Getting a little lost

Song of the day: “Never no More” by Patsy Cline. Love it…added to that, it always reminds me of “Space Above And Beyond” a sci-fi show from the nineties. It wasn’t all that special, but for some reason the song stuck to me because of that.

Gawd, I’m so late. It’s almost midnight and I was still working on the revision, darn it. It has been going well, still, so, Yay! I’m going to have to thank that editor at the publisher for giving me this chance to work on Kit’s story, because I’m having loads of fun doing the research and immersing myself into the world of the eventful ‘20s. Got lost on Wikipedia for hours and hours, reading up on gangsters, fashion, prohibition, politics and of course the city of Chicago. Then there are the pictures of the era, lots of which are on-line, which can keep me entertained for hours on end. *sigh* If only there were more hours in the day, eh?
But anyway, so far I’ve brought the word count up to 24K, meaning that now I’m going to have to start to be a bit careful unless I want to work this out into a full blown novel. Hah.

Okay, let’s move this along a little. It’s been a busy couple of days but getting it in the right sequence is not something I can take the time for now.

First off, I had tenant to myself yesterday morning, so, considering it was a nice warm day, I took her out into the old paddock and finally got around to trimming her hair. She wanted to go for something short and cool for summer, so the whole lot went off, (luckily, because there were knots in there that no amount of combing could untangle. *sigh*) giving her a rather fresh look. Added to that, she got a whole stack of pictures from her daughter, dating back some eighty years, making her a very happy lady. She’s been going through that stack ever since.
Then, today was her birthday, so I spent the majority of the day in her kitchen, first making strawberry cheesecake (and banana cake, because I made too much crust) and then her supper of fresh veggies with salmon. Personally, I get a little nauseous at the idea of salmon blundered through veggies, but what the hey, it’s her birthday. *double sigh*

Did manage to meat myself, both today and yesterday (Good Sammie), extra crispy and drowning in satay sauce. Could almost pretend I was eating a very crispy satay. Hah.

There were the usual chores, of course. Laundry, feeding the dogs, some cleaning, cooking and all that glamorous jazz. Hah. Also, since this whole head infection, I’ve had a kink in my neck. No worries, I won’t bore you with any of that.

Had to take Empera (German Shepherd) to the vet today, because we ran out of her medication. She is moving a little bit better, but she will have to stay on the prednisone and diazepam for now. Poor darling is just too nervous for her own good.

Another doctor’s appointment for me with that stupid spot on my head. The infirmary nurse did something with a needle up there (ouch!) but it wasn’t as bad as that first day. He also explained that from now on I’m supposed to wash normally and then reapply the cream. Since I had to drop by the pharmacy anyway, I got myself a special pair of insoles for Plantar Faciitis. Wonder if these will work better (or worse) than those of the doctor. They’re nice and soft, at least.

Spent some time in the yard hacking my way through chest high weeds that are insisting on filling our yard. Hah. There was stuff to harvest, and a citrus tree that’s finally strong enough to plant.

Had to go to town, where I got to pet a horse with her young. It was really a baby, because it didn’t eat grass yet, and it’s nose was so wonderfully soft, I just stood there drooling for about fifteen minutes or so, feeding “mommy”.

Got a message from the publisher for V.L., and it’s a no go. *sigh* I send them a reminder the day before yesterday (I was supposed to after four weeks according to their guidelines, and I waited six weeks) and so it was no. Did the same for A.I.L. tonight, but that one’s still in the running so…well, keep your fingers crossed, okay?

What else? I’m a little worried about Knight II. He’s got this lump on his belly that appears to be growing slowly. If it gets much bigger, I might have to take him to the vet to check it out. We also have several dogs to shave before spring really starts, and soon we’re going to have to give the pack their anti-tick bath, because let’s face it, ticks are popping everywhere now. Grrrr.

Sally isn’t doing well at all. She’s very frustrated with her memory at the moment, and she’s experiencing a lot of nausea. It doesn’t help that the medication she was receiving for her thrombosis made it so that her cuts and scrapes aren’t healing, which understandably, worries her a lot. She’s trying to keep her spirit up, but there are times that she really sags away into her mind.

That’s it for now. Time for me to go night-night and you…well, I’m sure you have other places to wander to. *wink*

Not looking bad

Song of the day: “Let the sun shine” by Labrynth. Still an awesome song, despite the fact that I often have it in my head.

Sooooo, what has been happening. Not a whole lot, but that’s nothing new, right?
I overslept by half an hour yesterday, and still was tired. Don’t know what that was all about. But anyways, there were the normal, morning chores followed by bringing Olive and Jane back to the village, before getting some of breakfast, and heading out again for a short trip to town.

For some reason I was still tired by then, felt downright sickly, in fact, so I took a short nap and was really out for the count. Cousin Ed had to call three times before I woke up. How weird is that?

Got to work on the last window for the kitchen. Got it all sawed, and ready to put together when mom phoned and asked if maybe we could look at their market awning because the wind wrecked it the last time. That took about an hour to fix, and by then it was time to start on supper. Made a rather elaborate meal of mushroom pastry with fresh cauliflower, ratatouille, and baked ravioli on the side.

While cooking, I just barely managed to feed tenant, who ate well, much to our relief. Food wise it is not such a disaster lately, but the drinking…well, frustrating doesn’t quite cover it.

There was a writing session, of course, and the book is around 22K words, and well to the middle. Not bad. The progress is better than I expected. With a little luck we’ll be able to start with the edit next week.

Wanted to go to bed on time, but didn’t get there until one thirty in the morning. *Sigh* Were in a rush most of today. There were the normal chores again, of course, followed by a quick breakfast right before we had to head for our Spanish class. Were on the late side, so we had to hurry, only to arrive three minutes late. Not bad…and that without speeding. Hah.

Didn’t go bad either. She could do most of the lesson in Spanish, which is a good thing. She has a pleasantly slow way of speaking, very explicit, which makes it easy to follow. We actually managed conversation.

Afterward we headed for the vegetable center, followed by a rushed trip to town for a “last-minute” pick up, meaning we were running late for my doctor’s appointment. Then, on our way there (the road that went past home) we got stuck after a beer truck going about ten miles per hour, so I told big brother to please drive down to the gate so I could run to the toilet. Gawd, I had to pee sooooo bad.

Back on the road, he made it record time to the clinic where I arrived two minutes late, only to sit there in the waiting room for another twenty-five minutes. Seriously, there is nothing I hate more than waiting in a waiting room…in particular since I couldn’t help but worry about what the doctor was going to do. So wasn’t looking forward to more of the same, and at one point actually started to get flushed and a little dizzy. Asked for a cup of water, and sipped that before I was called into the exam room.

There was some more waiting involved since the doc was on the phone and then we went through the “how’ve you been” answered by my “it hurt a little” to which he tsked and told me to lie down so he could have a looksee.

I can tell you that, despite my worry, it wasn’t as bad as the last time. He did yank off the band-aid (taking half my hair with it *sigh*) and squeezed some more puss out, but on the overall he said that it didn’t look back and that the infection was going down. A new band-aid was slapped on, and then I could leave with an appointment with the nurse on Friday, and then another, to see how it is going, on Monday. So exhausting, all this doctor visiting stuff. The poor pack was ecstatic and frantic at the same time when we finally got home. *double sigh*

Didn’t cry my eyes out this time, heck I didn’t even drop a tear, so all’s swell. Once we got home we headed straight into the yard to harvest broccoli, lettuce and cauliflower. Then it was up to the kitchen to cook supper for tenant…made veggies with lentils for her…and preparing pizza for the rest of us.

Only managed about an hour of writing, but that couldn’t be helped. Instead this blog had to be written after all, and there are only so many hours in the day…regretfully.

That’s if for today. I’m running on fumes again, so I better hit the sheets.

Oh. My. Gawd!!!

Song of the day: “Who makes you feel,” by Dido. Strange song, but nice regardless.

I’m late, and I don’t feel well, and I want to go to bed sometime around midnight at least. *sigh*

Let’s start with the bad stuff…well, bad stuff for me anyway. For the past three days, more or less, the little lump that was left after my cyst removal a couple of months ago, had turned mushy, making my head hurt rather fiercely. So I asked cousin Ed to make me an appointment, which was this afternoon. So I got there when I had to be, had to wait for about five minutes and then was led into the surgeon’s room where I proceeded to tell him the problem. So, he bustled around checked out the problem by touching it (ouch), and promptly told me that it was inflamed and that I was to lie down on the table. Once there, face down once more, he proceeded to…*swallows* well…squeeze the puss OUT!
Oh. My. Gawd!!!
Seriously, in my time I have had sprained ligaments, been bitten numerous times in numerous places, have had cuts big and small, had an odd 25 percent of my body burnt to the point of 3rd degree burns, fell off a roof, scraped practically every part of my body at some point, and gawd knows what else, but never, has anything ever hurt as much as that guy pushing and squeezing the puss out. Cross-eyed just doesn’t cover it. (I even did the woosy leg lift lying there, for crying out loud.)
And then, when I thought the dude was finally done, he filled a needle-less syringe with iodine, or some such, and sprayed it into the wound. Gawd! Everything turned white for a moment as an ice-pick went straight into my skull (that’s what it felt like, anyway), and then my vision became blissfully numb for but a moment. Then of course he did some more squeezing, spraying, (was permanently crosseyed by then, with my nails dug into my palms) before he finally slapping this massive band-aid on the back of my head and told me he was done. Got up, feeling just a tad wobbly and woozy.
Apparently it is unusual for an infection to happen after the removal of a cyst, but not unheard of. I now have to come back on Wednesday, at which point he’s going to have to decide about the darn thing. If the infection isn’t gone, he’ll have to cut again and stitch it up. I’m telling you this, if that happens, I’m going to ask for local anesthetics. Jeez!
I managed to listen to his instructions, walk to the reception, and deal with the insurance while compartmentalizing the event in my head…as in, “don’t think about it. Don’t. Think. About. It!”…and got my next appointment written down. I just barely managed to cross the square in front of the clinic and reach the car where big brother waited. I yanked open the door, saw his expectant face and said in a rather wobbly voice: “I wanna go home.” I climbed in and slammed the door.
“That bad, huh?” he countered, starting the engine.
I gave a tight nod, “Nothing ever hurt that bad before,” and promptly started crying.
Told you, I shouldn’t have thought about it. But, gawd! That crying jag just had to get out.
Walked around with this oddly surreal headache the rest of the day, and had this really fun slab of white on the back of my head that is going to be a biatch to remove from my hair later on.
The only two plusses I have discovered from the entire ordeal is that the guy didn’t prescribe antibiotics, which I hate (must be the old school attitude) and for about an hour afterward my foot didn’t hurt at all. See, there’s an up side to everything, even disasters. *snort*

Well, that fun part shared, let’s get to the normal stuff, shall we. No sense in crying over past events.

Yesterday was market day, of course (slept badly, so I wasn’t in the best of moods). All went the way it usually goes, except that my hurting head (ya know, prior to the procedure) made writing rather hard. Did do two pages or so, though, and have passed the 20K mark as of early this morning. Yay. Writing-wise it has actually been going well enough. Have added 6K so far, and am about halfway through the book. Since the editor only suggested revisions in the beginning and middle. Adding atmosphere is going well. I have seen way too many movies of the era, and I have, of course, been getting lost in Wikipedia again. *sigh*

Had some seriously funny moments at the market, by the way. There was this younger couple with two kids and an uncle, I think, who came looking for a dog bed. While parent were debating the type of dog bed, the kids (two boys under five) dug into our baskets with toys and proceeded to go through it for the next hour or two. At a certain point they came to me, and the oldest started explaining that he really didn’t like money, and that he found payment such a bother, and that it just took so much time, and if he could just have the little transformer toy. I couldn’t help, I had to laugh, and said, “Wow. That’s a new one.” At which point he looked at me oddly, as if he didn’t understand the problem, so I squatted in front of him, met him eye to eye and when he asked if he could have the toy, I said: “Hmmm. What’s in it for me, then?” He seemed a little startled, then gave a tiny little smile, and decided to give me a quick hug. I had to laugh so bad I just barely managed to tell him that he could have the toy and watched him run back to his parents before I started laughing and told Cousin Ed what had happened. Gawd, those kids were the highlight of our day because our spot was (unexpectedly) in the back of the place, meaning that, because we hadn’t counted on that, we had to haul every single item all the way to the back. Unloading took us two hours, while loading up took us two and a half. Seriously, we didn’t leave the market until six thirty.

Have been dreaming of the ’20s a lot lately, which is a good thing considering I’m working on Chicago Hope. It’s really helped me get into the atmosphere of the story, and the story, since that is also the way I started on the story some odd seven, or eight years ago…or was it ten? Well, anyway, the beginning was based on a dream, so it’s only fitting that the end result will be based on that as well. Hah.

Washed the car, at last. It was covered in mud and dirt, so it was really necessary. Can you imagine what a sight we’d be if we arrive at market with red splashes all over the white Land Rover? Seriously, most folks there have shiny cars to begin with…not that I’m ashamed or anything, it is just that we’re noticeable enough as it is. No sense adding to that.

Then there was the preparing of market stuff, which took most of the day. Stock had to be aired out, prices decided on, and 2nd hand clothes sorted. Then everything had to be packed into bags again, and set aside while big brother and I did a quick donation trip to town, and arrived back home after six. Loading up took about an hour and a half, meaning that I was seriously pooped when we were finally done for the day and decided to chow down on French fries rather than bother cooking.

Today I did cook (big brother made mac&cheese yesterday) preparing mashed potatoes, a cabbage and beet salad, and fried, creamed broccoli. It all went down well after three days of making due.

Managed a bit of Spanish today. Not enough, but some at least. Busy, busy days, right? Well…what else.
Tenant is still not drinking right, and the male nurse who is coming over twice a week now to check her tubes, is warning gravely that if she doesn’t do better, she’s going to be in serious pain and will have to return to hospital. Not that this makes her drink any better, but what the hey. Eating wise it is going well enough, and through that we are at least sneaking in an extra two cups of liquid, but it’s hard, terribly hard to watch somebody wreck themselves that way. *sigh*

Well, I better get to bed. My doggies have been rather lonely the past couple of days, and they really need some attention.