I find myself daydreaming a lot lately about our tax return. I have a running list of all the things I could buy with it. I won't bore you with the details, but it is some pretty cool stuff!

We got the W-2 from Trevor's current job a few weeks ago, and ever since then I find myself peeking out the window every day about 1:30 waiting for the mailman. You see, I'm still waiting for the W-2 from his other job. Remember when he was a paralegal of sorts? Yeah. It is driving me crazy. I fight feelings of anger towards the mailman when the W-2 isn't in the box.

Today I couldn't stand it anymore. I got all the tax stuff out and filled everything out except for the missing W-2 part. Now it is sitting here even more of a reminder to me to watch out the window like a crazy lady until it gets here.

The sad part is, I probably won't get to buy any of those exciting purchases. There are more important things to do with the money like pay off student loans. Blech!

January Doesn't Like Me!

I'm on to you, January. I see what you are doing. There's no use in pretending anymore. The secret is out. You are a horrible month.

First it was the flu. Yep. I remember it well. Throw up was flying everywhere. Then you made my shoulder hurt worse than ever. And just for kicks and giggles you threw in pink eye. Haha. You are so funny. Then to top it all off, you sent in strep throat.

Good thing the month is nearly over, January. I can't wait to be rid of you. February better treat me better.

TOBI to the rescue!

I don't like to waste money if I don't have to. Trevor wears a suit jacket to work every day. Those jackets can get kinda stinky after a while. When I worked at the tuxedo place, we used to wash jackets in the washer all the time. So I thought I would try it and see what happened.

The washer part turned out just fine. Gentle Cycle and cold wash. The jacket came out ridiculously wrinkled though. I hung it up to dry thinking some of the wrinkles would come out in the process. Not so. I tried a warm iron. It just doesn't work.

I went to a local store called Thursdays. Love that store. They had a Tobi home steamer. JUST what the doctor ordered. I got it at a very discounted price
.Side note: I read the reviews on Amazon for this steamer and I have to say that anyone who buys a steamer has got to be kidding themselves if they don't think they are dangerous, clumsy devices. Come on people. I used a professional steamer for years, and the Tobi can stand up against any one of the units I have used in the past. It is spitting out super heated hot STEAM! Burns happen!

Anyway, got the steamer home and have not been disappointed! I steamed everything in the house I could get my hands on. The wrinkles came out of Trevor's jacket no problem! This morning I steamed Trevor's entire outfit for work in under two minutes. I love this thing!

Am I the only one who starts blog updates and then never finishes them? Am I the only person who gets annoyed by myself? No, not you annoyed by me. You annoyed by you.

I went to the doctor for my shoulder. It was too painful. I called and begged and they let me come in. The doctor did a bunch of tests. He did these "maneuver" tests where I had to do these resistance things with my arm pushing against his hand in all different directions. Then he had me get x-rays on my shoulder and chest. After all that, he said he had no idea what was wrong.

I will admit feeling a little disappointed. He is referring me to a neurologist whom I have to wait 6 weeks to see. Maybe the new doctor will be able to figure it out. He also said something about an MRI and physical therapy as a possibility for the future. Joy.

I have finally figured out how to sleep at night. Ibuprofen and a heating pad to the rescue. Oh and the Boppy. I hate going to sleep because I am so scared it is going to happen while I am asleep. That is the worst!

Trevor and I are starting to go through all the boxes in the garage and finish unpacking. There are so many boxes just full of junk! We have lots of boxes of stuff ready to go to the DI. This week Trevor is getting a tool box too, so maybe all his tools won't be scattered all over the place and we can start to have some order out there in the garage.

Back when I was still young (I'm turning 30 this year! GASP!) okay, like really really young. Elementary School age. I was outside one crisp Fall day raking leaves all by myself. I remember it so vividly. I wanted to surprise my dad by raking up the leaves all by myself and so I was working really hard to get it all raked up before he looked out the window and saw. I was using a garden rake, because we didn't know there was a difference back then. The tines or whatever you call them kept getting stuck in the ground.

I was breathing pretty hard, and then it hit. My shoulder went into spasms and I fell to the ground. It hurt bad. I was seeing stars and I may have blacked out. Can't really remember that part very well. I lay on the ground for a few minutes until it all stopped. Then I got back up and thought to myself "that was weird".

I kept on raking. A few more minutes into it I fell to the ground in pain again. It was even worse than before. It hurt so bad. I remember praying to God that it would stop and I would be okay.

After it stopped I remember feeling scared. The pain was in my left shoulder. I was young. I thought maybe I had a heart attack or something.

I decided the best thing to do was to stop raking (DUH!) and go inside and lie down. I went in and found everyone gathered in front of the TV watching Full House or some other awesome show that was popular back then. I lay on the couch and pretended like nothing had happened. No one had missed me. No one needed to know. No one needed to worry about me.

I NEVER TOLD ANYONE

In the years since then, I have had shoulder spasms more and more frequently. They go through spurts. Some years they happen more than others. After my spasms, my shoulder muscles are really sore, tired and tender for about two weeks after. And the chance for a recurrence seems pretty high.

It stupidly never occurred to me that I should tell someone. That maybe someone could help me. I'll admit, I'm not the brightest bulb in the bunch.

So the reason I am thinking about this now is because I had a recurrence this week. It woke me straight up from a dead sleep at 3:00 in the morning and happened off and on all night long. I've had little ones almost every day since.

I've been thinking about how stupid I am to have had to deal with this for so long. Maybe if I would have said something we could have seen a doctor and I would be fixed now.

The moral of the story? Don't be stupid!

Oh yeah, I have to wait until MARCH to see a doctor. What's a few months when I've already waited a lifetime.