Bliss and Success

Still sore today.  Nothing new there.  I think I'm better in that incremental way that people feel better with their colds when the fever goes away but they're still coughing and draining enough snot to go into national production.  At least I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.  

Also, I had my first mammogram today.  I think I must be a member of the lucky few because it didn't hurt.  At all.  Squeeze the boobies this way, squeeze 'em that way, and you're all done.  It was firm but not at all painful pressure.  Piece of cake.  After my TMI procedure I was all ready to be pain endurance woman, too.  Got some ibuprofen into me, coached myself to relax, take deep breaths that reach below the navel, and concentrate forward through time with wordless calm.  I'd say it was a huge disappointment but actually it was a relief.  I won't hesitate to go in for a mammogram on the suggested timetable.  The bummer part, aside from having no chance to use my (very limited) zen training?  No excuse to go have a conciliatory ice cream at Cold Stone.  Nothing to do but to go home, have lunch and wait until it was time to pick the boy up from school.

I was missing my man pretty desperately yesterday but I got to talk to him today and I'm walking on clouds on air.  A best friend and lover's voice develops a direct connection to the soul.  It doesn't amaze me at all that I'm in a great mood today.  My spirit has had a big chunk of emotional chocolate and is riding the endorphin high.  Weeeee!

So it's been a day of bliss and success.  Now I just have to finish up my reading, finish up my financial stuff for the week and I can finally settle into some semblance of summer vacation.

Despite doc's best efforts, Kami is still writing

Today I had a (TMI! medical procedure.)  Everything went smoothly and other than some very minor discomfort I'm doing fab.  Fab, unfortunately in this case, means I'm walking around like an old woman (not hunched but shuffling) and easing slowly when I get up and down.  I'm sure I'll be less sore tomorrow morning.  By Thursday I should be feeling back to normal, just in time for a mammogram.  I tell ya, trying to stay healthy is a lot of work and yuckiness.  But at least my hand feels a lot better.  It still hurts when I make a fist, but the fact that I can make a fist is spectacularoso.  

I got a lot of novel writing (by hand) done at Fireside today.  I broke an old man's hip.  I'm such a meanie!  It's really good that my characters can't get to me because I'd be in big trouble with some serious bad-asses.  

And now, for my next trick, I will finish (I hope!) reading and critiquing a book manuscript before bedtime.  I've got about ten more days to work on it but I want it done so that I can get back to my real job eating bon bons.  Er, I mean writing.  Yeah.  And maybe even some art!

Broken, not sprained, and the Rejectophile

I got a call from the girl's doc yesterday.  The radiologist saw something on the film, so she gets to go back this morning for a consult.  I don't think they'll change the splint/ibuprofen thing, but they may talk to her about what it means to have a bone break and how long she'll have to take care of it and how.  She's feeling okay, doesn't seem to have any functionality issues and she's getting around at school, which is the important part as far as I'm concerned.

In writing news, I got a swift rejection from Sword and Sorceress 23.    Sounds like it was mainly a miss by tone, or at least she didn't spend any of her time to mention any other issues.  That's great news as far as I'm concerned.  She also reminded me to keep sending it out.  I'll definitely follow that advice.

I have yet to meet (in email or in a rejection letter, or, come to think of it, face to face) a mean editor.  So, where are the heartless fiends that writers complain about?  I've definitely got to send out more stories.  I suspect that they're a rare or even a dying breed (if they ever existed) and I think I'll make it my goal to find one before they disappear altogether.

So, added to my aim to become a regularly published author and my goal to keep adding to my rejection collection (does that make me a rejectophile?) I'm adding a quest to find a mean editor.  My quest will be especially hard because I'm only going to be submitting to paying markets and focusing on ones that pay professional rates, but I guess every quest has its limitations.  Sometimes when you're looking for Aztec gold you can afford to go to Guatemala but not necessarily Belize or any other central American country.  Also, I won't count any meanness that results from baiting, so I can only submit professional, polite cover letters.

I have a feeling this is going to be a tough quest. 

Doctor and Vet bills mounting

Another beautiful day in paradise.

I was out taking pics of the garden and I'd planned on getting to take some more of birds that come visit the feeder.  I'd just taken this pic of a mutant double tulip (the double flower is normal--but the two large flowers together come from the same stem, and that's not normal) when the phone rang.

It's my mom.  The girl took a bad fall off her bike.  She's okay except for a very swollen wrist and my mom was taking her to the hospital for Xrays.  

We met at the hospital.  Surprisingly they didn't make us wait long.  Aside from a small hiccup (the tech took images of her hand but not the wrist so we had to return to Xray) the staff took great care of her.  No break, just bad soft tissue damage.  So she's in a brace and on ibuprofen.  On the way home she got a chocolate milkshake to help take her mind off the pain.  What is it with me and wanting to reward clumsiness with yummy treats?  As much as it makes no sense, I'll probably keep doing it, though.  

In Kat news, the red-eared one kept after her stitches so she got to play the part of a kitty flower for a while.  She's being good now, but if I catch her at it again, the e-collar is going back on.  Like all right-thinking cats with the barest shred of survival instinct and/or dignity, she hates it.  I don't blame her.  Her ears are red because despite the mites being taken care of for the most part, she also has a yeast infection.  For those of you contemplating adopting a stray cat, this is life as usual for the first several weeks.  Stray cats have ear problems, often have kitty colds due to the stress of being on their own, ear mites, fleas, intestinal parasites, ringworm (which they can pass onto humans) and they may be feline HIV positive or have feline leukemia among other things.  Those first vet bills are bad news.  The spay is the least of it.  We got her microchipped so she's all officially Kat Miller with a number and certificate.  If anyone is missing their kitty, sadly, they have missed their window of opportunity to reclaim her.  If anyone is looking for her, I hope they can hope and dream that someone good took their animal in and is taking good care of her.  I sometimes hope that about Misty and the Claireness, who we still miss terribly.