chickintheham

This weekend, Saturday night to be exact, I lost heat in my house. When I got home that night, it seemed extra cold ... So, I looked at my thermometer and found that it was 58 degrees in my house… well, that’s a little cooler than I like to be indoors (especially in my own home)… So, I bumped up the thermometer a bit… cause you know, at that time I had it sitting around 65 so I wasn’t really that alarmed. Only when I moved it up to 70 my furnace didn’t come on. I realized something was wrong so I opened up my closet and opened up my furnace… Like I would know what the heck I was looking for. Only when I opened it the pilot light did come on and the furnace did light. Which, of course, is not good if you are a girl like myself who has no business opening up a furnace and didn’t even think to turn it off first. The furnace stayed lit for no more than 10 seconds. Not enough, to heat a house. I turned off the furnace and then closed everything back up and prayed that God would help me find my space heater that I hadn’t used in two years. Yeah, I couldn’t find it. So, I put on my warm Thing 1 costume, grabbed my cat and crawled under two comforters. At 1:30 a.m. I realized I was not going to be able to sleep with my nose being frozen solid and so I prayed again and got out of bed to search again for a heater. By this time it was 53 degrees in my house. Survivable but not pleasant. For some reason I decided to check my outside storage unit for a heater. Not a decision that would have been made on my own… cause at that time I was dang tired and braless. None the less I went out there and to my relief found a heater that I had forgotten even existed. Thank you God for my heater and thank you that it wasn’t any colder that night. The next morning, my house was 50 degrees (except for my cozy bedroom). Taking a shower Sunday was not an easy thing to do. I debated seriously about it but then decided a shower before church would be best for everyone.

Folks at church were very helpful. They offered very good advice and I TOTALLY appreciate their care and concern for me. I’m glad to know that there are folks out there who do not want me to freeze to death. When I got home from church my dad came over. He used to work on boilers for hospitals and nursing homes. I don’t have a boiler, I have a furnace, I wasn’t sure he could help me. I don’t think he was either but he did. Apparently, a safety feature on my furnace is the same as those on old boilers. Hooray. The little bar that keeps me alive by making sure I don’t die of gas poisoning had gotten corroded. Therefore, my heater couldn’t tell the flame was on and it was shutting itself off in order to save my life. Thanks little furnace I appreciate your good intentions. My dad showed me how to clean it off if I ever have this problem again. I feel very empowered. You think I should go for a heating and cooling license now? Yeah, I don’t think so. I think my chances of dying by machine (and clumsiness would be too greatly improved)

For you grammatically correct people out there… is it ok for me to say I feel very empowered rather than much empowered? My computer tells me it is not. But, my sense of self says it’s okay.

I am a hand washing freak. Seriously! Spunky calls me a Cat. I wash my hands constantly. If I make you cookies or a cake or anything at all... I probably washed my hands ten times in the process. You know, crack an egg, wash hands... crack another egg, wash hands. Get goo on my hands, wash hands. Even now at work... we are merging some book collections... I'm pretty much nasty all day with book dust all over me... But, every so often, I just have to stop and go wash my hands and then get back to work. Thank God for good lotion. Although, currently, I don't think I can slather it on enough.

Last night, I made my first home version of the Cotton Candy Cosmo with some friends. (it wasn't as good as the ones at O'Charleys... but whatever) before I reached into the back of cotton candy... I washed my hands. After I finished getting the cotton candy... I washed my hands. Isn't it gross to think of people handling food or the ice for a beverage who haven't washed their hands. YUCKO!

Today at work, someone sent this video out to campus... I'm telling you, if I end up with a worm in my brain OR anywhere else... Someone is going to pay!!!

Ok so if you could get a “free” 8G iPod Nano, would you take it? Now, it’s only kind of free… I mean there is a trade off. I have enough points on a credit card to get one. But, I can also get about 42 grande lattes from Starbucks. I’m very torn. I think I would like a Nano but I really have my heart set on an iPod Touch. Well, actually I really want an iPhone. Currently I have the option of continuing to take a vacation each year, paying for electricity, or getting an iPhone. I can only do 2 of those things. Not all 3. I’m very jealous of all my friends who have gotten iPhones. I think that’s just about everyone I know. I want one really bad. But, currently I just don’t think I can do it. My current cell phone bill is just $25 a month…. ‘Cause I got my plan ages and ages ago and never changed it. Sweet! Plus, it also helps that very few folks actually want to call and talk to me since I also have very few minutes to go along with that plan. Anyway, I think adding on the data charges for an iPhone might cause me to have a nervous breakdown or something. But, I do want one pretty bad. Well, I think I’m going to say no to the Nano and just let my heart settle on an iPod Touch. But, even that is not going to be coming to me any time soon. That’s okay. I’ll survive… I think.


So, I’m on day 6 of headaches/migraines. I actually went to the doctor yesterday about it. If I go to the doctor…. Well… something is not good. Anyway, I got a prescription for a migraine medicine that later I found out is basically $23.76 per pill. My doctor told me I should take one anytime I felt a headache coming on. Uhm, yeah! It’s sort of a pickle. I mean I don’t want to waste a $23.76 pill on a slight headache. But, I don’t want to wait too long to take the $23.76 pill either and then not have it work. At what point can you make the call, “this is a $23.76 headache.” It’s not going to be easy to figure that out. Last night I had a pretty bad headache…. I did not take the pill. I decided to throw a bean bag from the freezer on my noggin and just sit in the dark. It sort of worked…. I guess I think it was better than taking a $23.76 pill. Seriously, how can that be right!!! Could M ichael M oore be right! Is something wrong with health care in this country? There was a brief moment where I wondered if I was just too old to live. I mean that jokingly of course. Migraines plus ovaries are killing my budget. BUT, on a good note… I did find out that my ovaries are going to be partially covered by insurance now… so that’s good news. Woohoo! I will no longer call for a ancient Greek play style boycott against men in the insurance, pharmaceutical, or medical industries… Clearly, some other woman has gotten some power and knocked some sense in to those industries. Hoorah! Anyway, $23.76 or not… it is nice to have hope on the migraine front. I know people live with those but I really don’t want to be one of them. I want the drugs and I want them to work. Hopefully, they will for me. I don’t intend to find out for several weeks/ months though. Hopefully, it will be that long before my head explodes again.


See with all that going on… don’t you think I have some Starbucks coming to me. I think I do. I’d like to thank my credit card for making that much coffee possible in my life. Anyone want to go get coffee with me? Anyone want to sponsor an iPhone for me? I hear its life changing.




Oh and before I go, let me tell you…. I am sooooo loving British television right now. I’ve been watching Robin Hood this week and it is delightful. I rented Robin Hood because prior to that I rented the British Miniseries North and South with Richard Armitage in it. He’s a bad guy in Robin Hood but I don’t care. Wheh! I’m going to start talking to the Universe immediately about him. He also has done some episodes of the Vicar of Dibley- which David Tennant also did. I’m telling you; those Brits have got it going on! I also recently watched Under the Greenwood Tree with a very handsome James Murray. Man, I wish I had BBC America. Maybe it’s best I don’t get that channel. Hmph! But, it’s not just the handsome men that are getting me… I’m just loving me some British dramas right now. I’ll be sad when I’ve made it through all of them. I hope they are working on filming more. I’m going to need more. I can’t wait to see the rest of Tess of the D’Urbervilles Sunday night. Thank you PBS!

Heads up for all you folks who may have spent time with me between 2 and 4 weeks ago… I was diagnosed with Mycoplasma Pneumonia last week… And someone out there who saw me 4 to 5 weeks ago is responsible for getting me sick for my Christmas vacation. I’m working on figuring out who to blame. I wonder if I have a baby to blame. They apparently carry this disease but show no symptoms. Hmmm, it would be hard to be mad at a baby. Anyway, if I made you sick you should know in a couple of weeks. Mycoplasma Pneumonia takes about 3 weeks for symptoms to show up. And, if it should show up… I’m sorry. On the good side, it’s not that bad of a disease to have…. Just a little exhausting due to coughing like you’ve probably never coughed before. And you know, it might last up to 13 weeks. My doctor asked me if I needed an excuse for work when I went to see him. Too bad I didn’t realize that what I had could last 13 weeks at the time. I wonder if I could have gotten an excuse for that long. That would have been sweet. The next morning after my Dr. visit, he called to check on me. Can you believe that? A doctor called to check on a patient. I think I found a good doctor. Of course, he also lectured me pretty good for not coming in sooner. I tend to get lectures a lot from doctors. It is sort of nice though to feel like you have the right to be sick and rest and not have to worry about whether or not you should be behaving in a more productive manner or if you are a slacker cause you slept in late.

So, I’m actually looking forward to 2009. New Year’s Eve is my least favorite day of the year. I hate it. I think it’s because I hate change and I hate getting older. Well, I hate it being documented anyway. It’s hard to ignore those numbers that just keep increasing. Plus, I think my life just stays the same. I think I’m the same now as I was the day I left college… except I have a mortgage now. That’s a little depressing to me. Maybe I don’t hate change. Maybe I hate everything else changing and me staying the same. Anyway, I’ve decided to be optimistic this year. My life is really pretty good so I don’t really know why I hate New Year’s so much; I just do but this year… I want to throw in a dash of excitement and perhaps some things will change for the better.

Last night I watched Masterpiece Classic on PBS. Did anyone else watch it? It was a new adaption (*) of Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the D’Urbervilles. There was a really good movie made a few years ago of that novel. At first, I wasn’t sure why someone would make another one. BUT, it was excellent. If you missed the first installment, you can watch it online.

(*) Hyperlinked for Sweetie - do you remember fighting about that word? Uhmhmmmph.