Much good, little bad

 I missed Friday because I was Out most of the day, and when I got home I was tired enough I didn't want to.

Anyway, first big good: bloodwork results came back. Everything good, right where it should be EXCEPT Vitamin D considerably low. Womp womp.

In my defense, I had run out of the capsules and thought, "well, maybe since I'm outside a bit more and it's summer, I'll be fine.

I think I was actually Not Fine. I looked up symptoms of a deficiency and while they vary a lot from person to person,  but they can include bone/joint pain, muscle cramping, fatigue, and low mood. 

Yeah. Guess what ones I had. I had weird muscle cramps in muscles you would not expect - my right thigh as I was lifting that leg out of my car in the tight confines of the garage (granted, that is the leg with the injured knee), the side of my neck (I bought new pillows just because I thought my old one was screwing it up), and my intercostals (bending down and stretching to reach something that fell and rolled under a desk). 

And maybe the other pain? I had been having some trouble with my back that I attributed to aging.

 And then mood. And really, it's hard to tell? It can be hard to notice a low mood sometimes when you're in it (though I knew I hadn't "felt right" since maybe April) and of course I attributed a lot of it to "well the world as you know it is falling to pieces, you soon won't be able to afford any of the things that make life worthwhile (tariffs) if you can even find them (shops closing down because of PE or because of the general bad economic conditions), and your loved ones who depend on Medicaid will be thrown off it, and you better start donating more money to food banks because SNAP is being cut" and everything seemed pretty bleak. And yeah, some things do look bleak but given that I restarted taking vitamin D actually a week ago (I found a partial bottle, then I bought more on Friday) things seem.....a little less bleak? And I feel a little more energetic? And my knee has hurt a lot less, so maybe there is something to it. (Vitamin D is *expensive* though)

SO anyway. I'm finding myself looking at knitting patterns again and thinking "these are things I want to make when I finish at least one of my current projects" maybe is a sign.

And Friday, I went down to Sherman/Denison. I needed groceries, I needed Vitamin D, I needed batteries, I needed a bunch of little things. 

But I also went to Michael's and to Books a Million. Michael's had one of those "52 Weeks of..." knitting-pattern books (I had the socks and the accessories ones; this one is "simple knits" including some nice sweaters) so I got that. And I bought yet another different set of yarns, this time marls in two shades of blue and that's going to be the final FINAL choice for my colleague's emotional support chicken (one of the things I want to start once I've finished up the little mitts and the current socks). 

And at Books a Million, all I bought was "The Blueberry Pickers" (which looks interesting) and then I saw this

Yes, I do not need another plushie.

BUT: I had ordered a bear - the newish Sun Bear - from Skoggy back in June, never got shipping information, messaged them twice, never heard back other than a weird and probably AI generated message claiming they had had to fire someone who was lying about shipping times. So I did a charge back on my credit card. (I did what I could to cancel the order, but they're really uncommunicative at Skoggy. Probably a company that grew too fast, or else they have some bad, bad employees)

So this creature - I have not named him yet - will kind of, sort of, be a replacement. 

And he is shaped like a friend.

I also got a new lunch kit:

 Yes it's for children. No, I don't care, and if someone looks funny at me and says "you have a Bluey lunchbox?" I will respond with a deadpan "yes."

I also did go to Katy Depot. Bought some yarn for a cowl from that new accessories book, and took some photos of the nice planting there:

 

There are black eyed Susans in there, and some kind of artemesia and there's ageratum, and all of those have species native to Texas, so I'm wondering if it's a native planting.

It is dedicated to veterans, especially those who never came back home:

 I also went to Albertson's. Grocery shopping is more fun when you know you don't have to be particularly restrictive about carbohydrates or protein (given normal blood sugar and kidney enzymes)

I did buy myself a treat, a piece of chocolate cheese cake

 

On Saturday, I cleaned house. That also helps.

And I dug around in my storage boxes to see if there was anything I wanted to bring out. I found some yarn I may want to use at some point soon, and I found my big stuffed Wooloo - who had gotten a little dusty and grubby and I decided to have a try at washing her (I have found that even if most stuffed toys claim they can be surface washed only, most survive a run through the washer and dryer on gentle, especially if you put them in a closed-up pillowcase. Even my super fragile old Pink Panther from 1978 that I found in my mom's basement survived washing that way). And I had wanted to wash Squishy Dog because I sometimes sleep with my head on him, and I've dragged him along while traveling. So I put them in together. 

Wooloo fared very well but it took several rounds in the dryer to get her dry

Squishy Dog is a bit more like Lumpy Dog now - the "super soft" stuffing in these types of critters tends to clump, I guess

He's still OK though

 

He is ALSO sitting on my original copy of Piranesi, which is a reminder to me - my Folio Society edition came, so I have this one to give away

So: if you have never yet read it, or know someone who would like a copy, I have my hardback I could send (within the US only, sadly, because shipping costs) book rate. If no one comments or e-mails me in a week or two I may just take it down to the library's used book sale, or I might see if I could get a buck or two at the used book store in Denison (but that's more effort than popping it in a bag and sending it from here)

I also knit more on those bright odd Easter egg color socks. I guess I'll keep them. 

I'm also reading away on The Enchanted Greenhouse and really enjoying it, just as I did The Spellshop by the same author. (Similar stories, though different characters, though there is the link - this one is the story of the woman who created Caz, the sentient spider plant, what happened to her and how she was rescued from having been turned into a statue, and how she probably has a Bigger Purpose saving something else - I'm not quite far enough in to see if she is the one who succeeds or if another character does it.)

Anyway, these books are just FUN. Fun in a good way, fun in that they set up a different world with interesting internal logic, fun in that you know they will end happily. Fun in that they have enjoyable characters in them.