Check. Check. Check.

Happy Birthday to my brother Bryan. There's no way I look ten years older, right? 

I spent twenty minutes trying to figure out how to put a check mark in the title of this blog. The fact that my vision is so blurry that I can't focus well enough to read instructions re-emphasizes my need for one of those check marks I earned... I made an appointment with the eye doctor! For next Tuesday!

Then Wednesday I have an appointment with the dentist to figure out my dental plan from here. My only stipulation: no more teeth come out before we put some more in. I'm chewing on one side. They can't take that away from me or I'll be living on broth and oatmeal. Also, since we've determined that I don't heal well, I don't want to pull any more teeth. I want them to take what's in there now and make it work. I realize this makes me a difficult patient to deal with but I'm living with too much pain with the things we can't fix to willing go into a dentist's office and let him cause me MORE pain.

So eye doctor, check ... and also... the financial kind of check.
Dentist, check... and another check.

I also called the library to see if they have started back up with story time so we can take Cosette. They haven't but they will soon. Cosette is really young for organized activities but... on the other hand she's a smart girl, she does good with sitting still when it's expected of her (out to dinner, per esempio - for example). She might think it's awesome or ... she might completely flake out. I think it's free, though, so ... check but no check. Austin definitely wants to take her to the library to check out books. She's a bit "enthusiastic" with turning pages sometimes so we would have to be careful what books she chooses but I like that he wants her to go to the library. Is it overboard if I say, "he's such a good daddy" again today?

As I'm writing this my mom has gone through the first procedure which she said was no problem at all. I've had interstitial cystitis since before Cody was born so any probing of the urinary kind is always going to be painful. A full bladder is painful in a way that folks without IC would not believe. I'm glad it wasn't uncomfortable for mom since she still has to deal with the gastro stuff this afternoon with a long drive down and a long drive home. The urologist sees some stones, we hope they are just the everyday kind of stones and not anything hairy scary. More wait and see on that. If there's anything else more to share from her second appointment today I'll update here and on Facebook. Based on last time, I don't think we'll know much today.

When Little Kitty snores it makes the same sound my phone makes when I have a text... just a little buzzing/hummy kind of sound. He's such a little old man sometimes... and other times he's an inconsiderate teenager. He's actually 5 years old so I don't know what that translates to in human years.

I'm still in the thick of a fibromyalgia flare. I'm not a doctor or meteorologist but I could have told you that there were storms brewing to the South without even looking at the news. As a matter of fact, I thought to myself, "this is such an unusually oppressive bout of aches and fatigue... I wonder what the weather looks like?" The struggle is real. I can tell that extreme weather is coming by my hair and my arthritis. I know, I know... those storms are way out there (at least they were yesterday)... but it already has changed the atmosphere over us. (by the way... learning Italian makes me want to misspell words like "atmosphere" to "atmosfera"- dear spellcheck, I am not an idiot, I'm just trying to be bilingual.)

 I didn't sleep well last night. I have seen three fleas on Little Kitty over the course of the past week and have been aggressively treating him - but not the carpet or furniture because I don't want Cosette or Oliver to come into contact with anything harmful to them. I comb him through carefully several times a day with a special flea removing  comb that I scrub with soap between uses. I bought the flea medicine for the back of his neck (I'm afraid it didn't get all the way through his fur like it's supposed to). I've even added a flea collar. I haven't seen a flea anywhere but on him but the thought of it is making me itch like crazy. I took a benedryl out of desperation which made me sleepy but unable to sleep.

Then the fibro / arthritis flare is ramping up my muscle spasms which... are not as fun as you might think ... so I'm having to consistently take the muscle relaxer that works great and is better at easing pain than even the strong pain meds because it loosens those tight muscles BUT the muscle relaxer makes me so sleepy. NOT... I could take a great nap sleepy. No... it is the dreaded "my eyes are too tired to focus on anything, my brain doesn't process works correctly but there is no way in the world I can go to sleep" sleepy. Which really intensifies that fibro fatigue.

I tried to go back to sleep this morning since I kept dozing off on my Italian lesson. I'm working on verbs so it's sort of easy because I know what the root word is and I just have to remember the right ending like...
I give - do
You give (singular) - dai
He gives - da
We give - diamo
You give (plural, like "y'all give") date
They give - danno
It takes a bit of concentration but it's not like learning absolutely brand new words. Unfortunately concentration was = to me falling asleep. So I put my things aside and covered up to be able to sneak a little more sleep while the house was still quiet and then.... Little Kitty took this as an opportunity to sit in my lap and groom himself. Ever tried to sleep while a cat is loudly grooming himself in your lap? The smacking and slurping... the wiggling... every now and then deciding I needed some grooming myself so I would doze off and then  BAM! sandpaper tongue slicing through my skin!

But at the moment... the house is quiet. Austin's at work and my parents are at the hospital. The cats are enjoying the midday sun on the porch and Oscar is tucked under a blanket beside me. Since I managed to check two things off my to-do list today, maybe I should add "take a nap" to the list and then check that one off too! Love and hugs, everybody! Hope you're having a great day!