The ON DIT and a couple of pics

Song of the day: “Roar” not by Katie Perry, but rather this band that covered it splendidly. Been going through my head for quite a bit, actually. Hah.

What’s new, what’s new…not much, but the good news is that you are looking at a very happy girl who finally has a kitchen sink again. Hah. Yep, this very day, big brother and I finished installing the thing, and I gotta say it is looking pretty darn cute. I’ll see if I can post a pic.

It worked out well. Worked with wood, stainless steel and marble, and there is lots of light since we basically knocked the window back a couple of feet and created an alcove of sorts. It reminds me a bit of a galley, which has its charm. I just have to forget that I really, really like open big places. *sigh* All it needs now is a water heater and a light.

Stove in front, then kitchen sink. Very handy.

I haven’t been getting enough sleep lately, much to my regret, but who needs sleep anyway. I’ll sleep when I’m dead, right? Been trying to catch up with naps here and there, but alas that doesn’t always work. I’ll keep trying, though. Hah.

  

The gate I mentioned. The lock's not on it here yet.

Like mentioned the last time the gate big brother and I put together for the old horse paddock. Nice and straight and sturdy and made of materials that used to be my cabin. *sob* Poor me. Seriously, I sometimes look at the stuff we’re using, including for the kitchen sink, and think: “Oh, that was my lovely cabin.” I miss my cabin. I want my cabin back. *double sob* Can’t care about stuff I can’t change, so moving on.

Been doing daily writing. Not much, mind you, since I’m often drooping by the end of the day. But the story is steadily progressing. Also, we finally figured out most of the plot, which has been jotted down, yay, making things a lot less complicated. Though, I find it hard to find my focus whenever I’m working on my book, but there are moments when I get into the zone and pound out a page or two without conscious thoughts. Those are the times I live for at the moment, I admit.

Lots of experimenting with cooking this past week or so. Got a really good dish of fresh soft veggies that I really should jot down for the cooking blog. Including a rather successful attempt at stuff mushrooms, which for some reason made them taste like little pizzas. Added to that, I tried out a south American dessert called Morocho…well, I had the main ingredient, looked at the picture, the title “spiced Morocho” and gave it my own swing…really nice, but it took forever to prepare. Considering I had to also boil chickpeas which had been soaking all through the night, it wasn’t like I wasn’t already busy at the stove already. The latter was for patties, which was really something I was in the mood for.

Been in the mood for veggies a lot lately, so there was loads of experimenting with zucchini, sweet potatoes, cauliflower, eggplant. Since we’re also training, egg has been part of our diet as well. Which reminds me…

We signed up for the fitness club in town, which is about a ten minute drive down the mountain. At the moment we’re doing three times a week, but would like to, somehow make that into four times. Luckily the aches and immobility after a workout session are gone, leaving only the usual soreness that belongs with regular training. I gotta say I like it. The place, the people, in particular after nine in the evening when there are only few others left at the gym, giving us free reign of the machines. Yay!

Been cutting and prepping a lot of the dog food lately. Normally grandpa insists on doing that, but he is not well. I have been trying to get him to go to a doctor, but he is terribly stubborn, determined to handle things his own way, in a way that I can’t help him. I probably shouldn’t anyway. Everyone needs to walk their own path. You can’t change that. It just makes me sad to see him suffer like this. Ravaged by worries, real and imagined alike, make his life very hard.

As for the dogs. I am still having difficulty with Knight’s passing. Not bouncing back as quickly as I’d hoped. Guess I didn’t exaggerate in the blog of his death: He did break my heart. And there barely is a day that passes without me thinking about him at least once.

On the up side, I get lots of guest during the night, these days. Huckabee has decided that he rather likes the quiet of my corner of the porch, so he and big brother’s Thorgal (Golden retriever) alternate overnight stays. The same goes for Clue, who has become a permanent resident on my bed during the night. It’s not bad, considering I only have Sitabah and Daxie now.

Lots of laundry, as usual. But there is something wrong with the washing machine, meaning that we’re going to need to get a mechanic here one day soon. Don’t know what’s up, but several of the usual washing programs are no longer functional. Gawd, I do hope that it won’t cost a fortune, because let’s face it, the warranty ran out about two months ago…strangely enough just a couple of days before the machine started acting up.

I am enjoying my table, in particular since it allows me to write in semi-comfort, and eat a meal sitting down. Not that I’m such a big fan of eating while sitting down, it is just that it is nice that you can, if you want to.

Spent quite a few mornings trimming more trees. There were some touch and go moments when things could have gone seriously wrong, but now the trees that could have been a problem for the power company, have been cut down leaving the lines completely free.

Did some sewing. There was stuff that needed to be fixed, and I liked the change of pace.

Oh, I cut my hair. Yep a whole two inches…and no one noticed, of course. Seriously, I cut it, fluffed it in a way that I never do, and no one mentioned anything. It’s hysterical. But anyway, I like it.  I can still tie it in a small stub in the back, (easy for training)  and I can leave it loose without it looking like a mess. I still have Einstein hair in the morning, of course, but that’s okay.

Well, I’m going to leave it at this. I’m running late, and morning is less than seven hours away. I’ll be back…at some point.

"Get it off!"

Song of the day: “Living Darfur” by Mattafix. Gorgeous song, though admittedly when I first heard it some time ago, I thought it was a tall black woman singing. Little did I know that it was a short white guy. Hah.

Well, compared to the past few weeks this one was considerably mild. Was nice, though, having things quiet down a little…added to that we finally heard from town hall, and it is official, we have met the demands to satisfaction, so the complaint will be archived. Yay. Such a relief, that, at least we won’t have to worry about surprise inspections and whatnot anymore. Not that it changes anything, really. It’s all gone now, just a piece of land with a too small house on it. *snort* Ah well, will just have to rough it, won’t I?

So what have we been doing. There is the usual, which I can’t talk about, naturally. *sigh* But yesterday was out of the norm, which is definitely something that I can talk about.
We went for a road trip. And it was grand. We had to go to the insurance broker, again, (something is still off with the account) and then, rather than driving straight home, we went off road near La Cala (well, there was a short detour to the garage because apparently we suddenly sprung a leak in the brake fluid container. They’ll fix that come Thursday when we need to go in to have some other repairs done) and headed in-country. Gorgeous! Despite the fire damage of two years ago.
Never been to that side yet, and it was worth the trip. We went over tracks and mountain passes, regardless of mud, puddles and rain, and enjoyed the sights of blackened oaks with massive bursts of new growth. Red earth covered with a sheen of bright green grass and weeds, interspersed with yellow, pink and white flowers everywhere. We saw villas, ruins, partly finished apartment buildings and dilapidated structures aplenty. And then, while traveling down some unmarked path we discovered the back of a massive villa and practically stumbled upon a big red sign reading “Peligro grave! cocodrilo suelto”! Yes, you’re reading, or guessing that right. “Grave danger, crocodile on the loose” roughly translated. I couldn’t believe it myself, but there it was in red and white with behind it a nice big pond with reeds and low growth everywhere, and partway in the water what looked to be some sort of metal cage. Can you believe it? A crocodile on the loose? In Southern Spain. That is scary indeed, since that was a rather populated area. Let’s just hope that it was the owner’s idea of keeping the riffraff of his property, eh?
Didn’t see a crocodile, so it might have been just bollocks.

But anyway, we didn’t get home until after four in the afternoon when I decided that a short nap was in order. Woke up, startled really, two hours later with not a clue as to what time of day it was. Hah. Was nice. I guess I really needed that.

Did a nice spot of cooking. A stir fry rice veggie mix and a big batch of my chickpea patties. Since we have so little time to cook these days, I thought it smart to make some of the dough so we can bake a couple whenever we’re in too much of a rush to eat proper. Also made a strawberry pie, which worked out splendidly.

Had a nice workout today, albeit a short one. Finally got my boxing ball hanging again, and I kicked the carp out of that thing. Will have to make time for a proper session soon, though. This was barely enough to get my blood pumping, darn it. Be that as it may, some is better than none, so I’m not going to complain.

Got a new cream for Knight II’s paw, so I have taken off his sock (don’t gasp, it is very unbecoming) to let it dry a little, and have applied the white stuff liberally. Half an hour later, he’d licked it off, of course, so I had to reapply it and now, some odd five hours late, I’ve got to put new on again. The silly boy just doesn’t get it that he needs to leave that foot alone, darn it….worse, I got back from a trip and discovered that he really dug in again. I wonder what he thinks he’s about. Sometimes it seems as if he’s determined to amputate the darn thing. "Get it off! Get it off!!!" Silly boy.

The weather has been atrocious for the past week. I think we had a total of three days of rain, which made things really interesting in these cramped spaces. Everything is smelly and everything is dirty, so as soon as I find a minute, I’m going to have to do some serious cleaning in my corner. Today the weather cleared a little, thankfully, so it was actually quite pleasant to be out and about in the yard with the dogs.

There was a short incident with the sibs the other day. Middle and little sister had gotten a bottle of champagne each from a friend and got a little carried away since they figured it was such a low percentage. Before you know it they were more than a little cheerful and ended up hurling up the whole mess. Thankfully they were both cheerful drunks, and let us help them to bed to sleep it off…that was after we needed to unwrap them from the porcelain bowl, of course. *sigh* Ah, to be haplessly drunk…it happens to us all some day, doesn’t it? Poor darlings suffered the nauseating and dizzying consequences the next day, I fear. Hah.

As for me, I’ve been very disciplined lately with taking only one or two glasses of wine in the evening, more for medicinal purposes than anything…which will be the case tonight, because that jog, however pleasant, did take its toll on my poor foot. Yikes.

Might have a fence building job coming up in the near future, so it is going to take some planning to see how we’re going to fit that around our normal job. It’s a bit of a rush rob, so that means long days combined with our normal hours. We’ll see how that goes…better get some sleep tonight, because it looks like I’m going to need it. Still not getting enough hours, ya know.

Did get some writing done for the "Gun!" story, but not much. Characters are slowly starting to get some depth.

As for everything else going on…I’m drawing a blank and don’t feel like getting my diary to check the days out individually. You’ll have to do it with this little bit of fascinating information this weekend, I guess. Hah.

Gotta go.

Disaster struck

No song of the day, today. I’m too upset. We had some seriously disturbing news today. This very morning, while I was taking the Knight to the vet for his checkup, we got a call informing us that tenant would not be allowed to go home from the hospital, but that she had, instead, “agreed” to be admitted in a nursing home. How they had her agree to it, I don’t know, because tenant is terribly deaf, doesn’t speak more than three words of Spanish and her English isn’t any better. The only thing I can imagine happening is that they asked her if she wanted to go to a home, and that she interpreted that as “go home”. Aaargh. There went Spanish lesson.

Went to hospital immediately, of course, requested an interpreter, and went up to her room. I went in, and immediately asked what was going on, and if she had agreed to going to some sort of home. At first she had no idea what I was talking about, and then she was shocked to the core…seriously, I saw her pale, and tears gathered in her eyes. Not nice. Not nice at all, I tell ya…as she assured me that no one asked her anything, and that she just wanted to go home.

The interpreter arrived then, and I explained the situation asking if it was possible that they were just going to put her away somewhere without her agreement. She assured me that there had to be some misunderstanding and escorted me down to the social services section of the hospital. Apparently those folks that came by on Friday ambushed us, or some such, and made the decision with the doctors. Just like that. There was nothing this woman could do, either, I would have to go to the village social worker and sort it out there. She even refused to give me the name of the place tenant was being brought to, and me explaining that this would devastate tenant, and that she wouldn’t understand, didn’t sway her one bit.

So, defeated by bureaucracy it would seem, I went back to tenant to try to explain that when I left, she was going to be brought to a new room someplace else, and that I wouldn’t be seeing her for several days at least while I tried to sort out the mess. Not nice to have her apologize profusely for not drinking enough, and getting those pesky infections over and over again, either. Made me feel as if she was negotiating her being allowed to go home, or something. As if I could just change it if only she promised to drink properly. Horrid! Had to finish the conversation by telling her not to worry and just cooperate otherwise the folks might think she’s not capable of making her own decisions.

Got in contact with her family. Regretfully her daughter was at home, so I had to leave a rather messy message with tenant’s granddaughter, after which tenant’s son in law phoned to ask for more information. I didn’t have anything to give yet, much to my regret. He promised they would contact me later once daughter got home from work.

At that same time, because two o’clock was already near, caregiver tried to go to the village to see if she could get any information at the health center, but the staff there had no idea what was going on.

Once I got home, a mail of tenant’s daughter arrived, at which time I had to write down what had been happening, and what we think is going on, but that we don’t know because no one is saying anything. The family is of course understandably upset. Heck, I’m upset. Everyone is upset. Right now you could say that upset is the permanent state of being over here. *sigh* Couldn’t even eat properly afterward, and that while I hadn’t had time for breakfast either. Have been battling a massive headache all day.
Worst of it all is that grandpa and Sally are now scared beyond compare about something similar happening to them if they go to hospital. Not a good thing considering Sally’s stage IV cancer and failing general health, and grandpa needing his heart checked regularly. They both insist on seeking legal council to prevent something like this in the future. What happened with tenant, is almost kidnapping, for crying out loud.

Considering big brother and I have work tomorrow, we had to go to town to get some stuff, meaning that as soon as I was done “conversing” with tenant’s daughter, we had to go out. Got most of what we needed, and were about to exit the store when my phone rang and I finally got to speak to tenant’s daughter in person. She has contacted the embassy and as of this afternoon they are looking into the matter. It did mean that I would have to a write a more official statement, in Dutch, of all language, which is by no means easy for me these days.

But anyway, I got home to start doing exactly that, only to discover that Sally wasn’t doing well. *sigh* Seriously, what is going ON? Is this a bad streak of luck or WHAT? But anyway, it took some convincing to get her to agree to go to the small emergency room in town, rather than the big one in Marbella (she was afraid that if she went in, she wouldn’t be coming out again) but in the end she did agree to go. No way can we risk not going to the ER when her feet start to swell, and the skin on her legs start to turn purple-ish red. She’s had that before, and they warned us that if it went past the knee it could be dangerous. So big brother and caregiver are there now (already heard she was on her way home, thankfully) with her on the antibiotics just like last time. *double sigh*, while grandpa and I bent over putting together my statement in a semi-cohesive fashion.

Which brings us to now. Doesn’t it. Regretfully, there was the whole of yesterday to talk about, but what with everything going on, it feels somewhat redundant. It was a working day, and it was a scorcher, so we were a little time pressed considering we had to wait until after five for the heat to relent enough for us to continue pouring concrete. This meant that we didn’t finish until eleven (cleaning up included) to make our working hours. Can hardly charge the boss lady for sitting, waiting for the sun to become less hot while we work on the book, eh?
But anyway, we got our hours in, and managed another third of the floor pouring. Am afraid that we’re going to have to ask for another day. The heat is making progress slow.

Well, I’m going to leave it at this, and hope that I can get some work done still while I wait for big brother, caregiver and Sally to come home, and then I have to go to bed. Tomorrow we have to finish that floor after all.

Buddhist

Song of the day: “Something stupid” by Robbie Williams and Nichole Kidman. Don’t know where that one came from, but it’s in my head since early this morning.

So I’m in a rush. Seriously. It is eleven thirty in the evening, I just came back from pouring concrete, for which we left at ten this morning. Sure, we might not have poured during their entire time, but it was a long day regardless.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. First there was the weekend, wasn’t there.
Saturday I wasn’t feeling well at all, so I needed a short nap in the afternoon before getting ready to go to the Market. Arrived a tad late, partly due to the fact that we had to finish up loading, and cooking something to eat. Didn’t matter, though. There weren’t all that many stand holders, so we could unload at our leisure. As soon as that was done, though, I headed out to the hospital to visit with tenant. Due to this somewhat odd bacteria she caught, we’re forced to wear protective gear in her room…which isn’t all that pleasant considering I’m usually hot from going up the stairs. Hah.
She was in good spirits, though, so not all was bad.

I’ll just come out and say it. Didn’t sell a single item at the market. *sigh* I did take a nice amount of pictures, however, so not all was lost. Added to that, I even handed out several of my business cards, which are unlikely to have any effect, but still, networking and all that. Had loads of fun getting folks to pose. Got several kids to do it too, which was hysterical. In particular a little boy who really didn’t want to, and who we had to tease out of a crying jag. Also this adorable little girl, who finally grinned at me, only to move at the last possible moment and wrecking the shot. Ah well, next time better luck. Most of the shots that worked will come up on the photo blog. Hah.

Were late getting home, and didn’t get to bed until after three. *sigh* Did manage to get some serious writing done. At the market as well as at home yesterday. Would have done more, too, but we had to visit tenant at the hospital again, and went to town afterward to get shoes on sale for big brother. Still wasn’t feeling well, might have caught a bit of what big brother had last week. Actually fell asleep in the car, which is never smart since that tends to make the driver sleepy too. Finally had to sit up straight and force myself awake.

Worked on my photos, of course, posted two of them so far. Had to cook supper last night, which worked out well, since it was also today’s lunch. At that same time big brother loaded up the Land Rover for today’s working session at the job site. Was so tired at the end of the day, I basically passed out. Hah.

Good thing, too, since we had to get up early this morning for the job. Did the final packing, gathered food stuffs and were on the road before ten. First had to pick up a load of sand, of course, then drive up and unload. Mixed several loads of cement for big brother, and then went down again for the second load of sand…and sacks of cement, naturally. I sure got my exercise today. Hah.

Again, unloading, after which we took a break, did some Spanish and wrote two pages for the latest C.H. revision. Getting along nicely, I think. Lots of new scenes, new angles. It’s keeping everything interesting.

That done, it was back to work. Made several more loads of concrete for big brother (was sweating like a horse since the temps were up in the mid-nineties) and then drove back down the mountain once more for the last load of sand of the day. Once that was up on the site, I spent the following three to four hours mixing, hauling and shoveling concrete for big brother, who proceeded to turn it into a five foot wide twenty-five foot long piece of floor. It’s looking good.

Had a wonky conversation in the meantime.
Big Brother: It is strange, but you shouldn’t think about ants when you’re doing this.
Me: Huh?
Big Brother: Ants.
Me: What about them.
Big Brother: I’m killing dozens, by just shoveling concrete there. I shouldn’t think about that.
Me: Uh-huh. Killing ants. Don’t think. Get back to work.
Big Brother: They don’t have a clue. Maybe I should become a Buddhist.
Me: Yeah. They saved all the ants by removing them one by one while building a movie theater in Lhasa.
Big Brother: Like I said. I shouldn’t think about it. Poor ants.
Me: Stop thinking about it then. If you worry about ants, you should also worry about grass and weeds you step on. Those are alive too.
Big Brother: You’re right. I should just sit down, that way I wouldn’t hurt anything.
Me: Have you been smoking pot?
Big Brother: Life is just cruel.
Me: Dude. You’re totally weird. Get back to work.

*snort* He did. We both did, and didn’t finish (cleaning up belonged with it, too) until a quarter to ten, which was when twilight fell. Knight had a swell day. I took off his sock most of the day so it could dry out a little at least. The swelling is still there, but at least air is getting to it.

Arrived home around eleven, and got to the blog ASAP. Which I consider done right about now. So I’m off to bed. Another working day tomorrow. More floor to pour. Yay.

Stupid is stupid does.

Song of the day: “Thank God I’m a country boy” by John Denver, of course.

Another busy couple of days, naturally. What else is new, right? That seems to be par for the course this summer.

Yesterday was an official workday for big brother and me. The temps weren’t as pleasant as the other day. The Mercury hit the nineties around noon and so much went wrong that I wondered for a bit if it was worth staying.

First off, big brother was feeling a little off. The night before he’d vomited. Caregiver had to stay at the hospital until two in the morning, meaning that we got a call to come pick her up about an hour after we went to bed. We’d planned on that by going to bed despite the fact that she wasn’t home yet, and since we didn’t think it smart that either of us would drive there alone with our sleepy heads, we opted to go together for safety reasons. He was already feeling bad when I phoned him awake, and then when we got home round four in the morning, he started retching in the middle of the terrace. Fun, that. But anyway, we both rushed to bed and slept ‘till nine instead of the planned eight, went through all the necessary chores such a feeding the dogs and checking everything that we didn’t leave home until ten thirty. Then, just as we were about to reach Alozaina (village near the job site) to get the first load of sand, I discovered that I had forgotten my purse and…the house keys!!! Aaaaargh. "Stupid is, stupid does," right?
So I called home to have grandpa check (yes it was at home), at which point he agreed to drive the moped half the way (he remembered the route pretty well from back in the day when he had a gardening job in the area) and then give me my purse and a bottle of pre-mixed fuel for the mower. Luckily he rather enjoyed the ride.
But anyway, before I could meet him halfway big brother and I had to unload the car of some 800 pounds of gravel and some 1900 pounds of sand from the trailer. Then there were all the tools to get out, and the wheelbarrow from the top, and before that was done it was already one o’clock, meaning that I had to hurry to get at least the bags of cement from the construction company…
Which reminds me. I LOVE• computers. I had ordered ten bags of cement and three times half a cubic meter of sand which I would come pick up during the course of the day. Now, the trick is that on cubic meter of sand costs about 18 bucks, while half a cubic meter will cost you 13 bucks. Fun part would be that the computer would accept three halfs and kept making it into one and a half. He ended up having me pay for one cubic and a half, meaning we got a bit of a discount paying our expenses for hauling it up there. The location is a little iffy for bigger transports so our solution is to haul it up there bit by bit…which would be practically impossible without a 4X4.
But anyway, I had planned to take the trailer so I could pick up both cement and sand on the way back from meeting grandpa, but since unloading took so long I decided to not take the trailer and only pick up cement before siesta closing time. Had to explain to the women at the counter what had occurred that morning and waited outside while the youngest of the two followed me out and looked at the lift truck. She doubted and then asked me to put the car with the pallet of bags. I said fine, put it there and then shrugged when she disappeared inside. There were ten of them, so I loaded the ten up, not realizing that there was this dude watching me do exactly there somewhat confusedly. I was just about done when the guy who’d helped me that morning arrived. Apparently the girl had called him to load up, so he was a tad surprised when I’d already done it. Like I’m going to give up a chance on weightlifting now that I don’t have time to do that at home. *snort* Spanish folks get it even less when a girl does construction work. Hah.
I got back on site at one thirty where big brother had spent his time spreading the gravel where it needed to be and watering the plants, and doing some more mowing. We unloaded and then took some time to eat lunch, do some writing, and a very, very short nap, all three during the hottest two hours of the day.
At four, once they were open again, I arrived at the construction company where I got another load of sand. The entire trip takes me about forty minutes, seeing as going back up the mountain means going about 9 mph in many places.
Third trip over and done with, and nicely sore from unloading and wheelbarrow-ing the cement and first two loads of sand to where big brother had set up the concrete mixer for me, I got to mixing concrete. Unloading the last load would have to wait until the end of the day.
All in all, I hauled about 15 70 pound bags of cement around the place, so I definitely got my fitness done.
Mixed several loads of concrete for big brother while he did the masonry on the small wall that is going to keep the new floor in place once we start pouring. It will be natural rock, so it’ll look nice at least, and fit the general idea of the yard.
Did get my fair share of puzzling with rocks, though, while I shoveled concrete for big brother and hauled more rocks in for his use.
Since I had Knight there on his own, I decided, when I saw that his foot was rather swollen again, to remove his bandage entirely and just keep track of him. He did rather well most of the day, but regretfully, by the end of the day, he tore open one of his calluses, which had me wrap him back up just to be safe.
After seven the temps dropped nicely, and boy was I happy for that fifteen minute nap when we finally called it a day at nine fifteen (had to make the normal eight hours after me messing up like that after all) and started cleaning everything up…not to mention that we still had to unload that sand. Hah.
That took until well after dark, and driving home certainly was interesting. Hah.
Was in bed at twelve thirty and out for the count about three minutes later. *sigh*

Tenant is still at the hospital, and not happy about it. I can imagine, but since she refuses to drink most of the time, there is really nothing I can do about it. She’ll have to decide what is more important to her. Getting out of hospital or holding on to her dislike for drinking. We’re going to look her up tomorrow after the Land Rover’s MOT.

Then, before I knew it my phone was ringing. Cousin Ed telling me it was nine in the morning while I had told her the night before that I was planning to get up at eight so I could get some writing done. Drat. Did have enough sleep, so in that regard it wasn’t a disaster, eh?
No time for anything this morning, though. I had done no substantial Spanish the entire week, and since I first had to go to the vet (he’s doing well so I won’t have to be back until four days from today, yay!) then had to go through the village getting all sorts of stuff for mom in establishments that had miles of rows waiting at the registers. I was all in a tiffy about the complete shortage of time when I finally got home, about fifteen minutes before we had to leave for Spanish lessons. I would have been able to get some of my homework done too, if I hadn’t needed to change out of my grubby sweats, and get some food into my gut before the morning coffee departed entirely and left my stomach bare. Grrr.

Ended up reading some of Jack Vance’s Dirdir in the car, meaning I at least had Spanish in my head when we arrived at class. The lesson didn’t go bad either, so I guess not all was bad. Actually learned quite a bit and she complimented us that we are coming along nicely. Good thing, that, because in my darkest moments I sometimes doubt. Hah.

Spanish lessons over and done with, we headed for town for a pick up, which thankfully didn’t take as long as it could have. Then we rushed back home to work on the car and prepare it for tomorrow’s MOT.
Yep. There were the seatbelts that had to be fixed, all sorts of messes to remove from inside and outside, and the whole thing to wash from top to bottom. Our baby is looking beautiful now, thank you very much, with everything that we could get fixed, fixed. Hah.

Got a phone call from AuthorHouse trying to sell me a promotion package for “Trust Me” Said the Spy. Not that I don’t want to invest in my book, but seriously, at the moment we worry about paying the month’s bills and buying frivolous stuff like food, paying some odd 600 bucks for promotion that didn’t work the first time round is not even on my top hundred list. *sigh* Was a nice young fellow, though, and I could hardly blame him for needing to make a living. So I let him do his spiel, explained the situation to him, before we chatted a little about the dogs and said our goodbyes. By then I was starving because I missed lunch and was well passed supper time. *sigh*

Next there was a quick dip into the pool, followed by a short writing session before my stomach started to crawl its way up and started hitting my brain demanding where the food was. Headed up to finish up the tomato soup Cousin Ed had started on, made fondue and took the whole lot down for a quick supper while working on my computer.

Managed about a page at least, at which time I had to start on today’s blog…which I now declare done. I’m off to bed. Yay!

Completely Useless

Song of the day: “The Climb” by…don’t hold this against me…Miley Cyrus. Hah. Just kidding. It’s not a bad song, just a tad, ya know, Hannah Montana. But okay, there are worse songs to have in your head for sure. Like yesterday I had Chubawamba with “I get knocked down”. Talk about a stuck record.

So the past couple of days. They’ve been a tad strange, I’ll admit. Yesterday was a genuine disaster for as far as I was concerned. I hardly slept a wink, my foot, totally killing me, which meant that I couldn’t walk on it at all in the morning. Seriously. I would try to put my heel down, but my body just refused. Had to phone grandpa to ask if he could bring me one of tenant’s old canes and the arnica gel I had in my purse. I was completely worthless for the beginning of the day. I basically sat around with my foot up, stretching, trying, time and again to see if I could stand on it. I could, but not until later in the day, after some writing and printing out some business cards for Samaya Photography. They worked out rather nicely, if I do say so myself. Balanced, professional, pretty. I like it.

Had to go to the vet, of course. Knight II needs to be checked every day. Was mighty interesting, limping my way into there, and then sitting down on the floor to have him lie down for the vet to treat him. His foot didn’t look bad, and since the other one burst, that swelling isn’t doing all that bad. Yay.

There was cooking involved, which was late because big brother and I had to do some groceries. Were out of practically all dairy stuff…which isn’t strange since we haven’t done any serious groceries in a while. Just bits and pieces here and there.

Normal chores such as laundry got done, naturally. Had planned to do some Spanish, but didn’t get around to that, much to my regret. Am trying to read some Spanish in a book, you know, acclimating myself to it some more, when I can. There’s always time for reading…or at least, there should be.

Then today, more writing, of course. Am working my way through the new scenes anyway. Another trip to the vet, which is standard by now, isn’t it? Another one tomorrow…which will be market day for Cousin Ed and me, of course.

Neither tenant not Sally were doing well today, nor was little sister. Wonder what that is all about? Some bug, maybe? Hope I don’t catch it, considering we’ll be starting on the new job on Tuesday (probably). Had to go out for that today, as a matter of fact. Had to order a new liner for the pool, but luckily the liner was in stock, so we took it right along. Meaning we can go there any day now. Tuesday will be soon enough. Hah.

Did spent several hours taking care of tenant today. Caregiver, grandpa and Sally, the latter of which both had an appointment at the hospital in Marbella today. The other day grandpa got some disturbing news about his blood INR being too thin (near 6 while a normal adult should have 1 and he should have somewhere between 3 and 4) and doctor warned him to be extremely careful while not taking his medication for two days...at least until his blood thinness is not as bad anymore. Poor grandpa, those medics are totally messing stuff up for him.

Watched Oblivion with Tom Cruise tonight during the blog. Not a bad movie, even though it missed something. At least it had the pacing of an old-fashioned movie, which I liked. And the acting was good. Also nice. The stuff that I felt was missing…well, that’s in the details that I won’t bore you with right now. Hah.

What else. Cousin Ed and Grandpa took a shelving unit up from the old pool apartment. That, and a small cupboard, I want to set up in the future kitchen. All the stuff that we have floating around in the courtyard is driving me friggin’ bonkers, so this should sort that out a little.

But anyway, I have a busy day ahead of me tomorrow, so I better get to bed.

A jog! Finally!

Song of the day: “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” Tight Fit. Incredibly retro the clip that goes with it…it’s been a while since I saw it, but it could have been college kids messing around. Hah.

So yesterday was bad. I had a wee bit of a nervous breakdown, for some peculiar reason. I’d gotten bad news about Knight (the other paw was swollen badly too) I had to do Spanish, which at the moment isn’t making any sense to me. I think my brain is a little overloaded with all the carp going on. There is the stuff I need to do to get the photography rolling, the new revisions of the book, the friggin’ market, and in-between there are all the little things that need to be taken care of…not least of that being Sally and tenant. Had to finish that dratted bathroom (which we did, thankfully) and then go to tenant at the hospital. Arrived there, finding her shouting because she was most dissatisfied. First thing she said when we got in was “Goddammit, guys, get me out of here. I can’t stand it anymore.” Took us about fifteen minutes to calm her down.
She was allowed to go home, so all was well in that department at least. It took a while to get her discharged. Dressing thankfully only took about fifteen minutes, but then we had to wait for a friggin’ chair so we were wiling away the time for more than an hour. Then, when it finally arrived, suddenly the nurses started to complain about hospital policy that wouldn’t allow for us to go down without a medical escort, to which I was like, “What? Since when?” In the end, when said escort didn’t turn up, we just left and headed for the parking area where big brother was waiting for us with the car.

But I get ahead of myself. I was still telling about my temporary mental disintegration. *sigh* I ended up exploding at big brother, and then retreated to my cabin until I was suitable for company again. The pouting took a while, but I did overcome in the end, end managed to get back to my Spanish lessons without losing it again. (Good Sammie)

Luckily I was myself again this morning after a solid six and a half hours during the night. Not enough yet, but better than the past week where I was lucky to hit six full hours. Went to work early this morning. Rushed through the morning chores and then settled at my computer to get to work on the book. Rearranged scenes like a fiend, sorted through the new ones that have to be inserted, and got about two thirds of the storyline set in place. It’ll take time and effort, but we’ll get there.

Couldn’t finish, considering today was Spanish lesson day, and added to that I had to drop Knight off at the vet, which made us late, again, darn it. Luckily Maria wasn’t at her best either, seeing as she’d had a party yesterday and I think she was a little hungover. Not a bad lesson, though. Got to work on subjuntivo, which is mighty complicated. I couldn’t do anything with it during last week’s homework so she reassured me that it was a common problem for foreigners. Learned some, got frustrated some, but we somehow muddled through. Hah.

Afterward there was a pick up in town. A waste of the ride, but you gotta check anyway, and then back home where I thought to lie down for just a minute and get my foot to stop pounding, only to wake up an hour later. That was an unexpected nap for sure. Hah.

Cut the dog food while Cousin Ed prepared stuff for our own supper, and then got changed in my jogging outfit. Yay. Finally. Since we had to go fetch Knight anyway, and had to go past the vegetable distribution center, we decided we might as well go for a jog. Did it, too, which was splendid after all this time. I soooooo needed that. I don’t even care that I was once again in poor shape. I ran, that’s what matters. Heck, I even lifted some weights, which was awesome. It’s been way too long.

Got home to quickly cook supper, which worked out well, despite the fact that we were out of cheese AND cream. Drat. Managed to salvage the food, however, so supper was edible at least. Gonna have to go past the supermarket tomorrow.

Also, Knight has to go back to the vet again tomorrow too, so it’s going to be busy once more, in particular since we also need to do a pickup in town later in the day. Luckily we can mix that with the groceries. *sigh*

With a little luck I’ll be able to get a new scene down, and, since big brother is now working on it, maybe get some of my photography business cards printed. Then, well, we’ll see how it goes. Now, I’m going to get ready for bed. It’s been a long day regardless of the nap. Hah.

Tats

Song of the day: “Coconut” by Harry Wilson. Cool song, but been there before, haven’t I?

Soooooo, long weekend. Lots of stuff happened, and yet it was very much the same as always.

First off, I slept horribly on Saturday night. For some reason I just wouldn’t drift off, meaning that I was less than my charming self Saturday morning. Not a good day not to be in good spirits, since it promised to be a late evening at the market.

First thing we did after the morning chores was work on a story line for the revision. I wasn’t all that gracious about it. I know that today’s market is very different from what I like to see in books, but I’m trying, and that’s what counts. Had some massive discussions with big brother about the possibilities, in particular because we had different ideas as to how to interpret the “suggestions”. I do know that if they say no to this round, I’m going to publish both versions and do a competition asking readers to tell me what idea they like better. Hah. But anyway, I am working hard on enjoying the challenge, am almost there despite the massive headache I had this afternoon from working on the concept for five straight hours. Seriously, there is nothing that exhausts me as much as twisting and turning a story that is already set in my head, into something someone else wants. Old versions pop up in my head, new pieces crowd into the mix, and at a certain point my head just wants to explode. Luckily it’s still on there, kinda, and after doing some serious relaxing (worked on making a wooden bench for the new bathroom, and cooked supper) I am back to normal, kinda. Hah.

But let’s get to the market. Around two in the afternoon we started loading up the Land Rover and trailer, and left on time, right after supper and a quick dip in the pool.
Most folks would say it was a disaster, seeing as there were only four or five stands, but I actually kind of liked it. We arrived early, around five, despite the fact that we had way less products with it, for no other reason than the fact that we didn’t want to be late getting the stand set up. (7 PM deadline) Got set up in a hour and a half, thankfully, so I could leave Cousin Ed to it, and go visit with tenant.

She’s still at the hospital, of course, mainly because she’s on a special antibiotic, which she has to finish with a drip. She was in reasonably good spirits, even though she is getting sick and tired of the mushy porridge like meals she’s eating there. I had to promise her that we were going to get her some chicken paws for when she gets home, because she really likes that, and is even longing for it. Regretfully I couldn’t stay too long, and was heading back after an hour or so to get my bag and settle in the restaurant with a coffee to do some writing. Got a good start on the new scene that started in my head that morning. Managed about three pages in the next couple of hours.

The remainder of the rather quiet evening was spent trying to get the few customers to pose for my pictures. Got a few after all, two utterly adorable girls (sisters) who were shy at first, and then more than willing to pose for me. The youngest one in particular was quite enthusiastic. So much so, in fact that every time I tried to snap a picture of her, she moved a fraction. Did end up with several nice shots of them, though.
Then, after ten, the jetsetters started arriving. Yep. Genuine jetsetters in linens and silks, all primped up and ready to party. There was this lady, for instance, dressed to the nines in peacock print leggings and top, heels higher than stilts, and blonde. We couldn’t resist, we had to ask if she wanted to pose for a picture…which startled her for some reason. She started demanding what for, and if she looked strange, or something, and who would see the pictures, and all that. Explained it, of course, but it was a little sad that her first thought was that she looked strange. We (cousin Ed, me and her male date) all assured her she looked beautiful and in the end she agreed to pose. Even gave her one of my pamphlets, so let’s hope she looks at the photo blog and checks it out. So, I snapped two quick shots, after which she and her escort discovered our merchandise and ended up buying a nice dog bed for his dog.

Packing up started at eleven thirty, meaning we were on our way at one, heading home where big brother was waiting with a very late meal. Gawd, was more than ready to head for bed by then. Didn’t drop in until two thirty, meaning a way too short night for me, with not a lot of sleep because I couldn’t drop off into REM for some peculiar reason.

More writing for me in the morning, after the usual chores. I wasn’t happy with Knight’s paw, in particular since yesterday afternoon it started exuding a particularly nasty smell, but I didn’t dare take of the bandage from fear of not being able to apply a new one in that particular way.

Also worked on my pics from the market, getting the lighting right, the coloring until everything showed to the best advantage. Will be posting three or four of the pics from the evening.

Once the writing of the day was done, we headed up to work on the bathroom, but it was too late already and I had to make lunch before big brother and I had to head out for a pick up, and to visit tenant. She was more than happy to see us, in particular since I remembered to bring her old reading glasses, which thankfully work better than the new ones. She immediately dove into the plant book we brought along, at which time I promptly fell asleep in my chair.
Don’t know what happened during that time, but when I woke up I felt physically ill. Almost didn’t make it to the car, for crying out loud. Luckily, after about half an hour, I started perking up a little, so maybe I’d just woken up from too deep a sleep too fast, or something.

More cooking once I got home, mushrooms with cream and a nice chili on the side, so we got all the nutritional stuff in once more, yay.

Thought still difficult, Sally is much better since we brought the dosage of her unnecessary painkiller down. Sure, she’s an opinionated senior, but at least she’s coherent at the moment, and more or less cooperative. There are ups and downs, but that’s to be expected, I suppose.

More writing this morning, feeding the dogs bread, which is so incredibly good for their teeth, already we have less odor coming from several of them. Yay. Chaos was getting to be pretty bad, and so were Arthur, Kollosus and Carla. No more though, except for maybe Kollosus, who can still be a little on the pungent side. Hah.

Have a possible construction job coming up this month. Setting up a pool and cleaning out a yard, so, Yay! If it works out. Hah.

Had cops at our gate again this evening. Two cars no less, because someone had called them due to the smell of smoke of our stove, again. *sigh* We went through the whole song and dance again of showing the stove and telling why we were using it. There was this really cute cop with them this time, so I used my wiles on him a little. He had a five o’clock shadow and thick arms covered in tattoos. So I asked what kind they were, at which point he started showing them off, throwing cautious looks in the direction of his superiors talking by the cars. I asked him how long it took to get them, and he said “long enough” (hah) and that he had to go several times before they were done. He jotted down our information and number and then quickly beat a path back to the car while we went back inside. Gawd, that was fun. Seriously, a little more time and he’d probably have yanked off his top to show the rest of his tats off.

BTW. Visited the vet this morning, and it took quite some time. She cleaned the paw, took and X-Ray and discovered that he has severe osteoporosis, probably due to his continuing infection. Poor darling. It would sure explain why the digit is so swollen. He's going on antibiotics for the next two months to see if it can be helped.

Well, this will have to be it for now. It’s almost one in the morning and I need to get to bed if I want to get up on time tomorrow morning. Let’s hope there’s something a little more interesting to share the next time round, eh?