Merry Christmas and more!

Hi, there! It has been a while. I hope that you are well.

I'd like to wish you a happy Christmas with family and loved ones, if you celebrate it. This year will be the first time in years in which I am not cooking a turkey dinner. 

I just came back from a week in the Twin Cities and Winnipeg. I ended up catching a nasty cold. I have been sleeping it off for days. Right now, I feel the most energetic in days. I still have a phlegmy cough. At least I am on the mend and don't have to go back to work until the second week of January.

I was too weak and sick to hit the grocery store. I'm fine with soup and items that I have at home. It's just not a full-blown turkey dinner that I typically make for my parents and me.

On Christmas eve, I had a financial counselling appointment pertaining to my consumer proposal. The Teams link didn't work. I sat there waiting to be admitted. I cancelled the call, which prompted the woman to say that we could do it over the phone.

I have a lot of thoughts about my consumer proposal. I am happy with it on the whole. The firm preparing those who are going through one for the first time needs to provide more support.

I hope to write more here. It has been a challenge trying to focus when my blog has changed its original purpose. It will be about whatever I am experiencing in my life. I haven't thought about spanking in ages.

Hairbrush incident at my local drugstore

It's a long weekend. Today is Victoria Day in Canada.

I had meant to do a trip to Winnipeg this long weekend. Due to my getting a head cold on Tuesday and saving some money, I made it a staycation. It's a longer long weekend for me.

On Thursday, I was feeling a bit better. My mom is having issues with incontinence these days. She is losing her memory, and doesn't seem to know when she needs to use the bathroom or where she should go. I decided to find some incontinence pads at a nearby drugstore.

When I got there, I cut through the hair accessories aisle to get to the incontinence section. There was a woman there. She took a brand new Goody hairbrush and proceeded to brush her hair with it.

One word: Ew!

I was congested and grossed out by what I had witnessed. I couldn't keep my thoughts to myself.

Me to the woman: Are you going to buy it?

Crickets. She decides to put it back on the hanger.

Me: You just used it. It's unsanitary and gross to put it back.

I walked away. I thought that I had felt good to come shop here. I didn't after seeing that move. Disgusting!

Now when I go to the hair accessories aisle, I'm not taking the first brush hanging there.

Energy levels and congestion

I spent Tuesday at home. I find that I'm energetic in the morning. Once I have breakfast, I want to nap and it's all downhill from there.

Congestion is annoying. I have been hydrating a lot that I feel much better later in the day. It's interesting having a cold.

I haven't had a cold in years. It's weird, but I'm coping as best as I can.

Sick - ups and downs

I woke up today feeling good. I had breakfast and my energy dipped.

I napped. Napping helped. More rest was needed. I then headed out for the first time in days.

Fresh air does wonders. I ended up at the drugstore. There is a huge shortage of cold and cough medication.

I have nighttime cold and cough medication. It's the daily medication that I needed. Luckily, I found some, but it was slim pickings.

It was great to feel much better when I left home until I had soup upon my return. I'm now congested, so I'm off to breath better with my nose spray.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Due to a snowstorm that blew in on Christmas Eve, I decided to make Christmas dinner (it was more luch) early. My parents and I feasted on Christmas Eve. Today, I've have been eating leftovers, which I love.

I was stateside last year for Christmas and New Year's Day. It's nice to be home for the holidays this year.

I hope that you and yours have a fabulous holiday season. I am currently dealing with a sore throat and a mild cold. I'll write more about my recent travels once I have a chance. I am on a break from work.

I basically slept for two hours this afternoon. I felt tired from being sick. I'm more energetic now, which is encouraging.

My manager is out sick for the entire week

My manager's entire family has the flu. I am pretty sure that he got his yearly flu shot, so the strain must be different and pretty nasty.

He said that he was out for the entire week. We had an interview scheduled for this Friday. I asked the woman who had scheduled it to change it. She was extremely accommodating and it's now set for next Monday.

I like that this week has been light workwise. I hope that it remains that way for a bit. 

My manager and the flu

My manager has been away sick for the last two days. His message to our team was oddly worded.

He said that he has "tested positive for flu symptoms." Wouldn't it be sufficient to just say that he has the flu?

I can't tell if he tested for COVID-19 and was negative and used the same sentence construction for the flu or if he is indeed so sick that he can't form a clear sentence.

Last week, we had a department outing. I didn't go due to heel pain. Perhaps he caught the flu from that event?

I hope that he feels better soon. He said that he may or may not be working later on today. We'll see.

Heel pain and sleep

Last night, I had the worst heel pain. It kept me up. Pain killers took a while to kick in. It was to the point where I finally went to sleep at 6:30 am.

Before I finally went to sleep, I sent a work e-mail to indicate that I'd be taking a sick day. I'm glad that I did. I woke up at 8 am, had breakfast, and then went back to bed.

Here's hoping that I have a better night's sleep tonight.

My manager and a moisturizing mask

My manager has been away all week. He mentioned on Monday and Tuesday that he wasn't feeling well, and that what he has is not COVID-related.

As much as it has been great to not have a cluttered inbox at work, I'm concerned. Here's hoping that he feels better soon from whatever he is recovering from.

I spent the last hour caring for my face. I put a moisturizing mask on my face. It felt good. I can't remember when I last did it. I should focus on caring for my face more often.

Nose bleed while stateside

While in the States, I did have something odd happen to me. I didn't write a whole lot while away because I wanted to immerse myself in everything. I did want to write about this weirdness, but I didn't want to alarm everyone.

Just before I went to bed, which was a Friday just before 2 am, I had sneezed three times. I am normally not a sneezy person, so that was a sign. I then felt the need to blow my nose. I did. That's when I ended up with a nose bleed.

I don't normally get nose bleeds. The last time I did before this incident was in grade 2. I was standing in line behind two boys in my class. They were fighting. An elbow landed on my nose and it bled. My teacher helped me stop my nose bleed.

So, here I am, trying to pinch where my nostrils are starting, find a can of vodka soda to put on the bridge of my nose and forehead to stop the bleeding, and lean more forward than tilting my head back. After maybe forty minutes, my right nostril stopped bleeding.

Weird. My take is that it was so dry in my room that my nostrils weren't as moisturized as they typically are at home. The sneezing and nose-blowing ended up rupturing a blood vessel. Thus, I had a nose bleed.

I rested for a bit. I then decided to take Friday off as a sick day and sleep in. At this stage, it was just after 3 am when I recovered from my efforts to stop my nose bleed.

I'm glad that it wasn't an epic nose bleed that couldn't be stopped. Thank goodness I kept calm. I didn't drink the vodka soda after that, but I did the following evening.

Later on that day, I got saline spray from the drugstore to moisturize my nostrils. I have been nose bleed-free ever since.

Things are never dull. Sometimes, I prefer dullness!

Vaccine and patios

Businesses are slowly reopening. We are able to dine on patios. It's optimistic.

I was supposed to meet a friend on Saturday to have a bite to eat on a patio. She ended up getting her second vaccine shot on Friday and ended up feeling sick. So, I offered to cancel our reservation.

My friend got sick after her first shot. It doesn't surprise me that she got sick after her second one.

The woman at the restaurant was great. She was pleased that I took the time to do the cancellation.

I just learned that our province has made a timing change for the second vaccine. My second appointment was twelve months after my first one. It's now reduced to eight, which means that I can get my second shot at the end of this month.

It's cool. I'll need to wait to see how to reschedule my second shot.

Rest and a charcoal face mask

Yesterday, I took half the day off as a sick day. I felt exhausted at around noon. The rainy, gloomy weather outside affected me indoors.

I'm glad that I did. I ended up napping and reading. I felt a lot better with some rest.

I am currently using a charcoal face mask. My facial muscles are so relaxed right now. I look scary in a black mask, though.

Sick day

I took Thursday off as a sick day. I woke up just before 4 am with hamstring and ankle pain that affected my right leg. I likely overworked them when exercising. 

I was up for over an hour trying to ease the pain before I went back to bed and slept like a log for 3.5 hours. I heard my alarm go off. I felt sluggish. I decided to take the day off and slept some more.

Right now, my hamstring is doing better. I skipped exercising. Here's hoping that I can sleep better tonight.

Shoulder pain and lounging

I woke up on Tuesday with a pain in my shoulder. I have a feeling it's due to posture. Doing shoulder rolls and relaxing my arm has helped reduce the pain throughout the day. It's down to a dull ache that occurs occasionally.

I took a sick day to rest up. It was nice to lounge around once the pain had subsided.

We've got snow. I didn't bother shovelling it due to my shoulder. I will ease into it later on today.

Sleep and a persistent ex

Last night, I had a difficult time getting to sleep. I sort of drifted off for the first hour and then woke up wide awake.

I did a bit of reading before I went back to bed again. I woke up at my usual start time these days and felt sluggish. I decided to take a sick day and napped throughout the day.

Last month, when I had a number of foot pain issues, I worked through those days with perhaps a couple of hours of sleep. I'm not sure what possessed me to carry on. I didn't have that feeling today.

Perhaps an underlying reason why I didn't sleep well is because my ex-romantic interest keeps calling me. I made it perfectly clear that it was over and that I didn't want him to contact me. Yet, he still continues to call.

He has used three different phone numbers to contact me. I have blocked them all. The downside is that he uses one of these numbers to call me. The number gets blocked on my cell phone, but it still goes to voicemail thanks to my having an Android phone. He leaves me messages, but I don't listen to them. I access my voicemail, delete them, and move on.

Moments ago, I downloaded an app that takes blocked phone numbers and lets them go into its voicemail. Once it does, it disconnects the number, preventing the person to leave a message. I hope that it works. I have everything set up.

Now you know the main reason why I broke up with this jerk. He couldn't take no for an answer when I had helped him financially the first time, but he asked again the second time. I said no and he asked again. He was relentless. I knew that he was bad news.

When I broke up with him, he obviously didn't and can't accept it. Thankfully, the e-mails have stopped and those are easily blocked. I have blocked his text messages, which works well. Phone numbers are all blocked. It's just this one phone number that he uses where he is adamant to leave voicemail.

Here's hoping that I'll have some peace of mind soon.

Recovering from food poisoning

It has been a while. Here's the scoop.

I got food poisoning on Wednesday. I was working from home and wasn't feeling great. I ended up vomiting on four separate occasions. It wasn't fun.

On Thursday, I was starting to get better. I had a couple of crackers with water for a couple of meals. I was happy that I could hold food down.

I graduated to soup on Friday. Chicken noodle soup tasted so good from a can. I had to go to the supermarket. I felt weak walking to my car from my home. Luckily, I did much better walking around the supermarket.

Saturday left me exhausted. I went to run a few errands and took breaks, My stamina and energy are not fully there.

I took it easy on Sunday. I also have a cough. Raw honey helps soothe a sore throat.

I go back into the office on Monday. We'll see if I survive. I am thankful that I am on the mend.

Here's hoping that you're doing much better!

Dating a worrywart

My new love interest is a worrywart. He was trying to secure his first contract with a customer. He got so stressed out that when we were chatting on Tuesday night, he said that he couldn't have dinner and needed time to think.

Wow. That's all I can say.

Meanwhile, I had a lapse in my cold on Tuesday. My congestion went through the roof. I told him on three separate times that I was taking an early evening. Thank goodness for my humidifier.

Did he take any of what I said into consideration? Nope. Stress does weird things to him.

He texted me at 1 am my time to say that he can't sleep. Really? I said that I'm not feeling well once again. He apologized. I proceeded to switch my phone to do not disturb. I'm so glad that I did. He texted me at 6:30 am and beyond. I was sleeping in till 8 am.

The good news is that he got the contract. His very first one. I was so proud of him.

I am also thrilled that I don't have to deal with his crazy, worried text messages. I, too, can sleep well tonight.

Sick day and rest

Yep, I have a cold. Sneezing. Runny nose. Congestion.

Why does one nostril clog up when you're congested? Weird. It has been my right nostril for most of the day.

I stayed home and called it a sick day. I slept for another three hours. I feel better, but I'm still not back to my normal self.

I'm doing a staycation with a cold. Oh, joy! We'll see how things go.

Good things came in threes for me

The year is winding down at work. I got a bunch of gifts on Thursday.

A project manager thanked me for my hard work recently. She got me a Belgian chocolate cake. I was feeling chilled and not the best yesterday, so I'll eat the cake when I am back to my normal self. I thanked her for the kind gesture.

A colleague got me chocolates. Yum!

Finally, my manager gave me a bunch of points towards anything at our online store. He thanked me for my efforts getting five software releases out the door within the last three weeks.

No wonder I felt under the weather yesterday. Work has just been weighing me down. Today is my last workday before I go on vacation. Yay!

Working on a sick day and enjoying it

On Tuesday, I took a sick day. The weird thing was that I did work. Quietly. No distractions. It was nice.

I liked not having my instant messaging app showing that I'm available. I liked not having folks asking me questions throughout the day.

I have a task where I need to rename a number of properties in our documentation. It was great going through a good chunk of the work. It was also nice to not answer e-mails.

Luckily, I am working from home today. Sadly, I have a couple of conference calls to participate in. At least I sound less congested and my cold is on its way out.

I do wish that I worked with a more competent colleague. I may just call her the idiot going forward. I couldn't have chosen a more accurate nickname for her.