Snippets

 - I don't have a ton to report--I'm going through my annual "I hate that it's getting dark so early" phase.

-Lizzy is officially 10 months old today! Which means that this really should be a "Letter to Lizzy" post. Hopefully I'll have one later in the day, if our house ever stops being so dreary from the rain outside and actually gets some light {to take some photos}.

- Justin and I may actually have date night tonight! J's boss gave us tickets to a concert tonight. Upon further research, I hilariously discovered that the band in question is Christian "hard rock". LOL. Not exactly my genre of choice, but who am I to pass up a pre-paid date night?!

-Lizzy and I are STILL battling chest colds. She's doing well, except for an occasional coughing fit (not of the whooping cough variety though, no worries). I probably need antibiotics, but I'm still trying to kick it on my own. I actually don't feel so bad, but I tried to work out yesterday, and thought my chest was going to explode. There's still a lot of junk in there.

-I'm sad. I have a friends and family card for Gap/Old Navy for tomorrow. Since Gap went and stupidly changed all their jeans, Old Navy's Dreamer jeans have been my go-to jeans post-pregnancy since they come in talls online. I usually only have one pair at a time, since I've gone through three sizes since having Lizzy. I was all set to buy another pair with my coupon, but they don't have any in my size. Again. Actually, I couldn't really find my size in any of their styles either. Lame. 

- I've been doing a lot of reading lately. Within the past week or so, I've finished Catching Fire (Hunger Games Book 2) by Suzanne Collins, A Wedding in December by Anita Shreve, The Host by Stephenie Meyer (of Twilight Fame, but this was her first book, I believe).  All were probably worth reading. But now I feel like I'm in a reading slump. This always seems to happen with me--I breeze through three good books, then read nothing but crap for several months. I picked up Never Tell Our Business to Strangers: A Memoir by Jennifer Mascia at Goodwill yesterday. I was really excited about it, but I'm about 100 pages in, and it's just really slow. I have a lot of book on my "to-read" list, but I'm like 16 or 20 on the wait list at the library for all of them. I wish our local library stocked more than Nora Roberts and Louis Lamour so that I could go browse and find something awesome. Anyone have suggestions for good books that aren't brand new releases?

Chicken Curry in a Hurry

Justin worked from 6am until 9pm yesterday. I'm seriously sick, and it's kind of a battle just to get through the day. After dropping off our ballots yesterday, I HAD to run to the grocery store to get a few essentials, and decided that I might as well make a comfort-food dinner that Justin wouldn't like anyway. Enter Chicken Curry. I love Indian food. I cannot get Justin to try it for the life of me. I cannot tell you how many times I've suggested the Indian place for dinner, but I just CANNOT get him on board!

Note: This curry recipe calls for pre-cooked chicken. So, this is a great quick dinner if you have chicken leftovers, or can be made with the help of a rotisserie chicken (as I did tonight). It's an adaptation of an adaptation of a recipe from Better Homes and Gardens...a very basic curry that you can easily dress up or down. And you probably have all but one of the ingredients already (if you keep curry powder, you probably have them all)!  It has some spice, but not too much...Lizzy gobbled it right up! I served over Basmati rice, but any rice (or even noodles!) would be great! 

Ingredients:
2 Tbsp butter

1 1/2 c. finely chopped apple
1/2 c. chopped onion
1 clove garlic
2 T flour
2-3 tsp. curry powder

1/8th to 1/4th tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp. salt
1 c.  fat free half and half (coconut milk would also be amazing)

1 c. chicken broth
2 c. shredded cooked chicken

Raisins, Peanuts, Parsley, or other items for garnish, if desired. 

How: 

Brown the butter in a large skillet. Add onions, apples, and garlic. Cook until onions are just translucent. Add the flour, salt, curry powder, and cayenne pepper to the skillet. Stir well. Add the half & half and the chicken broth. Cook over high heat until sauce comes to a rapid boil. Reduce heat to low, and simmer until sauce thickens. Add the chicken, and continue to simmer until chicken is heated through. 

Spoon sauce over rice, noodles, or potatoes, and top with your favorite appropriate garnish.

Snippets

- I'm really tired. Lizzy and I both have colds. On top of that, her sleep has been seriously deteriorating. She used to sleep through the night, but now she's not anymore. She's usually up at 3am or 4am, standing up in her crib, and hysterical. Nothing that I've tried so far (bottle, rocking, lullaby music, motrin, etc) seems to make any bit of difference. If Justin gets up first to go to her, he tends to take the, "YOU LAY DOWN RIGHT NOW AND GO TO SLEEP" approach. I definitely approach the situation differently, and that causes some friction between the two of us as well. It's just a frustrating situation all around.

-In the same vein, we need a date night really badly. Time to reconnect. I'm just not sure when that will even be feasible with Justin's crazy and unpredictable work schedule.

- I've made Blackberry cobbler probably seven times in the past two weeks, using a modified version of this recipe. PS- please note that the original calls for self-rising flour. I didn't notice this for the first cobbler, and it didn't turn out so well. If you only have all purpose flour, just add 1.5 tsp baking powder and 1tsp salt to make your own self rising flour.



-I've been taking photos of what I've been eating this week.You can view the Flickr set here if you're interested. I probably won't do it every day, just because I'm too cheap to buy a Pro Flickr account, so there's a monthly limit to what I can upload.

-I've had a few people ask about In the Photo Friday. My original commitment was to do ITPF until September. I'm not sure if I want to continue to do it weekly, or just every so often. If anyone else wants to host it on their blog, maybe that would be a good idea? What do y'all think? 

-I've been alternating the 30 Day Shred with Jillian Michael's Yoga Meltdown, and let me tell you...yoga meltdown is NO JOKE. I've done yoga before, but I have never sweat doing yoga like I did with that DVD. Holy COW.

Book Review and Snippets...

- I read Anthem by Ayn Rand two nights ago. In one night. It was the shortest book I've ever read, and not really in a good way. I mean, I knew it was going to be a short read just based on the size of the paperback itself, but what I didn't realize was that the little bitty paperback was actually the book twice--once, the original story, and then also a version with Ayn Rand's corrections and revisions hand-written in. So, the actual story was only about 100 pages.

I had high hopes for the book, because I LOVE dystopian literature like 1984, A Handmaid's Tale, Cat's Cradle, etc. Plus, this book has over 250 five star reviews on Amazon. It's been touted over and over as a book that every American should read. Unfortunately, I just wasn't that impressed. The concept of individuality being banned by law was an interesting one, but um, Yevgeny Zamiyatin wrote a book called We, long before Ayn Rand wrote Anthem, that's almost exactly the same story. Reading Anthem, it really felt like blatant plagarism of We. Maybe Rand had never actually read We, but the main plot points of the story were just so similar that I had a hard time just reading the book, and not thinking about how similar they were. So, overall, I give the book a thumbs down. There are MUCH better offerings out there when it comes to dystopian literature--don't waste your time!

In terms of Snippets, here's what I've got:

-I was really excited to have a potential photography job from a complete stranger. She's 32 weeks pregnant with twins and her photographer backed out on maternity shots for this weekend. She wanted to know if I was available to do some any time this weekend. I emailed back and told her that I was available any time Sunday. She emailed back and said, "Oh, well I really wanted Saturday, because we're free at about noon, and that's when the light will be best, so I just went ahead and booked somebody else. " Well first of all, if you wanted Saturday, that would have been a good thing to say, not "any time this weekend". And actually, noon is not a good time to shoot at all, but whatever. Little bitter!

-I think my allergies from the smoke have turned into a cold. J has one two, and we're quite a pair.

-Football game tonight! My bro keeps trying to get me to paint my belly for the game. I told him that if they make state, I would...but from their record so far this year, I'm thinking that I'm in the clear!

-Renee is coming over to paint the tree in the nursery this weekend! I'm really excited! The boys are also assembling the crib....things are starting to come together! I still need to play with the layout of the room a little bit and figure out how a dresser/changing table would best fit. I struggle with always wanting to push furniture up against the walls...but I'm wondering if the glider might actually work best a bit away from the wall, more towards the middle of the room.

-The other day, Justin mentioned that our cat Bones always seems lonely, and wondered if we should maybe get another cat to keep her company. Of course, I'd love to get a kitten, but do cats really like to be in packs? I've always thought of cats as individualistic. Plus, what if they hate each other?!

Bloodwork

A lady is coming today to do bloodwork and all that jazz for our life insurance since we're switching to a new policy. I absolutely HATE getting blood drawn, and I had nightmare after nightmare last night that she's going to discover that I have some terrible illness. This is also bad because I get myself so worked up about it all that my pulse and blood pressure are high too!

Super Hypocondriac!

Seriously folks, I admit to being a bit of a hypocondriac. The media attention that's being given to the Swine Flu lately is NOT helping, and neither is the fact that I haven't really been feeling all that great (or sleeping well) for about 4 days. I've just had this mild nausea and feel like I have a low grade fever--it isn't terrible, and I haven't thrown up or anything, but I just don't feel 100%, you know? I'm supposed to be headed to J's band practice tonight, but I'm thinking about staying home and sleeping, or changing into sweats, going there, and sleeping--our weekend is absolutely PACKED, and I just need some recovery time! Really, REALLY tempting to take a sick day tomorrow, but I always feel like it looks too suspicious when someone takes a sick day on Friday.

I've pretty much banned the news from our house though because the more I read about Swine Flu, the more freaked out I get, and I start to feel even worse.

Anyone else a hypocondriac like me? Anybody else as tired of hearing about Swine Flu as I am?

Confession

I've been battling a pretty nasty cold for the past week or so. I feel like absolute crap. I've spent the last 2 or 3 nights coughing all night. Really, I should probably stay home from work. But the ONLY reason I'm not going to is because I've already paid to go to a cooking class with one of my co-workers tonight (I hope she isn't sick today, 'cause she's the one organizing it all!), and the topic is appetizers and martinis. YUM! Hopefully I'll have some good recipes to share soon.

While I'm confessing, I might as well say that I'm really enjoying watching The Hills!

I came home from work last night and basically crashed. I feel SO congested, and my whole head and neck hurts. I don't have much to say other than that...I still feel like my whole head is going to explode. Awesome.

This was the first paycheck of Justin's that we've had to pay for medical insurance, and man it kills that check. I know that it's a necessity, but I don't like it one bit. Nothing like being paid and realizing that you're STILL BROKE.

Also, I want chocolate.

Another brick in the wall

I am so blessed that my wonderful sister in law Renee decided to paint this BEAUTIFUL painting for me. As many of you know, I absolutely love purple irises--they were the flowers for my wedding, but also have deep family significance for me. Isn't she talented?! She's super crafty too...I keep telling her that she should open her own etsy shop!

I am getting a migraine and it sucks. The doctor gave me a new medicine to try, but I've never taken it before and I'm worried that it will put me to sleep. I'm gonna try to hold off until I get off work to take it. But then again, if I wait too long, it probably won't work. Also, me getting my allergy shot yesterday is probably compounding the situation (my allergies are REALLY bad for a couple of days after getting a shot). Anyway, all I want to do is go home and go to sleep. We have a LOT of work to do tonight though, so I'm not sure that's possible.

I am going to go get my hair cut and my highlights touched up this afternoon at 2:30. I am so excited! At least if I still have a migraine, I can just sit there in the chair with my eyes closed. Four more hours of work today, and THAT'S IT. I hope that I can make it that long with this awful headache.

Well then.

My doctor's appointment went like this:

Dr: So I hear you have a sore throat.
M: Yes, but that's now the least irritating symptom. I have the worst headache, and my neck and my back hurt like nothing I've ever experienced.
Dr: Well, you only have a 99 degree fever--that's not too concerning.
M: That's what you said about my appendix!
Dr: True, true. Let me look at your throat.
{I open my mouth and say ah}
Dr: Well, it doesn't LOOK like raging strep, but it probably is. I'll give you a Z-pack, and if you don't feel better by Monday, give me a call.
{Wondering why he didn't actually do a strep test on me}
M: And strep would make my back and neck hurt like this?
Dr: The last time I had strep, I wondered how my arm suddenly weighed 50 pounds. It's terrible. Take aspirin, advil, NyQuil...whatever works and has something like acetaminophen in it.
M: Okay, will do.

The only good news is that he gave me something new to try for the headaches. I still don't feel any better at all, and my back and neck don't really feel better even when I DO take those meds. There's no way I can go into work today...the only thing that makes a bit of difference is NyQuil, and that just knocks me out. I probably shouldn't anyway because I haven't been on antibiotics for 24 hours yet. Yay.

I tried to eat macaroni and cheese last night. I hadn't eaten all day, but I didn't feel nauseos, so I tried some. BAD IDEA. I think I'm sticking to jello and ginger ale.

A little scared

So, I came home from work today because I wasn't feeling well. Initially, I had a sore throat (felt like I was swallowing razors), and since one of my SIL's recently had strep, I made an appointment for 4:30pm today with my doctor. But since then, I have gotten increasingly worse. At this point, the sore throat is the least of my worries--I have back pain more severe than anything I've ever felt. My neck is stiff, all of my joints ache, and I have a fever of 101. I know that a 101 fever is pretty low for some people, but it's VERY high for me. My normal temp sits right around 97 degrees, so even when I had to get my appendix out, my temp was just barely 99. I am so cold, I'm shaking, and NOTHING warms me up. I got out the heating pad, and it doesn't even feel warm. And I still have the worst migraine in the world, which even my migraine meds haven't touched.

Literally, all I've done since I got home was laid here and cried. Everything hurts. A lot. So, I did the stupid thing and googled my symptoms to try and distract myself for awhile. Bad idea. You know you've done it too. What came up? Other than the flu... Meningitis and Listeria. All three have virtually the same symptoms, so I'm fairly sure that it's probably the flu, and that the doctor isn't likely to even CONSIDER the latter two...which is actually a little scary. This just feels so much worse than the flu has ever felt before...

Quick Update

Apparently, there's virtually no place in town that has free wi-fi anymore. What's with that?

So, I only have time for a quick update before I have to take Justin to work. I've been going to the gym between dropping him off at 7 and when I have to be at work at 9. I've also been catching up on some reading. I've gotta tell you though--after all those years of rowing, I am NOT a morning person. I know that waking up at 5:45am is not that early in the grand scheme of things, but it feels like torture to me.

The headache is back. Lucky me.

Bible Study was fantastic last night--though I'll be honest, I'm not sure that the content matters much at all. It's just nice to have hope that J and I might actually have friends our age again someday. It was hard to go--K ended up with strep throat, and James had a meeting for his India trip, so we had to walk into it all by ourselves. But everyone was very welcoming and kind. We knew two of the couples (James' brothers and their wives) so that helped. Next week, I'll probably go alone since Justin has to work, but you know what? I think I will.

I am so ready for it to be the weekend--but also so not, because it may mean not seeing Justin for awhile. Still, there are great opportunities for him, both monetarily, and in terms of a possible promotion, and so I'm absolutely trying to support him (and respect! I keep forgetting about the respect!) 100%, even if it isn't the thing that makes me most happy in the world.

Love & Memories

I've had that song stuck in my head all day...anyway...

- The migraine is finally mostly gone. Wahoo! If it weren't for the fear of waking up with a hangover headache, I'd go for celebratory drinks!

-Tonight, J and I are going with James and Karla to a Bible Study called Love & Respect. While I really love the Simply Faith Bible Study, Justin's band is practicing again on Thursday nights, AND Megan is moving in March--the last thing I need right now is to get attached to something else that's just going to be leaving/ending. I hear that this group is young married couples and young families. I'm totally excited for it.

-Sunday, J is going out of town for a week. On one hand, I HATE being home alone. Especially since I know none of our neighbors. On the other hand, he will be making some SERIOUS money while he's up in Washington, which will be fantastic in terms of contributing to the camera fund, among other things. And since he's given a per diem for food and such, it will actually cut down significantly on food costs.

-Went to the gym this morning, which will become a regular occurance this week since I'm dropping J off at work. Man, it still KILLS my knee to do much of anything. My dang coaches ingrained in my head during high school the idea that if you're not drop-dead tired after a work out, you didn't really work out. So I sort of have been feeling like my biking is pointless, since I can't go all out yet. But, my heart rate is still well up in the "Fat Burn" zone, so I'm just trying to stick with it for now.

Still goin....

I have been battling with a migriane with sinus headach features since about 3am on Sunday morning. I'm miserable. All I want is for a few hours of my head not pounding. Even my migraine meds haven't done a dang thing. To top it off, I feel totally congested, I've been hacking up a lung (which just makes the headache hurt more), and my neck is all achy. I had a HUGE list of things to get done today, but it doesn't look like I'll be accomplishing much of it at all.

I really should go into town and pick up my paycheck though.

My lovely knee.

Is now in a huge freaking brace. As you can see, even my lounge pants don't really fit over the damn brace. My work slacks DEFINITELY don't fit over the brace (lucky me, they're letting me wear nicer yoga pants while I have to wear the brace). And it freaking hurts more to wear the brace than it did before I went it.

The injury isn't likely fixable by surgery. The doctor commented, "I've never seen anything like this before!" If only I had a dollar for every time a doctor had uttered that phrase to me. Appendix in the wrong place, scar tissue where I hadn't had surgery, strange reaction to anesthesia, incurable cough. Doctors always seem puzzled by me.

To add insult to injury, the doctor also said, "While I've never seen anything pop like yours does, even in a brace, the overall injury is common in rather large girls with wide hips." I seriously almost cried. I think he probably was referring more to height with the "rather large" comment, as he then said that this is the injury that female basketball players over 5'10" have 9 times out of 10 (and I am over 5'10"), no girl likes to be called "rather large". Additionally, I'm a little sensitive to the weight that I've gained in the last 3-4 months since I haven't been able to move much with the knee injury. However, the doctor gave me the okay to go spinning again (though I don't know that I'd be able to wear the brace while I'm spinning--it doesn't give much range of motion), so hopefully I'll do that tomorrow.

Just Another Manic Monday

Wooooaaaahhhh oh Woaaaaaahhhhh.

-1 I learned a new knitting stitch. It's called horizontal herringbone. I'm making a scarf for my momma out of it right now, and I have to say, my yarn (purple, blues, and teal) is much prettier. I just must figure out how to do a border on the next one, since the edges are a little uneven for my liking. Anyway, this is a big accomplishment for me because it's the first thing I've done that isn't just some variation of knit, purl. It's the first stitch I've done that made me bust out a knitting dictionary to find out what s1, wyif, kftb meant. It's like learning texting language all over.

2- I got up way too early for my ortho appointment. I can't go back to sleep though because if I set my alarm for 8am, it won't go off until TOMORROW at 8am, even though it isn't 8am yet today. Once it's gone off once in a day, it won't go off until the next day. Unless you're my hubby hitting snooze 100 times.

3- Ryan told me yesterday that he doesn't think I want a cat, he thinks I want a baby, and I'm just hoping that a cat may tide me over. He thinks this because I haven't ever talked about wanting a cat before, which I haven't, though I have wanted one since we've been in the apartment. Still, his assertion may have some merit of truth in it. But the fact of the matter is that we can't afford to live on Justin's salary alone, and judging by the history of really difficult pregnancies in my family, I feel like we can't consider being put on bedrest a remote possibility like most couples would--it's a REAL likelihood. I know, as J always tells me, if we wait until we can afford to have kids, we'll never have kids. But, I'd still like to go into it having some sort of a plan where income minus expenses might realistically allow us to break even.

4- My allergies SUCK today. BAH HUMBUG!

I might throw up.

J is currently cooking eggs, and it is the most gawd-awful smell I have ever smelled in my life. I seriously want to throw up. I was going to go in and cook some rice for dinner, but I think I might have to wait awhile.

Justin said that if the Twilight Cat is still available for adoption when we receive our rent refund, I can adopt her. I should really contact the shelter and find out what the cost of the adoption is for her. My only concern is where I'd put the litter box...there isn't really room in any of the bathrooms, and we don't have a pantry or utility room or anything like that. My parents don't even have a litter box because the cat wanders in and outdoors so often. I always worry that the cat will get outside and just try to go back to its old home.

I feel terrible today. Serious sinus and allergy crap going on. I just want to go to sleep...but that's already what I've been doing on and off all day.

I think that I might fast tomorrow. I feel like my stomach was stretched over the holiday, and I'm eating more than I really need to because I don't feel FULL otherwise. I remember doing the 30-hour famine for church, and I was always amazed at how in-tune it made me to the different stages of hunger--hunger twinges don't necessarily mean that I need to feast. It's okay if I let myself get really hungry before I eat. I also remember how much smaller my stomach seemed the day after the 30-hour famine. Suddenly, the "correct" portion sizes actually satisfied me. Still, I don't want to deprive my body of important nutrients, so I may consume some V8 Splash in the morning or eat Emergen-C packets through the day. I don't know...maybe I'll wait until Tuesday. In a lot of ways, I find it much easier to fast during the work week, opposed to the weekend.