Jenerally Speaking

Okay, I know this is very un-American of me, but I am secretly rooting for the Canadian hockey team today.  I saw this short video clip yesterday about how important this game is to them and how their entire world would collapse around them if they don’t win…or something like that.  So, here I am cheering for our neighbors to the north.  Go Canada! 

I am not much of a sports fan usually.  In fact, I think the only sport I have ever followed was hockey.  My best friend Christine and I were huge NY Rangers fans when we were in high school.  Teen girls watch sports a little differently than guys do, I think.  We pick our favorite guys and learn everything about them and talk about how cute they are, etc.  Mike Gartner was “my guy” and Mike Richter was “her guy.”  For anyone who followed the Rangers, you will know that Mike Gartner was traded a month or two before the Rangers finally broke their 54 year long curse & won the Stanley Cup.  That was a quite a sad occasion.  (Not the winning of the Stanley Cup…the trading of Mike Gartner.)  After college, I kind of stopped watching and now I don’t even know anyone who plays anymore.  I’m not in contact with Christine and it kind of takes the fun out of it when I don’t have anyone with watch with.  The rest of my family aren’t sports watchers either – except mom.  She is a Yankees fan.  Unfortunately, I just can’t sit down and watch baseball with her…it’s a little too slow for me.

I was actually kind of surprised to find out that today was the last day of the Olympics.  Where the heck have I been?  I think I only watched a day or two.  I’m kind of bummed that I missed most of the events – especially the ice skating.  I have to make a point of paying closer attention to the summer Olympic schedule in a few years.

Well, I better get back to watching and rooting for the “other guys.”  LOL  I hope the Americans won’t hold it against me.  I’m just a sucker for a good sob story and that video clip yesterday had me convinced that the Canadians just HAVE TO win today.

So, guess what kind of weather we’re having right now?
Yep…it’s the snowy kind.  According to Accuweather.com, we’re supposed be getting about 20 inches by Friday.  My daughter already found out that she has off tomorrow and this isn’t even the worst part of the storm yet – we’re supposed to get almost a foot of snow on just Thursday alone.  I have a feeling that no one will be going anywhere until the weekend.  That’s fine by me.  As long as I know my family is home safe and sound, I have no problem with snowstorms.  They give me a chance to snuggle with my blankets and pillows and tea and books and laptop and watch the snow fall outside the two large windows in my room.  I love that. 

So, things have been good here.  I’ve been going to physical therapy for the past few weeks to take care of the neck and back pain I have. Wish I knew how it all started – I still want to blame the mono I had last year.  I feel like I never really recovered completely from the mono.  In any case, the PT is helping a little…I’m definitely not getting any of those tension headaches anymore.  Thank goodness.

Sadly, I have bit of a new problem now.  I have been trying to get back into some kind of exercise routine again – good for stress, good for the heart, etc.  Well, I think I went a little too crazy with the stomach crunches the other night and I ended up pulling some kind of muscle in my abdomen.  At least, I think that is what happened.  All I know is that I started feeling some kind of weird pain slightly below my ribs and toward the center of my stomach area.  Over the next few days, the weird pain began to feel more like a ripping, burning, OUCH kind of pain.  Sometimes when I bend over, it actually feels like something it hitting up against my lower rib.  I think it’s strained or swollen or both.

Either that or it’s that tumor I’ve always been afraid of getting.  "It’s not a tumor," said Arnold.

In any case, I now have to put ice packs on my stomach for the abdominal muscle swelling and heating pads on my back for the back pain I have.  LOL  Seriously.  I am a little broken.  I’m heading to the doctor on Monday just to make sure it’s only a sprain.  This sure puts a damper on my exercise plans.   Oh well!  The exercise machines will be waiting for me until I get better.  In the meantime, I’ll just stick with some yoga and my strength training.  I always liked arm and shoulder exercises better than those darned crunches anyway.  It stinks a little when we start getting old. (Psst…this is where someone posts a comment to assure me that 30-ish isn’t old.)    I sure don’t feel old most of the time, but when my body starts falling apart after a few stomach crunches, I definitely start to wonder!

Well, I was pretty pleased with myself tonight. I made a turkey/chicken soup for Meghan that was totally Candida friendly and it was sooooo tasty! We had some leftover turkey and I found some unseasoned frozen chicken in the freezer so I decided to throw them in a pot and try my hand at homemade soup. The “unseasoned” part of the chicken was important since so many of those frozen Purdue chickens have some kind of ingredient that Meghan can’t eat on her diet. I found one with vinegar in it, which is a big No-No when it comes to fighting Candida.
So, the rest of the soup had carrots, celery, and onion. I had some bottled chicken stock on hand, just in case, but I really didn’t need it. The soup flavored itself quite nicely (with a bit of salt, pepper, parsley and celery salt.) She had some Wasa rye crisps on the side and a few peach slices, too. (I am known for trying to hit all the food groups at every meal.)

I’m just glad I found a recipe that I can give her and not feel like I’m forcing her to eat it because she has no choice.

This week is going to be a busy one for me. I have Physical Therapy for my back on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. Tomorrow is Meg’s dentist appointment. Tuesday is a doctor’s appointment for me and Thursday is parent/teacher conferences.

The best news of all, though, is that I start my temp job next Tuesday for the Census Bureau. The money I make from that will be enough to pay for one of my college courses.
After that, I’ll be on the lookout for a job in one of the area medical/health offices. I don’t care if I’m filing paperwork – I just want to work in some kind of job environment that relates to the health profession in some way. I only need to do it for a few months in order to get the money to complete the final classes for my degree.
I’m getting there…

Mid- December…I can’t believe how fast time is flying.  I have been sooooo busy, but a “good” kind of busy – not a “bad, oh my gosh, when will it all stop!” kind of busy.  Last weekend was the holiday craft fair at the local school.  Meghan and her friend made chocolate lollipops and some jewelry and little dog scarves and treats.  They made about $50 each, which is perfect for the Christmas shopping they have left to do.  I went with my personalized name prints again and did really well this year.  I had a lady arrive about an hour before the craft fair ended and she bought about 20 different name prints.  Because I don’t charge for shipping, they are only $3 to $5 each, which makes it an inexpensive Christmas gift.  I do pretty well there each year, but this one was the best.  She even offered to have me come to her house to do a home party.  I have never done that before, but I am more than willing to give it a try.  It will give me a chance to meet some new people, at the very least.

My Christmas shopping is almost done.  I gave myself a budget and I’m sticking to it.
Sort of.
My main problem is all those little extras I pick up while I’m Christmas shopping.  Cafe Latte from McDonalds, a pack of gum at the checkout counter, Purell from the health aisle, wrapping paper and cute little Christmas gift bags (although I already have a closet full of them at home)…I know, it doesn’t sound like much, but it does all add up.  In any case, I’m going to attack all the wrapping this week so I can just sit back and enjoy the remainder of the holiday.

Snow Day

So, we finally had a snow day.  It came exactly when I wanted it to…during this two week period before Christmas.  We have 2 full weeks of school back-to-back and I was hoping to have at least one snow day to break them up and that’s exactly what happened.  That was a very nice surprise.

As always, the ice and sleet arrived immediately after the snow did.  Our driveway will most likely stay covered in ice until spring.  That is usually how it goes every winter.  It never quite warms up enough between ice storms for it to completely melt.  Each one of our cars has a tiny dent from sliding into each other as we drive into the driveway.  LOL

Well, other than that there isn’t much else going on here.  I have a temporary job lined up for January, but I am itching to get back to school.  Hopefully soon!  *fingers crossed*

For the second year in a row we had snow in October.  This year wasn’t as bad as last year, but it was still a bit of a surprise.  I had been out helping my nieces’ mom (Rachel) do some housecleaning for a little extra cash when she got the phone call about the weather.  It snowed pretty much all day and didn’t end up sticking until evening.  I’d guess we got about an inch by the time it was all done.  I love the snow, but I definitely want a little more time enjoying the autumn leaves, you know?  The forecast for next week is supposed to be around 60 degrees again, so I guess the winter gloves get to go back in the closet for a little while longer.

My anxiety disorder has acting up…I’m not sure why, but it might have been triggered by the lack of sleep I have been experiencing.  A three-day headache will do that to you!  Luckily, it’s nothing I can’t handle.  I’m just taking it easy, catching up on my sleep when I can and hopefully this weekend will be what I need to get back to feeling like my old self.

My daughter and I went to a meeting at school this past Wednesday to get some more information about the possibility of her traveling to Poland next year as a foreign exchange student.  Truthfully, I’m excited about the idea, but I’m not sure she will be accepted into the program.  She has been struggling this year to keep her grades up.  She’s a really smart girl, but she has been racking up the absences and it’s affecting her grades.  We have an appointment this Thursday with the “tummy doc” and hopefully we’ll get some answers as to what is causing all her abdominal pain.  I just want her feeling better again.  She went from being one of the healthiest kids I know to the kind of kid that catches a cold or virus every other week.  I won’t even go into my fears about the H1N1 flu…if she were to catch that now, I am quite certain it would be one heck of a battle. 

Hmmm…so, what else?

Did you hear about the Balloon Boy?   Basically, this family’s 6-year-old boy – Falcon Heene -  was thought to have been flying over Colorado in a hot air balloon yesterday.  Instead he was actually hiding in the family’s attic the entire time.  To make things even more interesting, there is a possibility that the family knew he was in the attic, but pretended otherwise in order to get a little extra publicity for their family.  Oh goodness.  I would find this incredibly funny except for the fact that they may have actually made this little boy lie about what happened.  Can you imagine how much stress he must be feeling in order to keep that secret?  I do hope that isn’t what really happened.  Meghan and I have a secret addiction to Wife Swap, so we are quite familiar with this particular family – they really are a little odd.  The father (Richard Heene) reminded us a little of the Crocodile Hunter – he had a mix of ADHD behavior with a childlike enthusiasm, but there was something about him that was a turnoff.  He didn’t seem very concerned with teaching his children about respect and manners.  That always bothers me when I see parents like that.

Well, I have a bunch of little tasks to do for the night.  I am trying to organize all my To-Do lists and set up some goals and tasks for the next few weeks.  I have a few job possibilities and I want to get a couple of my web sites up and running again.  I should be nice a busy for the rest of the month.  I like that.

On a very unrelated note…I hate tagging my blog posts.  I really do.  Mostly because I think I stink at it.  I never even look at or use tags when I visit other sites.  If I want to browse through a blog, I will click on the categories…I never really pay attention to tags.  I think I’m missing the point of them.
So, I fail at tagging.
I’ll also never admit to how long it takes me to decide which categories I should use for a blog post….I think I fail at categories, too.  LOL

I could swear it was the beginning of September just a few days ago.
Did you ever see one of those spiral wishing wells in the mall where you put in a coin and watch it swirl around and around until it falls through the hole in the middle? At the top, the coin’s path is big and slow. As it nears the bottom, it gets shorter and shorter. This is what I think is happening to time, in general. It seriously feels like everything is going by so quickly! Does anyone else feel that way? Is it just because I am an adult? Do kids not feel this, too? Or is it because the world is just set up to deliberate and fast-paced now? The slow pace of the 1980s are no more. Or maybe this is something that can be explained by physics. Is time actually speeding up? Is that possible?

Okay, too many questions. It’s 1AM and my brain doesn’t really feel up to questioning Life, The Universe and Everything at 1AM. So, let’s focus on the mundane before I head to bed.

Mundane musing #1: I am loving the weather these days. Cool and crisp and it smells so clean outside. The leaves are turning red and orange and yellow and I am enjoying every day of autumn so far.  Fall and spring are my favorite seasons.

Mundane musing #2: Okay, so…I watch General Hospital. The soap opera. I seriously didn’t plan on getting attached to this show, but my grandma temporarily came to live with us a few years ago and I joined her when she watched. After she left, I kept watching because those darned storylines just suck you in…and they NEVER END.

GH's Lucky Spencer

Anyway, my favorite character on the show…the one who kept me watching all these years – Lucky Spencer – is being replaced. The current actor (Greg Vaughan – see pic on the left) is being replaced by the one (Jonathan Jackson) who originated the role years ago. This makes me sad. The old Lucky was the teen Lucky. The current Lucky is our grown-up Lucky. It’s embarrassing how this bothers me. I mean seriously. I thought my soap opera/fan girl days ended when I was in college. I guess a little bit of frivolous distraction never really hurt anyone, but…I’m irritated by this casting change and think maybe it’s time to wean myself off of GH.

Mundane musing #3: I am attempting to switch from glasses to contacts. My first trial pair of contacts were scratchy and blurry. My second pair are comfy…and blurry. I am starting to worry that my astigmatism is going to prevent me from actually making the switch to contact lenses. I’ll be really bummed if that happens. As it stands, I usually don’t have to wear my glasses unless I am watching TV, but I have found that everything looks a little sharper and darker when I wear them all the time, so I thought it would be nice to switch to contacts. I go back to the eye doctor on Monday to try another pair. Third time’s a charm…I hope!

Okay, I seriously need to get some sleep. I’m not tired, but I will be hurting tomorrow morning if I don’t head to bed now. G’night all!