Days 279-285

Hey guys,

Sorry for the incredibly, ridiculously, embarrassingly late posts.  Hopefully I'll get back on track with these pretty soon.  This is a great indication of how I get easily overwhelmed and shut down.  It's amazing that I've made it this far on the project without giving up entirely. :)

The following pictures are for the week of March 7-13.

Day 279: Playdate?

Some cute cards my friend Kimmy gave me for my birthday last year.  They're so cute, I don't have the heart to use them. I know it's silly, but I'm weird like that.

Day 280: Pre-spring sunset

One day I might count how many sunsets I took at work during this photo challenge...I bet it's in the double-digits.

Day 281: I'm toast

Trying to get creative with bland-looking food by putting pretty plates underneath it.

Not sure it worked.

Day 282: Reading Party!

We like to have reading parties in our family.  They mainly consist of us all sitting around in silence, reading different novels.

...It sounds cooler than it is.

Day 283: Snow-capped Mountains

Some days I'm just struck by the beauty of this place!

Day 284: The Chocolate!

Coolest little bakery I've ever been to!  I'm going back.  Soon.  Who cares about that stupid, "no sugar" rule anymore.  Life after this place will never be the same!  There is so much I want to say about it...the awesome pictures on their website, the quaint atmosphere of the shop, the friendly staff who know how to joke around with customers, the AMAZING vanilla cake with chocolate ganache, the TO DIE FOR hot chocolate with spices in it that really make you feel like you're drinking Christmas in a cup all year round...

SO GOOD!

Day 285: My Triumph!

Inspired by that awesome bakery from yesterday, I decided to make a cake of my own...

After a fiasco with the first cake, Christine made a great red velvet from scratch so I could still use all of the awesome decorating stuff I got for my birthday.  This is what we made as a result!  I'm so proud!  I can't believe it looks almost presentable!  Cake decorating is easier than I thought it would be!

Days 198 and 199: Catch-up Begins

Day 198: Knitting

My knitting yarn.

So because of a few cut-backs at work, I'm short on funds this Christmas.  Not the worst thing in the world.  At least I still have a job, and at least I'm single so no one else is really affected by my lack of funds.

But in order to give gifts to everyone on my list, I've had to come up with a few creative ideas.  One of which is knitting.  Not the best idea, I realize.  It's kind of a hackneyed Christmas present idea, but it's something I had the resources for, so there you go.

The problem is, knitting is not a fast process, and I didn't start soon enough.  I'm now scrambling to get all my projects completed in time for Christmas.  We'll see if I succeed. :)

Day 199: Christmas Candy

A candy jar.

I don't remember much of today because I was so busy playing catch-up at work and home.  In fact, I forgot to take this picture tonight until after my midnight deadline (at least I'm not freaking out about it like I did last time), but it's close enough for me to not despair at missing an entire day.  Hopefully this weekend won't be too crazy.  I'll have to work tomorrow to continue to make up the hours I missed from Tuesday and Wednesday, so I'll be even more crunched for time.  

Days 196 and 197: Delirium

Day 196: Sustenance 

Cranberry Juice.

Day one of hell:
5am - Wake up in a cold sweat with nausea.
7am - After 3 agonizing trips to the bathroom, call in sick. (Temperature: 100.8)
9am - Give up on going back to sleep and make a feeble attempt at ingesting food.
10am - Pay for trying to eat.
11am - Fade in and out of consciousness. (Temperature: 101.4)
2pm - Start ingesting Cranberry juice because nothing else will stay down. The aches start.
4pm - All of my joints are inflamed.  The aches get so bad, I check my temperature again to see if I'm as close to death as I feel. (Temp: 102.9)
6pm - Get a blessing from Dad, try to walk around to alleviate the pain.  My hips feel like someone smashed them with a baseball bat.
8pm - All of my limbs suddenly gain 300 pound each, can't pick up small objects or move my head.
10pm - Gratefully drift off to a fitful sleep after the Advil finally lowers the fever.  My last thought, "I wonder if my hip bones are being eaten by microscopic bone termites with sharp teeth?"

Day 197: The Sickbed

My home.

Day two of hell:
6am - Wake up feeling hardly any pain and get excited that I can go to work.
7am - After an emergency trip to the bathroom and checking my temperature, I call in sick again. (Temp: 101.7)
9am - Try to go back to sleep to escape from the nausea.  Mom visits me and tucks me in.
11am - First attempt at real food after I wake up feeling a little better. (Temp: 101.3)
2pm - It takes me 2 hours to eat my very small lunch, but it stays down!
4pm - Start feeling strong enough to brave the stairs and walk around a bit.
5pm - Shower and clean up my sick room a bit, then rest for another hour from the exertion. (Temp: 100.9)
8pm - Hope reigns as I check my temperature and find the fever has finally broken on its own! (Temp: 99.6)
10pm - The "stomach" part of the flu retaliates, but not with gusto.
11pm - Blissful sleep.

Day 156: Swamped

My inboxes (yes, plural).

This week has been amazingly busy for me at work.  To illustrate just how much time I'm spending there and how consumed I am, I took a picture of my inboxes before I left the office tonight.  Just to point out, this is a picture of the state of my inboxes after I stayed late tonight to clear some of it up.  That thick stack of paperwork is what I've left to do tomorrow...and it will probably grow to twice its size overnight, like a perverted magical bean stalk.

Also, with how busy I've been this week, I keep working over my alloted 8 hours each day and telling myself I'll take time off the next day to even things out.  Unfortunately, I keep repeating this every day and have yet to take any time off.

My problem is this: I'm too busy to take any time off because I'm already a few days behind in my workload, but I'm not technically supposed to work overtime so I'm technically required to take the time off.

Conundrum...

Solution:  DELEGATE!

I'll just hand off some of my workload to unsuspecting coworkers tomorrow so that I can clock out before my overtime hits.

Another problem:  The work that I delegate can only be performed by a handful of people, none of whom will be in the office tomorrow.

Hmmm....

This is hurting my head.  As is the picture of my weighted inboxes.  I'm going to bed to worry about it tomorrow. :)

Day 152: Happy Halloween

Our Jack-O-Lantern.

Again, I'll update tomorrow with specifics.

UPDATE 2 Nov:
So Sunday was Halloween.  I was so tired from celebrating the holiday on Saturday night, that I didn't enjoy much of the day.  In fact, I ended up leaving church a little early because of a migraine, and taking a very long nap which only served to make me feel groggy and slightly nauseous when I woke up in the evening.  Still, I had so much fun on Saturday night, I didn't even mind the pain on Sunday.

It's been a really long time since I've been able to say that about an evening out. :)

Day 151: Costumes!

Ryan, Christine and Casey.

I will update this tomorrow with the story behind this picture.

UPDATE 2 Nov:
On Saturday a few of us went to a Halloween party up Hobble Creek Canyon.  Setting aside the slightly stressful expectancy of having to hang out with a huge group of singles, or the part where we got lost trying to find the place, it was really a blast!

I dressed up as a doctor in scrubs, Christine was the blue fairy (or some other kind of fairy), Ryan was a guest at an Indian wedding, and I'm not sure what Casey was but it was scary.  We lent him the wig and he borrowed the polka-dot dress from the girl he came with, but he never really said what he was.  I'm going with hillbilly girl.

I think the biggest thing I got out of that party was how many NORMAL people there were.  I forgot what it was like to go to a singles event that wasn't swarming with the prowling socially inept.  It helped that this crowd was significantly younger than the ones we usually see, but still...it gave me hope. :)

After the party we watched a scary movie and laughed a lot about stupid things (that's what you do at 3AM when you're way past slap-happy).  All in all, it far exceeded my expectations for Halloween this year, and I'm so glad for it!

Day 150: Daisies and Blackouts

Mom and baby June.

I'm sorry for the lack of posts this weekend, and even more sorry for the next part.  I'm way past my bedtime on a school night, so I'm just putting the next few posts up without an explanation on them.  I'll update them tomorrow because I have some fun stories to go along with them.

UPDATE 2 Nov:
So on Friday we had a family Halloween party, and most of us dressed up.  It was fun to see everyone's costumes and to visit.  And with what seemed like very little effort on RoseAnne's part, she was able to - once again - pull off the perfect party, complete with an unscheduled blackout in the middle of dinner.  The only thing we were missing was a thunderstorm and maybe a hunchback of some sorts.  Unfortunately I was having one of those panic-in-a-big-crowd nights and we had to skedaddle a little earlier than expected, but it was still a great night.

And I got some fun pictures out of it too! :)