I am actually still on earth

I've not been on my computer for (it seems) months and don't know if I ought to do a big catch-up post or just let it go.

I hurt my ankle the weekend of Thanksgiving. There was pain and swelling but no bruising so we were unable to figure out what had happened. But oh, walking on it was not something I wanted to do. After some lackluster care at the local doc-in-a-box I saw a specialist and got two sets of X-rays as well as an MRI. It seems that I managed to tear tendons on each side of the ankle. So a boot was worn all of December and January. I've finished PT now and have opted to not return to the specialist, who is a surgeon first and a orthopedic doctor second. I've learned my lesson about that! They always seem to want to cut...

I was told the second week of January that a friend was being elevated to the Order of the Pelican in the SCA on the second weekend of February. I was listed as their point of contact, so it fell to me to organise their ceremony. They'd just become a Laurel about fourteen months previously so a reception following the court ceremony was my answer to that. But no one wanted to step up to provide the regalia so I had to do it on my own. I've never sewn a Mongolian hat before, much less invented a version that would be a SCA Cap of Maintenance. My golly, that was a special challenge and I nearly didn't rise to it. Especially with my foot in a big boot and under orders to keep it elevated. I put it off and put it off until the week before the ceremony but then bit the bullet and made a test muslin, which I think looked silly but it worked, and then made the hat. Sewing silk and fake fur is sucky. And I was sure he'd hate it because he is a very persnickety person. I rehearsed my apology the whole week and set up the spare fabric to give to him so he could get someone he trusted to make a better version of the hat. I dreaded going to the event. A-n-d... he loved it. It fit him perfectly and worked very well to support his coronet without obscuring it. I still don't believe it. So now I am going to make three more for the rest of us local Anda in the Great Dark Horde who are also members of the Order. We have a court presentation at Atlantia's upcoming coronation and it'd be kinda cool to have those of us in the Order processing in with our Pelican regalia on. We don't often underline how active our household members are in areas outside of the heavy fighting arena and it may be time to remind people that our non-fighters are contributing members of the Society.

Windfall

Do you remember me posting about having to call Social Security in order to schedule a phone appointment for my husband to apply for his benefits? (He cannot achieve success using the online forms.) That was back in September. Well. In December they finally got around to scheduling his appointment for the last week of February. Yes, February.

But there was a huge silver lining around the cloud bank of anger generated by our frustration. It seems that his application (and also my surprise one!) was automatically backdated to the month when we contacted their office to request an appointment so he (and later the same day, I) was credited all those months of missed payments in one lump sum. Which was immediately deposited into our checking account. As a result, I have dragooned him in to get the fitted shoe inserts he needed to address his walking pain, he has an appointment to get his dentures relaced and new ones fitted, our bathrooms are now electrically compliant with safety regs and one has a new outlet so we can install a heated bidet, and a plumber is coming over tomorrow to fix a constricted drainage pipe in the kitchen.

Next up is buying drywall for the bathrooms to finish the walls. And maybe, maybe, I will see what it costs to get a couple of my molars replaced. Maybe. We've the money for it but saving as much as we can for our upcoming retirement is a priority too. Then again, we won't have a dental policy once he retires and that does minorly offset some of the cost of my dental repairs. Juggling our needs is something of a headache.

Also...

ALso, do you remember when I angsted all over about failing one of my protégées and we ended up breaking the relationship? https://stitchwhich.dreamwidth.org/477763.html?nc=3#comments Well, things morphed into something (almost) nasty. When I see her, she is all sweetness and "I've missed you so much!" but on social media and behind my back at events there have been quite a few barbs and darts thrown my way (which she will post about to ensure that I know about it.) Sort of the kind of comments women often make when they are working out their resentment against their mothers after they leave home. I don't take much hurt from them, mostly note that the comments are bitter and judgy and do not reflect well on her and also (happy wonders!) are no longer generating fall-out that would be my problem to address. There is fall-out, of course, but it isn't anything negative against me. And the errors she has been making are (yay!) not my problem either. Like, maybe, picking up the King's champion's gauntlet and slapping him with it when he issued the standard challenge after coronation ceremony... (sigh)

She's moving. She and her husband are relocating to Wisconsin. The Kingdom of Northshield, in the SCA. I don't even feel guilty about being relieved. And it should be a good for her, to escape where she's made so many missteps and be in a SCA kingdom that has no prior knowledge of her. She's been steadily changing and growing these last few years and I hope the positive changes continue.

But she will cease to be "my problem" soon and that Feels. So. Good.