Strep

Top 5 reasons to never get Strep Throat:

#1 – The Pain: Oh my GOD the pain. Like hot pieces of little sharpened glass shards being ground into your throat. That’s actually not even bad enough. I couldn’t even swollow my own saliva, I was having to spit it out. Vicodin was not getting rid of the pain.

#2 – NO KISSING! – It’s amazing how much you miss even just having a little peck on the lips. I’d lean in to kiss Ben and then suddenly remember I was not allowed. When you feel that bad, you want to cling to the thing that brings you the most comfort, the most pleasure… when you can’t have that if feels like torture. At this moment, we have not kissed since Sunday evening.

#3 – Dehydration/Malnutrition: When you can’t swollow, you can’t drink or eat. On Tuesday night I realized that my heart was beating so hard I could feel my pulse in my fingers. I knew that I needed to get some fluid in me right away and I forced myself to drink. I’d have to put water in my mouth, then sit there for a few seconds and talk myself into actually swollowing it. Water, mouth, think, swollow… *pain* *shudder* *pain* *whince*… repeat. Through three glasses. It took me almost an hour a glass.

#4 – Shot! I had to have a Penicillin shot. The shot itself was nothing, I could not even really feel it. That night as I prepared to get sleep for the first time in 4 days though, I realized that I felt like I had a huge bruise on my behind. And it hit right in my comfy position for sleeping!! Cassidy got a kick out of watching MOMMY get the shot though!

#5 – NO KISSING!!!

Suck

I have strep throat. I started to have a sore throat on the way home from Bakersfield Sunday evening. By Monday morning I was feeling REALLY bad but still went out and ran errands all day. Then Tuesday I could not eat, drink… I could not even swollow my own saliva, I was having to spit it out.

So today I went to the doctor and got a Penacillin shot. That was at about noon and I’m already starting to feel better. I just have a headache now that the doctor said I’ve probably had the whole time was just in too much pain in the mouth to realize it.

So he told me lots o’ fluids and bed rest for two more days. I hate bed rest. I get too dang bored! I do have a book I’m wanting to read so I’ll try to catch up on that.

Immune

Cassidy had to have 5 immunizations shots today and a TB test. Poor thing.. She did okay till about shot three when she started to whimper, shot four she started to cry and by shot five she was REALLY upset. It took about 30 seconds total to get them all done. I have to give credit to the nurse, she got it done quickly.

Now she’s out on the couch sleeping. She has a bit of a fever which the nurse said to expect because of the Chicken Pox vaccination.

Meme

I really need to remember to do this more often.

1. Is the name you have now the same name that’s on your birth certificate? If not, what’s changed?
The name that I am using now is the one on my birth certificate. For a short time I had another last name but that part of my life is over now.

2. If you could change your name (first, middle and/or last), what would it be?
I wouldn’t change anything about my name. It was given to me by my parents and I think that’s reason enough to keep it!

3. Why were you named what you were? (Is there a story behind it? Who specifically was responsible for naming you?)
I’ve never really asked. I guess I should do that this weekend.

4. Are there any names you really hate or love? What are they and why?
ummmm I don’t really hate any. I’ve been called Annie, AnnaBanana.. But that was mostly growing up. I never really hated any of them.

5. Is the analysis of your name at kabalarians.com / triggur.org / astroexpert accurate? How or how isn’t it?
Per kabalarians.com:

Your first name of Anna has given you a quick-minded, sensitive nature.
Very true.

It gives you a creative ability in art, music, singing, or fancywork and an appreciation for refined surroundings.
The first part is a lie. I have absolutely no artistic ability whatsoever. The appreciation for refined surroundings is right on though.

Your sociable nature expresses affection, kindness, and thoughtfulness to the extent that it is difficult for you not to be affected by others and governed by your emotions, rather than by logic and reason.
Ummmm, no. I’ve rarely, if ever, heard the words ‘kindness or thoughtfulness’ used to describe my ‘sociable nature’. I come across as a pretty harsh person. I am however led by my emotions rather than logic and reason about 98% of the time.

As you respond to love and encouragement from others, your romantic and dreamy nature can easily lead you into love affairs.
Ummm… I don’t think this describes me. Maybe at one point in my life, but not now.

Your desire for peace at any price can result in going out of your way to avoid arguments and confrontation or hurting the feelings of others.
This has gotten true as I’ve gotten older. Two years ago I didn’t care who you were, I was going to tell you exactly what I thought about you. In the recent past I’ve started to learn that my words can greatly effect anothers feelings and I’ve started to be better about biting my tongue. I’d even go so far as to say that I do avoid arguements so I don’t have to deal with the consiquences of my words hurting somebody else.

Also, budgeting can be a problem as you enjoy spending money and can easily ignore being practical.
DING DING DING DING DING! We have a winner!!!

It’s hard for me to take this at face value because I could have put in the name Beth, Sue or Amanda and picked out a few qualities that I do have and don’t have. I really don’t think that this is a fair way to judge a person’t character. But whatever, maybe you learned a little something about me. heh

25

So, yesterday was the big day… 25. Let that sink in for a second because it took a whole dang WEEK for it to sink in for me!! I fear death. I mean like it’s really the only fear I have in the world. So the fact that my life is pretty much 1/4 over hit me like a ton of really dirty bricks. I’ve heard about people doing the whole pre-midlife crisis at 25. Well, you can say I did that. I started to evaluate every decision I’ve ever made from moving to San Jose to that glass of Chocolate milk I had on 06-15-03. I mean EVERYTHING. The result I’ve come to… I can’t change the past, I can only look forward to the future and use that past experience to make better decisions from this point forward. Oh yeah, and 25 is not old. And death is far far away so I’m going to worry about that later.

So, the pre-midlife crises ended abruptly at about noon yesterday when a BEAUTIFUL flower arrangement was delivered accompanied by a balloon and chocolates and a sweet card. Shortly after that Ben picked up Cassidy and me and took us to eat Thye food with Dave and Sil. It was delish.

Then about 4p.m. I suggested to Ben that he leave work and come home and go swimming so he did and brought with him an adorable v-neck baby blue Nvidia shirt I’ve been drooling over. We swam till about 5:30 then went to Red Robin where I was sung to by 10 employees and turned 15 shades of red. When we got home there was a cake from Cold Stone waiting in the freezer!!! Cassidy and Ben put 25 candles on the cake and then sung happy birthday to me!! It was the best part of the whole day.

To wrap up the night we watched My Big Fat Greek Wedding. It was quite funny and romantic. I was rather suprised by how much I liked it.

A big huge thank you to Ben for making it the best birthday that I’ve had in years and years and years. I you very much.

Anticipation

My birthday is tomorrow!!! YAY! I’ll be 25.

Yesterday I recieved a package from my dad and Cherie that had a book and a gift certificate to Pier 1. I looooooove Pier One. The book is Ash Wednesday by the actor Ethan Hawke. I didn’t even know that he was a writer but the reviews for it on Amazon make it sound quite promising. I started reading it yesterday and look forward to finishing it.

I also got a letter from my Grandmother Taylor in Pennsylvania that included a picture of me when I looked to be around 6-9 months old with my dad. It’s a little weird as it seems like yesterday that Cassidy was that age. She also included some pictures of Camerons trip up there this summer. That brings back many memories of my own childhood and visiting there every summer and the great adventures that I was so fortunate to experience.

Thanks to you all very much for the thought and the Happy Birthday wishes.

The Seca

We spent Sunday at Leguna Seca for the American LeMans. It was absolutely awsome. I’ve never seen cars take turns of this caliber at speeds of this sort before. I can’t figure out if these guy are brave for doing this or just crazy. I think that it has to be a little of both.

I TOTALLY fell in love with the Ferrari. The way these cars handled on the track was simply amazing. Simply… amazing. Here’s a snap shot of the one that I’d like to own someday:

We met up with Dave and a bunch of Audi guys to drive up there. Through the Audi guys we got a killer deal on tickets. $35 for me, Ben, Cassidy, parking at turn 2 and an entry into the car show. We didn’t really even care about the car show but Ben’s friend Dave (who had not even WASHED his car before we went) won 2nd place in the ‘Best Euro’ competition. Here is Cassidy posing with his trophy:

And of course the highlight of the day was the trip we got to take around the track at the end of the race day. Ben slowed down and let the people get a ways in front of him and then took the track with some ferocity. I have to say, after seeing the corkscrew from the INSIDE of the car, I am sure that the drivers are basically crazy!! Here’s a shot of half of Ben’s car and all of Dave’s car on the track:

All in all it was an awsome day and I can’t wait to go again next year!!

Infestation!

*UGH* I spent all day yesterday dealing with LICE!!!! Cassidy had a bad case of it. :< I spent the day shampooing, combing, washing and vacuuming. It was horrible! Thank GOD that Ben and I have not managed to pick up the nasty little parasite. The actual living lice was full grown so that means that she's had it for at least 10 days. Troy called and told me that she had it and that he was getting rid of it but he must have let a few nits get by because she STILL had them. They are all gone now. For those of you who don’t know the nit is the egg and the louse (singular for lice) is about the size of a small grain of rice. Here are some pics for those parents of you that have never had to deal with these little gems before.

NITS


LOUSE