The Flu

Hannia called me at work yesterday morning. She was upset and worried. She said that Stephen was really sick, running a high fever, and was refusing to go to the doctor. Also? She had an important exam at 1:30. And that exam is a whole other story. To try to make a long story short, she graduated 2 years ago. She walked across the stage, got a job and everything. But she is still waiting on her diploma. There was some kind of mix up about the credit she was supposed to earn for studying abroad in France, and apparently ECU has some of the worst office personnel in the world. 2 years, 9 million phone calls, 10 million trips to the registrar's office, a billion cases of noone knowing anything, 59 million people that she needed to talk to NOT being in, and a gazillion frustration headaches later, Hannia was finally able to get them to concede that if she could pass this French exam, she could have her diploma. Of course, she has been out of school for 2 years.....and I don't think she has that much opportunity to practice her French here in G'ville, so naturally she was already anxious about the whole thing.

Anyway, I know my son, and I KNOW he can be stubborn. So, I told Hannia to go on with the exam, and try not to worry....we would intervene and make sure Stephen went to the doctor. I mean, come on, he is having flu symptoms in the midst of all of this Swine Flu hoopla. And people die from that crap. Its not something to play around with. Bruce managed to get off of work first, so he headed over to Stephen's house. He called ahead to the dr. and they told him to come in and get a mask first.
Then, they ushered Stephen directly back into an exam room so he wouldn't be in contact with anyone else in the waiting room. They kept him back there forever. When I got off work about an hour and a half later, and I still hadn't heard anything, I swung by the doctor's office on my way home. I'm sorry....this is my child. I was worried. I didn't care if I risked getting exposed.

So, it's possible that Stephen has Swine Flu. They did blood tests and we hope to have the results by tomorrow. But they really felt like it was most probably some kind of flu, even if it turns out NOT to be the H1N1 strain. They started him on Tamiflu and sent him home to wait it out. The good news is that he is already feeling better with the meds. Apparently, the earlier you can get started on them, the more effective they are. I don't think that getting a positive result of Swine Flu (or negative for that matter) will change anything as far as treatment goes. It seems to be pretty much about the same as any other flu. Its just the one going around at the moment. Flu sucks no matter what strain it is. And there have been confirmed cases here in town....so....? We will see. In the meantime, we are all on high alert to look for symptoms for the rest of us who have been exposed to whatever it is that Stephen has. At the first signs we have been instructed to head to the Doc as soon as possible. Probably for Tamiflu.

So, yeah, its been a weird week. And we are all just waiting for test results. For Stephen AND for Hannia. Hopefully everything will work out fine.

Little Tabby Cat

This is Omen, our little tabby cat. She is such a sweet tempered girl, very affectionate and cuddly. I was reading a piece about the domestic short-haired tabby, and I saw a cute little legend that I have never heard before.

According to this legend, a common little tabby cat climbed into the manger to cuddle up with the newborn baby Jesus and keep him warm. Mary was so grateful that she marked the cat (on its forehead) with her initial "M" so that everyone would know to care for, love and respect the descendants of the little kitten that warmed the baby Jesus. All true tabbies are supposed to bear the mark.

I see Omen every single day, and yet I couldn't remember seeing a large "M" on her forehead...so I had to go check it out. I woke her up from a nap, so she wasn't exactly amused. But its there. On her forehead. The middle of the M is broken, and doesn't quite meet up, but its definitely there. Funny how I never saw it before. Kind of a cute little story though.....

Dances with Goats

I found this title appropriate only because "Dances with Wolves" is on the list of movies that my husband will watch over and over again. It was on some random channel yesterday afternoon, and although it was almost over when he found it, he watched the ending for the 18 billionth time.

But about the goats....my goats hate dancing. It freaks them out. Bruce discovered this fact when he came into the fenced yard with his mp3 player on and broke out into a little jig right there as the goats were coming up to see if he had any treats for them. The dancing scared them so bad that they spazzed out and started running sideways. If they were Australian fainting goats, they would have fallen out for sure. So Bruce reported to me later that they seriously hated dancing and of course we had to go test the theory out again.

We walked out into the yard, and pretended to just stand around and chat...long enough that the goats were calmly walking around us. And then we broke out in a dance. Sure enough, it scared the hell out of them and they scattered away running like their lives depended on it. Yeah, it sounds meaner than it was intended to be.
Its actually quite funny to see. And they get over it pretty quickly. They recover and come back to see us. They don't go hide and cower for any length of time.

But of course when Stephen came over, he wanted to test it out again. So, yeah, we did it. And the goats freaked out again. They just don't appreciate the art of dancing at ALL. Or maybe we are just not doing it right....HA! I'm guessing that its a really good thing that our backyard is surrounded by acres of trees as a buffer so that neighbors or passersby might accidentally witness this weird dancing ritual that we have going on out there. Its so fun that its practically impossible to resist breaking out in dance with those goats. And after they get over the initial shock of our dancing, the goats get really wild and playful. They have some fun with it too, its not just all "mean-spirited, let's torture the goats" stuff. They run and play and headbutt each other. Goats frolic in ways that most other animals just can't. So, come on over and we can all go outside and dance with the goats!

Dream Analysis Please.....

I had the weirdest dream last night. I was running errands, just going through a mundane, regular day, when I started noticing that everybody that I could see had a six inch statue of liberty replica in their pocket. It was one of those little cheesy types that you find in all the tourist trap stores in Times Square. Some people had one in their front pants pocket, some in the back. Some people had one in their shirt pocket, and I spotted a few ladies who had one peeking out of a pocket in their handbags. I was so caught up in checking these things out, and every single person that I saw at all the normal errand spots that I frequent had one. The grocery store, the mall, the bank....even the clerks had them.

And then I took a closer look, and noticed that every little statue had a different face. One had a baby's sleeping face, all pudgy with closed eyes. And some were men, some were women. Not anyone that I recognized, just random faces. I woke up from that feeling really unsettled like I was caught in some really bad Twilight Zone episode. It took me a while to go back to sleep. And its not like it was scary or anything, just surreal. Like a hallucination that I just wanted to shake myself out of. Funny. I wonder what a dream analyst would make out of that?

And speaking of unsettling...we just got back from the pool. We've been going occasionally in the afternoon, if we manage to get off work in time to soak up a little sun. So, anyway, there was this woman there that I haven't seen before. She was really overweight. And while that in and of itself is no biggie, there are plenty of less than perfect-sized people there, it was what she was wearing that was so frightening. She had on a bikini. Not a moderate 2 piece, that still managed to cover appropriately. But a teeny-tiny string bikini that my husband pointed out how the "strings" had all disappeared into huge folds of flesh so you could barely tell that she was wearing anything. It was obscene and disgusting. You would not even have to own a mirror to tell that it was inappropriate. You should just be able to FEEL that your straps were sucked into your "fat pockets". I noticed that people were sneaking sideways glances and talking in whispers about her. I felt bad and embarrassed for her. But you know...she must have been at least in her mid-40's, so seriously, she is old enough to know better. Most of the folks there have at least a half a sliver of decency about them. Not that there aren't some teeny tiny bikinis in the mix, but those are on the younger, thinner people who can pull that off. I know I am sounding mean, but I am afraid I might have nightmares about that tonight. And I do not want any more unsettling dreams.

Take the Guess work out....

Take the guess work out of shopping online! Seriously! I have found a new site (well, its new to me, so...) called My Shape. It takes a bit of time to set up your account because you have to measure your body all over, and fill in the info. But its FREE. And its non-judgemental, no matter what your measurements are.
And honestly, it asks you to measure practically everything. How many times have you been asked for the circumference of your thigh? But once your info is in the system, it custom selects clothing for you based on your actual measurements, like a personal shopper. It selects the size, and fit that will flatter your body the most. How easy is that?

And its not any more expensive than shopping other places really. The styles it selected for me were varied from moderate to kind of pricey. It selects pieces from all over the place. I recognized a few things from Macy's website, and the price was exactly the same. Its like being able to check several dozen online shopping sites in one place. And everything offered is YOUR size, and YOUR best styles. So cool.

Also? Once you sign up and fill out your information, you get FREE shipping and FREE RETURNS. So, if for some reason, you aren't as thrilled with something as they think you should be, you can return it with no charge. That makes it risk-free, too.
I have set up my account, and I am in the process of adding things to the wish list feature provided. I haven't actually ordered anything yet. But I will. Oh yeah, you can count on that!!! And for my girls (Erica and Hannia) IF you were to have a wish list, and IF you provided me with a link to it, anytime I got a wild desire to shop, I could buy you something you really wanted, instead of something that I think would be cute on you...LOL. One of the cool wish list features is that you can order from someone's list without ever having seen the actual size of anything. For people who are shy about what size they wear, I guess.

For me, sizes are nothing more than arbitrary numbers proven by the fact that MY personal shopping list offers me clothing with a variety of different sizes. It goes by your measurements, so while you might wear a 10 in one thing, it might be an 8 or 12 or whatever in another item. I love that, because trying to order clothing online, without being able to try it on is difficult. There really should be some kind of sizing standard, but until there is, I can let someone else do the work for me! Yay!

Farmer's Market

I went with Hannia to our local Farmer's Market this morning. First of all, I had every intention of getting there around 8ish. That didn't happen. But we did make it there by 10. I was a little disappointed that there was not more veggies, but its still a little bit early for a lot of the things that I was hoping for. I wanted some fresh corn. There has been some pretty corn at the grocery store, but I guess its too soon for the local corn. Hannia wanted peppers, and none of those were to be had either. There were lots of beautiful tomatoes and squash. And lots of greens, too.

What I wasn't expecting was the ton of other stuff there. OMG!!! Hannia and I went to find healthy foods...LOL. But there were stands with ALL kinds of homemade baked goods. Breads, cakes, pies. So much yumminess under one roof. We bought fried Mango turnovers for breakfast. How healthy does that sound? Those were pretty tasty though. There were some local strawberries, but we just had a ton of those last week. I went with the blueberries this time around. They were grown on a farm just a couple of miles down the road from us. And peaches. Those were brought in from SC, but they look really delicious. Oh, and I FINALLY found local honey there. I was so excited. It is hard to find, and I have been told that a small amount of local honey every day will help alleviate allergies. Your body builds up a tolerance to the pollen. I have no idea if it really works, but I want to try it. My allergies have been wicked this year. I also bought goat milk soap and mint plants...(for Mojitos-I figure if the honey doesn't work, I will just drink my ailments away. Sounds like a viable plan, doesn't it?).

Anyway, I was surprised how much that market has changed. It used to be a few local farmers selling veggies. Now its full of stuff...seafood, jams and jellies, fresh eggs, roasted nuts, and gourmet coffees....I can't even list it all. And it was really packed with people, too. I had trouble finding a place to park. But it was a nice experience. I definitely will go back. And maybe soon the corn, peppers, and melons will come in. I look forward to that!

Erica participates in a local produce co-op program up there in her town. Its really kind of cool. She pays a set price per year (I think its $400 for her), and twice a month she goes to a certain location and picks up her share of what is available at that time. She got lucky that her pick up point is literally just at the end of her street. And she gets some yummy locally grown foods, including local honey. Lately, she says she has been drowning in greens like spinach and kale. Things have been a bit delayed due to a really rainy spring. But the other veggies will be coming in soon. It sounds like a really nice way to promote local food producers and I wish we had something like that here. I guess the Farmer's Market will have to suffice.

Made me LOL