not a good time

You know what's not a good time?

Having back surgery. 

Okay well I wouldn't call what I had a back surgery. 

I may be a tad dramatic :)

But in April I did have a mole scraped and sent to the pathology lab for them to determine whether or not it was of the scary kind. Pathology said it was halfway scary. On the scale of scary it goes "normal --> mild atypia --> moderate atypia --> severe atypia --> melanoma" --- and this mole was moderate atypia. 

Halfway to MELANOMA.

For years I have said that if I am going to have a cancer, it's probably going to be melanoma. I always said this with a laugh, because I know my love of being the color bronze is both stupid and dangerous. I am not a chronic tanning bed user (used it before prom, Mexico, and my wedding - I admit), and each winter is a serious struggle to not open up a tanning membership and get a little color on my pale skin. 

I've eased up on tanning outside, mostly because school is not conducive to spending a lot of time outside, but also because I know those UV rays are dangerous. It's like an addiction though. A stupid obsession that will not leave me. I suppose it's wrapped up in my self esteem --- "This color will look better on me when I'm tan."  "My legs look SO much better tan {truth}." 

I was kind of sick to my stomach when I heard I had moderate atypia goin on in my skin cells. And I was SUPER nervous last Thursday when I went in to my dermatologist's office to get my scary mole excised. Sounds like an EXORCISM. Yikes.

Other than getting my wisdom teeth out (for which I was totally out), this is my first surgical experience. I was literally shaking like a weak little fish on that exam table while she scalpaled me open. And it was REALLY odd to feel the skin lose tautness across my back, everything loosened up like it had been unzipped. Of course I just chatted the whole way through it, asking about the procedure and what tools she was using for the surgery. Thank God for Lidocaine, because it didn't hurt one bit --- except for the 12 pokes of Lidocaine it took to numb the area in the first place.

The aftermath hasn't been so pain-free though. She ended up having to do a 3-inch long incision and had to cut through multiple layers of my back to get the atypical cells out. I'm hoping she got out as much as she needed. This is what my Frankenstein back looks like:

Personally, I think it looks like someone sewed a worm into my back.

It's right next to my spine, which makes it incredibly awkward to do anything to...luckily I'm married to a doc-to-be who loves wounds and was thrilled when I told him I'd let him take my stitches out in 5 days. I swear he teared up a little at the news. 

I share this with you for two reasons:

1) I'm a whiner. You know this.

2) To spread the word about sunscreen.

Though this post is kinda sarcastic, I get sad when I think about the future of my skin. I wish I were always better hydrated, and I wish I wore more sunscreen over the last 26 years. I suppose it's never entirely too late to start, although a lot of damage has already been done. This back  exorcism excision has sucked and I don't want to have to go through more in my future. 

So that's all. 

Any neat ideas for the name of the worm that now lives on my back?

Cheers ;)

penny is....a mess!

So, most of you are familiar with my sweet Penny girl. She turned 2 in June :) This is my favorite "baby" photo of her [I can't help but repost it every once in a while, okay?!?!]

Seriously - is that not one of the cutest puppy photos that was ever taken? In the history of puppy pics? I know, I'm biased :)

Anyway, most of you have been with me for a while, and might remember her slew of health problems in that first year. Kennel cough --> pnemonia --> mange --> urinary tract infection --> allergies, then miraculously all cleared up in November or so. It's been quite a while since we have had any health problems with her, but this status took a turn for the worse right when I started school. 

Poor puppy did not take me going back to school very well. I think she was quite comfortable with the routine we had developed around here - which was, I worked 3 nights a week and was home with her most of the rest of the time :) Now, I am gone for at least 10 hour days 5 days each week. Let's just say it turns out she doesn't adjust well to significant routine changes. Within days of me starting, she started to get sick --- a testimony to the fact that stress reduces the capabilities of your immune system!

First, her separation anxiety problems shot through the roof! I mean, she ATE our backyard gate. Like beaver style. Like I came home and the bottom of the gate was missing, and only shards of wood remained. 

Then, before I had a chance to fix the gate, she escaped out of it. Luckily our townhome maintenance guy has my phone number and called me at school to notify me that my "brown dog is running around." You might think I'm an idiot for not fixing the gate, but honestly, it waslike 8 inches of space, and I did not think she'd be able to get out! She's foxier [and more determined to find me] than I ever know, it turns out! So, I raced home to find her, heart pumping out of my chest because I was SO scared she was going to run away in her desperation to find me or get hit by a car or something. When I got home and flung open the door to the backyard, there she was. *sigh* At least she returns home when she escapes, eh? So then I got really mad at her because I was so worried and then I felt like an asshole because she only did it because I threw this huge schedule change in her face and she freaked out because she loves me. I felt especially bad when she looked at me like this all night:

 Puppies do say "sorry, mom" when they know they've been naughty. 

So then she started sneezing. And having goopy eyes. And coughing, or "reverse-sneezing" according to the vet. Excuse me but what the hell is a reverse sneeze?!?! So we got her some meds. No help. Then we started giving her some Benadryl. Ta-da, no goopy eyes! Then she started eating the pads of her feet. To the point where they were all bloody :( Poor thing. So then we made her these protective booties til we could take her to the vet again:

Then she got put on steriods and antibiotics. Ta-da! All better! Then, as we started tapering off the steroids, her hair has started falling out. And with the hair falling out came flaky skin, scabs, and darkening of the skin in the center of the circles where she was losing hair. CRAP. I have been really stressed out about this, but I'm praying it's still allergies. She's now on a prescription dog food [$70/bag --- NOT CHEAP], antibiotics, fish oil for her coat, benadryl, and a coat creme and spray. She is medically high-maintenance to say the least. Thank goodness Gryffin is just chillin. She had a skin scrape - no mites. Had a fungal/ringworm test, and we're still awaiting those results. But I'm sure Gryff or Tyler or I would have ringworm by now if that's what it is. 

Taking her to the vet again this morning to show the docs the progress of her skin issues. And I don't mean positive progress. I mean, it has spread SO far. She's lost so much hair. Then she licks the wounds because the skin is irritated. So I have had to put her in t-shirts to help discourage the licking. While she likes this MUCH better than the cone of shame, she still is annoyed with me. But she does look pretty cute in t-shirts.

And that is the summer saga of Penny. Unfortunately, it's not even close to being over I don't think. [okay and how dumb am I? I watched Marley & Me last night! I was BAWLING my eyes out...]

Has anyone had pets with severe allergies? Either environmental or food related? If so, please tell me how it got resolved!!! 

Prayers for my sweet puppy would also be REALLY appreciated!!!! Thank you :)

Cheers [and off to the vet!]

changing my heart

Hey there guys, this post is an update on the drama that is Naggie {my neighbor}. If you're not familiar with Part One of this story, you might want to read up real quick. In short - she is a 67-year-old woman who is absolutely certain we are trying to ruin her life by playing really loud bass music all day and night. She has written letters to the HOA, called the police on us, and talks badly of us to all our other neighbors. We don't even play music. If I do, it's on my laptop, and it's not possible for it to even produce a bass sound. She also makes allegations that our dogs bark too much and that we never clean up their poop. Except for the part where we clean up the backyard every 2 days...but whatever. That's what we've been dealing with, and last week, things got HEATED over in this hood!

On Monday, April 11th, I was packing for our vacation, when I hear a knock on the door. Two police officers were standing there. Immediately I felt my blood begin to boil. I said to the officers, "I assume Naggie called the police on us for supposed bass music and dogs barking?" They chuckled and asked to come in. They started praising my dogs, asking what kind they were, saying how well-behaved they were {I am so glad they got the memo to be on their best behavior on front of police officers!!!} Anyway, the officers noted that there was no music playing and that it was really quiet in our house. Yup, as usual. The officers then mentioned that she also called the cops on Sunday, April 10th. Really? We were at the zoo all day, not even home! I told them I was literally shaking because I was so frustrated with this woman's continuing to call the police over something that isn't even happening. They gave me information for a local mediation officer, told me they were going to write up a report for the call saying that the call was "unfounded" - unnecessary and bogus pretty much. Then they left.

As I'm sitting in my house seething with anger, I see Naggie standing outside my house. She does that sometimes. Just stands there to see if she can hear music playing. I'm starting to consider it an intimidating gesture. So I open my door and step outside. She immediately retreats inside her house. I go knock on her door and ask her if I can help her with something since she was standing in front of my house. And that's when she goes berserk! 

She has always been passive with me, never directly confrontational. But today she started screaming at me, "You can't say anything to me! I'm sick of all your lies! You people play music nonstop! You played it all night Saturday night so that I was too tired to go to church Sunday! And your dogs are horrible." I'm fuming. And although my voice is shaky, I am trying my best not to yell back. But I do counter with, "Naggie. We went to bed at 10 o'clock Saturday night! And if our dogs are so horrible, why does every officer love them and state that they're merely doing their job as dogs by barking when people approach our home? If you can't handle the normal noise of having neighbors, maybe you should move." To this, she throws her hands up in the air and tells me, "Well I was here first!." Okay, are we in 1st grade? I'm well aware that you have been here tormenting other neighbors for years. I march away from her door because I'm afraid I'm going to slap an old lady, when she shouts after me, "You trashy bitch!"

WOW.

Just --- wow. 

 She claims to be this admirable Christian woman going to church all the time, when really, she's one of those judgmental and higher-than-thou religious people that makes non-religious people shy away from Christianity all together. And she has the nerve to call me a trashy bitch. I probably don't even need to tell you that for the next 24 hours, I said more curse words than I have said probably in the last 6 months. I was SO. MAD. I was crying because I didn't know how else to handle my anger. And I'm sure my blood pressure was through the roof. I left a message for the mediation officer stating is was imperative that we talked and sort things out ASAP, then I tried to take a deep breath and get ready for our vacation. 

Although we had a wonderful trip to San Diego, every few hours I would think about the frustration that my situation with Naggie had brought about. She certainly affected our trip in some ways. Then we checked the mail when got home this last Sunday. Surprise, surprise. We find a letter from our HOA stating that it has come to their attention that we are not in compliance with HOA standards. It had come to their attention {I wonder how...} that we were violating these standards by playing music loudly and not picking up our dog feces. Again --- cue blood boiling and steam coming out my ears. It's no question who reported these supposed violations to our HOA. They ask you to agree to correct the issue and go on with our day. Well, no thank you. I refuse to sign a document agreeing to correct the issue when we have done nothing wrong. The only other course of action is to request a hearing with the Board of our HOA where we and the complainant { = Naggie} get together to hash it out. Sounds lovely. 

I have had it with this woman. 

She is trying any venue she can to be as annoying as possible to us. 

I get it. She's old. She's lonely. She's angry, bitter, and frustrated. Frustrated because she probably does hear noises. Whether they're in her head or she really hears music, it's not coming from us. I feel badly for her. But I'm still done with her. 

Most of the support I have gotten from friends during this time are words encouraging me to "fight back" or to "play dirty too". I must admit at first that was my plan. Fight fire with fire, right?

But then I started thinking about how draining it is to carry around that anger all the time. It's absolutely exhausting. Not to mention it affects every other area of my life to where I see things through a more pessimistic and violent lens. Which is NOT what I want.

I decided to try handling this situation differently. While I will absolutely continue to protect ourselves, doing the hearing with our HOA and continuing conversation with our mediation officer, I no longer want to let her take away my happiness. I don't want to be bitter because of her. I'd rather wash my hands clean of her negativity. Instead of narrowing my eyes, thinking thoughts of hate, and sending bad vibes her way, I decided to pray for her. I pray for her mental health. I pray that her family comes into her life and softens her up a bit. I pray she finds things to do with her time so she isn't just idle with nothing better to do than call the cops on us. I have been reading scriptures on forgiveness. And you know what? I feel so much better. I am much more calmed down. I'm not at complete peace with the situation, but I am proud to say I'm handling it with much more grace than I ever thought possible. 

Is she crazy? Mean? Bossy? Manipulative, negative, rude? Yes. She is all of those things. But if I utilize my background in psychology, and really think about the underlying reasoning for all of her behaviors, then I feel sorry for her. She's elderly. Bored. Lonely. Bitter. Confused and frustrated about this bass music that she truly believes she hears. Immaturity has no age limit, and she showed her true colors last week. But I refuse to get down on her level. I will stay above it all. 

Do any of you have any Bible readings you might suggest to help me with my efforts to forgive, and Heaven forbid, LOVE my neighbor? 

Cheers.

of course this would happen to me...fml!

Okay, friends. It's story time. Like this-story-is-so-ridiculous-but-yes-it-really-happened-to-me. Not sure if you remember THIS LOVELY POST --- the one where my dogs locked me out of our townhome. Yeah, true story. Well, in the post, I also talked about how being locked out of the house made me realize I have zero neighbors to turn to in the event I need help of some sort. No one talks to us, and no one really hangs out outside their houses, so there hasn't been much of an opportunity to meet our neighbors...except for the lovely lady sharing our west wall with us. We'll call her Naggie.

We've always gotten the sense that she doesn't like us very much. Kind of snooty. Reported us to the HOA for not cleaning up our dog poop last winter when it was frozen to the snow. Then, this summer, Tyler chopped branches off of our tree because it was hanging over the fence into her yard. For the first time, she started to be friendly to us. I was so excited to be maybe getting into the good graces of a neighbor!

When the holidays started rolling around, we gave Naggie a Christmas card! She seemed delighted and surprised, and returned our gesture with a snowman cookie jar filled with homemade peanut butter cookies. With this, I knew we finally had made friends with a neighbor! 

Then, in early December one evening, she came over to ask us to turn down our music. We didn't have even a tv, let alone music blasting, on. We told her as much, and she complimented us on our holiday decorations, then we said goodbyes and she went home. 

Then, on December 26th, during the early afternoon, she came a-knocking on our door. Asking us to please turn down our music. At this time, Tyler had a migraine and was upstairs sleeping it off. Being the lovely wife that I am ;) , I was just doing dishes and laundry and other quietish activities. No music, no tv on. She seemed confused and told me she heard a bass music sound thumping through the wall we shared. I told her we didn't have any electronics on, and she asked me to come listen in her house. I spent 45 minutes in her living room, listening for bass music. Never heard anything. She said she always feels the bass music rhythm in her chest, and proceeded to gorilla pound her own chest to demonstrate. She gave me a tour of her house, I gave her our phone numbers, and asked her to call us if she heard the music again so that we could try to figure out where it was coming from. We smiled, hugged, and parted ways. 

Fast forward to last Wednesday. I work nights, for those of you who are new to my blog and don't know, and I had worked the 7pm-7am shift on Tuesday night, so I was sleeping all day Weds. I woke up around 5pm on Wednesday afternoon, and Tyler said, 

"So...uhhhhh...the police came by today."

Um - excuse me - WTF? Yeah, apparently a police officer came by to investigate a noise complaint filed against us by our neighbor, Naggie. Ridiculous. I had been asleep all day. Med student husband had been studying on the couch. Dogs napping. Complete quiet. The officer took note of the silence, the lack of bass music that had been reported, and went on his way. I was livid. Like, I dropped more f-bombs than I have in a loooong time. I decided to shower before going next door to confront her. 

I just cannot believe that she had the nerve to call the police after we had such a productive conversation a few weeks ago! After I had given her our phone numbers, told her we were more than willing to try to find a solution to the continuing problem, and ended with a hug. She didn't even call us to try to fix the problem. Straight to the cops. 

So I realized she's a lying passive aggressive biatch. I know how to deal with people of that sort. By confronting them head on. Confrontation is the scariest thing in the world to passive aggressive folk, and I'm not shy when it comes to having a good ole honest discussion. So I marched my butt next door Weds night. She didn't answer the door.

After work on Thursday morning, I marched right back over there. She didn't answer the door. I called her. She answered. I politely said hello, and asked whether she had a minute to talk. She responded that no, she did not have time to talk. In a sugar sweet voice, I let her know that we were going to have to, at some point, discuss the fact that she called the police on us when we didn't do anything wrong. She seemed unnerved upon realizing that I wasn't just going to avoid and drop it. 

After work on Friday morning, I called her again. Asked her if she had time to talk. She said she did not. I let her know that I would call her tomorrow to schedule a time to talk. A few hours later, she actually called me back! She said, "I have 10 minutes for you." I went over, and our talk commenced. She actually admitted that she thinks we blast our bass music, then conveniently turn it off when she and the police officer came over. Are. You. KIDDING? I told her we don't have enough time or energy to purposefully try to ruin her life by playing loud music. She proceeded to again tell me how the bass music gets her deep in the chest, and she demonstrated the rhythm, reminding me of a really bad beat boxer. And I'm beginning to think she just has a heart condition. If she wants to think we're lying, awful people, then that's her problem. We ended the convo on goodish terms, I suppose. But I still don't think she believes me. 

Ugh. What would you do???

Because we own our townhome and we WILL be here for at least the next 2 years, and I'd rather not have a delusional bitch neighbor trying to accuse us of things we're not doing.

This is who Naggie reminds me of:

Yeah. Crazy Samuel L. Jackson in Lakeview Terrace. Seen it?

Does getting the cops called on me count as a new experience for 2011?

Cheers ---

busy little bee

After posting about what a lovely, fun, and relaxing weekend I had... I must share with you what today has looked like for me:

• Gym for a run
• Target {didn't even get anything unnecessary, I swear!}
• Meal planning {Planed for 10 meals: Cashew Chicken Salad Sandwiches, Taco salads, Spinach & Cheese Stuffed Pasta Shells, Pear/Blue Cheese/Prosciutto Sandwiches, Curry Kissed Chicken, Loaded Potato Soup, Buffalo Chicken Paninis, Brie/Apple/Arugula Quesadillas, Italian Sausage & Bow-tie Pasta, and Hot & Sour Soup!!!} 
• Grocery store for ingredients
• Groceries put away
• Load of laundry
• Run dishwasher
• Put laundry away
• Cook pumpkin seeds {MMMM!}
• Buy/plan for bachelorette party on Thursday night
• Buy card/present & plan outfit for wedding Saturday night
• Shower
• Pay off credit card
• Pay car loan

And I still have to:

• Put dishes away
• Walk dogs
• Make dinner
• Interview prep

And then, after that long long day...I get to go to work from 7pm - 7:30 am. 

Wowza.

Good thing I bought some 5-hour energy drinks...

Cheers?

this issue deserves attention

Hey y'all :)

I had a pretty awesome weekend that consisted of: attempting to catch up on sleep, Cheesecake Factory with work friends, drinks with more friends, cleaning the home top to bottom, and a lady date with Pro to see Eat, Pray, Love then dine at D Bar. {If you don't know what D Bar is...click here. And if you haven't read Eat, Pray, Love --- read it!}

The movie was, in my opinion, GREAT! I read the book by Elizabeth Gilbert about 3 or 4 years ago, so I have forgotten most of the details {my memory for books is AWFUL}, but I do remember the book's essence. The essence of self-discovery and allowing oneself to enjoy life without having to justify it. I loved this essence, and the movie captured it beautifully. At first, I was skeptical about Julia Roberts in this role. She is a wonderful actress, one that I enjoy watching immensely, but I wasn't sure if she could play the quiet lady laden with heartbroken baggage. In the end, her skills left me impressed, and I thought she portrayed her character as well as anyone else I could think of! 

That being said, after the movie, we went to D Bar for some delectable desserts, keeping that Italian zest for food and "joy of doing nothing" in mind (from the movie, of course). I think I could be Italian. 

Since getting home from our girlfriend date, I have been enjoying relaxing on the couch in our spotless home {thank goodness for visitors...or we'd NEVER clean, I swear! lol} catching up on my huge stack of magazines piled up on the coffee table.

In reading my September 2010 Marie Claire {Mary Kate Olsen graces the cover}, I came across an article that struck a cord within me. Written by Ralph Blumenthal, the article "The Dangerous Rise in Untested Rape Kits" illuminates a serious issue that I had never even thought about. Apparently, there are hundreds of thousands of rape kits in the US just sitting in store rooms waiting to be tested. Women have been waiting for 20+ years for the results of the rape kits. Some women's cases are closed before the kits are even tested. How is any of that okay??? 

The most sickening part of this all is that most rapists are serial rapists. Think about it. If a woman was raped in 1990 and her kit was never tested, how many more unlinked rapes has that perpetrator committed since that first one? All because the kit never got tested. 

The sad reality is that the Los Angeles Police Department has close to 20,000 rape kits waiting to be tested. They just don't have the manpower and resources to get through them in a timely manner. Recently, New York City unveiled a $300 million facility for DNA testing, and now the arrest rate for rapes is 70% --- over three times the national average. Kudos, NYPD! Also, the governor of Illinois recently signed a bill that makes it so that rape kits MUST be tested within 10 days of their retrieval. Double kudos! 

It is with my strongest hopes that more states follow suit and sign bills like Illinois has. Since when is ignoring DNA involved in a crime acceptable? It's not. If you want to read the whole article, here is the link:

http://www.marieclaire.com/sex-love/rise-in-untested-rape-kits

Please read it and spread the word about this issue. The government does respond to public outcries against issues like these, albeit admittedly not always in the timeliest of manners.

Thanks for reading my soapbox tonight :)

Cheers to change - and the power we have to make it happen...

joys & concerns

So, I was thinking about how I have a few things to rant about, but also a few fun things to tell you all about. And the phrase 'joys and concerns' popped into my head. During my junior high and high school youth group years, at the end of each youth group, we went around in a circle and discussed the joys in our lives and also things we're concerned about. So, without further ado...


First, the pity party: I think many of you know that Tyler and I had been really excited to take a trip together to Hawaii. Then, in April his car died and we had to buy a new one. Scratch any chance of a romantic getaway. I felt slightly better because I had a really fun week planned in the middle of July. First, I bought tickets to Lilith Fair, which is playing this Tuesday. I am going with my mom, sister, aunt, and cousins. Totally excited! Then last week I found out that Kelly Clarkson pulled out of Lilith Fair. UGH! Not fair. Pun totally intended. Whatever. So now I know Sarah McLaughlin and Ingrid Michaelson, who will be great, and then there is a slew of other artists that I have never heard of. Effing Kelly. Then the other fun part of this upcoming week was going to be the Rihanna & Ke$ha concert on Thurs. Planning on going with Mandrew - and we were totally ready to rock! But I guess I'll never know how awesome it would have been because Rihanna canceled her concert!!! Not cool! So my supersweet week that I have been looking forward to ALL summer now kind of sucks.
But now, for the fun things that make up for the bummerness of the concert situation. Work was actually superfun last week! It reaffirmed my decision to stay on nights because I LOVE my coworkers :) This weekend was sooooo much fun. Keyan came down Friday night and we went to the Rockies game. It was perfect weather, we witnessed a grand slam, and we won - so all around a great night! Saturday we decided to go to the Sports Column with Keyan, Clint, and Erin to watch the World Cup 3rd place game. Sadly, the bar wasn't full of the rowdy soccer hooligans we had been hoping for, but it was a good game nonetheless! And the bottomless mimosas for $9 didn't hurt! Neither did watching the boys do the jalapeno eating challenge. Haha. They ate a raw jalapeno, waited 5 minutes without drinking anything, then had a tequila shot. And they got a shirt out of the deal :) 

Saturday night was a blast, too! A lot of my nursing coworkers and I went out for a fancy little black dress night! We started at the Rio for some margs and foodstuffs, then we headed to the Champagne Bar. Which I LOVED! At some point someone decided we should tell people it was my bachelorette party because there were 13 of us out! So the shots for the bachelorette and her bridal party started flowing! We followed up with a night of dancing at Suite 200. Overall fab night! And felt stellar today, let me tell you :( Tyler and I have decided to ward of alcohol for the next three months because...A) We are tired of hangovers. and B)...

We signed up for the Rock & Roll Half Marathon! I've always wanted to do a half marathon, and I've been lacking motivation for working out, so I thought this might give me the kick in the pants I need! It sounds like it's going to be fun (is there really a way for running 13.1 miles to be fun?), because at every mile marker, there is a live band rocking out! I figured it will distract me a bit during the run. And after, there is a party at the finish line, so that should be fun too! I've been recruiting people to do it with me, so now I really have to work hard for it, because I don't want to be the one who can't do it! Tomorrow starts my training! I have til October 17th to be ready, and my goal is to finish it in 2hrs 30mins...I'm eager to get it started! And honestly, with all the drinking I did this weekend, I am looking forward for a break from my friend alcohol. He's a bad influence on me and doesn't help my weight loss whatsoever!

I'll keep you posted on my training!

Cheers to your week!

let's face it

Overall, this week wasn't exactly my week! 

I have been so stumbly, bumbly, clumsy, and out of it that I kept thinking SURELY the next day my head would get screwed back on straight! But nope, nope. Not the case. For example, Weds night at work, I spilled my mocha all over a patient chart. Awesome. As in, STACKS of paper ruined with coffee. Most of it was reprintable, but it was still a mess and I felt like an idiot! I know these things happen, but this is the THIRD time I have done that at work! Oops... no more open containers at work for me! 

Next example, last night at work, I was in the nursery chatting with some of my coworkers about this really awkward situation that happened a while back. I was telling this story about how a dad was really impressed by his baby's boy parts. He kept saying, "He takes after his dad! Look how huge his balls are!" "I see the resemblance, he's got balls like his daddy!" etc. All this while I was bathing the baby. AWKWARD. So, as I am telling this story, I realize there are parents in the nursery, and the dad was looking at me with a quizzical expression. Damn. Guess I said "balls" too loud. Embarrassing. So I made a story about an awkward situation into an even more awkward story in the end. Just great. 

Third example of me being a space-case. I decided a few minutes ago to finally upload all my pictures from the last month onto my computer. Pictures of random nights/days out with my friends, pictures of my puppies, pictures of my anniversary date night with Tyler... What do I do? I select them all to transfer and then D.E.L.E.T.E. them. Yep. All of them. Just awesome. *sigh*

So there's my venting sesh for you, subject = my being an idiot this week!

In other news, I've been working really hard at the gym! Need to step it up in what I've been eating. I haven't been making as many home-cooked meals lately, which leads to the inevitable quesadilla or chicken nuggets or mac 'n cheese. So I need to do better about that. But with all my creative energy going into decorating our house now, I don't feel like cooking really! Anyone want to be our free chef who provides organic and fabulous meals? Anyone? Bueller? 

Speaking of decorating though, we bought our wall decal!!! SO excited! If you don't know what I'm talking about, take a peek at this post from a few days ago. I've decided to paint the space behind my bed a spring green, and we ordered the decal in white with dark green birds. And I'm getting a new duvet/sham set (shhhh, don't tell Tyler...and Tyler, if you're reading this, then...crap) to match. 

The other crafty thing I did was make shadowboxes for Penny and Gryffin! I already have made one shadowbox - for our wedding - before. Here is a pic.

I love it so much! It has our save-the-date, bridal shower invite, bachelorette party invite, wedding invitation, wedding program, wedding announcement from the newspaper, stamps we used on our save-the-dates, and a ribbon from what my bridesmaids had tied around their waist at the wedding. Plus a few cute little trinkets we got at our wedding (Erin - if I'm not mistaken, didn't you give us that sweet little silver key?) So anyway, this is proudly displayed by our front door and I just love it. This is a much less time/money-consuming project than scrapbooking, but it is essentially a hanging scrapbook page!

And here are the puppy shadowboxes!

My sweet little Penny with her tiny first collar. 

And my little lovey Gryffin with his favorite toy!

I think they look pretty darn cute side-by-side! And you can't really tell from the pictures, but the paw prints and inset pictures and words are at a different dimension than the background photo. I used these padded sticky things you're supposed to use to make things pop out into 3D or whatever. And the letters are puffy and 3D, too. So I'm really proud of my little creations, and now I just need to decide where to hang them!

So now I am off to prime that area behind our bed so hopefully I can paint it green tomorrow! Crossing my fingers for no silly painting incidents, seeing as how my head has been a little out of sorts!!! 

Cheers :)

omg, gross!

Well, so today is my anniversary, and Tyler has school. I figured while he was in school I would get out our wedding cake and set it up all pretty on our gorgeous cake platter. I take the box out of the fridge, take off the layers of saran wrap, cut through the tape, open the lid, and find...

this.

Gross!!!

So, apparently it got frozen with our flowers on it. Now the flowers are moldy and rotted and NASTY!!! I'm legit so bummed! But I guess it's for the best, my @$$ certainly doesn't need a few pieces of cake added on to it! I'll make up for the calories tonight :) We are going out for sushi and a movie, followed by some vino from our honeymoon to Napa last year! Yippee!

Here is a picture of our wedding cake in its prime. It was so lovely! Lemon poppy seed with 5 raspberry cream layers torted in. Vanilla buttercream frosting! Mmmmmm. 

It was delicious!

While I endured that tragedy, at least I have two freaking adorable puppies :) Here's a picture of them from the other night.

Awwww. Love them!

Okay, happy Monday! Cheers -

my week from hell. yep.

So, I'm just going to say it, as cliche as it is...WHEN IT RAINS IT EFFING POURS! This week, it poured acid rain. Ugh. So I worked Tues, Weds, Thurs, was low volumed 8 hours total (not too shabby considering what it has been...). Tuesday night started my craptastic events: I was setting up a room for a new delivery on my unit. I lowered the bed so the patient would be able to easily get in. Going about my business when a nurse sprints in the room..."You've pulled the code blue alarm, girl!!!" First of all it takes me a second to register what exactly code blue is since we have about 20 different colored codes - but i do know that code = emergency = not good. Oh yeah, code blue is the cardiac arrest alarm! How in the hell...as I realize a part of the bed had gotten stuck on the code blue lever and pulled the alarm when I lowered the bed, I hear on the speakers overhead "Code Blue, 3 East, Code Blue, 3 East." F***. The nurse called the operator to cancel the alarm as about 10 nurses from units all on the third floor come into the room looking for a mom under cardiac arrest. Just me, standing there like a still image from Home Alone with my hands on my face and my jaw dropped. Next, the code blue TEAM of life saver specialists come in with their fancy life saving kits...I'm still standing there. Everyone is looking at me. "Um, heh heh...I pulled the alarm on accident. Sorry, everyone. Good response time, though..." I. Was. Mortified. And embarrassed. And let me tell you, I don't embarrass easily. My coworkers were great about it. Everyone had a story about something dumb they have done over the years. It did make me feel better, although news does travel quickly and everyone asked me about my little "incident" over the next few nights. I'm kind of laughing about it now, though. Kind of. 

The next few nights at work were uneventful but I kind of forgot how to speak English. I just was a bumbling mumbling mess. I just decided that it was not my week. But surely it would all get better after my shifts. I was planning on spending Friday with my friend, celebrating the opening home game for the Rockies this season. First of all, I showed up to my friend's house and she committed the biggest girl hang out no-no! We had agreed upon a totally casual style for the day...so I showed up in capris, Nikes, a tank top, and a track jacket. Casual. My friend opens the door and I am greeted with a girl in a stunning green floor length strapless summer dress and heels. Effffffffffff. Are you kidding me? Not the biggest of deals ever, but kind of, you know?!?! So I knew I was going to fit in fine at the sports bars, but I was still annoyed to be the under-dressed one in a gaggle of dress-clad girls. Things started out fine, but I made the terrible decision of agreeing on vodka-red bulls to be our drink of the day. Vodka is my kryptonite. It literally turns me into a crazy person. I know this, but I figured it had been a long time since I had seen this crazy person, so maybe it would all be fine. Hmmm, not so. You see, the thing is, when drinking without Tyler I usually end up getting a strong urge to see him. Then no one can really distract me from my goal. So I just left the bar and started walking home. To Aurora. From downtown Denver. Tyler met me and picked me up, but in the middle of a crazy street during rush hour...his clutch died. So I had to steer (in my VERY questionable driving state) while he pushed the car and we parked in a gas station. Over an hour later...we had a tow truck. In the meantime, I fell asleep on the car door and the dogs were losing their minds being cooped up for that long. We got towed to Pep Boys near our house, but had no dog leashes so I just decided to trust that our dogs would listen to me and walked them home off-leash. You could tell they were so stoked about their freedom, but surprisingly, they listened pretty well. We got home and I was just exhausted from my 4 hours of sleep the night before, the lack of food, emotional exhaustion from the car situation, and intoxication from the vodka red bulls...and the crying ensued. That's another biological reaction that I have to vodka. Yikes. Mess = me. 

This morning, I woke up feeling much better...until freaking Pep Boys called to tell us that the clutch was dead and the car needed a bunch of other things done to it. An estimated $1500 of work. Fracking frack. We already put almost $1000 into this stupid 16-year-old car in the fall. I didn't even want to fix it then. So I'm so over this car and NOT paying to fix it. We could get another used car...but I just don't even want to deal with it. So now, instead of Hawaii...we are buying a car. Don't know how we are going to afford another expense like paying off a car, but I guess we will have to. OMFG. 

So over this week.

Thank goodness for blogging so I can vent.