I've been looking for a new place, since my lease was coming up on it's end. Actually it ended the first, but yeah.
I couldn't find anything, there were no one bedrooms or even two bedrooms in town.
Well, circumstances looked like they might conspire to hand me a two bedroom duplex with a little yard for two hundred a month plus utilities, but that fell through.
That is, until B (who lives there now, but is looking for a house to buy with her fiance) got fed up with her roommate. Well, Roommate didn't want to pay her part of the bills, so it's understandable.
So, B kicks Roommate out and calls me, knowing that I've been pulling my hair out about finding a new place, and had finally thrown up my hands, about half grateful to have the apartment at all.
"Give your notice and start packing."
See, I'm pretty sure I can handle having a roommate, knowing its a short term thing. And who knows, I might just like it. Regardless, that place is going to wind up being more space for about the same money as this one, without a roommate. And I can finally bring my pup up.
Now I just have to pack, and decide if being moved before classes start is worth basically giving them two weeks of my rent money here for nothing.
Oh, and basically move two households, since B and I talked about it and agreed that since she's going to be moving out anyway and has access to free storage through her fiance's family, we're going to use my stuff in the house and put hers in storage. So we'll be moving her stuff out and then my stuff in. Another thing in the "pro" column for moving before classes are over.
It's gonna be a busy month....
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Friday, August 1, 2008
Just A Regular Old Irregular Girl...
Hit Big R today to look for some jeans. I was hoping to get into some Wrangler Aura jeans on sale, but that wasn't in the cards, and I can't afford to spend fifty dollars on one pair of jeans, right now. (And probably won't be able to bring myself to actually pay that much ever...)
Regardless, I needed to find some higher waisted jeans, because frankly, I'm not going to survive if I can't wear tank tops this semester. I haven't been out in the heat as much this summer and I'm not adjusted to it, and it's been high 90's and low 100's here.
And it's August. Hottest month of the freaking year.
So, must have tank tops at the barn, and in order to wear tank tops and not break the dress code, I have to have jeans that are high-rise enough to cover the portion of my long torso that is generally left bare by my tank tops. Lets face it, day to day, who cares if I show belly??
There are very few brands that fit the high-waist description that also come in sizes long enough to cover my legs, and throw in boot-cut and you're down to pretty much three brands. Rockies (great show and goin out dancing jeans, freaking expensive) Cruel Girl (a newer brand, they have the high-waist options but you have to dig for them, and they're freaking expensive) or, the old stand by, Wranglers.
Wranglers aren't as cheap as what I'm used to buying for work jeans (eleven dollah Wal-Mart specials, here we come!) but they're not as expensive as rockies, they're sturdy, and they come in whatever inseam your little heart desires, pretty much.
Now, usually when I'm buying women's jeans I wear a 0 or a 1. Shaddap, all of you. My main problem is finding "tall" or "x-tall" lengths.
Wrangler has a neat twist on their women's sizing, though. They size the waist like what most people think of as "normal" and that's your first size number. Men, and women who have bought western style jeans for men will recognize 32/34 as a size, and it's not like the size 10/12 you see on the Wal-Mart shelves.
That's a 32 inch waist with a 34 inch inseam. When I buy mens wranglers I buy 29/36. 27's are just too much of a struggle to get over my hips (shaddap, I do so have hips) and since men's jeans have a little more room in the crotch area (waistband to crotch, dirty) I buy a couple inches longer inseam than I need if I'm buying women's, to allow for the different fit, and prevent ride-up incidents.
So anyway, my size in womens would be anywhere from a 0/34 to a 1/36. I can wear those, although the 1's don't fit as well.
Now, generally, I've bought mens Wranglers, because I can get the inseam/waist combinations better in mens. Apparently there are more beanpole men than women. But, as I was perusing the women's jeans today I happened to glance at the rack on the wall and saw the big sign: "Irregular Jeans: $18.99"
Hmmmm. Went over and looked and about wet myself. I was standing in front of the largest collection of 0 sized Wranglers I had ever seen in my life. I went ape. Bypassing the garish red, stain-magnet white and heat-stroke black, there was still quite a selection to choose from.
Lots of pairs of standard dark blue denim, seen one pair of Wranglers you've seem 'em all style, which is fine, but there were others, that looked like a little different fabric....
Two pairs of stretch denim 0-waist Wranglers. If you're a woman, and you ride horses, stretch denim is a miracle. It keeps you from getting bruises on your thighs where your jeans bunch and pinch when you mount, which is only avoidable otherwise by not bending your legs at all. Or, you know never wearing new jeans. I love stretch denim, as long as it's denim, and not denim-like material that's paper thin and gonna tear at the first opportunity.
I bought both, plus a standard pair. At that price, I couldn't pass them up, especially since the "irregular" portion is simply a strip of slightly discolored fabric (lighter) on the outside seam of one of them, and the same discoloration in the fabric on the inside of the knee on the other. The dark blue ones were just a minor coloration problem as well. Who cares?? I'm gonna be wearing them to the barn anyway, they're gonna have a lot worse than a light/dark patch of fabric on them by the time I'm done with them. Three pairs for under $60. Barely, but still under sixty bucks.
So I get home and talk to Mamaw and brag on how cheap I got three pairs of new jeans and she tells me, "Well, why don't you just go down and get you another three pair on me, since they've got em."
Don't you just love grandparents? Thank you Mamaw, for helping to cover my skinny butt with spiffy new jeans!
Anyway, I have six pairs of jeans that I can wear my tank tops with now. Four of them I need to take back to the Old Homestead and run through the washer and dryer about a bazillion times, before I climb on a horse with them, but that's a small price to pay for ventilation when classes start.
I always knew I wasn't normal, but I never quite thought I was "irregular"...
Regardless, I needed to find some higher waisted jeans, because frankly, I'm not going to survive if I can't wear tank tops this semester. I haven't been out in the heat as much this summer and I'm not adjusted to it, and it's been high 90's and low 100's here.
And it's August. Hottest month of the freaking year.
So, must have tank tops at the barn, and in order to wear tank tops and not break the dress code, I have to have jeans that are high-rise enough to cover the portion of my long torso that is generally left bare by my tank tops. Lets face it, day to day, who cares if I show belly??
There are very few brands that fit the high-waist description that also come in sizes long enough to cover my legs, and throw in boot-cut and you're down to pretty much three brands. Rockies (great show and goin out dancing jeans, freaking expensive) Cruel Girl (a newer brand, they have the high-waist options but you have to dig for them, and they're freaking expensive) or, the old stand by, Wranglers.
Wranglers aren't as cheap as what I'm used to buying for work jeans (eleven dollah Wal-Mart specials, here we come!) but they're not as expensive as rockies, they're sturdy, and they come in whatever inseam your little heart desires, pretty much.
Now, usually when I'm buying women's jeans I wear a 0 or a 1. Shaddap, all of you. My main problem is finding "tall" or "x-tall" lengths.
Wrangler has a neat twist on their women's sizing, though. They size the waist like what most people think of as "normal" and that's your first size number. Men, and women who have bought western style jeans for men will recognize 32/34 as a size, and it's not like the size 10/12 you see on the Wal-Mart shelves.
That's a 32 inch waist with a 34 inch inseam. When I buy mens wranglers I buy 29/36. 27's are just too much of a struggle to get over my hips (shaddap, I do so have hips) and since men's jeans have a little more room in the crotch area (waistband to crotch, dirty) I buy a couple inches longer inseam than I need if I'm buying women's, to allow for the different fit, and prevent ride-up incidents.
So anyway, my size in womens would be anywhere from a 0/34 to a 1/36. I can wear those, although the 1's don't fit as well.
Now, generally, I've bought mens Wranglers, because I can get the inseam/waist combinations better in mens. Apparently there are more beanpole men than women. But, as I was perusing the women's jeans today I happened to glance at the rack on the wall and saw the big sign: "Irregular Jeans: $18.99"
Hmmmm. Went over and looked and about wet myself. I was standing in front of the largest collection of 0 sized Wranglers I had ever seen in my life. I went ape. Bypassing the garish red, stain-magnet white and heat-stroke black, there was still quite a selection to choose from.
Lots of pairs of standard dark blue denim, seen one pair of Wranglers you've seem 'em all style, which is fine, but there were others, that looked like a little different fabric....
Two pairs of stretch denim 0-waist Wranglers. If you're a woman, and you ride horses, stretch denim is a miracle. It keeps you from getting bruises on your thighs where your jeans bunch and pinch when you mount, which is only avoidable otherwise by not bending your legs at all. Or, you know never wearing new jeans. I love stretch denim, as long as it's denim, and not denim-like material that's paper thin and gonna tear at the first opportunity.
I bought both, plus a standard pair. At that price, I couldn't pass them up, especially since the "irregular" portion is simply a strip of slightly discolored fabric (lighter) on the outside seam of one of them, and the same discoloration in the fabric on the inside of the knee on the other. The dark blue ones were just a minor coloration problem as well. Who cares?? I'm gonna be wearing them to the barn anyway, they're gonna have a lot worse than a light/dark patch of fabric on them by the time I'm done with them. Three pairs for under $60. Barely, but still under sixty bucks.
So I get home and talk to Mamaw and brag on how cheap I got three pairs of new jeans and she tells me, "Well, why don't you just go down and get you another three pair on me, since they've got em."
Don't you just love grandparents? Thank you Mamaw, for helping to cover my skinny butt with spiffy new jeans!
Anyway, I have six pairs of jeans that I can wear my tank tops with now. Four of them I need to take back to the Old Homestead and run through the washer and dryer about a bazillion times, before I climb on a horse with them, but that's a small price to pay for ventilation when classes start.
I always knew I wasn't normal, but I never quite thought I was "irregular"...
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Pens...
Yesterday, LawDog put up a post about fountain pens, praising them highly.
I've never used a fountain pen in my life. The Farm Family always seems to have a few old ones floating around, but well, they're old, and dry. And ink for fountain pens is thin on the ground, locally. It's easy to find super non-fade ultimate indelible ink for marking cattle ear tags, but fountain pen ink? Not so much.
I do, however, seem to have a bit of a thing for pens. I like different pens, ultra fine point, fine, medium, colors and weird barrels and different inks... I've got nine different kinds of pens in the cup on my desk right now, and seventeen individual pens. I buy packs of pens whenever possible, because, well, I lose them. Or the gremlins take them, that seems to happen, too.
That's another reason that I don't own a fountain pen. I don't want to lose the danged expensive thing.
I've got Bic ultra fine point pens, because I needed the red one for revisions. I'm not normally a fan of ultra fine points because many of them have ink flow problems, but the packaging touted the smooth ink flow of these, and well, I needed something that I could use to make small notations in between double spaced type. My medium point pen was just too chunky, I was writing all the way across the page to fit it all in.
I've got Papermate medium point pens, because when I'm taking notes in class, I want that bold writing, it's easy to read at a glance.
I've got a funky pen that's covered in a squishy outside, that, now that I look at it, is another Papermate. I bought six of those one time when they were on clearance for some ridiculously low price, in varying off-beat colors, and I'm down to one, the pink one.
I've got el-cheapo Papermate plain old twenty-to-a-pack pens. You know, the plain plastic barrel, at least three in the pack won't write at all right off the bat, but you buy them anyway because they're cheap kind.
I've got gimme pens from a couple of different places. Gimme pens tend to break before they run out of ink, but they're free, and some of them write really well.
I've got Uniball Signo pens, which I bought yesterday to restock the backpack pen supply, because they were on sale. I've written with them a little, and they seem to be really nice.
Really, I've got a... thing.... for pens, I guess. I want to try them all, and the ones that I really like are usually the ones that I wind up losing because I cart them everywhere with me, tucked into the spiral rings of various small notebooks, clutched in my sweaty paws, tucked into the console in my car (which eats everything that's in there at least once a week, it seems like,) hung on the collar of my shirt or tucked behind my ear. I've even been known to shove a pen through the hair behind my pony-tail holder, so that I know where it is.
Whenever I'm at a store, and I've forgotten something on the list of things that I need to get (except for grocery runs,) I usually think to myself "well, it was probably pens."
So I buy a couple of pens, and I bring them home, and I take them out of the package, and I stuff them into the over-filled pen-cup.
And now that I know about the low-cost disposable fountain pens, I'm probably going to come up with a couple of them, too.
.....................
I wonder if they have Penaholics Anonymous meetings?
I've never used a fountain pen in my life. The Farm Family always seems to have a few old ones floating around, but well, they're old, and dry. And ink for fountain pens is thin on the ground, locally. It's easy to find super non-fade ultimate indelible ink for marking cattle ear tags, but fountain pen ink? Not so much.
I do, however, seem to have a bit of a thing for pens. I like different pens, ultra fine point, fine, medium, colors and weird barrels and different inks... I've got nine different kinds of pens in the cup on my desk right now, and seventeen individual pens. I buy packs of pens whenever possible, because, well, I lose them. Or the gremlins take them, that seems to happen, too.
That's another reason that I don't own a fountain pen. I don't want to lose the danged expensive thing.
I've got Bic ultra fine point pens, because I needed the red one for revisions. I'm not normally a fan of ultra fine points because many of them have ink flow problems, but the packaging touted the smooth ink flow of these, and well, I needed something that I could use to make small notations in between double spaced type. My medium point pen was just too chunky, I was writing all the way across the page to fit it all in.
I've got Papermate medium point pens, because when I'm taking notes in class, I want that bold writing, it's easy to read at a glance.
I've got a funky pen that's covered in a squishy outside, that, now that I look at it, is another Papermate. I bought six of those one time when they were on clearance for some ridiculously low price, in varying off-beat colors, and I'm down to one, the pink one.
I've got el-cheapo Papermate plain old twenty-to-a-pack pens. You know, the plain plastic barrel, at least three in the pack won't write at all right off the bat, but you buy them anyway because they're cheap kind.
I've got gimme pens from a couple of different places. Gimme pens tend to break before they run out of ink, but they're free, and some of them write really well.
I've got Uniball Signo pens, which I bought yesterday to restock the backpack pen supply, because they were on sale. I've written with them a little, and they seem to be really nice.
Really, I've got a... thing.... for pens, I guess. I want to try them all, and the ones that I really like are usually the ones that I wind up losing because I cart them everywhere with me, tucked into the spiral rings of various small notebooks, clutched in my sweaty paws, tucked into the console in my car (which eats everything that's in there at least once a week, it seems like,) hung on the collar of my shirt or tucked behind my ear. I've even been known to shove a pen through the hair behind my pony-tail holder, so that I know where it is.
Whenever I'm at a store, and I've forgotten something on the list of things that I need to get (except for grocery runs,) I usually think to myself "well, it was probably pens."
So I buy a couple of pens, and I bring them home, and I take them out of the package, and I stuff them into the over-filled pen-cup.
And now that I know about the low-cost disposable fountain pens, I'm probably going to come up with a couple of them, too.
.....................
I wonder if they have Penaholics Anonymous meetings?
Monday, July 28, 2008
Gremlins!
In dryers all over the world there is a sub-species of the same creature that gnaws through important automotive belts, drains all the oil in a vehicle, and generally clabbers up any mechanical device.
It is.... the Sock Gremlin.
It's native habitat is unknown for sure, as no one has ever actually seen a sock gremlin, let alone followed one home. Theories vary from alternate dimensions, to mouse holes in laundry room walls, to dryer motors. Personally, I think they live in a symbiotic relationship with the boogey bears that our dogs chase and bark at, in between chasing and barking at the birds.
Anyway, these gremlins are notorious for stealing one sock of a pair, and leaving the poor laundry doer scratching their heads over a pile of "strays." Occasionally they have been known to deposit one mismatched sock, usually in a color and/or pattern that you know you don't own. Whether this is their idea of trade, or just an amusing joke for them, I don't know.
Why am I telling my fabulous readers all of this, when they're sure to have encountered the sock gremlins before? Well, I've discovered a new kind of gremlin, closely related to the sock gremlin.
The Lesser North American Underwear Gremlin. Maybe some of you have run across this particular type before, but I haven't.
I've named it the Lesser North American Underwear Gremlin, because it only seems to be interested in little boys' underwear. Particularly, Middle and Youngest Child's.
When CM moved in to his apartment, he somehow lost all but three pairs of their underwear, so he bought a package of six. Assuming there weren't many accidents, and that CM did laundry once a week (not such a stretch) they should have been able to make do for a while.
Vanishing underwear was at first attributed to Youngest Child. He doesn't always wake up in the middle of the night when his bladder is full. When he'd gone a couple of weeks without a late night accident, CM let him wear his underwear to bed instead of a pull-up.
Of course, when he did have an accident after that, he was embarrassed. So he would hide the soiled underwear and put on a pull-up, when he awoke to the... er... oops.
A small talk with Youngest Child quickly solved that problem, assuring him that it's not the end of the world if he has an accident, but that he needed to put the dirty underwear in the dirty clothes and not hide them.
Most of the time since then, he's put on a pull-up on his own before bed, anyway.
And yet... there are five pairs of underwear for the boys in the house. We looked where Youngest was hiding them before... no dice. Under beds, under dressers, in closets, behind the toilet, in the couch cushions. No sign of the missing tighty-whiteys.
Farmmom chimed in that they might be going down the potty ("undies go down the hoooole!") but CM swears that their toilet doesn't have the juice to suck a pair of underwear down.
Thus... The Lesser North American Underwear Gremlin.
I wonder if they prefer plain white undies or the Spidey-man kind? Or if its more about the scent of dirt and sticky things that hovers around little boys everywhere?
I shall pursue the investigation into the habits and behaviors of the Lesser North American Underwear Gremlin... any other data on the subject is of course, more than welcome.
I wonder if I could catch one for further study... sticky traps maybe?
It is.... the Sock Gremlin.
It's native habitat is unknown for sure, as no one has ever actually seen a sock gremlin, let alone followed one home. Theories vary from alternate dimensions, to mouse holes in laundry room walls, to dryer motors. Personally, I think they live in a symbiotic relationship with the boogey bears that our dogs chase and bark at, in between chasing and barking at the birds.
Anyway, these gremlins are notorious for stealing one sock of a pair, and leaving the poor laundry doer scratching their heads over a pile of "strays." Occasionally they have been known to deposit one mismatched sock, usually in a color and/or pattern that you know you don't own. Whether this is their idea of trade, or just an amusing joke for them, I don't know.
Why am I telling my fabulous readers all of this, when they're sure to have encountered the sock gremlins before? Well, I've discovered a new kind of gremlin, closely related to the sock gremlin.
The Lesser North American Underwear Gremlin. Maybe some of you have run across this particular type before, but I haven't.
I've named it the Lesser North American Underwear Gremlin, because it only seems to be interested in little boys' underwear. Particularly, Middle and Youngest Child's.
When CM moved in to his apartment, he somehow lost all but three pairs of their underwear, so he bought a package of six. Assuming there weren't many accidents, and that CM did laundry once a week (not such a stretch) they should have been able to make do for a while.
Vanishing underwear was at first attributed to Youngest Child. He doesn't always wake up in the middle of the night when his bladder is full. When he'd gone a couple of weeks without a late night accident, CM let him wear his underwear to bed instead of a pull-up.
Of course, when he did have an accident after that, he was embarrassed. So he would hide the soiled underwear and put on a pull-up, when he awoke to the... er... oops.
A small talk with Youngest Child quickly solved that problem, assuring him that it's not the end of the world if he has an accident, but that he needed to put the dirty underwear in the dirty clothes and not hide them.
Most of the time since then, he's put on a pull-up on his own before bed, anyway.
And yet... there are five pairs of underwear for the boys in the house. We looked where Youngest was hiding them before... no dice. Under beds, under dressers, in closets, behind the toilet, in the couch cushions. No sign of the missing tighty-whiteys.
Farmmom chimed in that they might be going down the potty ("undies go down the hoooole!") but CM swears that their toilet doesn't have the juice to suck a pair of underwear down.
Thus... The Lesser North American Underwear Gremlin.
I wonder if they prefer plain white undies or the Spidey-man kind? Or if its more about the scent of dirt and sticky things that hovers around little boys everywhere?
I shall pursue the investigation into the habits and behaviors of the Lesser North American Underwear Gremlin... any other data on the subject is of course, more than welcome.
I wonder if I could catch one for further study... sticky traps maybe?
Ahh Domesticity
I'm feeling much better today, folks, so you can stop worrying. My glands are still a little swollen but the sore throat is going away and my energy is returning. Thanks for all the advice (which amounted to "go to the doc"... HA! We don't need no steenking doctor,) and warm wishes!
Last night CM asked me if I wanted pork chops for dinner tonight. I gave him a look and said "I'm making pot roast tomorrow."
"Oh, really?" He said skeptically.
See, I've been promising him a good old down home pot roast for a while. I had the roast, and had him pick up onion and carrots last week. Then I got sick. For two days the thought of food, making it or eating it, made me want to blow chunks. So no pot roast.
The third day, I was just wiped. I couldn't summon the energy to peel and quarter the potatoes. How sad is that??
Ever since the day I mentioned it last week, CM has been bugging me about the pot roast. When I was sick, the first day he left it alone. The second day, when I was complaining about nothing sounding good, he was throwing out ideas, and gave me this ingenious look and said "Pot roast?"
The third day (yesterday) he told me I wasn't allowed to die, because I still "owed" him a pot roast.
Today... I put the pot roast in the crock pot with the potatoes, carrots, and an onion, and some salt and pepper. It's smelling really good right now. I love my crock pot, have I mentioned that? Granted, I don't love it so much that I don't still want one like Farmmom and Mamaw have, but I still love it. I have two, actually, a big one and a little one.
Given his... disbelieving... attitude about it last night, I pretty much expected him to ask me about it by now. "Did you remember the roast?" He hasn't, yet, but I noticed when I got in his fridge this morning to get the veggies that he thawed the pork chops. Distrustful darling man. Either he thought I would forget, or he's skeptical about my pot roast.
Just because I don't cook very often, he starts to assume that I can't cook. Which makes me want to prove him wrong. Unfortunately most of the things that I enjoy cooking the most (and that I'm damn good at cooking) are fairly expensive, and everyone is on a strict budget. That, and I can't do things like my fantastic whole baked chicken, because none of them will eat chicken on the bone. Philistines. Maybe once I'm back in classes and get my financial aid disbursement I can splurge once or twice, make trash pizza, or fondue.
Given the size of his appetite, and the appetites of the children, I'm not sure that there's going to be any leftovers. I threw in extra veggies just in case, and I might do the frozen corn on the cob that's in the freezer as well. When in doubt, make more sides.
I'm contemplating making mashed potatoes and gravy, but more than one kind of potatoes are usually reserved for holiday dinners, in my family. It might be a bit much. But maybe devilled eggs? Hmmm...
Last night CM asked me if I wanted pork chops for dinner tonight. I gave him a look and said "I'm making pot roast tomorrow."
"Oh, really?" He said skeptically.
See, I've been promising him a good old down home pot roast for a while. I had the roast, and had him pick up onion and carrots last week. Then I got sick. For two days the thought of food, making it or eating it, made me want to blow chunks. So no pot roast.
The third day, I was just wiped. I couldn't summon the energy to peel and quarter the potatoes. How sad is that??
Ever since the day I mentioned it last week, CM has been bugging me about the pot roast. When I was sick, the first day he left it alone. The second day, when I was complaining about nothing sounding good, he was throwing out ideas, and gave me this ingenious look and said "Pot roast?"
The third day (yesterday) he told me I wasn't allowed to die, because I still "owed" him a pot roast.
Today... I put the pot roast in the crock pot with the potatoes, carrots, and an onion, and some salt and pepper. It's smelling really good right now. I love my crock pot, have I mentioned that? Granted, I don't love it so much that I don't still want one like Farmmom and Mamaw have, but I still love it. I have two, actually, a big one and a little one.
Given his... disbelieving... attitude about it last night, I pretty much expected him to ask me about it by now. "Did you remember the roast?" He hasn't, yet, but I noticed when I got in his fridge this morning to get the veggies that he thawed the pork chops. Distrustful darling man. Either he thought I would forget, or he's skeptical about my pot roast.
Just because I don't cook very often, he starts to assume that I can't cook. Which makes me want to prove him wrong. Unfortunately most of the things that I enjoy cooking the most (and that I'm damn good at cooking) are fairly expensive, and everyone is on a strict budget. That, and I can't do things like my fantastic whole baked chicken, because none of them will eat chicken on the bone. Philistines. Maybe once I'm back in classes and get my financial aid disbursement I can splurge once or twice, make trash pizza, or fondue.
Given the size of his appetite, and the appetites of the children, I'm not sure that there's going to be any leftovers. I threw in extra veggies just in case, and I might do the frozen corn on the cob that's in the freezer as well. When in doubt, make more sides.
I'm contemplating making mashed potatoes and gravy, but more than one kind of potatoes are usually reserved for holiday dinners, in my family. It might be a bit much. But maybe devilled eggs? Hmmm...
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Sicky
For the last two days I've been down and out with some kind of rampant illness.
It really started Thursday night, with what I thought was my body's usual reaction to the new month on das patch. For several months I'll get a little queasy in the first week, as my body adjusts to the hormone rush, no big deal, it goes away eventually, I can deal.
I also had a tiny bit of a sore throat, on one side. not too surprising this time of year, plants are starting to cure out and for some reason I'm mildly allergic to dying things. Unless it's a pine tree, and then I'm seriously miserable around it.
Woke up Friday morning and I felt like hammered crap... body aches, queasy stomach, sore throat, swollen glands... just a touch of a fever.
The last two days have sucked. I've been weak as a kitten and twice as useless (I haven't even been cute!)
I'm feeling better so far today... more alert, no fever, body aches seem to be more a case of being horizontal for most of the last couple of days than illness related now.... but my throat still hurts, and my glands are still swollen.
It sucks... I can handle sitting up for more than ten minutes now... but I can't yawn, talk very loud, or swallow anything without wanting to cry.
We'll see how it goes today, I'm going to putter a little bit but not get really exited about doing too much, see if things start easing up. If not, I guess I'll have to go to the doctor and see what the heck is wrong with me.
Can't really afford it, but if this doesn't start resolving on it's own soon, I'm not gonna have much choice.
It really started Thursday night, with what I thought was my body's usual reaction to the new month on das patch. For several months I'll get a little queasy in the first week, as my body adjusts to the hormone rush, no big deal, it goes away eventually, I can deal.
I also had a tiny bit of a sore throat, on one side. not too surprising this time of year, plants are starting to cure out and for some reason I'm mildly allergic to dying things. Unless it's a pine tree, and then I'm seriously miserable around it.
Woke up Friday morning and I felt like hammered crap... body aches, queasy stomach, sore throat, swollen glands... just a touch of a fever.
The last two days have sucked. I've been weak as a kitten and twice as useless (I haven't even been cute!)
I'm feeling better so far today... more alert, no fever, body aches seem to be more a case of being horizontal for most of the last couple of days than illness related now.... but my throat still hurts, and my glands are still swollen.
It sucks... I can handle sitting up for more than ten minutes now... but I can't yawn, talk very loud, or swallow anything without wanting to cry.
We'll see how it goes today, I'm going to putter a little bit but not get really exited about doing too much, see if things start easing up. If not, I guess I'll have to go to the doctor and see what the heck is wrong with me.
Can't really afford it, but if this doesn't start resolving on it's own soon, I'm not gonna have much choice.
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Suddenly...
Well, it's a fantastical thing, stepping into a ready-made family. Suddenly I'm surrounded by laughing children every evening, filling up the house with the kind of energy and enthusiasm for life I can vaguely remember from my own childhood.
Suddenly, not only do I get to curl up on the couch with my honey and watch a movie in the evenings, but I get to lean in the doorway to the boys' room and watch him fold himself into the lower bunk to read them a story. I never realized what a tender feeling it brings, to watch children curl up next to their father and drift off as he reads to them.
Suddenly, I've got a beautiful, intelligent young lady who includes me when she's making "I Love You" pictures, who asks me to help her with her hair. And who often asks me, "why don't you just move in?"
Suddenly, I've got two little boys who, with the artlessness of youth, tell me "My dad needs to give you a trophy!" "No Bubba, if he gives her a trophy she won't be happy and then she won't come back. Daddy needs to give her a ring, and then they'll be married, and she'll be happy, and she'll stay!"
Suddenly I've got dinner around the table, reminding the youngest to chew with his mouth closed, Middle Child to eat his vegetables, and Eldest Child that bigger bites don't count for extra points.
Suddenly I've got new challenges. Middle Child still doesn't accept authority from women very well. We have battles, when he gets in trouble. Youngest Child follows his big brother's lead, except instead of screaming, he'll give you his big blue eyes and say "Aw wight," and then do it again five minutes later. Eldest Daughter, well, she mothers her brothers, instead of being a kid herself.
We're working on all of that, and being consistent and firm is helping the boys a lot. I have to remind Eldest Daughter to just play, a lot, but she's starting to figure it out, too.
Suddenly, I've got a day care schedule to work around. I'll be dropping them off every weekday morning at eight, and picking them up at five most evenings, starting Monday.
Suddenly........... Suddenly I've got a family. Three great kids and a wonderful man who thinks that I'm perfect. He's crazy, but he's sweet.
If you'd told me, a year ago (right around the time I started this blog, remember?) that I'd be here, now, I'd have said you were nuts. And, I'd have been terrified of the prospect. Three kids? Yikes.
But, suddenly, it's not so bad. Suddenly, I find myself doing all the things that my mother used to do for me. And suddenly, I find that I like it.
I might have days that I want to pull my hair out, and I might have days when I feel like there is no way I'm up to the challenges, but even on those days, I wouldn't give it up for the world.
Suddenly, not only do I get to curl up on the couch with my honey and watch a movie in the evenings, but I get to lean in the doorway to the boys' room and watch him fold himself into the lower bunk to read them a story. I never realized what a tender feeling it brings, to watch children curl up next to their father and drift off as he reads to them.
Suddenly, I've got a beautiful, intelligent young lady who includes me when she's making "I Love You" pictures, who asks me to help her with her hair. And who often asks me, "why don't you just move in?"
Suddenly, I've got two little boys who, with the artlessness of youth, tell me "My dad needs to give you a trophy!" "No Bubba, if he gives her a trophy she won't be happy and then she won't come back. Daddy needs to give her a ring, and then they'll be married, and she'll be happy, and she'll stay!"
Suddenly I've got dinner around the table, reminding the youngest to chew with his mouth closed, Middle Child to eat his vegetables, and Eldest Child that bigger bites don't count for extra points.
Suddenly I've got new challenges. Middle Child still doesn't accept authority from women very well. We have battles, when he gets in trouble. Youngest Child follows his big brother's lead, except instead of screaming, he'll give you his big blue eyes and say "Aw wight," and then do it again five minutes later. Eldest Daughter, well, she mothers her brothers, instead of being a kid herself.
We're working on all of that, and being consistent and firm is helping the boys a lot. I have to remind Eldest Daughter to just play, a lot, but she's starting to figure it out, too.
Suddenly, I've got a day care schedule to work around. I'll be dropping them off every weekday morning at eight, and picking them up at five most evenings, starting Monday.
Suddenly........... Suddenly I've got a family. Three great kids and a wonderful man who thinks that I'm perfect. He's crazy, but he's sweet.
If you'd told me, a year ago (right around the time I started this blog, remember?) that I'd be here, now, I'd have said you were nuts. And, I'd have been terrified of the prospect. Three kids? Yikes.
But, suddenly, it's not so bad. Suddenly, I find myself doing all the things that my mother used to do for me. And suddenly, I find that I like it.
I might have days that I want to pull my hair out, and I might have days when I feel like there is no way I'm up to the challenges, but even on those days, I wouldn't give it up for the world.
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