Hair, Skin, Eyes and Stomach…

Well, Friday my mom and I left for our haircut expedition. I packed something of a lunch for myself for once. Since my diet is “strict” I needed to eat around twelve instead of waiting until two to three.
Usually we leave around eight arrive around ten-thirty to eleven. We stay there until around one thirty to two-thirty and then leave, eat, and head home to arrive back around five. That is a lot of time to not eat and I am supposed to eat at least four small meals a day and have snacks in between those times. So, three water bottles, a small container with some peanut butter, a wheat bagel and some cheese sticks were packed.
As usual, we left at eight. Around nine-thirty, I tried a cheese stick of a different brand than usual. I hated it. I ate it sure, but I hated it. I decided to skip my afternoon cheese stick later in the day.
We arrived around ten-thirty; my mom decides to shop around since her appointment doesn’t start until eleven. I of course forgot my jacket and already suffered from goose bumps after being in the mall for five minutes at most. My mom thought of having me buy a jacket there, but when I found a hoodie it was thirty freaking bucks and that was on sale. Hell, no!
Well, we went to the second level, my mom checked in and I waited with her until her hair colorist arrived. I left, wandered around the mall and looked to see if there were any book stores. Now, I’ve been to this mall since I was a freaking infant so I knew my way around when it came to places there I liked. That is no more. A lot of stores have closed, moved or went out of business. I was just seeing if there was any hope of something else being around.
Nope. Even more stores were gone. Some old stores worked as displays for some stores that still existed. The bookstore I’d go into was gone back in 2008 and there is still nothing there in place of it. The Fye store is gone this time around. Earthbound moved to the bottom floor but was still in the process of moving, so it was out of the question. Pretty much even more stores were gone and much of the time I saw empty lots.
I managed to go all around the top and bottom floor before I headed back to the salon and told my mom what changes had occurred since our last visit. The mall really is becoming something of a ghost town. It saddens my mom. I don’t remember it well as a child, but it is a shame. Sure, I rarely found anything I’d buy at the few stores I visited while there, but they gave me something to do while waiting.
Well, I left again. I either sat outside the salon to read or I became cold and simply walked around the entire mall again to warm up. By around eleven-fifteen I stopped by again. I took out the bagel and peanut butter, sat down and ate my lunch. After that I believe I read until my appointment was up.
I left my book in my mom’s care, had my hair washed and then cut. I talked with my stylist, noted that my mom thought I might have a stomach ulcer and dramatized my lacking the ability to eat good food.
When it was over, I don’t really know. My hair was cut as usual though. I believe my mom was still having her coloring done… Anyway, I left and walked around the mall again since again I was cold. After that, I came back and read until maybe one or one-thirty.
I decide to check on my mom only to find her sitting at a waiting area. Her stylist squeezed someone in before her expecting to be able to get it done in a snap. Nope. The person she so kindly did such a favor for was problematic and was never satisfied with anything the stylist did. So, my mom had to wait. It had been probably forty five minutes of waiting until I got there.
I sat with mom and eventually she saw the lady who cut my hair was getting done with her current client. My mom got up and asked if she could cut her hair if she didn’t have a client coming in shortly. She didn’t, so my mom finally got her hair tended to. I left then because I was cold. I walked around the mall again. As I finished my round on the top and bottom floor I decided to check on my mom. She was on the bench waiting for me. She had been out there only five minutes.
Well, we were set. We left and headed for the small soup and salad shop we tend to eat lunch at after such outings. I couldn’t have any tortilla pizzas like usual so I replaced that with a backed potato. I was in utter luck with the soup this time around. They had a vegetable one that had no tomatoes in it. Mom got her usual… vegetables and beans galore.
Well, we ate. I was stuck with water… damn I miss tea and Diet Coke… We talked as usual. I noted some woman who had been behind me in the soup line used a snotty tone with me when saying excuse me. Such situations lead to me venting. In situations that are beyond my control where a person takes a tone with me over something that is logically explained just by looking… I get very irked.
There was a line. Sure, I got my soup, but the line lead to the breads and dammit I wanted my usual bread. Thus, due to there being a line, I took up the soup line, as did my mother who also had gotten her soup and was waiting on the bread line as well. How the hell was I supposed to move out of the woman’s way? Did she want me to push through the people in front of me? Oi. Well, the line moved after that. Mom got her blueberry muffin bread, I got some bread sticks.
I think that woman sat in the booth behind me with her friends or family actually. Rather irked me a bit then too. They were loud. I like quieter settings when eating or otherwise. I know that people tend to raise their voices when happy or excited… but damn… You are right in front of each other… you needn’t yell.
Sigh. Well, mom and I left and around that time I was beginning to dose. Mom still tried to find a book store, to look for a book that had recipes suited for an ulcer diet. There were two other places we knew of. My mom tried “The Book Stop” since it was the closest on our way out. Well, the place we tried was gone as well as the restaurant next to it. They were empty lots. There were still some stores in the area, but nothing of use to us. So, we left.
I slept the whole way back more or less. We got home, I’m placed some of my mom’s things away and saw my dad. My brother was home and they apparently ate Wendy’s. I was still rather tired and headed to my room.
Sometime later my mom was hungry and wanted to get some Chinese. I mainly thought, “What the heck do you think I can get from there other than steamed white rice?” Well, I said fine. To my sadness, my mom wanted me to watch TV with her, thus I dealt with eating flavorless rice while I smelt her Chinese food. It was relatively annoying. I got over it.
We watched some TV and after that I retired. Sure, I slept in the car and all that, but that is never really that restful. So, I slept. I woke around three, ate my fourth meal of the day which was the rest of the rice from dinner and went back to sleep a while later.
Mom woke me up around eight or nine I guess. I had my oatmeal, my meds, my vitamin and the heartburn/ulcer pill. I went back to sleep after that. Dad woke me up again close to noon time Saturday. I took my shower, snacked on some crackers and left to do grocery shopping.
We did out usual shopping and my dad decided to buy my groceries for me. I wondered if it was to slowly pay me back for buying his and mom’s groceries the week before. He said no. Well, I’m factoring it in anyway. Sigh… I really wanted buy a diet soda while there. Even a diet tea would do. Nope… I couldn’t. I got a freaking bottle of water.
We got home then, unpacked groceries and I worked on cleaning up the kitchen some.
During this my mom kept mentioning to me about going to her fabric store so she could get some more fabric. I inwardly cringed. I remembered the first and last time I was there. I was utterly bored. Well, eventually I answered that I still needed to eat lunch. She was willing to wait.
So, I toasted a wheat bagel, added cheese or peanut butter and ate. With that done I readied my pass down iPod, grabbed water and waited for her to get ready to go. Waiting on me she decided to clean her bathroom, so I waited longer than I expected.
We left, she browsed and I listened to music as I piddled about. She found, she bought and we finally left. We had one more errand to do before arriving home though. We stopped by Walgreen’s. She got some things while I just followed or pointed out where certain items were located and we headed home. We arrived around three or four. I don’t really remember the rest of the day.
I don’t remember Sunday that well either. I do know I ate lunch around one and around two I decided to try out my mom’s treadmill. That decision came about when I asked my mom how long a distance I likely walked the other day when in the mall. Her response surprised me.
Looking at how for about two weeks I have not been doing any crunches due to fear up causing ill side effects to my stomach, I decided I’d try walking instead. So, onto the machine I went. It only took me a minute or two to figure out how to start and set it. I even tried to keep in mind the whole “you must do a warm up and a cool down” thing.
So, with that I was on the thing for an hour and ten minutes, walked two miles and sweated enough to cause dizziness when through. I forgot to bring water. Oops.
Maybe around four I took a nap. My dad woke me for dinner. He made pancakes, eggs and bacon for dinner by my request. The pancakes were okay… mine were oatmeal kind. I skipped the syrup since I didn’t know if it would be okay. The bacon was wonderful… flavor! Flavor!
Dad was miffed by my not wanting any eggs. Meh. I think almost everyone in the family knows by now that I hate eggs. It has been a known fact since at least middle school. Heck, if I dislike fish, beef, pork and all that stuff, why would he expect me to like eggs? The only meat I ever eat is lean breaded chicken breast or strips. On rare occasions I’ll eat lean turkey, beef jerky or lean crispy bacon. That is it and usually it is when I am having a craving – likely for something with protein. Dad just has always shown he doesn’t remember particulars.
Well… Monday he had his eye surgery on his other eye. My mom woke me up after they got back so I’d eat breakfast and take all my lovely pills. It was the last of the heartburn/ulcer medicine. I stayed up to do my chores and some other things. My dad decided to stay home.
Some point I fell asleep that morning and woke again around twelve or so. I ate lunch, checked on Dad, did some more chores, read, vacuumed and eventually fell back to sleep. I woke once more around six. I boiled some water for noodles and dallied on the Internet. Mom came home from the gym; I prepared my noodles and then headed back for my room. She cooked her own supper and then called me out to watch TV with her. We ate our suppers, watched a show and eventually my brother popped in. My dad soon entered and all of us were watching TV together. Looking back one might consider it a surreal moment.
Well, around eight or eight-thirty my brother left for work, we sort of drifted out of the room. Dad eventually went to bed, I cleaned up the kitchen some and then my mom and I returned to watch the rest of the show.
I went to my room once it was over. I stayed up, worked on the computer some and tried to sleep around eleven. That did not happen. So, two hours later I decided to get up and write this.
It is now 1:37… Maybe I’ll sleep now. Anyway, I’m still stuck with my sucky diet. The pills for it are over with, but I’m sticking to the bland foods and must survive with only water and milk. If things keep going well, I shall be lucky. If it goes downhill again due to lack of medicine… well… that will be utterly evil. Anyway, I’ll be undergoing yearly checkups this month and on. This month I’ll see the family doctor and later on the dentist. I’ll get the dates down later.