Up to Date

We're gearing up to leave on vacation and I'm not bringing my laptop. Ergo this may be the last post for quite some time as we'll be gone almost a month.

I probably shouldn't say vacation because we're really just going to visit family. If a trip comes with extended family dysfunction, it's not a true respite.

But we'll have fun anyway. My husband and I are good that way.

I'm feeling okay. Tired and worn out, but I'm off progesterone right now. Plus, the kiddo is not sleeping well. She has prolonged night terrors that just go on and on and on. She cries, yells and talks in her sleep all night long sometimes. She sleeps through it, but we don't. They seem to pop up every few months.

She's also just had back-to-back bugs again. She just finished up what one kid gave her when her little friend came over and brought all her bug buddies to share. (Gee thanks.) So far, I've been solid and haven't been acutely ill, although I suspect I've flirted with it here and there. I think this means I'll be sick on our trip. That seems to be the way Murphy's Law works.

The dogs are a concern. Our black lab is relatively stable at the moment. She's incontinent once or twice a week with medication. We've set up her bed so it's pretty easy to clean up. The yellow lab is having pain of some kind. We took him to the vet and had him on pain medication for a week. He's better but not back to normal. I have no idea what to do for him and the vet doesn't really know what the problem is either. I am mostly just praying that he heals and is okay while we're out of town.

We are in the process of becoming exchange student host parents and hope to hear we've been approved soon. I typed out a 'year in our life' list of things we do (generally) month by month so our student kind of knows what they are in for with us and I couldn't help but add a silent 'assuming I'm not sick' after each activity. I hope I'm healthy. If not, I'll orchestrate things from my sick bed like I have done before, but it won't be as much fun for anyone.

I think we've decided what we're doing about kindergarten for the kiddo next year. She's going to the charter school. I don't think the grant would pan out for more than a year, which would put us in a position of needing to pay tuition or yanking her out of school just when she's made friends. Knowing her as I do, switching schools would not go over well.

I'm not opposed to paying tuition BUT the kiddo is going to need services that will be out-of-pocket for us and I'd rather conserve our money for that. We're fortunate in that her deficits are not large, but that means it's going to be up to us to bridge any gaps as she won't qualify for most state run programs after this year. So charter school it is. At least as things stand now.

I'm reserving final judgement until after we see the results of her cognitive assessment which should be soon. All they said during the assessment was that she talks like an eight-year-old. That's  it. That's all I got, so I'll be interested to see the full report.

The writing...can kiss my ass. It's been an uphill slog of late. I finished a novel that will be part of a larger promotional project with other authors. I haven't written anything since. I think my brain melted. I was pushing hard to get that novel out.  I'll probably be ready to write again while we're on vacation, right when I don't have a laptop. Boo hiss.

Having time to write but no impetus to do so (i.e. me right now) is un-fun. Wanting to write but not having time or computer access is just as unpleasant. Let's hope I'm bursting at the seams with words when we get back and enter into another highly productive period.

I keep telling myself, 'it's good to take breaks.' I guess I'll know if this is true by the end of March.

And that's the latest.