She's Ba-a-a-ck ... !

So the dreaded 'dry socket' managed to take up roughly two weeks of my life.  Trust me, you never want to experience the unrelenting pain that comes with this condition - at one point I was convinced I was going mad and it wasn't until I read of others' experiences that I realised this wasn't unusual.  The anecdotes ranged from thoughts of self harming, O/D-ing on pain killers and bashing heads against walls.  Yep, it's really that bad.  And before any haters come back with 'Well serves you right, you smoke, so you deserved it!', I had already considered this but then age is a factor, as is sex (not the jiggy variety) - women are more prone - and also those on the contraceptive pill.  Being a female smoker with dodgy old gums was enough for me to fall prey.

I have to say those two weeks were possibly the most boring of my life - between trips to the dentist to have my socket dressed (son's comment - ''Ooooh, does it look faaabulous now?!'), counting the hours until the next dose of pain-killers and rinsing with copious amounts of mouthwash or salt water, all I did was watch crappy TV and heat up my wheat bag to whack on my throbbing cheek.  Now let me tell you, dear reader, I'm not good at doing nothing - I hate it with a passion and my inertia, combined with the paracetamol/ibuprofen, meant that a mini-depression set in.  The Misfit, when she's miserable, is a cow to be around and I thank my hubbie, son, mum and cats for their patience.

One thing that did cheer me up and bring a huge smile to my face came from a desperate need to escape re-runs of 'George & Mildred' and vomit inducing episodes of 'The Real Housewives of Atlanta' - see I told you I was bad.  Feeling quite sick with the rubbish TV I'd been drip-feeding on, I grabbed a DVD and settled with a cuppa.  If you haven't seen this film - do it now! 

Oh, how I loved it!  Beautifully filmed, 30's glamour, romance, humour and just yummy from start to finish.  I felt like I'd devoured a box of chocolates, swigged at a bottle of Bollinger and emerged from a frothy, scented bubble bath by the time it had finished.  I'm going to read the book next as it has some great reviews.

The trouble with finding that you've lost two weeks is having to ease yourself back in to routine and finding the discipline to start work again - I don't have a boss cracking the whip over me (sadly), so I need to do all I can to self motivate.  And life is busy at the moment, with no time for 'slipping back in' - it's all systems go in the Misfit house as we try to get 'Lottie's Luck' ready for its June publication date.  Our 'joint edit' is now under way - and we all know what that means!  Poor hubbie suffers, I scream a lot and we eventually limp our way to the finish.  I think, this time, I need to be extra nice (and less shouty/sulky) as he's put up with enough from me over the last few weeks.  Well, I'll try anyway.  Watch this space ...

I also have a birthday dinner to arrange for long-suffering hubbie, a house to organise for our Aussie niece and husband's visit next month and a book launch to plan.  Aside from that, I need to train my vocal chords for all the shouting I'll no doubt have to do at teenage son to revise as he approaches his A2 exams.  Oh, and I need to take my mum shopping for summer clothes, organise her bedding plants in tubs, decide what to wear to my son's leavers' cocktail party and make sure he's up to date with his final graphic design project.  Work-wise I need to finish the second half of this year's Christmas novella and begin to sketch ideas for my next novel - and, if that isn't enough, my other books won't promote themselves.

What was that I said about being miserable when I have nothing to do?  Well, with this lot, I'm now feeling happy - if a little panicky - so I'm off to do what I do best.  Make a coffee and write a list!