We’re in Kansas City, Missouri, on the way to Sioux Falls, South Dakota.  It’s almost been a week since my surgery, and I’m still looking (and feeling) pretty rough.  Our plan is to meet with Chad and Annette to pow wow on any outstanding projects, bolt back down to Tulsa to spend the holidays with Pillygoat and Channerz, then migrate to Miami for winter.

I’ve had my fair share of, eh..    ..issues since the surgery.  Apparently, picking up a 9 liter magnum of champagne the day after surgery is less than advisable.  I managed to create a massive hematoma, and had to go back into surgery the following day.

I’ve been taking it fairly light the last few days, and I feel like I’m getting better, but who knows..  ..I still look pretty rough.  Pictures to come.

We’ve hit a few stumbling blocks on the CouponMate project recently.  That’s been frustrating.  We’ll see how it performs over the next 30 days.  We were making solid progress, and for the moment, we’re dead in the water.

Have several interesting and lucrative projects on the horizon.  Seems like something to look forward to.

Not looking forward to the holidays.  I never do.  Meh.

Not in top form at the moment.  Somewhat coherent.  Significantly drugged on a combination of Lortabs and Percosets.

Once again..    ..meh.

BALANCE: $6,401.00
LOCATION: Kansas City, Missouri

            We hung out with his parents and Joey decided to show everyone the magnum champagne bottles and Caymus Vineyards wine bottle. He began to lift the 60 lb. bottle and walk towards the house. I instantly yelled at him and ran to take the bottle from him! He isn’t supposed to lift anything for over a week. He said it was okay and followed me into the house. He kept working on his computer and asked for an ice pack and some liquid morphine that Landon’s parents kept on hand. He kept taking medicine and kept the ice pack on his chest for over 2 hours and his pain just kept getting worse.  Finally he said, “I feel like something is wrong, I keep taking morphine and the pain is just getting worse, it feels like my stich is being pulled out.”

            We took him to the bathroom to undo his bandages and saw the most awful thing. His right breast had swollen to look like he had gotten breast implants and he had the worst bruising I have ever seen. Instantly Nichole and I said we have to call Dr. Nuveen, something is seriously wrong. Nichole talked to him on the phone and sent him the pictures we had taken and he told Joey it was not a life or death situation, but he needed to come to the surgery center as soon as he could, because Joey was having internal bleeding. We wrapped Joey back up and headed out to drive an hour and a half to Oklahoma City.

            Nichole and I were teaming to pass cars on the highway. I’d say, “Clear,” or “Go,” and she would press the accelerator to go around cars. Joey started to freak out by her driving and told her to slow down and get there in one piece. It was funny at one point, because Nichole started saying, “Shake n’ Bake Baby.” Then I returned with, “If you’re not first, you’re last.” (Quotes from the movie Talladega Nights)

            We pulled up at the office and walked Joey in, where Dr. Nuveen and Dr. Wang were waiting for us. They took him back and told us it would be easy to fix and that this happens a lot in men. They said it would take ten minutes. Nichole and I went to wait in the lobby. I watched “Kourtney and Kim Take New York,” while Nichole read magazines. After 40 minutes we started looking at each other worried. We thought it was only supposed to take 10 minutes and now it was 30 minutes after that.

            Finally, Dr. Nuveen came out and told us we could go back to the post-op room. He told us that they removed 250 cc’s of blood

and had to cauterize his chest so badly, because he had ripped open so many small blood vessels. They had wrapped Joey so tightly in Ace bandages it looked like it was hard for him to breathe. Joey was completely out of it when we walked in. Since they put people under with Ketamine, he was having hallucinations. He kept thinking he was somewhere else. He kept asking us as we were driving back to Enid. He even said,

“Wow! I’m coming off of drugs,” and “What drugs am I on?” It was an incredibly long drive, because Joey was in so much pain. I felt so terrible because all he kept saying was, “Go slow, this hurts so badly.” We got back to Landon’s parents and Joey relaxed on the couch. Nichole and I had a margarita and some beers before we lay down to go to bed. Thankfully last night was okay. Joey just woke up about four times to go to the bathroom and never once complained about pain. Hopefully everything will heal quickly.

Today (December 17, 2011) is our two year anniversary. Joey and I have had our up’s and down’s and have been through more turns than anyone would ever know. I’m glad we made it to this point and are still together. I Love You Joey!!! Definitely never expected to spend our anniversary like this..

            When Joey realized his surgery was the next day, he started freaking out. He kept asking, “Do you think it will look better?” “Should I get it from someone else NOT in Oklahoma?” “What if my nipples come out misshapen?” We just kept telling him everything would be just fine. Dr. Nuveen said his surgery would be very easy to do and wasn’t complicated at all.

            Friday was Joey’s Gynecomastia surgery at Cosmetic Surgery Affiliates with Dr. Erik Nuveen and his assisting physician Dr. Wang. He couldn’t drink or eat for 12 hours prior to his surgery, which wasn’t until 3:45p, so needless to say he was starving all day. He was supposed to wash from his neck to his knees with Hibaclense, well Joey being as smart as he is, decided to wash his entire body including his face with the Hibaclense. He walked out of the shower and his face was completely red and looked like it was having an allergic reaction. We were like, “OMG you weren’t supposed to wash your face with it!! Haha.” Well it turns out it is okay for you to wash your face with, it just wasn’t good for Joey to do it. Nichole said something about them, “putting him down,” and we started laughing and he was like “Nooo, I don’t want to be put down like an animal.” Haha.

            Then, since we had four hours until his surgery he decided to get a haircut. We ended up finding this place called The Barber Shop, which had been there for 45 years. The lady who cut his hair was around 65 years old and I swear had huge lip injections! I instantly texted Joey and was like “Does she have lip injections?!” and her bright pink lipstick definitely made them stick out like a sore thumb. When we walked in, you could tell this place was really old. The first thing I noticed was the large fish tank in the corner that had one of the biggest fish I have ever seen in a tank. He looked like he was as old as the place.

            Next, Joey wanted to get a manicure and pedicure. We stopped at Sunny Nails and sat next to him as he got his nails done. As the lady started to rub lotion on his skin, he said, “You know…I probably shouldn’t have lotion on?  Call and ask Maddie.” (Nichole’s friend that works at Dr. Nuveen’s office)  Turns out as long as he only had lotion on his hands and legs, everything will be just fine. It was funny; Joey was doing everything he wasn’t supposed to be doing

before surgery.

            To keep Joey from thinking about food, we decided to see a movie before he had to be at the surgery center at 3:15p. We saw “The Sitter,” with Jonah Hill. Oh MY Lord! It was just what I needed to see. I laughed so much. The story line of the movie was really touching as well.

            We show up at the office and Joey started freaking out. He was jokingly making comments and rubbing his chest. We showed up without a zip up/button up shirt, so when Joey went back “to be put down,” we drove to Academy Sports. We brought back a Nike zip up jacket and waited in the lobby for Joey to get done. 30 minutes later Dr. Nuveen came out and said everything went great and he would be ready to be visited in a minute. We walked in the post-op room and Joey was wide-awake and ready to go eat. The fact he had just been through surgery didn’t even seem to faze him. Channing and Landon had come to be with us during the surgery and brought a teddy bear and balloon for Joey, which was very sweet of them. Joey rode with Channing and Landon to Abuelo’s, since our vehicle was packed full of all of our belongings.

            We ate one of the best meals, since we were all starving. Joey was f*cked out of his mind on pain medicine, so he kept making jokes to the waiter that the waiter didn’t understand. Like asking if they had an I.V. drip of alcohol, to which the waiter wrote it down and was about to go ask the bartender, before I stopped him.

         Landon and Channing came back with us to the hotel to dink some wine and smoke some weed, since Joey was in so much pain. We have found that by using Hotwire.com the night of your stay, you can get rooms for almost half price. We stayed at a Sheraton for $65! They left and we went to bed. That was one

of the worst nights ever. Joey woke up in agony at 1:30a. Obviously all of the numbing, pain medicine, and muscle relaxers had worn off. I felt so bad. He couldn’t move without hurting and all I could do was just be there and give him more medication. He kept waking up and saying he was sorry for waking us up and to try and sleep on his side and stomach. Needless to say, I didn’t get much sleep and the sleep I did get was awful. *Tomorrow is our two year anniversary*

Ketchup! Easy Squeeze bottle style.

Prince of Bel-Air beat please….

Here’s a little story all about how our life got flipped upside down, I’d like to take a minute just sit right there and I’ll tell you how all about the driving and chaos this far. There we are blogging, sippin on coffee when a couple of friends came up with an plan…Let’s get out of this neighborhood! Joey got one little surgery and that’s when we said we are putting on our bikinis and moving to Miami.

HA! Didn’t happen quite like that but…

Lets start from Thursday, We leave Tulsa about 10 A.M. and head to Dallas to get a few items from the house that we didn’t want to sell to the guy that purchased the entire house. Yes, the entire house expect for my room (which I gave all my things to my sister).  I guess you can say its away to ‘start fresh’. Joey has done this before a few times and I suppose if he’s still living and well that I can let go of my things, because its just stuff, right? You can always get more stuff!

So we move all the meaningful things, that we are not selling to our closets and grab the important stuff like the magnums of wine

and champagne, computers, camera. We were not even in Dallas for 2 hours and the car

is loaded and Joey and I are headed to Oklahoma City to have dinner with our friend Maddie and Joey’s Surgery is tomorrow anyhow. We end up eating sushi at Saii and going to Dan O’ Brien’s, a local bar that pretty much is a sausage fest, then we realized that it was ‘Ladies Night’ and they offered $2 Budweiser Selects. Hmm… No wonder it was a sausage fest, how do you have ‘Ladies Night’ and offer only a beer special?

Friday…

We woke up only to find out Joey cant eat anything before his surgery. The appointment is at 3:15, so we keep Joey busy with getting a manicure and pedicure, then haircut then a movie. Honestly, the surgery didn’t take long at all by the time Crys’ and I ran to Academy Sports and 1 magazine later, he was done. Channing and Landon brought him a cute little brown bear with a onsie on that said “poopie bear” and on the back said “don’t care”, We all know the “poopie bear” was for the previous days of diarrhea. After his surgery he is all drugged up, starving and sleepy so we rack up a $230 bill at Abuelo’s Mexican Restaurant, grabbed a hotel and crashed, by crashed I mean everyone but me. Just a wee bit hard sleeping when I’m having to watch ‘Joey Bear’ after his surgery.

Saturday-

We wake up at 8 A.M. for his follow up appointment, and must I say “oh my his chest looks great for being that he just had surgery yesterday.” After that we head to Enid to Landon’s parents house for some holiday festivities. We arrive and like normal sent to the liquor store because Mr. Joey was feeling better little did he know in 3 hours he would be back under the knife in Dr. Nuveen’s office.

So Joey being Joey, he likes the entertain and have the “ohhh….ahhh” affect on people, So he take his happy butt to the car and tries to lift the 50 pound magnum of champagne. about an hour later and 2 hydrocodine and liquid oral morphine he is still in pain, turns out he now has a hematoma on his right peck. So this is where we head back to OKC for his 2nd surgery.

He was in a stupid amount of pain after this surgery but who wouldn’t be? Being cut open two days in a row!

Fast Forward a few days and its Christmas Eve and here I’m at Landon’s parents house watching Joey play Skyrim (a new XBOX game) that he got for Landon’s dad for Christmas. Tomorrow I would like to think we are driving to Frisco to see my family for Christmas, I mean we are only 270 miles away and for us that is a little over 3 hours, Plus my mom really wants me there.

Oh! Joey got a new car- 2008 BMW M5, Its a beautiful car and he’s in love with it….I’m sure you can get all the details on his post.

            “Oh my lord I need to start working on pull-ups!”

She told me it would be simple for me since I have short arms and a really strong core, I just needed to get kipping down.

            This morning Joey woke up sick; he has been on the couch sleeping all day, knocked out on Nyquil and Moscow Mule’s. I wonder where this all came from, because he was perfectly fine last night. He has a really hot body temperature and is very clammy.

            Nichole and I went to At The Beach; a tanning salon in Tulsa. It is the closest we have found to looking like Palm Beach Tan. They have a 1-week free tanning coupon…but…there’s a catch. It’s only for their level 1 beds!!! That sucks but at least its still free. We have to be brown before we strip down in Miami. I’m excited to leave and the plan is to leave next Sunday, but I hope we go to Dallas before we leave. I miss my mom and really want to see her before we leave, because I am afraid we won’t be back for over a month once we leave.

            Tomorrow we are going to Oklahoma City to Joey’s appointment with a plastic surgeon to get his Gynecomastia surgery. This was caused by a medicine he took when he was younger. Hopefully he can do a trade out on SEO services. I would also like a nice set of boobies **hint hint** haha. Christmas, My birthday, and our two-year is coming up

            We got our nails done today at Classy Nails. They did an excellent job and to top it all off, the flip-flops you take home are flip-flops from Old Navy! Score!

            Tomorrow I think we are going to take Channing to Planet Beach because they have a free guest pass. I think she’ll really enjoy it.

Toodles!

We have the hardest time trying to fight alcoholic beverages…but I did get pleasantly satisfied because of it.

Nichole's Cut Out Heart Book

          Last night Nichole and Channing went to Michael’s and bought some arts and crafts items. Nichole bought a razor blade so she could cut a heart out of the middle of a book to make her mom a little keepsake box (book). She made on of these for Joey last August. Channing bought some wood plaques and attempted to stain them. She started to stain them in the living room, making us all get a little bit contact high.

            Today we all woke up in a great mood. (I wonder why?! ) Nichole really wanted to go to Marshalls to buy some new workout pants, since workout attire is all we ever wear anymore. We finished our breakfast at The Blue Moon Café and headed to Marshalls. Joey stayed in the car while we went in. I forgot how much stuff Marshalls has for half the price of regular stores. I saw multiple items I had already bought at other stores for double what I would have paid here. It took Nichole and I …No joke… 10 minutes to find the fitness apparel and I eventually had to ask someone who works there where it was. Dumb-dumbs.

Marshalls Tulsa, OK

            We got a little carried away and excited and spent the next hour looking around and trying on clothes. As we stood at the check out counter Nichole asked me if Joey would mind us spending that much on our clothes. I thought a moment…then replied Mayyybbbeeee…ahh nahh… haha. Well… Joey did mind. We got in trouble. We said we would take it back, but he told us that wasn’t the point. He said we just had a conversation about how we were low on cash. Now…when Joey says we are low on cash I now ignore it, because usually after he says that he goes and spends a few thousand at a casino. This time he meant it and was upset not because we spent that much, but because we didn’t ask to spend that much.

            We attempted to go to Fitso Gym, but after I rowed 1500 meters and did some back squats with minimal weight we left. I showed Joey and Nichole the CrossFit workout for today and Joey instantly was like, “Well I’m not going do much here if that’s the workout for later.” This is what we are doing at 6:30:

Fitso Gym

Box-Jumps

Kettle Bell Front Squats

Push-ups

Sit-ups

Kettle Bell Swings

 30-25-20-15-9 for time

            It doesn’t seem like a hard work out, but it will definitely be an exhausting workout and our endurance will be tested. Landon and Channing have said they will go with us this time, but that has yet to be seen.

We ate at one of the best restaurants I have been to in Tulsa. Its called KEO. It is an aisian cuisine restaurant. We shared ahi poke, which was delicious. Then,Nichole had phô, Joey had tum yum soup, and I ate lemongrass mussels. It was all very delicious and I can’t wait until we go back.

Diamonds n' Daisies

Leather n' Lace

   Now we sit in the Cherry Street Coffee House doing our individual work on the websites. My website has taken a complete 180° turn and I think others will be more interested in my new ideas for it. Diamonds n’ Daisies, should now be called Leather n’ Lace.

Today, I scheduled Joey’s consultation appointment with Dr. Nuveen at Cosmetic Surgery Affiliates in Oklahoma City.

Where my love Maddie works! Cant wait to see her Wednesday!

So since we have been working out and spending most of our time in the gym and coffee shops in our work out clothes. I’m kinda running out of things to wear so I asked Joey this morning if we could go to Marshall’s or Ross and pick me up a pair of work out pants and Crys needed socks anyhow. So we find a Marshall’s and he lets Crys and I run in for what we needed.

30 minutes and $300 later we come out with two bags of stuff… most of it being things we need: work out pants, capri’s, sports bras, socks, tank tops…and things we didn’t need like perfume and OU shirts (to please our friends Landon and Channing). Joey wasn’t mad at us but he wasn’t too happy either. Sorry again Joey

We are actually looking at places for Miami and I think (keep fingers crossed) that we are leaving Sunday. Glad we are working on our bikini bods, We even get to drag Landon and Channing along to our CrossFit class tonight at Fitso, Little do they know its gonna be ass kicking workout.

Joeys Gynecomastia Consultation…Check! Working on Bikini Bod’s…Check! On our way to being sexy sexy for Miami-Am!

Oh and I got laid yesterday..WINNING!

“Life has the tendency of fucking things up when you finally get to be happy.”

“If people are trying to bring you down it only means your above them.”

 

 

 

“What would you attempt if you knew you could not fail!”

 

“Some times you need to step out side. get some air, and remind yourself who you are, and who you want to be.”

 

 

“Don’t forget to be awesome.”

 

 

 

 

 

“I’d rather die on my feet, than live on my knees.”

“The most important things, are the hardest to say.”

love it.

Frustrated

Today I am very sexually frustrated. It gets to be tough having enough alone time to have the type of sex that really pleases the hell out of you, when you are in such close proximity with others and don’t want them to feel left out. I do agree I make smart ass comments to people (Joey) that others overhear (Nichole) and get offended by, but in no way were those comments to you or to upset you…they were meant for one person and one person only.

            I’ve tried to have alone time lately, but for some reason Joey just won’t make the time, even though Nichole and I are both wildly frustrated.  It just gets hard to bite your tongue sometimes, when it has been so incredibly long since you received the type of sexual experience you want. :/

Yummy.

            On a lighter note… Last night was day 1 of Joey and I not drinking. It was extremely difficult for me, although I did not show it, but I pushed through it one minute at a time and persevered.  I have come to realize alcohol and I are not the best of friends, even though my mind wants so badly for us to be best of friends. I become mean and snarky when I drink. It would be easy enough to just not drink if you know this is what alcohol does to you, but it’s not.

            Sometimes I feel I need alcohol…I actually crave it. Be it the beginning signs of an alcoholic or just a young dumb girl…it is what it is. It’s nice to have someone there, who is also not drinking to remind me that I shouldn’t. Joey has his own reasons for stopping, i.e. body image, but he is a nice support system for me when I so desperately want to order just one glass of wine. I know one glass leads to eight glasses, so it’s nice to be able to just say no.

Body Dysmorphia

            I have enjoyed working out almost everyday and since our next stop on this totally insane road trip is Miami, FL…it is definitely time for bathing suit season. YAY!!! I am in no way fat or out of shape, but just like every other person in this world I do have body issues and I do have body dysmorphia, therefore the more I work out; the better I feel about myself.

            I’m really excited to go to Miami. I haven’t been to a beach since our vacation last May to Jamaica. I love feeling the sand in my toes and the warm sun on my body. It’s absolutely delightful! 

            We have decided to rate and post comments about the CrossFit gyms we come across on our nationwide adventure, so soon I will be putting those up on ResistedNormalcy. This way if you are ever in another city and want to find the best CrossFit gym to attend, you can look up our notes and decide for yourself.

            I’m getting hungry; so I’m off to bug Joey to take us to breakfast…wish me luck! : )

We visited the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino last night with our friends Landon & Channerz in oh-so-metropolitan Tulsa, Oklahoma.  Crys and I had decided to cut out alcohol for a bit in an attempt to lean out. {think: i’m fattening up}  Sadly, when faced with the daunting task of coming up with a plan for Saturday night entertainment in Tulsa without alcohol, our options (and ideas) were fairly scarce.

It went something like this..

Bowling.  Arcade.  Dave’n Busters.  Bar..   ..errr..   uhm..  Strip Club.   ..Bar..    ..errrrr..  Casino?

Casino it was, and we bolted off toward the Hard Rock.

After making a dramatic e-brake entrance in our little Ford Fusion rental (thanks Avis!), and scaring the hell out of valet, we made our way inside.   In retrospect, I’m not sure what else we (and by we, I mean I) had in mind when coming to a casino aside from gambling.  That being said, I genuinely had no intent to gamble before walking through the doors.

Not 30 seconds after walking in, we made a b-line for the craps tables.  Not 10 minutes later, I was down $800.  As much as I’d like to believe something to the contrary, apparently craps is not my game.

The girls were aghast.  $800 could mean: shoes, nails, makeup, clothes, alcohol, fun, a quadrillion things aside from 10 minutes at a craps table.

Wee bit of a gambling problem?

Fair enough.  I submit to the idea that continuing to play craps probably isn’t the best idea and we retreat to the bar.

Wait, whaaat?  Isn’t that what we were trying to avoid the whole time?  Bloody hell.

I soaked up the warmth of defeat and bellied up to the bar.  Landon and Channerz were already one ‘Vodka Redbull’ in as the bartender shouted to ask what we wanted.

“Ehhh, I’ll take a sugar-free Redbull?”, I mumbled, more question than affirmation.

Alcohol avoidance successful.  Now what?

$800 down, Redbull in hand, literally engulfed by two of my vices, I thought,

“What the hell else do you do in a casino if not drink or gamble?”

We huddle, briefly talk amongst ourselves, and decide that the least toxic think we could do would be to head over to the $5 blackjack tables.  10 minutes later, we’re another $150 down.

Meh.  Minor defeat.  The bar is out, craps was ‘the suck’, blackjack wasn’t a good idea.  So, logically, we scampered off to try our hand at poker.  The casino started a table just for us {think: mental masturbation} and we all bought-in for $100.  About an hours worth of fun — and another sugar-free Redbull later — we retreated from the poker room with $420 bucks in hand.

Time to jet, right?  Nahhhh.

I have an idea.  How about we take the last cash we have left and put it all on the line in roulette!  Crys seems incredibly confident it’s going to hit red, we can’t lose, can we?

30 seconds later, we discover she was a bit off in her prediction.  Black 26.

Well, fuckkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk.

Broken, broke, and defeated, we run away.  I tip the valet my last $20 and we say c’est la vie to the night.

BALANCE: $3,984.37
LOCATION: Tulsa, Oklahoma