Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Scoliosis

Okay, it's not scoliosis, but I don't know what it is.
I have one bump of spine that has been sore for a while. Maybe months. Over the winter I assumed it was the knot on the back of my coat that rubbed there when I drove. Or the place where my dog invariably dug his bony spine into mine when he curled up against me in bed.
I noticed it on Monday, and thought to myself, "Why are you still here? Why won't you go away?" Boom doesn't lay in that spot so much anymore. I haven't worn any tie-in-the-back shirts in a few months. It feels like a bruise. My back doesn't hurt. It's not sore, it's just if you poke that one bone, it feels bruised.
I asked Tony to look at it. He said it's got a little rash. He thinks it's ringworm. I've seen ringworm, and I don't think that's what it is. Now I'm a little afraid that I've got some serious condition that I've not even been paying attention to.
Time to go to the walk-in clinic just to make sure...

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Cross-Posting

I'll be honest and admit that I had to look that word up a few weeks ago. But anyway, here's the story of the snake in the apartment. It was too good not to share:

Yes, so to add to the excitement of "what large insect will appear in our apartment today," on Sunday there was a snake slithering around our room. And not, like, a smallish, foot-long skinny snake. This thing was black and at least an inch in diameter and about 2-3 feet long. I am not exaggerating. It was a damn big snake to be galloping around my bedroom. I mean, we don't live in the rain forest, now do we?
Ashlyn and Charlie had spent the night with us on Saturday (on the floor, I might add). We were getting ready to take them back home, and getting stuff together, when Tony comes hauling ass out of the bedroom hollering, "Oh My God!" scoops up Boom and ushers me, Ashlyn and Charlie out the door, without telling us what is even in the bedroom. I have to tell Tony to stop so that we can put the leash on Boom before he chucks the dog out the door. Finally, he's like, "There's a snake in the bedroom." WTF?
So we all stand outside and panic a little. Charlie starts squalling about a snake biting him. We calm down, and I ask Tony if he can go back in and get my pants (this story would be infinitely funnier if I'd been in my underwear, but sadly, it was some skimpy shorts). And Tony's like, "No. Uh uh."
I wasn't quite so graceful at this point. I mean, what good is a boyfriend with giant muscles if he refuses to save your pants when you need them the most? So I go back into the bedroom, and, once I spot the said slytherin, I change my pants and watch it move around the room, wondering what the hell to do, since the office isn't open yet and we don't know what kind it is or whether it's poisonous or how it got in. I call the emergency maintenance line and leave a message. I keep Boom on his leash so he doesn't leap to my rescue by attacking the snake and making a big mess. Tony takes the kids back to their mom's, but not before Ashlyn comes into the bedroom with me (after repeated requests to see the snake), and she says, "Um, Nichole...I'm the only one who hasn't seen the snake, even Charlie saw it..."
The maintenance guy came in like 20 minutes and scooped it up with a lightbulb reacher. Goodbye, snake. Please don't come back. Or any of your brethren.
Crazy big snakes, crazy big roaches, at least no brown recluses at this point. The funny thing is, the snake bothered me way less than the roaches. I don't know why. I guess 'cause Tony saw it first, so he got the whole shock factor, which I avoided, and I figure it's a once in a lifetime sort of thing.
These are the days of our lives.

Friday, May 16, 2008

I'm a...



Yep. That's me. Chickened out on the cardio kickboxing class. I had several excuses, the first of which being my heinous gas and the second, and most compelling, that my boyfriend was at home waiting for me and promised we could make quesadillas together. So no, I can't report on the ass-kicking I got from the exercise class, or say that I've finally conquered my fears of public, synchronized exercise. Maybe next week?

But my quesadillas did turn out deliciously, and we watched the season finale of The Office, which was quite entertaining. I'll take an hour of Jim Halpert any day of my life. It was a good episode. They managed to bring back a little of that bittersweet twinge that used to be found in every single episode. I like how everything's been going well for Jim and Pam, but I knew it couldn't last. Also, how about this new Holly character? And Dwight's comment at the end? I can't wait for next season. And uh, God, I love the summer, but I hate summer programming, all the more reason to join that exercise class.

Thursday, May 15, 2008

H2Orobics

So...the class went well. I was surprised by how difficult it was. I sort of imagined standing in lines and jumping around a little and splashing. It was a bit more intense than that. We had the whole length of the pool at our disposal, and the instructor (Colleen, I think) would show us how to do something and once we got the hang of it, she would send us off down to the other end. Once you got to the end, you had to come back by doing said exercise backwards. There were one or two things that I wasn't sure I was going to make it through. (i.e. sitting on a kickboard with your legs crossed and breast-stroking your entire way to the other end of the pool while sitting up straight on the board. I thought my arms were going to come off).
There were two older dudes and another woman there when I got there. I only have one bikini, which is about...um, 4 years old, and has been begging for replacement for the past two years. I didn't want to use my undesirable bathing suit as an excuse though, so I brought a tank top to go over it, just in case. Good thing. By the end of the hour, that string bikini was sagging down to my belly button, and my butt crack was most certainly on view for the lifeguard during several jumpy-type maneuvers. Ha ha. The good thing about having people that weren't my age in there was that I was a lot less embarassed than I would have been if it had been a class full of young women.
It was a good experience though. I'm definitely going to make it a once a week endeavor, but I'm definitely going to have to get a one-piece.
Tonight is the cardio kickbox class that I've been wanting to go to for the past month or two. I've been afraid to go by myself, but now that I've gone to one alone, I feel a little more confident. Although I'm still super nervous. I'm worried that I won't be able to keep up. But I think I'm going to suck it up and go anyway. We'll see...whew.

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

B Vitamins & Other Horse*@%!

Does it count as not cussing if I just put asterisks and ampersands in place of the bad word? Probably not.
Well, I have started taking some B vitamins and Iron supplements, since I'm not eating much meat anymore. It makes me feel good to do something beneficial for my body, and I swear that my mood has been slightly altered for the better by the B complex. Maybe it's only a placebo effect, but I'll take a placebo effect over no effect. The only problem with the vitamins is that they make my pee really yellow. I don't know why this bothers me, but it does. I drink a fair amount of water. My urine is usually practically clear, which I take some perverse pride in, apparently. Since I started taking these vitamins, it's been like a neon light there, glowing up at me from the commode. It makes me feel kind of toxic and makes me wonder if the vitamins are getting broken down. Hmm...there's food for thought.
I've re-dedicated myself to health this week. It seems like I re-dedicate myself to a healthy lifestyle every two months or so. I start out strong and then start to backslide. But I have a date in mind, June 28, when I go home to see my family, and I want to be in better shape by then. I've got a few fat pockets and a whole lot of cellulite that I want to attack. I'm trying to come up with a plan of action that's sustainable. My main problem is that I really love food, and I've never been any good at resisting something that appeals to me.
I'm going to a shallow water aerobics class at the Y tonight. First time ever. I'll let you know how it goes.

Thursday, May 8, 2008

Knock You on Your Ass Sensor

Haven't heard of that? A knock sensor is this little mechanism on your car's engine that monitors the gasoline/spark plug/piston chugging of your engine to optimize the timing of the explosion. (That's a rough description - don't quote me on it). That little gizmo cost me over $600 to identify and correct last year. And it was just loose, which is why it took four mechanics to figure out why my check engine light wouldn't go off so that I could pass my emissions test.
And apparently, it has struck again. I took my car to Autozone last night after work so that they could run the diagnostic on it. It came back as the knock sensor again. So I guess I'll be taking it back to Trickett Honda, where they'll probably charge me another $100 to tighten it, so that it can loosen again in six months.
Jesus Christo. Sometimes, I just want to run my car into a pond and claim that it's been stolen. Or I wish that it would spontaneously combust while I'm not in it. I have about a year left to pay on it, and it has cost me so much extra money in repairs and tows and tickets (for expired registration), that at this point I could have bought a brand new Honda and saved myself the time and trouble. Cuss, cuss, cuss. I mean, it would be worth four more years of car payments if I could get rid of this p.o.s. car without paying the remaining balance. But that doesn't happen in the real world, now does it?
Note to self: Suck it up, honey. You're building character. It could be worse, right?

Wednesday, May 7, 2008

MFer

My mother heffing check engine light came back on again this morning! Really, Honda car gods? Do you hate me so? The answer to that is, yes. Words will not describe my furor if I have to spend the extra money coming to me this week on another fucking car repair. GD, lemon. Ugh.

Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Charlie <3 Mariokart

So...we went out to Tony's mom's tonight for dinner. As we were getting about ready to leave, his niece and nephew got there. We were all talking about Mariokart, and Tony's brother was talking about racing Tony's dad, Freddie, and Tony's nephew, Charlie, on-line. If you're a novice about such things, you should know that you can hook your Wii (or Xbox or whatever) up to the Internet, and play your games against a world full of gamers. You can also meet up with your friends and race games with them. Tony's brother and dad and nephew had all played against eachother this way last night.
When we were leaving tonight, Charlie asked us, "Are you going to be on-line tonight?" If we said yes, we got a high five.
Did I mention that he's five?