746.432 · 002 · 636.7 · 613.2 · 020 · 942 · 100

At our last Populous Meeting of our Canton, I mentioned that I was going to contact a friend of mine who works at Nearby Tech to see if we could rent room to host University, which would mean I’d be the Autocrat. I also mentioned I was sort of paranoid, because it’s a surgery year for me, and when I was the assistant to the Autocrat for The Pilgrimage was when the diverticulitis kicked in and I had to become a semicolon. I decided to push forward anyway, and have been in touch with my friend at Nearby Tech, who has pointed me in the right direction. So things are going well, I thought….

I had a routine appointment with New Doc today, to get more substantial results from the CT scan, blood work, and to have my Pap smear. I learned that my left sinuses are a total mess, severely inflamed, and that explains the constant sinus problems and pain, and probably the vertigo and blackouts, too. Also explains why I can’t breathe out of that nostril, and why my neti pot is so useless on that side. So they’re scheduling for me to see an ENT to try to figure out what’s going on there. They took more blood and another urine specimen to see if the antibiotics cleared up the infection, and then got going with the exam. As I feared, it looks like I’m developing a yeast infection from the antibiotics (ARGH!) and, worst of all, there was blood in my stool. (The doctor said “Young lady, there’s blood in your stool!” which strikes me as really funny because I’m probably old enough to be her mother.) So I’m to go to a gastroenterologist and have ANOTHER FREAKING COLONOSCOPY. I am sick and tired of having colonoscopies! It’s supposed to be every six to ten years, not every year!

I’m going to get my knitting, and try to calm down and not think about it for a while now….

Migraine kicked in this morning, and it was bad. The nausea kicked in first, the prodrome, and I took a phenergan, and I ended up getting a nursing student who happened to be in the library to open my imitrex for me because my hands were shaking to hard. I called Hubs, and he was away from his desk. I emailed S and told her what was going on, then N emailed me and I told her I felt horrible. Hubs called, and I could barely pick up the phone and talk; he gave me strict orders to go to the emergency room. Then N called me and asked if Hubs was coming. I told her he was, and I sounded so awful she said “I’m coming to sit with you. NOW.” When she got down to the library, I was sitting there, shaking, still holding the phone (couldn’t remember how to hang it up) in one hand and the mouse in the other hand. She got my computer shut down, then got me to the ER.

Hubs arrived and N went back to work; by then, the imitrex had kicked in and I was coherent but in lots of pain. After three hours in the waiting room, I went up and told them I couldn’t wait any longer, and Hubs got me home and in bed. I’m still not great now, but I’m better. It has been such a horrible migraine time!

I did learn, though, to never go to the emergency room with a migraine. I’ve never done it before, so I’d hoped they’d take me seriously (instead of looking at me as someone who’s there every other day or so just trying to get narcotics or something) but migraine patients, no matter what level of pain, are apparently at the very bottom of the triage priority list.

I’m way behind on everything….

Got some brief test results back from my new doctor; the sinus CT scan revealed a sinus infection (no surprise there); the urinalysis revealed a urinary tract infection (total shock there; I thought the symptoms I was feeling were caused by my Bartholin’s gland cyst and the flank pain was muscular on origin). So I went on antibiotics, which made me feel even worse than I already did and gave me severe diarrhea again, but I kept going with the yogurt and the acidophilus tablets, and took two days off work to rest, and I’m feeling much better now except for the damn migraines, which have been quite awful for the past week (we’ve had rather bizarre weather, and I think that’s why – as before, all my migraineur friends are miserable).

Oops – thunder. Better be safe than sorry and close for now….

OK, I'll give it to you -- my take on the Susan Boyle situation: Anybody who thinks that only the young and the beautiful are talented is just plain stupid. Susan proved the point. I thank her for doing that, and I hate that she had to. Do I think it will make any difference? No. People will always be judged first and foremost by their appearances. Because this world is full of idiots.

It was a weekend of frantic reading, in spite of the arrival of my new knitting tools from KnitPicks, because both of the new volumes in the two fantasy series I'm reading came in to the public library for me at the same time (of course. OF COURSE!). Turn Coat, the latest of the Dresden novels by Jim Butcher, and White Witch, Black Curse, the latest of Kim Harrison's Hollows series, were only mine for one week, so I had to do a lot of speedreading. I started out with Harrison as Hubs started wth Butcher (he's not reading the Hollows series, and I finished it Saturday night. Hubs was finished with the Butcher novel already, since he'd been home sick Thursday, and I read the Dresden novel yesterday. And tonight? I shall knit.

If, of course, I am able. Allergies hit me, and HARD, all weekend. Hubs had it too. Coughing, sneezing, doped up on antihistamines and decongestants, it was just miserable. I used my neti pot twice a day both days, desperate for help, and still ended up sleeping with my mouth open because I couldn't breath out of my nose. Just MISERABLE. I thought I had a doctor's appointment today, and would talk it over with my doctor, but apparently I don't. I wonder when my appointment is?

The weather has been nasty, and I got a migraine last night so I had to take an imitrex, followed by a muscle relaxer because the imitrex tightened up the muscles in my neck so much. Today I either have the migraine hangover from yesterday, or a prodrome for a migraine today. I took some excedrin migraine, then got really nauseated and had to take some phenergan. Ugh. The storms are such a mixed blessing -- I love the washing away of the pollen! I hate the barometric pressure changes that bring on migraines and sinus headaches! You just can't make some people happy. ;)

Yesterday afternoon, right as I was getting ready to leave work, I started having some lower abdominal pain. It felt much like menstrual cramps, but that's not really a possibility, since my last period was in February 2006 and the last transvaginal ultrasound I had (sometime in 2004, I think) showed that my ovaries had pretty much shut down. I tried not to panic as I realized it must be something in my colon. Oh, please, not again! The pain eased off, and I ate very carefully last night (got lots of fiber, too). I just can't face another colonoscopy or more surgery right now!

We have got to send off our taxes tonight. Well, tomorrow at the latest. ;) We did very well this year, I think -- we owe the IRS less than $300 so we can pay them completely (why we're waiting until the last minute), and we'll get back some from the state (why I should have figured the taxes earlier and sent of the state form earlier. Oops).

Operation Save Money is moving on. I cancelled Netflix this morning, as soon as I was notified that they had received the movie I returned yesterday morning (Stardust, which was Princess Bride-wonderful to me -- need to purchase the DVD sometime when there's not a recession around). It ends up that my timing is just right -- they would have taken out our next month's payment tomorrow, and there are no refunds, so we're good. I just requested two coupons for digital boxes; once the coupons arrive and we get boxes and antennae, we'll get rid of the DirecTV. The next step will be the land line phone. Or possibly the security system. STILL have to find out when the contract for the security system is up. I should do that tonight. At any rate, we're getting better....

I would so love to be able to breathe out of my nose! That really doesn't seem to be too much to ask, considering, I do believe, that is what the nose is made for. *sigh* Ah well. Can't have everything, right?

I'm trying to do with only guaf and an antihistamine, no decongestant, and using the neti pot twice a day instead of drying myself out as much as I had been with the sudafed; my lips were SO dried out and chapped they were hurting.

I actually left the house this weekend, not once but twice -- Saturday night to dinner, then CVS, Target, and Bed, Bath & Beyond, and Sunday to pick up a paper and get some dinner. Wild, huh? Not curled up in a ball trying to disappear. Picked up ONLY what we were shopping for, mostly cleaning supplies, since I'm in major recession-panic mode still. But well done, huh?

It's actually time for more guaf. It's raining today, and I hope it'll wash away the last of the pollen. Please? At least for a while? It's driving me absolutely batty! I just can't stand it!
I've returned the last of the Netflix DVDs, so much as I love it, I'm now cancelling my membership. Next comes the landline, I think, as long as we can still keep the DSL. I think I'll check on that right now, while I'm thinking about it. OK, looks like I can; I just have to call and see what it'll cost -- then let everyone know that our home phone will be out of business soon. We've had that number most of our marriage; it's silly, but I sort of hate to let it go!

I can tell there's a storm coming -- my head is killing me... *sigh* Time to break out the imitrex. Hubs wants to go grocery shopping tonight; I think I'm going to have to convince him that we should hit Bi-Lo so I can pick up my prescription, or that we should pick up my prescription and then take me home and HE go to Wal-Mart for everything else. I'm fighting the depression, but I'm still not up to Wal-Mart! Probably never will be!

My friends Nina and Georgia grabbed my by my hair and forced me, FORCED ME, I say, to go to the yarn shop this morning. I happened to be walking by the volunteer office carrying my purse at 11:00 this morning when they grabbed my hair and dragged me out of the hospital to Nina’s car. I got some Rowan Kidsilk Haze, which I’ve wanted for a LONG time, some sock yarn for socks for Tim, and some lovely cotton for a summer sweater for me. It was a lovely respite from the work week.

Hubs made it back from Darlington after getting the car fixed, so we now have heat and AC again, which is a good thing. I’ve ordered some blocking supplies from KnitPicks so I’ll be ready when I finish the shawl I’m working on now. I really wish I could go see my perfect-in-every-way nieces this weekend, but I fear that may not be possible. We probably won’t see them until my birthday, which is when both girls will have dance recitals, and we’re celebrating younger perfect-in-every-way niece’s 3rd birthday.

I’ve spent too much money on knitting stuff this week, but I’ve been working really hard on finances. We’ve got money in savings (as of Hubs’ next paycheck, we’ll have a month’s mortgage payment) and our credit cards will be paid off next month. I’m decided that all the knitting stuff I’ve purchased is my birthday gift…. ;)

Yesterday was a LLLLOOOONNNNGGGG day -- I was at work from 7:45 until 6:30, which was when Sis was got off work and picked me up. She likes the sweater I knit for her, which is a good thing, and I'm glad I made a muslin of the skirt for her; it'll make it much easy to alter the real thing. Hubs is home today; he's still bleeding and in a good deal of pain after having the tooth pulled. I called in for him, since he took vicoden and went back to bed, and his supervisor laid a guilt trip on me because she's the only one in the office today. Hello? SO not my fault. And so not Hubs' fault, either. The appointment had been scheduled for a couple of weeks.

I had been getting coffee from the cafeteria at the hospital -- they'd offered a free cup to employees each morning -- but they charged me yesterday, so it's back to making my own. They're supposed to offer free coffee between 8:30 and 9:30, and I got there at 9:05, but I didn't dare question them because the employees get mean if they're crossed or questioned.

And all my TV shows are off now, because of the stupid basketball games. And I am SO tired.

So much for my resolution of being positive, huh? *sigh*

I'm glad it's Friday.

I've come to realize that I need to look at my job the way I look at the friends I've made since college -- actually, all my face-to-face friends except Hubs and Marie: do anything and everything you can for them, but ask for and expect nothing in return. As it applies to work? Work overtime (without pay, of course) all the time, take my own time to check out books from other libraries for employees here, but do not ever use the overtime, the time used to go to other libraries, or anything else. I must remember this. Always.

Went back to the neurologist on Tuesday, and learned that the headaches I'm now having daily -- pressure across the forehead and around the back of the head -- are pure tension headaches. Oh boy, how fun! A new kind of headache to play with! I'm to not take medication for them, because that'll lead to rebound headaches in addition to stress headaches, which will ramp up the fun even more. I have GOT to find a doctor who will take my request for decapitation more seriously than any have thus far.

Got a call today (while I was away from my desk, of course) from the nurse to tell me the results of my tests. She assured me I'm fine, but told me to call back. When I called back, I only got a machine asking me to leave all my personal information and a detailed message and they'll call me back. And I didn't, because she said I'm fine, so why bother playing telephone tag? I hate leaving all sorts of personal information on voice mail. I'll just wait until I see the doctor next Friday. I did discover, looking over the BlueChoice insurance manager, that they denied the claim for the tests -- almost $500 worth. The explanation of benefits wasn't up yet, so I don't know why, but they denied them.

Hubs has to have the cracked tooth removed tomorrow; he asked that I take off to go with him because "After the appointment I'll go home and go to bed and won't feel like getting up to go pick you up." Huh? I was pissed enough Saturday, when we went to CVS to get him some diet Coke. They were on sale, 4 12-packs for $13, with a $3 coupon back; I'd already purchased one 12-pack, so we had to get three more. We got to CVS, and he settled to read his book while I went in. I picked up some allergy medicine and some q-tips, then was having rolling over the Coke 12-packs trying to find the stupid little dotted areas where you punch your fingers in to pick them up when one of the CVS workers (a young woman) came over saying "I'll help you with that. You want four?" I thanked her and told her I only needed three, and she carried them to the counter for me. There the cashier checked me out, and to my surprise picked up the Cokes and headed for the door with them. "I can get them!" I said (now that I had the q-tips and the allergy meds in a bag, it would be no problem to carry a stack of three). "Oh, no, I'll get them" she said (I think she was really bored, I was the only one in the store, and they just had recovery to do). Se we went outside, and there was Hubs, reading his book. I walked over and knocked for him to unlock the car doors. He looked up and saw the cashier carrying out the sodas, and freaked. He was trying to get out of the car, dropping his book and trying to raise the seat back and unhook the seat belt, open the door and everything at the same time. I said "Just unlock the doors!" and he did. I opened the back door and she put the sodas in. I thanked her profusely, then got in the car as Hubs sat there saying over and over "I am scum. I am scum. I am scum." and I thought "You KNEW I was going in to buy YOUR sodas....."

I need to do some housecleaning. Stat.

So, to get my mind off of that, I shall talk about something else, something I learned about on Feministing.com, the disgusting little practice of "upskirting." If you've never heard of it, it's the practice of idiot men using cameras or camera phones to take pictures up women's skirts. Jerks. They then post the pictures to the web. Bastards. In other words, if you are female and tend to wear short skirts and thong underwear or no underwear, there may be pictures of your privates on the web somewhere and you may not even know it.

Now, I'm NOT the typical target of male attention at all, and as I don't wear short skirts and I do wear full-coverage undies, shall we say (*cough*grannypanties*cough*), I sincerely doubt there are pictures of me out there.

However, I did have one experience (as an observer, not a victim) of an attempted upskirting. This was way back in the olden days, pre-innerwebs, pre-cell-phone-cameras, pre-tiny-digital-cameras. I was working as a secretary at the USC (the one in South Carolina) library, and got on the elevator with a female student wearing a short skirt and a male student. I was at the back of the elevator, girl was at the controls, and boy knelt down to tie his shoe. Before he tied it, however, he took his mirrored sunglasses out of his pocket and set them on the floor in front of him, carefully adjusting them for the perfect view before he pretended to tie his shoe.

Now, I'm not too quick before my morning coffee, and I'm definitely a little clumsy, with or without my morning coffee. But I blamed my sudden realization that I hadn't pushed the button for the right floor, as well as my clumsy step forward that smashed his mirrored sunglasses, on the lack of coffee. He didn't see it that way; in fact, he called me some quite ugly names, but decided not to push it when I offered to call campus police.

And, you know what? Should I ever again catch someone attempting to upskirt someone? I'll do it again, or as close to it as I can (how satisfying it would be to accidentally kick someone's cell phone across the room.....). It's the least I can do.

I went to see New Doc last Tuesday (3/3), and she spent about 40 minutes with me. She's a resident, as I thought she'd be, and really nice, and I explained about my (um, I'll try to keep this as un-gross as possible) digestive problems and what I'd done (yogurt, then probiotic tablets, then benefiber) to try to fix the problem, which is exactly what she would recommend, she said. She asked lots of questions, of course, have I been traveling recently? Dang it, no, Charleston is the most exotic place we've been to. Been on antibiotics? Not since summer. Do I drink? Occasionally -- had 1/2 of a Mike's Light Hard Lemonade last August. Am I in pain? Not really, a little sore. She pressed on my belly to make sure -- no pain, definitely not in the gall bladder area (that little sucker is doing just fine, amazingly enough). They drew blood to make sure I'm not anemic (though there is a definite possibility I am, because I'm tired all the time and cold all the time and my conjunctiva is quite pale). Then they gave me a whole bunch of little bottles to put stool samples in and take to a nearby lab (there's one real close to Hospital Where I Work, what a coincidence, huh?) to test for blood, c.diff (dear Lord, please, not again!), all sorts of parasites, and all sorts of other things. I took the samples in Thursday morning. Are we having fun yet? I'm not, and I'm not better. I don't go back to see New Doc until March 27th (she's off all next week), though she said she'd call me if she got results in that weren't negative. No calls, so I can only assume at this point that all is fine and I'm just one of those people who is going to have constant diarrhea after having gastric bypass. It's just odd that it waited three years to start..... Ah well. Just my luck, huh?

It was a migraine weekend. We went to Casa Linda for dinner; it's usually really quiet there, but a party came in, put together four tables right beside our booth, and proceeded to quickly get drunk and loud. 'Twas annoying. We ate and got out. Then we had to go to Wal-Mart (oh, I hate that place!) and when we got home I had to take an imitrex and aleve, and then my neck tensed up so much from the imitrex I took a muscle relaxer (I try not to but the pain was just awful!). And then yesterday came another migraine, and more imitrex and aleve (no muscle relaxer this time!). And today another is coming on (gotta pick up my imitrex refill after work, *sigh*).

So many books, so little time.

So many movies, so little time.

So much string, no little time.

ARGH.

I’m still around, just dealing with headaches, (GROSSNESS ALERT!) constant diarrhea (END GROSSNESS! Sorry about that), and an addictive sweater I’m knitting for my sister. I’ll see my new doctor tomorrow so with any luck I’ll have some good meds to help the tummy problems. I also think I have anemia again, so I may be on more iron (I already take an iron supplement).

Work has been busy, and I like that. But that’s left me with barely enough energy to get home, eat dinner, and sit down to knit. I think that’s the anemia. The headaches are bad, too. They start at about 11:00 every day and build and build. *sigh*

Hubs is healing pretty well from his injury. Sunday night I wrote a letter to the editor of our local paper, The State, about our experiences. I got a call from them yesterday confirming that I wrote it and that I want it published, so with any luck it’ll be published. (I’m glad it wasn’t published today, as he had the follow-up appointment with his doctor today. ;) If it is published, I'll post a link to it....

I haven’t been getting enough sleep lately, and it’s all Sis’s fault. Took me a while to figure out why, but I finally did. I’ve been knitting away on her sweater, and I’m enjoying it so much, and loving the way it looks so much, that I’ve been knitting too late. Tonight I HAVE to go to bed early. Three different people who’ve seen the work in progress have asked to see the finished sweater, so I’m not the only one who’s happy with the way it’s turning out.

We’ve finally recovered from Christmas spending, so I’ve purchased the prints of my friend wlotus’s photographs. You can see them here: For Her_Whispers. I saw them on her blog, fell in love immediately, and begged her to offer them for sale. She generously did, and I’ve been impatiently waiting for our bank account to get straightened out. They should arrive any day now, and once they’re matted and frames, they’ll go in our study. I did show them to Hubs before I ordered them, and he literally did a double take when he saw them. Needless to say, he is as enchanted with them as I am (though he wouldn’t state it that way, having that Y chromosome and all).

Two of our SCA friends are taking some time off for a while. He said that her work is so draining right now that she gets home from work, works out with their Wii Fit, eats dinner, watches some TV, and goes to bed – that’s all the energy she has. I realized that I’m in the same situation, except that I knit instead of working out with a Wii Fit (though it looks like we’ve GOT to get one ;) but I can’t take time off now, since I’ve been Seneschal for about six months now. Hopefully the topamax will kick in and the migraines will ease off. Fingers crossed!

As I was getting in the car to pick Hubs up Thursday, my cell phone rang. It was him telling me "Um, we're going to the emergency room." He'd sliced off part of his left index finger using the paper cutter at work, it was bleeding heavily, and his supervisor (thank Heavens she was still there! Usually he's alone at work when I get there!) was driving him. I met them in the hospital, and the triage nurse was taking the wadded paper towels off his hand and wrapping it with gauze. They sent him back to the waiting room, then took him back for x-rays. This was about 5:30.

At 6:30 he'd bled through the heavy padding, and they took him back and put more gauze on it and put more ice in the bag he was holding on it. At 8:30 I went and asked for towels for the bloody water dripping everywhere, and they gave me the strangest look but eventually brought three thin washcloths for me. We hadn't eaten dinner (of course), and though he wasn't in much pain (hand numbed from the ice and probably from shock), both of us had low blood sugar and I had a migraine building. The cafeteria was closed, of course, but they had snack machines, so I got $10 from the ATM there and put it in the change machine. Oops – change machine was broken. The soda and munchie machines wouldn’t take anything bigger than a dollar, and I had just enough change to get a pack of nabs, so I did. Other than that, we had some sugar-free cinnamon mints, and water from the fountain. At 9:00 he took to standing in front of the desk, holding his dripping hand, as I called other emergency rooms, especially the one where I work (though this was a worker's comp claim, and he had to be treated at this hospital for the claim to be covered, I was ready to pay to get him in to see a doctor). None of the patients were being taken back after triage until after 9:30 or so, including a guy with a head injury who was waiting when we got there.

Finally, after 1:00, we were taken back to a room. I hate to admit it, but I had broken down and cried a couple of times -- I know I wasn't the patient and I was being a baby, but the blood sugar and the migraine were hitting me hard, I was dehydrated, and it was three hours past my bedtime (wah wah I'm such a baby) and I couldn't take anything that would touch the migraine because I'd be driving Hubs home. The doctor, however, was great. The injury is more serious than we thought, possibly requiring skin grafts. Hubs is to see an orthopaedist next week. Part of the nail bed was cut, and the nail usually doesn't grow back normally after that. In addition, the fingertip will probably not grow back normally, but will probably be dented permanently. There was nothing to stitch shut, so they put on a special dressing to cause the blood to clot (yes, after 9 hours it was still bleeding merrily away) and bandaged it up, gave him a tetnus shot and tilox for the pain, and scripts for more pain meds and an antibiotic.

Of course it's his left index finger and he's a lefty, and he's a computer analyst and accountant at work. Now if he tries to use a keyboard, he'll hit about five keys with that finger because of the size of the bandage. How fun! And oh yes, the pain has kicked in, so even if he didn’t have a huge bandage on that finger, he couldn’t use a keyboard.

He's forgiven me for my babyish behavior that night (I'd had the bad blood sugar and/or topamax incident earlier in the week, so it wasn't too much of a surprise). We both stayed home from work on Friday (I couldn't face work on three hours of sleep), and of course, he’s on heavy-duty pain meds – my first responsibility of the day was filling his scripts for the tilox and the antibiotic. I’ve also got him on probiotics. C.diff: been there, done that – can’t imagine letting someone I love go through it if I can help it!

For our romantic Valentine’s Day, we went back to the Emergency Room to have the bandage changed and to have the doctor look at it again (doctor’s orders from Friday morning). This time, of course, we got right in. The nurse took Hubs straight back into triage, and then directly into a room. Then another nurse came in to remove the bandage, and thank heavens, the wound had finally stopped bleeding (though much of the bandage had blood on it so it had done more bleeding than we though after it was bandaged Friday morning). Hubs got really queasy and was lying down when the doctor came in (I had to all but force him down, but he was pale and dripping with sweat, and I couldn’t have held him up if he’d fallen). She took off the last of the bandaging, and was pleased at the way the wound was healing. The bleeding had completely stopped, and it looked quite good (in my professional opinion as a wife and medical librarian). She didn’t think that he needs to see an orthopaedist, so she made an appointment for him to see his regular doctor on Thursday morning. The nurse came back in and re-bandaged the finger, giving me gauze and Vaseline gauze to use for the wrapping. The doctor told Hubs that heavy-duty ibuprofen is better than tilox for his wound, so gave him a script for it.

So, we’re both confused – which doctor do we obey? Does he call the orthopaedist next week? Or does he go to see his regular doctor for a third opinion before he and go with the majority? *sigh*

In general, Hubs has had a horrible 2009. It’s GOT to get better!

Yesterday after work, I headed out to pick up Hubs as usual. As I walked towards my car, I started feeling a bit light-headed, but thought it was possibly from the topamax (I'd increased the dosage Monday night). I got to the car and was driving to pick up Hubs, and realized I was supposed to make a right turn at the stoplight; I was in a total fog, hit my turn signal, and turned across the turn lane. Thank heavens no one was beside me! I got in the left lane and drove on, and suddenly realized I had no idea where I was. I finally figured out I’d driven past my turn and managed to go around the block and pull up to his building (it took a lot of time to figure out how to go around the block). Then I couldn’t figure out how to contact him -- I knew the building was locked, and I was shaking so much I couldn't walk up there. I could wait for him to come out, he was bound to leave the building some time.... Oh, right, I can call him on the cell phone, it's sitting right beside me. I knew how to use the cell phone to call him, but I couldn't remember the number. I finally remembered his number, but my hands were shaking so hard it took five attempts before I could dial it. So I was sitting there waiting for him when I remembered I had something to eat in my tote bag, so when he came out I was trying desperately to open my tote bag (because zippers are SO complicated, right?). I told him “Blood sugar bag – something foodlike in there” and got in the passenger seat. He said “Foodlike? Why don't we go to McDonalds?” but I insisted "Foodlike in bag!" until he found the granola bar and handed it to me. I ate it and felt a little better, but he took me to McDonalds (it was closest and fastest) and got me some protein and I finally started feeling more normal. But it was so bizarre. I mean, I've driven to pick him almost every weekday since 2005, and I’ve lived in Columbia since 1985, and I was on MAIN STREET BESIDE CAROLINA COLESIUM and I had no flipping clue where I was!

Drops in blood sugar, my friends, are NOT something to be taken lightly. I will, from now on, have a ready form of sugar in my purse, and a more readily accessible "foodlike" if I'm driving somewhere.....

So, after work Wednesday, Hubs and I hit the public library (going from one library to another -- it's a sickness, I tell you! ;) I went to the Ladies' Room as soon as I got there, and there was a family of three (mother [I think], daughter about 7 or 8, and son about 4 or 5) already in there. When I came out of my stall, they were washing their hands. The little boy immediately went into the stall I'd just exited, shut the door, locked it, and then, to my surprise, crawled out from under the bottom, laughing. The adult woman just smiled and said "I'm going to call the police on you!", and they all left. I checked -- the kid had locked all the stall doors on the inside. I left the restroom, and saw the family walking across the parking lot. I was REALLY pissed, because I can see myself have arrived a few minutes later and having to either get a librarian to find some way to unlock the stalls, or crawl under there myself (gross!). I told one of the librarians, who rolled her eyes and said "What next?" as she went off to find someone to crawl under the stall doors.

Had there been no adult present, I would have told the kid "Get your buns under there and unlock that door!" but it's always difficult to know what to do when the child's supervisor (parent or not) is standing right there, watching the behavior and condoning it by not saying anything. I told the librarian, and she went looking for someone to open all the stalls. Growl.

Met Sis later at Hobby Lobby and then we and Hubs ate at Fatz. I STILL think that's a horrible name for a restaurant, but what do I know? The food is good there. I also managed to worry the waitstaff, again, because I only ate two of my chicken fingers. Yes, it's just fine, believe me, I'm just full because I have an altered digestive system.....

It is fricking freezing outside, and it's only supposed to get worse this weekend. It should be about 12 when we get up tomorrow. 12! This is SOUTH CAROLINA! There is the possibility of some snow -- I hope it does, because Ada has never seen snow and I'd love to see her reaction when she finally does! Savannah was NEVER impressed with snow, Baby was confused (I think) because she was confused a lot, Christabel was sort of freaking out..... It's Ada's turn.

Hit Hook and Needle AGAIN Thursday morning with N. I have GOT to stop it; actually, there's no choice, since we're recovering from the Christmas spending. Ah well. I did need more mohair to have enough for the scarf I want to knit, and got some more yarn for my berry socks (if I don't need it, I'll have extra sock yarn -- NOT a tragedy). Maureen had a smoke ring she'd made, an incredibly simple pattern (not like those on the webpage!) and so I picked up some mohair to make one for me and one for Sis. With any luck, I'll finish mine tonight and have it for the 12 degree morning. Ugh.

Hubs is off work on Monday, it being MLK Day and all. I, of course, will be here, working as usual. Poor me! ;) It's so silly that hospitals are open 24/7/365, isn't it? Ah well. It'll also be my 4th anniversary here at the hospital. That's so hard for me to believe, four years!

Warning: Health stuff: I've had diarrhea for weeks. Because I haven't had any pain or fever or anything, I'd been chalking it up to having a semicolon. Then they announced the peanut butter recall, and Hubs asked if I'd eaten anything from the cafe with peanut butter in it. Nope, not me. Then today? They announce the bad peanut butter may be in Austin Cheese Peanut Butter crackers. Which I have for breakfast every day. *sigh* I still think the diarrhea is caused by the semicolon situation and stress, but we'll see if it clears up now if I'm not adding salmonella-laced crackers to my diet every day...

I am finally sleeping at night again, thanks to a xanax renewal; I'm really looking forward to sleeping late on Saturday -- of course, I ALWAYS look forward to sleeping late on Saturday.

Still working on being as positive as possible. Not coughing nearly as much, which is a great thing, and so I'm feeling better. Ordered a couple of books (big surprise, I know) from Amazon.com, including The Highly Sensitive Child for Bro and SiL; Elder perfect-in-every-way Niece is incredibly sensitive and gets overloaded easily (like her Aunties, though Sis can function in groups and at parties, while I can't) and when I mentioned the book to Bro at Christmas time he felt it might be a good idea, or at least worth a try.

We went to Columbia Place, the mall formerly known as Columbia Mall, to pick up something I'd ordered and had delivered at Sears, and once we got in the mall itself we went Waldenbooks and discovered it's going out of business, so we went in (of course! What did you expect???). All books were 25% off, and all sale books were 50% off. I purchased a pop-up castle for the Perfect-in-every-way Nieces, and then went wild. I purchased It's All Too Much to help with my cleaning and weeding this year, Look Great, Feel Great by Joyce Meyer (we'll see what I think of it....) and I. succumbed. to. twilight. Yes, I purchased Twilight, though I haven't started reading it yet (still working on Every Which Way But Dead) because I've got to see what the big deal is about.....

Massive headache on Saturday; migraine over my left eye instead of the right, which totally confused me. We'd planned on going to Sears, and Hook & Needle, and then to visit my friend Nina whose father passed away on New Years Day, but I simply could not do anything. That's why we ended up going to Sears late Sunday (about 4:30) which is when the headache finally eased off. The big Hook & Needle sale is on all this month, so maybe Nina and I can go this week. I love me a good yarn sale!

OK, it looks like something has gotten confused at the UPS place, and while I'm delighted that my chocolate and blue bedding set is supposed to arrive today, the knitting bag (in eggplant) I've been drooling over since the most recent issue of Knitty came out, which arrived in West Columbia FRIDAY, did not scan out to go on the truck to arrive and be waiting for me when Tim and I get home today. THIS DOES NOT MAKE ME HAPPY.

WORD TO THE WISE: If you love the combination of chocolate and blue, do NOT go to The Chocolate Blues. Seriously. Don't click this link. It's dangerous. So far I have purchased, because of this evil website:

• photo album
  
• bedding set
  
• curtains
  

There's more, much more -- these are only the things I have been completely unable to avoid purchasing. So, once again, if you are a fan of chocolate and blue, always avoid The Chocolate Blues.

Ahem. OK, now I've got that off my chest. I had started knitting some socks on Friday, out of berry (blue and rasp) colored yarn, and couldn't do it. I was using teeny-tiny needles that made it too hard for me to see what I was doing, or to even do what I was doing. So I pulled it out and started over with the same needles with which I knitted Sis's birthday socks (size US 2, I think -- I'll check). We'll see how it goes! I'm loving knitting them, very much -- I just wish my new dang knitting bag would arrive! I just know it'll arrive tomorrow, and we won't get home until late because of fighter practice.... *sigh*

Dear Lord, my head HURTS. All day yesterday, all day today....

Anyway, on to important matters. OBAMA WON! WE WON! I can barely believe it. :) Tim and I had planned on voting first thing in the morning, then I heard that would be a busy time so I got permission to get off at 3:00 and pick him up and we hit the polls them. I was so afraid there would be a long wait -- 3 hours or so was the norm around here -- and I knew I couldn't wait that long, my head was pounding so terribly. But we got there, and there was no line outside, and thank heavens the line inside was only about five minutes!

I did show my ditziness, though. I was writing in a vote for Sherri Abbott, and knew I'd remember Abbott because it was my friend Marie's best friend D's last name. Well, when I got there to vote, I kept thinking it was Sealy, because that's D's married name, and I knew it wasn't Sealy.... I finally remembered Abbott as I was reviewing my ballot and corrected it, but there wasn't much hope for a write-in candidate, I fear.

We grabbed some dinner and got home. I took headache meds and started watching the returns, but they stress me out too much, and I had to turn off the TV. I was exhausted, and finally fell asleep not long after 9:00. When Tim came to bed, I woke briefly and muttered "Is Obama president?" "Good heavens, NO!" he said. "George W. Bush is president." Long pause. "But Obama is president-elect." Luckily, I didn't kill him, else I'd be posting from jail. Or not posting, more likely, I'm sure they wouldn't let me have my laptop there, and even if the did I doubt I could connect to the innernets. After all, this is South Carolina, and it's a majorly red state.

I did go around yesterday singing over and over:

Won't you turn my red state,
Won't you turn my red state,
Won't you turn my red state BLUE.....

Tim pointed out there wasn't a hope in heck for that, but once I got it stuck in my head I couldn't get it out....