Elayne Riggs' Journal (for Leah)

Sunday, July 20, 2025

Tea for Two

Today I got a notion I didn't even expect. After going back and forth to the larder to refill our acrylic teabag organizer with Robin's preferred English Breakfast, it occurred to me to redo all the boxes of tea stored in the hutch so I could store the 100-count box of EngBreak in there. That turned into quite the project, as all three shelves on the right side of the hutch got redone, stuff we're never going to use got thrown away for good, all the boxes rearranged so the medicinal teas are on the bottom and the ones we're likeliest to use are on the top, and even the organizer got, erm, reorganized. Oh, and I made cold-brew tea because I felt like doing something with that. I'd forgotten how much tasty tea I've passed by in my zeal to always have my vanilla chai in the morning. Even made myself a ginger tea to settle my stomach, and that does seem to have helped. I'm so well organized that I'm actually looking forward to work again tomorrow. Oh, and both NY baseball teams won, so that helped my mood tremendously. Great weekend, even though my intestinal system could have handled things better.

Saturday, July 19, 2025

Sticking Close to Home

Yeah, the intestinal thingie isn't quite gone yet. Fortunately I was able to get us to the supermarket and back, and shopping went relatively quickly, so I could spend the day trying to sleep it off (no help so far, but there's always sleeping tonight) and eating soothing food. TV was crap again, both NY baseball teams went down in flames, so we polished off a couple more episodes of QI on BritBox, a show which never fails to lighten my mood. We have to pace ourselves before we've gone through the entire season. And now, to bed once more...

Friday, July 18, 2025

Caught Up on the Important Things

Finally, my finances are caught up on! Remembered to print out the last two quarters of my 401K statements, which are online-only and stored on my work laptop, as well as my IRA statements and everything else that needed printing preparatory to filing it away. And the checkbook is balanced and up to date, although I had to do it later than I expected as Robin silently came into the room behind me as I was concentrating on the numbers, and I think I jumped about ten feet in the air when he spoke. This did not help my body very much; I seem to have picked up an intestinal bug yesterday, which resulted in a very messy situation towards the end of a work call that required a quick wash of clothing items and such, which put paid to any plans involving going on the exercise bike and doing much besides eating soup and sleeping. Even the evening TV isn't soothing me as both NY baseball teams are losing. Hope this is all out of my system now and I feel better tomorrow!

Thursday, July 17, 2025

The Walking Sleep-Deprived

Even though I'd gotten a few naps in yesterday, I don't think I slept at all last night. I must have drifted off for an hour or two here and there, but I was awfully insomniac today. Stomach ache, headache, ache-ache and everything. I'm not sure how I got through my commute, let alone my work day! But I did, and now I don't have to go anywhere except grocery shopping for the next few days. So if you'll excuse me, there being no baseball tonight I'm going straight to bed...

Wednesday, July 16, 2025

Medical Dropoff

A couple weeks back while looking for an old vanity mirror in my old vanity, I realized I could no longer easily open one of the drawers because it was so full of old medications I no longer take. Robin mentioned the pharmacy we frequent had a dropoff service, and today (after the Tour de France stage ended) seemed to be the perfect day to safely dispose of the stuff. Easy peasy, just like dropping off library books or parcel post back when they had mailboxes with pull-down slots that took those things. Alas, they wouldn't take my unused Ozempic needles (the kits always come with extras), so I'll have to figure out a way to rehouse those. We followed that trip with, again, lunch at our favorite conveyor belt sushi place, enticing us to give them our custom by offering coupons if we eat there twice this month. My QR code was scanned in making us halfway eligible, and lo and behold when I arrived back home I found the place had also deposited three $5 off coupons into my account. Not sure I can use them all at once, but I'm certainly going to try next time! No baseball today but lots of binging, including the very enjoyable British procedural Shakespeare & Hathaway, which hooked me right off the bat. Clever writing, good performances, very nice chemistry among all the actors. Highly recommended!

Tuesday, July 15, 2025

Hey Now

Even though tomorrow isn't a work day, I can't bring myself to stay up for the end of the All-Star Game, which seemed to me to be more like an Event punctuated by baseball. I watched as much as I could, and found the Fox folks to be slightly less intrusive interviewing players while said players were trying to do their job (mostly fielding) than sportscasters have been in the past, so maybe everyone's just getting used to it. And All-Star Games don't really count anyway, so it's no biggie. In other news, my inbox is near empty again and I'm once more achieving work equilibrium, so hey now, maybe I'm an all star...

Monday, July 14, 2025

Silly Site o' the Day

As an Old, and a non-photogenic one at that, I'm not terribly into taking pitchers any more. Unless it's photography that highlights nature (foliage, flowers, kitties) or features a loved one or friend (like the photos I have from my comic convention-going days), I'm not all that interested. I'm just not self-centered enough to fit into the Selfie Generation, I tend to think everyone around me is more interesting than me anyway. So I'm completely out of my depth with Victorian microphotography.

Sunday, July 13, 2025

Spoiled

The foot continues to bother me, although the pain comes and goes. Also my left big toe. Oh, and my right big toe. Yeah, I'm a mess. Hope this resolves itself by Tuesday when I'll have no choice but to schlep into the city. We cut open the on-sale avocados yesterday and found most of them bad, and the two left over were a bit underripe but serviceable. The zucchini and squash from last week had spoilt as well, and the less said about the sushi we got at Garden Gourmet the better. As I said yesterday, this is another reason I'm loath to make specific plans. Instead, I have hopes. I hope the feet are better tomorrow, and the food we have in the fridge doesn't turn out to be spoilt.

Saturday, July 12, 2025

Tricksy Foot

Ugh, now it's my left foot. Didn't do anything to my leg, but sometimes something around my calf or knee just creates this pain which expresses itself in the part of the leg that touches the ground when I walk. Damned inconvenient. We went to two grocery stores today and I had to lean against the shopping cart in both. Not going on the bike either today or tomorrow, not doing my always-anticipated walk to and from the farmers market tomorrow, just biding my time until the foot rights itself. At least I made no plans, as I told my brother when I called to wish him a happy anniversary. Some of us just aren't mobile enough to stick to plans, so it's better not to make them than to have them and be disappointed...

Friday, July 11, 2025

Somnambulent

I was up by 5 AM today but just couldn't seem to wake up properly afterwards, despite the coffee Robin made me and enough work to keep me busy if not hopping. I napped a bit after I logged off but it really didn't help that much, and I'm still having breathing difficulties, so I'll just have to soldier through the summer as best I can and not berate myself for things like not going on the bike because it would leave me too winded. Thank goodness for mindless sports like the Tour de France, Wimbledon, and now baseball. I'm headed back to bed now to drift off to the sound of the Yankees, Mets, or both.