Living Room or Cat Box?

Twelve in12

Reading
Darkling ~ Yasmine Galenorn
The Saxon Shore ~ Jack Whyte
Uther ~ Jack Whyte

Finished
Mirror, Mirror ~ Gregory Macguire
Witchling ~ Yasmine Galenorn
Changeling ~ Yasmine Galenorn
Something Wicked ~ Catherine Mulvany
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince ~ J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows ~ J.K. Rowling
Myst: Book of Atrus ~ Rand Miller, Robyn Miller and David Wingrove
The Game of Kings ~ Dorothy Dunnett
The Other Boleyn Girl ~ Philippa Gregory

So the bronchitis is much better.  Except one of the "side effects" of bronchitis is my latest problem.  Though the school nurse seems to think it was never bronchitis, it was just my asthma.  Except I’m all better now.  So how does make it asthma exactly I still don’t know.  But they gave me the steroids I needed so I’m better.  Except that Friday night my back was really hurting.  Didn’t think much of it.  Probably too much studying on the couch.  I really should limit studying to my desk, but that besides the point.  Saturday was Double Reed Day at school.  Basically its a day for local students to come to the college for masterclasses and performances and such.  Annual thing done here at the school.  Never well organized, but a little better than in the past.  My back was killing me all day, but I had things to do.  I’m a senior this year so more is expected of me.  Part of Doc’s disorganization is the fact that she tries to do everything herself.  I really feel that if she learned to delegate more things could run smoother.  She’s getting better, but still.  Either way, I was busy all day.  Walking a snail’s pace, but busy.  Sunday morning was the worst.  I could barely drive I was in so much pain.  You don’t realize how your entire body relies on your lower back until it stops functioning.  It hurt to push the gas pedal and even more to hit the brakes.  It hurt to play piano, to push keys and move my arms.  In Lutheran services there is a lot of standing and sitting, up and down.  And this Sunday was Communion.  Even more up and down.  By the end of the service, Mouse was spotting me in case I fell over.  Oh boy did I hurt.  It was not getting better, as I had hoped on Friday.  It was getting worse.

Mouse drove back from church and cleared her afternoon for me.  We both changed into more comfy clothes and headed to the hospital ER.  It wasn’t all that long in the ER before we saw the doctor and he did an exam.  There was some concern about it being kidney stones or some kind of infection.  But I wasn’t having issues peeing or anything.  The pain wasn’t radiating and something else that made them dismiss that problem.  The formal diagnosis was a lumbosacral strain, basicall sprained lower back, caused by the violent coughing fits I had from the bronchitis.  No repeatative bending or lifting or doing anything that made my back hurt.  It needed to heal.  I asked the doctor did that mean no walking.  He said if it hurt to walk than I needed to be on bed rest for a few days.  Stairs were off limits, practicing has been off limits.  He gave me happy pills which definitely helped and suggested some type of IcyHot or Biofreeze.  Mouse took me home via the pharmacy, Applebees and Blockbuster.  We were both starving by this point and I wanted some movies to watch if I was going to be laid up for a few days.  We rented a Veggie Tales Movie (yes, we’re dorks!), Ironman and Stardust.  Manny was stoked about Ironman and it was a good movie.  But Stardust was so much better.  Think The Princess Bride meets Pirates of the Caribbean meets Ella Enchanted.  With Robert DeNiro playing a gay pirate.  Yes, I said a GAY pirate.  And I mean flaming!  It was absolutely perfect.  I’ve watched it three times this week already.  So amazing.  Mouse helped me inflate the air mattress in the living room so I could get food and avoid the stairs.  Thank God we have a bathroom on both floors.  It took Cale about two nights to get used to me sleeping downstairs as opposed to upstairs, but I’m using the same comforter and she’s figured it out quick enough.

Except its now Thursday night, early Friday morning and I’m still in quite a bit of pain.  I’m sick of sleeping in the living room.  I’m sick of the mess that has become the apartment.  My roommate is helpless when it comes to doing anything that involves cleaning.  Tonight she really managed to tick me off.  She finally remembered to buy more kitty litter.  I’m not convinced its the right kind, but we’ll see.  I’m just gratefull she remembered at all since the litter needed to be changed on Sunday.  The apartment was so smelly.  She changed the litter and then left for a rehearsal.  It still smelled bad, but maybe it was all in my head.  I didn’t think much of it until I walked behind the couch.  There sat not only the dirty litter, but THREE bags of garbage.  What the hell!  She took the bags out of the kitchen and just moved them to the living room.  No wonder the place smells so bad.  AND I HAVE TO SLEEP IN THE LIVING ROOM!  I nearly hit the roof.

I discovered this after a phone call from Manny.  I had been thinking about my dire need to do laundry.  And I mean dire.  One of the upsides to not leaving my apartment is the ability to stay in my PJs.  But I’m literally on my last clean pair of underwear.  And currently, there’s no going smokeless.  Lucky me.  Tomorrow/Today?  Friday one of the girls in the studio is having her recital.  So I need to go.  In clean clothes.  WIth clean panties.  And its also Barry’s going away party at the Inn.  He’s moving back to England, so its really goodbye.  Barry’s great and I want to go wish him well.  Especially since he was so adament about inviting me.  Again, I need clean clothes for all that.  Funny thing, I had already sorted out my laundry and divided it into piles to be done.  There’s about six loads and then my sheets and towles and whatnot.  But I can’t do stairs or lift or carry the laundry about 250 yards away.  I was contemplating all the ways to get the laundry over there and then back when my phone rang.  It was Manny with Logan in the background.  The two of them always make me smile.  Evidently Manny think

s Christmas is going to be awesome, because he has this image of me, himself and Logan rambling on and on as Settle just looks on and shakes his head.  I already know that Logan and I get along, though we’ve never formally met.  Anyways, it was great to talk to him.  He reminded me that I am stubborn and hard-headed, and using such talents would easily get the laundry taken care of.  He was right because I already knew that if I just got three loads done, I would be able to make it at least another week.  So stubborn little me managed the stairs and back down with the laundry.  Then got the quarters, the detergent and a book.  The wash cycle takes about 30 minutes and the dryer takes about an hour.  I could sit while the wash churned and get some good reading accomplished, then throw everything in the dryer and head back to the apartment.  I’m currently waiting for the timer to go off.

But as I headed out the door for the laundry room, I found my path blocked by the litter and trash bags.  It really ticked me off and I almost went upstairs to shake Kelly awake.  But I restrained myself and just pushed them to the side.  But seriously!?  She knows I’m in pain.  She knows I can’t move well and she knows I’m sleeping in the living room.  I would have prefered she just left the trash in the kitchen and the litter in the bathroom.  You know.  Now thinking about it, I should have snuck it all into her bedroom and let her deal with the odor.  Too much work.  It just annoys me how inconsiderate she comes across.  And to be honest, she may not intend to be selfish and inconsiderate, but she is.  Its not malicious, but its still unbelievable inconsiderate and stupid.  Especially when I’m letting her borrow my instruments because her oboe cracked and she doesn’t own an English horn.  I almost want to tell her she can’t use them while her oboe gets fixed.  She should figure something else out.

I think that’s my issue with her right now.  I need to stop making excuses for her stupidity.  I know she’s not doing things out of a malicious intent.  But regardless, she’s incredibly inconsiderate and clueless.  The cluelessness is one thing.  But she rarely thinks before she does anything.  She just guesses what would be best for her and ignores how it might affect those around her.  Getting her to do dishes once a week is like pulling teeth.  The only way I can get her to do them more often is to ask her AND give her a time limit.  Like "Can you do the dishes before you go the bed?"  or something.  But then I’m just a glorified mother.  She may not like doing dishes and I can appreciate that feeling.  But I really feel like telling her if she can’t be bothered to do the dishes, she shouldn’t be bothered to use the dishes in the first place.  Forget getting her to sweep the kitchen, wipe the counter, empty the sink drain or cleaning up the spilled litter from doing the litter box.  I swear, she does work, but I have to follow behind her and do it all over again.

Yeah, its late, I’m cranky and in pain. But at least now I have clean clothes and my living room doesn’t smell like a cat box.