Posted on

Yes, You’re Probably Dying

yes dying

I have this wheel hanging up in my cubicle at work… it comes in very handy when I need to diagnose something. Point the arrow to your symptom, and you’ll find out what illness/disease you may have, the appropriate medical term, the correct specialist to see, what to obsess about in the meantime, and what harmless condition you probably have after all.

Very handy indeed.

Well I could definitely use it this morning… if I had it here, I would point the arrow toward “headache,” “stuffy nose,” and, if available, “head going to explode.”

Because basically? I feel like crap.

I have an old-fashioned cold… I don’t think I have H1N1 or anything crazy like that… but still, I feel pretty awful. And since yesterday I was given strict orders from my co-workers not to come back to work until I was over whatever communicable disease I was carrying, I have decided to stay home.

I have homework to do, and there’s so much cleaning I could finally get around to now that I have a day off, but for the moment I’m trying to ignore all that. I am going to sleep… sleep until I wake up. How’s that for luxury?

Post to Twitter

Posted on

An A-maze-ing Day

So corny, I know. Corn. HA! I crack myself up.

In any case, as you may know, I’ve been working with Weight Watchers to promote their current campaign, Lose for Good.
Photobucket From LoseForGood.com:
For the second year in a row, Weight Watchers is teaming up with its members and Online subscribers, as well as local communities, sponsors and our charitable partners Share Our Strength and Action Against Hunger, to fight hunger and promote healthy living. As you lose weight from 08/30/09-10/17/09, Weight Watchers will donate up to $1 million to help feed children and families in need.

It’s a fantastic campaign and has been a huge success so far – as of tonight, Weight Watchers estimates that their members have lost 3.5 million pounds during the campaign. That is life-changing for their members.

So because of our belief in this campaign (and because we love to have a good time), our very good friend Amy and I decided to get some of our very favorite local bloggers and their families together so we could spend a fantastic fall afternoon together for good.

We met at one of the hottest spots in my little town (one of the two spots that are currently hot, the other being the brand new Mexican restaurant that opened about three weeks ago. The one where I may or may not have eaten five times already. *ahem*), Tom’s Maze.
toms maze
(Photo by Erin)

Tom’s Maze is eight acres of this:
toms maze row
(Photo by Erin)

At least that’s what it looks like as you go through it. Here’s what it looks like from above:
toms maze arial

Is that cool or what?

But before we could take on such a task, we hung out around the campfire.
toms maze campfire
(Photo by Tricia)

sammy chilling toms maze

We had lots of food… but what’s a party without dessert?
lose for good
(Photo by Erin)

(I know what you’re thinking. Lose for Good cookies, isn’t that ironic. But that’s the beauty of Weight Watchers… nothing is an absolute no-no, you just have to count your points. And I was saving up my flex points all week for this, people!)

And what’s a campfire without s’mores?
kate smore toms maze
joshua smores toms maze

We had a great time in the maze.
toms maze emily's boys

sophie toms maze

We finished just in time to watch Tom’s famous Pumpkin Chuckin’ Canon – this thing shoots pumpkins a half a mile. At least that’s what they say – I lost sight of it after about one second! It’s better to watch it at night, when Tom chucks pumpkins that glow in the dark!
toms maze pumpkin chucker
(Photo by Erin)

We had so. much. fun.

But the point of the day was to help out with Lose for Good and to collect canned goods to donate. Our friends? They really stepped up.

When I got home, we emptied the bags from our trunk, and here’s what our kitchen looked like.
Zi6_0105
(Lousy photo by yours truly)

That picture doesn’t do it justice… but I got out my bathroom scale (from the back recesses of my closet)… and I was blown away.

That’s 100.4 pounds of food.

I was so amazed at the generosity of our friends, and so thankful. I am looking forward to delivering it to our local food pantry, where I know it will go to good use.

So a huge thank you goes our to our party attendees and their families: Becky, Ashley, Erin, Tricia, Katie, Cortney, Emilie, Marianne, Andrea, Carrie, Kandi and my co-host, Amy. I truly can’t believe that a year ago, I didn’t know these people. (Except Emilie…and Marianne…and Ashley…and oh yeah, Jenny). I think I speak for Jenny when I say that we are so, so grateful to have had such wonderful people come into our lives. All because two people fell in love started a blog.

*sniff sniff*

I also want to thank Weight Watchers for inviting me to be a part of the Lose for Good campaign, and for sponsoring the food at our campfire – it was amazing, and I promise I counted my points!

Kind of.

Post to Twitter

Posted on

Paranoia Strikes Deep

hand sanitizer

Well, the moment has come. I am officially paranoid about influenza.

H1N1 specifically, of course, but the flu in general as well. Because, really, my paranoia knows no bounds.

None of us have our flu shots yet, which is part of what is making me panic. Our pediatrician is on the “call us every couple days to see if we get it in” plan, which stresses me out, and Andy is supposed to get one from his doctor but hasn’t done so yet. I have only gotten one once, when I was pregnant with Sam, but I am planning to get one this year. Sometime. Of course I didn’t bother to go get one the day they were giving them out at work for $5 – that was before my freak-out began, and I didn’t see it as a priority. But now I do.

And the H1N1 vaccine? I want my kids (and my diabetic husband) to get one yesterday. Not coincidentally, I read this article entitled “What to Expect When You’re Expecting Swine Flu” yesterday.

I won’t even tell you what my friend told me yesterday regarding the flu and the end of society. Thanks, Gina, for keeping me up at night.

However, on a less hysterical front, I also came across this yesterday – “A Parent’s Guide to H1N1 Influenza.” This is a really good article about how to prevent H1N1 and what to do if you or your kid does get it.

So tell me… on a scale of 1 – 10 with 1 being “H-what?” and 10 being “As paranoid as Emily,” what’s your level of freak-out-ish-ness about the flu this year? What are you doing to prepare?

Post to Twitter