home again with squeaking monkey

UGH, I did not have a pleasant time of it today.  I missed my antibiotics by 2 hours and am convinced I screwed up the whole healing process. 

While out with Jake, we stopped at the toy store, where we fought a while about ancient weaponry.  Then the ortho-only $800 to go! (it was $5k in February, so that's actually good news).  Then the library, where we fought a while about dragons.  I scored SO many books, I picked up a bunch about little dogs, how to train them, where to put the batteries, special considerations and so on.  She's so much smaller than Jess and Kuma, it's like having a really excited cat, I just love Zeph, I swear I never thought I would be a small dog person, maybe I am just a Zephyr person.

As I am sure I have blogged about before, she LOVES pink monkey.  Sleeps with it, takes it in the car, wants it with her on the couch.  Today I bought a small squeaky monkey and gave it to her.  She was SO excited, she had to take it out to show Jess and Kuma who view her as some kind of...really excited cat and try to act like she is not really there while she tries to lick their faces and climb on them and get them to play with her.  They ignore her as much as possible while trying to avoid that which is being ignored. They come off like British people who smell a poot.  They can't acknowledge what it is, that would be rude.  But the smell is there, yet it must be borne, so...stiff upper lip, no eye contact, try to think about something else, wot wot?

Tuesday Morning

Tuesday's all start out the same.  I balance the banking spreadsheet with what cleared the bank over the weekend.

I get all the trash bagged up in the whole house and taken out to the bins because they run really early Wednesday.  I clean out the fridge once a month-not this week-to get expired items tossed and I take the recycling in if I skipped it on the weekend.  This is because I am ultimately lazy in the end and sometimes after getting the trash out, I want to just throw out the recycling as well.  

Since Zeph joined the ranks, Tuesday, and every day, have an added round of things to take care of.

All week long, the alarm goes off at 5:21.  Matt takes her out for a quick potty run, gives her a treat and puts her back in her crate.  When he leaves at 7:30, I get her back out and we both wave bye and she goes potty again.  Then I do a few chores in the house while she eats breakfast and thumps around.

After she has eaten, I throw the ball and pink monkey 40-50 times across the living room and she runs like a maniac to get them, then a little more slowly and then she's trotting and then the weight of the toy makes her head stay down and finally she flops over.  Then she is safe to pet.  In her wound up stage, she wants to mouth everything, including me, and though she will stop as soon as you say 'ow', I'd rather not start my day saying ow, ow, ow to an 8 pound Tasmanian Devil as she tries to make my thumb go 'skweee-keeey!' That's why I throw 2 toys, she only wants the one in my hand and will spit the other out at my feet-no tugging involved.  I get in my toe touches by alternating which hand I use to pick up the increasingly damp toy.

I brush her fur down and take her back out to potty again and then she's sacked out for an hour or more.  Just like having a baby!  Early morning burn out.  But gosh they wake up so CUTE and ready to do anything, all shiny eyes and crazy hair and adorable yawns.

Tuesday is a day for deciding the course of the remained of the week.  Every other Tuesday is just before payday, as is today.  I write out checks for the few things we don't autopay.  I attach another note to the internet payment asking that they spell my name correctly.  It was Estner.  Then Eshther.  Now it's Eshter.  I feel one more request will either get it right or get me down there with a shotgun and a baby name dictionary.  That is basic common courtesy.  It assumes a level to detail, that you were able to copy my Zaner-Bloser style print from the page to the keyboard.  When, after 3 months of failure to get a single errant letter in the correct place, I begin to wonder as to the nutrient level in the bananas they are feeding the apparently ape-based staff there.  With names like Coco and Bobo, I guess a consonant letter blend such as the 'th' in my name IS a bit beyond their usual capabilities.  At least they are feeding the gerbils who run wheels in the machinery to keep my interweb flowing at a constant rate.

I make notes in my budget book, I see that next paycheck, my outgoing amounts total $666 dollars.  I think about it a moment.  The water bill  has not arrived, so I am using last month's total to budget for this month. If it's $1 more or less this month, it won't seem like such an omen.

This month is NaNo, I am behind again, I did not write much at all yesterday.  I wish I had taken these antibiotics last month, they make me sick to my stomach four times a day.  I need to get in a couple hours of typing today to catch up, plus get Jake to the ortho, which will involve a trip to the library because I am out of books to read, possibly dinner out with Matt since it will be so late in the day.  I also need to get the kids caught up to the end of the American history unit we have been working on.  That will take about 2 more hours and they all three need to work on their NaNo writing as well.  Oh, and I decided last night that the house has to be moved around again.  I've grown tired of the current arrangement.  I will start that tomorrow, today is filled with enough for me to tackle.  But once my brain has pronounced displeasure with the arrangement, it's no use putting it off for long.

My teeth, well tooth, is on the mend.  It's back in place now that the swelling is almost gone.  It's still tender, but more like a bruise is tender compared to a bullet hole.  My ear and throat are very sore.  No one can figure why-me, dentist, oral surgeon or Matt-so I am taking ear drops along with the meds.  I still can't believe ALL of that pain ALL over the whole right side of my face was ONE tooth root gone bad.  Before antibiotics, it would have killed me-that toothache.  It would have gotten worse and the infection gotten into my brain or settled into my heart and I would have been dead by Christmas.  I can chew soft stuff now if I keep it all on the left side. : )  I was getting a little tired of chicken and stars and cream of potato at room temp.  Thank goodness for new blueberry muffin pudding!

I am off to get Tuesday running again.  In the time I have been typing this and answering e-mails and checking the weather, the snail mail has run, the dryer buzzer went off, the Zephie is starting to show signs of returning to life and Henry has knocked on the door in my brain, he's wanting to know if I can move him, he's been sitting on the porch at the dye man's cabin with a bowl of lentil stew in his lap for 2 days.  The man did say it was famous stew.  I think he's just being whiny. 

What the?

HOW can I develop a fever and a sore throat while ON antibiotics?  Isn't that some kind of impossible thing?  Maybe...maybe I am just imagining the fever-I have not confirmed beyond my hot skin and freezing body, but the throat is killing me!  I can't chew because of that obsessed tooth or whatever you call it and now-I can't swallow without wincing and saying bad words.

It's just so wrong.


I have an appt 3 weeks from today for the consult to get that tooth pulled and I will get it pulled ASAP after they look and give me a total-I need some mental prep in that area.  I have to pay up front and our insurance has stopped paying for anesthesia.  I know, that's like not paying for the flavor in food.  You can't HAVE a procedure done without pain killers.

For the record, 2 years ago the out of pocket for 2 impacted wisdom teeth was $175 and that was with full on 'I am passed out and don't recall a thing' anesthesia.  And FOUR kinds of meds for after, only one of which I tried to take and opted out of anything else.  Pain killers make me dizzy and that's it.  No actual pain killing happens.  But the dead to the world thing they do with the IV, that's okay stuff.  I am fine with the memory loss and the inability to recall how my forehead and chest were bruised the next day.  Don't care.  I should have opted for some of that in child birthing.  


Today I called to set up a consult with an out-of-network oral surgeon.  "Sure, come in tomorrow!  There's an $82 consultation fee."  ACK.  $82 to look at x-rays another doctor took and faxed to them and then tell me how much it will cost to pull the tooth and set up an appointment for that.  I canceled that one and called the guy who pulled my wisdom teeth back.


I charged the kids (and Suzette's kids because I am actually keeping them today, though thank goodness Emily remembered because I sure did not and they have pretty much watched each other, they are really good kids) a nickel each to look at my tooth.  That's .25 so far.  So if my tooth is $87.50 to pull, I only need $87.25.  I keep looking at the pliers and thinking there's a way to do this for free...

Ups and Downs

Well, here is the report for my recent projects:

1. Local History:

I now have a list of everyone who has owned this house/land back to the Civil War.  Before that, it was just USA on the list.  I have started making some calls to see if anyone around here knows about those families, I go next week to the town hall to look at the records and I am going to meet the local historian for the down-low on the town.

2. House Training ZipZap:

She is a nut, good thing we all love her.  No accidents since the Last Straw the other day.  She was left in her kennel today and was not in the kennel upon returning home, but no potty inside, either.  I am taking that as progress.

3. My Recent Wreck:

Got the van all checked out today.  Other than a scrape and a dented...something bar, there was no damage. That was just freak luck, it could have been a major problem.

4. My #$^*; Teeth:

Matt made me go to the dentist today, a single x-ray showed that tooth I had filled in September has abscessed and the nerve is exposed due to the infection eating through my jawbone.  I KNEW I was not crazy.  That mofo HURTS, and I was starting to get a little discouraged by the continued lack of anything to fix, as nothing was showing up on x-rays and the pain has never been localized, it's all over that whole nerve. 
I am on 2 meds now to get me through the end of the month, then it's off to yank it.  I don't want to mess with root canals and crowns and all that.  Just...go away.

5. NaNo:
Henry is currently bribing Neil to cover for him so he can sneak off and investigate the mysterious old man who has shown up near the village.  I am surprised, he seemed like such a goodie two-shoes, too.  Now he's ditching work and lying to his mama.  I need to hit 8335 before I go to bed.  Maybe I will take some more Lortab and type stoned.  hahaha!  The one I took earlier ain't working.

6. I have Ben's birthday planned, Jake's birthday planned, his stuff is ordered, but not in yet.  

7. I am gearing up to prod the girls into putting on a small play next month.  Because, December is just not stressful enough.  : )  We need drama.

 

ahhhhh

Matt came home with gap seal and I spent a couple of hours today sealing all the gaps around our windows and the front door.  At the moment, I can't see any light or feel air coming from any other them!  That will mean less ladybugs this month, too.  I can't begin to describe my dislike of ladybugs.

I hit 7k on my story today, I am both shocked and pleased at how well it's going.  I had a couple of years there where I plodded and finally just ground to a halt.  I think Henry may be getting up the nerve to head out on an adventure with a crazy old man he just met!  Well, just spied on, they have not met up yet.  

Jake is above his personal goal word count.  He casually said yesterday that he 'may want to up his numbers'.  I am SHOCKED.  Chan is in charge of helping with punctuation and she told me today that it was 'not that bad'.  I know he has a great imagination and that storytelling is not the issue, it's the writing.  He's currently typing about 700 words a day leaning heavily on spell-check, but at least he's able to pick out the word he meant to use.  Chan said she only had to fix 3 words so far.  

I picked up cedar and heat bulbs today.  I have one set up in the pig cage and one set up over Jessie and Kuma's hay nest.  They won't need theirs until it's below freezing, but the pigs starting tweeting and basking in theirs as soon as I plugged it in!  hahaha.  I changed it to a lower temp bulb for now, no need to roast them.

Of of that good stuff is helping balance out the horrible stuff, namely one small dog who has decided house training is for the birds.  After nearly 2 weeks with only a minor blip, she's pooped in the house 4 times!  We have blocked off all the rooms except mine and the living room and she has to be in her crate if no one is actively with her at the time. 

She has also been eating the remains of the MANY animals the cats drag up and leave and has thrown up more than once.  UGH!  I sent Jake all around out there with a shovel to gather the dead things and fling them into the trees on the other side of the fence, behind the trash cans.  There will be more tomorrow, there could be more right now.  grrrr.   All the other animals are making having the new one more difficult!  

But, Jess was a PITA to train.  8 months-with weeks between incidents, making us lower our guard.  Surely Zeph won't be as difficult, though I have read Yorkies and Shih Tsu's are the 2 hardest to house train breeds there are.  But Tater is trained, by golly.  He's also nearly 10...anyway, after giving her down the road for the poop today and putting her in her crate until I could take her back out about an hour later, she scampered out, did her thing, chased a leaf, sniffed a cat, pounced after the big dogs and came up with a squirrel tail, which she held at a jaunty angle in her teeth until I made her drop it.  She was not thrilled with that and has revisited the magic squirrel parts area of the yard several times. 

She seemed unaffected by the time out, so at least I don't have another guilt-ridden mutt on my hands.  Jess carries the weight of the world, if she hears me yell FOR the kids, she will go get in her shed.  *sigh*  She's SUCH a good dog, it breaks my heart to think she feels like I am angry with her.

In other news, my jaw is still giving me grief.  Now it slips out while I sleep if I lay on either side.  Then I wake up and it feels like someone snuffed a match out in my right jaw joint/ear/neck for several hours.  Then, all during the day, I get shooting pains through that whole side of my face.  A jolt was so strong just today that I jerked the van OFF the road into a ditch.  The left front tire was in a hole, the axle slammed into the pavement.  I have not taken to to get looked at, it seems like so much effort.  I just won't drive it.

I can't chew anything with mass.  Gum, burgers-any meat-chips, chewy bread, any kind of candy or nut.  I have been eating veggies and pasta and mainly drinking hot tea.  That has to be cooled off because hot things are almost as painful as cold things.  I know I should go back to the dentist, but I also know that will involve opening my mouth to admit tools and hands and right now, I can't open it to brush the tops of my back teeth.  Sometimes I have to stop talking because it starts to burn and I know if I keep moving it around, it will keep me up all night.

I am taking 2 Aleve and then 2 Tylenol, swapping out doses every 4-6 hours, even at night.  I can't even imagine if I did not have at least that much of a buffer.  I have heard trigeminal neuralgia is called the 'suicide disease'.  I totally freaking believe it.

Then, times, like right this instant, it feels fine, no pain at all. It's like the weather, just wait ten minutes.

NaNoWriMo Day 2 part 2

Well, I started writing.  

What came out was a story about a perfect village and a boy named Henry.  He's thinking about the flood and how in recent years, the soil has been tainted instead of fertile.  I always thought people who wrote having no idea of the direction of the story were crazy.  LOL  I have about decided not to decide anything ever again, I have a recent list of about 20 things I have changed my mind over. 

Anyway, I added a word count widget at the top that should update along with my word count, we'll see!  Red days are really bad counts, green days are good counts. 

NaNoWriMo Day 2

I wrote a while last night, then my laptop froze up, then I restarted, it said it retrieved the file, but it was blank.

Spent all morning running checks to see why the computer froze up.

Pulled a muscle in my right shoulder/back hauling water to the cats. 

Word count at 10 a.m. on day 2:
0