Hey there — figured it was time for a general update.

Health stuff continues to happen.

My naturopath and I decided that I could see what happened if I stopped taking my allergy medicine, Singulair, as I wasn’t convinced that it was doing me that much good. I was still getting sinus infections even when I was on it, still having days with horrible allergy attacks, etc. Plus, there were some side effects from the Singulair that I was just tired of, like tinnitus and extra migraines. I’ve decided that I’m never going back on the Singulair though — an unexpected withdrawal symptom was *horrible* migraines, four of them in a week, with some of the worst pain I’ve had in a long time.

I had a tooth extracted back in mid-May. The extraction site is still swollen and sore. The dentists (have been to three different ones so far) have finally concluded that they hit a nerve when the tooth was extracted and the site infected. It will probably take 6 months to heal. Joy.

The good news is that I’m finally getting my energy back. The doctor upped my thyroid medicine and that seems to have done the trick. I’m able to do things in the evenings now, not just collapse and stare at the walls, which is a *good* thing. I’m still sleeping more than I used to — that might be a permanent change. But having energy all day long is so nice.

Over all, healthwise, I’m starting to feel more normal, more like my old self. It’s been a long time — since last November, since I’ve felt this good. I can only hope that this is a permanent state of affairs, and not just a temporary turn for the better.

I continue to write short stories. Just finished another one this week. I’ve also done a few more writing prompts, writing complete stories. Some have been good, some not so good. I haven’t been writing every day, and I can feel the pressure building — again, not something that’s happened for a while. You know how a writer says they write because they have to, not necessarily because they want to. I’ve always written, recently, though, it’s more habit or discipline rather than driving need. That need is building, I can feel it. Again, this is a good thing.

I have ten short stories finished. I have at least ten more sitting around, written out by hand, that just need typing up. Who woulda thunk it? I, uhm, guess I better do some more market research and sending them out. . . I’ve also printed out a copy of the novel and have been looking at that again.

I went to my niece’s wedding last weekend. It was beautiful. It was my brother’s youngest daughter getting married. His oldest daughter does graphic design, and made the invitations, the program book, the table decorations, the sign in book, etc. She did an *amazing* job. I’m seriously going to hire her if I ever need graphics work done. She’s really good.

My dad fell and broke his wrist about two weeks ago. This week he had surgery. They put a plate in there and screwed it back together again. He has a fiberglass cast on his arm for another couple of weeks, then they put him in a brace and he’s ready to go. They anticipate no loss of motion or range for his wrist. It really shook me up when I heard about him falling. I’m so thankful for my brother living there in Mpls, having the flexibility to take care of him. I appreciate him so much.

It’s a little over a year and a half since my mother died. Two days ago I had a dream about her, that she was still alive. It was so real, that for about 15 minutes after I woke up I was still making plans to call her and tell her about it. I’ve been thinking about her a lot, thinking about loss, about grief.
s
We had a heatwave here for a while — temperature up in the 90s. It was extremely unpleasant. My poor kitty was dying. Unfortunately, the extreme heat made her change around her sleeping schedule, so she slept all day during the heat and was awake all night when it was cool and she could be active. Which also meant that she’d come into my room, carrying a toy and crying because she wanted me to play with her. I didn’t have the heart to make her change her schedule back until it got cool again. So I’ve been torturing her the last couple of days, not letting her sleep during the day, so she’ll sleep all night and let me sleep as well. Last night she finally let me sleep all the way through the night.

I guess that’s it for me. No promises about trying to be here more often — I’ll be here when I can. I have a friend coming in from out of town next weekend, the end of August I’m going to London, mid-September I have another out of town guest, end of September I’m going out of town to visit a friend, end of October is World Fantasy, then there’s Thanksgiving and Christmas. . . Yeap. Busy.