days of nuwanda

The bright side of Monday

 
I'm actually happy to start a new week. We are feeling better, my allergic reaction is over (and I figured out the culprit--codeine!) and we're back to normal schedules. And normal--or at least my version of it--feels good. :)

Weekend events included:

• Kids' flu shots
• My haircut and fun hour with my hairdresser
• Hubby fixing the leaky pipes under the kitchen sink
• Me starting to organize my desk, sorting into piles, and then somehow just leaving the piles everywhere. Not sure I accomplished anything but making piles. I am *so* easily distracted.
• Grocery shopping
• Coloring turkey pictures and teaching Harrison to say "gobble, gobble"
• Gyro's at Arby's. Yum!
• Jacob & Grace singing in children's choir at church. Grandma was able to come and see them sing too. I was very impressed that 4 yr old Grace sang some of the song and did not get all shy and put her head down. (At her age, that is what *I* would have done. Oh and I would've cried too.)
• Pulling out Christmas cookie recipes and came up with list for this year. Is 12 varieties too many? Ok, I need to shrink the list...
• Listing Chrismtas presents I already have and realized it's a lot! YAY!
• Finding some great online bargains and some new games that look fun. We love games!
• Watching Storm Chasers. LOVE that show!

Itchy eyelids and other nonsense

 
Ok, so if things had gone as scheduled, I would be drugged and ready for the dentist today, as I told you last week. But things rarely if ever go the way they should for me. This nasty cold and cough attacked me this week, and I had to cancel my oral surgery. I should be happy about that, right? But I'm not. I wanted it over with once and for all! But it's post-poned, as I try to get over this hacking cough that has left me weak and apathetic. I haven't even watched a single Law & Order episode all week. I just haven't cared all that much about crime fighting in tv land.

So Hubby dragged me with him to the doctor yesterday, and Dr. H said Hubby has a sinus infection and I have a who-knows-what-maybe-some-viral-thing, but my lungs are clear. Good news. He gave me an antibiotic and a serious cough syrup to halt the hacking. And it sounded like such a good idea...

But my words always come back to bite me. I joked about being allergic to the meds when I had my wisdom teeth yanked out of my head, but my body didn't wait for that. I'm having an allergic reaction to something for my stupid cold!!! Yup, I'm breaking out in hives and itching from head to toe, and in the strangest spot, my eyelids. Have you ever had itchy eyelids before? For real. This is new to me, and I've decided I don't like it. It's very difficult to itch your eyelids, b/c well, they cover your eyes, which are pretty sensitive. I'm swelling, too, in my fingers and eyelids. I look weird and feel weirder.

So what to do? Call the doctor? Wouldn't do much good. I need to figure out which med is the problem, and I'm crossing my fingers that it's the cough syrup with codone and NOT the antibiotic. I'm already allergic to enough antibiotics--I need at least one left! So I'm doing at-home pharmaceutical trials and hoping this insane itching ends soon.

P.S. My left earlobe just started feeling itchy. Yay!

At least some of us are feeling good

Hubby's cold is re-emerging w/ a vengeance, and mine just began this week but is kicking it into high gear. Yay for us. I haven't had a fever, so I don't think it's the H1N1 or Devil Flu or whatever it's called, just the plain ol' kill-you-with-this-hacking-cough-cold-and-flu. We have a huge "Quarantine" sign on the door and are refusing TV interviews. I even postponed my haircut to spare my dear hairdresser. Besides, I can't have her getting sick next week, just when I'm feeling better and needing a trim! Today is the first day I actually feel like working--well, maybe--and I was thinking about combing my hair and putting on something besides the ugliest sweats I own. You always know you're feeling somewhat better when you look in the mirror and actually care what you look like. :)

We broke down and called the doctor but can't see him until tomorrow. I wish there were a method of diagnosing illnesses over the phone, don't you? Ok, now cough...yup, you've got [drumroll] a COLD of all things! I'll email your script to Walgreens. That'll be $79.99. VISA or Mastercard? Seriously, that's my kind of doctor visit. If they can do drive-thru flu shot clinics, why oh why can they not do over-the-phone doctor consultations? Maybe they could slip that into the massive new healthcare reform bill...

Anyhow, here are two people in Nuwanda-land who are feeling good and didn't mind having their picture taken.

 

Why I read his books

This blog post [see #3 on his list] is why I am reading Donald Miller's books. I get him. I get his books. And I love what he wrote here about how writing about himself is, in effect, writing about all of us. This is why I write, blog, jot down notes on little scraps of paper all over my house, carry a notebook in my purse at all times. Not so I can be cool like Miller and tour the country autographing my books, not b/c I'm obsessed w/ myself or think that my life is really all that interesting to an endearing public, and not just b/c my brain is bursting w/ stuff to put down, but mostly b/c I am like you. When you read about me, you learn about me, but hopefully you also learn a little about yourself, about all people. My experience is the human experience. This is why I love reading memoirs and coming-of-age stories. B/c no matter our culture, our upbringing, our faith, our occupation, at the core of who we are, we are all very much alike.

Ok, I feel like there should be an Enya song playing right about now. Do you hear it too? :)

Halloween fun

This year our theme was random, our costumes glowing and sparkly, the weather chilly, and our mood festive.

  Jacob = Darth Vader. You should know he objected to Vader, b/c he's a bad guy, and really, REALLy wanted to be "a good Jedi". But I found the costume at a resale shop for $2.49 and told him bad or not, Vader was CHEAP and therefore the perfect costume. Sometimes being the bad guy is just easier! Somehow Jacob acquiesed. His mask was very uncomfortable--who thinks kids are going to wear these masks anyhow?--so most of the night, he was a not-so-evil-looking Darth Vader with a stocking cap on b/c it was so cold. His costume had glowing red LED lights, and he carried a glowing sword instead of a lightsaber, per his own choice. Similar to the year as Batman when he did carry a lightsaber. Go figure!

  Grace = Tinkerbell. Complete w/ wings and glitter spray for her hair. We had to flip her wings around b/c they were unwieldy and kept falling, so all night, Grace reminded us that her wings were upside down and she couldn't fly, but at least they stayed on. Eventually it was so cold, we wished she could fly, but the wings were replaced w/ a winter coat. The pixie dust in her hair was the best!

  Harrison = Cute Lil' Pumpkin. A friend gave me this costume, and he fell in love with it And he was adorable, of course. He really didn't catch onto the concept of trick-or-treating, however, and when we would push out his hand holding his candy bucket for people to put more candy in, he would object loudly as though they were going to steal it! He also ate an undetermined number of dum-dums during the evening; every time we turned around he had another sucker in his mouth. I'm sure we'll be calling the dentist soon. :)

We had lots of fun, ran into some people we never see anymore, and now have a candy stash that should last us at least until Thursday, maybe Friday. See more pics starting here.

New chair smell

One of the things I've always admired about my Hubby is his love for reading. Since I met him, the man has always been in the middle of a book or running to the library. Sometimes I think he would choose a book over me, if given the choice. (Say it isn't so!) So it's no surprise that I find him in my new beloved reading chair on many occasions. We haven't fought over it yet, but it's really only a matter of time. He says he likes it b/c "it still has that new chair smell." I wasn't aware new chairs even had a new chair smell, but then I sniffed it, and sure enough. Almost as good as the new car smell. I know, we're collectively weird...

 

A love note from my son

Jacob's question to me, as I lay on the couch with the lovely hacking cough that has cursed me this week: "What's your fave color?" to which I responded, "Red." Five minutes later I was presented with this love note. He knew just what I needed! :)

Family photos, take 1

Thanks, sis, for these pics from the zoo! I wish I knew why Grace will gladly smile for any random photo, but when we do the family photo thing and actually request a smile, she goes into angry I-will-blast-you-with-my-laserbeam-eyes look. Otherwise not a bad family photo. I don't really know what camera Jacob is looking at half the time tho'... :)

And here you see Grace's look of death. Wowzers. If looks could kill...

The hardest thing you'll ever do

 Hubby and I attended a wedding recently where the reception toasts got very interesting. I'm not sure if the groomsman had a little too much to drink or if he had just had a rough week, but his toast was along the lines of, "Anyone who's been married knows how hard it really is, so good luck!" It was an Adam Sandler moment from The Wedding Singer! The room got quiet, and we all wondered if he was married and what the ride home with his wife would be like that night. The DJ quickly got the mic and got the first dance going, thank goodness.

Afterwards I thought about this man's toast, which seemed inappropriate at first, b/c he really seemed to be saying how awful marriage was and don't expect to be happy. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized he was probably on the right track. Marriage is NOT awful, or doesn't have to be, but it IS indeed hard work. It is the toughest relationship one could ever have, by the very nature of what it is--two selfish people coming together and trying, working to become one. When a girl gets that engagement ring on her finger, she's not thinking about how tough it will be as a wife. When a guy sees his beautiful bride walking down the aisle toward him, he's not thinking about the sacrifice that lies ahead. The newlywed days are bliss! But the bliss fades quickly into "this isn't at all how I thought it would be.." if the reality of this commitment hasn't been considered fully.

One of my high school friends married her sweetheart after dating for a few months, and I remember her telling me when she got engaged, how wonderful it was, how they had never had a fight, how they just agreed on everything. My 18-year old brain just didn't think that sounded right--never, EVER disagreeing? How is that possible between two people? Is that even real? But I wanted to be happy for her and not be a downer, so I said nothing. Sadly they divorced after only two years, and I wished I had spoken up.

I think the best thing we can do for dating/engaged couples is pray for a big dose of reality. Not wishing for them to have huge fights, but moments when they have to deal with differing opinions about big issues, not just where to eat for lunch, and tackle issues where they might be afraid to go for fear of disagreeing. Hubby and I came to one of these points after we were engaged 9 years ago, where we did not agree about something we considered to be a make-or-break thing, and we prayed and finally said, If we do not come to an agreement, we will be willing to walk away b/c it was so important. In the end, God honored our commitment to being of one mind (It was a spiritual issue) and God brought us into agreement and here we are still married. But we were not afraid to look into the hard stuff, and it was so hard at the time, but we had received good counsel and knew that working thru these issues was much easier on that side of marriage than after we said our "I do's".

I guess this is just on my heart today. I know several people engaged to be married--including my amazing Niece--and I pray for them every day. The married life is amazing!!! But it is also hands down, the single hardest thing a person will ever commit to do and should not be considered lightly.

Janet, if I give a toast at your wedding reception, I promise not to embarass you...too much! And I will not sing "Love Stinks" or "Do you want to hurt me?" :)

Houston, we are a go!

Some of you know that I have scheduled my wisdom teeth extractions three differenet times and had to cancel every single time. The first two cancellations were due to finding out I was pregnant (with Grace and then Harrison), and this summer my appointment was cancelled b/c Hubby was out of town. Now I am scheduled for next Friday, and  darn it, I cannot find an excuse to cancel, so it looks like I'm going ahead with it. I haven't intentionally put it off, but then again, I haven't exactly been banging on their office door to get in. The dentist and I talked over my medication options, and much to my disappointment, the drug-induced-coma-for-three-days was not an option. Drat! So I'm doing an oral med cocktail, starting the day before, and that part I AM excited about. Every time I get serious meds, it's like another guessing game of "which medicine will I be allergic to this time...the antibiotic, the barbituate, or the pain meds??? " With all three childbirths,I learned I was allergic to something else.

Anyhow, I am certain Hubby will take embarassing photos of me with drool hanging out of my mouth and slurred speech, and post them here for you all, b/c he's that kind of guy. I just hope I do better than he did. When I picked him up after his wisdom teeth extractions, he was literally green like Frankenstein and vomitted before we even made it out the door. Janet, you were with me--remember how scary he looked? Good memories! HA!