Not the fun kind of writing

So, it's Wednesday, so it's supposed to be a post about writing. Well, all the writing I've been doing this evening - and there was a bunch of it - was manually entering all of my cell phone Contacts into my new phone. There was no way to do it electronically because of the kind of phone I had, and the kind of phone the new one is.

It took me maybe ... I don't know ... 45 minutes? Very tedious, but it also allowed me to winnow out the ones I don't need to keep any more.

I'm saving something like 58% on my monthly phone bill with this changeover; I just hope the new outfit does right by me. There are PDF manuals and videos on all the new phone's features. It's a flip phone, and my plan includes no text or data - I can do those things but it'll be very costly. I don't ever do them so I am pleased I found a company that doesn't automatically bundle them into all their plans. I have a phone, and it has an "answering machine" - that's all I need. I've got a laptop for "texting" (it's called email), and it also serves as my internet connection. And hey, I can read a freaking MAP, folks! I prefer them to some bland monotone voice telling me to drive right into the river because there's a glitch in her getalong.

And, well, this blog post is writing, too. It'll have to serve. I'm busy trying to finish up the second yellow sock, so I can start with the Self-Imposed Sock Club tomorrow night, working on the October pair!

Buttercream - doing the toe now!

October's sock project!

That's it for tonight!

Yarny yammering

I haven't knit anything yet tonight, so instead of talking about that, I'll confess I joined Ravelry's Self-Imposed Sock Club Group and picked 12 balls of sock yarn from my stash to knit one per month starting Oct. 1 - Yikes! That's like, Thursday! I'd better get busy and finish the yellow socks! (That link won't work unless you've joined Ravelry, I think. It's free and it's like 4 million knitters and crocheters and spinners strong - from all over the world. If you haven't joined, give it a try!)

So here are the ones I picked:

From the top left, going by rows:

Koigu Painter's Palette (I don't know the colorway)
CoBaSi Forest
*Something German (sorry) Opal Sport (I don't know the colorway)
Socks That Rock River Rock

KnitPicks Chroma Carnival
CoBaSi Gun Metal Gray
CoBaSi Turkish Coffee
CoBaSi Rafti

KnitPicks Stroll Tweed Sequoia Heather
Socks That Rock Metaphysical Angst
KnitPicks Palette Calypso Heather
KnitPicks Sock - Bare

*From the Yarn Harlot's blog I saw that multicolored yarn looks really cool in the Edwardian Boating Socks by Emma Grundy Haigh pattern, so I started that, but quickly realized it's above my skill level right now. So once I get enough experience with lace and charts, I'll tackle those. If it works out, I'm thinking I'll do the same pattern using the two amazingly cool Socks That Rock yarns. The picture doesn't do those justice.

Also, I'm not sure I have enough of the CoBaSi Turkish Coffee and Rafti for a pair each; if not, I'll combine what I've got of those with other CoBaSi colors in my stash to make stripes, or try stranded knitting (which was also something I did pretty well in my short-lived knitting career 40+ years ago - the stranded part went fine. The problem was I really didn't know the difference between "sport" and "worsted." With predictable results, looking back.) Or maybe a wacky argyle. I really want to make argyle socks!

On a bit different tack, I've decided my Fall/Winter bathroom theme is going to be Knitting! (I change my bathroom decor three times a year: the first week of October to the Fall/Winter theme which is usually just colors + books, or + books and science-y stuff; on the first day of Spring to spring colors; and on Bastille Day to Paris. I always have a hard time letting go of Paris.) But I've got enough books, and certainly enough balls of yarn and glass vases to fill with balls of yarn, and brightly colored old metal knitting needles, to muster some kind of fun theme.

Yeah, I'm weird. Not news.

ETA: Yay! I got ten more rows done on the yellow sock. Ten more tomorrow night, then Thursday I'll finish it. And I can resume working on the next pair - my herringbone lace Koigu socks!

This week's book review

I've read a bunch of books this month, so rather than trying to pick a favorite, I'm going with the last adult book I read*, Lord of the Wings, by Donna Andrews.

It's one of a long series of madcap village mysteries featuring Meg Langslow, whose family well needs a series to keep track of all their adventures. I enjoyed it very much. It takes place during a long (long!) Hallowe'en weekend which is celebrated in her beloved town of Caerphilly, VA by competing views of the holiday: the wealthier inhabitants, and many upscale or prudish business owners would prefer it to be marked by "tasteful" autumn decorations and good behavior by all. They're a minority.

Everyone else goes full-scale nutso for Hallowe'en and really, this is one of those fictional "villages" that surprisingly support a lot of stuff that attracts tourists from all over the region: a haunted mansion, a giant farmer's market, a fair complete with games of skill, crazy rides, scary clowns, and a year-round, professional-level ZOO, for crying out loud. Families host kids's Hallowe'en parties. The village also boasts a retired world-class rock'n'roll heavy metal drummer who's looking to benefit the community, and a local-history museum that includes (unbeknownst to anyone) one item worth a quarter of a million dollars, and other things that may or may not have triggered a murder spree. Or, that may be due to the nefarious unknown person behind a scavenger hunt that seems bent on ruining the fun in the most grotesque ways.

Ms. Andrews does a very good job of keeping her heroine's life realistic: she's got a college prof husband and three (I think; maybe two) lively sons, and the sons' grandparents who lend color and excitement all of their very own. Her brother is the CEO of an extremely successful computer games company that figures largely in the sleuthing. All of these people each have their own interests and schedules and Meg is shown to have to do the kind of time-juggling that any busy working mom has to do. (Though her role here is as a volunteer working with the group who coordinate all the festivities.)

If the police procedures and the criminals' goings-on aren't, maybe, the most realistic, this is definitely a good romp for when you're in the mood for a "zany" mystery. I'm going to go back to the beginning of the series and read them all. I gave it a 4 in my reading log, meaning it's very good even though I may not read it again.

*(I'm re-reading a couple of my favorites from grade school, from The Weekly Reader Book Club now)

"Terry's projects" blog, one day late

I'm not sure how I slipped the cog, here, and skipped last night's blog post.

So this is supposed to be about my "projects," eh? Oh, right, it was I who decided that. I certainly have plenty in all stages of completion, including Not Even Started. They vary from yard projects, which had to be let go this summer due to the surgery, et al, to home decorating, sewing, knitting, art work, writing, woodworking, bookbinding, house plants, selling things I don't need any more, organizing things...ye gods.

They also, perhaps, include things like just me trying to get my ass out of the chair more often, or my own head out of the sand, to reach out more to friends and family and be more human in general. In those areas, what I consider "progress" would probably be appallingly little in most peoples' views.

I think dedicating a blog post to a different theme for each week-night is a good idea; it has gotten me working on these things, helped pry me out of the inertia mud and make some progress.

So this week's "Terry's projects" post is just this, a brief overview and a reminder to myself to get with it. Already.

Miscellaneous Night

I’m obviously not getting these posted by 7 pm each night, so I can forget that rule. I’m just happy to get them posted at all.

So I said Thursdays would be “miscellaneous” blog subjects. The main event today was my going to the YMCA to do the individualized baseline assessment for their free, 12-week Live Strong program for cancer survivors. I had no idea when I found this on their web site that Live Strong was originated by Lance Armstrong. The Wikipedia article about the organization states, “Armstrong resigned as chairman of the foundation in October 2012 and from the foundation's board of directors in November 2012.” The scandal didn’t, apparently, taint the organization’s name, and the name changed to Live Strong shortly thereafter. Their fundraising to assist cancer survivors and their families continues, apparently, to be thriving. I am very grateful for that. However it works, this whole thing is free and includes free use of any equipment or facilities in any YMCA in Omaha. That’s pretty danged wonderful, if you ask me.

My classmates vary in where they are in their lives post-diagnosis. There are a couple who are in Stage IV; others like me who have become, by surgery, chemo, radiation, hormones in any combination, free of cancer; and some who are somewhere in-between. Our instructors have had cancer themselves. I admire this bunch so much, and I am really looking forward to getting to know them better in the next few months. They’re tough, and funny, and determined. I can only improve as a human being by emulating them.

In other miscellaneous topics, this is week 14 of the 18-week-long subscription to Wenninghoff Farms’ CSA. Things I have learned: they send us too much food for me to keep up with. So far, only the beets have actually gone bad, but I’ve had to give some cukes and ears of corn away because I just couldn’t handle them (I’ve eaten way more corn on the cob this summer than I have in the past ten years, and I am not fond of cukes in any case). So next year, I’ll pass on the CSA, but this shows me I can get tons of great fresh vegetables there for a rather small amount of money! It works out to $18 a week, which is kind of ridiculously cheap. I got more corn today, and I gave the two cukes to the lady at the YMCA front desk, but there’s a nice big eggplant (love eggplant!), and a couple of big bell peppers. I still haven’t dealt with last week’s entirely, so more will be going into the freezer. At some point, I need to do a thorough freezer inventory, because I’m pretty sure I shouldn’t need to buy any frozen vegetables now until next spring at the earliest!

I found out from the Live Strong coordinator that my surgeon in her Physician’s Release form stated that the restriction against my lifting any more than 10 pounds will be lifted October 1, NOT the 13th as I had assumed (she said “90 days” to me, and I just assumed she meant it literally, 90 days after my July 13 surgery). This is EXCELLENT news as it has really been bugging me to feel 100% healed but unable to vacuum the floors (especially!) or do yard work. One more week! Yay!

And, for one more miscellaneous item, I found this somewhere online and thought it pretty funny. Maybe you will, too:



Mundane but necessary

So today I got the hem sewed around the edge of the hassock-top I need to put on the hassock. I’ll wait until I have the arm-covers done to do the installation. I lucked out at Hancock Fabrics and found a nice remnant on their upholstery table, it matches my chair and hassock very nicely.

I have found that "Midsomer Murders," on Netflix, is perfect for sewing to. I set it up where I can glance up if I want to and see what’s going on, on-screen, but I’ve seen these so many times I really don’t need to. I’ve found it’s got pleasant-voiced regular characters; it’s never exceedingly loud or violent - though the murders are gruesome often, not in-your-face guts and torture grue. The music’s nice. I think of it kind of as the British “Murder, She Wrote” but mainly in terms of its longevity, and its benefit to a long list of actors playing one-time parts. Lots of Harry Potter and Doctor Who folks.
So, I did some sewing today. May or may not work on the sock tonight.

The buttercream socks

So I finally figured out that if I tried to knit for a long time, like over an hour, to really burn through those rows because I’m impatient for this new pair of socks - that my hands and arms would hurt all that night, and I wouldn’t be able to muster any interest in knitting for several days, which kind of defeats the purpose of burning through those rows, doesn’t it. So now I try to do ten rows. That’s all. My hands don’t hurt, but it’s a visible amount of progress, and it’s just a sock, so a few nights like that and it’ll be done. It’s not like I’m yarn-bombing the Statue of Liberty.

So I’ve got 40 rows post-post-heel-turn decreases done on my second Buttercream sock, and it took 80 rows to reach the toe on the mate to this one, so I’m halfway down the foot on the second one. After that it’s just the decreases for the toe, so that’s what - about 5 more nights to the end.

Here’s what it looks like right now:

This is the Cotton/Bamboo/Silk blend. I bought several balls of this yarn, thinking they'll be a little cooler to wear in the warm months. I like it OK, but it does have more of a tendency to split while you're knitting it. Nothing insurmountable. However, with wool, it only takes 60 rows for the foot, because the CoBaSi is a bit less elastic, too.



Then I’ll focus on the next pair of socks (I have a LOT of sock yarn), which I’m still just going with my own vanilla sock math on but I’m incorporating a twelve-row-repeat lace pattern. It’s Koigu 100% merino wool, but I can’t figure out the colorway. It says “Painter’s Palette Premium” at one spot on the label, then “P138 201” is hand-written. So, whatever. I love the colors. I’ve never done lace before so I was pleased to find out that this isn’t so hard. My progress so far:



I've only got the cuff and half of the first 12 rows done, just to see if I could do the lace. I think the lace pattern will be much more visible when I'm actually wearing the finished sock. It's kind of bunched up on itself now.

I’ve joined the Ravelry Self-Imposed Sock Group, and keep intending to get my own year’s worth of kits lined up. I’ve always wanted to do that anyway: put a ball of yarn and the sock pattern I’ll use it with, in a ziplock bag (in my fantasies it’s in a dozen adorable sewn project bags but that ain’t happened yet, either) - one for each month of a year. Technically, I can get a pair knit in a month, so I want to push myself to do it. (It would exceed my prudent aim of ten rows per night by a little bit, but I figure, some nights will be a little over, some a little under. I’ll adjust.) There are ladies on this forum who have posted pictures of JUST THEIR SOCK COLLECTIONS and they’ve got like thirty or forty pairs of hand-knit socks! I can only dream of getting there! My ultimate aim is to never wear store-bought socks again. I think if I knit all the sock yarn I’ve got, I’ll be fast enough with practice that I’ll be able to even knit like, white sports socks. But I need to do all these gorgeous yarns first.

The Ghost Riders of Ordebec: A Commissaire Adamsberg Mystery is by Fred Vargas.  As the amazon.com blurb says, "As the chief of police in Paris’s seventh arrondissement, Commissaire Adamsberg has no jurisdiction in Ordebec. Yet, he cannot ignore a widow’s plea."

With that apparently simple set-up, we are then carried along a puzzling and entertaining, and twisting path to the solution of several horrible murders whose perpetrators had hoped would be taken as supernatural results of the judgement of a thousand-year-old troop of ghosts who periodically have swept through the tiny village of Ordebec foretelling the deaths of local evil-doers.

Being a Francophile myself, I enjoyed the heck out of this book. It is entwined with a seemingly smaller one about a Paris pigeon, tortured by an unknown sadistic kid, that Adamsberg rescues and takes as much care of as he does his detecting procedures - which are sometimes hilariously NOT according to accepted practices. 

The descriptions of the region surrounding Ordebec are magical. The people seem not to have changed much since the year 1000 A.D. I doubt if anyone who *did* follow prescribed procedure could ever have penetrated the thicket of fears, lies, hatreds, ancient rivalries, superstitions, and hurts, that Ordebec presents Commissaire Adamsberg. 

This one kept me up until the wee hours to finish it. I gave it a 5 in my "Books Read" notebook - an excellent read that I will no doubt re-read sometime in the future. In the meantime I intend to find all the other Adamsberg mysteries available in English. And if some haven't yet been translated, I might just hunt them down in their original French.

Here's Publisher's Weekly comment: “Exquisite… only Christopher Fowler's Peculiar Crimes Unit can compare with the Paris policeman's eccentric colleagues in the Serious Crime Squad, who include a narcoleptic, a walking encyclopedia, and a naturalist…Vargas's combination of humor and fair-play plotting, reminiscent of John Dickson Carr, has never been better.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

Poking the anthill

So, I've decided I'm going to try to do daily posts, each with a theme. So, Mondays would be book reviews, Tuesdays knitting updates, Wednesdays writing updates, Thursdays will be miscellaneous posts, and Fridays the "Terry's Projects" report. I'll leave weekends open to recharge the batteries. I'll post them at 7 pm CST (USA). I need more scheduling in my life. Otherwise I'll just keep floundering.

Have I mentioned I've signed on for NaNoWriMo again this year? They don't have the 2015 blog page "stickers" yet so I can't put that up; likewise the word counters. But I've already got TWO posters and some ideas...Why is this event SO addictive? It's like a siren call. However, I've decided I'm done with trying to get published (I've had some 33+ short stories published back in the 00's when I was still writing a lot), I'm just going to write for my own enjoyment. That takes all the pressure off.

So - tomorrow I start the YMCA's LiveStrong program - a free, 12-week program of physical recuperation for cancer survivors. I'm hoping it'll jumpstart my getting back into shape - the short-term goal is to not be driven into the ground trying to keep up with my granddaughter when I'm visiting them in November; the medium-term goal is to be in good enough shape by next Spring that I can hit the ground running with the yard work; the long-term goal is to establish physical exercise habits into my life permanently.

I've been living la vida earthworm the past several months, and I need to get back ahold of life!

Slept the best in a month last night

I am again carless. After the past four weeks' ordeal, that is a good thing. It means I can start afresh this week looking for a car that will actually run. Cannot describe the relief. But I'm taking today off.

Still waiting ...

Not a peep from the car dealer yet. He told me on the phone Friday that he'd be calling me yesterday. I find it strange that they think nothing of leaving a 2013 car in my possession all this time, for free.  Ah well.

My August reading list

Did pretty well in August. I don't think I've done this before, listed what I've read. You'll see I do re-read quite often, and went on something of a Christie bender there for awhile.

I read 11 books in August:

Darwin: A Graphic Biography - Byrne and Gurr
Knitting Rules! - Stephanie Pearl-McFee
The Seven Dials Mystery - Agatha Christie
Three Doors to Death - Rex Stout
Sleeping Murder - Agatha Christie
Murder at Hazelmoor - Agatha Christie
Dead Man's Mirror -Agatha Christie
The "Jaws" Log - Carl Gottlieb
Vertigo 42 - Martha Grimes
The Dinosaur Feather - S.J. Gazan
The Nature of the Beast - Louise Penny

The Penny book is by far my favorite of the month.

Back to Square One

To make the long story short: I'm getting my money back on that lemon of a car. Tomorrow. The car has already been TOWED back to the dealer, because their mechanic couldn't keep it running long enough to back it out of my driveway. To their credit, they've given me a loaner until tomorrow's meeting.

Which is great, but still leaves me back at the beginning of the whole delightful process of car-finding. Well, I've learned a few things from this ordeal. Number One: There ain't no such thing as the perfect car just happening to come into the dealer the day you're there looking. Nope.

Ah well, in better news, I'm working away at the second yellow sock; when that's done I shall start designing the installation system for the downstairs window "treatments." This is a totally self-made mess. There probably won't be pictures.

But in even better news, this also means I'm working on that long list of unfinished projects that have been burdening my soul for so very, very long. I'm great at Startitis, not so good at Finishitis.

And today's Labor Day. This unforgettable summer has just whizzed past. I'm about to begin a twelve-week program at the YMCA for cancer survivors. I have lost what little fitness I had, in this required summer of inactivity, so I hope to gradually build back up beyond my pre-cancer level of slugness, and when Spring comes, be able to do all that I'd hoped to do this summer in my yard.

Starting to wonder...

So I left my new used car back where I bought it Monday, because the "Check engine" light had gone on 30 minutes after I drove it off the lot and stayed on for almost two weeks. So they gave me a 2011 Sonata as a loaner, and said they'd call me once the cause of the light was found and fixed, if it was something that needed fixing. Since then: not a word. I called this morning and was told the lady would look into it and call me back. That was about 7 hours ago, and not a word. I'm really starting to wonder...

In the meantime, I've successfully restarted the second yellow CoBaSi sock! AND! I started another pair of socks - using beautiful Koigu wool, and this time I'm getting fancy: I'm using a simple herringbone lace pattern on the leg - and it turns out it's not as hard doing lace as I thought.

I'm very pleased with how it's going. I even kinda overdid it last night - both hands are sore today, so I'm leaving them sit tonight.

And that's about as exciting as it gets around here.

Plusses all over da place ... and one niggling complaint

Had my first real post-surgery checkup with my surgeon today. I'm doing as well as I think I am - which is terrific. Still can't mow the yard or drag the vacuum cleaner around until the middle of October, though. *grumble* That's not the complaint.

We've been enjoying absolutely heavenly weather here in Omaha for more than a week. Delicious temps in the 70s during the day, high 50s at night - sun, breezes, it feels like fall, really it does. Glorious. I would love to spend more time in the yard but when I'm out there I want to start pulling weeds & stuff, verboten by my doctor. See 1st paragraph.  That's not the complaint, either.

My "new" used car is back at the dealer's, getting the persistent "check engine" light checked out. I dropped it off Monday - they gave me a newer loaner, with lots of modern conveniences that I find worrisome and distracting, but I figured them out so it is OK. I wish they'd fix my car and get it back to me, though - AND I wish they'd get the car I bought under my name in the county titles records so I can get its new license plates.  But THAT'S not my complaint.

None of those things are really concerning me at all. No, what's annoying me right now is water way, way under the bridge. I have several of the BBC's Lord Peter Wimsey DVDs. The newer ones, with Petheridge as Wimsey, are lovely and delightful - but why, why, why, is the BBC so stupid about setting up these DVDs? Even if you hit "Play All" at the beginning of a DVD, it still makes you sit through all the credits at the end of each episode, and then the opening credits of the next one. There is no way to fast-forward to just get to the damned episode. IS there anyone who actually wants to read all that stuff? I'm going out on a limb here and saying NO, there ISN'T. So what good does it do? Not to let us FF? All it's doing is aggravating the hell out of me, who is generally an enthusiastic BBC supporter. THAT is the complaint.

And going by that, I'd say I'm pretty damned lucky. So here endeth the complaint.

Things progress

I found, and bought, a used car last week. It is SO nice not to have to impose on my friends for rides to the doctor's office, grocery store, etc.! It's a 2006 Hyundai Sonata, a bit bigger and more powerful car than my beloved Elantra. I like it!

I'm still chafing under, but obeying, my surgeon's directions not to lift anything over 8 lbs, and do NO yardwork. I am so lucky to have two wonderful neighbors willing to mow my yard! I couldn't afford to pay anybody to do it, but these two golden guys are in line for some yummy baked goods and nice gift cards to our neighborhood brewery/restaurant pretty soon!

And that's about it. Not being able to vacuum around the house (also expressly forbidden by my doctor) is driving me crazy and I expect once the 90-day restriction is lifted I'll be cleaning house for several days straight - because I tire so easily I can't expect to do it all in one, or even two, days. Not that non-lifting or non-strenuous cleaning has been neglected. Having, as I do, an image of myself as the laziest slug on earth, I'm rather surprised to learn that I do like having (for me) a pretty clean house! Like a cat who, after attempting to jump up on a sofa but failing, vigorously cleans its paws as a sort of deflecting mechanism, I find myself going after the kitchen and bathroom more often due to frustration with the floors.

My ambition is increasing faster than my recovery. Lord, give me patience RIGHT NOW PLEASE!

Much ado about not much

I wouldn't have believed it would take me three days to create a little facial tissue cube for the bathroom, especially since I was cannibalizing an empty one to do it. However, since I didn't take the time to plan it out beforehand, I ended up having to re-do parts...and the sheer number of tools I ended up with on the table was laughable. However, I *did* get it done. It's not perfect, but it'll do:

And here it is in situ:

That's the only time the candle's lit, by the way.

So for the supplies and equipment list:

an empty tissue cube
fabric
Elmer's glue
buttons (I had three of the blue, white & red ones and I just love them - they're *really* vintage - 50 years or more old, I'm sure. From my mom's stash all those years ago.)
thread
hot glue gun & glue sticks
1" square of hook & loop fastening, self-adhesive (which didn't adhese; thus the glue gun)
one 4" x 4" ceramic tile (to glue inside on the bottom to give it some weight)
newspaper ads to protect table

scissors
awl
tap-hammer
needle
strips of #6 recyclable plastic, in various finger bandage sizes
bunches of clothespins
toothpicks

But it's all put away now and that little project's done. Whee!

Merrily along

OK, Thing 3, the car situation, is now planned out. I know what I need to do, and with my dear friend's help, we'll get 'er done this week. Yay!

The other night, I finished my first CoBaSi buttercream yellow sock:

Not quite ready to launch its mate so I was looking around for something else to do for a bit. I had some sewing projects' materials and a sketchbook and supplies sitting on the dining room table for the past week, so it obviously couldn't be either of those. I ended up digging out some fabric and the disassembled Kleenex cube from which I'd long ago planned to make a tissue box. So that's what I'm doing:

Somehow it never seemed this messy in the workshop in my head. It's going to take awhile; glue needs to dry, etc. These are the fabrics I got for it:

but I'm not going to be using the blue or the moustache one for this project. I hadn't realized just how much of them I had; I can make some sock project bags and maybe a zippered pouch for stuff & things in my purse. I love them all together.

And the summer goes gliding by...

Thing 3 resolved

Repairman came yesterday late (almost 6 pm) and diagnosed the problem quickly: it had "frozen up." Whatever that means, it wasn't good. However, he knew how to fix it, so he returned at 8 this morning and fixed it. The $900 part that had failed was under warrantee, as was the whole AC system since I just got it installed last August (and I found out it's a 5-year warrantee, not a 1-year, as I'd assumed! Yay!), so all this labor and that solid-gold (apparently) part cost me $.0.00. That is quite a relief! And the new part now has a five-year warrantee of its own.

A good outcome for Thing 3, I think.

Still waiting to hear from Hyundai HQ about my car. (Thing 2)

I have my two-week post-op follow-up appointment with my oncologist tomorrow. (Thing 1).

Hoping I get back to the usual dull roar level of activity around here, SOON.

And today, the Third Thing

I came downstairs this morning to discover my AC is on the fritz. A repair person is supposed to show up sometime today. The dispatcher told me they try to get same-day service on ACs when it's hot. Fortunately, today isn't *that* hot - yet. An overcast 82°, and it's 79° in the house. If the sun comes out before the repair van arrives, I can always scurry upstairs and hide in my bedroom with the window AC on. If it gets too hot, that is. So far, so good.

But I think tradition calls for the Three Things curse to move on now, doesn't it? I've had three: cancer, the rear axle falling out of my car, and now the central AC dying? I hope? Of course the first one - utterly vanquishing the first one, I mean - totally makes the rest seem mighty small in comparison. So I'm not in the least bit upset or stressed about any of it. Life is good.