moominmuppet

...another FMLA day. Ouch on the paycheck. I'm up trying to get a migraine under control (it's not too bad right now, but if I don't get it under control _before_ I go back to sleep, I know from experience I'll wake up with it three times worse).

Spike may be the most talkative cat I've ever met (except when we're trying to find him, of course!). And all three of the new/temp cats are among the most ridiculously affectionate I've ever met. He's wandering around exploring the house and talking about all of it, in between coming back for love and pettings. He seems to be very much a night-time cat; we hardly see him during the day.

House purchase is moving along; we're officially writing up the mortgage now, I've made the application deposit and gotten all my paperwork in, and things are going smoothly with the title company and all. Close date is looking pretty set at July 9th.

I don't think I ever mentioned that this weekend was also a vet appt for Mushroom; her thyroid meds need to be adjusted again, and she needs to go back in a month for a repeat thyroid test, and a kidney function test. She's lost more weight.

My dog is a more dedicated and shameless nailbiter than any five-year-old I've ever met. She gets so into it that she snuffles in really disgusting but funny ways. Every time I turn around, she's got her hind feet in her mouth. At least it means I don't have to trim her nails, since she really hates that.

Oh, and we're still in touch with Really Awesome Couchsurfer from a few weeks ago. He's writing an article for a local publication in Pittsburgh about Dr. Tiller's assassination, and we did a bit of an email interview about it. He was with us at lunch when I got the news, came to the Memorial with us, and was just generally awesomely supportive when ending up in a couchsurfing household unexpectedly going through something major and hard.

We also had a firebowl this weekend, and one of Grafton's best friends in town, both of which were fun. Also, so many people are interested in this new Villa Villekula, and interested in adding some of their skills to help us make things into what we hope for. It's very exciting. And I'm repeatedly grateful that I'm doing this with an entire household of adults with various skills. Division of labor is a beautiful thing, and I can't imagine how much more stressful a house purchase is when all potential projects fall to one or two people.

Mark's been working a job in Toledo the last few weeks; we generally only see him on the weekends. It's strange; any one person being gone inevitably changes the dynamics and feel of the household in some way or another. Caleb's back from Chicago, which is nice. I'm flying out to NY Friday afternoon, and flying back home Sunday morning with another seven hours of tattoo work on me. I'm really excited, especially since it's also one of my too-rare chances to hang out with forestfire (I fly to Albany, then she and I drive to Maine and back). I need to remember to pack my tattoo resource journal (collection of images/references).

We also got our hand truck yesterday. I decided in my household, especially with all the appliance moving we're likely to need to do in the next few years as we try to cycle in more efficient appliances to the three kitchens, a good-quality hand truck with stair climbers is a good investment (it only cost about $120, and seems to be quite heavy duty construction).

Does anyone out there (especially others with light-sensitivity) have an easy fix that makes it less ouchy to look at a computer screen? I looked at glare-guards, but the ones I found were running about $100, and that strikes me as sort of ridiculous. I'm tempted to just get a piece of sheer fabric of some sort and make my own, but I don't know if there are better/easier ideas out there.

One I get the migraine more under control, I should see what I can clear off the to-do list.

Must figure out what the hell is going bad in the fridge -- time for a full clean-out.
Need to make sure Grafton takes out recycling
Work through more loads of basement laundry, bring upstairs
Sort and repack more of Tara's books/stuff
Continue sorting basement
Bring up trash from basement
Rearrange dining room boxes
Sort laundry, pack winter clothes/not needed
Vaccuum living room couches and sweep
Pull boxes in from porch before storms get bad (they're under a roof, but if the rain gets blowing around too much, they'll still get soaked)
Medicate Mushroom (I've got to get used to this new med schedule for her; I keep forgetting the morning dose)
Clean out backpack
Try to find missing $100 bill
Tidy shelves
Shower, clean tub
Make repair list for Eddie (doorknobs, bathroom tile, bathroom fan, porch light, porch flooring, broken hardwood slat in living room, broken basement lights, etc)


OK, I'm think the meds are working well enough that I can lie back down. Tackling of the chores shall happen later.