I am quite ill. :(

I started this year with a positive attitude. This year would be different! This year would be great! This is the year that I will be my very best. Well, life doesn't always go along with our plans. Does it? I have started this year with a flat tire, illness, and now the possibility of needing to have my transmission rebuilt on my vehicle. I was feeling really down about it at first. Who likes unexpected repair bills? Certainly not me. The thing is whenever something like this happens, I push myself to do my best. I've already pushed myself to list a bunch of stuff on ebay and now I have plans to start hitting more thrift stores (once my vehicle is fixed). I'm not sure if I actually do need a rebuild right now as I haven't heard back from Aamco.


Of course with this pushing myself, you should know that I'm actually very sick right now. I have a fever and a wretched cough. Megan was sick with something since Sunday, January 11th. Her temperature kept going up and down so I took her in to see the doctor on Saturday. I would have taken her in sooner but each morning started out like this: 1. Take Megan's temperature. 2. Give Megan tylenol 3. Tell myself if she isn't better by that afternoon we'd go to the walk in clinic. Sure enough, her temperature had dropped every afternoon and I was convinced she was on the road to recovery. She didn't take any medicine all day Thursday and seemed to be quite well. Although she did have a persistent cough. Come Friday night, she was definitely ill again so I told myself that even if she didn't have a temperature, something was wrong so she was going in.


Of course Friday afternoon, I was getting ready to go out when my vehicle decided to misbehave. It left me feeling very discouraged. Saturday morning, I took her to the clinic using my husband's car. They told me that she did not have an ear infection but because of the length of her illness and a fever at that time they were giving her antibiotics. She has gotten progressively better ever since. Whereas I am not well at all. I think I coughed up a lung this afternoon :P

The weird thing is that when I am sick or stressed, I like to clean. So I have been cleaning but I don't have a vehicle and man oh man, I have more trash to take to the dump than I dare think of. I'm thinking of asking to borrow my father-in-law's truck when I am better. Or even the old van that my husband's Gram owns. In fact, that sounds like a better plan for trash. I can live without a vehicle but the trash situation is driving me bonkers. I haven't taken it in quite awhile because of all these incidents. The tire, Megan's illness, and now the transmission. I'm going to rebag everything tomorrow if I am well enough and spray it with tabasco or something else to keep pests away. Yes, these are the things that I think about and journal about!!! Oh what a life.

In all seriousness, I have felt a peace about the van come over me. I am not happy about it at all but I have accepted it. I have thought of about a million things that could be worse and it makes my little problems seem so small. Like what if Megan was really sick with something horrible? Would I think twice about any medical bills? No. It would be the last thing on my mind. I'd pay anything to keep her well. Strangely enough, I was out in my husband's vehicle the other day waiting at a stop light. I knew I was getting out in a second so I googled, "transmission leak" on my sidekick. I was obsessing and wanted to read as much about problems as possible. Well, I guess I had looked down at my phone too long and the light had turned green. So I put my phone down (I don't drive and play with my phone) and start to accelerate. It's a very strange intersection with two lights. I'm not even sure how to write it and have it make sense. It's near Winchester Animal Hospital and the hospital thrift store off of N. Loudoun (I think) ANYWAY, so I start to pull out and this vehicle comes flying down the road, probably 40 mph or more right through the red light. If I hadn't been messing around on my phone for transmission problems while I was stopped, I would have been t-boned. It really freaked me out.

Anyway, I think my illness is causing me to ramble so I'll end this now :P

Too much imagination...?

Yesterday, Aaron and I were sitting in our computer room having a rather inconsequential conversation when we heard Megan in her room making some rather bizarre noises. Aaron calls into her, "Megan, whatcha doin'?" Her response, "I'm pretending my toes and my fingers are having a war!" With a disturbed look on his face Aaron turns to me and says, "This is why she needs to play with other kids more".

To go to the dentist or not to go to the dentist...

There are many things in life that I do not like. However, I shall only speak of one of these many things and that would be going to the dentist. It is not my thing. I don't have good teeth. I brush after every meal, floss, etc. and I still get cavities. The last time I went to the dentist was a few years ago. Okay, let's be honest...I haven't been in about five years. I know. It's horrible. My reasoning was that I wasn't in pain so I must be okay. That said, I am a worrier. I like to take care of myself. I like to take care of my body. So in the next month or so I will pray for the courage to seek dental care.

This not going to the dentist thing led to something I am not proud of. Megan hadn't gone to the dentist ever. Oh, I said it was because I couldn't find someone that accepted our insurance but really, I'm scared. Scared that they'll say I have a bajillion things wrong with my teeth or her teeth and that I failed her as a parent. I think if you are a good parent, you never want to do anything that would fail your child. Now, I don't obsess over this or anything. But it was on my mind.

My good husband asked his coworker for a dental referral. We had the name of a dentist in our area. We were told he was good. We were told he was a participating dentist. No, he doesn't just accept the insurance then bill us the remainder of the charges. He actually participates in our network and is covered 100% by insurance. Great! Aaron (that would be my husband) tested this dentist for us. See, Aaron hadn't been to the dentist in years either. Another thing that I felt I was responsible for. Appointment day rolls around and my guinea pig goes in for testing. I was praying very hard that day. "Please don't let him have cavities Lord. Please don't let him have cavities". Yes, I was calling for divine intervention. My husband had never had a cavity in his life and I wasn't about to let it happen now!

Guess what? Husband comes home. Six years of no dental visits and he still doesn't have a cavity in his head. I was so happy! But now, did the dentist fail or pass? He passed with flying colors. Aaron loves the new dentist. Okay, okay! I'm going to be a good mom now. I'm going to make Megan her first dental appointment. But will she have my genetically inferior teeth? Yikes. I make her brush every day. I examine her teeth all the time. I felt safe thinking she was okay in the teeth department. Of course, I didn't make her the appointment. I procrastinated. If she has an appointment then I have to have an appointment. That doesn't work for me.

Well, life sometimes has a way of making you do the things you don't want to do. On Christmas day, my dear little girl had the nerve to bite into a candy cane. There was lots of blood. I don't like blood. I especially don't like blood that is coming from my child. If Aaron's there, I let him handle it. So he did. But then we see that she has a purple mark inside her tooth. No more procrastinating! I called the dental office on December 26th. They weren't open. Phew. Maybe her tooth would be better. Aaron says it is loose. I research and she isn't supposed to loose that tooth until she is 11 or 12.

Alas, I call again on December 28th. The best part of this is that the dentist saw her THAT day. This wasn't exactly an emergency situation. We'd never been there before and he sees her the same day we call. I have to give him credit for that. Even better than that, this dentist is very personable. He was chatting with me and had to be one of the nicest health care professionals I have ever had the pleasure of encountering. The hygienist was wonderful too. It was like dentist heaven. I'd never been to a dentist this nice. But the very BEST part was that Megan was cavity free! Furthermore, her tooth was naturally loose. The candy cane sped the process up but she was just loosing her canines early. He said that it could happen. I will make an appointment for myself very soon. I swear! Maybe I will have some of Aaron and Megan's good luck rub off on me. :)

I keep a primary blog at livejournal but there is talk that livejournal may not be around much longer. Talk is talk but I figure I may as well have a new place to blog as well. So here I am.