First of all, we got both our RSV and flu vaccinations yesterday. I was checking the availability of appointments at our local pharmacy and there were slots available in the afternoon. We were just planning on getting the RSV, but the pharmacist encouraged us to get the flu shot at the same time.
So we did. He was a nice guy but not the gentlest in terms of inserting the needle. Ah well. I felt a little funky in the afternoon and wondered if it was a reaction, but thinking back on it, I just think it was my sinuses/allergies. If it was a reaction, it was incredibly short and no big deal. Today, I feel fine – except for the fact that Don woke me up with a big snore at 4:15 am and that was it for sleeping. By the way, the snoring issue is much better as Don found something to insert in the nose to keep the nostrils open. This morning’s snore was a rarity.
Anyway – Covid next month and then we’re good to go.
Done; with one caveat – I didn’t finish the Epilogue. It was about ten chapters long, very dry, and was basically Tolstoy’s musings on historians, the path of history, etc., etc. By the time I was halfway through, I finally realized that I had indeed read the entire novel, plus many pages of the epilogue which were making my eyes glaze over, so I was allowed to stop.
It was a gift, this readalong. I don’t think I would have attempted it otherwise. I’ve read several novels that were over a thousand pages, so it’s not the length, necessarily. It was Tolstoy’s WAR AND PEACE and everything it symbolized that would have held me back and maybe the thought that it would be boring, as well. Of course, it was anything but that. An incredible, beautifully written book by a master.
I spent the afternoon on Wednesday redressing all of the girls. I was dealing with a little anxiety. I’ve found that grabbing one of the girls when I’m stressed helps to ground me, if that makes sense. I fell in love with them all over again. I thought it was high time to remove their summer ensembles and get them ready for fall and the start of school.
Here is group one. I’ll share more pictures tomorrow.
Holly, Zoe, and Katie.
Stay safe.
Happy Friday.
congratulations on finishing “war and peace”! quite the accomplishment, claudia, plus you enjoyed it (minus the epilogue, which isn’t necessary to say you read “war and peace” because you did) … good for you!
sorry you woke up early … but how wonderful that there’s a solution to reduce snoring. hope you have an easy day today and sleep better tonight.
glad you’re not having a bad reaction to the shots. hope don isn’t, either. may you all stay healthy!
some reading and knitting here, along with time spent with members of my family. :) grocery shopping this afternoon, then one more bit of paper-sorting before a free paper-shredding event tomorrow morning. that is courtesy of a local credit union and such a nice service for anyone in the community. i have at least five paper grocery sacks full of papers to be shredded … will be so glad to get that stuff out of my entry and shredded … peace of mind and peace of place!
oh! you know that God-wink with the beach ball? i completely left out part … the most important part (sorry to God). after i learned of jimmy buffett passing on, i spent time labor day weekend thinking about jimmy, his music, my favorite songs, time at concerts, etc. and what i knew about him … born on Christmas day, described himself as a lapsed catholic altar boy and that he had a song called “my head hurts, my feet stink and i don’t love Jesus” (i don’t like even writing that title). got to worrying about jimmy, was (am) very sad for his family and so i asked God to please give his family a sign that jimmy is at peace and with Him in heaven … and a couple days later is when i came upon that beach ball on a quiet street. :) prayers do get answered. thanks be to God! :)
hope you, don and everyone else have a great day. stay safe!
kathy
Love this, Kathy!
Stay safe.
I had my RSV vaccine Weds. A wall of fatigue hit me about 3 hrs afterward but I anticipated it, so had cleared the calendar. Arm is sore at injection site. That’s all.
Leaving in an hour for my annual ‘wellness exam’ for Medicare (I don’t understand it all, or why my primary-care doctor needs this, but I’m tired of arguing with her about it, so am going in after completing like seven forms which is annoying). She will include oral cognitive tests and that’s what freaks me out because I hate tests like that; hated them when I was in school. I have a lot going on in my life right now so am anxietous and distracted, plus I don’t feel well due to a prescription med I can’t live without which is giving me bad side effects, so I’m feeling pretty grumpy and, the point is, that when I’m this tired and feeling somewhat unwell, I am in no mood for a cognitive test and am certainly not my sharpest for one/some, oh well.
What really threw me off is that coming up on a month ago, my area got hit by an earthquake and while it wasn’t super-huge on the seismograph, we’re so close to the epicenter that we had aftershocks for a week and the ‘experts’ say that the formerly ‘sleeping’ mountain where this happened will take four months to settle back down, so I feel like the ground is moving and my house is cracking frequently; it is really unnerving. On edge.
I have sudden insurance issues and increasing costs associated with my offsite storage unit; so, in a rush of two weeks, we have to order a huge shipping-style container for the driveway at our house and transport 300 boxes by u-haul to our house to put in the container so that we can work thru them (sort-donate-keep-sell), working as fast as we can (in the still-too-warm months of Sept-Oct) to empty that container asap. Because all of this costs money that is not in the budget.
I understand when you mentioned in another post that you’re dealing with anxiety, Claudia; me, too. It’s the pits.
Free HBO on my satellite dish this weekend, so I’m hoping to settle into a good, commercial-free movie I haven’t seen; do something to relax in between hassles!
I drove up yesterday to my house only to see a police officer taping a ‘gonna tow you if you don’t move this car’ note to the car window. He had my neighbor’s SUV towed. Somebody in the neighborhood is reporting people who park on the street and don’t move their cars every three days. (The police officer said, “Yes, someone reported you.”) The only reason my husband’s car hadn’t been moved in five days was because a part failed that he was waiting on to repair the problem. Of course it arrived yesterday afternoon after we got the notice. We averted the tow but the situation was very upsetting. We just keep to ourselves; we don’t bother anyone; our cars don’t bother anyone; they are parked in front of our own house. My neighbor and I can’t understand why we have to have another neighbor who is a tattletale.
As they say, it’s always something.
Oh, and to roll in the container on our driveway (for our storage issue), we need to remove another car from our driveway and get it towed to the junkyard as my husband has given up trying to fix it. So, he stripped it and it’s ready to go, but now he can’t find the ownership certificate to sign the car over to the junkyard.
It’s these constant nags when all we want is a calm life! (Clearly the message is: Get rid of too much stuff and, especially, too many cars. We only need two cars. The next one to go is my vintage auto which I will have owned fifty years in 2024. I was just trying to get her to 2024. She’s a beaut. Sigh.)
The ‘girls’ are adorable and I’m glad they help you with your anxiety. Let’s pledge to all have a good weekend!
Vicki I get what you said about the cognitive tests.
Last time I went to my primary she gave me that with my yearly exam.
I hated it. If I wasn’t anxious when I went in I was when I left. Getting older is not for wimps
I love that, Linda; ‘getting older is not for wimps’; INDEED!!
What is with people? Why would it matter if a car – especially a car that they knew was from the neighborhood – is parked in the same place for more than three days?? That’s when my response is “Get a life!”
Stay safe, Vicki.
As I said, it’s somebody who has lived in our neighborhood for a long time and I know exactly who those folks are; and, in both (three, four?) cases, I do think they probably have ‘way too much time on their hands. It must be exhausting to think you have to police your neighborhood all the time; be the self-designated ‘one in charge’. But it’s a great way to start a neighbor war with the wrong neighbor. Again, though, my neighbor who got his car towed, and then my husband and I, have such an otherwise gentle footprint, never causing problems, keeping to ourselves; we groom our yards, don’t have wild parties, etc. It’s like, yeah, ‘get a life’ but also ‘choose your battles’.
xoxo
Holly, Zoe and Katie are adorable in their back-to-school clothes. I find dressing Jessie and Walter is relaxing, too, unless I’m having trouble with those cute but oh so tiny shoes. I have a new pair of overalls and a turtleneck for Jessie. Walter has a new long-sleeved tee shirt. I’ve ordered them their Halloween outfits. Not exactly costumes but a nod to October. Enjoy your afternoon. So much fun.
Hugs, Elaine
It is so, so much fun!
Stay safe, Elaine.
Wow, finishing War and Peace is huge. Congrats. I read an article recently by someone who wrote about her inability to read during the course of the pandemic (she’s an author!). That happened to me too. Concentration just in the dumpster. I’ve only recently been able to sit down with a book certain in the knowledge I’ll be able to finish it. So I admire your accomplishment.
You’ve got just the cutest outfits for all those dolls.
Take care,
Kay
I totally get this, Kay. I envy Claudia’s (and other readers here on the blog) ability to read and relax. (Claudia, did I say congrats for your completion of War and Peace; amazing!!) I seem too to have lost the ability and, when I do read, it’s largely non-fiction; but reading for fun is a good tool to combat anxiety so my goal is to just make myself read something, soon; make the time for it when I think I have no time. I have a large pile of TBR and most of it is fiction since I certainly aspire to it! Take one’s head into another world. The concentration thing; a big problem for me, too. However, I just got back from the doctor who administered some oral cognitive tests … strange, like having to draw a clock from scratch and set it at 11:10am; and, after several minutes had elapsed, remember a string of words the doctor had previously recited to me (repeat them back to her) … and, despite my dread, I passed 100 percent with flying colors, which is a miracle considering how tired I am at the moment due to stress and lack of sleep.
Anyway, read on! Let’s all read on! Claudia is our inspiration!
Everyone goes through periods when reading is less than easy. Lack of concentration, stress – I suffer from that, as well. But thankfully, I’ve been on a roll for quite a while. Reading has been my ‘savior’ my entire life.
xo
I’m glad you’re back to reading, Kay. I guess the pandemic affected us all differently. I read voraciously throughout the pandemic. BUT, I didn’t check out any book from the library for a long while.
Stay safe!
Hurray for completing War and Peace. I’m sorry you’re feeling anxious. Stress-free living is near impossible in these modern times.
However, I do try to escape. The daughters and I recently returned from a trip to Chicago, a city I’ve always wanted to explore. We had a blast. One of the few retail stores we went I to was American Girl. The daughters have a few of the dolls, and over the years, I’ve collected sewing patterns to sew clothes for them. The recent store visit has inspired me to start sewing doll clothes again (as soon as I finish the three quilts in progress…and an outfit for a March wedding).
The other unexpected anxiety-relief was the plane ride home, when I watched Spoiler Alert! Finally! I was so swept up in the emotions of the movie, and that stayed with me for a few days, something that rarely happens to me. I did cry. I’m going to seek out the book that inspired the movie’s story. And it was so fun seeing you on screen, Claudia!
So glad you enjoyed the movie, Wendy! It does stay with you. Yes, you should read Michael’s book – I recommend it highly!
Stay safe.
Yay…the girls are ready for school! Love the dresses! I’m ready for fall, too….
I think we’re all ready this year, Barrie.
Stay safe.
Finishing War and Peace is quite the accomplishment….congrats. Two shots down, and one to go. Glad you suffered no reactions.
The girls look so cute….hope they are ready to study hard. Holly looks particularly mischievous though….wonder what she’s got up her sleeve? ;)
We ended up having mild reactions, Donnamae, but just mild.
The girls always have something up their sleeves!
Stay safe
The girls definitely look ready for school — very cute indeed. I got the RSV. The next day I spiked a fever and chills for about six hours, then it was gone. Could have been my pseudomonas thing too, who knows. My pharmacist told me not to get them at the same time, though CDC says you can so who the heck knows. I’ll get the Covid this week (they said they should have their stock by Monday) and flu probably the week after. I’m so frustrated with my own medical issues here I can hardly even think about it. We canceled our trip to Muncie this weekend and I’m trying hard to be OK enough to go to Rick’s 50th reunion with him. I’ll mask and distance as much as possible but I’m worried.
Well done with War and Peace! I have my mother’s old copy in the basement — I should have joined in this year but maybe I’ll do the — what was it? Chapter a week? — idea next year. (I finished the Crowmwell trilogy ages ago — I think you’ll find it interesting.) Yes, I would have quit the epilogue if it was like that, too.
Have a great weekend!
We got the flu and the RSV together and we ended up having mild reactions. Aches, etc.
I’m so sorry you’re having to deal with these medical issues, Jeanie. Sending wishes for relief from all of it very soon.
They are doing the War and Peace readalong again next year, Jeanie. You should do it! A chapter a day is so doable and Tolstoy’s chapters tend to be on the short side.
Stay safe.
Thanks, Claudia. Glad to know about next year’s readathon! Sometimes life is just one day at a time. Sounds like the writer’s strike may end soon. I hope the actors are right behind them.
I haven’t heard anything about the strike ending soon. I hope that’s the case.
Stay safe, Jeanie.
Good for you for finishing War and Peace. That is quite an accomplishment. I wouldn’t even attempt it. I rarely read books anymore. Not sure why but just can’t get into any of the several books I started. I do miss it.
I hope you have little reaction to the vaccines. Another task I need to do.
I couldn’t function without reading. Ever since I was a little girl, reading has been my source of solace and peace.
Get your vaccines, Kay!
Stay safe.