I'm back

If you haven't been paying attention, I've not posted in a while. reasons abound, but mostly it's due to a very busy holiday. Let's see:
My sister in law and her family came by for an all-too-brief visit followed the next day by my mom, sister, her husband, and three kids. Nothing like a 120% increase in household occupants for a week to keep you busy. We had a blast, the kids got along really well, and Major was petted to his content.
There's something screwy going on with my body, too. As faithful readers know, I am in pain every day. Lately, it keeps me awake through the night, and the times I do actually sleep are fairly fitful, either from dreams or from being awakened by the pain. Little seems to help, save large doses of alcohol, vicodin, or the current batch of "may cause drowsiness" cold medicine the Mrs and I are taking (to combat the colds we have.) As a matter of fact, last night was the best sleep I'd had in weeks. Between my every day meds, the theraflu severe cold PM, and Tylenol PM, I slept like a baby. The worst part of the pain recently is that it knows no home. I always have pain in my hand/wrist, and in my lower back, but it often creeps into my shoulder(s), legs, thighs, hips, neck, or brain housing group.
Changes in weather, especially cold weather, are a wonderful instigator as well.

So, my best option (since I could seldom do anything but keep my eyes closed and try to focus on something else) was sleep. Being tired from not sleeping at night, coupled with the overwhelming fatigue caused by a constant assault on the senses, topped off with a handful of pain pills, makes me pretty much non-functional as a husband and father. As I see it, my options are:
Up the pills: benefits--less "felt" pain; drawbacks--less "aware" of my surroundings
Sleep More: benefits--less "felt" pain; drawbacks--less time spent as a husband/father
Take the pain: benefits--I'm awake more; drawbacks--tired more, and angry more, in pain more
IEDs. The gift that keeps on giving.