Well, I did at least get home by 9 pm

My boss let me go enjoy a bit of this glorious day (78 degrees and sunny, although a bit gusty with a south wind) by letting me leave after my work was finished, so I left at 3:30 pm, went home for a bit, picked A up from a job interview, and then took him to YKWIA's.  YKWIA showed us several clips from the TV show 'Mom', which I had not seen.  Then I took A to the store, took him home, went back to YKWIA's with some things from the store, made him tea, and then came on home.  Both of them have some sort of cold.  Hopefully I won't get anything from them; I've had my crud for the season as far as I'm concerned.

Tonight we have thunderstorms; tomorrow will top out about 30 degrees cooler than today.  But it was nice while it lasted, and it looks like there will be warm weather next week, too.  My friend's croci are actually and blooming already, and I saw a beautiful tree (not close up enough to see what it was, but it had lovely white blooms) in full glory.  Hopefully it won't get caught in a freeze.  But we're not out of the woods.  We've had a blizzard in mid-March about twenty-four years ago.  I'll believe winter is over once spring really gets going, although I must admit, we haven't had much cold or snow, and the last week has been wonderful.  I actually worn skirts two days this week, and with the exception of the two days I was packing boxes, I've worn sandals.

I finished the John Scalzi book The Dispatcher and enjoyed it quite a bit.  It was only a novella, but I'm counting that as a book for my reading goal.  Zachary Quinto did an excellent job with reading the voices.  Apparently it was produced by Audible, so as far as I know, it's just an audiobook.

Now I'm listening to OneRepublic's Native album.  I'm almost finished.  But it was nice to relax a little.  I'm going to take the guys to an appointment tomorrow, but I could sleep in, as that isn't until midday.  But at the same time, I think I may go on to bed and get up early and get a few things accomplished around here.  Plus, I still need to do game notes, of course.

Okay, I'm going to head on to bed.  The album just finished playing.  Good night!

So

My mom is going into hospice, probably at the nursing home she's been in on and off between hospital visits. :( The doctor said that short of a liver transplant, which isn't going to happen due to her other health issues, she might have six months, tops, to live. I'm going to go visit this weekend. I've known this was coming, but it doesn't make it easier, and it must be far worse for her. But part of the whole point of hospice care is to prepare the patient and family for what's to come. So that's good. I know my stepfather (who is a very good husband) has done everything he could to try to avoid this. But it's a natural part of life. I've mostly accepted it, but at the same time, I have a lot of mixed emotions. We'll see how things go. I just hope they can keep her comfortable and allow her to make the most of life that remains.

Sigh. I guess because of the news last night about the prognosis, I had a hard time falling asleep. After an hour of tossing and turning, I finally broke out the sleeping pills my doctor prescribed, the trazodone. I took 1/2 a pill, since I didn't know how I'd react. I slept really well from 11 pm till about 4:30 am, and then I was just awake, not groggy, just awake. (I have the same reaction to the muscle relaxant tizanidine). No grogginess or anything, just suddenly up and going. I got up, took a relaxing bath with lavender oil, a candle, and some lavender incense, and then put my headphones on, turned on OneRepublic's Native album, and tackled the kitchen, doing not only the dishwasher dishes, but the plastic ones that had been languishing. I cleaned the whole kitchen, except for mopping, and took quite a bit of trash out. It looks great.

After that I went on into work and continued my productivity. I boxed up five boxes of books that are going to the new facility, separated three departements' worth of books and labelled them, helped someone order a book through our vendor, and talked our buyer through the website (and helped him with a personal request that was book-related). I forget that many people consider the ISBN a totally foreign concept. But it was nice to do a lot of library-related stuff today. I've already gotten some books to departments, and I'll try to get the rest out soon.

In the afternoon I did my charge entry and OR reconciliation. Then I left work a little late and went home for a bit before my appointment with my counselor. We had a good session. I showed him the before and after photos of the kitchen, and I had filled out a worksheet on trying not to acquire new things. I see him again in three weeks, and in the meantime I'm going to work on the books on the entertainment centre and the bookshelf behind the front door so that I can hopefully open up the entryway a bit.

Now I'm home, trying something I haven't done--cranberry bread. It uses the raisin bake setting, and you're supposed to add the fruit at the beep. But unlike the quick setting, where you get bread in 1 hour 55 minutes, this takes four hours. So the beep hasn't happened yet. I am listening to music softly, Passenger's All the Little Lights. I need to do some reading to round out my to-do list for the day.

In fact, I think I'll read the orchid book I have to see if I can learn something about them. I have one blooming and another has a stem that's halfway up. I do love them, and I'm so glad they're doing well. I finally watered the plants at the house. I also found the tulips budding the other day and put water in the vase for them to grow. :)

Okay, good night for now.

So we've reached the miserable stage

I don't just have a cold. That's gotten worse, and last night my throat was hurting so badly that I could barely swallow. No, I have pinkeye, too, and got sent home from work since it's so contagious. I managed to see my nurse practitioner this morning (I had a wellness exam scheduled for tomorrow, so they just moved it to today). She put me on sulfa drops, which I have to be on for 24 hours before I can go back to work. She was ready to give me a note that would have me coming back on Monday, but I have very little PTO, so I asked her if I could go back tomorrow afternoon and she said yes. My boss (who's also the employee health nurse) is going to let me work from 1-5 pm tomorrow so I can catch up on my charge sheets. She's also going to let me come in on Saturday to make up time so I can work on the policy editing. Yay.

I came home about 9 am, slept for a bit since I'd had almost none the night before, had my appointment at 11:30, then went and got the prescription and a few groceries. By the time I got back home, I was tired again. I went back to sleep from about 2 to just now, about 5, and took my medicine again. I have to take it every three hours while awake. I have absolutely no energy. I'm finally home, able to do things around the house, and am too sick to do so. Maybe tomorrow morning I'll feel better, and can tackle some of it.

So I'm listening to Pandora (the OneRepublic channel, which has that, Imagine Dragons, 3 Doors Down, The Script, Shinedown, and Matchbox Twenty, among the others. I feel somewhat mellow as a result. I just feel physically 'meh'. I'm blowing my nose a lot, washing my hands a lot, and generally feeling achy and feverish. My throat isn't as bad today--and thankfully, they did a strep culture, which was negative, so there's that--and that's a blessing.

Okay, I'm going to go to get some orange juice and then pay a bill that I forgot. T-Mobile didn't cut me off, at least. :) I meant to make a payment arrangement and totally forgot to. So I'd better pay now. I'll probably write later.

Whew!

I decided the only way to do a few things before a friend comes over to bake a cake in my kitchen was to do it early in the morning before I was hurting too much to lift a finger.  So,  I got up at 5:45 this morning,  and I have:

1. Taken the things for Goodwill to the car.
2. Taken out the trash and recyclables.
3. Washed dishes.
4. Wiped down cabinets and did some rearranging.
5. Cleaned up the dining room table so we have more prep space.
6. Gave the bathroom a once-over.
7. And lastly,  but certainly not least,  as it will probably be felt longer,  I filled the fish tank with 15 gallons of water,  five gallons at a time.  It had to be done,  neck issues or not.  But everything else was light,  and I used my granny cart for the trash.

So  I've been drinking water for a few minutes in front of the fan.  Now it's time to get ready for work.  But it was nice timing - - I started listening to two albums by OneRepublic when I started working,  and they just finished. Hope you have a good day.

Just managed to get in

before the heavens opened up, as a strong band of storms is making its way across Central Kentucky. There's lots of lightning and wind out there, but I managed to park and get inside before the rain actually started. I'd taken YKWIA to an appointment this evening, and he'd had fed me some great green rice and homemade bread, and we'd watched 'Ugly Betty' (the season 2 finale) afterwards, and I'd washed up the dishes and then he got a phone call so I let myself out and boogied on home to beat the storm. Now I'm listening to Pandora (the OneRepublic station). I've gone onto Twitter, identified a plant someone asked about (it's a May Apple), and checked out Facebook. Now I think I'll get ready for bed and get up early in the morning. I have an appointment to take a friend to tomorrow afternoon, so it would be great if I could get in early. I sent an enquiry about a job today, one that I'm over-qualified for, but would be a good part-time job to supplement with if I could get it, in a neighbouring county. I asked about the hours ('part-time' could be anything from 10-36 for some), and if they'd be willing to consider a degreed librarian for this position (it's the tech centre's keeper, assisting people with the computers and equipment). Since it's part time, I thought they might, even though normally it would just require a bachelor's degree. We'll see. It would help to have some more money coming in, and it would give me a foot in the door into public libraries, so it might help later on when my job goes away next year. It couldn't hurt to try, anyway. I just wanted to clarify a couple of things before taking the time to apply, so I wouldn't waste their time or mine, either. Wish me luck!

I got home from the game while it was still light outside

which is almost unheard of. I enjoyed the game--downtime this time, but with getting so little sleep last night, I'm ready to get some rest. I've been researching pregnancy a bit for the game, as I have a character who is pregnant with twins. She's fifteen weeks along (I thought it was thirteen, but gestation is dated from the last period, not from the date of conception, I found out.) One of them is female, the other is male (it's too early to tell by mundane means, but magic is a totally different thing, and after all, this is a horror/sci-fi/fantasy sort of game. And apparently there is active magic going on with the babies already, even though they haven't been born, so it looks like we'll have a couple more special kids in the game, to join the ranks of fairy princesses and shapeshifters.)

Before we played, as I was doing my normal game preparations, I also did my laundry, which had piled up for two weeks rather than the regular one, so that's good. I'd taken the sheers over there to be evaluated, and he liked them. so I washed those, too. I think one rod will work, but the other window will need a different one, as my bigger window rod doesn't collapse down far enough. So today was productive over there. I'd like to do a bit around here--I still need to take out the trash and recyclables, for example, and tomorrow isn't good because I'll probably be there late due to an appointment. But I'm already in my sleep shirt, and I'm pretty comfy and don't want to put regular clothes back on to take that out. But I've got my alarm already set for 6 am, so I might be able to take care of it in the morning.

I've been home almost an hour, listening to Pandora again (this time it's the OneRepublic channel, so stuff like them, Imagine Dragons, The Fray, and Maroon V). I've got the windows up, the fan going in the living room, and I have one small light on. With it getting dark outside, there's not much light in here, and I'm getting pretty sleepy. I really don't want to go to bed yet--I'd like to make it to 10 pm. I also need to go looking for one of my medicines--I accidentally put it in a bag of meds rather than my bookbag, and put another one in there instead. So I didn't have it today. I also need to go ahead and take my Lantus so I can keep on track with my injectible medication schedule as well. I just checked my Habitica tasks--I apparently forgot to mark my dailies off yesterday, even though I did them, which is unfortunate, as I lost hit points for my avatar. But I've marked things off for tonight, anyway. I was also sure to wish a co-worker happy birthday today on Facebook. She and her family went to the Louisville Zoo today. :)

Okay, I think I'm going to go in-between and instead of going to bed, which would necessitate closing the windows, I'll prop myself back on the couch recliner. But I'll sign off for now. Good night.

So one of my several majors in school

was Classical Civilisation, and I am a Classics geek. [My BA degree is in history and sociology, with an honours programme, but I went back after graduating with my master's in library science and completed the classical civilisation major and a minor in Judaic studies. I was, sadly, only one class away from completing a linguistics major--phonological analysis was never taught at a time that fit into my schedule in all the years I was in school.] One good thing about my education is that I can read both Classical and Mediaeval Latin, between the Classics courses and the graduate work I did in history. I didn't get as far in Greek, though, dropping out about the time we got to the aorist tense, which Wikipedia defines as 'a term for a set of verb forms that usually express perfective aspect and refer to past events, similar to a preterite.' But, it continues, 'The word comes from Ancient Greek aóristos "indefinite", as the aorist was the unmarked (default) form of the verb, and thus did not have the implications of the imperfective aspect, which referred to an ongoing or repeated situation, or the perfect, which referred to a situation with a continuing relevance; instead it described an action "pure and simple".' If that makes your brain hurt, well, it did mine as a well. I would like to go back and study my Ancient Greek textbooks (I have both of the first two semesters' worth).

But even though my Greek isn't that great, I still love things to do with Classical Greece, and one mystery series I'm working my way through is Gary Corby's, which is set in the childhood of Socrates. In fact, the main protagonist is Socrates' brother. The first book of the series is The Pericles Commission. Then there's The Ionia Sanction, The Marathon Conspiracy, Sacred Games (I have all of those, though I'm still reading), and finally Death Ex Machina.

I also read Gary Corby's blog, A Dead Man Fell from the Sky..., the title of which is taken from the first line of his first book. I started reading it before he actually had any of his books published officially, and found it to be quite enjoyable. The latest entry is on Classical Greek music and I really enjoyed it. If you are interested in Greek, Classics, or music, You should check it out. And you might check your library for his books as well.

After sleeping till 11 am, I got up and ate, and then got cold (which almost never happens), so I crawled back in the bed and didn't come out till 2 pm. So I got a LOT of rest. A and I went on a two-hour journey through two grocery stores in order to get everything on the list, including the one nearest me, which is a huge Kroger that has clothes and housewares as well. But they didn't have the right creamer, so we stopped by Chinoe's Kroger for that. After that, YKWIA splurged slightly and we got dinner from Jin Jin, so I went and picked that up (I had my usual, Kung Pao Tofu). We ate, A watching a classic movie about the Roosevelts, and YKWIA and I watching an episode of 'Lost Girl' on Netflix. Then I left, because they wanted to watch the premiere of 'American Horror Story: Hotel' (I'm just not into that show--I watched 'Coven', but I haven't seen the others, and YKWIA thinks I'm just a wuss because it's too scary for me.) So I came home, and I watched the final episode of the second season of 'Sherlock'. I'd though I hadn't seen much of it, but I had. But I haven't watched the episodes from the third season yet, and so it set those up. Now I'm listening to the OneRepublic Pandora station, with candles and incense burning, and the windows open. It's a pleasant night, and there were no game notes to do because we haven't played in two weeks (due to a wedding and an illness), and I got the notes finished quite some time ago.

I think before I go to bed I'm going to do a little reading. I didn't the other day when I thought I would; I was just too tired. I'm more than halfway finished with my book (Hollow City, by Ransom Riggs, and I'd like to go ahead and finish it. There is a third book in the series out called Library of Souls. That's not one I own; I'll have to get it through the library. I really do like the series, and I am concerned about what Tim Burton is going to do with the film adaptation. There is an excellent book trailer for Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children on YouTube:



Hmmm...the other day I found two unused AA batteries; now my mouse is dying, so I changed them out. Serendipity, indeed. And yes, I turn my mouse off, usually, after each use. Which is why the batteries have lasted at least two years.

Okay, I think I'll go do that. I'm listening to 'I Lived' by OneRepublic right now. I love that song. But I'll do some reading and then turn in, as Sunday morning will come soon enough and I need to go over and help get the house ready for company and get it ready for the game. A wants to take a walk and plant tulips and a hyacinth, too, so we'll see if we can get it all worked into the normal busy Sunday schedule. :)

While I've been working on the house

I've been listening to a playlist which has 265 songs and goes on for 18 hours. They're mostly in alphabetical order. I'm down to 'I am an Illusion' by Rob Thomas. :) I have worked on the living room, kitchen, and dining room. I still have to put away all the laundry I folded, which is sitting on the bed, vacuum the carpet, and finish with a few jars that have the labels soaking off them and run the dishwasher. I also want to do a quick once-over of the bathroom tonight. That'll just leave the bedroom. Yay. But right now I'm drinking water, and I'm going to go sit in front of the fan for a bit. I mopped the kitchen floor earlier, and now the whole place smells like lavender Pine Sol.

Okay, we're up to James Blunt's 'I Can't Hear the Music' and OneRepublic's 'I Lived'. I think I'll go rest in the bedroom for a little while, and then put the laundry away, with the fan going.

On the other hand, for those braver than I

Life is meant to be lived, of course, not hidden from or played safe.

Listening to:

And...

The Big Bang Theory tonight

Made me cry.  It still makes me well up with tears when I think about it.  It was very fitting,  and I'm glad they chose this route.  But it was still sad.  I won't say anything more in case you haven't seen it yet.  But you frankly should try to see it. That's it for me tonight,  I think.  I'm listening to OneRepublic's Native album (specifically,  'I Lived' at the moment).  After that I think it's time to turn in for the night.  Take care,  stay safe. Good night.

I rather like this song

And the .mp3 album was only $5.99 on Amazon, so I downloaded it. Kudos to the person who put the video up on YouTube and actually spelled 'losing' correctly; that's rare on the Internet. :)

I'm home after spending some time with friends and catching up on our Wednesday night TV shows that we missed due to the dinner out at Alfalfa's. There's no game tomorrow, so we're going to try to watch The Blues Brothers then. I should really work on game notes tonight. I may. But I may just relax. I've been irritable all day, probably because I had to wait till yesterday to get some meds that keep my moods balanced, now that I'm out of flexible spending money and all. I'm not sure I was really good company today. There were no breakdowns or anything like that, but I did get asked if it were time for my period, so I'm assuming I was acting like I had PMS. Sigh. Well, I'm back on them and my mood should even out within a day or so. But this is why I'm usually so careful to stay on my meds--I've been off them for only three days. Okay, back to taking it easy and having a quiet evening at home. My music should be downloaded now. I may write later, but if not, good night.

Listening to

Timbaland featuring OneRepublic, 'Apologize'


Backstreet Boys, 'Helpless When She Smiles'