Sick as a dog!

Yep, I am. Ain’t it wonderful? Seriously, yesterday morning I woke up feeling achy all over and so darn sleepy I decided to crawl back in bed for another hour. It didn’t help much either, sure I could get up, have breakfast and unload the car (albeit incredibly slow) but by the time I’d done a leisured walkthrough of the yard, I was about ready to fall asleep on my feet.

Decided to do just that inside the old (empty) pool, and pulled out a sun bed. Gawd, it was downright wonderful, lying there in the full blast of the sun, catching some zzzzs for a solid hour while big brother worked one the plants. I felt a tad better afterwards, took some fresh lettuce from the seedbeds and went up to the house to make lunch: Grilled veggies on bread and cheese. Yum.

Was starting to get a wee bit tired by then already but I was determined to do something constructive at least and decided to dismantle and old garden umbrella, so we can use the wood at least. My coordination was a little off, but once done I informed big brother I was going to bed for a bit, rather than risk passing out, hah.

As planned, we did go to the plant nursery and got ourselves the promised raspberries, brambles (or black berries) and kiwis. Since we were there anyway, we got another pear tree, nectarine, peach, plum and a walnut…along with two more grapes. Managed to put in three of them too, before the night fell and it was time to head inside to have dinner and start on the day’s edit.

Began doing the recently finished writing project, and came out pleasantly surprised. The tone is just right, and the amount of editing necessary is minimal and that is rather thrilling I have to admit. Usually a good edit day is six pages at most, but yesterday’s edit made up eleven pages in total, which means that the end is only 304 pages to go, hah.

I felt marginally better by the end of the evening, even though I was of course tired, and went to bed early…it didn’t help much. I woke up about five hours after I went to bed, already feeling my lungs clog up, and when it was finally time to get up, I’d developed a serious cough. Darn it.
I’m definitely aiming for another nap later on, but until that time, I figure I might as well use the dreary day to get some more computer work done. It’s cloudy again, with a hint of rain in the air, so the plants should be happy at least.

Pillar is finished. Phew.

Song of the day: (Two of ‘m actually) “Mary Pickford” by Katie Melua, which is a marvelous song and “Dragostea Din Tei” by O-Zone, that I don’t even know the lyrics of but just improvise along the way. Hah. The two just kept popping up at any moment, during the course of the day.

We’re going to do some pictures today…seeing as it has been a looooooong day for me, on way too little sleep. Actually made me a little nauseous, but no matter, I’ll turn in early again today and should be as right as rain come morning.

Like I intimated yesterday, I had to get up at the crack of dawn (for me anyway) to drive over to Marbella to pick up a friend of grandpa, who was going to spend the day at our place. It’s a long trip, an hour back and forth, but since I have been looking forward to trying out the new Land Rover for some time now, I don’t really mind.

The trip goes well, no hiccups, and the car does an excellent job. Our friend had a couch for us…the place she works out did some remodelling, and they were throwing it away…so we drove to the place it was stashed and haul it to the car - only to find out that it doesn’t fit.
We stare at the thing for a bit, shove against it a bit, and end up unscrewing the bolts of the backseat just to fit the six-foot couch into the back. It takes some time, lifting, showing and in pushing, but yeah…Success!

An hour later we’re back home, where after a quick dip in the pool I attempt to do some work on the computer for several hours, but I’m really too tired and end up taking a catnap on the new couch, before I pass out. An hour and a half later I wake up and for some reason it feels as if the day has practically passed.

Big brother leaves to take grandpa’s friend back home, and I head outside to start on the pillar again. With a little luck I’ll finish it today…and I did. Oh my, I don’t know whether to be thrilled or disappointed but the round one, and the square one get done today…minus a few gaps for which I didn’t have enough cement. The last bit was just barely to make one last batch, but I succeeded and they’re both…ehm, interesting. Here, have a look/see.

So here's how the pillar looked. Horrid isn't it?


This is day two, I think.


And on...can you see how how crooked it's becoming?


And finished. Isn't it grand? You can't get it this crooked if you tried.


And the square one outside. I call it art, seriously. Hah!


I know, the pics aren't the best, but they do give a general idea.



But anyway, by the time I’m done, big brother comes back home and starts working on the car, while I tackle the pile of rocks on the new terrace. It is supposed to be a ramp some day and they need to be removed; they end up on the other side of the path in no time, and when I’m done, I still don’t feel like quitting, so instead I continue…rather than crash, the way I usually do on days such as these.

Six wheelbarrows of dirt, gravel and…well, dirt gets chopped loose and tossed in the will-be-ramp-someday (little brother comes to pitch in somewhere in the middle) while big brother and grandpa fix the banister of my porch.
Before I know it, dusk has arrived and after washing off the grime, I head inside to have a quick dinner. Then some computer time before we put on “Next” with Nicholas Cage to relax a little while I write today’s Blog…I really need to get some editing done later on before going to bed, so it needs to be done fast. (Pardon the typos, hah)

Untitled.

Song of the day: “All summer long” by Kid Rock. Oh my, that song sure was a big surprise to me. I would definitely never have expected that I’d like his music. Hah.

Seeing as I need to be up tomorrow at the crack of dawn, today’s blog is a little early, and hopefully short. So, I’m on time waking up this morning, Knight II is making a racket, Trin Trin is bouncing up and down by the back door, and on the overall the entire mob is more than eager to head on out into the sunny morning.

The morning rituals over and done with, I head to the house for the usual chores, breakfast, and then a quick dip in the pool. Chaos insists to go along today; he barges into the water like an amphibious vehicle, really, head and tail above water, taking a turn or two ‘round the pool and then getting out in the same fashion. He’s hilarious.

We start on the edit, but for some peculiar reason I’m ridiculously tired today, so I take a quick ten minute catnap in my chair, feeling much better when I wake up again, and resume the edit. We manage a solid four pages in the hours that pass, going over a scene and a half…the ones I wrote this week…and before we know it edit time is over.

The temperatures are remarkably higher today, but still it is not actually uncomfortable when I head outside and start mixing cement. Another three layers get added to the pillar, but when the rocks start to float again, I take the wheelbarrow up to the gate, where I finish the remainder on the pillar beside the gate of the courtyard wall.

Big brother and grandpa are working on the yard lights still, and I join them for a bit, moving about in the full afternoon sun and actually enjoying the heat. Afterwards I head to the house for the meal little brother, and sister, have prepared and dig in.

Camera’s (Golden Retriever) swelling on the neck has grown again, so we puncture the large hump, needing a towel to mop up the mess that comes streaming out. I admit that the amount of it made me a tad nauseous, but at least Camera felt better afterwards.

There’s another edit in the planning, later on, finishing the new scene and setting it aside for later when the rest of the manuscript is ready to add it. For now I’m focussing on the Blog, however.

I am thinking about adding one of the big pack dogs to my own, seeing as Indigo (black Labrador) is feeling a might neglected these days, so ‘round this time tomorrow I should be able to report how it goes tonight. Sometimes it works, adding one of the big pack, sometimes it doesn’t. Only time will tell. I do hope it does, ‘cause Indigo really needs some extra attention.

Exams: Part II. Aaargh!

So, it was that time of the week. I go to bed early, so I can get a decent night’s sleep, and end up lying awake in bed, my mind spinning at top speed, for hours until I finally drop of to sleep a measly two or three hours before it’s time for me to get up and get ready to go to the dreaded exams.

The alarm shrills me from a peaceful sleep that was long in coming, and I stare at the offensive device owlishly as I try to remember why it is screeching already. The memory slams into me like a sledgehammer and with a groan I huddle deep under the finally warm blankets that did a lousy job of keeping my temperature up this night.

I really don’t want to get up yet, but the alarm keeps screeching, (I can’t reach it from the bed) and I know I’m going to have to face the pre-dawn cold soon anyway. Reluctantly I roll out of bed, letting the dogs out, washing up with cold water, and getting dressed in the clothes I’ve put aside the night before.

Pulling on an old skirt over the Jeans I picked–so the dogs won’t dirty the denim–I head on down to the house to pour some coffee down my gullet while eating a couple of slices of bread.
Big brother, who has gotten up as well since someone needs to be awake with the dogs, and I talk for a bit until it’s time for me to head on up to the car and depart to get to the city in time.

It’s a good thing my driver and I departed a little early since, when we approach the city on the motorway, traffic is rapidly congesting around us, giving us only twenty minutes to spare when I join the rest of the exam-takers in front of the closed fence of the traffic office.

I notice three of my fellow student huddling together against the chilly wind coming from the southwest, and tighten the wrap around me as I leaf through the lesson book for the duration of the wait.

Finally, the gate is opened by a security guard, and with the rest of my companions we stream onto the courtyard to wait for the woman standing in the doorway to call out every individual name on the pile of papers she’s holding.

Basically the same procedure as last week occurs, except that the identity check is more thorough, there are less people taking the exams, and the monitoring women are different than before. Also, I am basically seated in the back near to my fellow students, of which one is a little panicky ‘cause he forgot a pen.

Though the women are going to offer pens to those who forgot them later on, I take pity on him and give him one of mine, which is sticking out from my bag. He takes it gratefully, right until he sees that the pen is blue (our teacher pressed that they needed to be black). I point out that lots of others have blue pens as well but he continues to fret until one of the women assures him “vale, vale” which basically means that it’s fine.

So the test start and the thirty minutes are running. I’m starting to get a little excited when I go through question after question finding out that I actually know the answers without too much trouble. I have to keep reminding myself to keep calm and focus throughout, when a smile threatens to form on my face. (It is going to be soooo annoying if I don’t make it with these.) In the end I only doubt about four, which I consider excellent. It means that I only need to have semi-guessed 1 right to make this round.

I’m definitely keeping my fingers crossed…and I still say that the creators of the tests are bastards for setting the questions up in such a way that you need to have a major in literature just to understand them.

Ah well, I’m feeling pretty positive when I head back for the car and immediately start writing them down so I can go over them with the teach back at school. Of course doubts start to surface by the time I’ve remembered 21 of them, continuing to fret about them all the way to town, through heavy traffic until I’m dropped off at school.

The teach really wants to go over the test, but since it’s a busy day we don’t manage to get all of them covered in the half hour that passes. Other students are constantly dropping in, needing her attention and soon she needs to start on a group lesson, so it’s time for me to head on home and just wait for the results tomorrow.

I drop off the rented DVDs at the video store and manage to get three movies for the next few days that should be interesting. “Max Payne”, ”Burn after reading” and “Eagle Eye”. I don’t know if they’re any good, but at least it’s some relaxation.

My energy levels are seriously dropping by the time I arrive home, and go over the questions with big brother to see if he can say for sure which one I have gotten wrong. We agree that at least 1 isn’t correct, as the teach was contemplating just before she got distracted. Bummer, but still not a disaster…I hope.

Deciding to put it aside for the time being, I feed Yadzia, get on the computer while big brother heads back to bed, and mess around online for a bit before starting to write down the full exam for later reference. I manage to remember all 30 questions in the end, though the wording is flawed at the very least, and that does give a slight sense of satisfaction. Maybe I suck at exams, but my memory works just fine. Hah.

I attempt to do a bit of writing but after a couple of paragraphs it become blatantly clear that I’m really too tired to get anything done so I shut the computer down and decide to hang and fold the day’s laundry before curling up on an armchair for some much-needed shut eye.

For two hours, with Touri on my propped up feet, Mosha and Dax on my lap I snooze with a multitude of exam questions that keep flashing through my mind, but I feel somewhat revitalized at least when I wake up and find that the evening has arrived.

Remaining in the chair for a bit–the doggies are sleeping so peacefully–I take my time slowly stretching the kinks from my back and then get up to see what to make for dinner. Though there are some leftovers from yesterday’s curry and sweet ‘n sour dishes, I know that the younger sibs will pretty much annihilate what is still there, requiring a meal for me, mom and big brother.

In the end I settle on noodles with a satay sauce made from crunchy peanut butter. It takes only a short time to prepare and it should do an adequate job of filling our stomachs now that a long day and cold temperatures are taking their toll.

Once dinner’s over and done with and the dishes seen to we decide to put on Mark Whalberg’s “Max Payne” movie.
After watching it I don’t consider it bad, necessarily, but it seriously lacked some depth. A pity really since the idea was nice and images very pretty. Now, if some time and effort had been put in dialog, plot explanations and characterization it would have been a wonderful movie. Alas this wasn’t the case.

What follows is a very exciting episode of “Criminal Minds” and then the night has come to an end.
Just twelve more hours at most and I’ll know how I did on the exams! Whatever the results, I’m going to have enough to keep me distracted tomorrow. Yadzia needs to go to the vet and mom has her monthly visit with the doctor.

We’ll see.

Snooze.

I find that I have very little to write about today, which seems to be a recurring problem of late. Drat! When did life get to be boring anyway? Hmmm I might have to think of a way to figure that out.

But first, lets do the usual and sum up the day’s events so we’ll have that behind us.
After I wake a little later than usual–on purpose for a change, I need to catch up on some serious zzzzzs–I can still hardly keep my eyes open and my knee is positively killing me!

It was incredibly cold during the night; even Trin Trin wakes me up at some point because she NEEDS to get up on the bed, like, right now! And slams her paw in my sleeping face just to get that point across.

I can certainly relate, seeing as I’m freezing myself, now that I’m only covered by the thin blanket I’ve been using since the knee debacle. With Trin Trin’s wake up call I decide to risk the heavy blankets instead, folding both of us inside, and pay for it, dearly, when it’s time to get up for real.

I can barely walk through the bedroom, let alone get to the sitting room without using the support of either a wall or doorway, and swear a blue streak when, in their enthusiasm, the dogs slam into me from every side. The worst of it is that while I move about–something which helped yesterday–that the serious ache doesn’t subside at all, making dressing and then walking down to the house pretty darn excruciating.

The first thing I do upon arriving in the main living area, is literally throwing my bag on the kitchen counter, and stumble my way to the table with arnica in hand. After I’ve shuffled on top of it, removed the knee support and laboriously toed off the shoe I barely got into up at the cabin, I find my lower leg to be swollen considerably and feeling pretty darn frozen compared to the hot throb in the knee.

For a while I rub in the gel, doing yesterday’s flexes to get some of the stiffness out of the joint, and sigh my relief when the painkillers I popped up in my room start to take effect. Finally! By this time I’ve calmed down considerably, and can actually chat with big brother and grandpa who have arrived by then. Seriously, I won’t try to write down all that was said, such conversation tend to be random switches of topics that won’t make any sense unless you’re there…and even then, hah,

After a little while, I do some minor chores and have breakfast, at which time I find my eyes drooping once more now that the adrenaline rush has subsided. I really can’t see myself getting through the day in this state, and end up curling up on an armchair-my legs propped up–and dozing off almost instantly.

For about two hours I’m drawn into a tangle of dreams that mash with the sounds of family moving around, dogs bumping into me, and even a couple crawling on top of my lap while I’m stretched out on the two seats. None of it matters, I’m “out” for all intents and purposes making me feel somewhat refreshed by the time five in the evening arrives.

Though it’s late and I need to make dinner at some time, I do manage to set up my computer and start writing without the annoying eye-drooping thing and work on the vampire story for two solid hours that earn me five more pages by the time I resurface when I need to start on dinner.

Little sister has already begun, chopping red beets and onions so I won’t need to stand on my bum leg too long, the sweetheart. It takes only half an hour or so to finish up, so soon everyone is enjoying the favored dish of red beats with cheese and rice. It is so good that I actually eat too much. Hah.

Long talks concerning random subjects (what else) pass, along with a couple of TV shows before I get up and restart my computer to do most of the messages and chats now, when I still have time, instead of later on when it will impede on my sleeping time.

Around midnight, I gather my things, deciding to circumvent the knee support since it seems to be doing more damage than good by cutting off proper circulation, I head on up the mountain at an annoyingly slow pace. Once arrived, I feed the dogs and do some fun reading in Crusie’s “What The Lady Wants” which is still hilarious, and then start on the remaining evening routines.

I have to say that I’m not looking forward to tomorrow. There’s school, a medical test, a visit to the insurance company, getting headshots for our exams and perhaps even grocery shopping. Gawd, it’s going to be pure hell if we manage all that.

Another visit to the vet's

Well, as promised I was two hours early going to bed last night, crawling under the blankets and settling in for sleep–I was very tired–only to lie awake ‘till my usual sleeping time and drifting off a mere three hours before I had to get up to take Sita to the vet hospital where she had to get her eye-surgery.

I hate it when that happens. It totally defeats the purpose of going to bed early and I can’t stand lying awake, my mind awhirl and feeling all sorts of itches all over my body that have no business being there, but always come when I’m trying to sleep.

It is freezing cold when I wake, even my small, but strong heater can’t battle the temperatures outside when I drag myself out of bed and stumble to the door to let the dogs out into the sunny morning. The alarm, which I’ve forgotten to shut off, is still screeching by the time I stumble back and grab the infernal thing from the shelf and shut it off, before straightening the blankets and starting on the speedy morning ritual.

I’m not feeling too bad, on the overall, and manage to get dressed, move the dogs to the house and be ready for departure by the time big brother brings out Sita and deposits her in the car. The poor Cocker Spaniel doesn’t know what’s going on, and settles up against grandpa after we’ve shoved his moped on the truck-bed and head on out to the village. The moped is giving some trouble, and grandpa hopes that they can fix it during the day.

Sita is given a quick check when we arrive at the hospital, and when the young vet finishes, I ask if she can give the nervous twelve-year-old cocker a shot of morphine and relaxant so she won’t be so traumatized by being left there for the day.
The injection works within minutes and I carry the barely conscious dog to the back of the hospital where she is put in a cage until her surgery is supposed to commence.

Our regular vet has arrived by then, and we exchange a quick hello before I inquire about when we can come and pick Sita up. It is a relative simple surgery, I know. It will take our vet–who specializes in eye-surgery–and with the assurance that he’ll take care of Sita we leave for home.
Once there, I change into warmer clothes and head on to the house where my pack impatiently awaits my return in the cold courtyard.

Bunch of idiots. They could be sitting inside where it’s warm, but no. Can’t go in the house where they aren’t able to keep an eye on the carport and in effect my return. Some of them are actually shivering with both cold and excitement when I slip through the courtyard gate and shoo them inside.

Big brother is up, too, and for the next hour or so we go through the normal morning chores before, by the time we’re folding laundry we decide that we’re both really too tired and are dreading the day ahead considerably. We had planned to use this early start as a writing opportunity, but since we know that we need to go to school later tonight, sleep is imperative.

Discussing our options for a bit, and both of us being incredibly cold, we choose sleep and each head for our designated quarters with our packs in hot pursuit. My dogs appear thrilled as a matter of fact and soon settle down in their usual places as I crawl under the blankets and snuggle up against warm canine bodies to drift off to sleep for two more hours.

With the second awakening, I’m nicely revived and don’t bother with the morning rituals when I return to the main building where the heaters quickly make the temperatures bearable.
Since I’ve eaten French bread with lettuce, cherry tomatoes, red bell pepper, some cheese and a delicious yogurt sauce when I returned from the vet, I’m not hungry and just grab a cup of coffee while I set my computer up.

There won’t be time for writing today, I know, so instead I go online for some messages and chats before I need to scramble to get ready for school. Big brother’s hair has grown some during the past two weeks or so, so I use the trimmer to shave it all off again less then twenty minutes before we have to depart.

I’m surprised how well the “bald” look suits him. He used to wear his hair shoulder-length, but then, about seven months ago he decided that all the fuss was too much to bother with and asked me to shave it all off for the first time in ten years. The long hair looked well enough, I guess, but this isn’t bad either. I see a little Dominic Purcell (Prisonbreak’s Lincoln Burrows) in him and that’s a surprise. I’d doubted if the look would suit him, but luckily it does.

That done, I head on up to my cabin to dress in my school clothes and wobble my way to the car since I was stupid enough to don my high-heeled boots for a change. High-heels are really not a smart thing to wear on uneven mountain surfaces, but in town I do like to keep my feet familiar with the different pose that took me ages to get used to. The first few times felt like I was walking on shards of glass after just five minutes, and since that feeling has disappeared since then, I have no particular desire to repeat the acclimation period any time soon…if ever.

We head to town, the exact time we’re supposed to, arriving at school around six to start another tedious session of doing tests on paper. The dratted computers still haven’t been fixed, I fear. But it goes well. We manage four tests each, and I only had three wrong answers in total. Moving up, at least.

Butane kegs need to be acquired again, and since the place where they’re sold in town is already closed we head for the village where we’re supposed to pick up Sita, in hopes that there will be at least five kegs that should keep us warm for a few days.

Before heading for the hospital, we pop into the bazaar beside it to buy some plastic containers for the kitchen, a narrow garbage tube for the build-in disposal and some one-piece neck warmers for me. They’re so handy compared to the wrap-around shawls.

Five past eight, the exact time we were expected to come for Sita, I walk into the hospital and ask the vet how the operation went. All’s well and after I get the usual spiel about how to follow up on Sita’s treatment I take the poor Cocker to the car, where she immediately jumps into big brother’s arms and wants a solid petting.

Not much has changed for Sita, what with the removal of her second eye, but still, it is a sad thing to happen. Luckily Sita knows the house so well that she hardly ever knocks into anything and knows her way around by heart. She’s had practice, I guess. What with having been blind for almost three years, it’s only the pain of surgery that’s different. Luckily that can be dealt with through pain medication.

The butane supply in the village allows us to stock up for the next few days, and with that final task done we head back home, where Sita ecstatically throws herself at little brother who awaits our arrival in the car port.

Our purchases get moved into the house, and after I’ve once again dressed into warm house clothes I face my jubilant pack for the second time this day. No difference in their behavior. They act as if they haven’t seen me for a week as I struggle my way through them, trying to dodge the nips as bites of welcome from the labs and cockers, while Chaos throws his full weight against my hips time and again.

Little sister has made onion cheese rolls for dinner, and I add the same ingredients I used this morning to get my daily dose of veggies in before I settle down in the living area to catch my breath and watch some TV.

I can’t muster much energy for anything as I sit there, debating myself about doing something constructive with my time before we put on the latest recording of “Prisonbreak” and watch it through. Afterwards, big brother and I finally decide to try to get at least an hour’s work on the computer in.

The past few weeks have been horrid, work-wise. Constant distractions such as responsibilities and necessary tasks that need to be performed keep cutting into writing/editing hours, and it is frustrating as heck.

Since I want to work on my full-length thriller novel, big brother finally ventures into editing for something other than romance, and is pleasantly surprised by my completely different style in this story. Heck, he even compares it to Michael Crighton, which tickles my funny bone as he makes his way through four pages and I write down one of the book that already counts more than two-hundred pages, and still isn’t near it’s end.

By then the eve has come to its end, and I wrap things up to head out of the house and take my dogs to the cabin. The temperatures have dropped even more, and even though grandpa was thoughtful enough to switch my heater on almost an hour ago, making it bearable, I’m freezing by the time I feed the dogs, change into my pjs and set up my computer for the night.

Let’s hope that tomorrow will allow for more writing.