Disappointed

Today was a day of disappointment. Jim had some disappointments at work and I had disappointment with my nephew. I was supposed to pick him up tonight and he was going to spend the night with us so he could go out to the gala with us tomorrow. He called at 3 to ask if it was ok if he came at 7. Yeah, that was ok. We wouldn’t get to go to Dave and Buster’s for dinner… which I was really looking forward to. He had a blast the last time we went but I forgot the camera and I’m seriously needing some new photos of something other than the dog and cat. A little after 7 he called to say he was having problems with his ex-girlfriend and doesn’t want me to pick him up until tomorrow. There goes miniature golf and gelattos. I know he’s 15 now and has other interests but it used to be he’d kill to spend the night with me. I was a little short with him on the phone but called him back to apologize and just tell him I was disappointed because I miss spending time with him. He does say he is definitely going to the gala which is good because four of our friends have now had to beg off. Its’ too bad because it would be a lot of fun to see them but everyone is so busy right now.

It’s rained off and on all day and really hard tonight. The sump pump has been going off at least hourly… which is a good thing, no flooding in the basement. Tomorrow I have to take Harley to the kennel, pick up Donald, press Donald’s clothes, design some certificates and print them to take to my mom, and get us all out to Mom’s in time to get to the gala. Of course, tonight I can’t sleep which means I’ll be totally wiped tomorrow. Maybe I can grab a nap at Mom’s.

What A Lousy Day

Actually it started yesterday…. another migraine. Just something to go along with the pain in my shoulder and chest. I felt horrible. Managed to finally get to sleep last night about 3am. Nothing touched the migraine. Not Excedrin, not Flexeril. UGH! Called the doctors office this morning. The nurse called back to let me know that the doctor couldn’t do anything last time other than offer the Flexeril and she wasn’t hearing anything new. So sorry, I didn’t know that I would need to have a fresh, new routine every time I called the doctor. She said it was probably the pregnancy but my gut says no. My WBC has been elevated since February and whereas it’s not “dangerously” high they do want to recheck it in another 6 weeks. I’m beginning to wonder how ling I have to be totally run down before someone realizes this might be more than just being pregnant.

I did manage to sleep most of the day which was good. Almost forgot that today is the 5th Anniversary of Dad passing. Wish I had felt better when Mom called. She sounded a lot better which was good. I’ll catch up with her first thing in the morning. Some days it still feels like yesterday. I miss Dad. I wish my child would have known him. He would have been ga-ga over a new baby.

Since I haven’t felt well I’ve been on the couch. The past two nights Harley has slept at the foot of the bed on my side. Don’t know how she’s going to take it when I resume my post in the bed. I do like that she gets that extra time out of her kennel. Jim’s been leaving her outside in the morning and she’s doing really well in the back yard. She didn’t bark once today, just entertained herself.

Tomorrow Jim has to do an up and back to Chicago. He’ll get back late but he will be back, which is good because I like knowing he is here at night when I don’t feel well. Today he called once to check on me and brought home Chinese for dinner. That hit the spot. He brought extra so I could have it tomorrow for lunch.

Tomorrow I’m also at the OB. They called this week to tell me my RPR screen for them came back negative (no syphilis) and that they had also talked to doctor’s office and all follow up screenings were negative. Yeah!!! It’s a relief not going in having to wonder if they think I have syphilis or not.

Cosmo’s been on extra special guard Mom duty the past few days. He is letting Jim get near me but he keeps his eye on him. I guess when Jim got home tonight Cosmo met him at the door and gave him an earful. Presumably telling him that I’m not feeling good and it’s about time he got home. I love this cat.

What A Week!

Oh my God, it’s been another emotional week. I can’t believe it. It all started Tuesday with a call from the Health Department telling me some recent blood work I had done showed that I may have syphilis and I need to come in for additional testing. Um, excuse me… I don’t think so. So I call my doctors office to ask “what is going on????” The nurse tells me that my blood work showed I had definitely had syphilis in the past but was not currently active and no further testing was needed. Um, no way… you’ve got to be kidding me. She assured me she wasn’t but everything would be fine. Jim got home from work and I explained to him what was going on. He was incredibly supportive… just wanted to make sure I was ok and let him know if he needed any testing. I felt disgusting and dirty. On Wednesday the nurse calls back to say the doctor wants to see me on Friday. That’s when I started to get a bit suspicious since yesterday nothing further was needed so I started doing my homework… I know more about syphilis and blood tests than I ever wanted to. After a few sleepless nights Friday finally came. The doctor was shocked that the nurse had told me I had had syphilis in the past and stated that couldn’t be determined from the RPR that was done on my blood (I knew that then). He also pointed out my white blood cell count had been high the past two tests (one of the things that can make the test come back reactive). He did say we did need to do the follow up testing but he would bet his house it’s coming back negative. Of course I also had to talk to the nurse manager because I was pretty upset with how this whole thing unfolded. Jim and I used the same doctor and when Doc kind of said “no harm done” I asked if he had to tell his spouse this week that the doctor’s office said he had definitely had an STD in the past but don’t know when. It’s times like these when you really appreciate a supportive spouse who cares about nothing but you being well.

I’ve had more energy this week which has been nice. I got a call about a job in my field this week. Apparently they had seen my resume on Monster. I have to do some internet testing tomorrow and then a phone interview on Tuesday. If I wind up taking this job it’s about the same money as before and it would mean very little if any loss of income for me being off this month since my previous job “bought out” my four weeks notice. And quite franky having the past few weeks off with as bad as I’ve been feeling and all this funky blood stuff wasn’t a bad thing.

Saturday Jim and I did some shopping and found a dress for the gala this weekend (75% off at Dillards — yeah! My shoes cost more than the dress!) We also went to Sears to pick up a TV Mom found on sale but wasn’t able to get out to buy. While we were there we found a leaf blower/vacuum and got it to get this yard clean up. We also stopped and got some grass seed to start overseeding some of these bare spots in the yard. Tomorrow I have to go get mulch, ground cover, edging, leaf bags and screen repair. I also think I’m going to get a patio set I saw on sale at Ace for the deck since the mornings are nice enough now we could sit on the deck on the weekends and have our coffee.

A good friend of mine died this week. She is the mother of one of my best friends and just lost a long battle with congestive heart failure. Her visitation is tomorrow. She will be so missed.

Fried Chicken and KU Basketball

Yesterday I felt pretty miserable all day. My left shoulder and elbow have been killing me and I don’t know why. What I do know is I was sore and miserable and crabby most of the day.

Today, nothing seemed to taste right. Everything I tried seemed to taste “off”. About 3:20 I decided that fried chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy sounded really good. There is a really great place for fried chicken about 15 minutes from the house that does take out… there was also the KU basketball game starting at 4. My husband volunteered to go get the food. I called in the order and they said “30 minutes” – no way Jim could get back by tip off. Turns out the KU and chicken gods were with him and he got back at 3:52… then tip off was delayed until 4:15. I got my chicken, he got to see his whole game.

I appreciate that he is always willing to go the extra mile for me, no matter what he was planning on doing. Thankfully, KU won.

Love This!

I was surfing blogs tonight while Jim watched the KU game. I love reading the blogs of other digital scrappers and seeing what they are doing. The amount of talent out there absolutely blows me away. I and ran across Shari Barnes blog. On it I found the Farley and Friends kit by Kay Miller. I was thrilled! I am always looking for cute cat and dog digital scrapping stuff to help document the fur children’s lives… can’t wait until I have a real baby to scrap! This is a quick layout from the Farley and Friends collection. I’m off to do more!

My Protector

Cosmo has been sticking really close to me the past few weeks. He loves that his condo is right by the couch so he can lay close to me and keep an eye on me. Yesterday when I wasn’t feeling well he would not let Jim come near me. He kept charging him and attacking his leg… it was kind of sweet. Yesterday when the sun started coming through the window he was frustrated by it getting in his eyes. However, being the resourceful cat he is he simply covered his eyes with his tail and went back to sleep.

Layout and paper from Gina Cabrera Land of Nod kit.

Dig in!

Harley learned to dig a pit today! Joy of joys! Luckily the yard is a mess anyway so she’s not messing up and “landscaping”. Actually, it’s kept her really entertained. She loves laying out there in the dirt and has been very quiet most of the night. She also played in the hose tonight and absolutely loved it! Can’t wait to see how she does with the sprinkler! I did this layout using Miss Kim’s Karissa layout and paper from Holly McCaig’s ASPCA kit.

I went to interview with a temp service today and blew them away on the testing. Got 100% on the spelling test… my 7th grade English teacher would be so proud. Anyway, they really think they’ll have something for me soon. Possibly a direct hire.

I made a joke poster for Jim the other day. It was four color, 11X17 proclaiming him the trainer of the year with some quotes that people have given about his classes. It was just sort of an atta boy for him but he took it to the office today… a guy in his graphics department has someone he wants me to call about doing some work and his boss is sending me some files tomorrow to quote a poster for them. Hmmm.. could be an interesting little side business.

Absolutely Drained

As if last week wasn’t stressful enough… we went Saturday to have the taxes done. Not only are we not getting a refund, we owe. UGH!!! I hate that. Apparently we should have been withholding at a higher level becaue some bonuses and investment just barely nudged us into a higher tax bracket. UGH!!! The good news is we’ll be able to rectify the situation for next year, the bad news is San Antonio just floated out the window.

Tomorrow will be full of job search stuff and yet another blood draw. I’m beginning to feel like I’m having an affair with a vampire!

Is this nesting????

Can nesting begin in the yard??? All of a sudden I have this huge desire to make our yard a bit more showy. Of course, we first need to get up the thousands of leaves, reseed and clear the back fence. I had planned on hiring it out but when you’re not bringing in money you decide to do a lot of stuff yourself. The first picture is the three seasons garden I want to do along the front of the house. The other is a perpetual perinneal garden that I think will look wonderful in front of the rock wall in the back yard.

Jim and I started on the leaves last night. In 30 minutes we bagged two large bags of leaves and entertained Harley. She would bring her toy over to us to throw for her. She loves it when we’re outside and prances around. It’s funny to watch her stop and make sure that we’re watching so that she can do her next “trick”.

I’ve also started to plan the nursery. I will have some extra money coming at the beginning of October and I hope that it can stay irmarked to buy the furniture and linens. I would like to start off with nice furniture that can grow with our child and plan on buying a 3 in 1 crib that will eventually be a full size bed.

I’m a bit depressed and finding it hard to get off the couch but know I have to. I will allow myself one more day to wallow and then hit things hard on Monday. I know in the end everything will work out… it always does, it’s just hard waiting for the end to get here sometimes.

First Day Unemployed….

Well, things went down better than I thought yesterday. I had decided it was time to move on so I gave my notice, they decided to buy out my four weeks so I’m paid through April… best of both worlds… of course I have to be available via phone for any questions they may have.

Today I went to Costco to stock up on a few staples, then to the grocery for some dinner stuff for this week. Gave Cosmo a lot of extra attention today. Took Harley out in the yard and played catch with her.

When Jim got home I had dinner ready… chili mac, cornbread and strawberry cake for dessert. After dinner we went out in the yard to play some more catch with Harley. The weather has been so mild and she has so much energy!

Got one call with a job lead today. I think I may actually follow up on it. Tomorrow I have to go to Target to get prescriptions filled then I may go get my bloodwork done… or I may put that off a little longer since I just had blood drawn yesterday…. beginning to feel like a big pin cushion.