Things that go bump in the night

Are you frightened by things that go bump in the night? I rarely am, but I can conjure up wild scary thoughts at 3 a.m. if I'm sleepless. Last night was different: I couldn't sleep but was sort of calm and peaceful--meaning I dozed--and finally fell asleep between 3:00 and 4:00. The cat wakened me at 6:00, and I fed him, thinking he'd then let me have another two hours of sleep. But when I crawled back in bed, I had this weird intermittent pain just above my elbow on my left arm. We've all been taught so much these days about being a pro-active patient, listening to our bodies and symptoms, etc., that I of course put left arm pain together with heart attack. Nothing else about me felt off--just this annoying flash of pain about every minute. My first thought was: of course I'm not having a heart attack, because I'm keeping Jacob tonight.
I have the luxury or advantage or whatever of having a brother who's a doctor, and I called him. After asking a few questions, he said the classic, "Take two aspirin and call me back later." Actually what he said was aspirin were good to take if it was a cardiac event, which he didn't think it was, and aspirin was also good for a pain in the elbow. Later, we settled on my original diagnosis of having slept wrong on my shoulder and elbow, and by mid-morning the pain was gone.
But it brought the power of imagination home to me again. I'm not sure if writing fiction and being definitely left-brained (don't ask me to proofread or do math) has anything to do with it, but I've always had vivid dreams and a strong imagination--especially in the dark wee hours of the morning. So this morning of course my imagination ran away with me--who should I call to take me to the ER, would I be in a hospital bed by afternoon, etc. I think probably the possibility of death even occurred to me, though I am quite sure I have a lot of years left to live--but still, in your seventies, such thoughts occur.
Of course once I got up and moving  both the scary thoughts and the symptoms went away. But it's a lesson learned (maybe) in distinguishing between real symptoms and frightful thoughts. Wouldn't I have been embarrassed if I'd called 911 for a numb shoulder?
So today my major thought was: I want a nap!

Milestones

I hit two miletones yesterday--and one of them almost slipped by me. When I reached the mark of 19,000 hits on my blog, I thought I'd watch and have a blogobration (is that a blog celebration?) at 20,000. But I must have turned my head. Either that or more people read it than usual, because last night I looked and it was at 20,077. Now folks, this is not the Huffington Post--that probably gets over a thousand hits a day. I've been blogging four years, so that probably averages to 20 hits a day, though I think it's been growing lately. I guess the good news is that people don't read it once or twice and get bored but seem to come back. So I'm pleased. I enjoy blogging, and I'll keep doing it. I thank those of you who read it daily--Jeannie and Marcia and Elizabeth, among others--and those of you who check in when  you have time. Sometimes I think my blog is such a mish-mash that I'm not sure where it's going--but I try to keep it a mix of writing, cooking, and grandmothering--hats off to Melanie for coming up with that concept and title. And I try to avoid politics, though every once in a while I can't resist inserting a bit of my opinion on that subject. But thank you all for reading and caring. I'd like to hear more from you--what do you want me to talk about, what interests you, what bores you?
The second milestone was that I sent the rough draft of my Texas food book to the publisher who's expressed interest--I guess I blogged about that last night. But it was an accomplishment, because when I first looked at the list of foods that began in Texas, I thought writing about all of them was insurmountable. It wasn't. Instead it was fun.
Another phone bank day at the Bill White campaign office. I particularly liked the lady who said she didn't know anything about White, and we got to chatting. At one point she said to me, "I'm 70, but I'm not a dumb 70." I replied, "I got you beat. I'm 72." We laughed and continued to have a good conversation. It makes you feel good when you open someone's eyes to study the issues and the candidates, even if they don't immediately agree with you. Several people said to me, "I don't want to get involved." A campaign worker said, "You should ask them why they don't want to get involved. Don't they realize this is their state, and who is elected affects their daily lives?" I'll try it next week.
Jacob came for supper tonight. Supper consisted for him of seven chicken nuggets and one blackberry. I made myself another version of tuna salad--this with lemon, tomato, fresh tarragon from my porch, mayonnaise, red onion, and ate it along with hearts of palm and hummus. Good dinner, and not too fattening. Jacob's dad came and together they fnished the blackberries. But I turned a deaf ear to Jacob's pleas for ice cream. I think I've learned my lesson about sweets. He proudly pointed out to his dad where he hid under the dining room table the other night, and Christian, bless him, used the occasion to reinforce that Jacob was not ever going to hide from Juju again.
I'm usually a sound sleeper but last night I could not get to sleep. I would swear I didn't sleep all night, but my mom used to tell me I did and just didn't know it. But I do know I never got that deep REM sleep we need--and this morning at an 8:00 breakfast I felt like I was sleep-walking. Jacob's early arrival interrupted a good nap that Scooby and I were sharing, so I'm off to bed early. It seems a busy week looms, but when I think about it, I suspect its easily manageable.
Again, thanks for being interested in me and my doings, my writing, my cooking, my family.

One of those nights

We all have them, nights where sleep doesn't come easily if at all. I had a hard time falling asleep last night, and then about 2:30 a coughing fit kept me awake and left me with what felt like a sinus headache, the cat wretched, noisily, all over the house (though this morning I couldn't find that she had produced anything), and the dog slept happily on, making those little soft noises of contentment that dogs do when they're asleep. Sometimes he whimpers in a bad dream, but I have only to call his name and he stops (it's sort of like having a husband who snores!). I stayed awake. When I do that I move among several worlds--last night it was the world of the manuscript I'm editing, then on to the world of the mystery I'm reading, and perhaps some time in the world of my reality. The world I didn't spend any time in is that of my amateur sleuth, star of my two unpublished mystery series. I've put the series out of mind and moved out of that world, wondering if I will be able to move back in easily or not. I blogged in my mind, I remembered how funny Jacob was last night, I did all sorts of mental things--all of which of course kept my mind active and kept sleep away. Finally fell back asleep about 6:45 but jumped out of bed at 7:30, feeling I had lots to do. My mom used to tell me you're not really awake all that time--you're sleeping and just don't know it. I would swear she was wrong, but it's a comforting thought. She also used to tell me when you itched all over, it was a sure sign you're going to sleep. I think that was wishful thinking on her part. I think the whole evening was payback because Jordan brought up the topic of sleeping pills last night and I assured her I sleep soundly, never need them. Smugness also goeth before a fall, just like pride. I'm pretty sleep today.

Two words sent me scurrying to the dictionary this morning: Jordan told Jacob not to stand with both feet on one side of the big rocking horse because it was about to tump over. Now I think I've heard her use this before, and in fact I actually replied last night, "It's not tumping over." I guess learned it from her, but she will no doubt say she picked it up from me. A tump (it's a noun, not a verb) is a small mound of earth, grass, even a haystack. I suppose a tump could tump over on you (okay, that was bad!)

Jacob has a new game. He marches through the house chanting the cadence of "Hut, two, three, four, Hut, two, three, four." I looked up "hut" in the dictionary because I didn't know if it was hut or hup--the dictionary was no help, so I called my brother, who said it's hut and that there are a whole bunch of cadences in the armed services.

Jacob arrived about 4:30 this afternoon, absolutely bursting with energy. Toward dinnertime he did calm down some and ate a medium dinner, so I gave him banana/chocolate bread (lied and told him it was cake). I feel really guilty because I also gave him mashed potatoes from a box I happened to have in the cupboard, I think for a recipe for Salisbury steak. Anyway, he scoffed down those potatoes and asked for more, so then I took a small bite and swished it around in the chicken-wine sauce on my plate. Not bad. As the evening wore on, he gained in energy and I lost it, until I really didn't feel on top of my game, and it was hard to be patient with him. But we read books, cuddled, and he stalled about going to bed but seemed to settle down nicely. I hope he didn't sense how ready I was for him to go to bed!

I may just stay home all day tomorrow and get over this blasted cold. Don't like feeling this way!