Pain in the Head

Lately I've been having the worst headaches.  Not horrible in the sense of terrible pain, but really annoying in the sense that I don't feel normal and can't really do things the way I want.  For example, tonight I desperately need to go to the gym and work out. 

What am I doing instead? Sitting at my computer with my eyes feeling like they are going to jump out of my face because of all the pressure behind them.  I hate this.  I'm not a good sick person (although I don't think I'm sick).  I just feel miserable tonight. 

Home

Today I woke up coughing and struggling to breathe due to the excessive amount of... well... "nasal drainage." I'm Lindsay, and I'm sick. I crawled out of our comfy bed this morning, found my slippers, robe, and new box of Puffs Plus Plus Lotion tissues, and moseyed down the hall and down the short flight of stairs to our beautiful first floor decorated for Christmas. I peeked through part of the open curtain to find that it had SNOWED! Better yet, the snow is still falling!!

I should mention that it is Thursday, my day off of work. A day all to myself! Suddenly, after seeing the snow gently falling and realizing that I was truly warm inside MY house, I felt better... almost peaceful. I am feeling so much peace, I thought i'd blog about it.

We have had this house for almost 6 full months now. Half a year goes by FAST! I recently read a blog post by my friend Maggie in Nigeria that made me think about my own "home." You should read her blog, its really interesting.

Where is my home? I feel that I have had a few "home" moments in life. I lived at Bethel University for 4 wonderful, insanely fun years. Driving back to campus every now and then brings back so many unforgettable memories... like the time I got chased down by security all the way to my dorm.... or the dead squirrel hanging from my doorknob from the boys below us. Another "home" moment was when I was in China for the second time. The team was back in Beijing, and I actually knew how to get places without our team leader!! It felt good to be in a familiar place.

But is that truly home? Not to me. For 25 years, my permanent home was in one location. On a secluded wooded lot in Apple Valley. Decorated so beautifully at Christmas it was almost like a window display. Home was sitting next to our wood burning fireplace late at night with the curtains open so I could see the snow falling. Home was curling up in familiar chairs sipping hot cocoa and reading The Lord of the Rings or The Chronicles of Narnia at Christmas time. That home was VERY warm :-) (I had control of the thermostat downstairs where my room was... hehe)

That home is still home to me. Whenever I go to visit my parents, or pick up some clothes (my old closet is still full!) all those comforting feelings and smells come right back. But now I live in a different place. I've asked Dustin many times if this place felt like home to him. His response was, "yes, its felt like home since about the first week we moved in". Its funny how men and women are different in that way. This new HOME didnt quite feel that way for at least a few months. If home is more about the people and memories than the location, no wonder this place didnt feel quite like home for a while. All the people I lived with for 25 years live in a different house. Now, I live with a guy (who is wonderful!). We've been able to make a lot of memories already in our house. It feels like home more and more every day.

This morning when I got up and came down to have my orange juice and oatmeal for breakfast, this house has never felt more like home! Perhaps because of the Christmas decorations and the snow, but it just felt so comforting to me. I am feeling sick, and I am home. That was reassuring to me somehow. This place is my new familiar. Although my parents house will always be "home" in some respects, this is where I am going to make all kinds of new memories with my own family. I think that feelings of home will just continue to grow through each stage of life. I love my home!

Updates...& Happy Halloween!

Oh my gosh, November is tomorrow already. Well, no such festivities happened last night, apparently the world is sold out of pumpkins and pumpkin carving tools. That also meant no roasted pumpkin seeds. We still had a good time. We watched the latest Office episode, hIlarious! And we had a bonfire outside in the back for just the two of us. I loved it. Thats ok because were hanging out with some fun people tonight, Derek and Alanna (and Gavin). I'm excited for that, we havent gotten to see them since Dan and Crystal's wedding in Missouri.

I am almost 100% better as far as sickness goes, but I still have random coughs unfortunately. How do you get rid of the coughs? I am so sick of it! I worked out for the first time in about 2 weeks last night and boy oh boy did it feel awesome! I felt so gross since i've basically been sitting/laying on my butt trying to feel better. I honestly love to work out at Lifetime Fitness.

Tomorrow I am getting fitted to order my dress at Rush's Bridal... see previous post below about how I found my dress. I'm taking some of my bridesmaids along too so they can check out the bridesmaid dresses and hopefully find something. Right now I really like some from Jim Helm and they are pretty good prices. I'll post some pics below of the ones I like... ignore the color that they are shown in, I am pretty set on a navy blue or some sort of atlantic/darker blue to contrast all the pink flowers.

Today I Feel...

Like blaaahhhhhh. I dislike being sick. I sound like a frog boy. Squeaky squeaky squeaky. I think I have gone through about 75% of my tissue box already in the past 20 hours... I need to re-stock my supplies! I have eaten about 5 clementines in the past 2 hours to try and get "vit-amins and nutrients" as Bear Grylls says in his british accent on Man vs. Wild. I wish I could email him and ask him to create some natural instant fix for me!

Funny thing is that I was sick exactly one year ago too... it lasted for 2 weeks and it was the entire time Dustin was in China. I remember being glad he was gone so I wouldnt scare him away with my puffy red nose and deep man/frog voice and non-stop coughing. I have since learned that he loves to take care of me when I am sick and that he doesnt care what I look like. Good thing, huh! I am going to marry him :)

Ruthanne Mussetter told me last night, "No smoochin when you're sick!" haha. That was my favorite part of the evening. Well, maybe she is right! ha.