Received a FB IM telling me that an old school friend died a few days ago.  It was very unexpected and she was only a year older than I am.  I hadn't seen or spoken to her in years but it was fun to see her FB posts, especially when she watched her Bruins on TV.  She'd post according to how the game was going and give a "colorful" commentary.  Her FB avatar is a photo I know so well from back in the day.  Makes me smile to see it.

RIP Tami.  You won't be forgotten.

I was having a great evening.  Met a friend after work and we went out to dinner.  I got home and saw my favorite episode of The Big Bang Theory.  I've been surfing the web, visiting FB, etc.  I realized it's 8:00 and tried to turn on a show that I usually watch on Friday.  I couldn't find it.  Well, duh it's only Wednesday.  Hate when that happens.

 I was in Brattleboro, VT last month and saw an unusual window display in a fabric shop.  It was a fairy scene with the most beautiful dolls.  I'm not a doll person as a rule but these dolls' faces are extraordinary.  The artist is Anna Brahms.  Here is her website so you can see what I mean.  http://annabrahms.com/welcome.html  There is one that I fell in love with.  It's an old woman with such a happy expression, it made me smile.

The second antibiotic seems to be working. I feel better. Of course this means that I can't ignore the housecleaning any longer. <sigh>

I've managed to collect over 230 BoxTops for Education to help my nephew try and win the prize "Principal for a Day!" at his school.  He has another 80+ that he's collected from other people which brings him to over 300. Many thanks to my friends who have helped.  The contest ends on the 29th so I'll let you all know how it turns out.

So here I am battling yet another sinus infection.  I'm really tired of these things. 

At any rate, my doc gave me a scrip on Wednesday.  I took one pill and shortly after proceeded to vomit literally every 3 minutes for the next two hours.  I strained all my muscles from head to toes.  I fell asleep for an hour, woke up and it all started again for another 15 minutes or more.  The doc suggested I try cutting my next dose in half and eat more.  I suggested that my body had make it decidedly clear it wanted no part of this antibiotic.  It's been 2 days and my back, chest and stomach still hurt, especially when I cough or sneeze.  I checked the safety profile of this drug.  Less than 1% of people who take it, have this reaction.  Oooh lucky me, I'm special.

So, I've got a new one.  Cross fingers.

I think it's time for a specialist.

I hope that 2012 brings you joy and contentment.

Hurricane Irene ripped some branches out of our trees but that's all.  She stole my parents' power for 4 days but that's back on now too. 

I'm on vacation this week and next.  So far the weather (aside from the Irene situation) has been gorgeous!  Chef had two days off this week.  He and I went to the beach to hunt sea-glass after the storm.  We found a ton of it.  Lots of seals (surfers) in the water on Monday.  Love to watch them.  The surf had picked up a bit but was still fairly tame considering we had just had a big storm.  We went to the beach on Sunday too while the winds were still kicking.  The seals were out then too although not as many.  One guy walking down to the water with his board kept getting pushed off his path by the wind.  Based on what I saw I would say that he's new to the sport.  The more experienced surfers were further down the beach and having a blast.

I'm still having trouble with my personal laptop.  Got that nasty malware a couple of months ago and it's a bitch to get rid of.  But I found out that an old friend from high school is an IT guy.   I got in touch with him via FBook and spoke with him tonight.  We've tried a few things and at least I was able to download some anti-malware and cleaning apps.  I couldn't do that before so something is better.  Anyway, it was great to speak with him.

We lost our new Easy-Up canopy in the backyard last night.  We had wicked rains and unfortunately the canopy caved in and a pocket of rain built up which then bent the frame in multiple places.  The canopy is fine.  No tears or rips - but the frame is bent beyond repair.  This is what happened to the old one just last year.  You'd think we would learn.

While we were trying to rescue the canopy, Chef ripped open the palm side of his right hand middle finger.  He probably should have gotten stitches but you know boys.  So he will be struggling at work for a few days.  Nope, he wouldn't take a day off for an injury.  Anyway after that happened we saw (even in the dark) that the frame was toast so we went back inside and had ice cream.

I got out of work early today.  I came home and decided to dismantle the canopy.  Holy Shamoley - there were so many earwigs, spiders and these weird green bugs!  I feel like I have creepy crawleys all over me now.  So not fun.  And I couldn't even finish the dismantle job because the nuts and bolts are too tight for me to loosen and I can't close it up as you normally would because of the bent frame.  Aggravating.

The good news.... I faced my fear of jumping into the pool.  Technically it's more of a stepping off the side but it is the scariest thing I've had to do.  Did I like it?  No.  I really didn't.  Don't want to do it again but I will.  I'm not going to let the fear beat me. 

Hi Jeanne - thanks for your comment.  So far no visible bruising but I can tell I have a bone bruise. My skin is really tough but I've got a 7" scrape down my right shin.  The top of it is more of a gouge.  Very lovely.  I'm keeping it bandaged with goop to minimize scarring.  

I have to get some water proof bandages so I can go swimming again on Thursday.  Gotta get back on the horse ya know?  Besides I need to practice.  I'm not super graceful or athletic by any means but I'm determined to become good at some physical activity.  I don't have to be great or amazing but just regular old good. 

Oh yeah - don't sneeze or hiccup underwater.  I've done both and would have preferred not to.

Had a swimming lesson today.  I learned how to do a kneeling dive.  Unfortunately on my second try, I ripped my shin apart on the edge of the cement pool.  Oh man does it hurt!  Took a couple of hours for some of the pain to subside.  But I did finish my lesson.  My instructor was so kind.  She checked in on me after I got home to make sure that I iced the injury and ensure that there wasn't worse damage.  I don't usually bruise but somehow I think this situation might be a little different.

I just started my second set of lessons.  I asked my instructor to teach me how to step off of a boat to get into the water.  It's known as the "Big Stride".  She showed me how to do it.  She offered to hold my hand and stride with me.  She had me tuck a noodle under my arms.  Yeah... it wasn't happening.  I kept looking down and I was way too scared to do it.  She kept telling me to look straight ahead but not a chance.  So, instead she taught me how to sit dive.    I didn't realize it would feel so violent when I entered the water (no I didn't belly flop).  Really surprised me but I came up laughing and jumped out to do it again.

I made Chef come to swim practice with me and I showed him what I learned.  He was proud of me.  Anyway I decided that I was most nervous about being underwater (even for a few seconds) so Chef and I kept going underwater so I'd get used to it.  I'm ready now.  Monday is my next lesson and I'm going to take the Big Stride.  I know I know, all the stuff I'm excited about learning to do is stuff that everyone else did when they were 5.  OK - so I feel like I'm 5 and darn happy about it!

My other big accomplishment this week during practice was swimming a full length of the pool.  Usually I screw up the breathing part and I have to stop and get re-situated.  But last night I did it twice. 

On another note - we had a horrible plague of flies in the house.  40 or more at 7 of the downstairs windows and after I killed those, 40+ more would show up within minutes.  It took us 3 days before they finally disappeared.  We had to open up the screens and shut the windows in to the house and turn the AC on instead.  We still don't know where they came from.