Grab a chair and a couple of root beers...

See, here's one of the things I hate about having asthma (like there's not ten million, six hundred forty two thousand, three hundred and fifty one other reasons to hate having asthma).

I'm sitting up late. Why am I sitting up late? Because I used my albuterol inhaler about an hour and a half ago.

*grumble grumble*

Why is this a problem? Well, because that albuterol, the main ingredient in my inhaler, makes me shake like a vibrator on steroids. It's like... inhaling adrenalin, I swear. My heart is pumping, my nerves are just wired up so high, and it's like I'm having this huge adrenalin rush... and nothing to do with it. Except sit here and grumble with you guys.

And it makes me cranky. Did I mention it makes me cranky? And I'm tired and I'm SLEEPY, fer gossakes!! Just let me pass out already!! *throws a hissy-fit*

Oh, yeah, and I'm cranky. Just thought I'd mention that.

If it were daylight, I could at least entertain myself by getting out the watercolors and trying to paint a straight line in different colors. Instant Impressionistic Art! WOO!!

Yep. Still cranky.

Perhaps I'll go to bed anyway and see how long it takes the Husbandly One to wake up and start complaining that I've put too many quarters in the Magic Fingers bed, because it won't stop vibrating!!

Ear worms... man, I hate ear worms!!!

Just finished my morning walkabout of the neighborhood (gotta keep Auntie fit), even though what I really wanted to do was crawl back in bed and sleep for the next sixteen hours.

Why?

Because, I only got about one... or was it two? hours of sleep last night. Partly because of a nagging headache that wouldn't go away, partly because the Husbandly One was restless and thus sleepless, and thus keeping me awake, and partly because of... an ear worm.

The nagging headache is mostly sinus pressure, and a little too much chocolate from Valentine's Day. The Husbandly One was restless because he had a sinus headache, and was worrying and fretting on top of that. And the ear worm?

Okay, so I was laying there, dozing, had a bit of a really bizarre nightmare where thanfiction and I were trying to trace a friend's whereabouts by going back through all the phone calls he had last made on his cell phone, which was the only thing we could find that belonged to him. I kept saying, "You know, this could really, really backfire on us," and he said, "This is all we have to work with," and I said, "I dunno, I've got this really bad feeling about doing this," and we were on our fourth phone call, and the phone was picked up and we heard a woman scream, then shriek, "I... AM IN... A CAGE!!!"

We sort of boggled and thanfiction said, "Okay, that is not our friend. Our friend... does not sound like a woman."

And I said, "Well... no..."

Then the woman shrieked, "I... AM BEING... TORTURED!!!"

And I said, "Well... we can't have that." So I said into the phone, "Who is trying to torture you? Where are you? Can we help you? Is ... is our friend there, too?" Because I can't remember the guy's name at all.

The woman was quiet for a moment, then she shrieked, "He knows who you are! He knows where you are!! YOU...ARE... A CORPSE!!!"

And thanfiction said, "Well, that's not very friendly." And I said, "Who cares, we have to get out of here now!!" and I grabbed him and used my Sooper Sekrit Amazing Powers and tried to get us out of there. Except someone whacked me with something hard and I sat up in the bed with my heart pounding, and my head pounding, thinking, "What the hell was that about???"

Well, I was still hearing the creepy woman shrieking in my head, so I immediately starting filling my head with music, planning to use Mozart to drive the heebie jeebies away, but... instead, I got Arcade Fire wailing, "Maaaaah body is a caaaaayeeeege... " until I wanted to bang my head into the wall.

It was a total ear worm.

Now, normally when I get an ear worm, my solution is to either find the music and listen to the song in its entirety, which banishes it from my head, or to sing it to myself. Couldn't do that last night. Not with THO restless and tossing. I could just see it. Auntie gets up and turns on iTunes to play the Ear Worm of Doom, and THO sits up and says, "Are you crazy?? Can't you see I'm failing to sleep here???"

So, I tried a counter dissonance and ended up with something even worse.

The Chieftains.

"Here's a Health to the Company."

I love the Chieftains.

I LOATHE that song.

I would rather crawl over broken glass naked than listen to that song. Really. I would.

It took me two hours, and a lot of forcing my brain down avenues I do not normally use to get that particular Ear Worm From Hell out of my head. Beethovan (I'm not big on Beethovan), Metallica, Dir En Grey, Buck Owens (usually "Who's Gonna Mow Your Grass" does the job, but... no dice), I was starting to roam in territory I can't stand. I mean, when I start dredging up George Jones songs, you know I'm desperate.

Sorry, but I'm not into moaning, wailing, pathetically depressing country music. My dad loved it, which is probably why I hate it.

ANYWAY, it took Audioslave to get the Chieftains out of my head. Thank goodness. And I finally passed out around 4:30 or so. Too bad I had to get up at 6!!!

Oh well.

Think I'll put on something obnoxious, bouncy, and LOUD while I clean the living room. Like... oh, I dunno... the Fratellis?? The Sex Pistols? Hmmmm, too loud and obnoxious. Oh, fraggitall, I'll just put on some Jack Johnson to soothe my frazzled, freaked out nerves and get busy!!

And Than, dear, if you could explain why you were dressed like you were going on an expedition to darkest, deepest Africa?? Oh... never mind, it was just one of those stupid dreams!!

Yesterday was a very strange day for me in a lot of ways.

I stopped taking the Muscle Relaxant Disguised As A Stimulant From Hell on Friday morning, because after a talk with the pharmacist, and the doctor, we figured my bizarre body chemistry was mixing things up, and since I wasn't in excruciating pain any more, there was no further need for it.

It took until about 8:30 Friday night for the effects to finally wear off. And when I crashed, I crashed HARD. I remember taking a shower to relax my back muscles, and I remember being irritated with my kids and grabbing my iPod to go sulk in the living room. What I WANTED to do was go to bed, but everyone had decided to be all social and let's jump in the bed, and THO wanted to watch really loud, really obnoxious music videos on YouTube (the computer is in our bedroom) and it was all too much. So I went into the only quiet room in the house, popped in the earbuds and curled in a little ball on the couch to zone out to L'Arc-En-Ciel. And... that's the last thing I remember, really. "Neo Universe" fading out and then waking up to the Impossible Son climbing over me, and complaining it was cold as he slipped under the blankets of the bed. THO says he put the kids to bed, then came and got me, and I did all my usual things, washing my face, brushing my teeth, etc. and even turning off the computer before climbing groggily into the bed, and that I complained a lot, though he's not sure what about, since I apparently wasn't very coherent.

I thought that would be the end of it, except... we had soccer yesterday. Mr. Impossible had a game, and while I managed to prowl the sidelines as usual, camera in hand, I just... wasn't up to my usual snuff. And when we got home... I was WIPED!!! I gave a half-hearted effort at cleaning the dining room while THO worked in the kitchen (our garbage disposal is plugged up in a way that I can't fix it, so we're calling a plumber on Monday) and have no memory, again, of going into our room and falling face-first into the bed. I woke up three hours later. And I'm still somewhat groggy. Thank goodness, I finish the steroid tomorrow. And for those who were asking, the muscle relaxant (HA!!) is called "Skelaxin." What can I say, I have bizarre body chemistry that gives me weird reactions to all kinds of medications!

Today, I wanna be outside, and out of the house, and BUSY!! NO MORE SLEEPING!!!

And thank you, everyone, for your kind words about "Epiphany." I was really nervous about posting it!

Hopefully, I will have the next chapter of "Extraordinary Girl" finished by next weekend and posted at my insanejournal auntiewrites soon after. We will see what we will see!