I’ve pondered if me turning 30 last month was a landmark for things to begin a steady decline when speaking of my health.

No, I don’t suddenly have tons of health issues, and for that I’m extremely thankful… but, I have seen little things that have me mildly concerned. First is my hair. A slow forming receding hairline has been happening the past two years… and maybe it’s just me, but all of a sudden it seems more noticeable than ever. I’m so vain when it comes to my hair, too, that this really irks me. I remember my father having a severe receding hairline when I was growing up, but my mother has thick, lustrous hair…so, I have been thinking I got the genes from my father. Thanks, Dad! :blank:

I had a couple doctor’s appointments yesterday… to follow up on a couple things from over six months ago (I’m bad about getting to the dr as regularly as I should). The doc and I had a nice chat and she told me the change could be hereditary or it could be other things like thyroid issues or a hormonal imbalance. So, she sent me to the lab to get some bloodwork. Turns out that blood work consisted of seven…yes, seven…vials drawn. That’s the most blood I’ve ever had taken from my body, I think. Needless to say, my arm is sore and has a nice lumpy bruise forming. I’m also really tired and drained today, and I’m suspecting the missing blood has something to do with it. :sad:

Prior to that appointment, though, I saw a dermatologist to help me figure out why my arms break out all the time. I’ve had the problem for about five years and have taken antibiotics and used topical creams, but the problem just persisted after the meds were finished. The dermatologist knew instantly what the diagnosis was, and after asking me a few questions about my family history…and me answering as best as I could…I was diagnosed with a condition called atopy. It’s a much milder form of eczema, apparently. Thankfully, I don’t have the itchy, extra dry skin that is usually associated with eczema…just bumps that I, of course, scratch at - not because they itch - but because they annoy me. :annoyed: It’s pretty definitive that I have my father to thank for this condition. Again I say: Thanks, Dad! You’re the greatest!

There are a couple good things I came away with, though. My check-ups last year were leaving the doc with some concern about my blood pressure, which was borderline high. I knew this was because of my weight and lack of exercise… so, having the more accurate medical scale show I’ve lost more weight than I thought (and keeping it off), along with my blood pressure being back to normal, was a great feeling. :yes:

Turns out my new assistant has a sense of humor. :smile:

Last week was her first full week here…and she eagerly dove right in to anything and everything I gave her to do. One of the things she had a “problem” with was not announcing herself when buzzing someone in their office if they had a phone call, even after telling her she needed to do this. So, the receiving end would just hear “beep beep” and then nothing. She was obviously waiting for that person to say, “hello” first. That’s all right for some people, but everyone here prefers the person beeping to announce themselves first. So, I went to the front desk to chat with her about this, telling her it’s either kind of creepy or comes across that she’s eavesdropping on a conversation someone may be having in their office. I basically told her she could say anything to announce herself, that she could say “pickled asparagus!” for all I cared…so long as she made it known she was on the line. Obviously, I was being stupid with the asparagus suggestion…at which she laughed…and we went on our merry way with other things. She immediately took my correction and all was good.

Today, though, I come into the office…and she presents me with a jar of pickled asparagus as a gift, telling me we have a joke between us now. :lol:

Clearly, I will not be eating them. I love pickles…but anything beyond pickled cucumbers kind of freaks me out. :gross:

I’ll end this post by griping about my taxes. I filed my federal online free of charge, which was nice…but paid $12.95 to file my DC taxes. Well worth the price, in my opinion, however once I got to the last page where I was told what my refund and/or amounts owed were to be…my jaw dropped. I owe the District of Columbia $432! I lived here all of six months last year and I owe them over four hundred bucks?! I can’t freakin’ believe it. I can only imagine the nightmare amount I’ll see on next year’s return. :shocked:

As I sit here on the couch, playing around online while Court TV is on in the background… I can hear my roommate singing at the top of her lungs while she runs on the treadmill that’s in the basement.

Now, I can’t sing for shit, but I’m not tone deaf, either… so, I can definitely tell she can’t carry a tune, regardless that she’s running and probably out of breath. It’s amusing to hear. :laugh:

She’s a great roommate, though… so, Dawn, if you ever happen to read this… I love ya, darlin’! :love: