A series of (fortunate and unfortunate) events

After my trip to Reno (see post below), I had ONE good day at work. Mike and I actually went to yoga together on Tuesday morning, March 20. It felt good to do some stretching and breathing after so long of sitting. At noon that day, I did a really good and hard workout for my weight-training program at work. We didn't have any of those classes the week previous because it was the University's Spring Break, and of course I didn't go out of my way to do much of any exercising on my own. A little, but not much. [ Katie and I DID do a yoga video and demonstrated our expertise for Katie's grandma and her kids on Saturday morning. I'm sure it was pretty comical to watch.]

Well, about 4 pm that Tuesday afternoon, March 20th, I started feeling like I was getting sick. With a cold. Not surprising, considering how many snotty little noses I'd wiped over the weekend. But I'd tried to be SOOO careful and washed my hands...darn. I got it anyway. So I went home on Tuesday after work and went to bed. Literally. I slept off and on for about two days, so stayed home from work on Wednesday and Thursday. I ate Zinc lozenges and took vitamin c in massive amounts. I drank and drank quarts of fluid, mostly water. I rested and medicated and slept and recuperated. And it helped! I was ready to go back to work on Friday, and it's a good thing, because I had the opening shift at 7 am AND the 7 pm closing shift--with a 4 hour break in the middle. During that break time, I came home, ate lunch, took more medication and a nap, among other things. I never really had a full-blown head cold that got the best of me. Those remedies really helped me. I had a 2 day cold instead of a 7 day cold.

Saturday, we decided to head up to Provo for Brittney and Eric Autrey's baby Jayson's blessing. But we spent the better part of the day at home, doing laundry and other chores that just needed to get done around here. We headed out about 5 pm. Eric came with us. We spent Saturday night at Robert and Janet's house and watched a movie with Robert ("The Minority Report"). We also had another baby blessing to attend in Provo, so we went to that (me, Mike and Eric L) at 11 a.m. on Sunday, then over to Eric A's ward at 1 p.m. The first one was the baby of Eric's third cousin, Cheryl. Eric L has a link to her blog on his blog. She's a delightful woman and has a great family. Mike met her, and her mother (Mike's second cousin) last summer in Heber City. HER mother is Berenice's first cousin and it's THAT lady's 90th birthday party that is taking us to Canada this summer. {slight detour. Sorry. }

Eric with Jayson

So, the baby blessings were very nice, the meetings were nice. We had a nice luncheon at Eric and Brittney's apartment afterwards. They have a cute little place in Provo and their boys are such cutie pies!! We sat a lot that day, too. Sitting too much seems to play a major role in my unfortunate event.

Eric, Robert, Sarah with Jayson, Janet. At Brittney and Eric's apt in
Provo after the baby blessing.

Eric, Brittney, Kelson, Jayson

Silly Cousins. Eric A, Sarah, Eric L., Mandy

Janet with Jayson. Isn't he adorable?!!

Then we sat in the car and headed up to Salt Lake City . Eric had left his precious sun glasses at an elder and sister's house the previous weekend or so. He knew them on his mission, so we got to meet the Bingham's. Eric just adores that couple! And I can see why. They are very nice and served the Lord and the missionaries so well in Anacostia. Eric served with them twice. And we picked up Eric's sunglasses, so he was doubly happy--we'd met the Bingham's AND he had his sunglasses back. Oh, Eric stayed in Provo and spent some more time with Chery and her family, had another meal, played with her kids, helped clean up. Then he went to see a BYU student friend and spend part of the afternoon/evening with her and her roommates.

Our main mission for being in Salt Lake City that Sunday, however, was to meet with the Christensen's-- Nick's future mother-and father-in-law. We had Sunday dinner with them and Nick and Kaylee. They are a delightful couple, Mike and Joyce. They have a lovely home in So. Jordan and served us a delicious roast and trimmings dinner. Then we talked wedding plans!!! Woo Hooo!! Things are shaping up. Nick and Kaylee will be married in the Jordan River Temple on July 21. She (Kaylee) has a folder with questions, lists, etc. and is busy planning the reception/luncheon in Salt Lake. We'll be taking care of the doings in Cedar City a couple of weeks later, onFriday, August 3. They are going on a 1-week honeymoon right after the wedding, but then Nick has to re-take a class or two, so we spread it out from the wedding itself to make sure they would be able to fit it all in. It'll be busy, but it's certainly for a good cause! Kaylee's a real sweetheart and we've enjoyed the time we've spent with her. Her parents have been feeding Nick Sunday dinner for many months now. And Kaylee and Nick enjoy THEIR time together, too! Of course. But, sadly, it's just not nearly enough these days with work schedules, etc.

Obviously, none of above was unfortunate. It was lovely. Other than that very bad, but brief, cold. But it was a lot of sitting and a lot of NOT exercising. So on Monday the 26th, I was getting ready for work at home. I was taking my time, putting away laundry. I didn't have to go to work until 10, and Mike wasn't going in until 9. But sometime just before 9, I had what I have come to term a "Back Attack." Like great pain, spasms, etc. Crippling pain in the lower back. It was "just" a pulled muscle, I suppose, but it was still pretty darn incapacitating!! Yowee! Poor Mike had to leave for work while I was still in a cringing, crumpled heap saying, "Oh, I'll be okay. You can go. Just please bring me some Ibuprofen first." It helped. I drove to work, but I had to park in rather remote parking and walk in. I moved slowly and kept taking my drugs. Yikes. What a week. It is gradually getting better, but it's been a long week. I went to yoga on Friday at noon and made it through almost all of it, going slowly, carefully. It felt good to be able to move some parts again.

Today is Saturday. It was the first morning that I woke up after a nights' sleep without a backache! Progress. So then my allergies kicked in. Kicked HARD. Like about 16 sneezes in a row and that was AFTER I took my allergy medication. My goodness. Sneezes and weak backs don't go well together. Neither does sitting for long periods of time. And I've been sitting while typing all this and I'm done. I can't even count how many tissues/hankies/sleeves I've gone through this day.

The good news: my backache responds well to ibuprofen, so I'm going to go take some more. I've been listening to General Conference all morning while readying 4 beds and 3 rooms for 6 overnight guests on Sunday night. I went very slowly, but got it done. Mike has close to 3/4 of the messy cottonwood tree down from out front. I think THAT pollen is the source of my grief. It's everywhere.

Mike on the ladder. With Chain saw.

View from down the street.

zoomed in. it was scarey to watch.

One more big limb down before the wind started up.

And I have two and a half clean bathrooms. That's all good stuff for a partial Saturday!!

And, one more happy thing: Last night we had Mike's friend Larry over for grilled chicken dinner. It was Larry's birthday'! He's been helping Mike a lot at work AND with that silly (but huge) tree out front. We went to the movie after dinner and saw "The Hunger Games." I've read the books. They had not. We all enjoyed the movie, but it's still really dark. Well-done. Frightening, suspenseful. But kind of dark and disturbing, like the books. We came home and had cobbler and ice cream afterward.
The pollen-bearing-blossom-seed-pod-messy-tree-trash on our driveway that we hope to eliminate by ridding the neighborhood of this tree.
ACHOO!