I feel like I got hit by a bus. Last night after to work, my father-in-law asked us to come over to help him move some bookcases into his home office. I was thinking that the shelves were going to be two or three little halfway-up-the-wall shelves, but noooooo. They were probably 6 or 7 feet tall and solid wood. There were six of them. DH and his dad moved them into the house together, but I was left to walk back and forth from the front door to the garage to carry the cardboard boxes (that were probably 3x my size) and wood palates and lots of packing that came with the shelves. My brother-in-laws were supposed to help me, but of course they didn't (one's 12 and the other's 14). It's probably a combination of being in freezing weather and not having lifted anything like that in ages that has made me feel so miserable today.

So I'll sit here and listen to Christmas music and work on that entry some more.

DH was sick on Thanksgiving. That always seems to happen. We make plans and he skips out on them because he's sick. I couldn't make him go, so I went alone. I was disappointed, of course. I visited my family first. They all asked where he was. I didn't really enjoy myself. I spent most of the time wondering how DH was doing at home alone and thinking about the fact that I'd probably have to go to my in-laws' house alone. The food was so good. I love turkey. Yummy. I tried not to eat a lot so I could eat when I went to the next house.

I actually had more fun with the in-laws than I did with my own family. They had some family friends over and we all talked and laughed and played card and mind games. I really felt like family there and that was a very good feeling. I didn't leave until after midnight. DH was not happy with me. I had told him that I'd bring him leftovers and I didn't show up. To tell you the truth, I didn't think he wanted me home. I flat out asked him if he wanted me home and he said he didn't know. Then he went to sleep and was unreachable. I was going to come home eventually, but I was enjoying myself far too much to leave just yet.

His anger was short-lived, fortunately. He was making himself something to eat when I got home. I think when he saw all of the food that I actually did bring home, he lightened up a bit. He seemed to be doing much better than he was when I got up that morning. So we stayed up and watching some tv together until we were so tired our eyes wouldn't stay open.

I slept in really late on Friday. I didn't mean to sleep in that late. I had planned to put up Christmas decorations. My father-in-law called saying that they were going to stop by for a little bit since they didn't get to see DH the day before. They said they'd be over a couple hours after dark. It gets dark around 5 p.m., so that meant that they were supposed to show up sometimes around 7 o'clock. They called at 4:30 saying that they were on their way. I panicked. I had just started getting the Christmas tree decorated and I hadn't cleaned anything. I rushed around for the next 20 minutes and finished picking up just before the bell rang. It was just like the night before. We played card games (DH played with us) and some other games and just had fun. They stayed for 3 or 4 hours.

I felt like such a bad hostess because I didn't have any food (other than leftovers) or drinks to offer anyone. I was completely unprepared. My father-in-law finished off all of our sodas, so I really had nothing but orange juice and water to give out. I don't think anyone minded my bad hosting, since it was pretty much a last minute decision to come over.

Dr. Seuss came over on Saturday instead of Sunday. I had found out that the body art shop we were going to go to wasn't open on Sunday, so we rescheduled for a day earlier. She would be spending the night.

We went to Denny's for lunch and then headed to the piercing shop.

I'm submitting my piercing story to a website that's dedicated to that kind of stuff, so I'll just re-post it here:

What I've read in other peoples' experiences certainly fits with my own experience. After I had my navel pierced in March 2005, I've been itching to get another piercing. My husband thinks it�s weird that I want to put holes in my body, but I feel that by getting a piercing or two, I�m expressing my freedom as an adult through my body and I think that certain kinds of piercings are very pretty. I was considering getting the web under my tongue pierced. I thought about the various things that could be done with my ears. But after doing some research, I decided that a nostril piercing would be the best way to go for my second piercing. Nostril piercings are dainty and pretty and thought that maybe it would make my large nose seem more feminine.

My friend called me the week before, telling me that she wanted to get her navel pierced, which left me with the perfect opportunity to get my nostril pierced.

After a nice drive around town trying to find a place to park, I finally got to walk through the door of tattoo/piercing shop. I was very anxious. As I filled out the proper forms, my hands were shaking. I suppose it could�ve been a mixture of anxiety from driving around an unfamiliar city, or it was not knowing what to expect when I had my nose pierced. I had to pretend that I wasn�t nervous so that my friend could be more relaxed about her very first piercing.

I had been in the shop before, so I already knew what it looked at inside. I was still a little intimidated by the colors and some of the pictures that were posted around, but the people who work there are incredibly nice and they made it much easier to feel at ease.

My friend went first. I think she was in the piercing room for at least 15 minutes, so I had plenty of time to sit in the lobby and think about what it might be like when I finally get to go back. Someone else came in with her mother to get her nostril pierced as well, which was a nice distraction.

When my friend finally emerged with a beaming smile on her face, I was relieved. Then she noticed the she was bleeding a lot and had to go back to the piercing room for at least another 5 minutes.

More time for me to worry. That was not what I needed.

I heard the piercer tell my friend that she could send me on back and my heart skipped a beat. When I went back into the room, it looked just as I remember it did over a year ago. My piercer looked the same, too. For me, familiarity is quite comforting.

She sat me down on the examination table and after I told her that she had already pierced my navel, she talked to me like I was some kind of pro. Part of that made me feel good, but at the same time, I wanted her to be as thorough with me as she had been the first time I came in.

As she was cleaning out the inside and outside of my nose, she told that some of the grossest things she�s seen in her piercing career have come from the bellybuttons of some of her clients. All I could think about was the fact that she was cleaning out the mucus capital of my body and she was probably removing lots and lots of boogers. (Is there is a lady-like word to use for �boogers�?) I�m sure she was just saying that so I wouldn�t feel uncomfortable while someone other than myself stuck something up my nose.

Next she put a dot on the right side of my nose and then let me look in a mirror to see if the placement of the jewelry will be in a good spot. After I gave her my approval, she placed a metal tube in my nose and explained that it would keep the needle from piercing my septum. She also told me that the piercing itself would feel similar to the pain I would feel if I plucked my eyebrows and missed.

I told her that I sneeze when I pierce my eyebrows. She gave me the weirdest look�

She told me that the nostril screw fits into the needle so the actual piercing and jewelry placement would be finished in one fell swoop. She also told me that I should close my eyes, since her hands would be in my face and that�s not a very comforting experience.

She had the needle in place and my mind must have been off in another world because before I knew it, she�d already told me to breathe in, which I didn�t do because I wasn�t paying attention, and the piercing was over. It felt like she popped a pimple on my nose.

She cleaned the inside and outside of my nose again. She said that nostril piercings are the least painful of all piercings, but they bleed the most. Surprisingly, my nose bled very little (my friend must�ve bled for the both of us). My eyes didn�t water. Thankfully, I didn�t sneeze, either. She told me how to keep the area clean and she told me that when I�m ready to change the jewelry, I should come see her because it�s not easy to do the first time.

When I left the shop, I felt a dull ache, but it was nothing unbearable. The ache disappeared completely after a couple hours. Sleeping the first night was no problem and I didn�t have any problems with pulling it until I took a shower.

Now a day later, there is very little swelling and no bleeding. In fact, I forget it�s there most of the time. Trying to soak it in sea salt water is a little challenging.

All in all, I�m very pleased with my new piercing. My husband admits that it�s not a bad piercing to have. It�s not too noticeable.

I highly recommend this piercing to anyone who wants a piercing, but is afraid of the pain of piercing. It�s dainty and cute and so far, it�s very easy to take care of.

I left out the fact that as soon as I walked out of the back room at the shop, I looked at Dr. Seuss and she said that she was about to puke. She looked pale and could hardly talk. The woman at the front desk escorted her to the back room again...Dr. Seuss gagging along the way. That wasn't fun. She never puked and she felt fine for the rest of the day.

Here's a picture of my piercing. It's a horrible awful picture, but it's the best I can do at the moment.

We watched a movie when we got home and then we went out to the mall for a little shopping. I wound up buying some imitation Chuck Taylors, socks and some chapstick.

We watched more movies when we got home and then went to bed.

I didn't realize that she had absolutely nothing to do on Sunday and she wouldn't leave. I wanted to put up Christmas lights outside, but all she did was follow me around.

She constantly complains about her money problems. She didn't like the fact that using a 1/4 tsp. of the sea salt packet that the piercing shop gave her used up more than she wanted. I offered her my full bag of salt, but she wouldn't take it. She said that she bought nice things (specifically a toothbrush) for her son, but never for herself, so I offered her an unopened nice adult toothbrush that I bought. She wouldn't take it.

She also kept talking about she needed to get out of her parents' house. She knows that the live-ins had been living here and I think that she was trying to get me to allow her to stay here like they did.

No way! There are still fleas down there and she would drive me absolutely crazy.

She kept asking what kind of food we have around the house and she was welcome to anything, but she openly admitted that she wanted free restaurant food. She called her now ex-boyfriend and he wouldn't take her to dinner. She called her soon to be ex-husband and was going to ask him to give her dinner, but after he got on her about using my cell phone to make phone calls (I hope he doesn't call me), she didn't bother.

DH and I wanted food, but neither of us wanted to treat her to dinner.

I know that some of my other friends would've politely excused themselves much sooner, but she didn't leave until 6:30 that night.

I don't mean to complain about her, but she's rather inconsiderate. There were other things she said that really bothered me, but I won't bother keeping track in here. DH said that if she didn't leave any sooner, he was about to ask her to leave.

That's why I posted this.

I was at my wit's end.

All in all, Thanksgiving was great, but I don't feel like I even had a weekend. I spent most of the time driving around or doing some kind of work and DH and I had very little alone time.

I've decided that I'll never make plans to hang out with Dr. Seuss unless I have something else planned in advance that will cut her stay short.

Now I have nothing else to say.

Oh yeah...when my father-in-law saw my new piercing, he freaked out. He started making weird noises and motioning with his finger that he felt like he need to pick it off of my nose. The rest of the in-laws were a little surprised.

I can't wait to see my parents' and church's reactions when I go to the Christmas banquet on Sunday. I'm hoping that they won't be bad reactions. My timing was kind of bad for getting the new addition to my nose.

Oh well. Too late now!

I guess I'm done babbling. I want to take a hot shower and try to soothe my achey head.

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!

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