You're Kidding Me? What the...? I Have What?

If there's one thing I've learned in my life, it's that I have no idea what's going to happen next. I can plan the crap out of my entire existence and at best, come close.

I am going to cease doing an every Wednesday Woo-Hoo. It's been a very fun thing to do, but due to many extenuating circumstances, it's all the writing I'm getting done lately and I need to return to being more broad.

That's what you want - more of this broad, right?

I hope to get back to posting every 5 days. I haven't been able to keep a schedule recently. I have my reasons and they're good, I swear! I just found out I have a disease.

On Monday, I received a phone call from a nurse that actually made me react nearly the exact same way I reacted twice when getting phone calls over the years, telling me of acquaintances' suicides. I actually told her, "Oh my God, this is making me cuss!" She laughed. I was glad. I needed to hear a laugh to help keep from crying.

Her shocking news? "Your test results are consistent with Lyme Disease."

Not only do I have Lyme Disease, I'm certain it isn't a false positive. I would have been lucky if it was. Back in April of 2011, I found a tick attached to the lower back side of my underarm. This was nothing new. I've been around ticks all my life, have found literally hundreds crawling on me at one time or another every single year, and have had them attach too many times to count. Bugs love me. Ticks are no exception.

What was not normal was that the tick bite site had developed pus, was very red and swollen, and looked infected. Naturally, I took a picture. Now, today, knowing what I know... I'm glad I did. It's proof I will likely need.

No, this is not a boob. Yes, I've had someone ask that.

It was a very large area - probably five or six inches across. I couldn't believe I hadn't noticed the tick. I just hadn't. Stealthy bastard. I showed the angry looking area to a nurse neighbor and she ordered me to take antibiotics immediately if I had any in the house and call the doctor first thing in the morning. I saw a physician's assistant, who regarded it with great awe and determined it was cellulitis. She gave me a very painful 1000 mg shot in the hip of a thick goo known as Rocephin and put me on a two week course of Doxycycline. Over and done with - or so we thought.

I'm sure, like me, you've heard of the bull's eye rash associated with Lyme. This wasn't a bull's eye. But now, looking at pictures of what I know now is erythema migrans, it apparently was the rash in a slightly different shape. You don't always get a bull's eye. I didn't know that and apparently neither did anyone else who looked at it. We all knew it came from a tick bite site, but still nobody suggested Lyme testing. I think I recall my mother-in-law asking if it could be Lyme, but I was sure the doctors would have caught it if they suspected it. They surely didn't. And now I have Lyme Disease.

Life went on and then probably six months later, I began noticing some things about my body that weren't quite right.

I noticed a change in my speech. My voice began to jerk unexpectedly during speech, sort of like a stutter. It was intermittent and my voice had done that before, but I noticed it becoming more and more frequent. I also developed "old lady voice" - where my voice would waver. It sounded like I was getting upset when I wasn't. It also became easier for me to get emotional over things, a little like a stroke victim might experience easily coming to tears. I choked on liquids or my own saliva much more easily. It was a muscle problem, but I didn't know that.

I began to notice muscle weakness in my thighs. At first, it was happening around menstruation, so I just associated it with that and getting older. I attributed a lot to "getting older," but now I know better. Then I noticed it was happening when I walked the dogs. Then it was occurring all the time. My legs felt weak and shaky and tired easily with exercise.

I also noticed the same behavior in my arms and hands. When I'd walk the dogs, my arms from the elbows down felt heavy, like they were filled with fluid and should be swollen if I looked at them. I always looked. They always looked fine. Then my arms started falling asleep at night. Every night. Then I noticed the weakness in my arms was persisting. I could feel it all day instead of just after exercise or after waking up.

I had a couple of episodes where I felt like I was dying. One time during the night, my heart was beating erratically and I felt like I might be having a heart attack. One day, I felt very disconnected from my body. I cried and all I could manage to explain to my husband was, "I just feel so weird."

Then there were the rashes and hives. At least once a week, some kind of manifestation of rash or hive would appear somewhere on my body. My legs, my waist, my whole body, my face.

The right side of my head started going numb. When it wasn't numb, it was tingly, like I had done a stimulating drug and my hair was "crawling." I began to feel pain and pressure at the base of my head at the back, like I'd worn a hat all day and then taken it off and I could still feel it, if you know what I mean. I feel it every day, all day.

I had an incident in the night almost like a seizure with my jaw jerking so hard it woke me up. I actually chipped the sealant on a back tooth and chipped a bit of my front tooth as well. I was so tired that I thought it might have been a dream. I could feel grit in my mouth, but was too exhausted and out of it to get up and check it out. I wondered if it was a dream. I could have been a dream. I have had very realistic dreams before. My routine dental cleaning a couple of weeks after showed that it was no dream.

I heard a strange noise in my head and thought I might be having a stroke or brain aneurysm. It lasted approximately 5 seconds. There was no sensation. Just the sound... something I'd never heard before. It scared me, but there was no physical reaction to the sound, so I dismissed it, mentioning it to the docs later on.

I developed popping in my right jaw, ringing in the right ear, pain in the right ear.

And then there was the extreme fatigue. I cannot tell you what that was like, other than to say that part of the reason I haven't been blogging much is because I was spending half of my week in bed. I was exhausted all of the time. I could sleep all night, get up and get the kids ready and off to school, then lay back down for another 3 hours and sleep hard and then still be exhausted when I woke up, having to drag myself out of bed to get anything accomplished. But I was busy with the kids, the elderly lady, the new business... I should be tired, right?

I developed mild dizziness, mostly when first waking up in the morning. I'd get up and run smack dab into a wall before getting my bearings.

I noticed a bit of brain fog and memory loss. I couldn't concentrate on tasks as easily. `I'd go to town to do three things (a 15-20 minute drive, so I have to plan carefully) and get clear home before realizing I had only done one of them. For instance, right now, I do not remember what side of my body the tick was on. You'd think I would remember that. It appears to be on the right in the pictures, but I could have sworn it was on the left. Did I take pics in a mirror or have my husband take them? I don't know. I don't remember things at all like I used to. It makes me feel stupid sometimes.

I began to tire easily during normal duties, like walking up the stairs or just walking the dogs or even doing a little housework. It wore me completely out. I had to quit my part-time job caring for the elderly lady. It was too much. Just 8 hours a week and it was too much.

I began to feel "shaky" on the inside. What I mean is that when I would wake up in the morning, before I would even get out of bed, it would feel like my head was shaking like a Parkinson's sufferer. The odd thing was that I wasn't shaking, it just felt like I was. I know. Weird. I still have that nearly every morning.

My left knee sounds like a bowl of Rice Krispies when I walk up stairs.

I knew something was wrong. I'm usually pretty healthy. I am happy to have gotten an answer finally because it's been a frustrating journey. Am I shocked at the diagnosis? No. But it was a heck of a ride getting there. The process started early this year:

I had my voice checked by a physician's assistant. She checked me out and determined my thyroid might be enlarged. They took blood (results were fine) and ordered an ultrasound of my thyroid (which also came back fine). They suggested that if I had further trouble, they would do an upper GI to see if there was any reflux, etc. I had an innate feeling that wasn't the problem at all, so I chose not to do it and give it a little time.

When the rash came on (I thought it was Shingles - remember the post?) the fun began. They treated me for the Shingles and took a scrape which went off to the lab and the results came back negative. I was baffled. I just knew it was Shingles!

Remember this picture? The dermatologist's office thought it was Contact Dermatitis, I thought it was Shingles.
I was closer than they were, but we were both wrong!

They sent me over to the dermatologist. She did allergy testing and determined I had Contact Dermatitis. I had an irritant reaction to Balsam of Peru and Nickel. I knew it wasn't Contact Dermatitis because of the extreme fatigue accompanying it, with a few other symptoms not typical of CD like stabbing pains and tingling, but that was the diagnosis. I was given creams and sent home with allergy information.

Next stop: my annual female exam. This just happened to be during the time of great ear pain and jaw popping and I was sure I had a raging ear infection. I excitedly told her, "Look in my ear, there's something wrong there," and she looked and said, "Nope, clear as a bell." However, combined with my dizziness and other symptoms reiterated, she suggested I see an ENT and get a CT scan of my head and neck. Joy.

The chiropractor and dentist both confirmed that there were no TMJ issues they could easily see. I was referred to an orthodontist for the jaw popping, someone who is fabulous with tempomandibular joint issues and just happened to be my kids' orthodontist. She's an hour away, but I knew she could do the fabulous scanny thing to look at my jaw and determine if there were any growths or problems there. Great, another hour drive to see another specialist. That appointment is in a few weeks, by the way. Every specialist costs me about a month's time at least.

The ENT did a hearing test, shoved a probe through my nose and down my throat and made me repeat specific sentences with the device in place (fun), looked in all of the orifices of my head and proclaimed, "The good news is, there's nothing wrong with you. The bad news is, there's nothing wrong with you." I felt so defeated and confused. Something was wrong, but what? I nearly broke down right then out of pure despair, but I kept it together. He suggested that I might have MS or a neurological problem and scheduled an MRI of the brain. Double joy.

MRI came back. Brain = normal. Normal? No way! I'm not normal! Not normal! NOT NORMAL! NOT NORMAL! The consolation was that at least I now knew that I didn't have a brain tumor or Multiple Sclerosis. I already had an ANA and they had ruled out the big autoimmunes, but my symptoms had such similar properties. How could this be? There is a big, bad something wrong with me and I know it!

My mother concluded it was menopause and bought me a book. I got to page three before I got the Lyme diagnosis. Mother, you may now buy me a book on Lyme Disease.

My husband, tired of the complaining, my feeling terrible all the time, and the house being a wreck, oh... and the medical bills piling up when we really can't afford them anyway, determined it might be in my head and I was stressing out about it so much that I was actually causing my symptoms.

I developed a painful bump in my mouth and one on my hoo-ha and decided to go to the doc again. I knew I needed to document everything. However, the spots weren't like anything she had any concern about. Not a herpes lesion or anything like that, she said. Whew! But then again, what the heck was causing my head to be numb, the frequent hives I'd developed, and all of this horrible stuff I am dealing with? I told her I felt like a hypochondriac and that wasn't like me. Out of ideas and noting how frustrated I was, she suggested seeing a neurologist.

In a last ditch effort, I asked her before leaving the appointment if she would consider testing me for three things I had researched and wondered about, just to eliminate a couple of my concerns. I felt like that was what we were doing, finding the needle in the haystack by picking up one piece of hay at a time and going, "Nope, that's hay, not a needle. Nope, that's hay. Nope, that's a piece of hay, too." I was beginning to wonder if there was even a needle in there. Perhaps it was in my head. Perhaps I was crazy. Perhaps it was just menopause. The doc pooh-poohed that one and didn't give it much consideration.

I asked if I could please be tested for other types of Herpes (I did have the Herpes Zoster Shingles virus in my body, after all), Lyme Disease (I did have a tick bite that turned into cellulitis and I have all the symptoms of advanced Lyme Disease, after all), and Vitamin B deficiency (it can cause neurological problems similar to mine). She agreed. I waited six days for the results.

Monday came. The phone rang. I have Lyme Disease.

I knew right away it wasn't good because I knew when I had contracted it and I knew enough from what I'd already read that I would either be in stage 2 or possibly 3. Upon further research, I am in stage 3, the late stage. If I had any of the early stage symptoms, I missed them or thought I had the flu. I do remember thinking I had the flu once last year, but I don't remember when it was.

U.S. National Library of Medicine - National Institutes of Health:
Symptoms of early localized Lyme disease (Stage 1) begin days or weeks after infection. They are similar to the flu and may include:

• Body-wide itching
• Chills
• Fever
• General ill-feeling
• Headache
• Light-headedness or fainting
• Muscle pain
• Stiff neck

There may be a "bull's eye" rash, a flat or slightly raised red spot at the site of the tick bite. Often there is a clear area in the center. It can be quite large and expanding in size.

Symptoms may come and go. Untreated, Lyme disease can spread to the brain, heart, and joints.

Symptoms of early disseminated Lyme disease (Stage 2) may occur weeks to months after the initial tick bite. They may include:

• Paralysis or weakness in the muscles of the face
• Muscle pain and pain or swelling in the knees and other large joints
• Heart problems, such as skipped heartbeats (palpitations)

Symptoms of late disseminated Lyme disease (Stage 3) can occur months or years after the initial infection. The most common symptoms are muscle and joint pain. Other symptoms may include:

• Abnormal muscle movement
• Muscle weakness
• Numbness and tingling
• Speech problems

So there you have it; everything you never wanted to know or didn't care to know about how Everyday Underwear got Lyme Disease. They are putting me on two months worth of Doxycyline and sending me to an Infectious Disease Specialist. My appointment isn't until mid-November. It was hard just to choose a doctor. Apparently, Lyme Disease is quite controversial for those who don't have confirmed cases and there is a real secretive underground network of doctors due to the touchy political climate surrounding insurance coverage and validity of the disease. I think I'm lucky. I have a confirmed tick bite, a picture of the rash, live in a tick infested area, and have all of the symptoms, plus a positive test for Lyme, so I hope I won't have trouble with my insurance.

The nearest Lyme Literate doc is 3 hours away, so I called and found an Infectious Disease doc who has treated Lyme patients at all stages and spoke to a nurse before committing. He is only an hour and a half away. Darn living in the middle of nowhere! The really good Lyme docs are all up north in Wisconsin and Minnesota or in the Northeast US states. I can't travel that far. I have a life to live, kids to cart around, a house to run, and my husband's businesses to help out with, not to mention my humor writing! If you've been wondering where I've been, now you know. Please pray that this doctor knows his stuff and can help me.

Many patients end up with PLDS (Post Lyme Disease Syndrome) or Chronic Lyme (permanent problems and damage much like autoimmune diseases cause) and I don't want that. I reject that! I choose total healing from this thing. Join me in that belief, if you will. I hope you never have to deal with anything like this. I'd like to hear about some people who have found healing from Lyme because so far, I have found a lot of really ticked off activists and family members with horror stories from Lyme. That's not real encouraging and uplifting.

So where's the humor in this? Here you go... when I told my 11 and 14 year old girls I have Lyme Disease, I got the following responses:

14 year old: "Oh! Well, that's not so bad then. All you have to do is, like, not eat limes, right?"

11 year old: "Soooooo, my mom has a disease..." (I could tell by the way she said it that this would be a cool thing to be able to tell her friends).

Also, I told my husband I think it would be really funny if I wore his beekeeper suit and one of his respirators from work when I go to see the Infectious Disease specialist. That would totally freak people out! I tell you one thing, I'll be taking a large container of hand sanitizer with me, that's for sure.

Do you know anyone who has dealt with Lyme Disease? Tell me your story!

Witchy Wednesday Woo-Hoo

Everyday Underwear readers, I told you I would be posting a response piece to my post entitled, WWJD Part II - The Day The Shamanic Priestess Came to Lunch about an interesting visitor to the Christian writers group my husband and I had taken over years ago (ECWU - Effingham Christian Writers United) and the journey of ultimately deciding to invite our new "witch" to stay. Billie sent me her point of view response piece last week and I was blown away. Woo-Hoo! I love it! I'm so proud to present my first guest post from B.C. Brown and hope you will grace her with kind comments afterward and visit her sites. Thank you, Billie! Much love, my dear writing friend!

Joan of Arc Ribs, Anyone?

- contributed by B.C. Brown

Growing up, while a chatty person by nature, I always felt a writer's existence was a solitary one. At the tender age of 20, just as I was truly coming to terms with pursuing my first novel, I stumbled onto a writer's group. And the clouds parted, the sky opened, and the light shone forth! I learned that writers don't have to lead solitary lives of isolation and loneliness. Believe it or not, we can congregate as colleagues and learn from one another.

I spent many years with this group. So when my (now ex-) husband and I moved to a town nearly an hour away one way, I felt bereft. Out of the blue, I'd been plunged back into a world of hermetical existence. Well, I did not go softly into that good night! What's a writer to do? Words are our solace and comfort, and the places that house those words? Our refuge. I found myself at the local library.

The librarian was kind enough to tell me about a local writer's group that met monthly. And, after providing me with contact information, I rang up a polite lady named Cindy, who informed me the next meeting would be at her family's home. She invited me to visit the group there, if I felt comfortable. I accepted.

Later that week, I found myself at a modest home amidst several other writers, a barbecue sizzling in the background. At this point I knew nothing about these people except that Cindy and her husband were the group coordinators and everyone there had some interest in writing to one degree or another. So one can imagine my bafflement when Cindy's husband led the group in an opening prayer... O.o *blink, blink*

I waited until the prayer had been finished and the meeting officially began with the discussion of Christian-related writing projects. Then I interjected that I wasn't exactly Christian. I was *gulp* a witch (although not entirely accurate. I'll explain in a bit). My heart launched itself into my throat, my palms grew slick, and my beautiful writer's mind supplied fantastically vivid images of old black and white films of lion pits and stonings.

Silence.

Then, Cindy and her husband looked at each other, a few of the other members glanced my direction, and... nothing. They went on with the meeting like nothing amiss had occurred. Later, after the meeting wound down and many of the people had drifted back to whatever lives they led, Cindy, her husband, and I discussed my spiritual beliefs (because "religion" is not a term I've ever been comfortable with - my views are a bit too fluid for it). To my surprise, I was invited to return to the group.

There are a few things about me you must understand. I have always stood out. Pick one: my bright red hair, my unusual sense of fashion, my spiritual beliefs, my writing and fascination with all things fantastic. The big one, however, was the peculiar sense my spiritual beliefs as a Shamanic Priestess ("exploratory" would be the best description) in my back water, rural, fundamentally Christian town. It seemed the belief was that my fluid religious beliefs were evil. The townsfolk made sure I was aware of how vile they thought I was. *Ahem... burning, upside-down crosses on my front lawn* What did I do? I killed 'em with kindness, etiquette, and phenomenal manners. Honey, not vinegar, baby.

As you can understand, my trust in Christian groups has been limited. Just because I'm willing to be open-minded and unrelentingly polite does not mean they always are. I'll admit that as I attended more meetings, I was leery to how I would be received. ECWU members were unfailingly polite and more than interested in my experience as a writer. I was always well received, my enthusiasm matched. With the exception of the occasional curious question, my beliefs were never mentioned again. To these people it didn't matter that I was a heathen - just that I was a writer and loved words as much as they. And, since my writing is non-political and non-religious in nature, it was easy to find some of my work to share at meetings.

I've since moved away from the ECWU area and its group. While I've joined a new one where I currently live and enjoy my group a great deal, I do miss my fellow writers from The 'Ham. I've managed to stay in touch with Cindy electronically and, for that, I am grateful. It was Cindy and her husband and the wonderful people at ECWU that taught me to heed my learned experiences but to understand that my learned experiences are not always the most reliable. Different isn't always the big, bad scary we thought it was.

What I didn't know until Cindy contacted me regarding sharing this story with everyone was how much flack she and her husband took for me being in the group. My friends (those who do and do not share my spiritual beliefs) shared a momentary twinge of oddity that I was joining a Christian writer's group. Then it was dismissed. They had no comment or opinion one way or the other. There were no concerns over my association with "such people". I understood my introduction to the group might be a concern for the actual members. The thought that it might also be a concern for other individuals outside the group hadn't occurred to me. Until Cindy's article it still hadn't.

Now I know that I obtained more than just writing-related learning from my time with the group. I also obtained friends - ones that didn't judge me based on my personal life but accepted me based on my professional enthusiasm and skill and love of all things word-y.

B.C. Brown was born with six fingers on each hand endowing her with super powers, thus enabling her to fight crime.  When a freak Cuisinart accident severed the additional digits and her powers, B.C. was forced to fall back on her secondary talent -writing.  Now she lives between the pages of a book - whether she has written it or not.  Since she has not found the surgeon to restore her fingers and powers, she has published three novels to date and contributed to one anthology.  She enjoys writing mystery, paranormal romance, science fiction and fantasy but is always in the mood for a challenge to branch out.  You can follow her crime fighting or writing at her blog: www.bcbrownbooks.blogspot.com , Twitter @BCBrownBooks, or Facebook: www.facebook.com/bcbrownwrites .

Flo and the Tornado

Last week, I was very sick in bed. I had gotten up, got the kids ready and onto the school bus, and immediately came home and went back to bed. I awoke to the sound of a truck coming down the road and the dogs barking furiously. I was groggy and laid my head back down to drift back off, intending to ignore both annoyances.

Ah, but 'twas not to be so. In a few minutes, I was rudely awakened by the sound of my electricity going on and off over and over in quick succession. It caused every beeping thing in the house to do its "I'm on now!" beep about 10 times over and over. Half asleep, I thought, "Okay, what the heck?" and got dutifully out of bed to check the truck noise, barking dogs, and spastic electricity.

I was tired as could be, so my brain wasn't working up to par. I looked out the front door and the image I saw was hard to accept. Black. It was mid-morning and the sky a few miles away was a dark slate grayish black. "Oh my God, it's going to storm!"

I began ticking off the list of things to do in my head. Thankfully, I first remembered the windows were both down on my car. I ran outside in sock feet and rolled them up. What a time for crank windows!

"What next?" My mind raced. Check the radar. No! Grab the dog beds off the porch - they might blow away. Done! Now check the radar. I literally ran to the computer and brought up the moving radar and noticed the red warnings at the top. "Severe thunderstorm warning - unplug electronics immediately and get to a safe place." Crap.

I didn't want to lose my computer to lightning, so I crawled under the desk and unplugged everything and got the TV and things upstairs unplugged. Now what? The little dog's outside - I need to get her in. Luckily, she was at the back door on a chair, chillin', so she came right in without incident.

Since my computer was running on battery, I checked the radar again. Tornado warning. Eeek! I saw the black. It's a tornado and it's going to get me, I just know it! Oh my lord, what now? Turn on the radio. Sure enough, tornado warning. The storm is just north of me and they've spotted rotation. Crap! What do I do? I was resting nicely, snuggled up sick in bed and now this!

I could barely think straight. I decided the next important course of events should be to put on shoes and a bra. If I was going to be wandering around among storm debris, possibly injured, somehow I had the presence of mind to make sure the boobs would be perky and my sock feet wouldn't get wet. "There might be a lot of splinters," I reasoned.

Take cover in an interior room with no windows. Shoot! The closet is the only such room and it's full of junk that's probably more dangerous than a tornado. Okay, the clothes closet will do. I'll go there, despite the unlikely scenario that F5 tornado winds might impale me with a hanger. On the way, I thought of some other things.

I'd better grab my purse, just in case. That way I'll have money for a hotel or food and they can identify me easily if I'm dead. I could just hear the coroner explaining to the newspaper, "Like any good woman, she grabbed her purse - she made it very easy to identify the body."

I decided next to stick my cell phone in my pocket, just in case I needed to call someone, should I survive and the phones were out. I thought that was quite smart, even though I don't get a good enough signal to talk without cutting out at my house. I could text for help? Yeah, maybe.

It still wasn't storming, so I decided to think about what I might need and not have access to if my house went all Wizard of Oz. I'd better use the bathroom. Yes! Great idea! What if I have no toilet after this and have to pee? There will be no toilet paper in the storm debris and who knows how long it will be until someone saves me?

After successfully eliminating, of all things to have happen at that very moment, I received my monthly visit from aunt Flo. All I could think was, "Really? Now? A tornado is about to hit and really? Now?" Yep, now. I'm on the toilet and the feminine products are under the sink. "Okay, do I waddle over with my pants down to get my product and take the chance that the tornado would hit at that moment and I would be found with my pants down or do I forget it?"

I decided I'd take the chance. Wandering around in tornado aftermath while bleeding from there would not be pretty. People would expect you to be bleeding from perhaps the head or arm after a tornado, but aunt Flo bleeding would just be uncouth. I waddled over to get the product and literally prayed to whomever might be listening, you know, God, Zeus, anyone to not let the tornado hit until I was properly protected. That was the most stressful feminine protection dash ever!

Thankfully, we got a little wind and a little rain and that was it. I stayed fresh and protected and the storm passed. The world here in the middle of nowhere continued to rotate, without damage. Whew!

What would you do in the face of an imminent tornado?

Wednesday Woo-Too-Much-To-Do-Hoo

I have several things to Woo-Hoo today. First, awards!

Yesterday, I felt like complete doggie doo-doo and stayed home to languish in bed, as miserably as humanly possible. I have some sort of horrible head cold and I'm barely getting myself going each day. I dreaded even getting on the computer (gasp!) because my heart and mind weren't in it. They were in bed, sleeping away illness, where they ought to be. Alas, things had to be done, including checking e-mail, laundry, and handling/shuttling of children, and so I forced myself out of bed and into work mode. That's not the good part.

The good part was logging into my e-mail and finding three blog awards there from a couple of my respected colleagues. From my dear blogging friend, Lisa Weinstein, I received the Sisterhood of the World Bloggers Award and the Inspiring Blog Award. Thank you, my sweet online friend. It was the perfect day to receive these honors!

And then from Kelly Hashway, a new award and I am proud to say that I was one of four selected for the Very Inspiring Blogger award.

These girls are both great writers and support Everyday Underwear like true friends. I appreciate that so much! Thanks for making my sick day worth getting out of bed. Today I was awakened out of my sickness slumber by a tornado warning... not as much fun. There might end up being a blog post about that one. I'm telling you, I could post every single day if this was my job. My life is always interesting and I love hearing how you all respond with your experiences!

I'm using some of Lisa and Kelly's answers and facts to play off since I'm feeling poorly and have little energy to Woo-Hoo today, so here's some random facts to get to know me better... Yay, a list opportunity! You know I love lists!

1. I fear very little. I am pretty brave in most respects, but a spider will make me jump. But only because they're so darn creepy. I will kill them without a second thought. Hi-yah! Karate chop!
2. My first concert was Slim Whitman. No, not because I am totally nerdy like that, but because he was at a local fair we attended and the family members I was with (who have now conveniently blocked the entire incident from memory) loved it so much, I was forced to sit through not only one, but a SECOND SHOWING! Kill me now. The memory still haunts me.
3. I will type in capital letters to yell if I want to and I don't care what you say about it. I think it is fine to do that in writing, but only for emphasis, not as a way of life.
4. There came a certain point in my life (and I can't pinpoint it, but I think it coincides with kids) that I no longer subscribed to the motto, "Suffer for beauty." Give me some comfortable shoes for this fun fair, dang it!
5. In the past, I have tried a few different hair colors and many styles, but the times when I colored my hair black and then red - I looked in the mirror and truly could not recognize myself. Weird. Brown with blond highlights it is. I like you, reflection.
6. I'm currently struggling with a medical issue and I'm hesitant to talk about it. That's not like me at all, but I haven't gotten a diagnosis of anything yet and am playing a game of hide-and-go-seek with whatever it is, which I hate, along with a game of is-this-important-or-not? It's like taking my car to the mechanic. "Well, I swear that sometimes, it makes this weird noise, kind of like a ch-sh-sh-kkkkkkk and then there's a loud pop!" Sigh. I had a major test that came back normal recently, so Woo-Hoo to that, but pray for answers for me, please. I'm weary of this process and it's just starting.
7.  I have ten fingers and only ten toes. Who knew?

I also want to Woo-Hoo that my husband's food stand will open this weekend. We're very busy preparing, so I need to get on the ball working for him. Hickerbilly's will have some awesome burgers, I guarantee you that! I'm proud of my husband for trying this out. He has a full time job already, so this is really stretching him, but cooking has always been his passion and he's very excited about it.

Woo-Hoo that both of my girls are doing well at cheer leading for their respective teams. I'm so proud of them for their hard work and dedication to the teams. They are both working very hard this year to excel in all they do and they're great girls, making an effort to stay out of trouble and get good grades despite their busy and social lives.

Woo-Hoo that I think I will have more time to write soon. I am in the process of freeing up my schedule some. I've been too overwhelmed lately and that's not helping my health any either. Can't wait to do what I love... write. That will make me feel better ;0)

And what do you Woo-Hoo this week?

I Hate My Job (Not really, but this video is hilarious!)

I have to share this with the masses because it really made me laugh. I follow a blog called Teh Geek Dump and yes, I am a little bit of a geek! Truly, even a computer nerd at times.

I know we have all had a job or two in our lives we've simply hated. I don't know who these individuals who made this video are, but I've never seen men look so great in high heeled red pumps and this is just a funny video, if you ask me.

Sorry if I offend my cultured readers.

Nah, I'm not sorry - this is funny. And it's also slightly disturbing in an "I can't take my eyes off it kind of way."

I direct you to Teh Geek Dump for:

http://tehgeekdump.wordpress.com/2012/09/02/jbdubs-i-hate-my-job-official-music-video-youtube/