What is the component in Marmoleum that gives it the name? I believe Linoleum used Linseed?
My birthday is also in October!
Got a new power brick and cord for my laptop. Been too busy to see if it works. Got the 3 year warranty on it and hope it doesn't overheat or anything. Great laptop but the battery in it drains super fast.
The other day I got tired of tripping over trash in the living room so I got to cleaning-- filled a contractor's bag until it almost overflowed. Then filled a 30 gallon bag. My brother was supposed to clean it up but I don't need to twist my ankles again. Mom actually thanked me and said I did a good job and it was a lot of work. (She normally skips the thanks part and goes right to criticizing that I missed something, but not this time-- I asked "Who are you and where is my real mother?") My brother saw the trash bags and took them out and then emptied the bathroom trash. He didn't say anything to me but I guess that was his way of showing appreciation for me doing his chores.
Tuesday I went for a regular checkup. A1C is 8.5 (too high). Everything else looked good. My cholesterol is finally good and my thyroid is back within normal range. Kidneys look good despite my right kidney constantly churning out kidney stones. Passed one last week and am likely going to pass another one soon-- I can feel it is getting closer to the egress. Dr gave some diet advice-- cut out (or back on) white rice, white flour, white potatoes, milk, carbs in general. He recommended Almond milk. I tried it & it tastes ok at first but has a bitter aftertaste. I told him about the stew my brother makes and he recommended rutabagas instead of potatoes. My brother was with me (since he'd missed his appointment last week) and the doctor was cool with that. He told my brother not to eat/drink too much soy. We got on to the topic of Soylent and I showed him the picture of the green bottled Soylent. We all had a laugh and simultaneously said "Soylent green is people!" He said my rotator cuff should take 8 weeks to heal (I injured it falling out of the back of my truck when trying to get something out of the bed that slid forward- and then reinjured it the night before by tripping over the dog and having to catch myself). He showed me some simple exercises and gave me a sheet with instructions. Also prescribed Metformin for insulin resistance. I will keep using naproxyn for the inflammation in my shoulder.
Went to my friend's house to check on progress. The guy who left his car there never picked it up so he had it towed to the guy's house at the guy's expense whether the guy liked it or not. Guy then had the gall to call and complain saying there was stuff missing from his car. The dude left it there with the keys in it for over a year and a half and refused to remove it when asked; he doesn't get to b**** about the condition of the car or anything missing. My friend had no obligation to secure it & it actually blocked the landscaping people from getting in to the back yard to do work.
Some guys stopped by with a dowsing rod to try to find the sewer line so my friend could dig it up and add a cleanout. Found two potential spots several feet apart and marked them. We think it was the second location marked, but are not sure. But if it's there, it's deeper than 4ft. First we started digging. Then we went to the hardware store and got one of those T-handle rods for poking in the ground to find stuff. The pipes are clay as far as we know and there's a layer of gray clay a few feet down, but it's not the pipe. We dug at both spots and dug near the ditch. Even poked in the ditch but fire ants got on me. We poked holes every few inches across the span of where the pipe might be. If it's there, it's deeper than 4'. We even poked inside the 3' deep holes we dug. No dice.
We price checked those devices plumbers use to detect sewer lines and they were over $1k so that was a hard pass. Plumbers in town don't have them. We'll have to look outside of town to see if any plumbers have them and find out how much it costs. I really think his pipe has collapsed. We discussed the possibility of the line being under the sidewalk but the dowsing rod pointed next to it instead.
Went to the grocery store and then dropped my brother off back at friend's house so he could cook beef stew with rutabaga there while I went home and made shepherd's pie for mom. I use pre-packaged mashed potatoes out of laziness. I derped and forgot to put them in the microwave. Actually ran the microwave and then realized I set them next to the microwave instead of in it. LOL. Threw in 4 eggs on medium in the pan while the potatoes cooked. It turned out pretty good.
My brother called when the stew was ready so I went over (after some cleaning up) and brought a tupperware container to bring home some of the stew. It turned out great. Rutabaga is better than potatoes in the stew.
Got back home and was trying to sleep when catastrophe struck. Two of my brother's cats decided to have a major fight and knocked the box with my toilet tank in it down. It flew out of the box and broke. I'd been worried about it and wanted to take it down and move it last week but my rotator cuff was not cooperating. It sat there since 2008 without falling, but last night they finally took it down. New tank is $90. It's reminding me I need to stop procrastinating and finish fixing my floor.
Speaking of which, the layer we did without the additive is not nearly as strong as the first layer that was botched. It already cracked in some spots. I was checking things out and realized the closet flange isn't level so I will have to fix it and I think I will see if the additive is in stock so I can use it next time to see if it makes the floor sturdier-- although, at this point I'm tempted to go get some of that self-leveling mix in a bucket (so it won't have a bag that tears), find out the ratio of water to powder, make a small batch, and pour it out instead of trying to mess with manually leveling stuff. But, I'll see how manual leveling goes first. If I can get rid of the bumps and make sure where the toilet sits is level, I won't care too much about it being completely level. Gonna be fun leveling the closet flange (which slopes down to the right) because some of the leveling stuff got over one of the screws.
On the upside, my better-behaved kitties are snuggled up with me. Also, even though it's $90, the new tank will come with the new tower flush system.
My brother and our friend are both waiting to get their stimulus checks. His ex and the girl staying with them both got theirs already. I think they are going alphabetically on the distribution. The girls' surnames begin with D & F. Friend's surname starts with an L. Friend didn't get his previous stimulus check so don't know what happened there.