Mr. Legend and I just had a long conversation about this very topic this morning, when he got up at 8:30 (early for him) after approximately 3 hours of sleep. He’s on three different controlled substances for pain and his cardiologist, of all people, prescribed him an anti-anxiety drug for occasional use as well, since he wakes up in the middle of the night worrying about death. The pharmacist is Very Unhappy about the combo of drugs, but so far we’ve been able to quell him by reminding him about the metastatic cancer diagnosis. Mr. L is very skittish about the idea of spinal injections or, especially, a pain pump, but what he’s got now is not working well.
Which is to say that I have a ton of sympathy for what you’re going through. If I run across a magic wand that fixes it, you’ll be the second person I tell.
Put in a good word for me! I’m fully heathenized, but also I don’t even have to comb my hair on Sundays anymore.
Grandchildren are just the best! I’m enjoying them vicariously through you until the day when (if) I get one of my own. As luck would have it, my only prospect is the daughter who lives really far away, so I’m already thinking of strategies for long-distance spoiling.
However, if no one ends up having kids, I’m fully prepared to spoil the children of my daughter’s friends. She has a number of them whose parents are far away or just useless, and I encourage her to babysit so I can lure them to our house with treats. 
I’m impressed by the level of skill in crafts around here. The closest I’ve gotten to this was re-covering some dining chair cushions, and all that took was a staplegun. Of course, my corners were so messy that I ended up putting longer screws in a couple of the seats because they were too bulky for the originals. The difference is that no one in my family would have the nerve to imply that I could have done it better, and I don’t even have a shotgun!
This is an excellent idea. There’s usually more mice than you can see. When we had mice, we ended up catching 7 of them total (the final score was traps 3, cats 4). You’re absolutely sure you don’t want a cat?
I had a go-to style that made this possible for the longest time, but it was discontinued! Sports bras end up giving me heat rashes from the general squishage, so it’s time for me to bite the bullet and find another bra that’ll work. Ugh.
Ha! They’re just for doing the work no one pays you for. It’s weird; even though I could theoretically do tasks on any day now that I’m retired, I still end up doing weekly recurring things on Saturdays. It just feels wrong to do, say, laundry, on a Tuesday.
Flowers, definitely. It doesn’t make sense, but pretty seems to attract more buyers than practical.
I know what you mean about cats and their routines, btw. My catsitter apparently came by at stupid o’clock in the morning before work and then right at 5 on her way home in the evening, and she also overfed them. I know this because my cats now believe I should be up feeding them at 6 instead of 7:30 or 8 and they’re hounding me for dinner starting at 4:30 instead of 5:30. They’re also pretty sure that I’m starving them. I don’t fault the sitter; if I didn’t know better, I’d assume they needed twice their regular serving to survive, given the drama.
Aww, shucks. You guys made my day! Although I was never actually Catholic, my best friend in junior high was, and I read a whole lot of Irish fiction, so I think I just absorbed it. Or maybe it was the vehemence and frequency with which my childhood Lutheran pastor enumerated the ways we weren’t like Catholics?
It’s a gorgeous day here, and I should be out doing yard work before the high winds crank up tomorrow. The cats have different ideas, though. I took Cat Roxy out on the leash earlier, but the neighbor behind us was doing something with metal tools, so it was too scary for her to spend much time out there. On a good day, I can often just tie her leash to a lawn chair and keep an eye on her while I do yard work, but that’s not in the cards today.
My brand-new baby tree not only has leaves, it’s also growing flower buds! I’m hoping that’s a sign that it likes the place. The climbing rose we planted last year is blooming, and the trumpet, grape, and wisteria vines are starting to leaf out after looking pretty moribund in the fall and winter. I have a bad habit of waiting until it’s really too hot and planting things, so I’m encouraged. The thornless climbing blackberry that I got at the same time and that thrived last year and well into the winter isn’t looking so great, though. It never dropped its leaves, and they turned brown and crunchy in the last hard freeze. The vines are still supple, and some of the leaves are still largely green, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed.
Happy Sunday to all!