To Do: 2. Get Rear In Gear

And hit the ground running. Monday I see the oncologist, but that appointment is not til 1 o’clock. I’ve got to take mom’s mail over for her. In addition to everything else I’ve got to keep up with, I’ve got to get her taxes done. (Mine are plain vanilla basic with a squirt of stock dividends. Takes me maybe half an hour to do mine.) Mom has assets, plus proceeds from the sale of a house, plus some tax thing we get from Carillon that’s the same difference as buying a dwelling. All her statements and info come to me (her POA), and I’ve got to track how much I’ve got of the statements, 1099’s, etc., I need vs what I’ve got and when I get it all, schlep it over to the accountant. While I’m going through chemo. Yep. Thank goodness her accountant sent a checklist. He also moved from about five blocks away to 126th street, which is WAY the heck over on the complete other side of town (we technically live on 17th street. I’ll need to pack a lunch for the trip.)

The estate sale people finally came and got the stuff they’re selling for me. The lady I’m selling the bed to still has one more payment to make and they need to come get the bed. Like yesterday. There’s no room for it in the new apartment and I think they’ve already gotten this apartment leased, so it needs to be taken to its new home tout de suite

So, Monday, take mom’s mail over, snatch some lunch, see the oncologist, and stop at the grocery store on the way back for almond milk and butter. Tuesday is general rounding up the turtles day. I’m going to do another wardrobe cull. Wednesday, I see the cardiologist. I need to do a Walmart run afterward for shelf liner, toilet paper, and other such essentials, and drop off the stuff I’m donating to Goodwill. I’m also supposed to be getting the key to a move-in-ready apartment. That’s when the schlepping starts. Pictures, start coming down and I start taking whatnots and objets d’art over. Thursday the packers come and pack dishes and the contents of my china cabinet. I can line shelves and drawers that afternoon. Friday the movers come. They’ll put my clothes in those closet boxes and the books in these stacks of drawers on wheels. Those are the major time and energy eaters to unpack and put away. I’ve already plotted out where 98% of my furniture goes. (The one thing I haven’t figured out where to put yet is my yarn stash.) That gives me the rest of Friday, Saturday and Sunday to unpack everything and put it away because chemo starts bright and early on Monday the 31st for three consecutive days. I will have to get with the movers about when they’re coming to pick up boxes and those stacks of drawers on rollers. of which there’ll probably be at least six. I know where I can stash the empty packing boxes. It’s those drawers on roller thingies once they’re emptied. Hopefully I can get them emptied and picked up by Monday afternoon.

I think tonight I might make a bowl of tuna salad. I’ve already “started” an onion that I “pulsed” some of in my little chopper thingie along with two of the three generous pieces of pork loin roast from lunch and mayo. I spread the result on crackers and cut up an apple for a “side” and had that for “tea” at mid afternoon. I also have some rice and navy beans left over from lunch, and I’ll add part of the onion I “started” to the navy beans in the time honored fashion. (Maybe I can score some cornbread at lunch tomorrow to have with the navy beans for supper.) I’ll pick up some naan when I make my Walmart run. When you cut a piece of naan in two and toast it in the toaster cut side down, it opens up nicely and I can have some pocket tuna salad sandwiches.

In the meantime, I’ve just been taking it easy, resting up, sitting quietly and knitting or reading, self isolating as much as I can what with Omicron, as well as all the lovely antibiotic-resistant bugs to be found among the elderly.

Lately, I’ve taken to watching French videos about Versailles and the various chateaux associated with the Bourbons. In French. I had three years of high-school French entirely too long ago, so most of it goes right over my head, but I like the sound of the language, and 80% of learning a language is training the ear and acquiring vocabulary. And the funny thing is, the longer I listen to them, the more I’ve started catching. I kind of got onto this kick because M. Habit, whose YouTube and Instagram channels I follow, after having lived in Chicago all his life, upped stakes and moved to Paris. His channels reflect this. I’ve traveled in France on two occasions, and have been to Paris briefly. France is one of those places, like Britain, where you can hardly turn around without tripping over something historic, ancient. Eh, bien. Tuna salad.