I hate being sick!

It started Tuesday night with a cough that wouldn't stop. I thought I was going to cough myself into a high. I coughed until I was dizzy and seeing stars, literally. Little white points of light flickering everywhere. Not good. The next morning, the cough was worse, and my lungs were tight and a bit rattly. I felt terrible, but I had to go to work because a colleague's birthday was being celebrated and I had been the one tapped to buy the bagels. I had an 8:15 a.m meeting that I had to be there for.

At any rate, I went home early on Wednesday. My back muscles were killing me from all the coughing. I felt nauseous. I slept for part of the afternoon but not that much. I kept tossing and turning. By evening, I really felt terrible. Every muscle was hurting everywhere, not just in my back. And my skin became very sensitive - so sensitive that it was uncomfortable to wear my clothes.

I crawled into bed at about 9:00 and not too long after, had to get up to use the bathroom. When I did, I came back to bed and began getting the chills. I was so cold my teeth were chattering. I scared the dogs. I scared Jess. I scared me. That hasn't happened to me in years.

Jess had one of the dogs jump up on the bed and curl up next to me to help warm me up while he lay beside me on the other side. But the comfort was short-lived. Soon I was burning up and throwing off the covers. But within a few minutes I was freezing again. This continued all night. I got very little sleep.

Thursday morning, I visited the doctor, who told me I had a virus that brought on a bronchial infection. So he gave me antibiotics for the infection and told me to take cough syrup for the cough and Claritin-D for the runny nose and Advil for the aches and pains. My skin was still very sensitive. It hurt to walk in my clothes, and all my muscles hurt. I went home and slept most of the rest of the afternoon. I woke up queasy. I fixed dinner for Jess and myself but didn't eat much.

I feel better today, but I still am achy and coughing. The skin sensitivity has gone. But being sick is so annoying. I am buried at work and don't have time for a three-day break! But I can't go to work today, the doctor said "absolutely not." So I will rest and hopefully get better today.

I am stewing a chicken to make some chicken soup, and I have been drinking green tea. I'm taking vitamin C hourly. I hope this stuff gives up soon.

Maybe I will blog later about fifty more things about me. Or sleep. Hmmm.....

Gotta love the Internet!

Jess and I were out shopping for a transformer for one of the kitchen light fixtures that had blown (yeah - dontcha love that? It lasted all of 5 months) at the local electric supply store. (By the way, "local electric supply store" should be interpreted "a$$-fu¢kers", and not in a good way.) At any rate, after we were turned over a barrel and given a hard screwing on the price of the transformer ($25), we happened to see a doorbell up front that we liked. We had searched high and low for doorbells and never found one we really liked. This one was beautiful, real wood, hard-wired (they are now making them wireless, and they sound like cheap crap) and just what we wanted. And it was $275. I was floored. But I wasn't about to take it up the poop chute with these idiots twice in a day, and neither was Jess. We left disgusted.

Later, at home, I went online and looked up the doorbell. Store 1 had it for $175. Much more reasonable than our local retailer! But I wasn't finished. I wanted it for even less. Shopping a little further, I found 1-800-Doorbell, a/k/a Lord Henry Enterprises, and they had it as a closeout for $75 because they were discontinuing Broan and NuTone bells.

So basically, I saved $200 just by doing 10 minutes worth of research on the Internet. And I got to screw over the local electric supply store! Woo-hoo!

By the way, I found the transformer that I bought at the store online for $15 - and $5 shipping - and I don't have to 1) drive for 20 minutes and 2) wait for a Saturday because it's the only day they're open that I can go there because they keep ridiculous 9-5 hours during the week. So when the other transformers blow, I'll be buying them online.

And by the way, I'm feeling so butch. I installed the doorbell myself and it works beautifully.

I've been called a lot of things...

This afternoon, an old friend of Jess' mother's (and ours) dropped by to visit. I love this woman, she is very sweet. She hadn't seen the house since we remodeled and so we visited for awhile and then gave her the tour. While she had indicated before she saw the house that she was hoping to see that we had kept some of the familiar items, she wasn't disappointed with the result, and she told us that Jess' mom would have loved what we had done.

Anyway, while on the tour of the bedrooms, she stepped into the guest bedroom (which was formerly Mom's room) and said, "Oh my!" She was surprised by the eggplant walls, the bedcoverings, everything. I think it was probably overwhelming for her, as it was nothing like she knew it. "It's not my taste, but I can still admire it," she remarked, running her hand lightly over the bedspread. "Was this your grandmother's, too?" she asked (since we had told her that the furniture in the room was his grandmother's). I told her no and that I had purchased it recently. And then she dropped the bomb.

"It looks like the room belongs to a lady of the night."

You could have knocked me over with a feather. I was speechless.

"Do you know what a lady of the night is? That's an old term."

"Oh, of course I do. I am familiar with the term."

"Well," she said, correcting herself ever-so-slightly, "an expensive one."

I have a hooker's taste. Lovely!

I later remarked to Jess that I felt like Frenchy in Grease during the Frankie Avalon "angel" scene:

Well, they couldn't teach you anything/you think you're such a looker/but no customer would go to you unless she was a hooker!

Maybe I should give up my dream to be an interior designer.