Long Time Gone

I've been away from blogging because all of December and most of January was busy kicking my ass.

Everything went swimmingly so far as the de-hoarders went. However, they had their own way of arranging things that didn't get trashed so I've spent some time in search of lost thingamabobs. Like the remote for the DVD player. No idea where it is, so I watch DVDs on my computer.

Yesterday, I managed to reconnect my computer to the Internet. Hurrah, no more running around to the library or Panera.

How December kicked my ass:
Practically the minute the de-hoarders left, I came down with a mighty case of bronchitis that I diagnosed as pneumonia. I don't trust the doctor I currently have so his flipping a coin to determine bronchitis or pneumonia brought me no joy. He prescribed amoxicillin and a cough medicine that made me cough so hard, I threw up.

I couldn't sleep because I could hear myself wheezing. One way to handle that - I put Audible on the "sleep" setting and listened to John Adams by David McCullough. That's the only way I was able to get to sleep. It worked so well that I'm on Chapter 9 and I have no idea of what I've listened to.

I paid a price to have Amazon do a same-day delivery of a quart of Nyquil. Another way to get some sleep.

Obviously, I missed a lot of time from work, which has adversely effected my bank accounts. No workee, no money. Plus the holidays don't help, cutting a 40 hour work week down to a 32 hour week. And no, there's no overtime and no making up for last time.

December kicked poor Sophie's ass, too.

Over a couple of days, I observed her and noticed that she barely moved. I took her to the vet, a new one, very young and very optimistic, who told me Sophie had the worst bladder infection she'd ever seen. Sophie is about 12 and I thought she was just slowing down due to old age. No, she was very, very sick. The vet kept her about five or six days, rehydrating her, testing and retesting her, and by the time the vet had done all she could, Sophie still wasn't eating. I brought her home and within a day, she was back at the food bowls.

The cost for this little escapade? $2,500. Say hello to my little HELOC. Initially, I would look at Sophie and think, you're a trip to Paris, that's what you are. A nice trip to Paris. A very nice trip to Paris. Still, the sting of Paris has faded as Sophie is getting stronger and more affectionate.

Life goes on. My contract at work has been extended but I don't know for how long. I do know that there's a hiring freeze on this year as the company has lost three very big clients. I consider myself fortunate to have a job. But I'm more and more determined that I'll work as many 40 weeks as I can.

Next: How High Are You?