our other pets (the typical cats and dogs) and there was Trout in a cat kennel. He was the cutest and skinniest cat we saw. We made a decision to adopt him that day; the vet believed that Trout was ~1 yr old but we believe that he was closer to 8 months old. We felt bad for him that he was a skinny boy and a little underweight, so we had made sure that his food bowl was at least half full at all times. In a matter of 3 years, a skinny little cat became a chonker of a cat. We did find a mainstream named cat food that has a 'diet cat food' that we've been giving to Mr. Chonker; it's been a slow weight lost for Chonker Boy, but he's lost 6 pounds....think it's taken close to 2.5 yrs for him to lose the weight.
Our dogs are all within their weight range; which is easy since they eat more than their weight in food, they have full access to the backyard and they get taken on walks 3x a week. Boy, do they shed though!! I vacuum everyday; sometimes twice a day and the dogs get brushed twice to three times a week and they're STILL dropping hair everywhere!
Anyways....that's not what you're here to read about how entertaining my pets are! Mr Chonker acts like he runs the house above us humans and the dogs, but we humans just pretend to go along with that but do agree that he does rule over the dogs. He tries to keep the dogs well behaved; which isn't an issue for the older two since they're 4+ yrs old where as the younger one just turned 2 yrs old a few months ago.
Chonker Boy and Big Dog - aka the oldest dog - are the BEST of friends; they hang out, sniff each other, Chonker licks Big Dog sometimes and they do take nap time together. Chonker and Little Girl - the only female dog - are pretty tight but not as tight as Chonker and Big Dog. Chonker and Little Girl are like "Princess and the pea" when it comes to sleeping on dog beds and both LOVE to be covered when sitting on our laps. Sometimes Chonker and Little Girl get in a kerfuffle when Little Girl gets too nosy in Chonker's tail end and sometimes she gets a little rough when playing so Chonker takes a few swats at her to get her back in line; this makes Little Girl turn around and start jogging away.
Now Red Dog - the youngest of our doggy pack - just turned two a few months ago and no matter how hard we try to teach him manners like keeping his toes and nose off the kitchen table and counters (he can sit, heel, etc.) he likes to hunt for trouble inside and outside of the house. Red wants to play with Chonker BUT it's only on Chonker's terms....which is hardly ever! Red doesn't think that he's as rough as he is with Chonker and we DEFINITELY watch when they play! Red likes to lick and sniff every single hair of Chonker Boy but Chonker has little patience for this nonsense of Red's. Once Red indicates that he wants to play with Chonker, Chonker gets ready to swat and hiss at Red. After getting swatted a few times, Red jogs off and chews a bone or plays with a stuffed toy.
Like I said earlier, the backyard is fenced in so we can let the dogs have free reign back there. We tend to let Red Dog out by himself because he runs SO FAST and plows into people when he's running - his 'brakes' aren't the best lol! - and he can burn some energy. As soon as he sees a squirrel or a bird...it's the FUNNIEST thing. He starts storming towards the squirrel or bird but they hear him coming so they go off way before he can reach them! It's funny to watch because he thinks that he's protecting us from wildlife.
I've been feeling pretty well dealing with cancer and the treatments but I dislike being bored; I'd much prefer working but unfortunately, I am unemployed. My previous employer let me go - officially - in June due to Covid. He couldn't keep my job open for me permanently and because of being high risk - both the history of cancer and being asthmatic - he didn't want to risk having me get sick.
Look, I get it.....it sucks. Currently, there's approximately 12,600,000 people unemployed and since I tend to think the best of people....we're all looking for jobs. Jobs in the restaurants are far and few; business is slow. Mom & Pop shops aren't hiring many people, offices are hiring but either they like my experience but want someone has more experience or because I know my (work) value and I ask for what I believe that I deserve to be paid; I go to work on time and even if I'm going to be less than 5 minutes late, I still call ahead to give a heads up, I keep to myself, don't get involved in the work drama (though it can be tempting at times), I'm a pretty quiet person so I'm not constantly chatting up my coworkers, I don't spend much time on my phone while I'm working - unless it's work related - or if I'm having lunch, I keep my personal stuff private - other than the "How's the family? How are you?" pleasantries, leave my personal stuff at the door when I arrive and leave my work stuff when I leave, give the boss a heads up when I'm done with my work for the day before I leave; you get the drift.
So, here I am; pretty much at home 95% of the time applying for jobs, I go to my oncologist when I have appointments - the same thing with my primary physician, my pulmonologist and dermatologist - pick up my groceries order (place the order from home, go to pick it up), bring it home, sanitize everything, bring everything in and put it away. I do reach out to family and friends through out the day just to chat and to see how they're doing. Once, I did see my FWB but he stopped by and we were outside 8 ft apart to catch up; a few times I went to the local park when it is slow to take a walk (as in get out of the house to someplace where it's mostly safe for me to walk).
The boredom is the worst, besides being kept awake by wondering when I'll have a job again. There's only so many times I can reread the books I have and use KindleUnlimited - trying to not reread the books I've already read - how many series I can watch on shared accounts of Netflix and Hulu and my own Amazon Prime. Setting up Zoom with family and friends barely helps pass the time; it just makes me miss my family and friends more. There's really nothing else I can do....I'm over knitting, reading, watching tv series/movies, crossword puzzles, actual puzzles, etc.
