Day 31: The New Normal ?

 

This photo was timestamped 11-14-21. Abby was snoozing peacefully on the couch next to me.

In an ironic twist of fate, I was awake before 7 today. This was the first day in several years I could have "slept in", since my early morning breakfast guest is gone. I guess old habits die hard and I was awake early as usual. I got up around 7 and got Minnie and the strays fed.

The house seems so quiet now. Abby would be chirping at me throughout the day when she was hungry or wanted attention. To use an old cliche, the silence is deafening. She was so comical. She would eat a fair amount of her own bowl of food and then go look for Minnie's bowl. She'd help herself even though it was the same food. Once her little tummy was full she'd have a good drink and then settle down to snooze. Most days she'd start meowing for her baby food around 9 but I often made her wait until 10. I wish I hadn't done that. By 11 she'd be looking for lunch and by 1 she'd be wanting to eat again. Around 4 she'd be ready for dinner but then by 6 she'd be hungry again. Very often she'd eat at 8 and 10 too. That's 8 times a day I was feeding her. I didn't always feed her at 10 pm, especially if there was a lot of food left from previous feedings. I'd say the average was 6-7 times a day, which was exhausting. It wasn't unusual for her to turn her nose up at whatever variety of food I offered and that was frustrating. She never turned down the beef baby food until this past week. 

Shortly before 9 am I decided to get myself all dolled up and go to the casino. I could easily have sat here on the couch all day feeling sorry for myself. Oddly enough, the day after Alex died I also went to the casino with my mom. I guess it's an escape for me. I don't plan on making this a weekly trip again as I like having money in the bank! I think the casino was an escape for mom too. She was really lonely after my dad died and even more lonely once Michelle moved out. I can relate as I'm pretty lonely myself. I think this is why the casino is a lure. The lights, the music, the slot machine sounds and all the people. Hours go by without you realizing it .. until your wallet is empty and it's time to go home.

So I left for the casino around 10:20 am and got home just before 7:30. I made a stop at Walmart in Central Square on the way home. More on that later! I stopped at the post office on my way out of town and then it was off to the credit union for some cash, Dunkin in Bridgeport for coffee and a bagel with cream cheese and then it was off to Turning Stone. It was rainy when I got there and I figured their free parking garage would be packed, so I went ahead and paid for valet parking. It was only $7. I gave the valet that parked the car $10 and tipped the valet that brought me the car on the way out $5. It was a $15 expense that was well worth it. Did I have "fun" at the casino? Not really. Did I enjoy the time away from home? Yes. I absolutely did. I would say I had a good time. I gambled for a while and then had the General Tso's chicken I've been craving! It was so good and I ate every bit. I had some wins but I dropped $760 today. It would have been over $1000 but I had a little luck before I left. I'm ok with that expense and I don't see me going to the casino again anytime soon. I get more enjoyment seeing my bank balance grow and going to the casino will have the opposite effect. I will make a promise to myself today. When I hit 199 pounds I will have have my next casino day. That's not happening anytime soon .. lol! It was getting dark and it was rainy when I left the casino and my night vision is not good, so it made me a little anxious. The good thing is that by the time I got to Cicero there was no rain and 81 was dry, so the rest of the commute home was fine. I avoided the temptation to stop at Point Place Casino. I just wanted to get home and not throw away the remaining money I had.

As I mentioned, I stopped at Walmart in Central Square on the way home. I won't lie - I wanted some ice cream. I bought 3 pints of ice cream. I didn't stop there though. I also bought a cheese danish, a package of sugar cookies, more Pop Tarts and 3 large bags of chocolate candy. I'm not proud of this and I'm going to try hard to make this stuff last a long time. The cheese danish and cookies are fresh items, so they will go first. I ended up eating 5 cookies this evening and the other 5 will probably disappear tomorrow. I'm glad I didn't even consider buying the larger package!

I think Minnie was glad to see me when I got home. I tried giving her one of the single serve foods I had bought a while back for Abby but it doesn't seem like she liked it. I guess those will go to the stray cats. I put a can of Fancy Feast in a bowl to warm but Minnie went upstairs, so I didn't bother to open it. She threw up on the carpet while I was gone, which is odd. I'm hoping she just overdid the dry food. The last thing I need is to lose her too.

One side effect of the chinese food I had is thirst! I bought a Diet Coke at Walmart and drank some of that on the way home. I completely forgot I wanted to buy some and only got the single bottle at the checkout. I'll get it next time I shop.