Items of Business

...or, as I like to refer to them: IOBs.

1. I hate hate hate hate hate loath hate loath hate hate HATE the University that I Kind of Attend. Hate.

2. If you need a good laugh and/or to feel better about yourself, please read this story from Holli's blog. I. was. cracking. up. Out loud. I'm so glad nobody was in the office with me.

3. Darren's show is this weekend! I'm pretty excited. However, he's a little under the weather, so let's all pray that his little crud goes away ASAP.

4. Darilyn, my lovely sister-in-law/designing maestro, has just about completed the tedious process of getting the invites ready to go. She sent me the design tonight, and I am muy excited! They are darling, and so perfectly me. She has a gift. Little stinker.

5. According to the doctor, I'm way more stressed than I realize. Those weren't his exact words, but last week I had the MOTHER of ALL cold sores. And by that I mean I had three whoppers clear across my top lip and a little into my cheek.  The pain and disfigurement were so intense that I decided to go to the doctor. I've been raised with the understanding that doctors are there to save lives and not administer band-aids, so it was definitely humbling to admit to him that I was there just cold sores, especially when I've had so many in the past and none of them required a doctor's attention.  But it was totally worth it. He gave me a beast of a horse pill regimen to follow and my lip is almost 100% normal again! There are still a couple of dry scabs, but that's just a little matter of tissue repair. It will happen.

He blamed stress.

I blame life for giving me that stress.

By the way, that meant 10 days of no smoochies with Mr. Hottie. That's right, I'm pretty proud of us too. It was kind of awful. Sigh.

6. To go along with the idea of humbling myself to go and see a doctor, I developed a nasty and ITCHY rash about a week ago, and though I attempted to get in to see him on Friday, he was not in for the day so I had to go in early this morning. The good news is that it isn't contagious! Yay! It also isn't shingles. Yay! It also isn't a fungus. Yay! It also isn't an STD. Yay! (I know I'm not in any danger of contracting such a disease, but after all the lip herpes jokes Darren and I have been making, I couldn't help but Google, "Can HSV-1 turn into HSV-2?". The answer is no.)

Doctor believes I had strep last weekend, and since it went untreated (all I knew was that I had a horrrrrible sore throat...which probably should have been a dead giveaway) the antibodies created reacted with my skin in a nasty way.  So now I have antibiotics and steroids to knock out every last danged bit of infection my body thinks it needs to harbor. 

7. I'm getting married in a month! Ahh! So much to do. So much to look forward to.

Like, for instance, having inconsiderate apartment neighbors. 

I've missed having those.

Not.

The awesome news is that Darren spoke with his manager about the parking space next to his that hasn't been used in months, and Manager basically said "No sweat" and the next day our apartment number was painted over that space. Heck. yes. So now we both get to park 2 feet from the back door. Ntz ntz ntz. (that's a wicked awesome music beat....I'm dancing my happiness.)

9. Our quest for inexpensive/free furniture has proved fruitful. We are so blessed in that department! Through various families having to find different living arrangements at church, there have been a fair number of furniture items basically up for grabs. Tonight's spoils mean that Russell will have a couch and a love seat. Darren and I are going to be proud new owners of a microwave (YAY!), a toaster oven, and a queen-sized bed for the second bedroom. Thankfully, we already have couches and a nice dining table from a family that moved away about 6 months ago.

10. One of our massage clients is an awesome old lady who laughs like Archimedes the Owl from The Sword in the Stone. Her and Coworker Courtney do nothing but crack each other up in that room....I tried to record how loud they laugh through the wall today, but of course they had a quiet spell when I pulled out my camera. I want to be a funny old lady like her.