a blind moose

well, yesterday was the grand opening of a new ikea store in west chester, which is about 40 minutes from where we live. a friend of mine asked if i wanted to go with her, as she is a hardcore ikea fan and has always dreamed of going to an ikea grand opening. i didn't really know what this process entails....we left her place at 4 am. the "festivities started at 6 am. we had to get there early, apparently, so that we were one of the first 2500 people there so we can get a free gift. according to friend, we needed to get there, put out chairs and wrap up in blankets until the store opens at 9 am so that we can get the free prize. well, we got there, and we were approximately number 150 in line. we could have gotten there at 8:50 (slept in and avoided the cold, blankets, etc.) and still received a gift. oh well.

the festivities included seeing "who dey" (the bengals mascot), mr. redlegs and gapper (the reds' mascots), the blue blob (no idea who he is) and marty the moose (the ikea mascot). the most entertaining part of the "festivities" was seeing marty not being able to see. the moose was blind. someone hadn't put the costume together right or something, i'm not sure. but the moose had to have an ikea worker walk around with him and say to him things like, "the crowd is to your left, wave" or someone wants to take a picture with you....on your right." it was really funny. and for some reason the moose's head was always pointed down so it always looked like he was ashamed of himself. it was hysterical and i'm not doing it justice.

with that said, i ate swedish meatballs, bought a few things and tasted free samples. ikea was fun.

not so urgent

so tim and i went to "urgent care" last night. we weren't really needing urgent care, but we actually thought we may have had strep throat and wanted antibiotics. tim actually thought about just using some leftover meds from some other illness to do self-treatment but didn't think he had the right ones left over:) i'm serious about this...he's crazy.

so off we went to urgent care. those urgent care places just seem germ infested, like, if you aren't actually sick when you go, you will be when you leave. you know the kind of place. anyways, we decided that only one of us would get checked out...that way if we don't need medication, we didn't waste money since we both have the same symptoms. but, "what if you do need medication?" you ask...well, tim decided that they always give you more (you probably only need 5 days of antibiotics if they give you a prescription for 10), so we would just share. i know, he's lovably ridiculous. :)

well, we get there and the doc comes in and tim tells him the symptoms...the doc kind of looks at us like...um, you realize this is called "urgent care", right? clearly, a "dry cough" and sore throat wasn't urgent enough. one throat swab and a few semi-corny jokes later, we find out we have all the symptoms for the flu. who knew? we didn't.

what happened to the flu we had as kids...the kind where mom brings you 7-up and toast and you sit on the couch and watch tv with a bucket near by? does this flu exist still? we have a glorified cold, in my opinion.

solitary confinement?

Tim and I simultaneously woke up at about 2 am with sore throats...not the "oh--it kind of hurts" kind, but the "oh-maybe I should let saliva overflow out of my mouth so I don't have to swallow" kind. Tim subscribes to any sort of medication that stops the hurt now. He'll take left over prescription meds, take too many Aleve, Ibuprofen, and Aspirin together. I think I'm making him sound like he needs help, but he just doesn't have a fear of taking drugs. I, on the other hand, think of all the side effects. The chloroseptic spray told me not to swallow any, so I worried that I did...Tim tells me he needs to swallow some so that he gets all of the sore spots.

Anyways, on to the question...how do you keep one spouse from getting what the other spouse has? Tim was feeling down yesterday, but living in a 700 (or is it 600?) square foot apartment with one bedroom isn't exactly ideal for quarantine. Any ideas on staying healthy when there's no where to go?

possibilities

i (jaymie) just got back from a job interview...a second interview for a school based therapist at an alternative school in dayton. i guess i informally received a job offer. i think, if i get a formal offer, i think i'll take it. it's funny to talk through this stuff with someone who you actually have to consider in the decision...besides just talking it through with the parents or weighing pros and cons with friends and siblings.

i think it's fun to go through this time in life with someone else. i have been on my own long enough (i think?) that i can make my own decisions and i am independent. i know how to do things to keep myself alive and healthy and generally happy. i can take care of myself.

but its wonderful to have someone you care about so much and someone who cares about you so much that you want to include them in big decisions in life...getting support and being able to rely on someone.

i am so thankful for tim...that he has provided for me in the past few months that i haven't had a job and that he has given me so much love in the few months of marriage. i am so blessed to have a man like him. its hasn't been all butterflies and rainbows, but there have been a lot:)

and i am looking forward to all of the possibilities and decisions that, lord willing, are in our future.

welcome future faithful readers!

welcome to our blog.
this is all quite exciting.