Word of the Day: gourmond There would be pictures of the house already, but I don't know where my camera is. Of course, I haven't looked for it really well, just kind of when I remembered which wasn't that often. I asked JD where it was, but he said he didn't know either. And that's that for now. I've been sick since before Thanksgiving. First I got a head cold, whatever Patrick had, sore throat, stuffy head, runny nose. When I got over that, I discovered that I couldn't taste or smell anything at all. They had candles burning in the lobby for four or five days and I couldn't smell the scent, I had to ask someone what it was. I still can't smell, though I can taste a little bit. So one morning I woke up with an earache in my right ear. It hurt like a moe and I couldn't hear much for a majority of the day, but I got some lame eardrops that seemed to help a little and it eventually drained out or cleared up or whatever. Two days later, I woke up with the same thing in my left ear, but it hurt much worse and it's still not gone. I can't hear much out of that ear, and that's my phone ear. People tell me to put cotton in my ear after I put the drops in [that was when I was still putting drops in my ear; they're not working anymore], and I say, 'I already can't hear well as it is, if I put cotton in my ear I really won't be able to hear. Half of my job consists of being on the phone!' They back off after that. So my state of being presently consists of drainage in the back of my throat, an ache in my head that nothing will relieve, not being able to smell, and not being able to hear. Aside from that, I'm tired. I'm tired because my work schedule sucks. Beata asked me to go to a training session in Houston about rate codes in the Holidex system and about something else. We're leaving Wednesday afternoon and the class is Thursday. I've worked everyday since Tuesday so far, and I have two more days to go. I'm soooo tired, tired of work, tired from sickness, tired of standing up all day and really having nothing to do but stand around. I haven't worked for a week in a row in forever and I'm not used to it. I don't know how I did nine days in a row when I was pregnant, that's just way more energy than I feel I have. I don't have a day off until prospectively Saturday. Technically, I'm off Wednesday and Thursday on the schedule, but since I'll be travelling to and in Houston those days I consider that working. If I'm away from my family, I'm working, even if it's just sleeping in a hotel room in another city. And I'd better be getting paid for it, not even overtime, just regular pay. Thanksgiving was nice. I actually had the day off, which surprised me, and though I was sick and couldn't really taste anything, I had a good time. We went to Laura's next door. They cooked most of it--I made some potatoes and they used my oven to heat up stuff while the turkey was cooking. Patrick was sick as well, so all he ate was a roll and some yams, and then he had a good time trying to beat up his cousins. And now, it's time for Christmas. I have the tree up on the bar, and Patrick thinks it's so cool. No, really, when he wants to see the lights on, he says, 'Momma, coooool,' and points up at the tree. That's so cute. Laura has a live tree in her living room, and hers is 'Wow.' JD's mom was over yesterday and left her gifts to the boys, so there's something that supposed to go underneath the tree. At the moment, they're on top of the dryer, but they'll make it in close proximity to the tree eventually. I have to say, living on our own is nice. I have to get on JD's ass sometimes to wash the dishes or take out the trash because it seems like I'm the only one doing anything. If I don't tell him to do something, he doesn't do it. Example: there've been dishes in the sink for about two days now. I'm not going to do them, and I'm also not going to tell JD to do them. He's had the past two days off and all he's done is the laundry [because I told him to]. I'm not going to do anything, no cleaning, no sweeping, for a few more days, and then I'll yell at him good about it if it doesn't get done. I think this is the only way to get him to participate in the upkeep of the house because I'm not his mother, I'm his wife and I shouldn't have to tell him to help out with the cleaning and stuff. And plus, I just like to yell at him every once in a while when I know I'm right. I had some other things I wanted to talk about, but I'm distracted by JD's speakers. He had a LAN party last night, and I'm convinced that his speakers are broken because nothing sounds right to me. I don't know if it's just my ears or what, but the Muzak at work sounded right and the CD in the car sounded right, but this just doesn't. Gah, I hate my head.