Recharging!

Song of the day: “Relax” by Frankie goes to Hollywood, I think. Technically I had it in my head yesterday, but since it is still early, I can’t say which one is going to bug me today, so we’ll stick with that one.

Ah, another week gone (almost anyway) and very little to tell about. Still, I’ll make and effort trying to make it remotely interesting regardless…though my imagination might not stretch far enough for that. Hah. I could fake it, of course. Spin some might yarn just for the sake of it…Hmmm. Tempting…Nah. Some other day, maybe, when I’m really desperate, just for the heck of it.

So what’s been going on, you wonder?...or not, depending. Hah. Anyway, first bit of bad news is that The Knight has developed an infection on both back feet. I know, right? What is wrong with this poor creature’s immune system? He is driving me insane with all these little cuts that he gets from his incredibly boisterous behavior (remember my comparison to an elephant in a china cupboard?) that turn into a massive infection at the drop of a hat. I blame the antibiotics that have been pumped into this creature from early age, and bad breeding. It is the only explanation. This is why I went out to find dried Echinacea which I will start adding to his food from now on. This is just ridiculous. Poor dog is now walking around with two bad back paws, for crying out loud…worst of it is, I clean it four to five times a day, which has no use at all, since he keeps licking at them. I’ll have to think of something.

Big brother and I worked a bit on my future bed. It’s a classic (40s, 50s) wide single metal frame that’s originally from a hospital, we think. It’s nice and sturdy, and now that I’ve got less dogs it should be possible for me to sleep on it. Not easy, mind you, considering Knight has a tendency to stretch out and take more than his fair share of the bed, but perhaps it will help me feel a little less claustrophobic in there. Not much, mind you, considering the bed is only ten inches narrower, but still. Every inch helps, right?

What else…lots of trips to town with grandpa for his acupuncturist treatments. I’ve been using the time of waiting wisely. I slept through most of them while sitting the in the car…and in case you’re wondering; yes, I am still constantly tired. Can’t really explain it…well, I can: Three years ago was heavy already with running to the hospital on a weekly, and often daily basis for the sick ladies, then the whole town hall mess, the getting the two of them to safety, followed by a very demanding job while at the same time having to break down everything; we haven’t been able to take a breath and relax in years, so I suppose I’ll have to see that as all the explanation I need.

Regretfully we’ve been doing all this going back and forth to town in the Opel, because the car is at the garage for fixing. They’ve assured me that it’s time consuming due to the waiting for parts, rather than the amount of hours they need to spend on it. Not so expensive, they’ve said, so let’s hope that their idea of not so expensive is similar to mine, rather than heart attack worthy when I get the bill. *sigh*

Exercise wise I’ve been taking it easy. Lots of stretches, which feels wonderful, followed by some mild kick boxing and pumping iron. As soon as we’ve caught up on some necessary sleep, we’re going to try to pick up jogging again, which should improve my disposition vastly.

Been doing quite a bit of cooking. Most of it, yummy (naturally, who’d eat carpy food if they can help it?) but also high in nutritional value. Been missing way too many meals this last year, so I’m trying to catch up, which should also help with the tiredness. Have you ever noticed that when you don’t sleep enough you eat more, and vice versa? Well, the body’s got to get the energy somewhere, right? The way I figure, if I balance it nicely, it should be alright soon enough. I'm recharging!
Discovered that you can make wonderful patties of barley cooking in spices with garlic and onion. Definitely one worthy for the cook book…not to mention wonderfully different from the usual recipe.
Also made a wonderful mushroom quiche the other day. We still have a load of canned mushrooms, and we really should start using them, ergo the experiment. Hah.
Since it is high summer (temps are still wonderfully low, by the way) we’re eating loads of raw stuff. Mostly slices of all sorts of veggies on bread or patties, which goes down well and is high on the nutritional value scale.
Same goes for the veggie, lentil, egg mix I made the other day, which saw us through three different types of meals during the course of the week. Yay. Don’t you just love being frugal AND healthy at the same time?

Did a painting job a few days ago. A roof that needed a new layer of waterproof paint. Won’t work, of course, not the way the owner wants it to. This way he’ll have to do it again within a year, is my guess. But, of course, he won’t take our word for it, so we just slapped the first layer on, as asked. Boss is king, and all that, and if he wants to be stubborn about it, that’s his prerogative.

Did an afternoon of washing dogs, which went well, and allowed us to check on our former charges. They’re doing well enough, all things considered, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed in that regard.

Something horrid: We were dumping garbage the other night and found a crate with four tiny puppies in it, dumped by a set dumpsters right beside the road. I mean seriously, what is wrong with people. Through some contacts with local shelters, there is a scary overflow of dumped puppies in the area. They are getting an average of one to two puppy litters a day at the shelter, which is just ridiculous. Thankfully they were willing to take these puppies into their care, because otherwise we would have been so screwed. It’s so hard, such finds, but we could hardly have left them there by the side of the road, could we. Some folks should get shot for doing shit like that. Have your dog neutered, for crying out loud!

What else…well, not much. No groceries, except for one batch of veggies the other day. We’re trying to hold out two weeks at least, but three if we can manage it. Shopping I’ve found is way cheaper if you only do it once, maybe twice a month, and then only with a list. What’s not on the list doesn’t get bought. Nothing protects the wallet better than that technique…also foregoing anything precooked and “special” helps a lot with that as well. Hah.

Did some cleaning around the yard. Stuff just keeps stacking up, doesn’t it? Did laundry, naturally, and finally did get around to putting away stacks and stacks of clean laundry in my closet…still haven’t found the time to unpack my bags from the trip, by the way. Hadn’t even thought of that one yet. Hmmm. Maybe I’ll manage to squeeze it in later today.

Got some writing done this week, which is a good thing. The characters are developing nicely now, becoming actual people in my head, finally…they should, to be honest, considering that this will be the first book I ever did that is partly based on true life…sort of…with a very fictional twist to it. Hah.

Well, that’s about it, isn’t it? I’m sure I’m something, but what else is new, right. Time to get going, and see if I can get anything useful done today…shouldn’t be too hard, should it?