Still Down!

I am still struggling with a cold. Now into my sinuses and chest. Yuck! But my sister is coming for a visit. Hopefully we can have fun anyway!

If it's not one thing . . . it's another!

My sockets are well on their way to recovery. They are healing nicely and aren't painful at all. Unfortunately, Andrew decided to share his little cold with me so I have been battling a sore throat for about a day and a half now. It's really not bad, as I can function at work, but I'm just not 100% yet. My sister is coming to visit this weekend and I just want to be all better by then.

I do know that I am feeling better because I have been thinking about working out and diets. When I am feeling completely lousy, those are usually the last things from my mind! I can't wait until I am completely back to normal.

Happy Birthday to my sister!

I decided that what better day to write a post about my best girl friend in the world, than on her 26th birthday! Happy birthday to my sister, Jenny. Where can I begin to tell you how much my sister means to me. Here are some of the wonderful memories that I have about my sister.

- From a very early age she was nice to me and included me in her circle of friends. I have many wonderful memories of playing Russian spies in our basement with my sister and Sasha.

- My sister always let me be the bride when we played 'wedding!' :)

- My sister was always there to share her bed and her 'blanket' when there was a terrible thunderstorm outside. Of course, she usually had to wake me up before I would hear it!

- My sister was always up for staying up late on Christmas Eve to be 'Santa' and to put gifts in our parents stockings.

- My sister put up with me in junior high when I copied the way she dressed, what she did . . . and pretty much her every move.

- My sister included me with her friends in high school and drove me around when I couldn't drive.

- My sister encouraged me to go to Sterling College and invited me to come stay with her when I was in high school.

- My sister included me in her circle of friends at college. She even went with me to the Service of Dedication the day I arrived on campus so I wouldn't be lonely after my parents had gone home.

- My sister helped me through one of the most difficult times of my life in college by just being there for me to talk to and by providing active solutions for my problems. I don't know what I would have done if she wouldn't have been there for me then.

- My sister let me sleep in her room at college, and even her bed, if my roommates were sick, or if I was just lonely.

- My sister makes the world, especially mine, a MUCH better place! I am so proud to call her my sister!

Happy Birthday, Jenny!

Weekly Appreciation

I have had lot of things to appreciate this week. These are not in any particular order (after Andrew, of course) Here are some of them. . . .

1) My caring husband, who took wonderful care of my after my teeth were extracted! He was so thoughtful and thought of things that I couldn't while I was out of it for a while.

2) My parents for the beautiful flowers that brought me great comfort and for the many comforting phone calls!

3) Andrew's grandma, who worked hard to make me comfortable this week, along with her regular nursing duties, and she can make a mean batch of biscuits and gravy!

4) My co-workers and boss for their concern for me throughout the week, their prayers, and their insistance that I leave early when I looked pale from pain!

5) Andrew's grandpa, for the long talk and reassurance he gave me right before I left for the dentist.

6) Andrew's mom for making me tea and a smoothie and for checking up on me.

7) For my puppy, who is almost not a puppy anymore, for cuddling and keeping me company in bed!

Thanks to all who helped take care of me. I am feeling so much better today after receiving my second treatment of antibiotic packs. I hope I didn't leave anyone else out but I'm sorry if I did.

Appointment

Well, I have an appointment with the dentist today at 12:30 so he can check for dry socket. I had such a painful night. I woke up at 4:00 am and couldn't sleep because of the pain. I didn't want to take a prescription pill because I wanted to be able to drive to work. So, I took some Ibuprofen and got ice for my face. I eventually fell back asleep. I made it into work today and actually feel a little better than yesterday. We'll see what the doctor says. I am ready for some pain relief. Poor Andrew has a little bit of a cold. I have tried out several natural remedies to see if it will shorten the time of his cold. So far it hasn't gotten too bad.

Ouch!

Today has to be the most painful tooth day of all. I am so lucky that my place of employment has been so understanding and has let me off early all week. I have a feeling I am going to have to leave early today too. I didn't take a Vicodin last night and so I wasn't dizzy this morning but I did have a considerable amount of pain. I have called the dentist to see if this is normal. Argh!

New Look

I have been considering a new look for my blog for some time. This really isn't exactly what I had in mind but I'm not quite up to doing many changes without Andrew looking over my shoulder. So here it is for the time being. My pain is a bit better today but I am still experiencing some dizziness. Since we are being hit with a terrible snowstorm, it wasn't fun to drive/slide to work while dizzy this morning. I still have a bit of recovering to do!

Update!

I have been a bit out of commission since my wisdom tooth extraction on Friday. Friday evening I felt so good and thought this was going to be a breeze and then the pain hit. I made it to work this morning but my whole face is throbbing. I told the pastor that I probably wouldn't make it through the whole day and he said that was just fine. I just hope now that I can make it home. I refrained from taking any prescription strength pain pills this morning, because of the driving, but I still feel a bit like I am underwater. All I want out of life at this point is my bed, prescription pain killers, and my snuggly puppy! How many hours until I can climb back into bed?

My Personal Nurse

As my first major ordeal (having my wisdom teeth out) without my mother within 50 miles, looms on the horizon, I must take this time to reflect on how lucky I was to have her as my own personal nurse growing up.

When I needed just a bite to eat, it seemed as if, magically, she would appear with one piece of toast, topped with butter and cinnamon/sugar, cut into perfect squares. Her cool hands always felt good on my hot forehead and she always knew I was really sick if I didn't want to watch TV. She let us keep a bell by our beds, just in case we needed her. She would make us chicken noodle soup in bed and run our baths for us. There was even the time I convinced her to let me have nachos from a can (the spicy cheese kind) because I told her they would clear my sinuses!

Other things she put up with: the time I had pneumonia and I wanted about twenty pillows to use on the couch (we have a picture that is very funny), the time I passed out while having my blood drawn in the Stafford hospital, the other time I passed out while having a needle poked in me at the allergist, holding a bucket for me when I couldn't move due to anethesia, while I got sick after my gallbladder surgery (no one else was there!! only person I know who would do that for their married adult daughter!!).

My mother has not only cared for us all of these years but she brought our dog, Hunter, though a case of Parvo, by feeding him chicken noodle soup and gadorade. :)

This is not meant to be a put down to my husband or anyone else who might help me through this wisdom tooth ordeal but we all must agree . . . there is just nothing like your mother when you are sick!

We've survived one year!

One year ago we were getting our puppy, Dewey. We have managed not to kill him even though he has eaten towels, Sunday dinner pound cake, insulation, and numerous Kleenex. I wouldn't trade my little snuggly smiling beagle for the world regardless of how much trouble he gets in!

http://jaimeschechter.blogspot.com/2005/04/thats-cute-dog.html

Voice Lessons

One of the main reasons that I am probably going to quit May Festival Choir after May is over is the fact that I would like to teach voice lessons again. I did put an add in the paper when I first got here but I didn't get any response. I'm not sure how to attact students in this area but I will probably check with the local schools. I never thought I would stay this (before I taught lessons) but I miss the students. Maybe I was just spoiled with the good students that I had in Sterling but it was fun to interact with students that age. I would like to do that again and the little extra income doesn't hurt either! :) If anyone has any good ideas of how to advertise for that sort of thing, please let me know. Of course, I probably won't advertise until May and then say that lessons will start in the summer, or maybe I should wait until our house is finished but I'm not sure about that. Anyway, any ideas would be helpful!

P.S. I would seriously consider giving family discounts! :)

Who knew?

Who knew that I could do so much and just get up the next day to do it again? I am thinking this is only a taste of what May will be like with the choral festival. I have been driving downtown each night this week for practice. Luckily, I have been able to get home around 9:30 pm each night. We were expecting it to be later. Tonight is the first performance in which I am singing with the May Festival Chorus as they perform with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. We are performing Mahler's second symphony. It's a pretty cool piece of music if I do say so. We are singing much but we do have to sit up there through the whole thing since there isn't an intermission. I am trying to convince Andrew to take just one picture of the May Festival up there for proof so we'll see.

I am still torn whether or not I should quit the chorus. It is one of those things that I love to do while I am there but I dread driving down there and back so much and it does take a lot of time. I think I should probably quit it after the May Festival and then just plan to join again in the future if my time allows it! I have been thinking about how much money I spend just in gas money driving down there and it doesn't seem worth it. I am really glad for the experience but I'm just not sure I can keep it up.

Family!

Please be praying for Andrew's grandpa. He had some emergency breathing problems yesterday and had to have a traech tube put in yesterday! He needs a lot healing! Just pray that he will have comfort and peace in the upcoming days.

I have to put in another plug here for my wonderful family. Here is the latest wonderful thing they have done for me (us). They were going to give me my old car back (which they gave me in the first place) so that Andrew and I wouldn't have to buy another car anytime soon. Yesterday, my dad calls to say that he traded the old Buick in for a newer car and says that I can have my pick between the car they just bought or another car they own. Both are better, have less miles, and are more reliable then the ole Buick. My dad has gone to all this trouble to make sure that I have a good car to drive back to Kansas and one that will last us a little bit longer. They haven't had to do any of this! Aren't they great?!

All in order!

One of my favorite things to do is to organize things. It was so nice to have some time each evening to work on getting a few things sorted and put away. When we moved, for the most part, I had each box labeled with a number and a book described what was in each box. My downfall is paper clutter. I will admit that I didn't have time in the two week moving period to sort and file all of the important papers that had piled up! So last night I finally got around to sorting through a box that I had just thrown together from our office in Sterling. I got to throw away about 2/3 of it. Most of it being envelopes or just things we didn't need anymore. Now my project for the weekend is to organize the important bank statement/bills/insurance info/etc that I pulled out of that box, into binders. Binders are my favorite way to organize. Filing cabinets are just too hard to manage for me, yet at times they are necessary.

I was also able to figure out our budget the last few nights. I took over handling the money when we moved here, since Andrew is so busy, and I finally got it figured out. Actually, I should give credit where credit is due. I thought I had good Microsoft Excel skills . . . until I tried to set up a budget. I started listing income, expenses, etc and got a little frustrated with it not working properly. My genious husband comes in and waves a magic wand over the Excel spreadsheet and . . . presto we have some complex funcions that work beautifully, a layout that is easy to read, shaded in the right spots, and each column separated and easy to read. We tried to calculate in costs that we aren't currently experiencing but that we will plan on experiencing when we have our own house. Anyway, now you have all gotten a glimspe inside one of my hobbies, organizing things. That doesn't mean that I am always organized, it just means that I like to be!