La Esquina de la Estrellita

Here I am!!

noreply@blogger.com (Baby Sister) — Wed, 01 Apr 2015 00:17:00 +0000

We are currently in week 2 of Hubster working nights

(edit...make that week 4 now)

Have I ever mentioned that I don't like the night shift?

Because it's true

I've played that game before and I'm not a fan that we have to play it again

And we didn't even have a fighting chance this time around

The manager of the night shift is the same manager of the night shift at his last job in Utah

And that's where Hubster last worked nights

And the manager was so impressed with him that he wouldn't let any of the other managers even think about having him

He was his and his alone

It is good that he has such a good work ethic and is good at his job...and it's good that the uppity ups like him

But...I don't approve

Especially when you consider the fact that it's getting to be our busy time of year at the nursery and I will be working more

We're never going to see each other!!

But he did tell me something that helps me be more patient

The other night a couple of the guys that work the same shift as Hubby were complaining about how hard the weekends were since they still had families and responsibilities but they had to maintain a similar sleeping schedule

The manager informed all of them that he knew it was hard for those with families and responsibilities and it was his goal to have all of those people change shifts and only people that really wanted to work nights would stay there

He's just waiting for them to hire more employees

Phew!!

Plus, they're just opening up a support site in Ireland, so their goal is to be able to do away with the night shift completely

I can handle it as long as I know it's not a "forever, permanent, the manager wants you and you're never going to escape his grasp" type thing

That's a relief

And it's not all horrible, him working the night shift

He gets paid more working at night, sharing our car is a lot easier since we work at different times of the day, he has a job, that job is located in Utah, he loves his job, it's a good job with great benefits, I'm able to help at the family business again, we're right by our family and friends, and did I mention we're back in Utah? :)

So really I don't have too much to complain about

One day we'll be back on the same schedule and we'll see each other more, until then I just keep counting my blessings

****

I can think of a few things that I still have to count and they most definitely aren't blessings

Spiders

Ugh, I don't think I'll ever be able to get over the evilness of spiders

They will always be my worst enemy

Always and forever

The most recent story?

I was siting on our couch, minding my own, very innocent, business, when I nudged the blanket I was using and out of the corner of my eye I saw a spider

Moving

Across the top of my blanket

Less than a foot away from me

Now, the smart thing would have been to move the blanket slowly so that I could kill the spider and have peace of mind

But this spider was right next to me and that sends all common and practical sense out the window

So, obviously, I flung the blanket as far away from me as possible and ran to the other side of the room

After "yelling" at Aaron (Aaron = Hubby) for not being home to take care of the spider I ran upstairs to hang out with my sister and bro-in-law

They were watching Blue Bloods, which has become my new favorite show, so I stayed up there and watched a couple of episodes with them

I finally decided I needed to do something, I mean, I was working on homework on my computer when I saw the spider and didn't want the evil spider to get in the way of homework, so I had to figure out something

That something equals stripping all of the blankets off the couch (we each have a pile of blankets to sit on so we can reach our desks from the couch), clear everything away from the desks, and vacuum everything!! Even under the couch cushions...every nook and cranny around where I saw the spider

And by this point it was way past my bed time so I ignored it until the next day when I went to work and brought home my hero when Aaron isn't home, spider killer spray, and sprayed it all around the couch and the doors...everywhere

Well, I thought everywhere

It obviously wasn't because a few days later I was making breakfast and saw what I thought was a water droplet on the bottom edge of the counter

I looked away and looked back and it morphed into a spider that was headed straight for my breakfast

I told him to stay away, that he didn't want my breakfast, but he wouldn't listen

So I hurried and moved it and then I grabbed my secondary hero, cause Hubby was asleep, and went to town

I don't think I've seen one since, so hopefully they've learned their lesson

Our temporary home (we've decided to stay here until next year...it gives us longer to save and my sister and bro-in-law told us to take our time...and we know if we move elsewhere rent will be ridiculous [at least compared to what we pay now] and it will take us longer to save to get a place/another car....having one car is working since he works at night, but that's not going to be forever and I don't want to keep inconveniencing my family when I need a car when he works during the day...so, we're staying until next year) is currently under construction

They're adding more storage so that we can move our stuff out of our storage unit and because the previous homeowners didn't do a great job as far as insulation is concerned, so the entryway and the spare bedroom were freezing cold and not really worth using

It's going to be fabulouso because the other bedroom can become our office and we won't need to keep our computers in the living room, which will be nice because as of now it's feeling a little cramped with our desks and computers out here

Plus the couch is so low it's not terribly comfortable to work on our computers

ANYWAY, the point of the construction conversation was to say that as soon as it's done that should help with spiders, and as soon as it's done I am really going to town with the hero spray

And that will be a fabulous day

And before I close, I just thought of one more perk to Aaron working at nights

He's deliriously hilarious in the morning when he comes home and gets ready for bed

Seriously hilarious

And since I'm not a morning person it's nice to start out my morning laughing

Poem she wrote

noreply@blogger.com (Baby Sister) — Wed, 25 Feb 2015 04:29:00 +0000

You know, instead of Murder She Wrote?

Yeah, I'm clever like that

The ornament

And the poem

Which took...maybe 2 days to write?

I was in a bit of a hurry, but I enjoyed it

Enjoy!

Coming Home

Many miles away, o’er land and sea (1,283 to be exact)

In a place that is as dank as can be

Hidden amongst multiple towering hillsides

Lies a city not known far and wide

And dwelling in this unknown land of mist

(Who, fortunately, no longer works the night shift)

A beautiful maiden and her beloved groom

Trying to survive this city of gloom

Buried under piles – no, mountains of snow

They’ve suffered through weather of 0 and below

Warming their bones with gallons of hot chocolate

Stealing all of the blankets from their now barren closet

They can’t ever trust the roads in this strange land

One-way streets as far as the eye can see? Not so grand

Too many hills, their car labors in pain

(It’s exponentially worse with the freezing rain)

I’m afraid by now you think they only suffer

Not so! For their lives are filled with awe and wonder

They found good friends, with whom they smile and laugh

(So much, in fact, it would surpass any graph)

Yet, for all of their friends, the beautiful girl was very sad

For her loved ones dwelt half-way ‘cross the land

And she missed her mountains, so majestic and fair

And the food! So delectable and beyond compare!

“I really don’t like this city” the fair maiden stated

“Except for our friends, all of the people are jaded”

“They’re crazy!” she said “You’ve seen how they drive!

I’ve run out of fingers to count the times we’ve almost died!”

“I miss my family and all of the fun we share

The jokes, the laugher…nothing could ever compare!

I’m tired of this cold and dreary place

I can promise you, I’d much rather be driving a case!”

“I want to see my nieces and nephews grow up

I’m losing my spot as the most favorite grown up!

I’m the entertainment! My family needs me around!

Without my sparkling personality? They’re as dry as the ground!”

Her spouse commiserated, sighed, and agreed

But with no job prospects it won’t happen, they had to concede

So they twiddled their thumbs and they waited

Hoping that, one day, their small home could be vacated

Then, magically, one day out of the blue

The gentleman got some wonderful news

“They’re hiring!” he exclaimed “And they want to converse!”

“Well, I’m not hoping” stated the lady “That would be the worst”

Weeks passed and many talks were had

They hoped and prayed the news wouldn’t be bad

They said not a word as to not raise any hopes

How awful would it be if ended up with a big nope?

Finally, after what felt like eons had past

They had joyous, fabulous news they had to share fast

“This is it!” he shouted “I have my dream job”

“You mean it?” she asked as she started to sob

“We need to tell everyone! Get on the news!

Let’s throw a party! Put on your dancing shoes!

We’re going home! I can’t believe this day has come!

I couldn’t care where we live, I’d stay in the slums!”

“Just take me home, back to my loved ones so dear

It will work out when we arrive, I’d even live with the deer!”

So, the fair maiden and her groom left behind the cold city

Anxious to return to their home, to the land so stunningly pretty

And what said the family of the lady so fair?

With such a surprise, did they do more than stare?

She hopes they’re jumping and screaming for joy

But, in reality, some are crying and others are being coy (dad is obviously the one crying ;) )

But how do they start? What do they do?

They have so many things those who help them could sue!

They’ll start with the biggest and baddest of all

Send it to mom and dad, surely they’ll have a ball

The kitchen sink it is!! It always takes up so much space

And since mom is so practiced with it, she’ll know just the place

As for the rest of the stuff in this house

Hopefully aid will come from more than just her spouse

It has been WAY too long...I hope you like reading novels

noreply@blogger.com (Baby Sister) — Fri, 06 Feb 2015 16:45:00 +0000

Didn't we just celebrate 2014 as the new year?

That's what it feels like to me

To say or write 2015 feels odd and yet it feels like I've been saying it forever

It's a weird feeling

Christmas break was amazing

It was so nice to be back in Utah and be with family and friends that we haven't seen in ages

While we were there we took family pictures

We ate at too many restaurants

We sang family songs

We got my ring cleaned

The Hubster visited his favorite massage therapist, after which he was very sore and happy

(he's a weird duck and likes pain)

We spent lots of time with my family

We heard my nieces sing along to Frozen pretty much perfectly

(I hope you can see this video...)

We got to see quite a few friends

(albeit not as many as we wanted to)

We went and saw the new Annie and The Hobbit

(both of which we enjoyed)

We spent lots of time just staring at the mountains

We met new babies that we had only seen pictures of

I read a LOT, which was nice

The Hubster didn't touch work once and I didn't touch school once

(both of which were very much needed)

Mama Smurf helped me sew new pillows for our couch

We made and decorated sugar cookie bars with some of my nieces and nephews

(one of my new favorite recipes....it is to die for)

We caught up on sleep

(VERY important)

All in all it was a very good trip

We survived the drive both ways

The way to Utah we stopped in Lexington, Nebraska to get a few hours of sleep

Although I almost wish we had just gone straight through

So on the way back we did just that

We just wanted to get home to our bed and to our house and be done

And then something crazy happened

Wait, wait, wait

We need to give you more information first

Once upon a time, just before Thanksgiving, Hubster got an email from a recruiter about a position working with a company back in Utah

(the same company I talked about here...that he wanted to work at since before we moved to Iowa)

He hates recruiters because, typically, the jobs aren't steady and you're not as valued as a regular employee

You're the first to get a pay cut, the first to be let go, etc

But this time he really felt like he needed to talk to this guy

They exchanged emails back and forth, and just after Thanksgiving he had his first interview with Pure Storage

It was just over the phone, but he felt like it went well

But if you'll remember from the previous post, we thought that first interview went well also

A few weeks later he had another phone interview and he was very pleased with how this interview went

When they found out we would be in Utah for Christmas they took advantage and had him come in for a face to face interview

At this point he felt so good about how everything was going that he was quite convinced he would get the job

But we were convinced we would get it last time as well, so there was no way I was getting my hopes up

We were hoping to hear by Christmas so we could have it be a Christmas present of sorts

We had it all planned out

We purchased an ornament with a sink full of dishes on it and we were going to give it to my parents telling them that we had brought home the kitchen sink and they would have to help us bring home the rest

But we still hadn't heard by the time we left, so we didn't say anything

We didn't want to raise expectations for anyone

We went back and just 9 days later, I was walking on the treadmill, just minding my own business, when Hubster told me he had some news

And what was that news, you might ask?

WE GOT THE JOB!!

So, you know, nothing big :)

We got the job, he got a raise, and he had to start in 3 weeks

On February 2nd

*sigh*

Oh boy, we can never do anything slow and easy

It has to be ridiculously crazy, fast-paced, and complicated

So, we sent the padres the ornament along with a poem (I'll share that in the next post)

Papa Smurf smiled, Mama Smurf cried, and our world turned topsy-turvy

We requested the help of one or both of the padres and Mama Smurf agreed to fly out and help us for 4ish days

And let me tell you, that help was exactly what we needed

We wanted to travel to the Nauvoo temple while she was with us since it's only 3 hours away, but there was a storm that might hit on Saturday, which is when we were going to travel, and we still had a lot to do, so we didn't risk it and stayed home and packed some more

Yay?

We did get to take her to a friend's house for dinner, which was a nice break, but other than that we kept her very busy

But she was a miracle worker, I don't know what we would have done without her

She left on Monday, the day the trailer was dropped off at our house, and we loaded it on Tuesday with help from our ward, which was GREATLY appreciated

We loaded everything but the cleaning supplies and spent all day Wednesday cleaning and trying to gather everything that was going in our car

(next time we do a big road trip/move, we need to have a bigger car....Hubster's is way too small for that)

I wanted to be all done on Wednesday, but it just didn't happen

So Thursday morning we got up at 6:00 so we could finish cleaning, pack and lock the trailer, turn in our keys, turn in our cable box, pick up my medical records, and fill up our water bottles for the trip

By 1:00 the car was full of gas, we had lunch ready to be devoured, and we were on the road

And we both said "Didn't we just play this game?"

We decided to drive straight through, no stops

I'm pretty sure that wasn't the smartest idea we've ever had when you take into consideration the fact that we woke up at 6:00, but we just didn't want to stop

We just wanted to be home

And we got home at about 6:00 in the morning

Taking into consideration the time difference, a 25-hour day

And boy were we tired!!

We crashed for 5 hours and got up for the rest of the day

But that meant we got to go to a play (Aladdin) that my niece and nephew were in

(nephew was Iago, niece was a member of the town)

(The little ones with Papa and Mama Smurf...Papa Smurf was "scared" of Iago)

They did a wonderful job!! It was a ton of fun

And....we've just been trying to settle in since then

My sister is letting us stay with her family until we find a place (where we stayed before we moved to Iowa, ironically)

Our trailer showed up on Tuesday, we unloaded it Wednesday, and they came and took it away on Thursday

It's been a bit of a whirlwind week

We have a lot of our stuff in the storage unit and we're still going through some boxes trying to decide what we need for however long we're staying with them

It's kind of crazy, we've been gone for a year and yet it feels like nothing has really changed at all

We've just fallen back into rhythm with life in Utah and it's been a decently smooth transition

I don't love the fact that we had to pack up our whole life in less than a month, it makes going through boxes complicated, but I'm grateful for this new adventure we're beginning

The timing of all of this has been miraculous...but I'll discuss that in another post

This one has been in draft mode since....the end of December, so it needs to be done

And I need to go through boxes and try to organize our crazy life

But don't worry, the Oreos were saved from going into the storage unit and are sitting in our kitchen

At least I know I have the important things

Update LONG overdue...

noreply@blogger.com (Baby Sister) — Tue, 16 Dec 2014 19:59:00 +0000

(I'm breaking the promise I made in the last post...some medical issues will be discussed)

We have learned some very important things the last couple of weeks

Numero uno:

I can eat, drink, sleep, walk around without getting exhausted...

But apparently I am not quite ready to walk on the treadmill for an hour

Walk

Very, very slowly

The speed was even under 3.0

I did fine that night, didn't have any problems

But in the morning I woke up ridiculously nauseous

Like when I was sick

I still have some anti-nausea pills, so it didn't stick around very long, but it left me exhausted

And then the rest of the week I became very good friends with the bathroom

Needless to say I didn't get back on the treadmill last week

I tried again on Monday and only went for 30 minutes, which was definitely more manageable

I still had a tiny bit of nausea the next day, but it was practically nothing in comparison

So I'm apparently not as ready for that part of life as I was hoping

But at least I can do some, which is better than nothing

I'll just have to work at it slowly and try to be patient

Numero dos:

Not all over-the-door shoe organizers are created equal

And not all doors are created equal

In other words, not all over-the-door shoe organizers will work on all doors the way you want them to

The home where we live is built a little...odd

Cramped spaces, not a lot of storage, weird angles...it's just odd

We tend to keep our shoes by the back door, but they just get in the way because the doorway is so narrow and....3ish feet in front of you is the doorway to the basement, and the basement door opens towards you (so outwards) and the back door opens away from you (inwards)....so it's just the most awkward section of the house that I think we have

And there is really no room for shoes

So we started taking them off by the front door, but that's a small entry way as well, and whenever we had guests over (the missionaries come over pretty much every week for dinner) it becomes very cluttered

Plus in the winter time I don't love having the snow tracked all over our home since it's all linoleum/wood and it becomes super slippery and gross, so I don't want to track them through the kitchen

The point of all of this babble is to say that we don't have a good place to put our shoes

So I found this on Amazon

(image from Amazon)

It's not the prettiest thing, but it works and it was the only one Hubby would agree to

We bought it, tried to put it on our basement door and realized that the functionality of the stupid door made it so that we had to hang it on the back side of the door which is facing the basement which is infested with spiders

So, no thank you

In the end the only door it would work on was the door to our study, so there it sits

But the most frustrating thing about it?

These had been hanging on our basement door

So when I ordered the shoe thing I took them allll down (I'm not wearing many hats right now since I'm not outside very much) and packed them away into storage

(and we're not going to discuss the fact that I took the majority of them down and realized that I never took a before picture, so I put them all back up just so I could take the picture and took them all down again)

So now, after all that, the dumb thing doesn't even work?

Not nice

Very rude

Not my friend

And numero tres:

Might I suggest that you not move twice in one year whilst working on a 2,000 piece puzzle?

Especially when one of those moves is across the country

Otherwise, it might end up like this

I know that's a little hard to see, so here's an edited version

Two pieces missing

Two!!

So not nice

My original plan was to just buy a new one and start over because I really, really want this puzzle

But one of my brilliant sisters (Peach...aka Noelle) came up with a brilliant plan to buy a new one and just find the two missing pieces

That's a whole lot less daunting than putting the whole thing together again

So I decided that's what I would do

I found it on Amazon, purchased it, and one night when the Elders were over for dinner I told them they could help look while we were finishing getting dinner ready

And that's when my hopes and dreams were destroyed into a bajillion little pieces

(literally and figuratively....)

One of the Elders realized that the stupid pieces were cut differently on each puzzle

...seriously?!

That's just downright rude!!

So now I don't have a choice but to put the whole thing together again

*sigh*

I was going to start it right away while it was still fresh in my head, but the Hubster convinced me to wait

And now I'm kind of glad I did because our lives have been so crazy lately

Plus, I'm a little scared that after I'm about halfway done with it, we're going to have to move again, or something like that

Since that's all we've done with that poor puzzle

****

Just for the record? Almost everything written above was from about a month ago

Maybe even longer, I honestly don't remember

That's how long it's been

Bother

I am now happy to report that since my first walking on the treadmill for an hour attempt failed, I have been able to work up to it since then

I haven't tried doing it every day yet, but I know that I can do it a couple of days a week

And that's a very good start

We had a good Thanksgiving

Some friends that we've made here invited us over to their house, which was fun

We had talked about inviting the Elders over for Thanksgiving, but someone invited them first so it all worked out really well

But, since I'm me and I'm really good at making life more complicated than it needs to be, we still made a small Thanksgiving dinner the day before and fed the Elders

But, since I'm me again, everything we planned didn't execute because there wasn't enough time in the day, our kitchen is way tooooo tiny, and Hubby had to work so he wasn't able to help for a good portion of the day

I mean, we even forgot the stuffing

Who forgets stuffing?

So on the Sunday after Thanksgiving we had another pseudo Thanksgiving dinner and made everything we didn't have time to make before

Like stuffing, candied yams...and I'm sure other things I don't remember

We had leftovers for a very long time, it was nice

Other than that things are good

Hubby is still enjoying his job, I'm still working on school, and not too many changes

Besides the fact that I must have slept funny and my back is a little thrown out of whack this morning

So I'm not doing much today...just sitting at my computer, forcing myself to finish this post, and working on lots of school

And listening to lots of Christmas music!!

Because I'm officially allowed to now

It's heavenly

Well, besides the back part

Hmm...what else

We're going home to Utah for Christmas

We'll be there for 2 weeks!! We are SO excited!!

We leave this Friday, we're driving (another reason I need my back to cooperate) and we'll be back sometime the beginning of January

It's been over a year since we've moved out here, and Hubby hasn't been back since, so it will be good

And I think I'm actually done Christmas shopping!! There might be one more thing I get, I have to think about it....but I'm pretty much done, it's such a nice feeling!!

And now I must go help my mother with some computer stuff

Because I'm just amazing like that

Just not so much with keeping 2,000 puzzle pieces together...

I promise, no more medical talk after today (maybe....)

noreply@blogger.com (Baby Sister) — Thu, 23 Oct 2014 21:26:00 +0000

So, I'm hoping this is the last of my "oh woe is me and all of my medical problems" posts

The last doctor I met with (well, in relation to the evil sickness) was an infectious disease doctor

Pretty much the first thing he said to me was "I don't even know why you're here"

We went over my medical history

The fact that I don't smoke, drink, do drugs?

All of that worked really well in my favor

He was impressed

The fact that I hardly ever get sick (besides the typical cold) really worked in my favor

Pretty much he told me I was a fluke

He has no idea why my immune system was so shot

(I'm wondering if it had anything to do with the fact that Hubby and I weren't getting decent sleep for way too long....we're night owls, it's a problem)

(and for some reason his body handles it way better than mine...not fair)

He said to me, probably 4 or 5 times, "I'm not worried about you, you're going to be just fine"

He said that while the majority of people have the herpes virus, hardly anyone actually suffers from it

Only about 5% of people, if we're going to be specific

I'm just lucky enough to be one of the 5%

I used to get cold sores pretty regularly when I was a kid, but I haven't had one for years

And that's the last symptom of herpes that I've had

Until this one, anyway

The doctor couldn't even figure out why the other doctor referred me to him

To him (and me, let's be honest) it was the most ridiculous appointment ever

He ordered 2 more blood tests, just so he could cross his t's and dot his i's

(they came back clear)

He told me that the herpes would never leave, but that I shouldn't really be affected by it, especially considering my history

So in other words, I think I'm good

Which is a huge relief

The Hubster is still having a hard time with it, he's so worried that I'll get sick again

It's pretty cute, most of the time

I'm able to eat anything I want again, which is sooo nice

I still am eating smaller meals, but I can handle that when they're not limited

I lost about 20 pounds in the month that I was sick, so I'm trying really hard not to go overboard with the eating and gain that weight back

It's hard when I just want to eat everything that I haven't been able to eat, but I just have to remind myself that the food isn't going anywhere and I don't have to eat everything all at once

This is the first week that I haven't really felt any nausea

Our routine usually consists of Hubby getting out of bed and taking care of his business, and I fall back asleep for about 30 minutes or so

This week we've been focusing really hard on going to sleep at a decent time to see if that would help with the slight nausea that I still get in the mornings and it seems to have helped

So this last week when Hubby got out of bed it woke me up, as usual, and I felt a little bit of nausea

So I rolled over and went back to sleep and by the time I woke up the nausea was gone, horray!

So this is the first week since I've been sick that I've been able to spend all day without feeling any nausea

It's been so nice

So as long as this keeps up, I'm going to start walking on the treadmill next week

Very slowly, because I've been inactive for about two months

But I need to get my energy back up and my body moving again to remind it that it's capable of doing things

I went about two months not drinking soda, not eating chocolate, just eating very basic, plain things and I told Hubby that I just didn't think I would be the type of person that would all of the sudden hate foods that I couldn't eat for a long time

I was right, everything still tastes as wonderful as it did before

My tongue is not as used to the spices and stuff, but it's still just as delicious

Other than that, as far as I can tell, I'm back to being as healthy as possible

(and I completely forgot about this post....so, carrying on...)

We tried the whole going to bed at a decent hour thing for a week or so and the nausea has completely gone away

I'm sure it wasn't just because of extra sleep, but I'm also sure it helped

Other than that, our life has gone back to normal, or as normal as it was before

Hubby works an insane amount, both at the actual office building and here at home

He's salary, so they require him to work 115% which means that he does a lot of work after work at home

When he's not supposed to be working

When he's supposed to be spending time with me

But, it could be a lot worse

And really, at least he's at home working, so I get to see him

And I'm a big fan of his job right now because they approved his time off request for Christmas

So that means we get to go home for Christmas :)

And we'll be home for two weeks!!

Oh I'm so excited I could scream

And I probably have

Cause it's just awesome

And I'm soooo dang excited

Other than that, our lives continue on as normal as possible

Hubby goes to work every day, I stay home every day

Now that I'm recovered and getting my strength and energy back I'm getting back to working on my school and doing little projects around the house

I'm currently tackling making pillows for our couch

I haven't done any sewing since I was in young women and I made my own pajama pants for Girl's Camp

But I want to sew

I want to create things

I want to be my mom :)

She's like the awesomest person I know and if I could have half of her talent....I'd just be the best seamstress and cook and baker and everything else all rolled into one

Anyway, I'm learning

And praying that I don't mess it up because I only have so much fabric

And when I go home for Christmas Mama Smurf is going to teach me to crochet

A lot of learning going on

Really the only annoyance we are dealing with right now is medical bills and insurance companies

There are a few different "offices" where our doctor is and they are all also connected to the ER, so while it's a little confusing, it's nice because they were all interconnected

They do go by different names, but the names are so similar that it's hard to really distinguish them

Because they're all in the same building and they're all connected in some way or another we just assumed that the billing would all be connected too

(i'm assuming that my naivete on major medical problems and billing and how it works comes into play...but if I have to be naive about something, I'm glad it's this)

So we got the first statement, which was not a HUGE amount...more than we would have liked, but it could have been a lot worse

A few days later we got another statement in the mail, but because I was still slightly out of it I didn't really pay attention to it and assumed, for some strange reason, that it was the same bill as the first one

Last week I was working on paying all of our bills and I left the doctor's bill for the last because I was dreading it trying to decide how much to put towards it

By this point I had completely forgotten about the other statement until I was shuffling through all of our bills

When I saw it and really looked at I just about died of shock

It was definitely not the same bill

It was very much a different one

So add that to the other bill and we weren't too thrilled

But, it was manageable, we would just have to make smaller payments on our other bills and get those out of the way first since they're not as gracious as our credit card collectors

But then yesterday we got yet another bill from one of the same people

Because why can't they just lump it all together so we can pay towards one bill?

Obviously that's just silly talk

Obviously they just need to make life difficult

****

And wow....I just went on and on and on for far too long on medical jargon

Sorry friends

In other news, I finally pulled out the crazy puzzle that I've been working on forever

This one

(I just realized I haven't posted a picture of the puzzle since 2011...wow...and sad, especially when you see how far I haven't come with it...)

So, these are the last pictures I posted:

And this is what it looks like today

Okay, so a lot more progress than I thought

I feel a little bit better about life

It went through a rough life after we got married and then moved

You can tell by the fact that the one boarder in the sky is missing

And the fact that it wasn't missing before

I'm just crossing my fingers that I actually find it

Cause if that one piece is the only one that is missing?

I'm not going to be happy

I wanted to glue this and hang it somewhere one day when we have room for it and/or a spot

So if we are missing any pieces...that just means I have to buy it again

And that's going to tick me off

Because I'll have to put it together again

But, we're not thinking about that

We're just going forward with the hope that I will find all of the pieces

AND!!

Something else SOOO exciting??

I'm an Aunt again!!

My brother Jared and his wife Rachel had their 6th child a few weeks ago

2 days after my brother's birthday, to be exact

World, meet Tabitha Alegreia (which means joy in English...all of their kids have a Portuguese middle name [except their son, who's middle name is my brother's name])

Oh she's so adorable!!

I love having new little ones to dote on, but I hate that I'm not there

And I can't hold her

And I haven't officially met her yet

So sad

It's a good thing we're going home for Christmas

We'll have to get lots of snuggling in

And now I must publish this post

Before it takes me another month to finish

I swear I'm going to get on top of this blogging life again

I hate writing essays just to talk about what has happened in the last three months

It gets tedious

Happy Fall, everyone

I hope you're enjoying your fall clothing, hot chocolate, beautiful colors, and whatever else you love during fall weather

Those are my most important items, including Gilmore Girls

I'm currently on season 3 and I'm trying to decide if I want to speed watch them or drag them out

And if I choose to speed watch them, how reasonable is it for me to watch them again immediately afterwards?

Tough decisions..

A bit of an update

noreply@blogger.com (Baby Sister) — Mon, 01 Sep 2014 23:10:00 +0000

Well, it's been a long week and a half over here, but I feel like we're starting to make some progress towards a happy ending

I did end up in the ER last Monday because I was so dehydrated

We checked in, told them why we were there, they got me hooked up to an IV, which included something for my nausea, and then the doctor wanted to know what was going on, etc

So I told him which resulted in him wanting a urine sample, an EKG, etc

He did come in at some point and said to me "Well, looks like you're a little dehydrated..."

Thank you??

I ended up having 2 bags and they sent me home with a report to give my doctor

It's amazing how much better my body felt with fluids!!

When I saw the doctor/surgeon the week before that to see about a scope (when I thought I was getting a scope and fasted the morning beforehand for no reason...) he changed the antacid I was on to a different one because what I was on didn't seem to be making a difference (either of the medications, honestly)

After I started taking the new antacid things improved

I don't know if it was just the antacid or if my body was starting to heal, or maybe both, but this last week has been easier at least in the drinking/eating department

Of course, that's also when I started getting really nauseous at night and that would stick around until 11:00 or 12:00 the next day

So that made sleeping/functioning fun

Anyway, on the day of the scope I fasted (again) and, fortunately for me, they had a cancellation that morning so I was able to have my appointment sooner which meant I didn't have to fast as long

Hallelujah

They injected me with an other IV (in the same vein, too...my poor veins) and we waited for the doctor to arrive

So I dozed in my hospital bed while Hubby played on his phone

There was a such a party in that hospital room, let me tell you

They wheeled me back finally, the doctor finally showed up, and the anesthesiologist gave me the drugs to make me sleep

The doctor started talking about how I was going to have to help them get the scope in and not gag it up, etc

The anesthesiologist rolled her eyes a little and told me not to worry about it because I would be out

The last thing I remember was apologizing to the doctor if I threw up everywhere

And then I got drowsy and the next thing I know they're trying to wake me up, to which I told them (in my head, of course) to leave me alone

I finally gave in and they checked my vitals, etc

Hubby told me he had been waiting for almost an hour before I started stirring

He said the doctor showed him pictures of my esophagus and it was not in a happy state, which allowed me to feel a little bit of vindication

He took a bunch of biopsies of the esophagus and some of the stomach and told us they would let us know

I delayed getting released until my IV bag was empty because I didn't want to chance being dehydrated again

We finally went home and I was glued to the couch (aka my new place of residence) sucking on water the rest of the day

Things stayed status quo for the next few days

I went to bed nauseous, woke up REALLY nauseous, and dozed on the couch until the nausea went away

(and no, I'm not pregnant...the doctors tested me and I tested me)

They called back a few days later and told me what I had was herpes esophagitis

Something I didn't even know existed

(so I promptly googled it...apparently it's rare, because I found very little information on the subject)

The doctor called me in a new prescription that I have to take 3 times a day (I'm getting sick of pills) and told me he was referring me to a GI specialist to see if she had anything else she recommended for speedy recovery

The good news out of all of that is he told me that I didn't have to take the "slime" drink I've been taking anymore that was supposed to be coating my esophagus but that didn't ever end up doing anything (as far as I could tell)

It's not very much, but it's awful, just trust me

Anyway, I started taking the new prescription a few days ago and the nausea worsened

Of course, because since my throat doesn't hurt anymore, there has to be something

The day came for the appointment with the GI

Hubby had to be my chauffeur because I was too sick to drive

The appointment was early in the morning, meaning I couldn't go lay on the couch for a few hours and let the nausea subside

Meaning I threw up 3 times before we left for the appointment

It was a rough morning

And, in my opinion, it was one of the most pointless appointments ever

She expressed surprise at the fact that I have what I have

(like I said, it's pretty rare, especially with people my age, especially when you have a strong immune system [which I do, I hardly ever get sick beyond the seasonal colds] and I've pretty much flabbergasted everyone with this diagnosis)

We talked about the nausea and how that's very common for what I have and how the new medicine I'm taking also messes with your stomach

(Awesome. I'm on a roll)

She prescribed me a pill to help with the nausea so I can hopefully get some sleep and function during the day (hallelujah)

And then wanted more blood work done to see if I had diabetes or HIV, because that would explain the herpesness (yes, I just made that word up)

We weren't there very long (which I was grateful for because I was still feeling really sick)

I gave the blood they wanted (I really, really hate needles...especially when I've been throwing up and am dehydrated)

We picked up my new prescription and then Hubby took me home

I took an anti nausea pill and curled up on the couch and slept for a good while

When I woke up the nausea had subsided a little bit, thank heavens

Someone called from the doctor's office and told me that my diabetes and HIV had come back normal, so I was cleared from those, thankfully

And then they informed me that they were referring me to see yet another doctor

(is this number 500?)

This one is an infectious disease doctor cause they just want to know why I have what I have dang it!!

Seriously....this is getting old

I get it, I want to know why too, but...come on, give me a break!!

That night I took another one before we went to bed and I slept okay for about 4 hours, but at 4 am the nausea kicked in yet again and I barely slept after that

Of course, I had another appointment that next morning with a different doctor (my new primary doctor)

(have I mentioned that I'm getting really tired of doctors?)

Woke up really nauseous, so our plan for me to take Hubby to work so I could just drive myself to the appointment didn't happen

He came home from work and took me to the appointment, which was really just a get to know you appointment and let's talk about your health history and all of the medications you're taking

She and her little nurse helper person (I really don't know what to call them) were, again, both astonished that I have what I have

Neither of them have ever seen it in their time in the medical field

(when I get sick, I really know how to get sick...go me?)

She kept talking about "if this comes back in the future..."

Really?? Now is not the time to talk to me about the potential of being this sick again

Some of the things I've read and the people I've spoken too say not to worry about getting it again, and then on the opposite end of the spectrum there are those that act like the sky is always falling

I would rather be safe than sorry, but I would also like to hear that this is just a fluke and the chances of it happening again are really, really, really slim

Anyway, she wants me to come back because she thinks it's been too long since I've had a physical (she's wrong, it's never been too long for that) so I have an appointment with her and the infectious disease doctor next week...both of them

Luckily, our insurance is pretty epic, there's only been one prescription it didn't cover and we found a replacement for that

Everything else has been really cheap, so I'm grateful for good insurance right now

I'm just not looking forward to all of our bills we're going to be getting, especially for the ER trip

But, it is what it is, not much we can do about it

The last couple of days I've hardly had any nausea, which has been REALLY nice

I slept REALLY well last night, compared to previous nights anyway

So I'm really hoping I'm past the nightmare part of it and making my way to the bliss of not being sick any more part of it

So yeah, it's been a long monthish, but it appears that things are on the rise

My veins are ready for things to be on the rise, that's for sure

ER visit, scope visit, and diabetes/HIV testing (the throwing up had left me extremely dehydrated so it took a couple of times for her to find a vein)

We found that like....7 hours after the fact

I think we missed one

I promise not to gross you out too much (well, I guess I can't promise that...but I hope it won't), but I figured I'd show you an example of the the pictures he took of my esophagus

That's the good portion

And that's part of the bad portion

So yeah, pretty nasty

I'm ready for it to be over

There were two nights that I slept on the couch instead of our bed and that is the first time that we haven't slept in the same bed since being married (minus when we were in different states, of course) and that I don't approve of

I wore my wedding ring yesterday for the first time in weeks because what was the point of wearing it before when I was going to be asleep on the couch for half of the day and stuck to it for the rest of the day

It's going to take some getting used to again, but this is definitely a getting used to that I'm okay with

Anyway, I hope soon to not plague this blog with my illness

It's not very fun to read about, I'm sure

****

I'm excited September is here!! Cooler weather, fall colors, sweaters and sweatshirts, soups, hot chocolate, blankets, blankets, and blankets galore

I love it all

Hubby has today off for Labor Day, which I'm super stoked for

So we are watching the 6-hour version of Pride and Prejudice

He's good to me

We've watched almost all of the Jane Austen movies since I've been sick

There's just something about them

They're perfect "sick" movies

And Hubby loves me and humors watching them with me

He even asked me to read Pride and Prejudice to him one of these days

Well color me shocked

I hurried and agreed before he had the chance of taking it back

We're already reading a book together, but as soon as that's done....Lizzie and Jane, here we come

Anyway, it's getting to the stressful part of the movie, so I better close this before I become distracted and forget to finish it

Happy September!!

We get happy and sad all at the same time today, folks

noreply@blogger.com (Baby Sister) — Fri, 15 Aug 2014 23:26:00 +0000

Friends, I feel like I need to show you something before we get down to business

Remember this picture and how I talked about Hubby and I keeping stuffed "animals" on the bed?

Since then he has informed me that the stuffed Jack is no longer allowed on the bed

It was loosing it's form

Which means there's really hardly any difference

But to him it's huge

And he loves his Jack stuff

Plus it's from me, which in his mind makes it even more special

So it sits on the little table next to his side of the bed until we get a shelf or something it can sit on

I happen to love that Hubby of mine

He's pretty cute

****

Our lives the last couple of weeks have been a little more hectic than normal

The Hubster has been on call at work

Which pretty just means we have to always be at home

And if we aren't home and he gets called (which fortunately has never happened) we have to book it home pronto

And he's been on call for what feels like ages

He was on call for a week or two, and finally got off, and then due to stupid scheduling conflicts at work he's on call again for two more weeks

Rude

Last weekend I was sick with a migraine on the couch all weekend

This weekend Hubby had to work and HE is miserable with a horribly bad headache

So yeah, we're doing life really well lately

But next week things are going to change

We've gotten into the bad habit of staying up late, partly because of his work

So I told him that was changing next week, as much as possible anyway

We can't do much about his work keeping us up

****

When I was home in Utah I went and visited one of my favorite book stores and stalked up on books since said bookstore doesn't exist in Iowa

I do this thing where I think I have more room than I do and I think I'm going to read 6 books in a 2 hour flight and for some reason I think I'm going to love carrying two different large carry-on bags on a plane

Part of the problem is just I really just always have way too much stuff cause what if for some reason I need 4 extra shirts

Or what if for some reason I need lots of different shirt options

Or what if for some reasons I....I don't know, insert crazy answer here

Problem is, because of all of this, I stuff my carry-on bags way too full and all of the sudden my flight becomes cumbersome and obnoxious because I'm lugging heavy, annoying things everywhere

Normally it's not a big deal because I travel with hubby and he helps me lug all of my stuff around like the awesome husband that he is

But the last two times I have flown I've been solo, which has made it ~~EXTREMELY~~ only slightly more annoying

Anyway, point of the matter is my eyes are always way too big and I thought I had more space than I did, or that the books would take up less space than they actually did

One of the two

So Mama Smurf suggested that I keep some of the books there and she would send them to me

don't we love how smart and awesome moms are?

Anyway, I ended up leaving 4 books behind, which ended making a huge difference in the space that I had

She mailed them through the post office shortly after I left and they said it would probably take a couple of weeks

So I waited and waited and waited

And waited some more

And started to get really anxious because I didn't exactly remember the books that I had left behind, and that would mean I wouldn't be able to remember which ones to repurchase

And that bugged the OCness in me

I began wishing I had taken pictures of the books before I left, and was honestly really surprised that I didn't because I'm a little overcautious like that the majority of the time

Mama Smurf went to the post office to get it checked out, they tracked it for her, and it hadn't updated in tracking since it said it had left that post office

Which was weird to all of us

The guy at her post office thought it might be at my post office and they just hadn't updated it yet

So I called them, and no they didn't have it and they had no idea where it was

She got insurance on it, but we had to wait until the package was way past due in order to claim it

And that required me remembering which books I had left there because I didn't keep my receipts from the book store (another shocker...I always keep receipts until I'm triply sure I won't need them or the time we had to return the item has expired)

So I did my best, found the statements on my bank account and sent her all of the information

Monday came and she was going to go to "war" with the post office (as she put it, I think...it's been awhile now)

This was about a week-a week and a half after I was supposed to have received the package, so we both counted it as a loss and figured I wouldn't be getting it

I went outside to check the mail that day and noticed something on the porch

What do you know, it was my package!!

The box was pretty beat up and a little worse for the wear, as were a couple of the books inside, but I was so happy I actually got it it didn't really bother me (too much)

I called Mama Smurf right away and told her what I had just found on my front porch

And she just about died from laughter and shock

And relief cause she didn't have to deal with the post office anymore

See, here is one of the boxes

Very bent and faded

Not how they normally look

And the book

Not horrible, but still

(oh, and by the way, I was only right on one of the 3 books...the others I left behind were books that I had brought from Iowa to Utah in case I had time to read...which didn't happen, but that explains why I couldn't remember what the other books were that I had purchased but didn't have...at least I'm not TOO delusional)

****

Are you guys ready for another Oreo review? :D

Oreo numero uno

So, as discussed with previous "sour" flavored Oreos, I am not a fan of sour

But, I did like these more than the lemon, because they were sweeter

A little too sweet, maybe, and definitely not my favorite ever, but they were decent

Definitely a good choice that they picked the vanilla cookie for this

Oreo usually doesn't disappoint, only once (I'm looking at you, cookie dough), maybe twice, and I wouldn't say they "disappointed" with this, it's just not my favorite

But still, it had a pretty good flavor

I give it a 6/10

And numero dos

Now this one, my friends, I was WAY excited for!!

This is the marriage of two of my favorite things in the whole world

And they did not disappoint

I am in love

I love that they used the chocolate cookie

And I think they did a very good job at executing the flavor

I read an article saying that the two companies worked very close together because they knew this would be a huge deal and didn't want to disappoint

And disappoint they did not

Especially dipped in milk!! (Thanks Kris, for that idea)

Seriously, love them

And now I'm wanting them

Lots of them

This is definitely one I could eat a lot of (which is not a good thing...)

Anyway, I'm in love

This one most definitely gets a 10/10

There is another one out, Root Beer Float, but I haven't been able to find those yet, so I can't talk about those

Hopefully they'll show up soon....

****

So this week has been a crummy week in this house

A few nights ago I started getting this really weird pain in my chest and I started to feel awful, so I told Hubby we needed to go to bed pronto

So we did, and I slept horribly

Woke up with a terrible migraine and a HORRIBLE pain in my chest...like it was in my esophagus

I couldn't drink without pain, couldn't eat without pain, couldn't really swallow without pain, couldn't breath/cough without pain

In other words, anything that had to do with my mouth caused me pain

I had a horrible fever, and I just did not feel well at all

Hubby texted in and asked if he could work from home so he could take care of me and they said that would be fine

So he took awesome care of me and tended to my every need

We eventually went to the instacare that they have here and the doctor, while very nice, wasn't really listening to me when i was giving the pain symptoms, he just heard sore throat and tested me for strep

I didn't have strep, got told I had a virus and there was nothing they could do for me (since it was a virus), and sent me home

That didn't really sit well with me, but there wasn't much I could really do

That night was awful as well, but not QUITE as bad as the night before, and I woke up with an AWFUL migraine

Hubby was planning on going to work that day, but as he was getting ready I started dry heaving (since I didn't have anything in my stomach since I couldn't eat) and a bunch of blood came up

That was not a good sign in my book...I don't remember having ever thrown up blood before

So I texted Mama Smurf, she suggested I call the doctor's office back and see what they wanted me to do

After I was treated like a moron by the person on the phone, they told me I might as well come in and get reevaluated (how much blood? I can't tell you what's wrong without looking at it. It could still be viral, you know. There are plenty things that can cause a person to throw up blood)

But here's the thing lady, I know my body better than you, and this isn't normal

I've had lots of experience throwing up and never has it included blood

So, we went down right away, first thing that morning (cause Hubby worked from home again cause he's awesome and his work is super nice)

We were seen by a different doctor

I told her what happened yesterday with the other doctor, told her where the pain was, and she rolled her eyes and said something to the effect of obviously it's not strep, strep would not be that low and this sounds like it's in your esophagus. I don't know why he tested you for strep...

I told her that I've had a hard time swallowing food for awhile, and I easily choke on it

And that my doctor in Utah thought it might be something to do with heartburn type issues

She agreed with me and wanted to run a bunch of tests to see what was going on

I've had mono before, so she wanted to rule that out as well, just as precaution, and I honestly don't know what else they tested for

I didn't really care, I just wanted to know what was wrong

I had to get my blood drawn (I hate needles, but this phlebotomist was awesome and got in on the first try...and that's even with me super dehydrated) and give a urine test (they had something called a "clean" urine test...never done that before)

And then comes the horrific part

They sent me back to get what I thought would be a scope

Turns out they just wanted to x-ray my stomach to see if they could see any blockages or lumps or anything like that

That in and of itself wouldn't be so horrific, but they made me drink this barium thing (thanks Peach for helping me remember that word), which is awful. It's chalky and thick and just nasty

And then I had to drink something that was similar to Pepto Bismal to give more air down below

Well, that plus the barium junk didn't go over well

I don't think my throat loved acidity of the pepto-like stuff, since it's ridiculously sensitive right now

And I had to throw up again

The little nurse lady was nice and gave me something to throw up in and held back my hair and then gave me a wet washcloth to wipe my face...but it was awful

Needless to say, I didn't have to swallow that again, but they did make me do more of the barium

No blockage, no lumps, no tumor, none of that...which is good

Although a blockage would definitely have been the easiest thing to cure I'm sure

So we went back to the waiting room, waited for the doctor to look at the x-rays, and we got called back

Turns out what I have is esophagitis

Inflammation of the esophagus

Not in the worst stages yet, but if left untreated it could turn cancerous

(but, honestly, I might end up in the hospital from dehydration first)

So basically it's a good thing I went back when I did and I'm glad we saw a different doctor who actually listened

Although really with the pain I have I don't know why anyone would not want to treat this...it's awful

So she set me up an appointment with a surgeon next week to get a real scope done, and to see if he needs to get anything for a biopsy

And then we'll go from there

She did give me some medication, one to coat the esophagus and one to help keep acid down, and said they would help with the pain immensely

I haven't noticed a difference yet, but it's just barely been 24 hours so I'm still hoping....

Luckily the fever seems to have at least calmed down a little

Although, ironically my throat is sore now

But I think that's partially due to the throwing up yesterday

My ears are starting to hurt, but I slept very well last night so I haven't had too much of a headache today

I also haven't had too much to eat cause I've noticed it doesn't like extremes..super hot, or really cold

Which is too bad because the really cold items (smoothies, ice cream, ice, slush, water...) sound soooo good to me right now.....

So we're trying to figure out things I can manage to get down

So far cream of wheat is a decent choice

Little snack puddings seem to be okay

We're going to try scrambled eggs tonight

And Hubby got some chicken noodle soup at the store tonight

I typically prefer tomato, but that's more acidic and not as good cool as the chicken can be

Oh, and yogurt

I'm going to try jello, just cause it's smooth going down

And he got some apple juice too, since Sprite (to help calm my stomach) is a definite no (any soda really)

I tried a small sip last night and regretted it forever after that

I have a bunch of Gatorade to help try and keep me hydrated

It's just annoying to drink and eat because I have to only take tiny sips/bites and wait for a good amount of time afterwards before I can go again

If I go too fast I put myself in a lot of pain for too long

Tylenol and Advil seemed to have helped make the pain tolerable (probably because Advil is an anti inflammatory), but I don't want to take it on an empty stomach, so I'm trying not to rely on it...I haven't had any today and I can tell

Hubby went back to work today, since I'm going to need him to come with me when I get the scope because I'm pretty sure they put you out for that (at least they did the last time I had one done...)

And then I have a follow up with a different doctor the next day

So yeah, lots of visits to the doctor's office (which he hates cause he has a negative history with doctors cause of all of his health problems)

But if this can get resolved, and if I can stop choking on food and eat and drink normally again, I will do whatever it takes

I just need the pain to go away sooner rather than later

My head doesn't tolerate lack of food very well, so it'll be interesting to see how long I can go with this before I have consistently major headaches

It's crazy to think that just a week ago I was eating and drinking without a care in the world

And now here I am, feeling like I'm wasting away

I was diagnosed with gastroparesis in my senior year of high school (my stomach couldn't digest fibers, meats, or a whole lot of dairy...), the medicine they gave me didn't help so I had to let it "run it's course", which led to throwing up a lot over the next several years until it finally went away. I still have to be careful to not eat a HUGE amount all at once, and occasionally I still throw up a little, but not nearly to the extreme as before

So I'm wondering if this is, at least in part, repercussions from that

That can't have been easy on my esophagus

Anywho, that's an update on our lives

Hubby is off now for the weekend, so it'll be nice to have my caregiver back

And I'll just sit on my new place of residence (the couch) before we move into the bedroom for the evening and pray that I get LOTS of sleep tonight since Hubby's alarm won't wake me up at 5:30 tomorrow

I'll let you know what we find out next week

If you don't mind keeping me in your prayers/thoughts, that would be wonderful

I'm not doing too hot and I need all of the help I can get

(this is also why I've been a little vacant...and that might continue for awhile....)

****

Once last thing and then I'll be done

I don't usually talk publicly on the passing of celebrities, but Robin Williams was a little special

I will miss him, I grew up watching his movies, especially Aladdin and Flubber...I love Mrs. Doubtfire and Bicentennial Man and Patch Adams...he was an amazing person with an amazing gift for touching people's hearts and lives

My heart hurts right now for his family and loved ones and what they are going through

And I hope that he can find the peace that he has not been able to find

Hubby went through a severe depression phase before (his health was getting bad, he had just had to have spinal fusion surgery, leaving him incapable of doing anything, and his parents were getting divorced) and seriously contemplated suicide

He had the gun out, his family was gone, and he was going to go through with it

Fortunately (especially for me) something stopped him and he didn't actually do it

He decided he didn't want to live like that anymore and chose to look for the positive and be happy rather than dwell on all of the awful things that were going wrong in his life

Every time I hear of someone committing suicide, my heart breaks for them and their loved ones, yes, but I can't help but feel an extreme gratitude that he never actually went through with it and that I am able to have him in my life

****

And now I'm going to attempt to eat some chicken noodle soup

Wish me luck

(I find it ironic that earlier in the post [which I had written before I started getting sick] we were going to get lots of sleep, and not keep our bad schedules anymore....and then the sickness happens...life is really good at throwing curve balls, isn't it)

(I'm really going now, bye!)

Don't die of shock, I'm posting again. A house update and an Oreo review, all in one post

noreply@blogger.com (Baby Sister) — Thu, 03 Jul 2014 17:02:00 +0000

Where does the time go?!

The older I get the less time I seem to have

Father Time and I need to have a chat I guess

It feels like our house is really coming together

There's still a lot to do, but it's better than where we started

I'll find my pictures and post them for an update

That just requires moving from my laptop to my real computer

And as I'm currently watching Glee that won't be happening yet :)

Okay, I am on the beast

Which is what I call my "real" computer

Cause it's awesome

And it's a beast

Hence the name

Since I'm sure you wanted to know the nicknames of my electronics...

Pictures!

Here we go

Kitchen:

Before:

It makes me laugh that it got messier before it got better

After:

Obviously we still have to get curtains...and the walls are very boring still, but it certainly looks better

I'm just glad the KitchenAid has a home now

And the Oreos

Two of the most important things :)

I'm not 100% satisfied with the kitchen, but it's doable and livable and I can accept that for now

Now, the living room:

Before:

It's funny to watch the different pieces of furniture get moved to different spots in the room throughout the pictures

They were kind of like nomads at first

After:

Yay it looks soooo much better!!

If it were up to me, that LoveSac would be far, far away (on Judea's plains...)

Just because I don't even want to think about having to think about sitting on it for a VERY long time to come

But we feed the missionaries pretty much every week and one of the Elders actually likes to sit on it

So we left it upstairs for him

Again, the walls = boring, I know

We'll work on those, but first priority was the furniture

And hanging the TV

Some of the pictures I honestly just hung to get them off the floor and there were nails just scattered around the walls

So they all won't even stay where they are

Except for those by the front door

I like their placement

Hmmm...the study and our room honestly haven't changed much

They weren't as important because we don't have people coming back there

But, they have changed a little so....

Study:

Before:

After:

So yeah, really not that much different

One of these days we'll find homes for all of our nomad furniture

And the master bedroom:

(don't judge)

After:

So exciting, I know!!

Oh well, progress is progress

At least most days our bed gets made

That is definitely a good thing

And yes we put stuffed "animals" on our bed

We're awesome like that

Really that's about it

We've added some stuff into the hallway

Before:

After:

Nothing exciting, but we found a place for the jackets

And as I we have a lot, that was important

So, the main changes are the living room and the kitchen

We felt like they needed to be the focus since people actually go in that part of the house

So, it's coming along

Slowly but surely

We're the tortoise in the race

But at least the the main things are taken care of

****

I had a birthday almost a month ago

(which is now...3 months ago...)

Which is crazy cause it feels like it just happened

It was on General Conference weekend

(this awesome thing that happens in my church twice a year)

Because it was on Sunday that makes it complicated to go out and celebrate, and there's always a meeting for the guys the night before, so that doesn't help

But it is nice to be able to chill at home, watch conference in my pajamas, and spend the day with Hubby

Having a birthday on conference is a pretty awesome present

The Hubster gave me...

My Harry Potter books have gone missing over the years and have become tattered and in the end I don't have a complete set and what I do have isn't matching

So he got me that cool set of books which I'm super excited for and a game we've both been wanting but hadn't splurged on yet

I also got...

From my sister

Not gonna lie, I cried when I read that little sign

So cute

AND who doesn't love Piglet?

AND an Eve mug!!

She spoiled me

And from Papa and Mama Smurf....

That, my friends, is a rice bag

For my shoulders

Super excited about that

And the rest of it, of course

She knows me well

We found a Mexican restaurant near where we live that we went to

And we were both very, very impressed

Which says a lot about Hubby cause he's super picky

I loved the atmosphere

To be honest, I didn't know how I would feel about it because the outside of the building was small and strip-mall like

It was a little run down looking

And while it was small inside, it was awesome

The employees were all Latinos, and they actually used a little bit of Spanish when talking to the customers, which I thought was awesome

And the food was as close to authentic, in Mexico, in a village food you can get

Super good

We will definitely be going there again

We also went and saw the new Captain America

SO good

I loved it

It was weird not being home, in Utah, for my birthday

But they did call me, which was nice

And...I didn't get a birthday cake, because The Hubster hates to bake

Ever

Period

There was some leftover mint cake in the fridge that I made once when we had the missionaries over for dinner, but it was just on the edge of still being good and going soggy

Plus...that's not what I would have wanted for a birthday cake

Chocolate cake with chocolate icing please

Or at least chocolate cake

I was going to make one, but it was a rough couple of weeks with not feeling well and migraines and stuff

So we had invited the missionaries over last night for dinner and I figured that was the perfect time to make my cake

Exciting

And the cake looked awesome

And then one of the Elders had to go and get food poisoning

Rude!!

So...now I'm stuck with a whole cake all by my lonesome

We'll see if I can get Hubby to eat a piece

*************************************************************************************************

Well, that cake is long gone

Hubby force fed it to the missionaries after I left

They said it was super rich

Which it was

But I told them that beggars can't be choosers

And they said "Thank you Ms. Hannigan"

And

"We love you Ms. Hannigan"

Or something like that

****

As you can tell that post is a little old

But since it had some worthwhile information I figured I would leave it and just add to it

Really though, I had spent all of that time typing it all out...and didn't want to redo it

Call me lazy

****

So, it's been awhile since I've done an Oreo review

It won't have the two most recent "releases" cause I have yet to take those pictures, but I'll do that maybe next week

First we have....

I have to admit, I had a lot of expectations riding on these

I'm a cookie dough lover in all forms

Cause really...who doesn't love cookie dough?

Anyway, Oreo didn't quite meet my expectations with these

I was a little disappointed

They were good, and they had "chunks" in them which were fun

But they tasted a little too much like coffee to me

Hubby likes them, but says he could only eat 1 or 2 of them a year

Anyway, this is not a package I could have out and just snack on, not realizing what I'm doing

It would be a deliberate "let's pull out a package and eat a couple" type thing

So I give it...a 7/10

Next we have...

I REALLY liked these!!

I thought they did a really good job with the whole concept

I love that the creme has "krispy" things inside

And I love the flavor

I don't think I could eat a lot all at once just because of how sweet they are, but I do really like them

And Hubby really likes them

He said he can eat 4 of them a year

Dork

Anyway, I give them a 9.5/10

And last but not least

I wasn't sure about these, cause I'm not a huge fruit punch person

I've just never really cared for the drink

But I should know by now that Oreo is really good at not making the flavor overpowering

I was pleasantly surprised

They're probably not my ALL TIME FAVORITE...

But I genuinely liked them

I feel like they did a job well done with the flavor

I could definitely snack on these

Probably not a ton at once, yet again, because they are pretty sweet

But again, very good

I'd them a 9/10

All in all, I would give all of them a try

If you like coffee, I'm pretty sure you would love the Cookie Dough

I'm just not a fan of coffee

The other two I would definitely recommend

Although I don't think you can find the cookie dough or marshmallow krispy anymore

So there's that

Fruit Punch is still available, at least in Iowa and Utah it is

Try them

Do it now

If you can find them, anyway

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go find me a Daddy Warbucks and try and sway him with Oreos to give me all of his money

Wish me luck

Iowa was kind enough to welcome me back with humidity. I told it to go jump in a lake...or the Mississippi, I'd be okay with that

noreply@blogger.com (Baby Sister) — Thu, 26 Jun 2014 19:35:00 +0000

I'm "home" again

I spent so long in Utah that it was a little hard to come back

Lots of tears were shed, and lots of anxiety was felt, but in the end there was only (mostly) joy for getting to see Hubby again

I decided to fly into Chicago because the other airport is really small and was a little expensive to fly into and the flight times were all a little crazy

I'm most definitely not the type of person that likes to get up early in the morning, so anything from 6-8 is a no go

And if I had flown into Des Moines the options to fly out were either 6 am or 8 pm, putting me in Des Moines way late and it's an 1.5 hour drive for us, so that was a no go

My flight into Chicago landed at 6, and with a 3 hour drive, that put us getting home at 9, which is totally doable

Or so we thought :)

Hubby's body was tired of being in the car, and I was tired after the travelling and not getting a lot of sleep and didn't think I could stay awake for the drive

And since I'm the primary driver in the family, we decided not to risk it so we found a decent priced hotel room and stayed in Chicago for the night

Except it wasn't really Chicago

Outskirt Chicago = cheaper than downtown Chicago

Imagine that

After we got dinner

(which, I have to say, was amazing...a little, authentic Italian restaurant that I wasn't thrilled about because pretty much everything had to do with fish [because hello...Chicago...apparently since they're near a lake that means they have access to fish or something] but our dish was amazing, especially the bruchetta we got...it was hands down the best bruchetta I've ever had)

(just so you know)

We didn't really want to dawdle cause we had this waiting for us me

Sooo nice

It was a beautiful soaking after a long monthish at work

We went to see a movie while in town

And I insisted we go to a theater in downtown Chicago since in my head the theaters there had to be way better than our theaters

(I'm not impressed with our two theaters)

I'm not really sure what my head was thinking

The theater we found was under construction

And was in a high rise building

And was small

And I honestly don't know why I expected otherwise

Chicago and Orem, UT are very different

Either way, it was still fun

We saw X-Men which was so amazingly good

I loved it

And then, because apparently trying to drive to the theater and trying to find parking wasn't enough, I decided we needed to brave through the streets one more time so we I could see the Sears Tower

Cause Hubby could really care less

That was nuts

And then to top it all off, I'm not a heights person...so I didn't even go in

This is as close as I got

Pretty ironic that a person who doesn't like heights was so insistent on wanting to see the tower, I know

I was kind of debating on whether or not I actually wanted to go in, but as soon as I saw the height of the tower in person...no way, Jose

And a few more pictures of our time in Chicago

(I was lucky to find this handsome guy at the airport who was nice enough to give me a ride)

(view from our hotel...beautiful!!)

(the two on the left are just for parking)

And then, stupidly, we ~~left~~ tried to leave downtown at 4:30

Hello rush hour traffic

An hour later, we were finally 15 minutes out of downtown, far enough away that we were finally able to drive over 5 mph

My right calf is also slightly more muscular now than my left

From all the stop and go

So that's something I'm going to have to figure out how to fix

Maybe while I'm sitting doing homework I'll just flex only my left leg

And then we saw this on the way home

I just had to stop and take a picture

It was pretty much fate

To top it all off, I came home to this

Which was really sweet and cute

But then I looked in our fridge and saw a few interesting things...

And that's only a few of them

There's also this that happened

You know that adage "when the cat's away the mice will play"?

Apparently that's what happened with the Hubster while I was gone

This is not where our computers belong

But he decided that he wanted to his computer up to his huge TV and really enjoy life

I'm convinced the sweet note I got was to make up for the all of the "bachelor joys" I found when I arrived back at the house

Anyway...

When I got back I conceded that we could have our computers out there for a little while

Just until we caught up on all of our shows that we didn't watch while I was back home

But we moved them back into their designated homes as soon as we had a second to breathe

Which actually happened to be tonight

It'll be nice that our computer desks can actually fulfill the measure of their creation

He also informed me at some point after arriving back home that he had a missing sock

And that he had looked for it everywhere but couldn't find it

So it was stolen by the sock gremlins

He was sure of it

So he converted the lone sock into our chalkboard eraser

A few days later he was at work and I was folding laundry

(I'm convinced there was enough laundry for 3 batches worth in our laundry tub)

And guess what I found?

The illusive missing sock

Turns out it wasn't so missing after all

Anyway, life here has mostly settled down now

Hubby just keeps getting busier at work and I keep plugging away at school

But hey, at least I can work on equaling out my calf muscles while I do homework

Between that and always having an extra sock to throw me off, I'm sure I'll stay pretty busy

Well hello there

noreply@blogger.com (Baby Sister) — Sun, 01 Jun 2014 06:14:00 +0000

So hi

I'm in Utah

And have been since May 4th

They called in all reinforcements at the nursery for spring

And obviously I was more than happy to oblige

The chance to come home and visit family and friends, eat at all of my favorite restaurants, see my mountains, just to be in Utah...

Yes please

I can't help it, I'm a Utah girl through and through

It's been nice to be home

I've spent time with lots of friends with more to come

I've worked about 130 hours in 2 weeks

(hence the blog got put on the back burner...for a long time)

And I have siblings that worked more than I did, so that makes me even more tired knowing that they worked over 130 hours

Miracles occurred...Papa Smurf actually helped me do dishes after one of our Sunday dinners

That pretty much never happens

I have gobbled all of the fry sauce within sight because I can't find that anywhere else

I was made an incredible monetary offer I had a super hard time turning down

My nephew (who just turned 4) had been wanting to play on my sister's iPad, but she was using it for work purposes so she told him no

Well, that incredibly generous nephew of mine offered me 2 whole quarters if I would give him her iPad to play on

It was a really tough call, but in the end I decided that it was a better choice to stay on her good side than to become independently wealthy

It's been so nice to see my family again

Especially the nieces and nephews

Especially the younger ones, cause their changes are a little more noticeable

It's been so nice to spend time with friends and caught up on each other's lives

And I'll still be able to fit in some hang outs before I leave

I ended up staying in Utah longer than I thought I would

I only bought a one-way ticket coming out here cause I wasn't sure what would need with happen at work

And then spring was here and I didn't have time or mental energy to think about buying a ticket

Plus the extension I had to buy for my medical billing class, put off buying the ticket for a little longer so I could have the money

But I have an awesome family and it was decided that the nursery could pay for my ticket home

:)

It's nice to be surrounded by such awesome people who love me

So I'm flying home on the 12th

Hubby's a little disappointed it's not next week, but it was so much cheaper to wait one more week I figured that would be the best bet

Anyway, it's late and today was super busy and long so I'm going to go to bed

I have a blog in edit mode that is just waiting for me to be back in Iowa

House updates and Oreo reviews await you

Speaking of which...

This is the lastest

And can I just say that I'm the MOST excited for this one?

I better find it soon otherwise I might go mad

Anyway...

My bed is calling my name, so I'm going to be nice and join it

Good night, sleep tight

And give me plenty of Oreos to bite

;)

At least I have a COUCH to lay down on now

noreply@blogger.com (Baby Sister) — Tue, 08 Apr 2014 15:04:00 +0000

Can I have a drum roll please?

*brbrbrbrbrbrbrbr*

Please give a warm welcome to the newest members of the Muckity Muck family!!

We are SO excited!!

The lovely table:

This table is magic

It does special things

It's so nice!!

We both love that the middle lifts up because it's awesome, but I love it especially because I can work on school on my laptop while watching TV

And we love that the corners have little cubbies on the corners because now we have a place to put remotes and things of that nature

The armchair:

It's a bit small, but it fits our small room perfectly, so we are okay with that

And, the most exciting piece by far, the lovely couch:

It is incredibly comfortable and it has a high back so Hubby can rest his head/neck, which is pretty much a necessity

The pillows actually came with the couch

They're not bad, but one of these days I want to make our own

When I have a little more time

And don't worry

We already broke the couch

I seriously didn't even move the couch an inch and the leg broke off

Luckily they had a replacement and it was easy to fix

But...still...it was kind of ironic

And amusing

And yet not at the same time

In the end, our living room is actually a comfortable place to spend our evenings, rather than a whole lot of nothingness with a small lovesac and a pile of blankets on the floor for Hubby to sit on

I'm kind of annoyed with myself for not taking a real before picture...I think I went through this phase of not wanting to take pictures until it was looking more like a home, but now I'm annoyed that I don't have before and after pictures

This is the closest I have

All of our movies were stacked in piles in front of those shelves over by the door, and there was a big tupperware drawer thing by the movies filled with my craft stuff

Other than that everything is pretty accurate

I always sat on the lovesac and Hubby sat on the pile of blankets next to it, cause he's a gentleman and gave me the slightly more comfortable seat

But I think it will be a LONG time before I choose to sit in the lovesac again

It gets a little flat and uncomfortable after awhile

Needless to say we're both excited to have something real to sit on

And I promise I'll post an update on our house soon cause I realize it's been awhile and it's starting to look a lot better

I don't want there to be a misconception that we're still living in a pigsty of craziness

Cause we are definitely not

Well, for the most part ;)

****

I had more plans for this post, but yesterday I woke up with a pretty nasty headache that turned into a nasty migraine

And that migraine made me stick to my stomach

It calmed down finally about 7:30 last night, but it left me pretty weak

And this morning when I got out of bed I was really dizzy and couldn't stand up straight and I almost had to hang out with my friend the toilet again

The migraine I'm, sadly, used to because I get one once a month lately, but I can't figure out what's going on today

It takes a lot for headaches to phase me anymore just because they usually visit me about once a day

But I rarely get sick to my stomach, so it always throws me off a little

Needless to say, all of the other exciting stuff is just going to have to wait for another day

I'm going to go lay down so I can avoid the toilet

Cause gross

How is it already almost April?!

noreply@blogger.com (Baby Sister) — Mon, 24 Mar 2014 03:58:00 +0000

I have decided that St Patrick's Day is my new favorite holiday

When it comes to holiday themed food anyway

I don't know why it never full clicked in my head that St. Patrick's Day = green and green = mint

And I just happen to LOVE mint flavored things

Mint ice cream, mint Oreos, chocolate mint....

So if you're friends with me on Pinterest, I'm sorry for inundating your page with recipes and the like

It's sure to calm down soon :)

But I only pin the most amazing things, so I'm sure it will be worth your while ;)

****

This post was supposed to say:

"Yay, I'm going on my trip!!"

We decided that it needed to happen and I needed to go, so I planned it all out

I told my friend I was coming and she was going to let me stay with her

I told my family I was going and to expect souvenirs

But I decided to wait to announce it to the rest of the world until I had my tickets

Finally the day had come, I sat down to purchase my tickets

After finally picking the airport, I found a really good deal and after telling Hubby what I found, I went to book it

I got to the point of entering my information when I had a little thought

"Self, remember how Papa Smurf told you to make sure you could travel with your passport still being in your maiden name and everything else in your married name?"

Oh yeah

I should look into that

I'm sure it will be fine, but better safe than sorry

Cause I'm really good at coming up with the worst case scenarios in everything

Called the passport people, explained the situation, and felt my heart drop when the lady told me that I couldn't travel with my passport and license in different names

If they did check more ID than my license I would be in trouble

I could risk it if I wanted, but she couldn't guarantee anything

Seriously?

I told her I had my marriage license, cause everywhere else has accepted that, but she said that wouldn't do any good

It just about broke my heart

I had already told my friend I was coming and now I would have to tell her that I couldn't

I waited a few days, trying to decide if I really was going to play it safe, or if I was going to take the risk

I read a lot of reviews online of people who had traveled in different names and had been just fine

And I was *this* close to saying "to heck with it all, I'm going!!"

Trying to be all reckless and brave

Something I'm not really good at

But then the over-thinking part of my brain took over and all I could think of was not being able to get back into the US, if I could even leave at all

It doesn't help that my passport expires on the 5th of April

What if I got stuck in England and then my passport expired?!

Then I'd be in big trouble

I could have renewed my passport, but there wasn't enough time to do it by mail and the only other option was a passport agency

The closest one is about a 2-hour drive

And even then there was no guarantee

Bother

Looks like I'm not going

And then she messaged me asking when I was going to fly in

Fine, I won't put it off any more

I pretty much cried the whole time I was writing the message

And felt this huge weight settle on my shoulders...and a rock settle in my stomach

I hate not always being able to be there for people

Or help them

Or anything

I just don't like feeling like I've let people down

And I had a hard time shutting up my anxiety until she messaged me back

Obviously she was fine with it and understood, but just hearing it made me feel a lot better

England

That's where I was going to go

London specifically

That beautiful place that I have always wanted to visit and explore

Hubby has already told me that we'll plan a trip to go soon, so at least there's that

But I'm still a little bummed

There is a good thing that came out of it though

Instead of using our taxes for the trip we were able to use them for some new furniture!!

That will be delivered today!!

(Because as always it took me a few weeks to write this post)

We're only slightly excited :)

Having a lovesac and the floor as our only seating has certainly made us grateful for couches and the like

Especially when the lovesac isn't big enough for both of us

I will be sure to take pictures when they arrive

And Hubby is taking a half day off to be here when it comes

Which makes the day even better!!

****

And our marriage has become officially inaugurated

The other night Hubby went to brush his teeth and accidentally grabbed my toothbrush

And didn't notice

And I wasn't in the room so I didn't either

Until it was pretty much too late

Mine is the blue one

I had a little bit of a hard time with it

(I know, it's not like we don't share germs anyway....but still....)

It certainly took our marriage to a whole new level ;)

New furniture and sharing toothbrushes

That is how we do things in Iowa

I should post more often so they're not so ridiculously long

noreply@blogger.com (Baby Sister) — Thu, 06 Mar 2014 00:39:00 +0000

It's been way too long

Part of me has been avoiding the blog because I'm not sure what to say

And a lot of what I do have to say lately has had the potential to get me in trouble so I chose not to say it

I'm laughing at myself now for when I said that I would be writing more on my blog

Even though I'm home now all day every day it still doesn't feel like there are enough hours in the day

I don't think it ever will

I wake up when Hubby does, begrudgingly

He showers while I meander in and out of the bathroom ~~disrupting his shower~~ trying to wake myself up

I take him to work every morning (there is no free parking where he works...it's either meter or a "pay for the day" underground parking type thing...and while we only have one car and we don't need a second yet, it just makes more sense for me to have the car since they don't charge us to park in our driveway...luckily)

As soon as I get home I change and get on the treadmill (most mornings anyway...I usually have to gauge how bad the headache of the day is, and sometimes I forego the treadmill and just shower) (this morning I didn't get on the treadmill for multiple reasons...hence I'm taking the time to write this post)

If I do get on the treadmill, I'm ~~making myself suffer~~ on it for a little over an hour

But I always do a good 10 minute stretch before hand

And then I do a 10ish minute stretch afterwards

Then it comes time for breakfast

Most mornings I eat oatmeal, so I have to wait for the water to boil and then for the oatmeal to cook

Sometimes I wash dishes whilst waiting

Sometimes I just sit at the table and read (I most definitely prefer this wait to the other)

Then I have to get ready for the day which fortunately doesn't take as long as it used to since I don't wear make-up every day right now (shhh...don't tell)

Then I usually have an hour before I have to get lunch ready for Hubby and I

Take him lunch, spend an hour with him, come home usually by 2:00

Then I have 3 hoursish before I pick him up for the day

I have my class that I'm trying to finish before May, I have a gazillion projects that I'm in the middle of, and then there's the cleaning the house, and trying to make it look like we're not still living out of boxes

And that is hard to pretend since we don't even have bookshelves for the ~~magnitude~~ few movies and books we (I) have

After Hubby gets home, he does some things on his computer, we watch a couple of things together, make dinner, and then just have a couple of hours before we should be in bed

I know that my days are a lot more lax than they were before, but it doesn't ever feel like there's enough time to do all that I want/need to do

And I know when we start having kids the hours will keep flying by

(no, that is not an announcement)

So the blog has, once again, been put on the back burner

I am even wanting to update the look of the blog and started on that as well

(one of the gazillion projects)

But I kind of lost my momentum working on other things and I don't remember where I wanted to take it, so that's on hold until my brain decides to cooperate

****

There's a possibility that I just maybe might be going on a trip to a far away land next month

I have a very close friend from my mission who is getting married and wants me to be there

So I'm going to do my best

We got a decent refund back on our taxes, so hopefully with that...

I'm torn because we still have to buy a couch, bookshelves, coffee type table for the living room, we have some debt we could pay off...

But I really want to be there for her

And I'm not going to lie, I would love to go to this place

It's somewhere I've always wanted to go

But we're going to sit down tonight and discuss and see if we can technically afford for me to

We definitely can't afford for both of us to go and that's one of the things that's holding me back

I don't know

We'll see what happens

I'm sure it will work out for the best either way

I feel like typing the name of said far away land will jinx any possibilities of me going...so I'm not going to say it just now

I know, I am silly

****

The next time I see someone complaining about Utah drivers on FB, I am going to tell them to come drive in Iowa for a few weeks and then we'll discuss it

I am so tired of seeing people just blow through stop signs and act like they're not even there just so they don't have to wait for one more car to pass them

And don't even get me started on 4-way stops

They don't seem to understand how they work

People that get there after me seem to think that they can go before me

Not how it works, folks

Also also don't get me started on the cutting off people do

I swear it's like I'm invisible driving down the road

And then there are the typical pedestrians that act like they own the road...I think it's even more of a thing in small cities with small streets

We also live near an elementary school and drive past it every morning as I take Aaron to work

If we leave our house between 8:00 - 8:10 we get to deal with the morning drop off traffic

And it appears that the rules of driving don't apply to the parents dropping off their children

We have had to slam on our breaks so many times from being cut off

And that can get kind of scary when the roads are slippery from bad weather

You would think that people who drive in snow so often would have a little more sense and be a little more careful....

But to be fair, I would imagine that any place you go has drivers that act like the rules don't apply to them

I hear talk all the time about California drivers and New York drivers

I wouldn't be surprised if most big cities had crazy drivers

I can only speak for Utah and now Iowa

(and Brazil and Spain....)

And while Utah has some drivers that could stand to take the course again, I've seen worse here just in the 3 months (TODAY!! 3 months TODAY!!) that I've been here

****

One last thing before I sign off

I'm about to get on a little bit of a soap box here...

(I feel like I've been on a lot of those here lately...apparently I have things that need to be said....or so I seem to think)

Hubby and I went to Wendy's the other day for lunch

We were craving some hamburgers and their's sounded good

As we were waiting in line we were talking, discussing what we were going to order, when we both noticed a commotion just in front of us

Apparently there was a customer who was unsatisfied with her order and was choosing to let it be known

Very loudly

Hubby and I have both worked customer service/retail for a VERY long time so we've had our fair share of...tough customers

So we both got quiet to watch and see what was going on

At one point the customer looked at the lady who apparently had originally helped her and said "Did you not even listen to me when I ordered?"

The poor cashier looked like she had been hit by a truck

"Yes...of course I did..."

After that point we really couldn't hear any more that happened except the random "I'm sorry" and "you wanted this?" and whatever else to fix the order

The customer left the counter just before our turn came

We ordered and we both tried to be extra friendly just to help cheer the cashier up

During the middle of our order the customer came up, yet again, to complain about something else that was wrong

The cashier, understandably, got distracted and started to listen to what was going on

All I could hear was "I'm getting really pissed off", "This is ridiculous", etc

The cashier's feathers got ruffled (can't say that I blame her) and she had a hard time remembering what she was doing

We just smiled and told her we understood and told her it seemed like she was having a rough moment

"Yeah..."

"You make one mistake..."

I just smiled and told her that no one was perfect

The look of gratitude on her face as we were leaving made me really grateful that we were there when we were and we were able to cheer her up a little

We sat near enough to the customer that I could see her complaining a little longer to whoever she was with and then watched as the manager (I think) came up and offered her a free frosty and said that she was sorry and she would talk to the cashier and find out what happened

The customer just went off again for a few minutes before the manager was able to get back to what she was doing

Now, I don't know the whole situation, obviously, and it looked like the cashier probably really did make a mistake

What bugged me was how the customer handled the situation

I get the frustration behind it all, I do, but being nasty does not do anyone any good and it doesn't get you anywhere

Seriously, cashiers aren't perfect, as much as we try to be, and sometimes we make mistakes, as not cool as that is

But yelling at us and being rude to us doesn't help at all

It just makes defenses go up and the more everyone gets angry the less listening we actually do

There are better ways to handle a situation like that

You know, get your problem fixed, whatever is wrong or messed up, or whatever, fix it

In a nice, considerate way

Bring the problem to light, that's fine

But we don't have to be rude about it

In any situation in life, being rude, nasty, loud, and mean is just not worth it

None of us are perfect and sometimes we do things we regret, but lately it feels like everywhere I turn people are choosing to be rude and loud

Given the scenarios, I think anyone would rather help the nice person

I will bend over backwards to fix whatever is wrong with whatever it is when you're nice

You turn nasty on me? And it makes me want to help you even less

*end rant*

****

ANYWAY....

I feel like I should end with something light

Hummm...I talk to myself on the treadmill

Out loud, I laugh, I tell myself I'm crazy, I carry out full blown conversations with myself

Eventually I realize what I'm doing and try to shut myself up

Sometimes it takes awhile...but I usually listen to myself and stop talking out loud

And then I become really grateful that I am alone in the house in the mornings when I get on the treadmill

****

And one more because I found it funny...

We've had some crazy wind storms since we moved here

Crazy!!

Everything gets blown away that isn't bolted down or ridiculously heavy kind of crazy

A blustery day in Winnie the Pooh land kind of crazy

We had a crazy wind storm that really had some fun throwing the snow around carving it

That was a nutso storm and made me oh so grateful for our warm home

The other day was one of those days and it just happened to be garbage/recycling day so I was a little worried that our cans would be taken away by the wind to some unknown land when they were empty because they wouldn't have any weight to hold them down

They usually come to empty them after I've taken Hubby to work, so as soon as I got off the treadmill I looked out the window to see if the trucks had come by yet

They had and this is what I saw

Our garbage can made it all the way over to our neighbor's driveway

And our recycling "can"?

All the way down the street in the middle of the road

(although, I do have to say that I like the way that picture turned out...considering it was my phone, I was cold, and in a hurry...)

So not nice

And the lid to the "can", well that was even more amusing

It decided it was bored and blew around the corner onto another street to have a party with a bunch of other lids

Now I had just finished on the treadmill and hadn't showered yet, so I was all sweaty, I was still in my basketball shorts and t-shirt...I looked like a mess

I didn't really want to go outside looking like that, especially in the freezing cold

I wanted to shower and eat breakfast first

But I was afraid if I left them out there any longer, especially the can in the middle of the road, we might never get them back

So I threw on a sweatshirt, apologizing to it for subjecting it to my nastiness, put on some crocks, and ran outside in all of my gross, sweaty glory

Man it was cold

(it certainly cooled me off after my workout)

And I'm sure all of the neighbors that were watching (cause they have nothing better to do with their time I'm sure) got a kick out of seeing me running around in my shorts with my hair all matted and freezing to my head

Especially when I stepped onto what looked like a frozen snow bank to take a picture that ended up being not so frozen and collapsed under me

Remember how I was in shorts and crocks??

Not one of my brighter moments, that's for sure

I was pretty much frozen solid by the time I got back in (because the wind picked back up again when I walked outside, obviously) that I almost skipped breakfast just so I could shower and warm up

I didn't, but let me tell I sure did enjoy that shower once I got there!!

Moral of the story? Tell the wind it's not allowed to blow so strongly on garbage day, obviously

And that is our life currently

We pretty much just stay in the house cause it's so cold/snowy outside

It'll be interesting to see this land when it's not covered in snow or fog

I have had a migraine all day

2 excedrin migraine and a can of Cherry Pepsi later and it's finally starting to fade

I hope you all have a wonderful evening

I am off to spend some time with the Hubby and nurse my head with girl scout cookies

Cause you know, they are the cure to migraines

I'll take staying inside playing the guitar any day, thank you

noreply@blogger.com (Baby Sister) — Tue, 04 Feb 2014 22:12:00 +0000

I have come to a very important conclusion

If I were a smoker and I lived in a city like this that's super duper cold in the winter time and I had to go outside to smoke?

It would kick me of the habit right away

Seriously, every time I see people outside smoking I feel so bad for them and I want to tell them to just go inside and put out the cigarette

I can't help but think of their fingers, and hands...their faces, all of their body parts just freezing outside while they're smoking

Don't get me wrong, I get smoking is an addiction and that addictions are hard to beat and maybe they think smoking is awesome and it's their favorite hobby in life

But it's definitely not worth standing outside in -24°

In my own so humble opinion

Speaking of smoking...

Totos, we're not in Kansas anymore

In Utah (at least around where I lived) it's not as common to see alcohol and smoking everywhere

It's around, obviously, but not like it is in other places

Iowa, for instance

They also don't believe in hot chocolate very much around here

Lots of coffee and lots of tea

But certainly not a lot of hot chocolate

And definitely not the good stuff (Stephen's)

At least not that I've found yet

In Utah the amount of hot chocolate is massive compared to what I've found here

And that includes 3 stores that I've looked through

It was just a little shock to the system the first few times I went shopping here

Especially to see a section of the store set aside specifically for alcohol

It certainly is a different world than what this Mormon girl from Utah is used to

Not that it's a bad world, mind you

Just different

*****

Our first Christmas away from home was good...hard, but good

I missed my family

I cried a little

But we had a good day

I got Hubby the new Wii U and a couple of games plus this

It's a dog from a cartoon that he LOVES

And I think he LOVES the beanie just as much, if not more

Hubby gave me a BEAUTIFUL gift

(this is me swooning)

Papa Smurf bought me guitar lessons one year for my birthday when I was in High School and I loved it

My teacher was a little weird, and the lessons didn't last too long because life got busy and I didn't have time

(and the teacher being weird thing didn't hurt)

I've always wanted to continue that education but I didn't have a guitar (I used Papa Smurf's for the lessons)

Needless to say I've been hinting to the Hubster for awhile that I wanted one

He finally got the hint and got me this beauty for Christmas

I love it!!

He wins definitely

Guitar > Wii U

And!!

When Hubby and I got married, I decided that I needed new, special jewelry for the special occasion

I looked everywhere for what I wanted and couldn't find just the right thing

The night before the wedding (I think) I decided I would have to give in and go to Wallie World

(yuck)

After looking around, I was shocked that I actually found something

It still wasn't exactly what I wanted, but it was pretty

(and purple)

So I bought the set

That's the necklace, the earrings look the same

Anyway, with the move I was afraid that I had lost one of the earrings

I was sure that it had fallen in some random box while I was packing and got thrown away

I kept the one in my jewelry box...just in case...cause you just never know

I gave up trying to find the lost earring until the other day when, in a moment of desperation, I asked my sister that I lived with to keep her eyes open for them

And then this morning I was looking for one of my cookbooks and found this silly little random box nestled amongst my many packages of special Oreo's

And guess what I just happened to find in the box??

I now have both safely tucked away in my possession :)

Thank heavens for every day miracles

Off I go to study more medical terms

Inside

Away from the cold

Not outside freezing my bum off

**i have nothing against those who smoke and/or drink as long as they do so responsibly and this post was not intended to imply anything of the sort**

Oh would you look at that. I live!!

noreply@blogger.com (Baby Sister) — Wed, 15 Jan 2014 23:52:00 +0000

Well Hubby informed me the other night that this is now his blog

And he's been the one writing all the posts

So that would explain the sporadic writing that's been going on here

And the duration of time in between the postage

I'm glad we figured out the problem

Hopefully now we'll be able to rectify that

it's always nice to have a scapegoat

especially one that happily volunteers

and even comes up with the idea

I've been here a few days over a month now and we've had some interesting experiences and have learned some interesting things about this new state we (temporarily) call home

(Carrie Underwood's song "Temporary Home" is my new favorite song in light of the move)

...I feel like that makes me sound like I hate it here and I'm miserable

I don't and I'm not

I'm just very much a homebody and a family girl

Utah has always been my home and I've always been close to my family...literally, figuratively, emotionally...

So yeah, it's not easy

Hubby has never had a place that he felt was "home"

Even Texas, where he is from and has lived most of his life

Where his family is

He never felt like it was "home"

So for him, moving isn't a big deal, being away from family isn't that hard

He even said he likes being away from home because he likes that he misses them and feels that they're closer

Yes, absence makes the heart grow fonder

But...no thank you

It's not going to be forever, and there will be visits home

And I'm not on another mission for my church, so it's not like we can't contact each other

But still...I just don't approve

ANYWAY....

Not where this post was going

Adventures in Iowa!!

Let's see...first on this list

Iowa wasn't so sure it wanted me around when I first got here

maybe it sensed my hostility

We were over at the house where Hubby was staying when he first got here collecting all of his stuff the day after I got here

He was on the phone, I was bored, I didn't want to sit on the bed because...partly because it's a waterbed and I didn't want to get lost in it, but also partly because...well, who knows who has sat on that bed? Yes, I'm a little bit of a germaphobe...I blame the OCD

Anyway, I wanted to sit and the bed wasn't going to cut it

I looked and saw this little...makeshift cupboard of sorts that hubby had his computer monitor on

Score!!

Surely if it had Hubby's monitor on it he trusted it

Big mistake

The second I put even the smallest amount of weight on that thing it broke out from under me

The top slammed down, the sides came out, and 4 lovely, long screws came out of their hiding spots

One of the screws decided it wanted to become really good friends with my thigh

Through my pants

I stand up, get over the pain, and tell Hubby I'm fine

He looks at me like I'm crazy

Next thing I know I look down and there's a huge tear in my pants and blood dripping down my leg

Ummmm, excuse me??

I barely move to Iowa and you're trying to cut my leg off?

That's it, I'm moving back to Utah

yeah, I wish it was that easy

Luckily Hubby doesn't have an aversion to blood and got some bandages and stitched me up

Even MORE luckily it healed, no stitches, no tetanus, no nada except a light scar that I didn't even notice until Hubby pointed it out

Lovely welcome to Iowa for me

And then there was the time that we went bowling with car tires...

The city where we live is FULL of hills

I mean it

I can almost look past the fact that there are no mountains because it's hard to tell with all of the hills

And while that might seem to be a big deal, it is when your car isn't anything but 2WD and you don't have snow tires because in Utah it isn't that big of a deal

Well, in Iowa with all of the hills, it gets to be a big deal

We were sliding all over the place, having a hard time getting up the hills

Pretty much the whole route to his work is downhill

There were many times driving to his work that I was afraid I wouldn't be able to stop and I would run into another car

Something had to be done, and there was no way we could afford another car

So we went and ~~signed away any future fortune plus our first child~~ spent mucho dinero to buy new snow tires

Now when Hubby went to set up the tire change, they told him that they would store our other tires until we were ready for them to be put on in the Spring, and then they would switch them out for free

Or at least that's what he understood

I was the one who took the car to get the new tires

It was a long wait with me reading lots of Philosophy

lucky me...

What a surprise I found when I got in the car afterwards and there were 4 tires, bagged up all nice and neat on our backseat

I started laughing and laughing....all while rolling my eyes

don't we love miscommunications...

Now the only place we have to store tires would be our basement

And, at the time, our basement happened to be cluttered with boxes that we hadn't taken the time to break down yet

Now, the sensible thing to do would be to carry the tires downstairs in an orderly fashion and find a place out of the way to put them

But that night it was snowing and cold and well...I didn't want to

I just wanted to get the tires in the house and out of the car so it would stop smelling of tire

yuck

So, obviously the real sensible choice is to throw the tires down the stairs

As Mary Poppins says "In every job that must be done, there is an element of fun. You find the fun, and snap! The job's a game!!"

How about we play bowling with tires and boxes and try and clear out as many boxes as possible?

I have to say, I did a pretty good job

Sadly, the other goal was to have all of the tires standing up in the end

Only one was standing up

Rude

But, the tires ended up downstairs and most of the boxes were moved out of the way

I'd say that the objectives were met

However questionable the process might have been

:)

Merry Christmas!!

noreply@blogger.com (Baby Sister) — Thu, 26 Dec 2013 03:21:00 +0000

The Hubster and I just wanted you wish you all a Merry Christmas!!

For those of you who celebrate it, we hope you have a wonderful filled with family, love, and that we can all remember the true meaning of the season

Well hello there

noreply@blogger.com (Baby Sister) — Sat, 21 Dec 2013 18:04:00 +0000

Yes, I am alive

I didn't mean to disappear for a month like that

Sorry, blog land

I am in Iowa now

The Hubster and I are finally back together

(sorry, Taylor Swift....looks like your song struck out on this one)

And we're trying to settle in

I just took the final for my class yesterday

I passed the class

Go me!!

There will be a bigger, more detailed post soon

I just wanted to stop and say hello and tell you all that I missed you all

My reader has about 200+ blogs to read

So I'll get around to catching up

I hope you are all enjoying the holiday season!!

My life as a novel....or so it seems

noreply@blogger.com (Baby Sister) — Thu, 21 Nov 2013 08:11:00 +0000

The Josh Groban concert was pretty much one of the best things ever

It was a nice date night for us

We don't go on much of those lately since Hubby lost his job and school started

(let's talk...Ethics and Values? Really?? Who came up with that idea?!)

Josh is AS amazing in real life if not even more

And he's hilarious to boot

I was going to share some videos I took...but I can't email them to myself from my phone because the files are too big, and for some reason my card is all messed up

So, just pretend I posted videos of Josh singing beautifully, crooning softly in your ears....

I can do pictures though

*sigh*

Such a wonderful night....

***

In other news, Hubby has found us a house!!

If I'm going to be perfectly honest, there are a lot of things about the house and the situation that I don't love

BUT

Beggars can't be choosers

And at the moment we're closer to being beggars than not

Moving across country + Hubby being jobless for a month + neither of us being independently wealthy = a lot of money spent and not had

Once we get settled it won't be as bad, but we have to buy a washer and dryer and living room furniture (aka couch, love seat, etc)

Hubby is going to be getting a sign on bonus, supposedly at the end of the month, which will be a HUGE help, so at least there's that

But anyway, the house is within our budget and will allow us to finally get completely out of debt

So I will take what we get until we can afford something else

We only plan on being there 5 years (hopefully), but neither of us want to rent the whole time because we both feel like it's a waste of money

We'd both much rather build our equity and try to make some money

Plus, having my own home and not having to worry about a landlord (that isn't family....family as a landlord is nice) hanging over our heads will be nice

So anyway, Hubby sent me a few pictures of the house that the landlord sent him

The new flooring that was just installed not too long ago:

The kitchen

The bathroom

The living room:

The bedrooms:

And the basement:

I'm most excited for the basement because it gives us a lot of space

AND there is a LOT of cupboard space in the kitchen, more than I've ever had in my adult life

It's not a bad house, I know, I'm just super picky

I'm trying to get over that, but I just don't see that happening :)

The Padres and I were going to drive a U-Haul across the states, but upon further investigation there are companies that come, drop off a trailer at your house, and then they drive it across the states for you

Umm, yes please!!

It does make my life a little more complicated because all of the sudden I have to pack my stuff for an airplane and not a BIG truck and all of the sudden I have send it away RIGHT NOW and not have it until I'm ready to leave

Like my computer

With my two monitors

Where I prefer to do my homework because I have two big screens that I can have multiple screens up and not have it be such a big deal

Instead of this itty bitty tiny laptop screen

Yes...I know, first world problems

Anyway, in all of the ways that it's way easier, it's also a little more stressful

They delivered the trailer last weekend and we had until Monday to pack it up

And I am just me and cannot pack a whole trailer for myself, especially our fridge, bed, treadmill, etc

Hubby is in Iowa, which doesn't help much

But to be perfectly honest, as much as I love him, he wouldn't have been much help anyway

I don't really like to talk about Hubby's health problems on here because it's depressing and the more I think about it, the sadder it makes me because it makes me stress over his future health and what could happen and...yeah...I try to be positive about it and not dwell on the negative

Anyway, he would have been able to help for maybe 10 minutes, and then he would have had to take a 30 minute break, and that would have continued the rest of the night with his working rounds getting shorter and shorter

So I did the only thing I could do

I sent out an SOS to the entire Platt family

And boy did they come through

Minus a brother who is sick and a sis-in-law who was watching chillens

And because of all the awesome help we got it done in a decent amount of time

Just a few hours, I believe

And it's not easy for them

Most of my siblings have children

One of the little ones has health problems and is fed through a feeding tube, so it requires some work and extra hands to tote all of the necessities around

Two of the little ones that were there are still quite young and not able to be independent

They all have lives and responsibilities and are quite busy

And yet they all came out to help me load this truck

The men did all of the heavy lifting (thank heavens for the men in the family who are all pretty dang tough)

The women, the older children, and the men handled all of the boxes

(the guys did like quadruple duty...they are just awesome)

And we all took turns helping with the babies

And we got it all packed in and ready to go in the space allotted us so we didn't have to pay more

(well, unless you count the 4 items I forgot...there always has to be something forgotten, right? luckily the company removed the paneling in front of my stuff and let my sister and her husband throw them in before they hauled them off)

And it was awesome

I started out the day with a pretty serious headache that turned into a migraine and was sent home from work early so I could try and sleep it off and just prayed that it would go away so I wouldn't be useless at my own "party"

Fortunately for the most part it did

(the ironic thing? as soon as we were done and my adrenaline had calmed down...the pain started to come back. not as bad, but it was definitely there)

And the whole time I had to focus on other things so I wouldn't break down in tears because, number one, come on, my family is awesome

And number two, I'm leaving them

For a very long time

Sure, there will be trips home and hopefully some, if not all, of them will be able to take a break from life and come out and visit us

But it's just not the same

We are a very close knit family

We were all raised working together, especially once Papa Smurf started the family business

We're always together

To be truthful, I think we're a bit of an oddity

Most of us live within 2 minutes of each other, if that

The next closest is MAYBE 8 minutes away, depending on traffic

And the farthest two are 15 mintues, maybe 20

We work together every day

And we eat Sunday dinner with everyone usually every other week

And the odd weeks we eat with what we call the "small group"

(which is really becoming not so small)

We go shopping together, we go see movies together, we hang out

We're friends and family

And I love that about my family

No, I'm not a perfect sister/daughter/aunt

And some days I'm ornery and some days I'm a brat and some days I'm probably a little ungrateful, but seriously I have the best family in the world

And I love the fact that they all sacrificed a night of their busy lives to come help me pack up our life and get it ready to ship out

And I'm having a really hard time accepting the fact that I can't just fly them all out to Iowa to help us unpack the truck

For which I am sure they are all very grateful

:)

Anyway, I'll get off my tangent now

I just needed the world to know that my family is awesome and they are some of my favorite people ever

And with that I'm going to bed

I have tomorrow off and I have to read about 11 weeks worth of material for my class in a month to be able to finish it all before the semester is over

May I recommend to never have a major life change, like a move across country, while in school?

Especially when your husband leaves you alone for almost 2 months to do it all on your own

It's just not a good idea

Because school is ultimately the one that gets neglected...and yeah

No bueno

So if anyone wants to volunteer to do some reading and quizzes for me, I would totally let you

Could you just let me know by...yesterday?

Gee, thanks :)

Oh, and to clear up something...I am moving, but my blog is not going away. In fact you might be hearing more from me in the near future as I'll have more time on my hands. Anonymous left a comment on my last post that sounded like they thought my blog was being retired, but it's not. Just for the record :)

Farewell, adios, tchau, sayonara, good bye, adieu...

noreply@blogger.com (Baby Sister) — Wed, 23 Oct 2013 15:44:00 +0000

Well, he got the job

We're moving

To Iowa of all places

Which just seems so random to me

But hey, he has a job that pays well

I hopefully will have to work very little at first, if at all, which means I can focus on finishing up my school and moving on with life in that direction

So at least there's that

Now comes the stress of moving and all of that mess that I feel like we were still in the process of

And now we get to do it all over again

He's leaving tomorrow

We found out a week ago that he starts on the 28th

Seriously?

Not a good way to start out with this wife

"Okay, we expect you to be able to move in a week and a half"

Yeah...that isn't happening

So Hubby is leaving tomorrow, he'll start work and stay with a friend until he can find us somewhere to live

And then I will follow behind with all of our stuff

With Papa and Mama Smurf who are going to be helping me drive the ginormous truck/s filled with our stuff

I'm not a big fan of him leaving and me staying, not gonna lie

But it's really the only way we can make it work

Happy, happy, joy, joy....

(sorry for the lack of quality...Hubby's phone camera isn't nearly as good as mine)

That is the state our house was in as of last night

It is now D-Day and Hubby has now left

I was fine all morning until he dropped me off at work

He helped turn on all the lights and I busied myself getting the rest of the store ready to open

Unfortunately, there was nothing left to distract me with after that

And that's when the flood gates opened

(and they still are just thinking about it...)

It was awful

Hubby and I don't really spend time apart

We like just being together, doing things together

Even if I'm doing homework and he's playing a game, we're in the same room

Even on the same couch if possible

I know, we're a little silly

So this is going to be rough

I'm hoping it will only be a month

Long enough for him to start work, and find a home for us to rent

And that will give my family a little more time to figure out their schedules and how they're going to make it all work without me

But it's going to be a long month

Hopefully I can get a lot of school done

Until then I'll just be hanging out with a box of tissues next to me

If you see a river full of salt, I'm sure it's from my tears

Just look for me, floating along

I'll be sure to wave hello in between all of my tears

I'm awesome, I know. You're jealous, I know.

noreply@blogger.com (Baby Sister) — Sat, 12 Oct 2013 02:50:00 +0000

What am I doing?
Oh, just sitting here with Hubby waiting for Josh Groban to come out.
I know, you're jealous. It's okay, I understand. I would be jealous of me too. I just can't contain my awesomeness very well.
We didn't really love the opening act. She was really loud and didn't seem to fit Josh's style, so we're glad that's over. Now just to wait for the man of the night!
If you need me, I'll be here buried in the awesomeness and beautifulness that is Josh.
I might not come of that cocoon for awhile.
But I'll try to contain my awesomeness.
Just for you.

I'm alive!

noreply@blogger.com (Baby Sister) — Wed, 02 Oct 2013 05:22:00 +0000

Well, school started

and is already kicking my trash

Hubby is still waiting for word on some of his interviews

And I AM SO READY for summer to be over

(yeah....I started this post a few handful of weeks ago...)

We don't have A/C, and our house faces west

Needless to say, we're a sink hole for heat

It's awful

I put up some blackout curtains, and that helped a *little*, but not enough

I have literally lived in basketball shorts this whole summer

And we stick a fan out in our living room to help cool it down a few degrees

I can't even sit on my couch without getting all hot and sweaty

First world problems...

Hubby had an interview with a data center up near Salt Lake and is waiting to hear back from them, and also had an interview with IBM...up in Iowa

Needless to say I'm hoping for the Salt Lake one, but we'll see

(and he didn't get the job in Salt Lake....they didn't have the niceness/respect in them to tell him themselves, he had to find out from someone else...which is not cool)

Not that moving wouldn't be an adventure, and fun, but we're just starting to get settled into our apartment hear, so moving again isn't really a thrilling idea to me

Plus I'd be far away from my family, and I've only lived in Utah, well, besides the brief Brazil stint with my parents and my mission, but I just don't count those

I was with my parents in Brazil, and...well, the mission just doesn't count

So this would be hard for me

But, really, I'll go where the job takes us because I just need him to get a job

There just might be a few tears if there is a move involved

****

So, we have 3 tomato plants just outside our front door

We didn't have a space for a garden, but I wanted something, so we brought home 3 pots and planted the tomatoes in those

We planted them a little late, but I was still really hopeful that we'd get enough to make it worth it

The Roma that we planted had a little bit of a rough start, with a lot of blossom end rot

image via

We sprayed it, got it taken care of, and waited for the little babies to grow

Finally, a cluster of 3 started to grow on the back of the plant

No problems were seen, so I watched them every day when I left for work and came home, just waiting for them to start turning red

And then they were just gone

Vanished in thin air

I don't know what happened to them, but they did not exist anymore

Some little tomato gremlin must have come and stolen them when we weren't looking

Rude

So imagine my surprise when I get back from taking Hubby to work and I saw this

What the bite?

Seriously?

And that was still on the plant, if you can't tell

It was this huge, beautiful tomato that we were waiting to ripen so we could dig in and eat it

And it has been desecrated

Destroyed

So sad....

My wondering is if it's a deer, but I haven't seen any around recently, so I have no idea

(for the record, it was a deer....they have since eaten more of the beauties...not cool!!)

I just know it's not nice

****

Once upon a time Oreo came out with a new flavor for the summer

Watermelon

A Target exclusive

And the nearest Target is about 15-20 minutes away, depending on traffic, so we don't go very often

Which is sad because they get a lot of the exclusive Oreo

Anyway, I didn't find out about this Oreo until a little late in the game, apparently, because by the time I found out about it they were already out at both Targets near me

I was so intrigued by this flavor and wanted to try it so bad that I called the Target up near Salt Lake and they had some, and poor Hubby I was going to make him go with me all the way up to Salt Lake to buy some, but I was venting about it on Facebook and Hubby's sister came to the rescue

They had them at her Target

So she went and bought me 4 packages and mailed them to me

How awesome is that?!

Anyway, I had some friends that wanted me to tell them what I thought about them, because they were intrigued as well, so I told them I would

And I had these grandioso ideas about creating this elaborate review for them on my blog so I kept waiting and waiting and waiting to say something...

And then my life kind of blew up in my face and it has never happened

But it has been hanging over my head like a ridiculous 50 ton brick, and the rope that is holding it up keeps fraying more and more...

So I figured I'd review that, and all of the other Oreo cookies that have come out this year that I have been able to try

I will try not to bore you

I promise

To start off with...

I am not a huge fan of lemon flavored food

Some of it is okay, but I don't love the tang

Give me chocolate over lemon any day!!

However, these cookies were actually not too bad

The lemon flavor wasn't too strong, and the cookie helped balance it out

All in all, it's Oreo and I should never doubt them

It's not even close to being my favorite, but it was decent

I give it....a 5/10

Next on the list....

This flavor is not new, it came out last year

But it is one of my favorites

I don't know what it is about the ice cream flavors, they're just sooo delicious

Oreo always does such a great job at blending flavors

I give this one a 9/10

Coming up next...

So this one if by FAR one of my favorites

I'm a big strawberry fan

And I'm a big fan of fruit and creme mixed together

Soooo yeah

The strawberry flavor is not overbearing, and the cream with the chocolate cookie just adds the perfect touch

Needless to say, one of my favs

10/10 for sure

Next?

This one had me a little cautious

Because, banana split? In a cookie?

BUT....it was actually pretty good

The flavor was really good

And I love that they did both cookies

It just seemed appropriate

Anyway, I think they did a pretty good job at pegging the flavor

So I think I give this one an 9.5/10

And last, but certainly not least...

Oh where do I even start...

I was both very skeptical and intrigued to try the watermelon

I knew if anyone could pull off watermelon it was Oreo

But still.....watermelon?

Luckily, because Hubby's sister is awesome, I was able to try them

And let me just say...

I LOVE THEM!!

They are now one of my new all-time favorite Oreo's

The flavor is perfect

The watermelon is not too strong, and while I normally don't like the "golden" Oreo's, they really did pick the perfect cookie combo

In fact, most of the specialty Oreo that have the golden cookie are pretty well paired

Anyway, I love the Watermelon

My favorite of the summer collection

I'm really sad they didn't bring out the Creamsicle Oreo that they brought out 2 years ago, that is one of my FAVORITES!!

They better bring them back next year, or else....

I'd say that one and the Watermelon are my definite favorite limited edition Oreo's

And there you have it

The summer limited edition Oreo cookies brought to you by yours truly

So, if you ever find a new Oreo, you are more than welcome to send me a package or 4

I promise I'll give them a good home

I know life isn't supposed to be easy...but seriously...

noreply@blogger.com (Baby Sister) — Thu, 22 Aug 2013 22:17:00 +0000

I know, two posts

Within a short amount of time

Try not to die of shock, please :)

It's been a rough, long month here for Hubby and I

We found out at the beginning of the month that Hubby and all of his co-workers will be out of a job at the end of September

Apparently Convergys, who his company (NetApp) runs their UT location through, doesn't want NetApp anymore and is closing it's doors

MEANING....everyone that works there is toast and out of a job

Unless they want to move to South Carolina or something like that

Because NetApp has another location there

But we don't necessarily want to move to South Carolina

And Hubby doesn't necessarily want to continue working for NetApp

(and we don't even know that they're hiring right now)

Because even though Convergys is pushing them out and it's their fault that Hubby will be out of a job, NetApp is not the best company to work for

And he would like to move on with his life and find a better working environment

Hence the reason he decided to find a job outside of NetApp

There was a company he wanted, really wanted, to work for called Pure Storage that had great benefits, great pay, great everything to be honest

Too good to be true, truthfully

He applied, got selected for an interview, went in for the interview

Interview was great, we both felt good about things

He was probably 90% sure he was going to get the job

Fast forward to 2 days ago when I was talking to him at work and asked him if he had heard anything from them

And that's when he told me that some of the people he knew that had applied had received emails from the company with a job offer

4 of them

And there were only 6 positions available

And one of the guys who got the email told Hubby that his friend who had also applied also received an email

Meaning that the 6th person probably did as well

And we know that at least 4 of them accepted the offer

1 of them is on the fence, waiting for the company to counter the offer that his current job gave him to get him to stay there

And we have no idea who this illusive 6th person is

So unless one of those two people turn down the offers, and the company offers it to Hubby, he will not be getting that job

And let's just say I didn't handle that very well

I had to go and hide in the bathroom at work for a minute because all of the sudden all of the pressure of the world was on my shoulders and I became stressed to the max and what were we going to do?!?!

I don't make enough money at work to support us

Not even close

He's definitely the breadwinner in this relationship

And even if my parents wanted to they couldn't afford to give me a raise

So I sat in the bathroom for what felt like an eternity crying because I didn't know what we were going to do and this job was the answer

This job that he probably didn't get

This job that was too good to be true

He had another interview set up with a different data center

Which isn't a bad job either

The only major problem with it is it's only contracted out for a year

And then what?

And it doesn't offer as much as the other job did

If he were to get the Pure Storage job, I could have cut back to part time and gone to school more than just the piddly that I'm doing right now and actually finished school

And I was so excited to be able to do that

And now I don't know if I will be able to

His interview with the other data center went well, he thought, but they had more interviews to do and so he won't know for another week or two whether or not he gets the job

And we are slowly running out of time before he doesn't have a steady paycheck anymore

And it's been really stressful

At least for me

It hasn't seemed to phase him at all

But since, a. I don't make enough money to support us, and b. my paycheck isn't always the most stable this time of year, and c. our family business is going through a rocky, who knows what is going to happen, period...it's been really stressful for me

I know, have faith, it will all work

That's all anyone says to me

And that's all I tell myself right now

But that doesn't make it any easier

There will be random times throughout the day when I will just feel the need to break down and cry

And sometimes I do

When I get on Facebook and read statuses of people who "got the job" (whatever job that might be), especially when it was their dream job and they'll be making so much more money and life will be great now that they have their dream job, it's really hard

When I see people have babies, or say that they're going to start trying to have a baby, that's really hard

Because we were waiting until he was bringing in a little more money until we started to work towards kids so that we could actually support the future family we want

And we were hoping to maybe start that in January

And now it looks like we'll have to push that back

And that has been hard for me

And so it seems like all I do is cry right now

That must be my body's way of coping

You'd think with all of the tears it would have been coped enough for the entire United States

Or so it feels

And so that is what we're dealing with now

I have a friend from Arizona that is getting married the first weekend of September and I REALLY want to go down for her wedding, but can we justify that when we don't know if Hubby is going to have a job by the time September ends?

I've been taking this Medical Billing/Coding class online this Summer and I wish I could just sit down and finish said class in one day so that I could get certified and get a job in said field so that I could more easily support us in case he doesn't find a job

Why can't I make 1 day last 168 hours? (a whole week) I could finish it really fast if that were possible

So yeah

Life hasn't been easy on us for the past few weeks

Which is ironic because I've thought that, besides Hubby's health problems, our life was pretty great

And it felt like we were headed down the right track

And then life threw us a curve ball

A nasty, mean, awful curve ball

And I don't even a baseball mitt to catch it with

Rude!!

So we just keep trying to "go forth with faith", as Mama Smurf always says, and I will just keep a box of tissues next to me for the random oceans my eyes are producing

The one where I actually get semi-serious for once

noreply@blogger.com (Baby Sister) — Fri, 02 Aug 2013 23:14:00 +0000

Why is it that with progress there is usually a negative impact?

aka the opposite of progress

We get big box stores, like Wallie World, that make shopping easier and faster and cheaper, but then the "little man" gets pushed out and usually ends up going out of business because he can't compete with all of the perks that go with the big box store

Like in Alan Jackson's song, The Little Man (link embedded to see the video of the song)

Every time I hear that song I think of all that businesses that no longer exist because of a box store

Or in the movie You've Got Mail with Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks

And maybe I'm just a little sensitive to that point because my business is a little man business

It's something that Papa Smurf built, from a little 2 acre lot to where we are now with what feels like 5 million times the space that we had

and yet it still sometimes doesn't feel like enough room

at least in some parts of the business

Luckily we were here long enough before Wallie World that we're not impacted too much by them

But we still are

Wallie World, Home Depot, Lowe's, Costco...

But we do have a loyal customer following, which is nice

And there still are plenty of people out there that would prefer to buy plants from an actual nursery, which is nice

And it's people like that that keep us "little men" in business

And for those people I am very grateful

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that I never shop at Wallie World or those kind of stores

I do

I'm a big fan of Amazon

And I know a lot of times there are no other choices

I just hate seeing all those business getting kicked out because of another store

S O R R Y...

I'll get off my soap box

That is so not where I was going when I started this post

and I hope I didn't upset anyone with my little rant....

They're doing road construction on our main road in this area right now

It just so happens to be the street our business is on

They're widening the road, fixing it up, etc

And while I'm all for a bigger road because then I don't have to deal with traffic as much

or at least that's what they train us to think....I really don't believe it makes that big of a difference

I hate what usually comes with it

Lining State Street (the road they're widening) were these HUGE trees

I mean really

They've been there for a very, very long time

...

Well, thank you Google Earth

I can show you what I mean

Big, tall, happy trees that helped shade those houses and businesses from the setting sun

But they no longer exist

And it just makes me sad

It makes the street look naked

My niece was here the other day and said: "Why'd they chop down all those trees? It looks so empty"

And then my nephew said: "They cut down wildlife for roads. Nice"

I get that progress has to happen

I get that it's good and important

I just hate the negative side effects

Remember how I used to post every day??

noreply@blogger.com (Baby Sister) — Wed, 10 Jul 2013 01:17:00 +0000

Welp, Google Reader is officially dead after today

I hate that

I really liked GR

I found Feedly, which is pretty nice, but it's hard to go from one to the other, especially when GR is the only thing I've used

So, if any of you who use Google Reader are looking for an alternative, you could try Feedly

Click here and it will take you to a page that explains a bunch of stuff they've done to help us GRs transition to Feedly

****

Once upon a time a long time ago I was given an award

Essentially you give this award to people that aren't very well known to help them get their name out there and so more people can discover how totally awesome said people are

So, the rules of the game:

1. Share 11 things about yourself

2. Answer 11 questions given to you

3. Choose a few (it was suppose to be 11, but I don't think I'll make it to 11) fellow blogs to nominate. They have to have under 200 followers

4. Let your peeps know they received the award in a comment on their blog

5. Think of 11 questions to ask the peeps you nominate

6. Thank the person who nominated you and link back to their blog

Now to the part I hate

11 things about me:

1. I love pretty much anything mint flavored (even dark chocolate stuff sometimes)

2. My eyes will change colors...depending on a lot of things

3. I can wiggle my ears

4. I love baking

5. When I'm stressed or frustrated, I clean. It helps me work out my frustrations

6. I have ridiculous movie, CD, and book collections

7. I can twirl my tongue

8. I used to have really, super thick hair, but because of illnesses, a lot of it has fallen out and it's having a hard time growing back. And it's annoying

9. I'm a lover of Oreos. Even the limited edition ones. Even though I hate that they're limited. I think my all time favorite limited are the Creamsicle Oreos. Oh I loved those!! I hope they bring them out again...otherwise I don't know how I'll get over it

10. My nose moves when I talk

11. I talk in my sleep. Apparently a lot, according to Hubby. And sometimes I walk in my sleep. Or end up with my head at the other side of the bed. Apparently I'm a strange sleeper

My 11 questions to answer:

1. Chunky or creamy peanut butter?

Most definitely creamy!!

2. Name one food you just can't stand:

That's hard. I'd say sea food

3. If you could have three wishes, what would you wish for?

Hmmm. Well, first one would definitely be a new house, completely paid off. My second is a new car, completely paid off. Third would have to be enough money to get everyone in my family out of debt. Especially the business. That would be nice

4. What is your usual order at Starbucks?

Well, I don't drink coffee. So, my usual mixture of hot chocolate is chocolate mint. So delicious!!

5. What was the last movie you saw in theaters?

The new Star Treck movie. It was sooooo good!!

(although, if updated, this would be the new Superman movie. Which was AMAZING!!)

6. Would you rather be an Olympian athlete or win American Idol?

Oh this is hard. I'd really love to be both. But my heart of hearts would say American Idol

7. What book do you think everyone should read, but no would would you ever share your own copy?

Humm. Probably Lord of the Rings. I love those books!

8. Have you ever gone vegetarian or vegan? If so, how long did it last?

Nope. I don't think I could or would ever want to do that. That's great that there are people that choose to, but it's just not for me

9. Skiing or boarding?

Honestly, I've never done either. I know, I live in Utah, that is just messed up. I love snow, but I've just never gone. And at this point in my life I don't think I'd ever dare to go

10. Who taught you to drive?

Papa Smurf. Mama Smurf was way too scared to even be in the car with me when I started to drive for awhile. And I learned on a stick shift. Very frustrating, but it sure paid off when my first car was a stick

11. Do you have a favorite item of clothing for any reason?

Maybe not ONE thing in particular, but I love my hoodies and my sweat pants (not the ankle hugger kind) from Utah State. They are all SO comfy!!

Okay, now for the people I give it out to....

Well, I'm just going to say Merry Christmas to all of you

I think you are all awesome and deserve recognition and I don't really want to pick people

So, you are all picked

As for the questions:

1. Ice cream cone: Chocolate, Vanilla, or Twist?

2. What is your favorite beverage?

3. What is your favorite season and why?

4. Cookie Monster or Elmo? Why?

5. If you could change one thing about your past, would you? And why or why not?

6. What is your favorite movie?

7. What is your favorite book?

8. If you could sit down and talk with anyone in the world, dead or alive, who would it be? Why?

9. What is your favorite chocolate treat?

10. What should I choose for my major?

Okay, that doesn't really count...

10. If you could be a famous athlete, which sport would you be famous in?

11. If you could have your dream house built anywhere, would you rather live in the country, or the city? Why?

Obviously I don't expect all of you to do this, but I really would like to read your answers :)

****

Moving onward...

I find it ridiculous that it takes me so long to finish a post lately

I'm hoping life will settle down one of these days...

The good news is we're almost done with thank you cards

Yes, thank you cards from our wedding

Yes, I realize that was 7 months ago

(7 months??? Crazy!!)

But, at least they're getting sent out

And they're just about done

We only have a handful left

We went through last night and matched each thank you card with each card we had received

Hubby probably would have rather poked needles all over his eyeballs, but it needed to get done

And now we know exactly how many we have left to do

Which I am all for

Because our living room is currently overrun with wedding card/thank you card items

And I've told myself I couldn't work on this puzzle until we were done with thank you cards

(yes, that puzzle is still not done....school, wedding, and work all got in the way...rude, I know)

(I know I have a more recent picture of the puzzle than that...but for the life of me I can't find the post....maybe blogger has been deleting random posts behind my back)

There was something else I was going to talk about, but, yet again (as is becoming my m.o. lately) this has taken far too long and I just need to get it done

One of these days my blog will be showing up more

And then I hope it will be more entertaining

I feel like it's SO boring lately

Sometimes I just wish I could be an adult with all of the privileges and not hardly any of the responsibilities

Wouldn't that be lovely?

I bashed my skull in and all I got was a stupid little dinky mark

noreply@blogger.com (Baby Sister) — Sun, 16 Jun 2013 04:47:00 +0000

(2 weeks later...these stories are old, but seeing as how I actually have it written...I'm going to post it anyway...)

It's been a rough week for this Baby Sister

And it's only Thursday

I am so ready for Saturday night when I'm done with work and I know I don't have to go back the next day

On Monday I was helping a customer load some planters in her car

They weren't very heavy, so it really wasn't that big of a deal, but I was the only one at the register, so I was in a bit of a hurry

The first one went in without any incident

The second one?

I misjudged the distance between my head and the hatchback door of her car

I pretty much flattened my skull when I smacked it

Or at least that's what it felt like

She kept asking if I was okay, which I was very grateful for, but really all I wanted to do was tell her to go away so I could go inside and cry

And that is exactly what I did

And this is what I saw

annoyingly, that's all it ever was...if it's going to hurt like the dickens, I should at least get a cool bruise or something of the sort

"~~My brother went to mexico and all I got was this stupid shirt~~ "I bashed my skull in and all I got...." well, you get the idea

As soon as I was able to stop, I left the bathroom, and then found Mama Smurf

And the waterworks commenced yet again....

Just goes to show I'm not very good at math and the whole measuring between point a and point b thing

Fast forward to Wednesday

I was carrying a large, awkward box at work, not really paying attention to where I was walking, because, well, I'm in that parking lot every day

I know it like the back of my hand

Apparently not

Apparently I thought I was in a different part of the parking lot

Or something

I really think that this thing jumped up and tripped me

I tripped, the box fell out of my hands, and I rolled along the ground, landing on my hand and knee

And now that I'm thinking back, I fractured the wrist on that same hand when I was living in Spain

that's a whole different story...

Apparently my left hand really likes to try and protect me

My toes also got smashed by something super heavy later that day

I don't remember what it was

Obviously that was the last straw and it became too traumatic for me and I blocked out the memories

Obviously

One of the main things that made the week even remotely better is what was in the box

*cue to a line from one of my favorite movies, UHF:

"I'll take the box"

"The box! She wants the box! Let's see what's in the box!!"
....

"Nothing!! Absolutely nothing!! You so stupid!!"*

Except there was something AWESOME in my box

My birthday present from Hubby came :)

We had a gift card from our wedding we hadn't used yet, and we had a 20% off coupon, so we were able to afford the nice one that I wanted

It was very much a welcome sight after such a long week

To celebrate, I did any normal thing that anyone would do

I made chocolate chip squares, of course!!

And they turned out perfectly

Probably one of the best batches ever

And I owe it all to this beautiful piece of machinery

I was going to make cookies last night to wind down after a long week (which is actually a week later than the one I just finished telling you about) but the dough on both recipes required chilling, and I was WAY too tired and impatient for that

I was in the mood of a quick cookie/cookie dough fix

None of this 30 minute/2 hour chill dough stuff

****

Hubby and I went on a little road trip to Idaho this weekend for his cousin's wedding

We come back home tomorrow, and I'm kind of dreading going back to our very warm apartment

The basement here is like the basement in Mama Smurf's house

Very nice and cool

It's been a nice "welcome home" for us

And a nice mini-cation

But we are both excited to go back home to our bed and little home

I'm just going to miss the slightly cooler weather of Idaho...

It'll be hard to go back to the heat of Utah

Which is really humorous (to me, anyway) because Utah is really cool compared to a lot of other places at the moment

I was going to post about a couple of awards I got, but this post is already old enough, cause I seem to be really talented at that as of late, so it's just going to have to wait

Plus I didn't sleep very well last night and I have to drive back home tomorrow, so off I jet

Assuming I can drag Hubby into bed with me...

May none of you bash your heads and trip and fall with a brand KitchenAid in your hands

I would send you good vibes, but I'm thinking that would only bring you bad luck...