May 2007 Archives

I love it when the dogs curl up next to or on me, but I wish they wouldn't plop right down on my damn cyst. 9.something pounds of wiener dog doesn't feel like much until it's on a tender spot.

I'm steadily working on my early Christmas shopping goal, and the Memorial Day sales at the Disney Store helped me out quite a bit. I picked up almost all of H's presents and have almost everything for one of my nieces too. Ha! (This was another of those rare scenarios where procrastination pays off: the Disney Store had a "30% off" promotion because of the release of Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, and that ran until midnight, Monday. I planned to place an order all weekend but, true to form, I kept putting it off until Monday rolled around and I had to order or miss out on the promotion. Before I placed my order though, I got an e-mail from the Disney Store with a code to take an extra 15% off on all their outlet stuff. I LOVE getting neat stuff at a discount.)

Miraculously, my bug bites stopped itching overnight.

My current leg-only bug bite total is up to 17 (10 on my left leg, 7 on my right).

PS: In the absence of magic anti-itch gel, Mike suggested I use deodorant. I was skeptical at first, but as I got more and more itchy, I finally broke down and gave it a try so. I was amazed to find that it does indeed work. It wears off after an hour or so, but for an hour of not wanting to claw my skin off, I think applying deodorant to my legs every so often is a fair enough trade.

I've had a lump on my back for several months now. It started off as a wee little thing, something I could barely feel and only if I was poking around at my back. Recently it started getting bigger and more sensitive; I no longer had to be probing my back to find it, I could just graze my fingers over the area to feel where it was. Over the past couple of weeks it's become obvious that it is visible now, and it's gone from being merely sensitive to outright painful. I can't lean back against something without being painfully aware of its presence, and lying down requires some kind of prop to keep that part of my back elevated. Things came to a head this weekend cyst, so I made an appointment with my doctor for this morning, and Mike stayed home to drive me so I wouldn't have to do my contorted driving routine. The end result? It is a cyst. There's no infection or anything, so I don't have to get it removed if I don't want to, but it's not going to get any smaller, or less painful, on its own, and it will more than likely continue to get bigger and more sore. My options are a) live with it in all its growing glory and discomfort or b) see a surgeon and have it removed. I called as soon as we got home (okay, after I took out the dogs) to set up an appointment. Two weeks is the soonest I can get in to see one of the surgeons my doctor recommended, and, according to the receptionist I spoke with, unless there is some sort of problem, the surgeon will probably be able to remove the damn cyst right then and there. I will not have to wait two weeks for our initial meet 'n greet, then wait another two to three weeks to have my little parasite removed! As my doctor pointed out, "the skin on the back can be tricky" which could mean I won't get the instant gratification I'm hoping for from my initial visit, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I am a bit nervous though, because I don't really know what to expect or what the healing process is going to be like. I had a cyst removed once before, shortly before graduation, but that wasn't as big a deal to me because it was in my mouth, so I didn't have to worry about scarring or anything, and at the time I was working in the same doctor's office where I had it removed, so when it was time for my appointment, I just took a break from filing to walk into the room and have the procedure done.

We went to Target after my appointment, and even though my quest to find some damn Rhuli gel was foiled, we learned that Microsoft had released a white Zune, so we went to Best Buy next. While we were there, one of the employees came over to us, saying that he had to stop and comment on Black Label Society. I thought that was pretty odd because I couldn't figure out how he knew we were fans...until I realized that Mike was wearing his BLS hat. It took another few minutes before I figured out that the reason he had addressed me as well was because I was wearing my BLS shirt. Normally I can remember what I'm currently wearing, so I'm blaming my lapse on the bug bites of doom, which, by the way, are driving me MAD.

I'm in dire need of anti-itch potions thanks to my 2.437 million bug bites. Rubbing alcohol is no longer working. Many years ago I was introduced to Rhuli gel, a gel that made even a horrendous spider bite stop itching, so it's been my go-to anti-itch potion ever since. I haven't needed any in quite some time since the bugs have been too busy feasting on Mike, and when I looked for some while we were in Target earlier, they didn't have any, and the pharmacist lady didn't know what I was talking about. When I got home and asked my friend Google, I found out that Rhuli gel is now Band-Aid anti-itch gel, so now I have to go BACK to Target to look for that. DO NOT MOVE MY GODDAMN CHEESE.

At last count I had 13 bug bites on my legs alone (seven on my right leg, six on my left), all of which are killing me, and the ones on my other limbs and body parts aren't much better. Obviously I need to make sure Mike is with me every time I go outside now that the weather is warm. When there is a choice between the two of us, the bugs go for him every time, and he is MUCH better about resisting the urge to scratch as the bites than I am. He also whines about it less.

Rambling recap of long weekend, go!

Friday: left early, got kids, made stuffed shells, watched Third Rock, went to bed early-ish so I could carry out my brilliant plan to go to the farmer's market before taking Jordan to the vet.

Saturday: woke up, decided to skip the farmer's market and went to gym instead, put in 25 minutes, came home with just enough time to shower before leaving on the vet trip, took Jordan to vet, waited almost an hour, were in the exam room for all of six minutes, had a suture snipped, and went home. Did laundry, tidied up around the house, left to go to library and grocery store, stopped by to find out pool times/rules/etc. and get info on pool passes for this year, brought in groceries, got stuff ready for dinner, Mike grilled hot dogs (he is the best husband and griller evar), had dinner, had a good visit with Billy and Allison, and went to bed early-ish again, because I am old.

Sunday: woke up early (6:17) after waking up several times during the night, tidied up kitchen, started laundry, talked w/H, took Z and H to get swimsuits (successful for Z, not so with H, but she was okay because she'd brought her suit from her mom's, just in case), came home, went to Kyle and Mindy's house for a cookout/tattoo party, talked w/Jessica re: fixing up my lower back design and the picture for my back piece, ate too much good food, came home, took doglets out, went to pool, stayed for an hour, came home, had leftovers, watched more Third Rock and an episode of Buffy (specifically, "School Hard" - <3 Spike, Drusilla...not so much), carried H up to bed, and went to bed.

Monday: got up early again, did more tidying, took kids out for donuts, went to pool again, came home, Mike grilled burgers (still the best husband, still the best griller), fixed the rest of our early dinner/late lunch, watched while Mike and the boys watched some SpiderMan, sat with H while she tidied up her room, took kids back to their mom's apartment, came home, B came over for the usual Monday night gaming, chatted and caught up on things and teenagers, the menfolk gamed while I read on the couch and whined about the bug bite on my ass cheek because it was burning and THAT CAN'T BE GOOD, took headache medicine so wouldn't die of exploding skull, and went to bed.

THE END

Reasons I should work out regularly:
my skin looks better
I'm more even-tempered & my mood overall is much better
I have more energy
I feel more productive
I look better
I want to be in better shape, and that is not going to happen by itself

Reasons why I don't:
I am lazy
I don't always manage my time well
I have an all-or-nothing mentality

Holy hell, I am grouchy today. I was grouchy last night too. I'm putting effort into staying cheerful, and I'm hoping it pays off. I don't want to start the weekend off by shrewing at everyone I love.

I like Ben and Jerry's Half-Baked ice cream, so I was jazzed to see that they had a Half-Baked frozen yogurt version when I went into Wawa last weekend. I picked up a pint when I was in the grocery store this week and finally got around to trying it last night. I guess I've been spoiled by Edy's slow churned ice cream, because I was very, very disappointed by the light version of B&J's Half-Baked. The texture was really weird (almost gritty, which is not something I look for in my ice cream), the chunks of cookie dough and brownie were dry, and the flavor wasn't what I was expecting either. I'll stick with my double fudge brownie.

Microwave popcorn is #16 on USA Today's list of inventions that have changed our lives since 1982. (Thank God I didn't have to grow up in a world without 3-minute popcorn!) Other notable inventions include the iPod, cell phones, debit cards, caller id, and pay-at-the-pump gas stations.

Heard in a song on the way in to work this AM: "I bleeded."

I understand that the songwriter needed something to rhyme with, well, "needed," but "bleeded"? Seriously?

I'm listening to Ozzy's new album (Black Rain) thanks to my super-awesome husband, and it's pretty good. As usual, I love some of the songs and there are some that I just like, but none of the songs on the album are something I'd skip over.

Thus far Season 5 has validated my decision to watch shows as they're released on dvd so I can watch an entire season all the way through, if necessary. I'm a pretty interactive viewer anyways so getting extremely pissed off at characters is nothing new for me, but I really wanted to throttle Conrad Ecklie. He's so focused on politics and appearances that he doesn't care about the lab or its cases, and splitting up Gil's team was inexcusable. There was quite a bit of sputtering and indignant squeaking from my spot during that episode.

Ugh. Mike and I stayed up past midnight watching CSI, and we're both paying for it this morning. Three hours of sleep does not feel like enough.

In my ongoing efforts to adjust to life without my favorite allergy medicine, I decided this morning was a good time to start using the nasal spray sample my allergist had given me, and, holy hell, was that an unpleasant experience, for a couple of different reasons. Reason 1: I do not like anything going up my nose, but I ESPECIALLY don't like anything liquid going up my nose. Ugh. Reason 2: I am not very coordinated sometimes, so the simultaneous squirting of the nose spray while holding one nostril shut and sniffing in with the other is not something that I can execute smoothly straight out of the gate. Hell, it took me a bit to get using my inhaler down, and that just involves breathing in. Reason 3: The way it feels as the spray sloooowly makes its way out of my sinuses and down the back of my throat. Ick. Reason 4: The taste of the spray as it slowly makes its way out of my sinuses and down the back of my throat. Can I get it in a different flavor? Blue raspberry would be nice, but I'd even settle for that awful fake cherry flavoring. Seriously, this stuff tastes AWFUL. I used it before I brushed my teeth and I could still taste it, even after my tastebuds were numbed thanks to the mouthful of Listerine I had.

I want to breathe, I want to be healthy, and I want to feel good again, but I'm not terribly enthused about the idea of this damn nose spray being a regular part of my life either.

Even though Mike was still not feeling well, this was a wonderful weekend. On Friday we had some friends over for a Bond night (we watched You Only Live Twice), and that was, as usual, a great time. It was nice to hang out with people that we don't usually get a chance to visit with otherwise. We didn't wrap things up until well after midnight, so a good part of Saturday was spent being lazy. I got some laundry done, finished cleaning up after the Bond night, and then Mike and I settled in to watch some Columbo. Our tv watching was interrupted by the discovery that the water dispenser on the fridge had mysteriously stopped working, and by the time we finished dealing with that (unsuccessfully), it was time for me to hop in the shower and get ready to leave for a Pampered Chef party at a friend's house. I had little cordon bleu bites and a gooey skillet brownie and then came home (where the water dispenser had just as mysteriously fixed itself) to watch Underworld: Evolution with my awesome husband. Sunday was spent taking the puppies to visit my grandmother (my mom referred to us as the "Travelling Wiener Dog Circus") and watching more Columbo, with Perry Mason and CSI: Las Vegas thrown in for good measure. As far as I'm concerned, that is the holy trinity of criminal justice television. I could watch those shows all day long and not get tired of them, and Mike has really been spoiling me over the past couple days with the mini-marathon.

If there's a day that requires you to prop your chin on your hand so you don't end up face-down on your desk, you might as well go ahead and start immediate preparations for the breakout that will occur on your jawline and chin a few days later.

Late night, slow morning, don't want to get up, don't want to go in, don't want to do anything that doesn't involve curling up in bed and sleeping. Pls send energy and lots of puppy snuggles. Thx.

Mike's a pretty big fan of the Punisher comics, so when he saw The Punisher dvd the other day, he had to pick it up. We watched it tonight, and I enjoyed the movie a lot more than I thought I would. I mean, I didn't think I'd hate it or anything, but I didn't think I'd love it either, which I totally did. I went into this with very limited knowledge of the Punisher (read: only the little bit Mike's told me as he reads the comic books), so I think it was easier for me to get into the movie since I didn't know how things should be. Predictably, I HATED the scene where his entire family died. I get that it had to happen because it's part of the Punisher backstory, but, sweet Bridget, that was hard to watch. (Also hard to watch? The scene where one of the bad guys is trying to convince a guy to give up the Punisher's whereabouts by ripping out his facial piercings. :cringe:) And, Thomas Jane as Frank Castle? Hot. I'm looking forward to seeing the second Punisher movie more than I'm looking forward to seeing Spider-Man 3. (Mike: "Sacrilege!")

A virus is the cause of Mike's misery, so the doctor sent us home with prescriptions for an antibiotic and a mega-strength decongestant. We wandered around while we waited for the pharmacy to fill the prescriptions and picked up the new Megadeath cd (Mike), The Punisher dvd (also Mike), and Reincarnation (me), and after the prescriptions were ready we went to Outback for dinner before going home. It started pouring while we were eating, and it was still raining pretty hard when we left, so we went straight home, where I did the rain dance with Jordan. After the puppies and I slogged in, Mike put in Reincarnation (original title: Rinne), and holy hell, y'all, I cannot recall ever having been that scared during a movie. I thought Ju-On and Ringu were pretty scary, but this one leaves those two waaaay behind. I was terrified after it ended, so we watched Demolition Man for a change of pace. I was much calmer after watching that, until Mike started scaring me. It began when he was coming back upstairs with a glass of water for me and walked slowly up the stairs (for dramatic effect, he says). All I know is that one minute the dogs were lying beside me quietly while I'm poking around online and the next minute they all picked their up heads and started growling at the dark hallway outside our bedroom. Naturally, I screamed. Twice. Which Mike thought was hilarious, so he apparently decided to scare me even more after we were in bed by rehashing Reincarnation, talking about all the dead people in the trees, and telling me it was a good thing I didn't have to walk by any trees so I wouldn't have to worry about the dead people getting me. It took me a long time to get to sleep.

I read a lot of different blogs, some of which update on a daily basis while others update more sporadically. I used to check each blog every day to see if there were any new entries until I was introduced to Google Reader, and I loooved Google Reader. Shortly after I began using Google Reader, Mike introduced me to Vienna, so I started using that as my RSS feed reader at home and continued to use Google Reader at work. While it took me a little bit to get used to Vienna, I definitely prefer it now that I'm familiar with both feed readers. Too bad I can't use it at work.

Still peeved about O&A, still wheezing and missing my old headache-inducing allergy medicine, and now Mike's sick, so I'm taking him to the doctor this afternoon.

Opie and Anthony have been suspended from XM for 30 days (several trustworthy fans have heard that the b-b-b-boys have been fired, but I can't find any "official" confirmation of that yet, so...I dunno). I don't really care why they got the suspension, for a couple of reasons. 1) Because XM is supposed to be uncensored radio. Pfft. It's supposed to be commercial-free too, and yet there are still plenty of commercial interruptions. 2) Because XM hired O&A KNOWING they have a certain type of show, KNOWING they have a certain type of humor, and in the past 2.5+ years that they've been on the air at XM, they've pushed the envelope several times without being suspended (or fired). Why now? More importantly, who cares what they say? The same argument goes for almost any media - if you don't like it, don't listen or watch or whatever. Simple enough, right? Don't like a radio program? Change the station or turn the radio off. Don't like a tv program? Same solution. Don't like a certain author? Don't read their work. But for the sweet love of Bridget, don't bitch and whine and get them taken of the air, etc. Ugh. I'm so disgusted. O&A were the only reason we got XM in the first place, and they're certainly the only reason we still had subscriptions. As much as I love my XM, the Boneyard and Squizz aren't enough to justify the monthly fee, especially if the much-talked-about merger with Sirius goes through and elevates the subscription rates. I'm annoyed and upset, but most of all I'm disgusted that companies can't just accept political incorrectness on some things. It's not like everything has to be fucking roses and puppies ALL the time.

Yesterday's napping did indeed hinder my plan for going to sleep at a decent time, which in turn made it harder for me to stay asleep, and as I may have mentioned before, I like my sleep. More importantly, I like it consecutive and unbroken. Eight hours of sleep when I've woken up every hour or so does not feel the same to me as eight hours of uninterrupted sleep does. The combined result of the rough night and my misery from the current allergy/headache medicine tweaking* is killing me. It's all I can do to keep from falling facedown on my keyboard or crawling under my desk for a nap. I'm sure I look completely unprofessional with my chin propped up on my hand, but it's either this or a keyboard imprint on my forehead. I have got to get more sleep tonight.

* Note: The result from Thursday's allergist appointment is that I'm staying with my Singulair, switching to regular Zyrtec (since the Zyrtec D is probably part of what's contributing to my rebound headaches), getting a new inhaler so I can breathe, and I get a nose spray. No needles and no itching, although the doctor did look in my nose which was a little embarrassing since I feel like I'm snotty all the time now that I'm no longer using my miracle drug. If all goes well (read: my stupid asthma subsides), I don't have to come back for another year.

Mother's Day came a day early to our house this year. After dinner yesterday H gave me a Mother's Day present, and Z and N gave me a Mother's Day card they'd worked on together.

We took the kids back early today so they could spend Mother's Day with their mom, and on our way home we stopped by my parents' house to give my mom her Mother's Day card and flowers. I settled into being lazy when we got home, and after dozing off several times while laying on the chaise watching Mike play Marvel Alliance, I admitted defeat and went upstairs to take a nap. Mike came up and joined me after a while, and our nap ended up stretching out over several hours, which was nice, although I'm sure it won't help things when we try to go to bed tonight.

If you have finicky little dogs who do not like getting wet and think the world is ending if they have to pee outside when it is raining, do not wait until it's thunderstorming to take them out. They will a) look at the rain, look at you balefully until they realize no one's going back inside until they do SOMETHING, then reluctantly scurry out to the closest patch of grass to pee quickly and fly back to the porch to wait for you to OPEN THE DAMN DOOR ALREADY, MOM, b) look at the rain, try to quickly go back inside before you close the door, look at you balefully as you pick them up and put them next to a bush so they'll get the idea, scurry back to the door and look pitiful while they press themselves against it, making themselves as flat as possible to minimize their exposure to the rain, or c) split up, two of them (we'll call them "Maddy" and "Max") putting option a into play while the remaining dog (let us refer to him as "Jordan") goes with option b.

"Got You (Where I Want You)" has been going through my head lately. I love the song so that's not of the bad, but it is a little surprising given that I haven't heard anything from or about The Flys since this song came out. I realized that I didn't have their album in my iTunes on either computer (yeah, I'm still transferring everything over) so I dug it out of my box of cds in the garage and got my fix a few minutes ago.

This song takes me back to the summers of 1998 and 1999, a timeframe in which Karinne and I saw a LOT of movies, including Disturbing Behavior. "Got You (Where I Want You)" was the only song I liked on the Disturbing Behavior soundtrack, so I picked up The Flys album Holiday Man (which turned out to be not much better at all) instead. Can't Hardly Wait was another movie from that summer, and it's soundtrack is chock full of musical goodness, including "Paradise City" (my personal favorite from the album). I do a little dance every time I hear the opening notes to that song no matter how many times I've heard it recently, and like all of my favorite songs, it's always a little better if I hear it on the radio. Satellite, terrestrial, it doesn't matter - I like getting surprised with it, like a present just for me.

I have a special place in my heart for soundtracks anyways, regardless of whether or not they're from that summer. The 10 Things I Hate About You soundtrack is a great one, as is soundtrack from The New Guy (I LOVE SR-71's "Let It Whip"). Another of my favorite soundtracks is, of course, Buffy The Vampire Slayer: The Album. There are only a few songs on that one that I don't care for. (Radio Sunnydale is good too, but I'm not in love with as many songs on it.)

But no matter how much I love all of my soundtracks, if I could only have one in my collection, there's no question in my mind which one I would choose: the soundtrack from Top Gun. The only thing that would have made that any better is if they'd included "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin' " on it.

In spite of the impression my whining and griping may have conveyed, yesterday wasn't ALL bad. The day was long, draining, and emotionally exhausting, but there were also a few good moments that stand out: Mike led me over to the couch after we got home and encouraged me to vent about my awful, no good, really bad day, my mom remembered that the commissary is the only place in the area that sells my favorite brand of cottage cheese (is it weird to have a favorite brand of cottage cheese?) and picked up two containers of it for me while she and my dad were there, and I got my pictures from Shop Doxie. I love the Bad Wieners button set, and I asked Miss Doxie if she would paint the dogs from the second and third buttons. She did, and patiently put up with my ten thousand questions, and they arrived in the mail just in time to salvage the last little bit of my night. Because, really, wouldn't these make anyone's day better?

When trying to upload pictures from your camera, ensure that both ends of the cable are plugged in - one to the computer and one to your camera. Plugging the cable into the computer but forgetting to plug the other end into your camera will leave you staring at the screen, trying to figure out why your pictures haven't begun uploading.

I don't like to wish away my time, but this day could not end soon enough for my liking. Realistically, it could have been much, much worse, but so much happened today, most of it back-to-back, that I don't feel like I got a break from it to catch my breath and recover before the next CRISIS!!1!EMERGENCY hit. Today meticulously wrung every drop of motivation, every ounce of energy out of me. I'm going to bed in a few minutes, and my plan is to wake up nightmare-free, headache-free, and start tomorrow like today SHOULD have been. If it follows the same as today did, I will take the rest of the week off to hide under the covers with my three snuggly puppies.

I think my threshold for stuff today is lower than normal. Angry people, trying to find requested information for meetings with two hours notice, tracking people down when they are scattered throughout the area...these are not things I am handling well today. I'm trying to not fall apart until I get in the car to drive home because running mascara does not exactly say "I am a professional," but sweet Father Time, I wish it were time to leave already.

"How Bizarre" was way overplayed when it was first released. I didn't hate it the very first time I heard it, but after hearing it every five minutes on the radio for a while, I was more than ready for it to fade away, and even now, almost 10 years later, I can't seem to get away from it. It's stuck in my head right now because, for the second time in the past week, I heard it this morning on my way in. For some reason I associate it with cheerleading camp, so every time I hear it I remember practicing cheers in the gym, snobs, and awful, horrible uniforms.

Please send hot chocolate and soft fuzzy sweatpants.

thx,
Kate

Migraines and nightmares = another rough night, another rough morning. My head will either explode or it will fall off my neck and splatter on the floor. At this point, I don't care which. While it is certainly not the end of the world as we know it, I am a bit miserable this morning, and I'd rather not be, thx.

If you want toast, pls remember to plug the toaster in. If the toaster is not plugged in, all you will get is the same non-toasted bread you started off with.

What a fantastic evening. Mike and I went to Tyler and Amy's for a Cinco de Mayo get-together, and we had a great time hanging out with them and another couple they're friends with and enjoying some awesome food. Yay for Mexican (and Jewish?) holidays! Also, yay for snuggly wiener dogs. The other couple brought their adorable doxie with them, and I stole him for, like, half the time we were there.

After we got home, Mike and I watched The Illusionist. Wow. It sounded interesting enough that it made it on our "to watch" list, but I had no idea how good it was going to be. The ending completely surprised me, although Mike had it nailed before it happened, and I thought that overall the movie was well done. I've liked Edward Norton since I saw him in American History X, and I think Jessica Biel is attractive now that she's not on Seventh Heaven anymore. The guy who played the prince looked and sounded familiar, and I couldn't figure out where I'd seen him before. I puzzled over that for the whole movie before giving in and looking him up on IMBD.com...turns out he played Kate Winslet's ex-boyfriend in The Holiday. It's a good thing I looked it up because I doubt I'd have figured that out on my own.

I am very particular about who makes changes to my hair. I don't like just anyone cutting it, or coloring it, or, really, even touching it, which was a source of difficulty for me until I started dating Mike and he recommended his stylist. She did a great job, and we all lived happily ever after. Until last year, when she left. With no warning whatsoever. While neither of us were happy about finding a new stylist, we did, and I think she did an even better job than Stylist #1, and then we all lived happily ever after. Until just a few minutes ago, when I called to make an appointment for this weekend only to find out that SHE'S QUIT TOO.

I'm still not a fan of that song, but it was what was playing on the radio this morning on my way to the gym. (Yes, I live less than two miles away from my gym - possibly more like one - and I still drive there. It is less of a lazy thing than it is a paranoia one: 4am + me + our not-as-well-lit-as-I'd-like subdivision = a very jittery Kate.)

So the neurologist appointment was both a trial and a tribble-ation (hello, nerd roots). Yesterday was not a good day to leave work early because of last-minute preparations for a super-big meeting today, but since I'd had the appointment for several weeks, there was no way I was going to cancel. The last-minute meeting prep kept me there a good 30 minutes later than I'd planned, and that meant I was cutting things awfully close for my appointment (mistake #1). As I mentioned yesterday, I had paperwork to fill out that I put off until the last damn minute, which was ridiculous seeing as how I'd had over a damn MONTH to fill in the various blanks (mistake #2). I pulled into the parking lot with 5 minutes to spare, so I quickly filled in the blanks I hadn't had time to complete at work, then started to walk inside until I noticed that the door said "gynecology" instead of "neurology." Apparently I didn't look close enough at the signage when I parked (mistake #4). Or read the address (mistake #5). A more detailed survey of the area made it quite clear that I was not in the right area, so I got directions from one of the receptionists in the gynecologists office (mistake #6), who told me that the neurologist was in another building. I got back in my car, drove to that building, found one of the last parking spots in the entire lot, and scampered into the building. But when I was reading the sign in the lobby, I couldn't see the right doctor's name on there anywhere. At that point I called the doctor's office like I should've in the very beginning. I got better directions, explained the situation (v. embarrassing, btw. I worked in a doctor's office, for Pete's sake; I should know better!), and got to the right place just a few minutes after I was supposed to have been there. I parked in front of the wrong building, but at that point, I didn't care. The receptionist was very patient with me, and the doctor didn't even realize I was a few minutes late, but it was still not how I prefer to kick off an appointment with a new doctor.

It is very difficult to fill out a sheet detailing things about your headaches when you get two very different types of headaches with a few symptoms that overlap. The doctor was nice and paid close attention while I was talking about the various symptoms of the headaches, then he started asking a variety of questions to try to figure out what some of my triggers are, for both the migraines and the other headaches. One of the ingredients in one of my allergy prescriptions is more than likely responsible for some, if not all, the other headaches, and he recommended I keep a log to track some of the various triggers for my migraines. Hormones also appear to play a part in my migraines, but I don't have to look at eliminating the birth control pills until after we've tried everything else with no results. He also mentioned the possibility that I could have fibromyalgia and commented that my TMJ problems could be a trigger as well. My MRI was fine though, so at least I know none of this is thanks to a brain tumor.

For the next six weeks I need to write down pretty much everything I do and note when I get headaches and what kind they are so we can figure out what's setting them off. After that, he suggested that we try tweaking things to eliminate as many of my triggers as possible (chocolate, if you turn out to be bad for me, I will be devastated), and if none of that works, then we'll start looking at preventative medicines. Before I left, he also recommended a book to help me figure some of this stuff out. I'm nervous about trying to determine my triggers on my own over the next few weeks (what if I miss something?), but I like that giving me more prescriptions wasn't his first suggestion. I'd rather make small lifestyle changes first and then look at other options if those aren't working.

Today is my much-awaited neurologist appointment, and, naturally, I have put off completing the stack of forms they want me to have filled out before I show up until the last minute. Time to grab a pen and start answering a gajillion questions.

Today is:

day three of a major pizza jones. This is killing me.

day two of the new shampoo - my hair's still soft and shiny, and it still smells good.

day one of Jordan being home with his stitches. Poor baby. He's not happy at all. I'm trying to keep him from jumping and away from the stairs, but he still had a little bleeding from his stitches this morning. Maddy and Max are DYING to play with him and can't stand that I keep shooing them away.

also day one of Jordan being officially ours. I signed the contract and paid the money last night, and he is now a permanent part of our family. (When the DRNA lady brought him back to us last night she said he was not a happy camper the night before; I'm choosing to believe that's because he missed us.)

I tried a new shampoo today. I don't know whether or not it will make a difference re: my hair holding on to the color, but it sure did leave me with soft hair this morning. It smells good, too.

Also on the plate for today:
get my physical out of the way for the next year
meet DRNA lady to get Jordan back after his vet visit
try to figure out how to keep Maddy and Max away from him so he can recover quietly