Itty-bitty setbacks

I was so sure that I was completely over this coughing thing, and so I didn't take the nighttime meds that the Urgent Care NP gave me. Big mistake. I fortunately had an appointment today with the allergist for my yearly checkup, and even though I had to fess up to my dosing mistakes, she assured me it happens to everyone, and I'm almost back to where I was before that happened. I'll continue to take those meds, and she recommended a sinus rinse to help with the drainage. I'll try that tomorrow.

Can't do the fence until the sprinkler is done and the gutter is replaced and painted. Can't do the patio until the sprinkler is done and the fence replaced. Can't do the sprinkler when it's 33 degrees and snowing. The house is going on the market even if the repairs aren't done. It's a work in progress.

Even though I have lots of IRS proofing and much Fish transcription to do over the weekend, I'm hoping to put in some good hours whittling down the list. February 1 is going to come and go, because I've scheduled pretty much the last item, carpet cleaning, for the 2nd, but fingers crossed the sign goes in the yard on the 3rd. I'll believe it when I see it.

Ohm...

Such a nice calm day, no worker bees, no cough, just work and the grocery store and a walk with Skylar. It's been a long time coming.

Claudia got another "market research" call today. Can you say desperate?

Not only did I get to sleep in my very own bed last night, but I got to sleep lying down. It was pure bliss.

They love us

Or they hate the transcripts they're getting. Either way, Claudia got another call from the DOI guy, following up on his call last week. I guess nothing has improved in that time, but according to him, he's just "doing market research." Let's go with that, Pete, and see how happy that makes the agents.

I got the fridge cleaned! It looks fantastic. Mike cleaned the stove - he's not as good a cleaner as me, but it looks decent. After that little job, I went around the house and just looked at stuff. It was thrilling.

Tree repair update: the shingles have been replaced and the joists repaired. They went up in the attic today and found no damage - excellent news. I have to call off the fence guys until next week so that our guy can get in and do sprinkler repairs first. It's all in the timing.

I'm going to make an attempt to sleep in my own bed tonight - fingers crossed!

Scaffolding for roof/gutter/joist repair

Post-SOTU

Mike and Alex both like to switch over to Faux News afterwards, and I can't tolerate it for even a second. So while Mike is listening to the other side, I'm blogging.

Jan and I had way more fun than is possible chatting and shopping until I dropped her off at the Hotel Monaco in Denver at 4:00 yesterday afternoon. I introduced her to one of my favorite stores, Home Goods, and she liked it so much, she had the clerk check to see if there was one in KC. Alas, no, but it's a good way to get her back to Colorado Springs. We also discovered that (a) yes, I do need a wide shoe, and they're extremely comfortable and (b) there are no cute wide shoes in any of the stores we visited. Fortunately for me, there is Zappo's and their offshoot, 6 p.m., so I will be buying all my shoes online from now on. It is such a relief to have solved that issue.

It was windy again today, so I was glad that the worker assigned to our roofing issues called in sick and couldn't come. Tomorrow is supposed to be warm and less breezy, a good day for working out of doors.

I'm still sleeping in a different room than Mike, and I'm still sleeping almost sitting up, but it seems that the coughing "fits" have been reduced to only one or two during the night instead of hourly. Maybe by the end of the week, I'll be able to sleep lying down...or not.

Nothing like sister love

I picked up sister at the airport, we had our usual Starbucks stop outside the first Macy's and were ready at 11:00 when it opened. Two more Macy's later, with a few Talbot's and a Chico's thrown in for good measure, we were tired and ready for home. A new discovery at Park Meadows Mall: a Lego store - seriously. If they had had one of those when the boys were smaller, I would be broke. What a cool store! They now have the cutest girl Lego sets, and I may just have to buy one for myself because they are so adorable.

Although I didn't buy much - all right, nothing but a $3 Lego thing, I did make an important discovery which I think will eliminate some frustration I've been having. Because of the bunions on my feet (where else would they be?), I have been having so much trouble finding shoes that are comfortable. When we were trying on Minnetonka shoes at Macy's, the 8 1/2 was too tight across the bunion area and the nines felt good but were too big elsewhere. An aha moment, I need to buy wide shoes, not regular width shoes. We will experiment tomorrow during our shopping.

I had a better night last night in terms of coughing, with two three-hour blocks of sleep, but as Jan said, one hour of sleep plus a three-hour block plus a three-hour block does not seven hours of sleep make. She is brilliant. Tonight, I'm hoping for more than a three-hour block, but I will be happy with just about anything that's more than an hour.

The best laid plans

Another really bad night, with a little excitement thrown in for good measure. I woke up at 1 a.m. coughing, and there were red and blue lights swirling around the room. It seems like there have been a lot of emergency vehicles in my neighborhood lately. Long story short, there were firefighters in the tree house (more of a platform with railings) at the house on the corner, and they were wheeling a person on a gurney into an ambulance. I don't know who that person was or whether or not they were in the tree house. I guess it's going to be one of those stories where the ending is never known.

I called my doctor's office this morning only to discover they're now closed on Fridays, so I took myself to an urgent care place. I have nothing, no pneumonia, no bronchitis, no sinus infection or ear infection, just drainage and lots of it going down my throat. That's why I'm coughing. Even after I begged for codeine, the nurse-practitioner wouldn't give me any, saying the coughing was for a purpose. She did give me a prescription for something that will dry up the drainage and gave me a lot of warnings, such as it'll really dry me up, only take half a pill, it'll make me drowsy. That last one got my attention. I need drowsy. I have no hope that it will work and that getting back to the proper dosage on my vasomotor rhinitis and some time are my only hope. Boo-hoo.

I did absolutely no work on the house today, but I did do some IRS proofing and cooked two dishes. That's something. The contractor came by and had me sign a contract for the work, which will start on Tuesday, with the fence people probably here on Friday. Yea!

Sister Jan is flying into Denver Sunday. Shopping!

Heading to bed - fingers crossed.