Thursday, May 29, 2008

Happy Birthday, Nannie!

Happy Birthday, Nannie!

On Saturday, we are going to Lynchburg because my Dad is having a tree dedication to my grandmother, Nannie, who passed away last October. He also has put in a flagpole to honor my grandfather. The dedication is at 4:00 pm on Saturday.

I had another bad dream last night. This time, there were bad storms that caused tornados. I was in my parents' old house, but I'm not 100% clear on who was with me, but I know Judilynn was there when the tornadoes started. The wind started picking up, and I looked out the window and saw a tornado starting right in the yard - I grabbed Judilynn and told her we had to get to the basement, but she was moving really slowly. The tornado started pulling us toward it, but we got to the basement door just in time. The storms went on for what seemed like hours, and when it was over, the house was destroyed.

I'm absolutely terrified of tornadoes, by the way.

The windshield wiper pump on my car has stopped working, so I need to drop my car off at the dealership tonight to get it replaced. Fortunately, it is still under warranty. So poor Hubby has to get up early tomorrow so I can drop him off at work and take his truck. It was after I'd stopped at a grocery store and 2 gas stations trying to find wiper fluid that I realized that the problem was the pump that was broken, and not that I had run out of wiper fluid. GRRR.

Tomorrow is Friday. YAY!

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Allergic Reaction

So it turns out that the skin rash I developed was caused by the medicine they gave me for my bladder infection, not a sun-allergy. After 3 days of being broken out, I finally put two-and-two together, and looked at the bottle of medicine to see side effects. It said if you break out in a skin rash, to call the doctor. Unfortunately, it was Friday night, so I had to call the "On-Call" doctor. He told me to hold off on the medicine, and that the first dose probably killed the infection anyway. As soon as I stopped taking it, I stopped breaking out. Whaddya know?

We booked a room for the weekend of our anniversary at the Virginia Crossings Resort (YAY!). We got the "Romance Package", which includes chocolate dipped strawberries, champagne, dinner for 2, breakfast in bed, and a late checkout. I'm quite excited! The resort is not far from where we live - maybe about 15 minutes - so we will need to find some other things to do around town that weekend. I love wineries, so we may hit one or two of those. They have a pool, golf, and a few other things to do at the resort as well. There is also King's Dominion, but I'm not a roller-coaster rider, and I think its kind of a crappy theme park anyway. Besides, it will be hot and crowded.

I must start making plans for our trip to Cali in July. My responsibility is to schedule our days in Los Angeles. I've printed some "suggested itineraries" from Frommers, but I haven't taken the time to sit down and plan everything out. The trip to Cali is the weekend after our anniversary, so its going to be a busy time for us. If anyone has suggestions, let me know.

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Memorial Weekend

Wow, what a great Memorial weekend. The weather was absolutely gorgeous all 4 days (I’m including Friday). It was quite the fun-filled weekend.

I spent most of Friday cleaning up around the house, but I snuck out in the afternoon to pick up Scott’s birthday present. I got him a Craftsman 10” table saw. The tricky part was hiding it from him all weekend until his birthday on Sunday – for this, I had our friends Steve & Phu hide it in their garage until I went to pick it up on Sunday. More on that later.

Scott’s mom came in about 8:30 or so on Friday night. We spent the evening chatting, and I got to bed at a reasonable hour because I had to get up very early the next morning to prepare for the cookout. I woke up around 6 and finished up the cleaning I didn’t get to on Friday, then started cooking. I fixed baked beans, Baked Spinach Fiesta dip, crab dip, pasta salad, chocolate éclair cake, and then had chips & salsa and some potato chips. My mom brought mashed potatoes and macaroni & cheese as well as brownies and a cake. She probably brought more stuff than that! Mandy brought pasta salad, and a few people brought cookies and cakes. In addition to all that, we of course had hamburgers, hot dogs, and barbeque chicken legs. So we had a TON of food.

We had a great turnout – about 20-25 people. It started at noon and people stayed until about 3:30 or 4:00. We played ladder ball, bocci ball, & Frisbee. The firefighters on scene (Bobby & my cousin Scott) had to fish some of the balls from ladder ball out of the tree a couple times (see pic). The kids played on the jungle gym. The weather was great – about 70 degrees and breezy, so it wasn’t too hot at all. After everyone left, my immediate family had a relaxing evening hanging out around the house. It was a great day. The other pic is of my dad and Ryne playing ladder ball. Ryne called the red balls "Cherries". LOL.

On Sunday, my plan was to wake up early, go get Scott’s birthday present, and put it in the garage until it was time to open his presents. However, Scott foiled my plan by waking up early and going to Lowe’s to get some things to work around the house! So, once he left, his mom and I ran to get his gift, then took a quick stop by the grocery store, and ended up hiding his gift in the back of my car with a garbage bag over-top of it. He was still very much surprised when he found out what I’d gotten him. I think he was very happy with it! We spent Sunday afternoon riding around and stopping at a few stores with the family. Anne & Scotty left Sunday evening to go back home.

On Monday morning, Bonnie (Scott’s mom), Scott and I went to Panera for breakfast, then went by Lowe’s for a little bit. We bought some Gerber daisies to plant around the mailbox. After leaving there, we took Bonnie to the train station. The drive up to Ashland from our house is beautiful. Her train was about an hour late, so we were there until about noon. On the way back, we stopped at 2 nurseries that we saw on the way there, and I bought a BEAUTIFUL hanging plant of Petunias – they are a couple different shades of purple. It’s HUGE! We bought a deck hook, and hung it on the back deck. We spent the rest of Sunday working in the yard, cleaning out the gutters, and doing some planting. Overall, it was an excellent weekend. And now, back to the grindstone. :(

Friday, May 23, 2008

Rose Bushes & Bad Dreams

On my way home from work yesterday, I went back to the nursery and bought a rose bush. It's so pretty!!! It's called "Sexy Rexy" and its pink. I'm quite excited, and hoping Scott is going to finish all the planting tonight. I also bought a Mandevilla, which is similar to a Clematis but its an annual. It's a vine that grows quickly and produces large flowers. We are hoping to grow it up our mailbox this summer.

In going to the nursery, I completely forgot to go to the gym. I've been terrible about getting out there recently, mostly due to multiple health issues. I went 3 times a week for a month straight, then I had to have skin surgery and couldn't go for 2 weeks. Since then, I've had a lot of things going on and it has messed up my schedule. Next week, I will get back to my 3 times a week routine. I need to go today to get my measurements done, but I don't think I even want to know. Bleh.

Once I got home, we went to Sam's to stock up for the cookout. The problem is, we are not having 500 people. We bought hamburger patties and cheese, then went to Kroger for everything else. I hope I got everything I need! I'm pretty sure I did.

Today I will get off work early and spend the afternoon cleaning up. Scott's mom gets here tonight - her train is supposed to arrive at about 7:40, but they are almost always delayed. I'll be shocked if she even gets here by 8:30.

I had a terrible dream last night. Scott, Amy and I were on a boat leaving the shore. I was in the back of the boat doing something and Amy & Scott were up front. The water was rough, and we hit some huge waves. The boat apparently went underwater temporarily, and I was struggling to get air. Finally, everything was calm again, but when I looked up front, both Amy & Scott were unconcious! Another boat was going by, and I screamed for help. The boat stopped and 5 or 6 people got off of their boat and onto ours to help Amy & Scott. They both eventually came back to conciousness, but were not in good shape. Then I woke up. Scary dream!

Thursday, May 22, 2008

Sick & Slightly Stressed

I have anxiety about being sick. Not about getting a cold, but about being physically ill, as in vomiting. I tell my husband he'll have a heck of a time ever convincing me to get pregnant. In all seriousness, whenever I get the slightest notion that I am getting sick, I get really anxious. I get shaky and panicky, which only makes matters worse. The last time I went to the doctor, I told him about this and he prescribed me some medicine to take whenever that happens.

On Tuesday, on my way to work, I realized I had a bladder infection. Anyone who's ever had one knows the symptoms, and you know immediately when you have one. Nothing else feels like that. The doctor couldn't fit me in until Wednesday at 2:30. So on my way home from work, I stopped by the drug store to get some over-the-counter meds to hold me over until I could get antibiotics.

At 3 am on Wed morning, I woke up not feeling well at all. I was sweaty and lightheaded and the anxiety began. So I went downstairs and took one of those tiny little pills the doctor gave me. Within 15 minutes, I was calmed down and fell right back asleep. It was like magic! The problem was that I slept right through my alarm. I woke up at 7 feeling so groggy that there was no way I could have driven to work. I had to call in sick. My doctor's appointment was at 2:30, so I told him what happened and he said to take just half a pill next time, but the good news was that it worked. He gave me meds for the bladder infection as well, which now feels much better.

I'm a little concerned about the cookout, and how little time we have to prepare! We spent last night doing yardwork. I planted more impatiens and vincas, and Scott planted Azaleas. I wanted to get some rose bushes, but we couldn't agree on what kind. I want big, pretty, full roses and he wants a shrub, which doesn't have as pretty of roses. Nonetheless, it looks like we are going to have beautiful weather for the cookout - sunny and 75!

OH! And adding to the bit about being sick - I was in the sun for MAYBE 30 minutes at the nursery looking at rosebushes, and when I got home, I had a sunrash all up and down my right arm. This is not the first time I've gotten it, but its one of the worst cases I've had. I looked into this, and it appears I have PMLE (Polymorphic light eruption) which is an allergy to the sun which begins in young adulthood. Scientists can't explain it, but you usually "grow out" of it by age 40. At least I have something to look forward to when I turn 40!

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

This is all new to me

OK, so I've never had a blog before, and I'm not even sure where to start. Once I'm finished with this first blog-post, I'll decide if I actually want to share it with anyone.

So life is good right now. I've been married almost a year! It will be a year on June 29th, which is so hard to believe, its unreal. Scott and I have finally settled in to married life, which is something we couldn't do for the first 6 months of marriage. We had just bought a house, other friends were getting married, my grandmother passed away, then the holidays were upon us. Life was crazy in 2007, and its been a wonderful 2008 so far.

This spring has been a lot of fun, as we've been able to focus on the final touches of our house - that is, the landscaping. I didn't realize how much I loved flowers until I was able to grow them in my own yard. We are preparing for a big cookout this weekend for Memorial Day - the whole family is coming - so we want the yard to look as nice as the inside of the house does. We are planting azaleas, vincas, impatiens...and if I get my way, we'll plant a couple rose bushes as well. I also want to have some games for the cookout - my brother has a bocce ball set, and I'm thinking about getting ladder ball as well. I've never played, but its sort of like a modern-day horse-shoes.

This past weekend, we went to the Cruisin' Ocean City car show in Maryland. We had a great time. Classic cars are not my thing, so I took some of my beading stuff and a good book, and entertained myself while Scott and Rob looked at the cars. I tried to stay out of the sun as much as possible, AND I used sunblock, and I still got burned. That's the last time I buy generic sunblock. I even managed to get sun rash on my hands and arms, and I was literally in the sun for maybe an hour, with sunblock. But anyway, the trip was a good one. Scott was bummed when it was over, as he now has to wait another year. It's without a doubt his favorite weekend out of the year.

So that's my life at the moment. See you next time.