But what was really stupid was that I was already on antibiotics for my sinuses.  I was having some horrible headaches that I am now sure were sinus troubles and the doc gave me antibiotics to get them to drain.  They are still draining, it’s been weeks now, but I haven’t had that strange headache in almost a week now.  So I think that’s a fair trade.  Those headaches suck.  Really bad.  Whenever I’d lay down I thought my head was going to explode.

Then a week and a day after that, it was a computer virus.  My fault, really.  I wasn’t paying attention and I said “allow” instead of “delete, delete, delete omg delete!”  And within a few minutes it had completely wiped out my hard drive.  Good thing I’m pretty good at backing up and I only lost 2 weeks of email and some pictures I’d taken of a house that I can (and still need to) retake.  But still, a big pain in the butt and once you reformat a computer for the first time, it’s never quite the same.  Got some weird things happening when I reboot that I can’t figure out.  For the most part, just a big inconvenience that makes me feel really stupid.

Had to get the computer back in shape as quickly as possible, too, ’cause tomorrow I get to digiscrap with the wonderful Kate!  Yay!!

So the next night, we were upstairs in the living room and I noticed it again. I asked him about it but not only could he not smell it, he denied changing anything anywhere. Back to the basement to investigate. When I got downstairs, it was really strong… and not so pleasant anymore.

When storing candle scents, it’s no secret that you’re supposed to put them in a cool, dark place. However, they don’t tell you that if your bottles are plastic and have seams… Well, the bottles start sucking in like they’re trying to fit in last year’s prom dress and it just keeps going, going going… until the seam breaks open.

Then, your whole house smells like Berries & Herbs!

I have to tell you, I have customers that really love this scent, but I do not like it, at all. It was fine when it had apparently first started and wasn’t that strong, but now it is really strong. You get used to it for a while but then if you leave the house for even just a few minutes and come back in… oy!

I’m told there are worse things my house could smell like, and that’s true, but yuck! Thankfully, however, it doesn’t seem to be bothering K and once I get used to it again, it doesn’t bother me either. Nothing I can do about it though. When I finally found the problem, the big box that a lot of scents are stored in was soaked as well as part of another box and the whole area of wooden shelving that the boxes sit on. Even if I manage to get the box out, the shelves will be in this house until the end of time. So I didn’t even bother with it, it will eventually evaporate out. I did, however, go around to all the bottles, letting air into the ones that looked like they could break, too. I’m not really sure if that’s a long-term solution.

I’m torn, though, between being glad it wasn’t one of my absolutely best sellers and wishing it was a scent I liked better.

This morning, it was even higher at 101.4. So we called the doctor. Of course, our pediatrician is on vacation! Nothing against her (oh my, I love her like I’ve never loved a doctor), everyone needs a vacation! However, it just figures! The last time E and I were sick, our doctor was out, too!

However, they made an appointment for us to come in at 11:45. That only gave us an hour and forty minutes to get ready and get there, and we ended up being 17 minutes late. So we got to wait, some more.

Oh, yes, this is where parents everywhere are gasping that we bothered to take her to the doctor at this point. Let me explain. She had no other symptoms that we could see, so with someone with her kidney and bladder issues? She needs to be checked right away for infections in those areas. I honestly can’t remember the temperature limit we were told for bringing her in for this but when talking to the on-call nurse she said we should take K in. I think the limit is somewhere around 100 or 101. Oh, and this is K’s FIRST fever. I don’t even remember her having any in the NICU and she has, in her 15 months, not been sick.

It ended up taking all of our day to drop E off with Grandma and Grandpa, go to the doctor, finally get lunch around 2:30, get through the store, and pick E up again. E already hates going with us to K’s appointments and he’s not very accommodating so as soon as I heard they were going to need to give K a catheter, for a urine sample, I knew he had to go somewhere else.

Poor baby, it was no fun for her either. Since Steve had to hold her for her shots last week, I guess it was my turn to hold her to get her cath. I swear, she was mad at me for the next half an hour. It was no fun. Thankfully it was over rather quickly.

They tested it there and didn’t find anything that would be telling of an infection but sent off a culture in the lab. If I don’t hear from the office by Friday, I’m supposed to call. In the meantime, we’re just supposed to keep an eye on her fever. If nothing comes back from the lab, they’re just going to chalk it up to an otherwise symptomless fever. (I am pretty positive she’s not teething, the doctor didn’t see anything else wrong such as an ear infection, and it’s been too long since the shots for them to be the cause.)

We had lunch at a rather new place called Oriental Buffet and when we were finished, Steve went to pay while I took K in search of a changing table in the bathroom. Their restrooms are off a hallway that you have to go through a door to get to. Right in front of that door, my feet just went right out from under me and I went down. Thankfully, I landed on my left knee and, I believe, my right foot was still planted where it started. A Chinese man was on break and he came running when he saw me go down and helped me up. The floor was really slick there, I guess it could have been water, but it seemed to greasy for water. There were no wet floor signs out. I went on into the bathroom and, not finding a changing table, headed back out. Three of the ladies that worked there were hovering around the door. “Are you ok, are you ok?!” I said I was fine, but now my knee hurts. Boo. My back, too, but I think that’s from tensing up when I fell, making sure I didn’t drop K and such. She was completely fine, thankfully.

I’m not sure I mentioned this, but this is actually the second time I’ve fallen with her… in a month. Unreal. I think I tripped once with E when he was little and it wasn’t a big deal because we both landed on the couch. The last time with K, I was stepping off our patio onto the stepping stones. I misjudged the step and landed partially off the stone, into wet grass. That set me off balance and I went down to the left. I was carrying her in the left arm, and now I see it in slow motion, I was able to pull her close so her head didn’t crash into the concrete patio. That freaked me out big time. This time was not that bad.

Steve said I should watch my step better but I swear, this time it was not my fault!

I was at a group with some other ladies last night and they started talking about Christmas decorations and what not. One of them brought up the topic of ceramic Christmas trees with the little plastic lights in them. Let’s not discuss how these ladies discussing these trees are quite a bit older than I am (in years not actual age, heehee) and they were actually making fun of these trees, saying they were something their grandmothers would have liked. I laughed because I have one of these trees and I bought it simply because it reminds me of my grandma and the one she had when I was little. So that reminded me I have one and tonight I decided to dig it out.

So I head to the basement and found it rather quickly and brought the bag upstairs. A quick look through the bag revealed the base, without a light bulb, and the tree, missing several of the plastic bulbs. I was quite baffled. I distinctly remembered having a bulb for it that should not have burned out and having extra little plastic bulbs that the lady gave me when I bought it. So I shuffled back to the basement, had another side adventure that shall not be mentioned, then went to the Christmas decorations.

No light bulb. No extra plastic bulbs. Blah. I started searching all over the basement. I knew there was a lamp somewhere in storage that had a bulb that should go in the tree. I was looking for something small and pointed, like for a night light or very small lamp. I could not find this little lamp anywhere.

I’d almost resigned to buying a bulb later when I went upstairs and found where I’d stashed the little lamp. Unfortunately, I the bulb was dead. I thought about raiding my nightstand lamp when I remembered I had extras for that in the nightstand. Sure enough, I found a bulb. It seemed a little big, but, oh well. Headed downstairs, put it in the tree, plugged it in and turned it on.

I was sitting here back in my chair for a few minutes, not very long, when I started to smell something. It smelled like hot glue. You know the smell, right? It’s almost sickening. I thought, “shoot, I guess that bulb is too big for that tree, it’s melting the glue holding in those plastic bulbs.” I turned off the tree and sat back down. A few minutes later, I turned it back on and took a couple of photos including the one above. Turned it right back off and I thought I’d check it and I started lifting the tree off the base.

I almost fainted when I realized what had happened.

Yes, the tree DID have a bulb and it DID have extra plastic bulbs. Oh, and it DID have bubble wrap around those things. They had been all shoved up inside the tree but were now all melted to the bulb that had been turned on.

Oy. :)

It was still really, hot, too. I had to let it cool some more before getting it out of there and I was left with bubble wrap and about 7 plastic bulbs all melted to the light bulb. I was able to salvage another one or two plastic bulbs and thankfully the tree’s actual light bulb wasn’t attached to the bubble wrap so I was able to pop that puppy in and light up my tree again, smell-and-melting-stuff-free.

And through it all? Yup, the husband was snoozing on the couch.

Lesson learned: just because you carry the ceramic tree at the bottom and your fingers don’t feel anything inside the tree, doesn’t mean that the light bulbs and bubble wrap aren’t in there waiting for their moment to strike. :P

Yup, we both forgot ours this time around. We’ve been so busy we didn’t even realize it was coming up. I woke up when, on Sunday, one of my aunts handed me a gift bag and said, “for you, for your anniversary.” I don’t always get gifts like this for my anniversary, but if we happen to see my aunt around that time or my birthday or something, she never forgets. And, I swear, she is the sweetest, most thoughtful person to ever walk this earth and I think that anyone who knows her will agree. She’s the only one who sent us a card for our first anniversary as well.

So I had to admit, you know, that I had been so busy with my sister’s wedding shower and other things that I had forgotten my anniversary was coming up. Then I talked to Steve later that evening and said, “did you know it’s almost our anniversary?” He laughed, “it is?”

Even later that evening, he suddenly turned to me and said, “so, eight years, right?” Then just laughed. I asked why that was funny and he said it wasn’t the eight years that was funny, it was that we BOTH forgot.

Of course, it’s a Tuesday, who remembers Tuesday anniversaries anyway?

Apparently not my parents, either. You see, we share their anniversary day, though theirs was, of course 22 years earlier. My mom also got a similar gift from my aunt, and she also told me that she, too, had forgotten! And it’s their 30th this year!! Steve and I had wanted to do something special for them, like we had for his parents’ 30th. So I suggested we do this in, say, July, when we can afford it again. No problem there, Mom’s busier than we are.

And the gift? I also had to say to my aunt that she is awesome because I just about burned myself the other day with the current potholders I have, they’re wearing a little thin. ;-)

So, it’s a Tuesday, yes. That means, he works, he tutors, he has to take trash out tonight.

Me? I’ll celebrate my anniversary by getting dressed here in a minute, hoping this headache of 20 hours goes away, going to the store for toilet paper, and getting my son McDonald’s… maybe Subway… those are our only fast food choices, anyway. Then maybe, when the weekend rolls around, I’ll have a nice dinner with my husband. But then again, who has the time? :P

I know I’ve been saying that a lot lately but, man, today kinda sucked. I was locked out of things three times today. The day’s not even over yet, I wouldn’t be surprised for it to happen again, knowing my luck!!

one.
It was this morning and I was getting ready to shower. Elijah was being, well, a butt, so I told him he was going to have to take a “nap” while I showered rather than being free range. So the second I’m not looking, he thinks it would be an awesome idea to lock his door and close it so that he can use the excuse “but my door’s locked.”

My first response was, “no it’s not, keep trying,” because the door knob has been known to stick and not turn. But then he gets the butter knife and so I went to look at it. Yup, it’s locked. Tried the little flathead screwdriver in the hole on the end. Nothing.

Finally, giving up on that, I realize I have to take the door knob off. So I get a bigger screwdriver. I’m getting more frustrated the whole time because (well, first, I can’t find a bigger screwdriver) the stupid things keeps slipping and it’s taking me forever to get anywhere.

Nearly the whole time, too, Elijah’s over on the couch crying, “I didn’t mean to! I didn’t mean to!” Yeah, like you didn’t mean to poke the dog with a fork last night…

So, anyway, I finally get the door knob off after many moons of messing with the dang thing but the other side is still on. That takes a bit to knock it off. It’s still locked, the little piece inside refuses to let go. It takes me about two minutes of messing with that to finally get the stupid door open.

At this point, I also must admit that there was a second where I lost all control and slammed the screwdriver into the door. I’m actually surprised that it didn’t leave a bigger mark than it did. I immediately felt stupid, that’s not me (I make fun of people who hit things in anger), but what’s done is done.

two.
I order Elijah to the bathroom then to lay in his bed and be quiet while I take a shower and get dressed. He actually obeys me, at least for then. I get dressed and let him up and we’re getting ready to go. “Go put your sandals on,” I say.

Seconds later, he’s yelling. He’s locked himself inside his room!

This time it took me even longer to do that third piece of getting the door open. I would have been considering taking the hinges out, but they’re on the inside, too.

Of course, he’s in there crying that he’s stuck in his room and he wants to go to grandma’s. Furthermore, his sandals were in the living room the whole time.

three.
So it was up to my mom’s for a little mini-graduation celebration for my sister and soon-to-be brother-in-law (N). Er, mini on the part of the celebration, not the graduation. That was nice, we had a little meal with some of his family there, too, talked, yada yada. After all the others left, it was time for me to get ready to go.

I saw it was starting to rain and since it had been nice when I’d gotten there, every one of my windows and my sunroof were open. So I hurried Elijah up and we started out the door. Only he ran ahead of me and was opening the driver’s side door before I got there. “What are you doing?!” I called, “Come give your grandma a hug and kiss.” So he turned around and headed back to the house (dancing in the rain all the way).

I got to the Jeep, put my purse on the passenger’s seat, put the key in, turned it slightly (didn’t start it up), then put all the windows up, closed the sunroof, and… shut the door. Normally I would, at that point, leave the door hanging open since I was going to be turning around and getting right in after Elijah returned. But because it was raining, I closed it. And in that last split second before it closed, I realized the doors were locked.

I actually screamed, “Nooooo!!”

I could see right there that all doors were locked, despite my, as is typical, unlocking them all with the remote unlock key as I was walking up. Elijah, when standing there at my door, had simply pushed down the button and locked them all in one swift move. And, of course, all the windows were up!

The last time I locked my keys in my car I was in my first year of college. Before that I was in high school. And both times the windows, at least one window, was open just barely enough for someone to reach in and unlock the door.

I wasn’t so lucky this time.

Oh, and remember when I said I turned the key forward? Yeah, that’s where it still was, the radio was playing.

And, apparently, asking Elijah “why did you lock the doors?” translates to “please, show us how you’d scream if you stepped in a bear trap.”

My dad and N got started almost immediately, trying to get it unlocked. They tried on several separate occasions while the rain started coming heavier and heavier. By the time they finally gave up, they were soaked.

In the meantime, we went over a few scenarios. My house is 40 miles from there. Should someone drive me home, get Steve’s keys and return? Or should we wait for Steve to get home from work, then have him come up? My in-laws’ couldn’t help, they were another additional hour away from my house at the moment. I called the dealership where we leased the blasted thing from, all their mechanics were gone for the weekend. Finally my mom starts looking up locksmiths and sees someone familiar in there.

Apparently, the father of my brother’s friend (the guy who was his best man) and the friend, do a business where they tow and such. I didn’t know this at all but apparently my family has used them many times in the last years for towing and repair. They were also listed under locksmiths.

So he came out and saved me. Who’d have thought, when I first met him when I was in the 6th grade and he in the 3rd that he’d be unlocking my Jeep for me more than ten years later, haha. It took him all of two seconds, too, it was awesome. They also were going to do it for me half price. However, with our insurance and such, we’re still going to submit to them so that they can get all their money they normally get for that. Our insurance should cover it but if they don’t or they are going to give us a price increase, I’ll just send them the rest of the money myself.

So there it was, #3. And after nearly an hour of all this, I was glad that my battery was still fine. No dead battery, very nice. That just would have been insult to injury. Er, injury to insult. Or something.

Of course, too, while all this was going on, everyone’s trying to give me advice. Stupid stuff, like, never leave your keys in the ignition. Well, duh. Like I said before, normally the door would have been hanging open but this was just a one time out of hundreds that this has happened. Not to mention that Elijah’s not usually in my door like that. Dad told me always to carry a spare key… between my teeth and gums. Yeah, dad, okay, because I really need help getting cavities. Mom suggested a magnetic key holder to put under the Jeep. Yeahhhh. They act like I do this every day. :P