TNBP...just go with it!

I'm a mess this week. With this latest round of the Monkey Pox raging all over my Sheepie self, I seem to have had some difficulty figuring out what day is what. I completely forgot that yesterday was Wednesday! (it was, wasn't it? I've got a great deal of codeine coursing through my system these days and don't even know my own phone number any more, really.) How about I do a Thursday version for you? Will that work? I'm feeling a bit random right about now. I think I can pull it off. Lets give it a shot:

*Thanks, everybody, for all the nice "get well" wishes and knitting suggestions. It meant a lot. I was feeling a bit low after getting the pneumonia diagnosis, truth be told. I was hoping to avoid this.

*Today was a bit better, though. I didn't cough nearly as much, which is nice. The down side of the whole affair is that I seem to have Monkey Pox with a side of sinus infection. My right ear continues to block up after a day of exercising my vocal chords "discussing" the finer points of appropriate behavior with my students. Not only does it block up, but it clears itself with this rather horrid "popping" and "squeaking." I wouldn't mind so much if it didn't kind of hurt. But I'm back on antibiotics now so I suspect that I am kicking its little arse even as I loll about on the couch. Ha!!!

*Speaking of antibiotics, here's a little tip for my doctor and her staff: It would be extremely helpful if you would give me a heads-up when you call in prescriptions for me. I knew that there was a nice little bottle of cough syrup waiting for me behind the pharmacy counter. I asked for that and was going to pick it up tomorrow. However, if you are of the opinion that I need to go back on antibiotics, it is more likely that I will actually take them if you include me in the discussion. And, for that matter, it would also be nice if you told me that you had scheduled a chest x-ray for me. It is rather important that my chest be there if an x-ray is planned. It is a good thing I called today...this is how I "keep up." Had I not thought to give you a jingle I would be blissfully unaware of my sickly state, the lifesaving medications required for its curing and where I need to be to get pictures of it. I am sick. I have a full calendar right now what with the resting and coughing. I need advance notice if I am going to stay on top of anything else...particularly those things I am paying you to take care of!

*Ignore that last rant. I love the staff at my doctor's office. They are wonderful and put up with a great deal of nonsense on my part. I am not what one would call a "model patient." I am just a bit grumpy with the Monkey Pox and all. They are a part time operation and really do manage to give me full time care. Except on those rare occasions when they don't. And it is generally badly timed...

*Summer seems to have hit the great state of Maine with a great big wallop. It is going to be somewhere around 92 degrees tomorrow. Which is hot. I so look forward to the time spent cramped in a small classroom with ten sweating children who do not want to be there. (few Maine schools come with air conditioning) It will be a little slice of heaven...assuming that heaven is a sort of stinky place where no one will do what you ask them to do.

*In addition to the Monkey Pox phone call yesterday, I also got a call from my boss at Job #2. I am soon to not have a job #2. The head office is closing our branch. It is complicated and convoluted. And very sad. Our doors will close at the end of next month. There are many families who will not have time to find other places for their supervised visits with their children. Others will be unable to finish the parenting education programs that the court ordered. It makes me so very glad that I put the time and energy into all that promotional literature last summer. You remember...the ones that they opted to leave in my incapable hands when they had a graphic designer sitting up there at the main office twiddling her thumbs. There may be some interesting developments to come out of this if my boss and I can pull it all together. Or not...we haven't really had much time to flesh the whole thing out. Either way, though, it is entirely possible, that I will be suddenly flush with various office supplies. I am feeling a need for more Post-its. And maybe some nice new pens....and a photocopier. (that last one is probably a bit much. I'm pretty sure I'd get caught with that one.)

*I did get a bit of happy news yesterday, though. It seems that I got an A in my Wednesday night class! Now, there is really very little you can do to screw up an A in a graduate level class if you do the work. But the effort I put into this wasn't really my best. I knit some fairly nice socks during the course of the semester, though. So I guess I can be happy on two fronts even if I'm not really convinced that I deserved the A for my work in this class. I guess it pays to have a knitter for a professor...

*We are now cruising towards a three day weekend here in the states. My Monkey Pox and I will be spending the majority of it lounging on the couch, reading and doing a bit of the knitting. There will be a short detour over to Mommy and Daddy Sheep's house for a "little" family gathering that will include most of Mommy Sheep's side of the family equation. I promise to keep it low-key so those of you who tend to worry about a sickly Sheep on the loose need not fear. Mommy Sheep is nothing if not diligent in her monitoring of her little lambs. I will be in good hands, I assure you. And I promise to rest up all of Sunday and Monday.


That's it for tonight, folks. I am carrying a full load of prescription cough syrup and any further ramblings would probably include odd things like obscure (and incorrectly recalled) song lyrics or the combination to the lock on my diary. I think it best for all concerned if I leave it at this for now. I'll be going into the soon-to-be-closed office of job #2 tomorrow night, but will be sure to catch up with you all on Saturday before or after the grand family gathering.

Enjoy the week's end!

SA