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June 19, 2003
Well, that was silly...
So, this morning, my alarm jarred me awake. I cracked open a bleary eye, looked at the clock, and noted with dismay that it was 6:30, a half hour later than I normally get up. I dragged myself out of bed, wondering a bit why I was still so tired -- I felt like I hadn't slept at all. Wandered to the bathroom, put my contacts in, and looked out the window to see if it was raining. "Huh. Why is it so... dark?" I muttered. It was pitch black outside. I blinked at the window like an idiot for a few seconds, then thought to take another look at the clock. 1:13 a.m. Yeah. That bit about the alarm going off and me being late? Vivid dream, apparently. I need to start tethering myself to the bed at night, because the whole sleepwalking routine is starting to bug me. It was creepy enough when I'd wake up and find things moved around in my room, or the door open when I knew I'd closed it, or the bedclothes taken off and folded on the floor. Now I'm worried that I'm going to decide to go hang out at the bus stop in my sleep. I went right back to sleep (with my contacts in, which made my eyes very unhappy when I woke up again at the proper time. I also further proved my own idiocy by waking up, putting on my glasses, and wondering aloud why everything was so blurred and distorted for a full five minutes before I remembered that I was wearing the glasses over the contacts. Yeah.)
I've been lax in updating, as always, and stuff happened:
First off, my back truly hates me. Loads of back spasms a few weeks ago -- Jeff got to witness me wincing and swearing a lot every time I tried to move -- followed by a lovely case of sciatica. I've had back problems off and on for years -- flipping a car end-over-end will do that to you -- but not this bad. It's been nasty since I started going to the gym -- this losing weight and being healthy thing is going to kill me, I think. My mom was here last weekend, and gave me three of her Bextra tablets, which made me very happy and pain-free. Until they were gone. Now I'm back to hobbling around and swearing under my breath. I do have a doctor's appointment next Friday, though by that time my sciatic nerve will have detached itself completely from my body, or I will have thrown myself in front of a bus out of sheer annoyance.
I took a few days off from the gym to see if it would make my back settle down, and it didn't, so I started going again. I'm just not doing the weights until I get this checked out. The weight loss has slowed down, as I knew it would, but as long as it keeps creeping down, I don't mind. I'm running out of clothes I can wear, though.
The weekend before last, Claire, Josh, and Jeff were all here for a day. We met up at my house, scritched my attention-whore cat, and then went off to Boston for Thai food, a tour of Fenway Park, and a lot of wandering around. Claire has good pictures. I have a couple myself, but I'm feeling lazy, and my camera batteries are dead, so I will upload them at a later date. It was a good day -- I wish all three of them lived closer, because I don't get to see them often enough.
Last weekend, my mom was in town. We did the usual -- went shopping (I bought yarn to make a baby blanket for the baby my cousin is adopting -- hopefully, she will get the call to fly to Nepal and pick the as-yet-unnamed baby up very, very soon). I made out well during that visit -- Mom paid for the yarn, since I didn't have enough cash on me, in exchange for my buying her dinner. She also gave me a random $20 at the grocery store. Moms are good that way. We also went to an arts/crafts festival by the lake, and wandered around looking at all the shiny things for sale until we were tired and a little sunburned (it had been cool and rainy, but the sun came out in the afternoon and it got really hot and muggy.) Oh, and on the way to the festival, we passed a yard sale, and I bought a nice set of canisters for $5. Um... with Mom's $5. Heh. What can I say, she knows how poor I am right now, and I needed the canisters. One of them is holding coffee in the kitchen, and another is holding homemade bath salts I made last week. After the festival, we went to a new diner near my place, and ate ourselves into a stupor.
Sunday, we did the laundry, and took her dog for a walk down by the lake. Then, we ate lunch, chatted a bit, and then she headed for home. It was awfully quiet after she left.
This weekend, Jeff will be here... and I will be meeting the parents. I'm looking forward to it, but I'm also really nervous.
Posted by Mary Ellen at June 19, 2003 09:58 PM
Comments
You've already met my cousin. This will be cake.
Yeah, okay, nerves here, too. Chin up, sweetie.
Posted by: Jeff at June 19, 2003 11:36 PM
I have nothing particularly helpful to add, but wanted to note that when I read "I've had back problems off and on for years -- flipping a car end-over-end will do that to you," I first interpreted it with an image of you lifting a car by the front bumper and hurling it into the air, to save a baby or a puppy or something.
When things get bad, just call on SuperMaryEllen!
Posted by: Hilatron at June 19, 2003 11:48 PM
Hee. I wish that were the case. No, this was with me *in* the car, which is a lot less fun.
Posted by: Mary Ellen at June 20, 2003 08:20 AM
Is the back pain like sharp I-hate-yous in the lower half of your back? Because if so, there's a really easy way to get some temporary relief. Lie down on a hard surface, like the floor (make sure you'll be warm enough though) and keep your knees bent so your pelvis is tilted a little up, and just relax and lie that way for ten or fifteen minutes. It's not particularly comfortable, but it feels good afterwards (if, indeed, it's the same set of muscles bothering you that bother me).
Posted by: Joanne at June 20, 2003 10:39 AM
I do get that pain from time to time, but that's not what it is right now. It's on the one side, and shoots down through my hip into my leg. It's actually more accurate to say my ass hurts, but I was trying to be ladylike. :)
Posted by: Mary Ellen at June 20, 2003 12:41 PM