Queen Mediocretia of Suburbia

Putting the TMI in absentminded

Month: November 2022

  • Thursday Paint Non-Progress: 11/10

    No way. I can’t paint if there’s a box of unfinished business in my room, and the basement is still in chaos.

  • Bad Things: CVS

    I say this again: Don’t start hospice on a weekend. Hospice is all about the drugs, and you can’t get the drugs. At least not at the CVS at the corner of 528 and Southern in Rio Rancho (/an ABQ suburb). So, hospice meds are divided between maintenance meds, comfort meds and end-of-life meds. Maintenance…

  • Bad Things: Time in Albuquerque

    This is how time is calculated in Albuquerque. I order a taxi for 2:15. He calls to say he’ll be there at 2:30. Gary sends me an overnight package and pays extra to have it there at noon. It arrives at 7:30 p.m. I have to be at my brother’s house at five p.m. to…

  • The Worst Thing: Lost Dog

    The night Dave died was awful, but not the worst. That was the next day. The next day his bigger dog, the blue heeler, slipped his lead, jumped the fence, and ran away. I started off calling the dog, then screaming for the dog, then asking the neighbors, then falling on the floor asking the…

  • Bad Things/Good Things: Dogs

    A few days ago the head of a New Mexico dog foster service told me, “All the shelters, pounds, and foster agencies are full up. No one can take your brother’s dogs,” and I replied, “I will give you a thousand dollars if you take these dogs.” She said she would see what she could…

  • Good Things: Other Things are Unearthed

    Well, finding Jerry’s more finished novel was one thing (and again, come ON), but today in the bottom of a nightstand I found … A half bar of chocolate from the cannabis store. Medicinal grade. Luckily I had just eaten a bag of Reese’s chocolates, so I wasn’t tempted. It also looked kind of old.…

  • Rewriting the Novel: FFS

    So I finally found the bookcase that Dave said had the family stuff “on the left.” I was looking for things like the Transfer on Death papers he claimed he filed, or the car title, that would be helpful, but what did I find instead? Another draft of Jerry’s novel. A better draft, at least…

  • Rewriting the Novel: Benchmark

    I can’t believe it, but before I cam to Albuquerque I knuckled down last month and finished all of the third draft. Almost all. Ten pages shy. It’s changed so much since draft one. It’s only five percent shorter, and it flies. It spins out like a kite string. Still, I have realized I need…

  • Good Things: Wheelchairs

    This hospice situation was very different from Mom’s. It shouldn’t have been, but somehow everything just went wrong. One thing went south immediately. We were back at the house at 5 p.m. to get the wheelchair and bed, etc., but no one was there. (No one was there until 9:30 p.m., but that isn’t germane…

  • Good Things: Paying for It

    One running joke I made with Dave last week, while he was still lucid, was, “It’s up to you, you’re paying for it.” I had earmarked half the money from Mom’s house for his support. I kept it in cash so I could get it to him but it wouldn’t count against him as income.…