on this day in...
2000 *2001 * 2002 * 2003 * 2004 * 2005 * 2006 2007 * 2008 * 2009 * 2010 * 2011 * 2012 * 2013
really, 2014?
thursday, january 30, 2014
this year really isn't starting out all that great, except maybe for the affordable care act/obamacare (for which i am so so so grateful; without it i would be at risk of losing sight in my left eye right about now). everything else seems to be in a weird tailspin: hubs is losing hours at one of the restaurants, i've been sick for two weeks (thanks, anemia!), the weather even turned into a nightmare with fender benders (thank god no one was hurt!) and everything. even the writerly things aren't going so well: my second novel has seen all the agents i can find for it, my word counts are sucking bad (with the editing out of the picture, they really should be better), and the rejections are already stacking up.
really, 2014? this is how you want to start?
so, last thursday, my first thursday web day, i spent half the day in urgent care for a painful rash around my left eye. turns out it's shingles. *head desk* nearest i can figure, the tooth that needs a root canal on that side flared with an infection and triggered the shingles because up until then everything was fine—there were no other unusual stresses or triggers. my left cheek puffed up, the rash showed up, my lymph nodes in the area swelled, the eyelid was huge. it was ugly and uncomfortable. after a week on the antibiotics, i still had itching and headaches, so the doctor refilled the antibiotics, but he wants to see me about the eye. so guess where i'm spending half my day tomorrow? yea. hoping the sniffles i've developed and the headaches are all part of the same problem and will all go away as the shingles fade.
gotta say though, if this is a relatively mild case? so don't want to experience a severe one.
and as for the tooth, it's starting to hurt again, and there's not much of anything i can do about it. i don't have the money for the root canal it needs (or even to get it pulled, even if i had insurance to help cover it: the last one was something like $2500 WITH insurance). i've added an antibacterial mouthwash to my routine, but unless the doctor wants to give me another antibiotic for it, not much else i can do right now.
i got some help around the house last week because hubs was off an extra day. that was nice. i was able to sleep and rest, and he cooked. but this week, he lost another day on the schedule, so now he's worried about his job and what's going on there while i'm worried about the next paycheck and the bills we're supposed to pay then. i had about $500 from the tax return that was supposed to help with clothes that is now going to be eaten up by taking our male cat, logan, into the vet and to cover the bills the short check won't be able to pay.
but at least we're getting a return. and as of today, it's processing. so that's something.
then in the continuing snowball of 2014, this week the weather hit. my son got home before there was too much concern on tuesday, and my oldest managed to get me in to refill the antibiotics and get food in the house. after that, it was a hot mess. hubs went from job one to job two, and the 10 minute drive took him TWO HOURS. he was off work at 9:30. at 10:30, he called and was talking about staying in the car. i told him no. if he couldn't get home, he had to find a place indoors, even if it meant going back to the restaurant to stay there. meanwhile, oldest left me at about 4:15 or so to get big-t and strat from work. hubs made it home around midnight; she made it home 30 minutes later after two minor fender benders. froggy, who was with her, even told me they were almost hit by a police car: he tried to stop to check on them after the first bumper thumper and started sliding towards them instead. since then, most everything has been shut down: both hub's restaurants, boyo's school, youngest's job at wendy's. she went in today, boyo is supposed to return to school tomorrow. we've gone nowhere, not even to buy milk, just to avoid the problems with the roads.
i suppose the good news is that while it's uncommon for georgia to get completely whacked out from the weather like this (which is why preparation down here is nonexistent: when the state has no extra funds, why put what little they have into preparing for something that happens so infrequently?), once it does happen, it's unlikely to happen again. we had those floods a few years ago...and then that was it. we get a dusting of snow maybe two or three times a year (dusting being the operative word; once it hits an inch, by georgia standards, it's no longer a dusting), then it's done. so hopefully this one is our "done" for the year.
so, yea, it's been quite the opening for the year. 2014 decided to hit with a bang all at once. all i can do now is hope it gets better from here. i'm sure there will be the usual ups and downs, but we've been on a steady, if slow, upward climb out of hell. i'd like to keep going in that direction.
so, get your act together, 2014. this kind of thing just won't do at all.
(on an unrelated note: my stepfather died 10 years ago today. i rarely think about it—he and i were never close—but putting up the "this day in previous years" links, and there it was...the entry about him dying of cancer. he never met his grand kids, will never have the opportunity to meet his great grand kids, and that gulf between us will never be mended. and it's just bizarre to look at it and realize... ten years. just....wow. maybe not the reaction most people would expect, but there it is.)
word of the moment: lamella
thin plate; a thin membrane that is one of the calcified layers that form bones; any of the radiating leaflike spore-producing structures on the underside of the cap of a mushroom or similar fungus
