A Pain in the Neck... Literally

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Today has been... exhausting, to be honest.  First off, we didn't get home last night from the movie until around 1:20am, then stayed up a little bit longer so that Guinness could have some time out of his crate because it was Dozer's turn upstairs.  So it was at least 2am before I finally got to sleep.  I woke up around 7am, but didn't get out of bed until about 8:45am.  But that's not even the reason I've been so tired today.

See, yesterday afternoon, my neck started hurting, just a little at first and gradually getting worse throughout the day.  I had an upset stomach for about an hour before we headed out to dinner, considered canceling the whole night, but luckily, it got out of my system and I didn't have any more problems.  So I get up this morning, with the intention of cleaning up the house a bit, in preparation for my mother-in-law coming over for dinner tonight... yet my neck is killing me, worse than yesterday.  It feels like I have a constant weight on my shoulders, and I'm having to struggle to keep my head up, pushing against all that pressure.  Ugh.  It's not a pleasant feeling, and it completely drained my energy, after only a few minutes of cleaning.  I took a few breaks, but I was determined to at least get the important things done before I quit for the day.  Hopefully the pain will end up going away on its own though, because I really don't think it's serious enough to have to go to the doctor.

Anyway, we're trying out a new recipe for the Instant Pot today, Slow-Cook Cajun Beef and Grits and it's been cooking since about noon.  With all the cleaning and other things on my mind, I completely forgot to eat lunch at all, so I'm pretty starving right now...