Just like that, another weekend gone!
It’s amazing how every Sunday night Steve and I find ourselves saying that. I don’t know if that’s indicative of whether we are doing something good or just wasting away.
We actually were really, really productive though so I definitely don’t feel like we wasted it. After yesterday’s cleaning and shopping marathon, I woke up with no REAL sense of purpose today. So I spent the first two hours watching trash TV (Rock of Love Bus is so boring now that the uber-skanks are gone!) then I decided that I might as well accomplish something. I hung a bunch of pictures, finished the loads of laundry (note: they still have to be folded, along with the past few weekends of laundry. Does anybody else hate folding as much as I do?) and picked up a few other things.
Then, about four o’clock, I was plagued with another sinus headache. I knew it was because it we ran the heat last night and it was so dry in here when I woke up. So I took one 500mg tablet of Tylenol, which the doctor has told me I can do, and I think that was a mistake. Not long after that, I started feeling nauseous and really dizzy and the pain in my head was excruciating. So I laid down for a bit and that didn’t seem to help. Then I took a hot shower and laid down some more with an ice pack to my head. By the time I got back up at 7, I felt much better but I was still out of it. Fighting a headache like that has always taken a lot out of me. The pain can go away but it takes me hours to feel back to normal.
I hate having this problem because I always feel like “I have a headache” seems like such a lame excuse. But it’s not just a headache – it’s pain in my face, in my temples, underneath my skull that just feels like whole head is going to explode. It’s nausea, it’s dizziness, it’s weakness. Light and noise makes it worse. I can feel when there are pressure and temperature changes in the air. It’s something I’ve lived with all of my life and I’ve learned to sort of live with and control. Even when I’m in the throes of it, I feel self-conscious that people think I’m making a big deal out of nothing or that I’m faking, but it’s merely that I’ve lived with it for so long that I’ve learned to mask it, to push it aside until I’m absolutely at my breaking point and only then do I realize I need to just go home, take a hot shower, pop some Tylenol and sleep in a cool, dark room with an ice pack to my head.
It’s genetic and it’s something that can’t be fixed. I just have to learn to live with it. They’ve taken MRIs and injected my veins with dye while doing so to make sure everything is ok and the all came back normal and fine. I’ve taken Imitrex but haven’t gotten it replenished in years, partly because it’s expensive and I didn’t like the way it makes me feel.
Regardless, after that ordeal, I couldn’t force myself to do much more. Steve made dinner and we watched Lakeview Terrace which was pretty much just eh! Kind of what we expected it to be. (I Love You, Man, which we saw on Friday, was far more enjoyable, albeit a bit awkward to watch because Paul Rudd is so awkwardly adorable in it. Definitely go see that movie though because it was good – not just funny but a great story too.) Then we ate some ice cream, watched the season finale of East Bound and Down and did the last few loads of laundry.
Now I’m in bed watching Chelsea Lately and preparing for another week at work. My house is clean and organized and ready for our visitors on Friday, and I’m ready for the time off.
I can’t believe it’s almost April!
Despite feeling like I spent all of February doing absolutely nothing, I realize, looking back, that I actually accomplished quite a few things.
My house stayed in order, for the most part. I was remarkably on top of the chores and the laundry and the meal planning. This has fallen a bit to the wayside the past few days and I’ve gotten a bit slack, but I plan to sit down in the next few days and make some more lists (because they are the only way I can truly function) and get back on track. Spring is coming and on top of the normal daily household chores, I feel the organization and Spring cleaning bug coming on and am ready to tackle going through some of the places that we tend to just shove crap and forget about. I’d also like to hang pictures on the walls, as they are quite bare, and do some yardwork to make it look less, well, dead.
As I said in the last post, we blew through the first four seasons The Office, which I don’t regret one bit, despite feeling a bit sloth-like. That is a bandwagon I should have jumped on long ago. We also watched some fairly good and entertaining movies and just recently (and finally!) found a copy of Mario Kart for the Wii, so the boyfriend and I have bonded quite nicely over our mutual entertainment likes. He still hates some of the other crap that I make him watch but ah well, he can suck it up! Life is about compromise and compromise is me watching Rock of Love Bus – he can stay and watch with me or go somewhere else!
(Just saw a commerical for the premiere of America’s Next Top Model and all I’m thinking is ‘Already?’ and ‘Not Again!’. I was hardcore ANTM for the longest but I don’t know if I have it in me for another season!)
The whole teaching myself to knit was a fairly big accomplishment. At first, it was daunting and I got frustrated easily as I couldn’t even figure out how to cast on. Part of my problem is that I’m left-handed so all of the instructions were backwards. And even now, I assume I’m only doing things correctly because the stitches look like they do in the books. I can cast on, knit, purl and bind off. I have yet to master any form of fancy, like yarn overs, cable stitch, etc. and I am no where knitting anything that could be used for a purpose other than a washcloth, dishtowel or eventually, a rather plain and boring scarf. But I am doing it and I am learning slowly and like with everything, practice makes perfect! Maybe eventually, I can make Steve a hat.
I also borrowed the sewing machine from my mother, bought some patterns and some fabric and have yet to even attempt that. It’s not that I’m afraid. It’s just that … well, knitting needles don’t have to be plugged in. I am afraid that sewing is one of those things I am just not going to be adept at.
I am also pretty much doing all of this because I am cheap and want to make stuff at home that I would normally buy in a store. I always, always think ‘I am a smart, intelligent woman. If someone can make that shirt/hat/scarf/bag, etc., surely I can do it!’. I have yet to convince myself that there are certain things I am just not cut out for.
However, the biggest accomplishment in the month of February (and going into March) was altering my daily schedule. As of tomorrow, it will have been a week and while that’s certainly not the 26 or so days they say that it takes to form a habit, it’s a good start. Normally, because no one threatened my job or my livelihood or even acted like they noticed, I’d roll in around 9 or 9:30am to work. Now, I was working nine hours day, eating at my desk, staying until six and still running the work from home at night but I still felt awfully guilty about being the last one at work. Well, last week I got incredibly busy and decided that if I commuted into work with Steve and thus was forced to be ready in time to NOT make HIM late, then I could force myself to be into work at a decent hour. Except, he needs to be to work at the butt crack of dawn (7am, which means we have to leave her by 6:30) and we don’t even open until 8:15 or so. Needless to say, I spent the end of last week having a blissful hour and a half in the morning to blow through small daunting tasks without any interruptions and that, solely, made me want to continue doing it. So this week, I started getting up by myself at 6:00, the same time as him, but rather than rushing out the door, I take my time and get out of the door around quarter after seven. I’m still at work in time to enjoy a quiet hour or so and I don’t feel so rushed to get out the door in the morning. Plus, I can leave work earlier and enjoy what little is left of the sun (which will change next weekend – woohoo!) and take Sammy for a decent walk around the neighborhood (which we’ve also been doing). And all in all, I just feel so much more productive and energetic for it!
I’ve also made the bed before I left for work almost every day since the beginning of February. And that, my friends, is the best of them all!
At the end of the day, no matter what else has happened, turning down a nicely made bed just makes you feel like you got something done, in lieu of everything else that may have fallen by the wayside.
