Going to take a breather

...for a while.  I need to focus more on getting myself back together and not fight this damned fatigue and uncertainty so much.  Just let it all unfold before me.  I'll still be on facebook daily but not online so much for a while.

TTFN

More of the same

I hadn't planned on going anywhere today but we were out of some key items so I made a trip to the store.  I behaved myself and didn't get much more than I needed.  Well, not very much more. 

Another night of several interruptions to my sleep.  Professor wanted out four times and wanted food twice.  I let him out for potty purposes but didn't give him any food.  He has dry food available at all times and he had a couple of treats from the night before he hadn't eaten.  I don't want to encourage him to wake me up for food.  It's bad enough I have to get up to let him out.

And he still used his potty papers as well.

So I'm dragging and plan on going to bed very soon.  I'm not even going to wait for the sun to go down.  Probably won't knit tonight because I'm that tired.

I just got some store brand pizzas for supper.  Zach can fix Tom's; he's already had his pizza.  Hopefully tomorrow I'll be rested enough to get done all the work I need to, including the taxes.  How I hate to do those.

So...off to get ready for bed.

TTFN

I'm cold

...but that's okay. I shut the windows late yesterday before the sun went down and was able to keep much of the heat in although I might run the furnace before I go to bed because it's creeping down to about 55 right about now.  I'll be baking in a few minutes so I don't want to use the furnace just yet.

Tom found out that there was nothing wrong with the car aside from a stuck spring in the button on the gear shift so he's got the car today and Zach and I took off just to be out during the week.  We did some errands while we were out but mostly just went window shopping.  Didn't spend a dime but had a good time nonetheless.

I am still not sleeping well. I hate these insomnia cycles.  With the window shut last night, Professor didn't wake me up but I woke up at 7:30 a.m. and just couldn't get back to sleep so I got up and puttered around the house before I went up to wake Tom up since he slept through his alarm. He had to go in early today for a meeting.  Tomorrow, too.  I'm wondering if the reason I'm not sleeping is because I'm worried about him oversleeping.  This isn't the first time I've had to wake him up to get him to work on time. He never, ever had that problem before but this constant work schedule is taking its toll on him. Now I can't rest comfortably.

I did some knitting last night on the socks and the desk cover, but I got sleepy so I shut everything down and then woke right up. Couldn't get to sleep until about 4 a.m. or so.  So 3 and a half hours of sleep won't work for me.  I didn't get anything much done today as a result.

Maybe I'll sleep well tonight because of the cold. It got down to 34 last night although it stayed above 60 here in the house.  Maybe I won't turn the furnace on so I can sleep well tonight.

Tomorrow I've got to get busy on the taxes. I hate doing them.  We had an agreement for years that since I do the bills all the time that Tom would do the taxes but with his schedule he just can't concentrate on them so it's down to me to do them.  Only I'm having trouble concentrating myself.  A chronic problem. I bought a crossword puzzle book hoping that would help me exercise my brain enough.  I just started it so I can't say if it's helping but it's nice to know I can remember some things anyway.

I've got to finish supper up.  Impossible pie tonight because it's easy to fix and I'm so tired.  Tomorrow we need to get back on track with the eating plan.  I know Zach's gained back some weight and I'm to blame for it with my enabling and bad cooking.  It's not doing either of us any good not working on it so I guess I'll put what little energy I've got into that instead of trying to keep up with the house. 

But for now, I'm off to finish up supper and then to bed. I don't care if I only nap for now. I'm so sleepy I'm falling asleep at the computer.

TTFN

More like spring

Even though we reached record temps again, it was in the mid 60s with a nice gentle rain all day.  And all last night so the basement is doubling as a pool today. I'll have to squeegee it this weekend.

I got all the laundry done yesterday but didn't have any energy for much else, except I vacuumed my bedroom because I had brought up all the clothes from the basement and ended up with a floor full of some kind or dirt or something.  I would like to do the dining room today but the kitchen needs it worse.  Now that Tom has the upstairs dormer fixed the kitchen addition is leaking.  Right at the join.  As I said before, the guy built it right on top of the patio with no foundation. It's not even attached to the ground in any way.  So the patio is sinking a bit and the addition is pulling away from the house. I'd like to just demolish it but we don't have the money to fix it up with anything else and that would leave a gaping hole in the kitchen. Open invitation to thieves. Not to mention heating bills out the butt.  So we are stuck with it for now.

The stove blew a burner this morning. Tom woke me up swearing in there (damn it, and I was going to finally get some sleep) because the burner just exploded and broke off a piece of the element. Now we have to get a new stove.  Great!  Another thing we can't afford.  I guess the front door will have to wait another year.  We can't afford both.  Hell, we can't afford either.

I've been trying to go to bed immediately after supper because sometimes knitting wakes me up.  Thing is, I don't get to stay asleep because my body treats it like a nap.  So I've been lying in bed in the dark watching tv until it gets late enough my body might be fooled into thinking we're down for the night. Until Tom comes home and Professor goes ape-shit barking at the car.  And lately he's been mistaking the neighbor's car for ours so when our neighbor comes home from work at around 11, he goes ape-shit for her, too.  So I think it's just going to be impossible to get a good night's sleep ever again.

I'm systematically working on the kitchen today, trying to clean it.  I'm not making good time because I'm so tired and achy today (change of weather, I think) but I should have most of it done before I go to bed tonight. If not, I'll finish up tomorrow.  I just can't push myself today.  Not and be able to sleep tonight.  The pain will catch up with me then.

So I guess I'd better get back to work and at least get the dishes done and the counters cleaned. I might not mop until tomorrow, especially as Tom will come in with wet feet tonight.

TTFN

Another record-breaking day

Again in the low 80s.  I caved in and put some screens in two windows and the front storm door.  That door will have to be replaced this summer as it's warped and won't stay shut. I'm always afraid Professor will jump on the door when the mail carrier comes by and it will pop open.  As he has an intense hatred for anyone in blue I'm afraid what he might do.

Last night no sleep again.  Partly because it was so hot and partly because Professor just won't sleep because of the heat.  He got me up several times, none of which to go out.  He just wanted me awake.  And I woke up to the phone ringing at 9.  It was the dr's office calling Zach about his labs, which have improved enough he doesn't have to take the rest of his industrial strength vitamin D but can go to over the counter stuff.  And  his thyroid was normal.  So, as long as I was awake I just stayed up and then went to the store a bit later. I hate shopping when I've got to keep an eye on the clock.

I plan on sleeping in tomorrow come hell or high water. I must get some sleep before I have another melt-down like I did last night.  And no, I don't want to talk about it but suffice to say that I never cry.  Except for last night.

I have laundry to do today. Just one load because I have no energy for more than that. I'm not hanging them out because it's supposed to rain tomorrow and I don't feel like waking up to find out it rained in the wee hours of the morning instead of later on.  Tomorrow will be spent with laundry and cleaning. It's gotten away from me again and I'm sure Tom is annoyed by it.

I think I'm going to try a short nap before I fix supper. I tried earlier but got sidetracked with the screens as my bedroom was a sauna so I needed the window by the bed opened.  I think I can sleep now.  Hope so anyway.  I also hope tomorrow is more normal. I'm really, really tired of this fatigue.

TTFN

Spring at its earliest feels a lot like summer

Seriously. It's over 80F today.  I still think winter has something left for us so while I'm enjoying the weather. I haven't put away the winter clothes yet.  And I still have plastic on some of the windows.  It snowed on Tom's birthday last year (April 15th) so I'm not ruling out more snow.

I went to bed early last night and fell right asleep only to wake up a short while before Tom got home at 1 a.m.  I was up until 4 after that.  But had to get up at 9 to take Zach to the dr for labs.  And early again tomorrow morning to run some errands.  Not having transportation is really getting to me. 

I have meds to pick up at the pharmacy tomorrow and really should hit the library but I can't get everything done in two hours, which is all I really have unless I want to get up really early and I don't. I could get it all done, but I would feel so rushed and panicked about not getting home in time for Tom to leave for work.

I'm doing laundry but I'm not hanging them out on the line like I should. I still have a headache and the fatigue is always present so I'm using the dryer. I can do a load a day this way instead of all of them at once. I'm not even sure I have energy to fix supper tonight.  I could have Zach fix something. 

I'm thinking of going on blog hiatus until I get this fatigue and depression under control.  All I do is whine here and who wants to read that?  If you don't hear from me for a few days, I'm just taking a break.  Nothing major.  Just some down time.

TTFN

Cranky me

Pounding headache from, probably, allergies. Now that the false spring is happening, things are growing again.  And I really believe it's a false spring.  Especially since it's still winter by the calendar and up here, winter sticks around long after the calendar says it's spring.

So I'm cranky because of the headache and cranky because the car hasn't been worked on so I'm facing another week stuck at home.  Tomorrow Zach has labs and Tom has to go in to work early so we've got to rush back home after the labs.  Can't go anywhere else.  Not like I knew he had to go in early when I made the appointment.

Instead of working on the car, he re-shingled the dormer.  To be fair, it needed it badly.  And apparently it worked because we had rain today and it didn't leak at all.  The former owner did all his own construction on this house, converting it from a two bedroom with an attic to a two bedroom with an upstairs.  He turned the front bedroom into a living room. I've turned it back into a bedroom but the dining room, which used to be a living room still is a dining room because he re-did the kitchen and there's no room for a table in there anymore.  Barely room for the fridge.  And I won't even talk about the disaster that is the addition to the kitchen that he built on top of the patio with no foundation at all.  And no insulation.  And is pulling away from the house.  But no, I won't talk about that.

The dormer had dry wall on it that was too heavy for a ceiling not to mention the shingles weren't put on right. I've suggested we take the attic back to bare bones and start over.  The way he has partitioned the upstairs is completely unusable.  He's got the only bedroom up there tiny and without a heating vent (which was in the spacious area he had made into a closet.  Then he made two other tiny closets up there.  Without lighting in them. And they're deep so you can't see what's in the back. Tom likes the idea of taking it back to bare bones but I have to design exactly what I want before he will.  I just don't feel like it today though.

I know the roof took precedence over the car and if this was a rare occasion I wouldn't be so put out about it, but it's not a rare occurrence.  It's getting to be the norm.  

I'm still not knitting. I just can't get my mojo going well enough to do it.  Could be the fatigue just saps all creativity out of me.

Well, I'm trying to fix pork chops because the chili I was going to fix wasn't going to work out because I don't have the hamburger I thought I had. I've got crumbles (fake hamburger) but I really can't stand it so I'm thawing out the pork chops.  After that I'm going to bed.

TTFN

I still think winter is hiding around the corner

...in spite of the summer weather we're having lately.  It's been so warm I've got the windows open and the fan on at night so I can sleep.  Unfortunately, having those windows open means I'm not sleeping because Professor is reacting to every little noise out there.  And yet, when I get up four times a night to let him out, he won't get off the porch. I couldn't even drag him off the other night.  So he's using his puppy pads instead.  Which he normally doesn't like to use.

So...the third night in a row with little sleep.  I am tired.  I would be cranky, too, but I just don't have the energy.

Also, my neighbor's extremely huge truck is louder than a motorcycle at full rpm and at 3 a.m. brings me to a sitting up position when he comes home. Or leaves an hour or so later.

I haven't been doing much knitting lately.  The fatigue has been bad since I had those two days of productivity so I mostly just go to bed, shut out the lights and veg out until I think it's late enough to go to sleep. Or try to.  Staying asleep hasn't worked out too well lately.

I did knit a while on the Tree of Life afghan last night. I've gotten to the flower garden part, which isn't my favorite part of it.  If it doesn't work out again, I think I'll just come up with a different pattern for that section and continue on with it.  I've also done some knitting on the bamboo pattern socks. I'm nearly to the heel flap on the second sock.  I really like how they've turned out.  I'll probably work a bit on Zach's desk cover tonight, though, since it's mindless knitting and I'll need that after little sleep last night.  Professor woke me up 7 times.  Only three times did he want out.  Other times he wanted me to bring his toys up on the bed because he can't seem to jump up with them in his mouth.  Then he wanted me to play with him.  Another time he just wanted up on the bed and apparently needed me out of it to do that. 

I have to go to the store when Tom gets home this afternoon.  Zach has a D&D game so he won't be going with me.  We plan on having an outing tomorrow.  Being unable to go anywhere during the week aside from very quick trips for errands is getting to me. And there is next to nothing in our bitty city aside from convenience stores and a Subway a mile away.  My dodgy hip can't handle the steep hill for the return trip.  Plus there is a steep part to get there.  So steep the sidewalk has steps to it.

I hope Tom can get the car fixed this weekend.  He only has one day to do it, though.  I'm thankful he has a job but I wish he didn't have to work 6 days a week, every week of the year aside from the occasional holiday. Like Christmas and New Year's.  And Thanksgiving.  And sometimes Memorial Day weekend.  And since he's salaried...no overtime.  It's really wearing him out.  He'll be taking a vacation day for his birthday weekend next month and he gets his birthday off (or the day nearest to it), which he really needs.

Well, I'm off to take a shower and maybe read a while.  I wish I had the energy to enjoy all this sunshine.  Maybe I'll just take a nap instead.

TTFN

Pity party day

This isn't intended to be a bitch about my husband post.  I thought about deleting it after writing it, but you know...sometimes the stresses get to me, too, and sometimes I need someone to talk to about them.  And if someone had listened to me in the first place I might not have had to vent here.

Yesterday was packed with all kinds of work. I did two loads of clothes, hung them out on the line, brought them in with the obligatory folding and putting away.  Cleaning the house. Or at least keeping the house as clean as it had been the day before.  Getting the license plates for the Concorde so Zach and I could be mobile again.  Putting said plates on the car, getting the truck out of the way so we could get the car out of the driveway.  And finally, driving very carefully to the gas station  two blocks away and airing up the tires on the Concorde because two of them were nearly flat.

And the damned linkage problem with the transmission that we spent over $400 on six months ago is still a problem.  So the car is sitting in the driveway, waiting for Tom to tighten the cable a bit.  Hopefully it's just because the new cable got stretched a bit, as most new cables do.  Otherwise we're back to two vehicles sitting in the driveway not running.

I had told Tom I thought the problem with the truck might be the alternator based on what he said about the battery and losing the radio and lights dimming and all.  But he didn't believe me and kept looking for other problems.  Zach and I put the charger on the battery yesterday so we could move the truck out of the way in order to put the plates on the car (and get it out of the way so we could get the car out of the driveway.)  After a couple of hours I tried the truck and the it started up just fine but it wouldn't stay running.  It just wouldn't idle at all.  This exact same thing happened to me in Texas when I was stationed there, on my Mustang.  The problem had been the alternator, of which I had gone through 6 because the idiots that put the first one in had crossed the wires, thereby shorting out each subsequent alternator (because everyone who replaced it looked at the alternator to see how to do the wiring.)  Then my engine fuse blew resulting in my car not idling anymore.

But what do I know. I'm just a silly woman who used to be a mechanic on helicopters for bob's sake!

Anyway, I was really depressed after seeing that we still don't have two cars up and running and feeling like I had just wasted $80 on tags for the car.  Tom came home and I tried to talk to him about it but he wasn't feeling well and just tuned me out.  It was a rough night for me.  And a rough morning when he told me I was being relentless about the car so he had to go to bed to escape me.

I'm also bone tired from the chronic fatigue and lack of sleep last night from fretting about the cars and in pain from the fibromyalgia and all the activity I've been doing the past couple of days.  Enough pain I had to take a tramadol during the day, which I try not to do, but didn't mention because I think I sound whiny about it.  But I did try to be supportive and empathetic to Tom's pretty miserable leg pain from crouching to put the sealant on the roof on Sunday.

So I'm not feeling great today either.  I've got books that need to be returned to the library tomorrow so either I go after he gets home at 1 a.m.and put them in the slot or get up early tomorrow morning and get my errands done then.  And since it's pretty hard to sleep before he gets home, getting up early enough is pretty damned difficult. It's not Tom's fault. It really isn't. He only gets one day a week off and last week he had to fix the roof because the need was more urgent.  But it would be nice to hear that it sucks to be stuck at home all the time. It would be nice to feel like someone cares about it. 

I don't know if guys just don't think they need to say this kind of stuff to women or if they are just clueless about it all.  I don't know that you care about my inability to go places and do things if you don't say it.  And telling me that of course I care about your convenience. It's why we have two cars in the first place, doesn't exactly convey your sympathy.

Men!  We don't always need fixes.  Sometimes we need empathy.

TTFN

Comeback of sorts

I didn't have anymore energy yesterday but I did have more determination so I got a lot done.  Unfortunately, I pushed through until my legs were shaky and I ended up just falling into bed and sleeping for 10 straight hours.  Which I needed.

What I did was turn the living room back into a bedroom again because I'm just not sleeping well on the futon mattress on its own.  Two futon mattresses, however, make a lovely bed. Plus I just didn't have the energy to make up the couch very often and with the way the couch was placed in the room, with it pulled out as a bed there was not enough space to walk through the room at all.  So it's back to being a bedroom in the exact arrangement it was before.

So that meant the dining room had to have some arranging done to it, albeit not a lot.  Still, a lot of heavy furniture was moved and my legs were toast at the end of the day.  But not my back, fortunately.  Didn't suffer any pain there at all.  And my two tramadol and 3 ibuprofen worked to keep the pain at bay for the night.

Today I worked on laundry, even hanging out a load on the clothesline.  It was warm enough I didn't even wear a coat.  And I haven't used the furnace in about 4 days.  In addition to the laundry I worked on the kitchen, although it's still not as clean as I would like.  It is better though. 

I had planned on homemade pizza tonight but the bread machine is leaking so I can't use it anymore. It's in the trash now.  Instead I made the dough from scratch and it turned out even better than the bread machine dough.  Plus I used less flour.  And it turned out really good, but it was a very time-consuming project, especially with cutting up the veg and all for the toppings.

I have one load of clothes in the dryer and another in a basket on my bed that need to be folded and put away and then I'm hitting the shower so I can get up early tomorrow morning and go to the DMV and license the car so we can have two vehicles again.  Tom is going to call the insurance company. It needs the tires aired up but it started right up today and is pretty good shape mechanically.  Getting it out of the driveway may be dicey as the truck is behind it and it won't start at all now.  I think he can sneak it out across the patch of grass between our driveway and the neighbor's driveway and just get out that way.  Then we can push the truck up to the garage door.

Won't happen tomorrow though. I am anxious to be mobile again.  I can't get done the things I need to do in the few hours I've got before he leaves for work.

Tom spent Sunday putting sealant on the dormer roof but it rained a couple of hours later before it had a chance to cure so we had major leaks.  We've got some shingles in the garage from my sister-in-law's former roofing job and all we need is the barrier paper and nails and he can finish it up in a weekend.  It will do until next summer when we re-do the roof.

I plan on knitting tonight. My head is clear, my mojo is back and my energy level is a bit better than it has been for months.  Still seriously depleted but much better.

Zach is really coming out of his depression and fatigue now that his medical situation is improving. He's sleeping much better and getting up at a decent hour without the alarm.  Something that hasn't happened in years. Plus he's got a spark in his eyes that I haven't seen since he was a youngling.  He has labs next week so we can see just how much his blood levels have improved.  Plus he's lost 13 pounds so far. Not falling off of him but he's not making the mistakes I made by letting my calories get too low and feel like I'm starving all the time.  Soon,I hope to follow his path and get busy on my weight as well.

Time to get off the computer and get busy finishing up my chores so I can go to bed and just chill out the rest of the night.

TTFN

A night of sleep

I switched to my cotton sheets last night and slept from 10 to 9 but with several interruptions of sleep, however.  Mostly it was Tom coming home, Professor barking at Hannibal who was sharpening his claws on the ottoman and things of that nature.  I had to get up at 8 a.m. to let Professor out but went right back to sleep.  I was having a dream about being in the band in high school and trying to find my Navy uniforms I needed for it.  They were scattered all over the place and for some reason my old Voyager minivan stopped running and I had to use this homemade scooter of sorts to get there.  Fortunately I woke up before I wore myself out using it.

Where do these dreams come from?

I forgot to put down puppy pads and turn the heat down when I went to bed.  I was afraid to move once I got into bed, that I would lose my sleepiness so I put the tv on timer and went straight to sleep.  The tv was off when Tom got home and I never turned it on again.  I had his tv in the background to get me back to sleep (until Professor started scolding Hannibal) and aside from the barking, went right back to deep sleep.  And I did sleep deeply. 

I got up around 9 a.m., took a shower, made up the couch and even put make up on before I left for the store.  I don't like not having a vehicle though.  I feel caged up.  Not to mention Zach is wanting to put more applications in now that his medical situation is fairly resolved. 

But now I'm worn out again.  Used up all the energy I had.  I have to get some clothes washed and while I thought about hanging them outside since we have warm weather predicted for tomorrow, I'm not sure I have the energy for that.  Plus winter clothes seem to accumulate a lot of lint that can only be taken care of with the dryer.  I've got to sort out my priorities and right now, cooking is more important than hanging clothes out on the line.

Zach went down early, too.  He was in bed by 10:30 and went right to sleep. This is a near-miracle if you know his sleep situation.  He slept straight through until 10 a.m.  Another near-miracle.  I've had him on St. John's Wort for the past 3 days.  He's tried it in the past but never remembered to take it so I've taken up the responsibility for his doses and it's made a huge difference already.  I've also got other conditioning techniques planned for treating his depression, which has lifted considerably since the medical conditions have started to improve.  Unless things change drastically I see no need for him to go on anti-depressants and see a psychiatrist.

We've been taking Prilosec OTC for a month now, hoping to take care of our heartburn-related conditions and I haven't had an antacid in that whole time.  Neither has Zach.  Part of his problem with anemia has been related to inflammation of his digestive tract due to the heartburn so as this problem clears up, his fatigue and depression should also clear up.  As they have so far.  Although he also has an antibody involved in his anemia so it's not all inflammation.  Still, the dr sees no need for further treatment at this time.

I still haven't done any knitting.  I might get to it tonight but the fatigue is still overwhelming me so I don't know if I will just yet.  I might put more of what little I have into things that need to be done.  Knitting will always be there, but we can't run around naked.

Off to start a load of clothes.

TTFN

Living with debilitating fatigue doesn't feel like living

The cold has moved into my chest so I had a night of interrupted sleep with an abrupt wake up of the emergency alert system on the tv.  Worse than an alarm clock.  So Professor decided it was time to wake up and wanted outside.  I decided to just get up and go to the store because I was awake and needed cough syrup so I could sleep tonight.

I forgot half of what I went for.

I should never go to the store when I don't take my brain along.  So I'm thinking, now that I've slept nearly all day, of just going tonight after Tom gets home so I can stay home tomorrow and try to get some work done here.  I'm not accomplishing anything anymore.

I'm also wondering if all the various medications I take are the cause of this awful fatigue.  I take at least 5 medications that have warnings about driving while taking them.  Makes me wonder how I'm supposed to function if I'm taking meds that make me drowsy.

Plus I discovered a link between statins for cholesterol and diabetes.  Apparently the statins push your body into diabetes.  We had no diabetes in my side of the family and now three of us have it. And all of us are on statins.  Not that I'm going to stop taking my meds.  That would be silly.  But I am going to look into  how to get healthy in spite of this frelling fatigue so I can get off of them.  I just feel like with every new medication I've been put on, I've gained more weight and had more problems with fatigue.  I have no energy to do the things I need to do to lose weight or eat healthier. The fatigue comes with the fibromyalgia but the added fatigue from the meds makes me feel like a zombie sometimes.

Still no knitting.  Just too tired now.  The pain is gone and the cough is annoying but I'm just so tired.  I would love to get my life back some day if I could just figure out how to do it.

TTFN

I've decided to live

Apparently last night was the peak of this dastardly cold that has kicked my hind end.  I slept intermittently but woke up dehydrated but feeling better.  A glass of water took care of the dehydration and the sneezing has stopped along with the mucus factory output.  I feel like living again.

I had to take a dvd back to the library today or face that ominous $2 a day penalty and Tom had to go into work early for a meeting so I only had time for the library.  I'll have to do shopping another day.  It's really a big inconvenience to try to get all my errands done before he leaves for work and makes more trips to town because I can't get them all done.  And it will be Sunday before he can possibly look at the truck.  He's discarding my idea to let the truck sit and insure and license the car because it would be cheaper in the long run.  Not for financial reasons, as he claims, because I've already shown him how much money we would save.  But because he loves that truck. 

Men!

Zach had hoped to do another round of applications this week now that his medical stuff is nearly all taken care of, but no way to do that.

I have laundry to do today and I should probably find the dining table and floor again.  They are the areas that most often accumulate clutter.  I won't bother with the living/bed room today.  Hardly worth it to make up the couch this late in the day so I'll put my efforts toward laundry, the dining room and the kitchen.  I also want to get busy and dye my Welsh top singles this week, too.  I've changed my mind about Kool-aid because I wouldn't use that much red yarn and decided to use coffee instead.  That color I can use a lot.  Plus I need to scour my Shetland wool and get it ready for carding.  It's pretty warm this week...into the 50sF although I'm not ready to hang anything out on the line yet.  I would have to stand in snow to do it.  It will take a few days for that to disappear.

I haven't knitted in about a week because of this cold.  I also haven't done any drawing either.  But I have done some reading.  Not as much as I would like, but a little, anyway.  Hopefully the sun and warmer weather will give me the impetus I need to start being creative and ambitious.  Although I admit going back to bed sounds good right now.

And it doesn't sound like a bad idea either so I think that's what I'll do.

TTFN

Somebody shoot me

I"ve been battling a head cold the past three days and I've sneezed so much my stomach muscles are sore.  And now I've started coughing so that's not helping.  I'll be back after all this is over but I'm spending most of my time in bed dozing in between sneeze attacks. 

How can one person manufacture that much mucus.  I've gone through one box of tissues already.

TTFN

Definitely still winter

We're in the midst of a winter storm and while it's magnificently beautiful, I do worry about my husband being able to get home tonight.  Especially as he has a quick turnaround tonight and has to go back in after about 4 hours of sleep.  Same thing every Friday night.  I made him take a sleeping bag with him just in case it was too bad to drive home at 1 a.m.

But it is beautiful.  We've already got a couple of inches and it's been snowing about one and a half hours so far.  The snow is supposed to get heavy after 5 p.m.  Whoa!  Not sure what that means as it seems pretty heavy now.

But I checked on the Decorah Eagles and they have no snow so I'm glad about that.

I've chilled out a bit about the truck and came up with an alternative plan for the licensing the car which I hope he will consider, especially since I just got the bill for our gasoline credit card and it's nearly double what it used to be.  Either we stop going anywhere but work or we park the truck for a while.  Can't do both.

I got all the shopping and errands done this morning before Tom had to leave for work.  It had just started a rain/snow mixture as I was leaving to come home and the temperature dropped 3 degrees in the time it took me to get home.  Just enough for the rain to turn into snow.  Within 10 minutes of arriving home, it was snowing.

Zach and I went out and refilled the bird feeder so we don't have to do that in knee deep snow.  At least not yet.  It should be warmer next week so the snow won't stick around long but it will be like this off and on all weekend, which means Tom won't be able to work on the truck at all, as I predicted.  We'll make do, though.  It's not the first time we've gone through this.  Not even the 10th time.

Tonight will be a cozy night of knitting and reading up until around midnight.  Then we will head out to clear the driveway so Tom can get in.  I doubt the snow plow will have been by yet but the driveway is uphill and the less snow on it the easier it is to get into it.  Especially at 1 a.m.

For now, I'm trying to get rid of the return of the cold I thought was gone.  It hit me abruptly this afternoon and now I'm sneezing and stopped up with a wonderful headache that is only now subsiding.  So maybe a nap is in order since I had to get up early to run the errands.

TTFN

This is getting so old

Tom came home late last night and told me that the truck's battery light was on in addition to a few other trouble lights so until  he can get it fixed, he's taking the car to work.  Which means leaving me home without transportation because he has exactly one day off each week and usually sleeps the whole day because he's so exhausted.  I'd like to license and insure the Concorde that is just sitting there but he won't do it because it costs too much, but with gas at nearly $4 a gallon, him driving the truck every day isn't saving us any money either.  I figure we need 3 cars to have two up and running all the time.

And what happens when Zach gets a job?  How will he keep a job if he doesn't have reliable transportation?  Plus we have had some medical appointments lately.  And there is a program at the library I was thinking about going to that I can't if the truck isn't up and running by then. We have had this problem consistently for the past 16 years.  I am not exaggerating.

So I'm terribly annoyed today that this truck, which has cost us nearly $2000 in the past 6 months is going to cost us even more.  I'm wondering if it's the alternator, which isn't cheap.

So it will have to sit until he has time to work on it.  I have to get up early tomorrow to run to the library to get the manual so he can look at it but I doubt he gets anything done on it this weekend.  While I'm out I have to pick up some stuff at the store that we need as well. 

So, I'm terribly annoyed today and not in the best frame of mind for being newsie.  Sorry.  Hopefully I'll feel better about it all tomorrow.

TTFN