Sunday we decided to take a day trip up to Chimney Rock, NC (and Bat Cave and Lake Lure, NC) to go do some of the touristy "gem mining". The area is really quaint and Chimney Rock itself is really cool. Didn't realize that kind of area with the mountains and curvy roads was so close to Columbia - only a little over 2 hours away. We'll definitely have to take a vacation up there sometime.
"Sifting for gems"
Entrance to Chimney Rock State Park
Photo of Chimney Rock
Rocks and river photo along US64 going into Chimney Rock.
Today Christina and I had to work while my Mom drove around the Harbison area shopping. Tonight we went out on the boat for a while but everything on the lake was closed for dinner and the BBQ we were going to pick up on the way was closed too, so we just cruised around for a while and then went to dinner at Beef O'Bradys after that.
I'm taking tomorrow and probably Friday off work and I think the Zoo and maybe some yardwork is on the agenda for tomorrow. If I don't get my lawn mowed soon the home owner's association is probably going to evict me from our house, so I probably should take care of it soon.
Well, Mom's Spring Break vacation to SC is underway. Picked her up at the airport in Charlotte last night. Trip was uneventful other than the bad rain on the way up. But no sooner does she land the sun comes out and the skies clear. Today is a pretty sunny day already actually.
Not sure what we're doing today - might go gem mining. We've told her about that in the past and she's seen it on TV and wanted to try it. We'll just see where the day takes us I guess.
Also, the light was pretty amazing leaving the airport so I stopped to take a shot of the statue/fountain they have by the terminal up there:
Put these up on facebook the other day and while Christina's parents were in town her Mom requested I put these three new pregnancy photos on the blog too.
Still need to shoot more, plenty of other ideas, but was a quick 10 minutes with just a single diffused flash, so not that 'interesting' of light really:
Had to get that out there because of some of the photos below contain it.
We've been having a wonderful visit from Christina's parents the last few days and they brought all sorts of stuff with them for Evan.
Christina's Mom loves to cross-stitch, so we have two cute things to hang on the walls in the nursery now with a possible third coming later. Christina also found a stuffed monkey and monkey blanket yesterday too:
Also, the ear may just be a plugged Eustachian tube in my middle ear. The infection has greatly improved, but the hollow underwater sound and ringing continue. It does feel like it's plugged up in there like an ear that won't pop, so that makes sense. They gave me a prescription for Flonase which is suppose to reduce the swelling of that tube so that the built up fluid can release. At least it all makes sense... now let's hope it works.
Tuesday I was feverish and felt awful. That got better by dinner but my ear started hurting. It got progressively worse and was probably the most pain I've felt in my life. Searches online said either impacted ear wax blockage or an ear infection most likely.
So, we run to CVS and get one of the Murine ear wax removal systems which doesn't really help. Somehow I slept that night and the next morning a small amount of blood came out of my ear.
So, I went into the doctor's office yesterday morning. She looks inside and said there was a huge amount of ear wax backed up in there. So, they do the drops and irrigation flush which clears all that out. She looks back in there and says instantly "you have a... bad.. ear infection". Said it was pretty much just a red bubble in there. After looking around online, now I know what she meant. You gotta love Google image search:
So she prescribes me antibiotics and pain relieving ear drops and I pretty much go home for the day. Last night every time I lay down on my left side of my head - which I pretty much *have* to do in order to fall asleep each night - it starts bleeding a little. So I end up being up most of the night trying to sleep downstairs on the recliner on only the right side of my head. Didn't work out so well...
Took the day off today. Called the doctor back and she said most likely I ruptured my ear drum which is why it doesn't hurt as much as it did Tuesday night and why it's bleeding a little. Thankfully as of now, I think the bleeding has stopped and I should be able to sleep tonight. I can't say the same for the two days of ringing in my head - it's enough to drive someone nuts. Unless, as Randall pointed out today, that someone is already nuts. Haha.
Added a couple images to the Nursery gallery from my last post. Tonight we swapped out the white metal curtain rod and while cleaning the garage I found the boxes for the feet and changing pad rail for the dresser so we put those on also:
We finished the nursery finally this last week. Well, there's still a few small things like replacing the metal curtain rod, hanging some stuff on the walls, and other stuff, but it's mostly done. Click the photo below for a gallery of the process.
As you can tell by the lack of snow photos here, we didn't get anything. Not even a flurry. Very disappointing. The last time we got 5" of snow in Columbia they didn't even see it coming or forecast it - this time they hyped it and hyped on the news and we got nothing. Wonder if any other degrees than Meteorology are available in Cracker Jack boxes...
Anyway, at least the weekend wasn't a total bust, Melting Pot was really good and I did manage to finish the chair rail in the nursery. Just have to paint the bottom half below the railing and move all the furniture in and it's pretty much ready. We even went out and got all the bedding and stuff that goes with it tonight. "Monkeys" won out for the theme of the nursery. Photos to come later when it's all said and done.
We all went out last night to Melting Pot, a fondue restaurant, to celebrate. And just like last time we all were there celebrating a birthday, I bought the camera... who knows, years from now it will be fun to compare that year's Melting Pot photo to these.
And it looks like Janna will get snow for her birthday here! According to the latest, we may get 3-5" tonight:
Also, it's official - our baby boy is already spoiled.
Brian and Tasha sent a package we got yesterday with three cute new outfits... thank you both! The All Star one has a baseball on the butt... too funny!
