A scary day…

 

Hello again!  I know I said I wanted to post more, and that really hasn’t happened.  I’m not going to apologize.  I’m trying really hard to find a balance between life, my Scentsy business, blogging, cleaning, relaxing….EVERYTHING!  I finally bought a planner to try to organize my tasks for everything and make myself make time for each thing.  I’m slowly working on it…

I saw From Mrs. to Mama’s post today, and thought this would be a great opportunity to get a post in.  So, here it goes…what’s been on my mind lately.

This past Friday was a somewhat scary day.  Forgive the crudeness here, but I have been having irritation in my one armpit (that’s the crudeness…no other way to best describe that area though) off an on for about a month now.  I couldn’t see anything there, so I was just attributing it to skin irritation from shaving.  I had to buy a new brand/kind of razor around when this all started, so I thought maybe I just nicked myself, or was having sensitive skin issues from this new razor.  Well, on Thursday, it started to feel the worst it’s felt since it started.  I told Hubby about it and he said he would check it out for me if I wanted.  Well, that night was busy, I didn’t have him check it out, and Friday morning I woke up with it feeling even worse.  I asked him to check it out that morning, and when he felt around the sore area (which was so tender!), he said he felt a hard lump where I was hurting.  My first thought was, “oh, I have some sort of cyst…no big deal, probably just needs antibiotics or something”.  Hubby’s thoughts went in a different direction…a direction that had crossed my mind, but didn’t really sink in.  I was trying to think positive, minor.  If you don’t already know this, you have lymph nodes in that area of your body.  Then it hit me.  I have two aunts that were both diagnosed with breast cancer in the past year, and another person very dear to my heart and family who has battled cancer twice now in the last 3 years, first time being breast cancer that also came with tumors in her lymph node area.  I kept trying to tell myself that this had to just be some sort of infection or something, but truth be told, I was worried.  Worried enough, either way, that I made a call to the family doctor that morning and got myself an appointment for that afternoon.  If it was just an infection, it needed treatment now.  I could hardly move my arm without pain!  IF it was something more serious, we had to find out…

Appointment time rolled around, and we all headed to the doctor.  You better believe I wanted Hubby along just in case I got bad news, just in case there would be painful tests done, I needed support.  I was so nervous and anxious the whole morning, I broke down and cried at one point, and as we were driving there, I started to feel sick to my stomach from it all.  I was thinking about the dear family friend and what she has been through.  I was thinking about all the what if’s.  I was nervous about what might happen in the doctor’s office that day (would needles be involved, would he biopsy, would he tell me things I didn’t want to hear?).  We finally get there, I fill out the paperwork I need to fill out, and we wait.  And wait.  He’s a good doctor, but there’s always a wait.  Luckily I had a toddler along to distract me a little bit during our wait.

Finally at around 1:20/1:30pm (our appointment time was actually 12:45pm), the doctor comes into the room.  I tell him what’s been going on, describe how it was feeling, and that we made the appointment right away because Hubby discovered the lump and we got worried.  I was hoping for a more immediate answer of it just being a cyst, or maybe an infected lymph node.  First thing he asks is if I have done a self breast exam in the last month, or ever for that matter.  No.  I have not.  And also not the direction I was expecting him to go right away.  That made me more worried about what it might be.  Especially after informing him that I have a family history of breast cancer, among other cancers (skin and colon).  So, after instructing me on how to perform one, he goes ahead and checks out the lump.  Ouch!  He then explains that it is definitely a lymph node.  But apparently you have clusters of them in that area, and this particular one was pretty far towards my back for him to think it was related to the frontal area.  He did know about the razor and what I thought the irritation was from.  At that point, he said that he only ever had 1 case where the lymph node was sore and it turned out to be cancerous.  Almost 100% of the time, the lumps are not sore.  So, with the knowledge of the new razor, and the location of the VERY sore lump, he diagnosed it as just what I was hoping it was – an inflamed/infected lymph node, possibly from a cut from my razor that I didn’t know I had.  He prescribed antibiotics and moist heat compresses and said I should start to feel better by Monday.  If I was not feeling better by the end of the antibiotics and the lump was still there, then I have to call back and he will order photo imaging tests. 

Well, it’s Monday.  I have been taking the meds and (almost) diligently been applying moist heat compresses 3 times a day, as instructed.  I will say that I do feel less pain today than I did on Friday, but it still is pretty sore, and I still feel that lump there.  Even though the doctor told me not to lose sleep over it this past weekend, I’m still not “out of the woods”.  I keep trying to tell myself that I have 3.5 days worth of antibiotics to take yet, so I can’t get too anxious until they’re done.  But I would be lying if I said it’s not on my mind at least twice a day…

So, I’m waiting.  Watching.  Doing what I was told.  And we’ll just have to see what it’s like on Friday when I’m done with the antibiotics.  Hopefully it will be gone, and my worrying will have been for nothing.  But for now, I wait.

 

And as a side note, I wasn’t really going to write this particular post until I was done with the medicine, knew for sure what was going on, etc.  But after reading From Mrs. to Mama’s post today for this link up, about writing what’s on your mind, getting it out of your mind and on paper (or computer in this case!), I decided this would be the perfect time to make that time for me, for this post.  If no one else reads it, I wrote it for me.

Getting to Know You

I didn’t get to participate in this the last week, maybe even two now – I lost track.  This is also supposed to be a Sunday post, but she still has the linky up, so I’m making sure I participate this week, even if I am a little late!

This week’s questions with my answers:

1. do you watch/read the news?  Hardly ever.  I’m not at a complete loss with what’s going on in the world, thanks to commercials for the news, my dad, and Hubby.  Otherwise, reading the news and watching it are usually just too boring for me or depressing. 

2. how would you describe your "look"?  very casual.  I’d probably be an ideal candidate for “What Not to Wear”, but I don’t spend much money on clothing, and when I do buy new stuff it’s to replace something that finally wore out, and I still won’t spend much.  I only buy necessary clothing, and I tend to shop at Wal-Mart and Target, sometimes Fashion Bug.  I have a hard time finding clothing that fits and is flattering, so most of the time it’s jeans and a t-shirt.  Except for right now – it’s maternity clothes from Motherhood Maternity, and I only have a few pieces of that too!

3. did you play sports in high school or college?  Only whatever I was required to for phys. ed. classes.  I stayed in shape in high school by dancing (tap, jazz, and ballet), and twirling baton.  Those are my sports (and yes, I consider them sports – you may have your own opinion, but no debating here, kthanks).

4. would you rather give up lipstick/gloss or high heels?  Heels, considering I never wear them anyway.  I wore them on my wedding day, and I have a pair of black strappy ones that have a very small heel, but I haven’t worn those in ages because they no longer fit my feet very well.  But I use lip gloss/balm at least once a day, sometimes more.

5. what's your favorite show to watch on tv?  I can’t really pick a favorite.  I watch too much TV, period.

6. would you rather bake or cook?  Either.  Depends on what I’m baking or cooking.  I don’t do much baking because I really shouldn’t eat the products of baking, but I like to do both.

7. shorts or skirts?  shorts.  I never was much of a skirt/dress wearer, but I did buy a maternity dress for an upcoming wedding, and I am hoping to wear it this weekend for my baby shower as well, depending on the weather and temperature.

8. what's your favorite scary movie?  Again, I don’t really have one.  I used to watch more scary movies, but lately some of them are just too scary for me and freak me out to the point of not sleeping.  Even just thinking about them now is starting to give me the creeps!

I hope everyone had a great weekend!

Getting to know YOU is back!

Mannland5 decided to bring back this great post opportunity!  If you were a follower from the start, you might remember me participating in some of these – maybe not every week, but the ones I felt I was able to answer.  She posts questions you answer about yourself, create your own post, and then link your blog on her blog.  So here are this week’s questions with my answers:

1. if you won the title of miss america, what would your platform be?  world peace, of course!   ;)  Isn’t that every beauty pageant contestants platform?  I don’t think I would even know what else to say…maybe something against animal abuse?

2. outdoorsy or indoorsy?  a little of both.  We used to go camping a lot when I was younger, but we had a trailer and the campground had a bathroom with showers and all, so it was a little cushy for camping.  I am indoors a lot, but I still like to go hang out on my porch or patio on nice days, and hopefully this year we will get some more use out of our fire bowl on the patio.

3. pajama's out in public..classy or tres tacky?  You will never see me out in pj’s…the only way would be if something terrible happened and it was the only clothing I had to wear period.  I like to go out in comfy clothes a lot, but that’s what cotton/yoga/dance pants are for (and track suits, if that’s what people still call them).

4. what's your favorite room in your house?  I guess the family room, since that’s where I spend most of my time.  But I am loving how the nursery is turning out and that may soon become my favorite room!    :)

5. nook, kindle, or book?  I still only read from real paper books.  Mostly because we only have one Kindle, which was Hubby’s Christmas present, and the books I have lined up to read I bought before we owned a Kindle.  If I were to ever switch formats, it would be Kindle.

6. would you rather wear the same outfit for a week or not brush your teeth for a week?  Neither, especially if the same outfit wasn’t allowed to be washed.  I’ve gone a lazy/sick day at home without brushing my teeth already, but even then I still usually tried to bathe and at least put on clean underclothes.  A whole week though?  Not going to happen.

7. what's your favorite blog at the moment?  Um, not really sure.  All the blogs I read offer different posts, and each person is obviously different, so it’s hard to pick a favorite.

8. lately i've been daydreaming about.........?  Having my baby boy here safe and sound, and what life will be like then.   :)

If you would like to participate, just go to the blog address in the picture, read her post and create your own!  I’m looking forward to adding this back to my somewhat regular posts, since at the moment I only have one weekly post for sure, and I even skipped that one this week again!  Hubby had oral surgery on Friday to remove his wisdom teeth, and it was a long day, especially since we had to travel an hour to the office.  I also ended up in 2 different grocery stores and Target to pick up soft mushy foods and medicines.  I’ve been kind of pooped out this weekend.  I do have to go clothing shopping badly, since on Thursday I started to feel very pregnant all of a sudden and started realizing a lot of the clothing that I was still able to wear is now not fitting so well anymore, but I’m conflicted between staying at home today and going out.  It seems nice out, so I want to go, but I like to go out with Hubby, and he’s not feeling up to an outing today.  So, now I go off to figure out what to do with my day…

My Weekend…

I totally skipped my weekly Friday post of my kitty pictures, but I was hardly home at all that day, and the rest of the weekend was the same.  Saturday we went to Babies R Us to buy the crib mattress, ate lunch with my grandmother and uncle, I had a baton lesson to teach, and until all was said and done for that day, it was late, I was exhausted, and my hips and pelvic bone were hurting very badly.  Sunday we went out of town to a “Planning for Baby” show, where we learned a few good things, but I was having other issues that day, didn’t sleep well the night before, and in the end didn’t really think it was worth my entire day with the discomfort I was having.  We were supposed to get a FREE gift (supposedly worth about $139)…yeah, big gimmick there.  I expected things along the lines of free pacifiers, bottles, blankets, diapers, samples of bath products, etc. and maybe some coupons to fill in the value.  Our “free” gift was 3 vouchers to send off to receive different coupons.  These were not gift cards you would receive, just coupons.  AND YOU HAD TO PAY A MINIMUM OF $15 IN SHIPPING FOR THEM TO SEND THEM TO YOU!  I’m going to pay $15+ dollars to receive unknown coupons I might not even be able to use?!?  I don’t think so!  The point of the seminar was to explain crib, highchair, and monitor safety and products, and of course, try to sell you the products he was promoting.  We knew it was some sort of sales pitch going into it, but we wanted that free gift, and weren’t doing anything else that day.  They were trying to sell Babee Tenda cribs, feeding tables, and some other brand of motion monitors.  I never heard of this brand before, and apparently you can only buy it through these shows or on their website, and it’s a company that’s been around for many many years, but the whole day was not worth the discomfort I ended up having, especially since we weren’t buying anything anyway, and our “free gift” was that ridiculous.  I ended up with so much discomfort (not pregnancy related – other issues I’ve been dealing with for years) and nothing seemed to be helping last night, that I didn’t sleep well again last night, and after a previous night of wrecked sleep and an hour lost, I am exhausted today.  I hope to have a very good night of sleep tonight with as few interruptions as possible!  So, that was my weekend.  If you receive an invitation for a “Planning for Baby” show in your area, where they will offer you discounted items and a “free gift” worth $139, check into it more before you go, and unless you want to purchase Babee Tenda items, stay home!

Half Way!

I’m officially 20 weeks and 3 days along in my pregnancy, so half way there (unless Bean decides to come earlier or later)!  We went for the 20 week ultrasound this past Thursday, and everything (according to the tech) looked normal and good.  We also found out gender, and surprised my parents on Saturday with this:

 From the moment they opened the cake box, my mom blurted out, “It’s a girl!”  She saw lots of pink, and even though there’s yellow and blue represented as well, she just kept saying it had to be a girl.  So, I had my dad cut into it to reveal if my mom was correct, and it’s officially a…

My mom’s response was classic…  As soon as she saw that blue icing, she yells out, “Oh S%#*T!”.  LOL – classic and typical response from my mom.  She wanted a granddaughter I guess, mainly she said because she “doesn’t want to get peed on!”, but I don’t think she really minds.  My dad didn’t have a preference either way, but he said he was hoping it was a girl for my sake, because he knew I wanted a girl, and I’m into dance and baton twirling and all things girly.  But I think he’s happy to have a grandson.  He was along the day we went to Babies R Us to add some stuff to the registry, which was before we knew the gender, and he saw a bib that had a car on it and said “Lil Dude”, which he decided that if we were having a boy, he was just going to have to get that bib.  Well, according to my mom, after he found out it was a boy, he continued to talk to her about going for that bib!   :)   Not sure if it really was purchased yet or not, but I see a Lil Dude in my future!   :)

As for hubby and I, as I mentioned before we both wanted a girl because I know a little more about dealing with girls and such, and he liked the fact that he could rely on my knowledge of girls.  But from the very beginning, as I stated before, I just knew it was going to be a boy, even though he thought girl because of a dream he had.  I later had a dream that reaffirmed boy to me – we were eating dinner and Bean was a little older, old enough to eat a bowl of peas on his own.  All of a sudden he decides to smush his face down into the bowl of peas, and the dream ended.  Bean was not wearing anything but a diaper during this dream, and there was no indication otherwise that it was a boy, but in the dream I just knew he was a he!  So, hubby feels a little bad about being wrong I think, but I just knew it all along.  Did I want a girl?  Yes.  Am I disappointed it’s a boy?  Not really.  If I had my heart set on girl and thought that all along, I might feel that way, but I’m just happy now and can’t wait to meet him!  Hubby even said Bean was allowed to dance and twirl baton if it’s something he really wanted to try of his own free will.  Maybe we will still have a little tap dancer in our future anyway!   ;)

The tech took all the measurements, and really walked us through what she was looking at.  We saw his brain, kidneys, stomach, liver (I think?), mouth and nose, arms and legs, little feet, and of course his heart, which was beating at 156 bpm – everything looked normal.  She said I have an anterior placenta, which explains my lack of feeling big movement yet, especially coupled with the fact that I have some extra padding to begin with.  I swear I felt something around Christmas, but not much at all.  The days leading up to my US, I felt some more, but it felt very faint, and I would feel it in 2 different spots, so I really wasn’t sure what was going on.  Turns out the twitches I was feeling higher to the side of my belly button are kicks and the twitches lower beneath my belly button are punches.  Bean’s head seemed to be way down low in my pelvic area, and he’s sort of diagonally upside down in there with his feet on the left side of my belly button area.  Let’s hope he stays that direction and doesn’t turn around to breech!  She said he weighs approximately 11 ounces now, which from things I read is right along where he should be.  I am really hoping he grows big enough, but I also am hoping not too big because I really don’t want to have to go through a C-section for that particular reason.

 You can see his spine just below the word “stomach”, but unfortunately he was laying sideways, so we were basically seeing the front of his face, which on these scans doesn’t show much detail.  She tried to get him to roll over so she could get a side view/profile picture, but he just wouldn’t cooperate there.  At least he cooperated here:

 

Definitely a boy!

It’s fun adding stuff to the registry now that we know what he is, but we are still sticking to some neutral things, for a day that #2 may come along, and might be the opposite.  We did buy a few things already, which set the theme for the nursery.  More to come on that in another post though!

Christmas, New Years, and New Addition

I hope everyone had wonderful holidays, whatever you may celebrate.  I did in the end, even though Christmas didn’t feel quite as Christmas-y this year.  And now I’m going to do this post in complete backwards order from the title because the latter is just more exciting!  It’s kind of lengthy, but please read on, I promise it’s interesting!

If you’re reading this on Google Reader, you won’t see the new addition to my blog.  If you are looking at my blog page and haven’t noticed it yet, look to the right, just below my little about me section – I’ll give you a minute to scroll…

For those of you that aren’t looking there, not only do I have a new little addition to my sidebar, but it’s about the new little addition to our family – I’m expecting my first baby June 23rd!  We have known since mid-October, but I waited so long to post on here because I was nervous, wanted to make sure everything seemed to be going well, and had other people to tell in person first.  I am at exactly 16 weeks today (starting my 17th week, depending on how you like to measure the time).  We told our parents and grandmothers on Thanksgiving, the people in the twirling group the week after, and the rest of my extended family got the announcement in their Christmas cards.  I am sad that my baby will never get to meet my grandmother, but I feel better that she at least knew about it before she passed away.  And before I get into the rest of it, since we don’t know if it’s a boy or girl yet, we have nicknamed the baby “Bean” for now (though I have a feeling that nickname will stick even after he or she is born!).  Now to catch you all up!  My first trimester was surprisingly easy.  I had absolutely no morning sickness at any point in the day.  There was only once or twice I felt the slightest bit nauseous, which cued me into having a snack and made it better.  I did have the fatigue, big time.  I’m not working, and yet I still had no energy to get off the couch.  I did have a couple weeks where I was starving, all the time.  I would eat, and within an hour or so, I felt like my stomach was totally and completely empty again.  The most troublesome issue I’ve had is hair loss.  I have been losing a lot more hair than normal, to the point my hair is A LOT thinner.  It has been very disconcerting, but I have been told that even though it’s not a common issue, it does sometimes happen, and even if there was a different cause other than pregnancy hormones (yes, I did have my thyroid tested when I had my pregnancy blood test and all was fine), there’s not really anything that can be done for it at this point.  Now that I’m in my second trimester, it seems to have lessened a little, but I’m wondering if it’s just because I have less hair overall!  My first appointment was at 8 weeks, and I’m seeing a doctor that my good friend went to since my regular GYN doesn’t do maternity care.  We like him a lot, and though he answers questions quickly, he gives all the right information and I never feel rushed.  I had my first ultrasound the same week of my first appointment, and it was so awesome to see Bean’s little heartbeat, at a racing 171.  Even though I was officially 8 weeks for that scan, I measured 7w5d, so really not too far off!  I tried scanning the printout we got, but it came out too dark and you can’t see anything at all.  My first blood test came back perfect.  By the second visit, around 12 weeks, we thought we would hear the heartbeat.  Unfortunately that did not really happen, though the doctor said he was able to detect it for a second, but couldn’t keep on it.  That made me a nervous wreck!  I just kept telling myself that he didn’t seem concerned, sometimes it’s hard to hear it that early, and if he was concerned he would have sent me for another ultrasound or something.  As the weeks have gone by, the fatigue has started to wear off, I’ve had other not-so-pleasant pregnancy digestive issues, and I’m currently suffering from pregnancy congestion.  I’m not sick, but I got the stuffy nose and slight bleeding after blowing.  My mornings in the winter were already miserable due to sinus drainage – now multiply that by about 8.  I have good nights and bad nights of sleep.  It’s a comfort thing – I’m trying to stay exclusively to sleeping on either side now, even though I end up on my back at some point most nights, and my doctor said I don’t have to worry too much about that quite yet, but some nights I only get up once for the bathroom and sleep the whole night soundly.  Other nights, like last night, I get up multiple times, can’t get comfortable, and feel like crying.  I’m hoping for a really good night’s sleep tonight, because I felt exhausted today.  I did buy the Boppy body pillow, and it has definitely helped, but it’s still not the answer to a perfectly sound night every single night.  I dread that my sleep is only going to get worse as I get bigger and my hips start to really ache since I’m already having so much trouble.  I also have been getting the round ligament pain.  The first time I felt it, it was awful, and a few days before my second appointment.  It didn’t last long, my warm shower seemed to help, and I knew it wasn’t any kind of cramping, so I didn’t call, but my doctor assured me that’s what it was at the appointment.  I still get twangs of it sometimes, but he said it should start to diminish, and at least when I get it I know what it is now and it doesn’t feel as bad anymore.  My cravings have been slightly weird for me.  First I couldn’t seem to get enough oatmeal.  That lasted a week or so.  Then I was on a slight waffle kick, but again, only for a short time.  Then it progressed to pickles, then green olives, and now most recently it was spinach and artichoke dip and tortilla chips.  I used to eat a little of that dip if my in-laws got it, but I never really chose it.  It just wasn’t really my kind of appetizer.  Over the last few weeks I must have eaten it at least 4 or 5 times!  There was one night I wanted it for my dinner, just the whole thing of it all by myself!  I didn’t do it, but I did eat at least half as an appetizer.  So for the most part as of now I have been wanting salty foods.  That would be hubby’s part of Bean because I usually have a sweet tooth myself.  And if you believe in any of the old wives tales, it means I’m carrying a boy.  So my most recent appointment was this past Monday.  He said I definitely got bigger and was measuring where I should be, my blood pressure was good at 126/74, and we were able to get Bean’s heartbeat with the doppler this time!  A wonderful 148 bpm and the best sound I ever heard!  Hubby recorded it but I don’t know the best way to add that sound clip on here, and he just went to bed.  Maybe in the next post or next update.  The next thing I have to go for is the quad screen test, which will show my chance of the baby having Down syndrome and other issues.  If the results come back good, I have my next appointment on the 31st, and I will schedule the regular ultrasound for shortly after that where we can find out the gender!  If the results come back with an increased chance of any issues, I will have to schedule a specialized ultrasound and go from there.  So I hope the results are good, but either way, we can find out if Bean is a boy or girl around the beginning of February!  I’m excited for that, but my gut tells me it’s a boy.  Hubby thinks it’s a girl, especially after a dream he had recently.  Some pregnant women get gut feelings and they are 100% right.  My gut could be wrong, but I think it’s a boy at this point and I also feel like I will go past my due date.  Just my feeling as of now – we’ll see how correct it is as time goes on.  I also got a belly band for my current jeans not long before Christmas, since I was having trouble buttoning them, and it fits great, but at this point I’m starting to notice a definite change in belly size, and I bought my first pair of maternity jeans the other night, along with 2 shirts.  That’s the other thing.  You will not see belly pictures on here until I am either pretty huge, or possibly not at all.  I was heavier to begin with, and I’m not fond of how my belly looks.  Right now I know I’m getting bigger because of baby, but I don’t show like the typical slender pregnant woman.  To the outside world, I just look like I ate way too many Christmas cookies in my time.  So, no pictures until I look distinctly pregnant, possibly none at all.  I’m taking them for my own recording, but that’s as far as they’re going for now.  So at the moment, that’s all I have on that for now.  After Monday’s appointment, I finally felt like I could let it all out, and even started looking at maternity clothes and cribs!  Now I’m excited and extremely happy!  Not that I wasn’t before, but I was totally overwhelmed with nervousness.

My Christmas was nice.  We went out for our usual buffet lunch, and back to my grandmother and uncle’s to exchange gifts and play Wii games.  Hubby and I exchanged in the morning, and his card made me cry.  In a good way, but these hormones really get me sometimes!  (I cried at the jewelry commercial of the couple with their baby up late at night for baby’s first Christmas!  Totally bawled…)  My parents and I chipped in together for a Kindle for him, and I also got him pj’s, and a bottle of 43 (booze).  He got me the Polar Express DVD, soundtrack, and illustrated book (I have been wanting the CD for 3 years now, because I love that movie, and he managed to find all 3 for a great deal on Amazon – the book was also partially for Bean), along with a jigsaw puzzle, a mat for the puzzle (something else I’ve been wanting forever), and a coupon for my choice of one pregnancy luxury item (example, a foot spa or other item for pampering).  My parents gave me/us a double crock pot, a Target gift card (for maternity clothes, but unfortunately Target doesn’t carry clothes for my body, so a new Wii game it will be!), and a camera bag for our new Fugi Film FinePix 1800.  Other gifts were cash and restaurant gift cards.  We bought my dad a tripod for his camera (same one as ours), a BJ’s membership for my mom, and other gifts for everyone else were made up of games, gift cards, clothing, wine, chocolates, and other goodies.  We did get a picture frame for his mom that is carved wood with the saying “Grandma’s Angel” for her first picture of the baby, and I made my aunt some jewelry that she absolutely loved.  I will do a whole separate post on that later, since this one became too long. 

New Year’s was spent at my in-laws.  Yummy food, relaxation, nothing too exciting there.  Overall a good holiday.

I apologize for the long post.  Hopefully everything made sense.  Since I haven’t done any announcing on here about the baby or updates, I had a lot to say!  I will eventually put up a poll for gender guessing, and will leave it up until we find out, but I have to figure out how to do that first!  Look for more updates to come, but I’m not sure how often I will do them yet.  Any advice you have on great baby products, furniture, must-haves, etc., are greatly welcomed since I am starting to look at that stuff now and I feel overwhelmed by it all.

And now it’s time for bed…

A great loss.

Virginia Grace Weaver, Feb. 16th 1923-Dec. 6th 2010

 

This is one of the best, and only, pictures I have with my grandmother from my adult life.  I was so happy when she was able to make it to our wedding, since she had recently lost half of her leg at the time and wasn’t sure if she would be able to make it or not.

It’s been a very sad time for my family.  My grandmother was 87 years old, and hasn’t been in the best of health over recent years, but she was a very strong woman and seemed to overcome whatever had been thrown her way.  Until Monday the 6th.  I got a call from my dad immediately after hanging up with my mom to tell me she was in the hospital, and the doctor requested that everyone get there as soon as possible to make a decision about her condition.  I won’t go into details about her ailment, but she was extremely sick, and her body was not able to handle the damage the illness was causing anymore.  She had apparently been sick since the week before, but refused to go to the hospital then.  I was worried about her one or two months ago when she was admitted to the hospital for pneumonia.  I know that pneumonia can be very serious in a person of her age, and when she came out of that ok, I figured we had more time with her.  So, the phone call I received that Monday came as a complete shock.  I hadn’t seen her since the day after Thanksgiving prior to that, and she seemed fine then.  I didn’t know that she wasn’t feeling well for a few days after that visit, and by that Monday evening, she was at peace.

We all agree that she must have known her time was coming to an end sooner than later.  My aunt was able to answer questions about great grandparents and her siblings that no one else knew the answer to because my grandmother gave her all that information on her most recent visit a few weeks ago.  My uncle’s fiancee, who has cared for my grandmother since losing her leg almost 4 years ago, had a paper that my grandmother wrote out with all the dates of her siblings births and deaths.  My other uncle got the feeling from her on a recent conversation that she knew it was her time to go.  And my dad and I went up to her bedroom to look for something the day after she passed, and found the whole stack of my grandfather’s funeral cards sitting next to her bed, along with a few very old pictures sitting around that didn’t seem like her normal display.  She knew.  I wish I had.  It was a very difficult week.

I got to see all of my aunts and uncles along with all 10 of my cousins and their children together for the first time in a very long time.  It was nice to see everyone again, but not for the reason we were gathered together after so long.  My one cousin did a very nice job of reminiscing about her and memories that each person contributed, and even that could have gone on all day.  We each had very special memories and moments with her.  She had 6 children, 11 grandchildren, and 4 great grandchildren, and always gave her love individually to each of us.  I won’t get into any of their memories and moments with her, because those are their private thoughts, and this is my personal and public blog.  But I have so many special and even funny memories with her…

She lived near the schools I went to, so when I was old enough to walk to school on my own, my parents would drop me off at her house in the morning to walk to school, and then pick me up there afterward.  If there was ever a morning I didn’t get to eat breakfast or was still hungry, she made sure I didn’t go to school with an empty belly.  I tried new things at her house that I never would have otherwise.  And every day after school, she would let me watch whatever I wanted on TV, and a lot of times there was even an ice cream treat waiting for me.  Butter Nut was the favorite (like Butter Pecan, only the brand the local mini mart sold at the corner called theirs “Butter Nut”).  If she didn’t have any left, she would give me money and send me for some.  I hardly ever missed school for being sick, but I do remember staying at her house during the day a couple times when I was too sick to go to school.  She always had crackers, soup, or ginger ale and knew how to make me feel better.  Her apple pie was the best pie I have ever eaten.  When I was in 5th grade, I had to do a “how-to” speech, so I decided on how to make apple pie.  We were allowed to bring in the item or treat we were speaking about, so my grandmother was generous enough to make at least 5 or 6 apple pies for my dad to bring into school that day.  I was a big hit with my class and all my teachers!  Her homemade apple sauce was also wonderful.  Sadly, I never got the recipe for that from her, and never got the chance to make a whole batch with her to know just what to do.  I do make her apple pie though, and it may not always be as perfect as hers, but it comes pretty close, and I love that I can at least carry that with me in life.  After high school and college, I would drive her to a lot of her doctor appointments, and we would go out to lunch together many times.  I loved my time alone with her, just to talk and be listened to.  Her doors were always open, and I could stop by whenever I wanted for a visit.  I could talk to her about anything and everything, and even when I only planned a quick visit, I would still end up there for hours sometimes.  She was a wonderful role model, an inspiration, and I can only hope that I will grow into being just as an amazing woman as she was.

She will be missed greatly, and will be a part of me forever.

My Life Lately…

I have hardly been blogging at all for at least a good 2 weeks now.  I was hoping to break the trend with last week’s Kitty Pic post, but obviously that didn’t happen.  So, I figured I’d take a few minutes and write something in a post now, at least let you in on my life lately.  It’s not all that interesting, but here it is…

Two weeks ago hubby had to go back to the main office for work for a week.  He left on Halloween, and since my parents don’t like to stay at home on Halloween for trick-or-treaters anymore, they came down to my house to keep me company and play some Wii games. 

The next day, Monday, I decided to do something healthy and walk a half hour on the treadmill.  I know I mentioned this in a previous post, but I managed to hurt my foot when I stepped off the treadmill.  It hurt even worse on Tuesday, and by Wednesday that week I could hardly put weight on it.  Since I couldn’t get into the orthopedics office for at least another week, I ended up having my mom take me to the ER to get x-rays and find out what was wrong.  Apparently, I just sprained it, but I could hardly walk, so they gave me a surgical shoe to take some of the pressure off my foot, and I ended up borrowing a pair of crutches from my mom so I could just do partial weight bearing.  Let me tell you – it’s not easy at all, and definitely no fun to hobble around your own house on crutches without any help around.  I almost fell on the stairs twice, and if I needed to carry something, forget the crutches – hello pain!  I ended up sitting around all day on Thursday, only to get up when I absolutely had to, so by Friday I was feeling somewhat better and was at least able to go out and about with my parents and no crutches.

Hubby came home that Saturday, and brought me these really interesting and beautiful roses.  I did take pictures, but I don’t have my camera here at the moment, and that’s where the pictures are, so I will have to post them another time.  They were 2 toned pink striped, and they came with these little purple baby’s breath type spray.  Most awesome flowers ever!

Since then, I’ve had absolutely no motivation to do anything.  My house is a mess because I’ve had no energy to clean, and I haven’t even crafted anything new because I just haven’t felt creative.  Same with the blog.  I’ve been feeling more tired lately, and I really dislike losing sunlight so early in the evening.  It really exacerbates the whole motivation and sleepiness issues.  So, I tried to make today somewhat productive.  I had higher ambitions than what actually got accomplished, but washing 2 loads of laundry, folding 2 different loads of laundry, washing the dishes and putting away the clean ones, and calling my dermatologist for a different prescription is quite accomplished for me lately!

So, I’m hoping for more accomplishments tomorrow.  Hubby is going to have to help me clean the house starting this weekend for Thanksgiving, so tomorrow I’m hoping to be crafty and get some of that stuff accomplished.  OH!  I almost forgot!  I sold my first pair of earrings from my Artfire shop on Monday!  Thank you to my first buyer – I hope she enjoys them as much as I do!  I was so happy when I got that notice.  I have re-listed the earrings, but when I priced them I unfortunately forgot about taking into consideration Paypal’s fees and the shipping envelope, so I had to increase the price by 50 cents – that’s not too much of an increase, right?  She still got them for the original price, but I apologize to any future buyers who have to pay the slight increase.  So, I have more jewelry and wine charm stuff, and I have really cute winter/Christmas ribbon that I’d like to create more items with to add to the shop ASAP so there’s more of a selection for holiday shopping.  Please check the shop, and check often since I hope to add more very soon, and see if there’s anything that catches your eye.  I am also interested in custom orders – if you don’t like anything in the shop, but would like something created just for you, please e-mail me through Artfire and I will see what I can do for you!

Hopefully more posting to come now…

Monday Madness

So, remember the post titled “Monday, Monday – so good to me…”?  Well, today was not so good to me.  I can’t say it was horrible, but a little weird.  I slept the best I have slept last night for a while, but I was woken up at 6:30am.  I heard incessant digging on the carpet, and I was so afraid it was Jasper getting ready to pee on the floor (not that he does that, but he likes to pee on towels…).  I got up and turned the light on to discover Dusty trying to bury a piece of poop in the middle of my bedroom floor!  Thankfully hubby is not home, because he certainly wouldn’t have liked that wake up.  I dispose of the issue, and while I was in my own bathroom, I heard more incessant digging in the hallway bathroom (they share a wall).  So I go to check it out, and what do I find?  MORE POOP!  Only there was a lot more of it, and it was smeared…  Wonderful – just what I want to be doing at 6:30am.  I have no idea what happened, or exactly who’s poop it was (though I have a sinking feeling it was Jasper’s, and Dusty is super prissy about keeping things clean and buried), but I could really never have to deal with that again and be happy.  I also had to remove something from Jasper’s hiney today…something else I never thought I’d have to do since we never use tinsel or anything for that reason…but today I had to, and he was not pleased with me.  Another thing I will be happy to never have to do again.  And, thanks to him, I now have to spend my afternoon at the laundromat tomorrow washing my comforter – yep, you guessed it – poop remnants got on there too!  The comforter definitely needed a washing, but thanks to that I now have to do it immediately tomorrow.  Just didn’t get there today, and unfortunately it’s too big and fluffy to fit in my machines at home.  Just what I feel like doing tomorrow…

I did do something good today though, and yet somehow that seemed to turn bad on me too!  I decided to finally start keeping track of my food intake again.  I need to eat healthier again, it’s a must.  I also walked on my treadmill for a half hour today too.  But when I got off, a few of my little toes on my right foot were hurting big time.  They are still hurting, and making me gimp along when I walk.  I have absolutely no idea what caused it, since they didn’t hurt at all before I went on, and gave me no issues while I was walking.  Hopefully tomorrow will be better because I have to teach at baton practice tomorrow night, and a sore foot will not make for a good practice.

I’m also having some other issues again.  I have these problems periodically, more frequently than I’d like, and I certainly won’t get into it on here, in e-mails or comments, so please don’t ask.  But just know that these issues cause me a great deal of discomfort or even pain sometimes, and I’m currently having quite a bit of discomfort.  I’m hoping it resolves ASAP, but if it’s not gone by next week, I may be checking with the doctor again.  I may have to anyway – I’m still losing clumps of hair daily, more than my usual shedding, and thyroid tests came back normal.  So that will need to get figured out sooner rather than later.  I read it could be some sort of deficiency or hormone imbalance.  It might even be my scalp I guess, but I go back to that doctor in 2 weeks, so I can have him check things out too.

So today has not been such a great day.  I’ve had worse I guess, but I was hoping to get things done today that I didn’t, and now I’m not sure how much I’ll get done tomorrow either with an afternoon at the laundromat and baton practice with a lesson beforehand in the evening.  I’m at least hoping for another night’s sleep like last night though…that would be awesome.

Monday, Monday – so good to me…

Please Note: This post was supposed to go up last night, but the internet went out and I couldn't add my pictures and get it posted, since it was very late, and the internet didn't come back on until 2:00am or later...sorry if it seems confusing!

Those lyrics just popped into my head when I was trying to start this post. The rest of the lyrics don’t really pertain to me or this post, but it just struck me as a good title. (If you don’t know this song, it’s “Monday Monday” by the Mamas and the Papas)

So, as much as I was against it before, last night for some reason I decided to sign up for Twitter. The name “Twitter” actually annoys me a little, and I always thought it was kind of ridiculous, especially since I have Facebook and really like that social network. But, I know so many bloggers who have Twitter accounts, so I thought maybe it was about time for me to give it a try too. Expand my horizons and such… I don’t really understand it all yet, and I don’t really know if I like it. I’m only following 4 “people” so far, one of which is Dr. Oz, lol! So, if you would like me to follow you, let me know how to find you, and if you’d like to follow me, you can find me @SSgherza.

I made today as productive as I could. I had to call my doctor to try to get them to order a blood test to check my thyroid. My hair seems to be falling out a lot more than my usual hair loss, or even my typical season changing hair loss (I swear, I’m like a cat!). Hubby says it didn’t really feel thinner to him at all, and I had a hair cut on Thursday last week, and my hairdresser didn’t seem to think it was much thinner, but when I told her I felt like I was losing a lot of it recently, she suggested I have my thyroid checked. I have definitely thought about it recently, and taking into consideration that thyroid issues run in my family (my mom had Grave’s Disease, and both her mom and brother are currently on thyroid meds), and my hairdresser even recommended what I had already been thinking about, I decided to call today and try to get the test ordered. I had it tested 2 or 3 years ago when it was brought into question then, along with diabetes testing, and everything came back normal then, but now I got a little worried about it again. So, hopefully I will find out tomorrow what’s going on with that, and hopefully there’s no problems! But after spending a good portion of the afternoon even trying to get through to the nurses due to their phone line issues, getting the blood test, and then stopping by my Grandmother and uncle’s house to drop off some cookies, I finally got home and got started on my to-do list for today. I got all my Halloween stuff up now (finally!), my kitchen floor all cleaned up, vacuumed the family room, and dealt with some laundry. I had some other things I wanted to accomplish today, and didn’t get to, but there’s always tomorrow, since it’s late now and I'm feeling pooped!

Jasper is finally feeling better today it seems. He sneezed a lot less today, and when he actually did sneeze, it was just once and done – no more sneezing fits of 10 in a row! His eyes were a lot less goopy and watery today too. He even got feisty with Dusty for the first time in a week, ran around the house, and played with a couple toys for a little! He still isn’t quite 100% yet, but he was definitely better today, and that made me feel a lot better. Looks like we won’t need to call the vet now anyway, thankfully.

I had a really good weekend. I know I totally skipped Scrapbook Saturday this week again, but I didn’t think to create it earlier in the week and schedule the post, and I was really busy this weekend, or when I wasn’t busy I was tired and didn’t feel like doing much. We went to the PA Renaissance Faire on Saturday with my dad. That always makes for a good day. The weather was a bit windy at first, but the sun was bright and warm, and when the wind died down it was beautiful. I froze after the sun went down though, and was getting very uncomfortable on the benches at the Globe Theater, so we had to leave before the finale in song was finished. We never stayed that late before either, so it was nice to see at least some/most of the finale for a change. The best act of the day: The Dandy Pirates. Two guys singing hilarious songs, some about “being a pirate sucks”, one about being gay (one of the pirates was supposedly gay, but was sleeping with the other pirate’s girl), one about a girlfriend who ended up being a guy…definitely not a show for the kiddies! They were the funniest act I ever saw at the Ren. Faire though! Another funny show was a new one this year – The Duo of Woo’s Quest for the Perfect Wife. Definitely another show not suitable for young ones! They did it like a game show and took 5 women from the audience as the contestants. The women had different things to do, and each “level” eliminated one until they had only 1 left – and she ended up with some gift certificates for some of the fair vendors totaling $35! We have been going free every year, courtesy of my dad’s employers. I look forward to laughing hysterically at the Dandy Pirates again next year!

Sunday was a performance for the baton group. The small group of girls I teach now (which started at 5, went down to 4, and now will be up at 6, possibly 7!) performed the routine I taught them for the very first time yesterday. It’s to the song “Fame” from the 2009 version of the movie. I was nervous for them, they were nervous, but overall it wasn’t too bad. They still have a lot of work to put into perfecting it more, and the routine isn’t even completely finished yet, so they have more to learn, but for a first time with some girls who have never twirled before this summer, it was pretty decent. I still have to review the recording, since I didn’t get to watch the entire show, so we’ll see what I find on playback. They have another show coming up in the beginning of November, so I’m hoping for an even better go at it then. I love being a part of this group – I joined as a member when I was 5, and they are like a second family to me, always have been. The group has changed somewhat over recent years, but it still feels great to be a part of it, and I absolutely love being able to teach now that I can’t really perform anymore. I also have picked up private lessons on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, so I get to do what I love 3 evenings a week now! :) I’d love to post pictures, but I don’t really have their permission or parents permission, so I will refrain from upsetting anyone, just in case.

Hope you all had a great weekend too! Looks like we might have more rain tomorrow and Wednesday…wonderful.

(PS – I actually typed this post out much earlier today, but wanted to add the photos, so I didn’t post it right away, and now that I was ready to post it I had to change a lot to reflect on my day, not list what I wanted my day to be like. I also didn’t think Jasper was better earlier, and thought I was seriously going to have to call the vet today – but luckily that changed too!)

“I feel like I’m taking crazy pills!”

Quote from “Zoolander”.  I’ve never seen the movie, but I will give you some insight as to where this came from.

My hubby has caught a cold.  Not a great time to be sick either, and I’m really hoping I don’t end up with it too.  But today he said he was feeling lousy, and I asked if he took any medicine.  When he said “no” and that he didn’t know what to take, this is parts of the conversation that followed (we were chatting back and forth via IM, since he was upstairs in the office and I really didn’t want to move from the couch at the time):

ME: what are ur symptoms?

HIM: feeling lousyness, stuffy, sinus congestion, my throat was sore, but I think that was post nasal drip from over night.  my brain feels cottony

ME: the box of red and green capsules on ur night stand, take those

ME:  that’s daytime sinus congestion medicine with some tylenol in it for ur cottony head

HIM:  merry christmas!

ME:  lol, the color of the pills?

HIM: yeah, my present from pharma clause

ME: lol, let me know if they start to help at all, cuz if not, i will see if i can find something different when i go out later

(some time later) 

ME: any effect from the medicine yet?

HIM:  I dunno

Then we began discussing some patio stuff.  The guys started today, and I was concerned about the size, location, etc. since a few changes had to be made from what the landscaper painted for the outline.  I told hubby before that I might need to go out with a tape measure later to measure everything and see for myself.  That’s just how I am with all house related repairs, additions, etc.  It takes all I have not to stand right there when things are being done so I can see and question everything – I drive myself crazy!  (Maybe I need the “crazy pills”, lol)  So this is how the convo continued from there:

ME:  the screening goes on tomorrow, that’s the sand-like stuff.  he said the black edging will go on tomorrow too, and they should be able to put down the charcoal border.  do u know about the black edging?

HIM: yes, cause I asked him my "why don't the edge bricks just fall off" question yesterday and he told me

(our patio is actually being built raised up due to the slope of our property, not dug down into the ground and made level with the rest of the grass like usual – hence the concern of the edge bricks falling apart)

ME: ok, u'll have to explain to me then, cuz i didn't know anything about that, but i nodded and smiled and said ok great

HIM: lol, "I don't know what your talking about but okay great!!!"

ME: lol, yeah, pretty much

HIM:  thanks you, you cheer me up

I then ask him if he needs anything else when I go out for other things.  Earlier for lunch, he said he wanted something else, more food.  After I told him what snacks were here, he said he wanted “chippies”.  Now, usually when we say “chippies” in this house, we mean nachos – tortilla chips covered in melted shredded cheese and bacon pieces.  So, when he said “chippies”, I immediately went to that kind, and told him we didn’t have the ingredients, to which I got the response that that’s not what he meant, but thanks to me, he now wanted that, and I was mean.  So when I asked if there was anything else he needed while I was out, this is what followed:

HIM: ingredients for chippies...

ME: and is that what u pick as ur side dish for the chicken? chippies and cucumber salad?

HIM: YES!!!  Chippies!

ME: lol, oh my

HIM: *dance dance*

ME: should i really buy real bacon or use the bacon crumbles?  and what cheese?

HIM: BACONSES!  Delicious CHEESESESES!

ME:  oh my…

HIM: What were in these christmas pills, pharma clause?!

ME: lol, y?

HIM: I feel goofy... I guess you couldn't tell.

ME: this is so getting a blog post!  lol

HIM: …I’ll need to review it before you publish it  :p

ME: lol, y?

Which brings me to the Zoolander quote:

HIM: I don't want strangers on the internet thinking I'm taking crazy pills!http://www.moviewavs.com/php/sounds/?id=gog&media=WAVS&type=Movies&movie=Zoolander&quote=crazypills.txt&file=crazypills.wav

I told him he’s taken these pills before, and asked if they always made him this goofy, but apparently he was just being his normal goofy self. 

So this is the story of the Christmas pills, and how I became “Pharma Clause”.

Catching Up

Wow, I am finally all caught up on my Google Reader for the blogs I follow!  My vacation at the end of July put me severely behind on my reading, and posting – I have finally gone from 300+ unread posts to 0! 

My weeks have either been really busy or really lazy since returning too.  The busy weeks didn’t allow me much or any time to post, and the lazy weeks were just that – LAZY!  I didn’t feel like doing anything at all, and in most instances, I didn’t.  I’m hoping to finally get back on track with things now.

I started a private dance lesson with a new student the week after coming back from vacation.  If I refer to her by “name”, it will only be “K” since this is a public blog and I do not have her parents permission to use her real name or anything else personal on here.  K lives in a not-so-great area of the city, which makes me nervous, and parking has been a real pain, but I’ve had 3 lessons with her now, and it’s been going great!  She says she has fun, she’s outgoing, and a good listener for the most part.  :)  This month I stuck to summer and Hawaiian music, and we’ve even begun a real hula dance!  It has been fun for me so far, and I look forward to hopefully continuing lessons for a long while.

My cousin also contacted me to ask if he could have a family get together here at our house (which happened on the 15th), since we all live all over the place and he was coming up from Florida that week to visit.  I agreed, as long as our backyard wasn’t under construction for our patio, since I planned to keep everyone outdoors for the entire time, or at least as many people outside for as long as possible.  My patio hasn’t been started yet, and unfortunately it rained – and poured – that day, so everyone was stuck inside.  I had spent the entire week before that cleaning my house from top to bottom.  It was time to do all the cleaning anyway, but I also care about how my house looks to other people, and I knew there would be family wanting to see it all for the first time, so I wanted it looking perfect.  I expected people in and out for the bathroom, a tour of the house, etc., but I didn’t expect to end up with 19 people crammed into 3 rooms, tracking mud, grass, and food all over my floors.  I was very stressed about the whole thing, and the only person from my cousin’s bunch that said a sincere thank you and related to how stressed I was was my other cousin’s wife.  The cousin that asked me to have it here, and his parents, brother and SIL (other cousin and wife mentioned above) showed up 2 hours late and stressed me out even more.  The cousin that asked to have it here decided it would be fun to joke around that he spilled red wine on my white carpet (he really did not, but thought it was hilarious to joke about it).  I also did not provide the wine, as I didn’t really want any alcohol here with the mix of family that came, but one of my aunt’s brought it because my cousin told people to bring whatever they wanted, never got a list of what people were bringing, and didn’t tell me that he told the rest of the family to bring stuff.  Long story shortened, I was kind of mad at that part of the family, happy to see other parts of the family, and have learned my lesson to never offer my house as the gathering location for something like that ever again!

My friend had her second baby last week and I’m excited to meet him and visit with her.  She teaches baton in the group I’m involved in too, but with having the baby and the week before having the baby, she hasn’t been at practice.  I’ve seen pictures, but I’m hoping to get to meet him in person this week and deliver her baby gifts!   :)

We haven’t gotten our patio started yet, but they have now marked the whole property where utilities are located under ground.  We are set to begin work anytime after tomorrow, so now it’s just up to the landscaper to get started – I’m very anxious for that!  I can’t wait to have that done and hopefully enjoy it as much as possible before the fall turns too cold.

So, that’s my catch up for now.  I finally took pictures of my new jewelry set I made before vacation, so I would like to do a post with those, and I definitely have more vacation fun to share.  :)

Frazzled Excitement

So, I have a long to-do list this week, and all of it is stuff I really want to do (not like cleaning or other chores), and sometimes I get the motivation to do this stuff, but I don’t know where to begin, or I feel really scattered with it.  This is my frazzled excitement. 

So far, I’ve at least started a few things.  As you can see, I added yet another new page to this blog – Photography.  There’s only four photos in it right now, but I definitely plan on adding more as I continue to watermark them.  There’s just a lot I want to add, so it will take me some time, but at least I have four to share with you so far.  Go peek at them, you know you’ve been waiting for it!   ;)  Well, I know you haven’t really been, but I hope you enjoy them anyway.   :)

I got my time and abilities sheet from my church a while back.  This is the sheet where you sign up for all the stuff you want to volunteer for.  I never fill mine out and send it back, especially considering I lived in NJ for 3 years, and the church is in PA (but they were still sending me stuff in NJ!).  I haven’t been to church at all since, let me think…my wedding day!  That was 3 years ago, and wasn’t even a church service.  I’m surprised they still send me stuff and haven’t ex-communicated me yet, lol.  But all kidding aside, I’m not an extremely religious person.  I do believe in God and Heaven and all that, but I don’t necessarily feel you have to go to a church every week, and give all your money to them (after all – God isn’t the one needing my money) in order to have your beliefs.  I apologize if I offended anyone here.  To each his own.  This time, however, instead of just throwing the form away, something made me look it over.  Now I’m thinking of signing up for a couple things.  I love working with kids – they are looking for vacation Bible school helpers (and I even just told my hubby the other night how much I used to like Bible school).  And who ever knew my church has or is starting a dance group?!  Obviously I love dance, I’m even trying to start my own dance business (which I offered classes to the church’s preschool, but was sadly declined), so definite check mark on that one!  However, in typical fashion of me, I am late in returning it.  So now I have to write a note to add to it apologizing for my tardiness, and find out what that dance stuff is all about.  Really?  Dance group in a church?  It also got me thinking maybe I should go to church more often, especially if I’m volunteering.  I’m not a morning person though, and I am not a fan of the long, drawn out services on a Sunday morning, so I’m thinking of attending some of the Saturday evening services.  Maybe I’ll go with my Grandmom.  Anyway, I filled out the sheet, now I just need to write the note, send it back, and see where to go from there.

We have new members to Thunderbolts, and I have been working with them a little.  I have been wanting to work on a routine or at least help out and collaborate with another instructor on one, and I mentioned this to the director.  I don’t want to step on anyone’s toes in the group, since they’ve been around all this time, and I went away for 3 years.  But last night I got asked to get together with one of the instructors to work on the new routine.  YAY!   :D  So I’m excited about that.  I even stayed up way too late last night listening to music and trying to find some good ideas with that twirling ear of mine.

I am thinking about starting a “Scrapbook Saturday” post on here.  It might not be every single week, since some Saturdays get busy with other activities.  I have a TON of scrapbooking stuff to work on from the wedding, bridal shower, honeymoon, etc., that I bought but then never got around to completing.  It’s still all here, and all of those events were 3 years ago!  It’s about time I get to it, and I thought some motivation might be to do a post on here.  I would plan to create at least one page (more if the creativity and time allows), and post it on here every Saturday (or every possible Saturday).  So, hopefully I’ll get started on that this week and you’ll see something by Saturday night (or “Scrapbook Sunday” if I only work on it Saturday and finish late).

So those are a few of the major things I’ve been thinking about, trying to start, or need to work on.  But those things, along with a never-ending to-do list of other things, makes me feel all frazzled.  I just don’t know where to begin, or I want to work on 3 different things at the same time because I’m excited to, and I get all “aaaahhhhh!”.  Ever feel like this?  I’m sure all you moms have…

Week #2 Ending and Catch Up, plus AWARDS!

I feel like I’m playing catch up now. My hubby came home on Saturday afternoon after his week away in NJ, and I really didn’t feel like spending more time with my computer. I enjoyed my weekend with him, and now I have a lot of bloggy stuff to catch up on!

Week #2, Full Day #5 – I hadn’t slept well all week, mainly because I would put off going to bed until I couldn’t keep my eyes open anymore since the bed was very lonely and empty. Friday morning I finally crashed. I didn’t get out of bed until 11:30am that day! Needless to say, I didn’t get that much accomplished on Friday before heading out to dinner with my parents, grandmother and uncle. After dinner we went to my grandmother and uncle’s house to play Wii games. That was pretty much the extent of my day.

Week #2, Homecoming! – Hubby came home Saturday afternoon at around 2:15pm. It was so nice to finally get a hug, and he even brought me a surprise:

The last time he came back, I also got flowers. Unfortunately, I don’t have any pictures of those. He always knows how to make me smile. :)

After he unpacked, we ended up getting pizza (I know, bad me – I was hungry and didn’t want what we had here, so pizza won the hunger battle…) and just spent time together watching TV and relaxing. :) It was a very nice day.

Sunday – We slept in that morning, relaxed a little in the afternoon, then went shopping for a few things and had my parents come over in the evening. My dad and hubby put our new grill together, which took a lot longer than expected, and we tested it out – grilled chicken with light BBQ sauce, veggie kabobs marinated in soy sauce, ham for my mom, and low-cal cucumber salad with cantaloupe for dessert – yummy! It was the first time I ever used a grill, and of course it got late, so I had to grill in the dark! I had some light from the rear yard spotlight, but I will definitely not be trying to grill in the dark again. Everything came out awesome and delicious! The chicken was cooked perfectly, the veggies were done just right, and now I have grilled ham to try later in the week for a leftover dinner. Clean up is a little time consuming, but the grill is great and may just become my new favorite way of cooking this summer! :) (Picture from Lowe's website - this is our grill)

I also found out on Sunday that I received my first TWO blog awards! The first is this (love it!):

The Rules:
•Thank the blogger who awarded it to you.
•Sum up your blogging philosophy, motivation, and experience using five (5) words.
•Pass it on to 10 other blogs which you feel have real substance.

I’d like to thank NYC Island Gal for this award – I was honored to receive it, thank you so much!!! If you haven’t seen her blog yet, please check it out, she has a beautiful blog, a great spirit, and is working her way from island life to NYC!

My blogging philosophy – not really sure what that would be…I began this blog to write about my life, share my creativity, and connect with other people. I’m still unsure of a lot of blogging stuff, but I’m working on it, and hope to continue this for a long time. I guess I just like sharing and talking…sometimes maybe too much! But I was supposed to only use 5 words, so I guess this would be them – creativity, sharing, friendship, fun, and slim (for the experience part). So now I pass this on to these bloggers:

• Army Wife Life
• Fake It Til You Make It
• Making Stuff is Fun…
• MannLand5
• The Crafty Hippo
• Newlywed Adventures
• Alabaster Cow
• The Glamorous Life of a Housewife
• The Very Best Housewife
• Little Miss Scatterbrained

Hope you all enjoy this award!

My next one was not specifically given directly to me, per say…but I will certainly take JoJo up on this!

She “broke the rules” a little by passing it on to all her followers instead of just the seven required, and as I am a follower of hers, I will certainly take it! :) The rules for this award are to list seven facts about myself and to pass this on to seven other beautiful bloggers.

1. I was terrified of dogs when I was little, didn’t matter how big or small. This all started when the little mini poodle down the street used to chase me on my big wheel (remember those?? mine was a Smurf one!), and knocked me off one day. Yes, a mini poodle knocked me off my big wheel… I am better with dogs now, small dogs are totally fine, big ones are ok for the most part, but sometimes they strike the fear in me a little again. I would even love to have a Pembroke Welsh Corgi someday, if I ever got a dog.
2. Sticking to the fear issue – I am also terrified of birds! Seagulls are the worst! I’m not sure how that started, but to this day, I dodge the birds on the boardwalk and freak out whenever one flies near. I know there’s a picture of me when I was about 3 or so with a bird sitting on my head at the shore – maybe that’s when it all began…
3. I loved high school, and miss it a lot sometimes. I hated college. For most people it’s the other way around.
4. I used to have an iguana, a hamster, guinea pigs, hermit crabs and a betta fish. Not necessarily all at once, but I’ve owned all of the above at some point in my life.
5. I used to play the clarinet. I wasn’t the best in the concert band, but I played from 4th grade to 12th grade. Haven’t touched it since…sometimes I wish I would have continued.
6. I played an island girl in my high school’s production of “South Pacific” when I was a sophomore. I have red hair, and they cast me as an island girl…then wanted me to die my hair black! The director would not allow wigs, and I was not about to turn goth, so they hid my hair with lots of flowers. There’s a pic of that somewhere too, but I’m not in possession of it right now. Hello! Where was your brain when you casted?!?
7. I used to love camping when I was little. A lot of my fond memories of my grandparents are from when I went camping with them. I slowly grew out of my love for camping, but when I was little I liked it a lot.

Now I pass this on to these lovely bloggers:

• Army Wife Life
• Fake It Til You Make It
• The Glamorous Life of a Housewife
• NYC Island Gal
• Josiah’s Nest
• Dear Lizzy
• Gerber Days

I hope everyone enjoys their awards, and sorry for the long post, but now I feel all caught up and should be able to continue with my regular stuff now! Have a great week!

Week #2 – Full Day #4

I am skipping my (becoming) regular Thursday Five post, because, well, I just wasn’t super happy this week.  With hubby gone I have been a little lonely (even with family around), and feeling kind of blah.  Hopefully next week is better, and maybe I’ll be able to make up for this week with extra “happies”.

I didn’t really accomplish anything today, but at the same time it was also a fairly busy day.  I did get one thing crossed off my list from yesterday though – I made my cucumber salad, and this time it came out really good.  A lot of times I make it lately, it is a little too strong with the vinegar, but still ok to eat and enjoy.  But this time, I think it might have come out perfect for my likings.  If you’re interested in how I make it, I will share with you, just let me know (and be warned – I have no set measurements when it comes to this particular side dish.  It’s all based on your personal tastes).

I did, however, get our goodbye card sent off to the old neighbors – here’s hoping it gets forwarded to them in Panama and doesn’t end up back in my mailbox!  I also did a little shopping for some necessities (groceries, new shower curtain, water sprinkler for the yard), and bought our canopied pergola for the future patio today!  Since we don’t have the patio even started yet, we won’t be able to put it together until that’s completed, but we really wanted to jump on Target’s clearance of it (saving us $180 off the regular price) while they still actually had some in stock.  My other patio dining set did not arrive today, as expected.  Instead, I got the replacement chair for the dented chair from the set of extra ones.  I didn’t expect that chair for another 2 weeks, but it got delivered today already by the most unpleasant miserable DHL driver (any delivery company driver, actually) that I ever met.  So, since the patio set was estimated to arrive on Monday at the latest, I will now have to call Target’s customer service tomorrow afternoon to find out where it is and when it will actually get here.  Not looking forward to doing that…

I ate dinner with my parents tonight at IHOP.  I really like it there, but haven’t gone in a very long time, especially with counting calories and trying to lose weight.  But I agreed to go today since the Wii Fit has been nice to me all week, and enjoy my meal.  Surprisingly, IHOP now has a “For Me” menu section where they have some options under 600 calories – I was thrilled to see that!  I enjoyed the Two x Two x Two For Me meal.  This combo included the egg substitution equivalent of 2 scrambled eggs, 2 slices of turkey bacon without any grease, and 2 buttermilk pancakes.  I did splurge a little and enjoyed the butter on them as well as the butter pecan syrup.  That stuff is the best syrup I’ve ever had!  Yummy….

We might have new neighbors very soon too.  Today I saw the for sale signs removed from the house next door, and this evening we saw a man with his son and daughter mowing the lawn.  It certainly was too fast for the house to actually sell and have settlement since the for sale signs were still in the yard yesterday, but the property did have a lease option, so I’m thinking that’s what happened with it.  Hopefully the old neighbors get to make a little profit from this whole uprooting if they really did lease it.  They seemed nice, so hopefully they really are and won’t start setting off fireworks or having loud parties.  That’s the one thing I fear with neighbors.  We thought we had it made with the neighbors we had, but with the family next door moving, it changes things and makes me nervous.  I specifically point out the fireworks and loud parties because we dealt with that at the apartment.  I am so afraid someone else is going to do something stupid and set my house on fire.  I guess we’ll find out soon enough!

Tomorrow I’m hoping to crack down and get a lot more accomplished.  I better tuck my motivation in a drawer before it runs off to play hide and seek again!  Favorite Kitty Pic Friday coming up – find your favorite kitty photo and join me in sharing!  (*Hint – if you don’t have your own furry feline family member, I Can Has Cheezbuger has codes under all the pictures to allow you to add it to your blog.  Those are acceptable too   :)  )

Week #2 – Full Day #3

Today I woke up really missing hubby. I just felt like curling up with him and getting a hug, but obviously no hubby, and the kitties were not having any of the cuddles. I felt like crying this morning, and really didn’t want to get out of bed.

Dusty was just as pesty today as yesterday, but he tried different tactics this time. Yeah, nice try Dust – those tactics only got you kicked off the bed and out of the room today! Instead of going for my head today, he went for my feet and our nice, not-so-cheap comforter that I wanted since we moved and finally got on sale just before winter (it’s still on the bed because it looks nice and I get chilly sometimes overnight with the AC on). He was digging incessantly at my feet, then tried biting my toe, and finally settled for attacking the comforter with his teeth and rear claws. I thought he was going to destroy it! And since I was in no mood to get out of bed this morning, he landed himself in the hallway behind a shut door.

When I finally did get up, the Wii fit was actually nice to me this morning – 0.9 pound difference from yesterday! After what I ate for dinner and how late I ate it last night, I really didn’t think there would be a good difference in my weight today. That was a nice surprise.

I had trouble finding my motivation again today. I have a lot I wanted to do this week, and really haven’t done any of it yet – I’ve been feeling blah, and that doesn’t make for a motivated me. I decided I needed to do something about it today though, so I wrote a list…..a fairly long list. I knew I wouldn’t accomplish everything on the list by the end of today, but at least I have a list now, and I thought that might be good motivation, since it feels great to me when I accomplish things and get to cross something off. I managed to cross off 4 things. Tomorrow’s another day, but I won’t have as much time to get things done due to going out and about with my parents.

I missed our patio furniture delivery today. I thought the stuff was going to come by Monday, and still wasn’t here as of yesterday. Today they decided to deliver it immediately after hopping in the shower, so now I signed their little slip and hopefully I’ll see it tomorrow. I’m going out with my parents tomorrow to purchase our canopied pergola. We will then be almost fully furnished for our patio – we just need the patio itself now! We bought almost all the stuff we wanted to put out there already, even though the patio hasn’t been started yet, because apparently the end of the season for the stuff is now already, and we were already starting to have trouble accumulating these items. The pergola is on clearance now at $180 off the regular price, so we’re getting while the getting is available. I’ll do a patio post another time though.

Tonight I watched the new “Fame” movie. When it first came out and I saw the previews, I wasn’t so sure I wanted to watch it at all. I just kept thinking it looked weird, and how could they screw up “Fame”. I was very wrong – I loved it! The music is awesome (my twirling and dancing ears were active throughout the entire movie!), and they kept the general concept of the original without simply just copying it. So, on that note – have any of you watched it? What do you think about it?