What is going on?

I have been having a lot of stomach pain and discomfort for over a week now. Its a bloated burning sensation that has been keeping me up at night. Kind of like heart burn but worse than the occasional bouts I feel when I eat something really heavy, greasy or spicy. Is it an ulcer? I don't have any idea, having never had an ulcer before. But its persistent and really uncomfortable. Not intestinal at all. I decided to try and eat really lightly for a few days and see if that helps clear it up. Give my stomach a little rest. I still get hungry, but after I eat I start to regret it almost immediately. Today I had a small cup of yogurt for breakfast, some really bland chicken soup for lunch, and a small bowl of oatmeal tonight for dinner. And I am STILL having stomach pain tonight. What the heck? I suppose its going to take a few more days of light food to heal things up, but the fact that my day of blandness has made very little difference is making me wonder if its even going to help at all?
I have NO idea what in the world it is. Its making me really tired, not only because being uncomfortable is exhausting, but I spent a good part of last night walking around the house in the wee hours of the morning because I kept waking up in pain. In fact, the night before that I actually dreamed I was pregnant and IN LABOR somehow incorporating the pain into my dream. Of course, its really nothing like labor pains. But my subconscious doesn't seem to know that.
Oh well, its not keeping me from going about my day. I haven't called in sick or missed out on anything going on yet. If it doesn't clear up soon I guess I will have to see the Doc who will probably prescribe an antacid and send me on my way. I have taken Tums, Rolaids, Pepcid, and Tagamet......none of them have really made a dent in this. Who knows....maybe if I fast for a day or so and have nothing but liquids it will clear up. That might be my next plan of attack. Any other suggestions? I keep thinking its just a little virus kind of bug because God knows my whole office has been sick with one thing or another. Flu, stomach viruses, upper respiratory infections...there is a little bit of all of it going on there. And most people think they are doing the world a great favor by showing up for work like a martyr. All they are really doing is spreading germs. Ugh.

Strange Dreams and Crafty People

I had the weirdest dream last night. Maybe it was more than one and I just remember bits and pieces of them. Who knows. What I do remember is that I was living in an apartment building and one of my neighbors was Randy Jackson, one of the American Idol judges. Yeah, I have been watching the Idol auditions these past few weeks. I may have to stop if Randy Jackson is going to invade my dreams. I recall that Bruce was calling me telling me that I needed to bring him some necessary item for work (no idea exactly what), but he needed it right that minute. And Randy Jackson called just after that and said he needed me to bring him some incredibly important item that he had inadvertently left in his apartment. Strange. Randy's "item" turned out to be truckloads of electronic products, tv's , blue ray players...etc. His apartment looked like a warehouse. These things were supposed to be handed out to people in need. Because we all know that people who are struggling to afford food need nothing more than a blue ray player, right? Somehow I was getting it all done....errands for Bruce, errands for Randy. I remember feeling really tired and I kept thinking, "Seriously? I have to do this for everybody on my day off?" LOL. I was probably having uneasy dreams because I ended up sleeping in Erica's room last night. Bruce went to bed first. By the time I got there he was so wrapped up in blankets and sheets that I didn't have enough of a sliver of blanket to cover even half of my body. I kind of laid there for a few minutes, pulling and tugging to no avail. So I just gave up and found another bed to sleep in.

Also? I keep reading all of these "crafts" blogs where people are making these beautiful valentines. It makes me feel so inadequate. One woman had been thrift store shopping for weeks collecting all kinds of interesting items to re-purpose as valentines. She had even used really old Bingo cards from a game she bought for fifty cents. The cards were amazing when she was done with them. Personalized, and unique to each recipient. I love crafty stuff. I never have time to really do any of it though. Maybe one day I will be able to present my family and friends with beautiful handmade valentines. Just know that I love you all and if I could make everybody fancy, original cards I would. :) Just pretend I did this year, ok?

My Life

My life is pretty much like this:

Super Bowl Sunday

We don't watch the Super Bowl. Yeah, I know....its strange. Neither my husband or I have the slightest interest in football. Or most sports in general. I was teased mercilessly yesterday at work because I honestly had NO idea of who was actually IN the Super Bowl this year. I found out, but could not have cared less. To me it has all of the appeal of watching somebody read the phone book on tv for a few hours.

What I DO like to watch today is PUPPY BOWL !!!!





Animal Planet is having Puppy Bowl 2011 today at 3pm. And it is adorable. I never get tired of it. No gigantic, grossly over paid, stinky, sweaty steriod kings running around bashing each other up. No violence. No drunk and obnoxious crowds. Just outrageous cuteness and fun.



One of my favortite parts? KITTY HALFTIME!!! You just gotta love it. Its purrrfect!



I know it probably makes me weird, but I don't care. I like what I like and I do NOT like football. I am going to make us a tray of snacks and settle in with Bruce to watch the onslaught of CUTE today. Thats where I will be......

Petsmart, you let me down!!!

This is the only cat food my cats eat. Well, they really like Fancy Feast, but that is a crappy brand full of cheap grain fillers. Its the equivalent of letting kids eat McDonalds for every meal. Also? Omen has food allergies to the grain fillers. She breaks out in itchy rashes, requires a trip to the vet, anti-biotics and steriods, and the whole thing is just inconvenient. So we go with the Blue Spa select. Its a holistic food that uses high quality human grade proteins and small amounts of whole grains that don't generally cause food allergies in cats like rice and barley. If you see corn, wheat, or wheat gluten on the can you should throw it away. These not only commonly cause allergies, but long term consumption can lead to feline diabetes. There is basically no cat food available at the grocery store that will provide the nutrition that a cat really needs. Its all junk food. And cats are addicted to it. My cats went for the Fancy Feast like it was crack cocaine....and that is no lie.

But anyway, we weaned the cats off of the Fancy feast, and finally got them acclimated to eating the healthier stuff (meaning more expensive of course). And our stupid Petsmart is constantly running out of the only flavor they really like, the turkey one. We feed them a mixture of both dry and canned. Our vet suggested that because dry helps with dental cleaning, while canned food gives them more water in their diet to help ward off future kidney problems. Apparently cats don't naturally drink a lot of water and need to get part of it through their food. Cats on completely dry food diets sometimes develop kidney problems because they don't get enough water. So....we do both. We use a Blue Spa dry food that has vitamin bits mixed in. And honestly? Besides not having any more skin outbreaks with Omen, we can tell a huge difference in how soft and shiny their fur is. Diet makes a big difference. Huge!

But we ran by tonight to stock up and once again there was NO turkey blue spa on the shelves. I got one of the guys to run and check back in the stockroom, but there was none there either. I will have to make yet another trip on Monday after the trucks make deliveries to try and get my hands on some. There are several other flavors like Tuna and Salmon. But the cats eat a few bites of those and then waste the rest.
It has to be turkey.....luckily I have a few more cans that will hopefully last until a new truck comes in. This gets so frustrating. Apparently all the cats in town prefer the Turkey flavor. There was plenty of the tuna and salmon, like usual.....I wonder if I can convince the store manager to stock more turkey and less of the other flavors. It would make my life easier because this running back several times just trying to catch the turkey flavor in stock is getting really old. Love them like family....feed them like family. Thats the Blue Spa slogan....LOL. And while I am not writing an advertisement for the company, it really is one of the most nutritious brands out there.

Happy Groundhog Day

Its Groundhog Day and I didn't even remember that until I got to work and heard people asking if the groundhog saw his shadow. Apparently he did not, which is a good thing because I am more than ready for spring to make an appearance. January and February are our rainiest months, and while I realize its nothing compared to all of the crazy amounts of snow alot of people have gotten these past couple of months, still....chilly gray damp days just get depressing after a while. I am ready for a little sunshine.

Speaking of snow, Stephen and Hannia survived the massive snow storm that hit the midwest. They never even lost electricity, which is fantastic seeing as how their townhouse is all electric. They don't have an alternative heat source. In fact, Stephen said that his lease prohibited using kerosene or propane space heaters. I still might buy one just in case the power went out....but it wasn't an issue this time around. Even Purdue, which has closed only about half a dozen times in its ENTIRE history for bad weather, cancelled classes 2 days in a row. But they are fine and that makes me happy.

Local Business

We have several local businesses around here (3 that I KNOW of) that think the best advertising strategy is to parade some poor unfortunate soul wearing a ridiculous costume back and forth on the edge of a busy thoroughfare. Every day that I drive home from work I find myself waving at a giant cellphone, a huge slice of pizza, and a human statue of Liberty that walks around in front of a tax office. Its kind of creepy and I don't know why I feel compelled to wave back to these characters. It certainly doesn't make me want to frequent these places as a customer, though. In fact, seeing these poor people out walking back and forth in the freezing cold or pouring rain makes me think these businesses are owned by jackasses. Actually the cell phone and the pizza slice sometimes catch a break if the weather is really awful. But the Statue of Liberty (in at least 2 separate locations) is out there no matter how cold it is or how hard it rains. It always makes me sad.

Also? Stephen and Hannia are in the middle of a blizzard up in Lafayette right now.
I checked their local weather and noticed that Purdue has even cancelled classes for the day. Its my understanding that school closings for snow is pretty rare up there.
How funny since this town shuts down completely if a stray flake or 2 happens to fall. Just send some positive energy their way to hopefully keep electricity on. Hannia made an emergency trip to the grocery store, so I know they have plenty of food. But if the power goes out, my kids are going to get awfully cold. Their townhouse is completely electric, no fireplace or gas logs or anything like that.

Speaking of positive energy, send some to Barb too. She is having the cortisone shot in her hip today and we all hope it works well enough to postpone surgery for a long, long time. Good luck Barb! Let us know how it goes.......