Kim's Thoughts

So – why is it that whenever you have a day off in the middle of the week, the next day you return to work feels like Monday all over again???  I was off sick yesterday and almost wrote a post about “Rainy Mondays” this morning until it dawned on me that it is THURSDAY!  Am I doomed to be out of whack all day today?

The theme for the day is still valid, though — it is rainy and yucky and a great day to just stay inside!  Other than getting out to go to and return from work and pop in the grocery store to pick up a meat platter I ordered for my staff meeting tomorrow, I don’t have any other reasons to go outside!!  I hope it turns out nicer later in the day than predicted…

I have had a serious case of the “ick” or “crud” – whatever you want to call it – it isn’t pleasant under any name! It started about 3:30 yesterday afternoon at work. I suddenly got an intense headache and started to feel dizzy and queasy. Soon after, I got nauseous and very dizzy! I went to the ladie’s room and splashed some water on my face and it helped, but didn’t really fix it. The next phase was the flushed, cold sweat feeling. By the time I got home from work, I was freezing, sweating, extremely nauceous, and felt like someone hit me in the head with a sledge hammer! I took care of the girls and went in to bed to wrap up in a blanket and see if I could shake it off. I wanted to be able to go to an appointment I had at Natural Balance for an ear candling at 8:30. I set the alarm and tried to fall asleep. I did doze off but frequently woke up from a wave of nausea. The phone rang at 7:00 – it was Natural Balance and they had some cancelations, so I could come in any time I wanted to. I thought about telling them about my situation and reschedule the appt, but I have had some deep itching in my ears and really wanted to see if this would help, so I said I’d be right over. I got up and started to freshen up so I could head out — then it started — the nausea came to a head and I threw up and couldn’t stop!!! I can’t believe my stomach could possibly hold that much “stuff” and that it could come out with such force! When I was finally done, I finished freshening up and went for my appt (more on that later). The appt took about a 1/2 hour and I was back home in no time. Still frozen to the bone and feeling shakey, I went straight to bed at about 8:30. I slept straight through the night, except for a few minutes around midnight when I let the girls out and checked emails. I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to fall back to sleep after sleeping all evening, but I still wasn’t feeling well and went back to bed and fell right back to sleep! I got up this morning and still felt very uneasy and shakey, so I decided to stay home from work and continue my recovery. I slept most of the day and am finally starting to feel like myself.

I had called Natural Balance yesterday morning to see when I could get an appointment for ear candling. This is something I had done once before – a few years ago at Marcello’s when they first started doing it. At that time, I was having some problems with my ears and the ENT I was seeing said it wouldn’t hurt when I asked him about it. It did seem to help. But I have heard a lot of controversy about the treatment since (some say it is dangerous and ineffective), so I’ve never had it done again. But, I’ve tried flushing and peroxide and ear oils to stop the deep itching I’ve had lately and nothing seems to help, so I thought “what the heck”…..Holly said they had an 8:30 opening and, at the time, I didn’t know I was going to get sick, so I grabbed it! I do believe it worked!!! It not only stopped the itchy feeling in my ears, but it also helped me feel better for a little bit — the heated table soothed the chills I was having and she finished up the appt with a scalp massage that really helped the headache! It was so nice! I tried to talk her into just closing up the shop and leaving me there for the night, but she thought I was joking….

I obviously didn’t eat any dinner last night and haven’t eaten anything today, so far. Now that I’m starting to feel better, I am suddenly HUNGRY!!!!

I’m watching All My Children for the first time in a month or more – funny how I was able to pick right up where I left off!!! ha-ha For the “only in a soap opra” scene of the day: Tad hears news that his son and brother, who have been working in some remote underdeveloped country somewhere with Doctors Without Borders, are “missing” in the bush somewhere. Apparently, they went to provide help in the bush and are unreachable and were supposed to be back to their base station several days ago and there is word of gorilla (the human military kind) activity in the area and rumors of foreigners being taken captive. So, what does Tad do? Does he make some phone calls to see what is being done? Nope! Does he start a family vigil waiting for news? Nope! He does the only logical thing that a soap character would do — he hops a plane to go to the middle of nowhere where he’s never been before and doesn’t know anything about to take on finding them himself! The next time we see Tad I am sure he will be beating down a path through the jungle to successfully find them in a matter of hours when all the local experts couldn’t!!! Only in a soap opera….

Uugghh – I just had two Boston Cream Pie Toaster Strudels to stop the hunger pains and I am not at all sure they are going to stay where I put them……I may just get in the shower to see if that will help me feel human again and go get something more nutritious to eat!

I found myself full of sounds this morning and feel an intense urge to capture it and share it….

I woke up to the sound of the radio alarm – as I sit here, I am trying to remember the song that was playing when the alarm woke me and can’t for the life of me think of it!  That is odd because just about every day, the song that jolts me from my dream world into my reality tends to play over and over in my head all day – whether it is one I particularly care to hear all day or not!  Even on the rare days that doesn’t happen, if I think about it, it will come to me……not today! 

After that, the morning started out as it always does – I got up, let the girls out, decided what I wanted to wear and threw it in the dryer to freshen and fluff it, took the trash to the road, let the girls back in to feed them, let them back out, and then sat in one of my wing back chairs to take a breath before getting on with my routine.  It was in that wing back chair that I started to listen to the morning…

The room was almost dark – the floor lamp was turned on to just the first click on the 3-way bulb and all other lights in the house were out – the slightly orange tint of the sky that spilled into the kitchen window and the amber glow that the floor lamp cast gave the room a nice warm, calming hue.  I started to think about what I had on my plate for the day – the meetings I have scheduled, the tasks that I need to accomplish – and my mind started to wander to the weekend – finishing the Christmas decorations, going shopping to at least finish getting the gifts that have to be mailed out of state.  It was at that moment that I suddenly stopped thinking of that sort of thing and noticed the sounds – I rested my head against the back of the chair and closed my eyes so I could concentrate and take it all in: 

• the dryer was quietly humming and I could hear the buttons on my blouse click on the sides of the drum as my outfit for the day gently tumbled with the dryer sheet
• the back door was open and through the screen I could hear the girls quietly playing in the yard – the sound of them running through the leaves piled up around the bushes, the occasional playful growling as one would try to take over the lead in the chase, the music caused by one of them brushing up against the wind chimes placed around the deck and shed
• I could hear the traffic start to pick up along US 1 as others start off on their busy days – my mind wandered on to imagining where they were going and why some of them had to start out so early in the morning to get to their destination, but shut out those thoughts so that I could continue concentrating on the sounds
• the ice maker in the refrigerator finished a cycle – I could hear the ice tumble from the forms into the bin and settle in their spots along with the other ice – then the swooshing sound of the water being injected into the forms to start another batch
• I could hear what was missing, too – I realized there were no sounds of birds or crickets this morning – could it be too cold for them to be out singing their praises for a new day?
• a neighbor’s dog a few houses away started barking – did he see or hear something that sparked his attention or did he sense that the girls were out playing and decided to wish them a nice day?  I paused to see if the girls would join in and break the quiet of the morning, but they didn’t!  Neither did the adorable Beagle puppy next door – maybe he wasn’t up, yet!
• there were periods where there was NO sound, except the clicking of the second hand on the kitchen clock – I tried to hear something, but there was nothing – just silence and the seconds clicking away.  I could hear each click and found myself counting them and decided to stop and not let myself count the morning away

The clock ticking reminded me that I needed to snap out of it and get on with my day — as much as I was absolutely consumed with the calming nature of the last 20 minutes or so and wished I could just sit there for as long as the sounds would continue to captivate me, I knew I needed to get moving!  I let the girls in and sat down here to capture my wonderful therapy session!  Now that the sun is brightening up the room and the warm glow that helped set the scene earlier is gone, I am reminded that it is Thursday and I have things to do……

But – before I sign off and move on to getting ready for work, I want to add a video of Simon and Garfunkel’s Sounds of Silence to put an appropriate cap on a great experience and start of my day…..