Just trust me. Watch these two in order.
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Sunday, August 15, 2010
My lazy Saturday wasn't as lazy as I'd planned.
I knew when I went to bed on Friday night that I would make it my goal for Saturday to be as lazy as humanly possible. But I failed. I mean, I didn't get any housework done or anything, but I was actually quite busy while trying to be lazy.
For a "lazy" day that sure was full of activity. Granted there was nothing really meaningful or productive in there, and I did spend half the day feeling incredibly bored. But... despite the fact that I coughed a little throughout the day I finally feel better. I finally feel like I've probably kicked this stupid bronchitis!
Today I have a new Whittle Steps client combined with an extended family session, so I'm really looking forward to that! And next weekend we're celebrating my sister's birthday at my mom's house, and David will be off work. So I'm happy that I'm feeling better and my usual activities can return to normal. I've been avoiding the nephews because they have been sick and I've been sick, and I miss them! It's time to plan another weekend outing with them! Yay!
- I got up super early, which is very unlike me.
- I made myself some pancakes for breakfast. David was still awake, but he had stopped to pick up some Diet Coke for me on his way home from work and got some breakfast then. In his defense, I usually don't get up before he goes to bed on the weekends.
- I bought the Hipstamatic app for my iPhone (which I verified through a friend isn't working right for me, probably because I don't have ios4 - and have no plans on upgrading). I took pictures of any pet that would sit still for me. Ha!
- I caught up on my RSS feeds while drinking lots of Diet Coke. Mmm.
- I caught up on Facebook.
- I designed some birth announcements for a Whittle Steps client.
- I ate hot dogs for lunch (which I don't think I'd had in a year or two - buying them was a strange whim at the grocery store last weekend).
- I gave in and bought two expansion packs for Hipstamatic... yeah, I have no will power.
- I cooked a pretty yummy dinner.
- I called my sister and wished her a happy birthday.
- I crocheted some on the prop I'm trying to make for newborn sessions. The middle part looks pretty good, if I may say so myself, but the edges where I have to turn around and go back the other direction... well, that part is horrid.
- I played Diner Dash on my iPhone.
- I added some more movies to our Netflix queue. It's going to take us YEARS to get through just what we currently have on there.
- I read some more Emma. It's getting better as I go and slowly becoming easier to read. Though I still stutter over things like "every body" instead of everybody and things like that. But the characters are squared away in my brain now and I don't need the cheat sheet anymore.
- I took a bubble bath.
- I played some Plants vs. Zombies on my laptop - and finally beat the adventure mode!
For a "lazy" day that sure was full of activity. Granted there was nothing really meaningful or productive in there, and I did spend half the day feeling incredibly bored. But... despite the fact that I coughed a little throughout the day I finally feel better. I finally feel like I've probably kicked this stupid bronchitis!
Today I have a new Whittle Steps client combined with an extended family session, so I'm really looking forward to that! And next weekend we're celebrating my sister's birthday at my mom's house, and David will be off work. So I'm happy that I'm feeling better and my usual activities can return to normal. I've been avoiding the nephews because they have been sick and I've been sick, and I miss them! It's time to plan another weekend outing with them! Yay!
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Classic books are so slow.
I'm trying to read Emma by Jane Austen. I've had the book on my shelf for a couple of years now (David and I stocked up on classics once when Barnes and Noble was having a really good sale) and recently discovered it was available for free Kindle download on Amazon. Since I'm really enjoying e-reading out of sheer convenience (my iPhone is always with me, therefore so is my current book) I'm giving it another go.
I had to go back and start taking notes on the characters involved in this book. So far I have 19 and I'm only on chapter three! (Okay, so that actually counts houses, too, because the houses are all named and I can't keep straight who lives where. So I'm considering the houses to be characters in my reference list.) It's embarrassing to admit that I can't keep this story straight in my head and have to take notes to get through it, but I blame it on the older style of writing. This is supposed to be a classic though, right? It's supposed to be one of those books every woman should read. I think I'd prefer a dumbed down version of it, though. Or maybe if I could tell yet what the plot is going to be about that would help. It just feels like it's taking forever to get off the ground. I'm reading out of curiosity at this point, wondering where the heck this is leading, rather than interest. And also because I'm invested with my half a page of notes on who the characters are!
But I've decided that I'm going to make myself read a classic book between each contemporary book (or, ah, perhaps contemporary series). I'm taking suggestions on the classics that just have to be read... I've already downloaded Wuthering Heights for eighty cents from Amazon and that one will probably be next. I'm also taking suggestions on contemporary books I should read. I'm really happy to be reading regularly again and actually finishing books. I went through a spell (that lasted a couple of years) where I didn't finish the books I started. But reading the Twilight series and then the True Blood series has kickstarted my reading drive and I'm craving it once again. And please don't take that to mean that I only want to read vampire novels, because I'm really open to pretty much whatever. I read those because they were suggestions from a friend, not because I went out in search of vampires. ;)
Also, an update on my being sick... I had a chest xray on Monday, and found out today that it was clear. I have stopped taking the cough syrup because I simply couldn't focus or function on it, and I went through a couple of pretty miserable days of withdrawals. That's some strong stuff! My chest is hurting again and I'm still coughing/congested but I'm NOT going back on the cough syrup. I've switched to Mucinex D and we'll see what happens. The doctor's office says since the xray was clear I should use Ibuprofen for the pain and just wait for it to "resolve on its own." That's helpful...
I had to go back and start taking notes on the characters involved in this book. So far I have 19 and I'm only on chapter three! (Okay, so that actually counts houses, too, because the houses are all named and I can't keep straight who lives where. So I'm considering the houses to be characters in my reference list.) It's embarrassing to admit that I can't keep this story straight in my head and have to take notes to get through it, but I blame it on the older style of writing. This is supposed to be a classic though, right? It's supposed to be one of those books every woman should read. I think I'd prefer a dumbed down version of it, though. Or maybe if I could tell yet what the plot is going to be about that would help. It just feels like it's taking forever to get off the ground. I'm reading out of curiosity at this point, wondering where the heck this is leading, rather than interest. And also because I'm invested with my half a page of notes on who the characters are!
But I've decided that I'm going to make myself read a classic book between each contemporary book (or, ah, perhaps contemporary series). I'm taking suggestions on the classics that just have to be read... I've already downloaded Wuthering Heights for eighty cents from Amazon and that one will probably be next. I'm also taking suggestions on contemporary books I should read. I'm really happy to be reading regularly again and actually finishing books. I went through a spell (that lasted a couple of years) where I didn't finish the books I started. But reading the Twilight series and then the True Blood series has kickstarted my reading drive and I'm craving it once again. And please don't take that to mean that I only want to read vampire novels, because I'm really open to pretty much whatever. I read those because they were suggestions from a friend, not because I went out in search of vampires. ;)
Also, an update on my being sick... I had a chest xray on Monday, and found out today that it was clear. I have stopped taking the cough syrup because I simply couldn't focus or function on it, and I went through a couple of pretty miserable days of withdrawals. That's some strong stuff! My chest is hurting again and I'm still coughing/congested but I'm NOT going back on the cough syrup. I've switched to Mucinex D and we'll see what happens. The doctor's office says since the xray was clear I should use Ibuprofen for the pain and just wait for it to "resolve on its own." That's helpful...
Saturday, August 7, 2010
My insurance sucks.
Thursday morning my chest was hurting when I woke up. The bronchitis had gotten substantially better and the cough had subsided for the most part but the chest pain and tightness made me worry. I decided to wait a while and see what happened but Friday morning it was worse and I was rattling pretty badly when I woke up. I called my doctor's office when I got to work and left a message for my doctor... whomever answered the phone said I was probably going to need a chest xray, which I figured as much. When I hadn't heard back from them by 2:30 on Friday afternoon I called back. At this point I was told the doctor had my message and they couldn't do anything until he had read it and responded; a nurse would call me and let me know.
Five o'clock rolls around, the office closes, and I haven't heard anything at all. I waited until six o'clock to give them time to make after-hours calls (and checked with my pharmacy to make sure they hadn't called anything in without letting me know) and then headed to the Baptist Urgent Care. My chest hurt. I felt like I wasn't getting enough air. I didn't feel like waiting until Monday for answers or whatever help I should be getting.
Dr. Russo at Baptist UC was really nice. He said my lungs sounded okay but that I needed a chest xray... and the xray department was already closed. Of course they were. So he wrote me a scrip for a chest xray and said to come back today. He also impressed me by writing "please" on the scrip. Just thought that was a nice touch.
I went in and it turns out Baptist UC doesn't use in-house xrays... I had to go next door to the imaging department. And my insurance requires an authorization for the xray since it's done outpatient and not under the UC billing. Otherwise I'd be out of pocket a little over $200. No, thanks. My doctor's office is closed, so I can't get an auth from them. I tried calling the insurance myself, went through the number options for emergency authorization and was told to hang up and call 911 or call my doctor's office. Grr.
Ultimately I decided not to get the xray. I could have called the on-call doctor to see if they would have it authorized after the fact, but that's risky. All I would really have would be the on-call doctor's word for it. I don't feel bad enough to go to the ER... in fact, I feel a smidge better today. Maybe the steroids the doc gave me last night are helping. Or maybe the fact that I'm back on the cough syrup almost full time is masking the pain since it has codene in it.
Either way I'm left following up with my primary care doctor on Monday to get the service that they should have provided me yesterday. I can't get the health care I need over the weekend without taking the chance of coming out of pocket for it or going to the ER. Ooooh, my doctor's office is going to hear it from me on Monday!
Thursday, August 5, 2010
I had a bad day.
Yep, that's my car. That's my bumper all smashed in. And part of the car beyond the bumper, too! My car that I absolutely LOVE and that has never had anything more than a tiny scratch... And so today I called to make my first insurance claim ever. :'(
This hasn't been the best two weeks for me. On July 24th I started coughing a little and had some of my normal sinus drainage. It quickly progressed into a full-blown nasty cough that the doctor diagnosed on the 30th as bronchitis. I also lost my voice for a full two days. I worked one of those days because I had so much court and just didn't answer my phone unless it was someone I knew I could whisper to! It was pretty miserable. But I got antibiotics, an inhaler, and some cough syrup on the 30th and things started looking up. Especially with the cough syrup. Heh heh heh.
So now I'm WAY better and have weaned myself off the cough syrup for the most part (I'm still taking it at night, but not during the day) but I'm still having random coughing and my chest hurts. And so when I got upset about my car today, that made my chest hurt even worse. And that just upset me more. And so I ended up canceling physical therapy because I needed to call the insurance and my chest hurt and I just couldn't make myself do it today.
Have I mentioned physical therapy yet? My kneecaps aren't in the right places. They're down and to the inside... which is unusual. The therapist said usually when they're messed up they go toward the outside. Ha! Not my dysfunctional body. Nope. Mine go toward the inside. And so we've been working on strengthening several muscles to get them in the right place, and I really think it was helping until I got sick. I couldn't do any of my home exercises while I was sick and I missed one appointment that week. Now I've missed one appointment this week because they didn't have anything available for me tomorrow. And that's all after I cut myself from 3 times a week to 2 because I have a $25 copay each visit. I just couldn't bring myself to spend $75/week for four weeks on copays!
So to sum it all up: My car has a big ugly dent in it, my chest hurts from coughing, and despite all the physical therapy I've done (and paid for!) my knees aren't progressing like they should.
I feel like I should post something positive, too. So I'm attempting to make my own fringe throw as a newborn prop. I've modified the pattern I bought a little so that I'm actually crocheting a base for it... I learned to crochet in middle school and haven't really done it much since then. But I went shopping last night and I'm just diving right back in! I spent quite a bit of money at Joann's so this prop better turn out to be very, VERY cute! I think I have a better understanding now of why people sell them for $75 on Etsy!
