Musings – Page 45 – Apron Strings for Emily

04 December 2008

Labs and Legos

What part of me thought that having my cholesterol levels checked a week after Thanksgiving was a good idea?! Oh, that’s right … I wasn’t thinking, that’s why!

Yes, this morning I get to go to El Doc’s office to have my blood drawn. And it’s supposed to see how I did after three months of being on a cholesterol-lowering drug. And if I did well with my low fat diet.

Uhm … methinks that I may have failed this test again. What can I say?! It’s been a stressful three months? Well, at least November turned out to be a good stressful month.

Okay quit making excuses, Em. I should just fess up and say that I totally suck at taking care of myself. Others? Sure, I can take care of them. After all, I’m a frickin’ Registered Nut — oh, I mean Nurse. But like many of my other health care professionals, I have this tendency to worry about others’ well-being rather than myself. After all, isn’t that the reason why I got into my G*d-awful state of depression in the first place? Thinking that my feelings of self-worth and health as it related to my infertility was nothing compared to others’ issues?

But once again, I digress. Perhaps this next year, with all the changes in store, will be a better year. And I can start focusing on myself again.

Which, by the way … I have officially cleared my background check (Yay! I’m not a criminal!) and can now officially announce to my current employer that I’m leaving as of the end of this month.

Anyhoo … really, what I was going to post about was my Hubby’s 8-year old cousin. Who, as he grows older, reminds me more and more of a school-aged To.bey Ma.guire in Sp.iderm.an (the first one, that is).

We saw this particular cousin on Thanksgiving, along with his older brother (who is 12 and is such a good kid ). He was one of those kids that decided to snuggle up next to me while watching a movie that night. And afterwards as we played Rock.band, I would listen to him tell me about stories at school. How his favorite subjects were science and math.

Holy crap, I thought, at that age my favorite subject was art and recess!! This kid, who has always loved to talk about hurricanes and tornadoes and other “natural disasters,” is going to be one heck of a smarty pants. Seriously. As if he’s not one precocious smarty pants now. At eight.

So that prompted me to ask him what he wanted to be when he grew up. “Uhm,” he said, as he cocked his chin up at an angle and propped his index finger on his cheek. “I wanna be a scientist.” Which I could totally see him being a meteorologist one day. Or a researcher in some university lab.

And then he added, “Or a Le.go designer.”

“A Le.go designer?,” I asked, kinda chuckling under my breath. “Why is that?!”

“Well,” he answered. “I’m really good at designing things with Le.gos and I have some reaally cool ideas!”

So there you have it. My Hubby’s cousin is a future Le.go designer. Or engineer. Or architect. Either way … he’s gonna be something special.

As if that wasn’t funny enough, that weekend while we were in suburbs of Chicago we happened to pass by one of the local shopping centers. And what do we see?! Uh-hmm. A Le.goLand store. So we just had to stop in to check it out. And right as you enter the store, there’s this massive face of none other than Albert Einstein, made completely of Le.gos.

Somehow, I think this could have been one of those ideas that Hubby’s cousin would think of, if he was already working for Le.go.

01 December 2008

A Quickie

No … not that kind. And not the “Afternoon Delight” kind either.

Nope … just wanted to post a quick one to say … Woo-frickin’-hoo!!! I finished 30 posts in 30 days!

Okay. So really, I wrote a post a day for 34 days in a row. But really, who’s counting? Oh yeah … me!!

And speaking of counting … today is officially my 200th post. Who’d a thunk I’d make it this far?!

But seriously, writing this past month has been very therapeutic. It has totally helped me get through one of the busiest and exciting months I’ve had in quite a while. And having done so, it has helped me put my priorities in order and my thoughts into action.

So … with that said, I hope to continue to write consistently. Maybe not every single day (otherwise Hubby would seriously take my lappie away and hide her permanently), but often enough to keep my life a little more sane. Besides, with all the changes happening in the near future, perhaps this is the one steady activity I’ll be having in my life until things settle down.

Thanks for reading my rambling and for all your comments. You guys just simply ROCK!!

29 November 2008

Show and Tell: Little Piggies

I decided to post my Show and Tell post today instead of tomorrow; mainly because I knew that I’d be seriously busy this weekend. We’re in Chicago again this weekend, which means yet another week of not having done laundry.

Yeah, I know. I suck. I just haven’t been feeling so hot lately. Tired, really. But I digress. Getting back to Show and Tell …

Since this past weekend was the “Stuff your face” type of holiday, where it’s expected that you eat tons of food, I thought I’d share with you a picture of the pigs I had as pets growing up. Ha ha … get it? Pigs?! (Okay I’m trying not to be lame …)

Except they’re not those kind of pigs. They were the guinea pig variety. And they were so adorable!!

Meet Flaffy and Fluffy. The short-haired American Guinea pigs that Dr. Bro and I got when we were about 8 and 10 years old.

You see, Flaffy and Fluffy were the family pets that were supposed to take the place of the dog that Dr. Bro and I always wanted. We were constantly reminded by our Dad that he was allergic to dogs, so we could never have one.

Flaffy, the predominantly white one, was mine. While Fluffy, the brown one was Dr. Bro’s. And yes, they were as cute as they look in the picture. And amazingly very cuddly, too. They loved to just sit on our laps, while munching on some fresh lettuce.

Sadly, Flaffy and Fluffy met an untimely death about two years later. A story that I’ll probably share in another post. Let’s just say that shortly after their passing and subsequent funeral in our backyard, our family dog, Muffin came into our lives.

So that’s my Show and Tell story for the week. Make sure you check out all the other Show and Tell blogs here!

28 November 200803 May 2010

Trip-Toe-Fan

That’s it. I’m officially on a Tryptophan trip. I’ve eaten enough turkey last night to hibernate for the rest of winter.

The turkey we had at my in-laws house last night was delish. I think what made it more tasty was the fact that the Thanksgiving lunch we had didn’t exactly have “freshly carved” turkey. But the company at the restaurant was worth any time spent there.

My 18-year old cousin, the one that recently had her cotillion, was there along with my parents and our other aunt’s (by marriage) mother. Unfortunately, my cousin’s mom and our shared uncle and his wife (said aunt previously mentioned) weren’t able to make it as they were all working.

Let me tell you. The fact that both my aunts still work as nurses in the “trenches” (read: bedside nursing) after more than thirty years is f*cking amazing and I’m so proud that they still do it. Because I sure as h*ll couldn’t do it anymore. But I digress …

It was just a great time, eating and talking, and watching the Lions lose (no shock there) at the restaurant. Which was then followed by going over my parents house to look at some of their recent pictures from their vacation in Greece and Turkey. Believe me, the irony that we were looking at pictures of Turkey on Turkey Day was not lost on all … well, at least me anyway.

Sandwiched in a "manly" iPhotoBooth — Being sandwiched in a "manly" iPhotoBooth pic

After that, it was a quick drive to our house, to pick up our Wii and other fun things and then it was off to the in-laws where we devoured that delicious turkey, watched the second Hulk movie with the boys (which included Hubby’s four younger cousins and our nephew), and finally played Rock Band and Wii Sports for the rest of the night.

Overall it was a wonderful day. The best moments of which were:

Sleeping in this morning and subsequently snuzzling next to Hubby.
Taking silly pictures and playing iTouch Air Hockey and Hangman with my cousin on the couch at my childhood house.
Sitting in my nephew’s room surrounded by all boys; three of which decided at one time or the other to snuggle up next to me.

Those moments … those snippets in time … they’re the ones that make the holidays memorable.

25 November 2008

Two Cokes …

… after 10:00 pm is never a good idea. And I know that, yet I still drank them. Grrr.

Last night, Hubby & I had the pleasure of dining at one of our favorite bars/restaurants with one of our good friends. And because it had already been a long day, I needed a little caffeine boost. Not to mention that it helped that tickle in the back of my throat.

When getting home, I knew that I would crash easily. What I didn’t expect was to wake up at 4:45-ish and toss and turn.

Of course, it really could be that I have a lot on my mind right now. Especially with the new job starting in (OMG!!!) about 6 weeks.

Or it could just be that I’m still not feeling as great as I could be. But at least now I’m being properly behind-the-counter medicated (read: prescription antibiotic and expectorant).

Instant Human Oh yeah … so the good news from El Doc is that it’s not pneumonia. (Whew!) But if I don’t get that gunk out of my upper chest and sinuses … it could quickly turn into it. (Crap!)

So yeah. It’s official. I do indeed have snot for brains (and apparently for lungs as well) … !

Now if you excuse me, I must find my next caffeine buzz.

And so the vicious caffeine cycle begins …