Back hurts :(  I am not a back problem kind of gal, so I'm not sure what to make of it.  It started two days ago, feeling like I pulled a muscle, but not in my back, instead in my chest cavity.  One prb there, there isn't muscles in there.  The tweaking feeling would hit in my upper back and almost around into my ribs, but lightly.  I figured I just slept funny on Monday night.  Yesterday it was a little worse and today it's outright backpain when I move.  I am guessing it is just the knots that were worked out by my massage last week trying to re-take hold elsewhere.  Sitting in the cold, which triggers you to tense up doesn't help either, it just makes you more aware of the pain.  Getting old sucks kids.  Right now I want nothing more than a heating pad and a humidifier.  *shakes head at self*

Nothing has brought me this big of a smile in a long time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=IJNR2EpS0jw#!

Day 4 away from work:  I've gotten so much done this weekend not only are the decorations up for the holidays, but some cleaning is done along with the dishes and clothes.  I've cooked delightful meals and treats.  I've relaxed.  I've gotten the fuzzy butts running around.  I've gotten through some magazines that have been laying around and I have designs on finishing my current book before I go to bed tonight.

Do I need to actually say It's been a fantastic extra long weekend?  Well it has, but as always the knowledge that I have to go back to that place tomorrow is setting back in.  I can't tell you how jealous I am at times of the women who have found their perfection at home with kids and someone who loves them.  Yes, it gives me heartburn to see the perfection of others all over facebook, to the point that I've had to unfriend people because of the distress it brings me, but worse still the ones who deny it.  I have two instances that come to mind.

The first is a friend who posted looking for someone else to sign their kid up a special class so they had someone to talk to while it was going on.  Without thinking I offered the thought from my own heart that it sounds like the perfect time to catch up on reading, to which the response came "I have plenty of time for reading during the day."

The second was a friend who seemingly randomly posted "I want a kid." on facebook to replies from friends who told her to "be careful what you wish for", flippantly saying "you can have mine", or highlighting how expensive they are.

Both instances made me so angry.  None of you even see what you have.  But you'll quickly tell us how it's not all roses.  Really?  The same things that other friends have called "the greatest love" and "the best thing they've ever done" and you are so quick to dismiss someone else's desire to get to feel that?  Just rediculous.

Trust me, if you get to be at home be it so busy you have no time for anyone (as some of my friends have stated) or able to leisurely read and get 'bored' know someone would gladly have a glimpse into that life.  It also makes some of us that know if we DID get to have kids we wouldn't get to be the super mom very angry.  Nope, some of us wouldn't get to go on the field-trips or be there when the bus arrives because we have to work... because no one else will take care of us but us.  So take a minute before you respond and realize how much you're dismissing as common and bland in your reply.

Ok, update, I didn't make the Slips casserole (yet).  The chicken for it is cooked however.  Despite much freezer digging I could not find frozen broccoli.  Since it's snowy and cold I was NOT heading to the store.  Tomorrow, I guess, meh.  Instead I made a batch of no bakes!  :D

I believe I have sneezed more today than I have at any other point in my life.  I've also had quite a few hanging there... right on the cusp of the sneeze but unable to get them to manifest.  Not sick, so what's up with that?

Today was a day about cooking comfort food.  I blame the dusting of snow outside.  There is chicken and 40 cloves and mac and cheese (also a la Alton Brown - I love you dude) and the rest of the chicken that needed cooked will soon be part of the Slips cassarole.  I think my cooking for the week is done... that is, if I leave any of the existing food for leftovers, it is SO freaking good.

Thanksgiving was pretty standard and uneventful.  Headed to mom's mid-morning, we grubbed, we napped, hung around for a while, and played Scrabble before I headed back up the mountain.  I don't think I've ever heard mom be so negative about her own cooking.  Seems like nothing pleased her.  Granted, the turkey breast prb could have used a little longer to soften it a bit more, the mashed potatoes were a little milky, and the stuffing balls did stick to the pan, but they were all still pretty darn good.  A bad day of mom's cooking is always way better than most anyone else's cooking, that's a fact with my mother.

Anyhow, early to bed last night, despite the afternoon nap.  I lounged to mid-morning today and then was up and moving within minutes.  The guy who tends to my lawn came earlier than I expected today (one last pass to mulch up leaves) so I had to quickly head out to scoop the back yard up.  From there I kept on moving, bringing the bins up from the basement and commencing the Christmas decorating after a quick bite of Thanksgiving leftovers (of course).  So, the tree is up, as are the other lights and decorations.  I even got distracted and swept/mopped the basement mid-decorating spree.

From there it was time to get cleaned up and head out to catch up with Kirkus, Mithy, and Beff for some evil Orchard grub and  few drinks.  All I can say at this point is it is so nice to have a 'second' weekend still in front of me.

My sis loves me enough to call around to 5 Walgreens and to run after work an additional 20-25 minutes in the opposite direction to pick something up for me and ship it to PA!  I've been eyeballing these siberian themed Christmas decorations that a gal from the rescue in NC posted.  I had even looked at some really fancy/pricy ones, but put those out of my mind due to the price and lack of space to store them the rest of the year.  The smaller less expensive set were, clearly, at Walgreens.  We don't have one here in the Jingle and mom checked the one in Altoona with no luck.  This thing had best be HALF as cute as it appears to make it worth all of the running I've caused others.

I can't believe I'll be one of those ppl with a cheesy Christmas decoration.  Yep, old.

Yay a generic!  However, if you run the pricing functionality I think it's a bit of a lie to put a big green check mark and say that something is covered if you're then going to say the plan pays $0 for this medication.  Um.  That is, pretty much by definition, not covered.  *shakes head*  At least it's a lot less expensive than the brand name.

M is for migraine, miserable, monster, mad, me.   I had a nice one bloom up yesterday after neglecting to ask for no MSG in my lunch.  The non-heavy hitters weren't helping and I woke early this morning still aching, so I pulled out the migraine meds.  Guess what, expired, well... too bad.  I then also realized that if I'm changing up health plans I prb should order some more now and take advantage of my current prescription coverage, right?
 
As if I needed another reason to change to the high deductible plan?  Basically nothing is covered.  So if I have a good plan or not I'll get to pay for them.  Again, thanks society for mooching to the point that it costs me more, I really appreciate it.  I'm going to go hide in my dark cube and hope the expired Axert does its thing in the next hour or so.

A large portion of my day was spent making the house smell incredible.  All of the tomatoes frozen this past summer are now sauce with fresh meatballs.  One of my large pots got the stick blender for a more traditional sauce and the other my chunky marinara style sauce.  Enough for 10 meals w/ leftovers, check!  At least I can say I did something today, even though I stayed in bed til 11.

I'm already dreading returning to work tomorrow.  At least it's only a three day week.

Spent a good chunk of another afternoon wrapping gifts today.  I'm pretty caught up, but a few more gifts need purchased and a few are on the way, so there will definitely be one more round.  I quickly snagged the gifts for my Salvation Army gifts.  This year I selected one 7 year old girl and a 60 year old woman.  I do love participating in it, even if I do end up worrying "will they like what I picked, will it fit..."

Tonight was time to head out with some peeps... a small subset hit Breaking Dawn part 2 and joined up with a larger group for some late grub at Quaker Steak.  I gotta say, I really enjoyed this one...

<spoiler alert>
Despite knowing that Jake imprints on the baby.  I don't care that it is not strictly a sexual thing, that's just gross.  I finally got to see Jane run in fear and die... even if it wasn't "real".  And, yes, I wanted to cry every time I saw a wolf in pain.  I'm truly a fuzzy-sympathizer.
</spoiler alert>

Speaking of fuzzy-sympathizing... Saf is wiped on the couch next to me, I think it's time for us to go crash.

My healthcare is effectively jumping 48% per pay.  To think there are seriously assholes who think this is a great plan out there blows my mind.  You better believe if I'm paying for it I'll be using the hell out of it.  oh... and we still get to pay MORE to make it an "equitable distribution" (read:  those of us that make more get to supplement the costs for those who make less)

I tried to do some Christmas shopping yesterday, but I can't claim to have crossed much off of the list.  At least I found the motivation after that to get a wee bit done around the house including raking more leaves to the garden area and tying off the clippings that the trash company suddenly won't take in a bin.  Note:  it will be ugly and much ranting will occur here if they aren't gone when I come home Wednesday!  I also remembered (after I left the mall the first time) to pick up another frame for the photo of my mom's side of the family.  So I took the time to get everything hung on the command strips.  (By the way, whoever invented those... you deserve to be rich.)  Perhaps all of that is why I was in bed by 9pm.  I woke back up feeling refreshed around 1:30, but I was able to wipe right back out.

Today I was up early and headed to Altoona to visit hit a few other stores in an attempt to gift shop and visit with mum.  She fed me with some fresh homemade meatballs and on a rare occasion I whooped her at Scrabble, it was a good day.  Now for the Walking Dead!

I'm really getting use to and loving getting my hours in earlier in the week and bailing early on Friday afternoon.  I came home and tended to the girls at a leisurely pace, relaxing a bit, then headed out... first I stopped and grabbed some harvest pancakes at VD.  Yep, 4pm and I was eating dinner.  I had a hunger for some good cakes and they sounded yummy, plus, since I was heading to a happy hour for a few beers I needed the carby/bread based grub.  Top off doing something to lengthen my Friday night (above) with Monday off and this is going to feel like a mini-vacation weekend money down!

While I was waiting for my food I saw an older couple leaving, the gentleman had a Korean War Vet hat on... I felt compelled, so I stepped outside of my comfort zone and approached him long enough to excuse myself and say "thank you for your service, happy Veteran's day" and to shake his hand.  I've decided to challenge myself (and others, consider yourself served by reading this) to find 5 people before the end of this long weekend, strangers, to reach out and thank for their service.  Will I find 4 more this weekend?  We'll see.

Anyhow, from there I headed to Southside to wish SmElliott and Sridar a fond fair well.  Today, we truly lost two very intelligent members of our company family.  It was good to get out and see/talk with so many folks old and new... but why do we wait until people are leaving?

I needed a relaxing start to the weekend after last night.  I had a bit of a spat here at the house, and I have no one to blame but myself (wasn't monitoring to make sure the one treat got eaten).  This leaves me quite disappointed in myself as a bad mom, but it also leaves me relieved that it wasn't due to a regression in any of the medications we've been having great success with in recent months.  Everyone is okay and even the post squabble grumpy amongst the girls dissipated quickly.

I was a bit bored and disenchanted quickly when I got home.  By 6:30 I was considering just heading to bed... then I decided to get the photos from the June trip into the photo album.  That spawned me wanting to scan the free onboard photo we got during that trip... and working to fix the printer connection.  After hunting for cables and giving up and hunting for my thumb drive I then realized why it wasn't working anymore and fixed it WITHOUT needing to connect it via cable.  ID-10T error, but none the less, it's fixed.  Spending that much time in the dining room also made me decide to take all of the printer paper upstairs to get it out of the way.

Finally, seeing the little card sitting on the dining room table I was also reminded to go ahead and gather pantry goods for the scout troop that collects each year before Thanksgiving.  Two bags gathered up and ready to go for this Saturday.  I'd say for a night with no plans this was decently productive.  Now if I could just a few Christmas gift ideas before I go shower and actually turn in.

I'll start by saying this:  dear friends, if you disagree with me, I am sorry, but I need to say how I personally feel about the election and I mean you no disrespect and love you no less if you and I do not agree.  I am not shocked by the craziness in Florida, wishing I was already in Texas so I could celebrate _my_ state, keeping my fingers crossed for NC (still not 100% decided but favorable there as I type this message), but disappointed in PA.
 
I am disheartened and a little fearful for the future this morning.  While most of PA is lit up red we still went blue... why?  Because of the poor population centers that want their hand out.  Is it so wrong to say I've worked hard to get where I am and I don't want to fund someone who didn't?  So yes, I'm disappointed in PA. 
 
I have been praying for weeks now for hearts to be swayed in the direction God so chooses, that things go "his way" not "ours", so perhaps they did, I do not know.  All I know is when asked if I am better off than I was 4 years ago, I can say yes, however, I've also spent more then half of the last 4 years very worried for my job and watching quite a few people around me loosing theirs.  At the drop of a dime I could go from better off to desperate.  The biggest factor (not the only one) creating fear for me is what will come with the healthcare changes.  I don't want this and I definitely do not want to pay for it.
 
I'll try to see the positives... at least the crazies were wrong - there are no riots and no martial law.

I am so incredibly excited to go vote tomorrow.  What's wrong with me?

I had a fairly productive weekend (yes, I did pull out the couches to clean even if I didn't get the TV stand moved) but as my lengthened by an extra hour weekend comes to a close I'm still bumming and feeling like nothing was accomplished.  Time to start wishing another week of my life away.

It's a sad moment.  My Miche business will be no more come the end of the year.  Because I don't press press press I will not be meeting their yearly minimums.  I had been wondering if I should renew and figured "eh, this way I can still order and can help people when they do contact me".  I admit, I hate not being able to solve things for people.  Regardless, it is what it is, I feel like my decision has been made for me.  I know I haven't done much in the past year and a half, but I am sad.  I guess it's my fear of change and regret.  I don't NEED the extra cash like some of the folks who aren't working full time in addition, so I can feel better knowing more business would go their way if at all.

Anyone who works direct sales for 100% of their income?  I just can't imagine as I hated feeling like I was pressuring anyone, which is necessary if you want to bang out orders.  My hats off to you all... rest assured friends it is not an 'easy job'.

All of that said, while it is still up, if there is anything I can help with - contact me or hit up the site

I slept pretty late this morning, at least compared to recent months.  Got moving to snag some beets from the little farmer's stand up the road and shovel in some breakfasty food at VD.  The beets are all cooked and peeled, my laundry is done, and I'm thinking about doing a deep clean here in the living room.  I've had the itch to move it around (which means pulling all of the heavy stuff out making it easier to clean fully).  We'll see.  I popped an excedrin allergy, hopefully that will alleviate enough pain to get me moving.

My sinuses are on full out burn mode, so the humidifiers are running.  Too bad I can't have one at work as to prevent issues from brewing up 40 hours a week.  Even if I don't get around to a full clean just yet I'll be making the house smell all comfy and yummy with dinner tonight.  Maybe a DVD and a fire?  Yeah, that sounds like a good idea.

I loathe the thought of getting on the scale again this weekend.  I didn't walk all week thanks to the less than pleasant outdoor weather (yes, I know I could have made good use of the treadmill, but I did not), I'm moody, and I'm eating like a champ.  I am putting money down on 5lbs up.

Gotta admit, I don't regret my dinner however, as I got to grub at Westwood, while watching Hotel Transylvania w/ Eggs!  It wasn't quite Frankenweenie, but it was a good flick as well.

Above average doesn't mean diddly if you're the dumbest kid in the smart class.  From elementary school to today... that is the theme of my life.