I woke up stuffy this morning (again), and feeling all-around icky. My throat was dry and my voice was scratchy and my nose was stuffy. Hoo-ray. It's been a long week and a half of dealing with this snot, and I have a choir concert on Saturday, and three rehearsals before then.

So I decided to finally call the doctor and rule out sinus infection. I got an appointment for late this afternoon with my actual provider – who I knew I was going to be seeing on Wednesday for my physical, but I decided not to wait that long.

I really like my provider. I only just met her today, so I had been kind of worried – I hadn't even been sure she was a she, because she had a name that could be either one (like mine). She seemed about my age, though, and extremely personable. I like her a lot.

Thankfully, I don't have a bacterial infection, and it doesn't appear I have a virus, either – just some icky allergies clogging up the works. This is a good thing, because I don't know that I could have taken antibiotics while breastfeeding.

I got a bunch of advice on when and how often to use stuff I already have (Claritin, Sudafed, the Neti Pot, and a Sudafed nasal spray that is basically Afrin), and was prescribed Flonase, which is a topical corticosteroid that is recommended for use by allergy sufferers throughout allergy season (March through September).

It kind of made me giggle this evening when I thought about it: What do you prescribe someone with too much stuff in their nose? More stuff to stick up it! :D

The Neti Pot is a teapot-shaped thing that you stick up one nostril and pour through your sinuses so that the water streams out the other nostril. Repeat on the other side. The Sudafed/Afrin (too lazy to look up the chemical name – oxy-something-or-other) and Flonase are nasal sprays (the Flonase kind of smells like flowers: "Lightly floral-scented, for your huffing pleasure!"). I'm glad I don't have to snort the Claritin, too. :)

I'm supposed to use the Sudafed/Afrin spray two days before my concert, because that drug has a compounding effect (makes things worse) if used for more than three days. It's also addictive, as my parents found out years ago.

Hopefully this goes away soon. I'm tired of the stuffy/swimmy head and irritated throat.

I'm falling asleep at the keyboard, so I'm going to wrap this up. Night!

Thank goodness my interview was yesterday morning, before my allergies descended upon me like locust.

That's a bad analogy. But whatever. My head hurts. :p

First things first: The Space Bags interview went very well. I felt a little nervous, and tripped over myself a bit, but they make a bunch of soundbites and they piece them together into a kind of testimonial montage. Pie even got to be in it toward the end, and they LOOOVED him. I should be receiving a copy of the commercial when it's done, and a link to the website so I can post it and send it to people. THEN, when you see those two-minute home-shopping spots on cable TV for Space Bags, look for the gal with really short hair (got my hair re-cut the other day, and it's pretty darn short – but really cute), no glasses, and wearing a yellow sweater. I talk about my Space Bag being in a flood, and about some decorations I was able to store in one. Pie is wearing jeans and a blue sweatshirt.

I got up around 4am to get ready. I'd loaded the car the night before with all the Space Bags I was bringing with me, and gotten as much rounded up as I could so I wouldn't have to think about it in the morning. I was hoping to leave by 6am, in case there was traffic. It only took me an hour to get there (I didn't really get on the road till 6:20 – had to stop for coffee!), so I had some time to try to feed Pie his breakfast, which he wouldn't eat because I hadn't cooked the oatmeal enough. There was a caterer there providing snacks throughout the day – she had little quiches and chicken sausages in the morning. All organic, eco-friendly, etc. It was Queen Anne/Fremont (Seattle), after all.

Later on, I got in to see the makeup/hair/wardrobe person. She put stage makeup over the makeup I was already wearing and tweezed my brows a little (I'd tweezed the heck out of them a few days ago, but I appreciated her shaping them for me – she was quick about it, too!). She was really fun! She showed me pictures of her son, and talked about how she got to do Obama's makeup for a news spot after the rally he had here in WA. Now, I might not be a big fan of Obama, but that is still pretty cool. My makeup artist for this spot did Obama's makeup once – two degrees of separation from me to the President. How about that? ;)

The background was white, the couch was white with a blue throw pillow, and the ottoman in front of me was white. And there were huge light panels all focused on me. The interview guy sat in front of me, and to his right was a big TV camera that I wasn't supposed to look at, but kept looking at because, well, it's a huge TV camera! I had to repeat a lot of things, because I kept saying "them" instead of "Space Bags", and I was having trouble being concise. The makeup gal had to keep touching up my shiny nose. All in all, it was pretty fun. Pie enjoyed himself, too, and was VERY good. Everyone thought he was the bestest thing ever.

We finished up, had a few people come up and talk to us. The people from Space Bags said they'd send more to me. That's a good thing, because I have been thinking of more uses for them. :)

It was pretty warm outside when we left. I decided to go visit Sweetie at work, since we were on that side of the bridge, and I wanted an excuse to get Jamba Juice (although I might have gotten some, anyway, had I gone home). I'd only had about three and a half hours of sleep the night before, and my sinuses were beginning to make themselves known. Had the interview been any later in the day, or today, I might not have been able to pull it off.

We visited Sweetie for a little while, and then we went home. Pie had already taken a couple naps in the car, so there was no way I'd be putting him down when we got home. I stuck him in his high chair in front of a Blue's Clues video in the bathroom so I could take a shower (I had a LOT of makeup on, and my hair was very stiff). As the evening progressed, my sinuses got fuller and fuller.

I finally used my Sudafed OM inhaler, and it worked almost instantly. My nasal passages burned for a while, but it was worth it to be able to breathe again. It didn't work for the whole 12 hours, though, since I woke up this morning feeling like ten miles of bad road.

I'm pretty sure I'm fighting a sinus infection. Pie is feeling pretty lousy, too. I've already had to dose him with some Baby Motrin to bring down a mild fever, and suck his nose out a few times (THAT's fun).

I think we might venture to the store when he wakes up from his nap, if only to pick up ingredients for chicken soup. I still need to go to Costco, and the bank . . . but ugh. We'll see.

I think I've rambled enough for now. Hafta make a phone call, too. Hasta!

Okay, so I didn't have a virus when I last posted. I just felt crappy. I was sure I was going to be icky sick the next day, but I was fine. The corners of my eyes were sore, and my head hurt a little, but I was fully functional and not sick at all. What the heck.

So I go about my merry way, consistently forgetting to go to a freaking pharmacy to purchase Sudafed for my next bout of sinus issues. I tried to go to the drive-through pharmacy near the Naval Hospital (Sudafed for free), but the Surgeon General has now declared that we can no longer get Sudafed over the counter. I haven't checked to see if this means that we are no longer allowed to get it at all without a prescription (buying it from a pharmacy has been okay, as far as I knew – but giving it away at the drive-through might now be against the law; I don't know). If that is the case, I will be Very Sad. It means I'll have to make a doctor's appointment just to get stupid decongestant that works. Pheylephrine (Sudafed PE) is a useless alternative.

ANYway . . . I had Sweetie wake me up early this morning so I could get some cleaning done in the living room, since two of my nieces would be coming over for a few hours while their sister went back to the hospital for some follow-ups (I never did mention it here, I don't think: My oldest niece (6 yrs) was in the hospital for five weeks battling a bacterial pneumonia and the complications thereof. She's finally home for recovery, but she's not yet out of the woods. I didn't get any details from today's follow-up, but she wasn't readmitted, so that's definitely a good thing). When Sweetie brought me coffee, I think my body was still doped up on that paralytic chemical that keeps you from getting up and acting out your dreams, because I felt heavy and really groggy. By the time I got moving, I felt better, but the fatigue never quite left. When the girls left with their dad and sister, Babysierra was still napping, so I took a shower and laid down for a nap, myself. I was out for an hour, and woke up when Sweetie got home.

Since then, I've felt extremely sluggish, sore, headachey, stuffy, and occasionally nauseous. All my joints hurt, and my skin felt sensitive . . . Ugh. Yucky.

I made chicken soup for dinner, and I feel a little better, but my head's still stuffy. I'm chalking it up to allergies, because of how it comes and goes. Part of me wonders if I should seek testing for fibromyalgia or chronic fatigue syndrome, but I don't want to give myself a solid excuse for self-pity and inaction. It's bad enough I can't take allergy pills (stunts milk supply, and I don't have a great supply as it is). I think that's really what the problem is: I usually have a stash of some Loratidine substance (Claritin or Allavert) to keep the allergies at bay this time of year. And Sudafed (pseudoephedrine) to keep my sinuses clear. I can't take a lot, or my head will spin. But the occasional medicinal assistance is nice.

In other news . . .

Babysierra is clapping, opening and closing both hands as if he's waving, clucking his tongue, and turning off the lightswitch (he can't yet turn it back on again). He has a lower left tooth and an upper right tooth, which I discovered he grinds together (ACK! I hate that sound!). He scrunches up his face to be silly, and makes all sorts of funny babbling noises. He has also taken a few steps here and there. Once he makes the transition from "Crawling is more efficient to get from A to B" to "Hey, this walking thing isn't so bad!", he will be unstoppable.

And he's going to be ONE YEAR OLD at the end of this month. I can't believe it!

I definitely need to post pictures. My camera has some serious issues, especially with batteries, so it's been hit or miss just getting the darn thing to work, so I haven't been taking very many pictures. But I have several on my phone that are A-DOR-ABLE.

I have such a cute little boy! :D

It's Monday – I have to remember that. :)

The borscht feast was a huge hit, but I forgot to take pictures of it before serving it. I was really hungry. :) Of course, not everyone liked it, but that's okay. Beets are one of those veggies that people either love or hate. I'm really proud that it came out so well. I've never tasted it before, so I really didn't know what we were in for. It tasted like beets and beef broth – very hearty – and was excellent with a dollop of sour cream. YUM! I'll have to make that again sometime, perhaps with meat added.

Two loaves of beer bread disappeared quickly, as did the Chinese chicken salad. Although I think my husband ate a quarter of it, himself. ;) I love cooking for soldiers. They're always appreciative of good food (or even mediocre, if it's homecooked).

After eating and cleaning up, Sweetie and I were free to go. It was about 1:30 or 2pm by the time we hit the road, which allowed us to get over the pass in the daylight. We reached our destination just after dark and relaxed with Sweetie's aunt, uncle, and cousin until we couldn't stay awake any longer. I'd only gotten about three hours of sleep the night before, because I failed to prepare anything during the day and did it all after I got home from choir practice at 9:30pm. I was up till 2am, but I wanted to make sure everything was done and I had to think very little before packing the car.

Thanksgiving was awesome! I ate so much, I looked like I was in my ninth month. I was pretty sure I hadn't been that big that morning! Thankfully, I was less rotund the next morning. Note to self: There isn't as much room in there as there used to be! I'm going to have to be extra cautious at Christmastime. :)

My mother-in-law, sister-in-law, and I went to Wal-Mart the next morning at 8am to hit the sales. Othello is a small town, and Wal-Mart is pretty much the biggest store they have. The parking lot was as full as any other day, and the shelves were not picked clean. The store wasn't crowded, either, which was nice. I was there for the exercise, because I knew I'd eaten a lot the night before and would eat more over the course of the weekend, and I'm not much of an impulse shopper – especially since I know rent is coming out in a few days and I had no way to check the pending transactions in the bank. I did get a couple things, though, some gifts and some little items I needed.

We spent the day around family, watching movies, talking, eating, and playing with the kids. My nieces are incredibly cute. :) Exhausting, but cute. ;)

We went home on Saturday morning-ish, with leftover turkey and some premade sandwiches (nothing beats sandwiches made with leftover turkey). We vegged and watched Law & Order on DVD while waiting to go out to dinner with Sweetie's parents. We ate at a local steakhouse, which was EXCELLENT, and went to bed pretty early. It's been feeling later than it really is lately, which is probably an artifact of Daylight Saving and Washington's gloomy, short winter days.

We went to early service Sunday morning and came home for lunch – more turkey leftovers! I made an awesome turkey salad, which I ate on wheat bread with cheese and cranberry sauce. Yum! :D I'm looking forward to it again for lunch today.

The house is an utter disaster – Sweetie pulled some boxes to go through out into the living room, and I just haven't gone through them yet (by the way, this is totally me). So, yesterday afternoon, I pulled over a filing box, dug out my filing folders, and started organizing papers that have been boxed for way too long. I found some great stuff! I did get rid of extraneous stuff that we don't need, but I kept college papers and memorabilia and some other paperwork. My filing box is full, so I have to get it from the living room to the office, clear the stuff away from the filing cabinet, and start loading that bad boy up. It's a six-drawer monstrosity that I should have put to use the moment I got it. I should have had Sweetie move the box last night.

While filing, my nose got stuffier and stuffier. By evening service time, I had yellow mucus and a headache, so I wasn't going anywhere. Sweetie played hooky from church to spend the evening with me, and we watched more Law & Order while I finished filing.

I'm not sure I slept much last night, between my clogged head and aching hips. I don't have a fever or a sore throat, thankfully, but I've been sneezing like crazy. I'm convinced it's allergies that snuck in while I was adjusting between our climate and the frozen, dry air of Eastern WA (not to mention my dusty, filthy house). Some Sudafed seems to be helping, as is the Neti Pot I bought, anticipating sinus issues this winter.

The Neti Pot is weird. You pour water through your nose. The drawing in the instructions has a woman smiling while she's irrigating her nasal passages, which could only be because it's such a ridiculous thing to do. Really good for you, but it feels silly. :)

In an effort to get something done this morning, I started to replace white Christmas lights that have burnt out, but I bought the wrong voltage. Not only that, but one string doesn't like to let go of its bulbs. Now I need to go find the right bulbs and maybe a tool for getting them out of their sockets. Bleh. :p

Well, I'm hungry again, and I should get back to doing something useful. Hopefully I can get more filing done today; I'll probably just bring a few folders at a time down to the cabinet so I don't have to lift the whole box. Pregnancy has its drawbacks.

This is also a really long post. Hope you made it to the end! :) If so, I hope you had a great Thanksgiving!

Laterz!

Well, at least the food is good. :)

I woke up this morning with a swollen, red eye. It was a little worse than Saturday night; felt like sandpaper. I put in some TheraTears, took a shower, and evaluated (read: waffled) on whether I should call for a doctor's appointment. There were none of the hallmarks of conjunctivitis (pink eye), except for the pink eye (heh), but I was beginning to suspect my tear duct is having issues. Perhaps it's congested, or infected . . . I don't know. It's special. I blew it out a few years ago, and it's been having excess watering issues since then. It hasn't been watering at all the past couple days.

I decided to wait and keep using the TheraTears. I was going to pick up some decongestant (I can take Sudafed) after getting my tires patched today, and then monitor the issue until it changed. The TheraTears cleared the red up, but my eye is still a little irritated.

I went to Mom's Group this morning at my friend's house, then went to my appointment at Discount Tire to get my two rear tires patched. One of them had a slow leak for a few months now (I'm a procrastinator), and the other recently developed a faster leak. I'm assuming, though, that the fast leak occurred when the tire was sitting on the offending item, allowing the hole to open up further.

The tire with the slow leak had a screw in it. It turned out to be reparable. The other tire had a nail in the shoulder of the tire, rendering it irreparable. *Sigh*

Thankfully, the tires are new enough that I only have to replace the one, and they're prorating the price according to the amount of tread left on the old tire. Basically, I'm getting half the price of the tire. I could pay for certificates of free replacement and repair, but that pushed the price over $100, and I was not prepared to pay that much today. I was already annoyed (in general, not with Discount Tire) that I would have to pay over $50 for a new tire because of a stupid nail I picked up somewhere. They took good care of me, though, filled up my spare, installed it, repaired the other tire (for free, I think), and are ordering a new tire for me that will arrive in the next few days. I also got a 50%-off coupon for a coffee at a nearby shop while I waited for them to fix the tires.

I've always been really happy with them. When you buy tires from them, they are warrantied at all their stores across the country. They will also honor other tire companies' warranties. And they're all so nice and polite. :)

Anyway, the Subaru is now a 2-wheel drive (there's a computer chip they can adjust so the transmission doesn't burn itself out trying to compensate for the littler wheel on one side) and can only drive up to 50mph. Thankfully, Sweetie doesn't come home till late tomorrow night and has Wednesday off, so I have the MR2 if I need to drive anywhere I can't take backroads to (which really isn't anywhere, honestly, but it's faster to take the highway).

I forgot to pick up Sudafed (and a watch battery — mine is slowly dying) on the way home, because I took backroads. And I was really hungry.

I'm proud of myself, because I created a healthy lunch, and I ate the portions I'm supposed to (instead of the whole thing, like I was tempted to). I had some spaghetti sauce left over from a few days ago, so I cooked up some elbow macaroni to mix into it. I opened a can of green beans and heated those up. Then I broiled a piece of frozen chicken in the toaster oven. It was nice to see that I could have a cooked piece of chicken in about 20 minutes with little more preparation than rinsing off the ice glaze, spraying it with oil, and sprinkling on some Mrs. Dash and garlic salt. I might have to try breadcrumbs later. :) Anyway, I ate half of each thing, and ate the rest of the chicken with some bread and cheese as a snack — per the instructions of the dietician.

I'm still hungry, but I'm trying not to continue snacking. I know my stomach is trained to eat bigger meals, and that's not going to help me gain weight slowly. I should drink more water and juice to make up for it — I haven't been drinking enough, anyway. That sounds good . . . I think I'll go get some.

Bye for now!

Yesterday was a weird day. I could swear I was possessed by any one of the seven dwarves (dwarfs? Meh) yesterday, especially Sleepy and Sneezy. Those guys wouldn't leave me alone.

Today, I have a bit of a sore throat (again), and my nose is a bit runny. I'm allergic to something floating around outside (ironically, it's not my unvacuumed, undusted house I'm allergic to — I didn't start sneezing till I went outside). I took some Dayquil knockoff liquid (Safeway brand), which may or may not do any good, since phenylephrine really doesn't do anything for me. I'll have to take an allergy pill to top it off, and about 3000g of vitamin C.

ANYway . . . today I get to go to the Navy base and hope that I can get a sticker for my car, or at least an extension on my base pass, so I can get my I.D. card renewed, buy some groceries, and then go visit the hospital to sign up again for Tri[andget]Care Prime. I have a glowing recommendation from heidi_elizabeth for the Women's Clinic at the hospital, so I will have to see if I can get an appointment there. It would make life tons easier if I could just settle with going to the hospital for all my health needs, but a lifetime of dissatisfaction with that place is kind of hard to give up. We'll see. Maybe if I can just avoid the highly overbooked and overrated Family Practice for a while, or get a decent doctor, I might be reconciled to going back there instead of finding a civilian doctor.

Well, I'm kind of wasting time now. My coffee is almost gone, I've read most of my daily stuff, and it's almost 10am. Pass & I.D. closes at 1400 (2pm) on every day but Mon and Weds, which means I need to get in there as soon as I can to ensure I get my decal by closing (of course, "as soon as I can" is relative, seeing as they opened at 6am).

Hasta!

UPDATE: After about a half-hour wait, I was not able to get a decal on my car because my I.D. card needs to be renewed (by Sunday). BUT, to get on the base to renew my I.D., I need a decal. ARGH. The lady was apologetic and nice, at least, but she wouldn't even give me a pass to get on base to renew my I.D., because I apparently needed my husband with me. Instead, she gave me the number to the I.D. lab so I could call to find out what time they're open tomorrow. We'll be going together tomorrow morning to get my I.D. renewed and Monday morning to get the decal for my car, just because that will be easier than going back home to snag my POA and bring it back and throw my weight around a bit. I most certainly CAN do everything without my husband! This here paper says I OWN him!

;)

NOTE TO SELF: Don't EVER try to do ANY military maintenance without your POA. I probably could have gotten everything done today if I'd had my POA with me. I'm getting all spoiled by my husband's actual physical presence. The last three times I've gotten my I.D. renewed was by myself. And I'm not even sure I had my POA with me. As long as I'm in DEERS, I should be able to get my I.D. done by myself. I'm not all that sure I'm in DEERS anymore, so I had my husband's orders with me. I just didn't have my precious POA.

SO, that kind of nips everything I had planned to do today. I guess I'll clean house, instead.

I started feeling kind of icky on Saturday night, and on Sunday morning, I woke up kind of stuffy and coughy. It didn't really go away through the day, and it's still hanging around today. My throat is dry and scratchy, my nose is runny, and my sinuses feel full. I'm also really tired. Bleh.

I kind of wish I could just curl up in some comfy clothes tonight and watch a movie, but I have a Mary Kay meeting. Going to try the new Satin Hands! It's peach now. :)

Now I'm just wondering what I want for dinner, and whether I should take another nap beforehand. Maybe I should cook chicken and rice. That sounds easy . . .

In other news . . . I got a letter from my Sweetie today. It was written before he made it back to Bagram, a couple weeks ago. Now he's in Kandahar somewhere, and at least has access to an MWR with a computer, so I get email now and again. :) That's always good. :)

I was going to write this quickly, but then a cat decided to take up residence on my chest, so now I have to pay half my attention to her. Darn spoiled cat.

Anyway, a few updates . . .

Sweetie's computer came back to life a day or so after it died. Just playing chicken? Not sure. But it's not going to matter in a few days, when Sweetie disappears again for a lengthier time, this time perhaps without even snail mail capabilities. :\

(I'm doing a lot of typing by feel, because I can't see much of the keyboard, or even the screen. What is it about cats that make them think they're entitled to everything?)

My other big update is that I've been off of dairy for the past few days, and have felt NO major heartburn. I've had a twinge twice, but NOTHING compared to what it was last week. I am amazed — and kind of sad. It's hard to be dairy-free. :( I have LOTS of cheese in my fridge still. At the risk of being in pain again, I'm going to introduce one dairy product at a time for one day at a time, to see what kind of reactions I get. If I don't get heartburn from string cheese, I will be very happy. That's one of my favorite snacks. I'm hoping I don't get it from the yogurt, but if I do I know I'll have to go to Central Market for a tub of goat milk yogurt. I'll probably have to try a few to make sure I'm not sensitive to all sorts of milk products (soy is questionable, because of the amount of sugar it usually has).

I'm just amazed at the relief I'm feeling. I had near-constant heartburn last week, and it was incredibly distracting, not to mention painful. On a hunch, I just left the cheese off my egg sandwich in the morning and the tuna sandwich in the afternoon. I put some Lactaid milk in my herbal coffee that morning, which might still have affected my stomach a little. I had some heartburn that day, but it wasn't as bad. Later that night, I was able to eat some of a Papa Murphy's veggie d'lite pizza (thin crust, olive oil, spinach, feta, chicken, and sundried tomatoes) without any trouble.

Saturday, I had no dairy at all, except for maybe a little in some salad dressing in the afternoon. No heartburn. Sunday, again no dairy. I ate "normally" — paying attention to portions, but allowing myself any food I wanted, including mashed potatoes, chicken nuggets, chocolate, and strawberries — and had no heartburn. There was a twinge that evening, perhaps from the fruit and chocolate sugar OR from the milk that mom put in the chocolate to melt it down. Today, I avoided dairy again, but didn't eat very regular meals, and had a somewhat sugary smoothie thing this evening. The sugary smoothie thing was not dairy, and should have given my stomach fits from the sugar, but I did not experience anything other than a twinge this evening while sitting in an odd position.

That tells me something: Perhaps I'm not just lactose intolerant, but actually allergic to cow's milk and the products made from it. Allergic reactions show up in the weirdest ways: Someone I knew of found out that dairy products made her wet the bed. She'd had the problem wetting the bed for most of her life, into adulthood, until she tried an elimination diet to see if an allergy was causing the problem. Sure enough, allergic to dairy. My nose and eye(s) run almost as soon as I consume dairy products, but I thought that was the only reaction. Apparently not . . .

Anyway, that's all I want to post about right now. I'm tired, and want to get up somewhat early tomorrow, so I can get some chatting in with my sweetie, and then clean this pig sty of a house. I'm sick of it, and it needs to be fixed!

But, first, some sleep. Night. :)

I hate allergies. Every year they hit differently. Perhaps it would help if I lived in one place for long enough to acclimatize to my surroundings.

Bah. That'll never happen. ;)

I have a loaded month ahead. I can't really afford to get sick again. But my throat is beginning to ache, and is radiating up into my ears. It'll probably be gone in a few days, but right now it doesn't bode well. It hurts to yawn. :p

Wow, check out the map at Pollen.com! Of course, I'm in a yellow zone, in the top lefthand corner. It only FEELS red. But none of Washington was red the other day. Apparently, we're only on 7.4 of a 12 point scale today. Earlier this week, it was 9.9. It goes up to 9.5 on Saturday. Joy. The predominant pollens are birch, ash, and cedar/juniper. Hm.

I've got some tea steeping, and I'm sitting in my chair with my big furry blanket, watching recorded episodes of M*A*S*H. I do love this show. Can't get enough of it lately.

Unfortunately, I had a chiro appointment today, and was all adjusted up and pain-free, and then I had to go shooting and mess it all up. My shoulder hurts again. But I hit 12 out of 50 this time! I'm getting better! :) If I did the math right, that's a 24%! :)

Okay, enough rambling. I need my tea. And perhaps an ice pack. That old bag of lima beans in the freezer should do the trick . . .

Man. I really miss my husband. :(

[I wrote this last night. I'm just going to post it, even though I'd intended to add to it. I have stuff to do, though, so I may as well just get to posting later.]

3/27/06, approx. 10:30pm
I've been feeling a bit dry-throated lately, which was especially vexing because of our concert this weekend (which was a total blast, by the way), and last night my lungs were itchy and my nose terribly dry. I woke up this morning feeling like a mile or so of bad road, but that was temporarily relieved with the application of loritadine and pseudoephedrine tablets.

Now I'm back to itchy lungs and coughing, and icky-dry upper respiratory apparatus. Yuck. :p I made it through choir tonight, but my voice is not up to much. Thankfully, I still have plenty of saline spray for my nose. The doctor prescribed me two bottles. One stays in my purse, and the other next to the bed. Hopefully I don't wake up tomorrow feeling as crappy.

I checked Pollen.com today to see what the levels were like this week. 9.9 out of 12! It drops to about 8.1 on Wednesday, but goes back up on Thursday. 8.1 through 12 are severe allergy days. Yep. I believe it!

Aside from that, I think PMS is setting in a bit. My emotions have been on a bit of a roller coaster this evening. Not to mention I'm completely wiped out, and falling asleep in front of the computer right now.

I'll post more later.