"Is that a crucifix in your pocket or are you just happy to save me?"
Yes, it's been forever, and I'm going to split this entry into a few different ones. I've been busy...not just busy, but stupidly busy. Working, while not all the time, has eaten tremendous amounts of it. It's been a stupidly busy term, following a previously busy one, and I've not adapted well. The second half of the equation is that my three-year-old has become a time sponge. I spend lots more time with her, and she demands it if I don't give it willingly. I don't mind spending time with her at all, but it's cut into my "me" time. Of course, Amy would say that Zoey's cut into her "me" time for a long time now, but she has more balance than I do about all this stuff.
Honestly, I've never been great at multitasking. In the last few weeks, I've let several things fall away for long stretches, including facebook and livejournal at times. I've also quit promoting my book for the last few weeks (going to remedy that), stopped watching movies, quit writing much of anything, barely played my new Wii, and slowed my comic reading to a crawl. I've lost the patience to be polite at times with people online (good thing I'm not online as often). I also bought a Comic Buyers Guide weeks and months ago, and I've still not priced my collection this year. If you're not a long-term reader, you should know I do this pretty much in less than two weeks of purchase.
But really, I've been so busy. And when I'm not busy, I'm preoccupied. My friend Kerran is calling me frequently to tell me about his heart condition and what I need to know so I can collect all his belongings left to me after he passes. He could survive for quite a while longer, but he's really not acting like he thinks he will. While I appreciate the preparations, and I really do, it's not a happy series of thoughts. Kerran has been one of my best friends for more than a decade, and his loss will not be surprising, but it will be a big loss.
Outside of that, there's Mom. Mom's gone crazy, so to speak. Well, not so to speak. Mom's previous meds weren't working as well (some sort of anxiety issue?), so she was having up to three attacks per day. The doctor tried a few medicines, which Mom didn't like the (I often suspect pretend) side-effects of, so he finally decided the best course of action was to commit her until the medicine issue was worked out. Mom was in Parkridge for a few weeks, which meant Dad had to stay with my sister until Mom got out, since Dad's health is so bad that he can't stay by himself anymore (breathing issues connected to his muscular dystrophy). This was a great toll on my sister, who just had a baby, but she managed pretty well. Of course, I'm 7 hours away, so I can't do much from here...Mom is so psycho-somatic that, at one point, she thought she'd feel so much better a day after the new drug that she acted just fine. Then someone told her that it takes several days to work, and she crashed back into her "woe is me" usual self. Mom was also pretty seriously demanding while she was in, with (listing just one example) the insistence that Melanie (my sis) wash her clothes almost daily, even though Mom had several more changes of clothes there. She was finally let out, and she was still affected by the new drug (she felt run down and so on), but then she recovered and was back to her usual self. As of a couple of days ago, though, my sister let me know that Mom decided the drugs were making her itch, so her doc is taking her off of them again. This means, most likely, that it'll all start up again soon.
Then there's my glasses. The new ones. The frames, which are specially bendy so as to not break? Yeah, they broke. I only got them around 3 months ago, and the non-bendy frames that I've had in the past have taken up to 1-2 years, at least, to break. The glasses people say there's one free replacement for these frames, but I'm thinking of threatening them with a lack of my business if I have this problem again. If the frames are special and should last longer, and they last shorter (and I treat them the same way I treat all my glasses), am I wrong to think that they've sold me something with a limited survival rate so they can sell me something else? I'm pretty sure I'll tell them to give me my glasses scrip so that I can take it somewhere else if/when this pair breaks.
For no particular reason, I'll just mention that I'm pretty excited that they're building a Sonic up here in Huber Heights. IJS.
Then there are the injuries and afflictions. It's summer break for us, which means I get two weeks (unpaid) to myself, which I need, but then I've developed some sort of sinus infection. I also banged my knee on the doorway yesterday as I carried the cat litter up the stairs, pretty seriously, so I hobbled around all day yesterday. Today, I think that one's mostly better, but I still feel it at times. I also got some of the same poison ivy that Amy got; though mine appears to be less than hers (she's on steroids), it's still pretty irritating. At least with two weeks, I can catch up on stuff and quit feeling so burnt out...
On the plus side, my allergy shots just went from weekly to every two weeks. Hurrah for small victories!
Amy's having problems, health-wise, too. She's suspicous that her gall bladder's giving her problems, and her poison ivy (as I mentioned) was awful (as usual, her body does badly with that sort of thing). We're working on all of this, though...
I did manage to finish reading the Star Wars: Legacy of the Force books, where Jacen Solo becomes a Sith, and here's my review of several books in one short statement: It was good, but it could have been great if the authors had trimmed out 2-3 books in the series. It often seemed to drag out too much, though the last 3 books were great fun because we were finally seeing the results of all that strung-out build-up. It leaves the Star Wars universe in an interesting position, too, for future books, though ya know, it's going to be hard to keep coming out with all these books for TOO much longer, as the key original movie players (Luke, Han, Leia) are getting too old to be in this for much longer. Then we'll just keep flashing back to books that appear between adventures, I know, but...
I'm loving the library lately (there's some alliteration). I'm finding movies and cds and books, and while I haven't had time to watch movies, I will get to them, especially with some time off.
The Wii? Hmm...Amy's rocking out Super Mario Kart, I'm occasionally finding time to play Zelda, and last night we picked up the first Rayman: Raving Rabbids game, which Amy's rocking but I'm still struggling with (we only played it a little last night so it's still early).
We do have the new dog, Bailey, who's a Shar-pei/lab mix (and Amy's early birthday present). She's working out pretty well, though we need a bit more control of her outside. She's already proven that she can jump over the front fence, so if she doesn't like someone, she could potentially go after them. She's also found a couple of other spots in the fence that she can fit through, of course. She's really a good dog, though. Over a bit more time, I'm sure we'll all work out well, though we were stressing for a few days there...Bailey's incredibly good with Zoey, too.
I haven't mentioned the cats lately. Last night we shaved Caspian's rear, as it was horribly matted, and Amy's concerned about his health. He's old and diabetic, though the diabetes is pretty controlled, but she points out that animals that don't groom themselves well (excepting Smokey, who never did) were usually giving up on life. Then again, it could be that Caspian got into the tar on the roof when he snuck out past the air conditioner a few days ago. That's a serious possibility as well.
Morgan had a UTI, which we've dosed away with antibiotics from the vet. Now we know why the upstairs was smelling the way it did (does), though we haven't found where so we could clean it all away (though not for lack of trying). The smell's not overpowering, but it's definitely on the to-do list. Morgan was also given anti-anxiety drugs to help with his nervousness, especially regarding the dogs, and let me just say that he's much more mellow these days. Maybe I should mention these pills to my mom's doctor...
Honestly, I've never been great at multitasking. In the last few weeks, I've let several things fall away for long stretches, including facebook and livejournal at times. I've also quit promoting my book for the last few weeks (going to remedy that), stopped watching movies, quit writing much of anything, barely played my new Wii, and slowed my comic reading to a crawl. I've lost the patience to be polite at times with people online (good thing I'm not online as often). I also bought a Comic Buyers Guide weeks and months ago, and I've still not priced my collection this year. If you're not a long-term reader, you should know I do this pretty much in less than two weeks of purchase.
But really, I've been so busy. And when I'm not busy, I'm preoccupied. My friend Kerran is calling me frequently to tell me about his heart condition and what I need to know so I can collect all his belongings left to me after he passes. He could survive for quite a while longer, but he's really not acting like he thinks he will. While I appreciate the preparations, and I really do, it's not a happy series of thoughts. Kerran has been one of my best friends for more than a decade, and his loss will not be surprising, but it will be a big loss.
Outside of that, there's Mom. Mom's gone crazy, so to speak. Well, not so to speak. Mom's previous meds weren't working as well (some sort of anxiety issue?), so she was having up to three attacks per day. The doctor tried a few medicines, which Mom didn't like the (I often suspect pretend) side-effects of, so he finally decided the best course of action was to commit her until the medicine issue was worked out. Mom was in Parkridge for a few weeks, which meant Dad had to stay with my sister until Mom got out, since Dad's health is so bad that he can't stay by himself anymore (breathing issues connected to his muscular dystrophy). This was a great toll on my sister, who just had a baby, but she managed pretty well. Of course, I'm 7 hours away, so I can't do much from here...Mom is so psycho-somatic that, at one point, she thought she'd feel so much better a day after the new drug that she acted just fine. Then someone told her that it takes several days to work, and she crashed back into her "woe is me" usual self. Mom was also pretty seriously demanding while she was in, with (listing just one example) the insistence that Melanie (my sis) wash her clothes almost daily, even though Mom had several more changes of clothes there. She was finally let out, and she was still affected by the new drug (she felt run down and so on), but then she recovered and was back to her usual self. As of a couple of days ago, though, my sister let me know that Mom decided the drugs were making her itch, so her doc is taking her off of them again. This means, most likely, that it'll all start up again soon.
Then there's my glasses. The new ones. The frames, which are specially bendy so as to not break? Yeah, they broke. I only got them around 3 months ago, and the non-bendy frames that I've had in the past have taken up to 1-2 years, at least, to break. The glasses people say there's one free replacement for these frames, but I'm thinking of threatening them with a lack of my business if I have this problem again. If the frames are special and should last longer, and they last shorter (and I treat them the same way I treat all my glasses), am I wrong to think that they've sold me something with a limited survival rate so they can sell me something else? I'm pretty sure I'll tell them to give me my glasses scrip so that I can take it somewhere else if/when this pair breaks.
For no particular reason, I'll just mention that I'm pretty excited that they're building a Sonic up here in Huber Heights. IJS.
Then there are the injuries and afflictions. It's summer break for us, which means I get two weeks (unpaid) to myself, which I need, but then I've developed some sort of sinus infection. I also banged my knee on the doorway yesterday as I carried the cat litter up the stairs, pretty seriously, so I hobbled around all day yesterday. Today, I think that one's mostly better, but I still feel it at times. I also got some of the same poison ivy that Amy got; though mine appears to be less than hers (she's on steroids), it's still pretty irritating. At least with two weeks, I can catch up on stuff and quit feeling so burnt out...
On the plus side, my allergy shots just went from weekly to every two weeks. Hurrah for small victories!
Amy's having problems, health-wise, too. She's suspicous that her gall bladder's giving her problems, and her poison ivy (as I mentioned) was awful (as usual, her body does badly with that sort of thing). We're working on all of this, though...
I did manage to finish reading the Star Wars: Legacy of the Force books, where Jacen Solo becomes a Sith, and here's my review of several books in one short statement: It was good, but it could have been great if the authors had trimmed out 2-3 books in the series. It often seemed to drag out too much, though the last 3 books were great fun because we were finally seeing the results of all that strung-out build-up. It leaves the Star Wars universe in an interesting position, too, for future books, though ya know, it's going to be hard to keep coming out with all these books for TOO much longer, as the key original movie players (Luke, Han, Leia) are getting too old to be in this for much longer. Then we'll just keep flashing back to books that appear between adventures, I know, but...
I'm loving the library lately (there's some alliteration). I'm finding movies and cds and books, and while I haven't had time to watch movies, I will get to them, especially with some time off.
The Wii? Hmm...Amy's rocking out Super Mario Kart, I'm occasionally finding time to play Zelda, and last night we picked up the first Rayman: Raving Rabbids game, which Amy's rocking but I'm still struggling with (we only played it a little last night so it's still early).
We do have the new dog, Bailey, who's a Shar-pei/lab mix (and Amy's early birthday present). She's working out pretty well, though we need a bit more control of her outside. She's already proven that she can jump over the front fence, so if she doesn't like someone, she could potentially go after them. She's also found a couple of other spots in the fence that she can fit through, of course. She's really a good dog, though. Over a bit more time, I'm sure we'll all work out well, though we were stressing for a few days there...Bailey's incredibly good with Zoey, too.
I haven't mentioned the cats lately. Last night we shaved Caspian's rear, as it was horribly matted, and Amy's concerned about his health. He's old and diabetic, though the diabetes is pretty controlled, but she points out that animals that don't groom themselves well (excepting Smokey, who never did) were usually giving up on life. Then again, it could be that Caspian got into the tar on the roof when he snuck out past the air conditioner a few days ago. That's a serious possibility as well.
Morgan had a UTI, which we've dosed away with antibiotics from the vet. Now we know why the upstairs was smelling the way it did (does), though we haven't found where so we could clean it all away (though not for lack of trying). The smell's not overpowering, but it's definitely on the to-do list. Morgan was also given anti-anxiety drugs to help with his nervousness, especially regarding the dogs, and let me just say that he's much more mellow these days. Maybe I should mention these pills to my mom's doctor...