Battered by the Bookcase (not to mention the Benadryl)

We have a lot of books.


For years I’ve squeezed them onto the shelves by double rows, so that each bookcase is two bookcases. TYG isn’t a fan of that look so we’ve been buying bookcases since the move. The pair that arrived yesterday should put us over the top (yay! I wanted them all unpacked this year but honestly didn’t think we’d make it, even with the built-in shelves in the living room).
Now the not-so-good news: Lugging one of our previous bookcase purchases upstairs a few weeks ago, I strained my weak elbow (I’ve had tennis elbow several times). When the shippers dropped off the new ones, they left them in the driveway (apparently that’s all we paid them to do—though I still don’t see why the left the wooden pallet as well) and so I stubbornly insisted on getting them inside. Not good for the arm. And when we put it together last night, try as I might I put more strain on the arm than I should. Plus, of course, I took a lot of time up moving them inside, then assisting the ever-capable TYG in assembling them.
I do have an elbow support brace, but the trouble is, it keeps giving me a rash. And it got bad enough yesterday that I decided not to wear it even over a shirt. So that didn’t help.
Anyway, the upshot was that I was exhausted today, enhanced by taking Benadryl to see if that would kill the rash (it didn’t). Benadryl knocks me out but it leaves me very drained in the morning, and so I was.
Which is a long-winded way of saying I haven’t gotten crap done today, other than cleaning for TYG’s mum, Joyce, to arrive. Oh, and shelving as many books as possible on the new bookcase. I tried doing some ehows earlier and my mind is just balking (I may give some fiction a shot in a bit). No point in wasting time, and that’s all it is now.
Plus, of course, I spent Monday with my sister, so not a lot accomplished this week.
On the plus side, I got another 5,000 words done on Brain From Outer Space. I’m up to 30,000 words now and so far don’t feel any of the nagging No, This Is Wrong doubts I have on previous drafts. Hopefully that’ll continue.
I redrafted Now It’s Time to Say Goodbye based on feedback from the writing group. It’s looking good, I think, though it’s probably going to end up slightly too long for flash fiction.
And I got a third of the way through a rewrite of Final Cut, my oddball movie-tribute story. It’s taking more work than expected, but it’s definitely improving (again, thanks to group input).
I am not pleased with giving myself an extra day off—this month, I can’t really afford it—but it appears that’s the way the Friday crumbles.