This, that, and the other

It being apple season and all, we've been peeling, coring, and slicing a bunch. We're eating and drinking (got some fresh pressed cider too) more than an apple a day and so far, have four bags of sliced apples and six pints of applesauce in the freezer. Since we have an abundance (like the song goes -- a bushel and a peck!) this weekend will find us fixing more of the same, along with several loaves of another favorite, pumpkin-apple bread.

Dogwood Update:

Our ailing tree has received its three treatments but being that it's losing leaves naturally because of the season, it not obvious to me that there's been any improvement. The tree doc seems to think it will recover, but it's pretty much a wait-and-see thing until it starts budding and leafing in the spring. That's also when the dead wood (hopefully not the whole tree!) will be removed. *sigh*

Baby B is 4 months old already! How can that be? I hate that I'm in MD and he's in SC and I'm missing soooo much of his growing. He's in good hands though - his SC grandparents dote on and spoil him rotten -- just as it should be! ;-)

sweet, sweet baby boy!

Got my mammogram done (it was normal,) had our six month check-ups, and got stuck for our flu shots. I have one more doctor's appointment next month and then we're good to go for another six months. Yay! Well, not counting one unpleasant appointment we haven't made yet... we're both due for colonoscopies this year. Ughh!!

Okay, I lied. I just remembered... I also have to make an appointment to get my eyes checked. I'm a bit overdue and my glasses are starting to deteriorate. ♫A chipped lens here, a scratched lens there, here a lens, there a lens, everywhere a lens, lens!♫ lol Anyway, that's another one I'm not looking forward too -- I hate picking out new frames.

Oh yum! Lew came home with a half dozen beets this afternoon, so I'll be roasting and freezing them this weekend too. Loooove roasted beets! We have a devil of a time finding them with any regularity at the grocer's around here, though and the orchards we frequent carry mostly fruits, not veggies. Definitely have to find a better source cuz I know we can't be the only beet-lovers in the area! We may just have to start growing our own (wink, wink, Claudia!)

So, that's what I've been up to. If I don't answer the phone, come looking for me under the apple/beet peels!

Breathe in, breathe in, more, more, more...

... now blow out - more, more, keep going, keep going. Gad, how I hate this test! Had to go have my breathing checked today and it really is one of the few things in life that I dread.

You have to sit in this "body box" thing and go through a series of breathing exercises with your lips clamped around a mouthpiece and a clothespin-like device clamped on your nose. The idea is to breathe through your mouth while a machine records ... well, whatever it records - stuff like lung capacity and all. Have you ever tried breathing with a hunk of plastic in your mouth?? It's just not normal! You have to keep blowing air out 'til you damn near pass out and when you're not dealing with a whole lot of oxygen to begin with, it's... well, it's almost traumatizing for my delicate little self!

Anyway, she did a brief comparison with my last test results and things weren't too much different, so I'm kinda holding my own. A pleasant surprise since I thought it had probably worsened.

Whew! Glad that's over! I'd almost rather have a colonoscopy... no, wait... I didn't mean that! ;)

Testing 1, 2, 3

After nearly three weeks of being in pain and getting jerked around by the insurance company, I finally had the MRI this afternoon.

All I can say is Oh.My.God!! I hope I never have to do that again! Invasive? Oh no. Painful? No, no, no. Inconvenient? Not even. Didn't have anything stuck inside any part of my body; didn't have anything cut or jabbed into any part of my body; didn't even have to get undressed at all. They gave me two pillows, made me all comfy cozy, and even offered me a blankie.

My first clue, however, should have been the ear plugs she handed me (which, by the way, were totally useless) along with the caveat, "it gets noisy." Oh, honey, "noisy" doesn't even BEGIN to describe the sound one has to endure for this 30-40 minute test!! The only thing I can compare it to is a fog horn... a very loud, insistent, constant, blaring, obnoxious, mind-numbing fog horn. It's been two hours and I can still hear it!

I repeat... Oh.My.God!!

Weekly doings...

Going to the doctor is not my most favorite thing to do, but I was actually looking forward to it earlier this week. Since I already had an appointment for my regular check-up, at least the timing was good for anything else going on. And, oh yeah, something else was definitely going on. Without benefit of a fall, banging into a hard surface, or getting pummeled with a hammer, I seem to have screwed up my leg somehow, and the damn thing's been giving me fits, swelling and painwise.

Naturally, my doctor gave me a "haven't seen anything like that before" (in the whole history of his bazillion years of practice, leave it to me to present him with something weird!) and sent me on my way with a 60-count prescription for Percoset (I just wanted the pain to stop and the Ibuprofen I'd been taking wasn't doing the trick) and scheduling for an X-ray and MRI. And then it really got interesting!

Percoset has been my pain-killer of choice for years - I love the stuff. Well, not that way... I just love how it takes care of any pain I've had and I can usually go about my business. Not this time. This time, it totally knocked me on my butt. Literally. About an hour after the first pill, I got reeeal dizzy and had to lie back and stay still for a couple of hours so I wouldn't fall over. Okay, that was weird, but I took another at bedtime anyway cuz I'd be sleeping and wouldn't know if I got dizzy, right? Besides, I desperately needed some uninterrupted sleep. So, that worked pretty good and I finally slept through the night.

But then, I made the mistake of taking another pill the next morning at about 11 am. By lunchtime, I was flat on my arse, not only dizzier than a three-day drunk, but nauseous too, and ultimately upchucking. Rat pee! First time in my entire life I've ever had a reaction to any kind of medication.

Alrighty then - I got the message and no dummy me, have foregone the Percoset. I'm still hurting, the Ibuprofen still isn't quite doing the job, I feel like crap, and I don't get X-rayed or MRI'd until next week. No wonder I'm cranky!

On a brighter note, though, we have running water again!! We were able to flush our house system last weekend, and for now, are on a temporary, above-ground water line from the county. Now, the town commissioners are discussing the possibility of a permanent water connection to the country water supply as a back-up system. No, really? You think? Duh huh!

One last bright spot in the week - we finally have a new rug in the family room!! Yea!!

We've been looking forever and finally found one that worked, color-wise, and was in our price range. We found it on sale for several hundred $$ less than what the designer quoted, plus free shipping! Wheee! Doesn't get any better than that! And, it looks good too.

Oops!

*sigh* I sure spend more than my fair share of time in one of those chairs over there on the left.

So I'm minding my own business last night, going about my regular before-bed routine... a puff of Advair, rinse my mouth, brush my teeth, mouthwash... wait, wait - back up. Back to that "brush my teeth" part. Like I said, minding my own business, brushing my teeth, and... hello! out pops one!! Erg! That'll stop you dead in your tracks every time, yes?

Luckily, it was a crown and not a real tooth, but still, disconcerting nonetheless.

My dentist' office loves me.

Thursday Thirteen #12 - The downside of being sick...

13 Downers about being sick with the flu and/or cold

1. Your body feels like it's been run over by a train and backed over by a truck for good measure.

2. Your head feels like an army of jackhammer-wielding construction workers took up residence.

3. You drink so much liquid you notice gills around your ears and water bubbles rising from your nose...

4. ...and you spend half the day on the potty emptying your overflowing bladder.

5. The rest of the world keeps on turning... and calling your house when you're trying to take a nap.

6. There is absolutely nothing for intelligent adults to watch on daytime TV unless you're a newshound.

7. Every bone in your body aches from lying around for days on end.

8. You can't taste anything...

9. ...and what you can, tastes like soggy cardboard sprinkled with sawdust.

10. You get super sore nose rash from constant wiping/blowing.

11. Your eyes feel like you just spent the day in an Iraqi sandstorm.

12. Your mouth tastes like you've been eating the stuff that Mike Rowe (Dirty Jobs) cleans out of sewers.

13. You get crankier than Andy Rooney and sometimes bite the hand that's trying to feed you.



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Back from the sick bed...

Been laid low with the flu this past week, with precious little energy to sit at the computer, let alone write something. You didn't want to hear about my misery anyway. But, I'm feeling better and stronger each day and more than ready to get some normalcy back into my daily routine.

That being said, I still don't have much to write about other than wondering what we should have for dinner tonight. Maybe later in the week.