sick and tired of being sick and tired

Yesterday, i pushed aside my irrational needle-phobia and donated blood. The bloodmobile was at work, and i knew that a)i needed to get past that challenge, and b)i would feel guilty seeing it parked there all day, knowing i was selfishly withholding healthy blood just because i was chicken. So i sucked it up and did it.

Later, when it was time to go home, i felt drained of all energy.... i chalked it up to just recovering from losing the blood and it being near dinner time. A hearty meal would perk me right up.... and i grabbed tootsie pop to sustain me through the drive home and that was that.

When the headache came, i thought it was just from the sugar in the tootsie pop. And when i fell asleep by 8:30p, i thought i was just lazy. But when i woke up this morning still feel achy, drained, and with headache and nausea, i figured i'd lost the battle of denying i was sick. Blah.

So today I stayed home and slept most of the day. It's kind of frustrating because i've been doing a lot of sleeping lately. Yes, one could argue that my perpetual busyness wears me down, but Sunday i slept most of the day, and I've gone to bed early all week. I'm actually skipping church tonight, because i don't feel up to running around blowing bubbles with the kids (tonight's planned fun activity) or even sitting through the college/career small group Bible study (that i was really looking forward to, and won't have a chance to do again in a month). I'm feeling well enough to be restless and want to do something, but crappy enough to lack the energy to do anything beyond computer, television, or reading- and that's what's occupied me between three-hour napping spurts.

So i figured i could do something on my list... a book review! A while back, a publisher emailed me saying they found my blog, and asked if they sent me a book would i review it. They explained it was sort of a grassroots campaign versus a professional book review. I was skeptical, but gave them my work address so they wouldn't have any personal info should it be some kind of scam. But i got the book and that's that. So here is my review of:

Historic Photos of Los Angeles
Text and Captions by Dana Lombardy

It's simple, really- page after page of black and white photographs of Los Angeles, mostly in chronological order. It was really neat to see the progression of the city from a small frontier town to the smoggy skyline in the sixties. The captions provided enough information to be informative, but as I looked closer at the details of the photos, i wanted to know more. Overall, it was fascinating, and fun to compare then-and-now with some of the places I'm familiar with. Ironically, the book arrived when Cali Grandpa was in the hospital for the surgery, so it was a great way to pass time for me the night we stayed over, and he and Cali Grandma looked at it for a bit and reminisced. I'm sure that the folks who would get the most from the book are older, long-time residents of the L.A. area, or someone who really really digs Southern California and classic Hollywood history. Though I am happy to report that Hollywood and movie stars were included, but only in a small portion of the pictures. They did a great job of including many areas of Los Angeles in the limits of 200 pages. So i do recommend the book if you're even minorly interested in history- after all, the photos are much more fascinating than most texts, and i think makes it seem more real than fiction. It might spark you to check the libary for photos of where you live.... then again, now i'm talking like i'm writing to the masses. i know you people, and i would reckon most of you haven't been to the library since you left school. ;)

And last little side note (though i feel awkward cause it feels braggy and that's not my intention), i won an award at work! The Shining Star award is kind of like an "employee of the quarter" and is nominated by any employee and voted on by management. Besides the certificate, there's a commercial that plays for a week on the stations, and a $150 gift card (v. useful and fun). I am so blessed!!! And slightly afraid to look at the pictures, for I know i blushed all shades of red. But many thanks to my coworkers for being so kind and encouraging!!!!