Sick. Better.

I choose better.

I have 8 sick days at my job. I just used some of them. And please note that I usually only use them when I'm not sick. Who wants to waste perfectly good sick days home sick?

Let me catch you up... Two weekends ago I spent 2 days on the sofa. A bit of a cough, but not really sick.

Until I woke up on Monday, 01/14.

I did not go to work. I was sick. Sick beyond belief sick. I had what I thought was a low grade fever (those of you who know me know that when I have a low grade fever, the skin on my shoulders feels all sensitive and tingly. It wasn't, but I was hot, so "low grade fever" was my self-diagnosis.). I had a cough. I had hot eyes (another fever symptom). I had chapped lips. I slept during daylight hours. (Yet another symptom that I was really sick, and not just pulling the world's leg! I NEVER sleep during the day UNLESS I'm sick. REALLY sick.)

Dr. C. couldn't see me 'til 6:45pm. For the first time ever, they called me into the examination room before I could finish my HIPPA update. No 45-minute wait in the waiting room. Then I sat in the examination room for a 1/2 hour. Well, actually I laid on the exam table for 20 minutes and actually sat on the table for 10. Then the doctor came in and I had (drumroll, please!) a temperature of 101.4. Degrees. Fahrenheit. That's NOT low grade, my internet friends!

I was prescribed some of my lovely cough medicine with a decongestant. And Dr. C. thought I needed a 5-day Levpak. Antibiotics. When I tell you that one pill made me feel better, I'm NOT joking. Them pills are terrific! Even if I didn't have great insurance, I would have paid good dollars for them!

I spent three days in bed, in my pjs.

The best part of the three sick days (if there is such a thing!) is that I only took 2 of them off my available 8 at work. I spent four hours each day on the telephone, listening in on our sales meetings. I felt SOOO bad being home so sick that I couldn't attend. They'd been on the schedule for six months. So I called in, listened, coughed (I put the telephone under the sheets and the three blankets, under my a$$, whenever I had a coughing spell!), and tried to participate as best I could. So I only put 2 sick days on my timesheet.

Finally I was better. I still have a residual cough; Dr. C. warned me I would. But at least I didn't have the tummy upset and the over-dehydration that some poor souls had along with the cold and flu. (See http://www.dooce.com/ - poor Heather!!!)

In three weeks DH and I are celebrating my recovery by going to Las Vegas! Actually, I will be celebrating feeling human again; he'll be attending some credit union seminars. We're staying in the Paris hotel, quite possibly the closest I'll get to the real thing, since DH doesn't want to visit France... I can't wait! I have to read nothing between now and then, to save up some books to read when I'm not losing my panties in the casino!

I'm also going to San Diego at the end of March. On business but visiting someon I know, too. She's going to join me in SD, then we'll drive back to her house so I can play with her fluffy puppies for a few days. Then I'll leave for home from that state.

I'll be taking an overnight (or two) to Chicago in June, also on business.

Would love to travel somewhere interesting on business over the summer when DH can go with me and we can extend the stay for a long weekend away since that will be our only "vacation" 'til we save some money up again, to replace what we're spending on the house...

Later this week I'll have pictures of the new bathroom vanity I picked out, although the pictures don't have the drawers in...

I'll be back...

It's been a while, yes, but here are a few gems...

This little princess Jasmine is Jack's cousin's daughter Kitty. Kitty joined our family a couple of years ago. We fell in love with a beautiful little girl who was so quiet and introverted, then our family turned her into, well, a princess!!!













These are my boys! My neighbor just had her 5th. For a short while we thought Gedalia would be a girl. S was carrying so much smaller than her other 4 boys. But no, another handsome boy!










Although this young man, Coby, holding his brother, he has my heart, and always will. He's the one I held as a baby. He's the one who couldn't pronounce my name, Krys, and called me "Bix." He's the one I had to rush to the hospital when he couldn't breathe (he's okay, thank goodness!). He's my guy!














And here's his new baby brother, Gedalia. You can call him Gedalia. You can call him Gadi. You can call him Mo. (Don't ask.) Isn't he a cutie?!?

Please watch this, and thank them all.

http://www.gratitudecampaign.org/fullmovie.php

IT'S ANOTHER BOY!!!

My neighbor Sue just gave birth to her 5th son!!! Yes, 5 sons. This one, born Saturday morning, at 3:30am, was 8 pounds, 3 ounces. He was so small, compared to his brothers, that we were all thinking this one might be a girl... Nope, another boy! Yay for Sue and her family!

Jack and I were packing to go to the lake when A came over and said, "Mom needs you." I grabbed my jacket and went next door. She didn't know if she was in labor yet. Her water hadn't broken, but she was feeling mild contractions, between 5 and 20 minutes apart. I started to laugh, and am still laughing - she had 4 boys before that and she didn't know if she was in labor?!?! Ultimately she decided to go to the hospital, and six hours and a little bit later, Baby Boy #5 was born!

They're Orthodox so the baby won't be named 'til next week. Will update you with names and baby pictures later...

Happy January 3rd!!!

It's been a while, hasn't it!?! I was on vacation from December 21st through January 1st, returning to work and to my computer yesterday. Today's the very first minute I had to blog mywishes for a happy, happy new year to you all!

Santa was good to me, and he's not even done yet! I got some real nice pajamas, some scrapping stuff, a cell phone case, a hand-knitted head-warmer thingee, a new cell phone, a charm bracelet from Tiffany's, lots of gift cards for scrapping things and dinners out, and Jack is taking me shopping for a new winter coat whenever we get around to it. (Which means I'll probably look for one this weekend, buy it, and have him reimburse me - he's SOOO busy tiling our new bathroom...)

We spent Christmas Eve at my sister's, Christmas afternoon at my sister-in-law's, Christmas evening at our house with Mom and DSD, the rest of the week at the lake house, New Year's Eve at my sister-in-law's, and New Year's Day shopping.

And now we're back at work. I'm trying to be more organized, at work and at home. We'll see how successful I am...

My niece and nephew are in Florida to see their grandfather. In itself, this is a great thing. I think they all need some time away from their mom; hopefully when they return, all three will realize how lucky they are to have each other. I just have a real problem with them traveling while school is in session, especially since they just spent almost two weeks home annoying the living be-jesus out of each other! But none of them seem to mind the kids missing school. We're lucky they're so bright, although recently J seems to not be using his God-given brains all that much...

I've started to pack up my scrapping stuff to relocate it to the lake. I think the best way to do it will be to leave the paper home, but the "stuff" can be boxed up in Rubbermaid bins and stored in the walk-in, until the floors are installed in the spare room. Once they're in, I can buy that IKEA unit I want, along with the baskets that fit in it (hopefully) and begin sorting my stuff by color. After a lot of thinking, I think I fall into the category of visual scrapper. I decide which photo(s) I will be scrapping, then I look for matching or contrasting paper and embellishments, and I'm off! With the exception of Christmas and themes like "love" and "home," all three of which I have beaucoup amounts of stuff for, color should be the sorting factor.

I know I've promised some pictures for the longest time, but now my camera has died. I have to work on it, save the pictures to a CD, and then I'll download a few here. I just have no time... Soon, I promise!