Unsurpassed Tuesday

I think I mentioned I had a head cold yesterday. I woke up this morning sick... really sick. I was seriously off balance and felt if I got up, I'd be dizzy. I was stuffy. My eyes felt like they'd been taken out and put back in backwards. My vision didn't want to work correctly... I don't know what that means. It means everything looked weird to me. My brain felt as if it was sitting in a jar somewhere and I was getting relays from that. 

Does that help any?

I sent a text to my boss that I was sick and wouldn't be in. I rolled over and went back to sleep. I woke at 9:30 and when I tried to get up it was horrible. My brain simply felt saturated from that stuff in the jar and I couldn't focus very well. Mobility was wonky, too, and I was a bit concerned I'd fall. I was dizzy. Had I been taking some kind of meds, I would have thought I was having a drug related reaction. I had not. I only used a nasal spray the day before, the 12 hr kind, and that only opened my sinus up so I could breath. 

My son needed to borrow the car and I had to drive over to his house, about 5 minutes away. It wasn't pleasant. He drove me back and I crash landed on the sofa and did not moved until around noon. The dizziness and visual chaos passed off after about half an hour and I was at least able to read while lying down. But I was still a bit dizzy when getting up for the usual things...bathroom, drink, food. 

I've been drinking a lot because I obviously in need it with a cold. Oddly enough, this could also be a fibro flare on top of the cold. The symptoms of fibromyalgia include all the above except sneezing and stuffy nose. At least, I haven't run across them. But the fog is well known as are the exhaustion, confusion, dizziness, balance problems, and a slew of other things. If it is a flare, it is probably the worst I've had yet and that concerns me. 

On the bright side, the cold has not required a second dose of medicine to allow me to breath. That may be a good sign. I'm upright, breathing, although still stuffed up. My ears are really blocked and my head still feels as if it is sitting in a jar but I can breath. We'll see.

What was I reading? City of Bones, by Michael Connelly. I've never read Mr. Connelly even though he's got a about a dozen books out there. This book was given to me along with two sacks of other books. I picked it up and read the first chapter and I was hooked. Mr Connelly writes well and the story moves quickly, short chapters help. I really like the main character, Harry Bosch and this particular story is really good. It is very good and I'm impressed. I'm half done and it is a large hardback. I will probably read more of his books now. I don't usually read cop books but I do tend to read a lot of books written by men. 

NaNo is three months away. I need to start planning something but under the current conditions, constructive thought is difficult. I have no ideas for any story but then, I usually don't so I won't really get bent until November 1st.

I'm going to stop now. I think I actually need to take a nap. I have to be better tomorrow as I have to go back to work. 

Weekend Wrap-Up

The weekend went well. We went to St. Louis and stayed at Pear Tree Inn on Market Street. This was a really nice hotel for the money and I'd stay there again. It was clean and the service was wonderful. The breakfast buffet was free and huge. Snacks at 5 p.m. were free with free drinks. The pool and hot tub was indoors. I could have sat by the pool all day and been fine. 

We had some interesting adventures searching for places to eat and it became our big joke of the day. On Friday, we were looking for a specific restaurant. The Tom-Tom gave us directions. We put it in. We arrived 30 minutes and miles later. Building was there, restaurant was gone. We picked another and we followed the directions. They were wrong. Becca and I are a bit annoyed but we decided we better call to make sure the restaurant was actually THERE before we headed out again. We did and after an hour wandering around we arrived and had lunch. We returned to the hotel to relax and spent the evening in the pool. Later that evening we ordered pizza.

We took Sarah to the Science Museum on Saturday morning and you should have seen her face when she saw the dinosaur exhibit. He moved and roared and was life-sized.   Obviously, she never dreamed exactly how big  he would be and when faced with it her mind sort of boggled. Her face was priceless. She was awestruck and a bit terrified.There were lots of things in the museum but they were a bit old for her. We went to the Planetarium and we all enjoyed that show. It lasted about an hour. We chose to lie on the floor on mats. Mike dozed off and started snoring. I had to wake him up. 

Our next adventure began. We searched for a place to eat and thinking that Burger King would certainly never disappear from the earth and that Hershey Pie sounded perfect, we headed out only to find that it too had moved and the building was now the Noodle House. We continued our search until we came upon an oasis. 

"There's a Steak and Shake, David." I said. "Pull in." And we did. After a ridiculously expensive meal of burgers and ice cream we headed home.

The drive went quickly and I was thrilled to be in my own house. Sunday was a bust as I was so exhausted and my mysterious allergy revealed itself to be a full blow head cold. I returned to work this morning and now I sit in my living room, about to head off to the nighttime adventure of sleep. 

I'm sick. I can't breath well. My head hurts. My throat hurts. I cough and my head hurts. I am so tired and I am achy. Every time I leave my house I catch some disease. I might give up vacations all together. 

Over the Hump....at the Bottom of the Hill?

Today is hump day, the day when the rest of the week goes down hill... I'm not sure why we would think that is a good thing...but we do. I'm just glad I have one more day to work this week.

I took Friday off. I am taking Sarah to St. Louis to the Science Museum and if it isn't too hot, the Zoo. If it is too hot we'll do something else. We will all stay in a hotel tomorrow night and spend Saturday exploring. I'll have Dave & Becca and Mike along, too. I know they'll all have a good time and maybe I'll stop being so bummed out after a day away from home.

I posted the "final" chapters of The End of Winter so the gals in the writing group could read it. If you are one who read this during my 2008 NaNo and want to see the end, let me know. You will know who you are and need only send me an email to my email address... which you will have if you know me.


I am still tired. This afternoon after work I came from home, got a shower, put on  babydoll PJs, and had a personal pizza for supper while watching t.v. It is now just after 10 and for the first time in weeks, I don't feel buried under a black cloud. I'm still tired and will go to bed soon and I'm still not very cheerful. I do feel a bit less stressed. I had my writer's meeting on Monday night and those girls keep me laughing for a couple of hours and I always feel better after that. I spent the rest of Monday night and Tuesday night reading.


I sat up late the last two nights reading the BEST book I've read in a long time. Really. The writing was so tight I found myself looking for things wrong with it! The story was really good and a lot of fun. Typical old fashioned mystery. P. B. Ryan's Still Life with Murder. I highly recommend it. It is the first in a series and I got it free from Amazon. It is considered an historical mystery because it is set in Boston just after the Civil War. The main character Nell Sweeney is intriguing and I'll be getting the other books in the series just to learn more about her. I simply could not put it down and the ending was a surprise, which almost never happens with me. Although, these days, I'm not very attentive to details so it is possible someone else might not be as surprised.

I'm reading the start of the second book because it was included in the download... I'm already hooked by this 18th century female detective.



I'm having less pain this week I think. Yes, I'm not sure. My knees are sore and as I said, I'm tired. I'm not supposed to sit up late. I must get enough sleep. But I've been so disinterested in reading for so long that when I find a book that hooks me I hate to stop.

What I really want is to be able to retire. I am thinking about getting a site set up for donations. Yes. You heard me. I said donations. I'll direct people to my depressing posts and give details on my situation and condition. Then, I'll have a Pay Pal account set up so people who truly understand and want to help me can put their money where their mouth is. Look, I've had over 14,000 hits on this site since I began it. Over half those came in since November 2010. Something tipped the scale. Not sure what. Maybe I made a name for myself on the forums. Where are they all coming from? Russia and the US are apparently at the top of the list, with Russia in first place.

~(:\)

What have I said that would appeal to 100 Russians? What could they be interested in? My wit? My charm? My good looks? My audacity?

And now, I shall post this blog. I started it on a break early today and finished it just now. It should bring everyone up to speed. Tomorrow.... who knows.

A True Sarah Story

Today Sarah came and spent the afternoon with me. We went to Panera for me to have lunch. She didn't want to eat but wanted a chocolate chip cookie. They had a plate of cookie samples on the counter, each one on its on toothpick. I told her she could try one to see how it tasted. She chose one, twirled it, and then bit into it. She said, "OH, chocolate chip on a stick!"

The cashiers cracked up.

We picked up Michael later and he helped me get some yard work done. We finished about 8:30 and before taking them both home we decided to go eat supper. When the chicken place had no dark meat, Sarah said, "How about fish? I like fish." So we headed across town to Captain D's.

I ordered the double dozen shrimp dinner and while we were eating, Mike looked at me, frowning and said, "Mom, why are you eating that? You usually eat clams."

I said, "I do eat clams but I wanted shrimp."

Sarah suddenly looked at me, her face a mask of shock and horror. "YOU EAT CLOWNS?"

A Time Capsule and Paris' Human Zoo?

Stumbled across an interesting site that I just have to delve in much deeper. Here are two links.

A Locked Apartment

The Human Zoo