Something for me

* If I feel as good tomorrow as I feel this morning, I am still going to Spiro Mounds. (I think one of the worries that was eating at me was, "Am I too sick to go do this? Am I better off just staying home during one of my few chances to go do something interesting?" But hopefully, the steroid spray was what I needed - I only took a half-dose last night (and maybe got less than that because I didn't prime the sprayer enough). But I took a full adult dose this morning and the pain has abated considerably, and I feel like I can breathe better. If this continues to work I think I'm really glad I pushed for something that was NOT a steroid shot. (That seems to be a GP sort of thing; I've never been to an allergist who advocated for them. Allergists seem more into removing the cause of the allergy, if possible, or starting with the mildest possible treatment for symptoms. But then again, I know a lot of people who talk about just going and getting a steroid shot every allergy season so maybe the GPs are used to it.)

Also the tooth pain is abating a lot and that was a HUGE worry of mine - that that "calcified channel" front tooth was fixing to split or die or had gone abscessy or something. Of course, the LOGICAL explanation is that when the inflammation started in my sinuses, it affected that tooth, because they happened at the same time, but I have a hard time being fully logical about dental stuff. 

* So I have that planned for tomorrow - trip to Spiro and most likely a stop at Pete's Place for lunch. I'm toying with the idea, if I continue to feel fine on Saturday, to go antiquing in Sherman or Denison. (McKinney, right now, has LOTS of construction, and I just don't feel like braving the traffic)

* And Friday the Hub Discovery Family (and a rant about that later) is showing Rainbow Rocks. Even though I am still on record of preferring my Ponies to be actual Ponies and not teen girls, I'll probably watch it.

* Also, last night, I decided to work on a project of my own rather than the ongoing Christmas gifts. So I continued with Queen Chrysalis' hair. The "loose hair strand" is done and I've started the main part of the mane, but didn't get that far because crocheting, for me at least, is a lot slower than knitting. (Especially in-the-round small-diameter things where you have to count on every row and place decreases and increases for shaping).

If I had seen the "alternate universe" version of her (where she is Queen of Giving Love, rather than of taking it) earlier, I might have slightly altered the pattern to be that (I probably still could....I'll have to think about that. The main difference, as I remember, is the expression and a tiny pair of pince-nez, though it's also possible Alternate Chrysalis didn't have the holes in her, I can't remember). This is from the comics, which I still continue to enjoy - I order each issue as it comes out (I really need to find a place that has a subscription service for these).

* I was thinking of something when I got into bed last night. I vaguely remember from Great Books (that was 25-odd years ago now) that some Greek philosopher or other described pleasure as being the absence of pain, and one of the thoughts I had in the class (can't remember if I brought it up now) is that so often in the modern world, we now define "pain" as the "absence of pleasure" - that is, if you're not actively enjoying yourself, you consider it painful. ("Math is hard," said Barbie). And a lot of people do seem to have forgotten that there's a joy in good old hard work and that even stuff that isn't *fun* at the time can teach you something.

But, last night, as I got into bed, I thought, yeah, when you've been in pain for a while and that pain goes away, it IS pleasure. And it's something to be grateful for, and I was. I kind of forget how awful and distracted and unable to work effectively I am when my sinuses are bothering me, and when I get them tamed down it's like "Wow, life is suddenly so much better, why did I not notice how good life was before?"