New Year's Eve

I'm hanging in here today.

Symptoms: headache, joint pain, muscle pain, brain fog. Took pain pill.

I am working on MP-related stuff today, lots of reading. Also measuring for curtains, trying to brainstorm about possible lighting solutions for the kitchen, dining, and living rooms.

Yesterday I brought home and installed a new plasma HDTV. Our old TV had a label on the back that read: "Manufactured in March 1985." It involved some furniture moving, some of which isn't really done yet. I turned it on and ran the intial programming setup and it found some HDTV channels that I didn't even know we had-- I think it's just the broadcast network HD version and a couple of other channels like TNT and ESPN, but there are one or two that don't seem to correlate to anything else, and one of them, called "HD Theater" was absolutely astonishing to watch. I think it will be a while before the "new toy"ness wears off of the new TV.

Gearing up for the MP

I never got around to posting about it, but I did find a doctor who's willing to prescribe the MP for me! He's located very near my house and it's really easy to get in to see him-- couldn't be better! I actually have the prescriptions in my hand and will be starting as soon as I've completed this checklist:

• Receive light meter (ordered on eBay). Analyze various rooms and determine where I will need to put blackout curtains. Buy and/or make curtains. Get hardware and put them up.
  
• Locate 20-watt and/or amber lightbulbs and replace all appropriate bulbs. Determine alternative lighting/window coverings for public rooms.
  
• Order special sunglasses. The company is closed until January 2nd! Can't start until I have them. Should have ordered them at the beginning of December as I've been wishing for them already.
  
• Hats, gloves, scarves, bootcut jeans. Burka?
  
• Analyze foods for dietary restrictions; find new products/sources for new needs.
  
• Get bloodwork results back and report to MP website.
  
• Get disabled tags for vehicles (my dad qualifies for one too and I tried to do this already but the bureaucrats, God bless them, needed more paperwork).
  
• Finish weaning myself off of some of my current prescriptions.
  
• Get MP prescriptions filled.
  

With any luck I'll be able to start in mid-January! I am really looking forward to it.

Catching up

I've let this blog sit and collect dust this fall, but I haven't forgotten it. It's just been a difficult few months; I've had several singing commitments that required significant rehearsal times, and then my dad was in the hospital for a month (3 weeks, 1 week home, 1 more week in) starting the day before Thanksgiving. He's much better now and I won't give a detailed report here, partly because it was very complicated, but he's turned the corner.

My job while he was in the hospital (and my mom was there 16 hours/day in Beaumont and 24/7 the two weeks he was in Houston) was to keep up with the house and bills and take care of myself and our pets (and go to rehearsals and performances). I didn't do any of them very well but I got through them all. Here is a ten-day sample of what happened in our house this month:

• Dec 14th & 15th: Dad's been home two days, very weak. Home health (they came every day). Two very long rehearsals for me for Messiah. My 17-year-old cat had a seizure.
  
• Sunday, 16th: Sing at church in the morning, Messiah performance in the afternoon. Dad's siblings drove over from Houston.
  
• Monday, 17th: Put my cat to sleep and buried her in the back yard. I'd had her 15 years, since my first semester in law school. Cleaning ladies came to clean the house. I went shopping (not for Christmas, for my mom).
  
• Tuesday, 18th: Dad still feeling so bad he goes to the cardiologist and they admit him to St. E.
  
• Wednesday, 19th: Dad in St. E. I had a long church choir rehearsal in the evening for our Christmas concert. My mom, who usually goes to bed at 8pm, went Christmas shopping and didn't get home until 10:30p.m.
  
• Thursday, 20th: Dad in St. E. He got a pacemaker in the afternoon, anticipated but very suddenly scheduled. My church choir concert in the evening. I had a big solo so I couldn't really skip any of this. My dad made my mom leave him and come to my concert! (He was feeling better already.)
  
• Friday, 21st: Dad in St. E. Mom and I both got to go to Christmas parties in the evening.
  
• Saturday, 22nd: Dad in St. E. My brother arrived for the holidays. My mom went to Walmart AGAIN.
  
• Sunday, 23nd: I sang at church in the morning. Dad came home from the hospital.
  

Next post: Gearing up for the MP.