Waiting to Thaw

I’ve officially been diagnosed with a Frozen Shoulder.

It took quite some time. I’ve been having  problems with my left shoulder since before Christmas. I had fallen really hard on my left side last winter, leaving me with sore ribs, and I had initially attributed my bum shoulder to that.

But as the months wore on, with no relief from my shoulder pain, I began to wonder if it really was the fall at all. Thanks to the double whammy of Covid and my doctor retiring, I wasn’t able to see anyone in the medical profession until late June.

A Facebook friend, complaining about her frozen shoulder, put me on the right track towards my diagnosis. I had all the symptoms, and fit the criteria for those who develop Frozen shoulder, so at least I had an inkling of what the problem was.

My symptoms? Well, for one, I can’t lift my left arm high enough to even put deodorant on. Turning it outward is damn near impossible. Reaching down, like to shave my legs? Ain’t happenin’.

It hurts to sleep on it, which sucks because I prefer sleeping on my left side. Watching TV on the couch can be rough because my left arm dangles, which hurts. And I have to be very careful of bodily reflexes…while playing ping pong I went to grab for a careening ball with my left hand and the pain reduced me to tears.

There are driving difficulties as well. I can’t grab anything from a drive-thru window, I can only close my car door by reaching over with my right hand, and putting on my seat belt when I’m in the passenger seat is very difficult (and painful.) Hitting the release button on the seat belt is something I usually need help with.

In order to try and live with this malady, which can take up to THREE YEARS TO GO AWAY, I got a steroid shot, and while it wasn’t fun, it was worth the pain. It took a good week or so for the throbbing in my shoulder to begin to subside. It still hurts, but it’s not as brutal as it was.

Now I have to wait for the thaw. In the meantime I’m going to try and find some therapeutic exercises to try and help with my mobility. I’m glad this happened to me during Covid, where I can work from home and not have too much expected from me physically.

I wonder what year it will be when I realize I have full use of my left arm. I just hope Biden is president when it happens.

Stay safe, and fuck trump.

A Covid Close Call

About two weeks ago we had a co-worker who woke up sick. If we had been working remotely I wouldn’t have been concerned, but 2 days earlier we had all been in the office for a meeting. I was sitting right next to this coworker.

We waited none to patiently for the test results to come back, weighing as a family what we needed to do if he tested positive, with mommy dearest being a potential carrier of the covid.

Thankfully, the test came back negative. But that wasn’t my covid close call.

Sunday morning I woke up feeling not quite right. Could it have been the vodka I drank the night before? Nah…this didn’t feel like that. I had chills and little appetite. I dug out my trusty thermometer from the medicine cabinet, and sure enough. I had a 99.8 fever.

As the morning wore on, I took my temperature 73 more times, and my fever ranged from 99.0 – 101.0. Usually what one would do is down a couple of Tylenol and spend the day in bed. But not with covid raging.

We had a walk in clinic who told me to come in, yes on a Sunday. They assessed me, and gave me the dreaded nasal swab, which while not horrific, was no walk in the park either. At least it was over quickly. They would have the test results by the next day, which was a relief.

All day Sunday the family discussed what to do. Should I tell my work? Should my daughter inform her employers? How would I quarantine and still work from home?

I woke up Monday with no chills and still a low fever. We waited all day, and finally got the good news just before 7:00 pm…Negative.

I’m now an official Virginia statistic. I have been tested. I’m glad I was able to get one. I’m glad I have insurance. I’m glad I have a job.

And I’m really glad I didn’t have Covid.

The Slovie Corona Chronicles – Chapter 5

What are you watching?

With everybody hunkered down, social distancing and working from home, there is lots and lots of binge watching going on. As for my family, I thought I’d share what we’ve been watching since we’ve been trapped in our tiny 1,100 square foot home.

TIGER KING
Yeah, we watched it. At first I was against it, but my oldest daughter and husband watched it, and raved about it. That got my youngest daughter interested in watching, so I gave in and decided to add it to my watch-fest.

My opinion? 8 episodes of absolutely worthless bottom feeders. I’m willing to bet 85% of the people in that show are trump voters, which made me not have an ounce of sympathy for any of them. As Forrest Gump said, “stupid is as stupid does.”

THE FLORIDA PROJECT
This was a movie we watched on afternoon on a whim. We were watching Platoon, and hubby had remembered a movie Wilem Dafoe had earned an Oscar nomination for back in 2017, so we gave it a shot.

It was a beautifully filmed movie showing the seedier side of Orlando. It is centered around a young child, living with her drug/thug mother in a purple hotel, which predominantly houses low income families. It is by no means an uplifting movie, but is a real eye opener towards life on the wrong side of the tracks.

BETTER CALL SAUL
If you haven’t been watching this series from the beginning, what are you waiting for? Hubby and I have been watching since the beginning, and I’m really glad that the current season has been on during our stay at home orders.

PARASITE
I was super excited to see this movie available on Hulu, so the family watched it last week. I have to admit, there were times I had trouble reading the subtitles, especially when they were partially on a white background. That being said, I found this movie to be highly entertaining, and not at all like I thought it would be.

OZARK
This is the binge watch series I have been most excited about. It is really, really good. We are only halfway through season 2, and will usually only watch one or sometimes two episodes at a time. If you aren’t watching it, I highly recommend it.

MAKING THE CUT
This is the new Tim Gunn/Heidi Klum design show now that they are thankfully no longer doing Project Runway. I’m about 5 episodes in, and it’s really just okay. Not sure if I will continue watching.

SERIES THAT ARE THANKFULLY ON DURING STAY AT HOME
Real Housewives on New York
Top Chef
Anything on The Food Network that does not involve children.

SHOWS I WATCHED PRIOR TO STAY AT HOME, THAT YOU SHOULD BE WATCHING
The Marvelous Mrs. Mazel – Amazon Prime
The Handmaid’s Tale – Hulu
Fleabag – Amazon Prime
Atypical – Netflix
Pen15 – Hulu
You – Netflix
I Am Not Okay With This – Netflix

I’m sure there are others that I can’t think of right now, but stay safe out there, and happy watching!

The Slovie Corona Chronicles, Chapter 4

I’ve never been so glad to live in the sticks. Above is an actual view of the area where I live. My daughter’s high school is right next door to this field. It’s pretty wide open.

So far, there are only 16 cases of Covid-19 in my entire county, and in Albemarle County, which includes Charlottesville, there are only 43. Now, the news is saying that our area will get hit hardest in the next week or so, but I’m pretty confident that our family might come out of this nightmare unscathed.

We don’t really leave the house other than to go to the store, and then I’m in a mask and using antibacterial gel every few minutes. Our biggest risk is our oldest daughter, whose work at a local radio station is considered essential. She goes out into the world every day and comes back with the chance of carrying the virus with her.

Other than that, our risk is minimal. I think of when we lived in Northern New Jersey, right over the bridge from NYC – talk about being in the thick of it. I’d really be afraid to go out if I still lived up there.

The community I live in now is fairly populated, but nothing like the town I grew up in. There have been times that living here, with absolutely nothing within walking distance, has been a bummer.

Now? It’s a damn blessing.

Stay Safe.

The Slovie Corona Chronicles Issue 3

I went to the grocery store today for the first time in a week – a miracle for me. Unlike my mother, who would do the bulk of the family’s grocery shopping on Friday night, I was used to going daily.

One reason for this is I have close to no “pantry” space. Buying in bulk isn’t an option for me. My Costco membership is for eyeglasses primarily. But once our Governor really put the hammer down about staying at home, we listened to him, and are limiting our trips to the store to a minimum.

It’s amazing what can happen in a week. Our local Food Lion has now installed plastic shields to separate the customers from the checkers, and more than HALF THE PEOPLE IN THE STORE WERE WEARING MASKS.

Last night I took a pillow case, cut it up and fashioned a no-sew mask with the help of elastic hair bands, which we have a plethora of. It needs some work, and it’s not optimal for protection, but I don’t have anything else. I haven’t really looked into trying to find some, but I have a feeling masks and gloves are going to be pretty hard to come by nowadays.

So, one of my weekend projects is going to be making masks. I think I have some elastic, which will look way better than hair ties, and I’ll take to the needle and thread to make them a little more permanent and a little less laughable. But until I can get some real ones, it’ll have to do.

Stay safe, everyone.

 

The Slovie Corona Chronicles

CHAPTER 2

Today my boss sent me a disturbing email.

One of the perks of my job is my parking pass. I work in the City of Charlottesville, in the busy and popular downtown area. Our office has no parking lot. Street parking anywhere within a mile of my office is 2 hour only. On a normal working day there are hundreds of workers vying for very few free, all day spots.

Guess what my email was? That they are rescinding our parking passes. Not until this virus and social distancing is over, but for THE WHOLE REST OF THE YEAR.

You know what that means? It means that if we go back to the office in say, July, I have to leave my house at 7 am in order to find parking just to be at my job at 9. I know because I’ve done it before. Years back when I worked for this same company, I wasn’t deemed essential enough to be granted a parking pass, and I had to be in town no later than 7:30 if I had any hopes of finding a spot within a half mile of my office.

Yeah, I’m complaining, but at least I still have a job…so far. So, if I have to leave early and walk, so be it. The exercise will do me good.

The Slovie Corona Chronicles

Chapter 1

Today our Governor, Ralph Northam, pretty much told the state of Virginia to stay home.

We’ve been staying home.

Since March 11th my husband has not been able to work.

Since March 16th my daughter has been home from school.

Since March 20th I was told to work from home, which is thankfully something I can do.

And here we are, on March 30th. And our Governor is telling us to stay home unless it’s absolutely necessary.

We live in a rural county a 15 drive outside a major Virginia college community. We are an hour from Richmond, and 2 hours from DC. So far, we only have one case of the virus in our county. But there is over 1,000 in our state so far.

My husband has been taking our quarantine very seriously, and so far this has caused some problems. Prior to the outbreak both of our daughters had started new romances, that were coming along nicely. Suddenly, that all came to a stop. That sucks when you’re young and in love. You don’t think of viruses and social distancing and quarantine when you’re in love.

One of my girls is a senior in high school. Her graduation would’ve been on May 22nd. We were planning a party, planning which incoming relatives were going to sleep/stay where. Now she’s not even graduating. She will have no prom. She has no definitive plan for college because we don’t know how long this is going to last.

My other girl works at a radio station. She is considered an essential worker because she can’t do her job from home, and because part of her job has to do with local news, she can travel without restriction.

My car’s inspection is up tomorrow. I couldn’t get an appointment at our dealership until Wednesday. While I’m sure I won’t get pulled over, I’m hoping I can still get my car inspected before we go on total lockdown. It’s all this stupid stuff you have to worry about now.

More to come later. Stay safe everyone

 

Slovie’s a Good Samaritan…

Yesterday my daughter and I went to Richmond to see the Edward Hopper exhibit at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. After our foray into the world of arts & culture, we hit the mall, because the mall in our home town blows big time, and whenever we are in Richmond, we try to visit a semi-decent mall.

We were in the food court sharing some less than average Chinese food, when I noticed something red on the floor a few tables away. There had been 3 boys, probably around the ripe old age of 14 sitting there 10 minutes earlier. I went over and picked it up – it was a Super Mario wallet.

I turned to a table with 2 families next to where I found it, and asked if it was theirs. They said “no,” so I took it back to our table, and when I opened it, there was a bunch of coins, a $20 and a $5. I felt so bad, feeling like it probably belonged to one of those young boys…as a grown woman the thought of losing $25 bucks would heart my heart. I can only imagine the panic when this boy realized his wallet was missing.

So my daughter and I hung out for a few minutes, scanning the crowd to see if the young boys would return.

I found myself in a somewhat similar situation about 8 years ago. My girls and I found a wallet in the parking lot of a Richmond area Walmart, and it was loaded with more than $200 cash. I took a photo of the license in the wallet, and then handed it over to a manager in the store. I’ll be honest, I didn’t trust her.

I tried to find the owner to let them know the wallet had been turned in to the office at Walmart, but I never could get in touch with him. I’ve always wondered how that turned out.

But I knew how this one turned out. Our young friends came back, retracing their steps pretty quickly, and I was able to return the wallet to it’s rightful, and very thankful, owner. It felt really good. If I had just left the wallet where it was, things might not have ended quite so well for that young lad.

Ten Years a Blogger

10 years ago on this day, I began blogging. It wasn’t always my Typical Tracy blog. It started out as something else, but morphed into this blog after a short while.

Over the years, I’ve blogged about weight loss & work, movies and mommying, politics and past times. Some topics were odd…like how my kids can’t whistle, or the time I had to rid both of my daughters of head lice. Some posts brought me ridicule, like one post I did about wearing boots with shorts; I pissed off some cowgirl big time with that one.

I’ve published over 985 posts between all my blogs, 568 with this one alone.

My top 3 posts of all time are:
#1. The Naked Party which described a party my husband and I went to once where a majority of the people wound up naked.

#2. On The Beach In The Buff, which chronicles my summers spent at a nude beach in Sandy Hook, NJ.

#3. Where Steel Magnolias Goes Awry, where I argue a serious plot fail in one of my all time favorite movies.

Which goes to show you, sex and steel magnolias sell.

I’ve not been blogging a whole lot this past year – I had only 11 posts in 2019 to be exact. I blame that mainly on lack of enthusiasm in large part due to the dickhead, who with the help of Russia and misguided and moronic Americans, was voted into office. Not a whole lot has inspired me since then.

But, 2020 is a new year, and will hopefully end with a new President. And my promise to you is I’ll do my best to keep on bloggin.’

Empty Nest Syndrome – Phase 1

I’m in phase 1 of empty nest syndrome, and both of my daughters still live at home. How is that possible? I’ll tell you.

Up until a few months ago, we were all home most of the time. Yeah, dad had to work some nights, and so did the girls, but nights home alone were a mommy treat. Now? They are a regular thing.

So what happened?

1. Daughter #2 got her license. This made it possible for her to take my car and go out with friends at will. Parties, hang outs, coffee, you name it.
2. Daughter #2 got a new boyfriend. Who lives kind of far away. Not so far that it’s a true pain in the ass, but far enough to make it an oy vey rather than a not so bad.
3. And this is the biggie. Daughter #1 got a boyfriend.

She met him on an online dating site. Something that I had pressed her to continue pursuing after the disaster of her last boyfriend. He lives in our community, and it seems like they have a lot in common. She’s really happy, and I am really happy for her.

And here I sit, on a Sunday night, hubby working, daughters #1 & #2 with their boyfriends, and I am folding laundry, washing dishes, making soup, and watching Titanic, with commercials, all alone.

And it’s totally okay. I’m totally fine with phase 1. Because I know daughter #2 will go to college and still need me, and daughter #1 with her new boyfriend will still need me. And in the meantime, I have the TV to myself.