Day 26: The Universe Is So Much Bigger Than You Realize

So big, in fact, that I traveled ahead in time yesterday to November 28th (what the heck, me yesterday?)

I took my mom to her ultrasound appointment at the butt-crack of dawn today. It was a beautiful day, it was a nice drive and nice to see the sun coming up, and my mom made me tea, and I left Lucy at home. So everything was great, except for the fact that the medical imaging place we always go to was designed and is run by some actually evil disciple of Satan or Elon Musk. My mom was told to be there at a time ten minutes after it opened, according to their hours online and on her requisition. When she got there there was a line, with an older woman with a cane at the front of it. The doors still weren't open. The woman with the cane banged on the door, and a snippy person came and said they would not be opening the door until fifteen minutes AFTER their stated opening time.

Wut?

This should not be a thing. Seniors standing in line outside in November (it was unseasonably warm today, but it is not always) should not be a thing. This is not an ER with overworked doctors and nurses. This is a place with regular hours and regular appointments. Health care workers many places are overworked and underappreciated and I give them all the credit in the world. This is not that. I am angry. There was the usual sign saying profanity and aggression would not be tolerated and the police would be called, which, fair enough, but maybe don't go out of your way to provoke profanity and anger then? Maybe it's a big social experiment.

Anyway, both my mom and I were happy and relieved to have it over with, and I moved a bunch of boxes of books at work yesterday (cleaning up after used book sale) and my hands have been numb and burny for days (really bad carpal tunnel, trying to delay surgery as long as possible), so I decided to take it easy today. I got home and did a bit of meal prep for freezer stuff for when the kids come home, got some pulled pork on, unloaded the dishwasher, then spent half an hour in the basement (the Rehabilitating The House Project has become such that I cannot go a single day without doing at least a little bit, which is unusual and a bit frightening), then showered and went back to bed to read for a few hours and then nap.

I woke up and it was dark and I was afraid it was like eleven p.m. or something. It was five - thanks, time change. I had made steak tips in the instant pot last night and I had kalettes in the fridge (HI NICOLE) and my husband had decided to try making - googling to see if I can find out what they're actually called - Cheesy Mini Potato Gratin Stacks (mini Potatoes Dauphinoise if we want to get fancy). My husband became a really good bread baker during lockdown. As a cook, he is enthusiastic and, well, a really good bread baker? (sorry honey). He will often make something really great and then not being able to resist throwing in some red pepper flakes or something that maybe should have been resisted. That's fine, I always appreciate anyone else wanting to cook, and he makes excellent fried rice. These potato stacks were utter perfection.

Random picture of our first and only decoration thus far because we ate the potatoes before I could photograph them

So we got everything together and then tried to find a movie to watch. Are you guys good at finding a movie to watch with your partners? We are not great at it. In addition, I have been extra weird about not being able to decide what I want to watch lately, which is not that big a deal, but I have also been extra weird in getting panicky and weepy about it (it's so much fun being married to me). We made a rule a while back that we would go through our list (this was before we had individual accounts) and the first movie that we came to that wasn't obviously for me (like horror) or for him (like Heavy Water Wars), we would watch it. This has become more complicated now that we have individual accounts and seven different streaming services. I asked if we could just watch Everything Everywhere All at Once, even though he didn't know anything about it, because I wanted to watch something funny and weird, and I had heard it was those things.

It is funny, and weird beyond belief, and also beautiful and loving to the point of cheesiness but maybe not quite, but also I didn't care because I loved it. Especially the part about being a mess but having found someone kind and patient to make up for it. And also the hot dog thing, and the butt plugs. 

Today was a good day in this science-fiction action comedy drama horror that I am pretty lucky to call my life.