Yeah, it's been a few days.

Friday my husband went to Houston to stay the night with his younger brother. He has season tickets to the Texas A&M home football games, and he usually leaves Friday to have a shorter drive on Saturday morning. My job, as usual, was to stay home with the dogs. It's kinda nice, actually, being 'home alone' and getting things done without anyone (human anyway) underfoot.

But, then there's the dogs. I own just about every product Swiffer has to offer now. With all the dirt and debris the dogs drag in, I've had to come up with a system - vaccum, Swiffer, mop. I could do this every day and pick up a lot of dirt every day. I have not found a way around it, so I can at least be thankful we have tile and not carpet! When all's said and done, though, they sure are a lot of fun.

This weekend, I also undertook the task of mounting a new towel ring and toilet paper holder in the half bath. It's actually kinda fun working with power tools, even when you don't know what you're doing. Now that I'm in a 'home improvement' mood, I think I'm going to head over to the paint store tomorrow to pick out some colors and supplies. I'm thinking of painting all 3 bedrooms. Maybe next football game weekend....

I'm Falling Apart!!!

Effective October 1, I will have health insurance. But right now... I have none. It is my own fault, taking my chances rather than ponying up the dough for Cobra or an individual policy to hold me over. In fact, I've gone months without a single problem.

But now, I'm falling apart. My foot has been hurting for a week and a half (I have no idea what I did to it), I've had a persistent deep cough for a week, and I'm about 5 days late with a negative pregnancy test. Now it's a waiting game. What will come first - all my problems disappear, or my health insurance kicks in, or I can't take it anymore and use my backup insurance (credit card!) to pay out of pocket?

Oh well, as my Mom often says, it is what it is.

On a lighter note, we got rain today, so now we won't have to use the sprinkler for a day or two. That will help cut back on the water bill, which may come in handy if I go to the doc after all! ;)

Antihistamine Drunk

Have you seen that new commercial for the well-known OTC allergy medication? Two moms are sitting on a park bench and the son of one of them runs up to his mom to get a dose of his allergy medicine. Now, this particular medication, which is an antihistamine, is commoly known to cause drowsiness, and is even sometimes used (amid much controversy) by parents to calm kids down and make them sleep. My vet actually recommends we dose Sammy with it before a long car ride to help avoid the stress he goes through. But, I'm not here to get into a controversy or discuss my dogs' car rides here, just to express my confusion about this commercial.

Now, if the kid had run up to Mom and said, "Mom, my allergies are killing me and I'd like to go into a coma for 12 hours, can I have some [insert brand name antihistamine here]?", that would have been accurate. But no, the kid gets his medicine and runs back out to the playground to keep playing. I couldn't help but giggle at the mental image of a scene, 30 minutes later, of this kid passed out on the merry-go-round.

I bring this up because I couldn't sleep last night. I was up coughing (but not sniffling, sneezing, congested!) and needed a break. All I had on hand was some night-time medication that contained not only the cough suppressant but also antihistamine. Twelve hours and half a pot of coffee later, I got a good 8 hours of coma-sleep, took a shower, took the puppy to the vet for his shots, and still feel a little antihistamine drunk. I've got to admit, when I need/want the sleep, it's a great feeling to have that drug-induced complete relaxation. But, today, I'd like to have a little more energy. Right now, the sun is shining through the blinds, warming me while the ceiling fan cools me.... zzzzzzzzzz.....

So... this is my first post!

So, I guess a bit about myself: I have been married for almost 6 years to my husband, Tim. I am originally from Indiana (born and raised!) and he is from San Antonio. We met while he was in grad school at Notre Dame in South Bend, IN. I used to hesitate admitting that we met online, but these days, it's no big deal. Anyway, he completed his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering at Notre Dame in 2005, we lived for 2 years in North Carolina while he completed a post-doc at NC State, and in August of 2007 we moved to Louisiana for him to start an assistant professorship. Let me say this is the 'job of his dreams', and although I'm NOT thrilled to be here, I have made a promise to him that I will make the most of it.

Have I made the most of it so far? Errr... no. I have plans to, but I'm not so great about motivating myself. I need to finish unpacking, paint a few rooms, clean constantly (oh yeah, we have 3 cats and 3 basset hounds!), start working out, find a way to take oboe lessons again, learn to sew, learn to really cook, maybe do some landscaping (the dogs have already started....), get active as a Mary Kay consultant again, and most importantly MEET PEOPLE!!

In between, I hope to post here regularly. Let's be honest - I don't necessarily believe that anyone really wants to read what I have to say right now, but I've heard it can be therapeutic and I could use some cheap (free!) therapy!! ;)

Until next time...