For the most part, I did not have a good St. Patrick's Day. I had a crappy night's sleep - this on a new memory foam mattress topper WTH? - falling asleep at 12, then waking up at 6, 7, 8, and giving up at 9. Took a small nap from 11:30-1:30 because I had to. Been up and cranky the rest of the day.

Too bad we don't have any beer... that might help the cranky.

Had the internet on my computer DIE a sudden death. After yelling at Sis to reset the modem (which she politely refused to do until I screamed at her - sorry Sis), it still wasn't working. I tried everything I knew how to do: reset the network connection, disable/enable the network adapter, turn off/on the computer. EVERYTHING. Nothing worked. So, finally, I resorted to calling AT&T tech support, praying that I wouldn't get someone overseas. I have no idea if he was local, but he figured out my problem. The cat had stepped on just the right combo of keys that are a shortcut to turn off the network connection. Turns out, on a Dell laptop, you can hit Fn + F2 and toggle your internet connection on or off. Huh. I had no idea. Never worked on my older Dell laptops. Neither did the hibernate shortcut (Fn Esc), but that works, too. AWESOME. Now, instead of waiting forever for the thing to power down, it takes just seconds! Yay! I did end up apologizing to the sister for weirding out on her. I blame it on the bad sleep. She forgave me, grudgingly.

Can you tell that the meds aren't really working right now? I CAN. Ugh. At least it's only a week or so until I see the pshrink again and he can fix me (hopefully). It's not helping that my headaches haven't gotten better since the last time I saw the neurologist, either. Still painful, the lidocaine patches aren't helping, and there are still knots under my eyebrows at the injection sites. That's not supposed to still be there three weeks out, I don't think. At least I'm seeing her tomorrow, so she can maybe straighten me out.

Have to take a bath in a little while and get all nice and clean for my appointment tomorrow. I'm having to take Mom to work and then take the car up to see the Doc. I wish I had enough time to go to the park, but I don't have quite enough. I did, however, take a short walk today to the mailbox (it's one of those communal box groups in a subdivision so the post office workers can be lazy increase productivity or some shit like that). It was a perfectly blue sunny day. No clouds, a little wind, and a temp of about 68. BEAUTIFUL. I just wish I had thought to bring my camera. Maybe tomorrow.

I'm waiting on my books to arrive. MORE BOOKS. Yes. I'm loving having presents come in the mail. I finally finished The Time Quartet by Madeliene L'Engle. A Wrinkle in Time was as good as I remembered, and even better now that I have a larger vocabulary, an even better imagination, and a better working concept of the space/time continuum (thanks Star Trek!). I was finally able to get into both A Wind in the Door and A Swiftly Tilting Planet. The time jumps in Planet were quite interesting, and compounded L'Engle's theme of one tiny thing makes a huge difference to the universe. However, there was one drawback to this collection. They were put in the order they were published in. Which is all fine and dandy, but it screws with the chronology of the books. The first two (Wrinkle, Door) are set within a year of one another. Planet was set about 10 years into the future from those books. The final book in the series, Many Waters, is actually set between the others, about 5 years from Door. This really threw me for a loop, as I had finally gotten used to the characters being lots older by the time I finished Planet. Not only that, but the first three are mainly focused on the sister Meg Murray, and her youngest brother, Charles Wallace. The last one (Waters) is primarily focused on the middle kids, the twins Sandy and Dennys Murray. I honestly, couldn't get through the last book. I really didn't care at all what happened to the twins, who, in the other three books, were secondary characters only minimally useful if at all. Overall: B-. I'm starting on my Vonnegut collection tonight - Cat's Cradle, Slaughterhouse 5, and Breakfast of Champions. I'm intrigued and hope I enjoy them. I'll let y'all know.

Oh, HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY! To everyone who is celebrating. Next year I'll come up with some better cheer. Then again, they closed down Bennigan's and I have no idea where local Irish flavor is to be had. Hmm.

[rant] AT&T Uverse service is generally good. I love that I can record 4 shows at once, and watch another that's recorded. I love that I can access the DVR downstairs with my box up in my room, so I can watch shows that were recorded without having to go downstairs. However, I REALLY HATE a couple of things:

1) The voice-prompt on their main 800 number. It almost always sends me to the wrong department, even after I gave the correct answers and it confirmed my requests. And, having to spend 5 minutes just getting to the correct prompt for Uverse is really a bitch.

2) After hours, the tech support people are in some other country. I had to repeat everything I said four times, after she confirmed everything I said by repeating it back to me. I realize that's how they're taught, but FUCK it's annoying. When in customer service, you are generally taught to confirm what the caller is saying with an, "Alright, let me see if I can help you with x." NOT, "So you want me to help you with x?" All it does is piss off the customer. All I wanted was the way to access my DVR remotely so I didn't have to go downstairs and mess with it. Part of the perk with this system. However, the link from the main Uverse online console where you can access your account and pay the bill, etc. was not working. The link that said "remote access for your DVR" sent me to u-verse.sbc.yahoo.com (the main homepage with the sign in link). BIG FUCKING HELP. So, after explaining this concept to the woman on the phone about five times, she finally talked me through signing on to the main AT&T Yahoo console. EXCRUCIATINGLY SLOWLY. Like I am a moron or something. Not even my mother would need that kind of slowness to get the job done. So finally, I get to the correct spot and the module to access the DVR isn't there. She tells me to try x, and x isn't an option on my screen. She tells me to look for y. Y doesn't exist either. That's when I realized that she was across the globe. I was probably fairly snotty with her after that, but I was very annoyed by that point. Finally I figured it out on my own, but it still wouldn't access. It turns out that the damn DVR box has to be ON for me to remotely access it. Mother FUCKER. So I still have to go downstairs to turn it on. What a waste of time and energy on my part, trying to get this fixed. *flabbergasted sigh*

In other complaints: My foam mattress pad has decided to be a little bitch and wrinkle. Like, little tiny wrinkles that I can't get out. So it's now like I'm sleeping on speed bumps. And naturally they form right under my hips, so it digs into the fibromyalgia pressure spots. PAIN. And bad sleep. So I'm all cranky. Need to get a better one when Mom gets paid on Friday. Like, one that isn't 1/2" thick. Whatever you do, DON'T get the $15 mattress pad at Target. It SUCKS.
[/rant]

ETA: When you take of a foam mattress topper, and the result is that the mattress (with no real padding of its own) feels really squishy and nice, you've got a bad mattress topper. The damn thing is now out in the hallway waiting for next trash day. Grr. Then again, what should I have expected for $15? You get what you pay for, obviously.

Woke up at 8 FREAKING O'CLOCK this morning. After getting to bed at 3. Yeah. And, naturally, I couldn't go back to sleep for more than 15 minutes. Freaking sleep hygiene. So, it turned out that Mom went with Sis to her appointment, and then Sis took Mom to work. This worked out well for me and Mom, since that allowed me to take Mom's car to the neurologist's. Since the appointment was at 1:15 and Mom had to be at work at 3, I was afraid she wouldn't make it on time if she came with me. It turned out that I was right. I didn't even get called back to a room until 1:45 and didn't see the doctor until after 2. I didn't leave until after 3:15. It would have been very bad for Mom.

So: I did see the doc today. We talked. She looked at my headache tracking chart. I didn't realize it, but I'm having headaches every day, and bad headaches every three or so. We did more nerve blocks (about which I am still dubious), this time not in my neck, but on my face. HOLY CRAP. She did one in each temple and one under each eyebrow. OMFG are the nerves above my eyes painful. And that was before the injections. (I'm really glad I took the extra couple of minutes to pluck my eyebrows this morning!) I thought I was going to die of pain when the anesthetic and steroid was going in. I now know for a fact that I will NEVER be getting botoxed. It hurts too fucking much. I don't make a habit of cursing around my physicians as I find it tends to put them off. But I threw out both a "damn!" and an "Oh My GOD that REALLY FUCKING HURT." She took it in stride. She's so fabulous. I had to go ahead and disclose my abuse history, because both Mom and Sis thought it was a good idea to tell the doc, and that it might be partially causing the headaches. Wow. I was really impressed with the doc. She just looked so stunned. She asked some questions, but didn't pry more than was necessary. At the end of my appointment she told me that she thought I was really strong and was amazingly stable considering. She even gave me a hug instead of just shaking my hand. I really like her. I now have two doctors I feel I can trust completely - my ob/gyn (whom I trusted so much after just our first meeting that I let her perform major surgery on me just a few days later), and now my neurologist. Yay! Now, all I need is to learn to trust my pshrink. Baby steps.

The afternoon sucked. Then, I had to deal with the evil stepbitch. She has a whole list of rules of how she wants my sister and me to request of her to pay the bill for our prescriptions at the pharmacy. We have to call in the refills, then e-mail her between Monday and Thursday. She has to call only one Walgreens because it's the only one that has a manager willing to deal with her taking a credit card # over the phone. Most won't in order to protect against identity theft, or the possibility of liability if identity theft happened. I'm hoping that someday she's going to realize that she should put the card back on express pay so that we can pick up our scrips without having to bother her. But she's such a fucking control-freak that she probably won't let that happen. She bitched me out today because I called her after my appointment so I could get her to pay for the scrip the doctor had just called in. Had my appointment been yesterday, I would have just e-mailed her. But, since it had just been called in, and I needed the meds for tonight (the injections provoke a headache from the nerve irritation - they don't like having stuff injected in them and so yell back for a day or so). She will only call the walgreens between 8a-6p because that's when the manager works. And, if it's a Friday after 12, she's basically said we're out of luck until Monday. Well, I wasn't going to be in pain all weekend just because it would inconvenience her. So I called. It turned out that Sis called in her refills to the walgreens that's closer to her apartment instead of the one with the manager that agreed to The Stepbitch's terms (after she gave him phone sex). BIG SIN, according to TSB. So I got bitched at about both me calling her after 12 on a Friday, AND Sis' calling in her refills to the "wrong" walgreens. *MASSIVE EYE ROLL*

THEN... I stopped by Sonic and treated myself to a well-earned Route 44 Cherry Limeade (no lime rinds). I was sitting on my bed just about to open up Semagic and post, but Fluffy jumped on the bed. She startled me and I gripped the cup of limeade in reflex. Put my thumb right through the styrofoam. The hole was at the bump just above the bottom part of the cup. MY DRINK WAS ALMOST FULL. Approximately 40oz of cherry limeade started gushing out of the cup onto my bed, the lapdesk I use for my computer, my book sitting on the bed, the tv remote, and me. Soaked the mattress and the sheets. As I screeched when the ice hit my legs, the cat jumped from the bed across to the top of my dresser. She then proceeded to bump the cable box which pushed the family heirloom hobnail lamp to the FLOOR. I heard shattering glass, and screamed like someone had just stabbed me. Sis was downstairs asleep, and was startled so much that she ran upstairs to make sure I was okay. I was shaken and crying. I was fine, but I was afraid that the lamp was history. By the Grace of God, the lamp was unharmed, but the fluorescent bulb in it broke - the glass I heard breaking. OMG I was so worried about that lamp. Mom would have been incredibly upset if the lamp broke. She's taken a chance trusting me with the priceless family furniture, and I swore I would do everything to keep it in good shape. I intend to keep that promise. The cats are now no longer allowed in my room. Period. Which, in some ways, is a good thing for me, because they can bug me and interrupt my sleep.

I had to sit downstairs for two hours while my sheets washed and dried. My head began to ache. I'm now tired, my face hurts when I move it (particularly squeezing my eyes shut, so I guess I shouldn't do that), and have to pick up Mom in about 30 minutes and then go to the Walgreens to pick up my scrips. After that, I'm taking an extra 50mg of seroquel and passing out for about 10 hours. Weekend, here I come.

Enough bitching. Random non sequitur musing: I think Jason Cameron from DIY channel's "Desperate Landscapes" is somehow being paid under the table by growers of arborvitae. He puts one in every single landscape design he does. I mean, they're pretty, but... damn. Every. Single. Landscape. Where's the variety?

I finally moved upstairs!! YAY!! I have an actual bed off the floor! I have a window, a closet, a dresser, and lamps that I don't have to cross a room to turn off. I also have PRIVACY. I could sleep naked if I wanted to (I don't). The only problem currently is that I don't have a tv. That will be remedied in a little over a week's time when the AT&T guy comes to install the box upstairs. Yay!

Fluffy has decided that my room is her new favorite place to be. It's comfy, and away from the boys. And near her litter box (she doesn't use the one downstairs because they do). The boys come and go, but she stays nearby.

The bed I'm sleeping on is one of our family heirlooms; a several-hundred-years-old mahogany sleigh bed with matching dresser. I also have one of the mahogany secretaries and a small mahogany table acting as my bedside table. Mom also let me have one of the cut-glass lamps (the base is Waterford crystal, looks kinda like this), and another awesome lamp. It's a Fenton Hobnail milk glass antique lamp - looks kind of like this. I love it. Being surrounded by furniture my family has had for generations gives me a very happy feeling.

It gets quiet up here at night, though. I can't wait for my tv. For now, I have my computer and set iTunes up so I can listen to non-stop classical (well, it's more like a whole bunch of songs from soundtracks, but it's instrumental, at least).

Last night I had a scare with my computer - I got the blue screen of death. It's been doing that more and more lately. I know my poor laptop's on its last legs. I am trying to save up money, but it's really hard. At least I know my next one can be fairly cheap, because I don't do much with it besides read my email, blogs, and play some online games that don't need a lot of heavy equipment to run. It's not like I'm playing WoW or something. It's just online solitaire and stuff. I dread the day when I can't get this thing to boot up at all. What will I do when I can't read my f-list any time I want?

We also re-arranged furniture downstairs. Mom decided that the living room layout wasn't good. So we pushed the loveseat to under the big window, and moved the wingback chair to the opposite side of the room next to the big secretary desk. The couch stayed basically in the same place. Wow, there is so much more space moving the loveseat. The room is now wide open instead of closed-off like before. I could do a workout video on the floor and have plenty of room in there now. It also helps that I'm not sleeping on a twin-size air mattress on the floor.

I'm tired. Gonna go to bed now, I think. Putting furniture together and moving couches has taken it out of me.

I've been tossing and turning a lot in my sleep, and... well...*ahem*... ANYWAYS... my queen size bed's due for an overhaul. It's seen it's better days. It is 7 years old now. Seen a lot of restless fish-flopping-on-land sleep - I've been ending up wrapped like a burrito in my sheet lately - and... well, two relationships spanning almost the entire time. The mattress is saggy and unsupportive. I'm starting that thing where I get WAY better sleep at other people's houses just because their mattress is better. The box springs are shot. And the frame squeaks. A lot. There's a lot of give in a frame that used to be solid. But what I really came to complain about is the slats. About once every three-five days or so, the end of the slat under the head of the bed slips out and falls to the floor. This is highly annoying. Because it works itself from a foot down the frame until the space before the headboard. My bed is in the corner of the room this time instead of up against one wall as per usual. So I only have access to my side of the bed. This causes a problem when the side of the slat that comes out is on the wall side. LIKE TONIGHT. Normally, it's the side near my nightstand - the side I sleep on - so it's a pain, but less of a problem to lie on my back and fix it like I was changing the oil in my car. Though I've bashed my head on the corner of the nightstand sitting back up again that I'm really tired of that. Tonight, I had to wrangle the incredibly heavy mattress OMG until I took most of the weight off of the box spring so I could walk oh-so-gingerly along the rail on the wall side of the bed. Then, I had to carefully sink my foot in between the wall and side rail, hoping beyond hope that my leg wouldn't get caught. Then, while trying not to put any weight on my right leg that was pointed out to the side and balanced on the box springs, bend over, lift up the box springs, grab the offending slat, and try to push it back onto the railing enough that it hopefully wouldn't fall again. I have no hopes that it will stay put.

I think the slat's too short. Or I'm doing something very strange in my sleep, etc. that I wasn't doing before. Because my slats NEVER slid like this before. I wonder what's different.

Anyway, I'm really glad that when we move to Houston, I'm getting a new bed from one of Heather's friends. Because this? Getting seriously old.