National Novel Writing Month (November!!!)

I know, I know...as if I have nothing better to do than write a novel in November. Not even an advance, just the honor of being declared a "winner" if I write 50,000 words by the end of the month! Luckily they don't read the books, just count the words, so spelling can be atrocious and typos may abound.

Hey, if you want to be a character in my book, give me a name you'd like to be and maybe what kind of person you want to be (if you don't want me lifting all your real life qualities and circumstances, that is!). And of course, I may still take a few liberties with your character...hee hee heee.

I'm not sure if I should tell you much about the story. It's not one of those "adult" books, rest assured. (You may wind up in one of those anyway, but I'm not gonna tell you until it's published...hee hee hee.)

It's really a blueprint for what I'd like to do when DH and I are "retired" that is, what kind of work we'd like to do before we are too old and tired to do much of anything.

The working title is Beadboard, Sea Glass and Driftwood and it's the first in the Trilogy Cottages Mystery Series, and the protagonist is Abigail Steele. You, my friends and family, may find her eerily familiar...

There, that's enough to keep you guessing for now....hee hee hee.

Margaret

Noses, gallbladders and ukuleles, oh my!

I've just finished my 10 days of Augmentin, and things are OK. I still get that smell in my nose very now and then, so I'm not convinced it's really gone away. I'll see how I fare this weekend and e-mail the doc on Monday if it comes back. I love being "special" but not in this way! I would much rather have something common and easily diagnosed! The intestinal blues have calmed down, thank goodness.

Russ came out of his gallbladder surgery just fine on Wednesday, and is recovering nicely. Lots of resting, sleeping, TV and testing what kinds of foods are OK right now. The surgeon wasn't convinced there was anything wrong with his gallbladder since it looked so healthy (as he removed it). This may or may not alleviate his symptoms....

We had a great time at the Ukulele Festival last weekend in St. Helena. We got to see/hear/meet the infamous (in uke circles) James Hill and the lovely Victoria Vox. I'll include a couple YouTube videos here. They are not mine and not from that day. But these are wonderful young talents.

Enjoy! (and buy some of their CDs!)

Yucky Drugs...Yucky Smell...

My doctor put me on the antibiotic Augmentin on Tuesday and warned me it could have yucky side-effects. Since I've been on antibiotics before without adverse reaction, I just hoped for the best.

Not so lucky this time. I did what she said to do and have been eating some (vegan) yogurt with live cultures, but my intestines have decided to sing the blues today. I downed another carton of raspberry coconut yogurt this morning and am again, hoping for the best. Maybe it's time to get that fiber Sassy mentioned. (Just hadn't had time since I was at a conference.)

The reason I'm taking an antibiotic is a possible sinus condition. But it really isn't presenting in a typical way. No fever. No pain. No yucky-colored discharge. What I do have is a nasty smell in my nose. It started last Monday and went away on Thursday, the day I started my trip. I was doing nasal rinses with the NeilMed squeezebottle.

This effort seemed to be working, I thought.

But on Monday morning, after being home one night, the nasty smell came back. (This is something only I can smell. I don't smell bad, nor does by breath, according to my brave DH who tested both.)

I had only missed one evening of nasal rinsing, so I started it up again and decided to see my doctor. Bad smell all day Monday, bad smell all day Tuesday. I got in to see her on Tuesday and took the first pill around 1 pm.

After describing my symptoms and the doc looking up my nose and in my ears, she announced, "Well, this one really stumps me."

So not the words I wanted to hear. This is what I wanted to hear...

"Oh, I know what this is. I've seen it several times. Here's what you do (or take) to get rid of it and this is what you do to prevent it."

Nope.

So instead, going on the assumption it's some sort of nastiness/infection in my sinuses, I am put on antibiotics. I am perfectly willing to do this because I too, am stumped.

I've tried to be very Nancy Drew about this and figure out what external thing could be causing this and eliminating things one by one. A new face cream. Sudden allergy to spinach. A scented candle in the bedroom. A new lip gloss. A scented deodorant I'd been using for weeks. I wasn't on any supplements or other drugs. On and on. It had better not be chocolate!

I'll keep you updated, and am happy to take suggestions or hear of other people's experiences. The smell really waned yesterday, but kept came back a little last night.

What does it smell like, you ask? There is nothing on this earth it smells like for me to give it a name. How I wish it smelled like maple syrup or a new puppy. It's not really a horrid smell (like dog poo or garlic breath), but it's definitely not a nice smell. It's a little sickening. And to having anything in your nose this long is just depressing and annoying. And I'm too close to menopause to have any more annoyances.