Things

As of yesterday, I've managed another 8700 words on Soldier; some of this is people sitting around figuring out what to do next, though, which is exactly the kind of thing the writer sometimes needs to do but which gets cut to ribbons later. But this new female character is positively having fun.

My in-laws are here, staying in their RV (Since Abacchus is in our guest room) with their cat (Sweet and a bit shy). They came to help take apart and replace our floors. Which is looking to be a bigger job than initially thought, as they've decided that replacing the top layer of subflooring is better than levelling out the current - ultimately, it will make a better and longer lasting floor.

I'm having my usual mixed feelings about this; the combination of them being fabulous people in most cases, the convenience of my mother-in-law taking all the cooking and some of the cleaning up, and the sheer hackle-raising presence of so many people in our house, even if they essentially brought along their own bedroom. And of course, having our living room turned upside-down adds an extra dimension. It needs doing, really; the floors were in terrible shape. But it dopes, by definition, involve turning those rooms upside-down.

My health has been poorish what with one thing and another. Nothing incapacitating, but many worrying and some painful. Ripping up the floors has been filling the air with dust, adding severe allergic attacks to a cold already in place (The one time I worked without a dust mask, I was wheezing and feeling faintly strangled all night after; aside from one stint of sweeping after that, I've been very conscientious about either being in another room or using the mask, and lots of allergy pills. But I still cough. I like breathing).

And I came very close to pulling a muscle at tai chi, which meant that Saturday I was extremely sore every time I walked about. And now the allergy thing also triggered an ear infection - or, sort of, two different ones. The middle ear is infected, but the outer canal is also in poor shape. All I know is that I can taste the stuff draining down the back of my throat, and it throbs, and when it's otherwise quiet, I can hear a ringing.

As I told mom, i don't think it will impede any of my plans for tomorrow, as it doesn't keep me from doing anything (listening to music demonstrates a very faint echo, still preferable to the ringing of silence), and I'll still be able to help pack up dvds and books so we can move more furniture upstairs, which is the only thing of any exertion I'm planning tonight.

However, it meant I didn't sleep much at all last night, plus getting up early to be at the walk-in first thing in the AM (I ended up the first walk-in patient at the door, and was therefore seen within an hour.) So I napped a bit of the afternoon, which usually adds a tiredness headache when I do it, but this time, made me feel rather the better. And other than packing boxes, I'm taking it easy again today.

Mother's day was spent at my mom's place, with my mother-in-law and father in law also present; Jeff made a roast and potatoes, and we ate it with salad and carrot cake. We lingered to chat, then Colin and his parents went back to our place while I lingered, in spite of a growing headache, to watch Sabrina (the Hepburn/Bogart/Holden original) with mom (Jeff did marking, and listened in to the movie).

Things

As of yesterday, I've managed another 8700 words on Soldier; some of this is people sitting around figuring out what to do next, though, which is exactly the kind of thing the writer sometimes needs to do but which gets cut to ribbons later. But this new female character is positively having fun.

My in-laws are here, staying in their RV (Since Abacchus is in our guest room) with their cat (Sweet and a bit shy). They came to help take apart and replace our floors. Which is looking to be a bigger job than initially thought, as they've decided that replacing the top layer of subflooring is better than levelling out the current - ultimately, it will make a better and longer lasting floor.

I'm having my usual mixed feelings about this; the combination of them being fabulous people in most cases, the convenience of my mother-in-law taking all the cooking and some of the cleaning up, and the sheer hackle-raising presence of so many people in our house, even if they essentially brought along their own bedroom. And of course, having our living room turned upside-down adds an extra dimension. It needs doing, really; the floors were in terrible shape. But it dopes, by definition, involve turning those rooms upside-down.

My health has been poorish what with one thing and another. Nothing incapacitating, but many worrying and some painful. Ripping up the floors has been filling the air with dust, adding severe allergic attacks to a cold already in place (The one time I worked without a dust mask, I was wheezing and feeling faintly strangled all night after; aside from one stint of sweeping after that, I've been very conscientious about either being in another room or using the mask, and lots of allergy pills. But I still cough. I like breathing).

And I came very close to pulling a muscle at tai chi, which meant that Saturday I was extremely sore every time I walked about. And now the allergy thing also triggered an ear infection - or, sort of, two different ones. The middle ear is infected, but the outer canal is also in poor shape. All I know is that I can taste the stuff draining down the back of my throat, and it throbs, and when it's otherwise quiet, I can hear a ringing.

As I told mom, i don't think it will impede any of my plans for tomorrow, as it doesn't keep me from doing anything (listening to music demonstrates a very faint echo, still preferable to the ringing of silence), and I'll still be able to help pack up dvds and books so we can move more furniture upstairs, which is the only thing of any exertion I'm planning tonight.

However, it meant I didn't sleep much at all last night, plus getting up early to be at the walk-in first thing in the AM (I ended up the first walk-in patient at the door, and was therefore seen within an hour.) So I napped a bit of the afternoon, which usually adds a tiredness headache when I do it, but this time, made me feel rather the better. And other than packing boxes, I'm taking it easy again today.

Mother's day was spent at my mom's place, with my mother-in-law and father in law also present; Jeff made a roast and potatoes, and we ate it with salad and carrot cake. We lingered to chat, then Colin and his parents went back to our place while I lingered, in spite of a growing headache, to watch Sabrina (the Hepburn/Bogart/Holden original) with mom (Jeff did marking, and listened in to the movie).