There Aren't Enough Hours in the Day

My mother reminded me that I have been neglecting my blog dreadfully lately. The problem, quite simply is that there aren't enough hours in the day.

My health has been demanding that I sleep a lot. Nothing new there really but I have more things I want to do every day and it's getting harder and harder to get even a fraction of them done.

It's 10:30 now and I haven't even had breakfast yet. I have made it and had a few cups of tea. I've also managed start vacuuming that I need to do today. The vacuuming is far from finished, but I have to empty the vacuum before can do more.

Molly is in heat, so needs panties on to be allowed beyond the kitchen. She's been out twice today already, so that's multiple panty removals. Shawnee still seems to believe that she is to go out every five minutes even though she's as old as she is now. I think she's been out four times and spent some time in the crate to tried to encourage her to hold it longer.

In other things I need to do today, I am planning to make calzone for dinner, so need to make the dough and slice tomatoes and onions before DH is home from work.

Tanya and Ria are still on the pony pasture, which is without grass. They need hay twice a day so I do that in the mornings and DH does it in the afternoons.

There's a big pile of dishes that need to be done.

I am desperate to write. My struggles to write are taking a lot of my time. I also need to maintain a certain level of activity on the writer's list that I'm on. I have subbed two of my chapters already and have crits on those waiting for me to respond to and process. There also a few works by others that I need to crit. One is a complete book draft from someone who has contributed a number of useful comments to my subs so far. I offered to give her book a complete readthrough, because there are a lot of flaws in the chapter by chapter method that the group uses. By offering do this for others I have favors I can draw on later when I need my own done.

As if that weren't enough, the girls are desperate for training and attention. I really haven't been giving them enough training lately. Molly is really feeling it because she's not allowed to go anywhere when she's in heat. Since Shawnee hasn't started yet, she at least has been allowed to make some small outings with her father.

My health needs me to ride. Right now, I still can't saddle up by myself. DH has built the lift system for me, but Ria needs training before she's willing to go under the saddle. So I ought to spend at least 15 minutes working on that.

If I am going to finish my next secret leather project in time for when I plan to give it to the recipient, I need to get working on it. My drawing for the design is finished and I'm very proud of it, but I need to make a pattern for the pieces I need cut out of leather. The woman in the leather shop offered to help DH cut them out there.

I also have an order, when I eventually get around to it, for a lady's wallet for the friend down the road that ordered last one for husband. That one is finished by the way he should be getting it tomorrow. Idiot me didn't think to take any pictures of it. At least I still have copies of the drawing for the design.

Well, if I don't eat soon I'm going to pass out. Hopefully this gives you an idea why I am not updating my blog more often.

Things Were Going So Well

It was overall a very productive weekend. We started Saturday with some general cleaning up and ended up rearranging the furniture again. I now have the chaise longue as my spot to lie down. It is actually very comfortable, although it does need a new cover. It is currently covered in old comforter covers, but I plan to sew a nicer cover out of a piece of fabric. We primarily decided to move it because he wanted to get it away from the outside wall, but I am finding it quite advantageous to sit at a higher height, because it's much easier on my hip.

With all the cleaning and moving around, I overdid it again. I ended up spending a few hours in bed with a book. I was supposed to make pizza for dinner, but hurt too much, so we just had spring rolls that we'd bought ready-made. Before we went to bed, we managed to get cut out a piece of leather for that special project I mentioned before. Now it is waiting for me to be ready to tool it.

Our time changed Saturday night, which would normally cost us an hour sleep. However, DH understood that I wasn't in very good shape, so he let me sleep until 10 o'clock the new time, which would be nine o'clock in the old time. The extended sleep really helped and I woke up feeling much better.

While I took a quick shower, DH stripped the bed. After I had breakfast and relaxed for a little while, he got out my sewing machine. Although I had to take a number of breaks, I managed to repair a blanket and a pair of pants. After another extended break, I was able to prepare the pizza dough. I used cool water so that it could rise more slowly.

A little while later, DH came in and asked if I wanted a ride. I said yes, so he headed out to get my horse. I got dressed a ride and went out to meet him. We help each other groom her, then he got her saddle and saddled her up for me. With his help, I mounted and headed out for a ride.

I rode the bike path along the road until I could cross the road and head up the asphalt road into the woods. They had recently dug ditches and painted a number of marks on the road, so Ria was a bit nervous. She behaved fine, but I could feel that she was insecure. When we crossed the railroad tracks, she must not been paying enough attention and somehow managed to get a hoof down in the track. It was quite a jolt for my back, but she managed to get it out again without a problem. After that things settled down and we had a really nice ride.

I guess I should've known things were going too well and been prepared for something to happen, but I was too busy enjoying the weather and the nice ride. We were riding along the road on the bike path to come home. Suddenly Ria jumped and freaked out at something. I managed to stay on, but something wrong in my right hip and I was in agony. Suddenly a man on a bicycle was right beside us. Then I understood why Ria had reacted like that. The idiot snuck up on us and do anything to let us know he was coming. Ria could not have seen him until he was right up at her or maybe even touched her. Once things were over, I found myself wishing she'd kicked him or I had the sense to kick him in the face with my spurs. In.

I was in so much pain I couldn't sit up straight. I held onto the cantle of my saddle with one hand and fished my cell phone out of my pocket with the other. DH's cell phone is the first number in my phone book, so I tried to call him on that number. He didn't answer, so I hung up. While I was trying to find our home number further down in the book I heard him yell. I yelled back that he should come over and help me. I was only about 10 m from our driveway, but on the other side of the road. I was terrified I would fall off because of the pain, leaving Ria out of control at the busy road. He hurried over and took a rein to lead her.

While he led us the rest of the way home and got us over the road, I told him what had happened. He wished I'd yelled at the guy. But of course I hadn't thought of that either. He got too far away for it to make sense to try to catch up with him then.

DH helped me off and took care of all Ria's needs. While I was riding, he had cut up all the remaining vegetables for pizza. At that point I could mostly stand on my right leg, so I came in and got the pizza ready but he took care of the horses.

The pizza turned out really good.

At some point during the evening my brain kicked into gear and it occurred to me that I might be able to solve my local wireless network problems by updating the firmware of the wireless base station. It turned out, there was actually a new firmware update available and it had been available since the middle of 2006. I downloaded and installed it. According to the record of changes, it sounds like there may be a fix similar to the problem I was having.

I had trouble falling asleep and ended up reading for a while. Once I finally did fall asleep, I don't how long I slept before DH woke me up because I had to take a painkiller because I was whining so much in my sleep. After I took the pill I did end up sleeping pretty well until this morning. He woke me up to say goodbye when he left for work. At that point I was no longer able to sleep on the right side.

When I got up, I found I could barely put weight on my right leg because of the pain. So today is going to be a very nonfunctional nonproductive day (as can be seen by the fact that it is 2 PM already and I have done nothing useful). It is a good thing we have pizza left for dinner. Just getting around in the house is agony and I'm having to use my crutches inside. Molly is been a great help and Shawnee is being a great comfort. At the moment, Molly is lying on the sofa behind my head and Shawnee is lying on my feet, warming them for me.

Painkillers, Painkillers, and More Painkillers

I accidentally overdid it again yesterday. First there is feeding Daisy, which is painful and exhausting. Then we had to go to the store after DH got home from work. At the store, we ran into someone we haven't seen for several years. She is the wife of, soon-to-be ex-wife of, one of DH's old riding buddies. It turns out that the guy had a six-year-old kid on the side and spend more time with the new kid than the four he had already. So we had to stand around and talk to her for a while. To make things worse, the guy used to DH as a cover story every time he was with the girlfriend and the kid. So we gave her our phone number and were hoping to hear from her again soon. I never liked the guy, but I think she's a really nice woman.

Shawnee has been smelling like dog for a while and last night it was just too much. DH would have done it but he has so many other things he had to do and he was tired and stressed out so I gave Shawnee bath. Even though I consider my shower bench while I give her a bath, the bending down to her level is agony for my hip. I tried to finish making dinner, but I could barely stand up afterwards. DH ended up doing the last of the dinner preparation, setting the table and clearing up.

Even though I had taken several painkillers before bedtime, I had a horrible time sleeping because of the pain. I kept waking up every time I moved and needed to move a lot because I couldn't stand staying in one position. Around midnight I had to get up and take another painkiller. DH brought me another one at five o'clock in the morning. I was up around eight with the dogs but went back to bed. When I finally got up at 10 I had to take another painkiller.

Now I have said Daisy, again, but I'm struggling to keep from taking another painkiller already. I need to do the dishes and dinner prep today. My left foot is half dead.

Did I mention that my current painkillers are kind of pretty? The one side is a pale green color that matches well to the paint in the kitchen the other side is white. They're a little bit annoying though, because they have a powdery finish not a easy-to-swallow one. I like the yellow ones better, but I haven't had those for a while. The drugstore just substitutes what ever is cheaper. They are the same medication.

I hope I get through today.