November Christmas

It's wonderful to have a mother who is so giving. Last week sometime, I was persuing the Dell site, looking at their laptops. When my maternity leave begins, I will be given a loaner from office to work on. I figured that, once I had it, I would get so spoiled to having a computer to work on in bed, on the couch, in the kitchen that it would be really hard for me to go back to hiding in the basement on my office computer. Okay, not hiding exactly, but basically chained to the computer downstairs, away from all civilization. My mother called a few days before to say, "Do you want your Christmas money now or at Christmas?" At the time, I told her that I like having things to open on Christmas day, even if it's just an envelope with a check. She said that she would save it until then (a check for me and a check for hubby).

So, I'm playing around on the site and they've got this great deal on their 1200 Inspirons (including a wireless card). I call her up and ask the most uncomfortable question of my life, "So mom, I know this is really weird and so wrong, but how much were you planning on giving me for Christmas, cause I'm looking at these laptops on the Dell site and the prices are really great." Then, she's like, "Really? How much?" So, I tell her. Then she says (to my utter surprise), "Well, go ahead and order it and get me one, while your at it." She dictates her card number to me over the phone and I place the order.

I am currently typing on said laptop right now and what a beautiful thing! Yes, I know I must be terribly behind technology wise but, what a way to catch up! (and I didn't even have to pay for it). Woohoo! Okay, so I did shell out the $50 for the wireless router, but big deal, right? That was actually a bit of a headache...2 hours on the phone with tech support, trying to get it to work with my modem (the problem was that it was super slow. Web pages were taking 7 to 8 minutes to load. Not good). Once that was taken care of, everything was gravy.

Speaking of Christmas, I started my Christmas shopping a couple of weeks ago (hey, I may be in the hospital by Christmas, so best to get it done and out of the way, right?) I only have my hubby and daughter left to shop for (hubby being the hardest, since he's the shopper and usually has everything he wants anyway). One thing that he wants that I know he won't be able to get is Palmer's Black & Beautiful Cocoa Butter Dip. He loves that stuff! We had a store that carried it here for really cheap, but then they went out of business. I bought them out, but now our supplies are almost depleted. I'll be ordering him buckets of it for Christmas. My best friend is in love with their Shea Butter Dip. She says, "It's the only lotion I've been able to put on in the morning and still not see "ash" by the end of the day." I wish this stuff were in more stores here, but that's asking for way to much.

Lastly, I've been coughing something fierce for the past few days. The strange thing was that I felt fine besides the incessant coughing. Then, the coughing became painful - not in my throat, but in my abs. Everytime you cough, your abs contract and being nearly 8-months pregnant, with my abs stretched to capacity, this was not a pleasant sensation. In fact, it got so bad Friday that everytime the baby moved, it felt like pins stabbing me from the inside. My stomach was so sore, I just couldn't take it anymore. So, I called my doctor and he prescribed a Z-pack (antibiotics) and cough medicine. I picked up the meds after work and, $33 later, headed home. After setting up the laptop, I took the meds and felt an immediate difference within the first half hour. It was amazing! Could I really have some sort of infection? Tonight, I started coughing and took the cough meds (I had them earlier with fairly good results), but this evening, after the antibiotics, the same thing. I feel loads better. It's that situation where you don't realize you've felt bad, until you start feeling better? I'm so glad I called!

I was surprised as well because the cough medicine has coedine. I'm only taking a teaspoon a dose, but coedine? I didn't know that it was okay but, perhaps because I'm so far along and the dosage is so small, it's okay to take. I gotta say, though, I was too thrilled because it knocked me out and I slept better than I've slept in days.

So, I'll play on the laptop a bit more before turning in. My hubby's convinced that he won't get any time from me, now that I have it. Not a chance! :-) He's still number one at the top of my "Cool" list.