Last Day

It's beginning to get light out on my last day of work in Key West. I'll likely go in on Sunday or Monday and do some computer stuff, but today is my last shift on the floor.

Stinkerbell is sleeping on my lap... when I got out of bed about an hour ago she got up and followed me to the living room.

All the animals are being extra-needy right now - Stinkerbell has never moved so she can't really understand the boxes, but Buster and the cats have experienced boxes before and are getting worried.

Buster tries to come with us anytime we leave the house now, he's afraid of being left behind!

We signed a lease today and faxed it back to the realtor, I'll post pics as soon as there's no way it can fall through. If I've learned nothing else in this recent chapter of life it's that I HAVE to take each day one at a time or I'll lose my freaking mind!

I did find an insurance agent in the area and have transferred our car and renters insurance, once the lease is confirmed I'll go online and transfer Comcast and do our address change.

I've packed a bunch of stuff - mostly clothes and bedding as it's clean. We're probably going to get rid of some stuff before we leave: two tv's we never use, our bed frame (since it's TOTALLY busted now) and all the crappy pots and pans since we've been collecting new ones from Crate & Barrell thanks to wedding gift cards.

I'm REALLY excited about the kitchen in the new house... once you see it you'll understand why!

Too Much Head Noise

It's 3:07am.

I tried to go to bed twice so far - starting around 10:30pm... I only have two more work days until I have four days off, then another 6 days on and that's it - we're gone!

Thanks to my fabulous in-laws, I'll be joining Scott on a trip to Seattle in November to (hopefully) meet our new nephew (if he cooperates with our schedule of course).

My mind keeps making lists of things to do and organize and pack... overwhelming.

Our immediate goal is to secure somewhere to live in the new town, there's a few possibilities lined up. Our favorite so far isn't available until the 21st of October and we'd like to be moved in before that, so we may have to go with something else.

My next goal once we have a new address is to work on new employment! I know it will be much easier once I'm actually in town and can walk in somewhere and convince them to hire me based solely on my brilliance.

Ha.

Band-Aids

Three of my fingers are adorned with band-aids.

One for a Sun Conure bite I received on Monday while trying to replenish their food and water.

One for a cardboard-cut (like paper cut but OUCH WORSE!) I ended up with after a large box slid through my hands.

The third I have no idea of the cause, I just know that all three injuries were stinging and irritating me and since I couldn't sleep anyway I decided to neosporin and bandage them.

They feel better now.

Too bad it didn't make me sleepy.

Everyone else in my house is sleeping - even the hamster is snoozing in her UFO instead of running on her wheel. Stinkerbell actually slept with me on the bed for awhile, with her little black and white rump smooshed up against Maui's.

Zim (the turtle) is sleeping under his sun-lamp on a ledge that sticks to the sides of the aquarium via magnets.

Buster is on my bed, Chou is on a cat post, Maui is napping in the corner and Minx is on the guest bed.

Back I go to the room of Snoring Dog.

Wish me luck. Better yet, wish me SLEEP.

Hate It, Hate It, Hate It!

It is 4:09am PST, and I am up. Of course.

Throwing up and diarrhea.

Not enough sleep last night, no nap today, not enough fluids today, too much rich food, too much caffeine...

When will I learn? This body just isn't 23 anymore.

Prayers, please.

Insomnia Strikes Again...

...Although I gave it every opportunity.

Since my boss gave me today AND tomorrow off (I fly out tomorrow afternoon), I slept in today until about 4pm before getting up and running a few errands.

Steph and I had breakfast/dinner at Denny's after I spent about 45 minutes at my optometrist's office getting my one remaining pair of glasses fixed.

Once my hunger was satiated, I went too a Bealls Outlet store (we don't have these in the northwest - it's a bit like a Ross, which we also have here) to score some jewelry to wear for the wedding I am in on Sunday, which is themed The 70's.

Since I came home I've been mostly vegging on the couch while sometimes processing laundry and packing my suitcase.

I couldn't find the cord to hook my ipod up to my laptop, so I took a quick trip to Walgreens and then Albertsons (both in vain) to try and find one. I may have to take a trip to Radio Shack in the morning, but if they are more than about $10 I'm not interested in spending the money on something we have four of somewhere in the house.

The animals all seem to be confused as to why I'm up at this hour, two of the cats are alternately sleeping on my laptop case and the dog is staying close - he is already missing Scott (who left for his business trip this morning).

I'm watching Iron Chef which is VERY interesting, probably the most interesting episode (to me) so far. The secret ingredient is melons, and they have to have the majority of the offerings have a frozen component.

There are several very interesting bits of technology: and "anti-griddle" which is a super-cold freeze plate, a "blast freezer", and of course, several ice-cream machines.

I will probably go to bed soon, even though I still have a lot to do - my brain and it's habit of wanting to be asleep at this hour are starting to kick in.

All About Poop

As I sit on the couch on yet another sleepless night, you may well wonder what it is this time. Too many beings in my bed? Drugs? Not enough drugs?

Nope, I have to poop. Only I don't.

It's in there, patiently waiting, but not giving me the remotest suggestion that it is at all interested in coming OUT.

I've been eating salads for days and drinking massive amounts of water, tea, coffee, coke, and tonight took two Dulcolax and a hot shower.

Granted, if you are still reading, you have not been scared away...so continue at your own risk. It won't be too graphic, just a short history into my bowels.

During Christmas break of 1994, I was engaged (ridiculous! I was 18!) and my fiance and I drove from our college town to my hometown to his hometown and back to the college town. Since it was the holidays, we also ate a lot of garbage and did a lot of sitting around.

Soon, I realized that it had been about two weeks since I had, erm, emptied. True, most people grow up going once a day or so (at least), but I didn't ever have anyone pull me aside in kindergarten and say "One plus one is two, I poop daily, so should you!"

Two weeks was then three and I was obviously eating less, and getting a bit sluggish. I tried store-bought enemas (couldn't figure them out, frankly) and drank a heap of prune juice, and nothing helped.

Soon I was unable to stand up straight and in constant pain, finally my cousins drove me to the hospital for a "real" enema, which I only accepted because they called and got my mom on the phone, she being the only one that could convince me it was for the best.

For those of you fortunate enough to have never HAD a hospital-inflicted enema, IT IS HELL. I have managed to survive to adulthood despite being quite accident-prone, and despite all the hard objects I managed to meet with my skull, surviving a bunch of hot water up the bum surpasses them all.

And they tell you it's "warm water." They are LYING. It may be warm to them, but when it hits your 98.6 insides that water is enough to make you clench everything up even more. Furthermore they instruct you to "hold in" the ticking time bomb as long as possible.

As long as possible was about the time it took me to get from the gurney to the bathroom, and I was done.

They wanted to subject me to an encore and I politely declined. I was taken back home and put to bed and slept for about 14 hours.

Two days later I started to regain an appetite, which was good since I was down to about 105 lbs (at my height of 5'8"). I joined a friend at her grandparents house for lunch on a saturday afternoon and the only thing I recall that was on the menu was garbanzo beans. Oh, I know there were other things to eat, and I ate them, but the chickpeas are what burned into my memory.

That night I started feeling nauseous. And a bit, ah, "rumbly in the tumbly." I spent the next two hours on the toilet with my head in a trash can emptying out everything that was left in my poor body.

Back to the ER I went, a mere two days since my other issue, and was given a needle about 8 inches long into my buttock with drugs that were supposed to stop both problems.

By the end of that experience I was down to 98 lbs.

In the 14 years since, I have no pride when it comes to poop. I can and will poop anytime, anywhere. I try to not bring it up at dinner, or say, a wedding, but if I gotta go, I will excuse myself from the festivities and take care of business.

So yeah, a few paragraphs about poop.

I was inspired when I cleaned up after Stinkerbell this morning. If only my guts would be so inspired...

Up All Night...Sleep All Day!

It's not my intention to be up and blogging at 3am on a regular basis. Not remotely.

Most nights I attempt to go to bed between 10:30pm and midnight, which you would think would give me plenty of time to go to sleep and get a good solid eight or nine hours before I get up and have time to do whatever before being at work at noon.

Not so. For some reason I can't fall fully asleep until Scott is in the bed. Of course, this means that once he is asleep, he is also snoring.

About twice a week the dog is allowed on the bed at night, and if we get him situated before any of us fall asleep it works out ok, otherwise he lays perpendicular to the humans, smack in the middle. It's even harder to sleep when a Boxer is sticking his feet into your ribs and farting, and your husband is snoring.

The cats like to sleep where my feet wish they could be, so I either have to kick the cats out of the way, or twist my limbs around them... not that comfy.

On top of these various complications is the fact that I have had trouble sleeping for at least the last ten years, possibly before.

I do recall in elementary school days that I always had a tough time going to bed at night and would often read until very late, then be most difficult to rouse and get to school anywhere near "on time." I don't remember what it was like to try and fall asleep that long ago, but in recent years it is often because I cannot get my brain to SHUT THE HECK UP.

A Psychologist I saw for awhile thinks that I am likely ADD, which can add to my anxiety issues if I'm not careful. My mind takes in too much stimulation at once (mostly because it CAN focus on multiple things, to an extent) and then overloads and my body says "get rid of it" and gets rid of the only thing it can - whatever I've eaten.

No, I'm not having an anxiety attack (aka puke/poopfest) tonight... just waiting for the Rozerem I took about a half hour ago to make me drowsy enough that my brain will slow down so I can fall asleep.

On a side note: as I was searching google for "sleep clip art", many of the images that it gave me had very little to do with sleep, and as I followed one picture to a website and then a link from that website, I came across a blog that has "hamster of the day" posts that are pretty cute. Also an apropos thing to run across while the only sound in the room besides my typing is Princess Tempura Buttfluff on her wheel...

Blarlge.

Up at 6:30am this time... thanks to a small black and white furry thing scurrying under the bed. I managed to catch her and have her snuggle for a bit but then she wanted to investigate the rest of the bed which is usually for the purpose of finding a place to poop.

I'm going back to bed.

Sleep

For whatever reason I require more sleep than most people, even when I am in full health.

As the wedding draws ever nearer I am finding Rozerum a helpful friend (although I have not yet played checkers with a Beaver and Abraham Lincoln in my dreams).

The only problem is that sometimes it wears off at ridiculous times like 5AM when I have no desire to be up and am still quite tired.

Gah.

Demotivation

I'm off today and it's my last day off before Scott's family comes to visit on Friday. I'm sitting on the couch with Chou and we are watching Comedy Central.

I need to go to the grocery store. I also need to do more laundry. And put away my scrapbooking stuff. And find Scott's military paperwork.

I'm a little overwhelmed right now, and anxiety is rearing it's head at me. Last night I had a very difficult time going to sleep despite the fact that I took a sleeping pill and was already falling asleep on the couch. Once I got to bed my mind would just not stop processing details for the wedding, my refinance, that we're probably moving in a few weeks into a house nearby...

I need a personal assistant, maid, chef and a few clones would be nice.

Early AM Attitude

It's 6:00am on the dot. There is a skunk sleeping very sweetly in my lap. I am going back to bed.

This is not an hour that usually exists in my world... but my almost-husband got out of bed at 3am (I woke up) to get in the bathtub because he was having chills. I woke up at 3:30 and realized he was still in there and of course was sure he had drowned. He was safe but shortly after getting out of the bath he re-filled the tub with his dinner.

We just spent two hours on the couch letting animals have their therapeutic way with him and teaching him to breathe the square.

I guess this is a time when I am thankful I have had to learn some self-calming techniques.