A Gift Tester

I have a confession to make:

A book I ordered for a friend came in the mail yesterday.  I read the synopsis on the back of the book and I couldn't help myself... I read six chapters last night and I can't wait to read more. It's a novel about an enduring friendship. I should make sure to read the whole book to make sure it's a good Christmas gift, right?  I'm in the middle of studying for finals, so I've been getting distracted very easily.

A gift I ordered for another friend came in the mail earlier this week. Three different flavors of loose leaf tea were calling my name to test them out. It's my duty as a friend to taste each of them to make sure she's going to like it, right?  Now I can tell her which flavor I think she'll like the best.

I can't just buy someone a gift and not know exactly what it is. I will go the extra mile to test the gift so that I know what it is my friends will be getting from me. I want to be able to put my stamp of approval on it. If it doesn't pass my testing, I'll likely find a new gift to give. Although you may be getting a used  or opened gift from me, you should know that at least it passed my test. That's the kind of friend I am... Always looking out for you because my friends deserve the best!

Thanksgiving Eve

It was a typical Wednesday for me. I worked half a day, and then went to UCF for my class. I think my group finished our project, so now all we have to do is submit it before Tuesday. Although I did most of the heavy lifting in our group project by gathering the data at the Bloomberg terminals on campus, setting up our model in excel with equations, and running our regression analysis, the other two girls in my group did well at styling the format, explaining our outputs, and making it look professional.  I have my last class of the semester on Monday. Two of my finals (Real Estate and Supply Chain) open up in the testing lab on Wednesday, December 3rd. My plan is to take those two exams on Wednesday, but I do have until Friday to take them if I don't feel prepared enough by Wednesday. My last final will be an in class exam for Portfolio Analysis on Monday, December 8th at 1pm.  I am counting down for this semester to be over! I'm really only expecting to get an A in Real Estate. In Supply Chain and Portfolio Analysis I'm expecting a B. I'm slipping a little bit, and frankly I don't care as much as I thought I would. I'm just ready to be done.

Hopefully, I'll find time to study between family tomorrow and my half marathon on Sunday. Training hasn't gone as planned for the past two weeks, which disappoints me because I was doing so well. At least, my stomach pain has stopped for now.  I'm up to 146 lbs. My poop has been unbelievably beautiful. My turds have been so big that I question whether they really came out of my ass. Though I'm sure they were still way smaller than your turds. Heck my turds are smaller than my four year old cousin's turds. I seriously get jealous of her big turds. I actually feel good after a bowel movement. I'm going to try to race smart and pace myself by running with my sister Kim or with Coach Janice from Team Challenge. I'm excited to get out there and finish the race! I need a this small victory to prove to myself again that no matter how many times my body knocks me down, I can always get back up and accomplish incredible, physical feats. I hope I never lose the courage to get back up and try.

A List of 20 Things I'm Thankful For

1. My parents
2. My sisters (Yes, I'm thankful for all three of them)
3. My friends
4. My family (I'm grateful for most of them, at least)
5. My health (In some way, I appreciate what's given to me.)
6. Insurance
7. Toilet paper
8. Moist wipes
9. Indoor toilets
10. Pads
11. Spell check
12. The hair on my head
13. the opportunity to get an education
14. Pain (It's given me a greater ability to be empathetic. Without pain I wouldn't value the little things in life as much as I do)
15. Grocery stores (If I had to hunt my own food, I'd probably become a vegetarian)
16. Water
17. The military
18. The roof over my head.
19. Electricity
20. Internet connection

Thieves Oil

In the spring, I began applying a drop of Thieves oil to the bottom of each foot every morning. After months of my uncle and mom nagging me to use Thieves oil, I finally gave in just so that they would shut up. They claimed it would protect me from getting sick with colds and even the flu. It somehow fights against airborne bacteria. Obviously, I could use some help in that area since I don't really have a properly functioning immune system. However, I was skeptical about the benefits of using Thieves oil on the bottom of my feet. I thought it was just another crazy health claim.

For me, Thieves oil has actually worked in protecting me against colds. Trust me, I'm shocked it's worked so well.  I've been using Thieves oil for about eight months and I've yet to get a cold while using it. The time I did get a cold I had stopped using thieves, but as soon as I started applying it to the bottom of my feet again the cold quickly went away. I didn't get sick when I went to germy NYC.  I've been at work and school when it seems like everyone around me is coughing and sniffling, yet I somehow remain uninfected. I have felt my body fight off nasty colds by sneezing more. It may be foolish, but I now believe in Thieves oil so much that I opted out of getting a flu shot this year. Plus, it makes my feet smell good!

I don't know if Thieves works for everyone, but it works for me. Now a cold is one less thing I have to deal with, which is amazing! I deal with enough health issues so it's nice to be able to focus on other aspects of my health. I used to always be battling some kind of cold. Last year I was so consistently sick that I was never well enough to get a flu shot.

Below is a link about Thieves oil and it's multiple uses. Even though I only use it for #7
http://essentialwellness.tumblr.com/post/13130776527/50-ways-to-use-thieves-essential-oil

Texas for Christmas

I decided to use my Southwest Airline voucher before it expired in May 2015 to visit Veronica for Christmas. I knew I better use the voucher during my winter break because  I was not likely to use it during my spring semester.  I got the voucher when I cancelled my trip to Texas so that I could attend my grandpa's funeral. I debated on traveling to another city for an adventure of exploring it on my own, but I missed my friend Veronica too much to pass up an opportunity to see her! The last time I saw her was for only about 15 minutes when I had a layover in Austin in July of 2013 and she came to the Airport just to see me for that short amount of time. I felt bad when I had to cancel my trip to see her earlier this year when I lost my grandpa, but she was so understanding and comforting during that difficult time. Veronica was right on board with my idea to visit her for Christmas! We are both super excited!

Have you ever seen one of those awful Christmas movies on Hallmark Channel? The only reason I have is because my mom used to be obsessed with those movies. She no longer has the Hallmark Channel, praise Jesus! Anyways, I felt like the out of touch character from one of those movies when I first told my mom I wasn't going to be home for Christmas. She was overly disappointed.  I see my family all year round, so it's not like we only gather and see each other on Christmas. I don't think it's a big deal that I won't be home for Christmas. After some talking, my mom seemed to be coping with it better. I've never traveled during Christmas time before, but I think I'm up for the chaos. I booked nonstop flights so hopefully that helps me get to where I'm going on time. I also can't tell you the last time I had a 5 day long vacation. No school, no work, no family... it's going to be great!

Moving The Scale in the Right Direction

I think today is the first day since Thursday that I actually ate two meals: lunch and dinner. I weighed in tonight at 143, so I'm moving the scale in the right direction. I'm still experiencing occasional stabbing pain throughout the day. Somehow I managed to survive my daily routine of work and school yesterday and today. I've been taking naps in my car during my short break between work and school. Exhaustion has overcome me because I haven't been sleeping very well due to pain waking me up multiple times in the middle of the night. The pain is a little higher than my belly button, which leads me to conclude that it's my small bowel giving me issues. The weird thing is that my bowel movements have been nicely formed. They seem way too beautiful for the way I'm feeling.

I know I should be eating more regularly, but I would rather not eat and be in less pain and be able to trust my bowels at work and school than eat and shit myself or be in the bathroom constantly. I also know I could be taking the pain pills I have, but I'm not. The pain pills make me drowsy and cause constipation. I have to be alert enough to drive, work, and learn at school. I could take them at night, but in my experience the drowsiness doesn't wear off by morning. Some folks have advised me to make an appointment with my doctor. I haven't and I most likely won't. Quite honestly, the doctor is limited on what to do. He could prescribe me pain meds. I won't take them because I have a life to live. He could order me to have a colonoscopy. Yeah, it's probably time for one of those dreadful things again since it's been two years, but that won't tell him anything we don't already know: I have active disease in my intestines. He could prescribe me the steroid Prednisone. No thanks, I'd rather deal with this until it passes. Prednisone is EVIL! I feel like I lose who I am while taking it.  Some people don't understand my reasoning and conclude that since I won't take action that my current state of suffering is my fault. It must be nice to believe that doctors can make everything better. Ignorance is bliss, right?

Down 9 lbs In a Few Days

I've spent all weekend recovering from the debilitating pain and frequent BMs I encountered Thursday night and Friday. It's 6:30pm on Sunday and I've slept for almost 29 hours  since Friday afternoon. This morning I finally felt well enough to eat. Surprisingly, I haven't regretted that decision yet. I just weighed myself and I'm down to 141.5 lbs. That means I've lost about 9 lbs. in the last few days. It really is scary how fast I can lose weight. It's a good reminder of why I need to try to maintain the 150 threshold though. The pain has stopped, so I'm hopeful things are turning around even if the pounds are still dripping off me. I'm just really sore, weak, and super cautious about what I'm eating even though I have no idea what triggered this in the first place.

Thankfully, I had nothing due for school this week. I have a group project in my portfolio analysis class, but we won't get the details on the project until this Wednesday, so there wasn't anything we could do with that yet. I have an open homework assignment for my supply chain management class, but it's not due until the 23rd, so that was fine to wait. I did review a few chapters for my real estate final though.

I didn't get my long run in this weekend. I wanted to log an eight mile run, but my body wasn't up for it. I could barely stand straight up these past few days. My belly is really sore. I'm hopeful that I'll be able to log eight during the week if I continue to feel better. I have built a solid base, so if I miss a few training runs I should just be able to lower my intervals and still be in good shape to finish my upcoming races.