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the last week of my forties
October 02, 2013
Things I'm pondering as I stare down 50.
Since Monday was the anniversary of that first (blind)date...I've been mulling over what it has meant to spend 30 years with the same person. While it kind of blows my mind that it has been that long, on the other hand...it's not particularly significant, I guess. I actually thought more about what 30 years has done to Tom Cruise and Pizza Hut (we saw "Risky Business" & ate pizza on our first date) than what it has done to us.
He still has the capacity to amaze me, though. He gave me my gift a week early. Yet again. (It is a gadget that HE wanted--a transmitter that is supposed to let you listen to your MP3 player over the car radio) AND he told me it was from the dog, not him. Again.
Considering that we have the same damned birthday, and we will be celebrating it together for the 30th time next week? You would think that by now, he would be able to give me my gift ON my birthday, but he still hasn't conquered that thing in his brain that makes it impossible to hit the date. Or to own up to getting me a gift. He's frickin' Santa Claus to the rest of the free world, but when it come to me, he's got a tin gifter.
Hit the date. Huh. That's what it feels like; hitting it. And I didn't think I'd hit fifty so hard. I am really feeling weirded out by this impending birthday. I never really thought I would keep it together long enough to have to deal with it, so I am not prepared. Goes back to the whole "If I thought I was gonna live this long, I would've taken better care of myself." thing. (The AARP card I got in the mail the other day didn�t cheer me up much, either!)
Speaking of self-care--I got back the latest test results for the thyroid. Meh. Good enough for the doctor, I suppose, but not really good enough for me. The TSH came down quite a bit, from 7.257 to 2.270. Normal range, according to the lab, is between .350 and 5.00. Free T4 is about what I figured: it scooched up from .9 to 1.0. Normal being .8 to 1.5, I would love to have it be a couple points higher. But I suppose they'll leave it alone, as long as it is in the normal range. High enough to hit the range, not high enough for me to feel good. Story of my life. And it probably won't get easier as I continue to get, and be, OLD.
At least he can cook. Spouse made grilled chicken tacos and fresh-squeezed limeade for dinner last night and they were freaking fabulous. Tasted like life on the beach. :) This is why I try not to get too wound up about the weird, passive-aggressive presents crap. The real gift is that I have a husband who will cook and clean up the kitchen and go out of his way to make healthy and flavorful meals I will enjoy. Because that is one thing that has changed immensely in the last 30 years. He didn't even know what good food was back then. Now he's a better cook than I am.
After dinner, we tackled a project in his room--pulling out the old desktop and cleaning up the computer armoire. Since he has a built up a nice little setup with a small flat-screen TV, DVD player, and wireless cable box (I don't know--is ATT considered "cable"?) he wanted to get it off the top of his dresser and into a spot that is less precarious and more easily viewed. So we decided that repurposing the armoire seemed like the logical move, and it gave us a good reason to get in there and tackle that old mess.
We didn't get absolutely everything dealt with (decades worth of crap in there) but we made super-good headway. Miles of cords and cables, the bulky old mid-nineties tower and monitor, some old peripheral speakers, and assorted other outdated junk pitched out (diskettes, anyone?). Much dust and fuzz vacuumed and wiped. And his TV stuff is all set up and connected. Not too bad for a Tuesday night!
He pulled the hard drive out, and just stacked the junk out on the curb for the pickers. Most of the pile was gone before this morning, but by afternoon, even the monitor was gone. And I thought no one would want those old CRTs�
I managed to find W a birthday gift I think she'll like--a really cool Halloween decoration. She is a huge fan of Tim Burton, and of The Nightmare Before Christmas, so I got her a Jack Skellington door hanger that is about 6 feet tall. She's hard to buy for, but luckily she is real Halloween buff and her birthday is shortly before--always lots of selection!
Work is getting to the point where I need some time off or I'm going to pop a blood vessel. The noise is getting really bad, and this time I really don't think it is me. The programmers and consultants in the adjacent bays are a collection of piercing voices, argumentative attitudes, horrendous health issues, nervous tics, and annoying habits Sitting so close to them makes me want to tear my hair out.
And I have designated the 2ndVP across the corridor the company's "TMI Officer", because every aspect of her life is utter chaos at all times and I am unwillingly subjected to huge swaths of it. Loud? OMG, you have NO IDEA. She makes the windows rattle!
Along with all the other usual corporate hokey-pokey, I am feeling played out and fed up. Add the hellish commutes in, and I reeeeelly need a few days where I never get out of my nightgown.
Spouse is going to take Monday off too; maybe we can do something fun. Go to the casino, or have lunch at Fogo de Ch�o or something. We both need it.
Reading: Finally! On to the second "Emily" book--"Emily Climbs" (1925), by Lucy Maud Montgomery.
Listening: Talking Heads, Lorde, Peter Gabriel, Neil Young, Green Day.
At Random:
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