Doing the Best We Can

     I'm worn down and exhausted.  I fell asleep Tuesday night with my light on (the one right beside my bed and in my eyes) and reading (at a ridiculously early hour).  Tuesday I also went to the doctor where it was confirmed that I am probably having some kind of auto-immune flare up.  The only official diagnosis I have as of right now is Raynaud's phenomenon (basically my toes turn a purple/blue color a good bit of the time and are freezing!), but we're waiting on the results of my blood tests to see if it is caused by something else.  Scary fact, test results for things such as Lupus and arthritis can come back negative until they don't.  The scariest part about that is I had just figured that if they tested me for those things and they came back negative it meant I didn't have it period.  (And if I'm exhibiting the same symptoms as before then it doesn't quite make sense to me that I would test negative one time and positive the next, but I think all of the autoimmune diseases are kind of wishy-washy at best.)  So if I miss a few posts now and then, I apologize ahead of time.  I'll try my best post every day,  but I never want this to become a place where I gripe and complain and right now that about all I feel like doing--either gripe or sleep (I won't turn that down either).  

     I'm listening to new Christmas music right now (picking out my favorite for a December playlist) which is putting me in a better mood.  Speaking of Christmas, I got to go shopping for a little girl in Old Navy and they have the cutest clothes!  They even have skinny cords.  I'm pretty sure if I have kids they are going to be just a little mini-me.  It's going to be awesome.

Title: "By the Horns" by Julia Stone

There's a Ticking Bomb Inside Your Chest and Every Other Living Thing That Ever Breathed

     Today I had my first ever book club.  It was pretty much nothing like I imagined.  Every book discussion I've attended has pretty much been in college so we have the obligatory English class questions of the book.  (Right now I can't think of any but it's more like: themes, symbols, the reliability of the narrator, etc.)   But book club was a little more relaxed (okay, way more relaxed) as there were no pop quizzes, no specific sitings of passages.  Basically I loved it.  It makes me want to find another book club of people my own age (and continue to go to this as well).  If you haven't read The Red Tent, I have to say it's a good book.  But I feel as though a woman with children would more relate to it (but then again I haven't completely finished the book).
     Today was also a day of doctor's offices.  I went to see the nurse practitioner at my allergist's office about getting a new nasal spray (because I thought/think I'm allergic to Qnasl.)  Of course, I ended up crying because the NP suggested that maybe most likely I am not allergic to Qnasl but the muscles around my lungs are tightening because of stress.  Which meant that I got a small blood test done, a lung test, and a few chest x-rays just to make sure there wasn't anything wrong. But apparently I'm normal.  (Like always.)  I did get a few samples of nasal sprays to try so we'll see if that helps me some.
     Dad and I also took Kitty Dante to the vet.  He wasn't particularly happy with us.  He actually hissed a few times and if we didn't have him in a carrier I'm pretty sure someone would have left the vet with some wounds (and it wouldn't be Dante).  The saddest part is I'm pretty sure I saw Dante shaking.  I think he was just really scared.  When we got him back in the car he went and hid under Dad's seat all the way home.
     We (Mom, Dad, and I) skyped Will today. Even the little puppy wanted to come inside to say hey.  Will seems to be loving Germany and all their beer gardens.  (P.S. I want a beer garden in the States.)  I don't know why we don't have them here (I'm sure they would be lots of fun).  One of the beer gardens in Munich is called "deer garden" (but in German, of course) and they literally have deer.  How cool is that? Like in the city.  I'm picturing this big garden-esque thing (like a small Central Park) in between two tall skyscrapers.  (Am I the only one?)  I also kinda could see like a fountain that was filled with beer (but I'm pretty sure that's the American in me).

Oh and I made breakfast pizza for dinner.  It was pretty dang delicious.

Marc Scibilia has released a full EP!!  Finally.  I'm in love.  He's one of the first artist who's videos I featured.  He only had one single out at that time, but now he's has an EP (which is about half a CD for the non-musically inclined/it really stands for Extended Play so it can be on average 3-6 songs).  Sadly my featured song isn't on his newly released EP, but I think you might can buy it here.  Check out his EP on iTunes and BUY IT!!  http://bit.ly/KZxQNj  

Title: "Sideways" by Marc Scibilia