Snow, snow

Oh, February. I mustn't ever complain about snow, because we always need the moisture. But oh my, 10 more inches this week (actually 9.9 according to NOAA across the street, but I'm sure we got a tenth of an inch more in our yard), and it was heavy and wet. We have a wonderful neighbor who snowblows our walks, but when you get 10 inches, that's only the beginning. 

The snow fell on Friday, so yesterday and today we worked on it. It was in the 40s yesterday and the 50s (maybe 60s?) today, so that led to a lot of melting, a lot of flooded sidewalks. And today, working with the twins to open up the gutters so that the melted snow can reach the opening to the sewer (three doors down from us), I think I pulled a chest muscle. The sharp pain scared me -- am I having a heart attack? -- but later, reviewing the signs of a heart attack, I don't think it was a heart attack. The pain wasn't "squeezing," it was in the center and right, not the left side of my body, I wasn't short of breath, I didn't feel cold and clammy or nauseous. I felt like I ripped a muscle, and I still feel like that. It hurts a little to lift my arm. I took some ibuprofen and that has helped. I don't think I should put an ice pack on my chest.

What a pain. I've never pulled a chest muscle before, or whatever this muscle is. Probably if I'd been lifting weights like I'm supposed to be doing, this wouldn't have happened.

This week was very unimpressive, as weeks go. I've almost stopped pretending to make to-do lists, since I never do anything on them. I spent a few days mostly in bed, reading. Part of that was due to The Tale of Genji, which amazingly enough I managed to finish. But I also just didn't want to get up and do anything (the photo shows the snowy view out my window reflected in the mirror that I can see from my bed). I'm not sure if it's depression or I'm not feeling well. I think it's mainly February. I want to be hibernating, and so, therefore, I kind of am. What a bother to also need to do dishes and cooking and shopping and snow shoveling and laundry. No cleaning right now. Maybe in March I'll do some spring cleaning. The house could use it (once my chest muscle heals).

It was such a relief to finish Genji. That was, I believe, the hardest book on my Classics Challenge list, so now I feel like I can read anything. I'm not planning to move on to the next book until March, so for now I'm reading Barbara Pym, as I always do in February. For some years now I've read just two Pyms per year (in the old days I tried to read them all every February, and that was too hard). Last year I re-read Quartet in Autumn and The Sweet Dove Died, so this year I re-read her very last novel, A Few Green Leaves, which is actually one of my favorites, and then I went back to the beginning, to the posthumous collection of her early unpublished novels, Civil to Strangers. It's not one of my favorites -- I don't like the first three early novels in it -- but I adore the fourth, So Very Secret, so that's fun to read. And then I like some of the short stories.

Two of the early, unpublished Pym works that I don't like feature a character that is supposed to be her, Barbara, and a character that is supposed to be the young man she was in love with for many years, Henry Harvey, and I just don't have any patience for that relationship and the way she portrays it. The exception, barely, is her first published novel, Some Tame Gazelle, and that's because the Barbara character has become more of a character and less her (the Henry Harvey character is still irritating, but less so). But in her later books, though there's always a female character who stands in for her, they get gradually less like her and the books get better. There is a lesson to be learned there. In my own writing, I know I need to stop writing about myself.

(The blog doesn't count! Blogs are allowed to be about you.)

When I finish that volume, probably tomorrow, I'll still have two weeks to read fun things (i.e., not classic Japanese literature), before diving back into the Challenge. I have a stack of possibles. The March book group book is a mystery set in Iceland, because one of our members is planning to visit Iceland over Spring Break. We are thinking of going to Nebraska (the trip that was planned for 2020 and had to be cancelled due to the pandemic), so maybe I'll get the book group to read a Nebraska book for April. Anyway, I'm looking forward to the Icelandic mystery.

Wordle was hard today:

Wordle 239 4/6

⬜⬜⬜🟩⬜
⬜⬜⬜🟩🟩
⬜🟨🟨🟩🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

For my first word, I chose "civil" because that was in the title of the Barbara Pym book I was reading. It's a dumb choice for a first Wordle word because it has a double letter, but it actually got me off to a good start, giving me the "i." My second word was "stain," which gave me the "in" ending. By my third word I had four out of five letters, but then I was stumped. I could not come up with a fifth word that had all those letters, never mind whether it was the right word or not. When I finally did hit on the right answer, at first I didn't even think it was a word, because I was pronouncing it wrong.

Teen B and I are enjoying doing Wordle together. He doesn't always get it on his own -- sometimes I have to help and sometimes he looks the word up (lots of people post the answer). Today I had to give him several hints. I don't make a big deal out of it if he cheats. I think it's excellent language practice for him, regardless of how much work he does. If he were more of a reader (i.e., if he ever read anything other than video game directions), it would be easier for him.

This coming week I have some things to do. Tomorrow is of course Valentine's Day and I feel as though I should do something for the twins, but I don't know what. Rocket Boy is sending a box, which I hope arrives tomorrow. It's probably candy from Merb's. And we have a bowl of Reese's hearts on the coffee table, plus lots of Girl Scout cookies in the freezer. So it would kind of be overkill if I made a Valentine's Day cake or cookies, but I still sort of feel like I ought to. We'll see. I'll probably be so low energy that I won't even clean the kitchen, and that will settle that.

Tuesday I see my new doctor. I was so cross with my doctor the last time I saw her that I determined I would never see her again. This meant, however, that I ran out of Metformin, because she would only prescribe a 3-month supply at a time. She required that I get my A1c tested AND come see her again before she'd renew the prescription, as if Metformin were a controlled substance or something. Stupid doctor. So I've been taking some really old extended-release Metformin left over from Kaiser, probably has lost some potency. So my blood sugar is probably up (might explain the lethargy? although I don't have any other typical symptoms -- not very thirsty, not peeing a lot). I really hope I like this new doctor and she doesn't think I'm a flake for quitting the other doctor. I'd like to get back on regular Metformin.

Wednesday we're supposed to have more snow, but they haven't made any predictions yet about how much snow. I hope it's not another 10 inches. No, bad, must not complain about snow. But still. That night is supposed to be "Transition Night" for the twins' new high school, and I hope it won't be cancelled. The Special Ed transition night was already cancelled due to snow (actually due to ice, it was the night of that ice storm we had a few weeks ago), and they said instead of rescheduling they would just combine it with the regular Transition Night. So now if the regular Transition Night is cancelled, I don't know what happens.

Thursday Teen B has his monthly orthodontia appointment, at which he will once again get yelled at for not wearing his bands and I will get yelled at for not forcing him to wear his bands.

I also need to bug my dentist about scheduling the "extraction" that needs to be done before I can get braces, and supposedly the eye doctor is going to call about scheduling an appointment (and I might as well schedule the twins for appointments too, since the place I took them to last year has closed). I also need to call the vet about having Mr. Merlino's nails clipped. 

So, a fun week -- a lot of medical stuff, more snow, maybe a school thing... well, it's just life.

I had a funny experience this week. Early Wednesday morning I had a vivid dream that I remembered every detail of, very unusual. That day, the 9th, was the 110th birthday of one of my aunts, and the dream was about my cousins, her sons, so I told them about the dream. Neither one of them remembered it was her birthday and certainly not her 110th (I noticed it on my birthday calendar later that day). The thing is, I felt as though I was supposed to share the dream with them -- even though the dream itself was basically goofy. But that got me started thinking about other times when I've had dreams that felt as though they were supposed to be shared. The most recent was back in October, when I dreamed about my sister's best friend -- and it turned out to be her birthday that day too. Again, the dream itself was goofy, but it seemed so odd that I would dream about my sister's friend on her birthday, especially since I had no idea it was her birthday. There was also something in the dream that seemed to come straight out of a feature story on NPR from the day before, according to Rocket Boy -- except that I hadn't listened to NPR and didn't know the story.

Sometimes I really feel as though I'm receiving messages from somewhere -- and then other times I think, no, it's just a coincidence. I certainly can't do it at will. 

Well, I'll leave it at that.

It's very late -- the twins have been in bed almost an hour -- and I should take a shower and go to bed. Or maybe do the dishes and go to bed -- I could take a shower tomorrow. Or maybe just go to bed. I'm tired. But I'd feel better if the dishes were done. OK, I'll do the dishes. And maybe take a shower. And go to bed. Anything I forgot to say, I can say next week.