“Remoted – Hybrid” – Day 751 (Wednesday) – pains and pizza

I forgot to keep track when it first started, but this is roughly week three of smelling phantom cigarette smoke. Again. This happened before, but because time is a blur, it’s not clear when that was. Maybe it was in the fall. Bonus, it’s not just smell, it also includes a taste in the back of the throat. So gross. It’s most noticeable at night when I’m at home, but also happens during the day at the office.

Layered onto the joy of olfactory hallucinations is a knee that gets a harsh and stabby pain some of the time when climbing stairs, and an elbow that hurts nearly all the time and especially when lifting anything – even as minor as a cup of coffee. This getting old and falling apart crap is not fun in the least.

As a result of the recent spell of frivolous spending, ordered items are filtering in. The pair of pants that arrived on Tuesday mostly fit except for the thighs, which are too tight, and this is not because I have some super athletic power thighs. Think more along the lines of overstuffed sausages.

Today, another package arrived from a different Kohl’s shipping point. It held the other pants and the two camis. The camis look oddly huge, and I’m afraid to try on the pants which are a different color of the same style that already didn’t fit, but the sizes often differ between colors. Garment try-on is being temporarily avoided purely to delay the onset of the potential crushing disappointment. At least the yet to be delivered purse will be free from fit issues.

Magnificent breakfast pizza with bacon
from the magnificent folks at Espresso.

On the bright side, at work there was breakfast pizza, a delicious concoction from the folks at Espresso Pizza that can cast aside conscious awareness of almost any discomfort, trouble, or pain. It’s pizza crust with a topping of egg mixed with cheese, and optional toppings of bacon and sausage. We used to have it periodically at bank morning events, but the last time any of us could remember having it was December 2019. Today we dined upon breakfast pizzas with bacon, sausage, and plain. We ate like royalty, and it was so good. Delicious. 

The cheesy breakfast pizza temporarily exorcised the demon smoke smell/taste. Then, later, there were mini cupcakes for a colleague’s birthday. It was all delicious, and as I devoured one, then a second, then a third slice of breakfast pizza and followed it with mini cupcakes, the bad knee and the sore elbow were momentarily cast aside. The memory of the ill-fitting pants still swirled in the background, but I ate it anyway. And it is not and never was a mystery why my pants fit like sausage skins these days, but hopefully one day I’ll be overtaken by an urge to be more mindful of eating and being more active and exercising. But probably not before the elbow feels better.