New Year's Resolutions

• Maintain positive attitude
• Lose 20 pounds
• Start doing some form of exercise to counteract the amount of time spent sitting and staring at a computer screen
• Get a job in my field
• Spend more time crafting/writing
• Be more persistent about my needs with my healthcare providers
• Go on a road trip (not very far, just far enough to feel independent)
• Stay focused
• Have more date nights
• Comment on more blogs
• Listen more
• Work more on my 101 in 1001

That's my list folks - what's yours?

xoxo,

Annie

It's the Little Things

Sometimes, when things get really, really bad, I have to find little things in life to convince myself that it is still worth living.

Lately it's been - books, hot beverages, and pretty pictures for inspiration.

Luckily for me, my apartment has multitudes of both (when you count the use of the Internet...)

I hope you enjoy some of my sleepless night's worth of perusing:

All images found on We Heart It.

Sleepy Worries

For some odd reason, I am 800 thousand times more tired during the day than I am at night.

I know this is a common complaint among insomniacs but it's driving me crazy.

I am at work and contemplating falling asleep in the chair.

Question for my fibromyalgia affected friends -

Does anyone else get waves of exhaustion that are so extreme that it is painful to be awake? I can be in a grocery store, at work, or even at home and just get hit with a 20-30 minute hit of something that can't even be called being tired. I slump down, the room starts to spin and I see double, and the whole thing is rather inconvenient and kind of scary.

I hate not knowing what is wrong with me sometimes...you never know whether it is something that you should check out further, or if it is just a silly side effect of some drug (as I take an annoying amount).

Things That Bug Me Mondays

- Being woken up for the work day at 5:30 a.m. by the boyfriend who is dying to go to Boxing day sales only to not be able to fall back asleep.

- How horrible I feel every morning for about three hours...thankfully it starts to get better as the day goes on.

- The fact that there is no more Sunday shopping until Summertime (makes me almost wish for my soon to be irregular work schedule)!

- The feeling that no matter how hard I try to clean, this apartment never seems to actually reach that goal.

- The fact that the iPod application for this blogger business goes a little wonky when I try to type from the side with a bigger keyboard.

- Not having anything in the fridge that overly resembles food...I really like to eat.

Contrary to my whining run right there, I actually have two awesome iPod apps - one called Lose It, that I am going to make help me lose 20 pounds, and another called iExpenseIt, which I hope will help us keep a better budget.

Tis the start of another week my friends!

I'm going to try to make it a good one :). Also, let's all hope Jon comes home with something good!

xoxo,
Annie

Loves

Time for a very late Love Me Friday!

This is a valentine I half expect from Jon come this year's Valentine's Day. Plus the paper craft aspect of it is AMAZING!

Our horrible attempts at taking nice Christmas Day photos.
I'm thinking of getting another tattoo, maybe of the book stack variety...
Haha, the cow didn't make it on his jump over the moon!
This is the dreamiest quilt I've ever seen in the entire world.
I love dinosaurs. That is all.

Will get back into regular posts come tomorrow I believe! :)

xoxo,

Annie

Boxing Day Settle Down

Well.

That was quite a Christmas.

Probably my best one yet :).

I woke up on Christmas with super clogged lungs and then proceeded to have to pass a kidney stone or something while screaming and biting down on my hand. Forty minutes of agony that I could not easily explain was not a good way to start the day unfortunately.

In terms of loot, I made out like a bandit. To list it here would make me seem spoiled as hell.

In general I got:

• iPod Touch
• Nice lotions
• Cookware (casserole dishes, baking pans, and a slow cooker)
• A digital picture frame
• A smattering of gift cards
• A beautiful hand-knit pink blanket
• Some earrings
• and I have no idea what else but I am sitting in piles of it.

My family smothers me with love in the monetary way haha.

Although they are pretty much the best family in general so I'm very grateful.

How was everyone else's Christmas?!

Off to see Avatar in 3D with the beloved.

xoxo,

Annie

MERRY CHRISTMAS

I'm sitting here, first thing in the morning with a towel wrapped around my head, updating this blog today. I also have an incurable case of the hiccups, but that's another annoying story.

It's CHRISTMAS EVE TODAY!!!

I work until 6:30 and then have to drive an hour to see my folks sadly, but I'll get there :).

I just wanted to wish everyone who stops on this little blog a very:

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

I hope it is a wonderful day for everyone.

(Also, I want these ornaments...click on pics for links).

Love Actually

By the way, watched Love Actually last night.

I watch it every single year at Christmas.

I love it so, so much.

Highly recommend everyone gets it in before the 25th.

Picture Post

I'm thinking, since it's hump day and all, that it's time for something a little more cheery on this little ol' blog of mine.

I debated doing a crazy rant about work...as yesterday was hilarious in a bad way...but no.

My poor blog readers will think I'm ready to hop off a 6th story building here if I don't liven it up a bit (I know that seems like a small building, but it's seriously around as big as they grow them down here in Prince Edward Island haha).

So...PICTURE POST!!

A) How i feel 99.9% of the time:

B) I got a new iPod touch and every cat I run into is all over climbing on my technology.

C) I saw paperweights that look like these at Winners. I wanted them so bad. I have not buying remorse.

D) A horribly funny, and yet plain horribly inappropriate youtube video by Andy Samberg that I will recommend googling at your own risk.

E) MY FAVORITE GAME! No one plays Boggle with me anymore, thank God for Bookworm.

I would post more but I am running dangerously close to being late for work.

xoxo!!!

Annie

Not Cool Drugs...Not Cool

Update:

I need a drug plan. I picked up 2 of my 16 or so prescriptions today for one month's supply and it was 156 dollars.

I think I'll go spaz now.

Hard Times

I have a love/hate relationship with the morning.

For every single person who has ever told me that I would be more productive/better adjusted/less awkward if I got up earlier in the morning, there has been their opposite {usually my friends, boyfriend included} that sleep until the last possible minute, roll out of bed, go to work, and repeat - easy peasy.

I'm starting to think the problem is with me and not with the time I get up haha.

I swear it doesn't matter what illness you have, they all seem to have horrible peaks first thing in the morning and then coming to the end of a long day. I get miraculous breaks in the middle (probably because I have been pumping prescriptions by the boatload into my body...) that allow me to get at least a tiny bit of work done.

I don't know if I'm cut out for full-time. I'm pushing myself harder than I've EVER pushed before in my life. Last night I had a full-out breakdown of crocodile tears. I'm not sick enough to qualify for disability (yet...), but I'm too sick for most full-time work. God knows, no one can live off of a part-time salary, unless it's one great job I haven't heard of yet.

I keep telling myself it's not a personal failure, but of course I feel like it is. I feel like I should be able to control how my body reacts and the way my mind responds to certain courses of action. Sadly, I seem to be out of control on all of the above. I've been trying so hard to stay positive.

There has got to be a way to get through this.

I know it.

xoxo,

Annie

I am going to make one of these, post it on my wall, and then refer to it everyday. Colored post-it notes make life a little more worth living.

Things That Bug Me Mondays

Without further ado...

• Being at the front of the line, waiting for the bank to open...only to have to ask someone a question about who takes my money in regards to student loans...and then being put in the back of the original line to wait all over again.
• The lack of parking downtown. Seriously. I am a girl who needs to access Shopper's Drug Mart to get her meds. Do not interfere with this process please.
• Speaking of which...the fact that I am not covered under common-law status for Jon's drug plan. Like seriously, who does that anymore? I thought common-law was like the new thing??
• The fact that some of the keys on my keyboard are sticking and making this process more difficult.
• That I got nothing done ALL weekend. I meant to be productive, but instead spent most of it napping.
• My ordered 2010 planner kit I need to build didn't come with the instructions it was supposed to have with it. Boo. It hurts to use brain cells.
• Having to get up at 7:30 so I can have the car, when I technically don't work until noon. Talk about valuable sleep time lost.
• Brittany Murphy dying. She was so cute! A little weird, sure...but totally adorable.

Glarlghaofugaluoaughaanaghar.

Okay.

Rant over.

Must get on with day.

xoxo,

Annie

Something Is Eating My Insides...

I AM SOOOOOO SICK.

It doesn't even seem physically possible. Apparently it is, contrary to my belief of the way the world should work. I can feel my stomach turning over and there are huge knots bumping out of my back. Today is going to be one of those days where I wish I could just take a pill and sleep through the whole event.

Can December be over yet???? Pretty pleasseeee.

On the plus side, I am visiting my wonderful parents and they are making me foods for the upcoming week. Hopefully, they will be things that won't have to come back up.

Now I need to find pictures to make my life seem less horrible. When things get really really bad, I turn to the Internet. Or a book. Anything to pretend I am not in my body.

100th Post!

I am writing this monumental event from Starbucks. On my iPod. How fabulous is that??! My typing speed has sadly gone down monumentally as I'm not as good at this whole touch typing thing as the young kids are these days. I feel like a pretentious wanker. Surprisingly that is a good feeling in my books.

Obviously this post will be shorter than average but I just wanted to show off my new toy! Plus my peppermint mocha is pretty tasty too....

Back tomorrow with a fun picture post. The drama in my life is starting to substantially lessen so I am looking forward to the rest of the weekend!

Xoxo,
Annie



P.S. It says 97 posts on the side, and 101 on the blogger dashboard. I am confuzzled.
Whatevs.

Love Me Fridays

It's time for Love Me Fridays!

Although this week things in my life have been crashing miserably to shit, there is always a silver lining to the clouds...or so "they" say.

So let me get started - things this week that I'm loving instead of wanting to beat with a shovel:

• My flannel snowflake sheets. It's like -30 degrees in my apartment no matter what we set the temperature to, so the soft warmth of these sheets is really bringing the joy and lessening some of the pain. Plus they have multicolored snowflakes on them, and really, what's not to love about that?
• My new iPod Touch, which I am technically not supposed to have for another week, but have been granted an early Christmas exception {thank you Jonathan!! <3}
• The fact that my mother is coming to town to help me with the fact that I have at least a month's worth of laundry built up. Way to go me!
• It's my last 1 a.m. shift tonight! Jon and I should be able to stop fighting over stupid things caused by sleep deprivation! Plus I have the weekend off for lazy activities.
• Making a new friend :). This happens pretty rarely, so I might as well love it while it does. Plus he seems to be able to start my breaking down car when I can't, so he gets bonus points for that.
• The fact that we will soon have two incomes and be able to actually afford things. Hopefully they'll even be nice things.

andddd...that's about as far as I can stretch it today. I should at least get kudos for trying to be positive haha.

I'll round the rest out with pictures <3.>

Check out: 1000 Awesome Things

Have a Laugh

Comics from the Interwebs that are horrible and make me laugh:

Hardy har har.

It's 3 a.m. and I'm wide awake.

Boo.

To.

That.

However, after my mother's monetary loan...my laptop is back in my hands.

I swear, I like it more than I like most people.

xoxo,

Annie

TV Lurves

My first blog post from a computer that is not my own.

Kind of tragic in a way. I'm working on getting it back to me as soon as possible, because even though it will cost me more than I want to pay, I still have no chance of getting a new one anytime soon.

My health is doing mediocre at best, and with the migraines, stomachaches, puking, and back pain, I just don't want to go there. That is not going to cheer anyone up, least of all the one putting up with it.

Instead, I'm going to list my favorite TV shows [all of which I would rather lay on the couch and watch than go to work and feel crummy].

In somewhat of order:

1. Buffy the Vampire Slayer
2. Firefly
3. Arrested Development
4. The IT Crowd
5. Coupling
6. First few seasons of: Dexter, Veronica Mars, Gilmore Girls, and The Venture Bros.
7. ANYTHING on TLC or A&E...talk about turning my brain to mush.

Yeah that pretty much sums it up. Although anything on The Food Network or the Travel Channel also works well for me. If only I had cable. Le sigh.

Tears

I dropped my precious laptop on the floor.

The screen smashed and God only knows if it is okay inside. I have no money to fix it.

I have since had a major meltdown as I wasn't feeling so hot in the first place. Thankfully I can occasionally access the Internet elsewhere, but ow.

What a hard time of year this is.

Migraines

The migraines are back with a vengeance. I have a pulsating vice grip on my head from the time I go to sleep to the time I get up again in the morning. It never really goes away, no matter what I take for it anymore. Maybe it's time to bump up the Gabapentin. Either way, it is making for a cranky ALL the time girl, because I am so nauseous and my eyes are burning.

I don't think the boyfriend is so excited about this. Alas, I have never figured out quite what is causing them. My current work hours are killing both of us, as he has a tendency to wait up to see me when I get home in the middle of the night, only for us to both get up at 8 a.m.

WAYS I TREAT MY MIGRAINES:

(I am not a doctor, so don't take any of this to be what you should naturally do haha...)

1. Pills. First and foremost, I take Gabapentin for Fibromyalgia but as a side effect it seemed to clear up my daily migraines...this has since seemed to level off much to my dismay. Otherwise, Tylenol Extra Strength with Caffeine is really the only other medication that can seem to make a dent in them. Advil Liquigels are often recommended to me, but I don't find they help much.
2. Ice packs/cold facecloths/warm facecloths. Do I think these do anything but distract me from the pain somewhat? No. But distraction is much appreciated in these circumstances.
3. Lowering the lights/noise. This will make it less like I want to spaz out and hurt everything around me, but when I'm at work and whatnot, it's sadly not an option.
4. Crack open a diet coke or have a coffee. Seriously...caffeine is where it is at for treatment options. However, don't let this become a habit and end up having caffeine withdrawal headaches.
5. Gravol or a stronger antiemetic (in my case) can help relieve some of the nausea, as nothing is going to be made to feel any better until you can keep some food down.
6. When all this is said and done, or if it becomes a common state of life, I just try to keep my obligations to a minimum and set myself up in a comfortable place and surround myself with things that make me feel better in general. Plus, I try to constantly remind myself that there are people much worse off so I should be thankful for my life.

Anyone have any other advice? It would be much appreciated.

xoxo,

Annie

Things That Bug Me Mondays

Somehow it ended up being Monday again. Against my will. Go figure.

Now as a real girl, with a real full-time job, I get to do my time throughout the week.

So I'm thinking as a result of making this blogging habit a daily one, I should come up with some repeatable features for the days. I'm thinking Monday works out pretty well for things currently getting under my skin. Or getting my goat. I still have a couple minutes on the fly here to come up with a brilliant and clever title. Ha.

I'm going with...Bug Me Mondays and Love Me Fridays. Neither one of these are clever, but it's the morning so stick with me.

Things That Bug Me This Week:

• Nosebleeds. Like come on Winter, why do you refuse to be my friend?
• Asking for two winter tires and them putting on four and charging me a fortune.
• Not being covered for medical under my common-law's plan, even though I thought I would be...like COME ON! My meds cost a fortune and a half!
• The fact that I haven't done laundry in three weeks. This is entirely my bad as I am a lazy ass.
• Cystic acne that refuses to go away. Makeup helps my self-esteem, but jeez louise, I'll soon be spending as much on makeup as on my pills.
• {contribution by gtalk from my boyfriend} - people who want reports when he doesn't want to prepare them.
• The fact that I've had sore lymph nodes and a scratchy throat for weeks but instead of developing into anything, it's merely become my new way of life.
• Not having a good bus system here in Charlottetown. Like seriously, if it didn't suck so much I could just hop on a bus to go to work instead of having to play juggle the car with the man.
• My six minute maximum of hot shower water in the apartment.

Okay that's probably enough of being realistic {pessimistic...} for one Monday. Please someone leave me a comment, it's lonely here in blogland!!

Lazy Sunday Links

So my apartment is cold. Like frigid cold. Like wear a parka while heating soup on the stove cold. Like might as well be an igloo cold. Like makes me want to use it as an excuse to never again get out of bed cold. I have no idea why as we have the heat absolutely cranked. Maybe this is what they try to do when they tell you they'll cover heating and hot water...basically you freeze to death and have maximum 6 minute showers with warm water.

I have a feeling I'm going to have to start making some angry phone calls.

Link time for anyone half as weird as me!

Flickr What's in Your Bag - I can peruse the pictures and listed contents of all sorts of people's daily bags. I don't know why but this both a) reminds me of practical things I should have and b) gives me validation that the things I have in my purse are acceptable to the common public.

Also check out Toothpaste for Dinner. It makes me giggle.

I'm making the update from my Zune to the iPod Touch over the next couple of weeks. Then hopefully I will be able to get a MacBook Pro in my hands. Mmmm technology. So goodz. I would like this shiny gold one please.

Happy Lazy Sunday!

xoxo,

Annie

Day Off!!!

I am blogging from the road today. A new frontier . The final frontier. Ok, got a bit carried away there as that is space.

I asked my boyfriend for something I could use to discuss on the blog today. He said “I’m thinking about how cool viruses are.” And then rapidly changed to a conversation about how cold it is and how much he would like to punch Jack Frost in the balls and make them shatter into tiny little ball fragments. To be honest, I can’t even feel my hands enough to fathom that act in the first place.

Then he sees a helicopter in the air and yells HELICOPTERRRRRRRRRRRRRR and points. Secretly, (or not so secretly), he’s still a 4-year-old boy who can now drive and live on his own. He is now stuck residing with my crazy ass. I’m not sure if this is a great contribution to his life or a detriment. I’m going to go with me FTW.

We’re going to go get winter tires put on the car. In Montague. Why we had to go to Montague I’m not entirely sure. After last night, I definitely need them though. I went to drop off my new friend Colin after our work shift ended, and I totally got stuck in his driveway. I revved the hell out of the engine, spun the tires, he pushed...and it was all to no avail. I did get out eventually though so there is a happy ending to this story. Although then I went to pick up my boyfriend and almost ran over seven less-than-smart young males going to the VUG. I suppose by killing them I could have done them a favour, as it would have saved them from the potential STD’s they were going catch over the course of the evening anyways.

Hahahahahaha...I said I was having textual diarrhoea and my boyfriend was like, “you and every other blog that exists...A BURN”. I was amused. As it is SO TRUE. I write this information like anyone cares, but really it’s just to keep any semblance of my own sanity, which is grasping at straws to begin with.

I took a bunch of sedatives last night and I am not so much with the awake. I haven’t had my morning coffee either, as apparently we were in too much of a rush to stop. We still might not get there on time. As a result, I look like an un-showered, un-makeuped, crackwhore. I am not actually a crackwhore, so no one reading this needs to be alarmed and tell my mom haha.

Anyways, just trying to keep with the whole updating once a day business!

Xoxo,

Annie

Exploding Dog Love

I had a bit of a meltdown last night, but I think things are back to being okay again. I'm not adjusting well to this whole full-time work while all the other people I know are out and about having fun scenario. Oh well, one needs the money to survive. I like to eat. I don't get to eat enough most of the time with the whole Celiac Disease business, but still.

I'M TRYING TO BE POSITIVE.

GLARGLBHAALRARGH.

Ok. I'm good now.

Plus, I'm really learning to be into Macs, the more time I spend with them. I see an expensive MacBook Pro purchase in my future. Mmmmmmmmm. Technologies. I'm counting down the days til Christmas so I can get my hands on my iPod Touch. Speaking of which, someone I know named their's Tom's Touch and I can't help but feel like that is creepy and sexual.

This post is going to be devoted to my mad love for ExplodingDog.

I hope you few people who read my blog have a MARVELOUS weekend! Let me know what you're doing!

xoxo,

Annie