Sick and Tired of being Sick and Tired

Just when I thought I had conquered the cold/flu bug that swept through the preschool, I was brought down by a bad cold...that turned into a sinus infection...that has now evolved into an ear infection. :(

I'm currently on my second round of antibiotics. I feel like I have been sick in one way or another for the past two months...and I'm ready to be done with it!

I've dealt with these issues my entire life, so a few years ago my doctor ordered a CT scan of my face...she found out that my super narrow sinuses are all crazy and curvy and weirdly shaped, and my eustachian tubes are kinda flattened (and also super narrow). Apparently these parts are essential to life and cannot simply be ectomy'd.

The fact that I live in the second most polluted area in the country really doesn't help this situation. Add my allergies and my deviated septum to all this, and I basically don't stand a chance when it comes to staying healthy.

I just want to feel better, and for my ear to stop hurting.

And maybe some mashed potatoes...

Defying Maladies

I was feeling so invincible! I got a flu shot back in November, and figured I was good to go!

No germy little hand or snotty little nose was going to bring me down. Not even the pink eye scare before Christmas was going to get in the way of my seemingly perfect health. In fact, I was on my way to setting a personal record. I hadn't had a sniffle, a scratchy throat or any sign of of being under the weather. This flu shot thing was starting to feel too good to be true...and well...the trouble with things that seem too good to be true is that they usually are!

Yesterday I woke up with the onset of a sore throat. I chugged airborne. I drank green tea with honey and lemon. I did EVERYTHING I could think of. But it wasn't enough. I woke up this morning and felt awful! I called in to work and make an appointment to see my doctor. I spent the morning with more tea, and then got to my appointment only to see one of the most frightening sights...a stupid, giant q-tip! Throat cultures are the worst!

And that swab was all in vein...no strep here! Just your regular, run-of-the-mill common cold. At least if it had been strep, I could have gotten some antibiotics to make me feel better instead of playing this waiting game and trying to feel better as soon as possible so I don't miss too much work!

Today I Don't Feel Like Doing Anything

Sometimes I can be pretty lazy. I'm a procrastinator, and I hate chores. Far too often I have been known to spend a day in my jammies and watch TV and movies on the sofa all day long. Except for trips to the kitchen for food, and the occasional walk down the hall to the restroom, I rarely get up. I actually like lazy days...I catch up on 'my stories', spend quality time with my laptop and watch Penelope (or whatever, I just love that movie so much!). My tendency towards laziness drives my mother up the wall. She is one of those who is always moving and busy. Until Sunday. When she came down with a little cold. So she slept until nearly 10, stayed in her jammies and just rested on the couch all day long. Like, a good daughter I made her tea, brought her toast, and offered to sing 'Soft Kitty'. I didn't let her do any school work or house work. And you know what? At the end of the day she felt better. In fact, on Monday she told me that she felt better then she did before she got sick. She actually admitted that taking a lazy day helped her.

So...to that I say: Why do today what can so easily be done tomorrow?

Be lazy

Be refreshed!

The Good, The Bad, and The Confusing

The Good:

I got a job!! A part-time job, but my subbing gig at the preschool has blossomed into a permanent position. I work with the 3 year-olds from 1:30-6:00! I've got quite a few stinkers in my class (out of 11 students, 6 are only children, with whining, grabbing, and pushing tendencies.) These little ones definitely keep me on my toes, but I've got some sweet-peas as well. I am absolutely loving it so far. I come home absolutely exhausted at the end of the day, but it's a good tired. A fulfilled tired.

The Bad:

"They" say Autumn is here, but I have yet to believe "them". There has maybe been one nice day (under 90) so far this month. Add shaking walnut trees and harvesting cotton to this extreme heat, and we have had 4 'bad air days' in a row. Which means we have to call the kids in early from outside, but it also makes being outside with them absolute HELL. It is also reeking havoc on my allergies. I'm starting to think this weather might actually kill me.

The Confusing:

Last May I met this guy...we'll call him 'Evan'. I do believe I have a crush on him, and he has nearly pushed 'Jon' out of my head. It's just...this whole 'boy thing' is so hard for me. From what I know of Evan so far, I feel like we'd be a pretty good fit, I guess. He called me about a week ago (he must have gotten my number from someone, 'cause I never gave it to him) to ask what I was doing that night...but don't get too excited. He just needed me to fill in for him for something he wasn't even going to be there for. Then he texted to say that he didn't need me after all...

I heard that you were feeling ill...

I am sick. I have a 100 degree fever, chills, aches, headache, congestion, and it hurts to move. It's possible this is the result of the camp, extravaganza, camp nonsense that's been going on in my life lately, but it's really cramping my style. Also, I'm a baby when I'm sick. I am whiny, I don't like to do anything for myself, and I try not to get up from the couch if I don't have to. The hard this about this is that I am single. I live alone. And none of my friends live close enough to bring me mashed potatoes. I am really not enjoying this.

I've been eating bananas and applesauce all day and I just want some stinking mashed potatoes. And someone to take care of me.

Snow White and the 7 Laurens

On almost any given day, if I had to answer the question 'if you were one of Snow White's dwarfs, which one would you be?' (Which, as we all know, is a question we face on a daily basis...) Normally I'd go with a combo-pack. Happy, Doc and some Dopey thrown in on the side. I would say I'm generally pretty optimistic, but definitely prone to dorkiness, mishaps and occasional social awkwardness.
This week, however, I am forced to change my answer. This week I am Sleepy, Sneezy and (as a result) Grumpy. The weather has definitely been a contributing factor. I haven't exactly been Bashful (see what I did there?) about how I feel towards anything over 75 degrees. I mean, get with the program November!! Did I miss the part where the calendar decided to take a trip in a DeLorean and go back in time to July? Shouldn't we have been done with this nonsense, like, three months ago?
AND on top of it all I'm sick. Not like, go-to-the-doctor sick, but sick enough to be miserable and whine about how much I hate head colds. I'm pretty sure this is going to deplete my tea stash completely. Not to mention I've already had to replenish my soup collection. I have been double- even tripling- up on OTC cold remedies. Theraflu, Mucinex, Airbourne, Cough drops, and about four mugs of green tea with honey and lemon a day. I would totally be kicking this cold's butt if it hadn't already kicked mine. I can't sleep if I can't breathe, and my stupid nose is so congested that I almost have to try to sleep sitting up. My sinuses are trying to invade my face, and unless I am sucking on a cough drop or chugging tea (neither of which I can do while attempting sleep) I am hacking up a lung...which, in turn, gives me a terrible headache! In short, I'm falling apart...

Once Upon a Time

Day 17-Favorite mini series
I've never been a big mini series person, therefore my favorite is the only one I've ever seen. But it's good!
Sometime during my freshman year of college I got sick. Like, sick-sick, not just the sniffles. Luckily it was a weekend, and my horrible roommate was out of town...so y'know...silver lining and all that. This was my first experience being sick away from home, and I didn't much care for it. I didn't know how to take care of myself when I was sick, that was always mommy's job. So here I am, this pathetic sick mess of a person when my friend who lived across the hall came over to like, hang out or something, and she ended up taking awesome care of me. She brought me ginger ale and introduced me to The 10th Kingdom to help me feel better. I love how well she knows me.

It is a mini series that follows a father-daughter combo from NYC through a portal to fairy tale world. The trolls are trying to take over, and are in league with the evil queen who has turned her princely step-son into a dog. They are joined by a wolf-man (half man, half wolf, all handsome) and they have to stop the evil queen and the trolls and get the prince-dog back in his human body. A myriad of fairy tales and nursery rhymes are incorporated or alluded to, such as Cinderella, Snow White, Rapunzel, The Emperor's New Clothes, Little Red Riding Hood, The Story of King Midas, Rumpelstiltskin, Little Bo Peep, Jack and the Beanstalk...and several others that I can't remember right now...they are all jumbled together and mixed up and thrust into a somewhat modern word...in short, it's awesome!!