Life Viewed Through an Amber Focus

Today I received 7 pages worth of email notifications for a gift I receved in March. Umm...yes, LJ, I already know I got this item...5 months ago. And even if I didn't, one would have been sufficient. Not 175. Bad LJ.

And since I'm on here, I wanted to thank everyone who sent me information of how to get free books for the Kindle...or as we are now calling it in this household Free Kindle Krappe (TM). It is nice to see that there is so much of it.

I am hard at work on the drabbles and hope to have them ready, or at least some of them, by this evening.

Why is it the one morning I have to sleep in is the only morning in a week that I get an early moring phone call? *yawns* I was really tired, too. 26 laps yesterday and a walk. Plus it was too hot to sleep until 2 a.m. Yesterday was 90 at the height of the day. Right now it is only 67, but will get higher as the day goes on. Still, a day in the 70's is much easier to tolerate around here than a day in the high 80's, like most of the last few days.

Anyone have any experience with becoming a landlord? One of the workmen working on our house to get it ready for sale is interested in renting it long term (like a two year lease). Since the market is sucky out there we are thinking about it, but have very little idea of what to consider, other than criminal and civil background checks, credit checks, and calling old landlords for payment history. We have no idea what the tax ramifications are, either.

I just did a pretty substantial cut of my f-list. Mostly just people I haven't heard from in about a year, or people who used to write Doctor Who, but have moved on to other fandoms and I don't really want to wade through all that non-Doctor Who stuff.

So I got bored with my journal layout.  Have been for a while and without mitashade around anymore to design me something new I went back to my old favorite that ramblinsuze made for me back when I was writing Zeppelins.  And I've missed Jonathon and Rose and the muse they seem to have drowned at the bottom of the ocean.  I figure if I look at them every day for a while, I might get that muse back again.  Plus I was really getting sick of that beige/yellow/gold color.  I am so much more a blue/purple type person.  I'm thinking about using a different default user pic but it's going to be hard for me to change from this one.  carly21 made it for me when I was going through a really bad time with my health to cheer me up and whenever I see it it always makes me smile.  Plus the sentiment behind her making me this gift was so sweet.  So maybe I'll keep it awhile longer.

My mother tired to kill us no less than three times on the drive home from Seattle.  That Everett corridor is NASTY during rush hour.  One time we seriously only stopped within six feet of the car ahead of us and I'm pretty sure she wore off an entire year's worth of tire tread.  The drive down was uneventful.  I still have not been given the okay to drive.  Apparently almost fainting twice during one of the radiology procedures was a big no no.  Actually, they made me use a wheelchair when I was in the hospital.  We got there a bit early so went to eat in the cafeteria (I managed 1/3 of a turkey and havarti with mustard on whole wheat sandwich and a drink) and as we were coming out, I guess I lost all the color in my face and was hugging the wall, because a nurse saw me and told me not to move and she was getting me a wheelchair right then.  *sighs*  I guess I'm not up for a marathon yet, but I had no idea I was that bad.  It is a long way between the cafeteria and registration, but still.

( A Little TMI )

I really hope LJ finishes fixing things soon.  I know it's not their fault and I am grateful for the extension in paid account time and I'm really very sorry for the hassle they are going through, but meanwhile I can't edit anything that's previously been posted.  This means that typo in the header of ch. 31 is still sitting there, bugging the heck out of me, but worse than that, I can't link the most recent chapter in the story I posted right before LJ went down.  Fortunately the tags are working so people can get to them that way, but I really want my ability to edit published posts back soon.

I keep reminding myself it could be worse, as last week proved.  Hopefully they will fix it by the time I am ready to post the next chapter, which is still being written anyway.

Also, can it be tomorrow yet, so I can get this damn cath out?

Also, also, pray that my mother does not kill us all driving in Seattle traffic, please.  I'm serious.

( Photos )

Mostly I am just posting pictures to see if LJ is capable of posting pictures, and to give myself something to do while I wait for Torchwood, but this was my dinner tonight.  Okay, and LJ is still wibbling because it put all my photos in the opposite order of how I arranged them and also the text was supposed to be on top.  Good to know.  Anyway, the blueberries and blackberries are from the backyard and the pizza (before and after cooking photos) was made from scratch and fully loaded.  I only ate one slice.  I have very little appetite anymore and have lost 15 pounds since surgery.  Hmm...I wonder if LJ can do an LJ-cut?

Apparently LJ thinks I'm redoing the floors (and not very well, either), because all I got all day today when I was trying to post was something called a Varnish Error.  I really hope there is a special hell reserved for DDOS attackers.  Hmm...I wonder if I can go edit my typo now?  I've been trying to edit a typo since last Sunday night right before things went to hell in LJ land.

Things are going along pretty well with my writing.  I think I will have another chapter of LoF ready to post on Sunday.  I think.  I overdid it today physically and I really felt it.  I ended up losing all color from my face (according to Rose) and being on the verge of nausea again.  Fortunately there was a packet of oatmeal cookies in the car, which headed off the nausea.  No, I'm not driving.  My mom took me on a few errands that needed to be done (chiropractor, credit union, post office, and store) and I made the mistake of walking around the store leaning on a cart instead of riding one of the scooters.  I needed more cloth tape for securing gauze to the wound site and I had to make sure it was the right kind because some of them I am allergic to, but walking that much was far too much for me.

I was basically no good for the rest of the day.  I tell you, Monday can not come soon enough.  If all is well, one of these blasted tubes will come out.  And then the following week, the other one.  And then I get to heal for four months before having the next surgery.  In November.  Right in time for jury duty.  Guess they'll be rescheduling that again.  I wish they'd just give up already, instead of constantly rescheduling me.  I do not have the health or the stamina for it.  If I did, I would love to go, but as things stand, it's just not possible.

Got a bill in the mail today for the EKG I had done before the surgery.  They sent it to the wrong insurance company, one I had two years ago, so of course it didn't cover anything.  I don't know why they even bother asking for and photocopying your insurance card each time you visit if they are not going to then bill the right place.  This is the second time I've had a problem with billing.  Last time they sent it to my MIL, in her name, when she was only listed as the emergency contact.  So I will get to spend a good half hour on the phone tomorrow listening to Muzak and trying to speak to a human.  It's likely that I'll have to go down in person with the card again or maybe send my mother because I'm really not sure I have the strength to be running around.

Hope all is well with everyone.  LJ withdrawal is hard.