Getting Creative

What would happen if I super-glued an ice pack to my head?

I have seriously had this thing permanently pressed to my ear for the last three days!  Yesterday all during work, all evening last night, and all morning and afternoon today. Of course it thawed last night while sleeping, so I woke up with "Puffy Ear" and "Swollen Jaw".

Enter ice pack and "hyper and moody pills" which let me tell you have been less on the moody and more on the hyper side.  YEAH!  Things are feeling slightly better this afternoon.  Again.

So back to my original question.  Super-glueing the ice pack to my head may sound convenient, but it would be difficult to "recharge" upon thawing!  Of course sticking my whole head in the freezer might solve some things as well!

P.S.  Check out this post of mine from September.  It is an interesting forecast of my current predicament!

4am

What can you do at 4am?

You can watch the news and hear about stocks plummeting on the other side of the globe.
You can see Orion way up in the sky!
You can be awake to hear the first Trax train run by!
You can put a new post on your blog!



So, I went home yesterday afternoon and ice packed, which did no good. About 6p I was running a fever of 102, so I went to After Hours Medical. They told me it was a delayed but "extreme and potentially deadly" reaction to a bee sting. It's not fun to hear "deadly" during a Dr. visit.

I had multiple stings on my leg about 3 years ago, and ended up at the doctor's. They told me that time that if I got stung in the future to watch my breathing carefully for anaphalactic shock. But, I was breathing fine this time, so I thought I was OK. They told me last night that sometimes the reaction is delayed and with the swelling getting steadily worse, and the fever, that problems breathing was likely an upcoming symptom.

So, I got two shots (ephinephrine and tetanus - since they consider a bee sting a puncture wound) and had to take two oral medicines (steroids and inflamation) last night, along with a lot of water!

Within 10 minutes my heart rate and blood pressure were down to normal levels. You mean 130 bpm isn't normal while at a resting state!? Within an hour the fever was gone.

They have me on 3 medications for the next 7 days, since they said it would flare up again. The medicines are supposed to make me hyper and moody! (I'll try to be on my best behavior.)

Oh! And now I get to carry an EpiPen with me wherever I go, since they assured me next time it would be even worse!



So, now it's 4am and I can't sleep. Mostly because the swelling is going down and I have a huge headache! They said with the skin swollen, the nerves are stretched out and you can't feel it. Now that the swelling is going down, I CAN DEFINITELY FEEL IT. So, I'm biding my time until I can take my happy pills (oops - I mean hyper and moody pills) and head into work! I have a feeling it may be soon!

Relaxing Evening: CANCELLED

Trust me ... no picture is necessary for this post!

Work's been a bit crazy - well, REALLY crazy! And it's sucking a lot of my energy, so my mental state is already pretty drained, and I'm feeling really behind in life. (For example, my list of unread emails.)

Enter last night. I got home, and decided to feed the dogs early before I got started on an evening of relaxation and getting caught up! So, what happened to alter my best laid plans?

I got stung by a yellow jacket!!!

No kidding, that STUPID thing flew straight into my ear, buzzing like crazy and generally getting pissed! All the while, stinging me repeatedly!

So, I'm frantically trying to get it out, and of course my hair is in the way, so it's not working. Then I tripped on our edging and fell on the lawn. Of course THAT got the bee out of my ear/hair! And now I'm laying on the lawn, having a hard time trying to get up because I mangled my knee! And my ear is starting to sting and swell.

I got up, hobbled inside (Goo staring and me in total bewilderment), and after a couple of stressful phone calls to complain to loved ones and attempt home remedies, I spent the evening on the couch, with an ice pack on my knee, an ice pack on my ear, and Benadryl (which makes me LOOPY) and Ibuprofen in my tummy.

This morning my knee feels slightly better. I have a couple bruises that have shown up on my hand and shoulder. My ear is HUGE puffy, and I'm sitting at work with a cold water bottle wedged between my ear and shoulder. (While enduring co-worker giggles, who apologize because they feel bad laughing, but can't help it because it looks like I'm talking on a water bottle!)

I'm really thinking that it was the Benadryl that took the swelling down last night, because the cold water and Ibuprofen alone aren't doing it today! So, I think I may go home early and take some Benadryl and drift off into a drugged stupor!!

Friday

Ahhh ... one of my favorite days of the year! Our Halloween Party! I didn't decorate as much as in the past.



However this year, I actually had time to get ready before people arrived!



We had a Superhero theme this year, which was a lot of fun! Matt was Condorman and I was Laser Lady!



Kung Fu Panda, Edna Mole, and Super Baby!

The Ninja Turtles, Splinter, April, and Casey Jones! (Front & back)



"The Noid" and Tinkerbell!



Layla from Sky High!



Generic Heroes!



Hiro from Heroes (Future & Past)



Wolverine and The Black Canary!



Cat Woman!



Lex Luther!



The Great Pumpkin!



We have a lot of good friends and family who are very good sports to dress up with us each year!

Saturday

Saturday we were going in all different directions.

In the morning, Matt was rolling sod with Weston, while I was at the Primary Program practice. Then Matt worked around the house, while I took a nap to relieve my lack of sleep during the previous week. Late afternoon, we went north to go to our nephew Jack's birthday party.

Here is Lily, who is acting suspicious of Matt when he's talking to her.



Here is Kendra going for a ride on Matt's shoulders.



And Jack opening presents with all of his friends (girl friends). This picture makes me laugh, because he just opened an envelope with five one dollar bills. They all screamed in excitement!



After opening presents, Jack went around thanking everyone with a hug. His friend Hannah told him that he missed hugging three people, and then dove on him for her hug.



No worries! His other two friends, Jordan and Brooklyn, got their hugs, too.

Sunday

Working backwards ... we're now on Sunday ...

which was the Primary Program. The kids did so great, and they knew the songs better than the two previous years that I've been involved. HATS OF TO KIRSTIE! I was so happy that we ended on time, which has been a yearly goal. All the pieces came together, and you could feel the testimony in their cute talks.

After church our neighbor Hayley came over and we made spaghetti and she dressed up in our Halloween costumes. It was fun. She's a cutie, and it was fun to hang out.

After lunch, we headed to Matt's aunt's home. They're getting packed up to move to North Carolina next month. We helped move some stuff, and she gave us an old Danish Bible that she wasn't sure where it came from.



Upon further inspection when we got home, we discovered it is Matt's great-grandmother & grand-father's family bible, listing births, marriages and deaths in their family.



Also inside we found a page with pictures, two of which I'm pretty sure are his great-grandmother and great-grandfather, probably around their engagement (top and bottom right).



And we also found a newspaper clipping with Matt's grandmother's picture, and announcing her engagement.



I've put on my "History Detective Hat" the last few days to see what I can find on the internet to support my ideas of who are in the pictures in the Bible, but no luck yet. I'll need to start asking those who knew them. Wish me luck!

I love this stuff!!! (If you can't tell.)

Monday

After our busy weekend, we took some gift cards I got from work and went to The Melting Pot last night. We've never been before, and it was a lot of fun! I know I wouldn't pay $120.00 of my own money to go, but on someone else's dime, it was fabulous!

After dinner, we walked around downtown remembering when we used to work there. Matt and I met while working at Pacific Rim Mortgage Company which was in the Kearns Building. Everything sure has changed a lot since those days! The malls are gone! The Trax train runs down Main Street! The Conference Center was built!

HINT: Temple Square is NOT crowded in October. You can take a nice leisurely stroll on the grounds and run into very few people!

Bonita

As part of my mom's family's yearly reunion, we auction off items that help to fund the next year's reunion. Although we are now asked to bring new items, in the past the auction consisted of wrapped white elephants; the only clue to the contents being a description on the outside of the box that said if the item was best for an adult, a child, a boy or a girl.

At a family reunion in 1992, we were still being asked to bring white elephants, but at this point we were asked to not wrap them. My Uncle Stan brought "Bonita" to the auction. Stan teaches at a college; teaching students how to do hair! Bonita was a hair school practice head!

During the course of the auction, they put a funny Robin-Hood-type hat on her. My dad thought she was pretty funny and bought her, and then traded hats with her to make everyone laugh. Here is Bonita in my dad's hat, and he in her's:



Bonita floated around the house for the next few years, usually forgotten in a box, until someone opened the box and screamed when they saw eyes staring back at them!

Around 1998, my mom was ready to get rid of her and asked if she might find a home at our place.

Now we've had Bonita for 10 years. Each year at Halloween she makes her appearance. Once we made her a body and hung her from the trusses in our bay window. Another year we put her behind the door in the bathroom. She's been the centerpiece on the table, surrounded by veggies and dip. We've put her on top of the TV, on top of the post at the bottom of the stairs, on shelves, in windows, and on ice.

Last night as I started my Halloween decorating (I ALMOST made it until October to start) I unpacked her. I put her in the window of our downstairs bay, facing the front door. I thought that might creep someone out.

This morning as I was locking up to come to work, I almost simultaneously jumped out of my socks, peed my pants, and had a heart attack! The first thing that shot into my mind when I saw her looking at me through the window was, 'Someone's in my house!' ... of course I figured it out quick enough, but I had aftershocks all the way to my car. And then I laughed as I remembered yesterday thinking that she might creep someone out, and of course she did, and of course it was ME!

But, that's how it always is! Each year I put her somewhere so she'll scare MATT, and instead, forgetting she's there, she scares ME!

We love Bonita. She's part of our Halloween Family. (Next we'll have to introduce you to Romer Treece.) And I can't wait to share where Bonita's going to be this year! I'll keep you posted!