What IS the average life cycle of a BetteJo, anyway?

NOT ME

A million years ago when the Internet was young, I put a Google alert on my name. My first name, only, then promptly forgot about it. At this point it's not clear to me how to remove it but I really don't care one way or another I guess. 

Surprise! Any alerts I have ever gotten have never been about me. That's an awkward sentence. But my inner grammar nazi is lazy as hell so it stands.

Lately though, I've gotten several email alerts letting me know that this BetteJo or that BetteJo has died. Hmmm. Who knew there were so many BetteJos? One thing is certain, most of them are quite old. Or should I say, were?

Of course they are (were)!! My name came from an old girlfriend of my fathers,(not an interesting story at all) and he was born in 1926. So not a name from this century for sure.

I'm not near death as far as I know, not seriously ill or even experiencing headaches. But is it possible that the average life cycle of the average BetteJo is coming to an end?

Do I need to be worried?

Other Times I Just Get Mad.

 If this thing were on ...

... no doubt there would be people who would say they also feel this way from time to time. Luckily, it doesn't happen too often. :)  Probably since working from home I'm not in my car as often as I used to be!

They Put The Thermometer WHERE???

When you go to the vet and there is nowhere to hide, sometimes someone lets you sit in the sink and gives you a blankie to cover yourself.

Poor Cruz, I think he felt violated. 

My House, My Rules!

When I was married, my father-in-law (henceforth known as FIL) always made me laugh. He was so stubborn about some things, especially for a pretty laid back guy. He had things he liked (my blueberry pie) and things he didn't (Cubs losing games), and for the most part he was consistent.

Or .. stubborn.

He had a thing about when the heat could be turned on and conversely, when the air conditioning could be as well. If it was September 21st and got down to 35 degrees, "Put a sweatshirt on!" and "No, I'm not putting the heat on in September!"

If it was April and got up to 88 degrees it was "Oh stop whining, it's April!" and "You know it will cool off by 5:00 o'clock!"

Living in the Chicago area, both of those temperature extremes are not unheard of. But my FIL would not make an exception to his thermostat rules, the heat didn't go on before Halloween, and the air conditioning didn't go on before Memorial Day. Seriously.

It is September. On Sunday I had the air conditioning on. By Tuesday, I had the heat on. Know why? Because I'm a grown up, it's my house, and I pay the bills now! (insert $hit eating grin)

When I was a kid, this was not the most important thing on my 'why I want to be a grown-up' list. But it should have been because hoooo-boy is it nice to control your environment so you're not subject to some else's arbitrary temperature rules!

It's also a fair reason to not share my house with a guy. Just sayin'. 

Never Too Much Norm

Maybe the thing people didn't realize about Norm MacDonald was what a truly decent human being he was. Decent, a man of integrity and faith. I'm not sure whether he cared if you knew that or not, as long as you let him continue to tell the jokes he wanted to tell.

RIP Norm. Definitely our loss.

 

 

 

 

 

Got my Meds Back. Thankfully!

Doc has decided I should start back on the meds, a low dose for a week and slowly going up - and getting another thyroid panel in a month. Oh my gosh I thought I was going to melt into my couch, I had so little energy. Then yesterday I had a lower and upper GI to see if I was losing blood anywhere to account for my anemia, nothing found there, but when I got home I slept the rest of the day away.

Today was a slow day too, by tomorrow I will have been back on my meds for 4 days, and while it's a super low dose - at least it's better than nothing. Hoping to get something done around the house tomorrow before the work week starts again. There has to be more to life than watching Autopsy, the last minutes of so and so's life and Breaking the Band.

Feel a bit like I've seen both sides now, the energized, active side, and the lay on the couch, lazy side. I would love to be the energized, active person ALL the time. Makes me wonder if all those people out there who are uber lazy just have undiagnosed thyroid issues! I mean - I wouldn't choose lazy, if I had a choice. Some people might? But it's SO boring. Just sayin'.

Oh, and I need to stop talking about my health, OLD people do that! Need to change my message.

Tricky Thyroid!

My thyroid has gone back to where it used to be - I am officially a potato.

4 weeks ago my TSH was 0.03 which meant my thyroid had gone into overdrive and I was experiencing hyperthyroidism for the first time in my life. I had energy and didn't mind waking up a little earlier than I used to, which surprised the heck outa me. Walking has always been my form of exercise but it became a 'had to' not a 'I should' every day. The standing desk was purchased and it wasn't unusual for me to put music on and dance half my day away while working.

Yesterday my TSH was 37.43 which basically means I'm getting none (or almost none) of those hormones that were giving me some 'get-up-and-go'. I napped through 2 weekends and have been forgetting to use the standing desk. Yes, I've been walking but if I skip a day I don't feel like the sky is falling. Not only has my whole body slowed down, so has my mind. Brain fog has set in.

It's amazing what the lack of one hormone can do to a body. Why I have swung so far both ways is anybody's guess, waiting to hear from my doctor.

I know it's not good to be hyper or hypo. But if I had to choose .. give me overdrive every time. This being a potato is not fun, it's unattractive and boring. 

Please, Doc - give me my meds back!

*** Edited to add:

Yep, Doc gave me my meds back, stepped me up over the course of a month. So now - as of mid October - I am back to hyper again. Not as hyper as before (meds are lower than before) - but still hyper. And yeah, still anemic too, even though I have been taking my iron every doggone day. I know people have it so much worse. But still - this is getting old. Or - I guess I am!

Dead or Alive??

Steve Perry is so elusive, with the pandemic and everything fans have been waiting for new music. A couple years ago Steve said he had lots of music he was working on so we were waiting. With Steve, there aren't posts now and then saying - hey I'm still here - don't forget about me - or anything of the sort. When he doesn't have something to announce, he is QUIET. He doesn't do social media except when he needs to so to have 2 pieces of news in the space of a week is unheard of! At least, in recent years.

Last post was about his new Christmas album, and now - Steve Perry donated a car, a signed copy of his new record, and one of his performance tuxes to be auctioned off to benefit a San Francisco Giants charity. What a guy!

I love that it is one of his favorite cars, and it has a car phone - an old timey car phone installed in it. Who knows if it works anymore, but I love that it's still there. 

This really isn't a Steve Perry fan site, but I am going to post things when they come up. It's just highly unusual to have 2 posts, one after the other, with news! 

A few years ago Steve donated a jeep he had. I've seen where he has donated guitars and albums and I'm sure other things as well. Nice that he does this kind of thing, just sayin'. He can donate things to charities, but having things auctioned off that have his name attached to them makes so much more money to give away, than just giving someone an item.

Well done, Mr. Perry. Well done!

***Found these pics for context - this car has history!

This year, Christmas Comes on November 5th!

I've been waiting for new music from Steve Perry, and a Christmas album is what I got. I will take it! It is being released on November 5th, but this is a peek, I'll Be Home For Christmas. Can't wait for the rest! The album is called "The Season"

Steve said: “I hope when people hear this record, they’re teleported in the same way I was when I recorded all these songs — I hope it brings them back to those golden moments with their loved ones and gives them that feeling of joy and connection and comfort that we all need so much.” 

And “When I was recording vocals for ‘I’ll be Home For Christmas,’ as I was singing ‘please have snow and mistletoe and presents under the tree” … I was emotionally thrown into standing in my grandmother’s house staring through the door that I always hung mistletoe and then I saw her beautiful Christmas tree in front of her living room window,” he says. “I had to stop singing because it felt like I was really there — I was a bit stunned.

“Back home for Christmas is where everyone wants to be!”

Agreed, Steve. Thank you for sharing your voice with us again.