This morning Ron and I slept in quite a bit. Well, I woke up off and on, but it was just so cozy in bed and so I didn't feel like moving until he did. Eventually I did get up and before him too! Shocking! Last night he was up playing with his telescope until who knows what time. I went up to bed around 5 a.m. so he was up after that for awhile.

Once we were up, we headed outside to do more yardwork. We have a nice team thing going for us. I rake up all the leaves and he grabs handfuls to put into the leaf mulcher. It's been a lot of work and we still have tons more! I'm just so happy to see my pretty flowers that I planted yesterday. So far they look good.

Ron had to close tonight and so we didn't get as much yard stuff done as we could have, but he's off again on Sunday. Hopefully it won't be a yucky day so we can hit the yard full force and try to make it look somewhat nice. I don't think our yard is capable of ever looking great, but if we can make it look better, that's all that matters.

I haven't done much since Ron left for work this afternoon. I played with the dogs outside for quite some time. Between all the yard stuff and playing with the dogs, I've gotten quite pink. At least it's just a mild sunburn and not as bad as I usually get. I think it's because I'm outside more often now at odd hours so I'm not getting bright red. But I'm definitely pink. My cheeks, my arms, my feet, the back of my neck. That last one is the worst, particularly because I'm having a bad back/neck week. I'm not sure if it's from all the raking over the past week or if it's from the gardening or from the dogs or from not being used to a real bed... but whatever the reason, I'm in some major pain today. My neck kills and with it my upper back is oh so sore too. Ugh. Ibuprofen is not helping any. It's way too warm here to try applying heat, but I'm going to have to deal with it and just do it. Ah well.

I've done quite a bit of reading today too. That's always a fun way to spend the day! hehe.

Ok, so I see the NKOTB day pals are officially outted. So I can now show and tell as to what I got... ( I'll put it behind a cut in case people don't care to see. )

My head and back are killing me today. I made the mistake earlier of taking a muscle relaxer that I had handy from awhile ago and now I'm just dragging. The pain is still there and yet I'm exhausted and well ready to sleep. Zzz. It could just be that I didn't get enough sleep last night. Entirely possible.

Whoops. I'm so easily distracted these days. I started this entry awhile ago and then my mind wandered off to other places and I forgot that I hadn't finished typing or posting my entry. Silly me.

I can't even recall what I was going to write about. Oh well. No matter. It'll wait until tonight I suppose. I think it's time for my afternoon leg stretch. By that I mean my afternoon caffeine fix. I have to walk down the hall and then use either the stairs or elevator to go down to the first floor. (I'm on the 5th). So it's a good way to let the legs move a bit after sitting in this uncomfy chair all day. Plus I neeeeeeeeeeeeeeed the caffeine right about now!

I called out of work this morning. I could barely roll out of bed to do so. I was exhausted and sore as heck. Pam was really nice about everything and said to take care of myself and not to rush back to work. This afternoon Alex called to check in and see how I was doing. I am definitely 1000000000 times better than I was this morning, but not perfect by a long shot. I do think I'll go into work tomorrow, but Alex told me not to push it and if I don't feel up to it, I should stay home. Twist my arm! haha. Right now my plan is to go in, but I won't make a final judgment until I wake up and see how I feel. My neck isn't too bad at the moment, but my lower back is where it aches.

I went out to the mailbox earlier and had such a lovely day of mail! I got a $85 check from one of my survey sites. LOVE IT! and I got 3 books that I had requested from others on Paperbackswap.com. PLUS I got my $25 B&N gift card from MyPoints! And a valentine's day card from my grandma. Wasn't that a great haul? Unfortunately one of the books I got was damaged in the mail. Stupid mailmen! The package was all greasy and torn and the book is crumpled to bits... even the covers. I can still read it, but it's such a disappointment because I was so eager for it. The book was Never Have Your Dog Stuffed and Other Things I've Learned by Alan Alda. So I'm bummed. The other two books were in good shape. Vengeance in Death by J.D. Robb and Help, I'm Turning into My Mother: With a Few Quirks of My Own by Becky Freeman & Ruthie Arnold. Now that one looks like it'll be a fun read! hehe. I already added them on Goodreads.com to my 'to-read' list. I'm so addicted to that site even when I don't have anything to add! I think everyone who ever reads should join up and be my friend! haha. Corey, Lisa and Barbara are already on there, so all the other slow-pokes (*cough*Kristen*cough*) should wake up and join. I wish they gave you points to earn things for each book you read. haha. Alas, it's not a point earning site... just a site to keep track of readings and such. I love it though.

I haven't turned in my Boomertowne points yet, but I'm thinking I might request the Target Gift Card. I really was trying to get the $50 visa, but I'm losing patience. We'll see. I want more free stuff. I wonder how much I can make on these sites once I'm unemployed and have all the time in the world! I might be able to really post a bunch of articles and pictures on Gather to the extent of getting offered the cash option. Hmmm... I doubt it'd be enough to live off of, but it might be a good amount of spending money while I'm not working.

Ow. Ok, my lower back is speaking up... guess it's time for more heat and more ibuprofen. Ron did find my heating pad thingy yesterday! I had no clue where it was, but he did. So I used that all night long. The dogs thought it was some kind of doggy toy and kept trying to take it from me. (it's one of those long tube shaped things that look like a sock filled with rice. You microwave it to get it hot and it works perfectly for a long time). I managed to keep the dogs away from it though. Silly mutts! Ron was supposed to work last night, but he talked to his boss and ended up getting the night off to spend with me. awww. Today he's working either 10-8 or 11-9. Although I think he left late this morning. I woke him up and asked him what time he had to leave (it was 10:15 at that point) and he mumbled "I'm closing tonight". SO I replied "I thought you were working at 11 today?" He paused and then let out a loud curse and jumped out of bed. I think he'd agreed to come in at 10:00 this morning instead of the scheduled 11, but I forget. So I'm thinking he was late either way because by the time he got ready and left the house it was 10:45 or so. It takes longer than 15 minutes to get to work. Oh well. With the hours he puts in each week, it's about time that he gets some back for himself. I hope they don't screw him over and take away his Saturday. He's supposed to have Saturday off.

Happy chilly Monday. Well that's 2/3 correct. I could erase the
"happy" part and it would be completely true. I am so exhausted this
morning. I had the world's worst night of sleep last night. I went to
bed around 11 and ended up turning on the TV. I watched the 2nd airing
of "The Dresden Files" and then turned the television off at midnight.
From that point on, I was tossing and turning all night long. I saw
every hour at least a few times. If I slept at any point it was for no
more than 10-15 minutes at a shot. Not a fun night.

My pointer finger on my right hand hurts today and I don't know why. I
didn't bang it into anything, and there's no bruise or whatever. It
just hurts to the bone. Ouchy. My left hand hurts too, but there's a
reason for that. I burned it with the curling iron this morning. Right
on the palm. Ouch. At least it is only a small burn, but even being so
small, it hurts! I feel like I'm falling apart with all the pain and
aches. I left yet another message for the doctor this morning to call
me back. I have not heard one peep about the results of the blood
tests. This is getting obnoxious. Although, I have to look at it this
way... If there was a problem, the doctor would be more inclined to call
ASAP. Right? I'm thinking that way so that I don't worry.

I brought the book Lisa sent me for Valentine's Day into work today. So
far I'm about 55 pages into it. Sometimes a cheesy romance just fits
the mood perfectly.

Joyce is out sick today. She's had a bad cough for quite some time now
and this weekend she was out in the cold at a Condo fire. (She works
with her town's fire department and so she was at the fire for hours.
Not a good thing to do when you're fighting a bad cough!) Poor Joyce.
Here's one story about the fire. And Here's a follow up. So yeah, that's where
Joyce was. Just look at those pictures! Can you imagine your home
being so completely destroyed? It's so sad. I was hoping that Joyce
would be in today though because she was supposed to find out if one of
the puppies has a "longer snout". LOL Ron said that he will take a dog
as long as it doesn't look "boxer-y". So I'm hoping that one of the
females looks more like the mummy than the daddy. Ah well. It's not
like the doggies will be ready to go for awhile. They're just wittle
ones yet.

It's a quiet day in the neighborhood... A quiet day in the
neighborhood... Can't I go home... Can't I go home... Can't I go home
right now? LOL