31 October 2017

ready set dump

Hi.
Ready for a bunch of random stuff?

-Sinuses. Oh, God sinuses. I fought the good fight this fall. But with the erratic weather all of my efforts stood no chance and I finally succumbed against my will last night. Fever and chills and congestion, oh my. I still pretty much refuse to take antibiotics unless it gets really bad, so I'm relying on nasal spray and neti pot and decongestants. Yay.

-Stitch fix! This time I asked for girly blouses (something with ruffles or lace), pants, and shoes. My box included the following items:

I kept the brown(ish?) pants and the lace tank top. The black blouse was ridiculous with huge goofy sleeves, the blue pants were a petite size and were (duh) too short, and the shoes are adorable but uncomfortable. (I'm on my feet too much to wear uncomfortable shoes, no matter how cute these are. My heart cried a little when I put them back in the bag to return.)

Since mom signed up under my referral code, I got a $25 credit so the two items that I bought were just under $100. Kind of steep, considering that was after the styling fee and credit were applied.

However, I hesitate to bitch about the price because one big thing I've noticed about more expensive clothing is the quality. I'll pay $80 for a pair of pants, but the fit won't change. They won't pill or fade or stretch after several wears and washes. The fabric looks a little more polished.
Also I've been ironing all of my work clothes. What a difference ironing makes! When I'm ironing, it's easier to notice if a button is loose or a seam is unraveling so I can get to minor repairs before they become a tear or a lost button. How adult-ful of me, huh?

-We're instagram famous... if you are a Ft. Bend County Museum fanatic. Except Ashley who is hidden behind Collin...

-It's Halloween and I'm feeling crappy so I just put the bowl of candy on the porch. It's pretty rainy so I'm not expecting a ton of trick or treaters. If that's the case I'll have a ton of leftover gluteny candy that I don't know what to do with. At least I won't be able to eat it.
Thinking of doing another Whole 30 in November, at least until Suzy's birthday, which tips off the whole holiday season and gluttony reigns until we are all disgusted with ourselves by around New Years. I've actually adopted a lot of the whole 30 habits from last time, except I've started drinking more and eating a lot more sweets.

-I hooked up the DVD player ALL BY MYSELF today. And it actually works. Props to me, I'm feeling myself and my ability to do electronic things.

21 October 2017

moments

Someone explain to me how I am somehow signed up for another 5k tomorrow? Akhtar talked me into it, but only when he explained that they teach you CPR at the end. Okay. That's like the universe talking to me. So I'll get my ass up before dawn to go exercise IN THE RAIN and learn CPR. This time, I demand mimosas afterwards.

Also excited to get dinner with Missy. I thought she lowkey unfriended me in real life, but it turns out I'm just not getting all my text messages. Super.

On that note, I'm making an effort to repair/strengthen some of the friendships that I've neglected the past few years. I've learned that I tend to withdraw when I'm struggling with something... and while it's super easy to withdraw, it's not psychologically healthy in the short or long-term. Thankfully the folks I surround myself with are the forgiving and understanding type.
[I'm surprised at how much active effort it takes to meet up with people now. It's soooo much easier to go home and plop on the couch.]

Also making an effort lately to be present. Like, to stop and smell the roses, literally. Instead of running through life and everything blurs by, to stop and actually experience the small things. To notice the shapes of clouds when I'm at a stoplight, focus on the background beat in a song, or take a random deep breath and identify all the things that I can smell (not advisable sometimes in a lab). It's like little mini-meditations. It's going well.
In other news, allergies have been killer lately, and the zyrtec just makes me sleepy. Even if I take it at night I'm groggy the next day. In an effort to help with all things allergenic, I washed my pillows. Just tossed them in the washing machine and dried them with tennis balls in the dryer. Now they're SUPER fluffy and I can't wait to jump in my fresh clean bed.
Acne has taken a turn for the crazy, because that's life now. I know it's hormonal and I can tell it's on a cycle now. So there's that.
Anyway that 5k's not going to complete itself tomorrow. Peace out, y'all.

14 October 2017

A few small updates

-The new teeth are beautiful. They should be, considering what they cost. My dentist is meticulous and he did a really great job. You can't even tell that anything was done, except if you look closely the crowns are prettier than my actual teeth. Next up he'll be filling all of the regular cavities (4 or 5?) in one [sedated] appointment.

-The annual allergies/sinus infection process has started, despite my benadryl efforts. I broke down and bought some 24-hr zyrtec and nasal spray to make things more comfortable, but overall it sucks and I felt crummy all week. By the way, tissues with lotion are pretty great, but the tissues with lotion + Vicks are remarkable!

-Andrea talked me into going to this yoga triathlon thing. As a rule I usually decline things like 5Ks, however disguised they might be with wine/chocolate/costumes/colored powder... underneath it all I don't particularly like paying money to deal with large crowds and exercise in the blazing heat.

BUT I've been trying to find ways to hang out with my friends that don't involve food or booze. Because it seems all we ever do is go out for dinner or drinks, which is nice but gets old and it seems like we could be doing much healthier things while maintaining our friendships. So I agreed to try it. (And sewed up a quick yoga mat strap for the fun of it)


Overall, it was actually a pretty neat event, and I met some cool new chicks. I would have enjoyed it more if it were not a sunny, 95-degree day. I did my best through the sweat and sinus congestion; I walked the 5k but I lost steam halfway through yoga and had to seek shade during the meditation. In the end, we all skipped our extra activity and went home because it was so damn hot. I really wanted to try hooping but I guess it wasn't in the cards today.


-I cleaned my shower last weekend. I always feel the need to talk about it because it's such a huge pain in the ass. No matter how much I scrub, I can never get all the hard water deposits off the shower door and it looks constantly grungy. This time, I tried something I saw on pinterest and it actually worked better than anything else I've tried.
So, I'm sharing the shower-cleaning miracle: A dryer sheet. Yep. I took a couple of (new) dryer sheets, got them wet, and used them to clean the shower door. It wasn't effortless, but took WAY less elbow grease than any other cleaner I've tried, and took off WAY more grunge. I was surprised and totally happy about it. Once the doors were clean, I sprayed them with Rain-X to hopefully buy more time until the next cleaning.

-I found an old James Avery charm bracelet, empty with the tag still on it, in the drawer the other day. I used to love wearing my charm bracelet. It got filled it up so I asked for a new one for my birthday many years ago. Then I stopped wearing it because it got in the way in the lab, and I never filled up the new one. Now, I think I'd be able to wear one since I don't deal with specimens as much, plus I can afford the charms now. So I'm looking forward to building this new bracelet.

-Acne adventures continue!
Quick recap: When I first went to the dermatologist after ending birth control, she prescribed a few topical antibiotics (Velitin and Aczone). I gave the products a chance, but they didn't do much, so I went back. Then she asked if I would consider taking oral antibiotics. No, thanks. She respected that, then prescribed a retinoid... which also isn't doing great things for the acne but it IS fading the dark spots so I use it a couple times a week but discontinued the other products. Why pay for a refill when they don't help?

Backtracking, Chris randomly bought a bottle of tea tree oil with a bunch of dietary/ workout supplements a while back. When I saw the bottle I convinced him that it would probably not be a great idea to ingest it (??) and then it sat in the bathroom cabinet for a while.
The last time I got a big hurty zit I dabbed a little on it, and what do you know, it calmed that big hurty zit down overnight. I don't think I can use it preventatively, but it certainly helps shorten the life of the acne that does pop up.

That's all for now.


06 October 2017

teeeeeth are so dramatic

Let's talk for a second about root canals.

I thought they'd be like an intense filling and then I'd move on with my life.
Wrong. It's been three days and I still can't chew! That side of my mouth is sore and tender and even if I chew on the other side it's still too much when something accidentally gets chewed on that side. I haven't eaten solid food in THREE DAYS. Breakfast and dinner aren't so bad because I can eat yogurt and soup at home, but I have tried two different meal replacement protein drinks to take for lunch, and both were awful. I'm hungry and I want to chew something.

The root canal itself wasn't too bad. I can't believe I just said that but the dentist gave me a pill which made me calm-ish, and I discovered dental dams are AWESOME because they basically eliminate surprise fingers and tools down your throat.
The process of taking x-rays made me gag so much that instead of having me bite down, he held the film in place with his hand. Good call.
The tooth molds weren't too bad, but the process of digitally mapping my mouth for the crown sucked. So it was a very up-and-down procedure. It took 3 hours and I actually was exhausted by the end of it.
Also I have gained mad respect for my super patient dentist, and Maribel his sweet assistant who held my hand and insisted on turning on Cinderella for me to watch during the procedure. (Which I didn't watch because I shut my eyes, but the background noise on the headphones was kinda nice)

So anyway, now my mouth hurts and I didn't expect it. But at least I get to keep these teeth. I have to travel next week and I gotta be careful so the temporary crown doesn't fall out. I'm so glad these two are behind me and I can move on to the next thing.

I think it's a combination of not being able to eat + a sore mouth + some busy workdays, but I've been ready for bed by like 9pm every night, including tonight. Night.

02 October 2017

Intuition

This morning a very odd thing happened.

My alarm went off and I pushed the snooze button, like normal. When I put my head back down on the pillow, prepared to steal another few minutes of sleep, I heard my mother's voice in my right ear. She said my name. In a tone of voice that I havent heard in years; the tone you would use if you were trying to gently wake a small child.

It was so clear that I can hear it now, hours after waking up.

Before I woke up, I was having a dream that I traveled back in time but couldn't get back, so I was forced to re-live my life from the age of 10. Except I still had all of my adult memories. So I was thinking about all of my regrets in life and what I would do differently the second time around.

So the odd feeling of the dream combined with my mom's voice in my ear prompted me to call her at 730 in the morning. Which literally never happens because neither of us is usually up and capable of speech at such an early hour.

She answered the phone saying, "What the hell is going on in the world," to which I replied, "I wish I knew, mom."

It turns out, she thought I called about the shooting in Las Vegas, which I hadn't heard about. She'd been up for hours because she and my brother are scheduled to fly there this evening for a slot tournament at a hotel right next door to where the shooting happened. And of course was distraught.

So now I've got a weird unsettled feeling that I can't exactly place.