Wretched bridesmaid...

When Becky was visiting, she helped me each evening with my 15-minute pick-up session to set the first floor to rights.  In the living room, there is an antique walnut bench beneath the window on the side of the house.  I have begun using it as the place for my blankets, since I now have three that reside downstairs:  the quilt (for myself and for guests who are cold in my abode), my weighted blanket, and Amos' weighted blanket.  One evening, when I glanced at Becky putting the quilt she had just folded onto the bench, without a moment's thought I immediately said, "You have to fold it into a rectangle shape because it is a rectangle bench."

How churlish of me!

Becky, being most gracious and merciful, did not take umbrage over my correction but merely picked up the quilt and refolded it into a rectangle shape.

One of the regrets of my life is the slow (and inescapable) realization of just how rude I was at Becky's wedding.  You see, she chose a sheath dress for the bridesmaids and I believed quite strongly that I looked like a stuffed pink sausage wearing mine.  I shared my opinion with her too many times to count.  How wretched a bridesmaid was I!!  I never thought about it being her day.  I was utterly consumed with being that stuffed pink sausage.  Thankfully, I do not believe any photos survive.  It is also my opinion that the wedding photographer agreed with my assessment for I was not in many ... if any ... of the casual shots.  That's okay with me.

Still, umpteen years later, Becky's wedding is still all about me!

How churlish of me!

Well, the lingering realization that by correcting Becky's folding I might have hurt her feelings and dumped dodo upon her assistance in the evenings, has been niggling at me in small moments.  Especially moments filled with pain and all that is dark and dreary fills my being, such as battling a two-day migraine.  Oh, how I wish I were a better friend to Becky and to Mary!

Two-day migraine.
Have I mentioned how much I HATE my body?
SIGH.

However, I have managed to hold onto one of the lessons I learned from Becky's visit:  Proper folding IS possible!  My fitted sheets still look nothing like hers, but they are actually folded instead of mostly wadded up and smushed down to appear as if they are folded ... from a great distance.

[Ignore how awkwardly high my pile of blankets is please.]

I am happy to note that, after stopping to approach the problem like my friend would do so, I have figured out the most efficient way to fold all three blankets into a rectangular shape so that they remain atop the bench.  That means that picking up the top two, which are usually out on the couch or the GREEN chair by the end of the day, and folding them to set back on the bench is very easy for me now.  Thank you, Becky!

I adore this show and wish that I could figure out how to watch it in on a regular basis instead of merely stumbling across it from time to time.  Hint, hint, Becky!

I used the new twine to prop up the jade plant, the main trunck of which had fallen over.  It is still a mess.  I am not the best GREEN THUMB out there.

Amos made up for two days of being still and quiet to accommodate the pain in my head by spending hours playing with both his squeaky tennis ball and Beaver Baby at the same time.  I never got a good photo, but you can at least see that Amos has Beaver Baby tucked safely beneath his chest whilst swinging his head back and forth squeaking the ball.  I do not mind the hours and hours and hours of squeaky noise, but I dare say that visitors would grow weary of the aural assault.  My little Fluffernutter is such a loving and attentive nurse to his ill puppy momma that surely he deserves however much play he would like.

Of course, all that playing meant that he slept through the entire NASCAR race tonight, which was the longest (time wise) of the season.  He even slept through Carl Edward's victory back flip!

I brewed tea today, instead of more ginger water.  I am a bit weary of drinking ginger water all day long.  I thought I would see if alternating ginger water and tea would be enough to help with the ever constant nausea.  I did make it too sweet.  I chose raspberry tea and used just a spoonful of honey for two quarts.  Oddly, I had to water down the second glass I drank,  1/4th water, 3/4th tea.  I feel as if I am losing more and more of myself because my life-long bottomless sweet-tooth has actually found limits.  Do you know that I just do not enjoy drinking Dr. Pepper much anymore???  Perish the thought!

Tomorrow it is going to be in the 90s!!!  Oh, how wretched I feel in the constant, steamy, STINKING HOT weather we are having.  Thursday, hopefully, the weather is supposed to shift back to a more normal range for September.  Once it is no longer so STINKING HOT, I need to tie up the drooping branches of the Rose of Sharon bushes and begin working out which ones to thin/prune in the fall.  Firewood Man does get slightly annoyed when having to angle the lawnmower beneath the bent branches.

Sadly, huge swaths of the massive rose bush on the side of the garage—the one that is taller than the garage itself—have died.  There is new growth that is rather encouraging, so I am working on girding my loins to do some serious pruning of the rose bush so as to remove the strain of dead/dying branches.  Of course, I cannot do so until it is no longer STINKING HOT outside.

I have but one and half gallons of milk left.
Will that last until the weather turns?
Milk panic is beginning to creep up on me.

The good think about a two-day migraine is that there is no opportunity for spending.  So, my severe austerity plan for this budget cycle is still intact.  Twenty-one days to go!