Unbalanced

I've lost my mojo this week. Despite an incredibly laid back week at work, I've been coming home feeling exhausted. My tummy has been in a state of civil war. My sleep has been disrupted. My face is breaking out (what is THAT about? I'm 33 years old and still getting zits?!?) Today is my normal pole dancing day but last night I told my husband, I just don't even feel like going.

I should have noticed all of these things as the signs of an impending migraine, but I didn't. And this morning, I woke up feeling nauseous and instead of figuring it out then, I didn't. And so I got to work and by 9:30 I had a full on evil migraine going on. It's bad when people walk into your office and immediately say, "OH MY GOD, you look AWFUL." When the boss takes one look at you and says, "you should go home" you know it's bad.

I left a lunchtime. I barely made it home. Really - I shouldn't have even been driving. I pulled the shades and crawled into bed. I slept for 3 hours. The kids and hubby came home. I survived the evening only because I took a Tylenol w/ codeine.

For anyone who has had a migraine, you know. For anyone who hasn't, you don't know. It's not just a headache. It's your head exploding from the inside. Every single one of the five senses is on overdrive. Noise hurts. Light hurts. Someone touching you hurts. And the nausea is unbearable. I move, I heave.

I called and made an appointment to see the doctor on Monday. I used to get a few migraines a year which I could easily knock out with a some Alleve and a Coke. No more. They've been coming more often - this is the third one this month. And over the counter pain meds do nothing. And the pain lasts for an entire day, sometimes two. It's starting to affect my work and my family, so it's time to try something more.

For now I'm just going to bed since keeping my head in a vertical position is simply taking too much effort.

It's the Beeest Daaaay Eveeeeer...

And those of you with young children have probably experienced this phenomenon, courtesy of SpongeBob Squarepants. Every once in awhile my kids will just spontaneously start singing this song. And once one kid starts, any child within earshot will start singing along. My hubby teaches elementary school and he said it happens at least once a day.

Anyway, according to my kids, this whole weekend consisted of, like, 5 of the best days ever right in a ROW!!!

Wednesday

School was only a half-day, so we set out for Virginia Beach around 3:00. We decided to take an alternate route to avoid I-95 completely. We hit heavy traffic between Bowie and Waldorf, Maryland. Once we got past that area, it was pretty smooth. The kids both fell asleep about 8:30 but only after I promised promised promised to wake them up when we got to the beach. We got to Sandbridge about 10:30. We were staying at a rental condo with my parents and the kids woke right up when we arrived. BUNK BEDS?!?!! It's the best day eveeeeeeer!

Thursday

My very pregnant sister and her family came to the condo around noon. Since she was too pregnant to come up to Baltimore for Thanksgiving, we had brought it to her in Virginia Beach. We made it easy too. Pre-sliced ham and turkey, ready made potatoes and stuffing (just reheat in the microwave!), frozen cheesecake sampler... And paper plates = no dishes. Very relaxed. My kids had a blast playing with their cousins. Their cousins even got to spend the night at the condo with us. And we had just received the Cartoon Network Christmas DVD from Netflix. Billy & Mandy's Grim Christmas Adventure?!?!! It's the best day eveeeeeeer!!

Friday

My sister arrived just after lunchtime. We celebrated her oldest daughter's birthday. Pizza and ice cream cake. My mom had even thought to buy a small present for each of my kids, which they played with all afternoon. Then hubby took the kids to the boardwalk area and bought them hermit crabs. A present from Grandma and our very own hermit crabs?!?!! It's the best day eveeeeeeeer!!

Saturday

We ate lunch at our favorite burger place that they don't have anywhere near us so we only eat there on vacation (Red Robin) then started our drive home. We figured traffic would suck on both I-95and Route 301 so we decided to take the scenic route. We went over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel and then up the Eastern Shore of Virginia/Maryland instead. A lovely warm afternoon and a peaceful drive through small towns and farmland. No traffic at all.

Our cat Charlie had decided to not come inside Wednesday before we left and I spent all weekend worried about his furry little ass. When we pulled into the garage the first thing I head was MEOWMEOWMEOWMEOW. That was one pissed off hungry little cat. Look, dumbass... Don't blame me. I called for you for over an hour before we left - I was trying to get you inside.

That night Charlie slept all curled up with Lisey. She told me she was so glad he didn't run away forever. Stupid furball returned?!?!! It's the best day eveeeeeer!!

Sunday

While my hubby was away watching the Ravens humiliate the Steelers, the kids and I actually managed to get the tree up and decorated. A massive undertaking, I assure you. How did we get such an ass ton of ornaments? I remember when we had one box of silver balls and some cheap purple beads because that's what was on sale at the Wal-Mart and we were poor. But the kids were thrilled to help and it really looks great.

Then each kid has a smaller 3 foot tree of their very own for their rooms. They both took great care decorating their little trees. They even helped each other and were so proud to show Daddy when he got home what they'd done. And Daddy had brought them each a Ravens pencil. My very own Christmas tree for my room AND a football eraser?!?!! It's the best day eveeeeeeer!!

Truly Tasteless Comment of the Week

Courtesy of my husband, king and almighty ruler of the truly tasteless comment:

(Driving home from Virginia Beach)

Me: "Look at that. McDonald's has a pink shake with a red ribbon in strawberry syrup on top to raise money for Breast Cancer. I just don't know if I could buy a breast cancer shake."

Husband: "Yeah, they tend to be too lumpy."

Where the hell I've been

So. It's been a few weeks since I've posted. I've sat down to post a few times but just didn't seem to have my thoughts going anywhere. Life has been busy. Work has been busy. Kids have been busy. Not much time to sit down with my thoughts and type them out. Right now hubby is out buying presents and the kids are watching our latest Netflix arrival. Dinner is in the oven and I have a moment to pause and say... I am happy. I'm really happy.

And that is a wonderful thing, because two years ago at this time I was miserable being Mormon, then a year ago I was miserable being a disaffected Mormon, and now I am happy being not a Mormon any more. My life is full of other things - husband, kids, family, friends, work, pole dancing, cooking classes, book club, Bunco...

The anger is gone. The confusion is gone. Somehow, gradually, I have rebuilt my world. And it's a world where I am happy and content with the choices I have made and where I am going.

Parent/Teacher Conferences

Teacher: "Marc is a very smart kid. His only problem is that he sometimes rushes through his work because he wants to be the first one done."

Hubby starts laughing. I give him an evil glare.

Hubby: "Wow, I just don't know where he gets THAT from." Rolls eyes in my direction.

Me: "Shut up."

Teacher: "It just seems very important to him that he is the best at everything. Is that something he gets from you?"

Hubby: "She is not allowed to play board games at our house because she is the biggest sore loser ever. Her family won't even play Trivial Pursuit any more with her after the Kimodo Dragon incident."

Me: "Kimono Dragon/Kimodo Dragon. Whatever. That answer totally should have counted. I was robbed and you know it."

Hubby: "Yeah, that was, like, 10 years ago and you are still pissed off about it."

Me: "Oh just shut up."

Hubby: "Exactly."

Harford Sparkles!!

So hubby and I just got back from a super fun fundraiser for our local county library. This is the 2nd year we have gone and it was a total blast. First of all, I was wearing my strappy silver heels so I was feeling quite sassy. Wine was flowing freely. I've reached a point in my professional career where I knew quite a lot of people at the event.

I ended up winning a new spice rack - yay!! Most of my spices are seriously from before I was married and have lost their zing. Plus a gift certificate to a new wine store, free ice cream for a year (wow!!) and best of all... some meals from a personal chef who comes to the house to prepare 5 dinners for the family!! Niiiiice!!

My feet are sore now and my brain is tired, but my heart is happy. It was a fun evening, just enjoying adult company, dressing up, going out, drinking wine, eating good desserts and celebrating life.

Afternoon Delight

Since I had the worst-fucking-day ever yesterday but in the end my trial ended up being a plea agreement, my calender today was CLEAR. I wore jeans to work and it was fabulous. So, I had plenty of free time to muck about on my computer. I made a Victoria's Secret order last week. I loved the brown washable suede pants I bought earlier so much, I got them in black too. Now, I love that I can track UPS shipments on-line. I could see the package was delivered at 11:32 a.m., so I couldn't wait to get home to open it.

Hubby had inservice today so he got to go home early. I realized that if I left a little early too, we could actually have some alone time before having to fetch the chilluns from daycare today... Yeah, baby!! What an afternoon!! UPS delivers my new pants, PLUS I get good lovin' from my man.

Another Swinging around the Pole update

This time I did the class with shoes on. It actually was SO much easier. The shoes give a nice base to spin from (your feet sort of stick to the floor). I didn't feel awkward in them either - I've been wearing them around the house at night to get used to them. And I loved this instructor. I laughed when I first saw her because I just got my Fall coloring done and her highlights were the same exact color as mine (gold and copper). Plus it was just me and another girl, so the instructor was able to really work with us individually. I managed my first really good completely off the floor spin.

And honestly, completing that spin cancelled out the entire very-bad-no-good-horrible-craptacular-worst-fucking-day EVER I had up to that point. I came home with a nice pole burn on my arm, sore and stinky and sweaty but elated. I have never been a sporty athletic person AT ALL and my husband finds the fact that I really really love these classes just amazing.

I told him, Yeah, it's exercise but you get to wear HIGH HEELS!!

A Little Late to the Game, but...

Wow, I was so wrapped up in trial prep and related stress this week that I didn't even know it was National Blogging Month!!! Okay, so it is now the 3rd of the month, so I guess I can't blog every day. But here's what I'm gonna do... I'm gonna post 3 times in the next, um, 40 minutes and THEN I'll post every day for the rest of November. And if I miss a day, I'll take the easy way out again and just post twice in a day.

So as I look back on October, I must share one of my favorite moments...

Picking pumkins:

Then they both fell asleep in the car on the way home, holding on to the ghosts we bought at Starbucks: