Song: “Joy” by Apollo 100, featuring Tom Parker
Mood: 5.5
Nightmares: 0
I slept like crap last night. My lower back was aching and I couldn’t get comfortable. I’d fall asleep for a little bit, wake up and move around a bit, then fall back asleep. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.
So this morning was a little rough. My back was still a little bit achy, my brain was very foggy, and after I looked out the window and saw how much snow we got, I was in a foul mood. I turned on the radio, had breakfast, then went and sat under a blanket on the couch in the living room (I’m trying to avoid hiding in the basement when things aren’t going well if I can). I did some mindfulness exercises and some grounding, and then went through the progressive muscle relaxation and breathing exercises. When I’m really tired, I’ll start to drift off but can’t quite fall asleep, then I’ll bounce back awake. That happened a lot this morning.
I sent out my daily round of texts (and dropped my phone twice when I drifted off) and went back to being cranky on the couch, feeling my eyebrows bunching together as I watched people drive like dunderheads through the new snow.
My parents called. They were both in good moods and that lifted my spirits somewhat. They’ve been keeping busy and it sounds like if things work out and the weather/roads aren’t bad, they will be coming in this weekend for a day visit. I think that’s great because it’s been a while since we saw my folks and it’s always good to hang out. I’m glad they called – it was good to talk to them. Like I said, it lifted my spirits.
Not long after I got off the phone with my folks, I, uh… hmm. I’m not entirely sure how to segue into this, so I’ll just say it – I had to pee. Normally, this wouldn’t warrant any mention, but trust me, I’m going somewhere with this. So, I trundled off to the bathroom and was quite surprised to find myself passing several tiny kidney stones. I had a large stone back in 2012 that had to be removed and it surprised me in many different ways, the main one being that I wasn’t aware that pain of that magnitude was possible. These little ones (like grains of sand) weren’t pleasant when they were on their way out, but it was quick and then everything was fine. So, my back aching last night must’ve been the stones irritating things as they made their way out of my kidney. They say that if you have a kidney stone you are much more likely to have another one – I would prefer having these little ones every day than another big one ever.
So there’s probably a lot more information than you wanted to read. Be kidney smart – drink lots of water! Unless, of course, your doctor says you shouldn’t. Then don’t.
As I gingerly made my way back to the living room, the radio was playing another great song that I’d heard once or twice before but I’d never caught the name. “Joy” by Apollo 100 is a 1972 instrumental based on Bach’s “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring”. J and I had that song at our wedding (the traditional version) so it has good memories attached to it. Plus, the Apollo 100 version is waaaay faster, and if you’ve been reading my posts for a while, you’ll know how I feel about upbeat music. Anyway, I bought it for my phone and listened to it quite a bit today.
A while later I finally gave up wishing that someone else’s plow service would accidentally do our driveway and went outside to clear the driveway. I gave the snowblower a quick once-over, added some gas, and hit the starter. It started right up (nice and smoky, just how I like it) and made short work of the snow. It’s running a little rich but that’s fine – I’d rather it ran rich than lean.
After I got back inside, I did a bunch more figuring about the dimensions for the bags that I want to make. My goal is to fit X number of reasonably-sized bags into Y number of yards of fabric with as close to zero waste as possible. Unfortunately, my brain was still kind of foggy so I didn’t make as much progress as I’d hoped. Tomorrow I will try again – I’d really like to get cutting and sewing.
J and I have been watching the second season of Schitt’s Creek and it’s been pretty good so far. My only complaint at this point… wait, I have two. My only two complaints are that I still can’t stand the mayor character, and the episodes seem to go by far too quickly.
Okay, I just looked at the clock and I really need to get going. Hopefully tomorrow starts off better than today did, and it’d be great if I didn’t have to pass any kidney stones. That’s not too much to ask. Is it?
Stay safe.