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My hives have hives!

So, this may not be a very pleasant post, but for some reason, I can't seem to think about anything else right now...

I got my allergy shots today a little later than normal. It was about 3 PM when I received my weekly stab. I waited my 30 mintues and drove back to the office. Soon after, I began to itch - slightly more than normal. Particularly under my arms and on my tummy. Then it got worse... I headed home about 30 minutes early.

So, now that I've had a chance to show Matt and look in a mirror, I have had a good look at the biggest hives since I had that virus attacking my nerves. Maybe it's back? I don't know, but man, do I want to swim in a tub of ice water right about now.

And yes, I did have Matt take a picture, but I'm not sharing online. :-) Too awkward...

Catching up

Since the writers' strike last year, Matt and I haven't watched much TV. Recently, we decided that it was about time to catch up on Heroes and Smallville. It was a little easier to catch up on Heroes - fewer episodes. But Smallville - in the last couple of weeks, we have made it through the 2nd half of season 7 and we are now caught up to the current episode of season 8 (or so we think.)

I'm pretty excited about this season of Smallville. I think it's the last one... They are finally starting to transition things towards the standard storyline of the movies. Things are starting to heat up between Clark and Lois... :-) I think it's about time to wrap this series up. Looking forward to the series finale!

Corn Maze!

Now that Matt has been layed-off, we are trying to be even more frugal than before. Still, we do have to have some fun... so... we had been planning to meet with the refugee family to teach them more English this morning, as Matt, Jason, and Spring have been doing for a while now. Just before we were going to leave the house, Jason called to let us know the plans had been cancelled, b/c the family was having some sort of family event, so they wouldn't be available. New plans? Jason and Spring wanted to go to an apple orchard and a corn maze.

I've been wanting to go to a corn maze for a long time. I found out this morning that my mom does not really care for them - probably one of the reasons I never went as a child. (At least I never remember going as a child...)

Anyway, we decided to go ahead and spend some money on a fun day at the orchard today. Good times, good raspberries and apples, and lots of good walking/exercise. Fall is definitely my favorite season. I think it is about time that I actually pull out the fall decorations. Guess I know what I'm doing tonight!

Two tags?

So I waited too long to respond to Jennifer, because Jen also tagged me for this same meme (see earlier post). So, I unknowingly tagged Jen and a few others that she had tagged before reading the details of her meme. Sorry to those that I tagged in addition to Jen, but I'm too lazy to find new people to tag. And now I need to go to sleep. Goodnight!

Busy times...

It's been so long since I last posted. Heck, I haven't even really had time to keep up with email for the last month. Anyway, I want to play some catch-up, and first on my list is following up with a couple of things I've been tagged to do...

Tag # 1:
My friend Jennifer over at A Tale of Two Kiddies tagged me to participate in a "get to know you" meme way back on September 9. (Forgive me, Jennifer, for the long delay in this post.)

Per Jennifer, here are the rules for this meme:

1. Link to the person who tagged you
2. Post the rules on your blog
3. List 6 random facts about yourself
4. Tag 6 people at the end of your post
5. Let each person know they've been tagged by commenting on their blog
6. Let the tagger know the entry is posted on your blog

Here are my 6 random facts:


Fact #1:

When I was in elementary school, my friends and I formed a singing group. I was convinced that someday I would be a professional singer. I played it "cool" with my friends, but I was definitely full of myself. And now the truth is out - I can carry a tune, but I'm no where near professional status. :-) Aww heck - stage fright would've kept me from performing professionally even if I did have a rock-star voice.

Fact #2:

Speaking of stage fright, during my freshman year of highschool, my band director asked (a.k.a. forced) me to play simple piano interludes between set changes during our Christmas concert. My stage fright was so extreme, my fingers shook to the point of hitting all the keys except the correct ones. It was described by an adult I knew as "dismal". How I ever got up the nerve to go on stage again, I'll never know.

Fact #3:

The only reason I ever grew in my ability to play the piano was the fact that I absolutely love the music of Tori Amos. Her lyrics are a little "interesting", but the music behind them is - in my opinion - wonderful. My flute stand-mate, Becky, loved Tori, too, and Becky encouraged me to learn song after song. My collection of memorized Tori songs is still a good size, and I tend to play her songs when I get sentimental about high school.

Fact #4:

Before I was actively trying to follow Jesus, one of my Christian friends, a fellow musician, recruited me to play a praise song with him and a few other friends in a variety show at school. It was the first contemporary praise song I learned to play. Who knew we could get away with singing "Heart of Worship" in a public school? Anyway, at the time, I didn't really get what I was singing. It's amazing how growing up in a church can still have such a limited impact on someone. I was a rebel, but thank God that He placed certain people in my life and worked through them to show me what I was missing.

Fact #5:

Now that I am in grad school, I have at least 2 or three papers due during the course of a semester. My classmates who know me well will tell you that no matter how hard I try, I can't start writing a paper until the night before class. What they may not realize is that even though I don't start writing until the last minute, I think through most of what I want to write ahead of time so that all I need to do is type it up once - start to finish - and make a few edits on the morning the paper is due. I hope I never have a paper due that is longer than 20 pages, because I don't think I could finish that in only one night and still make it through work the next day...

Fact #6:

I am a very passionate and sentimental person who frequently types then immediately deletes sappy or highly charged statements from my posts before publishing. There are some things that even I won't put in writing. I know, this may shock some of you, but it is true. And no, I didn't have something else originally in mind for fact #6. I just couldn't think of anything else that was good, so here's what you get. :-)

And now, I tag: Jen, Allison, Ali, Lela, Kate, and Matt.