Quarantine

So someone in one of my youngest one’s classes has tested positive for COVID. So she is home for two weeks doing online school until they can see if anyone else is going to develop it. The school called us late last night to let us know.

Of course we had already been to our nephew’s party yesterday when we found out. So we called mom and dad and asked them to let everyone in the family that was at the party yesterday know. So that’s that.

I have a call in to her doctor to see if they think she needs to be tested. I hope we can find out something soon. I’m also going to ask about giving her vitamin D so that it can boost her immune system up a bit.

I hate this. You never really know what to do when you[ve never faced something like this before. I just don’t know.

So pray for our family and extended family that they won’t come down with anything. Stay safe yourselves.

Prayer Sign-Up

Bob and I signed up to take part in a 56-hour prayer vigil our church is having right around Election Day. We’re taking a slot during when my youngest is at dance so we’re already on that side of town and can maneuver it easily. I think it’s oing to be a really rich time spiritually.

We go to my nephew’s birthday party today–he is one year old and thinks he’s a grown person already now that he can walk. He’s going to be something else in a few years.

Bob taught Sunday School again this morning. This may turn into a permanent assignment since our teacher has been making noises about retiring from teaching for a while now. We will see. I hope so for his own sake because I really think this will amp up his prayer life and his desire to be more Christian in his interactions with people.

I have to do my research log tomorrow and get going on the revisions. Then I turn in my two essays for this week and move along. I’m getting into the homestretch with this thing and feel really hopeful about how it is turning out. I can’t wait for my committee feedback to work on this summer and to start querying; I may be fooling myself, but I think this could really be a good book and the start of a good career for me writing. I’m just going to have to overcome the hurdles and get after it.

SO now I need to cook so we can eat and be on our way. So much fun this afternoon! I’m looking forward to it!

Trying To Wake Up

I am sluggish this morning. Bob had to wake up early and take care of something at the office so we were all up early this morning. Bob teaches Sunday School tomorrow so we will need to wake up early for church. I need to get to the grocery store today and get supper for today and lunch for tomorrow.

Tomorrow we go to my nephew’s first birthday party! He is such a funny small person. He’s into mischief all the time and makes it funny. He’s finally got walking down pat and is all over the place with it. I’m looking forward to going.

I had a little bit of a spell yesterday. I prayed for God to soften my heart to someone because I wound up working myself up into being angry. I finally calmed down enough to cook dinner. But I just didn’t feel right all afternoon. But I’m thankful I got better.

I guess I will wind up. Pray for those who make you angry–the peace that comes with it will feel much better than the anger, no matter how justified you feel in it. Stay safe from the virus.

Having Fun

I go see my friend MJ today for a lunch date. We’re going to have fun. We always do!

I’ve been doing some revising on my thesis this morning. Sometimes I just wake up with ideas. I need to sit down this weekend with my advisor’s feedback and revise that last two essays she sent back to me. I finished the book I’ve been reading and I think I will go ahead and do the book annotation before I forget what it was about. This author’s books are just like that–they’re laugh-out loud funny, but the stories just don’t stick with you very long. I just hope mine isn’t boring after I get through. I’d hate that.

So I got signed up for my Spring thesis class and then I will be DONE. No more tuition payments. I can work more for MCIR. I can revise the thesis for the last time and then start querying. I’m already colleting a list of agents from my memoir reading trying to get a handle on who I might like to send to first. I’ll also need to start on the next manuscript in August 2021, called A Year Without Writing.

I wrote yesterday for BPHope about how I am writing this memoir. Very self-reflective. Who I gave names to in the manuscript, how I managed privacy, all of those issues around your self-disclosure you make whenever you start writing about this stuff. I sent it off and I hope they like it. I’m on the hook for another one next week about keeping up with meds as you travel. I’ll use my trip to Texas for that one.

I guess I need to run and see what else I can accomplish before I go meet MJ. Hope everyone has a wonderful day and weekend.

Pill Box

I decided to finally get all my prescriptions coming due to be filled on the same day (my pharmacy offers a program where they can do that ) so I can use the seriously efficient pill dosing box I found there.

It has four slots a day to fill which is perfect for me because I take meds morning, noon, supper, and bedtime. Each individual box is huge to hold all those pills I take in the morning and at bedtime, and it’s printed with big letters so I’ll never have trouble reading which day is which.

If I get them all at one time, I won’t be running to the pharmacy every week to get something refilled, and I won’t lose track of what needs refilling and what doesn’t.

I feel pretty good this morning–not sure what I’m going to be getting done. I need to do a post for BPHope on how to disclose information on your condition and the decisions I’m having to make in writing about my story. So I suppose I need to work on that.

I got back good notes on this week’s batch of essays–some of them were just keep doing what I’m doing; others were pointing out some areas that need reworking. Not scary at all.

SO I suppose I’ll get to work on all of that. Hope everyone has a good day today and stays safe of the virus.

Hard Emotions

I had to stop revising last night on my thesis. I hit a difficult area and started crying as I typed. I remember being glad I was not affected by it when I wrote it the first time, but Ellen Ann asked me to go deeper into it, describing my feelings about the incident rather just the incident itself. And when I did, I found myself crying while typing. So today I am trying to continue the passage and starting out with a complete revision of the next section. I am mustering up my courage to do it.

What I am really afraid of is that revisiting some of these deeply emotionally fraught areas will bring on its own mood episode. And that would be a bad portent of what’s coming fi I attempt to continue a writing career out of my experiences. I don’t know anything else to do with myself! 🙂 I need to be a little more dispassionate about some of this so I can write about it with some semblance of emotional distance between me and the incidents so they don’t get maudlin. But I don’t want to get behind on my revisions by trying to wait longer to work on it.

All this to say pray that I can keep my composure while writing and get it right and write it in a way that is accessible, relatable, and gentle with myself and the younger me that still feels those feelings. Thanks so much for your support and care for me and my story about bipolar disorder.

Wound Up Assignments

I got all my assignments done on time and turned in somehow. I just had to sit down and start and then it was all fun and games again. I just need to get over that resistance to get going. I have so much fun when I’m actually writing. This reminds me how much fun it is. I guess I will spend today working on that revisions from last week since I am feeling so much better.

My latest post for http://www.bphope.com is up about identifying as “Impaired” rather than “disabled.” I talk a lot about how I had to come to terms with my identity and how I choose to call myself impaired. So that is good information out. I have another post due to come out later in the month on how I talk to my kids about bipolar disorder. That one was kind of difficult to do, but it should read well on the site.

I need to write two more for them for November, so that will be fun to do as well. I need to scare up something for the MCIR for the end of the year but nothing has of yet come to mind. I’m thinking about updating the COVID story in the state hospitals before the year is out; I can do that wen I finish class after Thanksgiving.

I guess I need to start on some of those revisions from last week now that I have the energy to work on it. Hope everyone is doing well and staying away from te virus. Godspeed.

Sleeping In

My youngest was off school today so we really slept in. I got up around 10:30 a.m. Woke up the first time at nine to a telemarketing call, then just kind of drifted in and out of sleep until Bob called around ten. I still have things to do but I guess I really needed that sleep too.

I did get one big block of writing done yesterday afternoon and I’m going to do that today until my advising appointment at 3:30 p.m. Then tonight I’m going to do my research log and my book annotation. So we will see what happens.

Started reading Jenny Lawson’s next book and got halfway through before I realized I really needed to go to sleep. It was SO FUNNY. I will have plenty to write about in my research log about it. Then I’ll have the rest of the week to finish it and get ready to write more about it.

I feel pretty good today. Trying to cope with the last of the sleepiness. I want to have good days. I really do. But I just can’t quite muster up enough strength to do it. It’s so frustrating. I don’t want to go back to sleep after Bob leaves. But there’s really nothing stopping me if I decide to.

SO I guess I need to get ready for Bob to come in. Hope everyone is having a good day and can manage your exposure to the virus. Godspeed.

Good Sunday Morning

We got up and Bob was the Sunday School teacher this morning. He did a good job talking out of the book of Janes about works and faith. It wasn’t a long lesson because it was a very straightforward piece of scripture, but it was good to ha him do.

I am so very sleepy. But I need to type today in a big way–I need to do my book annotation and fill in some gaps in this week’s essay. I just don’t know if I can stay awake. I am so sleepy. I managed to go yesterday without a nap but only got laundry done.

I think I’m gong to have to type the new sections outside of the main document ad then slot them in I’m a little overwhelmed by the big MSS right now. I only have about a month to finish off. As long as I keep turning things in and keep up with editing, it shouldn’t be too much to do. key is staying awake.

Counting down to the election, too. That is probably going to be one unholy mess of lawsuits and accusations being thrown around. I am just praying for it to be sorted out fairly quickly, We don’t need a repeat of 2000 all over again.

I am going to check on lunch. We will see how much longer we have. Good stuff! We go to see Knox’s birthday party next Sunday, so that will be fun, Hope everyone an stay safe from the virus and be safe. Love to all

Sleepover

My youngest had a friend sleep over last night. It was supposed to be after the Homecoming Game but they moved homecoming up to Thursday night so she just ame over last night anyway. They cancelled the school’s homecoming dance, but my Facebook feed says that people held private Homecoming dances for their kids. Craziness with COVID going around.

I am having to catch up on laundry today, And a good day for it with the storms around from Hurricane Delta. We’re not going out for anything. So I may as well get it all done. Then we’ll see if we can get some more writing done as well

I’ve about got this sleep business figured out. If I’m allowed to sleep and wake up naturally at eight, I[‘m not sleepy during the day. But during the week if I have to get up at 6:30, I have to sleep to catch up. I don’t know how to solve this problem since I take my daughter to school. So frustrating.

Bob is going to be teaching Sunday School this Sunday morning. He has been working on a lesson out of James. So we will see how that turns out.

WEll I’m going to run and see if the laundry can be finished yet I hate that we’re having to stay in because I don’t normally fix lunch on Saturdays But I shopped for it so I have something on hand. We will see how it goes. Hope everyone else is doing well. Godspeed.