Baby you can wash my car ...

I had another unusually productive day.

I got up early because my therapy appointment got moved to today at 11am. I woke up at 9:30 and had a little breakfast and played a little Animal Crossing before I left. I got home a little past noon and had all kinds of energy so I decided to wash my mother's car.

None of our cars have been washed since before my dad died. The cars were his thing - cleaning, maintenance, all that stuff. All 3 cars look so sad. I think they miss my dad too. My car certainly knows he's dead, because it never gave me a lick of trouble seven or eight months ago but it's not started three different times since September.

Anyway. I washed my mom's Highlander. I got a Mr. Clean Auto Dry a while back and darned if the bloody thing didn't leak in about six places. I got a lot more water on my clothes than on the car. Eventually I gave up on Mr. Clean, got out a bucket, and did things the old-fashioned way.

I didn't get the top washed off, just hosed off, on account of I'm about 5'3 and I can't reach that high. But the car is 90% clean and pretty and that's good enough for me.

My car, parked next to the Highlander in the driveway, got all kinds of funky water spots on it. I felt bad; it looked all dirty and sad and lonely. I was just going to clean the outside of the windows with my Windex but I wiped at a muddy spot on the door and the next thing I knew I was wiping the whole car down with Windex. It looked better when I was done. Now it's just the Camry that looks dusty and sad.

I was going to wash it too, after the Highlander, but I underestimated the effort that goes into washing a car and I was tired and slightly sunbaked so it didn't happen. Maybe tomorrow. I'll have to check the weather. The Highlander stays in the garage most of the time so it's not big deal if it rains soon as far as that goes, but the Camry's parked in the street so if I were to wash it and two days later there's rain, I'd be irked.

I was kind of tired after that so I had a little lunch and went to the bookstore. I read "Inkheart" after I saw the movie and both book and movie are fantastic. I bought the sequel in paperback ("Inkspell") and I swear, that was all I was going to get. I was going to leave right after that. What was I thinking? I can't go into a bookstore and get ONE THING. I bought four books and a discounted Magnetic Poetry box.

I ended up having dinner at Oregano's with a friend of mine and darned if that wasn't a good meal. I heart Italian food, especially a good bowl of pasta. So that was fun.

Wednesday is a big TV night for me so that's how I ended my day. How awesome is "Lost," seriously? One twist after another. I love it. I've also been watching "Lie To Me" which is a kick.

I didn't sleep enough so I'm tired despite the fact that it's before midnight. I think I'm going to turn in early tonight. Who knows what I'll get done tomorrow?

Well, probably nothing. But you never know.

Yay, me!

I had an unusually productive day.

I got my W2 in the mail - CC4K was cutting it a bit fine, if you ask me, considering employers are required by law to provide you with a W2 by February 2nd - which is to say, today. They're lucky the mailman wasn't slacking off.

I got my EZ-File booklets in the mail weeks ago and I got them out today. I did my federal taxes first because I thought they would be trickier. I was wrong. My Arizona 104 form was like an English comprehension exam of the worst sort. There were about a dozen worksheets and tables and I had to try to figure out three times whether I qualified for some exemption or credit or another (and in one case, I earned exactly sixteen dollars too much to qualify - Grr). The upside is the feds owe me nearly $600. The downside is that I owe the state a hundred.

I wanted to do something sort of boring and repetitive after that to ease my brain so I decided to tackle my latest project, which was my mother's office curtains. I measured fifty-six inches from the top in about twenty different places and made a mark, then connected the dots. I did this on the curtain and attached lining on both panels. Then I cut on the line.

Over to the serger, then, to finish the cut edges on four pieces of fabric. Then back to the cutting table with my seam gauge to pin the edges. Then back to the sewing table to finish up. I made my mother iron them but she didn't mind - they were her curtains after all.

Then I took some fabric scraps, measured out two long rectangles and serged the edges for tiebacks. Time for my last project - a pillow cover. I took a few quick measurements, marked my fabric, and cut. Once more to the serger, then a quick stitch on the edges. I shoved the pillow into the case and stitched it closed.

So my mother's office is pretty much complete now - or at least, my part of it is done. After the curtains were ironed I climbed onto the desktop and hung them up. I took a few pictures for my mom's Facebook page since everyone wants to see her pretty new office.

In retrospect it wasn't a whole heck of a lot but compared to my usual routine I got a lot done.

Which is sort of sad. Oh well. Here's to progress.

Achy breaky head

I have a migraine.

This is nothing new; I pretty much always have a migraine. I'm getting tired of it. I don't just get headaches. I get massive, mutant headaches that last entire weeks. Excruciating headaches.

My dad had a horrible headache before he died. I think about that sometimes.

My father never had any brain tumor symptoms - headaches, blurred vision with occasional flashes of light, that sort of thing. That was always me. I've been seeing a neurologist for years. I've had CAT scans and MRIs and that sort of thing before.

I had an MRI about six weeks after my dad died. Just as a precaution. Brain tumors aren't hereditary that we know of. That's the thing about them - there's very little that researchers have managed to figure out about them. No one knows what causes them.

My October MRI was clean; I knew it would be. I wanted one anyway for peace of mind. Dr. Kapoor said that was pretty common for people who have lost someone to brain cancer. She said she had no problem signing off on one for me.

I don't have a tumor. I don't think I ever will. But I think about it a lot. Every time I get a headache.