Aggravation

Aggravation- noun- an exasperated feeling of annoyance.

Earlier this week I was telling a few people that since I've returned to South Carolina, this week has been a compilation of hilariously disastrous events.  All week, I've been trying to put a name to what I've been feeling, and tonight I finally realized that term is : aggravated!!

What do I have to be aggravated about?  Nothing, really, but when one has a blog, it is one's duty to pontificate on meaningless drivel.  (Hey, you choose to read!)  So here goes:

My car.  I hate cars.  The only reason I have one is because...I have to.  I know I'm overly paranoid about all things cars, but my car keeps coming up with new problems to throw my way.  I've had this car for six months.  It's aggravating.

My job (for this week only!).  There is a reason there are limits for appointments at a doctor's office, reservations at a restaurant, and seats at a stadium.  IF you let anyone show up at any time, there are bound to be problems.  This week, this rule of thumb has gone out the window and there are no limits.  It's aggravating.

My lack of thought process.  I really needed a new filter for my furnace, and while I was choosing one at the store, I noticed some inexpensive scented air fresheners that attach to said filter.  I was excited, because this would help keep my home smelling fresh!!! Well, that would be the case, if there was a need or reason to run said furnace. I've only run my furnace twice in three months due to incredibly mild temperatures, rendering the air freshener ineffective until it cools down again or the AC needs to start up again. I hate it when I don't think about all the possibilities.  It's aggravating.

My neighbors.  After sitting in their car with their bright lights shining into my patio window, they start arguing over dumb things, like who ate more pizza that night.  Normally it's amusing, but not this week.  It's aggravating.

Well, now that I'm done pontificating, I need to go finish my to-do list, which includes working on my budget. THAT'S aggravating!  Happy Thursday everyone!

Never tell a nurse you're injured

It was so cold on that plane that I was shivering.  As I pulled my jacket tighter to try and warm up, I felt my hand brush up against a cool and damp section of said jacket.  For a moment I thought that maybe I had spilled some of my water on myself.  However, when I glanced at my clothes, I noticed several bright red blood stains.  What the heck?  How did I get blood all over myself?  Where and why am I bleeding?  After about thirty seconds of panic, I noticed that it was my finger that had been bleeding, probably while I was dozing.

All's well that ends well, I was able to get my finger fixed up quite nicely that same afternoon after fifteen minutes of wondering if it was possible to bleed to death from a minor scrape.  Using one bandage to protect my finger, in to work I went the next morning.  This was when I decided I would forever hide any and all injuries that might befall me while I work at DHEC with all these helpful nurses.

The first nurse I ran into was Marie.  Looking at the minor abrasion on my hand, she immediately tried to convince me to go to the doctor's office while on lunch.  "You hurt that hand before, it obviously hasn't healed.  You need to have someone look at this before you get an infection!"  This was followed by a five minute run-down of every urgent care building within a five mile radius.  She also consulted another co-worker who moonlights as a medical assistant at one such location.  Thankfully, a client came around for her, so I was able to break away from her with a promise I would have a "professional" look at my finger if it didn't heal.

"What's going on?," was the question from Grace, another nurse.  I was still trying to head to my office and set up for the day, so I did my best to give a quick explanation and brush it off.  No such luck.  Within five minutes I was sitting in her office, soaking my finger in a saltwater solution, smiling and nodding while listening to instructions to soak my hand like this three times a day, no less than five minutes.  I would be guaranteed to have a healed finger within a week.  

Walking back towards the lunch area to dispose of said solution, I ran into Melissa, who was curious as to what I was dumping into the sink.  Again, I tried to limit the information I shared so as to expedite my trek back to my office.  I was unsuccessful.  Melissa had been showing a new co-worker around the office area, and as she took my hand and carefully examined the wound, Dave and I introduced ourselves to each other and had a polite conversation.  At that point, Melissa was satisfied that my finger was healing properly and let me go.  I literally started to run toward my office.  

It was at that point that I saw Elizabeth.  All you need to know is that Elizabeth has a million stories about everything and will happily share any and all of them with you.  I tried the polite excuse of, "Oh, I think I have a client waiting."  No luck.  In the end, I was stretched out under my desk, trying to reassemble my computer (a long story for a different day.), listening to her and wondering how many people she knew who had mildly injured their middle fingers in the same manner that I had.  

I thoroughly enjoy working with all of my co-workers, but during the forty-five minutes that all these things happened, I couldn't help but laugh and remind myself that anytime you work with medical professionals, you'll get a million medical opinions at every turn.  I'm thinking that tomorrow morning I will NOT be sharing that I think I have half the symptoms of strep throat!

Well, I have officially used up ALL of the energy I accumulated during my five-hour siesta this afternoon.  Time to head back to the futon for some more episodes of Castle.  Also, before I go, I have a potpourri of thoughts to share:

1.) I only have to "work" three days this week, and one of those days I will be located next door to a Fazoli's restaurant.  Cheap Italian food, here I come!

2.) Just over two weeks until I make it back to Ohio.  I'm happy here in South Carolina, but I always forget how much I love being home in Ohio.

3.) We were discussing items needed to create a nice Thanksgiving basket for less fortunate families today in church.  Apparently, mac and cheese and sweet tea are staples not to be forgotten in a good Southern Thanksgiving dinner.

Have a great evening everyone! The end.

It's the simple things...

Every once in awhile, I have a week where the little things make me happy.  This last week has been one of those weeks.  I don't even have a fun little opening paragraph to write, I just wanted to share some of the little things that made me happy.

I found a boarding kennel for my dog.  I'd been searching and searching and finding out that every kennel in the area was already booked for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and probably 4th of July next year too!  Then, just by accident I happened to find a kennel, visited it, was super impressed with the kennel owners and their business.  Not only that, it was within my budget!

My supervisor and the regional director gave me my annual review (It's been a year already?!)  I was found to be "commendable" in my performance and none of my co-workers had any complaints about me.  Yay!

I got to go shopping for Operation Christmas Child.  It was so much fun thinking of things to buy for a teenage girl's Christmas present!

My electric bill came in about $30.00 under budget this month.  Woot woot.  

It's been in the 70s most of the week with beautiful blue skies.

I found a nickel in the parking lot while walking.  I have now made $3.20 from walking around the complex.  Keep dropping your cash, residents of Martins Creek!

I made Granger Stranger for the first time, and it was pretty good.  Not as good as my mom's or my grandma's, but pretty good.  

Lastly, I just realized today that I have less than 40 days until I'm back in Ohio.  You have NO idea how happy this thought made me!

Now that it's Sunday evening, my happy thought for now is that Friday is only five days away.  Have a good night everyone!

Take a Walk

At the end of August, I decided that I was spending way too much money on fast food, frozen prepared food, and pop (or soda when I'm talking to the locals!).  I decided that one way to make it "fun" to cut back in this area was to make it all about health.  Saving money has never been my strong suit, but as a nutritionist, I can appreciate the value of eliminating empty calories and processed foods.  So, for the month of September, I decided that I would consume no pop, no fast food of any kind, or eat any food that I didn't have to prepare from scratch.

My plan worked well, and when October 1 came around, I decided that I should continue on my health kick and start another healthy habit.  I decided that since I talk to each and every one of my clients about taking a minimum of 30 minutes a day to do some kind of physical activity, I too should be following that advice.  Thus was born my grand and glorious plan to spend half an hour walking each day.  So far, I must say that it's going pretty well.  I've observed a lot of interesting things over these last eight days.  Tonight, I will share with you.

I hate walking with dogs.  Cooper's a pretty good dog, but during the first few walks we went on he wanted to stop and smell EVERYTHING, and being a male dog, he wanted to mark EVERYTHING.  So the first few walks were rough, but since then we've been able to work out a deal- he gets to stop two or three times to do his business and after that I get to do some "resistance" exercises as I drag him away from the tree, the bush, the random spot of grass around that one building, etc.

I've had to start actually waking up and being alert and active at 6 a.m.  Before, I'd wake up, maybe watch some Hulu, stare blankly off into space while reconsidering my decision to wake up so early, eat breakfast, watch the news, do anything but actually get ready for the day.  Now, I've found out that if I wait to walk Cooper after work, at 6:00 p.m. or so, I have to deal with an extraordinary amount of small children who want me to stop and let them pet the dog and combat my own laziness, as I'd rather come home, eat dinner, peruse Facebook and catch up some Colbert Report and Late Night with Jimmy Fallon than better my health.

I've noticed a lot of good things too.  For one, I've learned that I absorbed much more of my Anatomy and Physiology classes than I thought I did.  On the third day, I started noticing that certain muscle groups were doing a large amount of aching.  After that walk, I went online and confirmed that I was 100% correct in identifying the muscles that were making themselves known.  I also had spent much of that walk remembering a lecture in which my professor used a number of her students to demonstrate how muscles were built up with exercise.  Congratulations, Emily Rock, your teaching has stuck with me three and a half years after I took your class.

Some people say they think best in the shower.  I find that I think best while walking.  I get really bored while walking, and when I get bored I tend to let my mind wander to it's "happy place" and plot and plan anything and everything.  So far I've managed to find ways to stretch $100 for groceries out over four weeks instead of the usual two, made some headway in deciding what I want to buy people for Christmas, and come up with a recharged business plan for my freelance writing business.

I'm making money while I walk. To date, I've found $3.05 while out on my strolls.  Thank you, residents of Martin's Creek, for dropping dollar bills, quarters, and nickels.  Your generosity is helping my buy my plane ticket home for Christmas.

Lastly, I took some of my walk in downtown Summerville the other day while I was waiting to meet a friend for dinner.  I had forgotten how many cool little shops are in that area and discovered a few new restaurants and cafes I will soon be frequenting!

Now that I'm on a role with the whole walking thing, I'm already trying to decide what I want to do for November.  I'm thinking maybe I'll add some of the other components of physical activity to my routine, like flexibility and strength (Thank you for teaching me that, Lonnie Lowery.  Now I feel really good about myself, I remembered TWO things I learned in school!)

It's now time to say "Goodnight, everyone."  I hope you're evening is as lovely as mine has been.  It's about 68 degrees, a slight breeze, the moon is filtering through some hazy clouds, and the bugs are performing quite a symphony tonight.  I forgot how much I love fall in the Lowcountry.

Money is the root of all ???

"What, did you buy dog food?"  That's the question my mom asked me the other night when I was sharing that I had managed to buy two weeks worth of food for under $50.  (And while I did buy enough food to have three well-balanced meals each day for the next two weeks, dog food for Cooper was included in that total!)

A few weeks ago, I decided that I was going to keep a MUCH closer eye on my budget.  Partly because I want a larger emergency fund, partly because I want to pay off all my ridiculous school loans, and partly because I like going on shopping sprees!  So, when all the stores were having back to school sales, I went out and bought a binder, lots of paper, a calculator, and pens with five different colors of ink.  Yes, being the school supply junkie and OCD list maker that I am, I went out and spent $20 on random supplies so I could write out my budget and all my money saving ideas each week. 

Most of my money saving ideas are pretty run of the mill: use coupons (but not in a crazy way!), keep the lights turned off, turn up the thermostat, conserve gas by limiting extra trips out, etc.  I stopped eating out and I quit drinking pop.  Having a fairly strict budget also works as a convenient excuse when trying to get out of ridiculous health department sponsored fund raisers.  Shhh...don't tell my supervisor I said that!  

I think I made myself look bad this week at Publix.  I had a set budget for my groceries, but I wanted to cut it in half and save some money. I think I literally jumped for joy when the cashier told me my total, which was a few dollars below what I had anticipated it being.  I looked at her and just smiled, saying, "It's the little things in life, right?"  Her half smile makes me think I was probably one of her "crazy grocery people" stories that night.  

Well, originally I thought I had a lot more content for this story.  That being said, I'm now faced with the reality that I have no more compelling words.  Oh well, better luck next time, right?  Have a good evening everyone.  It's a crisp 55 degrees right now, the coldest it's been since May.  It feels so nice!  

The Definition of Insanity

A long time ago, someone told me that the definition of insanity was "to perform the same task, the same way, and expect there to be different results each time."  Many of us can see this in our own lives, to some degree, but it's always much more fun to point it out in other's lives.  That is what I'm doing today.

It's finally "cooled down" enough that I can sit outside and eat lunch.  This in and of itself is a blessing, as it means I don't have to sit around listening to my co-workers complain about their Weight Watchers food.  But I digress.  Being able to sit outside and eat lunch means I get a front row seat to "people watching." Today's episode of people watching was called "Driveway Insanity."

Today I sat out in my car, facing Cedar Street and the little building that sits on the corner of Cedar Street and 78.   I called my best friend, I called my mom, I ate my PB & J sandwich, pretzels, and applesauce.  About half way through the conversation with my mom, I couldn't help but yell, "You idiot!"

You see, this little building on Cedar Street has a parking lot.  This parking lot is bordered by a sidewalk.  The side walk drops off about four inches to a median that you can't see from the parking lot.  Since you can't see the  drop off, a lot of people like to use that as a driveway of sorts.  This poses a number of problems. Please note that the following events all took place within a ten minute time frame.

Car #1 was a Kia Spectra.  Driver of Car #1 clearly thought it was a driveway, looked both ways, and then floored it off the sidewalk drop off.  Four inches may not seem like a large drop, but the car made a nice thumping sound when it hit the ground!  This was about the point where I shouted "You idiot" into the phone.

Shortly after this, I hung up the phone with my mom.  I finished my sandwich and looked out to the intersection, where there were two cops stopping traffic.  I watched them disappear around the corner, only to reappear a minute later pushing a red car. It was obvious they were trying to get the car out of the way.  Where did these two cops try to push the car?  Into the "driveway."  To be fair, these cops were strong (one man, one woman) and they pushed the car halfway over the sidewalk.  But the car got caught on the sidewalk, and it started to roll back down towards the road.  As the car rolled, the driver would place his foot firmly on the brakes. From across the street I could hear shouts of "TAKE YOUR FOOT OFF THE BRAKES!  THE CAR WON'T ROLL BACK ON US!  OK...JUST TAKE YOUR FOOT OFF THE BRAKE WHEN WE YELL PUSH!"  Thankfully, within two minutes a man in a pickup truck pulled up, hopped out, and pushed the car over the sidewalk.

The cops waved goodbye to the man, hopped in their car, and drove off.  The man in the pickup truck offered his cell phone to the man in the car, then returned to his own truck.  Now, the man in the pickup was heading down Highway 78 towards Charleston.  He was now heading in a different direction and needed to turn around.  Instead of driving to the next road, he too decided to drive up and over the sidewalk to turn around in the business' parking lot.  You might think that an extended cab, 4x4 truck would make it over such a minor bump.  To be sure, the truck had no problem.  The trailer he was pulling?  Not so much.  The trailer caught on the sidewalk and he had to backup onto the road, almost causing an accident.  He then attempted to clear the sidewalk again.  The third time didn't prove to be a charm either, as he finally just drove to the next intersection and turned around safely in the Piggly Wiggly parking lot.

That, my friends, is called dinner and a show.  My lunch ended shortly after the pickup debacle, and I returned to the building.  My co-worker asked me how my lunch was, and I told her that I had fun people watching.  She mentioned that she too had enjoyed "people watching."  However, she had not witnessed any of what I had seen, since she was more engrossed by the cops dealing with the man who had been in two different accidents in the parking lot (less than 200 feet from me) within thirty minutes.  Icing on the cake.

Have a fun evening, and always make sure you're driving out of the driveway, and not off a mini cliff.  Also, do not drive your car anywhere near the health department.  The end.

This is how I treat my journal...

I have this green journal I bought at Sam's Club in Fairlawn way back in 2002.  A standard size journal, it took me over seven years to fill out two-thirds of that thing.  I was reading through it last night, and I saw that I would fill out eight or nine days worth of entries, and then be done for a month or three.  I really, really, wanted to be better with the blog and keep up a post of once a week, if nothing but to keep my typing skills sharp!  Then, around the middle of July, I decided it was time for a summer break from the blog.  Or rather, I got lazy and couldn't think of anything interesting to post, so I just stopped.  Here's hoping that this jump starts my regular posts.  You've been warned.

Let's see...since the middle of July.....

I experienced my first near-miss with a hurricane.  Hurricane Irene "only" came within about 200 miles of the SC coast, but we were still close enough to receive a tropical storm warning and not much else!  For five days we spent time preparing our clinic in case of a flood, I went out and bought seven days worth of non-perishable food and water and had a back-up evacuation route planned just in case.  There was no water on the shelf the morning I went to stock up on more food and water.  The lady at ACE Hardware complimented my choice of flashlight.  I was ready!  Then, thankfully, Irene changed paths and did nothing more than provide just enough wind to close schools for half a day.  I also got to see some pretty cool clouds.

I experienced the "dog days" of summer FOR REAL!  I knew what I was getting into when I moved down here.  But it was still a shocker the day I went outside at lunch when it was 100 with a heat index of 120.  That pattern continued for some time.  I even got to experience mild stages of heat exhaustion one day when I tried to carry a whole bunch of heavy items to the trash.  That was the first and last time I did that.  Most of the summer was spent in air-conditioned rooms.

I got to know my co-workers a little better through a mini road trip we took when we went for a training session in Columbia.  I learned that Co-Workers 1 and 2 know every word to "Eye of the Tiger" and will sing it.  I learned that Co-worker 2 absolutely hates morning radio shows, but will listen to them and argue with the deejays for at least an hour.    I learned that co-worker 1 yells at other drivers just as much as I do while she's driving, and that co-worker 3 is hurt to think that people yell at other drivers on the road.

After listening to stories about the proliferance of snakes in South Carolina, especially the poisonous ones, I was a little more than happy that I had not come across any snakes myself.  However, in the last two weeks, I had a lady at the park point out some red-bellied slithering monster in the turtle pond, found two baby snakes in the health department, and discovered one terrifying beast that slithered across my path less than ten feet from my front door the other day.  (That event took place the same night I watched Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull.  The ant scene freaks me out enough, but between that and the snake I was convinced I was going to be eaten by invertebrates that night.)  I am no longer fond of snakes.

I bought a power drill to hang curtains in my house.  Since then I have been trying to find more and more projects around the house that require the use of a power drill.  There are currently none to be found.  Sadness.

I discovered Angry Birds.

I decided to give up coffee and pop for a month.  Days 1 and 2 were not pretty.  I'm thinking that I growled at my co-workers a few times.  Fortunately, days 3, 4, and 5 happened over the recent three-day weekend, so my withdrawal grouchiness was directed at inanimate objects.

More or less, that's it for interesting things that happened during my little hiatus.  I'm sure there were a few more things I could have written about, but I feel like it is time for me to sit back and relax and enjoy this absolutely gorgeous night.  The weather "broke" about a week ago, and ever since then we've been having cool mornings, sun-filled afternoons, and comfortably warm evenings.  I love it!

Well, as always, have a good night.  Sleep tight, and don't let the palmetto bugs, fire ants, snakes, or other creepy crawlies get you.  Also, if you are part of my immediate family, please start thinking about Christmas gifts and let me know what you want.  I need to start buying gifts soon.  Thanks.