(no subject)

I picked Cordelia up from school yesterday. I don't-- quite-- think it was a mistake. Doing it left me both exhausted and feeling like I'd accomplished something.

I tried to walk her to school today. That was a mistake. I got halfway there before I gratefully accepted another mother's offer to get Cordelia the rest of the way there. It didn't help that Cordelia pulled on my arm (unintentionally, I suspect) and then shouted denials about it when I asked her to be careful.

It's about a block to the school, not far at all. The sidewalks are decent. It's just too far for me to go in the mornings with my back like this. There's too much ice on the sidewalks, even when people have put down salt or gravel or ice melting chemicals.

Now, I'm applying heat in hopes of easing my back. I've got three hours before I need to pick her up. I'm not sure what I'll do with that time.

I do know what I should do with it. I need to eat. I need to shower. I need to work on my Yuletide fic. I need to empty and load the dishwasher. I need to tidy the living room for the cleaning lady to be able to do her thing. (Last week offered another lesson on why I need to move things out of her way-- She piled books and papers on top of Cordelia's advent calendar. I think she didn't know what it was or didn't think about it at all.)

At any rate, I can't do any of the things I should while I'm applying the hot pad. Even the writing needs to be done elsewhere. I'm debating which will be less uncomfortable-- moving to the basement to work or moving to the dining room table. I prefer the living room, but it's not feasible to print out my draft and work from it in the living room. I need either the table or the desk in order to have space for it. The desk is in the basement. It's comfortable apart from being dark (two burned out lights, one with bad wiring) and cold. The table's in the dining room. That's warmer than the basement (but colder than the living room), but it's uncomfortable. The chairs hurt after about fifteen minutes (assuming I use one of the good chairs), and the height of the chairs and table aren't right for comfortable typing.

Of course, if I work upstairs, I can shower first. Wet hair in the basement is not an option. That may decide me.

In the meantime, I'm doing a little cat waxing and thinking about my to-be-read pile. It's full of books that I know are good. It's full of books that I want to read but that I suspect I won't ever be able to. It's full of books I'm holding onto in hopes that some day I'll be able to read emotionally difficult and/or long books again. That might happen. I can't think why it wouldn't.

I picked up all those books because I expected them to be worth trying. Half of them, I've started but have only read, at most, a chapter. Those are all books that I want to finish. I just currently can't.

I'm trying to decide if I should just get rid of those books or if I should keep them in hope. Perhaps at some point when I'm both mobile and cat waxing, I'll make a list of the partially read books and ask for comments about which are worth keeping. I may also list some of the books that I found in the storage totes in the basement, things I'd forgotten I owned but don't quite want to get rid of.

Okay, half an hour with the heating pad should be enough to loosen the muscles if heat is going to help at all. Time to be doing something.