Averygoodun's Personal File

So, that paper that was due today did get finished, despite my best efforts at dithering away the time. I think I messed up a little bit on the works cited page, as I left off the original citation that my source was quoting from, but overall, I'm as pleased as I can be about the paper itself. I even managed to write a semi-coherent introduction as well as a conclusion that was more than the obligatory two sentence sum-up. (I hate conclusions. I really do.)

Oh, and I finished it at 11:23 this morning. My class was at noon (and ten minutes away).

ION, it surprise!rained today, so no gardening till tomorrow, which is probably just as well. My other plants are coming in the mail tomorrow, so that'll be a nice break from all the house cleaning I'll be doing.

Aaaaaand... Yeah. Not much to say here. Oh, except that it seems I (think I) was wrong about who can apply at the health exchanges. I can apply, I just won't get a federal subsidy to reduce the costs because Geoff's workplace offers "affordable" insurance. Uh huh. Since the "affordable" insurance is based on a single person's premiums (in this case, $200/mo, or perhaps $400 if you count the employer's portion. I'm not sure if you can count the employer's portion, though), the fact that adding me would be $260 MORE a month (for high deductible insurance, mind)... that's considered "affordable."

*grumbles about shit bills*

Still. At least if I can sign up on the exchange, I won't be dinged price-wise for all my pre-existing conditions (or sex). That's pretty huge, right there. I'll just pay for my age.

Anyway, gotta go pick up the kid. Ciao!

Dear safety razor company,

( You are stupid. )

Anyway. Got a paper due on Friday and a set of photos to take this afternoon, so I better get going.

O another plus side (a genuine plus, not a practical plus), it's getting to be beautiful out here. The maple across the street is tipped with flaming red now. Absolutely gorgeous.

So, over the past few weeks, I've been inadvertently weaning myself off my antidepressants by forgetting them at semi-regular intervals (like, taking the full dose every other day or so). A couple of days ago I decided to make it official, and when I took my dose, I reduced it by a third, with the intention of taking that dose every day for a week before tapering off again.

Unfortunately, I'm feeling the lack already.

On the one side, this is depressing in that my mental well-being is dependent on a drug, and, given the amount of time I've been on it (more than enough time to retrain my serotonin uptake regulator into doing its job properly), probably will be for the rest of my life. I hate that. I hate that so much.

On the other side, it's kind of awesome that there is a drug that helps me fight the negativity monsters in my head. I just wish this drug didn't give me dry mouth so severely...

So, anyway, I will be taking the full prescribed dose this morning. And next. And every day thereafter.

*sigh*

In brighter news, my back garden is almost done. I still have to plant all the bulbs (and a few other plants that my clumsy, impatient fingers bought online a couple days ago), make a rock wall border, and build a trellis for the clematis, but otherwise, it's done. And the rock wall and trellis aren't imperative.

So yay. Of course, I ache like the dickens today because of overdoing it yesterday (and the day before), but it's basically done. And once the bulbs are in (I might, if I feel better later on, put 20 minutes into planting some of the bulbs today so as to get that big job going), I will be happily anxious to see how it'll look in spring.

Meanwhile, I have yet to do any house cleaning this weekend, or any shopping, or any homework. Oops. Priorities have been skewed by the fall air, me thinks.

Actually, today is homework day. I am so far behind in my reading it's not even funny. Also, I need to start seriously thinking about my psych paper that's due on Friday. This would all be easier if I could wake up a bit (*points up to second paragraph*) and not need quite so much sleep. (Of course, it would also be easier if I didn't have a family to take care of, but that's moot.)

But Geoff is now home from Brazil, so that might should help. Hopefully. I will be *cough* letting him do the cooking today (and this week, should he not cook en masse), and hopefully the three of us can keep on top of everything else that needs doing while still giving me time to read. (I am such an incredibly slow reader. I'm starting to worry about being able to keep up in later school years because of it...)

Right. Time to get to work, since that's why I stayed home from church today.

Hope all of you are as well as you can be. Hugs and Light to those who need or want them.

So far, I am not loving Tuesdays. Something has to change, because the week cannot start this way for the rest of the semester. Especially as relying on Geoff to be here to help is looking like a bad idea/assumption.

I'm thinking Page is going to be going into after-school 2 days a week after all, no matter how he feels about it. Oh, how I am looking forward to that conversation.

Humbug.

By Sunday at the latest:

- create syllabus for Microeconomics
- mow lawn
- take photos
- pay bills/ do paperwork
- go peach picking
- eat
- make meatballs (on carrots or sliced squash?)
- read chapter 1 of psych
- let Geoff "watch" Broncos' game.
- go to bed at a reasonable hour (so tired of being tired) (*looks at clock* oops)
- order compost (& peat moss?) for backyard
- take in Page's meds and paperwork
- talk to neighbor!girl about babysitting on early-release days
- talk to neighbor!boy about helping with backyard soil prep
- decide whether to plant baby shrubs this fall in face of predicted super cold winter or not Finances to the rescue. Definitely next spring.

(Sunday: - go to church, greet people, be nice)

I had a nap this afternoon, and oh was it good. I dreamt we arrived at a destination and found out there was an open bar at the resort's pool house, and, well, yeah. It was a good dream full of really good spirits.

(There was also a bit about being able to buy a mountain in New Zealand for US$100K, and being really tempted because of the really, really cool minerals that were in that mountain. Very pretty, with awesomely cool properties that I can't remember now. Unfortunately, I didn't really have the cash on hand...)

So I feel much, much better now (not even a tinge of hangover! ;-). And hey, I even got the laundry advanced at some point in the day!

And while tomorrow starts off too damn early, it will (should) be a day completely to myself. *bounces*

ETA: And HA! I just got my two textbooks (one of which is a rental, but I'll deal) for so much less than $100, I felt I could afford Terry Wahls' "Minding Your Mitochondria," which I've been looking at longingly for some time now. So yay. It's been a good day.

- The humidity level is down to something reasonable, finally. The air isn't hard to breathe for its thickness, anymore. Yay!

- I got a bit of a back rub this morning, which helped tremendously. I might be able to skip the painkillers today because of it (though probably I'll still take the anti-inflammatories).

- I submitted my final Word Lab last night and got a 95%. Normally, I'd be a bit upset about that grade, but this prof is so persnickety that I'm happy. Only the final to go, and I'm done. I'll find out my final grade on Saturday or thereabout.

- Page is busy reading an old Superman anthology of Geoff's, meaning he's not talking or otherwise making noise. It also means he's no longer trying to jump on the furniture in a way that isn't disallowed.

- Shiv updated "A Law to Herself"! (Has it really been 5 years since the last update? Really?!?)

- I got my guys to pick up their stuff, leaving the house reasonably tidy once again.

- Upcoming vacation. Oh, god yes.

- I'm going to paint again today. In fact, I'm going to go do that right now.

Just got a message inviting me to join the honor society at the college. Not sure I want to, although I imagine it would be good to have on the transcript should I want Harvard to be a possibility (not sure I do want that though, given the commute).

I guess I'll think on it (and research it a bit) and get back to the sponsor tomorrow.

But now I have to go endure the mundanities of life, i.e. go make lunch. Yep.

My finger slipped and I bought a Chromebook (Samsung version) for a song on Amazon. First a cell phone (a smart phone at that!), and now a netbook? I do believe the end of the world might be nigh.

Though mostly it's all just for convenience. Page needs to start learning how to code, and, well, combine that with my increased computer needs over the next twelve months, and I came to the conclusion that more than one computer will be needed in this house. (It also means that I will be able to move to a different room and still be able to do my homework, if necessary. Or send the distractor to a different room with it.)

As for the cell phone... I've conceded that it's rude to not have one nowadays. And, well, I'm not going to be sharing my number widely, so I'll know that if I do get a call (in class, say), it's really quite important.

( School-related kvetching )

Page, meanwhile, is doing remarkable well. Today, as we were driving back from dropping Geoff off at the airport, he said his stomach hurt but that it might just be from the anxiety of not having his dad around. !!! O_o !!! If he keeps this up, he will be a very centered, self-aware person, which would be awesome. (As long as it doesn't result in egoism, that is.)

He's actually been really great lately. I think it's the whole gamut of things we're doing - physically, mentally and emotionally - not just one or two things, but whatever it is, it's working. Hmm. Not being in school is almost certainly one of the elements... :-/

But, I mean, not taking into account when he's super hungry or tired, we can ask him to do something, and he'll do it! This is monumental! I just hope it continues for this entire developmental stage!

But now I've stalled for long enough. Need to go get a midnight snack and head to bed. Too bad the most pleasant part of the day is that which is designated for sleeping...

It is now Allergy Spring. I itches, precious.

It's still beautiful out, though. The flowering trees have pretty much ended, but the rhodos and azaleas are coming into their own, and, oh my, I think I'm going to have a glorious crop of irises this year! I will be taking pictures of my garden. Tomorrow.

Tomorrow, my new camera should be arriving. I went ahead and got the Canon Powershot SX500. The SX50 was out of my price range, but the SX500 should do pretty nicely, even if it doesn't have a viewfinder. The macro feature is far, far better than my SX100, its range is 24mm - 700mm (whereas my current camera only goes down to 28mm) and it gets pretty solid reviews for its class. Not the best, but solid enough for an amateur like me. Plus, I can list it as a school expense on this year's taxes. :-)

Today is... going to be a lot more work than I want. It seems Geoff was right (or closer to right than I was) about the difficulty level of moving the planter boxes. We moved the long, narrow one and all its dirt yesterday, and, well, I was frustrated to start with (I actually had a mini-temper tantrum, bashing my thumb as I did so), and the frustration did not improve upon learning that, despite our best efforts to protect it, the wood of the boxes is starting to rot. We actually had to replace one of the uprights because it disintegrated as we took the planks off.

Ah well.

The other planter boxes should be easier, as they aren't as embedded as the long one was, but it's still going to be an awful lot of toiling. I hope to get one more moved today (with or without dirt, I'm not picky) before we start the cooking extravaganza. Because cooking also has to, has to happen.

Of course, all I want to do is go back to sleep, but that's likely the benadryl talking. Well, the benadryl, stress, and achiness. This has been a long week. And I am very glad to have the morning alone. God, am I glad.

Other good things are:

( Read more... )

Right. Off I go to... collect rocks for the rock "wall"? Bed? Unscrew the planter box? *shrug* Don' know. But off I go.