Memorial Day weekend

It's a holiday weekend, which means a three day weekend. Memorial Day. I'm grateful for the extra time off and a chance to relax a little. Also, the house is messy and needs some attention.

The heat wave, and the barely functioning air conditioner, continues. Sitting in an almost-too-warm room with the blinds drawn isn't very satisfactory, but at least it's comfortable enough to get by. I'm trying to avoid cooking and we're taking cool showers, but I finally had to break down and put on a load of laundry this morning. All of my shorts and tank tops/thin short sleeved shirts/camis were filling up the laundry basket and I've got to have some clean clothes. I plan to run the dryer on the coolest setting for the shortest possible amount of time, and the laundry room will be closed off. We're still getting periodic blasts of cool air from the a/c vents thanks to the misting water hose I have positioned in front of the unit, but I hate wasting the water (and dread the next water bill).

I did call the home warranty company for some kind of update yesterday, and the person I spoke with said that she could see that parts had been ordered the day after the technician came out. I'm taking that as a good sign that maybe the unit will be repaired, although I don't think there's a chance in hell that will happen until after Monday. It's a holiday weekend that happened to fall during a record-setting heat wave. The few technicians working will have their hands full, and probably charging holiday rates to boot. So we have to limp along as best we can. We do have a portable a/c on wheels that will cool a single room nicely if worse comes to worse. It was used for the dogs in our last garage when they lived outside. They're mostly indoor dogs these days, especially when the weather is bad. Like today...almost 100 degrees in the shade!

A couple of weeks ago at the big library sale downtown I bought my first Philippa Gregory book, The Red Queen. I liked it so much that I read it in about 3 days.  After having such a bad day on Wednesday (after meeting with the a/c technician I went back to work only to get yelled at and harshly insulted by a parent) I decided I deserved a small treat so I went by the bookstore, got coffee with friends, and bought a paperback copy of The White Princess. I'm finding that these books about the warring cousins trying to claim the throne of England is a good substitute for Game of Thrones! It's also nice to discover a new author to enjoy. She seems to be a most prolific writer so I'll have plenty of entertainment to look forward to. Are you reading anything these days? If so I'd love to hear about it.

For the long weekend, we'll probably do the traditional thing and grill out--a lot! It's no good heating up the house with the stove, and cold salads go great with grilled meats and corn on the cob. I may even try to get some strawberries, if there are any left after the heat we've had this week.

Have a nice weekend, everyone.

     

A beautiful Sunday in May

It's my day off finally! Yay me! It was kind of a long week.

My dreaded trip to the dentist turned out to be not too bad. I only had to have a very small filling, and it was on the opposite side of my mouth than where the last ordeal unfolded.
Being a believer in better living through chemistry (ahem!)  I arrived with a Xanax dissolving in my stomach and a lovely mellow feeling of calm. I never thought I'd be the kind of big chicken that had to take an anti-anxiety pill before going to the dentist, but there you are.

I never used to fear dental appointments, when kindly old Dr. Bryce was still my dentist. He was a gentle, sweet, grandfatherly man that took lots of time and care when he worked. While he worked, he would talk about his grandchildren and growing his beloved orchids (many of which were in the treatment room windowsills). He was so careful and, admittedly, slow, that there was never anything to fear with him. Unfortunately he retired rather suddenly last fall, and it was awhile before the ladies in the office explained why. Apparently he was having memory problems and was showing signs of early dementia, and his kids cornered him with his family doctor and recommended he retire. Right away. So he did, and I am sad to see him go. Since then, the practice has been run by a couple of other local dentists who are filling in until a new permanent dentist is found. I've not been impressed with the work they've done so far, but at least this last time wasn't so traumatic. One of these days soon, when I work up the courage to tell the office ladies I'm leaving (ridiculous, I know) I'm going to find a new dentist. I've had several local people make recommendations, it's just a matter of doing it. I feel like I'm bailing on the rest of Dr. Bryce's leftover staff, and that makes me feel guilty. But that's a story for another day.

Right now, it's a beautiful Sunday afternoon. We've had the most amazing cool sunny days lately! It's a real departure from our usual weather this time of year---already hot and humid. This is Memorial Day weekend, and it's turning out to perfect weather for all those people with a long weekend off. Traditionally people cook out over this holiday weekend, and spend plenty of time outdoors.

I've been doing as much of that as possible myself. Gregg and I have been grilling out whenever we can (last night included) and sitting on the patio in the evenings watching the big full moon of May rising, me with a glass of wine in hand. This afternoon will be spent outside in the hammock with the book I'm currently reading (The Mists of Avalon, and I'm enjoying the heck out of it!) and Ginger to keep me company. I have wild white lilies blooming by our back door, and my lavender bush is on the verge of blooming. The temperature is perfect. It's going to be a lovely day to be out there, enjoying some down time and relaxation.

Happy Memorial Day weekend to my U.S. readers, and may everyone have a beautiful, happy day. Get outside and soak up some sunshine if you can!

May wrap up

It's Memorial Day, and as I type this fireworks are going off in the distance outside my office window. There is a pretty pink sunset going on out there, too, and a wide eyed parrot sitting on my shoulder watching the show. He watches the sunset from his office perch most afternoons, but he doesn't know what to make of fireworks. He's staying close to mom (just in case!) but he's mostly just curious. Ginger, on the other hand, is terrified. She is in a corner of the laundry room, refusing to come out or eat dinner. Fireworks are not her thing!

I had every intention to blog more in May, but it's been another stressful couple of weeks. GB continues to deal with side effects from chemotherapy even though his last treatment was a month ago. He's had a great deal of nerve pain (peripheral neuropathy) around his rib cage where his incision was, which is not only painful but makes breathing difficult. He is slightly anemic, which makes him even more short of breath, and is altogether physically weak and run down. A couple of days ago he threw up several times, out of the blue, for no apparent reason. Every day seems to bring something new, and not in a good way. It's been discouraging that he's still so sick this long after the end of chemotherapy. I suppose one month really isn't very long, come to think of it.

Through all these long months of treating the cancer, we were just sure that once we got to this point in the year (early summer) he would be almost back to normal. Just goes to show how little we understood what was about to happen. So we're trudging along here, trying to keep life moving along as smoothly as possible when one partner has a serious illness. Free time to blog has not been available very often, what with a full time job, a sick person needing care, and housework/yard work/pet care being top priorities.

So that was our May--difficult, tiring, and somewhat disappointing. Thank goodness a new month is just around the corner. I'm counting on June to be better!