I continued to fight w/ a bit of a headache on Saturday.  Heading to paint w/ Mrs Roh at a club that allows smoking out front didn't help.  Either way we still had a good time and I'm very pleased with my final product, so much so that I actually took down my Simon Bull pumpkin and hung it - for now.  First thing I was up and to Carmen's to get Autumn's oil changed and her brakes looked at.  From there to the grocery store and back home where I decided to nap.  My excuse?  1).  The headache  2). The hour of sleep  I was going to loose last night.  This means little else was accomplished.  Oh, I did work out for a half an hour... that's something, right?

Today I am at least getting the laundry caught back up and making dinner (and tomorrow's lunch).  After a friend/coworker mentioned his dryer vent it has had me thinking how much I needed to clean mine out, so that is off of the to do list as well, and if you're going to pull out the shop vac you may as well suck down the rest of the cobwebs in that portion of the basement, so that's done.

This morning, after church I ran to the mall.  It is truly depressing how many empty storefronts there are, and now with Deb closing too.  The majority of the "stores" that are there aren't really mall-material or rarely are useful, like HR Block, AAA, the AT&T store, or GlowGolf.  But I see a Wood Lodge Winery opened a spot with chairs (I'd assume for sipping?), I guess I need to test it out before it's gone.  I did find black shoes that I can use for dress, but they're a little less dressy than I'd like and a special gift *smile*.

I've got a bit of a boomer happening in my head.  I swear it is because the physician's assistant was asking too many questions about how long it has been since I've had a migraine and what I've done to mitigate them.  I even had her knock on wood.  Ok, I'm not to migraine yet, but it's ignoring the medicine I took before I left work and I'm hoping the before bed pill knocks this out over night.

I'm not sure if the aching is coming from tension - I've had a bit of a knotted upper neck to the point I feel like I have lumps at the base of my skull all week; or if it is from something I ate today - since Jax was leaving the company we went to El Jalisco for lunch and had some pb chocolate pie.  I know that El J does use MSG on some things, but I've not had an issue w/ my fajitas before.  Maybe it is just the shifting weather.  Who knows.

Tonight I got to catch up w/ the Rohs and the Wild ones to head to the fish fry in New Germany!  Of course, this means I also get to see Davey T and Miss Becky too, so there was a grand old crew.  Maybe the bright fluorescents in there didn't help the boomer either, now that I think about it.  Either way I'm home and despite just wanting to go close my eyes I am sitting here with workout clothes on.  I'm going to try - wish me luck.

The person who created and tended to my great Grandparent's (Emilie and Albert Becker) listing on find a grave transferred them to me!  I'm so excited and grateful!

Once again they were calling for ice and snow and instead we have rain - and it was really coming down there for a while.  So, instead of shoveling snow I was outside shoveling slush to make sure the flowing water continued past my property instead of damming up before it refreezes, or if it keeps melting running down my driveway, needlessly taxing my french drain and sump pump.  I'm so done with winter that I promise minimal complaining about a muddy back yard (combined w/ dogs).

My aches have subsided, but only after it awoke me one night at 3 in the morning and kept me up until 4:30 pondering the ER.  Yes, it hurt that bad.  I gave it a 5 on the scale and likened it a good bit to the pain I had this time of year 4 years back.  THAT pain lasted for over a week at an even higher intensity.  Needless to say, the thought that it could have been anything like that scared the heck out of me, thus the thoughts of the ER.  I said a few prayers and decided if I still hurt come morning I would make the trip to the ER.  It was gone and other than minor pain I've been good since.

Today I got back from a good visit with my Favorite Egg.  I was blessed with good weather for traveling, well by comparison at least.  It rained the whole way back, but since they were calling for snow and some did come down last night, I am completely calling it good weather.

Since I was away I missed Vixen's 16th birthday, but we sang on Friday and she'll get her special meal and treat.  She's going to want her license... but that's a no, until she gets a job!

Free coffee at Sheetz today and tomorrow to celebrate the opening of a store in NC! It's crazy to me that they're the whole way down there. I always said, when I lived there, how well it would go over. I had even picked out the corner where if they weren't privately owned and I had the capital I would have wanted to put one in.

I had a massage last night, which I'm hoping will loosen up my lower back from my shoveling war wounds and perhaps ease another light ache I've been having of undetermined origins. My masseuse has also put in a sauna and he was offering to try it out with a massage in February, so why not. I have to say it was rather pleasant and soothing. I can see how it might be a nice place to go chill out and/or meditate a bit. It got up near 130 degrees in there during my try, but it is a dry heat so I was barely starting to get too warm.

We didn't get anywhere near the snow they called for yesterday, thank goodness, and the bitter cold has passed for the time being.  I can thank the extreme cold temps for backing off what would have been an all nighter lock in with the youth on Friday night.  Instead we just got together for a few hours to eat and for games, music, and a speaker.  Even getting home at 11pm I was exhausted.  I don't think I could have made it through all night.

I feel like a slacker for Saturday, but I did still need to go shovel a few times.  I suspect this is why I've been slightly sore lately - all of the shoveling.  I also got several loads of laundry out of the way and took a nap - like I said, Friday night still wore me out.

I did get up and get moving today, so I made it to church and then caught up for a bite to eat with Beff, whom I haven't seen in what feels like forever.  Then I did a little shopping before heading home. I fought off the want to nap again today.

For the first time in a few weeks I got a legit workout in today.  It was only a half an hour, but I'm counting it as it was entirely on the elliptical.  I guess my motivation got a little bit of a kick in the rear today after I got brave.  While I was out at TJ Maxx I decided to see how far I was from a size 10 in jeans.  There was muffin top, but those babies buttoned without a struggle.  It's crazy to me.  When I lost way more weight in NC (I was about 30lbs lighter than I am today) I had just gotten into a size 12.  So what gives?

The importance of doing a good job.  It's something lost on our society.  I am not perfect, but I think I do okay, and I can honestly say I try.  I WANT everything to be perfect and I strive to get things as close as my human limitations will allow.  It boggles my mind and frustrates me to no end to see the complacency and mediocrity that a majority of our society is okay with.  It often makes me angry too because the laziness of one tends to create more work for other people.

 

No, I don't want to fill out that form - again - it's not my fault you screwed up or had the wrong information.  More than that, I shouldn't have to wait another three weeks because you hosed it the first time around.  Worse still, I do not want to add these tasks to my to do list because you changed something that I had right.  Now there is clean up to do.  If you created the mess you should be forced to clean it up.  Maybe next time you'll think before you do and learn from your mistakes.

 

Then there are the people who coddle those that make the mess.  No, no, we can't make them go back and fix it - it will take too long, I'll have to explain it to them, I risk insulting them - why don't you just go ahead and make the correction?  Maybe they need to be a little insulted.  Truly, it is laziness in many cases, not ineptitude, although that runs rampant as well.  I'm just tired of the run around and layers of crap.  Is that wrong?

 

Last night I distressed a little, fortunately, or I may have popped my top this morning.  Davey T and I headed to the Orchard for a beverage and wings - and the wings were REALLY good last night.

The really good part of my weekend is done, but I do get one more day to sleep in and stay out of the cold... and that's nice enough.  It gets harder every time I'm forced to rediscover that 48 hours or less is not enough.  My Valentine treated me to something practical _and_ something pretty that I can keep close to my heart.  I think he likes me *wink*... I know I like him, so I'm gonna keep this one as long as I can.  We had way too many desserts including some home made chocolate covered strawberries and choc pb pie, did some shopping for a new tv, and lounged about avoiding the weather.  I didn't really even cook, instead we worked on leftovers and hit Reys.

This evening I avoided some of the sadness of absence when Mithy and Miss Addie came by to deliver GS cookies.  I guess I should go ahead and use up the box I still have from last year sometime soon, eh?

There is something very satisfying about printing a SetSail Pass. I know I'm always counting down, but let this count down begin.

Chalk this up to another "thinking way too much about dumb stuff moments" after loosing your parent. I've noticed several friends on fb posting about getting picked to "pay with love" in McDonalds. Can you imagine my horror if I were told "we'll give you this for free if you call your Mom and tell her you love her"? Even if they changed phrasing to be "call a family member" I'd think it would still be like a slap in the face and would go down as the 2nd cruelest Valentine's day ever. Fortunately, the only motivation to go to McDs is when the shamrock shake is back, which I think is a few weeks away (after this campaign has ended).

I, like many girls, am a goo hoarder (a term I was introduced to by Jenna Marbles on YouTube - go ahead and look her and her goo hoarding video up).

It's true. I try to fight it. I tell myself I'm not going to buy another lip gloss, shampoo, conditioner, body wash, or hand soap until I use up my supply, which is ample for the apocolypse, but I eventually stray.

This of course leads to crammed shelves in the bathroom, which I've tried to remedy by clearing everything out and putting boxes of my hoard in the basement from which I can pull when I need to replentish the supplies currently in use. Slowly the shelf refills however. There has to be some type of therapy available for this.

I am also a candle hoarder. The power could be out for months, I'd be fine in the lighting aspect. Deodorant? Perfume? I have NO excuse for EVER smelling bad. Lipglosses? Oh my. But yet I cling to the one in my purse and on my desk at work, desperately trying to get the last little drop out before finally bringing out a replacement. Toothpaste? Get in line. I'm pretty sure I could load up every toothbrush in the township.

And heaven forbid if I do come close to running out of something. The time I realized I didn't have a backup can of shaving cream spiraled me into spurt purchasing of it - one here, one there, oh wait, this is my favorite scent and the other place didn't have it! Snag two more. I now have 6 cans of the crap downstairs, 2 on the shelf (one full sized and one travel sized - even though I never take shaving cream with me when I shower), and one in the shower.

Another reason I'm loyal to Royal... they listen!
http://www.usatoday.com/story/cruiselog/2015/02/02/royal-caribbean-changes-dynamic-dining-for-anthem-of-the-seas/22742101/

Despite the calls for a looming major storm I sucked it up and headed to see my Favorite Egg.  I knew if I could just get past Somerset County that the roads would clear, and boy did they.  The roads around him were barely wet and I'd call what they had in way of snow a heavy dusting at most.  It's things like this that make me want to pronounce my distaste for Jtown all the more.  No worries though, I still did a great job ripping up my fingers with worry leading up to the trip.

This morning I was a bit worried as big, heavy flakes began to fall, but they quickly tapered off.  My drive home was almost spotless.  Sure some damp roads, but the temps are high enough that I didn't feel unsafe, and only a short spurt of heavy fog heading up the crest of the mountain.  One more month and we'll be working on wrapping up this cold weather crap, right?

We celebrated his birthday this weekend since we won't be able to see each other on the actual day.  In the mean time, my beloved Niecey-poo turned 21.  How does that happen?