Up

I won't say early, because compared to the weekdays I've actually slept in, getting up right at 9 am. But in the 30 minutes that I've been up, I've started a load of laundry, started a loaf of bread making in the bread machine, gone out to the car to get some Diet Sunkist from my car, nicely chilled, and am now caffeinating. It's why I drink the stuff--I don't care for colas that much, preferring fruit flavour, but it's the only orange soda I've found with caffeine. That said, I know soda, in general, is not so good for me, particularly with artificial sweeteners (Diet Sunkist uses aspartame). So I have been exploring other options. I don't care for coffee or black tea. I've tried Mio Energy and Crystal Light Energy but they are artificially sweetened as well. So I'm still looking. And yes, I like water, but I need a little caffeine to get through the day or I'm like a zombie.

Also since getting up, I've also taken my insulin and Byetta (but not the oral meds yet--I'm at the end of my pill container and need to fill it up. I need caffeine before I do that, or I tend to put them in the wrong slot or even drop them, which is not good when you have cats, particularly a kitten, who is fascinated by all sorts of things dropping to the floor.

I did splurge just a bit yesterday, buying a Kindle book of a regular book that I have out from the library. It is called Orchid Modern: Living & Designing with the World's Most Elegant Houseplants By Marc Hachadourian, the curator of the Orchid Collection at the New York Botanical Garden. It's a lovely book, dealing with the history of orchid collecting, the different species, plant care, creating decorative projects like terrariums, creating a good environment for the orchids, etc., all in one substantial book and generously and beautifully illustrated. I really liked looking through it, but when it came to reading--and he has a good writing style--I found I was impeded by the relatively small typescript, no doubt small to leave room for the lovely pictures of orchids. So I got the Kindle book because while on my e-reader it would have been wasted, I normally read my books on my tablet now (which is not a Fire, but I use the Kindle application on an Android tablet. I say splurge because it was $10.99 and I don't have much money, and I am trying to get tyres soon. But it is such a lovely book. What can I say, orchids have a long history of causing mania, why should books about them be any different? Anyway, this way I can increase the text size to see what I'm reading. My glasses do correct to 20/20 both in general and with the bifocal, but the small print is still harder to focus upon. This, I think, is the most useful quality of e-books, that they can be manipulated in terms of settings so that anyone can read them who would normally have issues due to age or disability, and most books, particularly non-fiction ones, are not given Large Print editions. Also, you can blow-up images when needed on the tablet, something that the Kindle e-reader does not do hardly at all. Incidentally, I used to keep my Chrome settings at 95% and I knocked up the text and the rest up to a little above 100%. It helps immensely. No sense in getting eyestrain. I think the presbyopia is part of my hiatus from enjoying reading, so anything I can do to read more books is worth it. And I can also read on my laptop, which is a low-end 2-in-1 that folds back to be a very large tablet-like screen when you change to tablet mode and I have the Kindle application on it, as well.

Alright, I'm going to go get some breakfast. I'll probably write some more before I start my Sunday chores proper (although laundry is something I do on Sunday, that's for me, not the household, generally).

After the fiasco last October

when I lost all my documents doing a Windows update, I was somewhat trepidatious about doing the May 2019 update.  But, one thing I changed in the intervening months was that I had put all my documents on an SD card in my laptop, with Dropbox as a backup (the latter had been the case for the documents I lost, and with the exception of a couple of weeks' worth, I saved most of the rest.  Backups are important, people.)  Anyway, I had heard that the update wouldn't install with a USB drive or SD drive because of an issue with remapping the drives, but that if you disconnected the USB or ejected the SD, it should work fine.  Since ejecting the card had been the plan all along, I did so, downloaded the update in about two minutes, and had the whole thing updated within five.  It was the easiest Windows update that I've ever done, and it seems to be working correctly.

I did it this morning because I'd woken up at five and was just awake, and couldn't go back to sleep.  So  I got up, took a shower, got ready, and did the update.  I left the house at about 6:20 am, stopped by Kroger for caffeine, and went into work, getting there about 7 am.  So I  have until 8:30 am to just chill and do what I'd like.  I've gotten my personal e-mail squared away.  I'll check social media and the news.  I'm on my hotspot on my phone rather than the hospital's WiFi because I promised a long time ago not to use the hospital's equipment to blog at all after someone had a conniption over something I'd written during a break at work.  So, it's my equipment, my connexion.

Okay, let's go see what's going on in the world.  I did see on my phone that Teresa May, the prime minister of Britain, has resigned.  I don't care for her policies, or for the idea of Brexit.  Not that it matters, I suppose, given that I'm not British and they don't care about my opinion.  But she certainly was very polarising.

I got up at an insane hour this morning

YKWIA is going with a friend for an important doctor's appointment, and it's very early, and it takes him a couple of hours to caffeinate and get ready to go anywhere, so I had to wake him up at 5 am, meaning I got up at 4:30 am and showered and then woke him up.  But the thing is, once I'm ready to go, I need to go.  I can't just piddle around the house.  Besides I needed caffeine, too.  So I left the house right before Kroger opened (our neighbourhood has one that is an 18-hour store), got some soda and something for breakfast, and then came on into work.  On the one hand, I'm going to be very tired at 5 pm.  On the other, it gives me a chance to truly wake up, take my medicine, eat breakfast, and get on my phone hotspot with my laptop and have some quiet time.  Also, I got a wonderful parking spot at the Orange Lot at the university this morning, as I got here by 6:30 and parked in the lane right in front of the bus stop about halfway down the front section.

Okay, let's go see what news I can glean from the Web.

Your trivia for the day

So in the wee hours of the morning, because I wasn't sleeping anyway [since I fell asleep by 8:30, then woke up about four hours later], I decided to use a $15 credit I had with Amazon [for sending that computer back] to replace my old jeans, and ordered a pair. Turns out that jeans were patented by Jacob W. Davis and Levi Strauss on this day, May 20, in 1873. Thank you to my alarm application on my phone for alerting me to this historical fact early this morning, in its nice British accent.

So now I'm up and awake despite being up in the middle of the night, and I have already taken a friend to work. Think I'll get ready and go over to the Bluegrass Farmers' Market this morning (at Liquor Barn's parking lot in Hamburg) to see what they might have.

So, after getting back to sleep about 2 am

I woke up on my own at 6:30 am and showered, went to the grocery, picked up a friend and taken him to work, had breakfast, scored a series of books in two disciplines for a collection development tool, and then got sleepy about 10 am. I got out of my belted pants and into my pygama bottoms, kept everything else on save my necklace, and I'm took a take a nap--until 1 pm. It's just starting to warm up (the sun is coming out, because of course it's Derby Day, so there's been rain), but it was 68 degrees in the apartment, which wasn't too bad, just a touch cool for me if I wasn't doing much. But it occurred to me the tank was pretty cool, and the fish a little sluggish, and I got to looking, and the heater, which I'd left plugged up all that time, had actually been turned down all the way so it wouldn't come on (what genius did that?) :). So I turned it to 72, a little on the warm side for the goldfish, but within range, and a little cool for the algae eater, but high enough so it won't stop eating or anything. The water should gradually rise in temperature. Good to go. Now to tackle my list (but first, a diversion).

Despite a two-and-a-half-hour phone call last night

and a bedtime of around 2:30 am, I'm awake.

1. Woken up on my own before 7:30 am--check.
2. Injected my insulins and Byetta--check.
3. Waiting 15 minutes to eat--check.
4. Gotten something to drink--check.
5. Taken my oral meds--check.
6. Turned on Pandora, the Bastille station--check.
7. Gotten a banana and cheese from the kitchen--check. [I tend to eat less when I'm secure in having food. I know, makes no sense.]

I wrote about what I wanted to do today last night. I definitely want to start with the car tags and allergy shots, then make my way back here, open the windows, and start everything else.

Things I want to get today as well:

1. A wrist rest for the keyboard (I can't find my old one, and it wasn't in the best of shape, anyway).
2. Two concrete blocks. These are for going under the bed. My crossrail on my 30-year-old bed has sheared away from the side rail. Short of welding it, and at nearly 300 lbs, I'm not sure a weld would hold my weight for long, I can't think of any way to fix it, and apparently they're not standard--you can't just go out and get new bedrails, as far as I know. I don't want to buy a whole new bed and frankly can't afford it, so right now it's got one of those underbed plastic containers supporting it, which is weak, and it's sagging quite a bit, and of course, that's the side I sleep on. The concrete would do better--one for the middle of the bed, one for the side I'm on. Make jokes if you want about my weight, but really it's a bed from Sears I got in 1987, and it's made of wood and pressboard, so really, it's sort of the Sauder of bedroom furniture, not hardwood and high quality. But it generally works.
3. Pots and potting soil and orchid medium. Virtually all the plants need to be repotted, although I'll wait on the blooming orchids until after they're finished. Brenda, who is a master gardener, told me the reason my lavender has to be watered every other day is that it needs repotting, too.

So I guess that means a trip to Staples and Lowe's, too. I also want to do my pulmonary exercises today (I haven't been the best about doing that every day at home) and work out at the complex fitness room, since I feel more confident of working out without supervision, including the weights. I think our machine is virtually identical to theirs. I wish we had a Nu-Step, which is basically a reclining elliptical, as I can't do the standing ones--they're too hard on my knees. But we've got treadmills, a reclining bike, and the weights. And then this evening I might take a walk around the neighbourhood. My phone has been nagging me because since I haven't felt the best lately, I haven't gotten nearly the activity amount or steps in that I normally do. I usually get at least 45 minutes of activity a day five days a week and get over 5,000 steps. Not so, lately. It was nice to be working out on the treadmill yesterday and my phone detected a workout and gave me credit for it. I had 68 minutes of activity thanks to the workout and the grocery, and my steps were over 6,000 and came out to be walking about 3 miles. It's a start.

Okay, I feel vaguely more awake, ate my banana and cheese, had a little caffeine in the form of a soda (although I got some non-caffeinated stevia soda at the store and some coffee and half and half, with the idea of trying to learn to like coffee, since it's better for you). Time for a shower and then getting going on all this. Have a great day!

PS To reward myself for a day of accomplishments last night, I actually sat down and watched something on Netflix--the first episode of 'A Series of Unfortunate Events', which was delightful, and much better than that terrible movie with Jim Carrey. It's produced and stars Neil Patrick Harris as Count Olaf, the antagonist, and the guy who does the voice of Brock Samson from 'The Venture Brothers' and the lead character in 'The Tick' is the narrator. The books were great, but I only got through about three of the thirteen or so. The teleplay is by Daniel Handler, which is the real name of the author, Lemony Snicket, and he's also an executive producer. It really was excellent. There are eight episodes, so I have seven more to go. The other thing I'd really like to see, because I love the book and it looks very well done, is 'The Handmaid's Tale'. Of course, that's on Hulu, which I don't have. YKWIA has Hulu, and he did say I could watch it over at his house, but he has no desire to watch it, and he spends a lot of time on the computer, so it might be difficult to schedule. Maybe I'll try a free trial, and then just cancel when it's finished. I don't know. I have to watch my spending. And maybe eventually it will be on DVD. The thing about Hulu is that things expire much more quickly than Netflix. I don't watch a lot, even on Netflix, but I hope to use it more.

I have been up a half an hour

and in that time I've gotten my laundry together, including stripping the bed, packed my book bag with all the stuff I'm taking with me, checked my phone notifications, opened the blinds, got the last of the bread with some honey, got some caffeine, and in a minute I'm going to take my medicine and after that hop in the shower. All in all, I'm doing much better than yesterday, especially as I went to bed at 3:38 am, or at least that's the last I saw the time. Oh, I also removed an application I'd tried on my phone. I thought it was supposed to gently wake you up with light, and maybe it does that, but when the actual alarm happens, it sends light in a pulsating pattern through the flash, and it's practically seizure-inducing. It's called Glimmer; it's a nice concept but it's definitely not for me. I don't have epilepsy, but I get headaches around pulsing light, like copiers (which is why I always close the cover) and strobes. It is one of the reasons I've never been into clubbing. (That and I don't drink, and have social anxiety. Okay, there's lots of reasons for me to stay out of clubs.) :)

It looks like it'll be a bright, happy, if cold day (46 for the high). I'll be inside most of the time, though, except to take the trash and litter out and dump the mop bucket. If I can get all my work done, and we can watch the movie, then maybe I'll be home before or a little after dark, and can work on more books. That reminds me, I should take books over to YKWIA's, but I need another box, or it'll be too heavy to put them all in there. Hmmm...maybe I can temporarily put them into the grey totes I have. That's a thought. Ideally, I should just bring him to my place, I know, but I don't think that's going to happen. I know he'd rather me bring them to him. I wish we could do Thanksgiving over here in a way (his oven needs adjusting, which is putting the cooking time and temperature off), but I think my place is just too small to cook ten dishes for three people. Even using my table in the dining area (which is also where the microwave is) would not really work, I don't think, but I'd give it a try in a pinch. I have a kitchen island in the kitchen with a drop leaf, but it's hard for more than one person to work in there at a time with that leaf up, and the leaf goes towards the oven. Also, he hates cooking on electric. But we'll see. And I might get more pierogis for Thanksgiving, as A hasn't had any yet. The four cheese ones are still over there, but the feta/spinach ones are excellent.

Okay, I've eaten and had some caffeine. Time for meds and shower. Have a great day!!!

Usually

when I go to pick up A on weekend nights, I'm half asleep, but I got some rest this evening, and I'm perky and awake, and it's almost 2 am now. I've taken my various night meds, brushed my teeth, flossed, and rinsed my mouth (that's one of the things I have to do with my asthma medicine, rinse my mouth), I've put some Neosporin on the cat bite after washing it again, and generally I've done all the other stuff to get ready for bed. I'm sitting here listening to some music and contemplating going to sleep for the night. I want to get up fairly early and get my laundry together tomorrow, as well as take the trash out and even make breakfast, if I can get going then. I've some eggs and milk, and some pancake mix. That sounds really tasty. Then it's over to my friends' house and my Sunday duties and my laundry to do. We may watch something, too. Next week we end our hiatus from the game and start that back up, which I'm very excited about. This month marks the 25th anniversary of the start of our campaign. Yes, really, we've been playing the same Call of Cthulhu game since July 1991; our characters have come and gone, some have children, that sort of thing. I still have my original character, mainly because she has been insane, pregnant, recovering from a physical injury, or stuck in Yog Sothoth for periods of time. Her son is a scary mad genius of sorts, and he's twelve. When he was three or four, he opened a dimensional portal in the kitchen microwave. It's been a challenge. Here's the cast of my characters:

1. Rosalind Marie McVey--former linguistics graduate student at Miskatonic University who was a founding member of our group after her first Cthulhoid experience and training. Was put into a crystal room in a lost city in the desert, where her latent telepathy woke up and she was able to communicate with Cthonians and other Mythos creatures. A former colleague who had gone to the side of evil impregnated her and put her back into the room, making their unborn son incredibly smart, telepathic, and oh, yeah, having almost emotionless intellect with little regard for others. At one point, Rosalind was captured by the government, which augmented her telepathic gifts and used her as a weapon. Her Mythos knowledge got very high; her comrades were able to save here, but it took a lot of regular knowledge out of her brain and damaged her gift, which is mainly just a connexion with her son these days. She is currently working at the Orne Library at Miskatonic University in Arkham, Massachusetts. Her brush with the government technically left her 'dead' in terms of identity, so she is living under an assumed name, Eileen Neila MacLeod.
2. Melissa Jane Andrews--physician who joined the group early on. Her father was a former American soldier; her mother was a British journalist. In her tenure in the group, her magical gift for necromancy woke up, and she had a transformation physically from someone who looked a bit like Scully from 'X-Files' to an Ancient Aegyptian with white hair and green eyes. She spent 65 million years in a Greater Race of Yith stasis pod on the moon, then travelled to the end of the time and into our present timeline. making her essentially immortal (although she can be killed). She cannot have children due to her status as a necromancer. She is currently in a magical order that is in a bubble of reality. She recently lost an eye in a mission. Her transformation was so difficult to explain, that she is living under a different name, Alexandria Mereneith Amentiri. (The last name I temporarily forgot,  then remembered it was derived from a name for the ancient Aegyptian Underworld.) 
3. Miranda Amelia Wainscott--her great uncle and she lived in a sprawling mansion outside Arkham, Massachusetts. Unknown to her, he was a cultist related to the Whateleys of Dunwich. He killed her parents and tried to sacrifice her at age 16, but it went terribly wrong because she wasn't actually a virgin. One a mission under the Atlantic, she went through a gate to another world full of water, where the people there changed her with various implants so she could survive under the sea. She returned, but had to be magically changed to be able to live in Earth's polluted oceans. She has three forms: her normal human form, a base aquatic form, and a silver battle form. She is currently in the magical order with Melissa. She has no children. Her house is now our headquarters. She is bisexual, but has had no children.
4. Sara Rashel Baum--an archaeologist who was born in Israel. She was seduced by a mystical creature, had a son, and died two months later by being stepped on by Shub Niggurath, becoming toe jam. Her tagline was 'You can get stepped on by a Dark Young of Shub Niggurath and live.' Unfortunately, the Mother with a Thousand Young herself was too much for her. Her child is being raised by other characters, and will turn into the same sort of creature as his father when he's older, becoming a life force vampire of sorts.
5. Ariana Sofia Krios--an electric engineer from California of Greek descent, she is now in the magic order studying as a Hermetic mage. She is of Witchblood, but never knew it--but has an affinity for air and water magic. She is a lesbian who has not had children.
6. Carolyn (Carol) Kathleen Reardon Grant--probably my favourite right now. She is a nurse who worked with Doctors Without Borders in Bosnia during the war there. She is a Witch in a coven with some other members of the group, apparently a late bloomer in her family. She has a daughter by an English lord who was possessed by one of the mystical creatures akin to Sara's lover. As a result, her daughter is very intelligent. She is currently pregnant by one of her comrades, who is an elemental mage. The children have their father's elemental magic, each with two of the elements, and are already demonstrating the gift in the womb.
7. Therese (Tessa) Celine Cavaillion--an artist from Quebec who is very much 'the good girl'. She was a novice in a convent but left to experience the world, and wound up having a Cthulhoid experience. She has some healing ability and a mysterious 'friend' who shows up occasionally to have her do certain things. She has a high will but seems to never be able to resist vampires, faeries, or anything like that. She married one of the other characters, and was pregnant with their daughter, but they went to the Everglades, battled alligator men, and she was injected with a mad scientist's serum, which caused the child to have augmented body-shaping ability (an extension of the biokenesis in Tessa's family) but also made her 'download' various aspects of Tessa's personality, splitting her into several discrete personalities, able to change form for each until that gift was turned off psychically. One of the personalities is male, one is an alligator creature, and one is totally sociopathic and is terribly dangerous. When she was two, she drove a screwdriver into a character's eye, partially blinding him. She is now in a mental hospital where she occasionally tries to get out and is very rough with the staff. The father was killed by a Dimensional Shambler in the future on the moon. Tessa has another child by a mobster (long story, let's say magic was involved), who's pretty much normal, and is raising her quietly in Newton, Massachusetts. She ran afoul of the mystical creatures that Sara was involved with, some of whom basically killed most of her family off, so she's had a lot of death and tragedy in her life.
8. Celeste Malfalda du Mornay--raised as the daughter of an opera singer (who was one of the Savoy family, the former rulers of Italy) and a French industrialist (who was killed in a car bomb when she was young), Celeste is actually the daughter of an English lord whose family figures prominently in our game (several of Brenda's characters are members of that family). Celeste was kicked out of several boarding schools and is an unlikely operative, but she is doing pretty well. She lives in Arkham, Massachusetts with her Bichon Frise, Abelard, and her nieces, who are blood magicians from another timeline, and a long suffering but well-paid maid. She has a small precognitive gift. She is bisexual, with no children.
9. Joshua (Josh) Ethan Adler--my only male character. He was somewhat telepathic He survived a plane crash only to save the world by manoevering himself into a position where the Elder Things would not recognise him as sentient and so they had him killed by a Shoggath and his head put on a machine that keeps a horrible Mythos creature at bay. Note that the two characters I had that were Jewish both died. Josh was a photojournalist; the one other photojournalist in the game (the father of Rosalind's son) died horribly as well, after going mad. So Josh was doubly-cursed, apparently. But his death was very good in the sense that it saved a non-player character I am very fond of, and also saved the world. I love a good martyrdom.
10. Alexandra (Alix) Evelyn Bishop Rhodes--a former socialite and soldier who is married to a necromancer. They have a newborn son who was fated to suffer his family curse upon his father's death, but she had Carol's mother, a Witch, potentially solve that problem. She is mildly telepathic and a recovering alcoholic. She has a lot of trouble around magic of all kinds, and it tends to screw her over a lot. She lost an eye, which was replaced by an NPC with future technology. She is unhappy with her husband's familiar, which is an undead cat that has magically been transformed to look alive, which hates psychics of any sort--but who tolerates her based on her husband's commands, and who would protect their child with every ounce of her undead might, but it does make getting a nanny problematic.

Am I forgetting anyone? I don't think so--I did almost forget Alix. That's eight children, total [Tristan, Jason, Lia, Kaia, Claire, Nathan, Aiden, and Eden], if you count the two on the way, I think. That's the character list for me, in a nutshell. Taken together,  they incorporate much of my personality and interests.  Anyway, I'm looking forward to going back to the game. I'm curious as to how Carol's twins will turn out. She just survived a warlock attack. Hopefully there won't be any more for awhile.

I envy my upstairs neighbours just a bit

Sure,  I wouldn't want to climb stairs every day,  and certainly when I broke my ankle,  it was a godsend to be downstairs.  But I can't open my windows at night now that I no longer have a dog who would alert me to an intruder. I tried to open my bedroom window and insert a cane to prevent it from going up more,  and that did work,  but it could be easily circumvented.  So I closed it back.  It's only 72 degrees in here,  but I'm hot,  so I just turned the fan up to the next setting and took off my sleep shirt.  I'm not ready to turn on the air conditioner quite yet.  Hopefully I can get back to sleep.  Good night.

3 am and I'm wide awake

And not sleepy or tired.  I think I'm definitely hypomanic,  triggered by my menstrual cycle.  I was depressed for days prior to my menses and especially during,  and as it almost finished I felt almost euphoric in comparison,  with every detail seeming to matter suddenly,  no need for sleep,  talking quickly,  thoughts racing, feeling sensual and hyperaware.  Yep,  classic symptoms.  I'm in my third day of that. Perimenopause is going to be great and yes,  I'm being a bit sarcastic. If my hormones shifts are going to cause mood swings,  and they have at the very least caused dysphoria during menses most of my life,  then I'm in for an interesting monthly ride.

I don't know

If it was the snow removal or wrestling with the heavy broken lamp,  but my arms are aching badly,  enough to wake me up,  and it isn't being touched by ibuprofen.  :( I think my swiping in my keyboard is suffering as a result,  because I changed from one keyboard to the other on my phone and it only helped marginally. Maybe I should just give it a rest and try to go back to sleep. But I'm absolutely wide awake,  having drunk too much caffeine today. Reading involves holding a book or Kindle.  Working on the computer involves typing.  I think it's time for something passive like listening to music. Good night.

Still up, heading to bed

It's after 1 am. I've been on Facebook and listening to music (I'm up to 'The Logical Song' by Supertramp). I took a picture and changed my Facebook and Blogger profile pictures. I so need a haircut! Good night, for real this time. :)

I'm up and can't sleep

I feel all wound up for some reason, after falling asleep about 8:30 and sleeping till 11 something, and now it's almost 1:30 am and it's a no go. If I sit here and play on the Internet, I'll probably just keep being awake. I think I'll read for awhile. That usually makes me sleepy. The idea was to get up at 4:30 this morning and do some things around the house, and bake some bread. Maybe I'll do that now instead.

I'm beginning to regret

Not taking the trash and recyclables on out.  They are weighing at my mind like an albatross,  keeping me awake at 3 am.  I did get up and get all my stuff together for work and class tomorrow,  checked that those cheques posted,  and finished straightening up the living room, and I put away several things that needed to go neatly into closets, but it's probably not a good idea to go wandering out to the dumpster at this time of night laden down with bags,  even though I have a pretty safe neighbourhood. So they remain.

I suppose part of the problem is I have had so much rest lately,  all of the weekend practically and most of Monday night. Now my brain wants to get up and do!  I'm going to try to go back to sleep,  at least for a couple of hours.  Let's hope this works.  I've also put on some relaxing lotion (my feet were hurting),  so maybe that will help.  Now I smell like lemon muffins.

Would you believe that I'm up?

Early? Even though it's still dark outside? Even with the time change? And awake, too, not in some half-awake state? So much for my sooth. Loreena McKennitt will relax me like no other singer, that's for sure. And my five alarms all woke me up this morning--I usually sleep through at least three. Amazing! The birds are singing, though, which is nice. I'm so looking forward to the beautiful weather today. I may go into work early since I have a dental appointment on Friday that will cut into work time a bit. We'll see. I'd better go start the process.

So, of course

I got lots of sleep today plus had to jump-start myself with some caffeine, so it is now 2:20 am and I am wide awake, with four hours before I'm supposed to be up for work. I'll probably crash about an hour or two before I'm supposed to get up, and then have a horrible time trying to make it there on time. I tell you, this is a sooth. When left to my own devices I revert to night owl status, which is not conducive to living in a 9-5 world. I think I'm going to try listening to some Loreena McKennitt and see if I might relax enough to sleep. My mind is racing and I have a lot on it right now, so that's not helping.

I'm tired, but I can't sleep

So I've been putting the final touches on the living area and dining area (I hesitate to call them rooms, as they're all open). I moved a shelf with movies on it, moved some sturdy crates, got some books off the floor, and got extraneous stuff off the shelves. I still need to organise the audio tapes, as well as one shelf on the entertainment centre. I set the clock ahead on the DVD/VHS recorder (missed that when we went to daylight savings). So that leaves the bedroom and the apartment's closets, and there's a toss-up as to which closet is worse. But I have accomplished a lot so far; I hope to finish in time for the game next week. I'm off Tuesday and Friday, so that should help.

Okay, I'm going to try to go back to bed. Good night!

Up a little early

I'd actually shot for 6 am to get a little cleaning done, but managed to wake up a little before seven, so I have about a half an hour or so before I'm normally up. I took the two pairs of crutches I'm donating to the hospital (I certainly can't use them, even when I'm hurt, as I have no upper body strength) to the car. I also took the magazines I'm going to donate to the Marines (there's a box in the mailroom at work for donations) out as well. I think I may stop by Office Depot on the way to work this morning and get some laminating sheets for my pool exercises that the physical therapist typed out for me. That way I can take it to the pool. I may not make it there this weekend, but I hope to start next week, plus maybe walk for a few minutes there, all with the okay of the therapist. I don't think I should do any weight-lifting as of yet.

Well, Office Depot opens at 8 am, and I have to be at work shortly after, so I should go get ready. Have a great day, and T.G.I.F.!

I've been organising things on my tablet

Putting icons into folders, etc., and came across a widget I have that counts down the days until an event. So some might put it for Christmas or for December 21st, the supposed Mayan apocalypse date, but since that's hooey, I did something much more important. I don't have a return to work date, or even a firm on my feet date, but the next doctor's appointment I should have that information. So, it's twelve days until then. I am so looking forward to being on both feet, even if it's slow at first, and almost as importantly, being able to bathe. Today marks the 50th day since the accident. (No, I didn't use an application for that, I just counted.)

I'm up in the middle of the night but it's not really insomnia. I got about four hours of sleep and felt like getting up for awhile. I really need to start getting into a routine that closely approximates work, but hey, it's not a work night anyway.

It's hard to believe it's already December. Don't forget, it's World AIDS day as well. I guess I should change my calendars in the morning.

Still, I suppose I should try to get some more sleep in the meantime. Hope you have a good weekend.

One more hour or less

I told myself I would go to bed at ten, so that would make thirteen hours I'll be up, which isn't too bad. I decided to do all of my physical therapy exercises, not just the ones with the band, and now my thigh and buttock feel like they're on fire. I broke down and took some acetaminophen. I think I need to increase this to once in the morning and once in the evening, at least. (Yes, Brandon, you told me that.) Got to get those muscles in shape for walking eventually.

So when 10 pm rolls by, I think I will definitely be ready for bed. It's been a good day. I've emailed two people, spoken with three friends on the phone, texted with one of those, and I've seen one of my friends in person. I've gone to an appointment, gotten groceries, listened to music, blogged, watched videos, and played on the Internet. And I've stayed awake! (Although getting a little caffeine in my system did help. But I don't feel too awake, either.)

So now I am down to thirty minutes. I'll start shutting things down. Hope you had a good day.

PS Made it to midnight, actually, although I've been in bed, so we won't count the unwinding time.  :-)