Archive for February, 2010

fluckity fluck fluck FLUCK!

Published by
Becky
at February 17, 2010 in Another tangent. 1 Comment

The joy continues.  So far today:

1. I ventured outside the house for the first time in two days to pick up a prescription and a latte.

2. I had one hot flash at the dollar store (unzips jacket and sweater, flaps shirt to let cold air inside)

3.  Had two hot flashes at Shoppers (unzips jacket and sweater, flaps shirt to let cold air inside)

4. Almost yelled at the pharmacy assistant for not serving me next (instead, another more aggressive looking lady went first who KNEW she came after me, while I stood there all-but undressing I was so warm)

5. Fumbled with all the mail at the mailbox and, once again, found myself holding many unnecessary objects in my hands sans ability to get back into my car without dropping everything.

5. Was unable to complete the simple task of packing the prescription, mail and dollar store items into one bag and exit the car gracefully (unzips jacket and sweater, flaps shirt to let cold air in, struggles with overstuffed grocery bag, nearly falls on driveway ice, nearly drops latte, nearly swears out loud…ok not so nearly swears out loud)

7. Finally, I retreated back to my lair, under blankets that don’t judge my feverish frustration and love me for the messy-haired, sniffy-nosed, pathetic sicky-poo that I am.

At least I can count to seven properly.

owie

Published by
Becky
at February 16, 2010 in Another tangent. 4 Comments

So I have a Neti-Pot.  It’s a blue plastic tea-pot-esque thing that I fill with a saline solution and pour up my nose.  It’s unnatural.  And it has the ability to move mucus plugs as though they were less like small mountains and more like a pile of dust.  Unfortunately, I end up swallowing them instead of seeing them drain out the uninvolved nare.  This is disconcerting.  Anyone who knows what it’s like to swallow a ton of mucus knows about the nausea that follows.  Mucus exists naturally in the stomach to stop the digestive juices from eating up the stomach itself (it’s not just a pretty face).  Mucus is undigestible.  Someone should have differentiated the components of sinus versus gastric mucus so the former could be digested in a way the latter could never imagine.  And save me from feeling nauseated and bloated on top of congested, sore, and feverish.  It’s a bitter cycle.  Success in the head and thorax (breathing) leads to failure in the abdomen.  How is this fair?

Also of note, how dumb I feel about having to call in sick to work.  To make this decision at 4 this morning, I created a pro/con list:

CONS:
- potential for being seen as a big WUSS by my co-workers (there are many ‘I’ve never taken a sick day in 20 years’ kind-of-people at the hospital)
- sick pay
- the potential for getting a response full of attitude/disappointment/frustration from my charge nurse when I call in (though not this time…lub you Kath) resulting in my feeling ten times worse about staying home

PROS:
- not infecting immunocompromised patients with a simple flu virus
- maintaining the skin on my hands from not blowing past the ‘healthy number of times to wash hands in one day’ limit secondary to blowing my nose a gabillion times at work
- doing what my body wants me to do… rest
- not going back on my strong belief that everyone who is getting sick, or is sick, should stay home from work and keep their icky germs to themselves
- finally being able to put some time into reading the new book club book (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) thus avoiding evil stares from fellow book club members at work
- not being a useless team member in an environment where I need to think and move quickly to get the job done right

And so I maintain my warm spot in bed, recovering the energy I lost showering. I am clean, yes, but now I’m so tired I can’t move. Thinking staying home was a solid decision.

I swear, I’m not making him up

Published by
Becky
at February 10, 2010 in Another tangent. 2 Comments

My man is on the move in a Northward direction!!  Every way is North from the South Pole right?  Last November I anticipated (in a dreading way not in an excited way) his departure.  Once the good-bye was over with, I started settling into a routine as one does in a long-distance relationship.  Excited for emails.  Enjoying spotty Antarctic phone calls.  Anticipating (in an excited way not in a dreading way) our next contact.  Amazing how someone could grow to be such a bright spot in my day, week, month, life.  A few simple words, enough to change my attitude, focus, mood, mind.  These things stand out to me now.  Not that beautiful moments go unrecognized during everyday (read: living in the same city) partnership, but they mean more when said partner is (like) 16,000 kms away for almost three months (never say never, but it’s never happening again OK?).  It was far less dramatic than I thought it’d be.  I mean, I knew I’d be fine, but come on, I didn’t get married to hang out on my own all the time.  Though, I did get married to a guy (and his dreams) I intend to encourage.  Time did fly, except for Christmas.  Other than that, it was warp speed through New Years, my birthday and will end on the day he steps off the plane in Ontario and into my controlled (blubbering), excited (frantic) and joyful (incontinent) embrace.

quality entertainment

Published by
Becky
at February 4, 2010 in Another tangent. 0 Comments

Wow, Avatar was quite an experience.  Saw the 3D Imax version.  When the movie was over my knees were cold and stiff (trans-atlantic-flight-ish) and I realized I didn’t move for three hours. It was THAT good.

Also,  I might have given myself pink eye from the 3D glasses.  First thing I did with them was poke myself in the right eye.  I am THAT awesome.

close, but no cigar

Published by
Becky
at February 3, 2010 in Another tangent. 3 Comments

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The dog having a cat nap

So day two passes of my parents’ home on the market.  Plenty of interest.  My mum is working so hard to keep everything perfect.  Sinks dried after use, garbages empty, beds wrinkle-free.  These things might seem silly - I mean, they’re not the meat and potatoes of the house, but I swear, it makes a difference.  Knowing that someone has taken good care of a place, keeps it very clean, and gives a rats arse what the place looks like means it’s a higher quality spot than the houses where no one has taken the time to sweep the kitchen floor, put their deodorant in the cupboard or ensure the DIY hardwood flooring goes all the way to the wall (not kidding on the last one).

See one faulty spot and the mind wanders to the other spots that are potentially faulty in the house.  What are they hiding?  What did they do themselves?  How much skill do they really have when it comes to home renos?  In no particular order, our most favourite ’silly’ moments of the house hunting process:

1. Sitting on the toilet in the upstairs washroom and looking directly out of a floor to ceiling window into the neighbors yard.
2. A random assortment of randomly placed ceramic tiles haphazardly sunk into the cement basement floor (art?)
3. Blue porcelain bathroom fixtures
4. A tanning bed in the living room
5. The rotting wood ‘patio’ made of particle board on top of the grass in the backyard (2,3,4 & 5 are from the same house, and following the showing, we used wet naps to clean our hands…that’s how put off we were by these and an assortment of other strange house/owner traits - it was very unibomber-meets-unicorn-poster-meets-shag-carpet-meets-worst-housekeeper-ever)
6. Stairs more than a few degrees off level pointing toward the (settled) centre of the house
7. The ’second two piece bathroom’ in the corner of a chilly wide-open basement
8.  DIY bamboo hardwood, proud DIYer present, that didn’t meet up with the wall around any of the door ways
9. An entirely (all walls, cupboards and flooring) slate tile bathroom
10. Bedrooms our bed wouldn’t fit into