Sheesh.

First we find out that my Escape needs two center coils and the spark plugs replaced (estimated between $350-500). Within a week and a half of finding that out, the battery dies. I’m currently debating on whether or not I want to get rid of the thing now, or what. I’ve always heard that once you start having problems, you might as well get used to them. Frustrating, to say the least.

As you know, my husband and I have both been feeling under the weather. We managed to start feeling better during the weekend. Late weekend. Yesterday afternoon he took a turn for the worst. He just couldn’t manage to catch his breath, and the coughing started giving him chest pains. When he got up this morning (and pardon the TMI), he started vomiting every single time he coughed. With all of the other symptoms, I just knew he had pneumonia - it was just a feeling I had. Around lunchtime today, when he only got worse, he decided he’d finally give in and go see the doctor. He’s one of those people that waits until it’s “critical” before he will see a doctor. Anyway. We arrive shortly after noon today, and they whisked him right on back. The doctor took a few bits of information regarding his medical history (previous surgeries, illnesses and allergies) before doing any exams. After taking his blood pressure and checking his heart rate, he went on to check his lungs and breathing. He asked Jo to take a deep breath several times, never succeeding. They whisked him right out of the exam room and straight into another room where they provide oxygen. He was on oxygen for about 15 minutes (give or take a few minutes, I can’t quite remember right now). After he finished up with that, they had him go down for some blood work and an x-ray. Confirmed - he has pneumonia. The doctor sees him again, and decides rather than admit him, he’s going to prescribe some medication and see if that helps at all over the next 48 hours. He’s on 2 different puffers, Prednisone, Theo-Bronc (I think that’s what it’s called) and something else that started with an R, for acid reflux. One of the puffers was over $94!!

You’d think that the worst thing we found out today was that he has pneumonia, but oh no. We also found out that after 20 years, his asthma has come back. I feel absolutely awful for him. He’s been so miserable since yesterday. I know he’s upset to find out that after being free of that crap (asthma) for so long, it’s come back again.

He’s been taking his medication since we got home (2 doses so far, of each except for the Prednisone). His doctor told him if he didn’t notice a change in the next 48 hours, he wanted him to come back in. He also said if he got any worse to go into the emergency clinic. Regardless of all of that, he has to go back in 5 days (well, next Monday since they’re not open on the weekends).

The last couple of weeks have just been, well, the pits. I can only hope things start to look up at this point. I’m so exhausted though, so I’m going to call it an early night - if it isn’t stress, maybe I have too much progesterone. I can barely keep my eyes open and honestly, I’m surprised this entry turned out to be this long!

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It’s hard to believe it’s already Monday, again. The colors in this photo have obviously been altered. I wasn’t too happen with the green in the original, so I decided to work with it a bit. By the way, it’s nice to see flowers blooming. I can finally move away from pine cones, not that they’re that bad or anything, they’re just not very Spring-like.

Speaking of Spring, it’s so nice out. It’s warm, breezy and the sun is actually out.

Tammy (mom’s roommate) had her biopsy on Wednesday. From what they could tell, it doesn’t appear to be the big “C” - thank goodness. They’re still waiting on the results from one of the masses, but we’re hoping that no news is good news. Tammy should hear back on that one tomorrow sometime, so hopefully she’s still in the clear.

On the weather; it’s absolutely miserable, unless you like sleeping a lot. It’s been raining for what seems like a week. We’re supposed to have sunshine tomorrow, but I won’t hold my breath on that one. It’s seriously rained every day, nearly all day, since last Thursday. I’m starting to think it’s never going to stop. Maybe the weatherman is right this time though, and it’ll skip on out of here for tomorrow. I hope so.

On the internet; I have a lot of recipes to share, so I’m going to try and work on that this week. I’ll have them all posted on my recipe blog before the weekend. I’m also trying to finish up some work for a fellow blogger, Kristin, and I know she’ll be happy about that! I’m also working on another free theme that I’m hoping to make available before the weekend. I still have emails to catch up on, so I need to weed through those and reply to those that require it. I’ve been a terrible slacker with the internet lately. I keep falling behind, in all areas, and say I’m going to catch up. Just when I think I’ve caught up, I realize I’ve barely reached the halfway point. Yikes.

It’s almost bedtime now though, so I think I’ll just finish up this entry, maybe even look at some handcrafted jewelry and then it’s off to bed.

Also, tomorrow is Macro Monday for those interested in participating - check out the link “Macro Monday” in the navigation area at the top of the blog.

I’m in the middle of cooking dinner and uploading some pictures of the fudge I made last night (for my cooking and recipe blog). I figured while I have a few minutes in between that I’d go ahead and release the theme I wanted to release last week. I didn’t get much of a chance to finish it until yesterday, mostly due to being sick and under the weather.

If you’re interested in downloading this free theme, just visit the themes section (navigation is at the top of the blog), feel free.

This is a 2 column theme, which supports widgets, in bright colors that are perfect for Spring and Summer. I hope you enjoy it.

I must get back to cooking though. I’ll have to post the recipes later - we’re having fried rice and, steak and shrimp with white sauce. Stir fried veggies would be great too, I do that too.

I’ve been on the go for most of the day. After finding out that my Escape’s battery is dead again, we had Karen take us into town to run our errands. I can’t believe I spent $48 on shampoo, conditioner and curling cream. How ridiculous is that? Ugh. After buying that, we had to make our way to the grocery store. I decided to make quiche tonight, since Jo requested it and he’s under the weather (like me). That was another $100 for groceries. After I finish up these last two quiches (made 4), I’m going to make some fudge. I can’t seem to get rid of these cravings for sweets - bad, bad. We also had to do laundry today, which sucks because it seems like laundry takes forever anymore.

At least everything is done for the week. Hopefully we can relax for the next few days, and get well. I woke up this morning with partial hearing loss in my left ear. I have no idea what’s going on with that, but I suspect it’s an inner ear infection brewing. This happened one time before, though with my right ear. I woke up one morning and couldn’t hear and within about 48 hours I was suffering with the worst ear infection. I think it was nearly a month after that one, before I got my hearing back completely. I went ahead and used some ear drops, so hopefully it’s not going to develop into anything outrageous. Ear infections are the worst things. I get several each year, and have since I was a baby.

Anyway. I have a lot of catching up to do, both online and off. I should probably take a stab at some of that now.

Ah well. I know I’m going to regret being up this late come morning, but I just can’t sleep. I don’t know if it’s my nerves from all of the stress and tension or if I’ve picked up some kind of stomach bug, but I feel like complete and utter crap. It all started late yesterday, and it doesn’t seem like it’s going to let up. I’ll start to feel better for a couple of hours but then BOOM, I’m feeling it again. I haven’t been able to keep anything down since around 8pm last night. I laid off of eating anything most of the day today, and only ate something around 5pm - chicken noodle soup. I figured soup was the best thing, but I can’t even keep that down.

I really hope this is going to let up soon. I’m so sleepy. If I could get comfortable long enough to fall asleep, I think I’d be OK. I have so much to do tomorrow too (grocery shopping, laundry and I wanted to finish up a painting), so I really need a good night’s rest. I was hoping to make a quiche tomorrow, but if I’m feeling like that, I don’t think that’s going to happen.

I guess I’ll go catch the rest of Law and Order: SVU and then try to get some sleep.

I think it’s a fine time for me to invest in a new printer. I need a multi-printer though, not just something for printing important documents. I need the ability to print photos as well, because right now all I feel like I’m doing is wasting my money. With the cost of gas these days, having to travel 60 miles round trip to the nearest printing location, and the cost of printing itself, it’s just become a real hassle. Not to mention that it’s put a dent in my wallet.

I found a great deal, actually a steal, in the weekly deals at Buy.com. It’s absolutely perfect for my needs, as it’s an photo all-in-one printer by Canon, which is exactly what I need. Who could complain about an all-in-one printer by Canon, for only $68.83 that also includes free budget shipping? I’m certainly not going to complain. This will make a great addition to our home office. When I have a photography session, I’ll be able to print my own photos without having to waste time and money doing it somewhere else. I love the nifty LCD display, which allows you to preview images before you print them. I think it’ll be really nice being able to scan old photos onto my computer and be able to email them to family and friends too. It also doesn’t hurt that it’s a very stylish and sleek machine in black and gray, which is going to coordinate perfectly with our computers which are also black and gray.

This will come in handy. Not only can I print straight from my computer, but I can also print images from my memory card, my digital camera (which I know I’ll do on a regular basis) and even my husband’s camera phone - directly from each. I owned an all-in-one printer before, and though it was nice for the price, we’re talking about Canon here. I can print all of my photos and documents in the comfort of my own home, which will esstentially mean I’m saving a nice chunk of change! I think this will be one of the better investments I’ve made in a long time.