But anyway, back to the point. So I was watching that movie while getting some work done and was loving my nerdy setup and then just a few minutes into the movie I realized that my version of multi-tasking was going to really pale in comparison to what my future self’s version of multi-tasking is. You know, when I’m a mom. Sigh… No brooding tonight.

But I’m awake and, pathetically, that’s my default activity. Brooding. I wish I could change my default to something productive, like cleaning. Because, seriously, there is some cleaning to be done. I haven’t gotten into a good routine of doing chores on a regular basis. I’m going to attempt to this week, though. Tomorrow is dusting and tidying, Tuesday will be floors, and Wednesday will be bathrooms. I’m thinking I should create a “chore chart” for myself – stickers and all – so that I have a goal of exactly when I want to do things and get a little prize (weeee! stickers!) when I actually do them.

Of course, that’s just me overplanning and underdoing again. I’ll spend hours, days, weeks, months coming up with a plan for something as mundane as chores, but will I ever actually do the chores? Of course not. The planning is the funnest part!

Sigh. No more brooding or planning or not cleaning tonight. Time for bed!

So yeah, I’m having my wisdom teeth ripped out of my head the day after tomorrow. I’m pretty much dreading this.

I mean, when you talk to people who’ve had their wisdom teeth out, they pretty much never have a happy story to share with you. It’s always, “I woke up!” or “I threw up for days!” or “I got dry socket and had to spray the holes in my mouth with saline!” What the hell, ew! By the way, “dry socket” is a combination of words that makes me immediately gag. EW.

I’m completely unprepared for this. I had to go to the dentist on Monday to get a panoramic xray and ended up getting a cleaning and a regular xray… which meant that they couldn’t do the pano-x-ray like I needed because insurance wouldn’t pay for 2 different kinds of x-rays done on the same day. Argh! What was annoying about that was I told the hygienist first thing that I needed the pano-x-ray and she then advised me to get the regular x-rays done because I was overdue and then at the end of the appointment she was the one that pointed out that the insurance wouldn’t pay for both done on one visit. Um… obnoxious. So now I have to go back to the dentist tomorrow and get a tiny filling done (uuuugh) and get the pano-x-ray. It’s kind of snowing hardcore right now and probably through the night, so I’m going to have to drive in snow on my lunch break to get this done tomorrow, which is super obnoxious. Hopefully the office won’t be closed because I need that x-ray, or I’m screwed. Oh, and also, it didn’t occur to me until today that I don’t have soft foods here for me to eat after the surgery is done and I really don’t want to have to run to Price Chopper in the snow. Yep, I’m screwed.

I’m pretty much dreading this.

I’m totally going to be this kid on Thursday:

Where I'd Rather Be...

I think it’s time to take a vacation.  Or at least a day or two off.  Or a few hours (which is what I did today).  I think that all of us in my department could use a little time away from the office to try and relax – maybe actually release the tension in my shoulders.

Summers at my job are characterized by frantic, cranky customers, stressed out, cranky coworkers, and a stuffy, oppressive office (because the air conditioner is perpetually broken).  On top of all that, I’m dealing with a new boss (again), new employees (who, thankfully are catching on quick but it’s still always a lot of work), new(ish) products, and a larger and more complex workload than ever before.  My employees are all busting their butts and burnt out and I feel like I’m forever waiting for the next problem to arise.  Things that seem slightly annoying during other times of the year are suddenly life or death situations.  People that usually get along become short with each other and conflicts are a more common occurrence.  There’s no time to get away from your desk, no time to take a break… no time to breathe.  The stress and tension combined with the ceaseless heat makes for a pressure cooker like environment.  Needless to say, I can’t wait for the fall!

Fifteen hellish workdays left ’till Labor Day!

The house

Our move into our house went smoothly – it felt like I packed for months before the move and yet I still was rushing around during the last hours before we had folks there to help us.  Who am I kidding?  We still weren’t totally packed when we were moving – we were throwing stuff in garbage bags and laundry baskets as usual.  Sigh.  At least this was the last time we’ll be moving for a long time!  AND next time we’re totally hiring movers.

We’ve been here for two months now and we’ve got our kitchen, dining room, living room, bathroom, and bedroom completely settled furniture wise.  Our family room is mostly set up with our futon and old TV in the armoire and some bookcases.  I’m thinking that room will seem in transition for a while – we don’t use it right now and it will likely become a playroom someday.  The other two bedrooms are also just waiting for something.  The one bedroom that has two windows and a built in dresser in the cedar lined closet is completely empty.  I call that one the nursery.  Alex pretends he doesn’t hear me.

The other bedroom just has some things in it that really need to get stored in the attic – which is accessed through the stairs in the back of the closet in that room.  I’ve been trying to figure out what to do with that room.  I could put a desk/worktable up there to organize my paper crafting things.  Or I could put a bed in there to make it a guest room – we’d REALLY like to get a new mattress/boxspring set (so sad that ours is totally beat after only four years) and we could set up our current mattress and boxspring in there on a metal bedframe and do something creative for a headboard (or seek out an inexpensive queen bedroom set on craigslist).  It would be nice to have a queen sized bed in our guest room – but then, the room is the smallest of the bedrooms, so a queen sized bed may be too big for in there.  Also, no one visits us.  Ever.  We could seek out a twin bed for that room (or take the spare lofted twin that the folks are trying to get rid of) instead – then I’d be able to still put a crafting type setup in there and we’ll eventually need a twin bed down the road (again, Alex pretends not to hear me when I say that…).

We haven’t started to paint yet – mostly because we’ve never taken the time to figure out what we want to do paint-wise.  That’s the next project – expect posts with pictures soon – hear that Aunt Anne?

Other Stuff

Well, I’m thirty now – which means I’m officially old.  Awesome.  I had an excellent birthday, involving surprise cube decorations and bagels at work, a trip to the Apple Store (yay! Apple Store!), a serenade by a gorilla while at lunch at the mall, cake from Villa Italia, watching “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” at my favorite movie theater, fireworks in the rain, and then drinks and snacks at Aperitivo.

Our two year anniversary was on Monday – we’re an old married couple now.  LOL.  We saw Coldplay at SPAC, which was really the first time we’d listened to Coldplay, but we’re both kind of fans now.  We had a really great night – it was awesome to have a date night, especially doing something out of the ordinary. 

We lost a cat for a week – our little white cat Finnegan went missing last Sunday.  I’m not sure how, but the both of them got out late Saturday night/early Sunday morning.  I didn’t realize it until that morning when I was making a pitcher of Cherry Lime drink (from Target – hella, hella good) at the kitchen sink and heard meowing outside.  I went to the door and let Fiona in.  We couldn’t find Finn at all that day – and he didn’t turn up all week.  I put up posters and posted a Lost listing on Craigslist and went out looking for him but there was no sign of him.  I thought he was dead or lost forever.  In fact, I considered getting a kitten yesterday – but I waited because Alex wasn’t around and I didn’t want to pick out a new cat without him.  I was at the computer late last night/very early this morning when Fiona went to the porch and started to hiss at something.  Alex was out having a guys night with his friends and I was home alone, so Fiona going to the porch and hissing FREAKED me out.  I pretended to be brave and went to the porch and shooed her inside – that’s when I heard meowing from outside the door.  I opened it and Finnegan ran in.  I was so happy I cried.  He was so happy it sounded like he was crying.  He was so skinny and he ran immediately to the food and water.  Fiona was freaked out and hissed at him – she still isn’t used to him yet.  I hope she recognizes him soon – it makes me sad that she’s hissing at him and apparently doesn’t remember him when he obviously remembers us since he came home to us.  I’m just so glad to have him home!

There’s probably about a million other things I can write about, but I think that’s about enough of an update for now.  I’m hoping to begin posting more regularly – I promise! 

The other thing that I’ve been up to outside of work is house hunting!  This part is fun, but it’s also really stressful.  We’re first time home buyers so everything about this process is new to us and buying a house, with the financial commitment and all of the unknowns is scary.  I’ll have to write an entire series of posts dedicated to all that, but for now here’s a widget from my Evernote notebook with the houses that we’ve decided deserve a second look:

Exciting.  Scary.  Stressful.  All of that.

Upcoming events: next Saturday, March 7th, we’ll be going to see Enter the Haggis at Revolution Hall in Troy.  I’m really excited for that show because I’ve had us on “going out and spending money lockdown” for the past couple of months and this will be our first “big night out” in a while.  The weekend after that is St Patrick’s Parade weekend, but Alex is on call for that weekend so we may not be going out (which suits me fine because I’m old and would rather not spend the money).  The weekend after that, we’ll be in Dubai!  Yep, we’re going to visit the family in 3 weeks – we leave the evening of the 19th and get back the afternoon of the 29th.  Very exciting!!  I just got my passport back in the mail after sending it out (very late) to get my name changed.  It only took 2 weeks to get it back (thank God)!

I must end this post NOW because what I SHOULD be up to right now is taking a shower and getting ready for work because it’s Friday!

We were walking down the stairs when suddenly my heel caught in the cuff of my jeans. I started to fall forward and thought that I’d catch myself, but that didn’t happen. Apparently, Larry thought that he’d catch me too, but unfortunately that didn’t work out either. Instead we both came crashing down the last three stairs to the middle landing. I landed on my left knee hard and Larry sort of landed on top of me. I say sort if because I think that he somehow cushioned the impact of my upper body because the only pain that I felt was in my left knee – and it HURT.

Larry immediately righted himself while I struggled to a sitting position. “Oh my God!” he yelled, “I tried to catch you and I fell on top of you!” I clutched at my knee and was doubled over laughing. In between crazy, Joker-like laughs and deep breathes to try and ward off the searing pain in my knee I tried to figure out if Larry was ok. It’s embarrassing enough to fall down the stairs, but to take someone with you? Horrific! Larry assured me that he was generally fine, but he’d crushed a finger and hit his shoulder. “Oh my God it hurst on the INSIDE” he exclaimed while gripping his finger. Which made me laugh more.

I laughed until the initial shock at falling wore off and I realized that I wasn’t seriously hurt or dead. But once that thought crossed my mind, I was overcome with a mild case of that other kind of shock. I got all pale and lightheaded and was pretty sure I’d faint. Larry brought me Advil and water and stayed sitting with me in the stairwell until reinforcements came.

Alex was working with Clifton Park ambulance and must have been on a call because he didn’t answer his phone or a text. Foster fortunately was able to drive me to the hospital and stay with me and get me home. He also was able to get in touch with Alex, who was super worried when he received my text that said I was going to the hospital.

Turns out I just bruised my knee very badly – nothing was broken, thank God. They wrapped my knee and gave me crutches and sent me home (after a few hours of waiting – it was busy there today!). I’ve kept it elevated, wrapped, and iced on and off tonight. It’s throbbing in pain again and I hope that the Advil PM Alex gave me not long ago kicks in soon. The bruising doesn’t look that bad right now, but then I always seem to be a late bloomer with bruises. I suck at walking with the crutches so I think I’ll just wrap it tight and pump the painkillers tomorrow so I can hobble around without the crutches tomorrow. Oh, and I’m totally going to use the creepy old elevator tomorrow at work.

Unfortunately, I woke up with back pain. Such a pain in the… Well, back. LOL. I searched online this am to see how other people deal with bulging disc pain and found this horrific post from a girl who said her disc ruptured one day when she sneezed. OMFG. She ended up having surgery and was out of work for five weeks but is doing much better. I’m terrified to have surgery. I just want my back to get better without it. I can’t be out of work for that long – frankly, I’m afraid I’d lose my job! Also, without much time to prepare, we certainly couldn’t afford it. Webmd said that for nonphysical work people go back to work in about two to four weeks. I could handle two weeks but I’d use up all my vacation time and that would rule out a trip to Dubai. I don’t know what to think.

My physical therapist is sending me back to my doctor to be reevaluated because I’m not seeing any improvement with therapy and I’m worried that they might suggest surgery at this point. I want my back to get better but I’m afraid of surgery and being able to afford it. I don’t have short term disability insurance right now either and I wonder if they’ll even cover an absence due to surgery for my back if it’s a condition that I had before I get the insurance. Also, it seems like we switch insurance companies and plans every year at work and what if that happens again and my new plan won’t cover treatment or surgery because it’s preexisting? I might be worrying over nothing. That might never happen, but medical insurance always seems so complex and confusing. Ugh.

And then on top of all of that I’m a little baby crazy right now and so I’m depressed that my stupid back might cause a baby to get delayed even further than what we’d been talking about. Stupid annoying back. Argh! My obsession now is to get the back thing fixed asap and hopefully without scary surgery. Can’t I just “walk it off”?!

End overly emotional worried rant.

Must focus on enjoying my day off. I think I’ll work for a bit (get at least one review done) and then take my camera and go for a walk in the park. It’s chilly but gorgeous out with clear blue skies and firey autumn leaves. I’ll be so annoyed at myself if I don’t go out and enjoy the day!!

I walked in the gym and immediately noticed the difference in the people who were at the gym that late at night compared to those who go to the gym earlier in the evening when we usually go. There were packs of 3 to 5 younger guys sauntering around the main weight floor, periodically lifting weights in between bragging to each other and staring at any female who was at least mildly attractive. There were a few terribly overweight and haggard looking women on cardio machines. There were a couple of really nerdy looking skinny middle aged men and a couple of white hairs. And then there were a few representatives of “the beautiful people” looking perfectly made up and sweat-free even as they worked twice as hard as most of the other people in the gym. It was a population of extremes.

I realized after I’d already started to change into my gym clothes that I’d forgotten my armband for my iPhone and also my bluetooth headphones – which meant that I couldn’t really listen to my iPhone while I did weights. I decided to just stick with cardio. I chose an elliptical machine at the back right of the cardio deck. One of the really fat women was already there, pedaling away on the elliptical machine closest to the wall right underneath where the air conditioning blew down. I picked a machine close by so that I could get the benefits of the air conditioning, leaving a machine empty between us so that I didn’t seem like a weirdo close-exerciser.

I was about a quarter of the way into my workout when I noticed a relatively normal looking blond girl on the elliptical machine at the end of the next row over. I noticed her because as soon as she started pedaling, the machine made a bunch of odd knocking sounds – almost like she’d dropped a bunch of ping pong balls onto it. She kept going, seemingly not noticing the weird sound. She looked kind of intense.

A few minutes later, I noticed some overly exuberant movements in my peripheral vision. I turned my head to look at the girl and almost fell off the machine. Blondy was holding herself ramrod straight on the machine. Her legs pedaled furiously while her arms, instead of holding onto the heart rate sensors to either side of her, were swinging wildly back and forth in time with the rhythm of her legs. One of her arms would swing all the way up past the top of her head, while the other arm swung way back behind her. She was moving so fast, it looked like she was going to take off. I had to turn my head quickly in the other direction so that no one would see me trying to stifle a laugh with not much success. I had to steal another glance in her direction to see if she was still exercising like a madwoman. She was. One of the white hairs came to the top of the cardio deck and just stood a few feet away from her machine, staring at her with his mouth open. Insanity.

I decided that I’d have to keep staring straightforward – maybe even a little bit to the left – so that I wouldn’t risk seeing Blondy. About halfway through my workout, a new freak made his debut. A lanky teenager mounted one of the treadmills two rows up from me. He was wearing a baggy red t-shirt and long, baggy silver mesh athletic shorts that went down to a little past his knees. His white socks were pulled up so high they almost met the bottom of his shorts and looked strange coming out of the top of his black uniform-appropriate sneakers. So far, his offenses weren’t really enough to earn him the “freak” title. No, it was his hair that really pushed him over the edge. The kid wore big, dorky looking glasses and his stringy brown hair fell down so far that it covered the very top of his glasses. His hair might not have done this if he didn’t have a red sweatband on his head, plastering his hair down. His expression made him look as if he was channeling Napoleon Dynamite. Next to him, an older guy who was probably his father walked slowly on his treadmill. He wore very close fitting warm-up pants with a gray T-shirt tucked in. They were quite a pair.

I was running out of safe places to focus on while I finished my workout. Every direction I turned my head I saw someone who made me want to giggle. I spent the rest of my time at the gym with a slightly suppressed smirk on my face.

I realize that I’m not exactly a normal person, but I think that my freakishness is only evident on the inside – at least, I hope so! I’m glad that Alex wasn’t along with me – if he was there, there is no way I would have been able to hold my giggles in.