These are the things I say when I have nothing to say

One day he lost sight of his retinue in a great forest. These forests are very useful for delivering princes from their courtiers, like a sieve that keeps back the bran. Then the princes get away to follow their fortunes. In this way they have the advantage of the princesses, who are forced to marry before they have had a bit of fun. I wish our princesses got lost in a forest sometimes. --George MacDonald, from "The Light Princess"

I have not been lost in the forest, which is probably just as well, as while the last week or so has been much warmer, that only puts it up into the 40s. Unfortunately, the successive bouts of snow shoveling (some of it going down the back steps) and a rather unwise moment of lifting a box of picture books off the floor at an odd angle have managed to antagonize a muscle in my back to the point where several days recently have been measured in spoons. Not at all the thing, although I've gotten past the bit involving back pain sufficient to induce nausea and am valiantly resisting the temptation to go out and try to get more snow off the azaleas and trigger a relapse. grauwulf tells me I am a delicate ecosystem, and apparently I am suffering from climate change. It's quite frustrating to someone who still thinks of herself as a healthy person, despite the odd migraine.

Meanwhile, I've allowed myself to get sucked back into craftster swaps, and am vaguely regretting it as the stupid crafty detective swap thread has grown by fifteen pages of posts today alone. With luck it'll slow down a bit soon, but I have privately sworn not to post more than once a day if I can help it. Oy. At least my troubles are relatively superficial...