Sliding Doors

Sliding Doors was a 1998 movie starring Gwyneth Paltrow. The whole idea is that there are moments in life where you do something or something happens to you that forever makes a difference in you future. In this movie it was when Paltrow's character missed the door on the subway. I never saw the movie, but the concept is all I am going for here.

I know there are several big change items that have resulted in who I am. I think one of the most black-and-white sliding door moments for me was when I abanoned the idea to skip going to USC in favor of going to BBC. I know I would have been a different person if BBC was my institution of higher education.

There are times when it would be interesting to test sliding doors on just a small level. For instance, you know how when you are frustrated with something and finally ask someone for help - then you can suddenly do it yourself? I always wonder how long it would have taken to figure it out on your own if you had not asked.

Well, I want to fork my life for temporary purposes. Let me set the stage...

Its Monday night and I am coughing my head off - I cant sleep. At 2:00 in the morning I decide that no matter what I am going to the doctor in the morning. This cannot go on. I wake up Tues AM and feel pretty decent (as I have the past few mornings) - FREEZE.

Path 1 - by 8am I am in the Doctor's Care waiting room. I took along my sudoku book and did three 'Moderate' puzzles before I saw the physician. He looked in my ears, nose, and throat then listed to my chest. After asking a few questions he says he wants to put me on z-pak and that I should take Mucinex DM.

Path 2 - and I feel so OK that I decide to skip the doctor and go on to work.

Clearly I took path 1, and guess what - I SLEPT LAST NIGHT!! Justin even slept in the same room with me and not down the hall! :-) It was glorious. I almost want to say... "You went away, but I found you" (in that really high-pitch sweaky voice of the psychohosebeast from Wedding Crashers). Like I said, sleep was glorious - I didn't want to get up this morning. But, I really wonder - was I just getting better anyway?

I hate taking antibiotics, and I am fearful I am going to start hacking up those little green monsters from the Mucinex commercials, but such as life - if it makes me feel better than it does.

So, that is my story this morning and I am sticking to it.

Farewell for now!

Feeling Better

At least a little better until I burned the fool out of my finger & thumb tonight. Gosh, if it is not one thing it is another....

So, I did some 'past-blogging' tonight and filled is some posts that I intended to make while sick. I guess that is kind of cheating, but oh well. At least I am caught up now.

Last night Justin and I caught up on some episodes of 'My Name is Earl' - I love that show. We are behind on 24 - we missed last week and then are going to watch tonights episode later as well. Ben was over early and we did not want to rush him out.

I was pretty productive today at work. It was nice to work with a clear head. I slept a little better last night. We got a humidifier on Sunday and it seemed to help some. Today Hoke recommended a specific cough syrup and I grabbed some - man that stuff tasted wretched. It was pretty nasty. Fortunately it is only taken ever 12 hours. If that does not clear me up in the next few days I will for sure go to the doctor, but at least I am making progress now. I even felt good enough to do some laundry! :-) I cleaned the kitchen too.

Alan lent us some cool architecture books and magazines for us to look through. There is some really neat stuff in there. I have skimmed them and Justin is looking through them carefully now.

Really there is not much going on. Same ole Same ole - I will go for now!

Breaks Here - Breaks There

Turns our fixing the tractor was only $255. We carried it in on Monday morning and picked it up Friday afternoon.

I stayed home Thursday from work and made it 1/2 a day on Friday. Instead of taking me right home Justin carried me to pick up the tractor with him. After carrying me home ( I went straight so sleep) he went to the land to work. About 5:00 he called. Aparently there was a snake between him and the car. His blog post about it was fantastic. He also told me that he blew out the right front tire on the tractor.

Saturday I carried Ben & Amelia out to see the land (they had not been yet) and when I got there Brandon was out there with Justin. The tractor had just broken. The pin that held on the blades of the bush hog broke. Lori paid us a surprise visit that afternoon. We went to dinner with her and had a nice time. It was fun to see her.

Sunday Brandon & Justin went to the land again. I went out for a bit but for the most part I stayed in the bed all weekend. We watched the race with Katie & Brandon. That evening we took it easy. I actually felt pretty decent during the day, but man - sleeping is so tough. I keep coughing.

The deadlines I was behind on are even worse now, but that is just the way it is...Yeah Monday. It is only a few hours away.

Valentine's Day

"The Struggle" has turned to "The Suffer" --- That sore throat has leveraged itself into a downright NASTY cold. It sucks. I take sinus medicine and the congestion moved to my chest, I take chest medicine and it moves to my head. Back and forth. I have 2 big deadlines going on at work and am behind on both. I am behind on other general stuff too. The meds just make me all swimmy.

Justin and I did not celebrate V-Day yesterday. Although he did get me some flowers (a potted calla lilly), candy, and ice cream WITH magic shell!! :-) Our real celebration was tonight. The Melting Pot... yummm. I love that place. Too bad my head was all stopped up and I could not really taste everything all the way. I skipped out of work a little early to go home and take a nap before dinner. That really helped me power thru the evening. My gift to Justin was delivered by our server between the cheese & meat courses of dinner. It was a nice leather book filled with his 'Best of 2005' pics printed as 5x7s. It was cool. I think he really likes it, and that makes me happy!

The Struggle

The land endeavors began Thursday at 4:30 PM when we closed on the land. It is MUCH easier/faster to do that stuff when a bank is not involved. The most exciting part of the closing was when we were greeted by the office dog. In this case Palmetto Law Firm's office dog was a black Newfoundland. This dog had to be 135 lb - he was HUGE! (That picture give you an idea.)

Friday morning started early. We arrived in St. George about 8:30 and Jeremy & Jamie showed up just there after. We got all the paperwork for the tractor taken care of pretty quickly, but the orientation... good gracious the orientation. T...h..e g..uuuu...y t..aaaa..lked sooooo sl..oooooo.....www. It took what felt like 3 hours. In all honest we were out of there, to the subway for a meal, and on the road by 11:00. Justin's Colorado had the 4wheeler in the back and towed a trailor with the disk in it. Jeremy's Avalanche towed the 16ft tractor trailor with the tractor, bush hog, and box grater on it. We made it to the land around 12:30 and by 5:00 that evening just about all the dirt was moved from the driveway piles so we could drive back onto the land. That night I cooked dinner at the house and we played board games. It was nice.

Saturday morning it rained. Jamie went to visit her sister over in Lexington and Jeremy & Justin went cat shopping (Jeremy wanted to give Jamie one for Valentine's Day). I stayed in the bed. It was nice. The guys had a cat selected around noon and delivered it to the house. Vegita was thrilled! Ha Ha. We headed to the property because the rain let up and by the end of the day the entire front field was cut, part of the second field, and both sides of the driveway were marked through the woods. When back at the house we told Jamie that the new cat belonged to our neighbors and that we were keeping it for the evening because their house was being fumugated. At dinner that night (Little Pigs) Jeremy gave her the paperwork. She said - "Thats not your neighbors cat!" I said, "No." After dinner we visited Katie & Brandon. It was enjoyable.

Sunday morning started early. We were on the land at 7:45 and by noon we had pushed the entire way through the 189 feet of woods where the driveway had to go. My parents showed up just after noon and by 12:15 the tractor was broken. (This is where the struggle really began). Katie & Brandon came out as well as Danielle. Curba & Allen also visited. Even though the tractor broke the day was VERY productive. We were home by 2:30 - 3:00. That afternoon we went back to the land with Gohan. He had a fab time. While there we were expecting Todd, but Jeremy McGee also showed up.

It was a long weekend and by the end I was glad it was over. I was coming down with a nasty sore throat and gosh - work Monday.. that would not be fun.