Medi Centre's... oh how I loathe you!

Ok, so I've been getting progressively worse since I woke up on Monday this week with a sore throat.  I made it through 1.5 days at work before my boss told me to go home and get better (<3 my boss - in the non-creepy way). 

Got a total of 3 hours sleep on Wednesday - every swallow hurt so badly that it jarred me awake.  Tried to take naps, that didn't work.  Swallowing is water/tea feels like razors.

Thursday night, hubby tells me that we have T3's and do I think it would help me sleep... I take one... it lasts for 3 hours, but I take another one and go back to sleep.  Get 6 hours sleep, better than 3 but I am now literally falling asleep anytime I stop moving around. (I fell asleep at my keyboard this morning while typing an email to my boss)

Friday (today) woke up still feeling so tired, had a steamy shower which felt good on my throat (made mental note to get a humidifier), rushed off to the Medi Centre (they open at nine and we got there a couple minutes after nine)... Medi Centre's waiting room is already 75% full (which figures right?)... I grab a number (62 if you're curious) and wait to get called up to the receptionist desk.  Number gets called about 15 minutes later... get asked for photo id and healthcare card... Receptionist looks at me and asks what my last name is, because her system shows two... I can't speak so Hubby tells her... she asks if we got married recently... Hubby and I look at each other (I was thinking why is that important?), Hubby tells her 2006... by the way all of these questions are being directed at me.  She asks for address, phone number, cell number, emergency contact number... then she looks again at me and asks, her voice dripping with sarcasm, "so... what brings you in here today?  Wait let me guess... You've lost your voice"... well DUUUUHHHHHH! She tells us to go sit down again and hubby asks what the wait time is, which she replies I don't know - we don't have any doctors here yet... I cringe inwardly... why do they let people in before the doctors arrive?  Do they enjoy making sick people wait in cold and cramped waiting rooms, surrounded by other sick people?

Well as I have no voice I can't make a fuss or complain so we sit down and wait...

And wait...

And wait...

2 Hours pass... we finally get shown into a tiny, cold examination room.  And wait...

And wait...

And wait... Well at least this room was a little entertaining, you see this room was not too soundproof so Hubby and I got to hear the loud elderly gentleman next door tell a doctor about his diarrhea LOUDLY... and how he couldn't sit down anymore and ... I don't want to fill you in on the gross details we heard.

After being in this room for about 30 minutes we finally see the doctor and Hubby tells him about my suffering, I whisper a little too for anything that Hubby couldn't really answer.  Doc takes a look at my throat, and takes a swab (which is not a comfortable feeling... harsh cotton swab on swollen, sore inflamed throat tissue... not fun - also I have a bad gag reflex so I had to suppress that too).  Doc says it could be bacterial, viral or it could be tonsillitis... so he wants me to have some blood-work done up too...

I don't like needles.... ok I'll be honest, I hate them... they scare me... but off I trudge to the lab... where I'm told my wait will be an hour... which it actually was.  The needle part - well I didn't look at it but it did hurt. A Lot!  the nurse said, "your veins are really deep"... if I had my voice I would have said no they're hiding!!!

I picked up my prescription which hubby had dropped off for me and went in search of a humidifier... there are too many choices BTW... but we finally decided on one and went home.

Humidifiers... I love you!!!!

We ate some lunch and hubby went back to work.  I tried to stay up a bit but ended up falling asleep and waking up a couple hours later...

I'm still super tired but I think I'll be able to get through this... now I just need to wait until my test results come back...

So sick

So yesterday I tried to stick it out and go to work, well that only lasted through until lunch.  It's hard to focus on work when every time you swallow it feels like you have razor blades down your throat.  I managed to painfully swallow down lunch - much to the amusement of my coworkers who thought my wincing was funny.  I think if it was reversed I might have thought it was funny too.

Anyway, I get back to my desk around 12:45 and I start coughing and blowing my nose to which my boss says "that doesn't sound too good", and then proceeds to tell me that maybe I should go home.  Have I mentioned that I love my boss?  My previous boss wouldn't have cared if I came in missing an arm or bleeding profusely.  I guess that's one reason I'm not there anymore!!

So I texted my hubby and he took me home - with a stop to a drug store and a dollar store for a new thermometer and a whiteboard (I have almost completely lost my voice).

So last night after a really long evening of painful swallowing and barely eating anything - it's hard when you have to psych yourself up for each swallow... we finally went to bed around midnight.  I only got about 3 hours sleep and then each swallow was so painful that it woke me from my sleep and I couldn't get back to sleep. 

So now I'm trying to take a nap, but the darn painful swallowing is keeping me up... the most I've closed my eyes for since 3am is about 15 minutes then I swallow and it wakes me up. :(

Lessons learned

• Cherry flavoured Chloraseptic does NOT taste like cherries and it may make you throw up - which is very horrible when you have a sore throat... luckily I didn't spray too much in my mouth and only threw up a little.  
• Mint flavoured Chloraseptic is at least a little better tasting, though both are very harsh medicinal mixed with stinky sock.  
• Cepacol lozenges will numb anything they are in contact with, so if you feel like reminiscing about how it feels after being locally frozen at the dentist - these are the ones for you.  If you happen to have a sore throat both at the roof of your mouth and further down, they help a little, but they taste fairly awful and you end up with a frozen tongue too... so is it really worth it? Not so much I think.

If this is still bad tomorrow I will have to make the dreaded trip to see a doctor - who knows this could be strep instead of just a flu.

Anyhoo... I'm going to gargle some more mint chloraseptic and try for a nap...

Happy Administrative Professionals Day/Week

Still feeling pretty sick, my throat feels like I swallowed razors and I've pretty much lost my voice, but when I came into the office today, on my desk was a lovely bunch of flowers from my boss!  To top it off, when he asked me how things were going and I told him in my very quiet sick voice that I was sick, he actually was concerned with my health and showed compassion.

It's such a different atmosphere in my new job compared to my last one and it's sometimes still a shock to be treated like a human being.

So to all of the Admin's of the world today... Thank you for doing a GREAT job!

SPRING!!!

So most of the snow has melted and it hit an unbelievable 15 celsius today, and the sun was shining and birds were chirping and even though I am sick, I am so happy that spring is here!!!  I have brand new strawberry leaves popping up in my garden already!! I can't wait to be able to spend all day outside again!!  Yaaaaay!

Spring is no longer just around the corner... LOL

Dyed and Gone to Easter Heaven!

Hello All... I just came back from spending a lovely Easter long weekend with my in-laws.  I hope you all had a great Easter too!

We hung out, played games, watched movies, ate turkey, munched on chocolate, gave gifts, joked and laughed... and DYED EASTER EGGS!

There is one thing I love most about Easter, and that would be colouring/painting/decorating Easter eggs!  Almost all of the in-laws joined in on the fun of it... even my husband dyed one!

Here are a couple pictures of some of the ones I worked on

# 1 - The Eye Egg (jointly with my mother-in-law)

#2 - The Plaid Egg

#3 - The Tie Dye Egg

#4 - The Easter Scene Egg (jointly with my sister-in-law, she dyed the egg and I added the scene using my nephew's crayons!!)

All in all I had a pretty great Easter despite waking up Monday morning with the flu.

I am the Easter Bunny

Easter is this weekend and since I am into giving I made Easter Baskets for my group at work (there are only 4 of us - so it's not a huge expense).  I found different sized plastic eggs at a dollar store and filled them with peeps and chocolate eggs.

I really do love to do stuff like this for all of the holidays... like for Saint Patrick's day I found small green leprechaun hats and filled them with chocolate gold coins and made green and white cupcakes.

I usually find any excuse to bring something yummy in to work - I guess it's my way of showing I care.

Please just STOP!

Ok, so there is this girl (a temp) that works in my building who doesn't really have the best social skills.  She's a nice person but she hasn't quite figured out what to talk about when our group gets together for breaks or lunch.  She drones on and on and ON about aspects of her job that no one else cares about.  She starts a conversation with you about something that she talked to you about last week (that you have already forgotten) usually in the middle of a different discussion or interupting someone else.  She also ALWAYS has either an opinion or a suggestion... even if you're not asking for one.

She's desperate to get hired by our company (but we're in a hiring freeze) and is always whining about how everyone else seems to get the jobs but her.  She even tried to buy her way into a special conference because she thinks that just because she's been temping here for 7 months means that she's is a regular employee like the rest of us.

I'm a pretty patient person but lately everything about this person is driving me and pretty much everyone else crazy.  It's getting akward lately too since she wants to join in on all of the social things we do, like going out for lunch etc and gets really upset if we want to go out at noon since her lunch break is a half hour before ours... the universe doesn't revolve around her, but she doesn't seem to know that.

None of us really know how to tell her that she's annoying the crap out of all of us without really making her upset and or creating a crapstorm in the process.

This has gotten me thinking, "what if I'm annoying the people in the group too?" Would they tell me or are they complaining about me behind my back?  I think I will start making sure I'm not interrupting people and that I'm not just talking/complaining about work.  I also hope I'm not horning in on people's excursions outside of the office... I don't want to be the chick that always has to tag along.

I wish I could read minds... or that people would say what they were actually feeling/thinking.

How to Tell if You Need to Pray at Work

A co-worker of mine sent this list to me and I just had to repost it... I can relate to a lot of these - I guess I should pray more eh?

HOW TO TELL IF YOU NEED TO PRAY AT WORK

1. If you have ever thought about poisoning, choking, punching or slapping someone that you work with..... You need to pray at work.
2. When you hear a co-worker call your name and the first thing that crosses your mind is "what the *bleep* does she want now? and you try to hide underneath your desk.....  You need to pray at work.
3. When someone comes in and announces "Office meeting in 5 minutes" and you think 'what the *bleep* do they want now?'.....  You need to pray at work.
4. When you take some vacation time and come back to find a mountain of paperwork sitting on your desk because no one else would do it and you think " sorry *bleep* *bleeping* *bleepers*".....  You need to pray at work.
5. If you avoid saying more than hello or how are you doing to someone because you know it's going to lead to their whole *bleeping* life story.....  You need to pray at work.
6. When a co-worker comes in a little too happy singing "good morning" to everyone and you think 'Somebody needs to slap the *bleep* out of her'.....  You need to pray at work.
7. When your computer is mysteriously turned off and you want to say "which one of you sons of *bleepers* turned off my computer?".....  You need to pray at work.
8. When you're in the elevator and it stops to pick up someone who stood for five minutes waiting for the darn thing only to go DOWN one floor, and you think 'that lazy *bleep*'.....  You need to pray at work.
9. And.....  If YOU know all the words that have been bleeped out above..... You DEFINITELY need to pray at work!

Let us all bow our heads!!

Neat Technology

Hi Again... it's me... were you expecting someone else?  *giggle* Just kidding.

Anyway, I saw this neat geeky keyboard organizer and I just HAD to post it here.  I love that it takes the same space as a regular keyboard but has the ability to store some everyday stuff like CD's and pens too!  My keyboard take up a fair bit of real estate on my desk so if I can use it to store stuff as well... then it becomes an even better tool!

See below for a picture and video.




For more information or to order Click Here

Julia Sweeney "talks to her daughter about sex"

I don't usually post clips from YouTube, but I made an exception in this case.  I ran into this video today and couldn't help but LOL at the story that Julia Sweeney tells about when her eight year old adopted daughter asked a simple question about how frogs reproduce... She should have known that with children that it is NEVER just one question...  Children are curious!



Julia Sweeney is a very talented storyteller and YouTube is full of videos of her if you are interested in hearing more!

Friend or No?

Sometimes I wonder if the people I think are my friends are actually my friends or if I'm just a convenient back up when there is no one better around.
People say they are your friend, but are they really?  Do they know what it means to be a friend or are they confused with terminology and you are actually just aquaintances or associates or just plain old someone whose name they know.

Of course there are many types of friendship too... like work friends, bar friends, sex friends, neighbour friends, childhood friends, regular friends, best friends and true friends.

Aquaintance/Associate - You know their name, but rarely their spouse/children/pets names. It can be hard to find something to talk about and you get that akward trapped feeling when you are one on one with them. You know some things about them, but don't go deeper than the everyday normal topics - Heaven help you if you start talking about something that they have strong oposing feelings about! You don't often let your true self show to these people as there is no level of trust formed. You simply don't know these people well enough. These people can become Work Friends if you both work on the relationship, but if it's one sided and you're doing all the work... RUN!


Work Friends - these are the people you take breaks with, eat lunch with and you talk about general things, sometimes going more personal, but you don't associate very often (if at all) outside of work.  Sometimes Work Friends can turn into one of the other types of friends, but if you're not careful it can affect your Work Friend relactionship.

Bar Friends - these are the people that you go out to the bar/club and drink together.  You talk about flings and men/women and who's hot or not.  You don't need to get very personal because you are in a loud busy place and there are many outside stimulants.  Rarely can Bar Friends turn into another type of friend - exception would be Sex Friend.

Sex Friends - these are very rare and extremely difficult relationships to maintain.  Sex complicates everything afterall.  Sex Friends are exactly what they sound like... two people who get together for mutual sexual release with nothing else on the table.  Sex Friends or Friends with Benefits often find that one partner eventually wants more from the relationship than just sex.  Too often this sours the relationship and it ends.  Extremely rare is the Sex Friend who turns into a boyfriend/girlfriend or husband/wife.

Neighbour Friends - these are the people who live in your neighbourhood.  Most often you wave, maybe say a verbal hello, occasionally offer to mow their lawn or take care of a pet.  Gone are the days (in most neighbourhoods) where a new family was greeted by their neighbours with muffin baskets, plates of cookies or a casserole.  Now we are too afraid that the neighbour we befriend will turn out to be a sexual predator, serial killer or just a plain old bad person so we end up leaving it at a casual head nod or wave not bothering to learn names or exchange phone numbers.  Neighbours can be great friends if you want them to be but you have to be open to the risk that you might not like what you find out and that you'll be stuck living next to them until one of you moves.  Lucky few of these will turn out to become real friends.

Childhood Friends - these are the kids you grew up with, and over time some have lost contact or grown apart but a select few will remain friends for a lifetime.  Sometimes it is hard to break a friendship that you no longer really want because "I've known so-and-so since I was two" so gradually you stop speaking, stop responding to pokes on Facebook until the memory of the friendship fades for one or both of you.  There are some Childhood Friends that do last forever, but they are rare and take a lot of work on both sides to maintain.

Regular Friends - these friends will come and go, some have started as Work Friends or Aquaintances, some will progress to Best Friends, and maybe if you're truly lucky into a True Friend.  You've gotten to know each other, you like what you've seen and heard so far.  It'll take work on both sides to move this beyond regular friendship, but it will be worth it.  You may find that they are only there for you for some events and not all - this is ok, it just means they haven't progressed beyond Regular Friends.

Best Friends - I was told once that I couldn't have more than one Best Friend... well that is a load of crap!  Best Friends have seen you through more situations than even you can remember.  They are the first to hear good news and the first person you cry to about the bad news.  They remember things about you that are special, they want to hear about your day/week/month, they will help you through the good times and bad.  They are there for you and you for them.

True Friends - the cream of the crop and a very special breed.  True Friends can go months/years without seeing each other and then when they meet up again it's like no time has passed at all.  True Friends can sit side-by-side not speaking and be comfortable and content.  It's like they have telepathy, they finish each others thoughts and words.  They always know what to say.  They don't judge you.  They can make fun of each other without worry that they will go to far - they will always forgive each other.

All in all, you can never have too many friends, but the next time you are with a group of your friends try and put them in one of these categories... I think you'll be surprised by where they fit.

1 year, 9 months and three days

I simply cannot fathom that it has been 1 year, 9 months and three days since my last post on this blog.  Sometimes it's hard to remind yourself to take the time to write it all down, you keep thinking to yourself "I'm too busy for this" or "no one reads my blog anyway" or "I shouldn't write that, what would people think?". 

I came to a realization that this blog isn't just a way to get my fun stories and good experiences out in the real world to be read, enjoyed and critisized.  I should be using it to get out the things that are living in my brain, heart and soul - whether or not people will enjoy what I write about or not.

So... what does that mean?

It means that I'm going to start writing things in my blog again, but this time I'm going to write everything instead of glossing over the pointy parts.

I welcome you to your choice - to read or not to read, to comment or not to comment, to pass it on or keep it to yourself.

Cheers and welcome to my 'New' blog!