Oh, right—I was recovering from cancer surgery, my sister and BIL came to visit, then we lost Jessie, and then there was the whole run-up to the election distracting me. Never mind.
So what’s happening in Casa Fletcher right now? Well, I am currently searching for contract technical writing or instructional design work because we need a buttload of repairs done on this house, I’m doing my best to finish up another Nicola book (which will bring my total of published books to 19), and I’m trying to improve my mood. I’m very, very tired of being broke and worrying about bills all the time, and the Brit is desperately homesick and wants to see his family again, hence the search for contract work.
Apart from that, everything is pretty much all right. There’s no sign of cancer in my jaw, I’ve pretty much regained full use although parts of my jawline are still numb and may be that way permanently, I’ve lost more weight and am currently at 277, and I am developing a raging desire to do some Swedish Death Cleaning and get rid of a LOT of the stuff in this house. Only problem is, more than half of it is some form of electronics that belong to the Brit and he wants to hang onto them Just In Case. Which I cannot fault him for—his hobby is resurrecting antique computers and he does use some of the stuff he’s hoarded. But I would really like to get access to the craft room again, which is currently chocka with electronics and old computer bits. Maybe I can convince him to winnow through it this fall, who knows. I can certainly go through a lot of my stuff in the meantime and get rid of it, but where can I dispose of over 20 porcelain dolls? I don’t want to chuck them in the garbage, but do little girls even want them these days? Decisions, decisions…
Fast forward to this weekend, when the cough came back with a vengeance. I went in Monday to get more cat steroids and gave them to her Monday and Tuesday, but her wheezing and coughing grew worse and very wet sounding. Wednesday morning she kept throwing up her food in little foamy puddles, so I brought her back into the vet who took another chest x-ray. Apparently there was something odd in the one from June but she wasn’t sure if it had been Jessie’s arm.
So we said our goodbyes and I brought her in to our vet. Jessie relaxed with painkillers and oxygen, and passed peacefully while I stroked her and told her how much we loved her. I like to think she’s currently hanging out with Uncle JJ and Uncle Jordan while my father feeds her tuna and tells her what a pretty girl she is.
The place is closed up like Fort Knox—all the blinds are down and drapes are drawn to keep the inside shady and as cool as possible naturally and ease the load on the AC units. The only other large appliance allowed to run during the day is the refrigerator—anything else has to wait until well after sundown and preferably when the temps drop back into the 80s. We’re doing our best to reduce the load as much as possible on Anita Gigawatt, dontchaknow.
Of course, it goes back up to triple digits tomorrow and will continue that way until Friday, but today it’s been in the eighties here, cool enough where I can crack a couple of windows open and let some fresh air in, much to the J Crew’s delight.
At least I’m upright and in good enough condition to sweep the downstairs, wash soiled litter collection mats and the Bachelorette Pad tray, wipe down the kitchen counters, do a load of laundry, and prep an episode for release on Kindle Vella tomorrow.
Due to a minor financial crunch I’m sticking to a strict budget for the week and staying away from most stores (I’ve done a stock-up at the supermarket and that will last us until Friday).
I’ll take Sunday off, I promise.
It never ceases to amuse me that Eric Bana, Scarlet Johansson, Natalie Portman, Benedict Cumberbatch, and Andrew Garfield from The Other Boleyn Girl went on to play The Hulk, Black Widow, Jane Foster/The Mighty Thor, Doctor Strange, and Spiderman in the MCU. I am nothing if not a font of meta knowledge.
The nice thing about knowing that I have weather migraines is that what helps regular migraines—caffeine, sugar, and aspirin—also helps weather migraines.
In any case the clouds are most definitely building to the west and south so this migraine was spot on when it came to predicting bad weather. But it’s still sunny at the moment and the local rabbit families are making the best of things and scampering around on the front lawns playing tag (or maybe trying to make baby bunnies, who knows). While all of this is going on Jemma and Jasmine are absolutely fascinated and are watching from the front window. Those two are the hunters in the J Crew so it’s not surprising that they’re keeping an eye on “meat on the hoof” and making the occasional hunting chitter. I keep having to explain that there are even larger predators out there, including falcons that could carry Jasmine off, and they’re safer staying inside and eating canned food, but I don’t think they believe me.
J.J. has been gone for a month. Which isn’t strictly true—March 22 was a Wednesday, which meant that the four week anniversary was on April 19. But none of that really matters.
Melanie Fletcher 