Back on the Road

Today was the first day in over a week I felt well enough to go out for a run. It felt so good to get outside and enjoy the signs of spring popping up in the neighborhood. The sun never came out but it was still a nice outing. It was a slow workout, only partly due to my picture taking. I plan on running every day this week with exception for Friday and Saturday. We're planning on going to Monterey on Friday and Saturday will be a rest day for me in preparation for my 5K on Sunday.    

The really isn't my neighborhood but one next to mine. It's such a pretty area and I love admiring the homes and yards. I get lots of ideas and dreams for my own home and yard.

I heard that the groundhog said we are in for an extended winter but it's pretty obvious to me that he wasn't a Californian groundhog. I think it's safe to say that we in Cali are boycotting winter.

  

This is the kind of thing that kept distracting me form my run. 

There are a few streets that have corners like this in that neighborhood. I really love trees and one of the reasons I enjoy living in Sacramento is the diverse tree population that survives here. Everywhere you look there are trees. 

Did I mention that I love trees???

Last night, my best friend, Danielle, came over with her 10 month old baby boy. They live in PA so this was the first time I've seen her in a reeeally long time and the first time ever meeting my newest (honorary) nephew, Glayven. Danielle and I have been besties since we were in the fourth grade. In fact, Sami is a year older than I was when Danielle and I met. That's pretty crazy. My sister, Jamie, is also really close to Danielle. After all, She's known Danielle since she was five. It was great for all of us and our kids to be in the same room together. I only wish Jamie's step-daughter, Maddie, and Danielle's step-son, Jaden, could have been here too. 

My kids are the two not smiling... Sami was really tired and Nevyn hates these kind of social events that don't involve presents for him. Danielle is sitting next to me with her son, Glayven. My sister, Jamie, is behind Danielle with her daughter, Avery, next to her and Nevyn. Avery is very good at putting up a "cheese" face when there is camera near by.

I hope you all are enjoying your Monday. 

My Day With Matthew

 I am not the best of patients. I don't like being stuck in bed all day and I have a really hard time sitting around when my house is a mess. I get grumpy, whiny and snappy to those around me and I go back and forth between feeling sorry for myself and and being angry. In short, I'm not a nice person to be around when I'm this sick. So, I spent my Thursday all by myself, in bed, with our laptop and my collection of romantic comedies. This is what my Thursday looked like.

I started the day with How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days. This is one of my go-to sick day movies. I've seen it probably 100 times and it still makes me laugh. It's hard to be grumpy when watching Matthew McConaughey and Kate Hudson is one of my favorite actresses. She's so goofy.       

Just one Matthew movie isn't enough so movie #2  was Failure to Launch. I'm not a huge Sarah Jessica Parker fan but I'm pretty crazy for the rest of the cast.  

I took a Matthew intermission to check in with the rest of civilization (a.k.a facebook), checked my email, blogged a little and then also listened to a few of my favorite podcasts. 

  

 Back to Matthew. Movie #3 was Fools Gold. I don't like it as much as 10 Days, I think I've only watched it about 30 times but Matthew is topless for about 70% of the movie and did I mention that I also love Kate? Everytime I watch this one, I like it a little bit more.

 The last movie of the day was The Ghosts of Girlfriends Past. 

Emma Stone kills me! I forgot she's in this one. I love the wedding cake fiasco. He's adorable covered in frosting.    

Just as a side note: I have yet to find a movie he doesn't say bullshit at least once.

 Before going to sleep for the night, Jeremy and I watched a few more episodes of Bones. We are watching season one right now and just finished disk two. 

 After watching the first few episodes we weren't sure if we really liked it but it's growing on us now. I don't really care for Zach's character but I like Angela a lot.

 With the exception of pills and a very little bit of food, that was my day. Thankfully, I'm feeling better today and I think by tomorrow I will be back to normal. That's a very good thing because my house is a frick'n disaster!

I'm finishing up my Matthew marathon today. I just finished the Wedding Planner and now I'm watching Sahara. We don't own any of his other movies so I'll have to move on after this one.

I hope you all enjoy your Friday and have a great weekend!

Wednesday Pretty Much Sucked

Yesterday I woke up not feeling very well. My glands were a little swollen and I had what I call, I'm-sick-pox all over my face and chest. Here's the back story on the pox:

About eight years ago I woke up one day with, what I thought, was a cold sore. I had never had a cold sore before, didn't know how to treat it and I was pregnant with my son so I wanted to get it seen by a doctor. Being it was a Saturday and my doctor's office was closed I went into a little doc-in-the-box place my family uses as an urgent care. The doctor I saw gave me a prescription for an ointment of some sort, told be to use it on the sore a few times a day and it should go away within a few days. Okay, not big deal, right? Wrong! That ointment was like steroids to a muscle builder. By Sunday morning my face was covered with sores. At this point they looked more like chicken pox than anything else I had ever seen and they were extremely painful.

First thing Monday morning, I called into work explaining what was going on and then called my doctor's office and got in as quickly as possible. I had an awesome doc and he was baffled. He said whatever it was looked and acted like shingles except it was on both sides of my face and shingles only affects one side of the body. He was mentoring a medical student at the time so he so left the room for a moment to get her and, apparently, everyone else who worked on the floor.

 Did you ever see that episodic of Friends where Ross goes to the doctor to have a growth looked at? The doctor couldn't figure out what it was so he brought in all the other doctors who work in the building to take a look. Ross ends up having a room full of medical professionals starting at his ass. That is what ended up happening that day. I had a room full of doctors and med students staring at my face covered with the cold sores from hell.

After all of that we still didn't have a clue what it really was. He prescribed me the same medication he would use to treat shingles and sent me to a dermatologist. This story could go on but I'll wrap it up now since it's not what I had intended on blogging about. In the end, I saw a handful of doctors, including some at the ER, I missed a month of work, and the shingles medication did what it was suppose to do. To this day we still don't know what it is. It seems to flair up whenever I get hit with a nasty virus or if my skin is acting truly evil (season changes are the worst) hence the name I gave it, the I'm-sick-pox. Typically I can start taking the medication as soon as I have one bump on my face and it'll prevent a full on attack.

Back to yesterday, When I woke up and saw the pox all over me I knew I was sick. As soon as the doctor's office opened I was on the phone making an appoint for that afternoon. I really didn't feel very sick but my glands were a little swollen and my sister and ex sister-in-law (long story) both had strep throat last week so I figured it would be a good thing to get that checked too while I was there getting the meds for my I'm-sick-pox.

Of course, the swab came back positive for strep throat. This was, to me, the worse news possible. The doctor said that there's no way she could allow me to work with children while being treated for strep. So, for the first time in the five years I've been doing daycare, I have to close my business for couple of days due to illness. The great irony here is that I'm on vacation next week. Why couldn't I have gotten sick then, or over the weekend? When I called Jeremy (who was watching the daycare for me so I could go to my appointment) to tell him the news one of my daycare parents was there picking up his daughter. I had Jer relay the information to him explaining that I'm forced to close on Thursday and Friday and, to make it up to them, I was offering all the families either two nights of after hours care or one full weekend of care. While I waited at the pharmacy for my antibiotics I called all the other families and gave them the same speech.

I was so nervous about making those calls. I have a pretty solid reputation for being dependable and I didn't want any of the parents think that I was trying get get extra time off. Whenever I close for vacation there's a little part of me that feels guilty for closing so you can imagine how I felt yesterday making those calls. However, I work with the most amazing group of parents. Every one of them was very understanding and sympathetic. They made those calls so much easier. I think they were all pretty excited about the free after hours/weekend care too. I'm just praying and double crossing my fingers and toes that I didn't share my strep with any of my kids or parents.

Seriously! If any of you are
 reading this, thank you for being so great!

My day ended with a surprise visit from my sister-in-law and fellow blogger, Rebecca, and two of her kids, Jaiden and Nylan. They each had a little box of sweetheart candies for me. It was so sweet! I hope I didn't get you sick...

I'm gong to end this blog with a word of caution. If you have any symptoms of strep, get tested! Don't think that if you don't have a sore throat that you're in the clear. My throat still feels fine. My only symptoms was a headache the night before and slightly swollen lymph nodes in the morning. Below is a little information I copied from WebMD.com

The symptoms of strep throat include:

• Sore throat that comes on rapidly.

• Difficulty swallowing.

• Headaches.

• Fever, sometimes greater than 102 degrees.

• A raw, red appearance to the back of the throat.

• White pus on tonsils.

• Tender, high lymph nodes in neck.

• Rash.

• Absence of a cough, stuffy nose, or other upper-respiratory symptoms.

Although by definition strep throat is caused by the Streptococcus pyogenesbacteria, other bacteria can occasionally invade the throat and cause similar symptoms. Other possible bacterial invaders include staphylococcus, neisseria, and Haemophilus influenzae. 

Stress, overwork, exhaustion, and fighting off viral infections can weaken the body's defenses and set up attacks of strep throat. And like other throat infections, strep throat also tends to occur during the colder months. 

People usually develop strep throat when their immune system is not functioning at its peak. Because strep is contagious, treatment is critical since these bacteria can be spread to others by coughing or sneezing

Happy Valentine's Day

There are things I really like about Valentine's Day. I like all the pink, red and white hearts and polka-a-dots everywhere. I love greeting cards no matter the occasion and some of them are pretty funny. I love those sweetheart candies and I'm never against flowers and gifts. However, I don't want to feel like I have to get Jeremy a gift, I do it because I truly care and love him. I never expect him to get me something because I don't want him to feel like has to. I don't think either of us are interested on receiving some little corny decoration just because it's Valentine's Day. I would rather 1) get Jeremy something he truly would like to get or 2) just take the time to find a sweet card.

Earlier in our marriage we would go out to dinner on Valentine's Day but, to be honest, I would rather stay home and just spend some time together. Maybe order a pizza and watch movies or friends reruns. We show each other how much we care all the time. Today is a day is for young couples. A chance to act like it's your anniversary before you're even had one yet. We've had twelve anniversaries and they have all been better than any Valentine's Day.

When I was a kid I loved Valentine's Day. Going to the store to pick out what kind of cards I was going to pass out in class was a big to-do. Then the day before "the day" we would get class time to decorate the little paper bags the teacher handed out to collect all of our cards and candy in. Back then we were allowed to bring home baked goodies to pass out too. Now the kids have to bring goodies that are packaged from the store so the teachers can inspect the label for the kids who have allergies.

My kids aren't as into Valentine's Day as I was. Of course school isn't as much fun as it was when I was kid either. Sami's class got their party taken away because of their behavior yesterday. I doubt this bothered the kids much. They are used to getting the extras taken away. They've missed pizza parties and more recces than I can count. Sami's not one of "those kids" but she's in the class so her fun stuff gets canceled too. She thinks it's more annoying than anything else.      

Nevyn, being a boy, doesn't care about Valentine's at all. All he's looking forward to is the candy. The box of cards we got this year was full of those mini nerds boxes with little valentine cards to go with them. He didn't even open the package. He has no intention of handing out the cards. He said it's a wast of time since everyone just wants the candy anyway. He's probably right but it would have been nice to at least see what they look like.

From Jeremy to me

From me to Jeremy

When Jeremy gets home from work today we're going to exchange gifts. I'm pretty excited. I know he's going to like what I got him and what he got me is in a huge box and all he said was that I was going to love it. If you know Jeremy, then you know that can mean a few different things but I'm getting my hopes up for something similar to what was on my wish list list from a few blogs ago. I can't tell you what his gift is yet because he'll read this before he gets home. But take my word for it, he'll be happy.

I hope you all have a nice Valentine's Day. If you have someone to share it with, that's nice. If not, that's okay too.  It's just another day only with a lot more candy on sale. If you happen to be in a store selling them, pick me up a box of sweethearts, okay? Thanks!

Friends

Have you noticed how difficult it can be to make friends once you grow up? It might just be me but when I was a kid I made friends with other kids like it was nothing. We'd exchange names and sometimes ages and that was it. In seconds we were playing and laughing and enjoying our new friendship. In school we were all near the same age and going through similar things in life abound the same time and there was always at least a few other kids who had similar interests as me. It wasn't hard finding someone to talk to and hangout with. Life can be so different as a "adult".

my 30th bday with Becky & my sis

Becky

Where did you meet the people you consider to be your close friends? I used to have work friends but now I work from home and don't have any assistants. Other than my day care parents I don't see other adults. I've gotten pretty close to one of my day care families and I would consider them friends. They're great people and I love their kids like they were my own.  We have similar interests and are planning on camping with then this summer over Father's Day weekend but they are really busy and we don't see them much other than when they drop off and pick up their kids. Of course we are pretty busy too... between Jeremy's schedule, my schedule and workouts, ballet and karate our weekdays are pretty packed.

Danielle and her son

Danielle & with Laura

One of my all-time closest friends, Danielle, lives in Pennsylvania. We met in the fourth grade and were as close as silly little girls can get. Our school was a K-8 school so we stayed close till high school. Even then we were closer than most friends until around junior year (I think). That's when we drifted apart a little bit. After high school we started seeing each other a lot again and our friendship seemed to pick up where it left off. We continued that pattern or a few years. We would see and talk to each other frequently then our own lives would take center stage for a while and we would let go a little. However, if either of us needed the other, we knew all it took was a phone call. We have helped each other through some really tough times. Things are harder for her living on the east coast. I wish she and her family could just pack up and move back to Cali. The good news is, she's coming to visit next week! I'll finally get to meet her son and she's not going to believe how big my kids have gotten.

Bene with my family

In Paris with Bene

My other closest friend lives in France. We started writing to each other when we were teenagers in high school. Even though we have only met in person on four occasions we are very close. We met for the first time in 2007 when she came for a visit. She came back in 2009 when my husband and I were going through a very rocky patch in out marriage. In 2010 I was invited to France by her family to surprise her for her 30th birthday and then last year, in 2011, we met in New York. We still hand write letters to each other.

New Year's with my sis

sis-in-law

I'm close with a handful of family members that live here in town but it's not the same as friends. I don't even think I can describe it. I'm pretty close with my sister as well as with a once-removed-sister-in-law (is that how you describe it...) and my sister-in-law but they all feels more like family than friend.

Where do you all go to meet new people? One of my new year's resolutions was to meet a new friend. Why is it so hard??? Maybe I'm the one making it too hard. Maybe I'm expecting too much. Maybe I'm too picky. I want your opinions. I have made a list (I have thing for lists, have ya noticed?) of things I'm looking for in a friend. I want you to use the comment section for your comments. Revolutionary, I know :o)

[1] a generally happy person

I have my moody days but for the most part I'm a happy person and I laugh easily.  

[2] active or the desire to be active

 I like to workout, run, take classes at the gym, paddleboard, go for hikes, day trips to the coast, play in river and lake, etc. It  would be nice to do these things with a friend.

[3] family

It's not super important that this friend has a husband/wife and kids but my family is huge part of my life and it would be great if our families could be friends too.

[4] low drama

I'm not a drama seeking person. I have had more drama in my life than I ever wanted. Some people thrive on drama but I'm not one of them.

[5] real people

What I mean by that it someone who doesn't have it all together. Someone who can look at all the crape life throws at us and laugh about it then move on. Someone who has similar struggles as I do whether it be about money, spouses, kids, or just finding time to scrub the bathroom when everyone needs all of your attention all the time. 

I hope this makes sense. It does to me but my head can be a very scary place and not everyone can decipher what comes out of it.