I can still smell today - it's balanced now by a honking sinus headache I've had for 2 days. Beats sneezing I guess.
This is either funny or not, depending on how you feel about cats: Cats here. I should warn you: occasional rude language, much bad spelling and Harry Potter spoilers ahoy.
Have a good weekend, y'all!
This post is in response to Nancy's comments from my last post, concerning my allergies.
Oddly enough despite the asthsma attack, I have had no symptoms whatsoever, except (2nd verse, same as the first) swollen sinuses, swollen enough to prevent me from smelling very well. My nose isn't runny and my eyes aren't itchy at all. I attribute this improvement to 3 things:
1) Nasonex, which prevents the runny nose. Awesome stuff, I have been using it since I started skydiving (back in 96).
2) the removal of the carpet from my house. I really think this helped with the hay fever symptoms because I'm not having any. Plus, I sweep just about every day and I'm constantly amazed by the amount of dirt I sweep up. I was a lazy vacuumer in the first place, plus that carpet was from the 70's...! I had realized a little while ago that my sense of smell had completely disappeared not too long after we had moved into that house. I know because I had bought a plug-in air freshener thingy for the kitchen and I had complained to Jon that it wasn't working. He insisted the kitchen smelled like a flower shop.
3)The allergy shots. Clicky here for a good definition of what these do, and I swear they work for me. I got slack on these shots after my pregnancy and no amount of Nasonex in the world kept the hay fever symptoms away.
As far as my sense of smell goes, instead of being completely gone it comes and goes. It has been mainly gone this last month because of the weather (and plant sperm). I can improve my sense of smell (and taste) slightly with OTC nasal spray but I can't use that constantly so I tend to only snort the stuff when I make a particularly tasty dinner or we go out to eat. I use it maybe 2-3 times a week and never more than once a day with at least 48 hours in between uses. I also use a saline wash (NeilMed) to keep my sinuses rinsed out. I try to do that once a day but sometimes I'm lazy.
I took my last dose of Prednisone this morning, and I am interested in seeing how long my sense of smell lasts. On a scale of 1-10 I would say my sense of smell is at a 9 right now. I can smell the coffee I bought, that general ozone smell a place with a bunch of electronics get, my deodorant (Arrid Extra-Dry), and the Tropical Coconut hand lotion I use. I can walk down the hall and smell everyone's perfume and after-shave. It's quite nice.
Hooray! Starbuck is alive!!! And Tigh is a .... cylon ....
I guess I'll figure it all out in 2008.
My sympathies to those of us with allergies in the Southeast that woke up last weekend to find a ton of plant sperm deposited on their vehicles. Many people around here are walking around with their eyes almost puffed shut. I have been doing fine, but I had an interesting trip to the allergy clinic last Friday for my shot.
Due to the pollen overload I guess my immune system was already stressed out and I had a severe reaction to my shots. I developed a pretty classical athsma attack. The doc loaded me with epinepherine (whee!) and when I could finally breathe again he gave me some Claratin and a prescription for Prednisone.
Prednisone is the fine medication that allows me to smell things like a normal person, so at least there's that nice side effect. I won't be able to use any while on vacation because the possible side effects of continued usage are not something I particularly want to experience.
I bought monkey-boy a small swimming pool and actually got some yard work done this weekend. As long as he has a pool to splash around in and a hose to spray I don't have to chase him down the driveway every 2 minutes to keep him from running into the street. Plus, I get my lawn watered.
I had big plans last year for the landscaping at our house but it looks like all I'm going to do this year is get rid of every single frickin bush that surrounds our house. I ripped up the degenerating cloth weed barrier (pulling up a ton of weeds that have grown on top of it - see photo) and layed down some new mulch. Once I actually figure out what I want to plant I'll be working in some compost into the soil. I want tiny, pretty plants not obnoxious bushes that need to be in barrier hedges. I'm also going to remove the uneven plastic edging that separates the "landscaping" and the "grass" (see photo). I haven't decided whether to replace the barrier with bricks or maybe some sort of edging grass. I'm leaning towards the brick barrier but that might be too time-intensive.
Monkey-boy, incidentally, managed to scrape a cheek, both knees, and garner a bunch of other little bruises and scrapes this weekend. He loves being outdoors! I brought him in on Saturday after one good knee scrape and only then did he howl. I gently dabbed at his knee with a warm, wet washcloth and he snatched it away from me and scrubbed at his kneecap. He looked puzzled, like he couldn't understand why the pain wasn't coming off. I put his feeding chair on the floor in front of the TV and propped his leg up on a pillow and we ate dinner watching Spongebob. Normally we eat in the kitchen but I felt like babying him a little.
What we're watching:
It's been tough to watch movies at our house with Monkey Boy around but we've managed a few. We watched A Scanner Darkly the other night, and it is perhaps the finest adaptation of a Philip K. Dick story ever ( other adaptations: Blade Runner, Screamers, Minority Report, and Total Recall). Directed by Richard Linklater and starring Keanu Reeves (and the well-cast Robert Downey, Jr. and Woody Harrellson as 2 paranoid stoners - this movie only missed Mathew McConaughey and his bongo drums), it's a story about the drug war in the not-too-distant future. It was also shot live and then run through an animation process known as "interpolative rotoscoping" which IMHO gives the movie that perfect disconnected-from-reality feeling that you get if you have ever read any of Dick's work. Two thumbs up, but it would be a big mistake to watch it with your mind altered in any way.
Other than that it's been T.V: 24 is still the same old 24 - lots of running around and trying to find the bad guys. Lost is still the same old Lost - lots mysteries coming out of mysteries without any real resolution. Battlestar Galactica is still Battlestar Galactica: ripping my heart out of my chest and stomping on it every chance it gets.
I'm not just talking about Starbuck's suicide ("Hey, Starbuck: what do you hear?" "Nothing but the rain") - this show keeps echoing its past in ways that just make me cry. Lee and Bill mended their rift when Starbuck was lost and presumed dead way back in season 1. Now they are both so lost in their bergs of grief the rift is back, bigger than ever. And then Lee went and pressed Laura on the witness stand and Laura begged him to stop ("Captain Apollo... that has a nice ring to it") and managed to remind us of their once friendship just as Lee destroys whatever was left of it for good.
I thought this show was starting to slump some during the latter half of this season but it has managed to wake me up just in time to beat me senseless. Sunday is the last ep of season 3 and I'm not sure I'm looking forward to it or not.
Here is a link to some great photos that illustrate my favorite place in the world: Wish I were Here.
Letter to Brenden, Month 20, 21:
I just realized I skipped month 20 and I'm late with this letter, too. Your mommy is a slacker, honey. I hope you didn't inherit my slacker genes. Considering your excess of energy, I am thinking you didn't. You still refuse to associate words with a better form of communication, preferring to grunt, gesticulate, and lead us around by the finger to get what you want from us (and pitch a hissy-fit when we say "no"). You are Drama Boy now, as well; after you pitch a fit you will give us the grand poopy face and sigh. Man, it's funny! And where do you get that crap?
Physically you are the 2 year-old equivalent of a jock. Dad took you to the park the other day and let you play on the jungle gym. Your fearlessness turns my head more grey than it is but I am also impressed, especially with the way you love to throw yourself down the slide head-first, laughing all the way into the gravel pit.
Around the beginning of the year dad and I decided we needed to get out more, so Wednesdays are Family Night and we take you to various restaurants. You do pretty well, all considered. We take you to the van for a little time-out if you get too vocal (no one likes a screeching child to accompany their meals). But you get it out of your system fast and we've never had to just leave.
Speaking of food, you are pretty flexible. You won't eat most vegetables except peas and green beans (so I feed you a lot of peas and green beans), but you are an avid fruit connoseur and will eat most forms of protein I have offered (as long as it isn't too chewy). You have discovered the wonder that is ketchup, and will eventually eschew the foods I offer along with the ketchup and simply dip your hand in the wonderous substance and lick your fingers off. You will also decorate your face and hair, clothes, and surrounding furniture but that's ok. That's what garden hoses were made for.
The oddest food preference you have (in the category of fruit connoseur) is your love of lemons. I always give you my lemon out of my iced tea at the restaurant and you always lick and chew and eat much of it (all the while making faces). Last night, however at the Mexican place, you decided to squeeze the lemons we gave you all over your lap. That's the first time I have ever had to change a diaper with a fresh, lemony scent.
52 days to go until vacation! I'm still at 129 pounds. I can't convince my body to lose more, for some reason. I won't cry about it - 129 is better than 150, which is what I weighed this time last year.
I owe Brenden a letter this month. I'll get to it later. I'm feeling lazy (and what else is new?), so here is 2 Memes, lifted from Helly who lifted from Basil:
1. The phone rings. Who are you hoping it is? A wrong number. I don't particularly enjoy phone conversation.
2. When shopping at the grocery store, do you return your cart? Yes. It's just wrong not to.
3. In a social setting, are you more of a talker or a listener? I'm a listener.
4. If abandoned alone in the wilderness, would you survive? As long as I didn't panic I think I would be okay. All them hunting magazines I've read in doctor's offices seem to indicate panic is the #1 killer of people who are lost.
5. Do you like to ride horses? No. I am allergic to horses something fierce. Sandy <---> Horses = Matter <---> Antimatter
Lasts:
1. Last kiss: Last night, just before Brenden and I left the drop zone. Jon was staying over because he has to work on the King Air today.
2. Last beverage: Coffee. Will probably be my next 10 beverages.
3. Last movie watched: Talladega Nights - so that's Sacha Baron Cohen. It was funny, and despite the gayness I don't think I ever heard the word "fag".
4. Last phone call: Jon, wishing me good morning.
5. Last CD played: I can't remember that far back. I'm pretty much an XM person, particularly XM Kids. I've discovered I like happy tunes with goofy lyrics.
6. Last "i love you": End of last Phone Call.
7. Last time you cried: Last Monday, March 5th. At the end of a TiVo'd ep of "Battlestar Galactica". Starbuck died! May I please have a moment of AUGH!? I guess Tigh's title of the biggest Asshole in the Fleet is now unchallenged.
8. Last alcoholic drink: Last night, I had a Miller Light while watching Spongebob with Brenden just before bed. Brenden had his own sippy cup of milk.
I would like to blame the lack of blogging on a hardware failure (one of my disk drives crashed & burned) but that's simply not true. I simply don't have much to blog about. I'll do a point-by-point recap of some random thoughts that I wanted to blog about:
Diet: 129 pounds. I will most likely not lose that much simply because I'm almost back where I was with weightlifting before I got pregnant. I have come to realize a heavy weight workout makes me hungry beyond belief. I decided to compromise and eat more (but still enough to lose) so weight loss will be slower. Yes, any muscle I build will be heavier than fat but eventually that will plateau out.
Brenden: He loves pushing himself on his little tricycle (he hasn't gotten the hang of pedaling) up the driveway, then pushing himself down the driveway until he has built up speed. He gets pissed if I try to hold on, so I just run next to him in case he takes a spill (or a car comes). So my little monkey is a speed freak.
Vacation: 60 days and counting! I have bought a pair of women's board shorts for a swimsuit - I'm so glad that they are available! I fricking hate bikinis. Not only because of my flabby buttocks. I'm tired of pulling my swimsuit out of my crack constantly.
What I'm watching: Spongebob, mostly. My favorite ep is where Spongebob, Patrick, and Squidward go camping together in their yards and Spongebob sings "the Campfire Song Song" and Squidward gets attacked by a sea bear. I'm also fond of the episode where Spongebob and Patrick learn a 'sentence enhancer' and use it liberally. The soundtrack substitutes the sound of a squeaking dolphin, but it's a lot of fun to imagine the worst word possible when they're using it. I know Brenden watches it because of me, but Spongebob is such an unthreatening cheerful character, even if he does use an occasional sentence enhancer.
