You Big Baby!

I'm sure there were times growing up when I was called a big baby for crying over something trivial. And I'm the baby of my family so it only makes sense that I would act like a baby. But I've taken big baby to a whole new level. I've just diagnosed myself with a medical condition that is prevalent in infants. And, oddly enough, this is my second baby issue of the year.

I apologize for grossing you out by discussing my illnesses, but I'm getting a little concerned. First I had a clogged tear duct, which basically meant that just one eye was constantly watering. All. Day. Long. It was a lot more of a nuisance than you might imagine. Also, my initial thought would be that if my tear duct was clogged, I would have a dry eye, not a watery eye...but whatever. It happened. And thanks to the excellent advice from my doctor, a warm, wet towel and tear duct massage twice a day cleared it up in a little over a week.

My new condition is simply little white bumps around my eyes, apparently called milia. Essentially they are just clogged hair follicles. One website described them as looking like "pearly acne." Gross, man. But I promise, they aren't red, or oozing, or contagious...so...I'm not disgusting and you can still hang out with me. Anyway, all the websites I read said that in babies, they go away on their own, but if you are an adult with them, you MUST SEE YOUR DERMATOLOGIST IMMEDIATELY. What's up with that?? I guess I will have to do something about them if they really don't go away soon, but for now I will just suffer and try not to look in the mirror.

Waaaah!

A Scarf a Day...

I've caught a glimpse of what my life would be like without James...frozen pizza each night, a glass of wine to calm my nerves before trying to sleep, feeding my rat a treat a couple of times a day, and crocheting. Lots and lots of crocheting.

I finished this scarf last night:



Here's me in the scarf:



That's my, "Me like red wine," smile.

Anyway, I got the pattern here. However, after being in the mall for less than five minutes last night I realized that infinity scarves are now very "in" so I altered the pattern a bit and made it an infinity scarf. It's supposed to be a gift but I kind of love it. I might have to make myself one now :)

Luna Lovegood

Ever have a dream where someone you love dies, then the next day you can't get in touch with them? It's horrible.

On a lighter note, I made a scarf last weekend. I found the the pattern online and thought it was cute. The fact that it is based on a scarf that a character in Harry Potter wore only makes it better in my opinion. Here's the scarf:



Here's Luna Lovegood in the scarf:



Here's me in the scarf:



Cue "I'm Sexy and I Know It."

Strange Things Are Happening to Me.

Every Saturday morning during the Fall months James sets his alarm for 6:55, rolls out of bed, and sleepily stumbles (I'm assuming this part since there's no way I'm ever up at that hour on a Saturday to actually see him stumble) to the couch just in time for the college football pregame show. The pregame show lasts for two hours after which James searches on the TV for all the games he wants to watch, sets up reminders on the DVR, and proceeds to watch an almost continual stream of football all day long. After a looong day of college football, James winds down his Saturday by watching the highlights of all the games he just watched. He LOVES college football.

I usually get up around 9:00 or 10:00 on Saturdays and settle into my position on the couch to keep James company. However, I can only handle so much football so for the most part I read or crochet to keep from wanting to keel over.

However, there has been an unexpected side effect to sitting near the TV while college football is constantly on. I'm starting to subconsciously absorb information. I know who the top teams in the BCS ranking are. I know what the BCS is. I know what a play action pass is. I know what league random teams are in. I know who various announcers are. I know that there's a college called Miami that's actually located in Ohio. The list goes on. I even caught myself reading an article the other day about the changes in the BCS rankings after a few unexpected losses last weekend. I caught myself halfway through and stopped reading it immediately because--why should I care that Oklahoma moved up three spots? I don't care at all. Or do I?

This weekend James will be gone. Sadly, this is the weekend that the number 1 and 2 ranked teams, LSU and Alabama, are playing each other. It's sure to be a good game. And I hate to say this...but I think I'm going to watch even though he's not going to be here to force me. And I'm pretty excited about it. Help! My mind has been taken over by aliens!

Paranoia

I'm getting paranoid.

Well, I guess in some ways I have been for quite a while.

It all started with a dream I had when I was a kid. The two bad guys from 101 Dalmatians were under my bed and I knew they were there so I had to make a dash for the door, but when I jumped off the bed one of them grabbed my ankle and they pulled me back into the room and they were going to kill me.

Ever since that dream I have slept with my door closed and locked so that I could hear if someone was coming in to kill me. I also went through a phase were I had to sleep with covers on no matter how hot I was because I felt safer under the protection of a blanket. Since then I've wanted a giant alarm system to give me some peace of mind.

I never thought I would live alone because I figured I would be too terrified. But it turns out that living on the second floor made me feel incredibly safe. I don't know if I actually was or not, but it looked pretty difficult and hopefully not worth the effort for someone to climb up onto my balcony. I even discussed it with my neighbor to see if she could think of any way someone could attack us on the second floor. We determined it would be next to impossible since the trees were so flimsy. And so I felt safe and even slept with my window open. I still locked my bedroom door though, just in case.

Now, however, James and I live on the first floor, and even though I have a bat next to my bed for protection, it is not uncommon for me to wake up in the middle of the night to some strange sound out in our living room and to wake James up to go check it out. Usually he just rolls over and says he'll protect me and then goes back to snoring. Not that I don't appreciate his manly toughness, but having his arm across me while he's in a deep sleep doesn't quite give me the same sense of security as if he were to...I don't know...stand watch? Am I asking too much?

I've stopped watching true crime shows in order to hopefully make me less scared, but when James is gone for the night, I still bring a chair into my bedroom and prop it up against the door for some extra security. The last time that he was gone for a few nights it hit me that if someone were to knock out my power (or if we were to have a normal kind of power outage) I would be pretty helpless and terrified. That time I lit lots of candles to make myself feel a little better. The next time he's gone I'm going to buy a Maglight. A flashlight and weapon in one.

Am I the only one who is terrified to come home to a dark house? The only one who calls either my parents or James when I get home so that I will have someone to hear my screams and call 911 should I get attacked while doing my nightly apartment check (you know, looking in closets, under beds, and behind shower curtains)? Am I the only one who watched Conspiracy Theory and then seriously considered some of Mel Gibson's methods for keeping out the bad guys? Maybe the real question is do I need an alarm system or just some mental help?