Friday Shuffle - The Week at a Glance Edition

It's been a red letter week 'round these parts so let's just get to it all. Bodily functions and fluids may be mentioned during the course of today's entry so please finish your sandwich or postpone your Twinkie break until you've finished reading.

~ Speaking of snack cakes, do they still have those freaky pink Hostess SnoBall things? Please tell me yes because I just love those rubbery marshmallow covered things. Have them ready for me at my arrival gate at the airport!

~ So it was a week where I spent most of it either sleeping or writhing in pain from the gut twisting whatever it was that was ailing me. I thought at first it was a gallbladder attack but as it went on I decided that it was some sort of gastrointestinal bug because instead of having searing pain on my upper right side I had searing pain on my lower left side, complete with evil gurgling sounds. Everything made me sick and in case anyone here isn't familiar with this particular situation, throwing up dry, unaided by the presence of any sort of sauce, rice is difficult and painful - to the point where it made me see stars. I also slept like it was going to be declared illegal tomorrow. Eight hours at night, two and three hour naps during the day - it was almost ridiculous. However I believe that space banking sleep may be possible because for the last two nights I've not been able to get to sleep, have slept only about 4 hours per night and still didn't need a nap during the day.

Anyway, my stomach ailment seems to be over. I've graduated from subsisting on only dry bread and beef consume to eating a chicken sandwich with tomato and mayonnaise for supper tonight. Victory!

~ I've been watching Lost in reruns and it's made me wonder - what do the women on the island do when they have their periods? Do Dharma tampons and ibuprofen come in with the rest of the supplies that get dropped from the sky?

~ My uncle, CG, died on Tuesday morning. He was married to my Aunt Cora and they'd been married nearly 59 years. They met as teenagers and except for when my uncle was in the Marines they've been together.

I remember when I was about five years old being at Aunt Cora's house. We were all going to Pickwick Dam for an outing and me being all dressed in my red swimsuit and a little terry cloth beach wrap with my hair up in a little bun. I put on Aunt Cora's black sunglasses and my uncle thought I looked so hilarious in those big black shades he started calling me a movie star and he took my dad's camera and took pictures of me in the yard posing in the sunglasses like a movie star. Every time I see those old photos they make me laugh.

CG was a good guy. I'm going to miss him.

~ Things have been a bit frosty between B and his mom over the last few days. B and I had dental appointments for Wednesday afternoon - me for a cleaning and him for some fillings - and on Tuesday we canceled the appointments and rescheduled them for two week later. I was still sick and picking B up over and over for this dental visit wasn't going to do my wonky stomach any favors. We told my MIL and she got all pissy about it and insisted that B didn't need to cancel his appointment and implied that the real reason the appointment was postponed was due to his fear of the dentist. B said told her that I wasn't up to being at the dentist and I needed to be there because I was the only one who could get his wheelchair back out of the exam room once he was put in the dental chair. This didn't seem to be an acceptable answer for my MIL and she just kept harping about this postponed appointment until B finally said "It's done. I can't change it back!". Since then when they talk on the phone they have all the same warmth between each other that a meat locker possesses.

B and his mom almost never have this sort of conflict between them. And I'm going to blame this on Gerd - just because I can. I hope this gets sorted out soon because I can't leave town with this going on.

~ As I mentioned last week, I had to go to my doctor's office on Thursday to get my quarterly blood test and get a flu shot. Dr. K told me that it was going to be just the little blood test - get a little out of my ear lobe - but when I got to the back room three tubes were out. I told the physicians assistant what Dr. K had told me and she said "Oh no. You get the big test. We checked with her to be sure.". Okay, someone's pants are on fire 'round here because I had my last big blood draw in early June but what was I going to do about it? Act like an even pissier scared baby than I already am and refuse to have the test? I faced it with a firm jaw and was rewarded with a special bandage for it. It pays to be brave. Dr. K wasn't in the office so I had to wait for the doctor that's working in her practice this year as an intern to come give me my flu shot. Flu shots are wimpy and don't even hurt so I don't fuss about them but that also means I'm not rewarded with a special pretty bandage for being extra brave. Anyway, intern doctor looks at my vaccine booklet and sees that I don't have a tetanus shot recorded and tells me I ought to have one - just in case I were injured. I don't think this woman gets that most of the time I seldom venture farther than my local bakery that's in the same building as my apartment. However, should I happen to have a mishap with rusty barbed wire in my kitchen or cleave my leg open with a hatchet as I pick up my mail or should I step on a nail while in the bathroom, I'll be sure to ask for a tetanus shot while I'm in the ER.

~ I heard James Blunt's new single 1973 twice - once as I drove to the doctor's office and once while waiting in the doctor's office and so help me I liked it.

I'm pretty sure that the real me has been replaced by a pod person. That's my only explanation.

~ I haven't knit in nearly a week. And I'm behind on my cleaning. I predict a lot of last minute frenzy knitting and cleaning before I leave down.

On to the shuffle.

1. Open Up Your Eyes - Tonic
2. Closing Time - Semisonic
3. Would I Lie To You? - Eurythmics
4. Joshua - Dolly Parton
5. Open Wider - Bird York
6. Authority Song - John Mellencamp
7. All Because Of You - Blackmore's Night
8. She Bangs The Drums - Stone Roses
9. The Angry Mob - Kaiser Chiefs
10. Build Me Up, Buttercup - The Foundations

Happy weekend, all.