NaNoWriMo, Stink Bugs, & Antibiotics

Tonight will end my first week in the international writing challenge, NaNoWriMo. I haven’t started on today’s word count, but so far I’ve written 11,425 words, bringing the total count up to 20,080…so I’m more than a third of the way finished with Cal’s book and over a fifth of they way through the 50,000 word goal for the month.

Stink bugs???

Until a month or so ago, my only experience with those lovely little creatures was that I’d heard people mention them from time to time. But then I killed a bug that got on my desk…and realized immediately why they were given that name. They smell awful! I had to grab a second tissue to pull it out of the waste basket so I could give it a burial at sea – well, a quick flush.

But that wasn’t my only run-in with one of them. Nope. No such luck. I was sitting here last night, minding my own business, when I felt something on top of my head. A little scared because of all the spiders that have floated down in front of my face, I reached up…but didn’t feel anything.

And then I felt something on the side of my head, so I reached up again…and came away with a bug between my fingers and my thumb. Can we say freak out? All I saw was legs, so I thought it was a spider…for about half a second because as I was flinging it to the floor, I caught a whiff of a familiar odor. I quickly reached for another tissue. But when I looked down, it wasn’t there.

So I’m looking all over and not seeing it anywhere on the floor. Why? It was on my foot. My bare foot. I almost started dancing, but kept my wits about me and grabbed it with the tissue. And then I made tracks for the bathroom. After sending it on a surprise white water rapids adventure, I washed my hands. Twice.

My head itched the whole rest of the night. I wondered how stink bugs reproduce, and if they could do so in hair. So in between all the scratching, I was scrubbing my fingers through my hair and flinging it everywhere – just in case. When I caught site of myself in a mirror later, I looked like I’d been in a major windstorm. Yes, I had a bit of a meltdown. I hate bugs.

Antibiotics?

Yup. Those came into play on Wednesday. I thought I had a loose filling -which hurt like mad, but no such luck. It turned out to be an abscess near my jaw bone (which explained the excruciating pain radiating from my chin to my ear). Apparently it’s been there for more than a year. My former dentist kept trying to tell me it was just a sensitive tooth and to just use a special toothpaste.

Since it’s been getting worse over the past several months, it probably explains why I’ve been more tired than usual since early summer. So I suppose I’m glad it got really bad last week. Not so thrilled to be looking at a root canal, implant, or something else a little more involved than that. But I have to say that as much trouble as this tooth has given me since the first time it was filled (the other dentist filled it twice more because I kept telling her it hurt), I won’t miss it when it’s gone.

So that’s how my first week of NaNoWriMo has gone this year. Amazingly enough, I’ve made or exceeded my word count goals every day but one…and I made up for that by doing an extra thousand.

Right now I’m just looking forward to an end to the pain…and catching up on a little sleep I’ve missed for the past six days.

Just a quick addition here. Forgot to post this yesterday because I rehearsing for a role in an upcoming zombie flick…and didn’t get a single word written. I’m going to be playing major catch up for the next few days.

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6 Responses to NaNoWriMo, Stink Bugs, & Antibiotics

  1. You had quite a week Kristy. Nano sounds like it’s coming along for you. Just try to stay away from the stink bugs, will ya. And I hope your tooth situation gets remedied ASAP my friend. Nothing worse. Take care of yourself. {{Hugs!}} 🙂

    • Kristy K. James says:

      Hi, Karen…
      I owe you an apology, too. November was quite a month…and one I hope to never repeat. 🙂

      Hugs to you, too. 🙂

  2. Korinna Berry says:

    That would be crooked fingers and I truly despise those critters. This auto correct has a mind of its own.

  3. Korinna Berry says:

    Kristy you are making me tired! As I think I told you, I am wheelchair bound with advanced stage Rheumatoid Arthritis. I am exhausted on an energetic day! Oxymoron? Not from my view. I am a stubborn ole broad and instead of allowing steroidal rages and weight gain and uncontrollable inflammation in every joint from my jaw to my toes, and crooked finger, to get me down, I too have been busy. I make my own jewelry and beads from paper and clay and just got asked if I could therapeutically produce 10 rosaries. I also put my M.Ed to use and home school my niece. I advocate for the disabled in need of accessible and assistive devices that are affordable. My oldest daughter just got married and my Granddaughter loves to come and play which requires a lot of Mommaws attention. I am raising money for the Arthritis Jingle Bell walk next month, and visit a slew of docs weekly. I still find time for my Facebook and reading. Deep breath! All this and you still make me tired! You must walk around in brain fog. God love ya! I bought and read Jon’s story in a minute amount of time; I am withdrawing! I hope to make it! Lol.
    Oh and the stink bug thing- they are disgusting! When I first moved to Florida, I had a Palmetto bug about 3 inches long take flight and nail me right in the forehead. It left a bruise on me and I thought I was going to need CPR! I truly despair those critters. Get some much needed rest my friend and feel better. I am glad they found this abscess and can fix it.

    • Kristy K. James says:

      Hi, Korinna…
      I apologize for the LONG delay in responding to you. I almost remember seeing this, but was so exhausted the first part of last month I guess I forgot to check back…I’m sorry!

      It sounds like you have some major things going on in your life…and I love that you don’t let it slow you down! Trust me, you do a whole lot more than I do. Though I am in a fog most of the time, lol, but that’s mostly thyroid related fatigue…and I may finally be getting a handle on that. 🙂

      So glad I’m not the only one who hates bugs. I actually had another one of those little stinkers (literally!) land on my hair again a few nights ago. This time it was on the end, so I grabbed a tissue, held it underneath and when it moved onto the tissue, I gave it a burial at sea (well, in the septic tank).

      From how you describe Palmetto bugs…I’m seriously hoping they’re not a northern kind of bug. Mosquitoes and stink bugs are bad enough. 🙂

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