I guess I could have skipped the genital warts survey.

I might’ve had a bit more time to write if I had. Because honestly, I’ve just been too busy. Even though I’m trying. I really am. Having gone off the grid, blog-wise, for two whole months, I am trying to rebuild trust. I know my readers think I’m a flake. That I’ll vanish again any day. That I’m an utterly unreliable narrator. And I’d like to persuade them that it’s not true. So I’ve been making a real effort.

But this week! This week has been nuts. We’re having some windows replaced. Also, while the walls are already eviscerated, some insulation blown in to the walls. L.A. now being the arctic, and all. Anyway, the house is full of workmen. And dust. The latter of which is almost certainly filled with lead, fiberglass, and other nameless but toxic particulates. Not that this fact can, in any way, be blamed for my silence. Still, it gains me pity points. Cough, cough. Hack?

And then Myra-Jean got sick. A fever. One-oh-two point five. It only lasted a day and a half, but still, these things are distracting. One imagines the worst. Me, I go straight to meningitis. I don’t even know what it is. But it exists. It’s bad. There’s a fever involved. That suffices.

So MJ had “meningitis.” Albeit briefly. Still, I worried. Also, she’s not napping. It sucks.

Then, tonight, when I finally had a sitter, and was getting ready to write…I got a survey call. About women’s health issues. HPV, specifically. I had to take it. I can’t pass up a good survey. Or a bad one, for that matter. And this one paid! A twenty-dollar gift card. They didn’t say for where. I didn’t care. It could have been for Chuck E.Cheese and I would’ve jumped. On the subject of pap smears–or anything, let’s face it–I am volubility itself.

Turns out the gift card is for Target. That’s good. It’ll almost cover the fever medicine we had to buy this week. And the dust masks. And the new jar of Miralax because, did I mention? MJ’s constipated again. But the survey took a half an hour. It was interesting. We had a nice chat. But no time for blogging now. So much for rebuilding trust.

Next week I’m hoping it’ll quiet down. For now? Let’s just say that, on a scale of one to ten, it’s been a nine for chaos, a one for any sort of down time, and a “very dissatisfied” with the air quality in our bedroom.

Too bad there’s no vaccine for that.