Just keep swimming, just keep swimming...

For my more delicate readers, I warn you to skip down a few paragraphs, because I am about to use bad language to talk about how today was shitty. Super shitty. But shit storms sometimes hit, and you just have to keep right on going. As Dori said in Finding Nemo, "Just keep swimming, just keep swimming, just keep swimming, swimming, swimming".

My shit storm day started when I woke up for the second day in a row feeling miserable. For some reason, my limbs have felt very heavy for the past couple of days, no clue why. I went to work (cause yay, it's Monday...shitty), and my heavy limbs caused my to fall on the subway stairs. I am totally fine. Just can't decide if I am more upset about the ache in my hand where I caught myself, the embarrassment of falling in front of about 100 people during rush hour (btw, number of people who stopped or offered to help=0. Nice. ), or if I was most upset knowing that my bare hands had touched NYC subway stairs. I think it is the latter. My subway rides in the morning are normally relaxing and speedy. Today, however, my iPod stopped playing music mid-song, despite being fully charged and operational in every way except for making sound. Terrific! At least I had my Kindle.... which was apparently dead for no reason whatsoever.... again.

At least I had a nice full day of work to look forward to. Sigh. Insert unexpected meetings that didn't quite go so well in the middle of my day? Yes please! I <3 shit storm Mondays.

But you can't let this crap drag you down. So I decided to check a few things off my 101 list. My dear lady friend sent me an email a few days ago with additional ways to be more green (#44). I checked it out and totally got inspired by a few ideas, including visiting a website to opt out of all that junk mail telling me I am pre-approved for a credit card every day. Awesome! Opted out of my current name, maiden name, and my husband's name (just to cover all the bases). I can't wait to see less junk in my mailbox and save a few trees.

My lovely husband also suggested that we treat ourselves to a show, cause he knows that always perks me up (and is #19 on my list). Something went right with my day! It turns out that I was able to get mega-discounted tickets to see a show that Andy actually wanted to see also! So with that, I am off to see Motherf*#%er with the Hat starring Chris Rock. (And yes, that is the actual name of the show....not just more of my bad-day profanity).

Looking forward to continuing to dive into my goals, even during bad days, and really celebrate my successes during good ones. And with that, I'm off to dinner and a show!

EYE hate PINK

My battle on SLOTH has taken a hit this week, ironically, because I am starting to look like an actual sloth.

I woke up on Saturday morning to find my left eye very, very red and pretty painful. I whined about it on the couch for a while until I caught myself in a mirror when I flicked on the light and noticed that the red eye had a huge, dilated pupil that wasn't moving in the light. Trust me, it was a sexy look. . . red eyes with mismatched pupils. I decided to call the doctor -- who wasn't in because it was Saturday. Next step, the hospital that is 10 blocks from my apartment.

Five hours in the "eye chair" in the ER, and I was diagnosed with conjunctivitis... pink eye for those of you who remember when all your friends had it in 3rd grade. How I got it, I have no clue. But the doctor sent me on my way with a prescription for antibiotic eye drops, and the reassurance that I didn't have to avoid people like kids do when they get pink eye. Always nice to hear that you're not going to infect everyone you meet. But he did recommend that I follow up with the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary on Monday, since my symptoms were a little funky, and he wanted to make sure it wasn't something else.

Great! Eye drops in my burning eyes, and off to brunch with friends on Sunday! More redness and burning at night, and a little pink hue to my RIGHT eye, as well as the left. . . I decided to make the infirmary my first stop in the morning on my way in to work.

I got right in, since they said I was an emergency case, and I got to fast forward though registration and the general assessment nurse, past the folks with appointments, and wait with the other emergency patients. . . for six hours. SIX HOURS in the waiting room. As an "emergency" patient. And the end result? Confirmed conjunctivitis in BOTH eyes, after they dilated my pupils to the point that you couldn't tell that my eyes were blue and shined a light with the power of the sun directly in my retina. Thanks, doc! His feedback? STOP taking the antibiotic eye drops, and stay away from the entire human race for 10 days. WHAT? Does that even make sense? If I am that contagious, why would I stop taking antibiotics?

Needless to say, I did not make it into the office on Monday. So I worked from home for three days straight. I kept doing the antibiotic eye drops (because how much harm could it really do to continue actually TREATING my symptoms?). After almost a week, I have now had some great work-from-home days, some moments of extreme boredom (although I did complete a 1,000 piece puzzle in about 24 hours), and continuously irritated eyes. I couldn't go to the gym, cause I can't be putting my hands all over equipment that other people use. (Like I needed another excuse to avoid the gym). I couldn't do much cooking. I couldn't go out and run errands that would put me around innocent, healthy-eyed victims. I have basically been useless all week. Terrible.

I split the difference between the doctors' advice about how much I can be around others, and decided to head back to work to wrap up my week (and because there are a few things that I really needed to be in the office to take care of this week).

Now I am back at work, but trying to be very aware of not touching my eyes at all, not touching anyone in the office, and emptying a bottle of antibacterial junk on my hands whenever I touch anything. I am so glad the weekend is coming so I can spend time at home again. Safe within the walls of my little petri dish apartment. Assuming I am not contagious (Andy is still doing fine), but not feeling much better either (something please just rip my eyes out!).

And most importantly, not getting much of anything accomplished.

::sigh::

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

A friend of mine put a quote up on facebook that I simply had to steal: it is just TOO perfect!

"Irish girls are unique in their character...they are a combination of a girl, mother, hooker, and nun. They go from Bambi to Banshee in 3.7 seconds. They can bat their eyes or blacken yours. They can love you with a passion and make you feel like a king. Depending on their mood, they will chastise you for drinking, or match you pint to pint. Uncomprehendable but indispensable...oh those Irish girls."


Happy St. Patrick's Day. Sláinte!

101 Things..... No problem!

I feel like I am on top of the world with my progress lately. I'm being inspired by other blogger's lists, friends creating and diving into their own new 101 lists, and even a couple of Geezers who are out there, seeing the world!

We are one week into Lent. I actually like Lent because I like a challenge (obviously), and I try to do something every year that I will have to push myself to stick to for 40 days. This year, I was a little stumped with what to do, until I came up with a brilliant plan. Maybe not brilliant, since there is no way for me to really MEASURE my success, but I feel super confident about my decision. No, I didn't give up religion, as I posted on facebook. (Sorry all those who were offended, it was meant to be a joke). I decided to not only give something up, but make it one of the seven deadly sins (and hopefully get bonus points with the Big Guy): I gave up SLOTH.

What the heck does that mean?

It is not unusual in my life to sit back and NOT do something just because I do not feel like it. Yeah, I shoooooould go to the gym, but The Golden Girls just came on TV! Or, I take the hassle-free route because it is simple. I know we just went grocery shopping, but ordering Chinese food is so much easier than cooking! .... I can go through that pile of papers later - just set it to the side with the others! But not during Lent! Now, this doesn't mean that I am going to the gym every single day and being the new June Cleaver, fixin' up some delightful dinner with a smile every night. What it DOES mean is that every time I think of doing something and then say "Nah...." without a good reason for why I can't do it, I am giving myself a boot in the butt to get up and do it anyway.

So far, I have gone to the gym, done a major cleaning job in the apartment, created a filing system for all of our important papers and documents (#57 on my list - complete with partitions and labels), tried a few new healthy recipes, paid off my credit card debt in full, set up my exercise ball at work to sit on instead of a chair, bought tickets to more Broadway shows (La Cage Aux Folles tonight!), logged every single thing I ate into a calorie tracker every day, and stopped drinking coffee. (The original goal was just to not BUY any of my coffee for one month so I would make it rather than purchase it, but if I am not drinking it at all, there is no reason to spend money on it!)

Here is a picture of the delicious FISH dish that I made last night! Thank you Cortney for sharing this recipe - it turned out great, and even Andy had a clean plate at the end of the meal. (This was a major feat for both of us, as we are not fish eaters in any way). Parmesan-crusted Tilapia with steamed vegetables and brown rice. Yum.


I am feeling good about this new motivation and the satisfaction I have been getting from being able to say "I actually got this DONE today", and I am looking forward to keeping the momentum going. I still haven't quite gotten to the point where I am springing out of bed at 5am to go to the gym and get home in time to make lunch before getting ready for work, but we're moving in baby steps here. Baby steps.

#28 and feelin' great!

After having an outstanding balance for about 3 years on my credit card, I have FINALLY paid it off! I could not be more thrilled about this, as it has been a constant source of stress for me, and now I can wash my hands of it.

My entire life, I have always been pretty good with money. I suppose I was subconsciously preparing myself for a lifetime of working in non-profit theatre? I don't know. But I got my first credit cards at age 18, and have always paid everything in full. Credit card bill, Macys bill, phone bill, etc. Everything had a $0 balance before the next pay period started. About three years ago, after my savings account had taken a drastic hit from living in New York City for several years, Andy and I took a trip to Mexico. Amazing trip, but it wasn't exactly free. The day we got back was Andy's 25th Birthday, so I decided to do something special, and because I am (obviously) the best girlfriend/wife in the universe, I bought him a huge high-def flatscreen tv to replace the old tube we'd had since college. Needless to say, the bill was mighty high that month. I decided to pay half (cause that's what I could do at the time) and save the other half for the next month....but more expenses kept rolling in, and I ended up carrying a balance. Once that balance is there, it is tough to get rid of, and I had a constant nagging feeling in my gut that this debt would take over my life and be the end of me.

I'm being dramatic. It's not like I was in serious trouble, it's just not where I wanted to be, which was in a position to set my online banking to "pay all bills in full each month".

Ladies and gentlemen, after months of strategic banking, I am happy to say that the amount due on every credit card I own (both through banks and stores and whatnot) reads:

AMOUNT DUE: $0

(Insert sigh of relief and joy here)