Life as Betsy

I have a friend who’s first husband and second husband both had the same last name. For all the struggles she had in her life, that must have been one tiny vacation.

When using chapstick, Lianne Hill on the school bus home. Her lips were so chapped and irritating her that she smother her lips and the surrounding area of her lips in the waxy substance. Hardly anyone would have noticed, except that she used Cherry Scented Chapstick, which also had a hint of red to it, leaving her mouth (and face) looking somewhat Ronald Mcdonald like.

When listening to Garth Brooks’ "Standing Outside the Fire", Sophmore year,  Honor’s english and Liz Harper. Early into the school year, we were assigned to break down the lyrics to a song and write paper about what we thought they were about. I chose ‘Standing Outside the Fire’ because I thought it would be fairly easy to write about. I took my time and chose the perfects words to describe what the song was about and proudly traded the following day with Liz Harper when we were instructed to have a fellow student read it over before we turned it in. Liz read it, looked at me and said "It’s well written, but that’s not what it’s about." Ms. Stanek went a bit easier on me than Liz did; possibly because she didn’t listen to country music.

When baking cookies, Kate spinning circles in my mother’s kitchen. She’d come over and we’d start to mix up a batch of cookie dough. The long kitchen with hardwood floors were too much for Kate to stand and soon she’d be up on her toes, spinning circles up and down the kitchen. Generally, we’d get half the dough baked and we’d end up sitting on the family room sofa, watching tv and eating the rest of the dough with spoons.

Last year, I wanted to keep my birthday fairly lowkey because we had the impending wedding and I felt it was a lot to ask for my friends to celebrate me in a big way two times (or three or four or five if you count bachelorette parties and bridal showers). So we planned a nice dinner at P.F. Chang’s. I designed and mailed out beautiful invitations to a small group of friends and waited to hear back And though we did get a decent RSVP response (after some reminding), there were a handful of friends who last minute cancelled. True, they all made it to the wedding (and stayed) but when you are sitting at the table, wondering where the hell someone is, it kind of stings when you get the "oops!" text message.

The previous year, I had made some suggestions to my best friend Kate of things that would be fun to do and she totally ran with it and coordinated this incredible two night birthday party, complete with surprise guests! Looking back now, this is a bit depressing that Kate can get more people to come to my birthday party than I can myself, but I know there are schedules and other lives etc. that come into play, so I am not pressing any hard feelings over it.

So here I sit, my birthday 9 days away and I cannot tell you what sounds like fun. I want to go out and do something. I want to have fun and be celebrated. I don’t have a place big enough for more than maybe two or three friends here at our apartment, so no house party, at least, not at the Frey homestead.

Feeling a bit hopeless now. Got any ideas for what would be fun to do for a birthday party? I am really not feeling a party of just bar jumping or dance clubbing (but am keeping it open as a late night option, since my classmate Toni is turning 21 that Saturday and after hitting Darcelle’s, who knows where that party will be heading and it could be fun). We bowled a couple of years ago and my wrist is still weak from a minor fracture back in November. Ideally, I’d like to do something that a lot of people would be interested in at least stopping by for to say hello, something that wouldn’t be horribly crowded, or smoky, but with the option to dance and talk and have a great time.

 If you cannot taste the food, due to cold/shut down senses, the food’s calories and/or points do not count.

Despite my general lack of energy for working out this last week (I did get a mile and a quarter in on Tuesday night after school), I still have managed to lose about 2.5 pounds, though I suspect it may have more to do with my lack of eating a lot. I just cannot get enthusiastic about food when I cannot fully taste it. Right now, my taste buds are catching about 25% of flavor, if that is possible.

A number of years ago (five, actually), I worked for a Gottschalks store in CA and when it came to calling in sick, they were pretty ruthless. You’d reach the Customer Service desk and they would put you on hold and page the manager on duty to take your call. It was very well vocalized throughout the employees that the managers would then try to talk you out of being sick. You had to nearly perform over the phone on how sick you were. I am sure that was from years of employees playing hooky, but it was annoying for employees like myself, who only use sick days when they are legitimately sick. I have carried that with me since, always worried that I would have to prove to my employer or instructor that I am really sick.

I am not too sick to stay bedridden (though I haven’t really moved from the couch all morning, or last night, for that matter, except to go to bed) but I don’t feel well enough to be interacting with customers and being social in general. I definitely will not be frolicking in the sunshine this afternoon, though I may pause a moment or two by my car to absorb some warmth (and pray that my Transistion lenses will get dark enough for me not to need to put sunglasses on OVER my glasses). My teeth ache and my nose is so plugged and my head hurts. And now . . . now my eye is red and looking like it has conjunctivitis. That means possibly pink eye (which is highly contagious and all the more reason why I shouldn’t be at school today) though I think it is just another side effect from the sinus infection, like the aching teeth. Not taking any chances, I have to toss my last pair of contact lenses and without a current prescription, I am having to head into the eye doctor this afternoon. The earliest appt I could get is 3:30.

So . . . do I go to school for a few hours? I’d have to leave by three to make my appt. Or do I just call the day a wash, rest up and make sure to be healthy enough for the extra cirricular class I signed up for on Monday? My alternative is to not attend on Monday and go to the doctor then, but if this is something more than just a side effect, I want to get antibiotics on it as soon as possible. And again, if this is something more than a side effect, do I want to put my new friends at risk of possibly catching it too? Pink eye and conjunctivitis in general is nasty. You have to throw out all your mascara and any eye makeup you’ve used in the last week, not to mention the pus and the flaky eye lashes and the lovely reddish tint to your eye. You have to use a different wash cloth for each side of your face and wash your hands like every fifteen minutes to make sure you are transferring bacteria to anything or anyone or your other eye, if it managed to remain uneffected.

I can remember one morning when we were kids and my brother woke up with pink eye. His eye was so bad, his eyelids were glued shut and Mom had to soak it with a hot wash cloth for about ten minutes. I know I’ve had it that bad before too.

Tomorrow its supposed to be even nicer out and though I will be in school, we have plenty of windows and opportunities to slip outside for a couple of minutes of Vitamin D. I am hoping I rested enough this afternoon and evening to get over this shit.

I found these today in my closet:

Mom bought them for me to wear at the wedding reception last summer, when my feet grew too tired and gave up on the heels, but I never reached that point. With the warmer weather coming, some of my classmates feel energized to wear more cute and Spring time clothing. I figured this was my personal expression of the upcoming Spring season.