Still ill

I don't normally get ill and stay that way for days at a time. I'll not feel well for a while, but not this kind of horrid really sick stuff.

I hope it clears up soon. I feel a little better tonight, but then I did yesterday too, and got much worse this morning and afternoon.

Obviously, everything is behind. Vision will likely go up after the fourth. I'm still working on the workshop -- something I have started and deleted four times now -- also something I never do. It's a sign of how ill I am because I don't think you should delete stuff right away. I'm sure a couple of those would have made good starts if I had a brain. I do, finally, have one I like, though.

I've been asked to do both a story and a cover for a second cat book (Sequel to the Twelve Cats of Christmas anthology). I'm sure I'll be very happy about this when the brain wakes back up.

Oh, and that's a picture of Edmond of the Big Ears. What a doll he is! Except that he's fascinated with my hair, and leaps up onto the back of the chair and attacks it. My hair reaches past my waist (though I'm about to cut a few inches off to even it out a bit again), and he just loves it.

Sure sign of stress, though -- every time I wash my hair I get huge clumps of hair in my hand where it's fallen out.

So I am trying to take things more calmy. It's obviously not quite happening yet, and won't before I get Vision done and the payments made to everyone, my sff.net bill paid so I don't lose the site that has Vision and get a few other things caught up.

I am working on the Touched by the Wild book, which I might yet get started on July 1 -- not sure how I'll feel in a couple days. I am also working on the outline for a new novel, and using a new program. Obviously, considering the way I've been feeling, I haven't gotten very far at all. The program is SuperNoteCard and comes from this site: http://www.mindola.com/

Since I had a bit of money from the sales of the 2YN book, I decided to splurg. And I'm glad I did because tonight I started using it to put together the second 2YN book and realized I could drop entire chapters into the notecards and move them around -- a big help since I moved some of the late stuff into book 1, some of the early stuff to book 2, cut out a few things and merged some stuff... you get the idea. I've already gotten more done on it, even this ill, than I had in the last two weeks since I opened the files and started messing around with them again.

So there is something good, at least. 

Not well

Better than I was yesterday, when I spent part of the day on the bathroom floor, too ill to get up and move. Russ, of course, was not in town. By the time he made it home late last night, I had finally managed to crawl back into bed.

Today I'm feeling better, though not great. And it's not helping me get anything done, either. I did finally get some work for the county up on their site, answered a couple emails, and stopped by FM for a few minutes.

Oh, and the cable company turned off my modem yesterday for no reason at all. They've also had my email locked down a few times -- and can't tell me why. So things are screwy. It doesn't help.

The dog is still doing all right today.

Russ cancelled his trip to New York, for which I am very thankful.

Oh, and my father went into the hospital yesterday, but he's out today and back home. Since my mother died a year ago this week, it was kind of worrying there.

All in all, yesterday was not a good day, though. And right now I'd like to just rest... but I still have a couple things that need to be done. So off to work I go. 

Waking up....

That's what it feels like sometimes -- as though I've just awakened from a long stretch of sleepwalking to get back to work. I've written about 4k words today, did some DTF work and some work on Vision. I made dinner, cleaned some of the house, and worked on a Daz picture.

It's always good to get moving like this. I wish I could do it more often. I hope it holds up for a few more days because I still need to work on Vision and get it done before too long.

Russ should be leaving for New York on Wednesday. He's getting some odd messages on that end, so maybe he won't be going. I wouldn't mind if he didn't. He'd be gone until about the 4th, and with the sick dog, I really don't want to be here alone that long.

She is doing a little better, by the way. She goes to the vet tomorrow and we get more word.

The babies are doing well, too. They're still 'hold me' kitties, though they are getting to be a bit too big to hold both them at once. Cute little guys, though. They make a number of things better.

I just hope I can stay awake for a few more days. Time to get back to work now before the feeling goes away again. 

Off on a small adventure

We will leave about dawn tomorrow to go to Squaw Creek Wildlife Refuge. This is Russ's gift for our 27th anniversay, and I am really looking forward to it. We'll be back in the late afternoon, hoping that a check shows up in the mail. It won't, but really it doesn't matter.

Getting away for a day should be a lot of fun!

I'm making small progress on Touched by the Wild. I like what I've gotten so far, and since I'm working on Chapter four, I'm doing all right for my 'one chapter a week' story starting in July. I just don't dare fall behind.

And that's about it for me right now. I want to go crawl off in bed and get some sleep!

There will be pictures, of course! 

Trying to work

On the good side, I have gotten a lot of things done off my To-Do list. On the bad side, I've had seven days of less than 1000 words in writing. It's not that I don't want to write. It's not that I'm bored with the story. It's that I can't stay focused long enough to get more than a hundred words out.

Part of this is because our 12 year old dog is very ill, and I don't think she'll last out the month. Medication isn't helping, and she's having a harder time moving and breathing each day. Gracie has been a good dog, and she's still quite happy -- but it's difficult to sit here in the house and listen to her gasp and cough sometimes, or walk with her and help her up and down the stairs to get outside.

Other problems are of the more mundane kinds. Checks have not arrived, of course. Bills are due. And our 27th anniversary is on Thursday. We'll have a good time -- I think a nice little ride down to De Soto might work, depending on the weather. Russ has a class to teach on Wednesday and one on Friday, but so far we've been lucky and Thursday is free. With luck, we'll have funds for both gas and some food. (grin)

On the 28th Russ will fly out to New York for a job interview. This is good....and bad. I don't want him to move to New York, but it may be the only way we can keep going at all. Quite obviously we wouldn't have the money for me to move with him, not for a long time. I know it's not unusual these days for husbands to have to move far away to get jobs, but I don't particularly like it.

There is a possibility of a job in Omaha instead, but they are taking a while to make up their minds. I wish they would so that I don't ahve to worry about the New York job at all. Fret, fret, fret. But however it works out, things will be fine. I have a great next door neighbor, so I know if there are problems here, I can count on her. And virtually everything in town is within walking distance. (I have mentioned that I don't drive, right? Even if we could afford a second car and insurance... grin.)

And to make things even more annoying, I have hurt my left leg. It aches from the hip all the way to the ankle. I could have gone to the zoo tomorrow, but I've decided to pass on it, even though the leg feels a little better today than it did yesterday.

Okay. I'm going to actually write 1000 words today. I don't think there's much else going on that absolutely needs my attention. Except maybe these two crazed kittens, charging around the house.

Funny how I can find distractions, even when I really don't need to. (grin)