Has it really been 3 weeks since I posted?

Hello strangers! Yes, I am still alive…barely. Believe it or not, I am still wrestling with this ear problem. It is a hundred times better than it was two weeks ago. But I still have twinges of pain in both ears, and a persistent feeling of being underwater in one. I went back to the ENT specialist on Friday, who for a $50 co-pay recommended I use diluted vinegar to rinse my ears out. I have now spent over $300 in co-pays and prescriptions on this ear infection, finally to be told what some old barefoot mountain doctor could have told me for free. And I have nothing against the barefoot mountain doctors. I’m just opposed to having my insurance company charges hundreds for dollars for mountain doctor remedies. I’ve come to the conclusion that 95% of the doctors in this country don’t know what they’re talking about. And if we have the best health care in the world…I shudder to think.

My baby started high school! She is off and running already, getting involved in as many activities as time and money will allow. She is home less and less, abandoning her dear old mother for the company of her friends instead. Imagine! She was chosen to compete in the statewide Tae Kwon Do tournament being held here in Dayton next month. I’m so proud!

My bathroom has been undergoing renovation for the past two weeks. I think I mentioned before that I had a mold problem. I didn’t know just how bad it was until the contractor started breaking into things… it was BAD. The mold had eaten away my drywall to the point that parts of the ceiling fell down when he went to install the fan. My pipes were all corroded. It’s been one surprise after another. But I think it will be done in another day, and it’s going to look very nice. Now I get to start paying it off!

This weekend I will be at the Greek Festival, registering voters. I promise not to burn the Republican cards. But I AM waiting with baited breath for John McCain’s announcement that he got Labor Day confused with April Fool’s.

Still sick

Well, I am now starting my 3rd week of this double ear infection. I can’t even describe how horrible this is. I have lost 2 full weeks of my life as I have been in a haze of decongestants and pain killers, just forcing myself through the motions to get through work and then collapsing on the couch with the heating pad. I have slept one full night out of these two weeks, which has suddenly reminded me what it was like to have a baby.

What really sucks is that we have absolutely GORGEOUS weather these past 2 weeks. Almost feels like October out there. Yesterday morning I basically said “F*ck it!” and went for a 2 mile hike. I couldn’t take it anymore. Big mistake. I was moaning by the time I got back to my car. I don’t know if the hike jarred things up in there, or if there was just enough wind to aggravate it, or what. But I couldn’t function the rest of the day.

Sooo I have an appointment to see an ENT specialist tomorrow morning. I’m pretty sure he’s going to want to put tubes in.

I don’t mean to sound like a whiny baby and go on and on about this illness thing. I just want you all to know where I’ve been, and why I haven’t been checking in. I have been thinking about you all though, and wanting to touch base to see what everyone’s up to. If you think about it, please light a candle, send some positive energy toward Ohio, say a prayer, burn some incense, cast out the ear demon, whatever else you think might work… I’d appreciate it. :-)

Quarantined

Our whole house is sick. Yes, even the cat. Going on 3 weeks now.

It started with Noelle getting a UTI, and the antibiotic she was on made her very nauseous. She got done with that, then caught a virus. In the meantime, I developed a bad ear infection. The antibiotic made ME nauseous, so I started a new one. But by this time, it was impacted all the way down to my jaw and causing killer pain. So I am now doped up on heavy-duty vicodin.

Saturday I had to take my cat to the vet and found out he had ear mites. Sooo I handed over $140 for him to be treated for that.

Saturday was also the day of Noelle’s 14th birthday party. I somehow managed to survive it (yay, vicodin!) although I did not get any streamers or balloons put up. And on Sunday Noelle woke up covered in hives. It turns out, she has something called Fifth Disease, which is really what her virus symptoms were that she had a week ago.

All in all, I have paid $300 in health care expenses over the past 3 weeks…..and that is with insurance. I am thankful I have insurance. And thankful that I have savings I can draw from in emergencies such as this. I know there are millions of people out there who don’t have it so good.

I’m going back to bed with the heating pad…..

I'm in love!

Yes, this little guy has grown on me quite a bit. I wish I had more time just to sit down and play with him. He is sooo much fun.

How many of you clicked on the post expecting to see a man? Yes you did, admit it.

I have been stressed to the max, but what else is knew? It's going to cost me 2 grand to have my bathroom re-drywalled, painted, a new shower insert installed, and a vent put in. I'm still trying to figure out how I'm going to pay for it. But it HAS to be done.

And I am trying to decide whether or not I want to go back to school. I most likely would not be able to do it until Noelle goes off to college herself, which isn't for another 4 years. But because I love to stress myself out loooong before it's necessary, I am lying awake at night debating my options.

So whenever I do force myself to land and just chill for a bit, this little furry guy does a pretty good job of de-stressing me. For about five minutes, lol. =D

Meet Tobi

I just adopted a kitten from the Humane Society. WHAT WAS I THINKING? Oh my.

Noelle has wanted a cat for a long time, but my ex was deathly allergic. Noelle used to be very allergic, and still is a little bit, but as long as she takes Claritin every day, she is okay. So this is an early birthday present.

Tobi is approximately 2 months old, and he is already neutered. He is also micro-chipped and has had all his shots. Best of all, he's already litter trained. Hallelujah!

I had no idea a kitten could be so much work. He's just a tiny little ball of energy who never stops moving. He really has a very sweet disposition, and is a lover boy. But just like all babies, he expects attention every minute of every day. He also has a foot fetish. Really. He has to be on or near someone's feet at all times. He's been sprayed with the water bottle four times since I sat down to write this. Sigh.

But he has already provided us with so much laughter and joy just in the last 2 days. I'm rather partial to him.

Ooey Gooey Carrot Cake

Ingredients:

2 cups sugar

1 1/2 cups oil

4 eggs

1 tsp. baking power

1 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. salt

2 cups grated carrots

1 cup chopped nuts

Directions:

In a mixing bowl, combine eggs, sugar, and oil; mix well. Combine flour, cinnamon, baking power, baking soda, and salt, and beat into egg mixture. Stir in carrots and nuts. Pour into greased 9 x 13 baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool for one hour. Open can of Betty Crocker Cream Cheese Frosting and spread on top. (Hey, I never said I was Martha, now did I?)

A Top 100 Meme

Thanks to HP, I feel a little less read than I did yesterday. LOL. Apparently it was World Book Day recently and I missed it. I hate it when that happens! And in honor of the event, a list was made of the Top 100 Books You Can’t Live Without, which has now been turned into an instant blogosphere meme. Here’s what you do:

1) Look at the list and bold those you have read.
2) Italicize those you intend to read.
3) Underline the books you LOVE (Since Blogger won't let me underline (easily), I've used an asterisk)
4) Reprint this list in our own blogs

I’ve read 41 out of the 100, but only a handful get my asterisk. For an old English major, you’d think I would have read them all. But I really have to wonder how they came up with these titles. I mean, Bridget Jones’ Diary? Okay, I showed you mine, now show me yours!

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling*
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee*
6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D'Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare*
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger*
19 The Time Traveler's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald*
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy (just cuz everyone should....)
25 The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams*
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll*
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy (another must read for all)
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34 Emma - Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne*
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones's Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker*
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte's Web - EB White*
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle*
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo*