First Annual Me Week

Last week was the First Annual Me Week? What is “Me Week”? That is the week of work I took off to do stuff I needed/wanted to do. I must say, “Me Week” will probably become an annual tradition. So how did I spend my “Me Week”? Here is the rundown…

Easter Weekend
Me Week started a little early with a visit from Tonna, Kael and Zaine. I hadn’t seen them in over a year so it was a much anticipated weekend and lots of fun! We hung out with Tarren & Erin (Tonna’s brother/sister-in-law), did some Easter Egg hunting, went to the park, and ate LOTS. It was a fun weekend.

Monday
Monday was spent cleaning my bedroom. Yes, it took me all day, BUT I wasn’t just cleaning, I was cleaning out and I dusted/vacuumed everything. I started an eBay pile and a Goodwill pile.

Tuesday
Tuesday was another cleaning/cleaning out day. I also took a break to go meet my friend, Grace, for lunch in Bricktown.

Wednesday
This was the most eventful day of the week. It started Tuesday night when the fan on my furnace wouldn’t shut off, so I had to turn it off at the fuse box to keep it from running. I had plans around noon on Wednesday, so I got up early to get ready in hopes that I could get someone out before I had to leave to look at the problem. That didn’t happen, but he did make it out late that afternoon, so all was well (with the exception of an impending repair before next fall).

After lunch, I went to the zoo with my friend, Jenn, and her kids. I LOVE going to the zoo and it was a nice day to do it. We did have to do a little redneck rigging of the stroller to keep the sun off of Kyler, but it worked. The animals were more into napping than anything else, so we were only there a couple of hours.

The most eventful part came after dinner that evening. I had been sitting on the couch and went to get up to take my dishes to the kitchen and change clothes before church. I was wearing a pair of cargo pants that were rolled up to Capri length. Don’t ask me how I did this, but I got up, took a step (maybe two) then managed to get my foot caught in loop of my pants and fell flat on my face. I have a HUGE bruise on my left knee to prove it and a nice big rip in my pants. I guess it’s a good thing they weren’t one of my favorite pairs of pants. I’m thinking it need to get one of those “I’ve Fallen and I Can’t Get Up” devices.

Thursday
This was work outside day. I cleaned out my garage, pulled weeds in the flower bed, fixed the crack in the bird bath, sprayed my back yard for weeds, and THEN I went inside and started the paper shredding process.

Friday
This was my last official cleaning day. I cleaned the kitchen and mopped/vacuumed/dusted everything downstairs. By Friday evening, I decided my work was done and didn’t do much the rest of the weekend.

Must say, I’m impressed with myself. I completed all but two items on my list and that was just because I couldn’t complete them. I know most of you could think of better ways to spend a week off, but when you can’t afford to go on a vacation, it’s a good way to spend a week away from the office. Me Week is definitely going to become a new tradition.

This is NOT Fun!

Over the weekend, I developed a good, old-fashioned, sinus infection. I felt really cruddy Sunday night and Monday and since I can’t take over-the-counter cold medicines (they wire me, make me agitated, make me feel like I’m in a fog, and make my heart race), I decided to call the doctor. Well, my doctor couldn’t get me in for a few days, so I went to the urgent care facility they have referred me to in the past. The doctor I saw determined I had a sinus infection and gave me an antibiotic…and not any antibiotic, but a fairly new on that was pretty pricey.

So I go home, take the antibiotic, rest on the couch for a while, and then get up and do a few things that I HAD to get done that evening. Early evening, I begin to notice small bumps on my fore arms. I call my nurse friend and resident medical advice giver, Rachel, and ask her what hives look like. We determined that my bumps were too small to be hives and since it hadn’t spread anywhere, she said to watch it and suggested taking some Benadryl. By time I went to bed that night, the bumps on my fore arms were red and they were starting to show up on the trunk of my body. By time I got up the next morning, most of my body looked sunburned and I had a rash from head to toe and itched like nobody’s business! Seems I’m allergic to the new high-priced antibiotic. Lovely.

This resulted in a call to the doctor who gave me the antibiotic and they called in another antibiotic. Yes, I got to pay for two antibiotics and what hacks me off is the second one was much cheaper and has to be taken for fewer days. Why didn’t they just give me that one in the first place? Oh I know why.

When I went to pick up the new prescription, the pharmacist suggested I take Benadryl for the next couple of days instead of my regular allergy medicine. So last night I decided since the box said I could take two, I would take two. I shouldn’t have taken two. When I woke up this morning, I couldn’t walk straight and kept running into things. Note to self…next time stick to one. And yes, I know there is non-drowsy Benadryl, but it has the same side affects listed previously.

So as it stands, I’m looking less sunburned, but still itching a lot (even inside my ears and mouth). This better go away soon!

1 Weekend, 2 Heart Attacks

This was not a good weekend for my heart. It started Saturday morning when I woke at up a little after 7:00 a.m. and thought it was Sunday and that I had forgotten to change my clock and that was about to be late for church. I kept running around looking at every clock in my room, tried to figure out why the reminder on my cell phone didn’t go off, and kept trying to figure out if I was correct that if it was now actually 8:00 instead of 7:00. This went on for a couple of minutes until I started wondering “what happened to Saturday?” I hate it when that happens. =o(

The second heart attack took place this morning. About 6:30 I heard a crash and thought something fell off the wall in the bathroom. I got up to investigate and everything looked fine. So I went into the other bathroom down the hall…everything fine there. My next thought was that the mirror finally fell of the wall downstairs. I was about to go downstairs when I heard a noise in the empty bedroom. It was obvious there was a raccoon in the attic, but I thought certainly the trap didn’t make that much noise. Then I hear the raccoon overhead and realized it wasn’t in the trap. I then take a step further into the bedroom and low and behold laying on the floor in the closet was the entrance to the attic. This really freaks me out. I take a quick glance around the room to make sure I’m alone, and then I quickly closed the door to the closet and proceeded downstairs to find a chair to prop in front of the door to make sure that anything that comes out of that attic doesn’t make its way through my house. This afternoon Jay from work went with me to investigate the situation and more importantly fix the current pressing situation. And would you believe after all of that, no raccoon in the trap!!! But I have learned one lesson…the door to the closet will stay closed until this situation is resolved. I am not pressing my luck!

Oh Well

Maybe God’s trying to tell me something, but twice this week I have been informed of how bad sugar and other foods are for you. Yesterday it was another patient sitting next to me in the chiropractor’s office (yes, it was a very eventful day in the chiropractor’s office). Today it was watching Montel while I was home at lunch. Seems we consume 150 lbs of sugar on average each year. Soda is also very bad for you. So what did I eat in addition to my sandwich at lunch…Girl Scout Cookies. What am I drinking right now…Diet Dr. Pepper. I do try to eat things in moderation, but I figure the world is over populated anyway, so I’m just doing my part. =o)

Tuesday Tidbits

I have discovered that I cannot pronounce “Acapulco”. I guess that rules it out as a future vacation spot unless someone else handles the travel arrangements.

My chiropractor is trying to set me up again. This time it was awkward because the guy was sitting next to me in his office. I don’t know why my chiropractor thinks he’s such an expert in setting me up. If he really knew me at all, he wouldn’t attempt to set me up with half the guys he does. Today, he told me I would probably have a hard time finding a guy that didn’t have some baggage. I never once told him “baggage” was the reason I wouldn’t date any of his patients. Not trusting his match-making abilities is reason #1 of many.

They’re Baaack!

Oh yes blogger world, you guessed it…my non-rent paying residents decided to move back in over the weekend (see posts about this time two years ago).

Saturday morning, a little after 2 a.m., I wake up out of a deep sleep to hear that familiar sound of something walking around overhead and making it’s nest in the corner of my bedroom. Unlike the first time, I wasn’t freaked out…I was MAD! So I did the only thing I could think of…I stood on my bed and proceeded to pound on the ceiling until it moved. Then I laid there the rest of the night have irritated that they were back and half freaked out because the ceiling below the section of attic they seem to be attracted to is starting to sound weak and I don’t want a raccoon falling through the ceiling and landing in my bedroom. As I described it to my brother, it would be like that car commercial where the guy is locked in the car with the badger. Not good.

Saturday morning, I got up and went outside to see where it was getting in at, and sure enough, it was the same spot it got in the last time (which is not on my property, but the unit next to mine). Either the previous owner didn’t do a very good job of fixing it or those raccoons are persistent little boogers (I think it’s the latter). To make things more interesting, my new neighbors are Asian and the husband is freaked out by animals of any kind. When they moved in and I told them about my original experience with the raccoons, he looked panicked. Since I want this fixed permanently and quickly this time, I went next door and explained the situation and told him I would fix it if it was okay with them. I figured it will be a whole lot cheaper for me to fix it than to keep calling a pest control company out to remove raccoons.

Thankfully I haven’t heard the raccoons since Saturday. It doesn’t mean they’ve left all together, just means they haven’t been hanging out where I can hear them. The next step is to set a trap to be sure I caught the raccoon (I actually think there is only one up there so far…but I don’t want friends moving in). Since I don’t have anything to do with my attic – which includes sticking any part of my being through the opening – I’m hoping I can bribe a friend of mine with cookies and that he’ll come do it for me.

Once said raccoon has been relocated, I’ll be able to fix the opening under the eve. The next task will be to figure out a way to keep them from coming back. I am told that if I spray coyote urine (yes, that’s correct) in my attic, they’ll stay away. One, I’m not exactly sure where you buy such a product and two, I’ll owe my brother big time IF I’m able to talk him into going back up there (you know, after his whole finding a snake in my attic ordeal).

I guess the raccoons have been reading my posts lately and noticed how lame they had become and decided I needed a little excitement in my life. Thanks, but no thanks!