Tale of a Shooting Star…

Dummy me didn’t actually take the bulb with me to JoAnn, even though I know that I should have, but fortunately, I guessed correctly. They don’t seem to necessarily sell the light that I have anymore, but they had a clamp-on version that looked basically the same and I went off of the bulb that used, to be sure. Otherwise, I could have still made a reasonable guess, as the base of the bulb that mine uses is different from the others available. Turns out, the bulb for my lamp is the same as the bulb for my portable, so I could have kept on stitching on Saturday, had I switched out the bulbs. Oh well! Lesson learned. Those bulbs are expensive, though. I wish I had had a 40% off coupon with me, so the $30 bulb would have been much cheaper. But alas, I do not seem to get the JoAnn circulars, nor is it worth me trying to sign up again (I think this would be the third time) when I rarely actually get to the store.

While I was there, I perused the clearance aisle and picked up a package of clear rubber stamps that I can use for cards. I want to try my hand at some of these beautiful cards that people like Von and Christine make, although I don’t have the pretty printed papers that they use. I want to see if I can make it up a bit as I go along and come out with a product that’s half-way decent. In my spare time, though. When I’m not sleeping during the weekday evenings and stitching on the weekends. 😉

It looks like I’m averaging every other day in blogging over the past week. I hope that’s okay, although I think I already lost a number of my regular readers when I had that quiet spell during the depression episode this winter. Oh well. For those of you still hanging in there with me, thank you. 🙂

Speaking of the depression, have I mentioned that it’s been much better lately? I think I’m out of the woods for now, which is a pleasant thing to be able to say. I’m pretty sure it’s a combination of the weather/season change and being busier at work. The psychiatrist and I are convinced that I have a STRONG seasonal component to my depression. So much so that she’s tempted to reduce my anti-depressant during the summer months. Apparently, she has several patients whom she takes up on the anti-depressant over the winter and down over the summer. The problem with bi-polar disorder is that anti-depressants can stimulate manic episodes. The goal is to have me on the minimum amount possible so that I can stay stable in both directions. So far, I haven’t experienced any mania, at least I don’t think. It’s hard, at this point, to distinguish between mild mania and the unfamiliar feeling of having more energy and feeling good, so we’re keeping an eye on it.

I think I’m going to do a half-day at work today. I’ve put in some time every night from home this week and I’m just tired. We pushed the snooze button too many times this morning, which is fine, up to a certain point, but after so many uses of the snooze, our alarm shuts itself off. Which is what happened this morning. So, instead of getting in at 8:30 AM, I was just waking up. So, I got online from home and stayed on, in case of emergencies, until I was reasonably sure that my counterpart was at work. Then, I finally got ready and was in to work around 11:00 AM. Going home at 3:00 PM sounds really good to me. As does taking a nap. We’re having soggy, gloomy weather and I just ate lunch, so my warm, comfy bed is seeming pretty appealing right now. 😉 I wonder if I was a cat in a former life?

I have no clue what this weekend’s schedule is going to look like, but hopefully it will incorporate some stitching and minimal, if any, work. I’d like to have something to show for my weekend when I check in on Monday. Some progress on Barnabee’s Quest would be particularly nice!

Have a good weekend and a Happy Mother’s Day, everyone!

It’s not just a discussion point, it’s a command. 😆 I’ve definitely been in a much better mood lately, as things are starting to get busier at work. I hope that this trend continues, though I have a feeling that this week’s frenetic pace will drop off a little bit as we go along. But, for now, I’m happy as a clam, even if I’m overly busy.

I actually had to work this weekend, which made it a bit hectic. I worked at intervals late Friday night through Saturday morning, then we went to New Jersey for a birthday party and then to dinner with Terry’s dad. When we got back around 10:30 PM, I had to work some more and again, off and on through the night. You may ask how I did the intervals. It’s simple, Phoebe wakes us up now to go in the middle of the night, usually around 3 or 4 on the weekends, so I would get up with her and then check on how things were running, kick off more jobs as needed, etc. Then I would inevitably get up again at least one more time during the night and repeat the same process, except for the Phoebe part.

The downside was that my sleep patterns were greatly interrupted and I was quite tired on Sunday. The upside is that I was able to send some impressively-timed follow-up emails at 4 AM Sunday morning. 😉

During this hectic time at work, I have to retrain my body to get up earlier in the morning so that I can come in to support people when they need it. I haven’t been too successful so far this week, but I’m hoping to be able to get to a point where I can get up when I need to without feeling so tired in the morning. Right now, I’m getting to work around 9:30, but I’d like to shoot for 9:00, if not 8:30. That may not seem like much to most of you, but when you feel like I feel in the mornings, it makes it very difficult to drag myself out of bed.

Nothing to report in stitching news, since I worked and napped over the weekend. I really want to push myself to try to put more time in on Barnabee’s Quest, if at all possible, this weekend so that I can get closer to a finish!

This year’s allergy season seems to be in full force and must be 10 times worse than it’s been in the past. I don’t usually have a lot of allergy problems and don’t typically take anything other than an Alavert (over-the-counter medicine) every once in a while. But this weekend… WHAM! I woke up on Saturday morning with itchy eyes and throat. As we went through the day, it got progressively worse. Just by the time I had showered and we went out to run some errands, I was stuffy with my breathing a little bit more difficult than normal, making me feel worn out. I transplanted the four african violets and two more houseplants that we bought that morning. By the end of the day, I felt like I had a cold on top of the allergies, with coughing and a headache coming on. I didn’t sleep very well Saturday night because the stuffiness worked its way into my sinuses and gave me a headache. Sunday, we lounged around the house and I was able to do some good stitching on Barnabee’s Quest (progress picture to be posted later, once I download it from the camera when I get home). I still didn’t sleep well last night, not really sleeping after about 4:30 AM. I laid and rested my body as much as I could, but my mind was awake the whole time. So, my body’s not in too bad shape, but my brain’s not in great shape. Not to mention, I had a headache the whole time I was laying there. All this when I’ve been on Allegra for nearly a week! It’s been a rough weekend, but it’s raining today (thank goodness), so hopefully that will subdue the pollen a bit so that I can sleep tonight without pain. If this continues too much long, I foresee another doctor visit in my future. This time for an allergy medication specifically for nasal allergies, preferably in nasal spray form, so I know it’s going straight to where it needs to be.

No worries, though. I’m still my positive, cheerful self. This too shall pass.