Slow Down! I can't walk that fast....

So here's the latest update about my problem with my back. Last Thursday I was so hopeful that it was healing and that I would be in brand-spanking-new shape in no time. I was feeling great.

Wrong.

Friday and Saturday I was still so sore, and staying on pain meds. Sunday I got a shooting pain down my left leg, some tingling, and my left foot going numb, on and off. Quite annoying. Especially when one tries to walk. It IS interesting, I must say, to walk on a numb foot. Humph.

So on Monday, I came into work, b/c I'm such a good sport about being a good employee *:)* even though my leg was still throbbing and my foot kept going numb. I called my doctor and scheduled an appt. for that afternoon. I even had mom drive me, b/c I was so uncomfortable. After 40 minutes (!) of waiting for the doctor (another annoyance I can't quite understand....I mean, I had an appt....why can't they seem to make it on time?!), she finally came in to give me a look over.

Basically, it comes down to the fact that she thinks I have a herniated disc. Whoopie. So she scheduled me for an MRI on Wednesday, and dosed me up again with a 2nd round of steriods, and more pain killers. Me Like Drugs :)

I haven't seen the results for the MRI yet, but even so, it's not like they can do anything about this, besides Physical Therapy. It all comes down to my spine healing on its on, and the disc going back into place. I feel great today, although I just took a horse-sized pain pill. I'm over trying to be 'holistic' and dealing with the pain on my own. Not worth it.

So I hope that this heals soon. And once it does, I'm all revved up to take better care of myself. More exercise, less sitting during work, drinking more water, etc. All things that are huge contributors to having less back pain.

Go Me! Wrecking my back at the age of 24. Whoot. Whoot.

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 :)

It Never Even Started Off Well....

Of all days I decide to where a 3/4 length sleeve sweater, today was not a good day to do that. It looked nice outside! AND I decided that in the first time in the past month, to NOT warm up my car before work. I could handle some cold for a bit, that would allow me to get a head start into work. Besides, it didn't snow last night, so it must be nice outside. Oh yeah, did I mention my car read 0 degrees this morning?! Yup. Of all days to not warm up my car and wear the wrong outfit, way to go. But ok, if that's the worse that happens today, I can deal with my Monday!

But no, don't worry, that's not where it ends....

Surely that would be a boring post, so let's make my day suck more.

As soon as I get into work today, I need to reschedule a meeting (for the 3rd time!) because no one can agree on a time, yet I am the admin assistant and it is my job to find a time where everyone is available. There are only 4 people attending this meeting. By this point, wouldn't it be easier for the 4 of them to just talk to EACHOTHER and figure out a time, rather than me emailing so-and-so, and then replying to so-and-so, back and forth, back and forth to find a time. Yes, I schedule meetings, it's part of my job, but this is getting ridiculous, where in this case, it would be easier for THEM to talk, and agree on a time, and then tell me what time they've agreed on so that I can send out an updated meeting invite.

So after my 7th attempt of rescheduling, I finally found a time, done. YOU GUYS GET NO MORE CHANCES! I think there should be a max # of attempted reschedules. Like after the 5th try, you lose. Over. Done. I quit. Do it yourself!

But no, that's not where it ends either....

I'm then told I need to adjust 2 hotel reservations I made for 2 visitors we have coming this month. The first time they asked me to make reservations for them, they didn't bother to tell me the dates they were visiting, so I had to read through countless email threads to decipher when they were coming. TODAY they tell me, 'NO NO NO, we are coming THESE DAYS!!! You've got it all wrong!' Ok, I was only a few days off, but anyway, I went ahead and changed their reservations while thinking 'MAYBE IF you would've told me the dates the FIRST time, I would've gotten it right. Idiots.' Thanks.

BUT now!

NOW!!!!!

NOOOOOWWWW!!!!!



I have to find a RUSSIAN TRANSLATOR for when they come b/c they don't speak English well. O dear god!!!!!!!!

#*$^#*)*@)#*$*@*&^!@*#^%@#*&jadf

I don't even know where to begin.

Is this day over yet?!?

Looking Up

Yesterday was a good day...for the most part, until about 3:00 when the days seems to never want to end! But it got good again when I got home and Ross & I worked on the house for a bit :) We feel very accomplished today. After many days of deliberating how to best cut out some ceramic floor tiles in the kitchen to make way for a new wall that would fill-in an existing doorway, we finally did it! Thanks to the internet...our new best friend. It had suggested the right tool with the right blade, and even though we were still very skeptical that it would work and wouldn't shatter the entire tile, we forged ahead! Lucky for us, Ross' dad already owned the said tool (an angle grinder) so we only had to spend $10 to buy the suggested blade (a diamond blade). We agreed it was the best $10 we've ever spent! It worked like a charm, and cut out just enough of the tile so that we can put up the new wall without having to go ontop of the tile. Don't worry, I took a ton of pics, in case you're having trouble following what I'm talking about!! We were so excited about trying something new, and daring, if I must say so myself, that I kept snapping away! I'll share those pics on the blog as soon as I upload them.

Anyway, it's Thursday and I'm in a good mood once again. Although it always starts out this way until I get bored at work, and then grumpy, and then just plain exhausted. So let's hope today goes fast, and that winter goes even faster :)

It Never Ends

I know I'm not in the right mind to be blogging, but I don't care, welcome to my life.... I'm tired, stressed, anxious for nothing, and most of all, I just need a break from reality. I've been the most unpleasant person these past few weeks, and my poor husband has gotten the brunt of it. I snap at him more than I can count, even though he doesn't deserve it. I complain about the most mundane tasks b/c I feel like I can never catch up. I avoid talking to people at work b/c I'm too tired to pretend to be happy, or just pleasant to deal with. The apartment gets cluttered more quickly than I can keep up with and I feel it closing in on me. I'm hoping that its just the season keeping my spirits down. I've been sick of winter since the first snowfall and for the first time, I don't welcome the daylight savings time. I need a night out with girlfriends, if only they would care to ask. I need a night out on the town with the hubs without one word about the house and home renovations. I need a night away from my dog who constantly craves attention. I need a weekend of camping, with good friends and some laughs. I need some time to myself. Time to brush up on old hobbies. Playing the piano for hours to dissolve stress. Listening to loud music and attempting to paint. Time to do everything and nothing all at once. Time to be BORED and not think of all the errands I need to run, chores I need to finish, and everything else in between that feels like its dragging me down. I need some fresh air!

And even though I don't feel like the happiest person these past few weeks, I know it will pass, and that I have so much to be thankful for. It just feels good to vent at times when things seem to be too much to handle :)