Karen C

It was a known thing in Wichita that the best time to buy a fancy lake boat or pickup truck was when Boeing went on strike, because yeah, those guys did not always save up to get through it. Kansas has absolutely predatory payday loan services too, so they're often skating on the edge.

Home, napped, contemplating more pain meds but not counting down the minutes like last time.

The transport-wheelchair operator thanked me for being "so friendly" and I'm like you guys, it's just that I am SO HAPPY about how well this surgery went. (And that I am a phatic ex-Kansan.)

Say hello to the Vega near the top of Epcot for me (took my niblings in 2019 and they were baffled by my "did you see that car?! Your mom and I learned to drive in one of those!" "Ok boomer") (we are not quite boomers, the car was old by then 😆)

Made it home and up the 1.5 flights of stairs to my comfy chair, and now: I nap.

I feel like there were a lot of good books recently, an unusual number, but this one jumped out for particular reasons:

Fire drill, apparently.

🐋

Aaaaand the building is on fire?

There was the next shift conferencing at the nurse's station as I walkered by and got a "look at you go!" and "you're doing so good!" and applause, so I guess the previous shift left nice notes about me. ☺️

A hospital transport wheelchair parked in the hallway.

My ride is here! (A bit early; they won't finish checking me out for a couple hours.)

Also I am first in line for PT (eval to make sure I don't go home and, say, get stranded at the base of the stoop) which is a perk of being nice to all the nurses (and being in the best shape to go).

About five hours of sleep for me, please.

Okay to balance the complaints: food service does omelettes to order and yesterday I thought choices were Heart Healthy Eggs or Egg Whites and the former were good but today I ordered just Eggs and they're about 1/3 butter and salt and they're amazing.

I'm telling myself my body needs to rebuild.

I have been in a lot of hospitals (usually not as a patient) but this is the first where they're just set up a baby shower at 6:15 am without bothering to lower their voices from default Philly Loud.

They have not offered me any cake, though in fairness I did not bring a present.

Also tracker inexplicably describing three hours and seven minutes of sleep as "you woke up a few times during the night last night" which seems to be missing the point. Pretty sure the text is AI generated. Thanks, I hate it.

I had a choice between "do at clinic and go home same day" or "do at hospital and stay overnight" (same surgeon) and I think I regret my choice this time.

A taxonomy of post-surgical department folks:
* Sobber
* Zombie moaner
* Loud-TV addict
* Sleep-deprived Bluesky complainer

(I have noise-cancelling headphones but they only do so much)

Did I just ring the nurse to say I needed to go turn off my car? Absolutely I did. (I just needed to go pee actually; as a fall risk I gotta have an escort.)

Thank you, hospital, I absolutely needed a full-volume all-overhead speakers announcement at 11:54 that someone's black Dodge Durango was running in the parking garage. I will leap up from post-surgical recovery to attend to it.

Ah, it's a bit seafood-y (not too much in my view but I do like seafood so YMMV)

Have you tried the street-food grilled squid one? It's my favorite (although obviously I'm blanking on its name). Hot pot is a close second.

ty ty, I may give it a shot.

Same. Even when I go to think of his real name my brain confidently serves up "Tim" as his first name.

Oh *what*

Is it fairly bug proof? We always struggle with pantry moths and such (possibly *from* the rice), but that would be amazing. I just reorganized the kitchen and the rice is the one thing that is still in "guess I just leave it out" status.

Apparently the key is oxycodone!

(I do not recommend it, actually)

Clues by Sam A daily logic puzzle where you deduce who is a criminal!

"I solved the daily #CluesBySam, Mar 5th 2026 (Tricky), in 04:28"

... and in the top 25% for time? I did not expect painkillers to improve my score.

I read the other day that the number of Americans moving out of the country was at an all time high so I guess that's one way to spin it.

I thought it worked as well as possible (and I say that as a kinda face-blind person who often struggles to recognize caricatures - I do really appreciate your bellhop type touches btw, and alt text).

Also "Lost Cause vibe but without the problematic cause" seemed fun then but less so today FOR SOME REASON. And finding out Baldwin *is* Jayne in real life? The list goes on. Paaaaaaass.

You can't even get the right wood anymore! You want to save your original windows in old houses if you can because that old-growth wood has an incredible R-value but good modern vinyl is better than modern wood. (Our century bungalow has cheap vinyl, we gotta upgrade but to good vinyl/aluminum.)

Inexplicably, Trump sitting at a dining table informing me that I can pay to have dinner with him, which is undoubtedly a scam even if (or especially if) it's actually authorized.

Got a jumpscare in my texts, thought I was having a post h anesthesia hallucination.

(Marked graphic for spoilers, it's just TFG. And a lot of gilded decor.)