Hand to heart
Since I'm online anyway, researching remedies for post-operative dog swelling, I will report that I've spent the better part of the day today kneeling on the floor in front of the couch, with my hand holding warm compresses against Tater's chest, feeling his sweet little dog heart beat, beat, beat. All day long. It's been nice.
The swelling isn't bad, and the incision doesn't look infected, but his licking woke me up this morning – I had thought he wouldn't be able to reach that one – and the area was starting to look a little angry. So I applied warm cloths for a half hour at a time, every hour or two, and it really brought the swelling down AND seems to have stopped him from wanting to lick so much. I'm glad I still have one more day to keep an eye on him before I have to go back to work; I'm hoping I won't have to make him wear one of those horrible Elizabethan collars during the day. If he still feels inclined to lick tomorrow, I may try having him wear a t-shirt instead and see if that discourages him enough.
Other plans for the holiday include spending some time in the yard again (this time in the sun), washing the dishes again, and installing new front and rear tubes on my bike. They were a Valentine's day present from Mr. A, along with some fancy silk lingerie – well, lightweight silk long johns – which are my kinda lingerie. I'm excited about the tubes most of all – my front one has been going flat every couple of days or so, and the back one is okay but it has a Presta valve and I'm always worried it will go flat when I'm out and about, because I can only pump it back up again at home, where I have the Presta adaptor. So now I'll have new Schrader tubes on both wheels (plus Mr. Tuffys). Such an exciting life I lead!
In the background right now I am watching the Science of Sleep, which a friend at work recommended to me. Visually, I'm enjoying it very much. Right now the guy is dressed in a furry brown bear suit – only with a long tail – and playing drums with a pair of paintbrushes, with a band doing some unknown version of my favorite old Velvet Underground tune (the one where Mo Tucker sings "If you close the door, the night will last forever"). Now he's in his neighbor woman's apartment and it's all full of strange toy animals, bird cages, a stuffed fabric telephone and typewriter – all these are reminding me of the stuffed toys I used to make when I was a kid. There was a tiny blue fleece elephant, which I still have somewhere, a green cat made out of an old wool cable-knit sock, dolls with long dresses and funny little felt shoes with real laces ... I used to love making that stuff.
Seeing it in a movie makes me want to start sewing toys again. But what to do with them when they're done? Sure, I have a large supply of nieces and nephews ... that would be one place to send them. Or I could sell them, I suppose. Or just give them away. I've been stalking all these craft blogs lately, and am constantly surprised at how madly people seem to love even just the most basic handmade things. It seems like a very supportive community, but I've been avoiding entering it because ... hmm. I guess because ... well, hmm. Why? Because what if people are mean to me? Or don't like my stuff? Or do like it, and steal my designs?
I have set myself a goal, however, of stepping over all these "what ifs" and putting at least a few little things into a shop at Etsy, which, if you don't already know about it, is a nice place to start sharing artwork without having to deal with any kind of pressure to produce more or faster or better than you want to, or can. I will post a link here when I have something to show.
Finally, I'm still thinking about this Lent thing. Ash Wednesday is this week – this Wednesday – and the closer it gets, the more nervous I feel about getting up early. I never felt this way when I gave up chocolate, or even sugar. I knew those would be hard, but I never worried that I wouldn't be able to do it. Getting up early scares me, though. Maybe because my only real experience of waking up very early took place during the years when I was having depression and panic disorders, when I would wake up at 3 or 4 in the morning in a deep, sweating, nauseous panic and feel absolutely terrified to open my eyes ... But this is not going to be like that. For one thing, I'm not planning to get up at 4 a.m. Mr. A and I have discussed it and I think it's going to be something more like 6:22, which is still early, but very doable. Possibly 6:44. I'll unveil the actual plan as soon as I decide for sure what I'm going to do.
But for now, I have at least one more day to sleep until I wake up naturally – tomorrow, Presidents' Day. And Tuesday, too, except that on Tuesday I think I'll be going in to work early, hoping to get a jump on a deadline I'm afraid is going to bite me on the back later this week. I'm not going to think about that right now though. Right now, all I have to do is get Tater comfortable, get me comfortable, and get to sleep. So I'm going to go do that.
The swelling isn't bad, and the incision doesn't look infected, but his licking woke me up this morning – I had thought he wouldn't be able to reach that one – and the area was starting to look a little angry. So I applied warm cloths for a half hour at a time, every hour or two, and it really brought the swelling down AND seems to have stopped him from wanting to lick so much. I'm glad I still have one more day to keep an eye on him before I have to go back to work; I'm hoping I won't have to make him wear one of those horrible Elizabethan collars during the day. If he still feels inclined to lick tomorrow, I may try having him wear a t-shirt instead and see if that discourages him enough.
Other plans for the holiday include spending some time in the yard again (this time in the sun), washing the dishes again, and installing new front and rear tubes on my bike. They were a Valentine's day present from Mr. A, along with some fancy silk lingerie – well, lightweight silk long johns – which are my kinda lingerie. I'm excited about the tubes most of all – my front one has been going flat every couple of days or so, and the back one is okay but it has a Presta valve and I'm always worried it will go flat when I'm out and about, because I can only pump it back up again at home, where I have the Presta adaptor. So now I'll have new Schrader tubes on both wheels (plus Mr. Tuffys). Such an exciting life I lead!
In the background right now I am watching the Science of Sleep, which a friend at work recommended to me. Visually, I'm enjoying it very much. Right now the guy is dressed in a furry brown bear suit – only with a long tail – and playing drums with a pair of paintbrushes, with a band doing some unknown version of my favorite old Velvet Underground tune (the one where Mo Tucker sings "If you close the door, the night will last forever"). Now he's in his neighbor woman's apartment and it's all full of strange toy animals, bird cages, a stuffed fabric telephone and typewriter – all these are reminding me of the stuffed toys I used to make when I was a kid. There was a tiny blue fleece elephant, which I still have somewhere, a green cat made out of an old wool cable-knit sock, dolls with long dresses and funny little felt shoes with real laces ... I used to love making that stuff.
Seeing it in a movie makes me want to start sewing toys again. But what to do with them when they're done? Sure, I have a large supply of nieces and nephews ... that would be one place to send them. Or I could sell them, I suppose. Or just give them away. I've been stalking all these craft blogs lately, and am constantly surprised at how madly people seem to love even just the most basic handmade things. It seems like a very supportive community, but I've been avoiding entering it because ... hmm. I guess because ... well, hmm. Why? Because what if people are mean to me? Or don't like my stuff? Or do like it, and steal my designs?
I have set myself a goal, however, of stepping over all these "what ifs" and putting at least a few little things into a shop at Etsy, which, if you don't already know about it, is a nice place to start sharing artwork without having to deal with any kind of pressure to produce more or faster or better than you want to, or can. I will post a link here when I have something to show.
Finally, I'm still thinking about this Lent thing. Ash Wednesday is this week – this Wednesday – and the closer it gets, the more nervous I feel about getting up early. I never felt this way when I gave up chocolate, or even sugar. I knew those would be hard, but I never worried that I wouldn't be able to do it. Getting up early scares me, though. Maybe because my only real experience of waking up very early took place during the years when I was having depression and panic disorders, when I would wake up at 3 or 4 in the morning in a deep, sweating, nauseous panic and feel absolutely terrified to open my eyes ... But this is not going to be like that. For one thing, I'm not planning to get up at 4 a.m. Mr. A and I have discussed it and I think it's going to be something more like 6:22, which is still early, but very doable. Possibly 6:44. I'll unveil the actual plan as soon as I decide for sure what I'm going to do.
But for now, I have at least one more day to sleep until I wake up naturally – tomorrow, Presidents' Day. And Tuesday, too, except that on Tuesday I think I'll be going in to work early, hoping to get a jump on a deadline I'm afraid is going to bite me on the back later this week. I'm not going to think about that right now though. Right now, all I have to do is get Tater comfortable, get me comfortable, and get to sleep. So I'm going to go do that.
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