Helenka, Queen of Outer Space

With that intro, you may be sure that I did little decorating, other than putting the summer flowers into storage and removing the lovely scarves from the bathroom door. Well, there's always tomorrow.

First, I had to be dressed to wait for my food delivery because I was expecting my surprise gift bag. Oh, it certainly contained surprises. I'll post separately of the contents. The delivery volunteer was even wearing a hat - I presume Santa's as I couldn't see, and she was definitely jovial.

After that, I had to wait for Brian to arrive with his delivery of goodies. I had the phone turned off, but managed to intercept a call from my former group's co-leader who was calling to wish me a happy Christmas. And then Brian showed up. He's so silly. He threw in items from his pantry, as well as a "sliced" loaf of round bread, four bagels, cookies, and his special Newfie snowballs.

After he left, I had to send my thank you email to the meals administrator, thanking her for her thoughtfulness in a year when it must have been much more difficult to secure donations on behalf of all of their clients.

I'd changed my mind about having a movie night tonight, so joined SuM and S. at 7, bringing treats with me. We exchanged gifties, nibbled on Brian's baked goods, and drank peppermint tea while watching "Ma Raimey's Black Bottom". After the sugar rush (the cookies had been my supper), I bonelessly returned to my space, to relax and watch TV.

I'm so ready to slide into bed, with not only decorating but also all my planned emails to friends. ::waves hand languidly:: Nighty-night.

Not just the mind, but also the vision. It's not fair that I'm getting a one-on/one-off sleep routine. Last night was definitely OFF, as I went to bed after midnight but was up at 3:39. The only good thing was excellent vision. I'd set the alarm for 9 - which was a cruel joke. So I read for a wee bit. We had blind book club this morning and spent the time discussing our first-ever play, Wilde's "The Importance of Being Earnest". Even for a short play, we could have devoted separate meetings to each of the three acts. The discussion was all over the map, as we brought our individual backgrounds (two Greek/Macedonian, two Chinese, one Filipina, one from ?/South American and me).

After that I dropped off into a nap. And that was the most engaged part of my day. I need bed. Stat. Even with the TV on, I can't distract the pain away. Sigh.

HPCP;ATE. lots and lots of glorious chocolate! So, Brian and I agreed that he would phone me at 5:30 p.m. Early on, I allowed (uh, begged) him to possess my computer, because my vision had colour but was very fuzzy. So he took over and we went through two sites, one in TO and my original fave in Niagara. Because I wanted everything(!), that's what I'm getting. I'll just have to wait for the free delivery.

After that, he fixed one of my issues with my Office suite. After that, I mentioned my expired parking permit. Instead of dealing with it on my computer, he said he'd d/l it and fill it out with me over the phone, then print it and mail it to me. Whew, that's a load off my mind. He's also planning to make a - sigh - contactless delivery of baked goods (by him, natch). Then we'll look at each other longingly - him outside and me inside through the window - hoping for when we'll be able to get together and travel once again. We got off the phone at exactly 8.

I had some other lovely news earlier. The blind group's secretary phoned me and said there's a $50K grant that's being disbursed to people affected by the pandemic. She remembered that I'd lost the use of my magnification software, so I should apply to get a bland new version. Hmmm.

Then, in the evening, one of the group's members earned from the Prez that the wee winter survival kits were my idea, so she sent me a lovely thank you. I replied to her, saying there are a lot of cases of paying it forward in our community and that I hope it continues.

In other non-news, I slept well (until 9:30) but was in pain for most of the day. Sigh. Watched some TV including news and am about to watch Young Sheldon. And, finally, it's almost time for pills, so I'm grateful for that.

More than eight hours of sleep in a delightfully cozy, cheerful bed did me a world of good. Mind you, I still had to stretch my boundaries, finishing off the steam cleaning of mf the bathroom and then doing a small load of laundry. I think I've definitely determined that pushing the machine and inhaling steam improves my vision.

As the day wore on, the pain returned, so I spent much of the two-hour Executive Zoom call in discomfort. Good thing it was audio only. At least I was happy to hear how pleased our members have been receiving their winter treats and our other efforts to their benefit. Just makes me really grateful for belonging to such a group and being able to contribute.

Anyway, I'm fading quickly. Trying to watch a titch of TV before bed. Earlier, I'd watched yesterday's repeat of Bull that was heartbreaking - about a respected member of society who'd overcome his unfortunate upbringing by paying it forward - establishing a summer camp for at-risk youth. The only problem is that he ended up putting them at risk - from his increasing sexual advances. The ultimate proof (after "He said" vs the only "He said" the team was able to secure) was found in cameras stolen from the man's house which still contained film of some of his improprieties. Taking their existence as probable cause, the authorities carried out a raid and found current evidence that he was still seducing assaulting 13-year old foster children.

Okay, I'm yawning and my fingers are getting all fumbly. Nighty-night, all.

As did waking up at my more usual time of 9:50. Also, no pain, so the little piggies of the universe did a very good job.

I read a little, did a tiny bit of work for the blind group, had the luxury of a two-hour nap around 1, watched my usual TV shows and am about to cue Bull to play.

And that's a wrap.

I'm ending the day on a high, with tears in my eyes from all the feels after watching tonight's ST:Disco. It's as if there's a direct conduit right to my heart. In any case, it's a lot better way to be expressing feelings, because that's not where I was in the middle of the night.

Let's backtrack to 3:19 a.m., still unable to fall asleep because of fluttering pain. Considering how much love my hands are stroking over my torso, you'd think I would have whittled a new waistline. Yeah, sure. I finally gave in, took two more pills and finally conked out. So my lucky streak ended at 4 nights. Sigh.

I also had two good memories from the news, one hearing the Dominion Carilloneur playing the Jeopardy! theme on the Parliament Hill bells in Ottawa in honour of Alex Trebek; the second was learning about a (I believe) 97-year old vet who was unable to be present at yesterday's ceremonies. She recalled how she'd joined the Women's Naval Service in England and became a codebreaker. She was very proud of her official codebreaker brooch.

I managed to have almost a good day, shucking off the pain, with the help of heat. And doing stuff for the blind group. And, naturally, being sucked into a gorgeously emotional world of the future. There was also a hilarious epi of Young Sheldon to enjoy. I may still watch some more TV, as my vision is all happy, bright, and vivid.

I'm definitely not looking a gift horse in the mouth. For whatever miraculous alignment of the earth and other planets, I enjoyed three consecutive nights of amnesiac sleep, waking up each morning with NO pain and also mostly free from it during the day. I'll bet you can hear my sigh of extreme relief.

I was also energized tonight by the blind group's executive meeting that dragged on for two hours and twenty-two minutes - until the host (our prez) got kicked out by Zoom problems. Oops. Anyway, it appears that one of my ideas was well received so I was a happy camper.

Now I'm just tired. I'm catching up on TV and shouldn't stay up too late.

I just didn't GAF. Not only to posting here on a daily basis, even if only to record my mood, pain levels, or visual acuity. But, this time, I also ignored all my blind group responsibilities for several days. But consider the provocation-cum-catalyst: day after night (the dark hours were especially brutal) dealing with pain that defied being wrangled by stupid pills. It's no wonder I metaphorically pulled the covers over my head.

But, today, even with fluctuating pain levels, I put out a few fires at the blind group. Have been watching TV news (but only at 6) about the madness happening south of the border. Sigh. I was thrilled to have a new season of Young Sheldon to watch tonight. Just awwww. I'll watch the other Thursday stuff tomorrow.

Keeping my fingers crossed for an almost-normal night tonight.

Well, I'm currently in my satin and lace nightie while "attending" the bling group's Halloween Zoom party. We began with listening to a radio play adaptation of "Frankenstein" and their our DJ played music while people chatted. I'm still waiting for The Monster Mash. I'm trying to be patient.

Spent most of the day in bed as my body was going haywire. Church-John sent me an email that he was going to enjoy having my special parking permit until he returns it.

The best part of last night was having exquisite vision. At midnight. So I stayed up to watch Discovery and really enjoyed it. This morning I watched Battle of the Blades even though my vision had devolved to crap. Easy come, easy go.

Anyway, time to get back to the party.

a) I'm in pain;
b) I can't see;
c) My computer is being ridiculous;
d) All of the above.

Today was just more of the same, though at least I can see some colour tonight. But I had to restart Liblikas twice this morning. Stubborn child.

I finally got around to emailing church-John about my supplement needs. The hilarious thing is that I put "drugs" in the subject line and nosey Google suggested I change it or send via the private route! Uh-huh.

Had to catch up on blind group stuff because of yesterday's problems. Ended up watching two days' worth of news on TV. More than enough.

Now I'm back to dealing with screaming pain. Time for pills. Hear my loud sigh of relief.