Blueberry candles...

I went to the doctor yesterday...again...this time specifically for my migraines.  He asked me how I was doing with the Topamax he gave me last week.
Oh.
You know, I vaguely remembered him giving me that sample packet, and a prescription, and saying it would help my headaches...but what I really heard was that it would make me sleepy, so, I didn't take it.  Didn't even think about it anymore. 
Turns out that was the wrong move.
My doctor very gently explained why I start taking minimal doses...at bedtime...for that very reason...etc., etc.
I humbly agreed to take the medicine he prescribes for me from now on.  I also now have to take some kind of blood pressure medicine, along with 800 mg Ibuprofen as needed, along with the happy medicine I was already taking.  Five different medicines in all...I don't think I'm THAT sick, actually, I just think he likes to write prescriptions.
I lit a blueberry candle when I got home from work ... that was about six p.m.  I've moved it from the living room into my bedroom, and I'm looking at it now.  For some reason it's just really calmed and contented me all evening...I don't know if it's because of the smell, or if it's because I lit it.
I have to go to bed now and I hate to blow it out.  Blueberry candles, what an epiphany...

I'm through...

My head hurts...
Why has my head hurt every day for the last month?  Why why why?
I take it back, I think there were two days this month that I didn't have to take any headache medicine.  But for the most part, it's been like today, my head gripped in this intense migraine that not even Excedrin can get rid of...
It's really affecting my rosy outlook on life, you know?
I got the bank straightened out, for now, and it only cost me $180 in overdraft charges.  Yes...$180.  My head hurts so much I'm not even calling them to complain...maybe if I feel better...someday...I'll have the strength to argue with them!
My daughter has finally gone to bed.  I practically had to beg...if I wasn't suffering this debilitating headache, she wouldn't have gotten past me and past her bedtime like this.  This is a sure indication that she's feeling better, since first she was doing something with her beads/craft kit...and then her fingernails didn't look right...and then she wanted to read the last chapter of her book. (sigh) Okay, there's no 'practically' about it, I DID have to beg!
Is there life outside this headache?  What's life like without this headache?  Are there people having fun out there, with no headaches?
Headache, headache...will you PLEASE GO NOW?!

Strange noises...

Catching up...
My daughter did have a sinus infection when we took her to the doctor, and they put her on Zithromax and something for the sinus drainage...
She was so miserable.  I took her last Sunday and they said bed rest, Motrin, etc. ... why couldn't they have given her the antibiotic then?  Is it because it was acute care?  (sigh) I'm just a little frustrated over having to take her BACK to the doctor just a few days later, even sicker...
But she is doing much better now.  I hope...I've said that before and then she got sick again!  But not this time, right?!!! 
I have so much I want to talk about, but by the time I sit down it's time for bed!  (okay, past time, since it's now 3:12 a.m. and I have to get up at 6 a.m.!).  I'm going to be sensible now and go claim my two and half hours sleep! :)
More tomorrow...

Whew!

There are some very bad things going on with my checking account this week...I've decided that ignoring it is the best course of action.
I thought my daughter was doing better, but she woke up twice last night, crying, with ear pain...I'm taking her to the doctor tomorrow morning.  That will make the fourth doctor visit for us, in the last five days...I'm hoping this is the last one for a while.  It seems to be just at night that she is having problems, once she gets up and gets moving she seems to be fine.  That makes me think it's drainage, causing her ears to hurt and her cough to get worse at night...I'm not sure, hopefully this doctor tomorrow will help us a little more!
I've been kind of out of sync and my journal is suffering because of it...I miss it!
My grandma wanted to know what we thought about drawing names for Christmas this year, instead of buying for everybody (not including the kids, they will get presents from everyone).  GREAT!  It means less presents for me, but also more money for me!  GREAT!  So I asked my mom how she thought we would do my boyfriend's gift, since he usually gets my mom and my grandparents something, and they get him something, but he doesn't buy for the rest of the family (aunts, cousins, brother, SIL, etc.), so we wouldn't want to put his name in and draw my SIL, for instance.
My mom was stumped by that one...until she glared at me and said, "You know, you would solve so many problems by just marrying him!"
"What? You want me to marry him so we can solve the present-giving issue?"
"Yes!"
LOL This is a new one!

Cold, oh so cold...

I haven't turned my heat on yet...and it's so, so cold in my house.  I have an old-fashioned floor furnace, and I have to vacuum it out before turning the heat on.  I meant to do it today, but of course I procrastinated all day long and didn't get it done.  Well, really, it's called "laziness".
I got caught by surprise last night by how cold it was and ended up sleeping with extra clothes on, and double blankets...I got so cold I put my bathrobe on as well, and nice warm socks.  This morning, when I got up, I turned on the stove, left the oven door open, and had to sat in front of it for a half hour before I felt warm.
I promise I will clean the furnace out tomorrow.  It has to be cleaned out before it's turned on...I made the mistake once before of getting too cold and turning it on in the middle of the night when I hadn't first cleaned it, and was promptly followed an hour later by the piercing sound of the smoke alarm.  It's very scary being woken up by that!  But at least I know it works...
Midnight Madness was ALL THAT and more...(Friday night - the first official college basketball practice for the University of Kentucky)...thousands of crazy UK fans milling around downtown Lexington in the middle of the night...huge roar from the crowd as they opened the doors to Memorial Coliseum.  All kinds of fun events inside led up to the 12:01 a.m. appearance of this year's team.  By far the most applause came when Ashley Judd (UK basketball's most famous fan) was introduced and walked into the stadium...she got a standing ovation...I think people were more excited to see her than they were to see Tubby Smith!  Well, okay, that's understandable, because you know, she's ASHLEY JUDD, but still...hello, basketball?...never mind. 
I had to take my daughter to acute care today, she is not feeling well at all...the doctor said they have seen quite a few patients there in the past few days with the same thing and it should clear up in a few days.  She went through stages allday, where she would feel really good and get out puzzles or start cutting paper...and then she would feel bad again and lay down for a while.  I wish she would have just rested all day, but it wasn't going to happen!
Tomorrow is parent-teacher conferences and her follow-up appointment (not for being sick, the other doctor).  I'm a little apprehensive, about both...
I hope this week goes well!

Around the world and far away...

My calendar here at home is still on September...I just noticed that.
That's nothing, I was in my daughter's room the other day and noticed hers was on July.
I've always been vague, and floaty.  Today, influenced by Angel's journal, I thought briefly about opening my eyes and looking around at my life and relationships.
Then I realized why I'm vague, and floaty...what if I look around and don't like what I see?  What if I have to make a change? 
I'm putting my head back in the sand now...maybe sometime in the future I'll try again.
GOOD NEWS:
Today was the big day...Donna and Steve finally have Mackenzie!  I'm so happy for my dear friends...this has been a long, long time coming.  They'll be in China for another 1 1/2 weeks, then they're bringing her home!

Just a little silliness...

I sent C off to school this morning, headache-free...still stomach-achy, but I'm attributing that more to going-to-school jitters since I hear that from her roughly every single morning before school, and never on the weekends (!)...
And then I went off to work, with a massive headache...
I had 50 new emails waiting for me when I got there...
A huge stack of paperwork...
In 45 minutes I had three different people come to my desk with major problems that they've apparently been holding onto for me to handle when i got back...my mind swimming with news of a lost $5000 check...a $1.2 million combined shipment...a refund gone awry...
All I wanted to do was finish eating my granola bar (peanut butter and chocolate chunk, please don't think for a minute that it's anything remotely healthy!), drink my first diet Pepsi of the day, and take my three Excedrin Migraines, while scrolling through my emails.
So when I got the following silly email, it made me laugh and I had to post it, even though some of the things NO ONE will understand unless they've lived here, and some of the things are typical of every city, I'm sure...but I still love it!  I have added some disclaimers here and there, though...
You Know You're From Louisville When...
Your "International" airport has only one passenger flight that actually leaves the 48 contiguous U.S. states.
The in-state sports rivalry is given more attention than the national championship.  (1)
You live in an area that occasionally gets considerable snowfalls, floods, and tornadoes... but has no capacity to deal with any of the above. 
You pronounce the name of your city different than anyone else you've heard.  (2)
You ask your doctor for an allergy cure and he tells you to "move."
You've shoveled 10+ inches of snow and worn shorts in the same week.
When people ask what school you went to, they don't mean Vanderbilt, Yale, or Harvard; they mean Male, Manual, Trinity or St. X.  (3)
You know what the Bambi Walk is.
You make an emergency run to Kroger for bread and milk at the first sighting of a snowflake.
At least four times a year, you see a semi truck wedged under the train tracks down by U of L...and the truck driver shaking his head at the clearly marked sign that said his truck wouldn't fit...
You've lived here for years, yet somehow you get hopelessly lost each time you attempt a shortcut through Cherokee Park.
You're convinced turn signals are useless options on a vehicle.
You hold up traffic to let a motorist you don't know into your lane.
You have never been to the Derby, but wouldn't miss the Oaks.  (4)
You call in sick to attend the Oaks and spot your boss - who also called in sick - at the next betting window. 
You think all the REAL hicks live in New Albany.
You think the only thing Southern Indiana is good for is buying pumpkins.
You've built a shrine to Rick Pitino in your basement.  (5)
You want another bridge built over the Ohio River, just so long as it doesn't cut through YOUR neighborhood.
You've experienced a "salt storm" after a two-inch snowfall.
You actually get these jokes and pass them on to other friends from Louisville.
disclaimers...: )...
(1) unless, of course, your team has recently won the national championship and lost the in-state game!
(2) and you occasionally pronounce it differently yourself, depending on your mood.  Right now, I'm pronouncing it like this: "LEWUHVUL".
(3) LOL at this one, I went to one of those 'chosen' schools listed and it's true, I'm insufferably proud of it!
(4) Come on, of course I've been to the Derby!  And worked the Derby a few times, too...but the Derby is an occasional thing, tempered by years of getting up the nerve to face the traffic, whereas the Oaks is a MUST, every year.
(5) It's depending on your blue/red affiliation as to whether you STILL have the shrine...
I don't...LOL!
I'm pretty sure we're going to Midnight Madness down in Lexington this Friday...I'm so excited!

Stand

I realized that it's been a while since I posted anything.  I've been terrifically busy, getting nothing done...
We survived the weekend...my weekends are so busy I almost long for Monday.
My daughter is feeling better.  Or so she says.  I'm still worrying about the headaches...she didn't complain all day Saturday, but tonight she said she had a headache again.
We went to Six Flags Saturday for the FrightFest.  Of course, she and I both are big scaredy-cats and wouldn't go in the Haunted House!  She rode some roller coasters, we played some games, and my boyfriend limped around with a grimace on his face (courtesy of rheumatoid arthritis - he's only 36!).  It was a great time!
We saw a beautiful tree this weekend in fall colors.  My daughter coined it "Sunset Red".
I walked around a corner and saw the huge wooden rollercoaster at an angle from which I had never seen it before...I was amazed by the beauty and symmetry of it.  It's wonderful that people can design such things.
One of my 5th-graders in Awana tonight finally was able to memorize the Old Testament books of the Bible.  She's been trying to do this since April, and has been unable to get past the first three...she has some learning disabilities and it just seemed an insurmountable task.  I did some research on a different way for her to learn it...the best suggestion I saw was divide it up, and let her say it in sections, and once she gets past a section, that's it and she never has to go back to it.  Tonight I sat down with her and it was absolutely amazing!  Just the simple act of dividing it up and going over it in bits clicked something inside of her brain, and she was able to breeze through it.  She was so proud of herself, and I was so proud of her!  I really love that part of working in Awana...
I'm a little apprehensive about going back to work tomorrow.  It's a combination of not being sure how my supervisor tookme taking three days off unexpectedly, and the fact that I haven't been there in so long...I've gotten used to staying home, and I really like it.  Also, while I've been off, I discovered 'Charmed' comes on at 9 a.m. every morning and I'm going to have to start videotaping it so I don't miss anything.  I may also set the timer to pick up DS9 while I'm at it...most of the TNG episodes I already have, at least.
Obviously, it only takes a few days for me to get completely addicted to the TV.
I still haven't got my ducks in a row, quite...I'm working on it.  I still have a nagging worry about my daughter...wondering if it will ever go away.  I didn't take my medicine today...forgot.
Saturday afternoon, before going to Six Flags, we stopped over at my nephew's soccer game.  It was hard-fought...exciting...and suddenly there seemed to be twice as many players on my nephew's team than on their opponents'!  They were scoring goals!  What's happening here?!
Wait...
Oh, I see, two of the other teams players are over there...they chased the butterfly to the edge of the field...they're jumping in the air...butterfly is gone now...they're giving it up and sauntering back to join the game.
There is nothing more fun than watching three-year-old boys and girls playing soccer!

Curious sense of inertia

I can't get moving...
I've gotten back into playing Solitaire, Vegas style.  I'm currently -$653.  I just need one more hand, one more hand, so I don't lose my house...
My daughter didn't go to school Tuesday, or Wednesday.  I stayed home with her, even though I didn't have any days left at work.  Who needs a job?
She went back to school today and I thought, okay, why not take another day off (and really be poor)?  This way, I can get rid of some stuff in her room!  I can never get rid of anything in there while she's home, because she absolutely NEEDS everything she has.  She has stuff in there she hasn't looked at in ten years.  So I got a garbage bag for all the McDonald's toys and scrap paper, and a box to put books in.  She has the same book problem I do, too many books and too little space.
I was really getting somewhere, too, but then I got a call from school to go pick her up, still sick.  So I go get her, bring her back home, and WWIII starts when she realizes I've messed with her books. ! ! ! 
I don't know what I was thinking.  I'm very possessive of my books, and, guess what, so is she!
She was very mad at me.
85% of the books that I had packed to go to Salvation Army are now back on the shelves.  She begrudgingly let me have the other 15%, only because they are books that she either had duplicates of, or never finished because she didn't like them..
I hope she feels better tomorrow...I'm a little worried because she's complaining of a headache, and that's rare for her, especially off and on for two days now.  I hear tummy ache often, but not headache.  I'm taking her to the doctor tomorrow if she still doesn't feel well in the morning.
Otherwise, things are going okay...still having some problems but I'm working through them.  I have a beautiful daughter, and wonderful family and friends.  I'm very blessed and thankful to be here!
 

Thanks, Gordo

Faith 7
Gemini 5
American hero...
Always cool...
 The Mercury 7: From left to right, Scott Carpenter, Gordon Cooper, John Glenn, Gus Grissom, Walter Schirra, Alan Shepard, and Deke Slayton.
For an exaggerated Gordo, read The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe (or see him portrayed by Dennis Quaid in the movie of the same name!)...
For the real Gordo, read his fascinating autobiography, Leap of Faith: An Astronaut's Journey into the Unknown, published in 2000.
Yes, he really did take a little nap while waiting out the interminable countdown on the last Mercury flight.  Cool, I tell you!
He lived a full and amazing life.  I'll always appreciate what he did for the space program.  Though his life extended far beyond his astronaut years, here is what he wrote just a few years ago, in the final words of his autobiography:
"I was asked recently what I would do if an alien spacecraft landed in my backyard and offered me a ride.  "Would you go or stay, Gordo?"
"Stepping aboard a ship from a distant world could result in something more than an afternoon joyride, I know.  If there is interdimensional travel - and I believe there is - I could return to "Earth time" and find my loved ones and friends long deceased.
"I love my wife and daughters, and I enjoy spending time with my friends and old flying buddies, and I would miss them all.  But I'm still an astronaut at heart.
"I'm going."
Gordon Cooper, NASA Mercury Pioneer, Dies

Dawn is breaking

When we first moved to Germany, I was ten years old, and, as an Army brat, used to moving.  What I wasn't used to was living somewhere where my grandmother wasn't just a weekend visit away...she was a whole ocean away!  I thought I would die of homesickness - in this case, home meant my grandparents.
The first little town I lived in...

That's me in the apron and white hat...the town held a parade and invited some of the Americans living on their economy to participate.  My brother is holding one of the flags, my mom is the Indian, and my dad is the cowboy.
We were quite geeky.  Maybe we still are...