Place minder

So, I'm madly applying for jobs right now, even with my shiny new degree I have to deal with being underexperienced, though at least there are more entry level accounting/bookkeeping jobs than there are library jobs at any level. And they pay enough that going geobachelor would be doable in many cases, so my job search isn't limited to just one of the worst economies in the country.

And I seem to be over the worst of my GI bug. Fevers, chills, and any more would be TMI. Let's just say it wasn't fun and it was pretty exhausting. I just slep 12 hours last night, and if I didn't have a PT appointment in an hour, I'd be going right back having eaten breakfast.

Having told ortho yesterday that the knee wasn't any better after the gel shot six weeks ago, it finally decided this morning to let me go down stairs (by which I mean backwards and with hands on the further up stairs, rather like a 45 degree ladder) using alternate legs. But since that still isn't good the only next step is surgical and I don't have the time nor the money for my share of the co-pays so I'll just muddle on as I have for the last seven years. At least it lets me check off that I have a significant mobility issue on federal applications, so maybe that will give me a little bit of a boost in the consideration process?

So, I need to get dressed, take my pain meds, and head off to PT so I can fill out all the forms for this session since it's for my neck, not my shoulder. This new place is fantastic and did more for my right shoulder in 3 months than the more traditional outfit did for the other shoulder in 9. Let's hope Melissa can work her magic on my poor degenerating neck.  Waking up because the thumb half of my hand is numb is both annoying and weird.

Maybe I can come up with some brilliant political and/or societal commentary later when I've woken up. Don't count on it. :)

More frogs

Not at plague levels, but we've been in this house six years and this is the first year we've had frogs.

This one was on the house by the kitchen door when I got back with my daughter after picking her up from her college art class.

Don't get me wrong, I like frogs. But they have their place in the scheme of things and I'm not sure this is it. 

Oh well, as long as they stay outside.....

The local wildlife

This was on my daughter's window last night. It's a second floor window, the upper casement, overlooking the roof of a one-story extension. There are trees, but not nearby. No clue how he got there, and since he showed absolutely no interest in leaving, we "rescued" him a bit later, since my child didn't really want to sleep looking up at a frog belly.

He seems to be a Gray Treefrog, the only true treefrog in Connecticut. Yippee.

(edited to correct a spelling mistake in the title)

What I'm doing with my summer....

Diagnosis:
R Foot Sprain
R Ankle Sprain
R Wrist Sprain
R Knee Contusion
Cuts and Abrasions
Pulled Muscles

What happens when you trip over a tuft of grass which is trying to invade your driveway.

Of course it is my right foot, so it's going to be a while before I can drive again, so its going to be a while before I can get a job. I've already had to turn down a temp gig because of it. (Grrrr)

Lottery gods, you need to get your act in order. It doesn't have to be a big one, just enough to keep things going until I heal up and can find something with reasonable pay. Enough to install some A/C would be nice too.

Killing time...

Graduation occured and I managed a straight A semester, including in Business Law, which is almost unheard of. I really wish I could have looked at that final exam to see what I got right/wrong, since I didn't feel that confident when I walked out. Maybe he had to curve things again. Apparently my section did so badly on the second exam that he added 14 points to everyone's grade to bring them back up to the norm. It was a 250 point exam and I had 236 before he added the points. (I wonder if that's why he gave people 14, so I didn't end up with better than 100%?)

Whatever the reason, I'm not complaining, and it's kind of nice to know that my Diploma, even if it is for my fifth college degree, and only an Associate's, will be Summa Cum Laude. I should have gone into student services after the grades came out (which was after the graduation ceremony) and asked if I could get a gold tassel to replace the silver one I was given for the ceremony since they had to base the ceremony notes on what you had as of the end of the previous semester when I was off Summa by .01 on my GPA.

And now I need to get my FAFSA in order, apply to Post for their MS in Accounting and their Certificate in Forensic Accounting, and find a job.

Not necessarily in that order.

At least I'm starting to get some real house cleaning done since my right shoulder is starting to feel better (yay, new PT practice), and the left one is almost back to where it should have been if I hadn't had half the cartilage wear out. I'm also trying to finish at least a few of the (far too many) cross stitch and embroidery kits I've picked up over the years, so I'm also doing a ton of Netflixing (OK, a  lot of it was actually on Hulu or Xfinity), catching up on shows I haven't watched all year and stuff I'd never watched. I made it through 10 seasons of Supernatural in about 2 weeks, I've caught up on Grimm and Castle (the last minute of the finale was very poorly done), watched the first series of Happy Valley, and I'm now watching Sleepy Hollow. I am very sad that we only have 5 more episodes of Hell on Wheels, but at least, for once, I'm watching something essentially real time. Now can they just get Season 2 of the Librarians up somewhere?

A quick update

Which is all I have time or energy for right now.

The semester is in full swing. Thankfully two of the classes cover similar topics and are pretty easy, but they help me fill the business/finance/economics credits necessary to eventually sit the CPA exam, and they'll get me a Certificate in Customer Service which might help me land some sort of job paying better than minimum if I can't find something in accounting or book-keeping right away. I swear that no one reads the actual bullet points on a resume anymore if they see a job title they think they know. (Which reminds me, I need to completely revamp my resume, removing as many dates as possible and trying out the functional format instead of the chronological one.)

Math is easier than I'd hoped for, which is good, which leaves Intermediate Accounting II (so far not too bad, ask me again after the exam in two weeks), Federal Taxation (so far a refresher from working for HRB all those years ago, and take home exams, God bless the prof), and Business Law II, which will be a bear for the exams and grades, but is an incredibly entertaining class.

My idiot, insane harasser in WI dropped me from his latest suit, with prejudice, because one of the other defendents hired a lawyer. I'm sure there's some logic there, but I don't know what. I can only imagine that his pea-brain realized that if one of the "dim girls" hired a real pit-bull legal type, the other might too?  Who knows, and I don't really care, it's one less bit of stress and time suck for right now. Though I did have some nice options for a counterclaim if he'd continued. Maybe if I get a decent job this summer I'll consider going after him anyway.  (A girl can dream, no?)

So it's off to finish this week's Accounting homework and get caught up on my law reading while doing some spring cleaning. I have found I do more housework while studying since it's a good way to procrastinate. :)

The joys of allegedly being sued for butthurt

I went to the doctor yesterday to see what we can do about all my stress related symptoms which have cropped up in the last month since my favorite internet based troll announced that he was going to sue everyone whose IRL particulars he knew for his butthurt. He has since announced that I am on the list although I have not yet been served.

Since this announcement my sleep has been terrible (see the last post); most nights I'm lucky if I can get four or five hours, usually broken. I'm also finding that I'm short tempered, totally uninterested in all my usual hobbies, and easily started on hour long crying jags; all classic signs of depression. I'm also either eating a lot or not at all, neither of which is good for losing weight.

The PA I saw at my primary care practice recommended that I try melatonin (which I forgot to pick up yesterday, memory issues also related to depression), as well as starting me on Prozac. I haven't had to take that in years, and the last time I went to a therapist (except for some support group sessions for parents of children with depression/anxiety issues) was at least six or seven years ago. But I've got an appointment with one next week and we'll see how it goes. I go back to my PCP in three weeks and we'll make plans from there. There is a local psychiatrist who is also trained in functional medicine so I may see if he takes my insurance.

Spring semester starts next Thursday, so that should help distract me. I will never understand why most colleges and universities, if they only offer the class on federal taxes once a year insist on doing it in the spring. Fall semester would make far more sense, so that the students who work for CPAs and tax preparation firms already have the new stuff under their belt before they start work.

Sleep

is good, and I want a lot more of it.

I would also love a day or two when I'm not putting over 50 miles on my car. Please Lord let the husband's car repairs be finished soon!

Today, unless the weather turns nasty sooner than anticipated, I'm driving four teenagers 60 miles to the zoo for younger daughter's birthday. Then I drive them home, and do a 20+ mile round trip to get them dinner. At least the sleepover is at my parents' home. My father was trying to convince my mother yesterday that she had to hide all the liquour. My daughter just shook her head, since she and one of the other girls will take small sips occasionally and the other kids can't stand the stuff. As my mother says, they're not exactly party animals. Their idea of a wild night is pizza and videos.

But at least I can sleep in tomorrow, and then my husband and I are going to have a slightly belated anniversary dinner out. 22 years, and we haven't tried to kill each other once. We haven't considered divorce even once. Is it a perfect fairy tale marriage? No, but then I don't think those exist. It's a good one, and I'm glad for it.

The semester is over!

The semester is over, and grades should be out in the next day or two. I know I've got As in three of the classes, likely As or A-s in two of the others, and really not much clue on the sixth, though hopefully at least a B+.

Now I just have to start madly reviewing for next semester since my last accounting class ended 8 months ago. If I had realized that I wouldn't be able to take Intermediate II until spring, I probably wouldn't have taken Intermediate I last spring. I also have work to deal with, perhaps even a full time gig through April.  Funny how going back to school is so much busier than just working, even if you aren't working while taking classes. Working and taking classes? Don't expect to see much in the way of updates, except perhaps during spring break, and maybe not then either.

Post-Op Day 12

I had my first post-op PT session yesterday. It wasn't as not-fun as I'd thought it might be, but it was not-fun.  I've lost some range of motion, though not as much as my PT guy had expected (probably because I'd already started doing some very gentle stretching on my own), and stretching it out hurts.  My PT guy has requested the op notes from the surgeon's office, which required me signing a release because his name wasn't specifically in their files.  Damn HIPAA, because he didn't need a release what with being one of my medical providers for this particular issue, but many providers have gone overboard on requiring patient releases because of that damned law.  He agreed that unless the op notes showed something very different from my understanding of what was done, avoiding using the sling as much as possible is the better plan.  I just find that the sling is actually more uncomfortable than no sling most of the time.

On a much lighter note, this means that there is a good chance I'll be able to drive by sometime in early July, so I can start job hunting again.

As it is, I'm sitting on the sofa listening to the sirens go by on the main road and watching my cat in the bay window as he loses it every time a bird goes by.  He has this hysterical little a-a-a-a noise he makes when they tease him. My husband has today off, so we're going to get caught up on dishes and laundry, most of which require the pushing, pulling and/or lifting I still can't do so, surprise, we've gotten a little behind. Once that's done, I'm going to make liver and onions and bacon with mash for dinner.  Which reminds me we need to order more Beef Roast seasoning from Penzey's.

And we're getting there....

Also known as 4 down, 1 to go.  I just took the last Finance exam, and feel pretty good about it. I only needed a 78 to get an A in the overall course. There were 20 questions and there was only 1 that I totally guessed on, and two or three that I wasn't completely comfortable with.  So, fingers crossing and all that.

We made it to New Jersey yesterday afternoon, later than I'd planned, but not too bad, and that was in spite of the best laid plans of New Jersey signage.  Their road signs and what the GPS thinks things are called don't seem to match in the Piscataway area.  However, having to pull over when it looked like we'd screwed up for a third time was actuallly a Good Thing, as just as I pulled over to the break down lane a large piece of scrap metal went careening through were the car would have been, and while I think we would have survived it, I don't think the driver's side of my car would have. So there was that.

And then the hotel turned out to be at the beginning of a major remodel, and lots of stuff had issues. But being polite but a little loud and very unhappy got many things fixed. The staff are great, but it seems that upper-upper management isn't giving them much to work with.  So I'd probably avoid the Hotel Suomerset Bridgewater until later in 2016 after they've sorted it out and reopened as a Crown Plaza.

My daughter got her makeup and costume on and I got her dropped off and checked in to the Steampunk World's Fair, and went back to the hotel, (which was when I was polite upset and got a new room), moved some of our stuff, and then went and had a half price G&T.  I felt much, much better after that.  I picked the kid up around 10 after the dinner with the band and heard all about her photo with them, and her selfies with them, and meeting all sorts of people she knows from the tumblr group.

Today I got her dropped off fairly early for the meet-and-greet, and she wasn't planning on coming back before the concert is over, which will be around midnight.  So I'm going to head down shortly, as soon as it hits 5, for another G&T and some dinner.

And then it's going over the last three chapters of QuickBooks, so I can (hopefully) take the test in the morning while kid's over at the fair, and then we'll head home sometime late afternoon/early evening. Even if I don't get the test done until Monday (it closes Monday at 23:59), after that it's all over for the summer.

School, that is. My school. I still have to work with younger child on her math, and get the house and stuff ready for surgery on the 4th. I want to not have to worry if I do wake up in an immobilizer, and then if it goes as planned, everything will be fine too.

The end is nigh!

At least of the semester.

I'm finished with microeconomics. I got a 95 on the last test (it would have been higher but I reversed two numbers, though at least I remembered what they were) so my average for the semester is over a 93 for the A, and I don't need to do the take home cumulative final to get one of the earlier test grades dropped.

Last night saw the accounting company financials presentations, and my group didn't do too badly; we went over the last test after handing in the answer sheet so know I missed 4 out of 42. I'm kicking myself because one of the answers was obvious if I'd read the question one more time. It was one of those where you are given a fair bit of extraneous data, and I didn't get rid of quite enough.  But I've also got the trial balance project completely done, as well as the school's accreditation exam, so all I've got to do is show up next week after doing some (relatively thorough review) and I may not even have to take the cumulative final in this class either.

So.  All that's left is going over the last three chapters of Quickbooks for the online exam which opens on the 12th, finish the last chapter and it's homework in Principles of Finance, and review for the online exam, which opens on the 12th, and study like mad for the Statistics final on the 14th. At least class tomorrow night will be completely review.

On the 15th I drive down to the Steampunk World's Fair with my eldest, and other than chauferring her (which may not be too necessary as the hotel we're staying at is a satelite Con hotel so there may be at least some limited shuttle service) I should be able to sleep.  Especially as I'm going to ask my doctor at the pre-op appointment on the 13th for some decent pain meds. 6 hours broken sleep a night is getting ... interesting. And not in a good way.

Surgery it is.

I got the MRI report today, and was ludicrously happy for reading such a crappy report. It's just that finally I've got some solid evidence explaining why everything hurts the way it does. It's not just "all in my head", or "You're over-reacting", or (my father's favorite) "hypersensitive". I'd love to see how cranky he would be if his ribs had hurt like mine have 24/7 for the past 25 years. I'd love to see it, but not have to deal with it, mind you.

I haven't torn my rotator cuff tendons, which is, I suppose, a good thing. I have pretty much destroyed everything they attach too though. It sounds like there essentially nothing left of the posterior glenoid labrum, and tears in the superior and anterior. The only thing still intact (maybe) is the inferior quarter.

Aren't I special?

So they're calling the insurance, and once they get approval, I'll get a call for scheduling.  We're going to have to push this off into very late May or early June, and it's a good thing I hadn't signed up for any summer semester classes yet. This will probably put getting my accounting BS/BA off by a semester, though I may be able to catch up later, but we need to fix this, and it's only going to get worse, so...

I need to fill out the paperwork to see if the state will label me "disabled", at least for the short term, because there is no way I'm going to be able to start a job if I'm going to be out for six to eight weeks right after starting.

But hopefully, I'll stop needing to muffle my screams in public when I move the wrong way and less pain is always good.  It was a little disconcerting to have the surgeon start out by saying that they'd be planning on arthroscopic, but might have to switch to open.  That's always a given, but usually not so large a chance that they say it up front like that.

So off to do some accounting homework.  I've got three of my tests back, with a 94, an 88, and a 93, though I'm contesting one of the missed questions on that last one.  It was on quickbooks, and supposedly the correct answer for how to export a report to excel was to open the report window and then hit the "Export" Button.  The problem is, that there is no "Export" button; there is an "Excel" button with a drop down menu, and neither of those if "Export" either. I'd answered to go into the report and hit the "Excel" button.  So I've asked him to look at it. I wonder if the test question which is from a test bank, is based on an earlier version of QuickBooks, and hasn't been updated?

A sigh of relief

I finished the exam week from heck tonight. Five exams, each worth at least 20% of the grade for their respective courses in six days.  I did the last two online this afternoon (or technically I guess yesterday afternoon?). I've got feed back on one already, and only an 88, but that leaves me running a 97, so I shouldn't freak too badly.  And it's in Principles of Finance, which isn't my best course anyway.

I spent the rest of the evening doing logic puzzles and watching episodes of Grimm, Agents of SHEILD, and Fringe.

And I got one of the Sasquan "scholarships" that Mary Robinette Kowal organized.  I'm really looking forward to receiving the voter packet.  I suspect there will be some difficult choices.  I haven't read any of the nominated works this year, so if nothing else I'll be busy.

Spring! (maybe)

Just so this blog doesn't look like I died...

We seem to have finally had spring arrive in our neck of the woods. The rest of the country may have had the warmer winter than usual to make the AGW folks happy, but we missed it and saw more snow this year and last than most of the previous decade put together.  We had frost the day after Spring was official.  But our daffadils are finally starting to poke their heads up though no blooms yet.  It's time to shift the bunny hutch so we can dig out the rest of the winter's fertilizer production, and add some more blocks underneath to raise it a bit further.  They will probably complain bitterly because it will make it harder for them to interact with the local wildlife. But for today at least they are happy lying flat like little fur rugs soaking up the sun.

I'm procrastinating, having five exams in five classes this week.  I swear that university and college types get together and decide to put all their exams the same week every time. I'm hoping to get my summer and fall registration done tomorrow or the next day, though this summer will be online and the two courses will be at two different institutions from my home college, though at least part of the same system.  I think the state would save a lot of money if they'd make the community colleges one big instutition with 12 campuses rather than 12 separate colleges.  The registration system is already integrated; you can check for courses on all 12 sites at once.  The state university system isn't as integrated, but at least there are only 4 of them. I'll have to take one course there, at more per credit than the community college charges for the whole course.  But at least I don't have to take any from the flagship university, which costs nearly twice the state university charges.  I'm so glad my youngest was accepted into the local middle college program and will graduate from high school with a college transcript and 20 or more credits.

I won't go on about the shoulder issue right now except to say that my current ortho is talking surgery.  I demanded another MRI to assess the changes from last fall before the current problems; I don't want anyone going in essentially on spec, especially when it will probably leave me functionally one armed for two months or more.  I'm also looking for a second opinion, preferable from someone who specializes in shoulders.

So now I'll try to get back onto the review work, and some more pain meds.  I suppose I should be happy so much I have to do right now is not on the computer, making this sort of procrastination harder. 8)

Same old, same old...

I'm still job hunting, but hoping to hear in a day or two about a long term temp position I was interviewed for last week.  It sounds like something I could do very well, and which I would find interesting, and which just might turn into a permanent position too.

Meanwhile I'm getting ready to take the third of four exams in my summer accounting course, and just as that one finishes up start the Technical Writing class.  I'm planning to take the second accounting semester this fall as well as the one on accounting programs, which seems to focus on Quickbooks, which is what an incredible number of jobs want you to have knowledge of, even if it's an admin assistant job.

This whole job hunt/too much time on your hands/too little money in the bank thing has been old for way too long already.  And then I get to talk to people who've been looking for two years compared to my seven months.

The economy is terrible.  CT's economy is one of the worst in the country, and this section of CT is the worst in the state.

Yay.

Change of Pace

I'm tired, short of breath (and the weather's not helping any), and retaining fluid like nobody's business, to the point where my toes hurt.

So, to take my mind off of it all, and so I don't look like I'm whining too much:

This is preferable to the headache I'm getting from the church around the corner having an end of summer/holiday weekend picnic and playing gospel music loud enough to give me a headache.  We don't have a noise ordinance in this town, sad to say.

Tired.

I  found this gif over lunch on MetaPicture, and it describes how I've been feeling lately to a T.

I just hope I'm as cute while I pass out.  Somehow I doubt it.

If I have a clean bill of health, why do I feel so bad?

The results from the echo came back as stable also.

So I visited my GP on Wednesday morning to ask about other reasons for the chest discomfort and also the rather severe (for me) edema in my lower legs.  I'm retaining more fluid than I did during either pregnancy, and marks in my leg stay for a few minutes.

I was told that the edema wasn't severe, but was given a script for some lasix to take three times a week.  I'll take pictures of the pitting in the edema this evening before taking the pill tonight or tomorrow and see if it makes any difference.

However....  he didn't quite yell at me that as I got older I would have more weird little aches and twinges, and if they were benign, I would just have to learn to ignore them.

I pointed out that I had been ignoring the discomfort from the PVCs for five or six years now, and they had suddenly gotten much worse and stronger, and even if they were benign they were really bothering me.  I was told, in not quite these words, to just suck it up and shut up about it.

It's hard to ignore something that suddenly jumps on you as you're trying to fall asleep and feels like a cross between a heavy weight on the top of your breastbone and a very too-tight turtle neck, and which can last for several minutes.

I didn't bring up my concerns about hormone problems again, since last time I mentioned concerns about adrenals or pituitary I was told we didn't need to look for zebras.  That we've ruled out all the horses....  I've put on 40 pounds in the last year, 10 in the last month, my diet isn't any different or worse than before, I've got that horrible edema, and the beginnings of a weird hump of fat at the top of my spine.  For the last few weeks I have had trouble going to sleep, not because it's hot (which it is), but because I feel that something is lying on my throat making it hard to breath if I lie on my back, and that's how I normally fall asleep. The fat is also mostly around my waist and chin, instead of my hips and thighs where I've put it for the previous 35 years.

So I've called the local naturopathic practice and have an appointment in two weeks.  Bizarre creatures that they are, they are more worried about the patient's quality of life than just whether the lab numbers look good.  When I mentioned my concern about being told I'd just have to learn to ignore the discomfort of a benign arrhythmia the woman on the phone tsked, and "no, no, no!".

So. Let's hope I can stay awake and functional until the 5th. I'm tired of being so tired.

Testing Update

Well, my nuclear stress test is "stable".  A message was left on my voice mail, so I called them up to find out what exactly was meant by stable.  Basically, it means fine, and since I had one of these tests five or six years ago which this practice knew about, and presumably got and looked at, presumably there have been no changes.

I'm not sure whether this makes me happy or not.  It's not that I want something to be wrong, but most of the stuff that they find on stress test is fixable, and I'd really like to know why I'm tired and short-of-breath with chest pain and water retention.  So I'm going to have an echo next Monday, where they will be able to see if the valves are working right.  With my luck, they're fine too.  Which will leaving me feeling like crap with no reason for it.

Personally I think it's thyroid, or at least thyroid-related, but nowadays, physicians, including endocrinologists, almost always treat the numbers, not the patient, and tell you "You can't be hypothryoid, your numbers are within the normal range", ignoring the fact that just because a certain percentage of people who are supposedly healthy have numbers in a given range doesn't mean that that is the right range for you.

I think it's time to start seeing the local naturopath, in general they seem much more attuned to the patient rather than the lab values.

And if I ever start feeling better, I might be able to write some posts of interest to others than just me.  But I'm too tired.  I get home from work and fall asleep for 12 hours most nights lately, which isn't conducive to getting anything done, electronically or around the house.