Confessions of A Tired Audiologist

So I admit I've been a lazy butt for the past two-ish weeks, not posting to the blog. I'm still fighting what I have been told is/was the flu, which hasn't made me too inclined to do anything more taxing than sit on the couch in my pajamas, watch hockey and read.

We got our Christmas tree last Sunday, after we got back from Vegas. It was a little late in the season to be choosing a tree, and the selection was kind of picked over. We ended up with a "Charlie Brown Christmas" tree that I fell in love with. It was a nice noble fir whose top had been broken off, probably by some loser handling trees too roughly. Bryan must have felt really sorry for my pathetic, sorry, sick self because he actually agreed to get the tree I picked out. I made an impassioned plea, saying "No one else will get this tree. This is a tree that needs love, and we're the only ones who will love it properly." I threw in a few pitful coughs and hacks, and turned my watery, fluish eyes on him, and it (shockingly) worked. I think it turned out pretty well, considering.

Christmas was nice - it was just the two of us (well, three counting Bailey, who was a big helper), and Bryan didn't get recalled, so at least we got to be together. We got up around 8, opened presents in our pajamas, got dressed and played with our new toys. I got lots of new books. Bryan looked at the pile and said "Well, that'll last you about five days." He knows me too well.

Bailey elected to sit in the middle of everything (and on some of Bryan's presents) and lent a hand in opening some of her presents. She got a stuffed duck from my Aunt Carol, which she proceeded to carry around in her mouth for a good four hours. And my parents sent a plethora of treats, so someone will be a spoiled doggie for quite a while.

Bryan got me diamond earrings (yipee!) and completely spoiled me with a ton of gifts, as did my family and his family. I'm a lucky girl!

The day after Christmas, we headed up to Anaheim, to the Hockey Giant store, so Bryan could pick out a new stick. He also ended up getting a new helmet, and he had a chance to look at some other gear as well. We went to Downtown Disney for lunch, and they weren't letting any more people into Disneyland! A sign said the park was full, but folks could still get into California Adventure (big whoop).

This past week has been random at work. Thankfully I haven't had a ton of patients calling to get appointments for their hearing aids, like I expected. This means I've had some unplanned time off, which has been wonderful. Today we went to Sea World with our friends Gabe and Sara, their baby Ryan, and Gabe's younger sister, Megan. The weather was lovely, but the park was absolutely packed with Oregon and Oklahoma fans, in town for the Pacific Life Holiday Bowl.

Now I'm settling in for the Wild/Flames game. My hockey crush, Derek Boogaard, was out sick last night, with the flu again, and I'm not sure yet if he's playing tonight. We're still plotting and planning for our next Wild game - will we go to Phoenix or San Jose? I'm campaigning for Vancouver, since it'd give me a chance to visit friends in Bellingham, and I love Vancouver anyway!

1. At home
2. On the couch
3. In your bed
4. In a doctor's office
5. Anywhere but Las Vegas

So Bryan and I went off to Vegas last weekend for a little romantic getaway and relaxation. On Wednesday I started coming down with a cough, but our Blue Man Group tickets were non-refundable, so off we went, with reservations at the New York New York.

I do not recommend being in Las Vegas if you're really sick.

I had a temperature of 100 degrees, I was hockering up things that looked like leftover props from the movie Alien, and I couldn't breathe, despite major infusions of DayQuil on a regular basis.

It was cold there, down in the low 30s at night, which added to the Christmas atmosphere, but didn't do much for my cough. Despite feeling like absolute mung, I did have a good time. Blue Man Group is hilarious, and well worth the price of the ticket. I really enjoyed the show, and actually forgot about my cold for the two hours they were onstage. I did make it to the Bar at Times Square at New York New York for the dueling piano show. I don't think singing along really helped my voice (which I was rapidly losing), but what can you do? We walked around a little, and I managed to win $20 on the nickel slots at the Monte Carlo, but otherwise, the trip was kind of a bust.

Bryan was an absolute saint, and didn't complain the entire time. He went to Walgreens to get me vitamin C and echinacea, and additional supplies of NyQuil and DayQuil, and talked me into some Ludens cherry throat drops. Despite the fact that I was in bed by 10 each night, he gamely went out by himself and managed to win about $100 over the course of our trip.

Vegas doesn't really decorate for Christmas, which was a little disappointing, but I guess not terribly surprising. Caesars had a huge tree, and lots of lights decorating the trees in front, and Bellagio added some holiday tunes to the fountain shows, but that was about the extent of it.

I really liked the New York New York, it was a nice place to stay, but Caesars is still my favorite. Nowhere else we've stayed has even compared to the service there. We checked out their new Augustus tower, which is beautiful.

After an extra day home sick today, I'm back to work tomorrow, and hopefully (albeit slowly) on the mend.

I have become addicted to Christmas lights.

It started innocently enough, with a few icicle lights around the eaves. All the neighbors were doing it, so I thought it would be okay.

Then I decided that while the icicle lights were pretty, they didn't really do much in the way of color, so we added the lighted Santa in the window (which is hidden by the tree in the photo above).

Pretty soon, I was making daily trips to Target.

Just one more extension cord, I would say. And maybe another strand of lights, since I'm here.

Then it was the net lights. They added a nice touch of color, and they're so easy to use on the bushes. One bush looked so pretty...it made sense to do another.

And another.

And another.

Then we came across the stash from last year, sitting on a shelf in the garage. Swag lights! What can we do with swag lights? Our tree branches won't work quite right with them. Hmmm...Put them on the wide bushes on the back of course. Eight function multi lights? Around the base of the palm tree!

Wish we had more to do the other palm tree! And another net for the jade plant on the other side of the driveway!

And hey, there's kind of an empty spot on that round bush in front. Quick! To Target for more lights! (And maybe another extension cord, since we're there.)

Now the neighbors drive by and say "Looks nice!" when I'm outside. Which is sweet of them, but I'm sure they're inwardly thinking "Sheesh, they think that pitiful light display is adequate? That's nothing."

If only I had just a few more lights.

Bryan pointed out that if we had a tall enough ladder, we could string them all the way 'round the monstrously huge palms that are on either side of our driveway. This is just one of many reasons why I married him.

I think we've done well, but maybe we need a few more lights in that dead spot over there...

I don't think the electric meter is spinning quickly enough yet.

A few days ago, Bryan asked if I wanted to go to Disneyland on Saturday. I thought about it for a few seconds, and enthusiastically said "Yes!"

Well, that was before the Coast Guard intervened.

Thursday evening, the boat that was on standby was dispatched to try to track down some potential drug runners, and Bryan's boat went into B-2 status. B-2 means they have to be at the boat within an hour, ready to leave the pier an hour after that. B-6 means they have to be at the boat within three hours, B-12 within six hours, etc.

Unfortunately, Anaheim is more than an hour away from the boat.

So no Disneyland for us today. Instead we took our Christmas gifts for the Seattle, Minnesota and New Jersey relatives to the UPS store and dropped them off for shipment. We also ordered our Christmas turkey dinner from Marie Callender's. I guess the only good thing was that we were home to watch the Wild game, although we lost that too (and Boogaard didn't do as well as usual in the fight he had), so it wasn't a great game. Of course the other boat returned around 5 tonight, taking Bryan's boat out of standby status, but it was too late to head for Disneyland.

Bryan has long joked that the unofficial motto of the Coast Guard is "Semper Gumby," or "Always Flexible." Things frequently change. I'm still trying to learn to accept that. It's disappointing when you make plans, and those plans are changed at the last minute against your will. We'll keep our fingers crossed that Bryan will be home for Christmas dinner, because if "Semper Gumby" steps in again, Bailey and I will have a lot of turkey to eat.

(Based on the Johnstown fans sitting behind us at last night's game)

1) Develop your personal girth until it reaches truly excessive proportions and will result in you hitting the people in front of you in the head every time you stand up, take your seat, or leave your seat (which will be often. Very often).

2) Bring a cowbell, and ring it at random intervals throughout the game. Don't just save it for goals. There won't be many of those tonight.

3) Talk smack about the opposing team. Yell things like "You guys need to learn to play!" Continue these comments well into the third period, even though your team is down 0-6.

4) Call all of the players on your team by their first name. "Let's go, Joe!" "Shoot it, Steve!" "Pass it, Ernie!" It doesn't matter that you're not their mom, seriously, call each and every one by their first name. Make a comment every single time each one is on the ice.

5) Keep talking smack about the other team. Do it loudly enough that people who are sitting a section or two over turn to look at you and your cowbell.

6) Tell the other team's goalie how bad he is. He's only saved 30 of 31 shots on goal, whereas your goalie only allowed 7 goals out of 30 shots taken.

7) Be extremely rude while making comments about the guy on the other team who just got in a fight with a guy on your team. Tell the San Diego player how lame he is, even though he took your guy down and got in three decent uppercuts on the way. It doesn't matter that he totally won the fight.

8) Talk loudly through the game. In between your personalized comments to each player ("God, Jesse, shoot already!"), comment on how wonderful the Holiday Inn down the road where you're staying is. Tell your zaftig friend how hot she looks tonight.

9) Repeatedly keep whacking the person in front of you in the head with your drink. The top of her head is a good target, but alternate between that and flipping her ponytail with your beverage du jour.

10) As the game progresses, become increasingly rude and belligerent. It doesn't matter that your team is down by six goals with less than a minute left. Now's your chance to insult as many people as possible in a stadium that is composed of mostly San Diego fans who already think you're an idiot.

11) Let everyone know you'll be coming back for tomorrow night's game, so they can plan exactly which part of your anatomy will be on the receiving end of your cowbell by the time Sunday's game ends.

So my holiday madness began with shopping the weekend after Thanksgiving. We managed to find a lot of the things we were looking for, and I've picked up a few more things since then. I think we're just about done with shopping for my family on the East Coast and Seattle, and for Bryan's family in Minnesota. I spent two and a half hours wrapping gifts this morning, and didn't make it out of my pajamas until well after noon. I have wrapped every freaking thing in this house that would stand still long enough. I had the AirTunes up and running, which made it go a lot quicker, but instead of holiday favorites, I was playing random selections from my iTunes library. True "Dreams" by Van Halen and "Birdhouse in Your Soul" don't really evoke that Christmas feeling, but it's 70 something degrees out, and it definitely helped pass the time.

I was going to add a photo of Bailey with the giant poinsettia plant that our very nice neighbors Don and Doris brought by last night as a thank you for keeping an eye on their dog, Cacha, while they were gone, but Bryan put the camera somewhere and I haven't been able to find it. He's back underway, so I guess I'll have to wait until he's back in cell range to find out where it's hidden! I was going to do something productive (I forget what), but I came across "Grease" on TV, and haven't seen it for a while, so my productivity has been effectively derailed until 3. I'm meeting my friend Sarah for a pre-hockey game dinner at 4:30, then it's off to the Sports Arena for tonight's Gulls game. Sarah was an instructor for the Gene Juarez training center before moving to San Diego, so she will undoubtedly beat me at identifying which of the Gulls Girls (lame cheerleader-esqe girls who do what appears to be the same dance routine every game) has the worst haircut. (Bryan, incidentally, is absolutely no good at that game, so in some ways, Sarah is more fun to take to Gulls games!)

Tomorrow the plan is to work on the Christmas cards, finish up the shopping for the out of town family and get everything boxed up. And maybe catch "Walk the Line" if I'm feeling really ambitious. We'll see!

Okay, so here's how I know my hockey obsession has officially gone out of control: I've started tuning into NHL Center Ice for Wild games on nights that Bryan isn't even home. He was gone on Wednesday, and I rushed home from work (which I left an hour late, thanks to a certain doctor who routinely keeps me there late and will remain nameless). I was extremely vexed not to make it home until the second intermission, meaning all I caught was the third period.

Bryan and I were watching the Minnesota-Nashville game Thursday night and there was a most excellent fight between Boogaard and some Nashville guy. I started yelling, saying things like "Oh yeah! Take him down! Get him down on the ice!" (which Boogaard politely complied with), at which point Bryan turned to me and said "Who are you?!" I don't really understand the mystery - I haven't made a secret of my appreciation for a really good fight, or my love of Boogaard. I guess it's a good sign that there's still a little mystery in the relationship.

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