Mwhahaha no more Norton

After years of using Norton products I'm saying goodbye and good riddance. I've learnt in the past to just stick with AntiVirus because their other products just bog the system down and meh I don't do much to really get much attention otherwise. But after battling with Norton 2008 AV I've uninstalled the whole damn thing and refuse to touch them again. Add insult to injury their chat blew up when I tried to use it. Their tech support sent me over to try something I'd already tried...not impressed did you even read my email? Blah blah, oh and I'm sorry but I'm not calling support centers and have them pass me onto India and not be able to understand the person at the other end thank you very much and then have them read off of a script. Am I the only one that hates big companies tech support?

I work for a software company, we are small enough that we have support in house we service the US and I think we do a far better job than some of these large corporate operations. I'm actually at the point where I almost fear to interact with people on the phone, my last few experiences have ended up with me wishing I hadn't bothered or in one case just hanging up on the useless individual on the other end of the phone. If I am booking a hotel room for one specific night I don't need your sales pitch badly done and obviously read from a cheat sheet, I really did hang up on that guy he was that bad. So I'm probably a bit of a b#$% sometimes but man I have better ways of spending my time.

Dragging

OK I'm totally bush whacked this week. Can't even think straight to post anything useful or stunning or mindshattering. Pretty much on autopilot, get up go to work come home go to bed get up go to work...

Planning on going away over the weekend, hope I can summon up some energy before then. Ah well hope you had a great holiday and have a lovely New Year.

I want my car back /whine

Ok 2 days and I'm really missing my car. Not that it's that special but I'm missing it, missing the being able to put in the garage and not have trouble with waiting for the car to warm up so I can see in the mornings. Oh and the having to stop at the toll plaza that was so last year! Oh and no way to listen to podcasts in the car unless I buy an adapter not worth the hassle for a few days but /cry.

Managed to get a little of the oil of of the windshield of the car it's not perfect but better, hopefully next time it rains and I'm driving I won't run so much of a risk of an accident.

What did the guest sing at the Eskimo's Christmas party?

And I'll be back tomorrow!

Oh this is funny!

This well this is an oddly familiar feeling in our house...check out the video at this link, I was chuckling over it for awhile, specially after Jagr's tales from yesterday. I will leave him to tell that tale if he feels like it.

Oh joke of the day, how does Rudolph know when it's Christmas?

So it's wet and rainy today. Not a bad thing we could use the water rather we didn't have to go to water rationing last this year. Quiet evening last night, caught up on a little tv, but generally felt too damned tired for much of anything. But the bright side is the short work week. Was busy tho yesterday, but hopefully it will be quiet today. Yawn shame it wasn't the weekend today tho nothing like lying in bed listening to the rain and rolling back over and having another half hour in bed.

Car in the garage

So the car is in for the repairs to the side where I argued with the garage door. I have a ford taurus to keep me company till I get my baby back. Did have some drama with the keys, Jagr ended up going to the body shop and fortunately found them. Unfortunately I was at Hertz so it was a bit hard for me to help resolve that problem.

Also was reminded as to why I leave for work at 5:30 am...that commute sucks! Left my toll pass in my car so now I have to stop and pay each day. I'm still cursing at our old neighbours and the damage I swear that kid did to it, even tho I have no evidence, mutter.

I'm also trying to figure out if the rental is actually going to fit into the garage...I'm not convinced. It's longer than my little car and we have a lot of crap at the end of it. Ah well.

Oh more jokes...

1. What is the most popular wine at Christmas?
2. Which elf is the best singer?
3. What do you give a reindeer with an upset tummy?
   

Today's Joke

What's a parent's favorite Christmas carol? Again see the comments:)

Good evening last night, took my husband out for dinner. I think I was little disappointed with the pasta tho, I thought there was way too much garlic in it, plus it was supposed to be penne but I kept finding other varieties of pasta in the dish, almost sent it back, but it was sort of edible. I have had better tho.

Loved that one of my friend's has been reading my blog /wave one of these years we will be back in England for Christmas again honest. In the meantime do enjoy it while the kids are still young.

Must think of another couple of Xmas things for people but for the most part I'm almost done. Oh TGIF and tomorrow I get to bake. And I got my first party on Sunday, what makes it even nicer is Jagr has to work that night so he will be abstaining from drinking and gets to drive. Not that I over do alcohol much at parties but even still will be nice to have a drink or two.

Thursday one more day to grind into the office :)

Getting out of the office today for a change for lunch, looking forward to it. I try not to go out much ends up being too expensive, it's also cold out there at the moment. I had to change to the thicker comforter last night, and even Jagr complained about the cold this when he got home.

Been sleeping like a log most of this week not sure why, and reluctant to get out of bed in the morning, then again it's like dipping a cold in ice cold water right now, so it's not exactly surprising.

Will be a nice short week next week so I can't complain. And although boss is going to close the office Thursday PM and Friday I suspect I will still come in Friday morning and do some work, won't be so bad as we are staying local, figure I'd do the email things so that they don't pile up.

I want to take my husband out for dinner tonight, not sure where we will go but I want to check out some places in Dublin, CA anyone got any recommendations? At some point we need some take out places tew :)

Oh and while I think of it:

!) Why does Santa have three gardens?

2) Did you hear about the crakers Xmas party? (See comments for the answer!)

Check out this cutsie game

Check out this game, fun and simple thank you FloydUK for that one couldn't resist putting that in here. Weather is heading below freezing mmm yum, guess that means time for a fire again. Might think about that tonight get home see my lovely husband take a warm shower put the fire on and enjoy with husband and cat.

Sure can tell it's gotten nippy Lani is a plaster to my leg. She will not let me alone for more than 5 minutes if I am home. If I happen to go into the office of an evening I get mewed out something chronic. Now I know that I used to be a big gamer and all that, but this cat is seriously keeping me in line and not letting me game all night like I used to hehe. Probably a good thing to be honest.

Last night was an injection night, got to admit I chickened out of doing my butt like I was supposed to and did the cope out of the belly, I'm going to have to bite the bullet on the next one. And for some reason my left thigh just doesn't take well to the injections. Next time I get back to that spot I might have to go for a manual one again and see if that helps to improve things. Sometimes I'm wondering if some spots are just better for the manual than the auto, not sure why but sometimes manual seems less painful.

Fruit is still in soaking so this is going to be day 3, something tells me I won't be baking them until the weekend, should be good tho. Ooooo and I got some baaad jokes to tell.....

Hmm how to do this I think I'll post the answers in the comments so you will have to read those.

1. What do you call a cat on a beach at Xmas?
2. What's Santa's dog called?
3. What's a sheep's favourite Xmas carol?
4. Where did the mistletoe go to become rich and famous?
5. Who's working at MI5 on Xmas day?
6. What did the big angel say to the little angel?
7. Why are Xmas trees like bad knitters?
8. What carol is heard in the desert?
9. What did Adam say on the day before Xmas?
10. What do snowmen eat for breakfast?
11. What does Santa suffer from when he gets stuck in a chimney?

See comments for the answers and yep it's going to hurt...

New week...

Things started good with Xmas this year...cards went out early, shame I am not so organized about gifts, less than 2 weeks to go and I'm flapping about. Ah well I'm sure I'll get it together before I need to.

Got to love my G'friend she made sure my husband gets his haircut! Mwahaha domination here I come, I can get my friends to help me out into the taming of the mop.

I realize I haven't been too vocal of late on my blog. I admit it I'm baad. Been wrapped up a bit with Facebook and the evils there. But been able to catch up with old acquaintances, good.

I just realized today that the numbness in my finger and thumb I had after my last exacerbation of MS is a lot better than it was a couple of months ago. Either I'm just getting used to it or I'm rewiring so it doesn't bother me half as much. It's not 100% by any means but it's less irritating to rub them together, and it almost feels normal.

Had Jagr's folks visiting for a few days. I think I was a miserable whatsit, was busy at work, the commute bit due to lots of rain, and it was the end of the week, I'm just not so good at the end of the week anyway. Sorry for being so anti social again...really I am nice...I think.

Making a mental note that we should make a trip out to NM next year or early the year after will depend on the cash flow, think we would be better off staying in a hotel less stress on everyone that way.

Think I might be coming down with a slight cold, nose has that slightly stuff, dry feeling that you get sometimes before it gets clogged up and then starts to drip and make life in general miserable until you can breath again.

Xmas Office party got moved which and boss is going to give us an extra day off. Will be nice as those days occur right over Jagr's weekend. We are also staying the night at the party hotel...should be fun :) No cats to worry about (man we need a bigger bed for the rare occasions we both choose to sleep in the bed at the same time!).

Oh put the fruit on to soak for Mum's Caribbean Xmas Fruit Cake. Only 5 types of liquor and will probably only soak in that for a week...hahaha.

Picture Link for Apartment Photos

Finally not sure if this link will work but here are photos of our apartment. Table in the dinning room has changed we got a new one a couple of months ago. There are also some pictures of our angles, and Josie up to some interesting tricks getting to spots she shouldn't bet....

Start of a good week

Got the Xmas tree up over the weekend. Made a head start on the cards as well. Got back in touch with a lot of old friends, so far I think that has just about made my week. I made a lot of great friends back when I went to Uni, I had managed to loose track of a lot of them over the years, but manage to reunite via facebook with a lot of them over the weekend as well. To any of you guys that might drop by here and read the blog /wave.

Started to make more definitive plans for Xmas and New Year. Em what else...oh found out a friend has a book published through Amazon...I'm going to place a link for the book in my footer as well. Will make sure I get her to sign it and I think I'll pass it onto my niece when she is old enough, she is a bit young for it still.

Hmmm, anything else exciting? Can't think of much. I'm totally amazed at the problems with the teacher in Sudan, that was way blown out of proportion, unfortunately extremism will always exist in this world. All I would like to see is a little bit of tolerance and understanding. But some people are just looking for an excuse to pick a fight I think sometimes.

Oh hells need to take shot...must not forget it's Monday...all done stomach shot today so least painful over all. I must make sure to leave my arm for Friday I don't want to be shooting up in the butt when Jagr's parents are here hehe.

Aoubt time I posted

I know it's been awhile. Holidays and all that. Spent Thanksgiving mostly at home did go out to dinner with my gfriend and her family tho, got to admit was a lovely evening. Started to think about Xmas. Have actually managed to buy the cards at least so that's a start.

Jagr is working lots of overtime this week. Funniest thing was yesterday he was sleeping in the car as well it's quieter than at home at least, so he wakes up with someone outside the car going look there's a homeless man! Poor guy, he will be home tonight, I think...last time I saw him was for about 10 minutes Tuesday between me coming home and him going to sleep.

I hope they are done with construction soon because this is very disruptive, it means we barely are getting to see each other right now and it SUCKS! Must deal with the car soon but been busy with work with the other girl out sick earlier this week the whole week is just thrown out.

Just when I thought things couldn't get worse...

Still problems with my medication...I will be calling the Dr's office again today. Managed to fall ass over tea kettle at the hospital where I went to get my blood tested to make sure my liver is ok. Man I felt like an idiot, grazed my finger which just stings more than anything every time I put my hand into water. Got aggravated at Jagr and it wasn't his fault really when he slept all evening, I could have done with talking to him at one point. I think I was just feeling sorry for myself in the end.

Oh and then! Josie vomited around 2 am....so there I am cleaning that mess up. She wasn't right for awhile ate some dried food promptly then went into a corner mewed and threw up again...so out I had to get the bucket again. I think I finally drifted back off to sleep again at 3:30 am...and I'm up again at 5am. On the bright side I got to the office without any noticeable problems.

Will have Jagr keep an eye on Josie I really hope we don't have to get her to the vet.

Monday morning blues

So much for having a relaxing Monday morning. Here I was thinking oh great I have a Dr's apt at 9am...I can have a lie in at home cup of tea check email go to the Dr's and then go to work and I'll be happy....oh no fate had other plans.

I feel crappy today, it's the painkiller day of the month, so I was happy to get a lie in...I go to leave I'm backing out of the garage watching to make sure I don't hit a van behind me...then I hear a crunch..in my effort to avoid the van I am not watching the walls of the garage which put a lovely knock in the side of the car...the new car /cry.

I am driving to the Dr's and I see that I have a message, I check message, Dr won't be in till 1 he will be at the hospital...I turn around come back home again...call Dr's. No no apt still on the books come in...I get to the Dr's...oh no Dr' isn't here come back at 1! AAAAAARRRRGGGGHHH!!!!

At this point I'm like screw work I'm not in a fit state for dealing with any more crap today. I drive back home do email work from home, have a pot of tea to try to calm myself. Call insurance company get that taken care of, still feeling a fool. Then I do some more work, call Mum. Manage not to cry somehow. Pharmacy calls...we can't fulfill your prescription until you see the Dr's and you need to make sure they give the authorization when you see them for the higher dosage...

Sheesh anything else going on today?! I'll take the car in today for an estimate as well and see what that damage will be. I'm glad I made the decision to work from home because I don't think I could cope with being in the office as well right now. But good grief this has been one of the worst mornings in a long time. Can anything else go wrong today?

Pooped!

What an aggravating week this has been. Just lots of little stuff. I'm up to date I think but now the fax is going and I'm like urgh yet more orders?! I hope not. I'm leaving some things for the order department, I really just don't feel like doing any more junk. Going to stick out the rest of the hour here that gives me an extra hour this morning, as I worked through lunch to make up going home a little early. Then again I think I have some more time owed from earlier this week.

And we learnt last night they are going to be renovating the balconies at the apt complex because of dry rot in places. Husband isn't too happy about that but we were warned before we moved in. Hopefully he can still get enough sleep in during the evenings before he has to go to work. Worst case I can talk with some of our friends see if he can find a spot to sleep that might be a bit quieter during the day.

Had Better Days...

Ok I've had better days than this one can I go back home and start from scratch? Horrible night's sleep again last night. And it's one of those days at work, I'm wearing accounting, licensing, orders, customer service and any other random question no one else seems to be able to answer. Keep jumping from one thing to another and never actually getting anything accomplished/ Not to mention I've completely messed up the licensing stuff today. I am sure I am missing some that I needed to verify.

We More Time Off

Now honestly I think European's get too much time off, at the end of her working career my Mum had 7 or 8 weeks a year and she struggled to find the time to take that off. That works out for nearly 2 mths a year. I think I'd be bored with that. But honestly employers in the US really do crack the whip, in most companies you are lucky to get 2 weeks in the first year you work in most cases you get one week for every 6 mths you work so that means at the end of your first year you work. Now get me if I am wrong but when you are hired they generally stipulate 2 weeks vacation a year. But wait a minute 2 weeks a year but I have to work a full year to get that 2nd week then you are moving onto your 2nd year you don't roll over that week you just get 2 weeks so where does that week go?

Not that I take a lot of time off from my job. Just driving to work this morning I notice how light the traffic is then I remember oh yes it's a Federal holiday, one that only half the working population even takes notice of over here and it's not the only one that tends to get conveniently over looked by employers. You have to work in most jobs here 3 or 5 years in a job before you get another week even.

Now I like my job I really do, I just don't like standard business practices of lack of time off...I would kill for three weeks I really would then I get to have 2 weeks off with my husband and we can go on a vacation, that gives us a week to spreed throughout the rest of the year for a day off here and there that you need to get other stuff done or to just take a day when you need it. It makes me wonder when people start using their 'sick' days to do those days off here and there instead does this make business sense? I know I know I'm ranting. Give another year or three and I'll get that coveted extra week and I'll be happy until I have to start a new job at which point you go right back to square one again.

TGIF

Listened to Mur Lafferty's Heaven Season Three Episode this morning on the way to work. For some reason I just love that podcast. She has a new podcast out which I've subscribed to but not listened to yet, I tend to want to wait a bit to let the author put out a few then catch up, that way I'm not killing myself on cliff hangers for too long.

Not been a bad week, did the rebiff injection in the butt, man I swear that is the most painful spot to inject, it always smarts it's like someone flicks you there, an intense sting. Fortunately no reaction so that's a good thing, I'll do the arm tonight and see how that goes then I get to rotate back around to my left side.

Spent a lot of this week falling asleep early and waking up early, ah well nothing like being in the office by 6:30 am most days, and I'm not even supposed to start till 7. Tomorrow should be interesting tho have to get up early get the shopping done before running off to my g'friends for a bunch of pampering. Jagr gave me a morning down there with my friends and a bunch of pampering I'm really quite looking forward to it.

Learnt about a bad oil spill today in the bay area (wonder why I didn't see this in the news yesterday). Kinda sucks anything like this not like we aren't doing enough to the environment as it is.

Got to admit news is pretty depressing at the moment, and people wonder why we are fascinated by celebrities, I admit I do look for gossip but it's a break from the rest of the world. That's not to say I put my head in the sand about what is going on, but at the same time I am not going to post much about it either. Politics and religion are best left away from here.

Lesson #2 when using the auto injector

Lesson #1 was to pull the bit on the end of the adapter to remove the needle cap.

Lesson #2 even if you remember to pull the end off, check to make sure the needle cap actually came off before injecting...I know I pulled it because I had it on the table...

Fortunately both times I've been able to save the medication and done a manual injection. Guess you live and learn. My dosage will increase on my next injection so I'm debating on where I should do it. The plan was to rotate around all the spots but I think I had a reaction in my left arm it almost feels like an insect bite, some swelling and it's been itching on and off, and I think it still looks a little red, not sure I want to do my first normal dose in my right arm and have the same reaction, I'm thinking of just jumping right to the butt, and yep that did hurt last time but at least I don't have a reaction site.

After almost 2 months of almost no scalp itching I think I'm starting to get a little irritation back again, ah well I think that's something I'm going to just have to live with for the rest of my life. At least the flaking is waay down, and hey the steroids were useful for something else other than just treating the MS symptoms. I've tried new hair products in the hope that that will reduce some of the irritation, and I no longer use a shampoo with a detergent which just makes things 100 times worse.

Did pick up the needlework for a bit again last night, hard to do in the evening tho I need better light honestly, and I must remember to have a pencil handy to mark off what I've done, this pattern is to complicated to not do so. I am seriously going to need a lit magnifier to work properly. I just wish I knew what I had done with the original one I had that worked just fine. There are a few out there so I'll be looking for the perfect one. And of course I'll need to find a new framer for my artwork when it's done, I think I'm already missing my lady that I used to use in New Jersey, she really did a fantastic job. What I might do is there is a shop in Livermore that does stitch stuff I might ask there if they can make a recommendation on a framer.

Jagr home!

I will try not to get used to this. But I've actually seen more of my husband in one weekend than I have in the last 6mths! This I can live with, and the occasional bout of overtime won't hurt as much. This new schedule is far more civilized and less taxing on our personal time, and it means the chore's get done whoo hoo.

Got connected via skpye with Jagr's parents now, so that means we can have much easier communication with everyone and they can now talk with my parents without spending a fortune in long distance calls.

Got to admit I love being able to talk over the internet with my folks.

Finally unpicked the mess I had made of my last needlework project, and started working on it again. When I took another look at it I realized I actually had not made as much of a screw up as I first thought, bit of a relief I must say. So now I'm just sitting down watching well listening to the TV and stitching. Would be nice to have a piece up that I've made here. I have not done this in so long and Jagr has never seen me actually complete a project yet. Plus I really want to do more of this while I can still see. I did loose my magnifier tho I think I may have to buy a new one as it' is a bit of a struggle with the small stitches. I'm working on like an 18ct piece of material and that's tiny. I used to have no problems but well time is taking it's toll. I'm looking forward to getting somewhere with this over the coming winter, just need to make sure I get some good light and don't strain myself too much.

First Saturday in Like Forever Together

Yay, with Jagr's new work schedule we get a whole Saturday morning together, it's such a treat! I've already done the meal planning for the rest of the week and we will probably go to the store shortly and get that chore done. Then we'll spend the rest of the morning goofing off or something and both take a nap later in the afternoon.

Spent most of last night reformatting my PC so it actually boots up a bit quicker, got to admit it was starting to take far too long. I just hate having to find all the drivers and so forth, but I guess I only do this once every 2 years. It was certainly time to do it this time, I can be up and running within like 2 minutes now instead of 5 - 10 it was taking before, I used to get up walk away make a cup of tea before sitting down.

Updated the twitter page too to make it look a bit more interesting. Interesting stuff up there if you want to keep up with the podcasters and what they are doing.

Managed to mess up my injection last night, I forgot to take the cap off...(what an idiot), managed to save I think most of the medication, unfortunately I then had to do a manual injection, on the positive side I mess up on the site in my stomach, which is the least painful of the lot. Was honestly surprised at how easy it was to slip the needle in...ah well that cured that phobia a little I guess, but I will try not to do that again. (I still feel an idiot).

Thanks goodness for podcasts....

Sitting in an hour's worth of traffic on the San Mateo bridge this morning, I'm eternally grateful to podcasts for keeping me sane. Lately I've been listening to Diary of a Madman, little bit violent for my taste but I've started so I'll finish. Last few things I've listened to are House Down Cherry Tree Lane, Murder at Avendon Hill, Bright Child. All interesting and loving you guys. Hell of a lot more interesting than the same music on the radio day in day out and the awful reception on the San Mateo Bridge in the morning. Again links are at the bottom of this blog for anyone interested in checking these out. Also been checking out a friends podcast as well, informative if you are having problems conceiving, their podcast is up on i-tunes titled Relax It Will Happen. I know interesting that we would be listening to this as neither of us actually want children. But I'm doing it because these are my friends and I don't get to see all that much of them because well they live back in England and I'm here in the US. Course if you read this blog you will know that recently they did manage to become proud parents.

Got to chat with my niece and sister over the weekend. Wow my niece is a hottie!, my sister better watch out she is going to have problems with boys later on going after her, may need a fly swatter to fend them off there :) Chatting was fun I had Josie in with me in front of the video camera and my niece leaning forward to kiss the monitor, waaay too cute.

Had no trick or treaters come around last night, ah well guess the candy will end up in our respective offices, I may not bother next year. I always like to have some on hand just in case, but in reality I think we have only ever been bothered once by people and that was at our old place not our current one. People just don't like going around apartments I guess, and I admit we didn't decorate the place out to look friendly to em but you just never know.

That hurt!

First time in the butt with the Rebif and ouch! That has to be the worst spot of the lot, it's actually throbbing. I have to wonder if I got the right bit, coz it's really definitely throbbing back there. At least it's the bit I don't actually have to sit on. Course poor Jagr isn't enjoying me having to do this every other day. He has a bit of a phobia with needles, I do figure over time tho he's going to get use to it. Got to admit at this rate I'm going to be skipping the butt if I can and doing the other 6 spots, it's just awkward to do it myself and well yes see above, I may even have to resort to some tylenol for this one. I'll check with the nurse but I think 6 spots still has to be enough to rotate around to skip the butt.

I'm managing at least with self injecting, it's not horrible. Not fun but not horrible. Oh and all your spooks and ghouls Happy Halloween! And someone come by for our candy /sniff no one every comes around apartments trick or treating /whimper.

Jagr Gets Promotion - And some Time off

The jammy so and so he gets to have most of this week off! Ok so my wonderful husband deserves it but /sob I get to miss out spending time with him during the day (sniffle). Ah well I'll cope. Next year baby we have to go away together and spend time together during the day. I'm definitely hoping tho the promotion will mean a bit more time with each other on a weekend.

I gets to go to the salon for some pampering for our wedding anniversary not going to complain. He's set me up with my girlfriends next weekend with a pedicure and a facial, yumm. I should be nice and relaxed by the end of the day.

Oh a quick update on medications so far so good, next week I up the dosage so we shall see but as of yet I've not really felt any of the side effects and the injection sites you can't really notice. I am struggling at the moment with early mornings getting into work, bet part of it is that I now don't see daylight till I leave again. It's 8am now and it's like the black hole of calcutta out the window right now, lots of fog, probably not helping the sleepy feelings. Now don't get me wrong I love the winter I love the fog and I love the rain. Just yep I do get sleepy. Oh and I can't wait till we can use the fireplace, it's still a bit too warm but when it starts droping to close to freezing I am looking forward to using it and curling up with my husband and the cats.

I think tonight I might get the needlework out so that Jagr and read and I feel like doing something quiet like. He wants to start his own podcast so I'm excited for him. Me I think I'll get back into stitching and I want to get into growing some plants out on the balcony. I'm not going to start tho with that project until the summer, I reckon any seedlings I manage to grow right now might not appreciate the chilly mornings, specially as most of them will have to stay outside. Light is still a bit of a problem in our place so we shall see, maybe some plant stands for the bedroom which is the only place that gets daylight during the day.

Started up on Rebif

I got to see the nurse last night and started up on the course of medication which will probably continue now for the rest of my life. First injection wasn't so bad, went into my stomach and so far very little reaction to the medication, only down side is as per normal I'm just exhausted this morning, nothing new there. I do want to cry tho I missed having a lie in this morning which I was looking forward to! Conversely my boss is probably happy that I'm in. Also it meant I could sleep off the worst of any side effects if any last night before coming into work. If we had done it the other way around I could have been even more miserable today.

All in all, so far I can live with the injections in the stomach we shall see about the other spots as we go through them. The nurse was wonderful with suggestions about how to manage some of the side effects and was very thorough explaining all of that, I definitely felt comfortable during the whole experience, she even gave me suggestions for over count things I can get if I end up with red spots and things from the medication. Oh and I need to make sure I have a supply of tylenol handy until I may get used to this, that helps with the flu like symptoms.

Now for the other news Jagr got his promotion at work! Yay, that will be a help to us I'm sure. Not to mention it will change his work nights so we get Friday nights and Saturday mornings together. No more having to do the damn shopping on my own wee! I'll have to do it this weekend then after that hopefully I will have some help. I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to that. The shopping I don't mind so much I really don't it's the lugging it up the stairs and the putting away that I don't like too much. I'm more than happy to plan and go and shop I just hate coming home and dealing with all of it after, specially trying to do it on my own, at that point I am getting tired I really am.

The more I learn about MS

The more I learn about MS the more I wonder about some of the things I experience, and I have to ask myself what is normal to me is not normal for other people. And honestly some of it describes symptoms of MS. Now it is normal for me to get up at least once during the night and go to the bathroom, some nights however I can go a lot more. I've always put it down to being overweight a bit, waking myself up snoring or getting un-comfy sleeping around the cats when I'm awake I have to pee. But...a lot of MS sufferers have bladder issues, I have to wonder if my trips to the bathroom are not related to this rather than to other things. It's something I might mention to my Dr. not that I'm terribly comfortable with that idea but maybe I might be able to get this managed better and perhaps ultimately get a better night sleep. At this point by the end of the week I'm just exhausted half the time from not getting a decent night. I can honestly say I can't go more than at most 3 hours in general before waking up. I seem to go to sleep about 9 and wake around 11 or 12 then go back to sleep wake again maybe 2 or 3 go back to sleep and invariable wake up sometime between 4 and 5 again most times before the alarm goes off.

I get up in the morning and I am dragging my but out to work specially during the winter. I guess only my Dr. can really give me those answers. I'm also reluctant to talk to Dr's. Call me old fashioned but I am. I don't like taking medication I don't like waiting in an office feeling like doodoo forever to see a Dr along with other sick people as invariably I just feel worse. The more I can avoid a Dr. the better, I'd rather live with stuff than see someone about it half the time. I'm the same way about the gynecologist. Admittedly when I see her next I will have a lot to tell her, I really am thinking more along the lines of doing something very permanent so I never had children. I do not want to have a child and for my symptoms to get worse then have Jagr have to take care of me and a child at the same time. The would not be fair. And who knows how expensive MS may and up being with medication anyway.

I'm glad society is more accepting about childless couples and I hope people understand our reasons for never wanting one. We don't have a lot of family support around us that can help out at the drop of the hat, and we like to have our independence. And I don't want a child of mine to grow up to maybe have to take care of me either.

Parents get back safe and sound

Mum and Dad got back safe and sound from their trip halfway across the country. Course all of us were a bit tired last night so we kept it short and suite. Did manage to at least impress them with chicken soup for dinner last night, lets see how we can do with the stuffed peppers tonight. I'm definitely trying to keep to the plan the rest of the week.

So so tired today just got to keep trying to go on. I feel like a zombie tho. Hope this improves because right now I'm a waste of space.

Things arriving in boxes

Yesterday I received the autoinjector and a travel kit that I guess eventually I'll use to inject Rebif. Now for some reason I'm getting a little nervous, but the prospect of my MS turning into progressive some day and that this may help to slow this all down weighs on me for sure.

Day has been weird at work and I mean weird! I get a call from my boss suddenly during lunch asking me what the name is of the people who live in Pennsylvania are called that don't use electricity....then I'm talking with one of our male engineers later. He's all in a hurry to get to an apt to get his tires rotated, he bought those tires only earlier this year, so I ask when was the last time you had them aligned. He was em like never..../smacks forehead on desk. I suggest you might want to get that done he starts moaning that he can't afford that...well if it's out new tires are more expensive than an alignment dude!

Finally things are moving with my medication

Things finally seem to be moving with my medication that I'm going to start taking for MS. Everything has been approved so now I'm just waiting for my first shipment and the nurse so I can learn how to inject this stuff. I'm not looking forward to that part but oh well you do what you have to do right?

It's funny, I mean I don't have a whole lot of MS symptoms but I wonder sometimes if the fatigue I get and the poor nights sleep I have are part of it. Not sure I'll ever know as well I have no idea what should be normal I have nothing to compare it with. Thinks I take as normal for me may just not be normal for other people. I'm not worried about it but more an observation than anything.

Tough day at the office today as I'm juggling a lot of files and things so best to keep this short and sweet. Just wanted to post my relief about the medication. I am going on this because I'm afraid of eventually having an attack again in my eyes and loosing sight more permanently. I can manage the tingling sensations but the loss of eyesight now that bothers me.

Congrats go to FloYd and Rufus!

Close friends of mine from the UK became parent's yesterday wooot! I know this has been a long journey for them and 2 years trying but grats guys I know you will make wonderful parents. I've known both parents for about 15 years I kind of met them same time as I met my ex, FloYd actually had the room next to my ex in the last year he was at Uni. Funny thing is I've kept in touch both with him and his wonderful wife where as my ex hasn't. Strange how things go they were both in attendance at our wedding.

I think FloYd is over the moon about becoming a Dad and both of us wish you guys well. We have nothing but love for you even tho we are far far away.

It's funny there aren't many relationships I cherish but this one I do. You guys are both awesome and I am privileged to call you friends.

New Stuffs

Got the new table and chairs yesterday, and realized then that the woman in the store had managed to order the chairs we didn't want, instead of the ones we did, guess I should have checked my receipt more carefully. I came home and looked at them and I'm thinking they were a bit dark...then I realized they were totally the wrong ones. Having thought about it for some time looking at the table I then decided that it wasn't that bad and I actually quite liked them so going to keep them rather than getting the ones we originally wanted. I'll go ahead and post a picture of the new table later. Either way the whole set up is better than what we had before and even Jagr is enjoying the change in the nook there, with all of the flaps up there is more than enough room to easily sit 6 if we need it but it folds down nicely into a small 4 seating table.

Commute last 2 days have been a bother, why is it people can't drive in the rain here I swear! All you really need to do is slow down a bit and keep your distance morons, please save the rest of us more responsible road traveler's the headaches your spills make. I hope you aren't hurt but for heaven's sake be smart about driving with the roads are wet! We had a spin out on 880 this morning, followed up by a stall on the San Mateo bridge...took me a lot longer to get in than normal. Last night I don't know what was going on but I hit solid traffic the moment I hit the tolls, took forever to get off that stretch of road. The pain is going my alternate route as much as it avoids traffic it's longer both in time travel and in distance instead of the 40 minutes it should take me to get home it took me nearly an hour and a half! Can't see them improving this any time soon but oh man what a pain in the rear end.

And let me take this moment to tell the world what an idiot and ass my eventually to be ex brother in law is...he got thrown into jail Monday night for a domestic incident. My sister didn't elaborate much more than that but at least she knows now it's not just her. Frankly he needs a huge wake up call because my sister is now wondering if she should be letting her daughter spend time with him when he ends up in jail like that. She needs his support helping to raise their child but can she trust him she doesn't think he will hurt their child but I know she is scared. He also blew out the weekend that he was supposed to have with their daughter for some reason. He's not very reliable, I know the army is hard and they have to jump when they say jump, but I think my sister has been making excuses for him for far too long.

My advise was talk to someone independent, not a friend not family for some subjective advise see what her options are and see if there is something they can set up between them. She doesn't want to have to keep their daughter away from him but well he's not exactly being a terribly responsible father either. I feel for her I really do and with our parents here right now she hasn't got many options for help right now. I keep wondering if she should get in touch with one of my friends at least she has a child about the same age and maybe able to help a little bit maybe. Most of her's don't have kids or just live too far away to help.

Anyway, I've rambled enough I hate to put out my sister's problems here mostly I want to rant about the ass and looser that her ex is. He has a wonderful child there ok so she has her bad moments but he is going to loose out I hope he doesn't complain again about not seeing enough of his child that he has to blow off because he's in jail. Idiot needs to stop drinking and turn his life around and stop making excuses for himself and my sister shouldn't feel responsible for him as he's acting worse than a child one child is bad enough but two....

It's Been Awhile

Ok so it's been awhile since I last made a post. But between people visiting, moving and finishing moving in, and then catching up on work, even though I tried to stay on top of that while I was on 'vacation'. Anyway finally things seem to be slowing down a bit. Last week was insane at work as we were running on a skeleton staff which meant I was support, sales and just about everything else it was knackering to say the last.

Anyway back to the more interesting stuffs. Our new dinning room table arrives today, I can't wait to get home tonight and see it! I'm only glad I won't be there when they are delivering it. I also for the first time in awhile managed to get a full night's sleep. Now you might wonder why is having a full night's sleep noteworthy? Well honestly I don't remember the last time I slept like that! I finally figured out that the new bed cover was probably too warm and that had me waking up every 2 hours I swear, last night I finally just left he window open and clearly that kept it cool enough for me to just pass out. I'm going to have Jagr switch our covers today so that we go back to the old one which is lighter and probably easier to sleep under at the moment.

News on the Rebif, they messed up so I'm following up again and if I don't hear by the end of the week I'm going to be jumping up and down on people. I wasn't overly fussed before as I was just insanely busy trying to get other things done with work, with a bit of luck tho I'll get onto that before the end of the week or at least have an appointment with a nurse.

Did I really just have a vacation?!

Man I'll be honest I'm starting to get run down. I just had three days vacation, which was supposed to be a 5 day weekend...of which I checked work email every work day, and even drove to work on Monday morning and put in 2 hours in the office. Then I get back from the 'vacation' and put in a 10 hour day! On the bright side I did actually get a night off last night, I came home from work I didn't have people coming over, I didn't have any boxes to unpack what a relief! Instead I got home from work (late), and collapsed in a small heap in the chair for about 3 hours or so before heading off to bed, and boy did I sleep! Only thing I wish for tho is to be able to sleep more than 2 hours at a time without actually waking up. Not sure if that is normal for most people but it seems to be for me, only blessing on that is I do actually just manage to drop right back to sleep again.

Parents arrive

The parent's have officially arrived for a month long visit to the States. They had a few issues which delayed them getting to us and I believe at that point they were exhausted. First off there were some dings on the car they had to report, not to mention the car was far larger than they expected. Then they got an optional NavSat which supposedly doesn't work properly, I'll let them worry about that one.

Eventually they finally managed to find our apartment poor Jagr did have to go searching for them a bit because I knew I had seen them go by. Oh on the bright side we managed to declare ourselves officially unpacked from the move before they got here. I was able to get up the pictures on the wall which was the last thing that really needed to be done. Approval was given on the apartment and a nod that it was an improvement on the last place.

Today's plan is I'm working a normal day although I might leave early as I have no doubt I'll still work during my 'vacation'. Next year I'm promising myself that we will go away and leave everything behind nothing no internet no email, cellphone only for emergencies but I will not be checking email like I will this time off and I will not go into the office to help finish off end of month accounting. I swear I have to be totally mad to be doing that.

I'm glad that I had set up an appointment with my G/F for Mum so that she can get some TLC, poor Mum has got a stinker of a cold which I know is not easy for her to fly with. She's in for some royal pampering I think at least 2 hours of spa like treatments so hopefully that will help to rejuvenate her a bit. Must not forget to write my G/F a thank you note for that. Nothing like a facial and massage to help things along a bit. We plan on meeting up again tonight for dinner and chatting about Friday for which I'm off so that should be nice. Course whenever my folks wake up in the morning they can probably make their way over to us as there should be someone there even if they are awake stupidly early.

Party on Sunday which should be fun and then shopping for a new table and chairs for the dinning room our current furniture just looks awful in there and is very abused at this point so will be nice to have a set of chairs and a new table.

Beyond that no real plans while they are here other than enjoying the company. I'm sure we will go out for some day trips tho so that poor Jagr can get some undisturbed sleep, although for the most part when he's tired he does sleep like the dead.

Bottomless Pit Monster Strikes Again!

This time Josie (orange tabby) could only wait until 3:00 am till she started bugging me for food. I got her out of the bedroom by trickery and it was quiet until 4:00 am when Lani (dilute calico) decided she didn't like being shut in the bedroom with me and wanted the door open again /sigh. So the door was opened and all hell broke loose. They started fighting, running into things, knocked the gate flying to the office door. We eventually gave in and fed the beast and they we finally settled down and I managed to get another 30 minutes of sleep.

What do you do with a monster that needs constant food?! Not like we don't feed her but this is insane and I know damn well 5 hours later she is going to want yet more. We have to limit her portions but oh boy is it annoying. And it seems if she doesn't get fed she starts to pick on poor Lani. What a grouch!

Settling in

Well,

Thought I would put my first post on the blog, since I'm not killing myself with overtime(or not as much!). They do call me Mustang Sally at work, cause I'm the OT king at the moment.

Nothing like pimping yourself out for mo' money.

Unpacking continues, I've managed to unpack about 6 more boxes today, after sleeping in like a bum. I am on my weekend, so I'm entitled (*sticks tongue out at Lanari*)

Josie still feels the need to want food even after I get home from work in the mornings.

Right now, she is passed out...it's hard work bellowing for meals that go into a bottomless stomach.

Unpacking to continue this week as Lanari's parents arrive from UK on Wednesday. The office is almost back to normal, though we still have more cords than equipment. Seems to be the case always. ( If I could find Murphy, I'd hang him with this stuff)

Moving sucks, but it was a necessity. Lanari described our journey the best why we had to.

I can say it's alot more quiet right now, and this new apt is SO much better.

Until next time

Interesting Hot Sauce!

Wonder what Jagr will make of this month's selection. Desert Rose definitely sounds interesting, as it has a blend of papaya and peppers should be interesting.

I managed to unpack a few boxes this weekend and even got a lot of the electronics set back up yay! That was a task and a half just to get the wiring done. But I think it's fairly cat proof now so with a bit of luck I won't have Lani damaging my wires.

Course right now those two aren't in my good books. Nothing like Josie waking me up at 4:00 to insist that it's time I got up and fed her. I shooed her away a few times till eventually at 4:30 she decides that she is going to pick on Lani and start a fight between my legs. So at that point I called it a lost cause trying to get any more sleep. I sometimes wonder if I am insane when I get here at before 6 in the morning. But I just figure it's better to be up and doing something useful than waiting around and knowing the traffic is just going to get worse and worse. As I'm off at the end of the week an extra hour won't kill me I guess.

Count down begins

We did our first load of laundry last night...what a difference it makes. Now we can wash clothes on our schedule instead of trying to work around everyone else's weee! We unpacked a couple of boxes last night and having done a couple of loads of laundry we obviously now have most of our clothes put away as well. A little bit each day and hopefully we can get a big part of it done by the weekend. It's going to take awhile to set up the computers and get everything put away just so but the living room was definitely clearer last night, I want to get that squared away because it feels so cramped right now. All the sofas and things need to move towards the window some more so that we can walk past the chairs without falling over cats boxes or the chairs.

Had another good nights sleep and I'm still trying to get over how quiet it is in our new place. Bliss sheer bliss.

Josie is still very skittish, she spent the first full day with us sniffing everything and is just acting out of sorts. I did pick up some Feliway yesterday at the pet store to try and help calm her down a bit. Lani well she is just seems a happy kitty again, sleeping between the legs as per normal, although she isn't eating that well yet, but I think there is just too much for her to explore.

Are we there yet?

I'm so tired! I'm tired of being awake all night with my mind going 100 miles an hour thinking about all the things that need to get done with this move then being too damned tired the next day to do half of what was on my mental list the night before.

One more night in our current place and with a bit of luck I'll actually sleep tomorrow night. At least podcasts help somewhat to let me sleep. I'm also hurting who needs stairmasters? We surely don't with all the steps we been taking just moving boxes in and out.

So far a good portion of the kitchen has been moved as has a good portion of the office. The photos are all done off the walls, bathroom needs to be cleared out but then that's hard to do when we still need to use it hehe. Tomorrow I'll probably just get up throw stuff on and go with it till we are in.

I'm definitely wondering how we are going to get the TV in and entertainment unit. The problem being Lani and wires. Oh well I'll worry about that tomorrow I just know it's not going to fit where we would like it, I'm sure it's going to have to sit partly of the window and I don't want that. I want to keep her from behind the there and away from the wires so not sure how that is going to work at all. Might have to consider upgrading to wireless or we may have to cut down on the electronics in the room. All these things to consider. If I put the unit in front of the window that exposes all the wires behind it again and I know what that cat is like. I love her but sometimes I just want to strangle her.

I think tonight it's going to be take out time again, with most of our stuff from the kitchen in the new home cooking is a little hard plus I want everything to be clean. Course one of the first buys is going to have to be a new trash can. One that goes under the sink not enough room in there for the type we have now. Then again we have to see how crafty they are going to be getting into these cabinets. I didn't think about testing them to see how cat proof they are but worst case I'll just move everything not in cans up and away.

Tomorrow will be fun not those cats are going to be howling! I almost hope they wake up the neighbours when we move em, almost, just as a parting gift to show our love. Oh that makes me feel mean. I swear I have half imaginary conversations with that woman just telling her I don't care and good luck with the next people above them. Almost hope they have a bratty kid that's just as obnoxious as hers. Those damn kids were out after dark last night playing in the parking lot it's so freeking dangerous it's not even funny. The carparking lot is so badly lit right now it's impossible to see them especially when they ride so close to the ground on their skateboards etc. it's a wonder someone hasn't hit em yet. Their parents aught to be shot seriously, I'm just waiting for a car slow moving a they go to hit someone specially the big ass trucks that a lot of people seem to drive. They leave their crap littered all over you can barely see it half the time they just leave their bikes out over night etc. One of these days I swear, if we weren't moving I'd really be asking to talk to the parents. Who in their right mind lets these kids out after dark playing in the streets?! It's dark out you come in you stay in you are the boss. It's damn right dangerous.

Gearing up to move

Well, we are almost there, cable is being shut off today so we will be internetless and tv less for the weekend. I guess there are worse things in life. Wonder how much stuff we will get moved on our own. The apartment is littered with boxes at the moment and I'll be so happy not to have to live with our closet doors any more. Lani was thrown out on her earhole last night after repeatedly batting at the doors. At least we won't have that issue in the new place yay!

Slept far more last night than I have done in weeks I actually slept past the alarm! Not sure what got into me maybe it was the cat baiting in the middle of the night. Either way only a few more nights in the hell hole. At this point I think to myself that anywhere has to be better than our current place.

I had a yelling match the other day with another neighbour after I was honking a horn at one of the kids. I despise the kids around our apartment. The parents don't seem to care, they have no respect. I know they are kids I know they are meant to be noisy but it's not fun. Kid rolled out his toy bike thing in front of my car staring at me knowing I am sure that if I did something I was going to get yelled at. And the woman told me to talk to the parents...yeah right what parents like I'm about to go yelling at someone else to tell em how to bring up their kids. It ain't worth the pain. Mutters in frustration. I have to say would be great if there were places that you can rent where you are a 30's something couple with no intention of having kids. Although that makes me wonder if we might just end up then with a party town and I am not fond of that either late night parties are not my scene either.

Oh well once all our debt is cleared up perhaps we can find ourselves a home to rent rather than an apartment.

No more holes to endure

Ok so the daily infusions are over no more holes! The backs of my hands look more than worse for wear, and I was told that I heal quickly! Just as well I have 7 holes in the back of both my hands and 2 more at the elbows. The staff at Valley Care Medical were wonderful. The atmosphere well it's a hospital...I was stuck in PreOp for 4 hours no tv, no visitors just sitting on an very uncomfortable gurney. By the third day I had resorted to taking Jagr's laptop with me to help the time go by. Got to say that was the wisest decision only wish I had thought of that on Monday!

I actually enjoyed the hospital food. No really it wasn't bad. I mean how far wrong can you go with a sandwich and it was made to order so really it was pretty good. I told them there thank you but no offense I really hope I don't have to do this again any time soon hehe.

So the good news is I am now able to drive without the eyepatch. That's a huge relief although I was very careful driving I wasn't comfortable with it. It's amazing you can take your eyes so easily for granted yet when you have difficulty it's one of the most devastating in my opinion. You loose a lot of freedom. I hope I can go another 12 years without another incident.

I can honestly say I am grateful right now that I've started this blog. It's giving me a chance to put down my thoughts save them and well a venting point. A chance to sort out my emotions after all this isn't what you really want to hear at the end of the day. But on the other hand there are people far worse off than you are, so life isn't all that bad. Besides which I'm improving that has to be a good thing.

Ah well day after tomorrow and we get those keys hopefully things will start moving in a better direction. I saw some noise issues with some residents in our new place. I am not sure how it will be I just hope it's an improvement on where we are now, I can't see it being any worse.

Treatment been given a green flag

Looks like my blood test came back just fine. So I will be off to the hospital this afternoon and they will be pumping me full of steroids. Joy! The steroids should shut down my immune system somewhat. This effectively should help to stem the attack on my nervous system. I'm so not looking forward to this but at the same time I hope that it stops any damage going on now. Definitely starting to wonder how much damage I appear to have had so far from all of this. I have been reading and I didn't think about what may have happened that I don't know about. It's not until it hits the area of the brain that is noticeable that half the time you can tell.

I also have to say the more I read about the drugs the more I should rethink and possibly start taking them. We shall see I will definitely be talking with the Dr. more about this. So far I've been lucky and if I can slow this down it may not be a bad thing. Anyway I'll post about how I'm feeling after the treatment today. Hopefully I won't get any of the side effects and I'll be good to go to work tomorrow. I know that they will understand it if I am suffering a bit if I don't come in I just don't want to let em down.

The evil of podcasting

So due to my bad influences Jagr is now also hooked on podcasts. I succeeded in my evil plan mwhahah. Anyway he was busy downloading a bunch yesterday and I had the audacity to call him this morning interrupting him listening to Billi! If you haven't Billibub Baddings is a must listen to cast. Tee you have an amazing sense of humour but be careful my poor husband almost had an accident yesterday listening to you. Links for Billi and the Singing Sword are at the bottom of the page. Jagr also downloaded JC Hutchins and Scott Siegler among others, I think I have him hooked. To all of you podcasters out there thank you! Thank you for the hours of entertainment.

Back to the old ways

I guess that new traffic pattern wasn't working at 880 and 92 because this morning it was back to the way it was. Talk about confusing! I have to admit I didn't like the changes they had made it was pretty terrifying to drive. I'm grateful I didn't have an accident there to be sure.

So now my eyesight is back to almost normal yay! Just in time for the move. It's definitely a relief to know it's almost normal again. Just one of those things I hope I'll only have to live with from time to time.

Count down to the move is still on 7 days and we pick up the keys. Then it will be all go from that point until we are out of where we are now. Love the irony of them asking us to recommend where we live now to friends and family. Not a chance! Never in a millions years, think twice about moving to Ironwood seriously! Place is a nightmare and they are now seriously overcharging on the rent those apartments are not worth it unless you have no other choice. I don't object to the maintenance crew I just hate the management and the place is just so noisy it's not even funny.

Newly Diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis

So yesterday I was diagnosed with MS. I wasn't surprised this has been on the cards so I guess I didn't really react too much when I was told. To an extent I am relieved because now I can start to focus on preventing further exacerbations. At least right now it's not seeming to progress and get much worse so this I can definitely live with. They are going to be putting me on a steroid course to help alleviate the current symptoms. Course trying to get any information from my insurance company is like pulling teeth so I have no idea if this treatment will be covered or not, they weren't exactly helpful in the matter. But either way I'd like to be able to see better so I will go ahead and be damned and we will figure out the costs later.

I have decided for now not to take any of the other drugs. Having spoken with the Dr. and done my own research I may go another 15 years for all I know without another attack and I really don't want to be taking them if that is the case. So now I just have to tolerate 3 days of intravenous steroids should take 4 hours a piece and I have to be done by 6. I am going to do it in the afternoon so that I can work in the morning get in a good 6 hours of work and then leave early and go get the treatments. Going to be a very long day but maybe I can take a nap while I'm being dosed.

Right now I'm just a bit fatigued but at least my strength and reflexes seem ok. Next few weeks are going to be insane tho! Between treatments for the MS and then gearing up to move. And the actual move then I have more follow up appointments and then Mum and Dad show up! I'm actually not planning much of anything for when they are here tho, mostly because I know we will have stuff that needs to be done and I don't want to overdo things either.

My boss is being brilliant about this and is very supportive so I don't have to worry too much there with all this time off I keep having to have. I have been trying as much as possible to keep my hours normal, although I am listening to my body and not pushing myself.

Got to say I'm not looking forward to being hooked up for 4 hours for these drugs, yeesh that's a long time to be sitting with a needle stuck in my arm!

Negotiating the traffic layout

Well having managed to successfully get to work again in one piece I have to question again the wisdom of that connector interchange at 880/92. Aware of the changes this time at least I was prepared! Again no signs or warnings. Mutters about bad planning. Worst part of it is you are dumped more or less into on coming traffic and there is limited visibility there specially for me.

But I just thank my lucky stars I got here in one piece. Now to enjoy a nice long weekend! Weee hopefully we will get off early today although with no Nadim in the office not sure how we will pull that one off but not my problem as they say.

Hate for Caltrans

OMG! Ok so right now I have problems driving in the dark, I can manage it but it is far from easy and I am definitely stressed driving in the dark. I don't like it period my depth vision is all off and I'm very scared pulling into on coming traffic, on the bright side I'm probably far safer than a lot of drivers because I have to pay more attention to what I'm actually doing.

So anyway I worked from home yesterday as I woke up with a headache didn't sleep well etc, and from experience that ain't a good combination to drive with. All well and good, so I make sure I'm in the office today. No problem! You would think, NOT. Caltrans, sometime between Tuesday morning and Thursday morning redid the entire junction from 880 to 92, scared me silly! No warnings and it was pretty unclear as to the new traffic pattern. Not something I want to experience again thank you very much!

Ah well lets hope I'll get it next time I have to drive it and at least I managed not to hit anything.

Love the days he brings me to work

Got to love the days right now where my husband ferries me back and forth to work. Takes a whole lot of stress off of me for driving specially in the morning. Although right now of course traffic is a bit lighter than normal. I think I'll cope.

But the mornings he brings me to work it's a nice time for us to catch up with each other. A time where neither of us are over tired he's often slept the night before I'm not tired from the days work and not being able to see. There are no distractions no tv just the two of us so we get to really talk to each other.

Anyway for the people wondering where we are at why we aren't calling etc. we are thinking about you, just the stress of everything going on right now is getting so us a bit. With all the extra time Jagr is working to make sure we have money in our pockets just in case of my medical expenses, all the moving costs. All the headaches that come with moving that you have to do. Gawd I hope I don't have to move again any time soon. 4 times now in 15 years and this is the first time I've really looked at what I have and downsized. Should have done it eons ago but the last time I was too emotionally messed up to deal with that.

My hopes are to keep a better home with less junk that needs dusting, keep things more minimal and really seriously just ditch the crud that's just sitting there and never being used. Definitely looking forward to being in a nicer place friendlier people.

Oh I just finished another podcast, the Noggle Stones funny! Something I thoroughly enjoyed listening too, production of this podcast was first class. It's hard I listen to these podcasts for a couple of weeks I get into the characters and then I have to say goodbye. Anyway this was another nice cast I could listen to easily on my commute.

I think I might move back to Scott Siegler for awhile so I can listen to complete books. I'm trying not to listen to Hutch, I love you man but it would drive me crazy having to wait a week for your next episode, so I'm letting you get ahead of me before I listen to the last of the 7th son novels, rest assured tho I am subscribed to your feed even if I haven't been listening to it yet...I am just savoring it waiting for the moment to open it up and start like you would a fine vintage wine, you take it out look at the bottle examine it put it back knowing it's not quite the right time and want to leave it but the temptation is there.

No change

Well no change in the eyesight not that I expected anything, I'm getting a little more used to it I think but that's about as far as it goes. Ah well at least another week before I get to see the neurologist and who knows how long after that it will take. Got to say at this rate I'll be back to normal vision again before anything gets done but oh well.

I spent the morning going through my books. We really want to try to downsize the amount that we have. It was a little distressing to put over 100 in recycling but I just don't have time to sell them or the patience and no one really wants them so in the recycling bin they go. A little sad but at the same time somewhat well enlightening a bit as well. Lot of books I know I'll never read again so they are just hanging on the bookshelves gathering dust, dust and em yet more dust. I might kull a few more later, if we can downsize what we have to 2 bookshelves I think we will be in good shape, and it's less to pay the movers to move. I mean I have had a lot of these on my shelves for years either I've read them or just will never read them and I paid to have them move as it was from NJ to here and all they are doing usefully is gathering dust.

I also went somewhat through my wardrobe again throwing out anything I'm unlikely to wear again or haven't worn in years. I should really get rid of my winter coat as well. Not something I'm going to need in California and we just don't go anywhere where I would use it. I haven't worn it in years and again it's just taking up closet space that we could use for something else.

I'm also probably going to take the shears to my wedding dress keep a piece of material from it for a scrap book but I don't see myself wearing it again I have no kids it's silly! I'm not one of these ultra sentimental people and I have pictures to remind me. Again it's closet space I could use. It's such a great opportunity to really take a look at what we have and what means anything to us. And at some point real soon now I need to take a stab at my office desk again..../sigh the stuff just builds up on there so quickly. Partly because I think I never did finish cleaning it off the last time.

Just craziness

I think Jagr is starting to come to terms with things now. I have to say it's not all bad, there are so many more things far worse than what I potentially have that could happen. Friends are being great and have said if we need some help with shopping etc then they would be more than happy to help out. I think so far shopping for me is the worst of it all, there is so much visual stimuli in the stores and with my poor vision it just feeks me out a little bit and it's not easy to find the items I want either necessarily.

Bless his soul my husband drove me to work this morning as well which actually had me in a great mood this morning, rather than stressing over trying to drive myself in. I can do it and I have done it's just a tiny bit em yes well stressful is the best word as I have to turn almost around to see into my blind spot. For the most part I just stay in the lanes where I don't have to change lanes a lot. I am fortunate that my drive doesn't involve too many changes, and I'm fine as long as I don't have a stall in front on me that I have to negotiate. It also means today I can work a full day and not worry too much about how tired I get as well.

I am probably getting ahead of myself but the more I have been reading about MS the more the symptoms that I've had point towards it so I'm not devastated by the news and it's funny people around me seem more concerned than I am. I'm happy I still have a lovely husband and right now the only issue is I see a little wonky and I have to be extra careful. I have a tendency to get a bit tired from trying to work with the computer so I take more breaks than I normally would. And hey I can touch type so I don't actually have to watch what I'm typing fortunately.

I'm still young and mobile and there are just so many people worse off than me, and I am really trying to look on the positive side of things. Chances are very likely a couple more months and I'll be seeing again just fine anyway. I think the only thing this may change is making me actually try to enjoy each day as I can and while I can. It's not one of those things that you can try to predict so why worry about it too much?

A diagnosis

Well having seen a couple of Dr's the last 2 days I have a diagnosis. Turns out I have something called 6th nerve optical palsy....and if that sounds a mouthful what it breaks down to is my left eye doesn't work just right. My vision in the stronger right eye is fine but my left eye won't track objects properly to the left side which is causing the double vision. That's like if you look straight ahead and then to the left my right eye does it just fine but my left eye gets so far moving to the left and then just stops.

This happens on a semi regular basis to people and in a lot of cases in about 3 mths it sorts itself out again. Because I've had problems with my left eye before they are trying to get me an MRI just to be on the safe side, lets see what the insurance company thinks otherwise, we give it 3 mths if it doesn't go back to normal then we have to look at treatment options. You have prisms and surgery options available so we shall see what happens I guess.

I can drive I just need to keep my left eye closed while I'm driving which cuts out the double vision problem, I have 20/20 vision in my right eye so I won't need glasses to drive good job it wasn't the other way around coz my left eye doesn't see so good and I'd need corrective glasses for that one.

All in all I'm happy enough with things I do get tired at the end of the day and I have a tendency to get a headache as well as it's just weird to be seeing like this. But at least we a diagnosis and I know that I'm not going crazy imagining things got to say at one point I did think this was just in my head.

Going cross-eyed, literally

Ok well after all the stress etc. and actually getting a place to live yada yada, I have to report I'm having some eye trouble again. I've had issues in the past it's not like that but it's certainly not fun either. For some reason I'm getting double vision, this is making it almost impossible for me to drive to work, joy. So we are now off seeing Doctor's etc to try and figure out what is going on. I feel fine in myself just it gets aggravating after awhile not being able to see properly. My near distance is mostly ok I get tired easily but I can at least read up close, distance and driving sure is a problem tho. I'll keep people posted on what is going on.

We found a place to live yay!

So our stress levels should drop we signed a lease and will be all set to move next month. Got to say we can't wait to get out of this dump! Management were great answered all our questions, cats will be fine there it will cut down on both of our commutes just as well coz it's a bit of a hike in rent on what we are paying now but oh is it worth it! We will gain a bunch more storage space which is great and lovely amenities like central A/C. To our current landlords see what nice tenants you will be loosing, and well I'm afraid I want to steal words from Kelly Clarkson's last hit, 'I will never wish bad things but I don't wish you well', but that's how I feel about the people at our current location. If we had been actually treated more civilly and the manager here had actually deigned to talk with us it would have been a different story, it almost feels as if we have been treated like dirt and it doesn't leave a good taste in the mouth. All I can say is thanks we found a place 100 times nicer than here and with people who actually care about the property and their tenants, rather take that than this bs. We asked civilly why they weren't giving us the option to renew they could have just said ok we just want to renovate and charge more..big deal the cold shoulder attitude wasn't great, if I were the boss of the manager and I saw that I would fire them on the spot. But I'm not instead I can rant here so forgive me.

Anyway time to relax de stress and then to start worrying about the actual move, we got 4 weeks so that should be plenty of time.

TTFN

Updates

Well it's been over a week. Lets just say last week was a tiny bit stressful and I'm probably understating things there. We had a lovely notice from our landlords telling us to vacate end of next month (joy) Jagr wasn't happy about this he was hoping we could go to a month to month lease and maybe stick it out a bit longer to save up a bit more cash. They also wouldn't give us a reason I suspect they want to renovate and increase the rent on it oh well. So now we are busy trying to find a new place to live in. I have a feeling we may end up moving down the road to Dublin/Pleasanton given that we have 2 cats that really limits the number of places available to us in Livermore and we just can't quite afford to rent a house there either. We are also trying to see if we can find a place with it's own washer and dryer rather than having to share and lug the laundry around every week. Got to say after 4 years for me and well 6 or 7 for him we are both tired of that lark. I hate to have to move our of Livermore but short of trying to get a new lease on a different apartment out of our landlord (no thanks not after this), quite honestly not a chance. I have to say the whole business over this has left such a sour taste in my mouth that I never want to have to deal with Prometheus Management again.

With the increase in rent and no noise reduction the whole place is old and stinks I would rather pay another 100 or so for a much nicer place than our dump. The paintwork looks awful that they did last year and already looks like it needs repainting, I want out of there. And the management there just don't care and they give that impression, I don't want to live in a place like that thank you. So we are looking at moving down the road, just more choices and well it would shorten my commute so I guess that's a plus, most likely it would knock 20 minutes or more a day off my slog. That or we move to Tracy and I add to what I do now and I'm not sure I want to do that I'm at about my limit.

Also I was on my own last week doing both admin jobs in the office, it wasn't fun. I skipped having a lunch break a lot just to get everything done.

Jagr's grandmother is going into hospital soon as we are both wishing her well. Maybe after things have settled down we have moved etc we can find the time to go and visit her. I think right now in all honesty we are struggling a little bit. Jagr with sleeping with the nightmare of the noise situation and to add now we have to find time to go apartment hunting with our odd schedules. We will cope it's just not easy, I'm thinking I'm going to have to take more time off again so we can move and both look at some places together.

This last weekend I just shut off I admit it. I was so tired after the last few weeks and a week of hell at work I didn't want to do anything useful other than just try to relax and de stress. I think I slept something like 12 hours Friday night which was bliss, then when it got a bit warm again in the afternoon Saturday I stopped on the computer playing Oblivion moved to the sofa watched a movie then fell asleep in front of the ac. Sheer bliss I almost felt refreshed by the time I went back to work again yay! Another 2 months and I get some time off I'm so looking forward to that I haven't really had a chance at some good R&R since our wedding last year....em wait was that really R&R I'm not sure it was so em goodness May last year then for a long weekend out in the country. Jagr is even worse! Oh well just keep going a bit longer get this move over with then perhaps we might get a chance to relax for a few months. Got to say thank goodness we started to save to move or we would have been in real trouble 60 days isn't that long when you think about it by the time you pay bills etc and moving ain't cheep! At least we won't be going into horrible debt to find some new place to live.

Anyway time to do some work I've rambled enough and ranted. Our apologies to everyone we have been neglecting. It might be a bit longer now but we do think about you all.

It's Monday and people are making my day!

So first thing I do is check my mail and my sister has some wonderful pictures of my niece sitting in my mail box. Her little girl is stunning! I can see her having problems when she's older keeping the boys away! I cannot tell you how much she looks like her mum when she was her age. It's definitely strange for me to watch her grow up I can't believe she is going to be three next year, I think a lot of it has to do with me not having children of my own. Not that I'm complaining.

Then I get an email from one of our friends wanting our address for a wedding invitation. Course the last time I saw him was at our own wedding last year! Guess I'm going to have to go shopping for an outfit! Provided of course the dates work :)

Then to top it all off I'm checking out my blog, given I try to put in something a couple of times a week and lo I spied a comment from the Mighty 'Mur Lafferty' wow, talk about well yes. I don't want to sound like a little school kid (I'm surely not that) but it did make my day. Thanks for putting a smile on my face on a Monday morning that's hard to do! So just because she said something nice I'm going to give the link again for her book, you can also subscribe and download from podiobooks the link to which is at the bottom of the page. Seriously help support these guys they do a great service.

So for anyone actually out there reading this blog, and clearly there are people are other than just our close family, go check out the links are in this blog. I'm constantly listening to podcasts and looking for great stories out there and when I find one worthy I'll post what I think about it.

Which I guess is about time I posted about the latest one I'm listening to Daughter of the Son, definitely compelling and a great story weaver. I have a feeling at the end I'm going to be left wanting more.

And if you need a good book I recommend 'The Sharing Knife'. I so rarely recommend books but I managed to finish off the first volume over the weekend (yep I actually found time while cat sitting to sit down and read). Wonderful characters and a great sense of humor, I was chuckling my heart out and kept having to explain to my poor husband just why I was laughing so much.

Is it really Friday tomorrow already?!

This week is going past at lightening speed I am floored that it's Friday tomorrow already and we haven't done that much really.....I mean a little golf and a little socializing and suddenly the week has just flown by without as much as a hello. End of next month we will be doing some house hunting in earnest. Something also tells me this weekend is going to go by far too quickly as well what with doing the pet sitting and plans I think my g'friend is concocting.

Oh and while I'm at it anyone what a cat or two? They are house trained em purr good company..? The downside is the playing with cupboard doors, and windows in the middle of the night...I was certainly wishing I had a water gun at some point last night.

And I will mention here what is the attraction to my legs?! I go to sleep on the bed with Lani and Jagr, she's curled up against my leg as per usual he's just happily sleeping...I have to get up and I realized I had cold feet and Lani was sleeping on the covers in such a way that I was getting no foot cover. So I moved to the sofa mostly to warm up, leaving both of them on the bed. I must have woken up about an hour or so later only to find Lani has moved from the bed ignoring Jagr completely and come over to the sofa and is back down by my legs again...course now I have no room to stretch out again so back I go to the bed...and back she follows me and curls up with me Jagr moves to the sofa and she won't even give him another thought preferring to curl up between my legs, I guess I get to have a constant bed partner even when he's busy off working /sigh. I love them dearly but sometimes!!!!

About time I checked in

So I lost miserably last night at "Pirates of the Caribbean Game of Life". It's a little different from your normal game of life and we all had fun picking on the person with the Black Pearl. Personally I just acted the banker let other people spin the wheel for me and kept giving my money back and forth with my friend's son, I was trying to be nice really.

Totally forgot that my friend cannot handle pepper's so showed up dutifully with three dishes all containing peppers one of which was nothing but peppers. Ooops! I'll remember that next time, at least she can eat and will eat the dishes containing a small amount of peppers. All the left overs will be recycled for tonights picnic at the concert in Livermore, should be fun.

The flood waters keep rising in UK, wow I don't miss that. Although the weirdest thing is I seem to remember as a child more rainy days than I had as a teenager. Then again there is rain and then there is RAIN. I think the folks back at home have had more than enough. Guys I'm thinking about you and well you can always pass some of that water this way we didn't get any where near enough rain fall last year definitely a little on the parched side.

Spare me the Potter hype...

Ok, I admit it I am looking forward to getting my copy of the final Harry Potter. Thank you to the in-laws that was one of the books I choose for my birthday gift. But the last week it's been constantly in the news this one has shipped it early, the review is out early...it's just a book! Ok so it's the end of an epic series but purlease. I'll ready it I won't post the ending it's not fair on other people we all know that 2 of the characters are killed off, I will not be another killjoy I will not.

So I was listening to an audio book on my way to work this morning I had to laugh. The author had been able I guess with permission to incorporate another podcaster's characters into her book. Talk about hilarious, again I won't spoil it but listen to Heaven by Mur Lafferty for a surprise, I certainly was.

For all those guys out there creating podcasts putting your books and writing and works out on the web thank you! You have no idea how much of a difference you have made to my commute.

New Stuff Can't Wait!

So Jagr's new hot sauce of the month arrived today, that stuff looks lethal! I actually searched on the bottle for a warning. It reads....
'The Thinking Man's Pain'
if that doesn't make you stop and think about trying this nothing will. We will let you know how it actually tastes and if we survived.

Also in the mail was the oblivion expansion cd and the guides to go with it. I think I'm in for a lot of fun over the weekend, I actually can't wait. But I will not give into temptation. Playing any kind of computer games during the week is a bad combination with work, it's far too easy to get caught up in what I'm doing and not get to bed on time, and I cannot stay up late and get up at 5:00 am and actually drive safely.

Any ho the next weekend is going to be pretty busy. I have a hair apt, and I must make sure I am prepared for a long week next week. Monday night I think is going to be golf night, which means golf for Jagr in the afternoon followed up by dinner round at my g'friend's. Then Tuesday I'm making him prepare a picnic for the evening outside with live music and wonderful company. Should be fun albeit a bit knackering, once in awhile tho it's work forgoing a little sleep just to enjoy wonderful company. If I think about it I'll try to remember to take the camera with me and take some snap shots.

And we are already halfway through another week closer to being able to think about moving. Yay! We can't wait!

I also apparently miss all the fun stuff with the cats. Josie yesterday decided she would have one of those days, Jagr swears she is going senile. For 3 hours yesterday they were both acting loopy. At one point Josie was up on the bookshelf howling at goodness knows what, at another point Lani was hiding in the laundry basket waiting to pounce out at Josie. Course as Josie walks by instead of her pouncing out she managed to tip the basket over clothes and all, which ended up with cats laundry baskets all on top of each other. Add to that Lani was just yelling and mewing trying to get some attention from him. Never think our lives are dull!

All change (again)

Eventually my husband is going to make up his mind which shift he's going to work on I think. He's changed his mind so many times over the last couple of weeks about switching off the graveyard to the swing shift it's not even funny!

Of course most of this has been due to the possibility of a promotion or not... We agreed longtime if the promotion came up that he would stay on the graveyard and take it because it would benefit us greatly, then it looked like the guy wasn't going to retire for another 2 or 3 years. Well what would be the point of staying on graveyard? Then the guy turns round and says oh no it's ok I can still retire in a couple of months. He's part of a different union so he won't have to pay the large cobra medical payments that would have eaten up most of his pension. Not sure if this is good news or bad news, it means for the next few months he's going to have to put up with the lousy schedule. On the bright side it means more overtime which in turn means the more money we can put aside for moving and other expenses and so forth. The downside is we have to continue to put up with the neighbour from hell and interrupted sleep until we can move. Then again we are already halfway through July one more month after this and we can do some serious looking around for a new place to live. I want to be out of our current place during September. I think given the savings we have we can afford at least to do that. Overall financially we are better off with him on the graveyard. Ok so the hours are unsociable he's going to be stuck on that shift for a good 5 years or more but long term that benefits us. We can get out of debt a lot quicker and then start to actually save up for our own place. Oh and replace eventually his car. I do want to at least get rid of one of our debt payments tho before we replace that car. Unless of course we manage to save up the full price of the car at which point it won't be an issue. Then again we need a vacation damit!