I see the sun peeking...

Literally and figuratively.  It's probably going to be a pretty fantastic day outside...I'll be inside for the most part, though. I'm on day 4 of whatever illness this is, and I'm thoroughly tired of being sick.  Getting a job is supposed to be a good thing, full of new goodness and new money...but it's hard to get either of those things when you also get new illnesses that keep you firmly placed on your couch, rather than in your place of employment.  In an effort to change the pace of this last week and a half, I've decided to write about the good aspects of all that's gone wrong.

First and foremost, I'd like to address this random illness.  My inner ears have always given me issues...from room-spinning dizziness to throat infections.  It's not much fun, but it does lead to weight loss in the new year!  It's really hard to eat in a spinning room...and the results are often exactly as one would expect.  While illness may not be my preferred method, it's a method none the less.  And let's face it, most women secretly (and some publicly) wish to drop a few pounds each January.  I'm not one for resolutions, but I'll take a happy coincidence any time :)

The POS car breaking down at the grocery store...after I got produce and frozen foods... well, that could have been much worse.  My mom had planned to drive that car to Tucson over the weekend, and it would have been much more complicated getting it towed from there to a place that would have been closed.  And she didn't end up stranded in Tucson.  And I found out just how quick and well AAA works.  But I think the most important thing I learned from that is that my son is a real trooper.  He didn't whine AT ALL.  He was stuck sitting in a hot car, and all he asked for was a drink.  He didn't cry, he didn't kick the seat... When we got out to let the tow truck do its thing, he watched with quiet excitement (quite a task for a nearly 3-year-old).  When we got to the mechanic, he stayed where he was supposed to stay.  He read an old issue of Guns and Ammo (not really my idea of good reading material for a toddler, but whatever) and looked at model cars.  He was just an absolutely perfect child.  I was pretty proud... pretty impressed with his attitude.

And besides, the car is fixed now.

The lack of a hot water heater for a few days... every single shower I've had since getting the new hot water heater has been amazing.  I've been much more grateful for what I have.

The blown up microwave and outlet got me a nice new microwave.  The outlet is fixed, too.  I still haven't figured out all the buttons, but it's pretty.

All my textbooks arrived on time, for once.  I really miss shopping at the UA bookstore, but at least this semester I'm prepared.  The best part of this is that I actually bought the books for my writing class, and I really like one of them.  I can see myself referencing it in the future.

I've had an iPad to play with for a few days now... and I have to admit, the thing is pretty cool for Oliver.  It's mostly useless for me...I can't type fast on it and it's just not fast enough for me overall.  The little kid phonics games are lots of fun for Oliver, though.  He likes it a lot more than I do... so maybe I'll look into other tablet-like devices and see if I can find one with similar games.  There's just no way I can justify buying an iPad.  It's nice to see my kid getting interested in a tech toy and actually being able to learn from it :)

Then there's the accidental 8-week writing class.  For some reason, I think I knew I was signing up for an 8-week class during registration.  I just completely forgot.  I'm sure I thought it'd be an excellent idea, because I'd get it out of the way and have less to do in the end of the traditional semester.  That's still true, and if I survive the next few weeks, it'll be nice to have a break.  I wanted to be forced to write something...and now I'm REALLY forced.

There's one good thing that's happening this week that doesn't have roots in anything bad.  I'm paying off a credit card.  Two down, two to go!  I'm very excited :)

And finally, as the room is not currently spinning, I think I'm going to have a brownie.  :)

Return of the Bad Blogger

It's a new year and this is a new blog post!  I'm doing my best to remain positive this year, and this year is raging back - saying, "I CHALLENGE YOU to keep that unnaturally cheerful disposition in the face of all I'll give you, AND raging pms."  You're right, you're right...I am not a particularly cheerful person, but I am generally capable of finding the good and/or humorous side of whatever is going on.  It's been getting increasingly difficult, though.  Last Monday I was really not looking forward to going back to work.  Having only one day off was insufficient and I was cranky.  I got to the parking lot, picked up my purse, and noticed that it had cat puke all over one side.  Awesome, right?  The next day, the hot water heater broke.  I can survive one day without a shower, and without killing anyone as a result of not having showered.  At the end of that day, I was boiling water on the stove and preparing a lovely 6-inch bath for myself.  This went on for a while.  Please keep in mind that, with raging pms and not nearly enough chocolate on the face of the earth to calm me, saying that I was unkind would be an understatement.  Looking back, I'm not sure how some people survived.  Friday morning I finally got a wonderful shower, and thought that just based on that, the whole day had to be excellent.  And then the dreaded monthly visitor arrived.  19 years and I still whine... Anyway, I had things to do!  I had to go get a storage unit so that I can re-do Oliver's room, I needed to shop, and I wanted to take Oliver to the library.  We made the rounds, but at some point I managed to lose my coffee, so we had to go back to Starbucks.  Convenient, I guess, because I also needed some produce and a bag of coffee for home brewing, and Starbucks is in Safeway.  I always park way out in the middle of nowhere, partially because walking across a parking lot IS exercise, and partially because I'm terrible at parking.  This came in very handy when Oliver and I got back to the car...loaded it up with even more groceries...and the damn thing wouldn't start.  I am so glad I have AAA.  And so glad I parked in bfe, so that the tow truck could get to us...  The tow truck driver was nice... Oliver thought the whole process was a huge adventure...and the fact that I wanted the car relocated to the railroad tracks and lit on fire was met with many laughs (though all concerned understood my frustration with the thing).  It didn't go on the railroad tracks, and there was no ceremonial burning... but it does have to get a new fuel pump.  :(  I really need to buy a car.

We stayed home yesterday, to avoid anything else going terribly wrong.  And also because we don't have a car until Monday afternoon.  Oliver got all mucusy and fevery about half way through the day.  The only really good things that happened were...um... well, the Red Wings won (always a good thing)...and I made some pretty awesome fried pickles.

Today I woke up with a massive headache.  I still have the headache, and have taken motrin... and there are still tears streaming down my face because it hurts so much.  My ears are stuffy.  My eyes feel like they're going to pop out of my head.

Such a fun week.

At least I'm getting this out of the way early in the year.

But I think I need to lay with my eyes closed for a while...