sinus infection relapse can ruin a weekend

luckily, i have a sweet husband who tried to make the best of it.

friday, i was excited because andrew had the day off, AND sunday off, which he hasn't had since he started at dormia and won't have again the forseeable future. we planned to take advantage of this day by either taking a day trip to boone for a couple errands and just to get out of town, or going climbing. i was really excited about these options until i woke up feeling the crud again.

before this year, i've been a ridiculously healthy person, like... kick ass immune system. but this year, i had gotten a cold on more than one occasion. last time, it just wasn't going away, so i went in to the doctor's office to find it was a sinus infection. man do they suck! this friday, the very same symptoms recurred, and i realized my fate. since it was too late to go to the doctor's, i just began taking the prescription "maxifed" - a super-de-dooper sudafed cousin that works ok. i thought maybe if i cleared out the sinuses, the infection would just go away - riiiight. no such luck.

by friday night, i was crying on the couch because i knew our weekend plans had been ruined. most of the time i can tough it out, but when this sinus thing hits, i'm practically incapacitated. it sucks all my energy, makes me zonky, gives me aches everywhere, messes with my balance, and of course screws up my hearing, breathing, etc. so i'm pretty much a couch potato until the meds kick the infection. the thought of wrecking the only weekend day off for andrew really upset me.

saturday, i had lunch and hung out with kim, doing her friend's hair for the vet ball, and by the time i got home to andrew, i was completely exhausted. we entertained briefly the idea of climbing for the evening, but by the time we ate, i was so tired it was no longer an option. we did have a fantastic night just being together though, so i can't say i regret it. sunday was church, a visit with my parents, and then ridiculous amounts of desperate housewives dvd's. it certainly isn't climbing or vacationing in boone, but at least i got to snuggle with my husband!

update: left work early, spent 1.5 hrs in the waiting room, spent another 30 mins in the appointment, now have prescriptions for more drugs. woohoo.

true story

at lora's request, i am posting this asap (i was supposed to post it yesterday but was too busy).

Yesterday, I was reading a student's paper, and he was writing about a battle. I came across the sentence, "... and then there was a hambush..."
"A hambush? What's that?" I inquired.
"You know, like a hambush, when someone jumps out and surprise attacks you."

i could not contain myself. i laughed in his face.

lora's response: at the end of the battle, was there peas?
jackie's response: or green eggs?

what's yours?

traveling dmv

earlier this week, i tried - unsuccessfully - to finally get a driver's license with my correct name and address. i decided i'd do it on my workday since that'd be the ideal time to go. wrong. but today, i had a totally different experience when i went to the traveling dmv van behind megan's work. instead of going to some scary podunk dmv office, waiting for hours, and dealing with some angry fat guy behind the desk, i drove downtown, parked on the side of the road, and walked straight in an out of the dmv - even after pleasant interactions with the friendly older lady who was working the van.

not only did i get my new name and address on the card (and of course a terrible picture to go with it), but i don't have to renew it until 2016! insane.

after getting my license, i stopped in to visit megan's office. the government records building is not one i think i could stand to work in all day, but it's pretty cool that megan has her own office with a window and her name on the door - i should have taken a picture of that! but instead, i took a picture of us, standing in the office.

now off to yoga... followed by the carolina/duke game and hopefully lots of booze and desserts with andrew!

"had a bad day again"

kind of feel like the chorus to that song is playing in the background of my life sometimes. just when i'm trying to be content where i am, something else comes up to knock me back down.

the thing that's getting to me today is that i try and TRY to be a good teacher, to work hard for my students, to create lessons that are effective, interesting, engaging... to create assessments that value different learning styles, to provide project-based learning, and to do ALL of those good things that they teach us in college. but with the students i have this year, i feel like nothing i do is good enough - no, forget good, i feel like nothing i do is even worthwhile. like i might as well stand up in front of the class, squawk like a chicken, speak gibberish, and then take their papers up as a grade. seriously, they'd probably make about the same amount of sense.

i'm beyond frustrated. i need some encouragement.

or maybe i am just not meant to be a teacher. :-/

andrew was romantic!

i love my andrew, and he is wonderful in so many ways, but romance is not generally one of them. however, last night when i got home, these were on the table for me! andrew said he came home and the house was so clean that he thought he needed to do something nice for me. he's so good :-) i've been cleaning and rearranging now that our old mattress has found its home at megan's house (for a while). i've finally been able to BEGIN cleaning out the "dog room", which is really the "junk room", but should be the office. today, while andrew has been at work, i've been working more and, while i'm satisfied with my progress, i still really wish this house could be totally cleaned, organized, and decorated - why don't i live on one of those reality shows where they clean, remodel, and decorate your house?

anyway, i'm still excited about my flowers. here's another picture hehehe :-)

time for improvement

today hasn't been great.

1. woke up, went to the gym but had a terrible time.
   
2. came home and cleaned for several hours.
   
3. looked through bills/bank statements and found out that the bank has been taking $8/month out of the account i haven't been using as a "maintenance fee", so i've probably lost somewhere in the neighborhood of $100 so far.
   
4. put together some leftovers for a nice meal and it tasted yucky.
   

and that's where i am... still lots of time and potential for improvement. let's hope it does.

::update::
ok the day got much better! i talked to melissa some online, and that was cool. then megan and i went to the mall to buy her some big-girl clothes. we visited andrew at work, and megan got a kick out of the adjustable bases, especially the massage feature. we also partook in the edible bouquet, which was luscious.

after that, we made a trip to southpoint to join melissa and vanessa for 27 dresses. it was a surprisingly good movie. it made us laugh, it made us cry, it became a part of us. you know how it is. seriously though, it was really good.

after that, we spent a few minutes browsing around urban outfitters, and megan bought some really cool area rugs. i am coveting her area rugs. we left southpoint and chatted for a while, watched tex enjoy the new rugs, and headed home to eat andrew's mexican cooking (which was great) and more chatting. all in all - much improved.

playing hookey

last night, andrew and i went out to dinner with lora and marc. we met up at humble pie and had another great meal there. i appreciate a place with an eclectic decor and good food. we shared a few bottles of wine, some work stories, and discussed topics from travel to animal rights and even circumcision. never a dull moment.

i'd been toying with the idea of taking a "mental health day" from school all week long. since i've been so stressed at work recently and andrew works every night and weekend, i wanted to just take a day to be here with him and relax. this morning when the alarm went off, i decided today was the day to stay in, but unfortunately, i did pretty much feel like crap. so while i felt good that i wasn't lying to the school, i also regret somewhat spending the day off that i had laying on the couch.

this evening though, we went out with andrew's mother to uno's for pizza. that's pretty much one of the only places we go with her because both andrew and his mother are crazy about pizza, and this is as close to real chicago style pizza as they've been able to find in the area. we had a nice time there and then spent some time bumming around briar creek.

we went to petsmart or petco or whatever it is and bought an "ultrasonic" bark preventing bird feeder thing. it's supposed to put out frequency when dogs bark up to 50 feet away. weirdly enough, it is advertised to be used for your dogs or "for your neighbor's dogs" - i thought that was a little strange. but we are willing to give it a shot so the children will quit being obnoxious in the afternoons.

after that, we went to the caribou where we had our first unofficial date. andrew and i spent all day hanging out in this alcove while i was supposed to be grading papers. we literally spent 5 hours talking - it was kind of neat to go back there and reminisce. now that we've finished watching the "hell's kitchen" on the fox reality network, it's time for bed!