Definitely not the charm. Fortunately I always was more of a seven or thirteen kind of person. The first third time dealt with a ruler. My dad borrowed my shatter-proof plastic ruler maybe a month or two ago without returning it. Well, since I hadn’t been drawing anything that required it, I didn’t hound him about returning it. Apparently I should have. The dog – I am assuming my mom’s chocolate lab – got a hold of it and though it was shatter-proof, it was not chew proof. It was still in one piece upon my discovering of it. Sadly it was chewed up well enough to make the edges no longer straight as well as make sure the ruler couldn’t stay flat on a surface.
Well, last week I went to the grocery store with my dad on Saturday as usual. I couldn’t find any shatter-proof rulers, but I did find rulers and got one that was blue – favorite color. It made it to the cart and made it out of the cart… sadly it made its way out of the cart before we got to the checkout so it was never bought or brought home. Well, later on that day I had to go with my mom on errand running. I found some shatter-proof rulers at Walgreen’s. There were mainly orange, yellow and pink ones – colors I have little care for. Therefore, I looked to see if they had any blue or at least green. Their were some… in the very back of the pole they were filed on. So, I patiently took the rulers out to get to the blue one and then put all the rulers back. I placed the ruler in the cart… it too never made it to the checkout, much less home.
Well, the next day my mom had to go back to Walgreen’s due to an unfulfilled prescription. Dad got me two rulers. They were orange and yellow – my least favorite colors. I would have even settled for the pink. Seeing them, my mom even knew I’d dislike the colors. She didn’t say anything because my dad is easily insulted and would make a fuss. On the bright side… I got two rulers opposed to one and as long as they serve their purpose… the colors shouldn’t matter. Still… two times blue and in the end orange and yellow. Meh.
The other situation is more serious. As said, I’ve been going to yoga classes as my mom’s “moral support” once a week. Well, this week I attended my third class. It was kind of fun for once when it came to the communication level. I’m apparently very flexible. Sadly, my left ankle and wrist are very sensitive, weak areas. Well, Wednesday, they certainly acted up. That night I decided to wear one of my light braces on my arm and the foot brace on my leg. Thursday they began to act up again a great deal by night time… so I tried out my second level arm brace and kept the foot brace on. Friday – today – my neck and upper back had a kink in it, my wrist was still less than wonderful and so was my ankle. I moved to the heavy duty wrist brace, kept on the foot brace and stayed in bed most of the day after doing the chores in order to relax my muscles as much as possible.
They still bothered me when we went out to eat so when we got home I just rested on my bed again for about two hours. Occasionally I massaged my arm muscles, my ankle and tried to relax my shoulders. Eventually, when I felt I got my body as relaxed as I could by doing that, I joined my mom to watch television. There I used the heating pad – something I had used the past three nights.
Mom and I found the scar tissue of the ligament I sprained back in 2007, so I pulverized (massaged) the area as much as I could. Mom also suggested doing a heat and cooling combination on it… so for a while I had an ice pack and then would turn to heat and back again. I got impatient with it after an hour and half and resorted to heating and my own massaging again.
Mom also helped me with my back. She found a knot there that was causing the problem for my neck and shoulder. She massaged it down and I am feeling better there now. Joy. My ankle could still be better. It is sore and I worry about the hill climbing tomorrow. Mom says i should use a wrap instead of the brace. I figure I’ll also lean my weight a bit more to the inner part of my foot tomorrow as well. Hopefully that will help avoid strain.
So yes… three things, three times the curse. Meh.
Oh, yeah… next Friday I will see Mrs. Wynn. That is all.

Oi. Let’s see… Well, After my last entry Tuesday came along and lo and behold the yoga class was that night. Mom of course sprung it on me at the last minute. There’s nothing new. Meh. Well, we got ready, went, signed papers and did the class. It was okay.
I found I’m not truly as flexible as I thought I was since my back is supposed to always be straight, but my Mom considered me very flexible. The teacher was nice and I picked up most of the moves well enough. She was impressed by my balance though. What can be said? The only yoga pose I ever really knew was The Tree and I really rather enjoyed it. It seems that despite I hadn’t done it for a while, it still hasn’t gone away.
I think my mom really came to understand what I mean about my inability to picture things in my mind, too. Around the end there is a long moment of meditation and keeping still. Mom told me during that time she envisioned the Rainbow Bridge and getting to see all her beloved pets from years past. I told her I couldn’t do that. All I could see was the backs of my eyelids, or pretty much just black.
Oddly, though, I can dream quite vividly. Colors can be amazing, views can be clear, there can be touch, smell and taste… but when I wake up, I can never imagine it again. I can’t see it in my head no matter how hard I try. I cannot recall the scents, the feelings or anything on a sensory level.  I can only remember it from a mental level… A level I cannot even quite explain to myself. Well, anyway… The class ended well enough.
The rest of the week was pretty normal. Dusting was bumped up sooner due to not doing it Monday, but other than that… pretty normal. Then Dad came home talking about a play and free tickets. Oi. Well even without my direct consent, I was apparently going anyway from what I found out last night. So much for letting me decide. Peh.
Let’s see… Saturday was pretty much the norm. I woke around eight thirty to nine, ate breakfast and stretched like mad since I was waiting on Mom for such a long time. We finally got out at nine thirty or so. We went to the park and walked her youngest dog, came back and then went on our hill walking with her older dog. During the walk I got into my religious discussions with her. It was a good talk, I believe.
After that I took a shower, did some chores and I think I took a brief nap since I didn’t sleep soundly the night before. Soon enough the time for grocery shopping came along. Dad and I got what was needed, picked up some lunch from Subway, went home, unpacked the groceries and I ate.
While eating, my Dad decided to put together a cat fountain for me. I would have rather done it myself since he doesn’t read all the directions like he is supposed to, but once he gets going, you cannot stop him. My cat tends to drink from the faucet. He’ll only drink from a simple bowl of water when desperate and it isn’t that much. Having seen cat fountain-style bowls before, I decided to look into them. Looking to the future when my eldest brother’s wedding occurs, I knew he’d be less healthy than the time we leave him come the time we return. I want him to live to twenty, damn it, so he needs to drink all the water necessary to keep his kidneys going.
Well, it was finally put together and it is working fine. With that settled, I decided to take a more official nap since evening time I’d be dragged off to see the play. I woke up an hour and a half before we’d need to leave. I ate a small dinner and then waited on my parents. My dad looked at me and asked, “You‘re wearing that?” Meh. I was dressed how I am always dressed… a tank top and a pair of jean shorts. It was going to be an outside theater during the middle of summer! I asked him, “Yes. Do you have a problem with it?” He denied, but then said the pants were fine but asked if I had a dressier shirt. Dad, you liar. Hello, eye roll.
I got up and told him I’d look. My brother was staying over for a bit and I stopped to gripe about it to him. One, Dad asks if I’d go but in truth didn’t give a damn about my opinion anyway. So now I’m going without a fuss mainly for them. Two, I found out it was an outside theater from my mom, which made the whole thing even less appealing to me, but I made no fuss and was still going without a fuss. Three, now my clothes aren’t good enough? Damn it! Isn’t it enough I’m even going out?  Hell, in the past week I’ve stepped out more than ever… Oi.
Well, we finally got going at seven fifteen. Arriving around seven thirty, we got signed it, got the tickets, saw some kids art gallery thing, then went to a kitchen area where they were giving out popcorn, cake slices and root beer floats. Mom and I settled on water and popcorn. Eventually the guy who put the thing together and such made a speech and then we all headed out to the stage where many other people were already at.
Our seats were really good, We were around the very center. We settled down, I assisted Dad with his camera since part of the reason he was there was to take photos for his job. The play then went on its way.
It was okay. The show was The Buddy Holly Story. Some of the songs I vaguely recognized and the cast was very good. Was I enthralled? No. Was I bored? Not really. Did I hate it? Nah. Did I like it? Pretty much. Admittedly I had slightly hoped that by the time the First Act was over the whole thing was over.
No such luck. At that time it was nine thirty. We had another hour. Oi.
The music was fine, the lead’s ability to sing and perform was great and some of the side characters were nice to watch. Admittedly I found myself glancing to the sky often though. Near black, the moon was going into its third quarter and the stars could be made out. It was beautiful.
Anyway, the play finally ended at ten thirty or so. There was a brief encore and soon we headed out. On our way home we talked a bit about the show… Mainly my mom and Dad, mind you. Then we got home around eleven. After seeing my parents off to bed, I just decided to go onto bed too. I’d be out walking again the next morning after all.
Well screw that. Last night was a poor night for sleeping. I think I got one or two hours at best. The rest was tossing, turning, laying – or is it lying? – dealing with needy cats and so forth. I got up at nine, ate breakfast and waited on Mom to get ready. We left at nine forty-five. Oi.
To our fortune, it seemed cooler today. Yeah, the park was hot as usual, but the hill climbing was accompanied by the faint breeze and shade from trees here and there.  Now we are back. I took a shower, dealt with the dishes and am now typing up this.
Meh. I don’t like how much more busy his year has been compared to last years. Oh, well.

Well, this shall be interesting. My mom signed us both up for yoga. Meh… I’ve never really done yoga before. I can do the tree pose well, but stopped after I hurt my ankle. The pressure screwed it up again. The class will be on Monday evenings.
Tonight of course is a no go since it is the Fourth of July. Next week will be the intended target. Oh, joy. Well, maybe it’ll be okay.
Pretty much, Mom and I haven’t been able to go walking much due to the heat. With it in the hundreds… nope, not even water is good enough to carry out the task. I’d likely keel over from dizziness. We’ll likely only do hill walking on weekends when we can go out early.
I guess I’ll start working on limbering myself up again. I’ve always been pretty flexible. I touch my feet easily when standing… sometimes even just rest my fingers against the floor for the hell of it. The same goes when on the floor, minus my hands touching it.
‘Pretty good at turning myself into a sandwich, too. What is that? Usually sitting and resting my upper body on it like a blanket. Sometimes I’ll have my legs crossed or the like. I find it feels nice for some reason.
Well, I got up around six thirty Friday morning. The night before held troubled sleep as usual. Trying to go to sleep before midnight usually is. So, yeah… little sleep.
Upon getting up I got a small bowl of cereal in me, brushed my teeth and got my things ready. Then I waited until the time to leave came around. That was 7:30.
I dozed some in the car for the sake of it and we got to Austin around 9:45, I believe. As usual we stopped to eat a “late breakfast” at Denny’s. We got our food about thirty minutes after ordering. Well, when full we headed off again. Reaching the mall at 10:30, Mom decided it was a good time to see if we could find me some “yoga clothes”.
I don’t like to wear any pants or shorts that aren’t denim or at least of that thickness… so “yoga” is loosely considered. I found a pair of Capri’s quickly enough, but Mom looked around as well leading our little expedition to be a shopping spree for her too. She got two shirts after looking around for the right fit. We finally got out of there to reach the hair salon at eleven on the dot, which is when my mom’s hair appointment started.
I left her there and looked for my dad who was at the food court. While we had been looking around for clothes, he looked about briefly for shoes. So, I soon joined him in the pursuit. We went to Sears, Macy’s and JCPenny… he found nothing he liked.
By then I had ten minutes until my hair appointment, so I went to wait and my dad went on his own way. My stylist was already there, so the wait wasn’t long. I got my hair washed, talked with my stylist about things going on and had about an inch of hair taken off all around. When it was done I paid, left a tip and went in search of my dad. I found him at the food court again, this time reading from his iPod.
We decided to see if there was an art supply store around. I had been needing some markers for the longest time, but no store where we live carries the brand. We found a Micheal’s, but they didn’t have any of the markers in gray. In fact, they only came in large colored packs. I found some white gel pens though and some artist pens I thought would be nice to try out since the pens I use are really made for writing.
After that we stopped by Barnes and Noble. Neither of us found anything, but it was a good way to kill time. We left soon enough to check on Mom since a decent amount of time had passed. She was just beginning to get her freshly cut hair dried and styled, so we had to wait ten more minutes. Dad offered to get me a drink and so we did that. Getting a Strawberry-Apple Chiller, my dad and I waited on her. He resumed his reading, I just sat there and drank.
When she was finally done, we stopped by a candle store my mom loves. She got some candles for summer and I saw a little gift-bag thing that had two small Sweet Pea candles and hand sanitizer. My sister likes the scent, so I decided to grab it for her.
With one more stop for my mom, who needed hair clips, we headed off. Though it was slightly less than four hours after was last ate, Mom wanted to eat again. By what I know of her, she needs to eat every four hours else her blood sugar drops and she gets dizzy and starts shaking. So, we ate at a soup and salad place.
Done with all that was planned, we headed home. Hearing we only found a Micheal’s, however, Mom insisted we look for a Hobby Lobby. So, due to that we got lost in town for a while… Not so much lost as, “not quite certain”. Well after a long while we finally found it and I was able to get the markers I was in search of.
Since we were off our usual course we decided to roam about the city some after that. Since the State Capitol is a tourist area, we looked at some buildings, went through the area my sister once lived at and spoke about possibilities. Those possibilities happened to be my dad wanting to take pictures of buildings and such there this summer and my mentioning of coming back for a “vacation” that consisted of walking around certain areas, checking out shops and so forth. Apparently my mom liked that idea. Huh.
Well, we finally got back to where we needed to be to get out of there so we officially left at 4:30. There was some traffic to begin with, but we got home just fine at six. Despite hat we didn’t go home directly.
After entering town, we headed for Chili’s. Dad and I weren’t hungry, but went for my brother’s sake. We usually eat out on Friday nights and Dad wanted to see my brother… so… yeah. There was waiting, drinking and talking… from what I gathered things are rather the same when it comes to my brother’s job. The food finally came then, we ate and eventually went our separate ways.
While Dad and I headed to the car we murmured we should have popped by then. He and I aren’t used to eating so much in a day. By then it was seven and we finally made it home.
If I had been lucky I could have gone to bed after that. No, my mom wanted to watch television… so we stayed up to watch television. After getting in a decent amount of shows we finally went to bed. I don’t remember the time…. Maybe it was eleven or a bit later? I likely fell asleep around twelve then.
To wake up at 6:30.
I got up, got my shoes on and my cap ready. Eating a quick, small bowl of cereal Mom and I headed out for walking.  We were done by eight, so I took a shower and caught up on a few more hours of sleep before I had to go grocery shopping. While out my dad questioned about using my new art supplies. I was not amused. The rest of Saturday is a blur from there. I’m pretty sure I watch more television with Mom that night, though.
Sunday was about the same. I woke up, ate, went out walking, did chores and slept during the afternoon since I still hadn’t recovered from Friday. Another reason was because the A/C wasn’t working properly so it was 86 degrees in the house. When it is that warm to boarding on hot… yeah… I go into cat mode and lay down. When it began to cool again I did some more chores and decided to try out the markers I got.
For a couple of hours I went back through my art to pictures I never got to finish coloring due to the gray marker I had dying on me before I could finish. I stayed up until 2:30 I believe.
So… it is now the Fourth of July. I got up at eight, put on my shoes and cap, and ate a small bowl of cereal. By the time I was finished Mom was just getting to her cereal, so I meddled on the computer a bit. We set off once she was done and got the right leash and collar for her dog out. It was an hour later than the day before.
Despite it was later in the morning, walking was rather good for me today. I usually like going before the sun has gotten up into the sky much to avoid the coming heat, but I wasn’t terribly affected by it today. In fact, I was sort of on a roll and full of energy. Maybe I have caught up on my sleep well enough.
Getting back home, I cooled down for a few minutes and played fetch with my dad’s dog. I’m his designated “fitness buddy” as far as my mom is concerned. I do it because I can and my parents like that I’m keeping him active. They like that I do it because it helps him lose weight and stay trim.
With that accomplished I did intend to take a shower, but my dad beat me to that. So, instead I tended to the dishes some and kept to my room. When he was done I of course took to it.
He left after that to get some fruit and I washed my cap since it was quite sweaty. After hanging it up to dry I came back in here to begin typing this. In the middle of this entry he returned with lunch, so I’ve been eating and typing right here. It is now almost twelve.
That is all for now. Hallelujah!