Getting to know me - what do I prefer?

I skipped yesterday; it was not a day of feeling well. Friday afternoon my mom, Sophie, and I went to the grocery store. We desperately needed groceries, and I wanted out of the house. My discharge paperwork said I can go out as I feel like it, I just can't drive. Also, the gas station attached with the grocery store has 30 cents off per gallon on Fridays and my car was in dire need of a fill up. I walked slowly, and didn't lift anything heavy. My teen daughter works there, and Friday afternoon she was working as courtesy clerk instead of cashiering, so she was able to put the dog food in my cart, and take the bags to the car for us. But the outing was still a bit much, and I spent most of yesterday recovering from it. 

Do you prefer

• Traveling I love to travel! We did a lot of it when I was growing up, and I still love traveling and seeing new places.
• Staying home Sometimes I definitely prefer to stay home and hide. I need regular alone time to decompress. 
• Going out It can be fun, definitely. 
• Cooking Eh, cooking is neutral for me. Sometimes I enjoy it, I rarely dislike it, but it's one of those things that must be done. 
• Eating out Once in a while. I wouldn't want to eat out every day.
• Entertaining at home Not really. I get too stressed about it.
• Large parties Someone else's large party would be fun to attend. I don't particularly want to host one.
• Small parties where you know everyone Yes! This is definitely my preference.
• Quiet evenings with a few friends An evening with friends is never quiet. And it's great.
• Being alone Sometimes it's necessary. 

Getting to know me - Do I?

Do you...?

• Have any tattoos (where?) Nope
• Have any piercings (where?) Just my ears
• Have any scars Oh yes. Lots. I scar easily.
• Get along with your parents? Most definitely!
• Get motion sickness Sometimes
• Think you're a health nut Not really
• Type with your fingers on the right keys Mostly
• Play an instrument Yes
• Play an instrument well No
• Sleep with a stuffed animals Nope
• Have a significant other Yes!
• Have a dream that keeps coming back Several
• Believe there is life on other planets I have no idea
• Read the newspaper The online version
• Read the comics No
• Read the sports pages Not a chance.
• Check the weather forecast Yes
• Go to restaurants alone Yes
• Consider yourself tolerant of others Definitely
• Like the taste of alcohol Not at all
• Drink Everyone drinks, or we'd get dehydrated and die. I drink water, tea, coffee, soda, juices
• Smoke No
• Swear Sometimes
• Sing Not well
• Sing in public Not at all
• Sing in the shower No
• Laugh Of course!
• Joke A bit
• Read Constantly! 
• Exercise Occasionally
• Diet No. I prefer overall healthier eating
• Cook I have to!
• Believe in astrology No
• Read your horoscope No
• Believe in magic Not really
• Believe in miracles Yes
• Go to church Yes
• Have any secrets Doesn't everyone?
• Have any pets Oh yes. These two dogs... and my oldest daughter has two firebelly toads and a gerbil
• Have any children Yep! E and S, the twins born 12 years apart 
• Have any brothers or sisters Not biological, but yes
• Work Yes, both outside the home and at home
• Have a college degree (or go to or plan to go to college I have an associate degree. Eventually I'll finish. Hopefully
• Chat to strangers who instant message you No
• Talk to strangers on the bus I don't take the bus, but theoretically, yes
• Wear hats No
• Like yourself Most of the time
• Wish on stars No
• Like your handwriting No
• Trust others easily Sometimes
• Like puns Eh, sometimes
• Have a good sense of humor Yes
• Take walks in the rain No way.

More "getting to know me" and a post-surgery update

I didn't realize quite how long this "Getting to know me" thing was when I started it, and now I'm very glad I decided to do a section a day!

Yesterday I had my back surgery. Monday afternoon I received a call from the hospital bumping up my surgery by half an hour to 4 pm. It was still almost 6 before I got to go back for my surgery; apparently the one in front of mine was longer than anticipated. I woke up in recovery at 9 pm, and was home by 11 last night. What a long day! It went well, with no complications thank goodness. The surgeon told my husband that the disc was even worse than he could tell from my MRI and that I was one tough lady - he couldn't believe I'd been working and walking and functioning semi-normally this whole time. Now I'm at home for the next two weeks recuperating. The numbness in my leg and foot have already gone, which is a big relief! It had actually gotten painful to walk on my left foot; the numbness made it feel like I was constantly stepping on a marble. I'll be so glad when the surgery site has healed and I can be back to normal again finally.

Now, for the fun stuff:

Who Would You Like To...

• Hear From My "sisters" - but we keep in touch with Facebook and other social media .The distance makes normal communication difficult.
• Never Hear From Again Oh, I'm sure there is someone, but I can't think of anyone at the moment.
• Look Like My 18-year-old self
• Be Like Myself
• Meet The cast of Sherlock, David Tennant, Peter Capaldi, Nathan Fillion, John Barrowman
• Get to Know Livia and Johanna Liv <3
• Learn from / Study With I'm constantly learning from other people.
• Impress Everyone! Haha. No really, I have no idea.
• Teach My daughters

Getting to know me - my preferences

Like I could ever make up my mind...

• Cola or Other Other - preferably iced tea. Sweet, of course.
• Coke or Pepsi Coke
• Fried, Scrambled, or Poached Scrambled or omelet. Fried and poached are gross!
• Pancakes or Waffles Either one, they're basically the same thing!
• Dogs or Cats Dogs!! No doubt. 

  

  Our two boys, Tucker and Angus

• Coffee or Tea Both
• Iced or Hot Again, either.
• Looking out the window or into the room Window
• One Pillow or Two  One
• Chocolate or Vanilla Either one, again
• High Achiever or Easy-Going Easy going, as if that's not obvious by this post
• Single or Taken Very taken! Married almost 17 years.
• Pen or Pencil Pen
• Gloves or Mittens Gloves
• Planned or Spontaneous Both!
• Food or Candy Food
• Matches or a Lighter Lighter
• Typed or Handwritten Handwritten
• Walk or Run Walk
• Elevator or Stairs Stairs for 2 flights and under, elevator for 3 flights or more. Going down? Stairs all the way.
• Walk or Drive Depends on the distance and how much I have to carry!
• Facing into the restaurant or away from the other people Facing into. Although I really don't care either way. 
• Eating alone, with one friend, or with lots of friends Whichever fits
• Home or "Out" Home
• Alone, with one friend, or with a group? I'm happy either way.

Getting to know me - my favorites

This should be fun!

Your favorite

• Music Oh goodness, so much! REM is my long-time favorite. 
• Cartoon Umm... No idea. Cartoons in our house right now consist of Clone Wars, My Little Pony, Care Bears, Barbie, and Lego Friends. I used to love Daria and The Tick when I was in college, do they count?
• Font Do people seriously have favorite fonts?? Wow.
• Color Red
• Song Oh man. Not sure. I love a lot of songs.
• Flavor Flavor of what? Dark chocolate, Nutella, peppermint for gum, cherry or orange for Starburst and Skittles and popsicles, and there is no way I could choose a favorite flavor of ice cream. There are way too many.
• Scent Orange, vanilla, cinnamon, clean baby, my husband, the flowering bush in my yard that I have no idea what it is, chocolate chip cookies
• Magazine Working Mother, Real Simple, Glamour
• TV Show Sherlock!! Followed by Doctor Who, Castle, Bones, Orphan Black, The Blacklist
• Book That's like asking someone to pick their favorite child! Top choices are The Great Gatsby, The Moonstone, Millennium trilogy (The Girl Who... books)
• Movie The Whole Nine Yards
• Language I love languages. 
• Food I'm not so sure anymore. My mom's lasagna and potato salad (not together of course), creamy garlic pasta, quinoa, broccoli
• Beverage Sweet tea, iced coffee
• Fruit Cherries, fresh peaches
• Vegetable Broccoli and carrots 
• Season Autumn
• Subject in School Reading (go figure), literature
• Weekend Activity Reading, napping, playing, going to the park, family time in any form.
• Ice Cream Flavor Impossible to choose! Chocolate, cookie dough, chocolate chip mint, choc chip cherry, cherry vanilla, peppermint, coffee, caramel...
• Pizza toppings Broccoli, mushroom, garlic, Parmesan, and mozzarella.

Getting to know me - what was I doing then?

What were you doing

• 1 hour ago General work-related stuff
• 1 day ago Same as above :) Also, pre-op testing, final work preparations for my absence. 
• 1 week ago Working, grocery shopping (I can't wait until I can shop alone again!), wrapping my head around the reality of my spine being operated on...
• 1 month ago Likely laying in bed, recovering from a day at work. 
• 1 year ago Thanks to Facebook, I can see exactly what I was doing a year ago! And it seems we're just days after the one year anniversary of my mom having a heart attack on an airplane, and the surgery afterward, while she and my dad were flying home from my aunt's funeral. This time last year was very emotional! Luckily, the plane hadn't yet taken off and my mom is still here <3
• 5 years ago Five years ago we were expecting Sophie, and according to my Facebook timeline this day back then my regular jeans were getting tight, and I was still suffering from "morning" sickness. 

  

  Five years ago :)

• 10 years ago Hmm, August 2004. Emma was six, and in first grade. I bet this is around the time I was bitten by the spider and found out I was allergic to them, since she hadn't been in school very long. Hard to believe she's a junior now! I worked at JC Penney, and it was the only time I've been summoned for Jury Duty. I was dismissed early, and went to a walk-in clinic to get my spider bite checked out.

Getting to know me - What am I doing?

What are you...

• Thinking of Everything I need to get done at work before my back surgery and two-week absence
• Feeling Sad that my daughter is sick, tired, frustrated at lack of puppy-training time, in pain because I forgot to take my medication when it was due
• Remembering that my medication was due an hour ago... 
• 
  
• Doing the boring part of my job (and lunchbreak blogging, of course!)
• Planning a mental to-do list for the upcoming days. The correct contact information to the correct people at work, waiting for paperwork from HR, pondering freezer meals and lunch prep for after my surgery.

Getting to know me part 3: "right now"

Right Now

• Current mood Neutral - is that a mood? I'm fine. Not unhappy, not thrilled to be at work either (lunch break blogging FTW!) I could use a nap and an ice pack on my back, though.
• Current music My iPod is on shuffle. Current song: 

• Current taste The mint of my gum, to cover up the garlic of the hummus in the wrap I just ate for lunch.
• Current hair Started out in a cute style, but didn't stay there (see day 1), so now it's in a bun.
• Current clothes Purple sweater from Target, grey pants from JC Penney, necklace was my grandmother's. 

  

  I am too tall for selfies! And no idea what's in the box.

• Current annoyance Back pain and paperwork
• Current smell 

  

  It's amber vanilla or something like that.

• Current longing Nap, big comfy chair and a good book, winning lottery ticket
• Current desktop picture Factory preset, boring. Haven't taken time to change it yet.
• Current fingernail color Naked. Nail polish doesn't last long on my fingers. Toenails are hot pink.
• Current likes Books, tea, coffee, music, Netflix, happy people, compassionate people, laughter, good food, lipstick, art
• Current dislikes Tomatoes, avocados, peppers, hatefulness, political arguing, internet news story commenters, mean people, small-mindedness, cutesy things
• Current favorite article of clothing  Not a good photo of my favorite top, but here is the link to it. 

• 

  This is the only pic of me in this shirt! 

• Current time you wake up in the morning Ugh. 6:30-7ish. The past couple mornings the dogs have woken me up between 4:30-5 though. Bad doggies! 
• Current favorite word Seriously?

Getting to know me - my style

This one is tricky. I don't have a set style. I like what I like, but as individual pieces, not "styles." I'll try, anyway ;)

Style

• Clothing I love clothes. I love colors. I love stripes, I love neutrals, I love interesting pieces. Here are some examples of things I'd love to wear:  
  
  
  
• Hair Low-maintenance. I spend very little time styling my hair. It's baby fine, and slips out of most styles anyway. It's long, so easy to pull back into a bun, ponytail, or braid, or clip back somehow. I spend more time with it up than down just to keep it out of my face. 
• Music Eclectic. My iPod contains a mix of pop, alternative, rock, classical, jazz, musicals, rap, and music from the 1940s to now.
• Makeup Love it, and wear it almost every day, but natural-looking. I do love to play with lipsticks, though. I own several dozen lipsticks and glosses.
• Body Art I appreciate it on other people, but it's not for me. Yet.
• Car I like mine. But I'd rather have something else. 
• Decor Just like my clothing style - classic, but fun colors and patterns. 

Getting to know me - the basics

(First in a series)

Basics

• Name Christine
• Birthplace Panama City, Florida
• Current Location East Tennessee
• Heritage Norwegian and Dutch (meaning I will never, ever tan)
• Eye Color Blue
• Hair Color Red 
  
• Hair Length Long
• Height Tall! 5'11"
• Weight I'm not defined by the number on my scale.
• Figure Figure what? Figure it out? Figure eights? Figure of speech?
• Righty or Lefty Righty
• Zodiac Sign Virgo 
  
• Introvert or extrovert I can be both, depending on my mood. Overall, more introverted.
• Meyers-Briggs Personality type INFP 
  

So I visited a neurosurgeon yesterday....

I know, it's been almost a month since I've posted. Sorry. Really, I say it a lot but I mean it!
Anyway, since my last post, I'm no longer confined to my bed thanks to modern medicine, especially steroids and narcotics. I'm able to go to work, but have strict activity restrictions.

Anyway, I had an MRI for my back. I finally found a new primary care doctor (and I hope this one doesn't move, since I really like this one! And the other doctor in the practice is the one I stopped going to and I will go to urgent care instead if I'm sick enough for a doctor and he's the only option). Anyway, after checking out a few things, he was afraid I had herniated a disc and sent me for an MRI. I had that on a Wednesday, with my follow up appointment with him again on Monday to go over the results. Instead, he called me personally on Thursday as soon as he saw the results.

Never a good sign.

I got a referral to a neurosurgeon, and finally had that visit yesterday. Again, a series of funny tests, and he patted me on the shoulder and said I'd hit the disc jackpot. I thought he meant I was really okay, no big deal, go home and you'll be fine soon. Nope. He said he's seen worse herniations, but not many in his career. And that it's been 20 years since he's seen one so bad. He was shocked I've been walking around, not to mention working every day. He showed us my MRI, and wow.

This obviously isn't from my back, but see the bottom right one? The pink area is the herniated material. Imagine 3/4 the spinal column compressed instead of just the half. That's how mine looked. Apparently I have a larger than normal spinal column area, and he said that's the only reason I am able to get out of bed, period.

So, in my very near future, I'll be having back surgery. This is what I'll be having done. After the surgery, he said I'll feel SO much better, but I won't be able to drive for a week and won't be able to return to work for 10 days.

I am completely ready to have this done, though. I am tired of being in pain. I just want my life to get back to normal! Poor Sophie a few days ago was saying she missed me picking her up and holding her. She said "It's just not fair!" The worst was on election day last week, she and I were walking into the polling location, and she tripped over the broken sidewalk and fell down, skinning her knees. My baby was crying on the ground, and I couldn't do a thing about it. Luckily, my husband was already there and came over to pick her up, cuddle her, and clean up her knees. In no time at all she was running around playing. But I felt so helpless! What if he hadn't been there at the same time? What would I have done?

This surgery can't happen soon enough.