Couch Potato

Leave it to me to actually injure myself and have no clue how I managed to do so! And I'm embarrased to even admit as to how I hurt myself.

On one hand, I think 'ok, it could sound awesome' ....like so.... "I was working out last week, and because I'm so awesome and athletic, I strived so hard and pushed myself so much that I actually hurt myself while working out. What a workout! Burn calories...BURN!"

Or on the other hand, I sound like the biggest fattest couch potato that ever existed.... like so.... "I finally started working out again, but b/c I'm such an uncoordinated and out of shape lard-a**, the simplest workout was too much for this gal to handle."

Hm...I think I'll go with story #1. Makes me sound awesome :) But aside from that, I did in fact hurt myself. And since I have done nothing physical for the past week, besides working out, I've come to the conclusion that that must have been what did it.

But back to the story. Last Friday, I had noticed my back was hurting. No big deal. I have those 'off' days. But saturday, it was getting bad. I was so uncomfortable. Walking was becoming difficult. Sitting hurt too. And on Sunday, Ross threatened to divorce me after seeing what our future may look like together when we're near 80 years old. Me -- unable to walk or sit, or move. I hobbled around, wincing in pain at every slightest movement, so Ross replies, "I want out. Now. Before you get any older!" ha! Oh dear. I don't blame him.

So on Monday morning, I went straight to the chiropractor, thinking I just needed an early adjustment. No big deal. I went in to work late, and sat there for an unbearable hour, until I finally had to call it quits and go home early. My mother-in-law (who is a nurse) advised me that I should go to a doctor since the pain pills she had given me the night before did not help.

So I headed to MedExpress on my way home from work at 11:00 am. The doctor there told me she thinks that one of my discs could've slipped.

WHA?! How the heck did I even accomplish such a thing?? At such a young age?? Oh boy.

So off I go to the pharmacy with my 3 newly written prescriptions. One for steriods. One for painkillers (Vicodin!). And one for a muscle relaxer.

I finally head home in extreme bouts of pain. Driving hurts the worst. I guess my Chevy Cobalt is not ergonomically designed! And headed straight to bed with all my new meds.

Tuesday comes and goes. I can't possibly go to work when it hurts just to sit up. Wednesday, I again work from home. The doctor writes me an excuse for work, but says I should be good to go back to work on Thursday. She told me that I need to continue walking to keep my spine loose. And I'm happy to say that she was right. As I sit here, on my first day to work this week, I can say that it helps to walk around. So I keep making excuses to get up and walk to the xerox machine, or wherever. But I can def. tell it's getting better. And my back is starting to hurt less. You go Spine!!

And I had another adjustment at the chiro. yesterday, hoping that would also help.

All in all, I'm getting better. I waddle a bit less now when I walk.

I still look distorted, with one hip raised higher than the other. But it should go back to normal soon.

How I managed to throw my back out at 24?? No clue. I can't wait to see what I'm like at 50+!

Sectional Hunting

Ross & I were THIIIIS close to purchasing a sectional this weekend. I wasn't even looking for a couch this weekend, but once you go shopping with mom ....well, things change, she's a very convincing person, ha! And we DO need a new couch for the house, so it didn't hurt to look.

I showed it to Ross Saturday night, but we decided to go home and 'sleep on the decision' before spending any money. Sunday, we showed up at the store with the intention of buying it, but were still too hesitant, so we walked away. Here is the sectional (shown in black leather, we would've ordered it in a chocolate brown leather):

What do you think?? Do you like the look of it?

I am still up in the air about it, so I'm glad we didn't go through with it. Especially since this was our first chance to look at couches. I think we need to spend a little more time shopping around.

Here are our main reasons for NOT buying the couch:
1) Worried about the leather. How does it hold up? Doesn't it scratch and begin to crack after wear-and-tear? (even though they said it wouldn't scratch, I find that hard to believe)
2) Don't like the 'look' of it.
3) Price. A bit steep for us, we'll have to be on the lookout for another sale if we do decide to buy this after all.

Those are a LOT of reasons to not want the sectional, so why the heck did we pick it out in the first place? Well, as soon as mom & I sat down in it.... HEAVEN! It was the comfiest sofa I've ever been in. Oh, my, gawd. Pure bliss. I'm not usually a leather person, but this was exceptional.

But there are still those 3 reasons holding me & Ross back, so we need to keep shopping. On the other hand, I know our choices are VERY limited due to my ginormous list of WANTS/NEEDS for our future couch:

1) a sectional with the 'wedge' vs. just a corner cushion, that way someone can still easily sit in the corner and I can sneak a floor lamp behind it for extra lighting :)

2) fabric, but only as long as the cusions come OFF, and I can throw them in the washer (a lot of cushions seem to be attached to the back of the couch, Hello?!?! How do you clean that?? And don't tell me SPOT CLEANING! Ugh, I don't think so. Not after a dog throws up on it (more than once). Gross, spot cleaning will just NOT DO! Now aren't you excited to come to my house?! ha! Surely I can't be the only one who's dealt with this! Kids will be just as messy one day...oh the horror.)

3) possibly leather, but I'm still uncertain about how it holds up. At least it would clean easily!

4) Size is a HUGE obstacle, b/c most sectionals are too big for the corner of our room, believe it or not. The one above was still 3" too big, but I could make it work.

5) Last but not least, it needs to be comfy :)

6) Oh, and price, we're not rich ya know.

Thought, anyone?! Leather vs. fabric? How leather holds up? Should the 'comfy-ness' outweigh the look of it? Perhaps I'm just too picky. HA! Oh the headaches.....

An Apology

Don't you just love when your dear husband brings out his Human Resources knowledge and uses it against you? Oh, is that just mine?! I guess so!

He so kindly pointed out last night that the last thing I should be doing is venting about work on my blog, because I could easily be fired over it. Well, on my defense, I'm not 'friends' with any of my coworkers on Facebook, so other than that, I don't think they would have any way of even knowing I have a blog.

But secondly, I should state, for the record, that my job really isn't so bad. Yeah, I have my bad days, but who doesn't?! I really try not to take my job for granted, even on the worst days. I have good pay and great benefits, so what more could I really ask for?! Especially when this time, last year, I was on a job hunt that seemed hopeless. Period. And then add the crappy economy on top of that. So consider me extremely thankful for the job I hold today.

So thank you, Westinghouse, for all the good days, and even the bad. Here's to many more happy years together :)