The computer is going in to be repaired. Again. With the exact same problem it had before, except this time I didn't pour spill water on it. That they supposedly repaired by replacing a part that I am suspecting they did not actually replace, but maybe used a hairdryer to dry out instead. Plus the fan is dead. So who knows when the heck I will get it back. Or my spreadsheets that I backed up two days ago, but not after I made a bunch of changes to them yesterday. And I hate the backup laptop. It does not have a comfortable keyboard, it does not keep up with my typing speed, and the angle is somehow different enough to bug the heck out of my barely healed finger. Plus it is Win8 and touchscreen, both of which can rot in Hades as far as I am concerned.

Also, consecutive viruses (the human kind, not the computer kind) can please be leaving the building now.

/whine

I missed Tuesday Tears yesterday. Part of it was that I had already cried myself out watching the series finale of Dawson's Creek (shut up, it's Joshua Jackson). I always forget how devastating those last two eps are, even if I get the ending I wanted for my ship. I also saw a stunning example of why Michelle Williams has the movie career she has. So I didn't even have the heart to look for sad Doctor Who vids. I might just put it on hiatus for a while like Zombie Fridays.

And today I managed to wake up with a miserable stomach bug. Or possibly it was the whipped cream I had yesterday at the Mexican restaurant. I'm pretty sure it was not the pure, wholesome, hand-whipped heavy cream I do at home. Or possible the strawberry topping on the churros. Either way, this is why I generally don't go out to eat. I can't be in control of my ingedients.

I am still working on ch. 7 of The Watchmaker's Daughter, but it may be the weekend before I am finished. It's a pivotal chapter so I want to make sure it turns out exactly the way I want it to. Depends on whether this is a bug or something that will pass in 24 hours, whether or not it gets done. Well, that and T's history essay on FDR's programs that were responsible for restoring the US economy during and after the Great Depression. It's part of his spring writing sample, one of the hoops we have to jump through homeschooling through the state's virtual school program. So it needs to be better (A) than usual (B+). T can write a good essay, but he is less than motivated to do it. Much prefers math and science. So how much time I have to write depends on how hard I have to ride him to get through this.

His fall writing sample was much easier to get him motivated on since it was about power generation and he loves dams and windmills and solar energy and learning all about it. This is the kid that built a waterwheel to power a light bulb at 10. He likes FDR, but it just doesn't hold the same interest level.

As much as I like the original poem, this one made me bark/snort with laughter, which was sorely (and I do mean sorely) needed. This is so my life right now.

Today I had my first crown ever. It's just a temp until the real one comes in. It hurt a lot. It took 4 shots of novacaine and then about halfway through they had to stop and do another one, and then 3/4 of the way through we had to stop and do a sixth. Dentist says he's never had to use that many before. Well, aren't I and my one of a kind body and its stupid quirks special? He said he'd use a longer lasting one next time. You think? It was numb from 11:30 a.m. when I left until about 6:30. It even numbed the inside of one ear. It was itching and I went to scratch it and couldn't feel it.

I slept from 12:30 until 2:00. I can't eat anything cold for 24 hours, though I desperately want ice cream to numb it again. It feels like someone punched me in the jaw. I go back in a week. Dentist said 9 out of 10 people don't need novacaine for the permanent crown fitting. I said I'd probably be that one. This is a molar I've had since I was six and it had 4 or 5 fractures. My habit of ice chewing that I broke a couple years ago probably did not do me any favors. The one on the other side will have to be done, but we are waiting until next year when dental benefits reset. As it is it will cost me $505. I think the insurance should pay more than 50% since it's not like I let the tooth rot or anything. It's just worn out, along with it's mate on the other side. I may still have to get a root canal on the tooth he did today because the nerves are so twangy (my word not his), but I hope not.

Chris comes home at midnight tonight. It's been a long three weeks. I am so happy. Now I can have a bit of a breather. It's been one thing after another with Rose getting sick then finally going back to school, to me getting sick, to Tobias getting sick, to Rose getting hit in the back of the head in basketball today in PE and from her all too familiar symptoms, I think she has a mild concussion. Not anywhere as bad as T's were. Doctor said there was no reason to bring her in with such mild symptoms as the only thing you can do for a concussion is rest. I don't know, I managed to get both kids through ages 16 and 12 without getting concussions. Why the big rush to have them this year?

On the bright side, Christmas bonuses come out in less than a week. Not like I've been counting the days or anything.

I am starting to have ideas again. I don't know if anything will come of them, but it is good to at least have plotlines starting to percolate in my head. I hope they will stay, because I have missed them.

Homeschool is going along okay. I thought I was going to die from it last week, but now I think both T and I are going to survive it. Things went a lot smoother today than they did the last three days of last week. I think I was just super stressed out.

I have a major ear ache going on. I know it's not infected because I've been on antibiotics for the sinus thing since the 17nth and it's the same type they give my kids for ear infections. I think I just managed to catch a cold on top of the sinus infection or maybe because I was run down by it. Anyway, though, my right ear and the right side of my throat feel like I swallowed a red hot chile pepper both whole and sideways. If I could get the darn thing to pop I think it would stop hurting so much. I am only eating soft foods because solid foods hurt to swallow. This can be done now.

I watched the pilot of Revolution. Pretty much I liked it, though I did wonder how they all managed to stay so clean all the time. I mean, I spend 15 minutes in the garden and I am filthy, how do they slog through "untamed" land and still look like they stepped out of a fashion magazine? (Also the clothes, but we won't get into that). I also want to know how the cement isn't gone to plants more than it is. After 15 years it would be far more cracked and taken over. But I like it more or less. I still think it's a ripoff of S.M. Stirlings' Embersverse, but whatever. It's like fanfic on television (but not the bad stuff).

I also finally got around to watching the season finale of Drop Dead Diva. I really loved the twist at the end. And also the talent of Brooke Elliot never ceases to amaze me. Although this season was a bit scattered and I could have done without Kim Kardashian's guest role early on, the finale was very satisfying for me.

I saw the first episode of Haven's new season. I am still as in love with Audrey and Nathan as I ever have been. I still ship Duke/ his boat. Looks to be a good season if the premiere ep is anything to go buy. I don't imagine I'll be watching too much this year. I've eliminated quite a few things that are too hard to keep up on when my only source to watch them is hulu. Hopefully this will mean more writing.

I am in the middle of season 4 on a Supernatural rewatch, which is the Angels versus Demons season. I don't like it as much as the first three seasons. I like testosterone laden things when I am very stressed out so I watched a lot of it last week. Either stuff where there is a lot of punching and shooting or they blow stuff up. It's like therapy for some reason. Season 4 has too much angst and not enough of the other stuff. Still, cute boys. Yes, I am that shallow.

Chris went back to Alaska tonight so now the real fun begins. Hopefully I will still be alive when he comes home in two weeks. Speaking of Chris, we just hit 22 years together today. We've been together now for more than half our lives. Wow. That's pretty cool.

I may come out of this stomach bug 10 pounds lighter at this rate. Just saying.

I used the power of free child labor to deal with 15 pounds of tomatoes today (yes, somehow ten grew to fifteen as tomatoes are wont to do at this time of year). Because I am too sick to touch other people's food, but not too sick to be bossy, I can make a twelve-year-old and a sixteen-year-old perform magic, only not without whining.

I was going to just process diced ones, but no one had the patience to deal with that much dicing, so core, cut, and blenderize it was. I'll save dicing for when DH is home again in two weeks. I have both an eight quart and a six quart crockpot filled to near their tops with tomato puree cooking down overnight. I'll probably end up with about 7 quarts for canning. When I did it last week I cooked it down closer to paste and only got 7 pints, but I won't do that this time. It does take some time to cook it down this way, but I don't have to pay attention to it much while it does it's own thing.

My green bean plants are providing enough for fresh eating this year, but not for canning because I didn't plant enough, so I will likely put an order in at the new neighborhood produce stand that carries some local, organic stuff, green beans being one of those things for 25 pounds. I love this place. I walked away from them recently with three totes full of fruits and vegetables and spent just under $25. I cannot do that in a grocery store anymore. Everything is from my state, and over half of it is from my county. And they are walking distance (even for me), but they are also only two blocks over from several other places I go when combining errands.

I have tried two new melons grown in Eastern WA lately, a Galia and a Piel de Sapo (toad skin) or Santa Claus Melon. They are so darn good. They taste like both cantaloupe and honeydew, but not in the same way. I discovered today that melon will stay down for a whole 20 minutes at which point it's mostly liquid. I hate to eat so much fruit for many reasons but at this point I have to get some nutrition into me, even if it's only visiting for a few minutes. And the birds are loving the rinds and the seeds.

I don't think I mentioned that we almost lost Queen. She's doing a lot better, and we think she will live, but boy we thought she'd go the way of Kyri, eggbound and miserable. Giving a chicken a warm bath and a massage or two where you never want to touch a chicken did a world of good for the poor critter. She's laying eggs normally again and being the first to the treats dish so that's good.

( Duck Egg Photo Cut for Size )

Dear Stomach--

You seem to have forgotten in which direction food is supposed to travel through my system. I would like, very much so, to keep my food down for more than 30 minutes at a time. At the very least the projectile thing with only five seconds' warning could go away now. And also? It's just chicken broth. I mean, come on, chicken broth is harmless. Could you just pretend it's not really food? Please? Because I need to can ten pounds of tomatoes tomorrow and I really don't need you acting up like this while I am slaving over a hot stove.

No love,
Me

I have written for seven of the drabble prompts, but will not be posting them tonight. I am so tired I can barely keep my eyes open. I think I am coming down with something, as I had a sore ear, sore throat, and headache hit me about 3 today, so I am going to bed early. I want to head this off at the pass if I can. It's been 13 weeks since I've had a full on cold and I don't want one. I will finish the drabbles up tomorrow. I'd rather post them all in one go than spam my f-list with that many different posts in a day. That may just be the LJ email spam I got today talking, but...yeah.

Besides having Quasimodo's eye this week, I also got to have Montazuma's stomach. Or curse. Or whatever. No, technically it was food poisoning from the one item of food I did not make from scratch myself this week and not from drinking bad water across the border. Seriously, the one thing. I think I am totally done buying anything premade from any supermarket deli ever again.

I do not know why I even bother to estimate when something might be done anymore. Because it never happens. Because life is being mean this year. Erm...aside from the weight loss, I mean. I'll keep that.

( Life Does Go On, Though )

I think I'm going to live. Which I wouldn't even have thought of saying before today. Now I am by no means over this stupid illness, but my left ear is no longer clogged up and my right ear is no longer crackling, which goes a long way in helping to restore my sanity. I think actually sleeping helped. I slept from 1:30 a.m. to 7 a.m. in one stretch and then I got a two hour nap in today, so even though I am still exhausted I am not tired, if you can tell the distinction between the two. Hey, it's progress. My cough is almost gone, my temp is down to 98.9 (my normal is like 97.4 so still a low grade fever for me, but better!), and I do not feel like my entire cranium is full of gunge. Still some sinus pressure and a lot of lethargy, but yes, I really do believe I am going to live now.

I am also eating real food again (i.e. stuff I cook that does not come out of a can or a box).

I even wrote a little. I didn't finish anything, but I wrote a little. Today was early release from school so not a lot of time to write anyway that was not spent napping instead. I may take my laptop with me tonight to tae kwon do. T has sparring and then he has his belt test after (the makeup test since he was sick during the regular one) so we will be there over an hour. I might be up to writing some then, especially seeing as the only book I have to read right now is The Omnivore's Dilemma, which is grossing me out right now and making me more determined than ever to buy an organic, grass-fed half of beef this fall. I really need to go to the library some time soon and find something science-fictiony to read in parking lots and waiting rooms that have no wi-fi.

( In which I ramble about The X-Files and Love )

*sighs* I am still so exhausted. My left ear still will not pop. My nose may as well be a faucet stuck in the on position. My low grade fever comes and goes, but is sitting around 99, nowhere near last week's 101. My cough is better. It's way up in my throat now, not in the bronchials at all. I can cook things that don't just come out of a can again, though admittedly the tacos I made tonight for dinner were done in the microwave instead of on the stove top. But still...it wasn't chili from a can that I put in a tortilla and pretended was tacos, so go me.

I stepped on a construction staple tonight. Oh, I howled. It punctured my heel, but it did not really bleed. I mean, I can see where it is that it happened, but it is like this tiny red spot. I will call the doctor tomorrow to get in for a tetanus shot. It's been 12.5 years anyway, so I'm due a booster. Will ask him for more antibiotics because I have not beat this illness yet and I don't want a relapse.

I tried to write today, but really all I wanted to do was play Facebook and try to nap. I did not succeed at the latter and spent far too much time playing Cafe World on the former. I started reading The Omnivore's Dilemma. It doesn't really present any new information that I didn't already know and I am finding it awfully repetitive. It's more on the babyfood level when you're already used to eating steak. Or something.

I had to sit through tae kwon do tonight. I think that place is seriously damaging my hearing. They are so loud in there. And the benches are so hard I always feel like a stiff old lady when it's time to get up and leave.

I will try to write again tomorrow. Oh, I won challenge 96 at then_theres_us for the fic Ten Seconds. I've never won a challenge there so I was squeeing a little bit when I found out. Of course I forgot to vote myself. I really want my brain back.