trials...

Went for my over-due blood test this morning; took three sticks to hit a vein. I don't blame the tech at all, I have really lousy veins. But it does hurt when they smack the back of your hand really hard to get the veins to pop up. Especially when my RA is acting up already.

Discovered last night that the dishwasher is dead. Checked the circuit breaker, it was fine. DH ended up doing dishes at midnight while I bailed out the water remaining in the bottom of the machine. Called Sears; we have an appointment for Friday morning. (Thursday being Thanksgiving, and Wednesday being prep day, the timing of this leaves much to be desired.)

Today, drove up to Mesa to get a new thermal fuse, as that's often the culprit in cases like this. Alas, it wasn't. Further sleuthing indicates it may be the door latch, another cheap part ($8 -- the fuse was $18). Since it will cost $65 for the Sears guy to walk in the door, it's probably worth it for me to drive up to Mesa again for the door latch. I'm just wondering if I should also get the circuit board ($85) while I'm at it.

Bright side: the parts place in Mesa is called Appliance Parts Depot, and they have an awesome website with all kinds of repair advice on it: check it out.

Religious Education tonight, my tiny Confirmation Class of 5th & 6th graders. One of my students transferred to Tuesday nights, leaving me with only 6 students. Tonight we covered The Beatitudes, and it was like pulling teeth to get any kind of response out of them. It was very difficult to connect this material to their lives, at least I did not feel as if I was making any kind of connection. Bright side: further reading in Tod Lindberg's excellent The Political Teachings of Jesus.

Tomorrow: a 4-hour fast followed by a gastric emptying study; I get to eat a radioactive hard-boiled egg and then lie under a scanner for 90 minutes while the machine records the movement of the food through my system. Sounds like a good time for a nap! I have to remember to set my alarm early so I can take my medication without interfering with the fasting time.

In other news, there's a very good chance I finished all the necessary shopping for Thanksgiving dinner, etc, today. Three different stores trying to track down Spectrum Organic Shortening. Sheesh. First order for tomorrow is to make up my lists and be sure, because I don't want to have to shop on Wednesday, when the entire rest of the world will be shopping.

I'm also stressing about getting that other winter holiday's shopping done.

Usually, at this time of the night, I'd be typing this to the rhythmic sloshing of the dishwasher. It's too quiet tonight, I miss it. I have a general feeling that something's not right, and I suppose it could just be the broken dishwasher, but it feels as if it's something more important. I don't know what, though. I suppose I'll have to wait and see.