As far as I’m concerned, September is the start of the new year and this year is going to be FABULOUS. Yeah, I know we’re facing headwinds, but nothing but good times ahead.
Yes, I am feeling much better, thank you, but also I’m getting things done and it’s such a RELIEF. I’ve still got a lot to do but it’s NEW STUFF. That’s what September is about: NEW STUFF. Pens, notebooks, ideas, plans, the whole nine yards.
So what good with you this week?
48 Responses
One good thing with me is – I just had a bunch of broken stuff hauled away from my house. No more broken microwave or refrigerator. Both have been replaced. No more broken washer & dryer. Not going to be replaced.
My house is a mess but it feels so much lighter!
I’m looking forward to my new deck. We had one that was in a constant state of needing repair. DH did what he could, but with all his other projects and tasks, I’ve not been able to walk out on the deck for a couple of years. This time, we bit the bullet and hired a contractor. The deck is completely down (DH’s work), and we now just wait for the project to start. (Stanley has been making do with two boards leaned up to the door to make a cat ramp!)
Today is the first anniversary of our move from California to North Carolina. We (mostly I) have taken steps to somewhat enlarge our life from the constricted posture we’d assumed during our later years in LA. In the next year, I’ll try to keep us at our new level of social activity and, with any luck, turn some new acquaintances into actual friends.
That’s all good, as is finishing the major writing phase for the Sierra Foothills series and thus moving closer to pitching it to my publisher. Next comes deciding what to focus on next, reviewing and refining my publishing strategy for the next few years, and applying my version of the serenity prayer to everything.
Jenny, I agree that the year starts in September. Since I’m still teaching, my planners always follow the school year.
I’ve just enjoyed glancing back at this week’s comments and seeing how many other people started with Bet Me, and I also loved the ice cream post. I was new to Argh and the Cherries at that time. Hello to everyone that has been posting and/or joining since I dropped off during Life Events.
I’ve been teaching from 8AM to 8:30PM M-H between two schools. It’s been extremely exhausting (and I won’t work the same schedule next semester), but this week I finally felt like I’ve had some balance: I’ve managed a couple of walks outside, I cooked a tomato pie/tart to use up some tomatoes and leftover goat cheese, set up some appointments, and I’ve spent time with the family (two children and a boyfriend were in town so we made a family dinner and watched two LOTR movies in honor of Hobbit Day). If I can find yard waste bags, I’m going to pull out some finished tomatoes and top off any that have a chance of ripening. Then, on to grading.
Yay! I’m so glad things are going better for you, Jenny.
This is definitely the start of a new year, for me. I can see better, and I’m finally regaining some energy and recovering from the general anesthesia. The cataracts and stents were much lighter anesthesia, and I even woke up to talk to them a few times. This time I was completely out, and I have no memory, past the mask being put over my nose, and inhaling the gas.
There’s a small red bruise under my left eye and my eye is red. Otherwise, it’s such an improvement in sight! I have a list of things to do when I get all better. Laissez les bon temps rouler!! Nothing but good time ahead! It was even cool enough to walk ,this morning.
Hooray!
Jan, Huh. I think the only times I’ve had light anesthesia (but more than numbing) were for my cataract operations (one for each eye) and my first colonoscopy, from each of which I can only remember small snatches. It’s been out like a light for everything else. In recovery, I don’t think I could separate what the anesthesia did from stress about the whole business and general healing, although I think I’d been warned each time not to drive for 24 hours.
In any case, I’m glad your recovery is going well.
Thanks, Patrick. I’m sure some of this is from stress.
I have new countertops! They are beautiful! I won’t have kitchen plumbing hooked back up until Monday but so worth a few days of inconvenience.
Got out my Halloween themed clothes in anticipation of the season and am wearing a brand new lightweight sweatshirt bought in November last year. Solid black at the bottom gradually becomes bats on a white background. It is making me so happy. We have bats in Michigan in the summer, so not THAT out of season.
My post op follow up with the dermatologist went well – incision is healing fine. It’s still red and bumpy so I’m glad to hear that it’s normal.
DH, DS and I drove to Toronto to celebrate my FIL’s 80th BD. It’s about 4.5 – 5 hours away each way which is a long drive for dinner but my FIL seemed happy to have everyone together. The restaurant was a largish chain and our expectations were’t very high (DH and I are food snobs). Pleased that the food was good and the service was excellent. Having put myself through two degrees by working in restaurants, I probably noticed the service more than anyone else (everyone notices bad service). So a good evening was had by all.
DH and I went to a movie in the middle of the day (coyote vs acme – silly and fun). New experience for us but possible due to DH’s recent retirement. I was very stressed about DH’s retirement and how it would impact our dynamic/relationship. I’ve been retired for 6 years and have developed my own routine. It’s a big change but I’ happy we’re making it work.
My husband was a chef and the one thing he did when we went out to eat was to touch the plate with his thumb to feel if it was hot. He did it so you wouldn’t notice and did not make an issue of it just for his own knowledge.
Susan, I’m glad the service was good because we’re not known for good service up here. It’s even distinguished as Canadian vs American service.
Tammy, agreed. We were at The Keg so I was quite surprised. It’s not that I expect poor service but it’s often indifferent. The manager seemed to be visible and on top of things. This often sets the tone for the rest of the staff.
Loved Coyote v. Acme! Went back to early-day Hollywood, so fun. Live action actors were great, and the animated characters blew it out of the (theme) park. Especially liked the tears rolling when Coyote and Roadrunner recognized they need each other. Nobody needs Acme Corporation and its CEO Foghorn Leghorn. Just saying.
A rerun of the first Lucy Worsley episode on Arthur Conan Doyle happened to be on PBS this morning. I had mentioned on a recent GBTh that one rule of the Sherlockian “game” was to assume that Doyle was only Watson’s literary agent. I added that literary agent was a new profession at the time. Per the Internet, the first agents particularly helped with legal contracts with publishers and such. I had forgotten that Worsley said that out in the Real World Doyle eventually hired the very first literary agent, A.P. Watt, and it was only after that (and by implication with his advice) that Doyle started using Holmes in short stories rather than longer works. What she elides was this represented also the shift to Holmes-centric works using him as the central character rather than as part of the frame in some otherwise ghodawful adventure account about the origin of the case Holmes is now investigating.
I was finally settled into my depression meds, then I asked my gyn about hrt, so am starting that, too. From no pills to 5 a day, plus a patch. Anyway, hoping I get sleep, am less sad, have more energy, etc etc. Better living through chemistry.
Also: my pomegranates are getting ripe. Our tree doesn’t make very many of them, but we don’t eat very many, either.
I also started HRT this week and I think it has already made a difference in just a few days. I’m hopeful for both of us!
I took my first pill and put on a patch last night and had a hot flash today (I was basically done with hot flashes) so I guess that’s a good? bad? sign
I had to fight to get on HRT and I hope I can remain on it for the rest of my life. Good luck to you both!
HRT made a huge difference in my brain fog issues.
I’m shrinking! This week I had to make a return and instead of leaving I wandered through the clearance section and tried on a regular and a petite of my size in pants. Neither looked right. I’ve gone from 5’5 to 5’3. So instead of futzing around I went home and ordered comparable sizes and lengths. Just don’t have the patience for dressing rooms anymore. I’ll return what doesn’t fit. Now if I can only shrink horizontally.
In the meantime, I have two bags of clothes ready for the trunk of my car and off they’ll go to a new home. Also, this week I finally opened the carton of the new shredder I bought last spring and have gone back to shredding bank statements. I bought a bottle of oil to put in the shredder to keep the blades running free of gunk. There is also paper with some kind of ingredient on to do the same thing. I tried vacuuming the machine but that was useless. Unplugged it before vacuuming. My FIL once told me a story about a woman he was making a delivery to that was knocked to the floor of her living room with a shock after vacuuming her TV.
I’m still sorting my photographs – I’ve taken a detour into backing up & sorting out the photos on my iPad, which involved baffling computer stuff, sorted out by the kind people on the Lightroom Queen forum. I now need to put all that to one side, in order to work on a new collage for a group show in November/December. I’m going away for ten days next week, and want to get it to the framer before that. Also doing a fair amount of gardening – I’m outside whenever the sun’s shining.
Not new, but it’s still peak pepper harvest time, and it looks like October will be frost-free, allowing for more peppers to fully ripen, which makes me happy!
In new stuff, I apparently now have gout to add to my ills (and I don’t eat/drink most of the main triggers for it, and only very minor amounts of the last one, red meat, so I can’t fix it with “lifestyle changes”), but the good news is that after five days, it went away as suddenly as it started, and I was finally able to spend some time in the garden yesterday harvesting peppers (and peppers have a fairly long window for harvest, unlike some things that go from under-ripe to over-ripe in a day or two).
Other new stuff (new to me anyway): I treated myself to a week of Prime, so I could watch Reacher season 4, and binged the whole thing yesterday as a reward for getting stuff done despite the stupid gout. I’ve had trouble finding anything to watch that keeps my attention, but this did it! I’ve also heard that the new Tommy & Tuppence adaptation on Britbox is good, so I’m wondering if anyone here has seen it and has any opinion on whether it’s worth getting a month’s subscription to Britbox.
My dad had gout – he did eat/drink the triggers – but it was cured by a prescription of allopurinol, which he took once a day for thirty years with no side effects. So if – I hope it won’t – it recurs, there is, hopefully, a solution.
I figured out how to fix a scene that had been bothering me in my WIP thanks to a discussion with my neighbor/walking partner during our morning walk on Thursday. I still need to write the revised scene but I am happy about it so that’s good.
And I found a new show and have been binge watching The Highland Vet on Prime before it leaves the streaming service. The scenery alone is worth the watch.
Ooh, I just got a week’s worth of Prime. Will check that out.
Have you watched Leverage: Redemption? It’s on Prime. It probably helps to have watched Leverage, but also isn’t necessarily critical.
I love Leverage and Leverage Redemption!
I have! Both series. Big fan of John Rogers. The episodes he wrote are such a great mix of angry and funny. Bummed that Redemption wasn’t renewed for another season.
The Toronto Film Festival is over. One of the best I’ve been to – only one incredibly stupid movie called Alpha Gang with Cate Blanchett, Chris Pine, Dave Bautista, Riley Keough – no idea what these people were thinking. It actually read like someone’s first year film studies project. Besides Elsinore, which won the International Peoples’ Choice Award, my other favourite was I Play Rocky about the making of …you got it, Rocky. Was the first runner up for the overall Peoples’ Choice Award. I am content.
There are a couple of TIFF films that I hope make it to my city, especially a documentary called Union City about efforts to organize gig workers to improve safety, wages, etc.
I kinda sorta have been mostly keeping to my intention to do at least 2 hours of deskwork a day, but it’s been a struggle because of still-low stamina and some days when my peak alertness just wasn’t there, for whatever reason. Defining the intention as fulfilled has also involved somewhat expanding the definition of deskwork to include shredding. I seem to have put that off for a long time and I had large numbers of big envelopes around filled with paper that was better shredded than just tossed. I also sorted through and put in the garbage or the recycling bin other stuff occupying the desk or surrounding area. I think I’m nearing the end of the shredding backlog.
I did also pay a number of bills; many fall due only annually or quarterly, so they seem to come in flocks. I think the next challenge is to find a way of filing that entails minimal standing and walking. (Low stamina again.) I think I can make the bed for a change, and use it as a table for sorting, so that I have to stand only for actual filing. Needs some refinement for thing like how and when to make new file folders and retire old files to less accessable storage boxes, or just shred them, without constant getting up and sitting down. I’m hoping to get a clear and workable desk and environs at least by the end of the month and without wearing myself out or letting all normal household work slide. After a rather enthusiastic start yesterday on both desk work and cleaning, I’m at a low energy ebb today, but I plan to go upstairs and shred soon after posting this.
I’ve been enjoying the season with lots of walks. And I’ve started following a person who makes models of houses and shops. I remember that one book collage by Jenny that seemed house-like.
It would be amazing to be able to make models of all the buildings in my imagination.
https://www.instagram.com/stories/houseof.viridian/3990357517494505243?utm_source=ig_story_item_share&stkn=MXA1d3c2NXA3dXNpcA==
One new intention is to get back on course for finishing the October book for my local sf book club. I calculated my per-day reading goals, but I hit a slow spot and anyhow Alastair Reynolds is not among my favorite writers, and I have more entertaining (if mostly less worthy) fiction to read. So I’m currently about 5 days behind my goal. I could recalculate the daily page qhota, but I have hopes that the interest level may pick up and I can make up page counts quickly.
Hi. Haven’t been here for a bit. Since the accident it’s been kinda weird in my world. For a while there it was two physio and two therapy appointments a week and given that each is nearly an hour away, I definitely got in some extra aversion therapy when it came to interacting with other vehicles.
I’m doing a lot better mentally, I love my therapist, and I’m thinking about pausing sessions for a while so I can learn to trust and rely on myself more instead of external sources. I did watch a lot of Bluey to regulate my emotions there for a while. It gets pretty depressing spending all your time in bed and not being able to do anything.
It’s been over six months and I’m not 100% physically yet. I just had an MRI the other day and we discovered that the “non resolving hematoma” on the front of my right shin is, in fact, a Morel-Lavallée lesion which is a degloving injury that is internal. Basically, the skin and fat layer separates from the muscle. Time will not heal this wound, it will require surgery.
In happier news, Paul retired in July and has been loving every second of it. He’s given himself a long list of projects that he wants to do before the snow flies (forecast for this Friday) and he’s been working his way through them.
We have a cruise planned for early December. We are going to the western Caribbean, and we are really looking forward to it. We treated ourselves to an upgraded cabin and are afraid it might spoil us just a little too much but after this year, we deserve it.
That’s basically it. I spent far too much time in bed with my feet on a mountain of pillows. Paul has been doing all the laundry, and for the first three months everything else, because I’m not allowed to go down stairs without supervision. Stairs are still a huge stressor for me because my right knee still occasionally gives way.
Oh, welcome back and good luck!
Pixie’s losing her stuffing. Or it seems so. She’s been blowing her summer undercoat and my main occupation has been picking up fuzzies.
My township had a community day because we are 175 years old. The rain cleared up for the most part so it was very nice. Next up for the township is data center zoning. The proposed ordinance is 53 pages long. I’m so glad our commissioners are on top of this.
I’ll be spending the next few weeks reading the Rivers of London series by Ben Aaronovitch which I never would have discovered if not for you, Jenny. You had mentioned them often, so I finally ordered the first one from the library and enjoyed it so much that I’ve got the second. I expect when I finish it I’ll get the third and continue on from there. I’ll probably only break this streak when Arresting Anna comes out or the next Seanan McGuire . Thank you for piquing my interest.
Oh, aren’t those books wonderful? I’m so glad you found them.
I’m very happy that I had “saved” my vacation time. I had 4.5 days to use this month and 1.5 have been spent caring for my mom who fell out of bed. No damage, was dehydrated. We also spent time going through some of her stuff to keep, give away, or toss. I’m glad we can do this together.
I’m also happy to have had time to sew. Nothing’s really finished, but progress was made.
I don’t have a particular happy to report, but I haven’t updated here in ages.
I had my brain surgery and it went really well, very easy, pain-free recovery. Not kidding when I say that’s been THE easiest thing of my entire not-quite-cancer-yet-just-tumors journey. Unfortunately, I grew another tumor(!) in the last few months and while they took 2 of the now-5 out (the rest are inoperable), the removed ones came out at grade 2 and that means more months of living with my mother and needing further treatment/medical leave. I was originally told I have to go on radiation (and finding a location for such that’s not 2 hours away has been A Big Problem since Mom won’t move to drive me to radiation every day for 6 weeks), now I got redirected to go to an Even More Specialty Doctor to see if I can get treated with targeted meds or get into a clinical trial. That appointment’s this week, so we’ll see what comes of that. Meanwhile, my mom now has to have a hysterectomy to head off potential cancer for HER, so all of this will be going on at the same time. Whee!
I went six months without a seizure, so the epilepsy doctor filled out my medical paperwork to get my license back. Now to wait on the DMV to take as long as it takes, find out what further hoops I have to jump through, etc. I will consider myself fortunate to get my license back by Halloween.
Other than that, I’ve been to some good shows, gotten a lot of yarning done, reading library books. We also finally dealt with having my disability money and all of my insurance surprised dropped on me, I’ve managed to get all of it back finally.
So good to hear from you, even if the news isn’t entirely happy! We’ve all been thinking of you and hoping for an update.
Wow. What a lot you are going through. I am glad the surgery went well and so sorry about the new tumor, the challenges in treating them, and hassles with disability and insurance which sound incredibly stressful. I have been wondering how you were doing. Welcome back.
Jennifer, It does sound like you’ve been through a huge amount of stress, but it seems like you’ve been coping with it well. I hope the appointment with the specialist goes well.
I am so happy to hear from you! Six months without a seizure is fabulous news. It will certainly make dealing with the DMV and all the other idiocies easier to take. But if you managed to get your insurance and disability reinstated, you must have been doing some powerfully good and hard work. I am very happy for you as well as proud of you.
I hope the new specialist will help you find better treatment and a way to get there while your Mom is recovering from her surgery. If they deal with very particular brain conditions they may have access to some services you haven’t tried yet. Or maybe your Mom’s gynecologist’s office could help you find transportation since they have lots of patients in her position.
In any case, I am sending another batch of timed release hugs for the next step in your trek.
Happy to hear from you and that the surgery went well and you are seizure free.
Best wishes for your mom and your further treatment.
So good to see you back here with us! We were all wondering how you were doing. I’m glad your surgery went well, and hope your next treatment goes well too.
I am so glad you are having the brand new year start. It’s that way for me too because today is my birthday so that was always the start of the year. I had a lovely birthday, the important stuff, cake, and pizza and family and then I saw practical magic. 2
I also went to an LARA meeting and heard that people young people were only reading first person. Too bad I’m gonna continue the way I’m going. They also don’t read historical which is double too bad never mind I’ve decided to be 77 this year and I know it’s good luck. I wish it’s all good luck.