Cursed!

So I've had a little bad luck this summer....okay, so not a little bad luck, a lot of bad luck.  Here is a run down own how I've been spending my summer:

It all started with a trip to urgent care.  It was just a normal day at work....or so I thought.  The weather here in the Midwest has been pretty hot and humid.  This day was right at the beginning of a string of many humid days.  While I was at work, I noticed I was getting really hot and sweaty.  Normally, I'm as cool as a cucumber at work, but not today.  I started to sweat through my clothes.  I began to see stars and I knew I was going down.  I made it across the hall to a co-worker, but that was about it.  And then I fainted.  My quick thinking co-worker had me sit down and she moved my hair off my neck to help me cool down.  She then insisted I go to urgent care.  I was still a little woozy, so I didn't really fight back.  Basically my blood pressure had dropped down to 65/50.  They said that all the volumes in my body were just off enough that day to make me faint.  I rested at urgent care and drank some Gatorade before they sent me on my way.

The bad luck continued a few days later when I went to the dentist.  When I was in 8th grade, I cracked a tooth.  My dentist put a "hanging basket" filling in to fix up the crack.  About 17 years later, it was time to put a crown on that tooth....to the tune of $900.  Thanks to insurance, I only have to pay about $200.  However, that's $200 I could have spent on something else.

They say bad things happen in 3's, so you know there has to be something else to try to spoil my summer.  On the 4th of July, I woke up early to do a little yard work.  I had a party to go to later in the evening and then it would be off to the fireworks, but first, I'd do a little work in the yard.  I was putting in some black edging around the rocks in my yard.  Just as I went to drive the last stake into the edging, I thought to myself, "I'm a little close to that sprinkler head.  I should check where the line in."  I pulled the stake out of the ground and it was like I had shaken up a can of pop and sprayed it everywhere.  I hit the water line.  However, I knew exactly what to do because last Memorial Day, I did the same thing.  I know, I know, yard work on holiday weekends should be something I avoid.  $80 later, the line is fixed and my edging is put in.

Now that I've had my third piece of bad luck, I should go on living the rest of the summer scott free...not true.  Two days later, I'm driving to get fitted for a dress for a wedding I'm in.  A rock catches the tire on the car in front of me and pops up onto my windshield.  CRACK! straight across the center of my window.  I immediately start crying.  Lucky for me (haha, lucky), my college roommate Cricket, her brother fixes windshields.  So he was able to help me out.  Thanks to insurance, I didn't have to pay for the new windshield.

You might be thinking, what else can happen to this girl? Death?  Well, that's pretty much a possibility.  If you have never heard of Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, look it up.  There is a 30% chance of mortality if RMSF goes undetected.  So how do you get RMSF?  Ticks, that's how.  I got bit by a tick on a trip to Indiana.  The worse part is, the tick was on me for almost 5 days and I didn't know it.  I believe I got bit on Thursday and I didn't notice it until Monday.  And when I did notice it, I thought it was a new mole.  Haha.  How stupid of me!  I finally had a co-worker look at it.  These were her exact words, "I don't want to scare you, but it's not a mole.  I don't want to freak you out, but it has legs."  I freaked out and felt all itchy.  I knew I had to get this thing removed, but I had a dentist appointment to get the final crown put on.  So I went to the dentist with a tick on my back and then it was off to urgent care....again.  They removed the tick and told me it was a Lone Star tick and it could carry RMSF.  So they had to put me on antibiotics.  Now I have to avoid the sun and liquor for 14 days!  Two weeks of the summer ruined by a tick.

Here is a picture of the Lone Star tick.  The one on the right is a male and the one on the left is a female.  My tick was a female.  Now, I want you to know that these are zoomed in quite a bit.  You might be wondering how I didn't realize I had a bug sucking my blood and living off of me.  However, the tick attached itself to the small of my back.  A hard spot to see in the mirror. 

I'm hoping my bad luck has competed its run for the summer....I'm headed to Las Vegas in less than two weeks, so I'm hoping my luck will change for the better and I'll hit it big.

Hairless

Okay, so I decided to start laser hair removal treatments.  Sweet, huh?  The cost is not so sweet.  I'm sure I'll be very very VERY happy with it when the treatments are all completed, but I'm a little overwhelmed with the cost right now.  So here is how this whole thing got started:

I hate shaving my legs.  I love the smooth feeling of a freshly shaved leg, but I hate the actual shaving.  And the razor burn and ingrown hairs make it even worse.  So I started to do a little research on laser hair removal.  To remove all the hair from your leg (yes, that is singular) costs up to $1,800.  (It all depends on how thick and coarse your hair is.)  So after my research, I thought that I could start saving up and I would start with my bikini line.  A day or two later, it was as if God really wanted me to go hairless because a Groupon e-mail came across with 89% off laser hair removal treatments at a very expensive salon.  Basically giving you 6 treatments for $99.  Amazing.

If you have never heard of Groupon before, it is pretty much an e-mail that gives you a discount on select items.  I have friends that swear by it, so I recently checked it out.  Now I get daily e-mails with deals.  Although the laser hair removal is the only thing I have bought, there are some pretty good deals out there.

Because so many people bought the Groupon deal, when I called to make my appointment, there were pretty booked up.  So today was my first appointment.  The salon was beautiful and very relaxing....even though I was about to take my pants off for some strange lady.  I just tried to think of them like doctors.  So Patti took me back to the treatment room and had my sign a waiver.  It basically said that there are some risks and the removal might not even work, but I'm agreeing to go through with the 6 treatments.

So you might be thinking, why are you so stressed about the cost?  $99 sounds like a pretty good deal.  But there's always a catch.  The actual bikini line is only about 1 inch wide and 3 inches long.  That's it.  So if she only removed the hair from that area, I would still have to shave around it.  It would totally defeat the purpose of getting the laser hair treatment.  So for $350 more, you can get the "Brazilian" treatment.  This removes the hair from a few more of the unsightly areas.  Well, if one leg can be up to $1,800, $350 is still one Hell of a deal.  But wait, there's more!  For people with thick or coarse hair, 6 treatments won't be enough, soooooo you can pay $99 more for unlimited treatments for a year, however, you can only go in for treatment once every 6 weeks.  Now you are looking at $450. 

Did I go for the upgrade?  Of course!  I felt like this was a pretty good deal and it is something that I have wanted for a while.  Plus I won't have to buy the creams and such for dealing with shaving my bikini line anymore.

So now I'm sure you want to know what the actual treatment was like.  It was so strange.  I laid on a table while a woman (wearing scrubs, mind you) put a ton of gel on my crotch and then she ran a laser over all the areas where she put the gel.  For the most part, I couldn't feel the laser, but every once in a while, there was a "hot spot."  This is where I felt a little heat and sting.  Other than that, nothing.

For my friends that know me well, they know I have an issue with getting dirty or messy.  I am not like Howie Mandel with my OCD, but I do have my own problems.  Well, the amount of gel that covered my crotch definitely feel into my "uncomfortable" OCD range.  After she was done with the laser, I had to wipe all this gel off myself with baby wipes. (Yes, she was still in the room with me as I tried to wipes this gel off...awkward.)  When I got home I had to change my pants and underwear right away.  I couldn't stand the thought of the gel.  I wanted to take a shower, but I was worried I would wash off the aloe you have to put on your lasered area.  The lady doing the treatment told me it is like having a burn, so you have to treat it with aloe. 

My next appointment is July 11th and no, I won't be posting any before and after pictures.

It's Been Way too Long!

Dear Friends,

I'm sorry I haven't posted in a while.  A friend of mine posted this on her facebook status the other day and once I looked at it I knew I had to share it with all of you.  Most of my youth was spent in the 80's and 90's...during that time, a book series came along that changed my life.  The Babysitter's Club.  Not only did I read the books, but I thought about starting my own club.  Although I never actually did that, I know my skills as a babysitter were better because of the things I learned in these books.  Okay, so not really.  It was just a fun realistic fiction series that I enjoyed reading. 

So for all of you that loved Kristy, Claudia, Dawn, Mary Ann, Stacey, Jessi, Mallory, Logan, and yes, even associate memeber Shannon, here is the link that I hope it makes up for me being away for so long!

Love, Your Friend

Check out where the Babysitter's Club members are now!
http://community.livejournal.com/ohnotheydidnt/55268545.html

Snow Day!

I'm pretty lucky to have a profession that gives snow days when the weather is so bad.  And if you live anywhere near the Northeast or the Midwest, you may have had a snow day too.  Almost all schools and many businesses (even Old Country Buffet!) are closed today. 

I just came in from shoveling my driveway and I have never experienced anything like that before.  I went to college in the U.P. of  Michigan and we got a tons of snow up there, but this was an abundance of snow in a period of 24 hours.  After shoveling a track, only wide enough for my car to fit through, I decided I needed a little reward for all my hard work.  I looked in my liquor cabinet, but since I don't like to drink alone, I decided to make this tasty treat:

I'm hoping for another snow day tomorrow, so keep your fingers crossed for me.

Junkie Love

Every winter I join our library's adult reading program.  Basically you read books and you can win prizes.  That doesn't sound bad to me.  I even won a gift card and a snow scraper one year.  I know, you're probably jealous, but check your local library, you might have something like this and who knows, maybe you can win a snow scraper too.

 

One of the books I read last winter was Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert.  I know many people have read the book (or have seen the movie), but I have to say, I found this book rather boring.  I skipped many of the longer parts where she whines about not being able to focus on prayer.  So why am I posting this you ask?  Well, this book actually produced one of my favorite quotes and after hearing from Stupid Boy the other day, I needed to go back and look at this quote to remind myself how he me feel.  I think this quote sums it up perfectly.

 

"Addiction is the hallmark of every infatuation-based love story. It all begins when the object of your adoration bestows upon you a heady, hallucinogenic dose of something you never even dared to admit that you wanted - an emotional speedball, perhaps, of thunderous love and roiling excitement. Soon you start craving that intense attention, with the hungry obsession of any junkie. When the drug is withheld, you promptly turn sick, crazy and depleted (not to mention resentful of the dealer who encouraged this addiction in the first place but who now refuses to pony up the good stuff anymore - despite the fact that you know he has it hidden somewhere, goddamn it, because he used to give it to you for free). Next stage finds you skinny and shaking in a corner, certain only that you would sell your soul or rob your neighbours just to have that thing even one more time. Meanwhile, the object of your adoration has now become repulsed by you. He looks at you like you're someone he's never met before, much less someone he once loved with high passion. The irony is, you can hardly blame him. I mean, check yourself out. You're a pathetic mess, unrecognizable even to your own eyes.  So that's it. You have now reach infatuation's final destination - the complete and merciless devaluation of self." pg. 21.

Stupid Boy

This past Friday I was really looking forward to a relaxing evening at home.  I even turned down plans with three different friends just to be home for the night with no responsibilities.  I had some delicious leftover chili for dinner and then decided to watch a movie that I had been saving on DVR for a raining day.  Although it wasn't raining, it was a great night to watch a movie.  Halfway through the movie I get a text message, hoping it was from the guy I met a week ago, I check my phone and there across the screen it says Stupid Boy. UGH!

Stupid Boy was a guy that I was "seeing" on and off for about a year.  It was a very toxic relationship and I decided that I needed a clean break.  We talked, I cried, he didn't get it, but it ended with us deleting each other's numbers from our phones.  The point being no contact, unless it was a work related issue...yes, we work together.  Over time, it got easier and somehow we put each other's numbers back into our phones.  From time to time, he would come help me with house issues, but we still had limited contact.  Needless to say, I was surprised when he text me.

I could directly quote everything from the conversation, but it would be pretty boring, so I will take some liberties in paraphrasing some things to keep your interest.

His opening text said, "Is our colleague single?"  I knew exactly who he was talking about, but I played dumb.  He had always made very sexual comments about a co-worker that I work very closely with.  I know this should have been a sign that I should have ditched him at that point and time, but that's a story for another day.  Our banter back and forth was pretty much me saying, "She is not interested in you."  And him saying, "Why don't you want me to see anyone else?"  He then used phrases like, "Are you making me out to be a creepster?" and "I just want to be friends and get a drink with her."  Really?!?  After how poorly he treated me, I would want to set him up with a friend of mine?  No way.  But he didn't understand that.  He thinks he is a prince and God's gift to women.  To that I say, Thanks for nothing God....he is more of a toad than a prince.

Well, this whole time that he and I are texting, I also text this co-worker.  She said she saw him and then said, "He has gained so much weight, I almost didn't recognize him," "He is a hog." and she also said that his ex (who is not so good looking) dropped his kids off at the bar, during happy hour, as he was working on his 3rd beer.  Father of the Year material. 

He continued to pester me about her for over 2 hours.  (Now, you might be thinking, why didn't I just stop texting him?  I was using this as a dramatic distraction from this new guy not texting me.  I am NEVER going to get caught up with Stupid Boy again.  I learned so much about myself from him and although the experience sucked while I was going through it, I am glad it happened...sort of.)  Basically things ended with him begging me to send her his phone number (And I'm guessing with a note that says, "Stupid Boy likes you.  Do you like him?  Circle yes or no.).  So I text her his phone number, and then told him I did.  I had said to him to remember this favor I'm doing for him.  He responds, "I've done you 'favors' before."  I am too nice because I wanted to say, "Like the last 'favor' you did for me the last time we had sex and I didn't get off...yeah I remember that one."  If you don't have something nice to say, don't say anything at all....so I didn't respond.  He couldn't leave it alone and came back with, "Well...."  All I could think of was, "Thanks, you're a wonderful person."  He got my drift.  That's pretty much how it ended.

He is such a manipulator.  He knows it bothered me when he would make comments about her, so of course he had to text me to ask about her now that she is single (her divorce is final on Tuesday).  He could have simply gone to our staff directory and look up her number.  But he wanted to draw my attention to the situation.  I'm glad I am so much stronger now and although it really bothered me in the first instant he text, now I find it funny and I feel I had some great comebacks to some of his stupid questions...you Stupid Boy.

Meow!

Knowing that I will someday be an "older" single woman with several cats, I find this video quite humorous.  This only adds to the fact that I am destined to be a "Cat Lady".