Busted Ear Drum

Last Saturday while I was working, I knew I was sick - would have truly preferred to not go into work, but being a good employee - I was there. I brought my tissue and my hand sanitizer....thoughtful and a good employee - too bad there is not a raise coming!! My ear hurt, my throat hurt, I was congested! Anyway...my poor nose was like a faucet, if it wasn't dripping down my face, it was running down my throat, so I blew my nose to clear it up....

Now....at this point...yes, YUCK! TMI...Gross, I get it. I would be saying the same thing! But, when I blew my nose I literally collapsed. I was on my knees in agony! I popped up as quick as I could, but not before a co-worker could see that I had experienced a "moment." This poor man checked on me almost every 15-20 minutes after that - I told him I was fine that I think I had blown out my ear drum.

Well, in short, that was confirmed today. I blew out my right ear drum - there is a lovely little hole and behind it there is a ton of fluid. It is not draining from the lovely little hole, but is draining down the tubes in my neck making my neck stiff and sore and my ear totally plugged. I can barely hear out of that ear and there is a constant ringing....sigh! Long story short - the Dr. put me on a low dose steroid pack to help the swelling and aide the ear in finally draining, which he told me, can be a painful process.

Hmmmm...I work customer service, I am on steroids, it is a stressful environment....Somehow, I don't see this as being a great thing! I may without blinking an eye tell the next ding dong who calls me an idiot just exactly where he can stick it. Probably in a very colorful way that will get me fired....right now that actually sounds like fun. Now I am worried - perhaps I should call him and see if he can give me a prescription for a mood altering drug to get me through this next week?!

My stress relief during all this - I did yoga this morning, and then I started looking at some of my old pictures that I need to go through....

While, this is a boat I will never own it is one of my favorites to be sure. The Disney Wonder!! Ahh....what a boat, what a cruise!!

Supreme Grossness –

I have been quite sick for almost 2 weeks, started off with a simple little virus morphed into monstrous ear infection with drainage so unreal that I couldn’t even eat! My blood pressure was through the roof (surprise, surprise!) and I couldn’t hear out of my right ear. Yet – I still got up, went to work and then also worked my other job too. Umm…small wonder that two weeks later, two steroid shots, one bottle of liquid antibiotic down, I am still not able to hear properly out of my right ear. I have not even tried to take my blood pressure….Oh well, maybe at some point I will feel human again. In the midst of all this (whining, I know whining!), I was out working in my office as I finished up I went to my backdoor, which was open. Thought that was kinda weird, but I figured I must have not closed the door all the way and the dog had his way getting back in the house. So, I walk in the door and stop in my tracks….there is something WEIRD looking and I mean WEIRD looking in my kitchen floor. The dog is dancing around like a crazy animal around this weird fluffy thing in my floor. I bent over to check it out and realized it was the HEAD OF A CHICKEN!!! Seriously, the head of a chicken. So, I scream to my friend…”there is a dead chicken head in my kitchen!!!” She comes into the house and we are both grossed out!

Perhaps a little background – I live in a suburban area, but there is a grandfather clause for farm animals. My neighbors have two horses, one donkey, a handful of fainting goats, fostered dogs, barn cats and CHICKENS! Yes, chickens – hmm…barn cats, chickens….

I called my neighbor and asked her, “Are you missing a chicken?”

“Oh my God, you found WIGGY!”

Just at that moment, my neighbor’s husband was out back looking for “Wiggy,” she told me to give the head to him, which I had wrapped up in a plastic bag trying to figure out what to do with.

I handed him my morbid little package and explained where I had found it and some feathers in my yard, we talked about the barn cats and my fat dog’s inability to get to the chickens to make a meal of them…you would have to see the dog to totally understand, but there ain’t a prayer of this critter catching a chicken.

Just a day in the life of….I know at some point I will probably have to help corral the miniature donkey (which has happened to another neighbor) or I will be catching rogue fostering dogs (which I have done!). But, for now at least I know that the local voodoo gang hasn’t broken into my house and left me a dead chicken head.

BTW - What did the "dead chicken head" look like?

Just with out the body and the feathers were considerable more matted....You needed that description right?

Not About a Boat - -About the Hair

I am in a bit of a quandary about my hair....what's the big deal? I'm not sure. In the past I did not really have to worry alot about being in public, an occasional speaking engagement(not me speaking I will point out), PTA meeting, booster club, was all I really had to worry about and for some of those a baseball hat was perfect! Now that I am working full time outside of the house (no more working at my kitchen table in PJs!), I am trying to present myself in a more professional way. Some of the really funky things I think I would like to do with my hair, I am not ready to do, plus I am not sure my hubby would care for it either.

So....bottom line, I am in the mid stages of my hair growth. I have BONE straight, thin hair and I am SO gray around the temples that I am self conscious about it and I have a yucky hair color right now that I have got to do something with. In fact, perhaps it is more the hair color than the cut at this point.

I think the real problem here is that I miss my hair dresser, who is a very good friend, and she doesn't do hair anymore. I could always trust her to cut my hair to look good on me, color my hair right and not charge me an arm and a leg....sigh....she cut my hair for many years, and honestly it is one of my hang-ups.

So, how did I meet this legendary hair dresser?? I went to Great Clips (which is today my fallback for a quick haircut that is affordable, as long as they speak English and their hands do not shake while holding the scissors) and she was the FIRST and I DO MEAN FIRST hairdresser that ever cut my hair and tucked my hair behind my ears. Yes, I know that sounds bizarre, but seriously from a woman that goes around taking pictures of boats that do not belong to her, it is really pretty mild. I am a compulsive hair tucker - it is always behind my ears. I admit it, but I am not willing to go to a 12 step program to overcome it. It is a nervous habit at this point and honestly I am surprised that there is any hair left there to tuck.

So....I post this in hopes that I will get up a little gumption to take a step and try to find a new style, new color, a new something that will make me feel more comfortable with myself. I need to at some point take the time to do this - I will try to fit it in somewhere between my two jobs, family and resting! But, in the mean time, this post gives me an excuse to dig out one of my boat pictures....Hehe!

So, maybe this boat, a short sassy haircut with highlights....Hmmmm....A girl can dream, right?!

Live, Laugh, Love - Sara

Frustration

Define frustrated - I was driving my son to preschool this morning and then after I got him in the school and came out to the car, all I wanted to do was listen to ONE song, just one nice Christmas song, one upbeat rock and roll song, one song - something with music!! Guess what, my preprogrammed stations, all 6 of them....all TALKING....every one of them. Not even commericals, just talking.....Seriously! This is why people have iPods, Zunes and every manner of MP3 player known to man, because they cannot stand to sit and listen to the chatter, inane chatter....anyway, my two cents for what they are worth and tomorrow I will have my Zune handy and listen to my audio book!