Whirlwind holiday season

Exhausted might not be the best word for the holiday season, but it’s certainly appropriate. And it’s not from the usual holiday merriment. Come with me on a tour of my last couple months. Buckle up buttercup, it’s been a wild ride.

Back in July, during all the lockdowns, I was uncharacteristically an over-achiever when I decided to paint the trim in the house. This resulted in a pain in my left hip. I figured climbing up/down ladders and sitting on the floor was not the best activity so I stopped to give my bones a rest. But they didn’t rest. The pain got worse. Much worse. To the point of not being able to exercise or walk without difficulty; the pain logging in at about a 9 some days without doing anything strenuous. Because my mind goes to the worst-case scenario, I was mentally preparing for hip replacement surgery or dealing with Rheumatoid Arthritis. Because that’s how I roll. Pelvic x-rays showed mild to moderate osteoarthritis and blood work showed one rheumatoid marker was elevated. After a visit with the rheumatologist, she ruled out RA, but thought the Bursa sac in my left hip was inflamed. She ordered prescription anti-inflammatories and physical therapy twice a week for a month. It’s better but pain is still around a 3 or 4 most days. Physical Therapist Tiffany has me doing strengthening/stretching exercises twice a day and meeting with her twice a week. Maybe now I’ll be able to get rid of those pandemic pounds that appeared because I was not able to burn extra calories for five months.

Moving on…..Bridget became incontinent around mid-November. Because she is 15 years old, I wondered if this was the end and her systems were failing. An incontinent kitty requires a lot of supervision and quick clean ups. Turned out to be a UTI……however two rounds of feline amoxicillin was not strong enough to kill the bacteria. Now, we’re on our third antibiotic regiment after a ridiculous vet bill that required two exams, one pelvic x-ray, two urinalysis and one urine culture that determined we’re dealing with a particularly nasty bacteria resistant to the two previous antibiotic regimens. The pill shooter and pill pocket treats have been my best friends. Let’s hope the third time’s a charm.

Entrepreneur’s dad had been dealing with some health issues for the past few months. Turns out, he had an aortic valve that was almost shut and needed valve replacement surgery. This required weeks of pre-surgery prep involving tests, blood work, dental visits and a COVID-test. And, he’s 86 years old so there’s that. After three weeks of Entrepreneur accompanying him to his appointments and talking with all the doctors, his surgery was scheduled mid-December at the local Veterans Hospital. He came through everything like a trooper and is on the mend. Although I wasn’t directly involved, I did need to spend time with his mom while they were seeing all the docs and having the tests.

Along with handling my responsibilities for our company, my adjunct teaching gig began again in September with both in-person and online instruction. The semester began on a positive note, but two out of four designers quickly fell into the abyss of “I’m not disciplined enough to work independently” and it became a struggle to keep in touch with them remotely with no in-person accountability. One student had to be removed as the designer midterm for their team and I had to start over bringing a back-up designer (with little skills) up to speed on eight weeks of instruction. The other one had one excuse after another as to why deadlines could not be met; and failed to attend a Zoom class meeting even after three reminders….owning up that they forgot. FORGOT (face palm)!!! There wasn’t a back-up option and this designer will most likely fail the capstone project because the campaign plan book has still not been completed and the presentation to the client was December 16th.

Somewhere along the line, my trusty iMac desktop computer I’ve had since 2011 decided it simply could not handle operating system updates anymore. No current operating system means no updated Adobe Creative Cloud graphics programs….thus, I’m dead in the water. I’m able to limp along with some very old versions of my programs installed directly on my computer from years ago before required cloud subscriptions, but it’s far from ideal or efficient and my Camera Raw application won’t load at all. So, along with everything else, I needed to research and decide what to order to get back up to speed. I did order a brand new iMac….unfortunately, I customized it and now it won’t be here until the end of January.

More technology fun happened when Entrepreneur’s phone decided it was too old and just completely up and died one day. We knew it was coming, but the timing was lousy. He didn’t want a new one, so I got a new one and he got my old one. With the transfer of numbers, apps and info, I lost two days while resetting up both phones. Putting Outlook on his phone (my old one) was such a joy; I lost an entire morning trying to figure out how to sync his Microsoft 365 contacts with the phone. Because nothing is every easy.

Add tween/teen drama, some unexpected family issues, routine Doodle care and Entrepreneur’s health to round out the stress and you get a good picture of my last couple months. Thank goodness Entrepreneur insisted we get all the Christmas shopping finished before Thanksgiving. I did succeed in getting some holiday baking done and decorating the house.

One of my regrets is not being able to get around to visiting my bloggy friends as much as I’d like during this time. There just doesn’t seem to be enough hours in a day.

The Christmas tree has been up since before Thanksgiving and I make no apologies. And, it just might stay up well after New Year’s Day. When I finally sit down in the evening, this sight helps calm the chaos in my mind…..and, of course, a glass of wine doesn’t hurt.

I wish all of you very happy holidays and may your lights be sparky and your cocoa hot.