Feeling better after 10 days of Covid leave

Tomorrow I get to go back to work. I'm feeling much better. I was lucky to 1) have something more like bad flu than full-blown, concerning illness and 2) no one else I knew got it from me [I'd played the game with friends the day I started getting feeling bad, sharing snacks, etc., so it was a concern, and also, of course, I live with someone. Four years of pandemic and I never had it, and then bam. I did get vaccinated (my 7th shot overall), but unfortunately, I got sick before the full protection came through (it takes a bit). It may have mitigated it somewhat, though. And my roommate had his back in early September, so that helped. At this point, I just have the same runny nose I've had with allergies over the last five months.

Two observances...except when I was the sickest (including the night I slept 14 hours), I woke up by 6:30-7:00 AM every morning (when I should be for work). This was at first frustrating, because hey, I'm off, I'm sick, I'm supposed to sleep in. But it's because I've been going to bed at 10-11 PM and not my normal midnight AM. So there's a change to try to implement. The other is my room is the absolute cleanest it has been in years. I was bored and I cleaned. I am only neat at work. My desk has to be in order. I feel better when my living space is, but I struggle because I was messy even as a kid, and it was the main battle I had with my parents in an otherwise 'good girl' childhood. Behold! [I do need to take the little air conditioner to storage (and get my cold-weather clothes), but that's for this weekend. And of course, the pumpkin diorama is sitting on the cedar chest for the next 24 hours. I'll take it in tomorrow. I really should find a different spot for my medicine cart (it also has lotions, toiletries, etc.) because it's right in the window and that's not good for medications (although they are in sunlight-blocking bottles, the bamboo has to go somewhere in the light. And of course, it's all about the plants, right? Maybe I need one of those little tower tables. :)

I just spent the last four hours

rearranging and cleaning my living room (and I'm not completely finished, as I'm going through and getting stuff together for Goodwill and I still need to file some papers and put other things away). But, in that time I:

1. Finally threw away all the plants that were infested with mealybugs or otherwise questionable.
2. Disinfected the area so that I can bring my other plants home.
3. Rearranged my computer desk, printer stand, TV, speaker, and loveseat so that I can work better in the living room while job searching.
4. Moved a filing cabinet into the living room near the computer for the same reason, making room so that I can take books off the bookshelf that was next to it in the dining room/entryway, and put it flush against the wall instead of as you enter, so that it opens up the entryway on that end. In rearranging the living room, I opened up things on the living room side.
5. Collected a lot of random stuff that could just be thrown away.
6. Re-wired just about every bit of technology in the room (yes, I am that girl, who is the go-to person for running cables and wires).
7. Changed the lights around so the dimmer light comes on when the entryway light switch is used, and the brighter one is near the computer for better use.
8. Put together a convertible hand truck/dolly that will help me get stuff out of the house during my purge.

Not bad for someone who's had a very busy day at work, took a friend to several appointments, and did it all on about one hour of sleep. I can feel the crash coming, though. Right now I'm listening to OneRepublic and hydrating, but I have to pick another frined up at 8:45 in the morning and so I should get up early for a Saturday. Then I need to get him and take him and another friend to an appointment. After that, I may work some more on the house or just chill with one after taking the other to work. I don't know yet; I'll leave it open. The game notes are finished (we did just a little playing, and mostly just talked amongst ourselves, especially since there's been so much loss lately in the circle).

Speaking of which, I was listening to Pandora, and heard the song 'Supermarket Flowers' by Ed Sheeran off his new album, about losing a mom. My mom and I didn't always have the best relationship, and for my youth we were too enmeshed, but this kind of says it all.



PS: The early literacy programme is a go after all. It tore me up that I thought they were going to end it after seventeen years. Also, I offered my regular medical books up to staff today (after various departments had their shot of them to take to the new building), and then left for a doctor's appointment so I didn't see the response except for the first couple of people. But I expect the shelves will be pretty bare on Monday, and then we can donate anything that's left to Dr. Viji's charity. I have some other books that will most likely go to the public library, parenting books and things on various challenges and disorders kids have and how to deal with them. Sigh. This is all going so quickly.

My poor neglected blog

Okay, folks, I'm really not trying to let this blog die. The holidays were insanely busy, and now I've been ill, and yesterday, when I was working on the game notes, was the first time I'd plugged the laptop into the monitor/rest of the system on the computer desk in probably six weeks. Really.

Friday I was able to go back to work at 1 pm, and I got caught up on my charge entry. One good thing about being sick with pinkeye, though, is I am temporarily being treated as a plague-bearer by friends, and so Friday night was all about listening to my audiobook and resting. Saturday I went in early to work (with permission to work on Saturday) and made up some hours and finished the policies I had to edit). I then took YKWIA to an appointment, but wasn't allowed to touch anything in his house. He rode in the back seat of the car, and when I picked him and another friend up, they remained in the back. I took the one to the Women's March here in Lexington, drove the other by the store and then home, and returned home. Again, there was plenty of 'reading', rest, and I did tackle the bathroom, including details like the shower and the hair catcher that sits in the drain that, while not bad on hair, had some soap scum on it that was preventing it from draining properly. It took an hour, but I got everything but the floor taken care of (I'll mop the kitchen and bath later, when everything else is taken care of).

Today we had planned to play the game, although the one wanted me to wear gloves, because he really did not trust the '24 hours of drop rule', so from 7:30 pm to 11 pm I did game notes. It included a lot of investigation, you see, so it took longer than normal. Then I picked up the one friend from work at 1 am (he sat in the front). This morning I was up at 7:30, although I'd planned to sleep a little later, since I didn't have to clean for the game, and went to Kroger and fortunately managed to the Stahist AD that Chinoe had not had, and some Mucinex, and that was about $30 altogether. But I feel much better than this morning. I thought I'd have to call the game off, but then my friend who is the game master called and he was not well either, and wanted to cancel, but wanted me to come over (with gloves) for a quick grocery run with my other friend who is strong and can lift big bags of dog food and large cat litter boxes. I called Brenda, left a message, and then at the appointed time went and got A and the card and we went to the grocery, brought in the stuff, and were getting ready to leave, when Brenda came driving up, having not gotten my message. After explaining to her what was going on, she turned back for home, I took A to work, and then went on home. I was kind of tired, so I ate something and laid down for what was going to be a half-hour nap that turned into two hours. I remember vaguely blessed sunshine coming in through the window (it's been grey and gloomy, with rain, for days). Now I'm up, I've fortified myself, and I have two goals tonight: to clean the kitchen thoroughly and take down the Yule tree.

Yes, it's still up, with the decorations on and everything. The wreath is still on the door, but actually two of my neighbours still have theirs up, too, so either we're all having a difficult winter, or it's more acceptable. I mean, my wreath doesn't have Santa Claus or anything like that--just greenery, fruit, and pinecones. So it's still 'wintery', I suppose. But it's all coming down tonight and getting packed away. I did manage to get around the tree and do some plant watering yesterday. Some look pretty peaked; I think I'm going to have to go through a cull. On the other hand, I've got two orchids at work getting ready to rebloom, and a whole slew of plants at work that are going to have to come home in two months, so there is that.

Okay, I'm going to go blow my nose and get some more caffeine. I think I'll start with the tree. I'll try to write later, and get in the habit of writing more. I need to pick A up at midnight, but otherwise need to get up early because I'm dropping the car off at the shop tomorrow and meeting a co-worker at 7:30 so she can be at work for an 8 am meeting. Those brakes need fixing, and it's definitely time.

PS I'm getting ready to start chapter 26 of The Cave and the Light. Only five more to go, and one is an afterword, I think, because it's only 2 or so minutes long. :)

Apparently

The leak came from my water heater, which has now been replaced, my carpet has been cleaned in the hallway, and a large industrial-strength fan is drying it as we speak. Yay! I don't know why the water wasn't actually showing up in the closet that holds the unit, but hey. I Googled the life expectancy of a water heater, and it's 8-12 years. I'm in my thirteenth year here, and I've had one replaced before, but it's probably been about that. That one had a much bigger leak, which is part of what threw me off. But I couldn't figure out where else it could have come from, since the wet area was between my kitchen and bath. The closet with the heater is between those two rooms. I am glad I rent in this case, so it doesn't come out of my pocket. And I suppose the inspection went well.

I had a good deal of success in the cleaning. While the house wasn't spotless by any means, it was navigable. My bed is made. Anything that hasn't been put away is at the periphery of the rooms, stacked neatly, or on the couch or dining room table, and the latter are in boxes. However, I got three-and-a-half hours' sleep last night, and I'm really tired. I went to physical therapy after work and am very relaxed due to the manual therapy, and I think I'm going to lie down for a bit and rest, and then get up when it's time to take my meds and do that.

At least the apartment is now in a place that I can work on things a little at a time, starting with those closets, as my therapist suggested. But not tonight. Not at all. Heading to the bedroom for some quiet time. :)

PS I searched my blog for the last time the water heater went out, and it was actually ten years ago, September of 2006. So that wasn't too bad. And it didn't get quite so wet. The new one is a Whirlpool and looks all bright and shiny. :)

Time to go to bed

And work some more in the morning.  My plan is to get up at 5 in the hope that I'll definitely get up by 6 am.  I've put the bedclothes in a pile.  The bed is cleaned off.  I'll take out the trash and recyclables in the morning,  and try to straighten up a bit more.  But while there's definitely clutter,  the trash is gone. It amazes me how much I had to work on the bedroom just to separate the things to go and the things to keep (for now,  anyway). It's a start.  Considering I still had the boxes of Yule ornaments out under everything,  this has been about ten months in the making.  The library books are now together,  except one to go back,  which is next to the front door with my purse and keys.  I've done what I can,  for now. My neck is bothering me,  but I daren't take the muscle relaxer,  but I will take some ibuprofen.  And I need some water before I go to bed. Good night.

YKWIA

asked me to come over for just a few minutes because he was having trouble getting the DVD player in the bedroom work through the VCR. It usually is never 'just 10 minutes', but I went on over about 7 or so, he showed me something interesting on the computer, I fixed the problem in the bedroom, and was probably out of there in 15 minutes, anyway. I think that's a world record. :) I stopped by Kroger and got some caffeinated soda and some Airwick plug-in air fresheners, plus some cash for tomorrow (I had to eat in the cafeteria on credit today because the ATM at my bank was out of cash, the other was down temporarily, and ours at work was acting up). So I'll need to pay for stuff tomorrow. I came on home a little after 8 pm, and was feeling a little overwhelmed by my bedroom. I didn't properly start working on it till about 9:30 pm. However, I have been working with nothing more than a pee break for about three and a half hours. I have excavated the floor; the clothes are in either hampers (the small one for the dirty, the large one for clean, or in the closet in a pile, but out of sight. I can close all the closet doors. I have filled up two bags of trash and about the same of recyclables, once I transfer the ones in the container to a bag. The bed is piled high, but almost everything is 1) Christmas boxes that originally should have been (but weren't) in the closet, handbags, and reusable tote bags. Oh, and the bedding to change everything into. So I still have some work to do. I haven't done anything to the dining room at all yet tonight. I am not particularly sleepy--apparently resting earlier gave me a bit of renewed charge. I'm not sure I'm going to get any real sleep tonight. I've been listening to Ed Sheeran on my Bluetooth headphones, which, nice to know, work even in the living room when my phone is charging on my bedside table. So I'm drinking a cool drink and sitting for just a few minutes. I don't want to lose momentum. I desperately need a shower--I may take one before going to bed, since the bedding will be clean and happy. I usually shower every morning, but since I took a late shower yesterday, I decided to risk it this morning and wait. Okay, back to working on the bedroom.

So I'm back in physical therapy

and while Jeremy, my therapist, doesn't think I have a pinched nerve, my pulse goes away (this has a name I didn't catch) when my arm is brought up or back, on both sides, so there's compression near some of the muscles where my neck, shoulder, and chest meet. He did some deep tissue massage and showed me a couple of stretches that would help. I go back next week and I've also scheduled for the week after to coordinate with a friend I take to the same place. I'm feeling lots of tingling now.

Last night I lay down and was pretty much gone for the night. I'd almost gotten the kitchen straightened out, and I thought about maybe getting up early this morning (I was shooting for 4:30 am, since I'd gone to bed so early, but alas, that never seems to work out. Instead I got some much-needed rest. I'll try to wash the plastic dishes tonight and wipe down the counters, then take the trash out tomorrow when it's light outside. Oh, and the recyclables. I really should sweep and mop as well. But otherwise, the kitchen is looking much better.

Tomorrow, thankfully, there are no appointments (we had three between us today, although in two places). I'm going to over to YKWIA's for a little while, but tonight we're both tired, so I came on home. I really just feel like going on to bed, but it really is too early and I have stuff to do. I could try to go into the bedroom for maybe a half an hour, but we both know if I do that I'll probably just fall asleep. Still, it's very tempting....

Have to sit down for a minute

Well, I've corralled just about every dish I own, and the ones that can go in the dishwasher are washing at the moment. I've put things away, gone through all the cabinets and drawers looking for the bottom piece of the blender carafe, without luck, and all I have left to do is do the plastic dishes, wipe down the horizontal surfaces, including counter tops, stove, and my wooden kitchen island, and take out the trash, since I filled it cleaning out the refrigerator.

It's a start, anyway. I'll try to work on the bathroom when I finish that. But right now, I'm going to water the plants with the water from my Brita pitcher (it recommends doing that for the first three fills, rather than drinking it, because the new filter needs to get all the carbon dust out of it), and then just kind of stretch out my back for maybe a half-hour. But then I should work on the book review. In fact, I should take one more look at the book while I'm resting.

A good day

Today was pretty decent. Unlike Friday, when I overslept and ran out of the door without bothering to even comb my hair (I noticed in the rearview mirror on the way, at least), I was up a little early, got to work right on time, and had a busy and fairly productive day, which was pretty decent considering I spent most of the weekend over at a friend's helping him cook and cleaning his house. I got to eat some of what we cooked last night, and it was great. The butternut squash which I'd groused about because I hate peeling winter squash, and there were five of them, was wonderful, with sauteed garlic and onions mixed in. There was escarole surprise soup--the surprise being that it was actually spinach, as the store didn't have escarole. :) I went over after work today to finish the floors (I'd put off mopping since I figured I'd get potato skins on the floor anyway, as yesterday was a potato broccoli cheddar casserole.) But he was expecting company, and I'd forgotten, so I took my groceries (I'd stopped by to get a decent container for soup, and got a few things for dinner), and came home--which works out perfectly, because I have to 1) finish a book review for The Journal of Hospital Librarianship that's due today and 2) I need to at least do the dishes (yes, I didn't manage that Sunday), and I plan to work on the kitchen and the bathroom. Because I was bringing in groceries, the first thing I did upon getting home was clean out the refrigerator and put it in order. I found some Greek Gods yoghurt at Kroger that I'd tried, it was a new flavour--chocolate cherry--and there was some marked down. I also got salad makings and the spring mix with herbs was marked down. Oh, and sourdough bread, the Goldminer's brand I like, was in the bargain area, so I got it and I had some for dinner with havarti cheese and dressing.

I also want to sit down and do some reading about hoarding, and prepare for my next session (which isn't until the 11th, but hey, it's something that I need to do). I fixed the notebook yesterday, of course, with tabs for each chapter. But I haven't really read through any of it yet; I've just taken the assessment.

One of my co-workers showed me the 'Saturday Night Live' sketch with Alec Baldwin as Donald Trump. He did such a good job. I really enjoyed it. You should watch it.

Okay, I've got Pandora on, the Bastille channel, and I'm going to work on the kitchen. I think I'll switch from the TV to my headphones and phone, so I can move about. I'll probably write later.

I seem to be

terribly incapable of washing more than a dish or two without getting soaked down my front to the skin. Tonight was worse, as a lid under the water at the wrong angle meant water in my face and on my glasses. It got everywhere. Even when I filled up the ice cube trays, I sprayed water everywhere. Plus, I have a small leak, and I tried to turn the faucet off completely in case that was it, and the whole faucet came up a tad, still attached to the pipe, but moving about. I'll call about that on Monday.

Thankfully, however, the kitchen is completely cleaned up, the dishwasher is drying dishes, the plastics and cookware are in the drainer drying, and sunflower seed bread is baking. I hope it rose okay with the dishwasher going and all my clanging about. I had just enough whole wheat flour and sunflower kernels to do the bread, and I thought it would make a nice change. Before I go to bed, I'm going to put a pound of beans to soak overnight, and then tomorrow I'll cook them with the onion and some garlic in the crock pot.

I need to head over to Facebook and wish one of my former co-workers a happy birthday. The bread has just about an hour to go, so I'll probably stay up till then, but then go on to bed soon after. Have a good night.

Note to self:

when you have pasty Irish skin and are on certain antibiotics, do not stay outside in the sun for an hour cleaning out your car and its trunk without proper sunscreen. On the one hand, yay, I got my car looking spiffy again; on the other, I also look like a lobster on my arms, face, and neck. I just took a cool shower and will put some aloe lotion on it.

Oh, and the stupid thing is I had sunscreen in my bag, in the car, the whole time. I did put some on afterwards because I was doing a lot of driving around this afternoon and thought it would help prevent further issues, but it was a bit like closing the barn door after the horse has run off. I have also been so terribly hot today, soaked to the skin, my hair wet with sweat and then dry again. I took a cool shower the moment I got through the door, and that helped, and got into some shorts and a tank top. I'm going to put on the lotion and then go lie down in front of the fan for awhile. At least I'm back in air conditioning. I've been in the car, outside, or in a house with just the windows open for something like ten hours now (although we did put the ceiling fans on for watching Hotel Transylvania, the Netflix DVD I have out).

I'm pooped for now, though.

I talked with my friend a little while ago

and they've decided to have a quiet evening at home, which means the same for me, and I do have a lot to do around here that I've been avoiding, because, well, I do that. So instead of avoiding things, the first thing I did once I got going was to revisit my shoes. See, I've been having terrible pain in my feet, probably plantar fasciitis, and I'd tried changing from my diabetic orthotics to a foam insert I got at my podiatrist's with more cushion, and then today I got some gel inserts at the store. The thing is, I'm used to taking the insole out and putting orthotics in, so I put in the inserts after taking out the foam and they were very flat and uncomfortable (I have fallen arches and need arch support). So I put the cushion inserts back inside, which provide a higher arch, and trimmed the gel inserts down just a bit to the absolute edge of size 7, and put those in over top--and they feel pretty supported and cushioned. I'll leave them in for a few days and see if I can tell any difference in my foot pain.

Then I tackled the car, which wasn't very bad or anything (I'm cleaner about my car and office than I am about my apartment), but I had an empty laundry cart in the trunk along with my winter coat and various accouterments, so I emptied out the winter things and some other things to save into the laundry cart, took out a bag and got some recyclables put in there, put the tiny amount of trash in a grocery bag I had out there, and checked the spare for the first time since I've been driving the car (for over two years) to see that there is one, and a jack, and that it's inflated. I also took some wipes I had in the trunk and wiped down the steering wheel and dashboard, cleaned the inside of the windshield with Invisible Glass (I had a lot of spots from where my windshield froze last month on the inside, and when it was scraped and melted, streaked. It should be easier to see in the sun now.) For good measure, I took some lavender essential oil spray and gave the whole interior a good spray, as I had a damp dog in the car earlier today who peed (fortunately on the provided blanket I'd put on my rear seat). I put the regular air freshener, which had fallen off the air vent, back up. So all looks good.

For my efforts I was rewarded with a copy of my current car registration, which made it back to the trunk when I was cleaning last time, but (fortunately) not into the trash. I think I must have thought it was expired, but hadn't had the time to really read it at the time, so I'd just stuck it back with a few things to go through. It is now nestled in my glove box with my proof of insurance. Considering I have to renew it next week, this is great--it'll save me $6 I would have had to pay extra. I'm glad I did all that when I did, as it's now starting to get darker--I think it's going to storm soon. Now, I think it's time to tackle the apartment, starting with the dishes. I am out of spoons, so it is definitely time. I'm going to go put on some music to cover up the beat coming from upstairs somewhere and get to it. Hope you're having a good weekend!

I have

negotiated a $50 discount on my Time Warner Cable bill. Tomorrow I'm going to stop by the YMCA and cancel my membership, saving $46 a month. I am also going to stop by T-Mobile and see if I can cancel my broadband for my tablet, which I used regularly when I was on the bus but now I could just use it on wi-fi, and save maybe $30 a month. The tablet itself is paid off, so I don't think there will be a problem. I have an unlimited data plan on my phone and so use it more for looking up things. I mostly use the data on my tablet for updates, which I can do through wi-fi instead. Also my phone plan comes with a 2.5 GB hotspot that I can use if I'm in a non-wi-fi area with the tablet.

So that could save $176 a month right there. My plan is to take my tax refund and pay off two low-balance credit cards so I don't have a monthly or at least have a minimal monthly payment. And Lane Bryant is definitely one of them. I got behind and owed a minimum balance of $39 after months of paying higher than the minimum. Comenity Bank was calling me maniacally on my cell phone today, at 8:30 am, 10:00 am, and 10:35 am. The last time was five minutes after I'd paid them $50, and I'd had to talk to a representative to get my web payment to go through correctly, so I'd already talked to someone, paid it, and not 5 minutes later, got another call. I politely told the man that 1) I'd just paid, 2) I would appreciate if he took my mobile phone number out of their system, as I was being bothered at work, and 3) no, I wasn't going to give him my work phone to be hounded with either. They could call my home phone--that's what it's there for, to catch things like confirming doctor's appointments or other business stuff in such a way that I am notified (I receive e-mails on my phone of the transcribed message immediately), yet without annoying me while I'm busy doing things like working. I won't say I'm going to cancel the card just yet, but I am going to pay the $250 I owe as quickly as I can so I don't have to deal with these people. Gee.

So if I pay off those cards, that would save an additional $150 or so a month, and that would give me a small net gain rather than the loss I've been operating at for months now. I should be able to pay my bills and have maybe a small amount to go into savings for things like car repairs and other emergencies. That's the plan, anyway, if I can stick to the budget I've drawn up. My expenses have gone up this past year. I went from spending $30 for transportation by bus each month to about $240 for gas and car insurance monthly. That's a big difference. And I will have to pay on the dental work, too, so I needed to make some adjustments, cause all these little bills do add up.

Okay, having worked out those sorts of things, it's time for bed. Tomorrow I have completely free to myself. My plans:

1. Give blood.
2. Watch Catching Fire in the theatre with my free ticket from work.
3. Cancel my YMCA membership (I have to go in person).
4. Try to see about eliminating the broadband fee for my tablet.
5. Work on the book reviews.
6. Clean house, including trash and laundry sorting.
7. Talk with the leasing agent at my complex about the rent situation. I should have the money soon, but not necessarily in time before she files for eviction.
8. Work on game notes, although we're not playing Sunday.
9. Read.
10. Make arrangements for a ride for my oral surgery.
11. Get an overdue oil change.

Okay, good night!

Whew! Got to catch my breath!

So I did go to bed early last night, but I was up this morning at 5 am and went to Kroger pretty much as soon as I dressed, beat my hair down into submission, and brushed my teeth. My objective: to get things to further organise the house. Success! I now have two of those small folding bookshelves that fit together into one tall one for the kitchen, so I can move things from the kitchen island (such as cookbooks and various storage containers) and actually use the thing. I got a new trash can (my old one was sad). I got some closet hangers after about three associates helped me, mainly for drying purposes with the hand-washables. I got a second drying rack (this one can hold many clothes on hangers). I found a hanging shoe organiser that will fit in the closet (for someone who used to own about three pairs of shoes--athletic, dress, and sandals, I now have quite a few. Not a huge amount, but enough that this will help.) I threw some air freshener, soda, and coconut fruit bars into the mix and then got out of there while I still had some money. But the most expensive item, the shelves, were only $42, less than they were when I got so many in the spring. And my fuel points just went up.

So now it's 6 and I'm going to take just a bit of a break before actually putting all this in action. Here's the plan for this morning:

1. Rearrange the kitchen with the new shelves
2. Do dishes
3. Clean cabinets and stove
4. Clean out refrigerator
5. Set up new trash can
6. Sweep and mop kitchen
7. Straighten up computer area
8. Straighten up dining table
9. Go through mail
10. Water plants inside and out
11. Repot the ailing umbrella plant
12. Take out trash and recyclables
13. Do a once-over in bathroom
14. Return books to the library [Tuesday, actually]
15. Get quarters for laundry

Later in the day:

1. Take a friend to the grocery
2. Invite friends over
3. Do laundry [Tuesday and Wednesday]
4. Do the game notes

So, busy, busy, busy, which is why I got up so very early. Wish me luck!

It was so nice to play the game today

and then afterwards YKWIA shared something with me from his childhood, the 'Ultraman' series from the '60s, which was a little hokey (think rubber suits, jets on strings, and radioactive monsters in Japan), but nevertheless fun. Now I'm home, and operating on about five hours' sleep, so I'm going to take a shower and then head on to bed. Tomorrow he's going to come see (read: inspect) the apartment for good measure. After all the work I put into it, I hope it passes muster. We're not playing next weekend because Brenda has a Society for Creative Anachronism event to attend. But we started a new adventure and she's getting to play a character in the past who is alive who is normally a ghost. :)

It's supposed to get unseasonably cold tonight

So the herbs, strawberries, and pepper plant are all in the house for the night. The pepper, which isn't pictured, is in the bedroom with several blooms and five little peppers started on it, about a half-inch long (the peppers don't get very big, maybe about 2.5-3 inches, and they're purple bell peppers). The window boxes are on the dining table. The strawberries are already sending out runners and the herbs have already grown, especially the basil, which is probably the most cold-sensitive of the lot as well. So anyway, they're inside and safe from any potential frost.

I just got off the phone with my mom and we made plans for me to visit later in the month. She got the card I sent, despite the fact that I sent it from a mailbox that didn't get picked up on Friday until 3:30 pm and I totally screwed up the zip code (she's recently moved).

I am very tired and sore tonight, the result of all the work I did for so many hours yesterday, plus cleaning a friend's house today, including some things A has been doing for me to keep me from bending over as much. I thought I could do it, and didn't ask for help. He still helped do some things, though. But now I hurt. We didn't play the game, of course. I didn't finish cleaning my house, didn't have the notes finished, and Brenda decided to stay home for Mother's Day instead of coming in and working on characters again. I hope she wasn't too disappointed.

I did take those evening meds last night and will again tonight. I'm cold (just closed the windows a bit ago and it had dropped to a little less than 60 degrees). I think I'm going to curl up in bed for a little while, even though I took a nap earlier. I'm just so tired and achy. Then I'll come out and fold the laundry that wound up dumped on the loveseat last night when I brought it in. I hope I won't have to iron anything.

We did have some fun today. We watched a musical episode of 'Todd and the Book of Pure Evil' that was hilarious. I nearly lost it when the slackers outside the school (whom we suspect to be daemons) went into a doo-wop number. It was surreal. Sadly, we have just three more episodes to watch (it was cancelled after the second season). I've really enjoyed watching. It's on Netflix should you wish to catch it. At first it will seem like a lame 80s show, and eventually you'll realised that 1) it's recent and has a wicked sense of humour and 2) Canadian humour is both hilarious and weirder than you even thought. Enjoy.

Hope you had a great weekend. Mine was pretty productive but I'm totally ready to crash now. If I don't write later, good night.

Tomorrow is another day

Got most everything taken out, except for one bag of stuff that wasn't in the fridge, so it'll be okay till morning. So tired, and with little to show for it. I think this whole 'clean in five days' thing is going to not work so well. But I'll chug along and see what I can do. It is improving, just more slowly than I'd like. Hope your week is going well. I am so glad we're over the week's hump and are heading towards the weekend. I, for one, am going on to bed. Good night.

Apparently 9:30 am on a Tuesday

is a time that works for getting the electronic carts to ride throughout Kroger Marketplace on Richmond Road without depleting, although I did get a cart that kept rolling slightly backwards, so it would beep to warn you it was in reverse, even though it really wasn't. Still, better to deal with the beeping than running out of juice. We went there today because I have a late appointment Thursday and didn't think we'd have time for the grocery after that, plus it's been almost two weeks and I was down to chili and some macaroni and cheese, for the most part. I did make mac and cheese last night, on the stove, and managed to do so without burning anything, including me. Not bad for someone who's more than a little gimpy at the moment.

The stairs in front of my apartment are getting a little easier to deal with. I climb up them on my hands and knees, need someone to help me pull myself up the railing at the top of the steps, and then use the walker to get into the car. On the way down, I can use the walker for two steps, then hold onto the railing and sideways hop down the third, which is too narrow for the walker, then go back to the walker to reach the ground level. It's not something I could do by myself at all, but I've been lucky in the few times I've gone out to have one or even two people with me at the time. Brandon's almost-four-year-old has gotten to be a pro at carrying the walker once I'm in the chair.

I'm hoping when I go out on Thursday that it will be the last time for climbing the stairs on hands and knees. Even if I am able to bear some weight, I'm assuming I'll be using the walker or a cane for awhile. Those muscles, despite my exercising, are still pretty tight. I had trouble just lifting my leg off the electronic cart earlier to return to the car. But it will be so good not to hop everywhere! Almost as important, I'm hoping I can take a real shower after Thursday, albeit with a shower chair. And I'm hoping I get a return to work date for soon. I'm eager to return. I miss it; I miss everyone there. I know I can't rush things, I have to be physically able to do things again. But I'll be so glad when things return to normal.

And you want to hear something really funny? Besides work, and showering, the thing I most want to do is to be able to clean my house. I'm tired of dropping things and then either having to pick them up with the toes of my good foot or leave them be. I want things orderly. I want to take care of the clutter, to clean my bathroom, to be able to do my own laundry. Yes, the laundry I constantly gripe about. Isn't that odd that I would miss that? I think it's because doing all those little things makes you feel better about your environment and yourself. I've now had more people in my house than I have in the entire eight years I've lived here and beyond that, for that matter. I've had a three-year-old declare my house messy and volunteer his mother to make it sparkly. That's a little humbling. I'm not sure exactly where to start. Yes, there's the paintings and the books, but it's all the little crap that makes it hard. And I have things that need to go to the recycling centre that can't be put out like VCRs and monitors. I think I'm going to start by getting rid of some of that, either with Brandon or Brenda's help. Brenda mentioned she had some, too. And then I'm going to take YKWIA's suggestion and just take a sort of grid approach, doing a manageable bit at a time. That's the idea, anyway. It might take awhile, but eventually I'll get it.

The sun is shining for the first time in days, and the plants are loving it, I'm sure. I've just watered all of them, including the poor pepper in the bedroom that was terribly dry, although it's still got a pepper on it and is blooming (I'm assuming that won't make a pepper, without pollination). Maybe I can overwinter it. :) I thought about getting one of those Norfolk Virginia pines like I have in the past for the holidays, but frankly with the glitter they spray on them these days, they just die no matter what I do, whereas I used to keep them alive for a few years, anyway. So I didn't. I decided one more plant, particularly a large tree, would be too much to care for right now.

But I got to thinking as I was moving through the house that people look at wheelchairs entirely wrong. People see a person in a wheelchair, and they say, oh, look, poor them. Isn't it awful? But wheelchairs can be very freeing. Yes, the walker is very useful and I use it through much of the house. But for long walks, or even going from the kitchen to the living area, I get a little winded hopping about. The wheelchair is especially helpful out in the outside world. My doctor's office, while fairly accessible so long as you can get someone to open the door, is fairly easy to get through in a wheelchair, as you go across a lobby and up an elevator. I've had people push me but also gone up on my own with no trouble. But the walker would be much more difficult. And the walker itself is freeing, because I don't have the upper body strength to handle crutches. So when you see someone using various appliances or chairs, while, yes, it is perhaps a little sad that they have to rely on them to get around, remember that comparatively it's a good thing. That's one thing I've learned out of all this, and since I work in an orthopaedic children's hospital, it's a good lesson.

Whew!

I usually get up at 6:30-7 am, but decided to sleep in till 9:30 this morning. Since I woke up, however, I have:

1. Scrubbed the shower with a bleach gel of doom that now permeates the house. Normally I try for more natural cleaners, but the shower really needed this.
   
2. Removed the old shower liner and hung the new one.
   
3. Taken a shower.
   
4. Taken out the trash, including the old liner.
   
5. Taken out the recyclables, which were overflowing because I've been using the big hamper for clothes.
   
6. Burned some lavender incense in the hopes it has power over bleach.
   
7. Fixed brunch (eggs, cheese, peppers, onions, tomatoes, and portabella mushrooms. I can't call it an omelet, because I don't have the hang of omelet flipping, but it is tasty). Last night I cooked, too--summer squash, zucchini, garlic, onions, tomatoes, and cheese, cooked up in a skillet without shredding the squash this time. :)
   

Now I'm finally sitting down to eat. The main thing left on my agenda today is laundry, including bedding. I don't have any game notes to do; I finished those last week and then we didn't play due to Father's Day. (Brenda and her husband went to see Prometheus. She was of the opinion that the characters did some utterly dumb things in it that we would never do in the game. Of course, we've done some really dumb things, so I don't know about that. :) Of course, in the game it's all a learning experience, albeit sometimes without your beloved character anymore. In real life it doesn't work that way, and in movies, if the writers make your character do stupid things, you don't get to be cast in the sequel. Of course, since that was a 'prequel', it may not matter.)

Okay, I'm finished eating. I'm not quite ready for laundry. I think I'll check some things online first. Hope your weekend is off to a good start, too.

I played on the computer for awhile

and also paid most of my bills for the month and balanced my account, but then got up and worked on the kitchen, washing both the dishwasher-safe and hand washables, cleaning the counters, and taking out the trash. It didn't take overly long. Then I got the wine out. I bought it, frankly, for the name (Pinot Evil, with the famous monkeys of see no, hear no, speak no on it), but I didn't realise when I got it that it had a screw top. You would think that would have made it easier to open, but no, I am puny. It took a good ten minutes of straining and a bit of tapping with a knife to get it open. I need one of those grippers, it seems. Once I finally got it open, I did my libation, came back inside, got a little to eat and now I'm relaxing and winding down. I'll save the mead (which has a cork, and is fairly easy to open) for another time.

This is not the first comical moment I had today. Earlier I got a phone call and I couldn't find my phone. Judging from the direction, I was afraid it had fallen in the trash can or recyclable container, and I was puling them out and looking at them when it suddenly occurred to me that it was in my pants pocket. Sigh. I know we all have these moments, but good grief, I felt silly. I did get tickled, though.

Anyway, it was a productive day both at work and here. It's nice to have everything still straightened up here, although at work I'm a little behind on filing and statistics, something I hope to rectify next week, although it's going to be a very busy one, I can tell, much busier than this one.

Tomorrow I'm going to go over and help a friend with some projects. One thing I don't have to do is game notes, as I finished the last ones last week and we didn't play Sunday. As far as I know we're back on for this Sunday, though.

Okay, I'm officially sleepy and I'm going to try to get up in about four hours, which will still give me plenty of actual sleep for the night, although of course it was in two sections, which probably isn't good for me. Good night.