The Countdown Begins!

Jake will be home soon! I don't know for sure how soon, and if I did I wouldn't post it up anywhere, but I do know it will be soon.

For those of you who have never had to deal with military deployment schedules, "soon" can mean any time between an hour from now and a month from now. The military is also really wonderful about changing dates and times at the lastpossiblesecond. So if Jake was coming home, for example, on August 5th, I wouldn't be at all surprised if on August 4th, he called me and said, "Hey, we're coming home on the 6th now. No, wait, the 7th. Just kidding, it's the 8th. OK now it's the 5th again." And so on and so forth.

Operation Unpack My Crap has come to a halt, on account of extreme back pain. I don't think I've pulled anything or otherwise injured myself, but I'm definitely feeling more sore than usual. I'm giving myself a rest for a few days - at least until I can move without triggering a WTFPAIN attack - and then I'll start with the unpacking once more.

I have my Biology final on Wednesday, and my CNA practical exam tomorrow. I'm more nervous about the CNA exam, even though I did really well in the course. First of all, I'm afraid that I've forgotten everything, and secondly, I'm convinced that the stethoscopes they use there won't be as awesome as mine and therefore I won't be able to hear anything and I'll fail the vital signs portion of the test (scream-cry-flail). The last time I tried to use their stethoscopes, I couldn't even hear my OWN heartbeat. So... yeah. But Jake made a good point. He said there are other people passing, so the stethoscope can't be that bad. I guess he's right.

I Overdid It

So yesterday, I cleaned my house. I really cleaned my house. I inherited neat freakness from my mom, and it all came out in one tremendous surge all day yesterday. I usually clean every Sunday, and do a deep clean once a month; however, I've been slacking lately on my weekly cleaning sessions. I still manage to change the water in the fish tank and tend my jalapeños, but vacuuming and scrubbing the toilets and that kind of thing had fallen by the wayside.

It all started with Sophie. It was heartworm pill and flea medicine day, and whenever it's flea day, it's also bath day. I bathe her first, dry her as much as I can with a towel, put flea meds on her, and then give her the heartworm pill. She likes the pill, but she hates the flea liquid. I guess it's probably that feeling of something wet dripping down her back that she dislikes. Whatever the reason, her normal routine after bath/flea time is to run around the house like a maniac and then slide around on the floor on her back, trying to get the flea medicine off.

Like this:

To prevent this, I'll take her for an hour-long walk afterward; this air-dries her and also gives the flea medicine time to soak in and dry.

So, a-walkin' we did go, and she loved it, and it was good for me. Yay.

When we got back, I noticed a wet spot on the couch. I sniffed it, as I do with all mysterious wet spots around the house, and it smelled vaguely chemical. I determined that Sophie must have brushed up against the couch and gotten her flea medicine on it, and I started to freak out. I didn't know how badly that stuff would stain our couch, so I tried to blot it off. Didn't work. The next logical step, of course, was to strip the cover off of the couch cushion and hand-wash that spot. And I did.

When I was disassembling the couch, I noticed that there were surprises under the cushions. So I vacuumed them up. Then I wondered what would be under the couch itself, so I moved it and vacuumed there. Then I vacuumed the living room. Then I dusted. Then I moved into another room, and another, and upstairs, and so on. Five hours later, I felt that I should stop.

Up side: the house is super clean. Whee!

Down side: I think my back is on strike.

I could barely roll out of bed this morning. My back hurts soooo bad. I might not get around to my normal Sunday routine things (which is pretty much only aquarium maintenance today). I tried to take Sophie for a walk, but it hurt too much. It kinda looks like rain anyway, though, so... meh.

Oh! Last night, I was trying to do a kick count but the Beast was sleeping or meditating or something. So I was poking myself in the belly to antagonize the Beast into moving, and s/he started kicking back at where I was poking. HARD! I got it on video!

The kicking starts around 9 seconds in. It made me think of that part in "Alien" where the baby alien came screaming out of that guy's chest.