Waaaah! I sound awful!

"The Phantom of the Opera" is playing in the living room, and as much as I love to sing along with the movie (all of it), I can't quite get past the fact that I sound like a hoarse frog. :( I sound terrible right now. My voice totally cracks if I try to hit anything in the soprano range. On the other hand, I wasn't having any trouble singing the Phantom's parts... *rolling eyes*

I'm still coughing my way through allergy-induced bronchitis, which makes me feel asthmatic after I finish a coughing fit. I just can't catch my breath, doggone it. Why would someone do this to herself deliberately by smoking, I have to wonder?

I think by Monday, I may have my sense of smell back. At least my nose isn't running like crazy anymore.

I've been enjoying the free air conditioning mother nature's been providing the past couple of days. Nice and cool outside, and opening the windows makes it the perfect temperature in the house. I'm hoping I can make up for those two months of $250 utility bills.

I KNOW that was mainly the gas bill - the cost has skyrocketed around here, and I'm sure that my clanky water heater is not helping matters any. If I can get someone to watch over me when I turn off the gas, I'll try draining the sediment out of it sometime this weekend and see if that doesn't end the clanking and improve its efficiency.

It would be nice if I could install one of those tankless water heaters that Rinnai makes instead of replacing this gas heater with another one. I heard on the radio this morning that the government will give consumers who put them in a $300 tax credit. That's pretty nice. It ought to work out to about $100 in actual tax relief. Still, they say that those things pay for themselves in four months. Let's see... 4 months x $250 = $1000. Hopefully one wouldn't cost $1000! But I'll bet that I'd have to get some qualified person to both install it and close off the gas line to where the water tank used to be. I'm sure that even if the heater only cost $600, the other $400 would be installation and shipping costs. Hmm... might be worth it though. I bet it would increase the resale value of my house.

It would certainly eliminate that icky gas smell when the heater refills and kicks on. Why is it that I'm the only one sensitive enough to notice that smell? On the other hand, I knew that someone had eaten microwave popcorn several hours before (a couple of weeks ago) because I could smell a faint scent of the butter flavoring on his hair. LOL Not that I think he got THAT into his popcorn... It was kinda funny. He gave me the strangest look when I asked him if he'd been eating popcorn earlier... microwave popcorn, specifically.

Well, it's been mentioned to me before that I seem to notice more subtle fragrances than the average person does, to the point of recognizing the specific uh, scents of the people I know. LOL Okay, maybe I'm just part dog. Woof.

I've been working on my uh... disaster prep kit, and now it lives in a rolling suitcase that is almost too heavy to carry. LOL And it doesn't even have water in it. But it's got pretty much everything I'd need if I had to grab a bag and run in case of an earthquake or tornado. Shoes, sturdy clothes, duct tape, food, bathroom stuff.

When the pecan tree falls on my house and squishes me, let's just hope that I'm in my bedroom at the other end of the house at the time. I'll definitely be better off. I'm still not comfortable with the fact that my "safe place" is a bathroom sandwiched between the gas lines going to my water heater and the gas lines going to my central heating unit. I'm gonna get toasted like a marshmallow if they rupture and I'm in that bathroom or the hallway beside it! It's the only "central safe place" Oh, and don't forget that the pecan tree is hanging over that part of the house. Eek.

Maybe I should just go and hide in my bedroom closet??? It's on the end of the house, but wouldn't that be safer than being squashed and flambeed?

I hate oak trees...

The pollen is killing me right now. As if the incurable headache from the stuffy sinuses and the inability to use my nose weren't bad enough, I've got bronchitis.

Why does it always turn into bronchitis with me? Nonstop coughing... I guess the solution would be for me to sleep on my stomach until my allergies have stopped hounding me.

Perfect Illustration of Irony

First, let me say that I'm known for my inability to have a decent picture taken of me. On the rare occasion that one is made, something invariably happens to that photo. For example, one year I had the most perfect picture taken of me at work, and I ordered a set of prints. When they arrived, they'd all been cropped... right under my chin. All of the pictures were ruined.

Three weeks ago when the students got their spring pictures back, mine weren't with them. I hadn't had to have mine made, but I figure that the more times I have it done, the better my chances are of getting an acceptable one.

The kids had to turn their picture money in last Thursday... So what do I find in my mailbox today? My proof. Along with a stack of wallet-sized pictures (32 of them) printed on the worst quality cardstock. No full-sized proofs to look at.

Oh, what's the ironic part, you ask? The picture was a really good one, and I would have bought a set if they'd just given me the opportunity.

More irony - I was going to scan the picture, but now my scanner doesn't work (along with my DVD player). I had to take a photo with a digital camera and fix as much as I could with the colors from the bad lighting in the room, and then fog out the borders of the picture, because the picture company messed them up. So, yes, I'm aware that the picture I've shared looks kinda rough. The real thing looks much nicer.

So here I am... proof positive for anyone who doesn't believe just how little makeup I wear to work these days. LOL You're seeing lipstick, eyeliner, and mascara, and nothing else. (No foundation, no eyeshadow, and I think I even forgot to wear blush that day.) I could look really glamorous if I put on the rest of it, but I haven't noticed anybody looking at me when I do, so why waste the effort? If nobody's gonna look, I ain't gonna bother. :)

Just completed 5 years of work :D

Let me start by saying, if I wanted to start an onion farm, or maybe a "Scary Giant Foot-Long Worm" Farm, I'd be all set. Apparently, snakes and worms love my yard so much they grow to ridiculous sizes. And yes, I saw a snake today. He was in my lavender. Eek. Now I don't want to weed my lavender, because he was two feet long.

Hey Paul, are ya jealous of my SNAKES??? Didn't think so! LOL

I was out in the front yard transplanting little hostas under the pear tree this afternoon, because I finally started feeling a little better. I started off the day feeling pretty crummy though. I didn't eat much when I went out to lunch with my family after church.

I noticed that the Round-Up I sprayed a couple of weeks ago DID kill tons of stuff in the side yard... Even some creeping charlie that ran directly into my neighbor's yard. I know I didn't get any spray over into her yard that far. She's probably mad at me... (And I'll apologize, because I only meant to kill stuff in my own yard) But on the brighter side, a nasty weed that was in her yard is dead now. :) If I can get my brother to let me borrow his broadcast-spreader thing, and if I can get Dad to tell me what fertilizer to buy, I'll fertilize my yard, and I'll sprinkle some fertilizer where she's got dead spots too. (I really am embarrassed about that, even though I know she throws every stick that is in her yard right into my yard. How else do you explain the fact that she has tons of sticks one day, none the next, and NO sticks on the curb waiting to be picked up, and the sticks in my yard seem to pile up mysteriously right past her fence?)

So... lemme 'splain about the 5 year task. When I bought this house, I thought it was a much smaller house from the outside, because half of the house was hidden by trees that were planted about 6 inches from it. My goodness, my house was overgrown by a jungle! I mean, shade is nice, but they planted some of the crummiest weedy stuff like privet, and it just wrapped around the wires going to the house and scratched my car as I drove into the carport.

The one good choice in the flowerbed is a fuchsia (all right, I did find matching ones at the store once called "Coral Bells") azalea right by the front door... problem is, it's alone. There's been a stump on the other end of that bed since I moved in, and try as I might, I could never dig it up or pull it out. 5 years in a row, I couldn't get rid of that thing. Today it just popped out of the ground for me. :D Bye bye stump! Hello new shrubs! (I guess the anchoring roots finally rotted away.)

Now I've got to start thinning out my monkey grass (and I've got the TALL kind)... I'm tempted to use it to border my flowerbeds.... anybody have any opinions on that?

In case you're wondering why I've been posting so much lately... I think that I've been abandoned by someone I care a lot about, and I suppose I'm just trying to keep my mind off that and how sick I've been. It's made me pretty sad, but I don't feel like talking about it, since it's a familiar story to me. Rest assured, I don't actually talk this much in person.

I like the cyborg thingee... Kinda cute, huh? Yeah, that's me, getting closer and closer to not feeling anything anymore. Maybe that's the way to go after all. I'll bet things hurt a lot less that way. I found it at http://cyborg.namedecoder.com/

Easter Sale!

All of my non-commercial use products (around 150 of them!) in the Digitals store are on sale for 25% off! This is a great time for you to stock up on lots of great items, including the Berry Sorbet Kit! Please drop by and check everything out! Happy Easter!

Pink Peeps have knocked me out...

I know I said I needed to cut the sugar back out of my diet, but I wanted to try some Peeps before they're all gone tomorrow. I haven't had them since I was little, and I wasn't too impressed by a bunch of marshmallows back then. They were yummy. :) I got the little chicks because I think they're much cuter than the bunnies.

Holy cow, I know they're coated in sugar, (and nicely crunchy on the outside - just the sugar) but I only ate 3 of them and I'm feeling a serious sugar rush. Not a good one, but a hot sweaty feeling like my blood sugar level is about to completely freak out. I don't think I'll be eating any more Peeps tonight, because I'm feeling awfully strange at the moment. (Like I've been drinking, but I promise, I've had NO alcohol... just the Peeps.)

I think I'm gonna go get some Diet Sierra Mist and see if that doesn't cool me down some.