I'm not using this site any more - but you can find me under my real name (Andrea Frankel) on Facebook.

I can't believe I haven't posted in all this time.  Well, my life is full of wonderful things to keep me busy (not).

Having CFIDS/ME sucks.  It sucks big time.  Most of the time, I can manage symptoms so they're not too bothersome, but my sleep cycle is still topsy turvy - I go to sleep at dawn most days, wake up anywhere from late afternoon to well after sunset.  (Maybe I'm part vampire?)  Some days I don't get to sleep at all.  And I don't even use caffeine!

The worst part of having a completely unpredictable, non-24-hour cycle is that it throws me off my meds.  And sometimes, I don't even realize that my mental confusion and depression have increased because I'm not taking my meds at regular intervals.

One of the good things that has happened lately is that I am now signed up with my local library's Book Buddy service.  I can search online for books, dvds, and cds I want to borrow, put in requests, and a volunteer brings them to my house and picks up the stuff to return.  How cool is that?

I am lucky that I have a good friend nearby, who drove me to and from the hospital for a colonoscopy, and took my service dog on a walk while I was out of it.  (Good news:  fourth colonoscopy, first one to have ZERO polyps!  Yay!)

One of the un-good things that has happened lately is that my alimony dropped by nearly $1K.  (It has to do with how we refinanced the house - don't ask.)  I somehow mentally blocked it out, thought I still had a year or so before this happened, so it took me by surprise.  I have a hard time controlling my online spending (mostly CDs, books, dvds), although I've lately been using Swaptree, SwapaCD, and SwapaDVD. 

So I've been trying to get a room in my home ready to rent out.  This scares me, because I have extreme Multiple Chemical Sensitivity as a side effect of the CFIDS/ME, so I have to be very picky about roommates.  And my fatigue level has been so high, that getting the room cleared out and furnished has been very slow going.  (sigh)

On the plus side, my roses and irises are blooming, and we've had a pretty mild spring so far (just a few hot days mixed in).

It didn't take long for my new canary to settle in and start singing.  He seems to really enjoy it when I sit next to him in my rocking chair and sing along with the CDs - he especially likes to sing along when I'm in my high register.  It's so wonderful having a singing partner again!  A house without a songbird is just not complete IMNSHO.

Got good news from the doctor on annual labwork, but my @#%@! rx coverage balked at the high doses of Triest I was taking.  (I have been using the program in Dr. Dzugan's "The Migraine Cure" for the last year plus, and the high doses of Triest and progesterone were doing a bang-up job of preventing the migraines.)  I agreed to try halving the dose, and sure enough, a week later I had a 2.5 day migraine with a 2 day postdrome (aka "migraine hangover").  NOT FUN!  So now I have to call the doc and ask him to write a new rx for the previous dose, and have him battle the rx provider to get it covered.  (sigh)

My bee-you-ti-ful service dog, Tao, has puzzled the vets.  He was born pale apricot, matured to solid cream, and then when he was a bit past four years old, started turning to cafe-au-lait all along his back, from topknot to tail, while still cream on belly, legs, and muzzle.  Everyone thinks he is still gorgeous, and we marvel at the two-tone coloration, but have no idea why this odd event has happened.  He seems to be quite healthy and happy, so I'm just accepting it.  He's just as soft and cuddly as ever, and a shameless flirt (like his mommy?).

On another topic, my smoke alarm started screaming for no apparent reason, and I read somewhere recently that they need to be replaced every ten years because the sensors wear out, or crust over, or something.  So I got a TALKING combination smoke alarm/carbon monoxide detector.  (Two, actually - it's a two story house.)  It just tickles me pink to have the gizmo actually TELL me "Fire! Fire!" or "Warning!  Carbon Monoxide!" or even "Low Battery!".   Very useful for people like me who spend a fair amount of time in Brainfog Land, and get all discombobulated when alarms start going off.

I'm still enjoying the buzz of good feelings from Deborah and John's visit.  GOT to figure out how to connect with them more often!  LDRs are wonderful but frustrating.

AFN.  My antihistamine just cut out suddenly, and my nose has turned into a fire hose.  And I just remembered that I haven't eaten anything in about 10 hours.

I really didn't have the money for it, but it's just one of those things I needed anyway. I've had three canaries over the years, and every time I hear one sing, it brings a smile to my face and joy to my heart. And the stuff sitting on that end table really wasn't necessary after all...

Happened to be in a pet shop buying kibble for Tao the Service Dog (who is absolutely adorable), and asked whether they had any male canaries (I'm not being sexist - only the males sing!).  All the yellow ones were spoken for, but there was a cute "green" one for sale.  I say "green" in quotes because when you look at the feathers, they are grey on the outer half and yellow on the inner half.  This jibes with art instruction, where I learned to mix colors, and the one color you cannot "grey out" is yellow - yellow plus grey equals olive green.

So I got a new cage and all sorts of goodies for it, got some good seeds, and brought home the canary Tuesday evening.  I don't know whether he was very young, or just needed a few days to settle in, but he sang his first short trill Thursday - in response to the vacuum cleaner! 

I confess I had an ulterior motive in getting a new canary - the cage is right next to my rocking chair where I do my "morning rocking" and sing along with CDs for an hour, a mild form of exercise good for the lymphatic system which doesn't tax PWCs too much.  I had got out of the habit, however (and you know how it is with habits - 21 days to form one, 7 days to lose it), and now that I have a potential singing partner, I'm starting to do it again.  Today I spent an hour rocking and singing, and the canary (who I named Zamar, which is hebrew for "singer (male)") graced me with several trills and rolls.

The "Classic Canary" CD is on order, and I look forward to expanding his repertoire - canaries don't imitate speech, but they do pick up songs from other canaries.  And there's nothing like hearing other male canaries establishing their turf to get a canary singing!  I also stumbled upon a site by the CanaryAdvisor, who dispenses all kinds of wisdom about caring for canaries and getting them to sing, for free!

(Yeah, I'm overusing exclamation points today.  So sue me.)

Meanwhile, the house is still in chaos - drywall and carpet repairs ongoing, cataloging and filng major CD acquisitions, and trying to clear out all those 5x/6x clothes from my closet.  Yes, I'm down 56 pounds so far, and wearing 30-32 or 3x.  Had my cleaning gal help me pull all the way-too-big clothes out of the closet (still holding on to some 4xs for the time being), and they are now piled all over my massage table, massage chair, and the foam sofa thingy.  I placed an add on craigslist and my local pennysaver-type websites, and had one woman over yesterday who bought a few things.  I wish I could find some more people to take these off my hands (and help offset slightly the cost of replacing 2/3 of my wardrobe in one swell foop).  I might try to sell some of the better stuff on eBay (assuming I can figure out how to photograph them), and give the rest to a local thrift shop.  But right now I'm too exhausted. 

Cheerful and giggly, but exhausted.  AFN.

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