Busy, busy bees

So far, having two full-time working adults has gone really well in our house. The cat seems lonely sometimes, but things get done and we seem to have enough free time.

Not these days though. I'm still at work today because I have a special event at a local middle school tonight. And Thursday evening I am Read Across America-ing at an elementary school. Matt has musical rehearsals every day, with a few extra concerts, competitions, and performances that he either has to head up or attend in the next month.

We're doing worthwhile stuff, for sure. But too much fast food is being consumed, and we don't have a lot of time to hang out together.

I think I'm going to take Friday off work.

BAH.

I'm in a bad mood.

"Blended Vegetable Medley" Campbell's Soup at hand is gross. It has the texture of vomit. So I'm throwing it out, which means only leftover cheese and crackers for lunch.

We got an overdraft fee at the bank, which makes me mad because it's my fault for not keeping up with the checking account balance, even though I did the math the other night (I don't remember when, but I'm sure it was this week), apparently I'm going to have to start entering all the receipts every single day instead of just once or twice a week.

Matt has to stay at school until late tonight for some dumb required Shakespeare play, which makes me wonder why no one there has noticed they are sucking our free time away with extra meetings and rehearsals and events. He works like a 50 hour week usually just with the regular job stuff, let alone all this mess.

My insurance didn't cover a bunch of my surgery costs so I have to mess with our savings, which is okay, I guess, because we have plenty there, but I'm trying to save for the future, for when Matt has tuition to pay for a doctoral degree or when we have kids and only one income because I'm scared of putting my kids in daycare.

And, I've been waiting for days for info I need for some projects to come in from one of the branch libraries, but they are apparently busy going out to eat all the time and can't get it together so I can do my work!

BAH!



p.s. I know this post is completely self-indulgent and trivial. At least I don't live in Iraq. or the Phillipines. And there's good news. Little Connor is here and doing just fine!

Back at work

That's right. I'm moving just fine and feeling pretty good, except that I am so tired! I only did a half day yesterday and I probably won't stay the entire day today. All the snow from the weekend gave me some extra rest time at home.

Valentine's Day was low-key. Matt picked up pizza, but he has rehearsals for the school musical this week and wasn't home until about 6:45. He also got me chocolate and a magazine and wrote me half a song. I got him Ben & Jerry's Gobfather ice cream and Little Debbie Fudge Rounds. For both of us, Matt got the Princess Bride DVD and I made white chocolate peppermint bark.

The downside to Valentine's Day - really sugared up kids at storytime.

Look what I woke up to...

About an inch of snow, I'd judge by what's sitting on our porches. Doesn't the snow look pretty on those berries? They grow on a little tree right outside our bathroom window. We haven't been paying much attention to the weather lately since I'm not going anywhere and Matt's taking care of me and the house so this winter wonderland was a lovely surprise!

Still recovering...

Well, Mom just left an hour and a half ago and I'm already bored. Of course, I'm also exhausted, so there's not really much I can do about that. Before I left the hospital, the doctor said recovering from an appendectomy is like my body running a 5k race everyday for a few weeks. So I run out of energy really quickly.

Last night I was worrying about work and didn't sleep well at all. Mom took me in to the office for just over an hour this morning (I can't drive until tomorrow) to take care of the loose ends I was worrying about and I feel much better about that.

I also noticed yesterday that I had a little rash on my stomach. Years ago, when I was working at a summer camp, I got a bad rash from a pain reliever. So I have been going a little easier on the meds to avoid a full rash problem. I'm not sure about this, because it puts me in more pain. Today the rash seems to be gone, so I'm taking ibuprofen every 4 hours regularly.

I hope that I may be able to go back to work a bit later this week. I am grateful for the time to rest, but this obviously isn't how I wanted it to happen. I'm also grateful for all my concerned loved ones who have called or sent things to cheer me up, especially Matt and my Mom, who have worked so hard around the house.

Guess where I've been?

If you guessed the hospital, you're right. I had an appendectomy yesterday. It started late Monday night/early Tuesday morning with severe stomach pain and continous vomiting, so we went to the emergency room. I got a CAT scan and an IV to combat the nausea and dehyration, but it took awhile for the doctor to decide to send me to the bigger hospital in the next county to see the surgeon. I got to ride in the ambulance! The surgeon thought I had most of the classic symptoms, like fever, and elevated white blood cell count, and, of course, severe pain in my right lower abdomen area. And it turned out he was right. The surgery was done just in time, because my appendix was definitely in trouble and if we had waited longer, it might have burst.

We just got home and I'm feeling okay because of the pain medication. I'll have to stay home from work for awhile and my mom's coming to help take care of me for the next few days.

Thanks to the family and friends for all the prayers.

For the thrifty (actually, for everyone - who wouldn't want to turn down this deal?)

One of my co-workers discovered a wonderful website that offers discounted gift certificates for restaurants. When she first talked about it, I thought it was a scam, but she used the certificate and it worked, and I've used two since then that worked fine.

It's Restaurant.com. Normally, you can get a $25 gift certificate (you print it off the site after purchasing) for $10. There are often restrictions - the most common being that your bill has to be at least $35. I've also gotten a $10 certificate that required I spend $15.

Now, these aren't nationally known restaurants on the site; they are local places that are trying to drum up business. And, there aren't restaurants for every area. My mom tried this and came up with nothing within 15 miles of her house.

But, if you sign up for email updates, they regularly send discount codes. Last week, with my trusty 60% off coupon code, I got a $25 certificate for $4! Not bad, eh?

P.S. The 60% code is 89500 (expires 1/31/06) - enter it at checkout.

3 failed sweaters

You may have noticed that I haven't posted anything much about knitting lately. That's because, although I have been knitting, usually while I watch TV on evenings and on weekends, and finding it very relaxing and enjoyable, things just haven't been turning out right.

Actually, things have been turning out really wrong. The last three sweaters I've been working on all came out funny. I've just finished one (or come close enough to finishing to try it on), discovered it will not work at ALL, and tossed it aside. See?



But Thursday night, when I finished the beige-y hourglass sweater, I couldn't take it anymore. I cried. I woke Matt up from cold medicine induced sleep and cried. Then I decided I'm taking action. These babies are getting ripped back into usable yarn.

I am currently working on a scarf and a sock. I am thinking of another sweater to make with that red wool. But I've learned some lessons. I have to be more careful about gauge (how many stitches per inch) to make sure that it's not too small or too big. And I'm going to remind myself that taking the time to put all the stitches on scrap yarn to try it on is a good thing.

Hopefully I'll have something better to report soon.

I made a pot roast!

I had yesterday off work and decided to be productive around the house. I had stayed up until after 1 am to greet Matt when he arrived home from the airport, but I got up at 7:30 anyway. I cleaned windows and knit a lot and organized the hall closet and made tuna salad and saved $10 with coupons at the grocery store. I also cooked a pot roast that turned out pretty well. Sometimes when I am adventurous with fancy recipes (although I'm not sure that pot roast counts as fancy - it just seemed intimidating) Matt is less than enthusiastic. Nice, but sometimes I think he'd rather be eating spaghetti. Not last night though. He said he would definitely eat it again.

The bad news in all this accomplishment - it's rainy and cold (not a bad thing in itself, just not today), I have a headache, and no one came to my storytime today.

Snow, Snow, Snow!

Look what we woke up to this morning!

Matt's in New York at a conference and my mom is here keeping me company (and making some yummy chicken dishes). We southern girls were very excited to see the snow. There were also three deer in the woods next to the house, but I wasn't able to get a good picture of them.


Isn't it beautiful? Perfect for a Saturday in January.