1.  Lawd almighty, this tech thing is putting me in an early grave.

2.  I feel smart right up until that moment I realize the fourteen workarounds I’ve tried are going precisely nowhere.

3.  Breathe in, breathe out, live to fight another day.

4.  I’ve spent a bit of time on the road this week. Turns out I never noticed how beautiful it is driving under these autumn leaves.

5.  You know how really tall trees sometimes come together over a road? I always think to myself cool tree tunnel.

6.  This week I thought ooh, rainbow tree tunnel.

7.  Watching the dancing leaves is another favorite pastime.

8.  In some ways it’s sad — they’ve lost their brilliant colors and left behind bare branches — but there’s beauty in the fall.

9.  Wind tosses them around on their way to the ground. What really made me smile, though, was that one renegade leaf flitting upward and over the roof.

10.  One of these kids is doing their own thing!

11.  Shoutout to Sesame Street, my friends.

12.  We had a couple of lovely afternoons this week: sunny, bright blue skies, temps in the seventies.

13.  Soooo gorgeous.

14.  Which made the cognitive dissonance of houses decked out in Christmas decorations all the more disorienting.

15.  Part of this week’s recovery from burnout was brought to you by the U.S. healthcare system.

16.  I need a gel injection in my knee. Straightforward, right? I mean, it doesn’t exactly sound pleasant but at least it’s not complicated.

17.  Until the doctor’s office got the procedure pre-approved and were told they had to write an order for the medication so I could bring it to the appointment myself.

18.  Huh…kinda weird, but whatever. Except then it’s they also said it can only be filled through a specialty pharmacy and sent to you via mail order.

19.  Mail order? For the appointment I have in three days? Insert primal scream here.

20.  I’ve been hanging on for this appointment, people, so I wasn’t giving up that easy.

21.  It’s been a year but the silver lining is I’ve met my deductible. Cue call to insurance, verbal confirmation that a local pharmacy can fill it, and a message to my doctor’s office to please send it here.

22.  The Tuesday appointment was a pipe dream, though, so I sighed and bumped it to Thursday. I still held out hope my knee would feel better by Thanksgiving.

23.  Not to be overly dramatic but Tuesday evening brought shattered dreams.

24.  When I contacted my pharmacy to check on the syringe the pharmacy manager said she couldn’t believe they’d even ordered it seeing as it was ringing up at — wait for it — FIFTEEN HUNDRED DOLLARS.

25.  Y’all. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve had to learn to live with prescription costs, but this was out of bounds.

26.  I gave her the helpline my insurance rep had passed along. She called but they wouldn’t override the charge so in the end I told her to send it back.

27.  Cue canceling my second appointment of the week, requesting they submit my prescription to the specialty pharmacy, and trying not to throw my phone through a window.

28.  They called yesterday to schedule delivery next week so I called the doctor’s office. They can squeeze me in for the injection. Three weeks from now.

29.  THREE WEEKS.

30.  Glass-half-full people would say hey, at least my knee might feel better by Christmas.

31.  I might not quite be glass-half-full but at least the knot in my chest has eased up. Sometimes it just takes a few good cries plus the reminder some things are out of my control.

32.  Yeah, seems that control lesson is one I have to keep learning over and over again.

33.  Phoebe was over the moon when I walked through the door yesterday.

34.  Have you ever had a dog melt into your lap and grin? Because I have. It’s pretty great.

35.  Gracie did the snuggle up and grin thing, too, then kicked her scampiness into high gear.

36.  Maybe stealing inappropriate things and bringing them to me is her love language? Maybe so but that behavior can land her in the bedroom so you’d think she’d give it a rest.

37.  You guys would be so proud of me. I brought my things through the door and put up all my clothes right away. That shouldn’t be so stunning but I have a bad habit of setting down a basket and living out of it for two weeks.

38.  There’s a lot to be done in the rest of the house but I’m trying hard to at least keep the place I sleep straight.

39.  I cannot believe next week is Thanksgiving. And by that I mean I CANNOT BELIEVE NEXT WEEK IS THANKSGIVING.

40.  Sometimes I wonder if I’ll ever hit the end of November and not react like this. One foot in front of the other, right?