BLOGGED ALONG THE WAY: A CAPITOL ADVENTURE

 July 18, 2014

I don't know if it was because we ate so late last night, or if it was a nightmare, but I woke up in complete Crazy Town early this morning, freaking out that I'd lost my grandmother's wedding band. I hadn't, as it was still on my hand, but I was convinced it was gone. I'm sure Steve appreciated the abrupt wake up, but that's one of the perils of being married to me!

Maybe it was the residue of the anxiety meds still in my system, or maybe it was because I woke up in the middle of the night and had to go on an epic adventure looking for a ring that was actually on my hand, but after I went back to sleep I ended up sleeping until about 10:00 this morning. I don't usually sleep that late ever, but today I was a lady of leisure.  Steve's business meeting was today and I was on my own.  I had planned on maybe going into the city to look around by myself, but that wasn't possible due to the fact that Steve had the car and our hotel is actually in Virginia, just far enough away from public transportation to make it a bigger hassle than it was worth. I didn't mind, though, our hotel is nice. After finally getting up and getting ready, I explored the place,

bought a soda, and relaxed back in the room. I didn't get bored, though. I watched two episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer on Netflix! I also brought yarn (because of course I did), and I crocheted while I listened to another audio novel. I think crochet must be slightly hypnotic, because time seemed to fly by while I was doing that.

Once Steve got back from work, we left to get something to eat.  One of his coworkers recommended an Italian place at Reston Town Center, which is a really nice shopping/dining area.  It's several blocks long, and has higher end shops and restaurants lining the streets.  The restaurant was great, although to be honest, I'm not sure I have a very good basis of comparison with Italian food. All the same, I really liked it.  We walked around a bit after we ate and looked around. 

There were a lot of people walking their dogs and I wanted to pet them all, but I didn't! I had some self control! Barely.

When we were ready to leave, we went back the way we came in, which was through a walkway in a building. It had two glass doors with brass handles, one on each side of a glass revolving door. Steve went to one of the regular doors and I went to the revolving one.  Before I could push the revolving door, Steve grabbed the handle of his door and ripped it off! It went "clllllaaaaang!" And the handle on the other side let go and fell on the inside. Unfortunately, those doors were located just next to a crowded outdoor eating area, and everyone got quiet and they looked over at us! I am not proud of myself for this, but my first instinct was to run away, and I tried, but the revolving door wouldn't budge.  It was locked! Steve just stood there looking like a muppet. I ran towards the other door and tried to open it, but it had also been locked, so I just walked away laughing. Steve had to catch up with me. I know that makes me terrible, but there is no honor in unintended vandalism.  At least no one chased us down.

We went back to the hotel and went to the pool area. Steve got into the hot tub, and I sat on the side with my feet in.  It was nice, except that the water wasn't that warm, so we didn't stay long.  We came back and ordered snacks from room service. I love room service. Just pick up the phone and someone brings you food!  I need to install it into our house! I'm going to gain 10 pounds on this trip if I'm not careful.Seriously, though...yummers.

After that we watched a movie and made our plans for tomorrow!

BLOGGED ALONG THE WAY: A CAPITOL ADVENTURE

July 17, 2014

We're headed to the capitol!  No,  I'm not pretending to be Katness Everdeen. Steve and I are headed up to Wahington D.C. for a business/funzies trip!  We had had been thinking about going to the beach for a weekend this summer, but since his company was purchased by another entity, he's been traveling up to D.C. at least once a month. Since sometime he only finds out a week or two in advance that he needs to be there, it makes planning any other trip kind of hard, so we decided that I'd just tag along and we'd make a weekend out of it!  If Washington DC seems like a weird place for us to go on vacation, it is a little.  But I've only gotten to go there on school trips and have always been on someone else's schedule, and I've wanted to come back on my own terms and look around.

Trust me,  I'm just excited that it isn't Orlando!

We left Butler at the pet resort this morning (and were told his arthritis has advanced to the point of his needing monthly injections.) That makes me so sad. I know he's getting older, and I know he won't live forever, but dang it if I'm not going to do everything I can to keep him around for 20or 30 more years! He's basically my son, so yes, injections will be given! Hell, I'll have his legs removed and replaced with ATV tires if necessary! :)

I went to work for a while to do the last few things that needed to be done before Sunday and went home to finish getting ready to go.  We got through airport security without setting off any alarms and got to our gate with no problems! Since we were there so early, we went to the bar to get a soda. It didn't occur to me until I had been sitting at the bar for some time that I was still wearing my Huntsville Park Baptist

Church polo shirt. It has the name of the church embroidered on the left breast area. Great way to advertise, there, Kelly! Oy.

I almost forgot to take my anxiety pill, but luckily I remembered in plenty of time before actually getting on the plane. I know it probably seems pathetic to some of you that I need pills before flying, but please understand that flying scares me stupid. Dunno why, but it does. Taking these pills keeps me from panic attacks, which is good for me and everyone on the plane with me!

There are 4 stages to my anti-anxiety medication:

1) Taking it - When I know I'm going to be doing something I find stressful, I take my pill and immediately feel better.  I know that there is no way that the medication takes hold so soon, but the knowledge that it will soon be working is enough.

2) Feeling Calmer - The meds start to take control and I actually really start to feel calmer. Everything is good.

3) Things begin to descend into a warm, fuzzy, drunkenness. I start talking too much and laughing at dumb things. Give a couple of shots of tequila, and you'd get the same result. This is why I usually need to take the pills with something caffeinated, because the caffeine keeps me sharp enough to avoid the worst of the drunk feeling. The pills aren't strong, but I have a low tolerance to things like that. Unfortunately, I didn't get caffeine, so by the time we were boarding the plane, I was effectively slightly drunk.

4) Sleep. Sometime light, sometimes hard, and sometimes drooling sleep. Luckily this time, it was light and hopefully without snoring! :) Unfortunately, I missed quite a bit of the audio novel I was listening to (Bill Bryson's At Home) so I'll need to go back and listen to that last part again.

We landed at Dulles 30 minutes ahead of schedule thanks to a tailwind. I've never flown in to Dulles before!  My only complaint about being there was a guy on the tram spent the next few minutes staring at my chest,

like it had a plot he needed to follow. Creepy! Steve has getting through the airport down to a science, so it didn't take us hardly any time at all to get through, grab our car, and get to our hotel! I'm very impressed with his efficiency!

We ordered room service when we got in, which was lovely because I was starved by then, and we fell asleep watching tv.

The adventure begins!

RANDOM ACTS OF BLOGGING

1) I realize what I'm about to say is kind of rude, because people that I know and love wholeheartedly do this thing, so I apologize in advance.

If I ever go to the beach, and I come back in a group picture where everyone is posing on the sand wearing khakis and either a black, white or any kind of matching shirt, please know that I did it under duress and the only reason I let it happen was because I didn't want to upset anyone.

I honestly don't know why, but pictures like that put me into an irrational rage. They're usually nice family pictures, so I don't understand it, but I hate them with the passion of a thousand angry bees.

I felt the need to tell you all this. If you ever see me in a picture like that, send help.

2) So, I'm sending back the FitBit.  I didn't want to, but I finally realized that there is no way I can wear it without my skin falling off, so I bit the bullet and ordered a return package.  The whole return thing was surprisingly easy.  I expected that I'd have to provide a copy of the original receipt, a picture of my rash, a birth certificate and proof of citizenship before they'd take it back, but all I has to do was send the actual watch back.  I'd like to get another, similar thing, so if anyone has any recommendations I'd like to hear them!

3) We had a very low key July 4th weekend. Steve and I had lunch with my mom, and I'm not sure, but I'm wondering if I need to be offended by the sheer amount of food that she fixed for just the 5 of us.  Holy Moses, it was a lot, but it was good and we did take some of it home! :)  There are a few places around here that do the big fireworks shows, but we didn't go to any of them.  I love watching fireworks, but I do not love the traffic and the bugs. We went home, brought Butler inside so that he wouldn't freak out about the sounds, and watched old episodes of Moonlighting.  I used to love that show so much when I was little.  Of course, now that I understand the jokes, I'm a little surprised that I was allowed to watch it at all! 

4) Last night I woke up in Crazy Town and almost ripped the comforter apart.  I was dreaming that spiders were crawling around on the bed and I was trying to knock them off with anything I could get my hands on.  Apparently I tried squishing them with my iPad, too. The charger is next to my bed, and if I unplug the iPad, I'll lay the charging cord back on the nightstand.  I found the cord this morning laying in the floor and the iPad next to me in bed only half charged.  I guess I'm lucky I didn't throw that across the room and break it!  It's been a long time since I've had a Crazy Town dream, which is good, but I have no idea what caused it! 

They were really big dream spiders.

HUMOR ME

OK, so you know how I said that this blog wasn't going to become all about my scaly arm rash?

I might have lied.

Nah, don't worry, I'll try not to talk about it much in the future, but since it is currently consuming me (possibly literally, if what my arm looks like is any indication) I needed to give you an update that is less a progress report on the arm thing and more a "Wow, I'm a genius" report.

Yesterday I finally just had to take the arm band and watch off.  It was starting to actually hurt to wear it.  Also, my inner wrist (is that what it's called?) had started breaking out in a weird rash too, even though the watch band itself was only made of plastic and not whatever material near the charging port that was trying to burn through my wrist bone. 

A normal person, a person with common sense, would have put the stupid watch into her purse, or maybe burnt it with some chicken feathers and grave dirt to try and reverse the damage it had done.  Did I do either of those things? 

Nope.

No, because I'm a genius, I just switched the stupid thing to my other arm.  I didn't even think about it.  I moved the arm band and the watch to my right arm and left it there all day.  I left it there until right before I went to bed, and the only reason I thought to take it off was because my right wrist was stinging.

Now I have a brand new red, itchy, welted spot on my right wrist!  Also, it completely explains why it's taking so fricking long for the left arm to heal!  The arm band wasn't protecting me at all! I was being allergic through the damned thing the whole time!  What the hell is wrong with me?  Just because it is a different arm doesn't mean that it won't have the same reaction!  I felt so stupid.  In fact, to show myself just how dumb I thought I'd been, I made myself this little video:

 

I gave myself "Wife Face." Generally, that is reserved for only the dumbest things that Steve manages to do, and yet, I gave it to myself.  Feel free to save that and use it when you want people to know they've been an idiot, and yet you don't have the energy to tell them yourself.

RANDOM ACTS OF BLOGGING

1) My dog is going senile.  Last night he barked at the door constantly and I barely got any sleep.  Usually he only does this if he can hear the cat out there and I understand that.  Dogs are apparently supposed to remain completely paranoid about any cat that they can't immediately eat or make friends with, but he is just getting ridiculous.  I honestly think he barks at the door because there is a tiny chance that the cat might be out there.  He also barks at the door if my chair squeaks, or if one of my shoes bumps up against the kennel, or if I clear my throat.  Basically, I'm beginning to wonder if he thinks the door itself is evil.  Also, he doesn't just bark at it, he runs nose first into it and then barks at it.  I don't mind this when it happens occasionally, but when he does it for the majority of the time I'm trying to sleep, it gets old.  Last night I had to get up and sleep in the chair in the living room, because it seems if I'm in the room with the evil door, he doesn't have to bark at it as much.  If I'm in the room, I can clearly see the door (and whatever is on the other side of it) is evil and he doesn't have to tell me from across the house. 

I'd like to think he's just being protective, but I'm fairly sure he's losing his mind.

2) I had to be at work at 7:00 this morning, so the sleeping was important!  The youth kids were leaving on their summer trip, and I had to be here in case any last minute medical forms needed to be notarized. Oh, yeah, I finally got my stampy-punchy notary thing!  I'm official! :)

I got asked a couple of really uncomfortable questions by the kids, which I tried to answer honestly enough, but geez.  One girl asked why I hated them and wouldn't chaperone the trip.  Oy.  I told her I'd be a terrible chaperone because I'm not mature enough.  That was 100% true.  I don't know how to handle kids!  I always feel terrible if I have to get on to them for anything, and I'd be responsible for telling them to do stuff and wouldn't know how in the world to back up any sort of discipline! Also, (and I didn't say this because I didn't want to insult them) I don't enjoy kids/teenagers.  I mean, I like being around them for a little while, and even with just one or two at a time I'm o.k., but my patience is so short with them.  I don't want to say or do anything rude or hurtful to anyone, especially kids who are at a sensitive age where they take everything to heart so readily, and it's really more of my own idiosyncratic nature than anything that kids have ever done to me personally.  I have to be able to get away from them from time to time to be able to be around them at all, and in a chaperone situation, you can't get away from them.  I know I don't really have to explain myself to anyone, but I'm just making it clear I'm not being randomly hateful about kids. I just know myself well enough to know what I can and can't deal with, and if anyone wants to misinterpret that, then they are free to do so and then cram their indignation into whichever cram-hole they choose. Cram it deep.

Another kids asked if I drank.  Well...crap.  I don't anymore, or at least it's very rare if I do, and it caught me so off guard that I didn't know what to say!  Actually what I said was "Wha-wha-what? Nuh-nuh-no, no not anymore. I mean I have, but I was very bad at it." There was a perfect moment to probably make some sort of speech about being responsible or something, but I panicked.

I managed to get off of the bus before they asked me anything else. Thank goodness.

3) My arm still looks gross, but it's getting better.  I made the mistake of putting something called "Liquid Bandage" on it, so I wouldn't have to wear a Band-Aid on it anymore.  It's like a protecting varnish for the skin, and it flakes off, but only in patches.  It's very attractive.

JUST IN CASE

I realized that I didn't want to leave that last entry about my Lizard-by-way-of-Naked-Mole-Rat rash just hanging out there, just in case a new reader pops in and only reads the first entry and thinks that all I talk about is gross, disfiguring allergic reactions.  I don't, really, do that on a regular basis, but it pays to be careful on the internet.   In fact, let me just say this:

Dear Reader,

Hi!  Welcome. I shake you warmly by the hand. I don't normally talk about gross things on my blog, but I thought it would be OK to talk about my weird rash, just this once, since I didn't post pictures of it. I actually try and talk about interesting stuff (when I have interesting stuff to talk about) so please don't judge me on that part.  Judge me on just about anything else, if you want.  Well, not just about anything. Pick something that applies...you know, never mind. Get to know me first and then judge me. Or not.  This isn't going well.  I'm babbling.  Instead, here is a picture of a Corgi in a bow tie.

It's hard not to like a person who could put up a picture of a corgi in a bow tie.

He's not my corgi.  If he was, his name would be Brandon.

HOORAY! IT ISN'T LEPROSY!

About a month ago I woke up and found a weird, itchy, red splotch on my left wrist. 

It was about an inch and a half long and an inch wide, and it covered that knobby little wrist bone that sticks out on the side.  My first thought was that it was a bug bite, which didn't make me happy because that would mean something crawly and bitey had gotten in bed with me and decided to take a nibble of my arm.  I wasn't too worried, though, because it was just itchy and red, and as long as it didn't spread, I was OK with it. 

Well, it didn't spread, but it didn't get any better, either. In fact, it got worse. I couldn't see a bite mark on it, so I ruled out an insect bite, and decided that it was probably poison ivy.  I don't usually break out from poison ivy, but there is a first time for everything!  I remembered that when I was trying to pull a weed out of some of my flowers, the plant swung back and slapped me on the wrist and it stung.  OK, poison ivy it had to be, right?  The red splotch swelled up and got all wrinkled, like the skin of a naked mole rat.  Yeah, it was gross, but again, at least is didn't spread.

Ladies...

 

Since I'd never had a reaction to poison ivy before, I didn't know if that was normal or not.  It didn't seem like it would be normal, but I'm not a dermatologist!  I tried moving my FitBit to my other arm to keep it off of the rash, but it felt weird on that arm, so I found some of these little cuff things (I honestly don't know what they are, but they're like wide bracelets made out of tights) and started wearing them under my Fitbit to keep it off of the itchy spot as well as to cover it up.  I had to!  I didn't want someone coming to talk to me and suddenly seeing my naked-mole-rat-arm-rash and wondering if I was contagious!  It was embarrassing and itchy and gross and ugly, and I wasn't going to put anyone through that.

 

Two Words: Triage Fashion

So, that lasted about two weeks and during that time the pastor and Mr. Lee both asked me why I was wearing the cuff. I suppose fashion isn't a good enough answer!  So I showed them the rash and they said it was poison ivy and that I shouldn't wear the cuff over it.  It would get better sooner if I didn't cover it up.  OK, then.  I still wore the cuff while at church, just so I didn't gross anyone out, but I took it off at home.  It didn't get better.  In fact, it went from Naked Mole Rat to "Possibly Turning Into a Lizard" really fast.  Not to disgust you or anything, but the whole thing got scabby and red and it looked like I was molting like a snake. You're very lucky I didn't wake a picture of it because none of you would ever sit next to me again, just in case.  Steve said I should go to the doctor (and I'd have said the same thing if it was someone else) but I felt dumb going to the doctor over an arm rash!  That's like going to the doctor because you twisted your ankle! I told him it was just poison ivy and it would go away.  

I had ultimately taken to wearing the cuff all the time, as well as a giant band-aid, and putting cream on it every day. It seemed to slowly start to get better. Slowly.  However, the longer it was there, even in the "getting better" stage, I began to worry that it was something other than poison ivy.  If it had been a bug bite, it might have been something poisonous - and if you've ever seen what a brown recluse can do to a person, you'd have worried too.  But my arm didn't rot off, thank goodness.  It still looked like it was healing, but now it looked like I'd been badly burned and was healing.  Seriously, folks, it was less gross, but still gross. I had SCALES!

Finally, (and why I didn't think of it sooner, I'll never know) something that had been in the back of my mind the whole time suddenly popped up and I couldn't ignore it anymore.  When I'd bought my watch (It's a FitBit Force) there was a disclaimer that some people get skin irritation due to the charge port on the back of the thing.  I'd been wearing it for months with no problem, so ignored the warning.  It wasn't until things got as bad as they did that I decided to look up what kind of problems people were having.  All the pictures; Every. Stinking. One. Had the same kind of weird, wrinkly rash on it that I'd had.  I was allergic to my watch, and I'd continued to wear it on my bare skin, which is why it kept getting worse.  I had no idea because I'd never had a contact allergy before, so I didn't know what was going on.

Now that my arm is getting better, I've got to figure out a way to make a new band for the FitBit that will cover up the back of it so that my skin doesn't come into contact with the charging port anymore.  I could technically send it back and get refunded, but I like the thing.  I just feel stupid for not realizing what was going on sooner. As long as I don't actually turn into a reptile, I should be OK.

 

Actually, that might not be so bad...

 

RANDOM ACTS OF BLOGGING

1) This weekend saw a "soft opening" of one of the local farmer's markets!  Woot!  I actually just sort of found out about it by accident and so I hauled my cookies out that way fairly early on Saturday and bought some stuff.  I got some tea, strawberries, lettuce and something called chard.  I didn't know what chard was, but it was pretty, so I bought it.  When I got home, I went on to Facebook to see if anyone knew what to do with chard.  I was hoping that someone out there had eaten it and had first hand experience cooking with it, and I had one or two recommendations, but mostly I just got told to Google it.  Damn it, I don't want to be told to Google something if I'm asking a question!  I wouldn't bother to ask people stuff if I was going to use Google!  I wanted actual, real help!  I swear, the Internet has turned people into non-helpful jerk-faces.

2) One thing I wanted especially from the farmer's market was lettuce from a local grower.  I've only had really fresh lettuce once, when I grew it myself in the hydroponic thing I have, but I wanted some that had been grown in the ground by a real, live farmer!  I got a honking huge head of romaine from one stall and took it home to disassemble.  It was really dirty, but it was grown in the ground, so of course it was dirty.  As I pulled the leaves apart, I started seeing these weird, prickly, orange and black bugs attached to the leaves and I couldn't rinse them off.  I also couldn't brush them off.  They had become one with my lettuce.  You know me and my feelings about bugs, so I immediately wanted to chunk the whole thing and set it on fire, but seeing that I'd gone to the trouble to buy the thing (from a real, live farmer, don't forget), I didn't want to do that.  So I threw away those leaves and started cleaning each individual leaf before I chopped them up.  Although I could have sworn that I'd gotten rid of all of the gross bugs, I kept finding them.  I soldiered on, though, just tossing away the parts that had the bugs, and chopping up the rest.  By the time I was done, the lettuce was greatly reduced, but I still had a decent amount.  I rinsed the leaves again, and I doused them in diluted vinegar just in case.  I put it all in the fridge and brought a salad to work today!  Although I couldn't find anymore of the weird, prickly bugs on the lettuce, I can't eat it. I mean, I ate the salad today, but only because I made myself.  I kept imagining that I was going to bite into a bug and that has completely ruined the whole thing for me.  I know that bugs are a part of the whole process of farming, and I know it's completely psychosomatic, but I've been nauseous ever since I ate it and keep thinking that I probably ate a prickly bug and didn't see it. Horf.

I'm a giant weenie.

3) Saturday night, Steve and I went to a retirement reception for his high school band director!  It was nice, but we didn't really know anyone who showed up.  There were a lot of the teacher's current students, but only a few past ones, and none from Steve's class. Of course, we had a lovely time trying to look casual and not be awkward, and for once, I didn't break anything or knock anything over!  Score!  :)

The reception was held at the SpRocket (ptooey) and I looked around a bit before and after the reception.  I know it's stupid, but I really miss it there.  I hadn't really thought much about the place in a while, but just walking in there brought it back.  As much as I still hate the politics and everything, I miss doing the job and just working at such a neato museum. I honestly loved my job and I have a lot of great memories of being at the place, which is why I miss it so much. I had a lot of really wonderful friends there, too. I mean, I like my job at the church, and I know that's where I am supposed to be right now, but still.  I know what the deal is.  I just have a really hard time letting things go!  Anytime anything/anyone means something to me, I just hang on with both hands.  I'm that way about friends, jobs, and all kinds of stuff...it's actually pretty pathetic!  I know people who can cut themselves off from all kinds of things without worrying about whatever it is, literally out-of-sigh-out-of-mind, and sometimes I wish I could be like that.  It would make things a lot easier!  Also, it would cut down on a lot of internet stalking of friends I haven't seen in a while. :)  Ah, well, I suppose if I'm going to love things, I might as well love them all the time and not just when they're in my line of sight.  That can't be a completely bad thing...right? RIGHT? 

4) The other day I went "Hate Shopping."  If you are unaware of what that is, it is when you get super ticked and feel the need to buy stuff.  It is one of my ways of coping.  It's probably not very healthy, but at least I'm not kicking babies or anything.  I did realize (after the fact) that when I hate shop, I spend way more money than I normally would.  So, if you want a really awesome birthday, wedding, or baby gift, piss me off before I go shopping.

5) As of today, I'm officially a notary!  Woot!  I've been attempting to become one since last year, but I kept putting things off because I wasn't clear on the process.  I asked a lot of people what to do, and almost everyone told me something different, but I can't fault them at all because I was really asking the wrong kinds of questions.  I finally found my bond (which I had gotten online and it was mailed to me, but it was misplaced until last week - oops) and I went to the courthouse this morning and now I can officially watch people sign things.  Now all I have to do is get my stampy-punchy thing (that's the scientific name for it) and I'll be in business.  Look at me...becoming a useful citizen.  I never thought the day would come.