Well, I've not been AS itchy, so that's good, but I do still have a bout of scratching as the time dwindles before the next cream application, like when I'm first getting out of bed in the morning.  I think it's fairly safe to say I am allergic to iron supplements.  Do any of you, my dear friends, already have a prescription for Loestrin FE 24 that would want two unopened packs?
 
It's been an interesting week.  I could have sworn I was getting the stink-eye at a company event on Tuesday night and then later this week obtained information that would support a reason for said stink eye.  This had me rather displeased as it's just another case of boys and their lies.  Lying to me has always been the straw that broke the camels back, but I broke my own rules w/ someone for way too long.  Seems now the lies aren't to me, but about me... and that is over, above, and beyond me just wanting to drop you like a hot box of crap.  Why do things revert back to 7th grade all too easily?

It is incredibly wrong how excited I was walking down the hall just now to go to the bathroom.  You're making a face, aren't you?  Well I can explain.  I simply couldn't wait to hike up my dress and full out scratch my belly like us women do our legs after removing panty hose that have been on for hours.  Just me?  You're either laughing or making another face right now, but I'll explain further.  I've been itching for more than a week now and it's not getting better: back, legs, stomach, neck, hands.  I thought it was just dry skin for a little while, but now I've gotten several blister-like lumps on my fingers/hand that are itchy as snot too.
 
So, my logical internal dialog was "what's changed that I am clearly having an allergic reaction to?"  The only thing I could come up with is the new birth control pills I started 2 weeks ago.  [Did I have a hissy fit about those on here? - they didn't have generics so I had to pay $120 for 3 friggin packs that autoprocessed through the mail order company and couldn't "get returned" - that made me happy.]  Why plus iron? - I have no clue.  I've NEVER had an issue w/ my blood not bouncing off the bottom of the cup like a dropping weight.  I think it was just a pet-pick of the doctor, definitely not necessary.  Anyhow, I thought at first it was silly to think I could be allergic, until I started googling around and discovered that yes, it is quite feasible to be allergic to the iron supplement!
 
I called my primary care physician to inquire on what to do, since it may be something totally unrelated and was directed to cease the iron pills.  In theory I can just finish out an old pack of other stuff I have, but if that fixes the situation then I have 2 1/2 months worth of expensive ass pills I can't even digest (out the window goes the cliche phrase of "eating my money")!   They did call me in a cream to aid the itch.  All this to just try and get my body to not hate me.  I guess that's an epic fail, right?  I guess the good news is, thanks to three glasses of the liquid blackberry crack from Chili's I'll probably make several return trips this afternoon.

I actually found a pair of the jeans I wanted at the mall!  Yes, _A_ pair.  Sad part is now I need a reason/place to wear them.  Life is just so exciting.

I just realized that job hunting is as bad as dating.  You spot something that looks good and you have some draw towards, so you send your resume (wal up and say hello), taking time to even write a nice cover letter (you put on a little extra makeup), and then you sit, waiting, and wonder how your skills (overall look) will appeal and align with what they're looking for.  In the mean time, the job you wouldn't have noticed in a town not on your list of places you're willing to relocate to starts emailing you and asking you to email your latest resume and give them a call to discuss an opportunity.

 

After you wait for a little while and realize you won't hear from the appealing job another place contacts you, this one is at least in the right area, not so much what you'd be into, but I guess the skills align... so you're willing to do a phone screen.  As the time leads up to the phone screen it feels like a burden that just bums you out.  You think "Ugh, I should have just told them it didn't sound like a fit!"  The call comes and goes, they make it sound like you'll be hearing back from them to go to the next step... and then they never call.   Now you're a bit peeved, thinking "hey, you don't get to diss me... I'm the one who didn't want to work for you!"  That bums you out, and then you think about all of the really good looking jobs that never bothered to call and you go back and forth between "their loss that they don't recognize what I could do for them" and "what's wrong with me and my resume? should I re-write? what do I need to learn?"

 

God forbid you get through the interview and are both enamoured with one another... it all seems great for a little while after you start, but then the long term relationship woes settle in.  Things get boring, you have your days when you wonder what you were thinking, but ultimately you stick around because it's just easier where you are.  Right now, I think I'm where I was in my marriage 10 years ago... sitting around waiting for the company to decide if they want me or not.  Unfortunately for me, as with my dating life, I am one of the few who still firmly believes you need to end one thing before you start another, but I'm terrified to pull the plug.

I wanna know why you can only find coated jeans in the european sizes (that means not big enough for me).  Seriously, I'm not tiny, but I'm not that huge.  H&M supposedly has my size, but is there an H&M around here?  I could order online, right, no, only if you're in Europe.  *shakes fist*  And while we're on the topic of european sizes, can we please just get to one numbering scheme for covering our butts?

So, it turns out I have "bad veins".  I'd beg to argue and call them reticent to give up my life blood to your probing needle.  Meh.  I had an allergy doctor appointment first thing this morning, where I asked about testing for food allergies, thus the blood draw (what is that 6 so far this year???)  I'm definitely going to need to go more often for my regular shots as the two week interval is not working out for me.  I had a nice boomer headache yesterday afternoon which was the final straw above and beyond a bit of stuffiness, sneezing, and itchy eyes that started on Friday.

It's been a pretty "successful" weekend, even though it's coming quickly to a close I can say that.  How do I count success for a weekend?  Well, it all comes down to how much I get accomplished.  There is always plenty more I could/should have done, but there is only so many hours in a day.  I got some rest, I did some walking (not as much as I'd like for the weekend - yet - the night is young, but it also just started to rain again), I visited with mom, I did some running, but most importantly I got some overdue cleaning done.

Yep, we could sit down and have a meal at my dining room table!  Not that I do.  Not sure why exactly I own a dining room table, but I digress.  The windows, windowsills, and wall under the dining room window are washed off too.  The wall you see because Vixen likes to lay there and it tends to get a little grimy over time.  The standard rest of the downstairs effort was put in too (vacuum, bathroom maintenance, and whatnot).

I did make a grocery run yesterday, finally, so I was able to make some yummy prepackaged (by Iggle) blue cheese burgers on the grill last night after polishing the farm eggplant (in garlic of course) and farm corn at lunch time, and making an apple slaw with the farm's cabbage to go with the burgers.  Today I took the meat to mom's and we had the standard way too large noon-time Sunday dinner.  Tonight I'm making stuffed peppers (again), this time cooking them a little longer before stuffing.  It's a decent recipe and with some tweaking I can see it becoming something new in my repertoire.  One of the peppers is the one and only pepper I've pulled from my garden, so I am eager to give it a try.  They were good leftover for lunch the next day last time too, so bonus.

While mom took her post-meal nap I headed out for part of my walk, which is really good - like I said, it's raining, and I suspect I wouldn't have gotten an hour and a half tonight as a result.  I really want to cry for Altoona.  It's a mess.  Everything is falling apart from the houses to the sidewalks, and it just isn't the home of my memories.  I walked up the alley towards Teej's old house as I did so many countless times in jr high and early high school, before those years on my path to the pool.  Headed down towards AAHS, stopping off at the mountain lion I use to climb and walking along 6th avenue around building B, under the bridge, and up past St. Mary's.  Up the hill to 2nd avenue and towards the pool where I made a loop - no one swimming today (could be the fact it was barely to 70 mid-day).  Back down first avenue, cutting across and down the alley towards the park I spent so many hours playing/swinging/sledding as a child the back around to 1st avenue to walk past my grandparents' old place and back home.

I also crossed some little tasks off today that don't really take a lot of time or effort, but give a good impact to the mental list and make it feel a bit lighter.  Now, if the rain would just stop!  I caught 10 minutes with Danika while the peppers cooked... easily another 45 is necessary today.  Hopefully things will clear by the time I finish eating.

I'm a bad mom, but now that I have some coffee in me I've remembered I should have sung happy birthday to Dani this morning.  I guess I know what I better be doing when I walk through the door tonight.  At least we already have the birthday gifts from our weekend run to Petco, I bet with those in hand I could make friends again.

It's so good to already have my walk in for the day.  Saffy and I headed to UPJ to wander around and take some photos - you know, before everyone gets back and makes me sad.  There were a few ppl (prb RAs) moving in already.  Lots of construction on campus with blocked paths etc.  Oddly they've put in railings along some of the walkways up near Biddle.  What's the point?  So you have something nice and solid to slam your head into when you slip on the ice in the winter?  They also put parking meters in along the road that heads past the dorms to the STU and Library.  Sup w/ that?!  It makes me a bit weepy every time I head there, I miss it so much and want to return in the fall with them every single year.

My niece just headed off last weekend for her Freshman year at Texas Tech.  Just think, she was born the second half of my freshman year at UPJ!  All I can tell her is how much I hope she enjoys every moment there, that she does things without fear, has fun, works hard, and makes the most of this time.  If she's lucky, she'll miss the place in *grumble grumble* years too.

After an hour on campus Saf and I walked a wee bit more back here to get enough time in.  I've got to say this... if on more than one occasion, dear (extended) neighbor, your dog runs out of your yard straight at my dog and me that's prb a sign you need to buy what is called a LEASH.  When your dog gets hit by a car, I suspect you won't be as heartbroken as I would to have witnessed the result of your negligence.

I accomplished a good bit today and it's not even 7pm, so I feel the need to catalog my accomplishments somewhere - as if that makes them more real.  As I previously posted one walk was in early today, then the trip at lunch time to celebrate with Dani.  From there I literally cleaned a bunch including the kitchen sink.  The bathroom floor, 3 loads of laundry (including my sheets and fur collecting blanket for the foot of the bed), vacuuming, some dusting, and then I headed outside.

I yanked out more of the clingy type growths that were too near my fence and gathered them up with the sticks and branches I was collecting outside the fence line after each storm and took them out front.  Then the craziness hit me.  One fact is - if I pull out some type of tool I go bat-shit crazy with it.  Out came the pruning tools and down came a whole mess more of those cursed bushes out front and the remnants of the way too tall flowers that are mostly died off.  I guess before I know it I will be out there pulling up nasturtiums and gathering their seeds.  Hopefully the township or garbage people will take some of the HUGE PILE that is out there to be hauled away first.  Honestly, the pile from the last snow storm of the year was never taken, so I don't know how lucky I'll get.  I've wanted a chipper for quite a while now, as one could make quick mulch of that huge pile, but I suspect it would just be another tool that would work for a brief period of time and die on me.

Now, the final thing I accomplished... watching the last two episodes of Farscape.  I'm sure I've watched them at some point in the past, but it's taken a year but I finally went through all of the DVDs.  Now to watch Peacekeeper Wars again, that might be on the docket for tonight.  I did promise myself another short walk... but I did shower after the outside work.

OH... and I picked the very first tomatoes and single pepper I had growing.  I think everything will start to shift to red at this point in tomato land.  As for the peppers, I have some blossoms just trying to turn into peppers.  Not sure how far they'll get before things get too cold.

eff.  It's only been a week and a day since I last ran the Durango and yet it's dead again today (needing jumped).  I'm really tired of this dren.  I only need it because of the uber crappy winters around here.  Anyone know of a job that will help me get out of the frozen tundra?

So, Danika and I jumped in the Tib to go celebrate her birthday a few days early.  We shared a McD's burger, visited Petco (where she promptly tried to poop on their floor - that was a nice touch - I guess the grease lubed up the works), and then went for ice cream.  At least I already got one walk in this morning and intend on another if the weather holds to try and compensate for what I've already eaten by 1pm.

Saffy's rather displeased, not only does D smell like all the goodies, but she doesn't want to play with her.  Poor Banany's got a front leg sore enough that she's limping.  At present D is chilling outside (since the weather is a bit cooler I won't fight her on it today) and Saffy is laying on the other end of the couch looking dejected.  I tried to get her to run around with me in the back yard, but she wasn't having it, she wants her sissy.

I wore a jacket to work today.  August 10th.  Yea. *shakes head*

Two nights this week I've needed a nap so desperately after work, tonight being one of those nights.  Unfortunately, I'm still wiped.  I visited with Mithy for a short while and that combined w/ my nap ate up most of my evening, so we only got a 20 minute walk in.  Now I feel like an incredible slacker.  I haven't lost a single pound, so that makes it difficult to stay motivated too.  I feel like all I do all week is work, make dinner, walk, shower, and sleep. When am I suppose to clean or look at job sites etc?

I have a bone to pick... and perhaps educate some folks who have never done anything with direct sales.  Note that all direct sales companies I am familiar with (this includes lia sophia and Miche) require their consultants to PURCHASE their catalogs.  That means, we buy them... yes, those ones that I put in the kitchens hoping to boost my business a little with "KITCHEN COPY - Please do not remove or discard" written on them!  So why is it when I go to put new ones in there most of them are gone?  Hell, why did the one that got put there VERY recently already disappear?  Worse still, if you're having a party with another consultant - get your catalogs from her, don't steal mine!
 
People suck.

Yay weekend!  I've been stepping up my walking a bit since my last post, Friday getting almost 5 miles in and last night with another 70 minutes.  With the wealth of veggies here at the house from the CSA I am also eating a little better.  Of course, I have a pile of peppers I need to broil and ready for soup and a pile of tomatoes to cook up into something.  I'd love to make a batch of salsa but that means eating chips, so I think I'll go the route of a small batch of sauce and a bit of pasta this weekend.  Not the BEST meal, but I've at least found a whole wheat pasta I really enjoy.

Last night I managed to stay up late enough to see the Dark Knight.  I'm enjoying this genre of films a bit more as of late.  I guess they're good until my more typical selections come out (second squee for Frankenweinie and a smile for Paranormal Activity 4).

Today the big excitement is taking Vix in for a blood draw.  I guess I'll need to walk (aaaagain), but I might need to wait until the day cools back down.  Should have forced myself out of bed early to get it over with, but that just didn't happen.

I admit it.  I have girl-love for Jenna Marbles.  She's officially made it to my routine haunts links.  If you're not familiar, be sure to go watch "How to trick people into thinking you're good looking" and "How to get ready for a date".  Crazy dog ladies unite!

My evening has gone WAY too fast... had to stay a bit late to attend the First Aid class, so I had to run home over lunch.  From there I came home w/ our goodies from the CSA... adding that to the pile of other veggies here I knew I needed to take some action, so I ended up eating a fried up (with garlic) eggplant, a sliced up cuke, two ears of corn, and a sammie (w/ some lettuce on it of course).  I also cut up more cukes to marinade.  Now I really need to get working on the tomatoes I have.  Fortunately, my tomatoes aren't even starting to turn red yet, so I am safe, for now.

During our walk tonight (70 minutes thank you very much) I noted the late August sounds already.  I hope this doesn't mean the summer will end early.  Need much more time to lose some weight.  Also realized while walking a 20 year reunion is right around the (calendar) corner.