I spent a good part of the day in bed

But I've been up for a couple of hours, have dealt with the mail, have spoken to some people on the phone, and wished Brandon and his family happy trick or treating. It doesn't feel like Halloween. At work we dress up and the kids come around the offices to get candy. I had not decided what I would go as before all this happened, so I don't know what I would have come up with.

It's also Samhain night, a religious holiday for remembering the dead, among other things. Having had my brush with death this month, I'm just glad to be among the living.

It's hard to believe it's almost November. I need to go online and register for my work benefits for next year. I think I have until the 13th on that. On the 14th, of course, I had planned to fly to Chicago. That isn't happening. So November's going to be a good deal quieter than I had expected, just a few doctor's appointments and the like. At this point I don't know whether I'll be able to visit with my family for Thanksgiving. My mom's house has these steps that are pretty steep, and they're wearing out. They've gotten my grandmother up them in a wheelchair using a couple of stout boards, but my grandmother is tiny. I don't think I can get up them at all. It depends on where I am in my recovery, I guess. So I'll probably be alone for the holiday.

I really want to clean the house. I've dropped a few things here and there, and now that I'm spending more time here I see things that need to be worked on. When I'm better, I'm going to really have to consider de-hoarding some of my stuff; Brandon's three-year-old is right, there's way too much. It's not particularly valuable. A lot are books of course, but in my living room I also have two cathode-ray monitors that really need to go to the recycling centre, stuff like that. And maybe it is a little silly for a 45-year-old woman to have a lot of stuffed animals. Maybe.

Tomorrow I'm going to really try to do the dishes, at least the ones I can load in the dishwasher, and water and cull some of the plants. I'm still having trouble with those white fluffy bugs on the violets. Thank goodness Jill, my roommate in the library, is watering my plants there for me. I also need to take a baby wipe bath and change my clothes. Washing my hair may be an option once I get the dishes squared away, depending on how my balance is. It's been over a week; I've just been using the dry shampoo. What I do not want to do is stay in bed all day.

That said, I think I'm going to go back in there and read for awhile. Have a happy Halloween, and a good Samhain (it is also the time when in Celtic tradition, the old year gives way to the new). So happy new year (or one of them, anyway) :).