We're back to "we'll see"

Song of the day: ...well I've forgotten. That means that I, presently, don't have a song in my head. Yay.

First off, the bad news: Gada, sweet little...well, big Gada, didn't want to get up this morning, and when she did, she stood there, swaying in my living room, looking pale and miserable. Unlike normal days when she would be bouncing around me while I'm fixing dog food. It was sad, but I promised myself I wouldn't let her suffer unduly, and decided to take her to the vet without further ado...I should have done it earlier, since she's often vomiting, but...well, you know.

Anyway, the doc took one look at me, then Gada, and knew what time it was. It was over in just a few minutes, she didn't suffer, she stood in my arms, and then as she slipped away, I (bawling my eyes out a bit) slowly lowered her to the table. Such a sweet dog. It reminded me of how we got her. The vet had refused to put her and a labrador retriever down. Previous owners were having a baby, and didn't want their dogs anymore. So the vet asked if we wanted them, and we did. So basically, Gada had some odd seven years more than her previous owners had planned, and she was a darling.
But anyway, I don't want to wallow in misery over this. Gada had a good life and that is all that matters. Other stuff happened, and I better get to it. Were very busy yesterday, not so much with anything at hope, but...well, busy.

Yesterday. I woke up with a massive headache, originating from the back of my head where the stitches are. Bet you I rolled onto it way too much. Considering I woke up several times, that was definitely the case. Knight's ear has a gazillion stitches in it, and he's very insecure because of it, poor fella. Keeps rubbing against me, stretching out until he's basically on top of me. You'd think he was a friggin' Chihuahua.

Did the whole omelet experiment yesterday. One with herbs, cheese and onion, one with herbs, cheese peppers, one with Parmesan, nopales and tomatoes, one with peppers, onion and beer (to see how it would fluff it up) and one with mushrooms and cheese. Made five of them, all different, all experimental, including the two I did earlier. We all played guinea pig taking bite after bite of each different kind. Had very different results. Had two wins on the nopales, two on the mushroom, two for the peppers, and everyone, except big brother liked the onion, cheese mix. So I went for the latter, combined with some pepper.

After the experiment, big brother and I went to my terrace where we worked on putting together the window for my kitchen, yay. It'll look grand, I tell ya. Afterward we had to head out to get some stuff, and then came home to...well, no supper due to the whole egg experiment. I was still nauseous four hours later, I tell ya.

Only managed a few pages of the rewrite, my head still not feeling entirely right. Am now about halfway through, and am trying to split up my attention between the rewrite and working on letters we are going to be sending out later this winter, in the beginning of spring at the latest. The A.T.O.L. letter is working out well. And we ran through the V.L. letter as well. So much to do, so little time.

So this morning, I woke with a wooden head again. Seriously, my head feels like it is going to fall off if I moved just a fraction too much…so I didn’t move it all that much while going through the motions of the morning chores.
Then, while feeding the dogs, I suddenly noticed that Gada wasn’t bouncing around me. After some looking around, and calling her, I found her standing in the center of my living room looking downright pale, so that’s when I decided…you know.

Not the best day to have this happen, right, but it couldn’t be helped or postponed, so it was done, and grandpa was kind enough to dig a grave for her while we were gone today. No writing today, for the simple reason that there wasn’t time. We had to leave at one so we could visit tenant, prior to driving on to Gibraltar for the contest.

She wasn’t doing bad, on the overall. We found her sitting in a chair to which she said the nurses had carried her. Somehow she’s convinced herself that she now has to start all over, which is ridiculous, of course. We talked for a bit, gave her a couple of books to read, and then helped her to her feet, just to show her that she could indeed still stand. She was weak, but did manage to walk to the bed, just like I told her. Settled her there, seeing as she didn’t feel like lunch, and then said our goodbyes after an hour or so.

And off we were, on to Gibraltar, hoping that we wouldn’t get lost. We didn’t. In fact, I drove right in a single try, and we arrived on site about an hour early. Hah. Went to the restaurant, introduced myself, looked around, and then went out again to fill the remaining hour. I gotta admit, I almost chickened out. I mean seriously, it’s a lot of effort, lots of time (not that I mind either, it is just that I have very little of the latter, hah) and for a moment I wondered if it was worth pitching myself against all those other contestants, only to end up disappointed. Then I thought, what the heck, what’s the worst that can happen? (Well, technically, one of the judges could drop dead, or something) I could lose, but that’s about it. That would just mean that my taste is not theirs, which is not exactly news to me. Hah.

So I went back (after we had some pizza at the PizzaHut. I’ve been dreaming of that since the last time some odd fourteen years ago), set up where I was told to set up, and while chatting with the judges, and listening to the other contestant cooking with me, I made my omelet. It was a close thing. Luckily the lady with me was done faster, meaning that they were tasting her creation for a while, allowing me a few extra precious minutes to finish. Almost didn’t make it, since the heater wasn’t the same as at home, and since the pan was smaller, but I did do it within the time, and placed it on their table in time.

It appears they liked it, in particular the herbs I used, as well as the structure, so we’ll see. Apparently I’m going to hear whether I made it on Friday. Hah. What do you think? Should I be looking forward to more consumption of precious time, or should I hope that I don’t get through this round, so I won’t need to travel to Gibraltar again? Hmmm. Let’s just go back to: We’ll see, eh?

But, be that as it may, we were back on our way out of Gibraltar within fifteen minutes, only to end up in a two hour line at the border. *sigh* Luckily big brother had his computer with him, allowing me to write half this blog while we waited endlessly. The trip took just a little under two hours, bringing us home at nine thirty, yay. Mean’s we’ve been gone for more than eight hours, for crying out loud. Yikes. But I admit that the plus of this day was that I had no time to think of Gada, which is a good thing in my book.

Well, that’s about it then. Time, almost, for some serious zzzzzs on my part. Signing off.

Roofied, man.

Song of the day: “I got a feeling” by the Black Eyed Peas. A tad boring to have stuck in your head.

Right. Where to start? Can I just say, for the record, that the past couple of days were downright, well, taxing. First let me just say it, because I can still hardly believe it, okay, here goes: I…Got…Roofied!!! There. I’ve said it. Roofied. Now, I don’t know what I got, could have been something that was called differently, but let’s just say I was pretty out of it.

So how did it happen…well, I think I’ll have to go back all the way to Saturday, because it was of that that I had no clue that something was wrong, until I was almost flat on my face at the market.

Saturday was my procedure at the clinic, and can I just say for one moment that the surgeon made true the old saying that surgeons are butchers…He, in this case, in behavior and appearance. I’m sorry, but that’s how it came across. He was brusque, he and his meaty assistant ushering me toward the table where I was to lie down flat on my stomach so they could get cracking. First came the injections…the needle too weak, or my skin too tough (take your pick) making it two “wrong” shots before he got it right. Ouch. He made some attempts at conversation, but his English was worse than my Spanish and his bedside manner in shoving my head this way and that, nose pressed painfully into the table, nothing to write home about. Finally I asked if I could take out the padding in the middle of the “bed” allowing me to stick out my nose at least. Crikey, that felt weird. First there was the cutting bit, I think they used both scalpel and scissors on the darn cyst. Then there was the clamps that kept the skin open, metal clanking onto my skull, I tell ya, followed by stitches that literally lifted my head off the table. Jeez. I know that they work under the presumption of it being painless due to the injection, but seriously, use some common sense. It’s only skin, not plastic. Stuff bruises under abuse, for crying out loud.
But anyway, they were done in less than fifteen minutes, and I was told to get up and head for the reception area to arrange for another appointment two weeks later, so I could hear what the test results of the cyst were. Cue in the small bottle with liquid and a gross piece of skin floating in it. I promptly got nauseous.
I took a picture for the blog, arranged for the new appointment and headed out to where big brother (he drove me there) was waiting for me. We talked a moment, and everything around me got a little “spinny” if ya know what I mean. So, I decided, what the heck, I’m going back in to ask if that was normal.
Other customers were gathered around the desk, and I gesticulated over the head of a pregnant lady that I would like to speak to the doctor. The receptionist looked at me funny and said that the doc would be busy for a few minutes and asked me what I wanted to ask. So yeah, I made the universal gesture of spinning my finger in the air and saying I wasn’t feeling too well. The woman promptly jumped to her feet and basically pushed me into a little side room.
Before I knew it, she had me flat on a table, with this little stool propped under my legs. Weird to feel like the room is spinning, and yet not seeing it, right?
A minute later the doctor came bustling in, asking some questions about breakfast, and whether I lost a lot of weight, and then telling me that it was perfectly normal…would have been nice if he had told me that before hand. *snort*

But anyway, after a minute or two I had enough of it, got up…which had the receptionist rush forward from fear that I’d pass out on her, or something (she was nice, though, very caring) which I didn’t. I can be a tough hombre when I put my mind to it, thank you very much.

So once outside, big brother was waiting for me once more, and we walked back to the car, where I told him of the grand fun of what had happened inside. *sigh*

Once we got home, I got the regale folks inside with my story as well, at which point it was time to head on down into the yard for some relaxing time watering plantsies. Nothing centers you quite as well as watering plants, I tell you.

That done, I headed to the kitchen and did some experimenting with my omelet recipe. If I’m going to join in on the competition, I better not have made my last omelet seventeen years ago. *sigh* Let’s just say I’m not the biggest egg fan…but it worked out well, and my volunteers enjoyed it. *phew* Big relief that.

Big brother and I headed for town to get some groceries.
Next, since I wasn’t worth all that much anyway, I cooked supper (veggies and potatoes with a wonderful herbal sauce) and a potato salad for Sunday market day. Wasn’t in the mood to do anything more complicated than that, so since big brother and I had to head to town anyway, I figured we might as well get some French bread to go with the salad.

Tried to take a nap while Cousin Ed, Grandpa and Big Brother loaded the car for the market, but my phone woke me up, reminding me why I’d promised myself not to keep my phone with me during naps, since I didn’t manage to drop off afterward.
Knight II was oddly subdued during the day, and by the time I had done some writing for the day, I found him in my room with a 104.9 fever and an ear that was swollen triple its size…and that while it had been slowly getting better. He was in a lot of pain, so I decided not to wait for morning, and headed straight for the vet who decided to immediately operate. We could come pick him up in the morning.

It was strange to sleep without Knight II’s bones ramming into my spine, and whenever I woke (which was often) I remembered why he wasn’t there.
Despite the lack of sleep, I wasn’t doing bad the next morning. My head hurt a little, but the ibuprofen had done its job during the night, allowing me to go through the morning rituals to be done on time for our departure.

The trip toward the market went without effort, only for us to arrive to somewhat horrid winds. Seriously, we spent about two hours trying to set up, but everything kept blowing away, until we decided to just put most of everything on the ground, rather than risk flying missiles. *sigh*
At twelve, as agreed, I headed to the restaurant early and got to writing. Didn’t go bad either. With three cups of coffee (a short interruption when Cousin Ed called me to come look at a great Dane that was visiting. Gawd, he was gorgeous. I had to hug him) I managed to write nine solid pages. I had some seriously weird thoughts during the session, a slight discomfort even, and at some point, after having been gone from my table, I thought it hadn’t been smart to leave my stuff unattended. (Boy did that turn out to be true!) Once done, I cleaned up my mess, packed up the computer and went to out to see if there were sales. Nope. Only fifty cents on something teeny. We chortled about it a little, seeing as it was no big surprise, considering there were hardly any people around. We were just about to start packing up a little early, when the first wave hit me. The world spin, and I had to sit down fast or else lose it. At the time I considered two possible options for the cause. Either something with my head, or I hadn’t eaten enough. I took some cookies and tried again. Still dizzy, nauseous and my head hurt like the dickens. And it gradually got worse to, an odd giddiness coming over me, even as my outer extremities became colder and colder. Nausea got so bad I headed for the bathroom to vomit. Not much, but something got out, and I felt marginally better. I did have this odd sensation, almost like being drunk, you know, which was even weirder.
We decided that it would be smarter for cousin Ed to drive home, and I just barely made it without hurling again. Seriously, I have never felt that awful in my life. It came in waves, ya know. First a few stabs in my head, then a dizzy spell, followed by nausea, only to end in some serious shivers that had me literally fall in bed once I got home.
Knight II was there waiting for me, since big brother picked him up that morning. (The friggin’ dog had already taking off his bandages, and broke the first part of his cone. He deliberately starts walking into walls, I tell ya.
But anyway. I wrapped myself around him and pulled the blankets over both of us trying to stay warm. It didn’t work, my toes and fingers were the worst and those weird waves of shivers…or rib cramps kept keeping me awake…along with those coffees, seriously, there was so much caffeine in my body, I was crawling the walls underneath the numbing sensation of whatever the heck was bothering me.

I came to the carport in an attempt to warm myself on the stove, only to hear that right after we got home something turned out to be wrong with tenant. Neither Big brother or Grandpa had noticed anything peculiar during the day, her sudden sickness was way sudden. She was in her chair with her eyes closed, moving back and forth as if in trance, and didn’t respond to anything anyone said.
I didn’t get a lot of it, seeing as I was pretty out of it too, but I did manage to go up there after caregiver phoned for a doctor, and at his insistence an ambulance. First fear with stroke folks is another one, so they weren’t taking any risks.
By that time I was starting to get pretty bad, the “waves” of symptoms coming faster and stronger, in such a way that mom, who’d come up to check on tenant, and keep her company until the ambulance arrived, decided to ship me off to the doctor’s office in the village.
We arrived there shortly, with me draped over the back seat, wondering how the heck I was going to make it up to the door, elevator and then the office. Seriously, my ribs were starting to hurt from the shivers, and that dizziness made the world tilt under my feet. Of course I did make it, and I slouched in a seat there, pale, my hair a mess, and sagged out like a recalcitrant teenager. We talked a bit, he took my blood pressure, checked for fever (both fine) to which he concluded a stomach flu, most likely. Rooooooight!!! Jeez. Spare me from doctors. I’ve had the flu, and this wasn’t it.
Anyway, he prescribed me some anti nausea medication, and told me to pack up warm, crawl under my blankets and prepare for several days of being sick. *sigh*

We went home, where I ate some soup with crackers, and after an hour or so, started to feel marginally better. The wave of the sequence was still happening, but at a slower pace, which was a relief.

It was about two hours after our return that my strange thought at the restaurant popped up in my mind. That is when a suspicion started to niggle. My symptoms, the impression of the flu…I’d heard it before, and most of it had to do with date rape drugs (did some research on that a while ago for a book). And yep, I found several sites that basically described all my symptoms, except for exhaustion…which I dismissed in reference to those potent three coffees that still buzzed through my system with a vengeance, despite me feeling incredibly tired and tipsy.
Talked with the doctor, who didn’t like being countered by a different theory, but even he had to admit that however improbable, it did fit. The conversation got finished on us seeing whether or not I was worse or better in the morning.

I slept through most of the night…after lying awake ‘till ‘bout three in the morning. The moment I felt the caffeine high disappear from my system, I was off into dream-land I tell ya, and didn’t wake until nine thirty this morning. *sigh*

Though there were still some of the symptoms, I was feeling remarkably better and went through the motions of the morning with little trouble. After dog food I even did a short kick boxing session . The way I figure GHB is a depressant, so pumping in some adrenaline couldn’t do much wrong. Felt even better after that. Yay.

Tenant will be staying at the hospital for a bit. They haven’t figured out what happened yet, but at least it wasn’t another stroke. She asked if we could contact her family for her, which I did, of course. We had planned to, but it is better to do it when she asks.

Watered the plants again, (sun was remarkably warm) this afternoon, then worked in the kitchen on a second omelet experience, which was different, but nice regardless. Around four in the afternoon, after I prepared soup for supper, I was basically feeling like myself again, which made heading out to pick up a donation in town a lot less of an effort.
After having loaded up the car, big brother and I headed for the village where we had an appointment for Knight II’s ear checkup. Poor darling is filled with stitches and a collar he absolutely hates.
The Vet said not to mind the lack of bandage. As long as he’s not oozing all over the place it’s okay that he isn’t covered up. We tried at her place, but within one minute he had the bandage of anyway, the stupid twat! I’m to watch him, but otherwise just leave it alone…took two spare cones, because I’ll be surprised if this one makes it another day.

Had soup. Did some more writing to add to the few I did this morning, but ended up working on a letter we’ve been putting together for sending to publishers in the near future. Didn’t have much time, there was this blog to write after all.

So what you think of that, eh? Roofied? Me? Weird. Absolutely friggin’ weird.
Well. I’m off to bed.

How's that?

Song of the day: “Don’t marry her, have me” by the Beautiful South.

So let’s start out with the fun tidbit. The other day I got invited to come on in for a preliminary interview and cooking experiment for this cooking contest in Gibraltar. Yep, you heard that right, I signed up for another contest, which, if I get to the next round will be on honest to God TV (in Gibraltar that is). How exciting is that…well, the TV part makes me a little, I don’t know, weary? Ah well, let’s first see about getting through this first bit and then we’ll see. Hah.
I will have to do some practice in the next few days, eh?

Well, first there was the trip to the doctor’s yesterday morning. I only had time for coffee and laundry and the cousin Ed and I were off to the village for my appointment. I gotta say that the dude, this dermatologist, wasn’t to write home about. He was distracted (did speak a word of English) somewhat condescending while I tried to explain the problem, and trying to get me out of there ASAP. *sigh* As you might have guessed, he didn’t do a thing except refer me to a plastic surgeon (tomorrow morning) and prescribe me something for my thin hair. (You know, my hair, because it’s thin from the anemia.) Strange fella, I tell ya. He hurried me through the whole thing and then, the moment he delivered me at the reception, muttered something to the receptionist and left to get his coat and mosey on out of the hospital. Like I said, strange fella. Let’s hope that the surgeon is a little less distracted, huh?

But anyway, how glamorous does that sound, right? A plastic surgeon. Now if only I went there for something fun. Not something as icky as a scalp cyst. Darn it.

Once we got home we got to work on the kitchen again, managed to add a little to the wall, and then had to head on out again for some groceries in town. That took a while, since there were several stores to visit, followed by a small food donation of that grocery store again.

Tenant was still feeling under the weather, which as usual, makes her look older than her age. It was so bad that we actually had to get the wheelchair to get her down to the house for her visit with mom. That was a long time ago, which made us all feel bad. Luckily she’s feeling a little better today, and managed the walk on her own.

Yesterday’s supper was a rather wonderful fresh Broccoli soup with newly bought French bread. It went down well after a long day.

Only managed five pages, which, along with today’s measly three doesn’t make for much progress, does it? Darn it. It didn’t help that this morning I had to go out again (like friggin’ tomorrow) to go to my dentist appointment. Was lying on the chair there, when he muttered something about protecting this particular tooth, to which he proceeded to get a drill, file and whatnot to clean out what he later referred to as “some erosion” and what was “almost” a hole.
Afterward he raked this metal pin between every single one of my teeth, which was, oddly uncomfortable and had my mouth feel swollen for the remainder of the afternoon. Seriously, I talked with a sliss for several hours. It was weird.

Worked on the kitchen wall again, and think we have finished the part on which the big front window needs to be set. Yay. It is really starting to look nice, I have to admit, and though there is still some masonry to do, this is a big step.

Had some beef with satay this afternoon, Yay for me. I ate it again. Good thing, too, since after going out again for veggies at the distribution center, and getting more rocks for the wall, we went for a nice run. Not too bad, if you have to know. Not the excruciating stabbing in the side of the foot, anyway, just the normal stuff. Meaning I could do a good run…even a sprint, so double yay! Hah. Knight II on the other hand was totally winy about the whole thing, once we did our round, he couldn't wait to get back in the car, for crying out loud!

Made some Nasi for supper, which worked out well, too. And then got to my writing of the day…however little that was. *sigh* Then came message of me going for the contest, followed by this very blog and me going night-night as soon as I’ve posted it. I’ve got a date with a plastic surgeon come morning, after all. Hah

Passed

Song of the day: “Crazy” by Patsy Cline.

Okay, I had a rather fretful night. Kept waking up for some peculiar reason, and yet managed to oversleep by fifteen minutes. Hah. There was the whole coffee during laundry bit, which is basically the beginning of any given day, followed by me heading up to my computer so I could start writing immediately while big brother started on feeding the dogs.

Did some corresponding in-between, but managed to write about 8 pages during the course of the day (two sessions) with during the afternoon a full cleaning session of the Land Rover. It was a bloody mess, and it took a while. Not only the washing, but the checking and fixing of small things that would totally look bad when we go to the MOT the next day. Sponged the thing down, hosed it, and scrubbed the windows until the shone. The car looks so splendid when it is clean. Even did the inside, which was really necessary. The other day we had it filled with garbage for disposal at the land fill only to have Dax and Sitabah get in there and tear everything to pieces. It was a stinking mess.
But anyway, we took care of that. It might not look new, but it was clean afterward.

Afterward we worked on the kitchen for a couple of hours. Looking good there. The wall behind the future stove is almost at height, and a few more inches here and there, and we will be able to start on putting in the windows.

As to today. We got up a little early to get everything done, and still be able to do some rewriting before we had to leave for the city and our MOT appointment. Only went the wrong direction once, but then moseyed our way to the Chinese market located nearby the MOT place. Got us some chili sauce, which is splendid over there. Drove there without error for a change, and were back in time for our appointment.

Of course they have changed stuff at the MOT again (not to mention that it’s more expensive again too) meaning that rather than going to the “appointment” desk, I had to go to some nifty computer sort out the instructions, only to get me a paper and a number. Had to wait until past my appointment when our turn came and we were sent out to wait again for our turn. Seriously, after four years when they were basically always on time, now, with the nifty computers, our turn wasn’t until forty minutes after our appointment. *sigh*

But anyway, we came through with flying colors. No prob with the car, meaning that we could head for the big hardware chain store to get a new stick for the axe and to get a garden hose. Such a confusing area over there. Lots of one-way streets, which is frustrating as heck, not to mention the highways that have too few ramps no matter which way you turn.

Headed for home afterward, arriving rather late considering all the stops we made (needed something to eat, because breakfast was a long way off, but a bag of chips doesn’t hold you for long) and we were starving. First it was off to the yard, however. Got a huge batch of broccoli and sprayed the plants with some water while I waited or big brother to come help. When he finally finished putting the new stick in the axe, I was already done, so that turned out to be unnecessary.

Grandpa had already cut the dog food so we could head straight to the kitchen and start on supper. Made fried rice with peanuts, mustard seeds and garlic, along with fried cauliflower of similar make.

Big brother made a dessert of mangos, fresh strawberries from the yard, cream and yogurt, which was nothing if not totally yummy. Hah.

Tenant was a bit under the weather today. She puked a little, and slept for several hours during the course of the day. She said she was feeling a tad better when we got home, but went to bed early again.

The weather has been downright splendid today. Heck, while we were in town and the city, it was downright warm, and for the remainder of the evening I actually managed to walk around in nothing but pants and a T. And that for January? Yep. On days such as these you’re happy to be in Southern Spain. Hah.

Knight II, the idiot, has been at his foot again, so I’m going to have to put a real sock on him, once more. The darn things only last a couple of hours, and the big bastard is smart in getting to them only when he knows I can’t see. Grrr. There was actually some blood on the spot again, last night, meaning I berated him through the entire cleaning, and bandaging session. He looked very contrite and everything, but I doubt it will have an effect. *sigh*

Today’s writing went slow, I fear. About six pages in total, only, I think, which isn’t enough by far. I really should try to get some more done tomorrow.
Well, that’s it. I’m outta here. I’ve got a doctor’s appointment tomorrow…well, a dermatologist, anyway.