Here's to finally feeling like me again!

Whatever it was- flu, cold, virus, bug- it's finally feeling like it's run its course.  I can breathe through my nose without blowing it sixty million times first.  I don't cough every time I take too deep a breath.  I don't need my inhaler or allergy pills or sinus medicine to take that deep breath in the first place.
Yup, breathing feels good!

Praise for the little things

You know, I just had a lightbulb moment.  You know, those moments where you suddenly understand something you hadn't consciously grasped before?
It's nothing major.  It's nothing really noteworthy, unless you're me.  But I just realized how long it's been since I thanked God for all of the "little things".  Oh, I thank him for my family and my health and my job, etc.  But when was the last time I simply said "my headache's gone, thank You"?  Or gave thanks for a good night's sleep?

Last night, I had one of the worst headaches I've had in a long time; we're talking full on mini-migraine with nausea, motion-, light-, smell- and noise-sensitivity.  When I woke up this morning, it was gone,  Come to think of it, I slept pretty well, considering I was up writhing in pain until almost 430 this morning and I had to sleep curled up on a loveseat (this client doesn't have a bed for the caregivers, so I sleep on whatever is currently the most comfortable; last night it was the loveseat).

The OCD part of me is clamoring for me to make a list of all the "little things" I'm thankful for.  But there are so many!  That's the nature of little things, you know.  They aren't obvious or showy.  Oftentimes, they're the things we most take for granted in ourselves, our lives, and in our relationships with others.

I figured it out.

I think I finally figured out why I was so down today- so in need of my mom.  Aside from the very obvious pain in my knee and the distinctly uncomfortable stomach feelings.

It's February 18.

I should explain.  I don't want to, but then, I really should.
A year ago, I lost the first client I fell completely in love with.  I was with her when she passed.  For almost two years, I spent most of my time with her- she felt like family to me.

I called my friend Sandy this afternoon when I realized why I was in such a funk.  She knew my client so much better than even I did, was so much closer to her than I was.  She's also one of the dearest friends I have.

I still want a hug in a bad way, but I feel better.

Sometimes, I just want my mom!

I got done with work today, and as I sat in my car, waiting for the windows to defrost, all I could think was that I wanted my mom.  It's weird how feeling crummy always makes me want my mom.  Also, a cup of hot peppermint tea.
But mostly my mom. :)

The princess is enjoying the extra half a foot of snow that covered all of her "trails" in the yard.  She's forging new ones (most of them in the same places as the old ones, but she's no less excited about them for that fact), to chase snowplows and semi trucks.  It's actually pretty entertaining to watch.

I've got a very unhappy stomach, and that persistent chesty thing I usually get after a cold in winter.  Hopefully, with some extra rest, those will go away.  I'm actually more concerned about my knee.  It aches, it outright hurts to put weight on it, and it feels like a deep bruise to the touch.
And I have no idea how I hurt it.
Bleh.


Random observation of the day:
Victor Hugo is incredibly long-winded.  I just finished the fifteenth chapter of Les Miserables, and I've finally encountered Jean Valjean.  FIFTEEN CHAPTERS on the behavior, living conditions, personal habits, and personality of the priest who ends up giving Valjean the silver before we ever even see Valjean.

Too much?

Random observation of the day:

Rapunzel is the Disney princess that holds the record for having both the longest and the shortest hair of any Disney princess.  She is also the first Disney princess or heroine with green eyes, and the first Disney princess to have braided hair.
Also, the only Disney princess with color-change hair. :)

More random Disney observations:

• Pocahontas was not technically a princess, even as the daughter of a chief.  She was just the daughter of a chief, not a prince or a king.  This is also true of Kida.
• Giselle (from Enchanted) never married a prince; thus, she is only a Disney heroine, not a princess.  The real Disney princess in Enchanted was Nancy.
• The only Disney "princesses" should be: Snow White (who was born a princess), Cinderella (who married a prince), Aurora (who was born a princess and married a prince), Ariel (who was born a princess and married a prince), Eilonwy (who was born a princess), Belle (who married a prince), Jasmine (who was born a princess), Tiana (who married a prince), Rapunzel (who was born a princess), Merida (who was born a princess), Anna (who was born a princess), and Nancy (who married a prince).
• The rest are merely heroines: Pocahontas, Kida (from Atlantis: the Lost Empire), Wendy (from Peter Pan), Alice (from Alice in Wonderland), Jane (from Tarzan), Mulan, Esmerelda (from The Hunchback of Notre Dame), Giselle (from Enchanted), Madeline (from The Hunchback of Notre Dame II), Megara (from Hercules), Tinkerbell (from Peter Pan and the Disney fairy movies), and Jane (Wendy's daughter from Return to Neverland).
• There is one Disney "queen"- Elsa from Frozen. 
• There is one Disney "president"- Vanellope Von Schweetz from Wreck-It Ralph.

My final observation of the day is that I have entirely too much time to think about things like this. :)

Questions of a fever-addled mind

So here's my random question du jour: if Sunset Shimmer has been gone for the past 30 moons (roughly two and a half years), then how does she know that Twilight Sparkle's crown is an Element of Harmony, let alone that the Elements of Harmony have been recovered?  When she left Equestria, the Elements were still sealed away in the Everfree Forest outside Ponyville (a LONG way south from the Crystal Empire where the portal mirror had been moved to in the interim and where Twilight happened to be when Sunset Shimmer came looking for the Elements of Harmony), Twilight was a new student of Celestia's, and Nightmare Moon was still trapped in the moon.  So how did she know, within moments of passing back through the portal, not only who had the Element of Magic, but also where it was within the Crystal Palace?  ALSO (but on the same note), how did Sunset Shimmer know what the crown in which the Element of Magic looked like?  Enough to have an exact duplicate ready to leave behind in its place?

As you can tell, my bout with the flu has left me with far too much time to watch cartoons, time which I have filled with those cartoons- mainly Jem and the Holograms, Gargoyles, and My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.  Ah, the plot holes only an adult fan would notice, let alone question.  Although, I suppose if you have too much backstory, you lose the interest of the little ones, as well as making the movie way too long...

Anyway, aside from the residual fever (my temperature hasn't gone below 100.2 all day!) and a little bit of the wobbles when I get up to let the dog in and out, I feel better than I have in days.  So, excepting my desire to sleep with an ice pack, I think I'll be good to go tomorrow.  I'm going to take a tepid shower and go to bed for the night.  My many naps today didn't really refresh me, if you understand what I mean.

Feels...crummy, flu-y feels icky! Happy V-day!

Trust me to take the only days off I have in a month and get the flu!  Okay, if it's not actually the flu, it certainly feels flu-like,  I've got aches and chills and a sore throat and a restless stomach.  I was too hot about an hour ago, and now I'm freezing!  So, Pepper and I are having (well, I am having) some hot chicken noodle soup while we have a Lord of the Rings marathon (they were the longest movies I could think of so I don't have to keep getting up to change the discs).
I am drowning in Theraflu (I'm down to one packet left; I might actually have to go to Walgreens sometime today) and Throat Coat tea with honey and lemon juice.
Since I slept almost the entire day yesterday, and most of the day on Wednesday, I feel the need to at least pretend I don't sleep all the time.
Happy Valentine's Day, by the way.  You know, I no longer lament the coming of V-day.  It's not depressing if you don't let it be.  Like so many other things, it's all about attitude and context.  To me, now, Valentine's Day is a day to tell people you love- family, friends, significant other- how important they are to you.
See? it's all about how you look at things. :)

Want more popsicles!
Ugh, even as I think about having a popsicle, my stomach rebels.  So, no popsicles  I'm gonna have some more tea.  Maybe a different one this time- but not Sleepytime!
So, to all of you lovely folks who are feeling quite better than I am, I wish you a lovely day with your honey, your parents, your kids, your school chums...etc.  Just have a lovely day and know that someone out there loves you!  And if you're feeling as crummy as I am, know also that you're loved.  With an extra dose of love because you're sick and sick people need love.

And I'm going to go now, since I can't seem to keep my thoughts from rambling on at random.  I'm going to curl up on the couch guest bed and watch The Hobbit.

Prayer catharsis and tattoo plans

(This was meant to be posted on Tuesday morning)

So, I'm at work last night, and I found myself writing...and writing...and writing.  Six journal pages later, and I've more of my emotions down on paper than I have in almost two months.  Since Christmas Day, actually.  It was...cathartic.
Of course, it was also emotionally draining.  I read the last chapter in my devotional book (Be Intolerant by Ryan Dobson), and some things really smacked me in the face.  Most of which are highly personal, so I can't actually elaborate on this blog.  But there are a few things I can.
My dear Tiffany suggested that I might want to try out an internship in Kansas City- like what she did.  I promised to pray about it.
One of the things I prayed about last night, in fact.  See, the thing is...I don't feel led to move to Kansas City.  Nor do I feel led to foreign missions.  I never have, really.  I've never been interested in travel, period (ask my mom- the only time I show interest in travel is when she talks about New Zealand, and maybe a little bit when she mentions Ireland).  I have a feeling that if I was meant for foreign missions, God would find a way to make it clear to me, including changing my heart for the direction I was meant to go.
*big happy sigh*
I have also decided to get my tattoo.  Nothing big, and no one can even say it would get in the way of future jobs I might get.  If I need to, it'll be easily covered by my watch.  I just kind of feel like this is something I need to do.  For me.

A Hallmark miniseries in the making!

Have you ever read the Aggie's Inheritance trilogy by Chautona Havig?  The premise sounds sort of like Raising Helen crossed with Yours, Mine, and Ours.  A single woman fresh out of college inherits her sister's eight children after her sister and brother-in-law die in a car accident.  Add in a frightening grandmother-in-law, a massive home renovation project, and God, and you've got the makings of a truly entertaining series.  I fell in love with the books early in the first volume, and I kept reading because this, I realized, is the kind of book I want to write.  And now, almost done with the third installment, Here We Come, I'm convinced that this trilogy of books should be made into a heartwarming miniseries on Hallmark. 
Because, let's face it, Hollywood would destroy it or make it secular, and Lifetime would just ruin it completely with cheap thrills.

*Here's something funny.  I'm watching The Day After Tomorrow, and we've got a heavy snowstorm going on outside.  My movie influences the weather!

Edit: The movie ended- so did the snowstorm!

More "so there"

A continuation of this post from last November:

"So there" in The Day After Tomorrow:
When Jack leaves the meeting with the president and vice president and the vice president is carping about Jack's predictions about the storms and evacuations, and Gomez says, "Maybe if you'd listened to him sooner, they [the evacuations of the Southern states] wouldn't be [necessary]".  The VP snaps and says, "It's easy for him to suggest it; he's safely here in Washington!"  To which Gomez replies quietly, "His son is in Manhattan."  After everyone digests the import of that particular announcement, Gomez adds, "I just thought you should know the facts before you start questioning his motives."

Proud member of Dezi's Army

So, there are places online that feel like a community- even unto the bad parts, where people turn on each other over stupid things.  I don't want to discuss that.  This is about a coming together.  One of the artists in my "community" on dA, dedizenoflight, was diagnosed with cancer recently.
It was like the community blew up.  There are facebook pages, donation pages, updates, and auctions that sprang up overnight to get her the help she needs.
What's really interesting to me is that, I may have never met Anna, and I may never meet Anna, but I feel like I'm part of her community because we're part of the same circle on dA.
Odd, isn't it?

#WeFightForDezi #WeFightForAnna

The outpouring of love for this girl that most of us probably have never physically met is just astounding and beautiful and inspiring.  I like that I've been able to be a part of that.

This was actually pretty cool.

My Facebook Lookback

It was kind of fun to watch and look at some of the things I haven't looked at in a while.

Should totally have posted this on Sunday, but I was busy...having a life

Blogger has a serious issue about letting me upload photos from my computer now.
As in, it's not letting me.
Boo!
Yeah, I'm more upset about that than the fact the that Broncos made a dismal showing (pathetic, according to my parents) at the Super Bowl on Sunday.
What's really funny?  It's like a tragedy to most of my extended family, since they're all smack dab in the middle of Broncos fandom.
And I thought Packers fans were nuts!
Ah, but this is family, so I suppose I should feel a little sorry for them.  Honestly, I feel sorrier for my brother, who is a lone Broncos fan in the midst of Packerland.  Yeah, work on Monday must have been way not fun.
We're going to see I, Frankenstein this afternoon.  I love movie days with my brother.
Nap first.