Friday morning random

* Fieldwork this afternoon. I'll probably be happy once I get out there and start working, but I always kind of dread it before hand - making sure I have all the stuff needed (data sheets, clipboard, sampling frame, identification books, enough pencils, water....maybe I take the camp stool with me also, this go-round, as I've been have a few, probably medicine-related, bouts where I just suddenly feel tired and really want to sit down)

* I was thinking sadly this morning, "If I had someone in my life who was handy and who really loved me, he* could say to me, "Okay, here are the measurements for the sink. Let's go out to the Lowe's and pick out a new one and then I will help you install it."

(* It's always a "he" in my imagination, just how I roll).

But that's not how my life works; it will probably be more like the plumber comes in, says the sink needs to be replaced, I flail and ask him to get one because I'm afraid of getting the wrong size and then I get a very blah sink that isn't interesting. (But would be cheaper, and that's a consideration now).

I can't do it myself; I'm not quite handy enough and also, I fear I wouldn't be strong enough to lift the old cast-iron sink.

* I never did replace the ceiling fan in my bedroom; I am limping along using the floor lamp on the side of my bed. The thing with the ceiling fan replacement is that I need to totally clean and clear out my room FIRST and I just never can find time for that. I'm actually considering either buying another cheap floor lamp or maybe just moving the one from my sewing room (until I need it again there) so I can have a little more light.

One big thing i need to do is weed books. Weed heavily. I have some I've read that I'm quite sure I will never need to read again ("The Master Butcher's Singing Club," which I found on the shelf again the other day when looking for a particular devotional book).

I probably will just take all the weeds to the local public library; they do used book sales. Then again, I saw something somewhere about a list of what books would be appropriate to go to prisons and if I have any that are, I'd like to send them there - if I can help someone learn and be rehabilitated, I would like to.

* I also never got the back fence fixed, though that was partly because everyone I asked to recommend a fence company came up dry. Apparently good chain-link fence fixers are thin on the ground here? I have someone else I can ask but I need to get that done some time. Every day I get the mail I worry about getting a nastygram from the city about it. Though given the degree to which they are raising our water and sewer rates, I think a citizen would be justified in going and complaining and saying they need to save their pennies so that it can go to the water bill which is going to fund some city pet projects.

I think all the broken stuff is eating at me and making me sad.

*How do people who work full time and have families manage? I am much less busy than a woman with kids and I can barely get everything done. Or am I just completely incapable right now? (I have a sinking suspicion I may need to go back to my doctor some time; it's entirely possible my "can't be bothered" feelings about some of this stuff could be creeping, low-level depression: two of the too-many meds I am on (the singulair and the metoprolol) list that as possible side effects. Though it's also possible I need the dosage on the metoprolol dialed back some. I'm gonna wait on that and maybe bring it up at my January appointment if I'm still having low energy and a general feeling of can't-be-bothered. Oh, I'm getting all my NECESSARY work done, it just seems that between that and the keep-myself-alive-and-hygienic tasks, that's ALL I do.

Or it could just be it's still a really bad allergy season. I don't know)

Probably what I need to try is (a) make arrangements to replace the leaky sink, (b) find someone to fix the fence and then see how I feel, maybe I will feel a burst of something-like-accomplishment and will have the energy to start mucking out my bedroom and actually get someone in to replace the fan. (I have a day coming up in a couple weeks where there are no morning classes so it would be ideal to get the electrician in then....). Yes, all of that costs money, I guess I will just be doing a combo platter of NO yarn or book buying for a while* plus maybe tapping into savings.


Entropy is a pain in the neck. Well, okay, the stuff that is constantly breaking in an old house and needing repair isn't TRUE entropy in the chemical/physical sense, but it FEELS like entropy.

(I always feel like there should be another draconequus on MLP, named Entropy.


maybe even Discord's auntie?

Heh. I see what I did there. Then again, I think part of Discord's character is that, like Tigger, "he's the only one")

Anyway, I do almost envision entropy, or whatever you call the constant need to fix/clean/change/whatever stuff in the world as like a malevolent force; some days it seems like stuff breaks when I have the least volition to deal with it.

(*With the exception of mid-fall break, my friend Laura and I currently have plans for a Longview meetup and yarn shop trip. And I'm NOT driving 3 1/2 hours and going to one of the few yarn shops I ever get to without taking the option of buying a little yarn. I'm hoping my two-hundred-and-something check from the publisher comes before then....)


ETA: I have an appointment with the plumber for Monday afternoon, so hopefully at least that will get sorted next week. Best case scenario is he goes, "Oh, this just needs re-sealing" and he takes care of it and everything is cool. Likely worst case scenario: I need a new sink and it's more expensive and time consuming. Unlikely worst case scenario: They need to rip open the wall and redo some of the plumbing to bring stuff up to code for the new sink. (In which case, I don't know, I might just keep a bucket under there instead and empty it periodically)