Old-Man Feet

This is what I call my hubby's feet because that is exactly what they look like. To be more specific, the toes are crusty, the nails discolored and the skin appears to be fleeing from the bottoms in some kind of a white-cheddar, popcorn frenzy. It's all in fun that I tease him, but I know he'd like to have beautiful feet to match his beautiful body.

At Christmas time, I bought him a gift certificate to our local spa for a "sports pedicure". It's the kind of fru fru pedicure we ladies get, but with a guy twist. He's there now getting his feet indulged and I have a feeling that this won't be the last time he does this. To my surprise, as we sat chatting last night about the day's events, he said that I was to go to our spa this afternoon myself for my "surprise appointment". Well, isn't that a nice turn of events? Wonder if I'm getting my toesies ready for spring...or perhaps a back rub, or maybe a facial? Woohoo! I am too excited!

My neighbors want to die eggs together on Friday. This should be interesting with our toddlers in the mix (her son is 18 months old). Dyed walls anyone?

Speaking of dye, it's time for my hair to undergo some serious color drenching again. Last time, I switched up and used a Loreal product. I think the pigments are better and the color lasts longer (just a personal opinion, of course). I will still continue to use Clairol's "lifting" products because of how gentle they are, but I won't go blond again until later this spring. Anyway, the color to the right is what I used last time and it was beautiful! I need more, but the money situation is weird and I'll probably have to wait until next week to color again. My girlfriend at work asked me just yesterday, "Did you color your hair again, or is it just fading?" Being a color girl herself, she knew how reds fade super fast. She said she liked it's coppery hue; however, when hubby mentioned how the color is looking last night, I could tell he was not feeling the "fade". If he's willing to fork over the dough, I'm happy to help the situation with a good, solid drench.

TOM is approaching and water-weight is the enemy. Why must you vex me, water-weight? It's not due to show up until the first of April. I'm sort of hoping it comes early so that the water will leave. I guess I'll see it soon enough.

A Busy, Busy Weekend

Friday evening, I thought I might rest and hang out with the family for a few hours. Dinner would be served and I would enjoy conversation with my hubby and children about the day's events. Oh, not to be! Instead, we ate dinner at the speed of light and then I rushed my oldest to a birthday party. I was hoping that pounds of snow they were predicting wouldn't arrive until after and I was fortunate. I picked the babe up (who was happy, but exhausted after the evening's event - skate party) and scoured the city for Honey Buns for my hubby. He was craving them and, truth be told, they're his passion. Everywhere we went, we couldn't find any. Oh, we found Starcrunch, Pecan Spinwheels, Triple Fudge Brownies, Nutty Bars, Zebra cakes, Devil Squares and a host of other Little Debbie treats, but no Honey Buns. I knew I would surely be able to find them at Wal-Mart but I just can't bring myself to shop there on weekends during the holidays. That place becomes more than a zoo. It's a dang jungle!

I came home empty handed, but he wasn't disappointed. He was just glad we arrived home safely, as the snow was just beginning to fall upon our arrival. It would have been nice to drift off to sleep and wake up leisurely the next morning, but no way. This family had plans.

So we awakened around 5:30 (an entire hour later than I usually get up) and got the kids up and ready for the day. It was time for both cars to have a tune-up and oil change. When I went to let the dog out back for his morning walk, I was greeted with several inches of white fluff on the deck. It was beautiful and a perfect entrance for the month of December; however, I was not prepared for how cold it was nor was I prepared for the mess the roads were in. We pretty-well crawled to the Goodyear location at 25 mph and what normally takes ten minutes, took nearly a half hour. Hubby's car was first. Three hours later, the work was done and we were heavy with purchases from various stores. My car was next and three additional hours later, we were back at Goodyear, even heavier with packages. I think we've gone above and beyond with our Christmas shopping (I thought we were done?).

Sunday, we went to church then ended up at the Ashley Furniture store making a purchase on a new couch, love seat and recliner. They will be beautiful in our home! I'm excited because we haven't purchased new seating furniture in years. It was desperately needed since our couch literally has white, fluffy stuffing being birthed from the cushions. Not good. The kids watched movies as we tidied up the house, then downstairs we went; hubby to paint and me to assemble the new t.v. stand for our projection t.v.

Two and a half hours later, the stand was completed (and not too shabby, if I do say so myself). We ate dinner and hurried to bed. I'm hoping that this weekend I'll actually have some down time. I'm not a fan of the rushing around to do everything under the sun on my only two days off. Sometimes, though, that's exactly what you have to do in order to get anything done. I hate to say it but I wasn't at my nicest this weekend. TOM is on the way and I was more than a bit short-tempered with hubby and the kiddlings. I had to apologize more than once to everybody for being a total witch at times. Hubby was very patient. I think he's learning to read the signs.

Return to the Land of the Living

So it was Thursday afternoon that I felt my throat begin to close up a bit. I just thought it might be one of the three off-kilter things I'd had to eat that day. Perhaps my body wasn't ready for those peanuts. The day continued into evening and after some bad news between neighbors, I really started to feel kinda crummy. Into the night...up and down then down and up. Finally, I went for the Braun thermometer and within a few seconds was displayed a whopping 102. What in the world is going on? I was achy and felt like crap on a stick. I called my coworker and told him that I wasn't coming in, but that I wasn't abandoning him either. I would be online as much as I could, through drug-induced naps. My message left? Somewhere in the 1 am hour or so. I was delirious.

I worked, I slept. I worked, I slept. The following day? My hubby moved a new entertainment center in with a neighbor and friend. Then, he moved in some very large workout equipment. I drank apple juice, nibbled on crackers. Food was not a friend to my horribly sore throat. My tummy got crampy and I figured it was made about not getting the food it normally gets. Nope. TOM decided to make an appearance. Doesn't get much better than that.

Sunday, I went into the extended hour care center and discovered that doctor's still go on instinct. My gut was telling me strep. So was the doctor's, despite the negative strip test. "I'm going to get it cultured to be absolutely certain. In the meantime, I'm putting you on amoxicillin." Can we say horse pills boys and girls? Holy moly! My throat ran away in retreat when I put that pill to my lips. One half hour later, I started to feel more like me. I decided right then and there that I had strep.

That's twice in one year, folks. What the heck? Not cool. Not cool at all. I'm getting so healthy. What's the deal? Germs don't care if you're in super-duper health, apparently. They only want to invade a body...any body. Well, that's alright. I got my super, mongo antibiotics. I got my water in the 2.3 liter jug. I got my soup and I got my sanity. I'll get through this!

Sick Again and Thoroughly Frustrated

Unbelievable! I have been sick for the majority of two months, now. There's gotta be a record. One of my coworkers was on 1800 mg of antibiotics that didn't even touch his sickness. He later went back for an even broader spectrum and ended up with the meds given to people with Anthrax! Is that where I'm headed too? I don't want to go to the doctor again because I feel like I've missed so much work for this or that already. Besides, it's becoming such a downer paying the copay then paying additional money for a prescription. The lady at the pharmacy is beginning to know my name and birthday by heart. How sad.

I started with a tickle in my throat on Sunday that had me coughing a bit (oh, did I mention that hubby sneezed in my face in his sleep Saturday night? Then, Indy was coughing and hacking in my face. I think I need to move to Fiji for a month or so and wait for everyone to get well. This is ridiculous!) Yesterday, I sneezed and "ran" so much that I used an entire box of Kleenex within a couple of hours. Thank goodness I have a back-up box! Then, I got home and felt like death. Hubby had cleaned the house and made dinner, so I was glad of that. The girls were fed, played a bit, then went to bed. I spent last night tossing and turning because my stupid humidifier makes a weird noise now that wakes me up. It hums and grinds or something. Is it time for a new one already? More bad news. Ugh!

The weather-man indicated that our city had some of the dirtiest air quality in the country, yesterday. Is this all attributed to our crappy air, and if so, could March please get on with its "in like a Lion" business, please? We obviously need the rain to clean the stuff out of our air. This will, hopefully, improve the breathing of most of the city's citizens. Oh, and to add insult to injury, TOM is here and I had no change for weigh day. Frustration is the word for the day. Seriously!

I'm supposed to go to lunch with a coworker today and I'm really not up to it, to tell the truth. I'd almost rather have it brought in and eat with her here (but I'm pretty sure she's not going for that). She hates staying in the office for lunch, unless she absolutely has to. Oh, well. I guess I'll suffer through...unless by some miracle she calls and has to reschedule. There's always that. Why is this such a big deal (you may ask)? Because this is the coworker who used to work with me and we don't see each other much. I have a feeling she wants to talk and I don't want to shut myself off from her if she happens to need an ear. That could prove detrimental. Not to say that I'm the world's greatest listener or anything, but you never know what anyone may need.

So, I guess I'm done bitching for now. I think I'm ready to embrace that vacation (let's just hope I'm not sick when we go). Bring it on! April, I am ready for you!!

Baby Doing Better

I took little Indy to the doctor, yesterday morning and sat for an hour before a doctor (not her pediatrician) came in to see us. She was in good spirits so, I'm glad he could examine without her getting too upset. Turns out my little girl has a hemorrhoid which is a direct result from constipation she experienced last week. Poor little thing! I bet it's been driving her crazy, which explains why she's been so needy as of late. She was prescribed a cream, then we left to get the prescription filled. I was so relieved that it was something we could treat ourselves and that she hadn't fallen prey to some horrible body upset that would require hospitalization.

Relief came all at once, after we got home, ate lunch and settled down. I drifted off to sleep...no longer fretting about the health of my youngest. I was glad to cuddle with Indy and here her soft, consistent breathing as we went to sleep. It reminded me of our second day in the hospital, after she was born. I put my newborn in the crook of my arm and we drifted off. I probably terrified the nurses, but this became a normal occurrence for the few days we were there.

The rest of the day, I spent fussing at my hubby for random things. I'm starting to PMS and things just sort of "come out" when I'm talking. Nothing brash, but he was quite eager to get to the gym after the tongue lashing I was giving him. By the time he came home, I had worked out, showered and was feeling much better about life. We ended up watching some of Prestige and held hands just before we turned off the movie to go to sleep.

Did you know that Mercury is in retrograde right now? I'll be all too pleased when it's over. The fact that it seems to intensify my PMS moments is enough to chant for it's disappearance altogether. Everyone in my area of the office brings it up at least twice a day. Talk about educating the masses!