On life... in 2017

Oh, life…how you seem to pass me by.

It’s been busy around here. I can’t even remember when I wrote last or what I even wrote about.

I got struck with Influenza A ON Christmas Day. We had Christmas at James’ parent’s house the day before and I was tired, but nothing out of the ordinary since I had closed at work the night before and didn’t get home until about 2 am, then had to be up at like 9…if not earlier…I showered, and we did presents with the kids since we were leaving so early the next morning for my parents. I ate normally that day (we do appetizers instead of a real meal).

On Christmas Day, I was up at 7. Showered, packed the last couple things, and got the kids in the car by 8. I told James that if he wasn’t in the van by 8:00 (I hate being late and I wanted to be there by noon), he wasn’t coming. OF COURSE, he had to shit last minute (he always fucking does this and it drives me NUTS), so at 8:05, he got in and of course I was irritated. He napped most of the way THANK GOD and the kids were pretty good. I jammed out to Prime Country on Sirius. I felt tired, but fine (I’m ALWAYS tired it seems…so, didn’t think anything of it) since I did drive 4 hours.

We got to my parents and I told my mom that after lunch, I was going to rest because I’d had a long week and we were gonna open presents that afternoon since my brother & niece had to leave right after dinner. I was having trouble warming up, too. I was SO COLD. I ate…only because it was the MOST AMAZING MEAL KNOWN TO MAN. Oven roasted stuffed duck, sauerkraut, dumplings, cranberries…omg. It was my mom’s specialty when they had their restaurant and I requested it for Christmas dinner!

So, I ate and then I was STILL freezing. I cuddled up in the chair and that’s when it hit. I was hot, cold, dripping sweat, fever, body aches, coughing…OMG. It was awful. I hardly ate for DAYS. We left on Tuesday and I hopped right back in bed when we got home. I tried to go to work Wednesday night, but decided in the afternoon, it was NOT going to be a good idea. I FINALLY got the staff figured out and thank god I did because they ended up being SUPER busy and I definitely wouldn’t have been able to keep up.

I got over the influenza part and the came down with an even worse cough. On January 1st (after working open-close on NYE), I went to Urgent Case and was “unofficially diagnosed” with Walking Pneumonia. It wasn’t officially diagnosed because I didn’t get a chest xray. I got some antibiotics and was on my way.

The following weekend was my work Christmas party. My co-worker & I had been planning it for about a month. Food, games, Secret Santa exchange. Employees only. Instead our one co-worker’s disgusting excuse of a human being decided to plop his gross ass down at our table. There were several attempts at subtly getting him to leave, but he wouldn’t. We would have been fine with having the other guys down there, but since we didn’t want him down there…we didn’t INVITE the other ones. (I even said, “My husband is up there where he should be.”) We ate, played Card Against Humanity, did our Secret Santa exchange, had drinks, and played Pictionary.

After all that, we helped clean up and waited for our pink limo! It took us to the bar we were going to. We all had a good time dancing, chatting, hanging out. The people who lived my way all took a cab together.

Two weekends after that, James went on a guys fishing weekend. That Monday, he went out of town for work for 2 days. I worked the next weekend. That next Monday (the 30th), my parents came into town to watch the kids while I worked extra hours for my co-worker who went on vacation to Florida. Unfortunately, I owed my mom some money from stuff she ordered off Amazon Prime for me and that’s where most of my “extra” money went. While they were here, they finished our basement. IDK if I wrote about it, but a couple months after we moved in, the basement flooded and we gutted it. Finally got all the leaks taken care of and they put up new studs, outlets, insulation, plastic, & sheetrock. James mudded & taped (he’s quite talented, but he has ZERO ambition unless my mom is here to be like GET IT DONE), then once that was all done, my mom painted. I love it. We got a couch for $30 from his mom’s work friend, but we still need to do the floor (a decorative concrete). In order to do that, it needs to be cleaned REALLY REALLY REALLY well. Meanwhile, we have this giant couch in our sitting room and taking up a giant amount of space.

I work Wednesday-Monday this week. Next Friday, the 24th, we have James’ work party at the Casino. They got rooms for all the employees and a plus one. Saturday, we have Maddie’s Spring Showcase for gymnastics. (Guys. She’s SO GOOD. Like…crazy good for her age! Her teacher wants to go back into the Pre-Team program SO BAD. We’re actually going to the gym for Open Gym today to work on some of her skills.)

My parents come BACK March 2…because we LEAVE FOR NASHVILLE on March 3 after I’m done working. We’ll be driving down there and leaving March 8. Probably stopping in & staying in St. Louis on our way home. I go back to work on Friday the 10th.

We’re doing the Opry Saturday night. So far, Love & Theft, Steven Curtis Chapman, and Mark Wills are playing that night! Then we do the tour after the shows. I’m not sure what else we’ll exactly be doing, but hopefully he won’t be an asshole and we’ll have a good time.

After that, life should slow down a little. LOL! I feel like it’s been GO GO GO for so long.

Ok. I need to hop in the shower soon!