It's been a very strange week...

Now it's both my wife and I who have been under the weather for essentially the past week, with some variation of a cold - and with me to a doctor twice.   We were fortunately well enough to keep our dentist appointments near Baltimore yesterday.  Those appointments caused us to get home late in the afternoon, and after dinner we retired early, once again in separate rooms due to our colds.  No point in infecting/re-infecting each other since we both had different sets of symptoms.

And that's when the adventures began.

I got up in the middle of the night, to hit the kitchen and graze for a midnite snack.  Once there, I heard my wife's plaintive voice calling to me from the other room.  Turns out she was experiencing a nosebleed, and had been for a couple of hours.   Needless to say, this called for a trip to the ER.   So after getting dressed and piling her into the car, we pulled up in front of the entrance to the ER at about 3AM. (Fortunately, there was no traffic on the road, nor any deer...at that hour.)

To make a long story short, her cold (and frequently nose-blowing) had ruptured some small blood vessels on the septum, which wouldn't stop bleeding.  A bit of cauterizing and she was good as new...with the caution to not blow her nose for a while.   But our early morning 90 minute stint in the ER left both of us in a zombie state, and we both fell asleep as soon as we got home...

Then there was the matter of picking up the old car at the garage Saturday.   And my visit to Mom at the nursing home, who was having a bad day socially...it seems someone took her usual seat at the table.  (Note...the seats aren't assigned - anyone can sit anywhere.)  She wasn't happy about the whole thing and was making herself miserable while trying to make everyone have a bad day.  (Note: she actually was the only one having a bad day.  Everyone else was fine.)   Yes, stress.   And more stress, piled on top of the stress.

Last, but not least, was my long-anticipated afternoon appointment to get my nails done - fills on both my fingers and toes.  I've really been looking forward to that, and to the relaxation I find while I'm being pampered...as a girl.  It's incredible...

The fill on my fingers went just fine, and looked pretty.   Well, there WAS this matter of a couple of phone calls from an old work buddy (whom I hadn't talked with in several months.)  I tried to ignore them, but he kept dialing me, so once I was seated in the pedi chair I finally took a chance and picked up his call.  That's right...from my nail salon!  A first!!!

Now bear in mind, that the salon treats me as Miss Mandy.  I was wearing capri pants, a turtleneck and flats.  No pantyhose.  And by that point my voice was fairly well trashed (very husky) because of my cold.  (That's probably fortunate, given the circumstance - it further muddied my actual gender.)

My buddy and I started chatting....with me apologizing to my buddy about my voice -  yes, he only knows me as a guy.  (Note: the voice apologies were mostly "window-dressing" for the benefit of the girls at the salon.)   And it was obvious that I was talking to a guy.    I think they wondered why a girl would have kept in touch with a guy....but that's a topic to analyze another day.

I projected myself into my buddy's shoes for a second. (Retired military, still wears a crew cut, walks like a police officer, etc.  He's definitely the image of a man.)  When we worked together, I had long hair and wore flats, etc.  My sartorial style didn't set off any alarm bells for him.  But I doubt he would ever be able to deal with his friend as a girl - particularly thinking of the image of a girl sitting in a pedi chair, contemplating her pretty pink finger nails and watching a nail tech paint her toe nails with pink gel...then putting them under the blue light.

No, that probably wouldn't go over well...   So it was a blessing that the techs didn't talk in foreign tongues while he was on the phone.  And it also was a blessing that neither of us is technically oriented, using Skype or whatever it's called...my girly appearance and feminine activities would have been really hard to explain!   LOL...

I'll leave you with a picture...from the Strasburg RR last summer....

And in case you wondered, the girl in the foreground is NOT me.  (Though with her long hair, it could have been.)  Instead, I was taking this picture with a real camera, not from a phone.

Till next time...

Mandy