Random

I almost forgot to update again today, but I remembered seconds before turning off the laptop. Writing something every day is much easier when I have something (like a new thing) to focus on.

Tuesday means Sparks. Tonight we made face cloth rabbits. It went well, but required me to know how to tie bows. I've never made the chick before. In fact, I didn't know it existed until I was looking for a picture to explain what on earth I was talking about. I might have to try those sometime.

Let's pretend

I'm writing this on Tuesday, but let's pretend it's still Monday, shall we? (I completely forgot to update.)

As I was walking in to work this morning, a few snowflakes drifted down. I expected that to be the last of it, but within an hour the entire world was white. It warmed up later, and by the time I left work it was mostly gone.

After work, I went back to the gym for the first time since I got sick. I normally do 2 classes on Mondays, but I decided I shouldn't push myself, so I only stayed for the first class. It was the weight lifting class, so I will be sore tomorrow. Expect much whining.

Back from camp

Camp went very well. It was tiring (as usual), but fun. The parents were a great help - I made a big mess yesterday (we made our own pizza dough) and I didn't have to clean it up. Wonderful.

It rained much of yesterday, but we still did a treasure hunt in the rain. The girls loved it. One of the clues told them to go on the path until they found a bridge. They saw some (wet, rotted) logs across the ditch, and were going to go across them. I got them to wait and see if there was a real bridge later - and when we got to it, they were afraid to get across. Wet, rotten logs are one thing, but asking them to walk across a solid bridge was too much.:)

We also went outside for our campfire last night. It was actually snowing at the time. It was much more pleasant than it sounds. Everyone was dressed for the weather, and it wasn't that cold out.

This morning we cleaned up. We were finished early - so all of the girls went home before our official end of camp. It was great. Normally we wouldn't be able to do that - but since the mothers were there, we didn't have to wait for them to arrive. It was great. I was home, showered, and unpacked by 1:15.

It's off to camp we go

Well, today is the day. I'm off to Sparks camp. It's a mother-daughter camp, which is different from anything I've done before. We're going to be pirates. We have a treasure hunt, scavenger hunt, and many games planned. I hope it doesn't rain all weekend.

Have a good weekend everyone - even those of you who are didn't get up at 6:30 this morning. :)

They wake you up at 7, and they sleep in 'til 9

I actually made it in to work today. This has been a busy - but productive -week. After wrok I met some friends for supper, then it was home to pack. I'm off to camp tomorrow. I think I have packed everything I own. Not literally, of course, but I have packed a lot of stuff.

I've been a leader at camp many times, and yet everytime it takes me longer to pack than I expect. I am finally packed now, which is good, because we're leaving at 7:30 tomorrow.

The best laid plans

I think I've mentioned that I had an agreement with my manager that I would work from home Tuesdays and Thursdays until I felt better. I know I mentioned yesterday that the exhaustion is gone, and I'm feeling better. I was intending to go in to work today.

I got ready, put on my jacket, put on my shoes, picked up my laptop bag, reached for my keys, and ... they weren't in my pocket. I looked on the bench inside the front door. They weren't there. I checked the end table. Still no keys. Eventually I reached the conclusion that Wanda (who was the last one to use the car) had taken them to work with her. The end result? I worked from home today.

Yay!

I worked from work today. It was very frustrating, because I had sporadic, reoccurring network problems. I was always able to reach the development servers, but was not always to reach the internet or our mail server. In order to fix the internet/mail problem, I had to disconnect and reconnect the ethernet cable - which dropped me from the development servers.

The good news is that I'm finally starting to feel better. I'm not completely better - I'm still coughing - but I'm not nearly as exhausted as I was. This is wonderful news. I'm going to continue taking it easy for the rest of the week, since I have to be ready for camp on Saturday. Hopefully next week I'll be back to normal./

Working from home

I talked with my manager yesterday, and I'll be working from home twice a week until I'm feeling better. Today was one of those days.

Some things are harder from home - I can't just wander over to someone's desk and ask a question - but in some ways it's quite nice. First of all, there's no rushing out the door in the morning. Also, I can lie down whenever I want to. It's also much easier to concentrate when I'm working on something specific (although honestly, I'm usually the instigator of the distractions, not the victim). Anyway, tomorrow I'm back to working at work.

Playing around

Another day, still sick. You may remember a long, long time ago I bought a Nintendo DS. Since I spend most of my time lying on the couch these days, I'm very glad I have it. It gives me something to do that doesn't require the amount of energy that holding up my head does.

Anyway, I bought a game that includes various card and board games, as well as pool and darts. I am getting better at darts and pool on the DS. I bowl about as well on the DS as I do in real life - so, in other words, not very well at all. I've also finally learned how to play backgammon. I'm glad I have the game.

Another boring update

I realize this blog is getting very boring, since every day is the same thing. Yes, I'm still sick. I'd say I'm getting bored, but that's not really accurate. I'm not bored, I'm just frustrated. There are so many things I need to get done, and I can't do any of them - or stand for more than a couple of minutes. Even sitting up for a long time is tiring.

I keep thinking "I'll feel better tomorrow", but thus far that hasn't happened.

As a result, it's difficult to find something to write about - I haven't really been doing much. Hopefully I'll feel better soon so I can be more interesting.

Thawing out

The sun is shining these days, and I am getting more motivated to do things I have been putting off for a while. (I still have a cold, so I do not always follow through, but the motivation is there.)

A few years ago, I bought a freezer for the basement. I love it. For a while I was better at putting food into it than I was at taking it out, but that is no longer the case. However, time and incidents such as leaving the lid up a crack meant that there was frost accumulating on the inside of the freezer. Today I defrosted the freezer. Wanda was kind enough to help me (although I have to admit that it probably would have been more entertaining to watch me trying to reach the bottom of the freezer myself).

It was pretty easy. I took all of the food out and put it in the fridge freezer or in a cooler. I then unplugged the freezer and put a pan of hot water in it to help things melt. The next step was to go out and run errands. By the time I got back, the frost had fallen off of the sides. I took out the pan of water as well as the pieces of frost. The freezer has a drain hole on the bottom, and the next step was to undo the inside and the outside plugs. I then started wiping up the bottom. (This is when Wanda "volunteered" to help me.) Once it was all dry, we propped open the lid and went for lunch. When we got back, it was time for one final drying of the freezer. Then we replaced the food and plugged it back in. Hopefully it won’t need to be done again for a while.

The internet: Making whining easier

Today was day 6 of this particular cold. I did not go to boxing. I decided that since I couldn't make it through a shower without coughing, I shouldn't go to boxing.

I did meet up with some former co-workers for lunch, though. It was good to see them again.

Normally, I'd be boxing right now. Tonight I just want to go to sleep. Perhaps I will do that.

Running out of titles

I really don't know what to talk about today. This is the problem with trying to update every day without really having a purpose.

I again went in to work today, but I'm still coughing. Yesterday after work I stopped at the drug store to get some cough drops. While I was there, I also picked up some tic tacs. I was very glad to have them today as they did a good job of keeping me from coughing.

Tomorrow will be a debate. I haven't been to the gym this week - but tomorrow is boxing. If I'll still coughing, I probably shouldn't go - but it's above a pool and really humid, so maybe I'd be OK. I'm not sure. I guess I'll have to figure it out tomorrow.

What do you guys think? Do you exercise when you're sick, or are you like me and sit around feeling sorry for yourself?

We still look funny

My manager was also off on Monday and Tuesday (although he was worse off than I was). Another co-worker was off on Monday as well. Today, everyone in my department was at work. It was shocking.

I skipped going to the gym today - I'm still coughing far too much for that. I did guilt Wanda into going. While she was gone, I picked up where I left off back in December. I transferred home videos off of my DVD recorder and onto a DVD. I then messed around with transferring them to a format I could upload ... and they're too big to upload. I'll have to do some editing before I can upload them. I am one step closer, though. In another 3 or 4 months, I might get motivated enough to take the next step.

Aaarrg!

Thanks for your concern. I'm glad to say that I'm feeling better today. Not 100%, but much better than yesterday.

I worked from home again today, but I fully intend to go in to work tomorrow. (I'm sure Wanda is glad about that.)

I did make it to Sparks today. We made memory books. I had done the outline beforehand - one page per meeting, with a picture to remind the girls about what they had done - and then they had to draw a picture or write something about what they had done. They loved it! I was expecting them to get about one page done, but they moved really fast and were all glad to take it home.

After Sparks, one of the other leaders and I went off to Party Packagers to look for supplies for our camp. We're doing a pirate theme, and we needed bandanas. We bought bandanas - but we also found amazing pirate hats. We bought one for each leader. (Not out of the Sparks money, for the record). (Ignore the price tag in the dorky picture).

Whining

I probably mentioned yesterday that I have another cold. This is the third one this year and the second one this month. This is far worse than the first one I had. For one thing, I cannot get warm unless I'm in bed. Lying on the couch under 2 blankets doesn't work. Taking a hot bath doesn't work. Working at the computer definitely doesn't work.

I'm hoping that this doesn't last long. I hate being sick all of the time.

In good news, today was another beautiful sunny day. The snow continues to melt, and spring is definitely here. The driveway has vastly improved since a week ago - there are no major icy patches.

A very lazy Sunday

It's laundry day again. I find that doing laundry on Sundays fits in very well with my preference to spend Sundays not doing much at all.

The snow has melted a lot this week, and I again hung my clothes outside. This time I got them outside a lot earlier, and they dried outside. My main reason for hanging clothes outside isn't convenience (obviously), or energy conservation, or that "fresh off the line" smell, or that I like my towels like sandpaper. My main reason is that all of the clothes are dry at roughly the same time. When I use the dryer, my hang to dry clothes don't actually dry until Tuesday morning. The other thing I liked about it is that I can take the clothes off the line in order. For example, all of the pants come off the line at the same time. That makes putting the clothes away easier.

Other than cooking and laundry, I didn't do much today. I'm really sick of having a cold every couple of weeks. I hope this is a short one.

Stream of consciousness

The hardest part about posting every day is remembering to post every day. The timestamp on this one says it was posted on Saturday, but I'm actually writing it Sunday morning. I got home at midnight, remembered, and decided to go to bed anyway.

Last night I was over at a friend's house. I taught her son to play Kings on the Corners, which was fun. The kids went to bed not long after I got there, and then we sat around and chatted.

I'm starting to get a cold (again). Let's see, I had one in August, one in September, one in December, one in early March, and now again. Most of them have been quite mild, but it's still annoying. Hopefully this trend stops soon.

Back in November (when the September cold was lingering on), my doctor prescribed me a nasal spray that I had to use for three months. It worked wonders - I can breathe through my nose better now than I ever could before- even when I have a cold.

I'm sure none of you care about this. :)

I ran the usual Saturday errands yesterday, but the bulk of my day was spent reading a book (The Surgeon, by Tess Gerrison). I read another of her books ages ago, but somehow didn't pick up any more of them. I enjoyed this one (if "enjoyed' is the word to use about a book about a serial killer who rapes and mutilates women). I'll have to check out more of her books.

A good day

The weather is getting nice. The sun was shining, and the geese have returned. I passed a body of water with hundreds of geese on it on the way to work.

After work was boxing, of course. It's week three, which means we move from 12 2-minute stations to 12 3-minute stations. I actually succeeded in doing 9 crossovers in a row. It's not a personal best, but it's been a long time since I've succeeded in doing that many without tripping. Skipping is much more fun when you're not whipping yourself every few seconds.

In other good news, Wanda succeeded in making pitas that puffed up today. Usually they are just really good flatbread. (Wanda also has some other good news, but for once I'll let her write about it first.)

Futile

I've mentioned that I bought a new table a month or so ago. Last week I called a local charity to pick up the old one. They arrived today. I was at work, but Wanda was home. In the end, they did not take the table - because one of the pedastal legs doesn’t come off.

I understand charities need to be selective about what they take, but this is a in perfect condition except for the inability to remove one of the table legs. (How often do you take the legs off your table?) The reason they gave Wanda was that they didn’t know if they had room.

I don’t think I will donate stuff this way again - it caused a delay of over a week waiting for them to arrive, someone had to sit around the house all day (because they couldn’t predict when they would show up), and in the end I still have the table.