Let the count down begin

Hellllp Meeeee

My allergies in Austin were KILLER, but after living there for 12 years my body had adjustes to them… well now I must suffer through NC allergies and I am dying here. Do you think I will get weird looks if I started wearing one of these around?

I am sure I am driving people around me crazy with sneezing 20 times and hour and blowing my nose like it is going out of style… but damn nothing else helps.

Ouuuuuccccchhhhh

There was no better title for this post.

I have been having major stomach problems for the past few years, it was so bad at one point that I had SRR take me to the ER. I was diagnosed with Gastroparesis and I never really thought about it again until about a month ago. So finally after suffering for 3 weeks SRR convinced me to make a GI Dr appointment and I got to meet her last week. She asked me a million questions and decided that she should do an Upper Endoscopy and also check out my intestines. Last Thursday was my upper Endoscopy and other then the horrible burning sensation when the sleep medication went in and the horrible sore throat I had after, it was a breeze.

The first 20

Monday would be the other procedure, so I was told to swallow 20 horse size pills  in 1 hour and 12 more the 30 minutes the next day. We show up at the Dr’s office, I get checked in and change in to my sexy blue gown and wait for the nurses to come in to start an IV. This lovely nurse comes in and pokes a hole in my arm and it fails. She calls in an another Nurse to give it a try and we think we might have success, until she decided to wiggle the damn needle around so much that it breaks the vein and the IV stops dripping. So now they call the Anesthesiologist in to give it a try. He tried once, twice, third time, fourth time, fifth time and yup sixth time and finally manages to start an IV. At this point I cannot stop the tears from rolling down my face and it takes everything in me to hold my self back from sucker punching him right on the nose. He does not apologize once! He just grabs all the crap off the bed and walks out. At this point their is blood everywhere, I have 3 nurses putting pressure on the other hole’s he opened up. I have one nurse rubbing my back telling me to take deep breaths and that it was over… all I wanted to do was hug SRR and ask him to take me home. I was hungry, tired, in pain and at this point very light headed.

They finally wheel me in to the OR and hook me up to different monitors and give me the happy drugs (but this time I was desperate for them), so I did not feel very happy getting it. Thirty to forty five minutes later I get woken up by the nurse and the worse is over. My Dr comes in and gives us an update and says everything is A OK! She is followed my the douche bag Dr. He asks me how I am doing and I am still wanting to jump at his throat, but tell him I am OK , he asks me a few more questions then walks away. Now I just need to wake up enough to have something to drink, get dressed and be sent on my marry way home.

That was the third IV I have ever had (I have had all three this year) and my GOD I hope I do not need one for a very very very very long time. That was a horrible experience and I will be writting a nice letter to the Dr’s office suggesting some lessons in bed side manner to that one Dr.

Number 1 & 2

Number 3

Number 4 & 5

Number 6

Number 7

Annnnd Number 8 - where the IV ended up

These are the 8 from yesterday. These do  not include the one spot I received the IV on Thursday and the spot where they drew blood from on Wednesday. Ohhh and to make things better, I have an OB appointment tomorrow and I know for sure they are going to want to draw blood for routine blood work. This just suckssss major dunky balllzzzz!

Sooo how has your week been going?

Goal#55 - Eat something I have never eaten before

This might come across strange to many, but  I ate Dairy Queen for the first time. I had a cheeseburger, fries and a Cookie Dough Blizzard. Of course I have had a burger and fries before but it was my first time trying out a blizzard and I must say I was super dissapointed. I mean people act like its the best thing in the world and always seem to look at me like I am an alien when I tell that I have never had a blizzard before. I tried the cookie dough blizzard and it did nothing for me.

But with that, I get to mark of Goal# 55 off my list.

RESOLVE

Yup

This pretty much describes how I feel today

Picture Wednesday

SRR and Poontater were in Jacksonville, FL for Supercross. I would have to say it was the BEST rest I have seen so far and it had me out of my seat the whole 20 laps.

Here are some highlights!

The G.O.A.T - Ricky Carmichael

Pretty in Pink

Poon's bachelorette party - June 2006

Call me *Chef P*

We are trying to eat at home more often and I have been wanting to try some new things in the kitchen. I made the following and I must say that they were both delish (should have snapped a picture). This is the first time I have ever made either dish…

This photo was borrowed from google

 Chicken Cordon-Bleu the easy way

• 4 thinly sliced chicken breast half’s
• 6 slices of Swiss cheese
• 4 slices of cooked ham (I found it in the deli isle)
• Seasoned bread crumbs
• Salt & Pepper to taste
• 4 toothpicks

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Sprinkle the chicken with salt & pepper. Lay a slice of Swiss cheese and a slice of ham on the chicken breast and roll it. Secure it with a tooth-pick. Place rolled chicken in a Pyrex dish. Sprinkle with breadcrumbs and place in oven for 30-35 minutes (or until no longer pink). Remove chicken from the oven and place half a slice of Swiss cheese on each piece of chicken and return to oven until cheese is melted. Remove and let it cool for a few minutes before cutting through it. DELISH!!!

I served it with pan grilled/seared asparaugus tossed (he he I said tossed) in olive oil.

 Chicken Salad

Not my photo - but it looked almost just like it

• 4 cups of cubed cooked chicken
• 1 cup of mayonnaise
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1 cup dried cranberries (I used orange flavored craisens)
• 2 green onions, chopped
• 1 cup chopped celery (I did not use any – because I have a hate/hate relationship with celery)
• 1 cup chopped pecans (or nut of your choice)
• ½ teaspoon of garlic salt
• Ground black pepper to taste

In a medium bowl, mix together mayonnaise with paprika and garlic salt. Blend in dried cranberries, celery, onion, and nuts. Add chopped chicken, and mix well. Season with black pepper to taste. Chill 1 hour or more.

I served it over whole wheat oat and nut bread of some sorts. It was really good!

C-H-A-N-G-E

Change has always been something I have avoided. Most of the time I like things the way they are, or even if I don’t like things the way they are my fear of change would take over and cripple me to move forward. My fear kept me at a job I disliked and hated more and more everyday. It kept me from going to school to get my degree. It kept me from taking the leap to sell the house. It kept me from 100% agreeing to move to NC… you get the idea! This was nothing new to me. I have always been afraid of change, but as an adult I found it to be more and more crippling and it started to effect the way I felt about myself and life in general.

But the thing is that, every time I take a chance and take the leap I am always shocked at the end results and the AWESOME feelings that come with it. Like letting my old boss know that I was leaving… as scared as I was, man it felt so good. Of course I had to deal with the freak out moments of not having a job and the fact that after being somewhere for 7 years I was now in the looking for a job field and interviews scare the crap out of me (we will talk about my social issues at another time). But in the end I DID IT! I am now at a job like a like and could possibly see a future within the company if I wanted to.

Now let’s talk about selling the house and moving to NC. That was about 4+ years in the making. I had many many deep issues related to selling the house and moving somewhere where I felt I would be very vulnerable because I did not know anyone. But after a lot work with therapy and support from SRR I was ready to take the jump and move. Once I felt comfortable in my own skin and I felt strong as a person the whole process came very easy. I mean leaving my friends and what I have known as life for 10+ years was very hard, but I was now looking forward to our new life and was truly excited (without the fear taking over) for the first time since the NC conversation first came up. I know that my SRR will always be there for me and he knows that I will always be there for him no matter what. And as scary and lonely the process could have been, we had each other (and of course Ollie & Sugar). Once we were ready things just fell in the place like it was all meant to be… and one thing after another, things worked them self’s out and September 2008 we hit the road. And to this day I am so happy that we made the change in our lives and moved. I love being closer to extended family and everything else about NC (the cost of living kind of sucks), but everything else makes up for it.

I am a much different person then I was just 2 years ago and it’s OK. Change is not always going to come easy and I know that, but the more I trust my self the easier each step will be.

Now for another huge change in my life – I need to submit my application for Nursing School.