• Being sick kills my desire for most things outside of sleep. Unfortunately, there was little sleep to be had this week since Sophie also wound up being sick. It seems, on top of the cold she picked up from me, she also is having issues with her molars. She'll wake up in the middle of the night screaming bloody murder and it takes so long to get her to calm down. I finally had to resort to taking nighttime meds so I could actually sleep and letting B have Kritter duty. The nighttime meds kick my butt hard, though, and I wound up doing some serious dragging the past couple of mornings.


• In other Kritter news, today, she was playing with her sorting blocks (wooden Melissa & Doug set) and instead of sorting them, was stacking them. No one suggested this to her and no one helped her. She stacked nine blocks before they fell over, and I think it was around block six or seven when she put the triangle on top and realized every time she added another block that she couldn't put it on top of the triangle. Color me impressed.


• .


• We painted with the paintbrushes and watercolors yesterday. It wasn't terribly exciting, but Sophie had fun. I might break out the finger paints (the real ones and not just colored yogurt or pudding) this week if she's done with the snurfs and wiping her hands on her face all the time.


• I know I said I was going to do a third friending frenzy and I don't think I ever got there. Here are part 1 and part 2 of the frenzy. If anyone would like to participate in the third frenzy, please let me know! I know there should be at least two of you out there, so please remind me if I never got your names up. Lots of new people are on the f-list, so if you don't know what the frenzy is, check out part 1 especially.


• Our garden has baby ladybugs! I actually saw them flying around on the plants so they're not dead as I thought. They're so tiny! We also have a few beans and at least one pepper started, and lots of blooms on other plants. Going back to the first bullet, though... no desire to do anything!


• I have done nearly no housework this week. I really need to get cracking on that since my house looks like a tornado zipped through. B was thinking about having his parents for dinner tomorrow night (which we normally do every Sunday anyhow) but I just don't want to be bothered. Meh. I don't know what I want to do for dinner tomorrow night, but he also suggested we go over there, but they're supposed to be going fishing and they might be on the lake too late to want to do that.


• Writing has started for thebrenljidol, and quite honestly, I am humbled by some of the entries I've read. I never thought I was an excellent writer, but I am amazed at some of the talent in that group. I know I won't make it far unless I start writing fiction, and I haven't done that in years and years. I think the most difficult part of the voting process is reading all of the different entries and realizing how many different styles people have used. Between poetry and prose, fiction and non fiction, first and third person narratives, it's difficult to compare them and pick the best entries. It's fun, though, and I'm very glad I'm doing this. The topic for this week is pain, which is a pretty broad topic. I have no idea what I'll write yet.


• If anyone would care for my contact info (I've noticed quite a few friends requesting this lately), it's all located in the profile and the sidebar of my journal. Feel free to use it if you'd like, but please don't set me up for porn spam. I get enough of that as it is.


• On a slightly related note, if you have your AIM name set in your profile, your AIM turned on, and have recently posted a public entry to your LJ (sometimes this works when editing or even when posting to communities, but that's much more rare), do not be surprised if you get a message from *Salmon (the * changes constantly). This has happened to me countless times. Sometimes it's fun, and sometimes it's a whip because the other person doesn't understand what's happening. For more information, check themissinghat.


• A design request for my friends: I'm looking for a new layout. I prefer three columns but I could make do with two columns if the column was completely configurable. If I could make my own, I would, but I don't even have time to get my user pics set up. I'm getting there, though. If anyone has suggestions for where I could look other than communities of which I'm already a member, please feel free to share.


• Sophie has started this thing where she likes to play with sock puppets now. She grabs the socks, makes me help her put hers on and then I have to put one on as well, and then the first thing the sock puppets do is high five. The next thing she does is kiss my sock puppet and then she kisses me. It's too cute, really. Then it's the same thing again but with hugs. I love that kid.


• She's started singing randomly and it cracks me up. She gets most of the words but the tunes are never even close. Truthfully, though, her rhythm isn't half bad.


• This bullet is mostly for me so I don't forget to make these posts... entry ideas: kiddie lit list, favorite links request, friending frenzy 3, favorite community request, favorite feed request, photo//video dump, movie suggestion request, another attempt at the miserably failed mix tape post, more polls (suggestions, anyone?), the long overdue working from home post (it'll never happen), the almost as long overdue what to do with all those Christmas cards post (also will probably never happen), the seriously long overdue hooray this baby blanket is finished post (have to finish the blanket first)....


• One last thing... if anyone knows how I can get something other than solid dots, open circles, or squares for my bullet points, I'd love to know. Please and thanks very much, you lovely people, you! *Apparently the square shows up in Semagic but not on my LJ. Meh.


• Edited to add: Also, for you VladStudio lovers out there, I found a feed on LJ for it! vladstudio (easy enough, right?). Enjoy!

But now, I must drink my ginger peach tea and blow my nose and pray that Sophie sleeps through the night (miracle of miracles, but bedtime was easy tonight!).

I don't think I have much to say...

Sophie has been going to bed without crying lately! YAY! I don't have to sit in there and rub her back or her belly or sing her songs and wait until she's asleep. What a big girl!

I'm sick as a dog. It sucks. Really. I have some 12 hour Afrin and 8 hour Halls that kick back, though. I think I'm going to lose my voice on this one. Fun!

I have pictures and videos to post, as always. I'll get to them soon, I hope.

Yeah... I was right. Not much to say. I'm fuzzy headed tonight. I think it's time for sleep. The Kritter wakes up far too early these days.

Sophie has the chicken pox.

At least she's been immunized (one shot, can't remember if it's a two shot deal or not) so it's a mild case, but B has never had chicken pox nor has he ever been immunized. I've had the chicken pox twice (both mild cases) and can get it again (and most likely will, I'm sure), but it should be a bad case if I do.

Ugh. Looks like I'll be canceling Dream Dinners again this Saturday.

Thankfully, she doesn't seem to be affected by it.

It dawned on me while trying to unplug my ears (which decided to clog up on me today, of course) earlier that the last time I recall being seriously ill was when I was in Tennessee on work. I flew home with massive congestion and wound up with an inner ear infection and vertigo, which made for incredibly fun times (like my own personal roller coaster). What is it about that state? I know I don't get sick every time I go there, but still...

I woke up this morning thinking the fever was gone to find I was somewhat mistaken. It was still there, just not as high as before. I feel a thousand times better, even though I'm still extremely congested, my cough has worsened, and my ears are all plugged. I was actually able to interact with Sophie today for more than just diaper changes and cuddles. The only problem with that is she is constantly doing stuff to make me laugh (unintentionally, I'm sure) and it sucks to laugh right now since I wind up feeling like I'm about to lose a lung.

Almost 14 years ago I made the trek from Minnesota to Tennessee for my grandfather's funeral. On the return flight, I discovered I had picked up a stomach bug from my aunt. Last week, we made the trek from Texas to Tennessee for my grandmother's funeral and on the drive home I felt a tell-tale tingle in my nose. This time, I actually picked up some sort of head/chest bug from my mother. B has it as well, but thankfully Sophie seems to have escaped the bug so far. I can't even begin to describe how awful I feel. Bleh.

It was great having the whole family together, even if it was under rather depressing circumstances. B got a chance to meet more of the family. I think we might actually be making a trip to Arizona some time to visit my aunt and uncle out there. If we could get my parents and my sisters to plan a trip around the same time, that would be best. For some reason, my dad wants to go in the summer. He's nuts. Texas is hot enough, thank you. I think winter would be the best time to go.

My sisters both loved the idea of us signing with Sophie so much that they have decided to use the Signing Time series as well. Tracie has been using it with Emily for long enough that she's been signing for some time now. She does amazingly well with her signs, too. Tracie took Emily up to the casket to see Grandma and Emily signed sleep. She wasn't told anything since Tracie wasn't really sure how to handle it and how much she would understand since Emily is only 13 months old. Tracie said she nearly lost it when she saw Emily sign that.

Tracie was very impressed with Sophie and her ability to echo. She said something was "amazing" and Sophie repeated it. Of course, when Tracie tried to get her to say "hilarious" Sophie was unwilling to cooperate.

Sophie had lots of fun being able to play with her little cousins. She passed out plenty of hugs and kisses. The morning after our trip home, she woke up naming off all the family. It makes me sad we live so far away and that she can't play with them all the time. Hopefully my sisters will be able to come down for a visit sometime this year. We don't plan to make another trip until January of next year when we drive up to Michigan for the auto show.

I'm sure there was something else I wanted to say, but my fever is back and I feel like last week's garbage. It's time to hit the Airborne and Tylenol again (started the Airborne too late this time, rats) and cuddle up underneath the electric blanket. Meh.

Okay, Christmas baking time is here again. I have eleventybajillion things to do, but of course, I can't skip Christmas baking (it's the one time of year I go all out). Cards and wrapping and finishing up the girls' gifts will be done amidst the list making and planning and prepping and baking of the Christmas goodies, I suppose. In order for me to start the baking, though, I need a little help from all the wonderful people who read my journal.

Firstly, the lists:

Cookies

• snickerdoodles
• macaroons
• Russian tea cakes
• cinnamon spritz
• pecan pie squares
• gingerbread people
• rugelach
• peppermint meringues
• two-tone Christmas cookies
• French Christmas cookies
• cherry snowballs
• lemon snowflakes
• crisp butter cookies

Candies

• white chocolate cherry crunch
• crunchy chocolate cups
• butter mints
• marshmallow puffs

Snackies

• spiced nuts
• Italian crackers
• taco cheese crackers
• ranch pretzels
• Chex mix

Secondly, an explanation:

I have actually pared this list down tremendously. I removed 23 items from this list already and am considering removing more, but I'm not sure what I'm going to dump. The gingerbread people might have to take a hike since I'm not sure I want to mess with a cookie cutter this year. The rugelach and the two-tone Christmas cookies might be too involved for me to mess with, along with the French Christmas cookies and the cherry snowballs. We'll see, though.

Thirdly, the questions:

What are your favorite holiday treats in any of the above categories (it's okay if they're already mentioned here)? Do you have a recipe you make every year or Christmas just isn't the same without it? Does anyone have creative packaging suggestions for gifting some of these goodies to my neighbors?

---

Hopefully this bug that I've got will keep itself under control. I took an Airborne today since I didn't eat a Clementine. There's too much to do for me to be knocked out from some sort of crazy bug right now. I need to finalize my list and then create a grocery list from it. After that comes the big grocery shop. I would love to either do that without Sophie or have B tag along to help out, but I'm not sure that will be possible. I have to pick up stuff to make chicken noodle soup and I was wanting to do that early tomorrow so I can get it done in time for dinner (mmm). Of course, after the big shop, there's the baking and candy making, and then the packaging (not to mention the testing). I'm not sure how much I'll be able to get done with Sophie awake, but I'm certainly going to give it a try.

Apparently I've had a low-grade fever for the past few days. I knew I have been feeling flush lately, but didn't realize there was a fever to accompany that until I took my temperature this afternoon. It's hovering around 99/100° F. I know it's not terribly high or anything, but I'm a little concerned that I've had it for a while now. I haven't really felt ill, but just haven't had as much energy as I normally do and wind up sleeping a little later than usual. Looks like I'll be calling Dr. Hoffman on Monday to see if I can get in to see him. I really should start going to the office closer to me, but I love my doctor too much.

All I can say is, this is certainly not the time for a fever. I do not have time to get sick right now. I hope this is as bad as it gets.

Completely unrelated to being sick, why is it that some underwire bras are fine all day long and then all of a sudden the underwire starts poking into the armpit? How annoying!

I haven't been at the computer much lately. I've been pretty busy getting ready for the holidays and having my parents come to town. There is a list a mile long of things that still need to be done, but I just had to catch up a bit. I know I'm awful about commenting lately, but I am reading, I promise.

The Christmas tree is lit, the cranberries and popcorn are strung and on the tree, and all the ornaments are up as well. We just don't have a tree topper.

Stockings are hung and all the decorations I own pretty much are put out. I need something with a little height for the mantle, unless I decide to go ahead and get a wreath. I've been waffling between a wreath and a swag, though. I think I'm going to make a candy cane wreath for the front door. I just need to get a wreath form. I have all the mini candy canes.

I need to make ornaments for the three girls (Sophie and my two nieces) and I think this year will be cinnamon applesauce ornaments. They're easy enough. Next year I'll probably do a few felt ornaments. We'll see. Perhaps if I'm actually able to pick up my needles again, I'll knit little ornaments for them.

I also need to make the blankets for the girls. Once the ornaments and blankets are done, the gifts for my nieces are all done. I still have a little shopping left to do for Sophie. I'll probably do some of that while my parents are here.

The dining room needs to be cleared out (again) since it's covered in boxes from Christmas decorations. At least I have the Halloween/Thanksgiving decorations put away.

The guest room is complete except for the curtains. I bought some at Bed Bath & Beyond yesterday, but they're not what I want. They're not long enough, but they're also not as plain as I want. I just want a simple white flowing gauze type material. B wants sheers, but that is SO not what I want for that room. I got a gate for the door to the guest room so we can keep it open without having to worry about little critters running around.

The office needs to be organized. My desk has a mess of crap piled on it. I'm not sure how it all got there, but now I have to deal with it. That room and Sophie's room are on the hot list. I need to get those taken care of before the end of the week.

I also need to make a trip to Central Market. There are a few things I want to purchase for Sunday's dinner and I have a coupon for three free knives (nice knives, too!). Of course, this means I need to go through my menu, which I now have to locate and finalize. Yeah, not so organized this year and it's driving me nuts!

To top it all off, both B and Sophie are sick right now, and I'm having to fight off what they have. It's been lots of fun this week, that's for sure.

And because I have so much time to kill, I give you my little Christmas tree (ganked from a_groovy_gypsy):


Get Your Own! | More Flash Toys

B stayed home sick today. I feel for him, really I do. The guy never gets sick and when he does he's absolutely miserable. However, with him home all day our schedule was all messed up. Sophie did not want to nap the first two times we tried because B was in bed sleeping as well. She finally took a nap this afternoon, but I think it was less than 45 minutes. Bedtime was another nightmare. It took two hours to get her down tonight. She was such a little monster!

I made chicken noodle soup from scratch for dinner tonight. It's so easy to make and so good for us this way that I won't buy another can of chicken noodle soup. There are lots of leftovers, some of which B will be taking to work and some of which will be going in the freezer (I hope that turns out all right). I'll probably leave some out for dinner tomorrow night since B will be out and about at the ACC meeting and then his drum class, and I think I'm getting whatever miserableness he has. Fun times.

Surgery is scheduled for Thursday at 1:30 PM. I am seeing Dr. Herman tomorrow for a second opinion, but my guess is surgery will still happen on Thursday.

*sigh*

I so do not need this right now.

• Good: I woke up around 1:00 AM and Sophie didn't (she was sleeping through the night!) so I decided to take the opportunity to pump.


• Bad: Massive waves of nausea came over me while I was pumping.


• Good: Simply bowing to the throne remedied the nausea.


• Bad: Third time is a charm.


• Good: Pink is always preferred over nasty pea green or brown.


• Bad: Pink is also preferred over dry heaves.


• Good: Sophie was still sleeping when I got back to the bedroom around 4:00 AM.


• Bad: B was still sleeping as well.


• Good: B and I took Bradley courses during the pregnancy that helped me relax a little.


• Bad: Then I realized that contractions eventually end, and this pain didn't.


• Good: Sophie was an angel during our ER run.


• Bad: Our ER run was about five hours long.


• Good: I didn't have to stay overnight in the hospital.


• Bad: I do have to go back to have my gallbladder removed. Not only do I have stones, but it's infected as well.

Fun times. I would not wish this on even my worst enemy. This morning was evil. Ugh.

It would figure that on the weekend we are scheduled to move, the forecast would predict rain and I would get the flu.

I am even more useless now than I was before. I'm going to shower and then I'm going back to bed.

Bleh.

I think last night was probably the worst night I've had for sleep since the pregnancy began. I woke up several times, some just to turn over, and some to actually get out of bed to use the restroom. My head is pounding and my throat is all scratchy. All dreams were severely whacked out. I slept in very strange positions and now both of my wrists are aching. Of course, it didn't help at all that B was snoring very loudly as well as hogging most of the bed.

I feel like crud and Thursdays are just too long for that.

Yuck.

I think I'm getting sick. My nose has that funny feeling in it that happens just before a cold. It's been a little over a year since I was really sick, and I was rather enjoying that year. Sure, I've head headaches and stuffy noses, but this is neither just a headache nor a stuffy nose.

Nuts.

I still feel like crap, but not nearly as bad as on Friday. My throat pulled some weird and nasty stuff this weekend, possibly due to the weather front that moved in on us. My uvula was all stretched and icky and gross. It appears to be back to normal now although I'm still constantly clearing my throat. I was concerned this was going to be something worse than a simple head cold or allergies, mostly because I've been so exhausted lately, but it seems things are on the mend. I need all the energy I can muster to continue the excitement/whip that is house hunting!



( quiz time.... )

I think I might be coming down with something. I know I am not getting enough sleep, so maybe that's all it is. I truly hope we do not have to work on Saturday.

I love my doctor, I really do. This man always seems to be genuinely concerned but never overbearing. He amazes me. I will be sad if I ever have to stop having him has my doctor.

Wednesday's appointment went fairly well. I didn't have to wait nearly as long as I expected (maybe ten minutes at most). He told me I had a virus along with 9,000 other people in Arlington (his stats, not mine) and that he was going to give me some big pills to clear it up. He then went on to say that he used to call them horse pills, but one of his patients informed him that horses don't take pills, they get paste. Ick. I was a little concerned I might have an ear infection since they've been bothering me, but he said everything else seemed to be fine (thankfully).

Then, he decided to discuss my weight. I have gained 30 pounds since I saw him last (a little over a year) and am 10 pounds heavier now than I was before I lost the last bit of weight. He's concerned, as am I, but I'm already quite aware of why this has happened and what I need to do to change it. I explained to him that I've been traveling and he agreed that eating in restaurants and weird sleep patterns could certainly be the cause and then asked me what I planned to do about it. I explained I am in the process of trying to change jobs and once that's all settled, I fully plan on buckling down to work on the diet and exercise and would like to come in for blood sugar tests and possibly thyroid tests. He liked my answer, which is good, because that's really my intent. I'm so tired of feeling fat and miserable and lazy. I seriously have no energy lately and I'm sure it's due to my eating/sleeping habits (well, maybe a little of it has to do with being sick). I feel so... blah... and I hate it.

And now that this big (not horse) pill has finally decided to kick in, I'll be returning to bed.

This virus/cold/sinus thing is now going on 11 days. It's getting old.

I had an install to do Sunday night and should have had live support the following night. I called Sunday and made arrangements to come home Monday instead and while I was sitting at the airport yesterday they called me and tried to have me stay. Of course, I told them in no uncertain terms that I was not staying, and they should consider sending someone else. I am so done with this company.

All last week I put off an interview at D&B's because of this whatever it is I have. It's just making this whole job change thing take longer. I finally sent an email yesterday asking to have the interview scheduled since it didn't seem like this was going away any time soon, so I have an interview today at 2:00 pm.

I've also scheduled an appointment with my doctor for tomorrow at 11:00 am. This is the man who looks almost exactly like Paul Reuben. It's a little freaky in a way. "Paging Dr. Herman, Dr. Pee Wee Herman..."

I'm so tired of being sick. I really don't feel very creative or imaginitive when I'm sick. It's so boring.

Bleh.

Last night's install took far longer than it should have, especially considering there were three people there. I'm annoyed, greatly annoyed. I'm also sick. That probably doesn't help my state of mind at all. I was woken up today by a call from work (only fifteen minutes before the alarm was due to go off) and I feel miserable. I'm running late and need to get to the restaurant, but also know that if I leave now I'll only get stuck in rush hour traffic (yeah, driving back to the hotel this morning was interesting because of that).

I can not wait to go home tomorrow. I only wish I didn't have to turn around and fly out again on Sunday, mostly because I'm just coming back to Florida. Bleh.

I think I'm getting sick. I feel like absolute crap. My head is about to explode. I can't seem to sleep enough. I think I might even have a slight fever. This is so not the time for this (although, is there ever really a good time to be sick?). I have a trip on Saturday to Marlboro, NJ and I don't return until Tuesday. Since Thanksgiving dinner is going to be here this year, I have to do some cleaning and baking at some point.

Gah.