Slow Crawl

Things have slowed to a crawl here in the Collective household. Things were picking up steam; it was the beginning of the fall semester — which means an influx of students coming to see me, and I picked up two classes of my own — and along with the usual pickup in pace I had started going on a few job interviews to see if I could land a full-time spot anywhere. I love my current job and I don’t want to leave, but they don’t have the budget to bring me on full-time. And I’d really like full-time. I’d like the security and benefits that come with full time. And things were going pretty well — I had a few interviews lined up and I did well, and then as luck would have it I got sick.

Not one of those fall colds that you just muddle through. No. I could handle that.

The flu. And not the “vomit everywhere and then feel better two days later” flu. The kind of flu where you lose two and a half days to fever and chills and barely move off the couch. The kind of flu where you call out from work for three days, except you don’t call — you email, because you barely have the energy to tap out a few lines and then go lay down again.

This thing knocked me on my butt for a week. And I’m still not feeling completely recovered. I can finally move around without feeling exhausted five minutes later, but I’m still falling asleep at 8 or 9 PM. I also no longer have to sleep sitting up, which is a godsend.

So, yeah. My house is a mess, I’m a week behind on classwork and a few days behind on actual work. My house is a mess, my yard is a mess. And forget about any kind of crafting or quilting. That’s on the back burner until at least next week.

On the upside? Little kitten got adopted out! He found a loving family with one of hubby’s friends; They have two daughters and have been putting photos up on Facebook of kitten settling in. His name is Simon! An adorable name for an adorable kitten! Dusty had separation anxiety for a day or two and wandered around the house meowing and turning things over looking for him, but otherwise she’s settled into our house nicely. There’s very little hissing and batting between the boys and her, which is a good step forward. Dusty still wants to dart out of the house every now and again, and we let her, but I’m hoping that as she becomes more comfortable in the house that she feels the need to pop out less and less.

That, and the less she goes out the less she can bring me dead animals. A mouse, two chipmunks, and a blue jay so far. And that blue jay was half the size of her! The two chipmunks were still alive and not harmed to the point of dying so I was able to save them. And I know it’s instinct, but she doesn’t really need to kill things when she’s got plenty of food at home. So the more I can keep her inside the more I can keep her from killing the wildlife. That, and she’s lost both collars we’ve put on her so far. They were breakaways, but if she lost two breakaways I don’t want to put a non-breakaway on her, lest she get herself into some trouble and caught on something where I can’t get to her. I guess I’m off to the store for another breakaway…