Books vs. Food? Hmmm...

"I think books are like people, in the sense that they'll turn up in your life when you most need them. After my father died, the book that sort of saved my life was Gabriel García Márquez's novel One Hundred Years of Solitude. Because of that experience, I firmly believe there are books whose greatness actually enables you to live, to do something. And sometimes, human beings need story and narrative more than they need nourishment and food."


--Actress Emma Thompson on choosing seven "books that made a difference" for O magazine.

I agree.  I collect quotes.  And I have not collected more quotes from a single source than from Richard Bach in all his fiction and Dan Fogelberg in all his lyrics.  And the "right" quote seems destined to show up in front of me just when I need it - when I had to say goodbye to my best friend after college, we sent Bach quotes back and forth to each other for years.  [Along with several from the Dune trilogy, too!)  There were quotes and lyrics that helped me when my father died.  A song by Dan Fogelberg was our wedding song, despite the fact Jack had never heard of it before!  The words were just so appropriate.

It's nice to hear that books, and reading, mean as much to others as they do to me.

Happy Thanksgiving, a day or two in advance, to all my friends and family who read this blog, as well as to alll my e-friends who stop by to catch up once in a while!  I hope you have a wonderful holiday (if you celebrate it)!!  (And if you don't, have a great Thursday!!!)

Mom left today...

I know she wants to spend time with P and I know P wants her to visit, but I really, truly hate it when she goes.  J felt so bad for me, I was crying after she left, he felt so bad he took me out to dinner.

I also cleaned the kitchen, sorted through weeks of junk mail (it all piles up in a basket until we have a chance to go through it - well, everything that doesn't get tossed immediately), changed the sheets on our bed, cleaned the bathroom, started straightening up the computer room (newly painted - photo to come when all's put away), and tomorrow I'll pack for my business trip.  Then I'll clean our room, and straighten and dust the living room.  I'll ask J to work on the dining room while I'm away - a lot in there that needs straightening is paperwork for school so he reallly has to do it.

Picked out a color for the hallway - Behr's Cottage White.  We have it at the lake and it's a bright sort of creamy color that will lighten up our staircase.  I might even put the same color in the dining room - still deciding.  That's a tough room 'cause of the stained glass window.  It's primarily yellow and green, with some blue and purple in the design, but it casts a distinctly yellow tint to the neutral walls now.  If I choose an actual color, it might look AWFUL in the afternoon sunlight.  I'll try to remember to post a photo of that window, too...

Gotta run - it's Harry Potter Weekend on ABC Family...

Thankful Thursdays #3 (on Saturday)

Yes, I realize it's Saturday.  And I realize that I haven't managed to post "Thankful Thursdays" on an actual Thursday, or at least I don't think I have...  I'm too busy and too far behind to go back and check...

But here is this week's Thank You:

I'm thankful that for the most part, I'm in good health, even if I did spend three hours in the emergency room last night.  It wasn't anything serious, I don't have any debillitating disease or illness, I'm not sporting any scars or lesions that might scare young children...  I just have a swollen elbow that won't go away.  I'm thankful that it's one more thing I have in common with my Daddy - he had bursitis in his shoulder.  I apparently have it in my elbow.  Considering the number of other reasons I could have these symptoms - yup, darned lucky I'm as healthy as I am...

I'm thankful for my husband.  Yes, a repeat thanks, and that's probably cheating, but he sat with me in the ER for three hours with nary a complaint and he only almost fell asleep once in the examining room when they left us sitting there for an hour.  He jumped right on the silly bandwagon with me and took photos of me in the hospital bed, laughing and pointing to my bum elbow, so we could send them to my sisters, my sister-in-law and my friend.  Then he counted down the seconds to the return phone calls!  And we bet on how long exactly we'd be sitting there before they actually came in to examine me.  And he won, but literally 2 seconds after he won, they knocked on the door and came in - the look on his face was priceless!  We went a bit hysterical and had to calm down for the ER doctor.  The ER doctor who was a female Dougie Howser...  I wouldn't even like to guess how young she was...

I'm thankful, too, for my friend G.  She's got a lot on her plate right now, with her mom sick in the hospital, suffering from a chronic heart condition that puts a lot of strain on G and her hubby.  But she was still worried enough to call me the minute she saw my hospital photo and find out what was wrong and if I needed anything...  We've been friends for just a few years now, but I know we'll be friends forever.

3 Hours in the ER that I'll Never Get Back...

We went to Atlantic City on Wednesday, for a credit union seminar.  We had the usual fun, I lost the usual funds, and then won them back, thank goodness!   We ate at Morton's Steak House on Thursday evening, and I had a delicious dinner. 

I had noticed that my elbow was a bit puffy, similar to when I had the cellulitis attack a couple of weeks ago.  So on Friday, after we got home, and after we picked up Neen's car from KD's shop, I decided I had to go to either the Immedicenter or to the emergency room.  I really didn't want to go to the ER - really?  for a swollen elbow?  But the Immedicenter guy had warned me two weeks ago that if the infection didn't respond to the antibiotics within 48 hours, I should go to the ER for an IV-antibiotic.  I only had to worry about a systemic infection, nothing too serious...

So after consulting with hubby and mom, off we went to the hospital. 

Three hours.  Three hours I'll never get back.  Three hours we spent laughing and goofing around while we waited for a doctor to come in.  Three hours where we sent a photo of me in the hospital bed to my sisters and to my sister-in-law, and to our friend G who was still in AC.  I just LOVE having a camera in my cell phone!!!  That was rather entertaining, counting down the minutes to the return phone calls and the panicked queries.  In the photo I was lying in the hospital bed, laughing, and pointing to my elbow in one of them. 

The upshot?  A FIFTH diagnosis:  bursitis, with cellulitis thrown in for good measure 'cause I just can't have a simple ailment...  Apparently from sitting at my desk for hours at a time, I have caused my bursa to become inflamed.  That doesn't necessarily mean it will get infected all the time - I was just lucky this time around!  Since I took my last antibiotic THAT VERY MORNING, the ER doctor thought it might be a good idea to give me 7 more days of Bactrim, to be on the safe side.  So I'm back on the antibiotics, and for sh-ts and giggles, she wrapped my arm in an Ace Bandage and asked if I wanted a sling!  [An aside:  FINALLY, Ace Bandages with Velcro on the ends - no more metal clips!!!]  I have a sling at home so I turned that down (why pay for a second one?!) but you can bet I'll milk this at work if I can, for as long as I can!

I tried this:  Since I can't sit with my elbow on the desk without hurting myself or having chronic bursitis, I should quit my job and live off my husband.  To his credit, he just shrugged.  But dang, I can't do that!  I need what little money I make...  Ah, well, perhaps a health-related early retirement is closer to reality...

Anyhow, we're at the lake and I have to catch up on some blog reading - I haven't checked my favorites since Tuesday!  I'm just a little behind...

Back soon...