Weekly Recap

Whew!  Another whirl-wind week.  However, I was forced to slow down and have a fight with a bug.  It seems everyone around me has been sick yet I had been very lucky to not catch anything.  Mostly people have had the cough/congestion thing but I had a couple of clients this week with a stomach virus.  As you can see, just a little bit of everything.  My bug seems to have manifested itself into chills, body aches and general exhaustion.  It is frustrating because I have no outward signs that anything is wrong---no runny nose, no coughing, no stomach upset, no fever etc.  However, when I sit quietly on the couch or in bed, I'm pretty good.  Some low back ache but otherwise not too bad.  When I get up my whole body screams including joint and muscle ache--but not the same ache you have after a long workout.  I get up and accomplish some task for about 1 1/2 to 2 hours and I am spent.  I have to sleep.  It is annoying.  

I try to make sure I walk the dog every morning so he spends some energy.  The past 3 mornings have been much shorter walks.  Today I pushed it a bit longer and by the time I got home I was a mess.  I had to crawl back into bed and ask C to take over.  He, of course, was happy to help out and got O up and out the door on time, got M up and going, fed the animals, played administrative assistant and took a few phone calls for me and got the kitchen cleaned up before he headed off to work.  Thank you, honey!  One phone call was a cancellation of an 11 am client.  While I was looking forward to the income, the chance to stay in bed longer was even better.  I slept until 10:45 am.  I now seem to have a bit more energy but am going to lay low today.  I have a client scheduled for 4 and I need to pick up some milk at the store but other than that, I'm sitting my butt on the couch for the day.

I've missed two days of classes including a quiz I'll need to make up.  I'll deal with that next week and get notes from someone.  I just need to get past this by tomorrow.  Saturday is a big 50th Anniversary celebration NASA event.  I have looked forward to it for months.  Originally it would have taken place in late September.  However, with the hurricane and all it was postponed to this weekend.  It is a dress-up, adults only event which is so fun for me to do every once in awhile!  I bought a new dress, shoes and the required undergarments, I've set up my client schedule so I can work, take a nap and then get myself ready to enjoy the evening.  The kids are set up at GAB.....Everything is done.  I just have to feel better!  There is food, drink and dancing.  There are people to see and fun to be had!  I cannot crash 2 hours into the evening!  While I've taken homeopathic meds for my bug (mostly the first day), I've saved the ibuprofen to help me get through Saturday.  I so want to be able to enjoy it!

Obviously that has been my focus for the past week but there are other things that happened too!  I passed all of my midterms getting strong Bs in all three classes.  We had a fun family event last Friday at O's school.  The PTA hosted a movie night in association with the new PTA movie store.  They have family friendly movies and are trying to promote it for the holidays I'm sure.  So, they offered a free public showing of Kungfu Panda.  It was a very cute movie and a great time.  We filled up the school cafeteria with blankets, pillows and snacks and had a great couple of hours enjoying the movie.  

Since we have plans for this weekend and I've been busier at work lately, I had a full day at work last Saturday.  All went well and I wasn't as tired as I thought I'd be.  Sunday we met with a pet sitter who will take care of the pets for us over Christmas.  Then, just after he left, the dog started vomiting.  He suddenly could keep nothing down and by 4:45 Monday morning was vomiting on our bed and there was blood in it.  We were very worried and got him in to see the Vet on Monday morning.  They did a few tests and found he had not ingested anything toxic.  So, we are treating him for gastritis.  We came home with anti-nausea meds as well as antibiotics because his white blood cell count was slightly elevated.  He seems to be just fine now and never really lost his high energy so all is well there.  We are watching him just in case he relapses which might indicate a blockage in his GI tract.  That would involve x-rays etc.  So far so good.  

M enjoyed her weekly dance class on Tuesday and then the two of us headed out to shop.  I needed shoes and undergarments to go with my dress for this weekend.  I hate shopping and prefer to do it during quiet times so I figured Tuesday mid-day was the perfect time.  Ha!  The joke was on me.  We went to Macy's and hit the shoe department first.  It was chaos and I just figured that there was some sale going on plus, it was still the lunch hour so it should calm down.  It took a long time to get waited on but I had already dedicated this day for shopping and didn't want to leave.  I finally got what I needed, looked at the very long line for checkout and decided I'd take my shoes with me to Foundations and look for a bra.  That department is upstairs and I had already picked up my hose and bra before I realized how long that line was for checkout too.  What is going on?  I ask myself.  It is just a random Tuesday.  It is not a holiday week, is it?  What am I missing?  Well, Macy's is having a big one day sale.  Dammit!  I've already invested too much time and energy to leave my selections behind now.  Plus, I must have been working on fighting that bug because my head was fuzzy and I was tired.  I figured, I'm already here and I don't want to have to get back out and do this again this week.  My judgement was cloudy.  So, I decide to take advantage of the sale and find some jeans.  It took a bit of searching but I found a pair.  Then I took my place in line.  M was starting to melt down but was holding it together pretty well.  Then a sales associate came by to direct the line to a few other cashiers so we could get out of there faster.  I went over to the children's department happy that I had taken advantage of the price check computers to make sure all of my selections would ring up with the correct sale price.  To make a long story short (too late!) the cashier told me that she couldn't ring up the shoes because they work on commission in that department and she needed to give credit to one of the sales people there.  I about came over the counter at her.  I should have just given up at this point but, dammit, I had spent too much time and energy here and I could see the light at the end of the tunnel!  I was going home with those shoes no matter what! 

So, I grab M who is in tears by now and haul everything back downstairs to the shoe department.  The long line was gone and I was able to finally purchase all of my items.  We practically ran out of the mall.  I really, really hate shopping like that.  But I am very glad I stuck it out and got it done while I had the chance.

Yesterday we had a quick conference with O's teacher.  We are so proud of him.  We all agree on his strong points and weak points.  He is doing very well and is at or above where he needs to be at this point in his education.  I really like his teacher and I really like the things they are doing in his classroom.  Today is his last day before Thanksgiving break--they have the entire week off next week.  We have things to work on with reading and math to keep him thinking.  He is having a little bit of trouble with odd and even numbers but he loves to write.  He has written notes to his teacher and his Kindergarten teacher from last year just this past week.  He is very sweet and loves to express his fondness for them.  He and his sister write notes to one another too.  It is very fun to watch them.

Anyway, this post is long enough and I need another nap to help me get through the afternoon.  M is watching Star Wars for the second time today so I should have some quiet time available.  I'll try to get pictures over the weekend from the NASA Gala.  Next week, O is on vacation, I'll need to catch up on school stuff, there is Thanksgiving and decorating for Christmas.  We plan to spend the Friday after Thanksgiving at the Texas Renaissance Festival which has become our tradition.  So, lots going on and lots to look forward to.

Hope you all have a great weekend.

November Birthdays!

For November birthdays we had "Yankee Chili" for dinner with corn bread and, for dessert, a strawberry cake, strawberry frosting with sprinkles.  Yum!  I call it "Yankee Chili" because I put meat, spices, beans and veggies in my chili to make more of a stew compared to the southern version of chili which consists only of meat, tomato sauce and spices.  C and I loved it but the kids were only happy with the corn bread!  But we ALL ate cake.  

We sang happy birthday to:

Aunt Jeanne

Uncle/Brother-in-law Scott

Siggi

Carmelo

Christie S

Kerry F-H

A much shorter list than October birthdays but all loved and cherished just the same!  We hope you all enjoyed your special day!

As I was saying...

Oddly enough after I posted my last entry I picked up my current issue of Consumer Reports On Health.  Right there on page 3 the title reads:  "Hospitals embrace complementary medicine."  And the first two sentences say:  "Nearly 40% of hospitals now offer acupuncture, massage and other complementary therapies, compared with just 27% two years ago, according to a recent survey by the American Hospital Association.  Growing research shows that those therapies can help many patients when added to standard care."

ConsumerReportsHealth.org provides unbiased information about health including complementary therapies. 

Please give it a try

I just wanted to send out an appeal for help with my future career.  Please utilize your local complementary medical professional.  Many practitioners of complementary medicine are trained to work with western medical professionals but approach the body from a different angle than those trained in western medicine.  That is why it is called complementary medicine.  It works well together with traditional western medicine.

Check out this site for high quality practitioners in acupuncture and oriental medicine: 

National Certification Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine  

If you are a more research based person, here is a link to the government agency that explains, monitors and promotes research in complementary medicine:

National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine  

The more the public demands complementary options as part of their health insurance plans and the more patients educate their western medical practitioners about other options they want to utilize in their own treatment, the more acceptable and mainstream these practices will become.  Many of them are more cost efficient, less invasive and equally helpful for so many illnesses when compared to western medicine.  The goal is NOT to turn our backs on western medicine but to enhance it.  The goal is for all practitioners to work together for the benefit of the patient.

So, again, I encourage you to utilize your local complementary medicine practitioners.  Use them yourself, use them for your children's illnesses, use them for your aging relatives and use them for your pets.  The success these practitioners have now will help to pave the way for my future career.  It is a perfectly selfish request!  But, I also strongly believe in alternative forms of medicine regardless of whether or not I plan on making that my career.

Thanks for trying and I hope we all reap the rewards of having choices in health care.

Will the media ruin Christmas?

I just saw this article on CNN.   At first I found it quite entertaining.  Then I started thinking that this kind of media attention 6 weeks before Christmas could develop into a huge thing that will just ruin Christmas all around for everyone.

Christmas means different things to different people.  I find that most people celebrate what they deem the important points for them and their family and leave the rest.  I mean, everyone is really too busy with their own lives to get into this supposed Christmas war.  Why does the media have to turn it into a huge thing?  

So, this year I encourage you to ignore the stories about certain groups boycotting retail stores for having too generic holiday greetings.  Disregard any sort of media blitz about what is expected of you during the holidays.  Enjoy the holiday time for what is important to you and your family.  Make your own memories and celebrate in your own way.  Don't let the media provoke you and distract you to become a part of their so called Christmas war.

Celebrate!

Some days there are no words

Some days are such a mish-mash of events that there are not words to sum up the day.  O started the day getting all ready for school and just mentioned as he brushed his teeth that his belly hurt.  Then, as we walked out of the front door to catch the bus he mentions that his throat was "really, really sore."  After a brief conversation about whether or not he needed to stay home from school, we decided he would, in fact, stay home.

He was a bit put off by the rules:  if you are sick, you stay in bed and read.  No t.v.  No video games.  No running, jumping, playing.  Just relaxing in bed.  I may have to sit on him soon to keep him from running around with the dog.  Guess he feels better, huh?!  

The weather was dreadfully dreary, dark and rainy but I was in pretty good spirits all day and still am.  I kicked butt all weekend and had finished all of the laundry, worked, cleaned the kitchen, sorted through piles of paperwork that needed to be thinned out plus DD came over today for our massage trade.  Oh, and I snuck a couple.....ok a FEW pieces of Halloween candy.

Of course hearing about Mac the elephant (previous post--click on the title to go to the Zoo's announcement) was very sad.  But, all-in-all, the day was really good.

Now the dog is licking the bottom of my shoes, the cat is attacking the dog (hissing, whacking at his nose) because he is a bit too close to the cat, the other cat is yeowling in the other room because she has decided it is time for dinner.  The kids are drawing beautiful pictures for me.  M is only in her underwear because she has become a streaker as of late.  I'm lucky she is wearing underwear right now.  O's hair is sticking up just enough to be super cute.  I'll take a photo and post it to the beginning of this post.

Yeah, a good day of nothing much is really nice for a change.  And on a MONDAY no less.  Wish you all were here to enjoy it with me.  

I guess I'll now need find time to study for my Acu II midterm that is tomorrow.  Wish me luck!

Houston Zoo bids farewell to Baby Mac the elephant