Week 8

Growing up, it was always extremely important that I got enough sleep. I was never one of those kids that could just sleep all day the next day and make up for it. When the annual "Lock In" happened at church with the youth group, I always had to make the decision on whether or not it was going to be worth the fun of hanging out with my friends all night, because I would pay for it the next day and following week. My body shuts down when I have a lack of sleep. I make it a point to take care of myself because of this. I get the sleep I need. I try to eat healthy with the occasional indiscretion here and there. I exercise.

Well. I WAS sleeping, eating healthy, and exercising. I look at the calendar and there is not ONE smiley face (my indication that I exercised that day) for the last almost two weeks.) Not to say that WORKING isn't a form of exercise, but it's not quite the same as lacing up my running shoes and going for a jog with a good stretch afterward. I think back to what I ate over the four days of working long shifts and realize that I barely ate at all just because I was too busy at work and too tired once I got home. So, to review, the last two weeks (as of Monday) have had me barely sleeping, eating, or exercising.

It caught up with me in a big way.

Sunday evening at work I started feeling...not well. I was able to push through the bouts of nausea and the beginnings of a sore throat to finish my shift, but when I woke up Monday morning, I knew that my luck had run out. I felt like I had swallowed my whole knife kit. NEVER have I been so thankful for a sitter. I dropped Layla off at the babysitters, came home, and passed out until time to get Harmony off the bus. We went and picked up Layla, made it through the afternoon, and I passed back out when the kids went to bed.

Tuesday was a repeat with the addition of sneezing and congestion.

Wednesday I got up and began to get ready for school before giving up as I got the sweats every time I tried to exert any sort of effort. I gave myself ANOTHER day in bed. I began to wonder if I had mono. I had it once ten years ago and I haven't been as laid out as this was making me since then. I realized after some research that it wasn't mono, so I had some hopes of feeling better in less than two weeks.

Thursday I got up and went to school loaded up with Alka Seltzer Plus. I made it through the cooking and managed to mop half the floor while the others were still finishing up their food. I asked Chef to leave since I had cleaned and my food was finished. I wasn't feeling well again. I went home and crashed.

Friday I decided to take my last day. I had work Saturday. I NEEDED to be well. Harmony and Layla were off of school. I thought about keeping them home with me to spend time with them but I knew it would be selfish motives. I miss them so much. But the sitter was taking them to the zoo and I knew they would have more fun there than camped out on the couch watching movies with me. I also knew that I wouldn't get as much rest that way. Most importantly, the less time they were in my proximity, the less likely they were to catch whatever I have. So off they went.

Yesterday I went to work. I loaded up on AlkeSeltzer Plus again. I made it through. I'm feeling some better. Not 100% by any means, but I am making it through. I've been making an effort to eat better. By that I mean, I've been making an effort to eat. I'm waiting to squeeze exercise in until I can breathe through my nose again. I was switched to the day shift Saturday and an earlier shift on Sunday.

Marc and I just keep telling ourselves that we need to make it through this quarter, this year and things will be better schedule wise. As Marc put it, "When you graduate, we are SO having a party!" We will have made it through one of the most challenging yet rewarding times in our lives. Together.

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All that being said, in class Thursday I made Spicy Pork Empanadas and fried another Stuffed Poblano. I have made both this items in Latin this quarter but there were noticable differences in the recipes. The most blatent difference was that the empanadas were fried this week, as opposed to being baked in Latin. I prefer the texture (and slightly more healthy!) aspect of the baked empanadas, but I really loved the Spicy Pork filling. The dough of the fried version was different, as well. This version had cream cheese in the dough and was slightly stickier. It needed to be chilled well before working with it. Then I found that once I cut them out, and folded them in half, I needed to chill them again before attempting to make the decorative fold on the outer edge or the dough would just...mush together.

The poblanos were stuffed with a different filling this week, too. I liked the Latin version better, actually. This filling was mainly corn and sour cream with a little queso fresco. It wasn't BAD...just not as interesting or flavorful.