BROWNELL - Brown, like the color, e-l-l

Enbrel Injection Site Reactions

2012-10-16T15:11:00.001-07:00

I've now been on Enbrel for a month. I've done 4 injections - the first 3 without any sort of reaction. The needle is tiny and really doesn't even hurt when I do the injections. The 4th injection, however, was a different story. I not only had a crazy injection site reaction, but also got a terrible head cold.

I don't really blame the Enbrel for the head cold, I more blame the 300 disease filled teenagers that I come into contact with every day. Several of my cheerleaders were sent home sick with the flu last week and I was basically starting a count-down to when I would get it. I somehow avoided it, but got this dumb cold. I'm going on day 10 of the cold, and even had to skip my injection last week because of the cold. Keeping my fingers crossed that I can do the injection soon because my jaw is in a total freak-out right now!!!!

Anyway, the Enbrel site reaction is bad news. Right after I did the injection, I had no reaction. It wasn't until 36 hours later that I noticed a large red raised patch at the injection site. It was hot and about 3" across. My little sister is an Occupational Therapist at a hospital, so she sees weird things all the time. I showed her, thinking she would be all "nah, that's no big deal," Instead, she suggested I see a doctor. Yikes.

Day 2 - Post Enbrel Injection

We got home from the mall and I told my sister that I was going to draw a line around the reaction, so so I was sure it wasn't spreading. I was a little bit concerned it might be an infection instead of a reaction. When I lifted my skirt, I saw that now instead of just a reaction, I was also bruised. The site reaction continued to grow outside of my lines (so I'm not really sure why I thought it was a good idea, because then I just looked like I couldn't trace the outside of the mark!)

Day 2 Enbrel Site Reaction

I called the Enbrel Nurse Hotline Support Thing and they walked me through all the legal crap. Apparently a little bit over 30% of all Arthritis patients have a reaction. They asked if I had a fever, if it was hot, if it was getting worse. I had to answer yes to all 3. She didn't seem concerned, so I wasn't concerned.

The next day I checked on it again. The bruise was getting worse, but it wasn't NEARLY as hot as it was before! Now it was just sore and really bruised. I had to warn my dance class that I was, once again, crippled. We do Yoga on Mondays, so my yoga poses were a little strange since my bruise was on the top of the my thigh.

Day 3 Enbrel Site Reaction

My head cold was super raging at this point. Many of my students tried to send me home today. I think they just wanted me to put on a movie and get a sub. haha. I talked to a bunch of teachers today that suggested I go see my dr. I was hacking up a lung and my leg looked a little bit scary. I called my doctor and explained the symptoms and arranged to go in the next day.

Day 4 of Enbrel Site Reaction

This is what my leg looked like when I went to the doctor. She seemed mildly concerned. She said it was a pretty bad reaction and that usually, if someone is going to have a reaction, it takes place the 3rd or 4th injection. No one told me that!!!! Dr. wants me to try one more week and see what happens. If I react all crazy again, then I will have to discontinue using it because clearly my body hates it. I am going to do it again this week, but am a little bit nervous to say the least!

Day 12 Enbrel Site Reaction

It's now 12 days after I had a reaction to the Enbrel. The bruise is almost gone (finally!). I'm going to do the next shot tomorrow and really just keep my fingers crossed that I don't look like I punched myself in the leg this time!

I shoot myself every week.... AKA my road to taking Enbrel

2012-10-08T12:27:00.000-07:00

I know I haven’t blogged in about a million years, but stuff got crazy this last year. I started teaching dance at my high school instead of just English and cheer. Then I decided, hey, I’ve got some free time, so I took on being a LINK crew coordinator too. Then became the 10th grade facilitator for the English department. Then we bought a house. Then I started teaching a second level of dance. Then my Arthritis took a total freak-out and I was pretty much immobile for a solid month. You get the picture. I am my mother’s daughter and I try to do way too many things at a time. It’s really a sickness.

Anyhow, I decided to come back to blogging for 2 reasons. 1. Over the summer Andrew and I went to Cuba. The US government still has the embargo against Cuba (which is insanity). But we decided that we wanted to go to Cuba before the restrictions were lifted and Americans went and ruined their amazing culture. Finding out travel information for a country that my country has not been able to visit in DECADES was really hard and I’d like to put my experience/information out there for anyone who is thinking of going (which I WHOLE HEARTEDLY suggest you do). More on that later....

And 2. I recently started taking a new medication that I’ve had some strange reactions too and I just wanted to put that information out in the internet-world too.

So, the Arthritis. Anyone who knows me knows that I have Arthritis. I was diagnosed at 7 years old. It’s kind of a thing I deal with, but don’t let it ruin/run my life. Well, this summer my body decided it was going to be different. At the tail end of our trip to Cuba, my right knee started to feel really stiff. It wasn’t really anything new, but it was annoying. Then, when we got home, it really started to go crazy. It was so swollen that I was honestly worried about extreme joint damage and even being able to function in real life. I sat with it elevated and ice on it, slamming Aleve like crazy, for days at a time. I thought maybe if I ignored it, it would go away. Great thinking, right? It didn’t. I called my Rheumatologist (of which I had not done for 3 years. World’s greatest patient here) in a total panic. I couldn’t walk. I couldn’t sleep. I couldn’t cheer. I certainly couldn’t start teaching dance in a month! I was totally freaking out. I called the doctor and she didn’t have any appointments available for like a month. Not going to work. So, I told them that I was a teacher on summer break and would go sit in the waiting room all day if they thought they might be able to sneak me in at some point. It only took about 3 hours of sitting one day and they took me. PHEW!

My right knee exploded......

Doctor appointment #1: She ran a series of blood work and my immune system was clearly doing some sort of tap dance. That day she drained my knee and gave me a cortizone injection in both my knee and my thumb. The knee draining was awesomely gross. She had me lay back while she inserted a huge needle. She asked me not to look. I, of course, looked. It was amazing. My knee literally began deflating like a balloon. So cool. I believe I yelled out “that’s disgusting. Amazing, but disgusting.” She instantly begged me not to look and said that she’s had patients pass out while she has the needle in their joints. I assured her that I was a freak and wanted to watch. I even asked if I could take a picture afterwards. She may or may not have looked at me like I was deranged. She told me to take it easy.

Sorry. I know this is gross. But....it's still pretty cool. This is like 1/2 of what she took out. My knee deflated like a balloon. It was awesome!

Doctor appointment #2: SIX freaking days later I called the doctor in a panic. My knee was literally more swollen than it had been before. We had some contractors in our house installing the sliding glass doors, and in broken English one asked me if I had seen a doctor because they were all talking and said my knee looked bad. I was like a circus freak, making even contractors gasp in horror at the sight of my unsightly knee. It was bad. My amazing doctor fit me in the next day. She asked if I had taken it easy, which I had to admit, I was for me. A normal person with normal activities, not so much, but me - heck ya. I had only done this elliptical bike machine one day for one hour. Who knew that would anger the Arthritis Gods so much. Well, except my Rheumatologist who sternly told me that was in fact NOT taking it easy. oops. This time she wanted to treat it a little bit more aggressively. She not only drained my knee and gave me TWO injections of Cortizone, but also subscribed me Prednisone (a steroid) to try to calm my immune system. I’ve done the Prednisone before for a few days at a time, but she put me on it for 5 weeks. I got the worst stomach pains and the only thing that helped was eating. I was a lazy eating machine for 5 weeks. AND to add insult to the chunky injury, I went on a cruise during week 5 of the steroids. Come on! I was already eating all the time. Let’s just say my jeans fit VERY differently at the beginning of summer than they did at the end. Very differently. During this time, my knee felt stiff, but there was barely any swelling. I was feeling amazing (besides the constant eating and the steroid-induced hot-flashes. Dear god the hot flashes. I was the only person complaining that Alaska was hot!!!!!)

Elliptical Machines

Doctor Appointment #3: But why did I need to go a third time if I was feeling great? Well, here’s where the new medicine started. I stopped taking the Prednisone on Saturday, and by Monday (the FIRST day of school), my knee was a giant Elephant Man status knee. Commence the freaking out again. I thought “I can do this,” then I attempted to climb the stairs to my classroom for the first time since June and started freaking out all over again. The dance/cheer teacher cannot be asking to take the elevator. It was pretty much my worst-case-first day of school scenario. Cut to me calling the doctor yet again in a panic. She couldn’t see me for a week, so I wore long skirts as to not alarm the natives. It was a LOOOONG and PAINFUL swollen knee week. When I finally went to see the dr., she decided she wanted to put me on an immuno-suppresive called Enbrel. It is a weekly self-injectable, which isn’t the best, but it’s not the worst. I had been on Remicaid a few years back and that was a monthly 4 hour infusion, so a quick weekly injection trumps that. I couldn’t start it this day though, because I had a raging head cold (stupid teenagers already got me sick!)

Doctor Appointment #4: Went to get first injection today and even brought my 6 month old TB test results like a good patient. The doctor asked “did you go anywhere this summer that you might’ve contracted TB?” I looked at her sheepishly and had to admit to going to Cuba. They were literally having a Cholera outbreak when we were there. Freaking Cholera. Who gets that anymore. So......one more delay in getting new medicines since I had to get a TB test.

Doctor Appointment #5: Got TB test read and it was negative (phew! I was actually a little bit nervous with all the summer travel). I did my first injection and had no problems. I'm using the Enbrel Sure Click needle, so it's minimally scary! We will see if it’ll work.

Mirrors for my Dance Room

2011-10-09T21:09:00.000-07:00

Hi blog followers. I realize that I havent posted since tue beginning of the school year, but that's because I have had an insane year! I coach cheerleading an it's football season, so that takes up most of my time. And I'm teaching 10th grade English, which I love, but it takes so much time. AND I'm teaching ELD, which takes endless energy. And then, I'm teaching 1 section of a brand new dance class. It's SO MUCH fun, but so much work!

Anyway, the point of this post is to beg. Unfortunately the state of public eduarion is that we don't get any money for anything. I started the dance class on the grass. 2 girls were stung by bees. I was given an empty room, so I'm trying to turn it into a "dance studio". I got some posters from dance stores to put on the walls and bought some shelves and a speaker. Now I need mirror but have exactly $zero to pay for it. I've set up a way to allow anyone to help out. Pretty please? With sugar on top and some low-income-dancers? :)

Www.donorschoose.org/MrsBrownell

Thank you in advance! Spread the word!!! These are amazing kids who deserve te chance to dance dance dance!!!

Welcome back to School....

2011-09-05T10:39:00.000-07:00

So apparently, I don't post when I'm in school.

School started last week. :/ I'm super tired, and a little overwhelmed. I'm teaching 1-10th Grade English class, 2-ELD 3 classes, 1-Dance class, and 1-Cheer class. I feel a little spoiled with my schedule, and I ACTUALLY HAVE A CONFERENCE PERIOD this year! yipee! I have accomplished SO MUCH during my first few conference periods. It's amazing.

The first few days of school kind of suck. I don't know anyone's name, so when they act like butt-heads, I have to point and or just let it slide. Once I learn everyone's name, it'll be a lot easier. Can't wait!

Here's a little taste of the first day of school:

Swastika or field hockey sticks. You tell me?

End of Summer Village Party!

2011-08-24T14:34:00.000-07:00

I've blogged about the Village Parties before. They are beyond amazing. It's like going to a club, but in my complex and the food is free. Best. Club. Ever.

This time, the passed appetizers were AMAZING. They were doing "deconstructed" versions of all sorts of foods. And everything was on sticks. It was so cute and so clever. At one point I was literally hunting down one of the waiters for the corn dog. That makes me sound like a crazy person, but OMG it was ridiculously amazing.

On the left is a deconstructed "chicken and waffle." These were Andrew's favorite, though he looks pre-ty happy with the corn dog on the right!

Here Andrew models a "Potato Tornado" (fried potato on a stick) and a "pastrami sandwhich (complete with mustard and pastrami) yummmm!

He clearly enjoyed the food.

Then we began the dancing. I like to think of myself as a dance machine. When I was in my early 20s I hated going dancing at a club. I grew up dancing, so I felt weird without choreography. Though, I would have probably felt weirder WITH choreography at a club. ha. It took me a while to grow into my dance-machine-status, but now I'm on the dance floor until the very last song (with the exception of running off for corn-dogs).

haha. It looks like he dances like a zombie.
They totally fill the floor with smoke!

Obligatory sweaty dance picture

I clearly learned 2 VERY IMPORTANT lessons tonight. 1. I take a lot of pictures of my husband and of food and 2. if we take a picture together, it should CLEARLY be taken BEFORE the dancing!!!!

Becoming a Lady Who Lunches..

2011-08-24T08:13:00.000-07:00

Though my lunches are rapidly coming to an end. Summer is almost over BOOOOOOOOO!

Because my mom is an aide at a school, we get to hang during the summers. Monday I had to head out to Laguna Beach to pick up Andrew's new glasses ('cause that's how we roll - eye doctors on the beach!), so I invited my mom for a day at the beach.

We decided to hit up Crystal Cove in Newport/Laguna area. There are times when I COULDN'T LOVE So Cal more, and today was one of those days! The area down on the beach is so cute - there are a bunch of little 1920's cottages that you can rent and there is one restaurant- The Beachcomber. The day was fab and delish!

Welcome to the Club

2011-08-23T09:02:00.000-07:00

Much to his chagrin, the husband has officially joined the coolest club around - the 4 eyes club! I have been a faithful member of said club for over a decade. I've worn glasses for so long and so regularly that I think I look weird without them (16 year old me would be MORTIFIED at that thought!!!). I think Andrew looks very cute (always), but it's going to take me a minute to get used to it. Getting old sucks!

Recycling in California

2011-08-23T08:54:00.000-07:00

Andrew and I have been recycling plastic water bottles for about a year. I even have a separate trash can for them. The husband is like a giant fish tank that cannot never be filled. He will literally drink 5 bottles of water every night. Why not drink out of the sink, like a normal person, you ask? Well, because Andrew says the water tastes funny. We used to have filtered water in our fridge, but now our fridge doesn't have one, so it's just FILLED with bottled water. Since we are paying a few cents for every bottle that we buy, we decided to start recycling them. We've done it a few times, but every time we get like $5.00......so it was SO not worth it! This time, Andrew said he wanted to wait until we had a bunch, and oh boy did we.....

Good thing the seats go down in the Prius!

We seriously looked like hobos carrying all of our bags downstairs. I've been BEGGING to take them for WEEKS. I was losing my mind with all these bags in the office closet. Losing. My. Mind.

So after all the work of collecting, bagging, storing, and taking it to the recycling plant, we made $19.37. Worth it?

At least he's a cute hobo!

PS - At the recycling place TWO DIFFERENT Mexican men (that were there recycling) asked us if we were selling our dog? Is this something normal that people do? "I'm going to recycle today and maybe make some extra money by selling the family pet???"

Las Vegas Bachelorette Party

2011-08-15T10:52:00.000-07:00

Not mine. I've been married for years. This was for a girl that I have literally known 20 years. It BLOWS my mind to be able to say that about anyone, but it's true. 20 years. Insane. We used to dance together when we were little and she has a sister my sister's age, and another sister that is my brother's age (we used to always secretly hope that the 2 youngest would get married so we could be in-laws!). So, Jessica is headed down the aisle, and we were headed to Vegas.

I've been to Vegas DOZENS of times. It's only a 3.5ish hour drive from So Cal and husband is a poker player. I've gone with just Andrew, I've gone with other couples, I've gone with friends.....but I have NEVER gone with just girls. I was a little nervous since the only time I have been without Andrew was for a convention for work (with my sister) like 5 years ago. I'm not much of a "girls-girl" so I was interested to see how it would go with them. I love 4 of them (the bride, her 2 sisters, and my sister), but didn't know the other 3. Also, I was the oldest and the only married one.....so I was worried about being fat and old. Normal girl concerns........But, it went GREAT!

I'm not sure what's up with the demon eyes.

I was told by my dear sister that I didn't have anything "Vegas-appropriate" to wear. I'm a teacher, I wear teacher clothes. On the weekends I wear knee-length skirts & dresses. So I was on the hunt for something kind of whore-ish. I think I succeeded (and then proceeded to spend quite a bit of time pulling down the skirt.....)

The outfit was Jenna approved though she was upset that I was wearing wedge heels instead of spiky heels. I figured if my legs (which haven't seen the light of day in a skirt in YEARS) were going to be out, then my feet were going to be comfortable! The craziest part of it is that my skirt was not even CLOSE to the shortest in our group!!!!

We spent time at the pool at the Venetian, time at Tao Beach Club dancing, A LOT of time getting ready, eating, hanging out, going to dinner, drinking, and then dancing at The Bank at the Bellagio. We even had table-service at The Bank. I was a dance machine, until I had to start playing mom to all the drunk youngin's.

The ONLY negative was the incredible lack of sleep. They all drove out Friday, but Jenna didn't want to take the day off of work. So, we drove out Saturday morning (got up at 6:30 am). We didn't go to bed until 4:30 am the next morning (after a full day of drinking, and a full night of drinking and dancing). Jenna took a nap, but I'm not a good nap person. THEN, I got up at 7 am to start the drive home (I didn't want to sit in traffic. Last time Jenna went it took her 7 hours to get home and I was unwilling to do that!). So I slept about 2.5 hours in 36 hours. The drive home seemed to take forever since I was SO tired! I took a 1 hour nap when I got home, but Andrew was actually home for once, so I didn't want to waste that time together! I finally went to bed at 11 pm last night and woke up at 9 am totally rested. phew!

It was my shortest trip to Vegas (a little less than 24 hours), my first trip with just girls and my first trip dressed like I'm 21. For that many firsts, it had to be a good time! :)

Obligatory Sweaty club picture

*All my pictures suck. The pictures on one of the girls' camera are WAY better, but I'm impatient and didn't wait....

Working a Food Bank

2011-08-15T10:26:00.000-07:00

I grew up in a family that volunteers for everything. From working grad-night, volunteering at various events, working carnivals, volunteering time, to even dressing up as Clifford the Big Red Dog. I have done them all. Even the husband has been gently nudged (or forced...) to join in the family volunteering. My parents are the kind of people that still are actively involved in the boy scout troop that my brother "graduated" from 4 years ago. They're sort of crazy people.

My mom has been trying to get me to join the same charity group as her for years. I'm just too busy during the school year, but Andrew has been working so much, that I think another activity would be good...so I've been seriously pondering it and am attending some of their events.

Thursday night my mom and I went to a food bank to sort food.

It was pretty much back breaking work, but I got to hang out with my mom, catch up with a HS friend, AND help out people that need the help. I'm just one step closer to being a woman who lunches and does philanthropy work. I'm becoming my mother....

AntiGravity Yoga

2011-08-15T10:04:00.000-07:00

Last week I took this class with my friend, Megan.

I'm pretty sure I looked exactly like these ladies....
and not at all awkward or man-ish...

This was TOTALLY my favorite pose. It felt so good. I kept
putting my hands on the floor though, cause my brain kept freaking out.
I don't think it enjoyed being upside quite as much as I did....

Obviously those last 2 pictures aren't my own, I couldn't exactly get a self portrait while we were doing it. And, let's be honest, I didn't look ANYTHING like those women. I'm sure I was all red-faced with messy hair and sweatpants. Luckily I had to take off my glasses to do these poses, so I literally couldn't see what I looked like. phew!

Here's what the studio looks like:

Best use of a giant warehouse!

At first I was more than a little nervous about the putting-my-whole-body-weight-in-a-fabric-hammock-then-hanging-upside-down business, but they assured me that I would be fine. Megan had taken the class 3 times before and also assured me that I would not be on my face at anytime during the class. I trusted them (and rightly so, there was never any floor-to-face-time....)

So it's like yoga in a hammock. It was a pretty good yoga like workout, with some minor cardio at the end. I was REALLY feeling it for the next few days. The ONLY thing that I didn't like was the bruised-like-feeling on my pelvis for the next few days (from, you know, the just my pelvis holding up my whole body business...) But it was a super fun class to take with a friend! :)

How's your Day?

2011-08-11T17:38:00.000-07:00

Cause here's how my Tuesday ended:

She's OK, but fell straight on her back from about 7 feet up. She complained of back pain, and you don't mess with back pain....

How to Store my DVDs

2011-08-04T19:41:00.000-07:00

It has literally been years since we purchased a DVD, but Andrew used to be a crazy person that bought every movie that he ever liked. The challenge was finding a place to keep all the DVDs. Problem solved with our mildly obsessive same-furniture-in-every-room habit.

Notice the dog bed --- it's so fancy

We keep the dog's leash in the striped box on the shelf. If I even look at it.....Maximus goes crazy!!!!

Precious Little Package

2011-08-04T19:36:00.000-07:00

BEST NEWS EVER! Ok, maybe not the best, but really good news! I got the best package in the mail. I posted a week ago about my closet/shoe box debacle. I was literally thinking of purging some shoes (since I clearly know that I won't stop buying shoes....), and was very concerned

So, anyhow, I got this box today (ordered from some sort of organizing website) and

THEY HAD THE OLD STYLE!!! YIPPPEEEEEE!!! Now I have 6 more, but am actually thinking of ordering more. Is 6 boxes enough for all of eternity? I can't decide how many more to buy. Oh 1st world problems....

Cheer Fundraiser

2011-08-02T18:09:00.000-07:00

The money thing for the whole state of California is actually beginning to cause me to lose sleep. I am lucky enough, that money isn't a regular concern at home. We live comfortably and I don't really stress about day-to-day expenses. My cheer team's finances, on the other hand, is going to literally kill me.

The ACLU recently settled a case in CA where they stipulated that schools can no longer charge for an activity or sport. They can merely request donations. Now, this lawsuit began when 2 cheer parents from a low income school sued about a decade ago. The idea was that by asking for donations, sports would be opened up to all kids. Sounds like a great plan. BUT, what they forgot about is the fact that the low income kids won't make the donations (not because they don't want to, but rather that they can't), so it just TOTALLY screws the low-income kids out of everything kids at other schools have. This year my kids didn't get to go to cheer camp, don't have uniforms, briefs, heck they don't even have cheer shoes. Now my low-income kids are going to feel even worse when we play against a team with decked-out cheerleaders who aren't affected by this new law (since their parents will glady make the "donations") It's just really widened the chasm.....

Now, I know this sounds like I'm just sitting around whining about my poor, poor students. Well, I agree, that is what I'm doing. Although I do this while we do a ton of fundraising. We've made about $10,000 just this summer alone. The unfortunate thing about that is that that just barely paid off what we spent last year. ~~Apparently I would make a horrible accountant~~. Actually it's because the girls all signed a contract promising to pay last year, but then several got wind of this new law and decided they didn't have to pay. But, they had already gone to camp, ridden the buses, competed, etc. The money was already spent and now they don't have to pay it back. I think this is actually just teaching the kids a HORRIBLE lesson. You can get stuff for free........

We have done tons of car washes, sold candy, sold cookie dough, sold snacks at school, sold newspaper subscriptions, sold pies, run a firework booth.....I'm out of ideas! We have asked literally every business in Westminster for donations, but we get the "in this economy...." kind of reaction. I have had a family member offer to buy poms for my girls, and that seriously took off a lot of pressure. My sister and I are going to make bows this weekend, but that's another cost for me. And remember, I VOLUNTEER to coach. It costs me THOUSANDS of dollars every year to volunteer. What the heck??? We have to pay for buses to and from football & basketball games (it's district policy that they can't get themselves there, but then ZERO funds are provided to cover the thousands of dollars that we have to pay for the school buses...arg!). This whole thing may drive me over the edge!

I mean, what kind of world do we live in where a teacher, who already doesn't make that much money, is sent one of these every summer? I mean, ya, we get the summers off, but we surely don't get paid for them!

Yes, teachers buy MOST of the stuff your kids use in the classroom......

Anyway, if anyone actually does read this and
1. knows a company that is just SEARCHING for something to donate to (for the tax write-off)
2. knows a really rich person who is just SEARCHING for something to donate to (for the tax write-off)
3. Knows of an amazing fundraiser that I haven't thought of yet....
please let me know!!!!!

Go to www.westminstercheer.shutterfly.com to see their adorable faces!

I'm not above working, begging, pleading, and am getting close to being ready for stealing. OK, not yet, but almost. Help!

(and for those of you that are sick of hearing me whine, sorry!!!!! and, thank you for listening!) :)

What Do Teachers Do During the Summer?

2011-08-02T16:36:00.000-07:00

Well, bake of course. Yesterday I didn't have any set plans, so I decided to bake for all the boys I know (Husband, Red 5 boys, and my bff who was getting home after an extended trip).....

Since I don't do things half-way, I basically made ALL the desserts.

I told Andrew what each one was, but then remembered that they're boys, so there were probably not questions- just crumbs and grunting....

Chocolate chip cookies, brownies, snickerdoodles, & oatmeal chocolate chip w/ candied pecans

Funfetti Cupcakes (I even left some un-frosted, like husband likes it)

Delivered like a pro

Crisis of EPIC Proportions!

2011-07-30T14:27:00.000-07:00

And the title doesn't exaggerate AT ALL. A few days ago I posted a picture of my shoes. I have like 60+ pairs, which means 60+ boxes they are in. I buy them at Bed, Bath, & Beyond and they fit my shoes perfectly. Every time I go, I buy a few more than I actually need. Now, I guess I've bought a lot of shoes in the last year or two, because I was only had 3 more in stock pile (and I JUST bought 2 new pairs of shoes). To Bed, Bath & Beyond I headed to buy more. Now, from reading the title and knowing I'm sort of insane, I'm sure you can guess where I am going with this.

THEY CHANGED THE SHAPE OF THE BOXES.

Old box on the left....new one on the right. They don't even stack together!

Old box on the right, new box on the left.

aaaaaahhhhhhhhhh!

The change may seem minute for the untrained-crazy-person-eyes, but for me it's an emergency! As I was telling this story to Andrew, his immediate reaction was "you're NOT buying all new boxes!" He knows the crazy look in my eye. I went to several BB&B desperately hoping that they would have a few old ones sitting around, but alas, they do not. I told the guy that I guess I had to stop buying shoes. He looked at me like I was insane and said "that seems a little drastic." I could also start purging old ones. arg. I just ordered some off of Amazon and am HOPING that they are the old style. I guess this will curb the shoe buying, since I only have ONE precious box left. I'm going to be VERY choosy.

*I realize that this is not that serious.......but rather just annoying.

Silly Family Photos

2011-07-28T20:17:00.000-07:00

In our house, we only have 1 place that we have personalized photos hung - in the office. When we first moved into this house, we decided that we didn't want to fill our house with pictures of us, but rather with art and such. The office, however is now FILLED with photos!

Now, this one, I realize is by far the most ridiculous thing you'll ever see in your whole life. It's tucked away in the office, on a kind of a wall that you don't see. He's just too cute not to have his own portrait!!!

The first step is admitting you have a problem, right? I think I'm obsessed!

Yes, I had pop-art made of my dog's face. But, when it's a face that looks like this how could you not????

Which takes me to the only other place we have personal pictures up. We started this book shelf of pictures many, many, many, many years ago. Then it only had a few pictures and many more books. Now it TOTALLY looks ridiculous and you can't even see the books. But we are planning on moving within the next year or so, so I don't want to start a whole new process. In our eventual permanent house, we plan on having some sort of wall where all of these are posted, but for now it'll do. On this bookshelf we post 1 picture from each trip we take.

Sometimes I'll just sit and look at each picture. They represent SUCH great memories. Each one reminds me of what ever country we were in.

Eventually I would like to put a label/sign on the front of each one that says what country we were in and the date/year. As of now, I have it written on the back, but there will come a day that we will not remember.....sad but true!

OC Fair Shenanigans

2011-07-28T19:02:00.001-07:00

Every single year of my life, I have gone to the Orange County Fair. Well, I lie. The year we got married we couldn't go, since our honeymoon was 5.5 weeks and we missed the entire fair! When I was younger we would ALWAYS ride the rides, but then once I hit high school, I decided they were pretty unsafe. But then the last few years I guess I changed my mind because I'm back to riding them all again. They're still super unsafe, but also super fun. I figure I've lived a pretty good life. Well, that and Andrew hasn't gone with me for the last 2 years in a row (he's been working and working and working), so he's not there to tell me how unsafe they are (he is not a fan of any sort of roller coaster, especially those put together for only a month).

The OC Fair is basically a place to fill your arteries, have a chance to pet some farm animals (since we are all city kids), and enjoy the rides. Which, we did all 3 to the very fullest.

I don't know if it's because I'm old now, but I thought the fair was SUPER crowded this year. It was a Wednesday night, but we drove around for like 35 minutes to find a spot! It was packed with lots of OC residents.....many had very interesting (putting it lightly) looks about them. People watching is one of my favorite fair activities!

WARNING: the following pictures have all been fried enough to clog the arteries of a whole army. HOWEVER, in our defense, it's the fair! Also, all 7 of us shared!!!!

First, we started with this little fried dough that is very new to the fair world:

It basically tasted like a sweet, kind of cherry flavored donut. It was OK, but since everyone has been talking about it, I'm glad we tried it......

Deep Fried Kool-Aid?

Next we moved onto many other fried things.......

GIANT donut with maple & bacon on the top. My mother, who only eats veggies
& string cheese totally bought this one. She described it as like breakfast that all
touches. I was not such a fan.

Nest was Australian Potatoes. We get these every year and they are delicious!!!

This place was a treasure-trove of grossness/deliciousness. You choose.
This is a chocolate covered corn dog & a beer-battered-bacon-sandwich with fries
cooked in bacon fat. Both were pretty good and pretty gross at the same time.

Then we went to go visit the farm animals. We have a big farm on campus at my HS, so I was not all that much intrigued. However Sara and Jenna were ALL ABOUT petting all the animals. Then they decided that they really wanted to pet these 6 day old goats. The mom goat was not having it and kept giving them the stink eye and was clearly ready to bite them. They didn't seem to care. Then my city-mouse mother decided she was jealous and also wanted to pet one. Though she was concerned that they all looked "dirty." She chose this goat because she felt like it looked the cleanest. Oh silly mom.

There was much hand washing done after these pictures were taken. The OC is so "city" that there was even a booth where everyone could go and watch a cow be milked. Kids were oohing and aahing. It was pretty funny.

Next were the rides. I am a big fan of all types of rollercoasters. The higher, faster, scarier, bumpier, etc, the better.

We went on one ride that drops you down (which honestly doesn't seem like it's going to stop. For real. We were a little nervous. It went WAY faster than the one at Knott's. Funny story about a ride like that. When I was a kid, we all went on the one on the top of Stratosphere in Vegas. We bought the picture and left. When we looked at it later, the woman sitting next to my brother was throwing up in the picture. Amazing memories!!!) The other one spun around and then flung us up and down. It was WAY more fun than it looked!

Then we capped the food & ride filled evening with a lovely family picture. Yes two were missing (husband=Andrew and bff=James), but otherwise it was really a perfect evening.

What Would You Save in a Fire?

2011-07-27T13:18:00.000-07:00

So my FAVORITE thing in my house (besides dog, of course), is actually quite simple. I told Andrew the other day that I think I would save it in a fire. There's nothing else in the whole house I think that I would save. He looked at me, horrified. He said he would save Maximus. I said that Max is smart enough to run away from the flames, so I wouldn't need to save him. All of our pictures are saved on our picture website. As much as I would want to save the shoes, there's just too many, so those are out. Anything else could really be replaced.

I really think that I would save:

I know it looks simple and sort of plain, but I love it so much. The "B" is the topper from our wedding cake. I rhinestoned it with Black Diamond (grey) and Jet (black). After the wedding I bought this stand (with our names & anniversary date) and bought plain versions of our initials. I think it is such a special thing. Andrew is not such a fan, but, duh, I had to sneak rhinestones in the house somewhere.

Andrew barely notices it anymore, however, because he is distracted by this:

I had to put some girly thing to distract from the monstrosity.

I think it means I may have a problem with rhinestones if that's what I would save? I have the same amount of emotions and feelings as a robot, so there's not really anything else sentimental that I would save. I never even made a wedding photo album. I only have 1 small wedding picture up in the house. The only thing I would save would be my pretty little rhinestones!!!

Decorating: My Bathroom

2011-07-27T12:49:00.000-07:00

Bathrooms have a tendency to be ugly and boring. Ever since our very first apartment, I've tried to make them a little bit more personalized. However, I discovered that I failed years ago...

Now this hangs in one of my closets...

When we first moved out 5 years ago, I hung this in the bathroom. I had red towels in there, so I thought it was so cute. I hung it on a blank wall above the toilet, since this wall was boring. I never realized it was an issue, until one of my friends (male) said it was weird to use the toilet while staring at young pictures of us. haha. Being a lady, this was never an issue that I saw.

So, I tried to keep that in mind this time and there are NO personalized pictures up in the bathroom. Actually, we only have personalized pictures in one room in our house (the office)....

Now when people use the bathroom, they don't have to stare creepily at us.

While I don't have personalized pictures, I do, however, have these personalized towels. As soon as we got married, I pretty much put our initials on everything! I just love personalized stuff.

As I said from the beginning, bathrooms are not very exciting.

Dining Room

2011-07-26T16:48:00.000-07:00

So here's my dining room. And by dining room, I mean wine rack. It really does dominate the entire room.

I <3 this blue glass stuff so hard. Andrew is not such a fan. He actually refuses to drink
wine out of the blue glasses. weirdo.

When we were table shopping, it was nearly impossible to find a set we liked. So, we just bought the table at one place and the black leather chairs at a different place. Eventually I would like to have a giant dining room, add the leaf to the table, and get big comfy fabric chairs to go at the end of the table. Right now, there just isn't enough room in the dining room right now.

Wine rack - clearly I need to go wine shopping, --- several of these stacks are looking sad and empty....

Schnoodle Gets a Haircut.

2011-07-26T16:23:00.000-07:00

Maximus' summer haircut

He's ugly again. I used a new groomer this time, and she left his face long like a Schnauzer, so he's extra ugly. But, also extra snuggly (since I saved him from the groomer and all.). The new groomer told me that he's so cute and was silent and really well-behaved. yay for puppy training a la Brownell!!!

Decorating : My Bedroom

2011-07-25T18:54:00.000-07:00

I feel VERY lukewarm about the bedspread on my bed. It's actually a duvet cover on top of a bedspread. We have a spoiled dog that will sit on our bed and chew on a bone, and the bedspread is a whole production to wash every week. The duvet cover makes the washing easier, but then putting it back on is a whole thing.

Also, Andrew hates every single pillow on the bed. If he had it his way, there would be exactly TWO pillows - the ones that we sleep upon. He doesn't understand that a bed like that looks too empty and strange. Also, you can see Andrew's stupid water bottle on the side table. No joke, he drinks like 4 a night....then just leaves them there. I go CRAZY and throw them away everyday. He now jokingly calls it his "water-bottle graveyard" since there's always a bunch sitting there. ARG!

It was VERY difficult to hang those pictures in a square! Also, I hate the black
pillows in the front. They're too flat and look riduclous (I switched them with the ones we
sleep on....). I keep forgetting to buy new fluffier ones.

I do, however, LOVE my new Scrabble pillow.

Yes, I realize that the "B" on the Scrabble board is not worth 7, however that's "our number." We got married on 07-07-07, so I found a place that custom makes them. It's my favorite thing in my bedroom right now. The rest I'm a pretty much over.

How to Organize my Pantry

2011-07-25T18:43:00.000-07:00

Today, I'm going to discuss my pantry. No joke, I empty it out and start over about 3 times a year. I like how it's currently set up, except there are like 2 bottles of stuff in there that totally won't fit in the shelves and stress me out when I open the cabinet. I may be sick.

The ones that won't fit are clearly the ones lying on their sides. Bane of my pantry existance......