Holidays?

Well, the fun and relaxation hasn't exactly kicked in as hoped. I have lunched with some friends, which has been truly nice. But my vile FIL has been extra demanding. He's been feeling sick, and keeps calling us up saying he's 'never felt this bad before' and 'I'm really crook (cough) (cough)', and carrying on.

We say : "It sounds like you have a virus, go back to bed, rest, drink plenty of fluids." But oh no, that's not good enough. He keeps pestering and calling, protesting that he's practically dying, until we (ie I, seeing as DH isn't well enough) drive him to the medical centre, where we then wait ages to be seen, only to have a doctor tell him that (you guessed it) he has a virus, go back to bed, rest, and drink plenty of fluids.

Aaaaaaaaaargh!!! TWICE he's done this to me in the past week, this morning waking me at 7am, after I'd had a whole 5 hours sleep ... plus there was a GP appointment I had to take him to last week, and medical appointments (x-rays, blood tests, and so on) in the weeks ahead. Add to this his total self-obsession, dementia, severe complaining-itis, almost-autistic Aspergers, and disregard for anyone else, and it's a recipe for ... high blood pressure, to say the least!

He complains about every single appointment, and every test, accusing all the doctors and medical staff of "only being in it for the money" (which is deeply offensive to everyone who's trying to help him, and ridiculous on so many levels, not the least of which is that he's a veteran and all his medical bills are covered by Veterans' Affairs!). He endlessly complains "I'm sick of all this medical stuff, when is it going to all end?!" and I now just say "When you're dead!" - he's 86 for f***'s sake, what does he bleedin' expect?!

Think I'll go bake some bread, and punch the dough. A lot.

And I'm having to work. I know it's good to be in demand, but honestly guys - I need a break! My syndicator needed Anzac Day puzzles, which I wrote yesterday, and new Gourmet crosswords (next week's job) as Reader's Digest have bought up most of my stock (only about 10 of them) to go into a puzzle booklet (ie just one-off sales, not an ongoing contract). Very happy about the Reader's Digest connection, I really am, but ... !!

Okay, trying to calm down. Some knitting content : The Mitred Baby Jacket, back view - close to completion. Damn, there are a lot of ends to darn in! I'm doing them as I go to minimise the pain at the end ;)


Proof of drought (does this make it drought-proof?) .... our backyard with bare earth for 'lawn'. Veggie garden going so-so.

On the funny side, check out Cock & Bull, my new favourite web comic. I love this strip in particular ...