Who Could Ask for More?

Certainly not me.  I'm back online! Hurray!  And I'm typing my blog on my brand spanky new Mac Book Pro.... I'm in love with my little 13" aluminum friend.  I haven't been able to blog since our old laptop began it's new life as a doorstop.

So, I guess I should bring the last couple weeks up to date and then drool over my new laptop later. I still have no surgery date.  Last week Dr. Gentili finally replied to my 3rd email requesting an update as to where I am on the surgery list.  But his update wasn't much.  They won't be booking until the last week or two of May for June surgeries.  And he "hopes" I will be on the June list.  Gees I "hope" I'm on the June list too!! If he pushes me back that will be more than 6 months wait for surgery since I decided to book it. So I am going to wait until the end of this week or even after May long to call again and see if I'm on the list.  Please, please, please let me be on the list!

I've had some good and some bad days.  Nothing lasting days and days, but the dreaded Chiari headaches have increased in their appearances again lately.  And unfortunately I know exactly why - STRESS!!!  Stress at work training my temporary replacement - which is going very well.  And it's been crazy busy at work, so that doesn't help.  Short lunches, staying late, training and still trying to do all of my work - I burnt out.  So I did take Friday and Monday off so that I'd have a 4 day weekend to relax. 

Relax??? Hahahahahahahaha!! That was a good plan, but it's not happening. My grandma is still in the hospital but was transferred to the rehab hospital to regain her strength and hopefully go home in a couple of weeks.  So I spent a couple hours each day up there visiting with her and papa.  And then of course there's the usual errands to run.  Plus it was my birthday Saturday and we had the family over for cake and coffee.  So before the family visited hubby and I had to clean house.  I had started on the bathroom - just the toilet and sink - when hubby came home and took over :) So I vacuumed, changed the bed, did some laundry and cleaned up the kitchen instead.  So much for relaxing...

Cake and coffee with family is always a really good time.  And being my birthday presents were involved.  I got some amethyst earrings and a ring from my mother-in-law, money from my grandparents, roses, garden stuff and two gorgeous glass pendant necklaces from mum, and from the hubby (who has now accrued some mega brownie points) Out of Africa (a favourite of mine) on Blu-ray and the piece de resistance...... a 13" Mac Book Pro.  We've been laptop shopping for some time and I've been ogling a Mac for ages and ages and now I finally own one!!!  I'm quite spoiled my grandma says, but I'm not spoiled rotten.  Once  I have a chance to figure out more like the photo aps etc I will post some pictures of my jewellery.  There is a lot to learn on a Mac - hubby and I are old Windows people... trying to convert.

Today we spent the morning setting up the laptop and trying to link my iPod.  And we discovered the wonderful trick of Apple not allowing a backwards transfer of your music from the iPod to iTunes...  Grrrr.... So to download the 1000+ songs on my iPod need to be redownloaded or I have to find some software to reverse download them.  Learning new stuff all the time!  After a long visit with grandma and papa I came home and went outside.  I managed to shuffle 2 of my planters around to plant some onion seeds, and two hanging baskets with basil and lettuce.  That was more than enough gardening me for one day.  Everything is harder this year.  The planters are heavier it seems.  The tools are too high on the shelf to reach.  The ground was too low to work from with the planters so I got a little stool.  The soil was too hard when I turned it, but it had to be turned after the winter...  I guess I won't be doing a lot of gardening this summer.... We also went for a 2 mile walk tonight, having skipped last night to have the family over.

I still have tomorrow off with plans to see the dentist for a cleaning at noon, a visit to see grandma, and hopefully I'll just sit on my duff and do nothing for a good part of the day.  Here's hoping.

So goodnight my loyal readers, thank you for hanging in during my technical difficulties.  I'm going to finish watching the rest of Out of Africa...

The Wheels on the Bus

I will be the first to admit I don't handle stress well.  Or change for that matter.  My life is fairly orderly.  When things are thrown at me or my routine changes my whole body suffers.

Today was not meant to be my day.  At least it wasn't Monday.

Hubby had car trouble on Monday so needed to drive my truck the last two days to work.  He works 4 am to noon so carpool is out of the question.  Yesterday I got a ride from Eugene, but today I thought I'd take the bus.

Well, I haven't taken the bus in about 3 years.  I still worked at my old job.  It's the same bus to my current job.  I caught it at 7:30.  And thought I knew the route.  Guess what.  In three years the route that has been the same for 20 years was now changed!!

I missed my only opportunity to get off close to my office thinking the bus was supposed to loop back and stop directly in front of my office (there's a bus stop there.  I see the #8 James there every day).  Well, I was mistaken.  I ended up at the mall and then the university, then the hospital...  All bringing me further from my office.  I called work to tell them I'd be a little late. I wound up all the way at the Port Arthur bus depot!! All the way across town from my office!  Little did I know that the bus I was on becomes another bus once it leaves the mall!  The mall is now a "depot"!

A sheepish me went and asked the driver the best bus to get back towards my office the quickest.  Take the #2 Memorial to Central Ave. and have the driver call the southbound #8 James to wait at Central for me.  No problem!! Right?  WRONG.

The driver was very helpful and radioed the #8 James at least 4 times.  No one answered.  She let me off at the stop I needed and said to just hurry around the corner to the next stop and the #8 James would be there any minute.  The #8 James never showed up.  I kept walking as it was in the direction of my office and I know where the stops are along the way.  No bus.  It had to have already passed before I got off the Memorial.  I walked to work the rest of the way in shoes not at all designed for trekking.  I called hubby on the way and he chided me for not calling him when I figured out I was on the wrong bus after Intercity.  What's done is done.  I don't like to put people out and I hate asking for rides when I'm perfectly capable of getting there on my own...  Well, may not perfectly capable with bus routes!!

I was 40 minutes late and quite upset by this point.  I'm not late for work.  Even through ice storms and blizzards I've only ever been at most 5 minutes late.  I calculate for delays.  I had an hour to get to work when I set out at 7:30.  I got in a 9:10.

I said I don't handle stress well.  And I don't.  I was shaking and anxious and feeling quite ill when I finally got to work.  Then I had to explain what happened.  And being me, couldn't hold back my tears.  I felt silly for not checking the schedule ahead of time. And then sillier when 3 or 4 people at work chided me for not calling them for a ride this morning.  My one boss had a good laugh and jokingly commented that my picture and name where going to be put on the bulletin board with big letters LATE underneath.  I am very fortunate to work with such a good group of people.  My darling husband called to make sure I made it to the office safely and given my ordeal took me out for lunch.

Stress is murder on my body.  Besides having walked the almost 2km in sandals not made for walking, the stress has absolutely drained me.  I wanted nothing more than to come home for a nap but made it through my work day.

I had a hot bath tonight and gave my poor feet some TLC.  As tired as I am right now in 2 hours when I want to go to sleep I'm certain it will evade me.  The joys and frustration of tinnitus, possibly caused by the Chiari, keeping me awake all night.