Wednesday, January 30, 2013

BACK TO WORK... AGAIN

My doctor's note said I could stay out of work until tomorrow, but I chose to go back today.  Wednesday is a shorter day with the public than Thursday is and it's an early day.  I thought that would be easier for me.

It wasn't too bad.  I had three choking fits that were pretty bad, but I have been having more than that at home.  I guess sitting up all day helped things to move right along.

I was surprised and a little disappointed when I got to my desk.  It was piled high with all of the work that no one else wanted to do last week.  When I asked why certain things were left for me, the answer was they were waiting for me to come in because it's usually my job and they didn't want to step on my toes.  Those people!  What are they going to do if I decide I to leave?  At least they did some things.

Joe is some better today.  He says he feels pretty good.  He is bouncing back much faster than I am..  Of course, he caught it earlier than I did.

We are having a wicked thunderstorm right now.  We are supposed to have high winds and a lot of rain.  Joe and I went outside when I got home from work and put all the loose items and the lawn furniture on the patio so they wouldn't be blowing around the yard.  Hope it's not too bad.

I'm going to head to bed now.  Another busy day at work tomorrow.  Until then...   

Tuesday, January 29, 2013

I'M HERE... I THINK

I'm sick a lot and I don't like it.  I especially don't like it this time.  It is no fun to not be able to breathe... to choke and try to draw air into your lungs and you can't.  I am some better and though I feel as if I could use another week in bed, I am going to attempt to go to work tomorrow.

I'm realizing more and more that my continuing bad health is telling me it's time to give up the job.  Unfortunately, I can't at this point because we would never be able to live without my income and my health insurance.  At the bottom of my blog page I put a counter to tell me just how long I still have to go until it is feasible to retire.  Although it looks like a long time, I see it counting down and feel some kind of comfort from it getting less and less.

I know I am better because I got up, dressed and actually did a few (very few) things around the house.  I am going to make dinner in a little while.  But I also laid on the sofa and slept for several hours.  Sleep seems to be what I need right now.

Joe has slept the entire day.  He is really sick also.  I tried to not share with him, but unfortunately he picked it up.  So he's going to have a week of not feeling well too.  At least he was feeling good during the worst of my time and I will be feeling better during the worst of his so we can take care of each other.

So this is sort of a downer entry tonight, but I'll bounce back as I feel better.  I know I could be a lot worse off than I am.  So tune in tomorrow to see how I make out at work.  Until then...   

Monday, January 28, 2013

I'VE BEEN VERY, VERY SICK

I've been missing from blogland for a week now and you know that isn't like me.  I've been sick.  Very sick.  It started last Sunday with an ulcer on my tongue.  Don't know where that came from.  Then I got a scratchy throat.  Don't you hate those?  And there's just nothing you can do to make it feel better.  By Monday it was a full blown sore throat.  I haven't had one in years.  I progressed to closed sinuses and coughing, choking, can't breathe, throwing up, the whole nine yards.

Tuesday I called the doctor.  He couldn't see me, but was able to prescribe medicine which didn't seem to help me at all.

I was feeling better on Wednesday and went to work and worked all day although I was feeling awful.  But I got all the important things I had to do done.

On Thursday I actually got to see the doctor and he pulled me out of work for a week.  So that's where I've been.  I haven't been this sick in many, many years.  I think I may have had the beginnings of pneumonia because I feel the same as I did when I was in the hospital with it a couple of years ago.

I'm feeling a lot better today.  My fever finally broke, but I am still choking and coughing.  It's hard to eat anything -- everything chokes me except things like pudding, ice cream, sherbert.  And sometimes even those things choke me.  My scale needs batteries, but I bet I've lost some weight.  Not a good way to do it though.

Because I'm such a generous person I have shared my germs with the man who has taken care of me all week.  He is going to see the doctor this afternoon.  I'm praying I can get him there safely because it is in the middle of our ice storm.

Right now we are having our third snowstorm in two weeks.  It is supposed to turn to freezing rain this afternoon and have a lot of black ice.  Treacherous driving.  And then tomorrow it's supposed to be 60*.  No wonder everyone is sick.

Here's a couple of pictures from our second snowstorm.




I've watched more TV than I can ever remember watching.  My eyes hurt too much to read (although yesterday I did finish the book I was almost done) and I would doze off and on between coughing fits so I got caught up on everything I had recorded.  I'm almost done watching the Mummer's New Year's Parade.  These are the fancy brigades.
 







Right now I am watching the string bands, which are my favorite and are the end of the parade.  Each one is like a four-minute Broadway show.  Everyone is so creative.  I have two hours to go, but there are so many commercials that I will get done in about one hour.

I hope to get dressed today (I've been in pj's for five days now) and maybe get some things done around the house.  You know I'm feeling better.  I want to go to work tomorrow, so I will not be overdoing anything.

I want to end by showing you the sunset from yesterday.  It looks strange.  I think the marks in the sky are from airplane exhaust.  Until later....
 

 

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

IT'S BEGINNING TO LOOK A LOT LIKE... VALENTINE'S DAY

I woke up this morning feeling terrible.  I've been running a fever, have a sore throat and a wicked cough.  I called the doctor and tried to get an appointment, but he was filled up.  I asked for him to call in some medication for me and he gave me an anti-biotic which seems to be helping a great deal.  The fever is down, the cough is pretty much gone, but the throat is still bad.  I guess it just takes some time for that to go away.  Also now I have no voice!  It's hard to communicate in a whisper, but that's all I've got.

I called in sick to work.  My boss was not happy with me, but I can't help that.  What did he want me to do, spread the germs?  I guess so.  I am going to try to go to work tomorrow.  Let's see how I feel.

While I was home I finished decorating for Valentine's Day.  I put two wreaths on the front door:  one outside:

 
And one inside:

I also put out my Cherished Teddy cupid bear.

And this other cute little figure I have.

It has been bitterly cold here.  I don't think it's gotten above 20* all day.  Even the house is chilly.  That's the thing with old houses, there's not a lot of insulation.  My house was built in 1925 so it's not the greatest when it gets real cold.  I'm so glad I have some quilts my mom made for me and the little stove my sister gave me.  It really makes a difference.  Especially when I'm not feeling well.


Besides keeping me warm, the fire is so nice to look at.  I was watching the fire and fell asleep this afternoon.  It's so soothing.

I hope I feel better by tomorrow.  I've had two doses of medicine now (I take it twice a day with food and lots of water), so let's see how it goes.  Until later....

Monday, January 21, 2013

MY DAY OFF

Today was the last day of my three day weekend and I woke up with a scratchy throat and an ulcer on my tongue.  Yuck!  But at least I had a chance to sleep in.

I've had a whole weekend to clean up this place, and it still hasn't gotten done.  I don't know where the time goes.  Well, I guess I sort of do because whenever I'm home Joe has me drive him all over the place.  Because of his epilepsy he doesn't drive any more so he is stuck in the house when I am at work.  So he takes advantage of me being home.

Today we went to Applebee's for a late lunch/early dinner.  Then went shopping at ShopRite to finish up our grocery list.  After that we got gas and then took a ride to the CVS for a few things.  It took us about four hours to do all of that.  I'm beat.

But I did get the front window decorated for Valentine's Day.
  
And I got a load of dishes and two loads of laundry done.  So I guess I got something done.

About an hour after we got home I looked out of the window and look at the surprise I got.

The view from the front door:

 
 And the view from the back door:




 Fortunately that's about all the snow we got.  Snow is nice to look at.  It's a bear to shovel.  And then it turns to ice which I hate.  A little bit like this, however, is OK.

 I'm going to get going and try to do a few more things before I go to bed.  Until later...
 

Sunday, January 20, 2013

SUNDAY WITH FRIENDS

Joe and I were invited over to our friends' house for lunch today.  Trish and Sidney attend the same church we do.  We have been trying to find a mutually agreeable Sunday for several months now and finally today worked out.

We had never been to their house.  What a beautiful place it is.  Trish is a person who does not like clutter nor knick knacks.  So her home is clean and spacious.  Beautifully furnished too.  She gave me a tour of the house and it's just wonderful.

We had barbecued spare ribs, fried rice and coleslaw for lunch.  I made my apple cake for dessert.  Everything was wonderful.

We had fun talking for several hours.  It's always nice to spend time with your friends.
   

Saturday, January 19, 2013

MY SATURDAY

Even though I could sleep in today I ended up waking up early.  I tried to go back to sleep, but once I was up, I was up.  I had plans to do so many things, but nothing has gotten done.

I woke Joe up to have breakfast with me.  A friend from church gave us some oranges her aunt had sent her from Arizona.  They are so good, so sweet.  Joe thought he'd be funny and put an orange peel in his mouth and smiled.  You know I had to take a picture of that.  What a funny guy.  He makes me smile.
 
So instead of cleaning up like I was going to do, we ended up running errands.  First we went to the deli and Joe got a lot of lunchmeat because we were all out.  Now we are all stocked up for lunches next week.  

Then  we went to the library where I work.  We had an extra recycling bucket we wanted to get rid of and the one there had gotten stolen.  So Joe took it in.  I stayed in the car.  I knew if I went in I'd be stuck doing one thing or another.

After that we stopped at Rite Aid.  Earlier this week I had bought a fleece throw from their Christmas section at 75% off.  It actually cost $1.49.  It was a solid red and there was a solid green there also, so we went to get that.  Of course we ended up with a bunch of other stuff too.  One of the things I got were these cute Christmas gift bags for 99 cents.  What a bargain.  I'll just put them with the other bags I have and use them next year.  You can't tell it from the picture, but the designs are 3-D.  So sweet!

We ended up at Wal-Mart.  Joe still hadn't found the medicine he was looking for and we were hoping they would have it.  Because of his diabetes he has to be careful which medications he uses.  But they didn't have it either.  However, we ended up buying a lot of food.  And I saw these fleece pants that were so cute and Joe got them for me.  I love the cupcakes all over them.

Fleece pants are so comfy to sleep in with a t-shirt thrown on. 

I made chicken legs, asparagus and honey butter rolls for dinner.  I found these rolls at the store last week.  I had never seen them before, but boy are they good.  And I definitely will buy them again.




We are invited to have lunch with our friends Trish and Sidney tomorrow after church.  I offered to bring a dessert.  So I am going to make an apple cake.  If you want the recipe, I posted it on this blog here.  So I'm off to do that.  Until later.

Friday, January 18, 2013

FRIDAY VIEW

Today was the boring conclusion to a boring week.  It was my Fishtown Branch day and practically no one was in there.  I had a bit of a rush when a teacher brought his 3rd grade students in to hear a story and get books, but other than that I spent the whole day trying to find something to do.  I usually hate days like this, but I wasn't feeling well today and so it was just what I needed.

Fortunately I have a three day weekend this week because of Martin Luther King Day on Monday.  Most times I am working on Saturday or Sunday on three day weekends so this will be very nice.  I have plans to clean the house, catch up on wash, and spend some time with friends.  Sounds good to me.

Even though I didn't do much today I'm really beat.  So I'm going to just show you my Friday View for today.
 How many of you love Jelly Belly jellybeans?  I absolutely adore them.  My sister gave me this box for Christmas.  It didn't last very long.  Of course some flavors I like more than others.  My favorites are buttered popcorn, juicy pear, and watermelon.  Oh my are they good.  They always get eaten first.  How do they make them taste so good?  How does the juicy pear actually taste like you are biting into a juicy pear?  Whatever their secret is, I just adore Jelly Bellys.  Now you know MY secret.  Yum!

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

HUMP DAY

Here it is hump day of a boring week.  I guess it's good to have boring weeks now and then.  But it seems that all I've been doing is catching up on my sleep.  Sometimes, I think, I can sleep too much.  Nothing gets done.  I still have to get things cleaned up from Christmas!  Get with it, Kathy!  Valentine's Day will be here and you will still have your gifts in the middle of the room.

Well, not really, but sometimes it feels that way.

Yesterday was craft day with Miss Sheila at the library. The kids made these cute snowflake bookmarks.

She got the kits from Oriental Trading Company.  They turned out so nice and the kids really liked them.

We finished up the book of James in our Bible Study yesterday.  It was a 12 week study that stretched even longer because of breaks for sickness and holidays.  Next week we are beginning a study of the Gospel of Matthew.  I think we are all ready for it.

We were going to go to church tonight because we missed Sunday, but it is cold and raining and I am not much of one to drive at night in that kind of weather.  So instead we watched Joe's message from Christmas Eve online.  It was even better than I remembered.  If you are interested, you can watch it here.

Are any of you into Downton Abbey?  Joe and I are totally hooked.  I got the DVDs out of the library.  We finished season one and just this week finished watching season two.  We just have the Christmas episode to watch and then will be going on to season three which I am recording on our DVR.  I didn't know if Joe would like it or not, but he is as interested in it as I am.  It's such a good show.

I tried a new recipe for dinner tonight.  I got it from Web MD.  It was boneless pork chops with a sauce of cranberry juice, honey and sauteed onion.  It was almost like a sweet and sour sauce and really good.  I made some rice in the rice cooker my sister gave me for my birthday.  She said once I used it I would never go back to cooking rice in a pan again, and boy was she right.  I love using the rice cooker.

Time for bed.  Maybe if I can go to bed at a decent time, I will get up to get something done before I go to work tomorrow.  (Late day, working 11:30 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.)  Good night, everyone.  

Sunday, January 13, 2013

THE SUNDAY GARDEN...SORT OF

I didn't get to go to church this morning because my stomach was really bothering me.  I was tired when I got home last night and Joe bought us Chinese food for dinner.  It was good, but I guess my stomach didn't think so because I was up and down sick all night.  This morning my stomach was still doing flip flops and I had a lot of pain.  When things settled down some, it was too late to go.

I had a couple of soft-boiled eggs and a cup of tea for breakfast.  I like soft-boiled eggs, but tend to eat them only when I'm sick.  I guess they are my "comfort food".

I haven't done much of anything except lay around and watch TV.  What a lazy day.  But I guess I need a lazy day now and then.  I watched some more of the Mummer's Parade.  The last of the comic divisions was the Froggy Carr group.  How funny they were!  They were running around, carrying signs, yelling "Who dat?  Froggy Carr!", and just generally ignoring all the rules and doing whatever they wanted.  It was the largest group with over 700 members.  I was laughing so hard at them.


  
It was such a beautiful day weather-wise.  I did go out in the yard for awhile and didn't even need a jacket.  I filled the bird feeder with seed and relocated it nearer to the house.  No birds have been there yet, so I may have to move it back to where it was.  One of my customers at work said his plants were starting to come up already.  I looked, but my plants weren't up.  The ground is brown and frozen and looking like winter.  But surprise, I had two roses out there.  I've never seen roses in January before.

But what I want to show you are my trees.  My co-worker Diane gave me two crepe myrtle trees about a month ago.  I was going to plant  them outside, but was afraid they would freeze.  They were just two sticks about a foot high with some roots.  So I put them in a pot and have been keeping them in the kitchen on the floor and watering them once a week.  They must think it is summer because they started to grow and put out leaves.  I moved them today to the front window where it will get more light.
 I figure on planting them outside around the beginning of April.  I have wanted a tree for the yard for years, ever since the people in back of me cut down all their trees and took all the shade from my yard.  These trees are supposed to grow to only 10-15 feet and have flowers so I think they are perfect for the small space I have.  I took both trees because I thought one of them would probably die, but they both look good.  I'll let you know how they do.

Friday, January 11, 2013

FRIDAY VIEW

Since I am working tomorrow, today was my day off.  I really didn't do much of anything.  For one thing I slept until 10 a.m.  I never sleep like that.  I'm usually up between 5 and 6 so I was really surprised to see the time when I opened my eyes.

I got some more undecorating/decorating done.  The bannister has gone from this:
  to this:

It looks so bare to me even with the snowflakes.

Speaking of snowflakes, here's a better view of my front window:
 

Here is my snowflake candle:
 And my Christmas tree is finally down.  But there is so much to do and I am so tired.

My friend Carol from the library where I used to work came over this afternoon and we went to Applebee's for lunch.  She had a steak with potatoes and cole slaw and I had chicken tenders and fries.  It was good.  Since neither of us were working today we didn't have to rush and had a nice long talk.  I almost never go out with my girlfriends and this was a lot of fun.

For my Friday view I will show you the cute Christmas gift she gave me.
 Isn't this the cutest mug ever?  And the Ghiradelli chocolate sounds good too.  I remember being in Ghriadelli Square and the store when I was in San Francisco.  What a wonderful place!  This is such a sweet gift.

Well going to run because I need to get ready for work tomorrow.  Have a nice night, folks.

Thursday, January 10, 2013

JANUARY DECORATIONS

The past few days have been just ordinary days.  I have gone back to work.  The first day was very rough because I had so much to get caught up on.  My desk was all piled up with reports I had to do and to top it off I got a delivery of nine boxes to unpack, sort and shelve for processing.  The good part was none of them were for me.  Ha, ha.

My co-worker Diane has been coughing and choking for about two weeks now.  She has been getting progressively worse but so far has refused to go to the doctor.  Today I finally talked her into going.  The way she describes it I think she has pneumonia -- heaviness in her chest, trouble breathing, coughing up stuff.  I made her promise to stay home tomorrow and I think I may have talked her into taking Saturday off also.  So if you think of it, please pray for Diane.

I was able to get a few more things done when I got home from work today.  First I found my large snowflake.  I knew it was somewhere, I just couldn't remember where.  So it is now in my window with the smaller snowflakes around it.  Looks so nice.

I also put out my New Year's Cherished Teddies and my polar bears.  I love polar bears.  I have ever since I was a little kid around 18 months old and my parents took me to the zoo.


I also took down the Christmas wreath and cross from the front door and all of my birthday cards.  I still have so much more to do, but I did a lot in 30 minutes.  If I can just do that tomorrow, I can probably finish up the living room.  Then all I have to do is the dining room on my day off Friday.  That will make me so happy.

While I was looking for my snowflake, I found lots of Valentine's Day stuff that I didn't know I had.  I am going to enjoy putting those things out.

Well I think the laundry is done, so I will go so I can finally get to bed.  At least tomorrow is my late day so I can sleep in. 

Sunday, January 6, 2013

FEELING BETTER -- FINALLY

OK, I will start believing my doctor more.  He said I would start to feel better around Sunday and he was absolutely right.  I am feeling more like myself today, although still tired, and my voice has come back.  I was even able to sing the Christmas carols in church this morning.  And you know some of them are hard to sing.

Today is Epiphany and Joe had the scripture reading today.  I thought it was appropriate that he read about the angel's message to Joseph.  We had communion today too.  In the church I attend we have communion only 5 times a year.  The first Sunday of the year is one of those times.

I got a bowl of Italian Wedding Soup at Wawa for lunch.  It went down much better than my Sonic burger yesterday.  It was really good.

I took a nap this afternoon for a couple of hours.  I don't know what I'm going to do tomorrow when I can't nap.

When I got up I put a chicken in the oven to roast for dinner.  This is only the second time I have ever made a whole roast chicken.  But I was watching Martha Stewart yesterday and she had it on her show.  I thought, "That's easy.  You just put it in the oven."   So when we went to Shop Rite yesterday I got a chicken to try her recipe.  She put rosemary, garlic and lemon in the cavity before she trussed it.  I had all of that so I did that too.  It smells wonderful.  I have an hour before it's done though.  I have some cranberry sauce in the pantry, some Stove Top stuffing (yes I'm cheating, but I'm still sick *cough, cough*), and I got some brussels sprouts that I'll heat up.  I am making a good dinner tonight,

I finally got my Christmas decorations out of the window and put up my January snow.  I just hope we don't get tons of real snow.  The little bit we had this morning was fine.  It was gone by lunch time.  These aren't very good pictures, but I had a very difficult time trying to take them.  The snowflakes just didn't show up.  And yes, I have blue lights.



     It's really pretty in person because the snowflakes are all sparkly and reflect the blue lights.  I'll show you the rest of the January decorations as I get them up.

Saturday, January 5, 2013

I'M STILL SICK -- *SIGH*

I am so sick of being sick.  I feel better, try to do something, and end up going back to bed and sleeping.  Here it is after 9 p.m. and I still have not eaten dinner.  I don't feel like it, but I have to eat something in order to take my anti-biotic.  All I really want to do is sleep.

We were feeling better so Joe and I went to Sonic for lunch.  We both had gift cards, so decided to use one.  Joe had two Chicago hot dogs, onion rings, and a diet Dr. Pepper (his favorite).  I had a cheeseburger, tater tots and a lemon slush (of course).  It was really good.  Then we had to get gas and go food shopping.

I hadn't gotten very far into the food shopping before I had to run to the bathroom and was sick.  I guess my digestive system wasn't up to Sonic food yet.  It was sort of embarassing because there were a lot of people in the restroom, but what was I going to do?  So we finished up, came home, and I slept for about 2 hours.  I'm feeling better now.  But now you see why food has no interest for me.  

On a lighter note, Joe found a gift that he forgot to give me for my birthday.  I just love it.  It's Buddy the Birthday Bear.

Isn't he cute?  He's really soft and cuddly.  I love teddy bears.  You can tell by my shirt.  :)
 

 I watched some more of the Mummers' New Year's Day parade yesterday.  I finally finished the comic divisions and started on the fancies.  At the rate I'm going it's going to be February before I finish.



The only good thing about being sick is that I have no appetite and I have lost 3 lbs.  Yes!  My goal is 52 lbs this year (a pound a week) which I think I can do.

I've got to take it easy tomorrow because I go back to work on Monday.  Let's see how that works out.