Hello and welcome to another #weekendcoffeeshare! Please come and join me for a conversation.

Would you like a sandwich? If you would, I can go pluck a few leaves of tender lettuce or spinach leaves from my indoor garden and make you one.

The taste and smell of fresh veggies are truly remarkable and unforgettable. Its sweet aroma actually surprised me at first because I’ve never smelled anything like it with store-bought veggies. Oh, and the leaves actually have favor unlike the ones bought at the grocery store, which I rarely visit these day. My wallet is thanking me because I no longer have to buy those expensive boxes of tender green only to have it go bad because I couldn’t finish it on time.

I’m the only one who eat this, by the way. Mom doesn’t do raw veggies.

Speaking of mom, she still has shingles. It’s been going on for 2 weeks now. Every day, while blasting YouTube on her tablet, she’s whining and complaining about the pain and the itch. Unfortunately, she’s one of the unlucky souls with nerve damage due to shingles.

I finally got my booster yesterday. I’m the first in the family. Mom is against it and she’s against wearing mask and my aunt refused to get vaccinated despite having cancer in 2020. She’s afraid the vaccine will affect her body.

I knew I have to get boosted because mom has been refusing to get out of the house these day, especially since she’s got the shingles. I told her to see doctor and she does make the appointment but always ends up cancelling in the last minute.

I have been the one running all the errands and with my lupus and thyroid problems, it’s just a matter of time.

Like yesterday, I was running around town trying to get a shingles topical ointment for mom. I was unsuccessful in getting the topical ointment. Maybe it’s a supply chain issue? I went to 3 different pharmacies and none of them have any specific cream for shingles.

When I finally sat down on the couch at half-past-one, I realized the pain in my arm and a headache like I’ve rammed my head against the wall.

Side-effect from the booster.

I felt better after lying on the couch for 2 hours, during which my aunt and uncle dropped by to visit, speaking incredibly loud that even with my noise-cancelling headphones, I had to turn up the volume on my phone. They proposed a road trip – a quick car trip to Evanston, Wyoming. My uncle wants to play the lottery and the closest places that sell those are Idaho or Wyoming.

They asked if I want to come but I have a feeling they just want me to navigate and talk – two things I hadn’t want to do lately especially talking as my surgery wounds hurt if I talk too much. My aunt and uncle have trouble not staying at home for one day. They have to go out.

I used to be this way but lately, I am finding myself getting more and more used to staying at home maybe a walk to the desolate neighborhood park. I don’t dare go out, especially with Omicron spreading. 17 out of almost 200 employees in the company I work for got COVID after going out of town for the holiday, how scary is that?

I took Thursday and Friday off, so today is technically day 3 of my 5-day long weekend. I was stressed and felt myself burning out just looking at emails the first week back to work after holiday, so my manager told me if I need time off, take it. I totally thought I’d be less stressed by now but with mom, there’s nothing but stressed.

Everyday, she asked me stuff like how to treat her shingles or what type of medication she should use for shingles. I kept telling her, “I’m not a doctor.” I wish I was but I didn’t have the support nor the faith.

Yesterday, out of the blue, my aunt sent me 2 pictures of what looked like her outdoor electrical boxes or I’m guessing that’s what those were. She didn’t explain what they were. It wasn’t long before mom called me and screamed over the phone my aunt’s AC was on even though she didn’t turn it on. “Fix it,” she ordered.

Did I mention I failed my electrical engineering class? I even blew a circuit board and had to buy a new one for the instructor. I ended up turning off the breaker for the AC because when all else fails, cut the power. That always works.

Thank you for joining me for this #weekendcoffeeshare and hope we will both return next weekend.