Because I can't say no...

even to perfect strangers, I agreed to a free health screening at the grocery store. On my way in, I had seen a sign offering free blood pressure screenings, so I assumed the two were the same. I assumed wrong.

This screening was a spinal scan for a local chiropractor. The scan showed problems with the nerves in my upper back and neck. The female doctor said that they were giving a free consultation for the rest of the week. She was so nice, and the scan did show that I had problems, and so I set up an appointment for 5:30 today. I really wanted to cancel the appointment, but I felt bad doing that. So I went, digging myself further into the hole.

It turns out that a husband and wife chiropractor couple have a wellness center in Cranberry. I walked in and heard them playing Christian music, and the doctor proceeded to explain that the brain and spinal chord are God's amazing design. Ok. So now I really can't say no. So she scanned my entire spine. The scan showed minor problems in my lower back and major problems in my neck. Four x-rays later and I apparently have vertebral subluxation. I'm going back tomorrow for my first adjustment.

I googled subluxation and found an article entitled Subluxation: the Silent Killer. Unfortunately the link was bad, so now I'll NEVER KNOW. And now I think my neck has started to hurt and that I'm probably going to die tomorrow. I just hope I get back to the chiropractor before I croak!

I know that chiropractors are supposed to be great for a person's overall health. But seeing appointments on tv where they snap people's necks has always freaked me out, to the point that, even though I know it would be good for me, I have always avoided the chiropractor... until now.

Tough Day

So today I woke up with a sore throat, sinus headache, and body aches. Of course the boys are like wild animals in that they sense weakness. So they were more beastly than usual today knowing that I wouldn't have the energy to discipline them like I normally would. Sam was climbing up the back of the recliner, and I caught him just before he reached the top. The boys were fighting over toys, and it's not that they actually want the toy. They just want the toy because their brother has it. As soon as they get the toy they were fighting for, they lose interest in the toy completely. Repeat 726 times per day. Needless to say, they were separated into two different rooms for a lot of today. And as a little aside, why are they angels for every babysitter and so bad when I'm watching them? I'll never figure that out, but I guess it's better than the other way around.

This morning, on top of not feeling great, I had to go to get a TB test for school, get my fingerprints taken at a UPS store for my federal criminal background test, and get a money order to pay for my Child Abuse clearance form. You wouldn't have thought that those three things would have taken two hours, but they did. Should have taken about 45 minutes according to my calculations. But I didn't have a great experience at the Gibsonia UPS (neither did the customer behind me who was also attempting to get his fingerprints done). So I ended up going to the UPS in Wexford, where the woman working there couldn't have been nicer. She offered the boys lollypops and told me where I could get a money order next door at the grocery store.

So I guess I'm nice and sick for my first in-service day tomorrow. Good thing I'm only teaching part-time and know the ropes around Eden. I'm only planning on going in for a few hours in the afternoon.

Passing on a goofy tradition

Growing up, Katherine and I each had double beds. (Dan says my big bed must have been the reason I can't stay on my side of the bed now.) On the weekends Katherine and I were allowed to sleep over in each other's rooms. We had several goofy games we played. Two favorites were spaceship and package. For spaceship, we would go under the blankets and push pretend buttons and imagine we were flying out to space. I think we usually went to Pluto or a different planet that was covered with a giant amusement park.

In package, we would wrap ourselves up in blankets, and then try to guess what was in the package. Not that interesting twenty-some years later, but somehow we would end up laughing in hysterics over that one.

When I'm putting Isaiah in bed, he always wants us to go under the covers and pretend all sorts of things, usually having to do with going in a cave. Well, tonight we pretended we were in a spaceship and then wrapped ourselves up in blankets and pretended we were packages. He loved it. Classic.

Thinking about perseverance...

Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. (Romans 5:1-5)

Cleaning

I've really been slacking off on cleaning my house lately. Somehow it has made its way to the bottom of my priority list. For about a week or so, I have been gearing up (in other words, putting if off every day for a week!) to do a deep clean. Tonight I finally forced myself to do it on the first floor. I vacuumed and scrubbed the floors including all the edges and wall corners. I've never seen so many things scurrying for their lives. This might sound gross, but we live in the woods and I swear our house is spider central. I got them all but two which managed to escape.

I used to be afraid of spiders, and I would say I still have an official phobia. But somehow I'm able to get angry enough at them to remove them from my house. I even removed two giant ones (and yes, we have giant hairy ones) myself. Dan wasn't home, and I wasn't going to let those things stay in my house. But I digress.

One thing that kept me going during my cleaning spree was my customized radio station at pandora.com. Have you tried it? It's fun and free. Tonight I was listening to my David Crowder Band station. Lots of good stuff.

So I sit here smelling the carpet cleaner that I sprayed on a few questionable spots. It brings back memories of earlier in our marriage when we got several couches, chairs, etc from the Lighthouse which I would promptly scrub with the same carpet/upholstery cleaner.

My celebratory bowl of ice cream is finished (hey, I did 30 minutes of cardio at the gym this morning plus 30 minutes of weights), and I need to vacuum the carpet cleaner and head to bed. Maybe I will get to the upstairs tomorrow.