You’ve heard people say it, “just take it one day at a time”. It’s a way to give reassurance when life overwhelms you. And generally, I would say it helps, to break big things into smaller things.
But not always. I hate to admit it, but MS fatigue really kicks my butt sometimes. This past week or so has been yet another of those times. I struggle. Not only with keeping up with my routines caring for the house and feeding the family, but also with the most basic of self-care tasks like making a sandwich or taking a shower. It’s just utterly draining.
So here is what I decided to do with today: rather than one enormous day at a time, I took it 15 itty bitty minutes at a time. I just set a timer and when time was up, I examined how I was feeling. Some times I felt good enough to go another 15, and other times I determined I needed to rest – but only for the allotted 15 minutes.
You know what? It worked well! It helped keep me from retreating into a slump or getting distracted and losing track of time. And best of all, I stayed to feel useful again, in spite of the fatigue.
All posts by Little M.S. Runner
Whodunnits
I am reading this book – “Sharp Objects: A Novel” by Gillian Flynn. It’s so hard to put down! I just have to know whodunnit. I think it must have been Adora but don’t tell me. I’m only two thirds of the way through.
I’ve always loved a good mystery. I am my mother’s daughter 🙂
Lazy dog days
When the sun shines through the windows on clear days like today, you will always find Piper basking in it’s rays. Even if her people are elsewhere. But today the kids are home for Thanksgiving break so she had some company!
We did some cleaning today, Luke made chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast, and I have coffee. Tomorrow we eat turkey with family. Today my heart is full with blessings.
Puppy Foot Warmer
This is a good way to warm up your slippers! At least she’s not chewing on them, right?
Experiment
So. I’ve been feeling rather irritated with myself lately, or just irritated in general, I can’t decide which. I find myself wasting a lot of time. It’s true that I have a lot of time with being home all day, no job, kids at school, and I can certainly afford to waste it. But I just don’t feel satisfied with that. I believe when I get in the habit of wasting a lot of time, that it sends me on a sluggish spiral down to Lazy Town. Then nothing gets accomplished. No book gets written, no good meals get planned or prepared, the dust starts to settle and cake up on the surfaces (metaphorically, mostly. Mostly.).
So I made an executive decision today and uninstalled Facebook from my phone. Because I’m pretty positive that’s what’s causing most of this. Not all, but a good portion of it. I also spend a lot of time reading books on my phone, but I’m not ready to call that “wasting time”. I love the books.
Here’s the issue with Facebook lately. My feed is 90% BORING. The other 10% contains thoughts and stories and updates from people I actually know. I know some people have decided to check out of Facebook altogether, but that 10% I would be missing is too important to me to give up. So rather than giving it up, I’m just going to limit my exposure to the section of the day when I intentionally sit down with my laptop to “work”. I have my alloted time every day to work: pay bills, plan meals, write, etc. and when I’m done working or need a break I can hop over to Facebook and catch up. So I’ll still be around, but it won’t consume my time or thoughts. In theory, of course, it’s only been 12 hours 😉
Michigan Girl all the way
I grew up in Michigan. We have all the weather here. I love most of it, but especially the snow kind. This morning we had the first snowfall of the year, and I’m not kidding, when I got out of bed and looked out the window my heart skipped a beat and I had to catch my breath. Those clichés became for real, you know?
So today’s tidbit is that I am excited for this season, and below a picture of my kids and the snowman they created at 9 am. I mean, I was still in my pajamas, out in the front lawn, to take that picture. Don’t ever say I don’t sacrifice for the blog. You are welcome!
Really Ready
Today I did something kind of funny but kind of scary at the same time. I decided to fry an egg for a late breakfast, so I put a pan on the stove and turned on the heat to start warming the pan. Then I went upstairs to get a pair of slippers because my feet were cold. While I was upstairs I found a basket of clean towels that needed folding. Of all the laundry, towels are the thing I hate folding *least*, so I thought to myself, “what the heck, might as well fold these towels while I’m up here.” As I was folding I was thinking about how cold I’ve been feeling, and remembered that we had an electric blanket stored in the hope chest near our bed. So, I decided to dig that out and give it a go, bring it downstairs to see if it still worked.
And that’s when I smelled it. It was very subtle, but I have a keen sense of smell so I pick up these things. It was a definite smell of HEAT. Oh, dear lordy I left the stove on!! In a near panic, I headed down the stairs – cautiously but quickly – to be sure there was no catastrophe (i.e. FIRE) going on the kitchen.
And thankfully, there was no fire. Not even a scorched-to-hell frying pan. Just a really hot, really lonely, really ready for the egg, frying pan. I turned the stove off, removed the pan from the hot burner, and headed back upstairs to finish with my derailed train of thought activities.
It turned out fine, but I really need to be more careful. New rule: Stay in the kitchen while I’m cooking. That, or just stick to fruit smoothies. Far less dangerous!
Getting back to it
I’m back! The illness is gone. We have recovered. We all came through unscathed; my husband and the dog both managed to avoid it altogether (I do hope I’m not jinxing my husband by saying this).
I got back to working on the book I’m writing. I gave myself a deadline of 12/31/15, which is quite aggressive I know, but I also know I have to do such things to keep me from giving up altogether. Deadlines motivate, y’all. The book is a memoir of sorts, so it’s not a cut and dried process. I understand this, and know full well that I may not have a rough draft by my deadline, but progress is progress. Phleh.
I had a thought today (while in the shower… all my favorite ideas come to me while I’m washing my hair) that maybe I will start blogging every day. That sounds like another aggressive goal, doesn’t it? Well, I’m not talking about writing good stuff every day. Just every day, I will plan to share my favorite thought or event from that day. I use the term “event” loosely, as it could be as lame as “the dog didn’t piss me off today, and here’s why…” To make this daily occurrence even more exciting for you loyal readers, I would give it a snarky name, like The Daily Snippet. Or to be more true to how it will likely end up, The Sometimes Daily Snippet. What do you think? Wanna play along? Some days you may be totally bored with it, and others I may just get lucky and strike a funny bone. You just never know, you know? Sounds exciting, right? Let’s start here…
Today’s Daily Snippet:
I love Pandora. It plays the old stuff, the stuff I remember, pre-hearing loss. The songs and rhythms that are familiar to me are the only types of music I can enjoy at this point, with my cochlear implants. I’m told it will get better with time, and to just be patient. Listening to familiar songs is supposed to help. Thank you Pandora, for helping my brain re-learn how to hear and enjoy music. And thank you Beck, for being your funky cool self 🙂
Also notable today, I did some rearranging around the house and that always makes me feel happy. Helps me forget all the evil going on the world right now, if only for a moment.
Hug your loved ones today, and every day. Peace out!
Bleh
The illness runs strong in this house. First it hit my son, with vomiting and diarrhea – the kind with no warning – and then a few days later it was my daughter with a scary high fever, and then me with your typical sore throat, stuffy nose, and achiness, and then back again to my son. My husband has yet – cross your fingers – to catch whatever this horrendous bug is. But my word! It’s been 10 straight days of illness and I am plain tuckered out from it. I am ready for it to move on and leave us alone.
Really. That’s it. There isn’t much else to talk about. When I can be sure this crud has officially left our home, I’ll get back on my feet again and resume some more regular writing (and with any luck more interesting, as well). Until then, stay healthy. Drink lots of water and keep your hands clean!
Bye bye Tooth #5
My daughter lost another tooth today. This is her 5th tooth to fall out, but her 3rd in the last two months. She lost one just before Labor Day, then another just after school picture day (at the end of September), and then today. She came off the school bus with the tooth hanging around her neck in a plastic tooth-shaped case that the school gave her. She was so thrilled to have lost yet another tooth. She told me all about it, how she was “eating an apple and could feel that the tooth was loose so she just started wiggling until it came out and it had blood all over it and everything!” Keep in mind she was speaking with a significant lisp, since she’s missing 5 front teeth, and also she lost her voice yesterday so it’s all kind of a whisper. A lispy whisper. Say that three times fast.
I think the irony of this is that she is scheduled for her 6 month dental check-up and cleaning in three days. I don’t know whether I should cancel it or ask for a discount.
This girl is making a killing off the Tooth Fairy Game. I’m sure she knows the fairy is fictional, but she sure knows the money that shows up under her pillow is real!
At bedtime I asked her to remember her tooth, so she could leave it under her pillow. She couldn’t find it. She swore she had it with her as she was sitting on the couch. My son and I searched all around, under, and in the couch and we could not find it. That’s when I remembered that earlier the dog had been lying there, right in front of Natalie, when she started heaving (the dog, not the girl). I had quickly rushed her to the kitchen where she proceeded to vomit all over the linoleum. I had scooped it all up into a grocery bag so I could seal it up before putting in the trash, in order to keep it from stinking up the kitchen. My thought at this point was that the tooth had fallen to the floor and Piper had eaten it, choked on it, and puked it up along with the rawhide she had been chewing and her dog food from earlier.
So, since I don’t see well and often have to use my hands to “see”, I enlisted my son’s help. We took the bag out of the trash, ripped it open on the linoleum, and began searching. Luke carefully inspected while I held the flashlight. We couldn’t find the tooth. I thought for sure it was still in Piper’s belly, and my son would find it later when he cleans up her poo from the backyard. So, we closed the bag back up and stuck it back in the trash. When we stood up from the floor, Luke was facing the dining room table, and I heard him laugh out loud. Guess what he saw sitting smack dab in the middle of the table? That’s right, the tooth. We had sifted through dog vomit for nothing.
It wasn’t entirely grotesque, we were happy to have found the tooth for Natalie, and we had a good laugh at ourselves. Ridiculously, it was one of the best parts of my day!
Little M.S. Runner 