A Long Week

It's been a slow, long week.  Actually, it's only been 4 days, but goodness!  It feels more like fourteen days.    First off, my computer's power cord, the one I'd just gotten for Christmas, started acting up and provided on again/off again power.  Luckily, it was still under warranty and I was able to replace it.  Gotta love warranties because power cords ain't cheap!

Friday afternoon, Sarah was sniffling a little but nothing major.  We had dinner and Hubby & I took off for "date night" at Best Buy to replace the computer cord.  Yeah, pretty dang exciting date night!  We got home and found Sarah laying on the couch, coughing her head off and with a fever of almost 104.   And did I mention she's on the couch?  In MY spot.  Contaminating MY space.

Ordinarily, we don't go to the doctor unless there are bones showing or someone has stopped breathing, but Sarah's been getting a sore throat/cold every month for what seems like years.  Something is obviously wrong, so bright and early Saturday morning, we took off for the doctor's office.  Several hundred dollars later, she left the doctor's office with a positive flu test, and a prescription for some antibiotics for a throat infection, not strep - just your garden variety type infection.

On the way home, we filled her prescription and stocked up on Niquil.  Once we got home, Sarah promptly fell asleep in my spot on the couch while clutching the Niquil bottle.  Wish I'd taken a photo.  At the first mention of flu, the boys packed their bags and took off to spend a few days at Grandma's house.   I proceeded to tip-toe around the house so as not to wake Sarah.   I also used "being quiet so I don't wake Sarah" as an excuse to park my butt in a chair and read most of the day.

On Sunday, I was actually pretty productive with the house work while Sarah dozed and coughed.  Monday brought an end to the productivity though.  Sarah decided to take a shower, got dizzy while she was in there (a nice side affect of the antibiotic) and passed out.  On her way down, she wiped out the shower curtain & it's rod which proceeded to wipe out a zillion shampoo bottles, a bunch of decorative stuff and a picture that had been hanging on the wall.  You should have heard the noise it made!  Scared me half to death.  Scared Sarah half to death as well.  Once we got her dried off and dressed, I spent the rest of the day watching her lay on the couch.  I was afraid to leave her alone.  Actually, I'm still afraid to leave her alone.  Finding your baby half way unconscious in the bathtub, under a pile of shower curtain and broken debris is not a helpful thing for a paranoid, over protective mother.

The Hunger Games

I LOVE this series!  Well, ok, I love the first two books in the series.  I'll be starting the third and final book as soon as I finish typing this.  I'm so glad a friend of mine recommended it because it's not the kind of book I'd have ever picked up on my own.  First of all, it's classified as "young adult" and then there's the story's description - sounds rather depressing and just not my style.  But...  just a few pages into The Hunger Games and I was hooked.  I've laughed and cried and have thought quite a bit about just how grateful I am for the lifestyle I lead.  If you haven't read this series yet, I strongly urge you to.
http://www.amazon.com/Hunger-Games-Suzanne-Collins/dp/0439023483

There is a problem, however.  I'll probably finish Mockingjay, the final book of the series, tonight  or tomorrow and that means I'll need something else to read.  And yes, I have that list of 89+ books waiting for me, but.... They are waiting for me for a reason.  Mainly because they are books I'm not really thrilled about reading.  They are mostly either historical or scientific, and while educating myself is always a good thing, those types of books don't exactly hold my attention,  They aren't the type of book where I have to call in sick because I want to stay home & keep reading.     A few of the other books on my list are stories that have been turned into great movies, which I've seen quite a few times, and now I'm having trouble forcing myself to read the book.  So, I feel the need for a new author or series to obsess over.  Got any suggestions?

101 Update

Phew!  I finally finished reading Interview With a Vampire.  O. M. G.   I thought I'd never finish that book.   In fact, if it wasn't on my goals list, I'd have put it in the give-away box somewhere around page ten.  But, the main reason for putting reading on my goals list was to force me to read the books I've been ignoring.   Interview With a Vampire is supposedly a good read and the author, Anne Rice is quite popular, but, good grief!  I found it to be a rather painful read.  It took me over 30 days to force myself to finish it.  And oddly, it kept giving me the urge to watch Twilight over and over again.

Now, I find I have another problem with reading.  I want a Kindle.  Desperately!  I feel like a little kid stomping my feet and screaming "I want it!  I want it!" But do I really?  Do I really want a Kindle, or do I only want one because everyone else has one?  I sort of thought it might be because everyone else has one.  After all, I have carpal tunnel which is sometimes upset by holding a book too long.  I could only imagine what holding a Kindle would be like.  But then I understand that the Kindle is actually lighter than a book. Hmm.....  And then I discovered that the Kindle will read to me.  Read to me!!  I could knit and "read" at the same time!  Or "read" while I fold laundry.  Or even better, I could "read" while I play computer solitaire!  Yeah, I HAVE to have a Kindle!  But then....  what about all those books sitting on my shelves waiting to be read?  All those books that are on my goals list.  The list that lists 89 books but in reality is up to 112 now.  Yeah, I hit a library book sale and picked up a few more books for 25 cents a piece.  What about those?  If I buy a Kindle, will I ever read those books on the shelf or will they go back to being ignored?  I am totally floored by how much I want a Kindle and yet, the thing that's stopping me from buying one is the fear of not finishing my goals list.  Those goals must be more important to me than I realized.

In the mean time, if anyone has any negative comments about the Kindle, I'd love to hear them.  I'm feeling the need to be talked out of buying one.

As for the rest of my goals, not much has been accomplished lately.  In the beginning, I spent an hour each day working on some aspect of something from the list.  Then I started reading that darned Interview with a Vampire.  Or to be more honest, I should say I began avoiding reading Interview With a Vampire.  And because I was avoiding reading, I seemed to avoid everything else.

I did try one new food and one new recipe.  I combined the two and fixed curried split peas.  What a DISASTER!  I'm not sure if there was an error in the recipe or what, but it was so hot & spicy no one could eat it.  Not even me and I can always force myself to eat my own cooking.  But not this stuff.  It was painful!  I ate two mouthfuls then had to eat about eight Tums.  I didn't try to feed it to the dogs but they probably wouldn't have eaten it anyway.  They wouldn't even enter the kitchen during the last half hour of cooking.  I should have known then that there was something wrong with the dish because they normally lay right in front of the stove while I cook.   So now, I still don't know if I like split peas.  I have another recipe to try though.  This one sounds quite bland in comparison.

My running goals don't seem to be getting met either.  I wanted to run a half marathon in the fall, but I'm starting to have doubts.  I have a Baker's Cyst on my left knee and it won't allow me to run more than 5.9 miles.  I can run 5.9 and be fine, no problems at all.  But a six mile run leaves me unable to walk for a week.  I'm not really sure what to do about it.  Surgery is the only way to get rid of the cyst and with no health insurance, that's not going to happen any time soon.  I may have to give up the marathon plans and focus on running faster 5Ks for a while.

As for the rest of my goals, well, now that I'm done with Interview With a Vampire, I'm hoping I'll go back to spending at least an hour a day working towards the goals.  In fact, I think I'll go do that now.