I think it’s safe to say that I woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning. Maybe even the wrong side of the bed for the past few days? Aaron is vigorously shaking his head right now if he’s reading.
I’m just going to lay it all out there. You don’t mind, do you?
- At the top of my frustration list is the fact that I haven’t received a paycheck since November for my SEO freelance work, despite billing for several hundred hours. That’s right – close to 300 freaking hours, for work that I do with the sole intention of being able to pay our bills. I can’t even tell you how many emails I’ve sent, phone calls I’ve made, and times I’ve cursed since I switched from employee to contractor status last fall (for the same company, mind you). It’s like working for Michael Scott from The Office, only it’s not funny.
- I haven’t mentioned this on the blog before, but I began having some knee problems in October. My right knee suddenly started making loud crunching noises when I bent it, and I felt dull pain that got worse with every workout. A knee injury wasn’t something I wanted to mess with, so I saw a sports medicine doctor. He did some x-rays (they showed nothing), diagnosed me with an over-use injury and a possible very minor tear in my meniscus, and told me to take a month off of high impact exercises and stop lifting any considerable amount of weight for squats and lunges after that.
Considering how much I love classes like BodyPump, this sucked. But I did it, and the pain mostly went away, despite the continued crunching noises. Then on Monday this week, I suddenly heard a loud popping noise in my other knee during a bosu class. What.the.heck! This time, however, I’m not going to spend $450 (with insurance!!!) for 15 minutes in front of a sports medicine doctor. I’ve scheduled an acupuncture session for Monday, and a consult with a chiropractor on Wednesday. It’s my first time trying both, but they come highly recommended. I’m hopeful that the acupuncture will help expedite the healing and the chiropractor can help prevent this from repeatedly happening. Lord knows I’m a much nicer person when I get my workouts in.
- I woke up to pouring rain this morning. Not a big deal, except I spend all day with a puppy who is literally bouncing off the walls when she doesn’t get in a solid hour of exercise before I start my workday. She’s crazy from lack of exercise, I’m crazy from lack of exercise and lack of income (but plenty of work!). It’s not a good combination.
Honey is just crazy for peanut butter parsley dog treats.
I’m thinking it would be best for my own sanity if I simply turned off my work computer, put on a movie, and baked a batch of chocolate chip cookies.
Oh, and also Katie Did’s “Chocolate Banana Cream Pie for One of Those Days”. A big thanks to Gina for sharing that recipe link last week when she was in a similar mindset. I had a feeling it would come in handy at some point.
…
Back tomorrow with a more sunny post, and hopefully more sunny weather.
Feel free to share anything that’s irking you this week. It’s amazing what a good venting session and some chocolate can do for a girl…
{ 19 comments… read them below or add one }
Go ahead and vent- that’s one of the many things that a blog is useful for, right? Seriously though- sorry that you’re having ‘that kind of day’- or week. And the not getting paid thing… I hope that someone resolves that for you asap!
I’ve never tried Acupuncture (and keep wanting to) but have several friends who swear by it!
Try to find the entertainment in Olive bouncing off the walls and chasing her tail, even if she’s driving you nuts. Enjoy those puppy moments!
I think I might have to whip up that chocolate banana pie, even if I’m NOT having one of those days!
Thanks, Lauren.
The not getting paid thing should be resolved next week according to the guy in charge of finance (I gave up on HR fixing the problem). And I actually think Olive can sense that I’m in a crappy mood – she’s been entertaining herself for the most part. Tomorrow is a new day, although it is Friday the 13th…ha!
Sorry things are so tough right now! =/ That is quite a crappy combination.
I have a history of knee issues back from when I was a teenager and they are no fun. The first doc never told me that if I didn’t consistently and continually keep my quad and hamstring strength up, it would continue to return (which it did). Yoga has been a saviour to the point where I even started running (like twice, just to provide I could!) again this summer. My issue was chondramalacia (basically one part of my quad shut down so the muscle pulled on the patella leading to pain and lots of that crunching noises and some pops). The crunching may be due to something not pulling properly.
If you want a great ortho, I’d suggest Dr. Worman at Orthopedic Care Specialists in Brockton. They’ve taken care of me four times (back, knee, wrist, and wrist), are independently owned, have all the services (ot, pt, surgery, imaging) in-house, and are just plain competent and nice.
I finally committed to wearing my R wrist brace all day every day for a month…and was pain free for two whole glorious days…then developed massive skin irritation and can only wear my braces at night. Two steps forward, ten back…that’s how its been for a year now!
Enjoy your movie and chocolate!
Thanks for the ortho recommendation. I’ll definitely keep that in mind if I don’t get anywhere with the acupuncture/chiropractor.
The doctor I saw said the crunching was from my patella tracking slightly off, which he thought was partly due to my bone structure, but possibly due to a slight tear in my meniscus. He said he thought it would go away after I stopped lifting so much and tweaked my form (putting more weight in my heels for squats, for example), but it’s still the same. When I take a few days off, the pain goes away, but the crunching is still there, and now it’s there in both knees (and it’s so loud!). His recommendation was to follow-up with an MRI, but that’s $$$ (my deductible is something like $4k before insurance will cover 100%). I’m really, really hoping I can make some progress with alternative medicine before I go that route. I don’t think it’s anything that requires surgery, but probably some type of physical therapy to strengthen the muscles around my knees.
I hear you on the high deductible thing! Ortho Care Specialists are also really good about payment plans, just FYI.
Good luck with chiro/acupuncture. Would you mind sharing the latter practitioner (you can e-mail if you want)? I’ve been interested in seeing one but its not something I just want to do without a referral, you know?
I’m sending lots of positive vibes your way!
Thanks, Kait! I’m going to Acupuncture for Everyone in Back Bay (http://www.everyonesacupuncture.com/index.html). They are super affordable and charge based on what you can afford ($15-35/session) and the reviews on Yelp are all awesome. I’ll let you know how my appointment goes!
That is awesome. I’m looking forward to your report back (as I bet all your readers are).
Hey Amanda,
Sorry to hear you had such a blah day. The weather cannot have helped, and the not getting paid is definitely a non-starter for self-employed people. Re the knee thing, I love acupuncture, but you might also want to consider laser, which helped when I had an IT band problem with my knee. That kind of grinding, as your friend above suggested, may be condromalacia, basically an overuse injury.
Keep after the finance people to get your money. Never deal with HR, always go to accounting. In fact, they should become your new BFF.
Keep baking!
Jane
I hadn’t considered laser. I’ll look into that. What I have does seem to be consistent with chondromalacia, but I’m not really sure. The chiropractor I’m seeing next week may be able to give me a better idea – he specializes in sports and running-related injuries.
I am so done with HR. I basically wasted a month and a half trying to go through them, and they were just making things up, rather than checking in with finance. The person I talked to today is the head of finance, so if he doesn’t follow through, I quit!
it is not irking me but I am saddened by the fact that my dear old dad is dying. The doctors have given him days to live. I feel so numb and unreal… x
Oh gosh. I am so, so sorry. That certainly puts my bad day in perspective.
Sending you and your family positive thoughts.
hello! i keep seeing you post on OSG and have read your blog, before, you’re a great writer! and I just wanted to say “hang in there!” my knee makes crunching noises, too…and I’m almost 26 and it’s been like that for the past 10 years but I just never let it bother me! perhaps i should! – jasper
Hi, Jasper! I love OSG, so you’ll probably see me post there quite a bit.
Thank you for the words of encouragement. It seems that a lot of people have crunchy knees. The doctor I went to said as long as it doesn’t cause you pain, it’s probably not something to worry about. My knee issues, unfortunately, do have some pain and are directly related to the workouts I’ve been doing.
Amanda! thank you for writing back! and I am so sorry to hear about your painful crunchy knees. crunchy knees unite. it’s such a DRAG that it’s directly related to your workouts….who knows, though, perhaps you’re being forced to find workouts that you can delight in, EVEN MORE, than you ever dreamed! yipppee!
Perhaps! I keep thinking that maybe this will give me the push I need to do more yoga.
You should send your employer a “friendly” collections letter if it’s not resolved soon. That’s outrageous that they treat you like that! I hope you stopped doing work for them in the meantime. Maybe that would motivate them too?
I know, it’s totally absurd. It’s been a series of people not doing their jobs and having zero sense of urgency, despite me calling/emailing every.single.day. for well over a month. The kicker is that when I finally went to my boss a few weeks ago (instead of HR), he said something like “well, if you don’t plan on staying on as a contractor, please let me know so I can transition your accounts.” Like he was going to let me walk because THEY weren’t paying ME. If the work weren’t so easy, I would have quit a long time ago.
Knee injuries are no joke! I used to go to a chiro while preggers for back issues and headaches and LOVED it. I need to go back since right now I can barely sit my back and neck are in wicked pain. I keep putting it off (it’s been like 3 weeks) – probably not the best idea.
I’m so looking forward to my chiropractor appointment tomorrow. I tried acupuncture yesterday (just posted a recap) and I think the two will complement each other really well.
Definitely don’t put it off for too long!
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