Friday Fave Five!

This week we have a theme.

1. Electric heating pads and microwaveable rice packs or hot water bottles. Helps with cramps.

2. Fun-flavor chocolate chips. Nestle came out with caramel, peanut butter, mint, etc., swirled chocolate chips. Because hubby works for Nestle at the Stouffer's plant, he gets them for a steal.

3. Plain old walmart pretzels. Salt. Sugar. Salt. Sugar. Hush.

4. Midol. Not extra-strength though. That stuff is crap -- it is *only* naproxen sodium (Aleve), and does not contain the caffeine and diuretic regular Midol has. GRRR.

5. Playtex tampons, regular size, no deodorant.

If I could make a "PMS survival kit," it would include the above (only, the chocolate could be M&Ms or Dove bars or something and the pretzels could be anything salty -- nuts, chips, etc.), a box of tissues, bubble bath, a bottle of spring water, and a hug from a hawt man. Oh, and there would be two versions: One with angry girl music and Kill Bill, and another with mellow music and Alex&Emma (or something similar).

So, my supervisor is pretty cool. I never did blame her for the changes going on, as I know it's not her fault, and she was pretty patient with me about taking my time on choosing what schedule I wanted. She explained the new shift could either mean EVERY saturday, or EVERY sunday, OR one Saturday and Sunday a month. I decided on the latter, so the third weekend of every month, I'm on. Then I have random days off in the week before and after the weekend. So, I've realized this is actually a good thing -- the things that don't get done during the week (errands especially) because I never have time can now be done on my day off instead of messing with my work schedule. So, yay.

Hubby and I were back at the dentist yesterday. I got a temporary crown. He got the first half of his periodontal disease treatment. He goes in on Valentine's Day for the other half, but he has the day off and so do I, so even though he'll be numb and in pain for part of the day, we'll still be together. Then I work that weekend as my first rotation.

The only real problem I can see is that sometimes hubby has a 5-day weekend -- which, sadly enough, sometimes falls during my weekend I'm required to work. we'll get through it. *sigh*

The latest from the Evil Empire.

I've worked Monday through Friday for 2-1/2 years, and I almost always also put in time on Saturdays as well. Last week, I worked VERY hard in 5 days, got my goal, and took a full weekend for the first time probably since I got back to full time after my surgery.

So today, I went to the temple this morning, felt all at peace, got home, and found this email in my inbox. "We are going to have to move to weekend rotation for all of our M-F MTs. It used to be that we received much less work on the weekends but this is no longer the case and our weekend TAT is horrible, so we have to adjust for this."

Basically, I've been told for 6 months that I can't change my schedule to hours that will work better for my family because they didn't have anyone to cover my accounts, then they changed my accounts and I still couldn't change my schedule, and now ... I have to work weekends, which is bad for my family, especially since my sweet husband works almost every saturday.

*sigh*

Pardon me while I go cry.

Did that really happen?

I woke up the other day thinking, "I didn't really just have major surgery 6-1/2 months ago. I'm fine! No problems! It was all a dream, right? I mean, sure I have this scar, but nothing was ever really wrong with me. RIGHT?" I think that every once in a while. Then I move just wrong or do something outside my abilities and realize ... it really was real. This is a list of things I can't do still, which I'm hoping gets better, as well as a list of things I couldn't do right after the surgery or even a month or two ago, but I am now able to do just fine.

***

Things I can't do right now:

1. Pick up my daughter. It hurts.

2. Go to the grocery store. I am unable to push a cart even for 15 minutes without becoming extremely fatigued and ready for bed (especially when said daughter is wiggling all over the place, making the cart harder to steer -- had to tell her to get down. at least twice). Thus, I will be sending my husband for the rest of the groceries.

3. Sneezing still hurts. Wish hubby could do THAT for me.

4. Open and close buckets of flour, rice, sugar, etc. Hubby has been great to do this for me.

5. Change laundry. I can't pull the wet towels or jeans out of the washer and move them to the dryer.

6. Vacuum. Hubby to the rescue.

7. Put laundry away. The hanging-up kind is too heavy. I do help put some of it away, but once again, my sweet husband is rescuing me and our house.


***

Things I can do:

1. I can exercise for 20-30 minutes at a time without pain or fatigue. It is odd to me that I can do this, but grocery shopping is out of the question. But, I believe this is because I am not lifting weights or trying to push anything or fighting with a kid about whether or not they can ride in the cart.

2. "Be" with my husband. Rowr.

3. Play the piano. Good thing, since my church calling is Relief Society pianist.

4. Drive. Seeing as I couldn't for 6 weeks after the surgery, this is still amazing to me.

5. I made bread last night. Wooo! I can cook -- it's just hard to open and close certain things, and I sometimes have to get hubby to help.

6. Work 42-45 hours a week. yay! We might not be broke for much longer.

7. Clean bathrooms. I don't know that this is anything to celebrate, except I like having clean toilets.

Friday Fave Five!!!

1. Homemade chicken noodle soup -- with homemade noodles. Tried it for the first time this week. Lurve that stuff. Making it again tonight to take it to the neighbors who had a baby last week via C-section.

2. Homemade half whole-wheat bread. I used to make it all the time, but haven't for a while. Had energy last night, so I made some to accompany the soup. We're having some for dinner too, and I had enough to put some of the dough in the freezer for later. (need to pick up some apples and dessert or something to round out the meal)

3. Udderly Smooth Udder Cream. It is a great hand cream. We gave one to Munchkin's teacher for Christmas and she adores it, too. Bought it at Wally's in the "cosmetics" area where they keep the body lotions and sunscreens and stuff, not in the nail care or body care aisles.

4. I'm finally enjoying the accounts my boss changed me to back in November, essentially giving me a pay cut right before Christmas. But yesterday rocked, this whole last week has been really good, and even though I wore myself out making bread and muffins last night, the heating pad and Pepsi and the fact that I no longer hate my job are keeping me going.

5. Oxiclean. Okay, possibly another TMI moment, but my folks were here for a month this summer, and I don't know how the heck it happened, but my towels in the master bath got kind of ... stinky. We bought more with some of the cash from the wedding, because two people need more than 4 bath towels (we have "pink" towels for other reasons), but they were all just still ... smelling. So, we started dumping a scoop of Oxiclean in with them and Voila! NO MORE STINKETH. So, when I needed to wash Kidlet's winter coat, which had a hard time not being smelly all last winter, I put in a bunch of Oxiclean in with it, too, and it ceased to be stinky as well. I buy it at costco in a 14-pound box and use it in *every* load of laundry now.

Oops. Editing the ABC thing.

C: cake or pie? cake usually, sometimes I crave berry pies, and when I was pregnant with munchkin (and, oddly enough, when I got home from the hospital this summer), I craved those lemon hostess pies or lemon meringue or anything lemon and pie.

I: indulgence? sleeping in until 5 a.m. I know, I know. That's still pretty darn early. but not when your husband gets up at 2 or 3 to work out and go to work. hehehhehe.

W: worst habit? Teasing. Specifically, teasing my sweet husband ... who hates being teased. This may not even be my worst, but it is the one I'm currently trying to break.



More weird dreams (and this might just darn well be TMI toward the end): I dreamt my uncle and aunt divorced, that my uncle moved to utah and married some woman I've seen at church (who is also married, btw), and she was trying to make him a suave dude instead of a country hick boy. (I just realized the chick in my ward probably has similar hair to said aunt when she was younger and was subconsciously reminding me of her, so that explains that, right?). I also dreamt my "rich" cousin inherited his richness from his dad (HA! his dad is a firefighter/paramedic or something -- btw, two different families) and that I was at their house with some people from my ward, my parents, and my munchkin, and that I had to go to the bathroom really bad 'cuz I needed to get home to hubby but knew I couldn't make it from Mapleton to PG without wetting my pants, but the toilets were all being used. Eventually, I woke up enough to go, "D'oh! I really hafta to potty!" I hate those dreams where I dream I *hafta* use a bathroom *now* and then I get there and is skody, broken, or someone's using it -- and then I wake up and realize I've gotta really pee, it wasn't just a dream. I've even had dreams I've even grabbed a bucket and tried to pee in it (yup, in public!!!), but never could do so. I guess that's better than wetting the bed. Hubby would probably agree with that, too. ;)

it's Feb. 1st and i got a new poll - dang sister tagged me back!!!

A - available or taken: Taken
B - best friend: ooo, toughie. Moe. then G, H, and SA probably
C - cake or pie:
D - drink of choice: One Pepsi first thing in the morning, then water throughout the day
E - essential item you use everyday: Chapstick
F - favorite color: Blue and green
G - gummy bears or worms: Chocolate covered gummy bears, hello!
H - hometown: American Fork, Utah.
I - indulgence:
J - January or February: February. It's not as cold and I'm not in as much pain. Plus Valentine's Day trumps MLKJ.
K - kid's names: Cassandra Michelle and Rayda Lark.
L - life incomplete without: the Gospel, family, and friends
M - marriage date: August 30, 2006
N - number of siblings: there are six of us; i'm fifth, two old...er sisters, two old...er brothers, and one young brother
O - oranges or apples: Probably apples, unless we're talking juice. then it's orange.
P - phobias or fears: Heights. Just looking at ferris wheels still scares me and reminds me of Alana. "We are on an outing ..." "let's rock the car!" "I have to PEEEEE!!"
Q - favorite quote: If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always got.
R - reason to smile: My husband.
S - season: spring! Means winter's over.
T - tag 3 people: cc, kip, cupcake! (except I can't comment on kip's blog, so when you read this, tag yer it!)
U - unknown fact about me: I have a tooth that is half fake in the front.
V - veggie I don't like: hm... anything that churns my stomach ... including celery.
W - worst habit: Teasing.
X - rays: Bilateral ankles, bilateral feet, chest (which is fun, 'cuz there's wires to count!)
Y - your favorite food: Italian and Mexican. I guess I'm a fan of tomato sauces and cheeses. Next week, though, it'll be anything salty and chocolaty. *pms*
Z - zodiac: Taurus. And I am a bit stubborn.