Blog fail week...streaming

It's the 19th of October today. In my head, it's somewhere around the 5th, as evidenced by the number of blog posts I have written in October, all of which fit on the page without having to "go to older posts." All in all not a terribly bad thing (except the losing track of time part), I've just chosen other things to do with my time. I like to think I am the Mary in the Mary/Martha pair, and I have chosen the better part. But when one's mind continues to think about blogging, and then forgets everything one would, in fact, blog about, that's not good. Maybe someday I will forget that I blog and I'll be relieved of such torture.

In the meantime, I will just make an attempt to remember any little tidbit that might be noteworthy. Photos help.

I truly intended to take my quiet Friday evening and write a blog post about the week. The boys were gone at a high school football game and it was just Faith and I. I fixed us a girl dinner (stuff the boys won't eat -- mashed peas, salmon patties, creamy noodles) and sat down to enjoy dinner and a movie. Somewhere around the introduction to Munchkinland I noticed a fierce itchy spot up under my blouse sleeve on the inside of my upper arm, pulled my sleeve up, and noticed three very red bite marks close together. We had been concerned that the cat might have "a flea" (denial much?) because I saw her biting herself one day (we checked her belly but never found any bugs). She is an indoor cat, but occasionally scoots out the door when we let the dog in or out. When I saw her biting herself I ordered some flea medication (a once a month pill) from the online vet med service our veterinarian uses, but it has apparently been shipped Pony Express. It had not arrived as of yesterday. I quickly Googled flea bites (we were much dumber and more at peace before Google) and it looked like a real possibility that I had three flea bites, cue all-over-body itching. Faith and I pinned the cat to the floor to check her belly again and I SAW TWO FLEAS.

God has spared me, thus far, of ever having to deal with bugs (I refer mostly to the parasitic kind), and I am eternally grateful, because two fleas sent me into a huge freak out. We locked the cat up, went to the pet store to buy the very-expensive-but-guaranteed-to-kill-fleas-in-30-minutes pills, came home and administered them to the dog and the cat (getting scratched to hell and back by the latter), cleaned up the dinner dishes, and proceeded to clean the entire upstairs, washing all the bedding that the cat comes in contact with. I fell into bed only after my bedding was dry, around 11:30 and then scratched all night. Today I hate cats, hate all domesticated animals, and hope whoever first thought it was a good idea to bring any animal indoors to live is spending eternity scratching flea bites.

This morning I am going to go back to the pet store and buy the flea preventive for the cat (we already use it on the dog) so I can hopefully stop thinking about fleas, and stop scratching.

So, there went my peaceful Friday night in which I would blog and catch you up on all the news. 

You have been spared.

I'll just give you tiny tidbits of news instead.

A week ago I had a cystoscopy (bladder scope) and the doctor said my bladder looked pretty red. I had two recent UTIs and she thought that was probably the reason, so she put me on a medication that makes the urine inhospitable to bacteria -- not an antibiotic. I had pain most of the weekend which got much worse on Sunday and Monday. On Monday, I found out there was another UTI -- three in two months, hence the pain. Unfortunately they are all three from different bacteria (I guess fleas are not my greatest worry), so now I'm on the third antibiotic in two months, along with all my other medications. I feel like a geriatric patient, or someone suffering from something very serious.

I spent a lot of time this week knitting (see above re Mary/Martha) and finished one of my mom's socks. Here are my unpublished Yarn Along photos. I finished one since the photo was taken. I was listening to a book on my iPhone -- So B. It by Sarah Weeks. Really good book, and I highly recommend it. I think it is categorized as juvenile fiction, though at 288 pages I would question that categorization. The story also addresses the issue of a young girl seeking out her father, whom she has never known, so there is the issue of extra-marital relations (outside marriage -- neither was married), although both parents are severely mentally handicapped, and the "relations" are not at all delved into. I loved the narrator of this book, and can never get over how one person's voice can make or break an audio book.

Since then I listened to The Absolutist by John Boyne, which was depressing, plain and simple. I do not recommend it. My moods may be too susceptible to literary influence, but I don't recommend it for any one.

Last Sunday, we had a missionary visit our parish. He was Fr. Glenn from Food for the Poor, and he is working in Haiti with earthquake victims (can you believe it's been three and a half years since that earthquake?). He spoke for quite a long time about the work that still needs to be done there, and the permanent housing they are providing for those still living in tent villages. I decided to make a half dozen or so rosaries to sell in my Etsy shop, the proceeds from which will be our gift to Fr. Glenn's mission. This is the first in the bunch. Besides knitting, I spent my "better part" time wrapping beads -- all good.

I am donating my supplies so all of the proceeds will be sent to Haiti directly to Fr. Glenn. I will have this rosary available in my shop later today, and I'll post pictures of the rest as I finish them.

I'm off now, to battle the fleas, and feed the troops.