I'm healing!

I went to the surgeon today and he said things are looking great so that is fabulous! I have increased the ability to open my mouth by 6 milimeters so I'm up to 24, however, by next time (15 days) I'm supposed to have it up to 31!! Yipes. On the plus side the next time I see Dr. Buttram he is going to give me the OK to start chewing really soft foods like pasta! Then two weeks after that I should be able to chew anything! What's my first meal going to be you ask?? Papa John's pizza and breadsticks!! Ridiculous, I know, but hey it's good stuff! OH he also cut the amount of time I have to wear the bands WAAY back - so instead of only taking them off for a total of 6 hours a day (three - two hour increments) I will only wear them for 5 hours each day!! Sweet!! I also got to see my x-ray that they took when I was there on the 9th (6 days after surgery). I have 4 screws instead of the 2 I thought I had, and I definitely have a broken jaw! It's broke in 3 places, major breaks! I've never had a broken bone so it was kinda crazy to see the x-ray of it. I had Dr. B explain what all they did and how they did it since I never really asked. He even explained the tool that they use to CUT through the bone. Yuck. I've been doing really good for the most part. Last weekend my brother's puppy bit me pretty hard on my thumb nail which was warrant for a good OWWWWW - which helped me open my mouth wider than I was really ready for. Had a good cry about that and used the rest of my Lortab trying to get over it... Took about a week before I felt better -- it more or less just strained the muscles around my joint more than they were ready for. But all is good now and I still love Maddie!!

I had an excellent Christmas this year! Seemed to be the year of the electronics since we got a new tv, blu-ray dvd player/ps3, camera, gps, tivo subscription...etc. Craziness I tell you. Kyle got me tickets to see our favorite comediain in February here in Indy -- Jeff Dunham. If you've never heard of him go straight to youtube and watch some of his stuff. He's a ventriloquist, which you might think is kinda silly, but it's hilarious!! Anyway, I'm getting tired so I'll leave you with a few pics of the holiday season and you can tell me if you see a difference in my face!

Getting better everyday!

Here is a before picture. I know it's blurry, I took a picture intot he mirror and of course the flash made a nice reflection. But the reason I show it is becaus it is the best picture I have ever seen of myself that shows how off center my jaw is. Keep this one in mind when you look at the after ones!
That being said, I had my jaw surgery on December 3rd - I meant to update this more over the last two weeks but everytime I sat down to do it I'd get sleepy or it wouldn't make sense so I'd delete it. I think that's what pain meds do to you -- always felt pretty damn good though... :) Anyway. I go back to work tomorrow... Boo! But I am actually a little bit excited to be able to put on real clothes and makeup and of course to see my wonderful coworkers! Things have been rough the last two weeks - most especially the first week, but it's getting better!! Here is a picture of the first night..

It was definitely hard - I woke up feeling like it would be ok with me to just die or at least be in a coma for awhile! Mostly because my throat hurt so bad from being intubated. I was absolutely refusing to swallow which worked out for awhile since I had a tube to suck everything out. I tried to talk but that hurt quite a bit at first too so I gave up and just started writing out everything. I remember writing to my mom to get the surgeon and tell him that I take it back and changed my mind. It took them awhile to get the right pain meds for me since the morphine didn't really seem to do much. Regardless, I survived and learned to eat/talk with my mouth rubberbanded shut. I spent the first 5 days at home with mom and then have spent the last week here in Indy with Kyle. When I left the hospital the surgeon kept telling me he couldn't believe how very little swelling and bruising I had. That changed pretty quickly once I got home and wasn't getting the steroids to keep the swelling down. It put a lot of pressure on my face to have it so swollen and I felt like a freak so I tried to stay away from civilization as much as possible! My mom and her boyfriend, Greg, and I watched several movies and just spent a lot of time chillin. It was hard for me to see a difference with all of the swelling even with everyone saying they could already tell. Kyle told me the night of the surgery that he could already see a difference since my chin didn't stick out as far as my nose anymore... God love him (insert angry face). When I came home from being with my mom he asked me if they did anything to my nose during the surgery because it looked different too. I wasn't sure whether I should tell him that it was probably freakin swollen or just punch his lights out. But he said it looked smaller not bigger. haha. So I spared his life. It was definitely a lot harder being at home with Kyle being back at work and having to deal with the dogs. But we managed. I've gotten most of my Christmas shopping done and have even had some time to do a little bit of scrapbooking! I, however, have not managed to find time to clean... Bummer. I got a good report from the surgeon last week when I went in for a follow-up, which was good to know. They took the bands off that kept me shut and now I only have a few that are just restrictive, but I get to take them off 3 times a day for an hour each time so that's nice. It really helps with being able to eat, still can't eat much and still no chewing for another 6 weeks. I've lost about 8 lbs in the last two weeks so I can't really complain about that. Got to get a new pair of jeans this weekend when I was shopping with my mom, I've never been able to wear jeans from this store because they didn't carry them in my size. Now I can, and it was absolutely exhilerating! The only thing that is bothersome anymore is not being able to feel my bottom lip or my chin. I am starting to get some sensation back in both, but very very gradual. It's frustrating and I know it will take months before I get all the feeling back, just weird. Enough talking though, I need to get some sleep so I will just leave you with a few more pictures of my progress over the last 2 weeks!

This is my first day home from the hospital at my mom's house. The ice bags on my shoulders and I were BFF. For some reason after I got up from a nap that evening I was all red and flushed but thankfully didn't have a fever!

The swelling had really started to take over the next day. The round band-aid on my lower cheek is where the stitches are. They had to put the screws in through the outside of my face...

This is about day 4 I think. Still at home in Rochester. And if you can see on my grey shirt I had just spilled water all over myself trying to take a sip. The whole not being able to feel your lips and chin is a bit bothersome at times.

This is the day I got my stitches out and they took the rubberbands off! This is a good shot of the bruising that had started to appear around day 6 and got worse over the next few days. It was on both sides (the yellow part toward the bottom of my face - not around the steristrip).

Also from day 6 when they removed the bands and stitches! FREEDOM!!

In the morning on day 8. My first time wearing makeup in a week! I went to the funeral for a coworker who had died over the weekend... :(

Still day 8 I think, but in the evening. I just liked pictures from this day since I had makeup on, I guess :)

Side shot from the same day. The bruising has gone down tremendously on both sides. The side you're seeing is still pretty swollen but a LOT better than it was before.

This is from day 10 at Kyle's grandparents for Christmas. I wanted to include at least one of me smiling since I haven't taken many of them since it looks so funny right now. But I figured I would humor you with just one.

It's time to go!

Getting ready to head off to the hospital for my surgery this morning! My dad thought it would be nice if I kept this updated with what I'm going through and how things are going so this is my attempt at starting to do that! :) I'll try to take pictures to post so you can watch my facial progress as the swelling goes down. You're just dying to see the swollen face, I know. Anyway, I'm feeling pretty anxious - my stomach says I'm nervous but I keep reminding my stomach that it had 3 pieces of pizza last night and that's why it feels funny. The hubby is pretty sick so he is in bed sleeping right now and my mom and her boyfriend are coming over shortly to take me to the hospital. Hopefully he feels better later and can come visit after the surgery. It still feels pretty weird to be leaving Kyle and the dogs for the next 5 days but I'm sure we'll all manage. Ok I need to finish some last minute package and make sure I have everything I need. Oh on a side note when I went to get my 5 prescriptions last night they asked me if I wanted the keflex flavored (everything has to be liquid) and I was like uhh I don't know. The pharmacist was quick to let me know that this med in liquid form is one of the worst tasting meds they made... AWESOME! Guess what my 3 flavor choices were... orange banana, citrus punch or sour apple. I definitely did not go with the sour apple and opted for the citrus punch. Gag to all of them, what can ya do? haha. Ok back to the task at hand! Check back for updates!
Love to all!

Take a Good Look...

EIGHT DAYS...

Next Wednesday I am going in for my jaw surgery! I met with the surgeon this morning for my pre-op appointment and spent a good deal of time chatting with Dr. Buttrum and the staff. He explained that it was going to be about 3-3 1/2 hours for the procedure which is a little bit longer than typical. He let me know that my case is a little bit more complex because of my joints or something like that. Because of the complexity of it I will also have two board certified surgeons doing the procedure instead of my surgeon and a resident. That's not saying there won't be any residents or interns there because I had to sign a consent form for the possibility that everybody and their brother might be there watch/participating/videotaping... So in one aspect I feel really confident in that knowledge and yet in the other it makes me wonder what the hell is so complex that there will be 2 surgeons instead of one... Why I did not ask them that question is beyond me since I asked everything else I could think of.

Regardless, I'm not really worried about the surgery or the after effects I'm just anxious. I just want it to get here and get it over with so I can stop thinking and dreaming about it 24-7. I have dreams almost every night about it -- some good and some scary. Sometimes in my dreams I get to see what my face might look like when it's all done and some of the dreams my face is horribly deformed. haha. I know it won't be bad but I can't help all the questions that race through my mind. I also feel like I'm super critical to what I see in the mirror right now - but I guess that can't really be helped since the last several moths have been nothing but surgeon and orthodontist appointments who are trained to see all of the flaws and don't mind telling you. For example last month when I had my appt with the surgeon he told me that they could do the surgery on both my upper and lower jaw instead of just the bottom. But he followed that up by reminding me that my ears and eyes aren't exactly symmetrical either so my head would never be perfect. Nice of him eh? He really is a super nice guy, just being honest plus I would not voluntarily elect to do the upper jaw if at all avoidable so I will just live on with my uneven eyes and ears. There go my dreams of being a supermodel... Reminds me of Gessica's wedding when the hairdoer whispered to me when he was done with everyone "don't worry I was able to hide your ears for the most part". This is the man that also told me when he first started doing my hair that he didn't want to put it up because it would make my face look too harsh. Thankfully I can handle the criticism now that I'm older. Geez. Also why I only go to my cousin and mom for my hair, at least I know they're not going to tell me that my face is a disaster and my ears are crooked. haha.

Anyway. Surgery next Wednesday morning at St. Vincent hospital at 11:00am. I will be spending the night and they hope to have me on my way home Thursday afternoon. I will be going home to Rochester with my mom where I will stay until she brings me back to Indy on Monday so I can have the bands taken off on Tuesday! It was really tough to decide where to go after the surgery but I know that I will be able to rest better at home with her. She has been pushing for that all along because of the dogs and I know she's right but it's still hard to be away from Kyle and the dogs for that long. But then when I get back I'll have the next week and half here with them before going back to work. So it all works out in the end. They gave me all of my prescriptions today for after the surgery and some syringes so I could start getting used to "eating" that way. By "eating" I mean for the first week while my mouth is completely rubberbanded shut I will only be able to get nourishment from what I can put through that syringe! :) You're totally jealous, right?? I have been instructed to drink eight - eight ounce glasses of liquid everyday -- more if I can handle it. Three of those drinks have to be high protein and I'm supposed to get as many calories as possible. I told my mom to just stock up on ice cream and milk so I can have shakes all day long! So then after they take the bands off on the 9th I can start a few more solid foods - but still no chewing. Absolutely no chewing for two months they say. I will be living on applesauce, mashed potatoes, cottage cheese and of course, ice cream! :) Ok and maybe some soup. Well technically I can really have anything that I want as long as it can be blended up and made into a shake! Meatloaf shake anyone? MMmmm! A lady at work today tried to pawn off some frozen baby food - peas. Seriously, if I'm going to eat baby food it will sure as heck not be peas. Thank you very much for the thought though.

I should really shut up and get to bed so I can get up and go to work in the morning. Have I ever mentioned that I don't like the cold? In case I have not, I do not. Now I have to take the dogs out for their last potty and freeze my tail off some more.

Anyone want to get paid to take them out everyday thru the winter?

Just so you will always remember - here is a picture of my face - the last time you will ever see it this way!

Waiting for the call...

Moving to a new place this weekend!!!! Hallelujah!
Jaw surgery in exactly 3 weeks. More on that soon.

Thought for the day:
"Those we have truly loved never leave us, they live on forever somewhere deep within the heart."
Missing you tonight, Greg. Thinking of you this Veterans Day and wishing I knew more about that time of your life. Found a picture of you from my high school days. You were sitting on the bar stool with a goofy grin on your face and your arms raised up either in victory or more likely you were stretching before a yawn. Or getting ready to attack someone. Who knows. What I do know is that I miss that mischevious grin of yours and the way you could make us laugh either at you or ourselves... Tonight what I miss most is your knowledge, wish you could help answer this one... You know my prayer tonight...

Henry and company!

Just had to post this picture of little prince Henry with his aunt Mel at the baptism last weekend. Poor little guy didn't much care for the whole ordeal but as Mel said while he was screaming his little head off... it only confirms that he belongs in our group! :)

And of course had to show you one of Henry with his uncle Brent. I really like the either yuck spot on my camera or ghost (orb) that is covering Brent's head... haha. I think Henry really liked being up so much higher than usual, considering Brent is what? 6'7"??

I made Betsy's family take a picture of the Hanover crew that was there for old times sake. Although I hate myself in it and should have taken the glasses off it is still a cute picture of some of my closest friends!

Thursday Thirteen (on Saturday)

I think Thursdays are just a bad day but I still like doing my lists! :)

Thirteen favorite TV shows

1 House
2 Biggest Loser
3 Chuck
4 Colts football
5 What NOT to Wear
6 Kitchen Nightmares
7 American Idol
8 Dirty Jobs
9 Extreme Makeover Home Edition
10 Say Yes to the Dress
11 Mythbusters
12 Army Wives
13 Nanny 911

Phenomenon

So I watched the movie "Phenomenon" the other day for the first time. It was a fabulous movie and toward the end there was a quote that was perfect that I had to write it down and now I want to share it! This is John Travolta's response to the little boy when he says "you came here to die, didn't you?"
"If we were to put this apple down and leave it it would be spoiled and gone in a few days. But if we were to take a bite of it like this, it would become part of us and we can take it with us, forever."
So the little boy and his sister take the apple and take as big of bites out of the apple as they could to show that they want him to be part of them forever. I was balling (you never would have guessed, I know) but that is the perfect way to explain death and taking a piece of those we love with us for the rest of our lives. I've always believed that when someone dies they live on through those left here in the memories and the impact that they had or what they taught us. I can never explain it the way it makes sense in my mind. Anyway.

Thursday Thirteen (on Sunday)

So I realize it's not Thursday but I was busy on Thursday so I'm doing my list on Sunday!

13 songs I'd pick for my October soundtrack

1. Lucky -- Jason Mraz with Colbie Caillat
2. I'm Alive -- Kenny Chesney with Dave Matthews
3. Chicken Fried -- Zac Brown Band (I cannot believe that I actually like this song...)
4. Beating my Heart -- Jon McLaughlin
5. Love Story -- Taylor Swift
6. Mad World -- Gary Jules
7. Crazy Days -- Adam Gregory
8. Let Me -- Pat Green
9. Amen -- Kid Rock
10. For You -- James Otto
11. Sweet and Low -- Augustana
12. Love Lockdown -- Kanye West
13. I Don't Love You Like That -- Jypsi

Kimmel happenings

As I'm sitting here listening to our stupid neighbors and their stupid "boy-friends" talk out on their patio I figured why not sit down and share what's been going on with us lately. Did I mention that our neighbors are stupid? Or that their hookers? Or that one of them works at Hooters? Ok they're probably not really hookers but they are not nice and they make me incredibly angry every weekend. Also, I've decided that they must be on drugs too. The last few weekends they have managed to stay up all night and drink/talk/shout -- and by all night I literally mean all night. This morning they woke us up about 9:00 because they were still outside talking/yelling.
Anyway. Thankfully we are moving next month to a new apartment complex in Fishers. It's only 5 miles from where we are now but it's in Fishers and a super nice area. Or so it appears. It's not anything super spectacular but it will all be on one floor and they have a doggie park so we can play frisbee with the dogs again! Yay! They also have a huge fitness center and tanning beds! Although when we were looking at various apartment complexes it seemed that the one we currently live in is the only place that doesn't have either of those. Anyway. I'm excited, and so is my family. When I asked my mom what she thought about us just staying where we are for one more year she was pretty much frantic to make sure we moved. So we are. Yay! Especially since they told us that if were to stay in the apartment that we're in they were going to start charging us more. They have tried desperately to get us to move to a townhouse at the front of the complex and keep saying that things will be so much better and blah blah blah. They seem to think that the only reason we want to move is because of our loud neighbors. Apparently the leaking ceiling, mold, flooding and what not shouldn't be a reason for moving. If you're free the weekend of November 15th, feel free to come and help us move!!
This upcoming week is my first pre-surgical appt. with Dr. Buttram for my jaw surgery, which is rapidly approaching (Dec. 3rd). My mom is coming down Wednesday night and staying the night so we can go together Thursday morning. I'm so thankful that she is coming with me so someone else will be involved in knowing what is going on. I love my husband to death, but he doesn't seem to get the idea when I ask him to get involved and come with me. Every time that something big like this has come up and I've asked him to come to an appt with me he is all about it and all supportive but then when we get there he refuses to actually see the doctor with me. What really is the point of that? I want him there to talk to the doctor and understand what is going on and what I'll be going through. Sitting in the waiting room does not help me!! I'm hoping this is a husband/men thing and not just my husband. Oh-well. My mom will be there and is pushing hard for me to come home with her after the surgery so the dogs cannot do any harm the first couple of days with their constant jumping and attention seeking ways. We'll see.
Speaking of my mom... I got to go out with her last night and my good friend Gessica and her dad. My mom and her dad went out last weekend as well. Gess has been telling him to ask her out for quite some time now and when some of my mom's hair ladies (who are also clients of his - he does insurance) told him to ask her out - he did. Gessica just had a baby (Elena) 11 weeks ago and so he thought it would be fun for all of us to go out for dinner this weekend. So we did and it was so much fun! He is so nice and just a great guy. It is a little weird that his name is Greg and for that name to be used again in an everyday conversation is just, I don't know. It's just weird to hear her say "Greg called or Greg said this". But it's ok because she is happy and I like him a lot so I'll get used to it! In the mean time I'm enjoying watching/hearing her be excited about getting to see him or talk to him and all the fun things that come with starting to see someone.
Anyway, I think that's about enough for now. OH wait! I lost 5 lbs last week! I can't wait to see the nutritionist this week, she will be so proud! Ok I'm done :)
Take care!

"Raggie Ragina goes to Slappy's"

This is a police report that Kyle brought home last night that I thought would be worth sharing..... The main characters will be called Raggie (short for her nickname Raggie Ragina -which rhymes with vagina) and Rachael which we will use in place of Raquel (not very clever I know). Enjoy!

"An officer was stopped on the street in the parking lot at Slappy's Bar and Grille. I spoke with the victim Raggie who was visibly upset. She was breathing hard and her face appeared to have a pinkish hue. Her red boston red sox baseball shirt was torn, exposing her right breast to me. I could see a set of hands that appeared to be praying tatooed above her exposed right breast. Raggie said she was inside of Slappy's when a female she knows as Rachael became upset with her because she was wearing a red sox t-shirt and yelling "sox" while watching the red sox and yankees baseball game. Raggie said Rachael was wearing a blue chicago cubs t-shirt and yelled at her, "the red sox are chowder heads". Raggie said Rachael next walked right up to her and grabbed Raggie's tshirt and ripping in a downward motion with her hand near the neckline of the shirt. Rachael's actions caused the shirt to rip, exposing Raggie's right breast. Raggie said Rachael also happened to grasp Raggie's right nipple area while tearing the t-shirt. Raggie said Rachael's actions caused pain, swelling, redness and discomfort to her right breast, specifically her nipple area. Raggie then hoisted her right breast upward and toward my face to show me the redness and swelling on her nipple area. I leaned forward to better observe the injuries and ask her if she needed medical attention. She said no, she just needed some ice to rub on her sore, swollen nipple. I spoke with Rachael who said Raggie who she knows as "raggie ragina" started the ruckus by saying the cubs are going to choke like a rookie porn actress. Rachael said this upset her because she is a porn actress. Miz Rachael claimed to be no rookie and said she never chokes. Rachael said that she did reach out and tug on Raggie's ugly red sox t-shirt but didn't intend for the shirt to rip and expose Raggie's right breast with praying hands above it. Rachael said she isn't sure if she grabbed Raggie's right nipple, but guesses she must have because she observed the swelling and redness of the nipple. Rachael said Raggie retaliated by grabbing the blue cubs shirt she was wearing and yanked down it, causing both of Rachael's breasts to "pop out". This display caused the men and a few women inside Slappy's to hoot and cheer loudly. Rachael said Raggie also happened to catch a 1/2 carat $1,000 Chicago Cubs, Tiffany's brand belly button ring in her hand when she yanked down on the cubs shirt. The belly button ring popped out, fell to the ground and was smashed into a thousand pieces. Rachael said that the cubs belly button ring is a staple in her "adult films" and it won't please her fans when it is missing in her next 10-20 adult films. Rachael said Raggie's actions caused pain, redness and discomfort to her belly button. Rachael walked toward me and lifted her shirt up to show me her red belly button. I bent down to view it up close and did see the redness in the belly button area. She declined medical attention. She only wanted some ice to rub on her belly button. I spoke with Mr. Slappy who said he is the proud owner of Slappy's bar and grille. He said he was present and saw the entire ruckus inside the bar. Slappy said red sox and cubs fans often come to the bar to watch baseball, drink adult beverages and try to round the bases, if I knew what he meant. I said I didn't. Slappy continued, saying the baseball fans often verbally joust with each other. He said the red sox fans are more rude since they've won two recent world series titles. Slappy said Raggie's t-shirt has been ripped off before after she lips off to baseball fans inside the bar. He said it's a wonder she hasn't learned to wear a bra. Slappy said Rachael is also a regular and often brags about being a porn star. He said that cubs belly button ring is a staple of all her porn films. Slappy winked at me and lightly slapped my right arm while grinning. He said both ladies were at fault and should "just kiss and make up". Slappy then vomited on my black police dept. boots and passed out in a chair. I told both ladies I would talk to the detective assigned to the report. I told Rachael I'd need at least 3 of her adult films to prove to the detective and the prosecutor's office her claim of the cubs belly button ring being a staple of her films. That will help in any civil claim for restitution to replace the belly button ring. Rachael agreed and said that she'd drop a large box of signed copies off to our rollcall."

Thursday Thirteen

13 Things I love about Indianapolis

1. DSW -- So many shoes, so little time
2. Cold Stone Creamery
3. Indianapolis Colts - it is so much more intense living here than anywhere else in the state
4. Bark Parks for the doggies
5. Morse Reservoir
6. There is never a dull day
7. People dress so crazy which makes for AMAZING people watching
8. Being able to get involved in more community organizations
9. All of the yummy food options - like the cheesecake factory!
10. The Circle
11. Castleton Mall
12. Papa John's pizza!
13. The magnitude of housing options

Bad day?

"Cause you had a bad day, you're taking one down, you sing a sad song just to turn it around"

Today has just been awful. I started taking a new medicine last week and it has caused me to start having "night-sweats" again. Typically something you experience when you go through menopause, which I can assure you I'm not. I had them before when I was taking some hormone replacement meds. Blah. Anyway, I could not sleep at all last night, I was freezing but sweating to death. So I got up with a headache and went back to bed with a headache. Woke up feeling like I had a fever and have been all out grumpy and unbearable ever since. Kyle is so sick of me he is upstairs and won't come down or hardly even talk to me. Which I may or may not have told him to just stop talking to me if he had a problem with my attitude... I have a lot of apologizing to do when I feel like I should be sorry. Which I'm sure will come later when I'm a little less grouchy. Anyway.

But that's just peas and carrots compared to the destruction that took place at our apartment today. Right before going to the grocery to get a few essentials I started a load of laundry. Kyle decided he was going to stay home so off I went. When I got home I walked in to towels everywhere because the ceiling was dripping/leaking everywhere and there were about 5 huge and spreading rust colored stains now decorating the ceiling... I'm yelling what the holy hell as my husband is standing at the top of the stairs just staring at me like I was an alien. He then kindly explained to me that something happened to the washer mid-cycle causing the upstairs area around the washer to flood - thus making it leak through the ceiling...... I called emergency maintence, 20 minutes later they show up and go "oh wow". 2 hours later after poking holes all over the ceiling to help get all of the water out and into buckets and peeling back layers of drywall... I have pictures, don't worry. Turns out, apparently the dry wall guy that fixed all the holes from a few weeks ago might have forgotten to put the hose back into the washer or else did it wrong and caused it to rip out of the washer all together. So the water from the washer was just gushing out all over the floor... At least it smelled good from the fabric softener...

All I want more than anything in this whole wide world is to move. Move out, move to another city or another state or hell even another country. At this point I don't care I just don't want to be here. We've decided to rent for another year so we aren't looking to buy a home just yet but we are hoping to find one to rent. Hopefully it's not asking too much to find somewhere decent that we can afford and has a fenced in yard...

Either way here are some pictures of various things...

Kyle getting ready to clean the bathroom...

Winston attempting to be cute...

Worst section of the ceiling

Another water spot

yearbook yourself

If you haven't seen this website you should definitely check it out. We have had a blast here playing with it. Here are the only two that I'm willing to share from my collection... :) I think the second one looks a lot like my mom. We'll see what she has to say about it. Anyway check out the site you can pick hairstyles from 1950 to 2000. Too much fun. www.yearbookyourself.com

Thursday Thirteen

13 Things I'm looking forward to in the near future

1. Looking at SIX houses tomorrow with our fabulous agent
2. Getting to see Betsy and Henry!!!
3. My cousin Justin is getting married on Saturday
4. Getting to spend time on Saturday with my mom, family and maybe old friends from h.s. (i'm pretty iffy on whether or not I look forward to this)
5. Marie's bachelorette party on Saturday night if I get back from the wedding in time!
6. Finding a house and getting to move out of the apartments!
7. Not going back to work until Tuesday!!
8. My mileage check for this month
9. That it's almost fall!!
10. Football season starts for real next week!
11. The new season of HOUSE
12. The possibility of getting to spend more time at Kyle's grandparents' house on Lake Morse
13. My jaw surgery in December

House Hunting

Well we started out house hunt today, it did not go so well... Well that's not fair to say it's just soo tiring and takes a lot more work than I was anticipating. We basically spent the entire day being taken through houses and just driving through neighborhoods. The ones we went into are both foreclosed homes, which is fine because we've decided that we can get a much better deal, so we are focusing on these type of homes... I, however, was not expecting the mess that comes with those homes. The first one the house is absolutely lovely and the master suite was phenomenol but the stains on the carpet were unreal as was the dirt and disgust everywhere. Rather easy fixes but still not quite what I had in mind, haha. Anyway. Both of the ones we got to see today weren't bad at all just different. We are going to see a few tomorrow morning too. We basically have 15 days to find one and make an offer if we want to be able to close by October 1st and move out of the hood that we live in.
To prove it is the hood we saw a Carmel school bus parked in the neighborhood today and decided that either 1) they bring their kids to show them what can happen if they drop out of school or 2)were giving them survival lessons.
Speaking of our lovely apartment complex I called them yesterday to remind them that we STILL have a giant hole in our ceiling that was still leaking (given the bucket under the hole was filling up). So they came yesterday (amazing how fast they come when you call and complain) and we were assured that they were not leaving until the leak was fixed.... So I was expecting to come home to no more holes and no more leak... Instead a get a call as I was about to leave the office from one of the maintence workers to let me know that she accidentally dropped the bottle of "cleaner" that she was using on the pipes up in the hole and it got all over our couch........ But not to worry because she was doing an incident report and a professional cleaner would be here the next day to clean it... The "cleaner" which is not solely a cleaner we were told today definitely did not come of out the couch - did I mention that it's purple? So once again I got to call the office to let them know that the purple spots are now a permanent part of our couch. I'm not sure how this gets fixed but she said they submitted a claim to their insurance company and will get back with us. Oh and they did not fix the hole in the ceiling, I can see into the bathroom from our living room...
Have I mentioned that I want to move???
Anyway. Wish us luck with our house hunt!

Thursday Thirteen

13 Reasons why I cannot wait to move out of our apartment

1. No more KING KONG or worrying about cops with their guns pulled chasing people

2. No more having to call the cops on our hussie neighbors for having a huge party where they do nothing more than drink beer and scream about the injustices of beer pong (til 2 AM) -- yes we did call the cops on them --yes I felt incredibly old after we did.

3. No more MOLD growing on the ceiling in our living room

4. Hopefully no more cicadas/katy-dids everywhere for the dogs to eat(bc they love to eat them)

5. Having a backyard to let the dogs out to run in rather than taking them for 4-5 walks a day

6. Having a kitchen bigger than a bathroom!

7. Being able to get my furniture back!

8. Getting my dining room table back so we don't have to eat on the couch everyday!

9. Being able to invite people over and actually having a place they can sit or sleep

10. No more holes in our ceiling that drip for 5 days b/c they can't fix the leak that caused the mold (and neglect to come back and fix what is causing it to drip or the hole that they cut out). This is in the living room above the couch where we eat...

11. Just having more room in general

12. Not having to worry about what our neighbors might be doing (illegally)

13. No more dogs eating geese poo

A renewed vow

No not my wedding vows, although sometimes I think we should do that every single week to each other, just to remember our commitment to each other and the life we are trying to build as we go through the days of the week. Another story though.
Anyway. Two weeks ago one of my co-workers died quite unexpectedly from a massive heart attack. She was only 38 and had two daugthers; ages 1 and 15. To say that I was shocked is a huge understatement and absolutely heart-broken. Cynthia was one of my favorite people at work and we talked a lot about coming from a small town to this big city and feeling out of place. We both have the same degree and talked often about what we wanted to do with it or about going back to school. Which she was getting ready to do, by the way. Anyway not even a full week before she died she had been complaining of chest pain and feeling weird to myself and another girl at work. She even asked what a heart attack feels like for a woman and had said that she was going to the doctor the next day. I can honestly say though that I did not believe that she was having a heart attack or anything close to it. Who has heart attacks at 38? She was the picture of health... Didn't smoke, didn't drink, stayed active, was in good shape physically... What is really sad is that she did go to the doctor the next day and they told her that she had acid reflux and it would go away... She died 5 days later of a massive heart attack after laying down for a nap because she was having some trouble breathing. When her husband went to check on her she just wasn't breathing at all anymore. She was a gentle, kind and loving person and I cannot not even begin to tell you how much she will be missed. It is already the weirdest thing to not see her in the office, I cannot tell you how many times I've looked up expecting her to come in or to hear her laugh or her silly cell phone. Her daughters changed the ring-tone so that everytime they called her it would say "moooootttthhhher" over and over and over until she answered it and she could never figure out how to change it. Was the funniest thing and probably one of those stupid little things I'll miss the most about her not being there.
Anyway, my renewed vow is to myself and my health. I have taken a big step in the last year to getting healthier and I have lost 45 lbs since then, and I am proud of it! But it's not enough. I'm still overweight and not doing my own heart any favors with that extra weight. Sure I exercise, but not enough. Sure I eat right, but only hardcore the week before I go to get weighed at the nutritionist. Enough is enough, it's time to get healthy for my future and whatever that may hold. I have a relatively healthy family so I am blessed to not have that working against me but I have hypothyroidism among many other weird anomalies. Anyway. So this is my vow to myself and to my future that I am going to step it up and get my body and mind in the best shape they can be in.
Thank you Cynthia for all the laughs and conversations we had together this past year and for making me see again that life is short and we are never guaranteed another day. You and your beautiful smile will be missed!
Check out www.americanheart.org and learn more about being heart healthy and the warning signs of a heart attack for men and women. There is a walk in September here in Indianapolis, so expect to hear more from me about this as I attempt to make you either walk with me or donate money... :)

King Kong

You might be wondering what on earth happened to this car and why I would have a picture of it; let me just tell you that this is a good one....

So Friday afternoon I'm on the phone with Melissa who is sitting in her car outside my apartment waiting for me to get there to let her in. It was to be a most joyous afternoon because I was finally getting to meet Maddison (see pictures below). She had called when I was on my way there to tell me that I needed to come in the back way because the police had blocked off the road that goes directly to the 20 or so apartments that are on our "court". Weird but whatever. So we're on the phone chatting about stupid stuff with our jobs when she says well that's a big black man without his shirt on coming out of that apartment. Also nothing new around here. But then she starts flipping out but quietly and just keeps repeating that he jumped and is going crazy and how she's going to get shot. WHAT?? So this guy (we have affectionately named him, King Kong) barrels out of this apartment and comes straight to this car and jumps on but on his back and butt. Basically he just plants his ass on the windshield and then attemps to rip the doors off of the car, mind you Melissa is sitting in the car NEXT to this one just watching. I'm freaking out, she's freaking out and the police had left but apparently one was driving back by which sent King Kong running off. Which then caused a swarm of police to park and take off running with their GUNS after him... Melissa had to give a mini statement to the police officer and he so kindly informed us that he has already arrested this guy 4 or 5 times for cocaine, battery, possession of illegal firearms... Then let us know that if we see him around at all to call the police immediately........ You do not have to tell me that twice... By the way this is the girlfriend's/possible baby momma's car that the kersmashed. The police had been out here FOUR times already that Friday to deal with disturbances from their apartment. Let me, also, tell you that she is one of the scariest people I have ever seen and when she came and looked at her car just shrugged and turned around and walked off. She has two toddler boys that are adorable and it just makes me want to scream that they have to be a part of this shit. Anyway there is so much more to the drama here but I am exhausted and still quite irritable with the apartment staff. More to come..

Thursday Thirteen

Since I steal everything from Betsy I figured, why stop? So I thought I'd do my very own Thursday Thirteen!

THIRTEEN things I found in my purse today...
1. box of Allegra-D
2. pack of silicone wax for my braces
3. clear nail polish
4. pack of Extra fruit sensations gum (don't tell the orthodontist)
5. my cell phone
6. a cleaning cloth for my glasses
7. 3 earrings
8. wedding response card
9. book of stamps
10. about 15 receipts
11. 4 different kinds of lipgloss (i'm a junkie)
12. wallet/checkbook
13. mini slinky from the Tates' wedding

Doggie Days

Seems like a lot has been going on with the pupsters this last week or so and I feel the need to share...

Nallah has become the resident badass. Quite frankly it will take a lot for Winston to top her this time. I was out walking her a few days ago and there is this spot just down the street that she has lately just started plopping down on and just rolling around in the grass. Now this might seem rather strange but actually for her it's fairly common because she occasionally likes to roll around in poo. But not just any poo, mind you. It is always either from a certain dog or other animal because the smell is always distinct when she does find the delectable treat to roll around in. I am too slow to ever realize what is going on until it's too late and so she gets a bath - thus why I am quite familiar with the smell. Anyway she had been rolling around in this particular spot but I had yet to see any poop on her from the rolling - so I chalked it up to her being a little on the crazy side - nothing wrong with that. BUT THEN... this other day that I was referring to as we were getting back to our apartment she stops at this rolling spot and picks something up. I had for the most part been avoiding said spot to avoid the possibility that it was poo she was rolling in and I just wasn't seeing it. I didn't see any obvious food objects so my first thought is that she decided to just eat the poo that she had been rolling around in. So I nicely tell her to drop it (yah right) and then get down to start the process of determining if the object is worth wrestling away (she has jaws of STEELE and will bite your hand off if she feels the need.) Rather quickly, though, I decided it was not worth the hassle since an F*ING frog was hanging out of her mouth. A dead frog the size of a small country was in her mouth and she was trying to eat it. Honestly, I didn't know what to do... I could try to wrestle it from her but might end up ripping the already dead and lovely looking frog in half - which I assume would not have been pretty. Winston was trying to get it from her, I was just screaming and yelling at her to drop it. Winston did manage to get her drop it so he could check it out be he put it in his mouth and then spit it back out. And of course before I could get to it again she had it and was super chomping it to swallow it before it could be taken. So my baby Nallah ate an entire flippin dead frog, that was too big to wholly fit in her mouth so the legs were hanging out as she was eating it... I hope you have a visual.

This used to be my sweet, sweet little darling baby Nallah... Not anymore.

On to Winston. Kyle called me yesterday afternoon before going to work to ask me if I had ever seen him have the hiccups. I said yes and so he proceeded to tell me that Winston was doing something really weird similar to hiccups but he didn't think that's what they were. Kyle never calls me about the dogs or acts worried whatsoever. I would have both of them at the vet on a weekly or bi-weekly, at least, basis if we let me be in charge of such matters. Anyway, Kyle quickly decided that the "hiccups" were not hiccups because his entire body was twitching and moving and it was lasting for long periods of time. So I told him to just keep an eye on the little fella and love on him some and call me back if it hasn't stopped in 5 or so minutes. So he calls me back in 3 minutes to tell me that something is really really wrong and we need to take him to the vet, but he has to go to work so I had to come home from work to take him to the vet. Which is in Noblesville, by the way, and on the same day as the Jimmy Buffett concert @ Verizon. Traffic was not cool. Anyway, we went to the vet and I had to hang around for close to 2 hours before the vets got there (2:00 on Tuesdays is when they come back). So Winston and I had some nice time together where he acted like a pogo stick and tried to eat my face off the entire time. Anyway, they said that most likely he had a seizure and that actually seizures are not at all uncommon in dogs and there is really nothing they do about it since his aren't really severe (losing control of bladder/bowel during). So now we have to monitor any "seizure activity" that he has and write it down so we can try to get a feel for frequency and if there are any precursors to it. Oddly enough Kyle called me again at about the same time to tell me that Winston was twitching and shaking again. I don't like this at all and I think it's really really odd. I think he's fine, he certainly acts fine, eats fine and plays fine but it is still weird. So keep him in your happy thoughts...

Now that they are finally asleep for the night I think I'll head to bed too! Next post I think will be all about my jaw surgery scheduled for Dec. 3rd! Get excited! :)

I'm an aunt!

Kyle and Melissa brought home the newest addition to their family yesterday. Her name is Maddison and she is the cutest beagle I've ever seen. She is flea-ridden but the vet will take care of that today. I think my brother thinks she's boring since all she wanted to do yesterday was sleep but she's just a baby and they need their rest! Plus all of the excitment of getting a new home and a car ride and all the people that she met! Whew I don't blame her for sleeping all the time. I can't wait to call them and find out how the first night went... I know our first few weeks with Winston and Nallah were brutal with getting up all the time to take them out and hearing them cry... Anyway, here are some pictures of the little girl!!

Good day

I got the funniest birthday card for my dad today. I cannot wait to put it in the mail. I know he is going to get a kick out of it. So if you're reading this dad, get ready! haha. :)
Today was a pretty good day here in the city. The weather has been lovely, I got 2 workouts in, the dogs didn't terrorize any toddlers (did I mention they sent one screaming to his mom yesterday?) and I have TOMORROW off and we're going home so yay!! OH and the social security auditors finally finished with our books at work so all the stress is off and now we just have to retrain the people to do their freakin books right so we don't have to pull our hair out next time. AND I also got to talk to Melissa today too I think we were on the phone for nearly an hour and a half. It's defintiely hard not being around her as much, which I'm sure sounds silly but she is seriously my long lost twin, so it was nice to catch up and just spit out all the random things that I think only she could understand why I would even find amusing. Ok well I'm exhausted and am ready for bed.
Sweet Dreams to you!

Firetrucks and friends

So I'm not going to lie I stole this idea from Betsy. Her page is so darn cute that I just had to make my own! So much has been going on lately and normally when I think of something to write on my blog page on myspace I get distracted looking at everyone else's pages that I forget to write anything. So now that I have explained myself on to what is going on in this head of mine...
When I was on my way home from work today as I was getting close to my road a firetruck came zooming out of nowhere so I had to pull over. I was quite surprised to see them turn down the road into our apartments but I figured what are the odds that it's going to go close to my apartment? Right? I was trying to keep the truck in my view so I could be nosey later but was even more surprised when I turned down our road to find the firetruck and fire rescue were already pulled up in front of my very apartment. I had to park out where Kyle always does (he says the hoodlums won't touch his car there - riiiight) and so I just sat there watching to see where they were going. Several of the firemen were in full turn-out gear and some were volunteers that just came in their street clothes. I know this sounds stupid but I just sat there in my car mesmerized - it has been a very very long time since I have been around firemen in their full gear. It brings back so many memories and sometimes they just come so fast and so many different times in my younger years come flying back and always to when Greg died. Either way it all leads to Greg since he was the fireman. It's hard to explain too because it's not just one particular memory or any particular set of memories more the feeling that these memories invoke. I miss the RFD family - I miss being part of that and it breaks my heart to not be around them anymore. Anyway as I was walking in to the apartment I was on the verge of all out losing it to the tears that were building and just stood there watching and shaking. Not even a minute later my phone started ringing and it was my lovely Betsy calling to rescue me. Just talking to her made me feel so much better and when I told her what I was watching I knew she understood me. It's amazing what friends can do for us. So thank you Betsy for calling when you did and giving me the boost I needed to smile and not give in to the tears.
It also didn't hurt that one of the firemen that came out was rather good looking... :)

So anyway. Here's to the best of friends and firemen!