Egads...

First PMS, then the 'flu.

You heard me. The 'flu. YES, I went to the doctor (well, nurse practitioner) and was told I had the 'flu. I also had 4 of 5 days off last week, only 3 of them due to the flu. Last week in general sucked sewer water, frankly. Let me share...

Monday was a requested day off (yay!), then I went in Tuesday. Sic-un drove in with me since it was raining and generally pissy outside and his back was acting up and he wasn't feeling well, didn't think he was sick, but he didn't feel good. He had started out throwing up, but thought it was under control. We drove into work in Little Blue. Well, Sic-un made it a 1/2 day at work, then took my car home. On the way, he had to stop at a store. In the store parking lot, one of my shifter cables decided to give way.

Yes, the shifter cable. One of the 2 attached to the shifter, I should say. He got the car home, then had to come out and pick me up on the bike. Sick. In the rain. While telling me my car was broke. How pissed was I, you may ask. Well, I snapped at J, snapped at J2 as well (ooooh! J2 and gf are kaput. He's free range. Shall I add him to the stable or attempt to? Discuss.). Rode home. Can't really holler at Sic-un. He was sick. Thank the fates the GBN (Good-ol' Boy Network) is alive and well here in the South. Sic-un had already called Jessie and said "Um, Jessie? HELP!"

Wednesday: Sic-un decided Tuesday night he was too sick to be at work Wednesday. I was OK, I thought, arranged for a ride, whatnot. I was getting ready to go and just.... Have you ever suddenly lost any and all energy, started shaking and feeling weak and feverish and just ill all at once? That's the first time for me. I called my ride (my beautiful Japanese shark!), begged off. Called in. Wednesday and Thursday kinda blurred. I napped, some. I tried to eat, some. Didn't work too good. Fever ranged from 96 to 101. No cough, some nausea and hellish body aches. Sic-un? Nausea, head swimming.  Didn't go in. Couldn't, really. I'd get up and start moving and then just... Everything would suddenly run down, almost like watching a wind-up toy stop.

Friday was payday. And tax day, actually. Ended up getting $1098, $300 of which is set aside just for ConMan's Xmas this year (planning ahead!). Plus a paycheck. So I had $$ for the clinic. Sic-un went to his after dropping me off at mine (joys of insurance).
Marci, the nurse practitioner at Clinic, remembered me from my last illness. My blood pressure was STELLAR!!! Temp ok at the time, no congestion...'What are your symptoms?'. I did the laundry list. Apparently, I'm doing everything correctly, I just had an official diagnosis of Influenza.
Sic-un didn't have the 'flu. He had the 'Stomach Virus' that's being passed around the Alternate Dimension. No fever? No flu.
SO. Out of work 3 days, get to the weekend, and we start (START!) feeling better.

Saturday, I made tapioca and lemon cake. The lemon cake was defaulted because the store still had Meyer lemons, which I had bought more of after already making one cake, and then they started turning. Had to be used or frozen. So. Used. Lemon cake. Cake-y goodness.

The cake is not a lie.
I'm looking right at it. Loaf cake, Ina Garten's Lemon Cakes recipe. YUM cake.
I made tapioca because I love tapioca and it's becoming my comfort food of choice.
Sunday, Jessie came and looked at Little Blue, provided diagnosis.

I went into work today, felt a bit lost after being out for so long. The guy that sits down the aisle from me? Inspector Gadget? (no...seriously. He looks JUST LIKE Inspector Gadget. The real one, not the live action) He asked me, like, 5 times if I was feeling better. SIGH. And then I was offered about 45 minutes early out. I took it, you bet your bippy I took it. It means I sat for a bit while Sic-un finished up...He's back on his usual schedule, matching mine, which is convenient. And the car is still not fixed.

Why, you may ask... Well, the part is down in Knox proper, at the Hyundai dealer. $202.xx new. Now, I *could* go to the UPullIt and get a used cable for the vehicle for $15 or $16. For a SHIFTER cable. In a place that gets rain and snow and weather and they use salt on the road and corrosion happens.... That's like saying you're going to buy a used condom. It just doesn't make sense. So we placed it on hold and Sic-un is picking it up Friday after he drops me at work. Then he calls Jessie and gets guided on how to fix it either Friday or Saturday. I'm also going to see if maybe my timing belt can get replaced at the same time. It's got 79K on it. Needs it.

SO. No car. Riding the bike. Was just sick. Have to dress up for work this ENTIRE WEEK (well, except for Friday. Casual Friday), which means real slacks instead of jeans. Jeans are much better on the bike, thicker. BUT!
I am a good prairie dog in the cube farm. So I will wear my slacks, and look forward to....

Boots. How was that for a segue? BOOTS. I have ordered 2 pairs of boots, waiting with anticipation for sometime Friday when they should be delivered. I have a black pair (rather piratical if I do say so myself) and a red pair on the way. Yes, red. I'm such a hussy. And they're both heels. I can't wait. I love wearing heels now. Couldn't, for so very long, and now I can. Sic-un LIKES it when I wear heels...
Baby needs a new pair of shoes....
And hopefully, I'll still have some scratch left to go on the hunt for clothes with my Shark... She'll tell me the truth if something looks bad. I should have $ left. I left $700 in the standard account to play with, $200 now gone for the cables (gotta buy 2 because they're ONLY as an assembly), should leave me $500, now $100 gone on boots.
yeah, $100 with both pairs and tax and shipping. But still. Boots. And I measured my gargantuan calves, so they should fit really really nice. The black ones, that is. They've got a max circum. of 19 inches on the shaft, and mine, at its widest point, is 16 1/2. Add in a couple inches for ease and
They should fit.
Here's to boots and Little Blue. I want him on the road again. But that still leaves $400 or so, and another paycheck between now and shopping, I think...no. One right after? Sometime like. Oh well. I need new clothes. I'm fully justified in purchasing new shoes and clothes. Shoes are an ongoing issue-my newest pair before my red mary janes in November were my high clogs and they were 2 years ago, then... Tennies before that, before I left NM, and that was right after I bought the wedge penny loafers. SO. Out of the last 4 pairs I've bought, 1/2 of them were before I moved here to East TN. And I JUST started wearing the high clogs I had purchased about 10 years ago, BEFORE, when I was still living with Idiot and still worried about how large I'd appear next to his diminutive height....Gads! I'm glad I really do like tall men and he was just an aberration!

note to self-buy condoms.out of condoms, need to buy condoms....Sosu is now 18....Hm. And 6'2"... I'll post pictures from this weekend. Yes... (evil grin) He's now 18. I can post his picture (insert smile here)

And once again...

I check in feeling like utter crap. Haven't started on the booze yet. Nor juice...But I have started decongestants and vitamins and we'll see how that goes for right now.

So what happened? I last checked in starting a headcold on 9-14. I can honestly say I didn't feel even moderately okay until around the first of October. Then my period hit... Not bad, but not really enjoyable. It was like getting hit in the lower abdomen repeatedly for about 1/2 a day, then... I wish they could all be that easy. I did have some trepidation this month. Last year, on 10-2, I started the Period From Hell. It lasted one full month, and it was heavy. I suffered no ill effects, apparently, but I still worried Mom Nature might get perverse and whammy me again.

Thank biology, didn't happen. Instead, I could look forward to the next weekend.  I had a really great weekend filled with going out and being social animals and just simply all sorts of sex (I got a new toy and had a willing partner to try it out with), some evidence of which still exists on my body.  Give someone carte blanche and they leave a pale yellowing bruise about 1/2 an inch across.  I love being me sometimes!

I have made a friend in the Alternate Dimension. And she's alternate, really. But in a cool way. Although she is cute and has red hair, there is no sexual attraction. I find myself wanting her as a friend. And my Japanese shark... She has found much happiness and I wish her much, much more. She is actually the reason for the newfound social activity. And yeah... Alternate Dimension bled over into my reality, my own time off... Work buddies? Hell...My bosses were there.

And I got drunk.
Kinda sorta really drunk, but not puke-y drunk...Weave-y happy drunk.
Drunk enough to get a rug burn (light!) on my knee and know how I got it there. It's really very simple. At the time it happened, it was easier to crawl into the bedroom instead of walking. Walking was a little... Off. Crawling? Piece of cake!
None of which was public. Public, I got hit on by my direct boss' date for the evening. Wasn't in the mood for a good ol' boy. He was the 1/2 drunk, wham-bam-thankyou-ma'am, gets grope-y and just....Boozy-type... Ew. No thank you. We were celebrating the upcoming LUMP-hood of a friend and her man. It was worth celebrating. I did have a designated driver. Sos-u was up, so he drove home.
Boy can't drive stick worth shit.
No hangover the next morning.

Now I have one more week of work to get through (as of 8 minutes ago, it was 115 1/2 hours). Then I have a miraculous 10 days off. Saturday the 23rd through Monday November 1... Yeah, through. I'm taking off the day after the most important holiday of the year (to me. TO ME).

Which begs the question...

What to do for the pumpkin this year?
I really don't have anything in mind. Really. Well, there was the possibility of doing a tattoo machine on it. But that's not Halloween.
SO.
What to do for the pumpkin... I don't know what size I'll get (I want pumpkin for at least 1 pie and some bread!), and think I wanna go somewhat traditional, but maybe not if the design is nifty enough.
Anyone have ideas?
For your viewing pleasure....

Halloween for....2007? 2008? One of them, I think.

This is my drink....

I'm being screwed, so to speak. And not in the good way.


Sic-un has the current head-cold. He popped up Friday: "I think I caught this."
He did.
Saturday, I thought I may have it, so I started decongestants, grabbed sanitizer and wipes for work.
His settled into his chest Sunday.
He was out of work today because of it, and has started antibiotics (technicolor mucous).
Me? I was fine until right before I got out of work tonight.
Now my throat is ticklish, my sinuses are making themselves known in the worst way, and I've started a cough.
So we add cough syrup to take care of that.
I'm sleeping in the spare room, and Sic-un and I have barely touched elbows since Friday.
I'd say that's a screwing. So tonight's beverage of choice is the standard screwdriver, only it may be a bit strong.
The graphic tells the tale. Everything above the line? Vodka. Below? Orange juice.And that's with a swallow or 2 out of it. It went up to 1/2 way between level and the rim. You can see the condensation.
Figure 1 1/2 shots of vodka for every 3/4 cup of juice. And there's about 2 cups of juice. So yeah. And I'm on the second of the evening. I hate illness.