Tuesday Troubles

Stolen (with permission!) from Jen at Ramblings of a Suburban Mom!

The troubles:

- WE'RE HOME! And being home and not floating around in a gorgeous lake is definitely my biggest trouble right now. ;) I'll have a full vacation recap up sometime as well as the traveling with anxiety post I promised (whoo boy did I learn a lot about that!) so watch out for those!

- Being home from vacation means unpacking and lots of laundry which are two of my most hated chores. It looks like a tornado came through our bottom room and I've totally been avoiding it. I think I might try and tackle it today... Maybe...

- Even with his week of rest Hank is still limping pretty badly. I need to call the vet this week. And while I'm calling people I also need to find a preschool for R, make her first dentist appointment (fun), and there's probably more I'm forgetting.

- Somehow I pinched the screen of my Kindle too hard and it broke the screen! I am SO SO SO bummed out because this is the second Kindle that I've broken the screen on and this was a really nice paperwhite that my mom got. I am going to try and send it back to see if Amazon can possibly fix it. Uggh!!! Fingers crossed!

The non-troubles:

- I am so tan right now it looks great! I'm going to be really sad when it fades, I think I'm going to have to go out in the sun more here, haha. I've never been the outdoorsy type.

- I got a permanent souvenir in Montana and I love it! I can't wait to show you pics and tell you the story. ;)

- I missed my car (the Trans Am) so much while we were gone so one of the first things I had to do when I got home was to fire her up! N disabled her and the rest of the cars while we were gone so they'd be harder to steal (we've been paranoid ever since we were robbed!) and I managed to re-able her all by myself with N talking me through it on the phone.

She started up beautifully and has been driving like a dream. She still needs a new tranny but we're working on that. Tomorrow she's getting a new windshield which she is in DESPERATE need of. I'm not sure hers has ever been replaced and it's so pitted that it's crazy hard to see out of.

- Even though I miss the lake like crazy it's so nice to sleep in my own bed and not share a bathroom with 11 other people- even though I love all those other people! I love my bed so, so much!

Happy Tuesday from R!

Tuesday Troubles

Stolen (with permission!) from Jen at Ramblings of a Suburban Mom!

I'm late to the game today but I'm here!

The troubles:

- Today is my baby sister's 21st birthday which is a trouble because it makes me feel so old! I'm going to be 26 in October and while I'm not particularly concerned with getting older, it still feels strange. Then again I have a 3 year old so I feel super old every day!

- My sister has spent the past month on a organic, raw, vegan farm in Hawaii and today she's flying to Seattle on her way home. Well it turns out that my dad's climb on Mt. Rainier (in Seattle) ended today, so my mom is flying out to Seattle so they can all celebrate her birthday out there. Fun right? Well my little brother just posted on Facebook that he's there too! WHAT THE HECK?! I am never invited to anything! 

That probably sounds spoiled but I don't really care; it hurts my feelings. My parents fly my brother and sister around all the time (my brother has been living in Tahoe and my sister was going to school at an expensive private school in California, and now she's going to an expensive private school in Boston) and those jerks can't even help me out with some frequent flyer miles so I can get to Montana without the 16 hour car trip- because guess what- I get crazy car sick! Ok, they aren't actually jerks but uggh, what does a girl have to do to get a plane ticket around here?!

- Speaking of that 16 hour car trip it's coming up soon and I am so freaked out. We drove to Vegas a few years ago and the trip was 12 hours and it was a living hell. In the middle of nowhere Utah I almost got sick and had one of the worst panic attacks of my life. I vowed to never do it again but we just couldn't afford to get me a plane ticket. I'm going to call my doctor this week and ask for a prescription motion sickness patch and then I'm probably going to take some Dramamine/ Xanax/ Ambien/ Benadryl/ whatever else will keep me asleep for a LONG TIME without also killing me. Uggh! I'm so excited to be there but I am not excited to drive there.

The non-troubles:

- In an effort to eat more vegetables (which R dearly needs, and I need as much as my stomach can handle) I signed up for a service that delivers fresh, organic produce to your house every week (or every 2 weeks if you want.) We got our first basket yesterday and it was awesome! It had beets, broccolini, kale, nectarines, peaches, peppers, plums, pluots, and zucchinis! I have no idea how to cook any of that so I've been scouring Pinterest!

- Today I successfully meal planned for the whole week, went grocery shopping, and cleaned the kitchen! Maybe I'll even make dinner too! ;) (No but really my OCD makes me weird about touching raw food so I usually don't cook.)

- The new (iced) peach green tea at Starbucks is AMAZING. I got one at the grocery store today and man I wish I had that on tap. So, so good. I need to work at a Starbucks for real.

- N has been working his buns off lately (summer is the busiest time for mechanics- everyone wants to repair their a/c even if their engine is about to blow up) and he's really excited for the vacation coming up. I wish I was as excited but that's life with an anxiety disorder. I may have a post on that coming up. :)

Tuesday, er, Thursday Troubles

Stolen (with permission!) from Jen at Ramblings of a Suburban Mom!

Whoops this was supposed to auto-post on Tuesday and it looks like it didn't. Tuesday and Thursday are kind of the same days, right? Like it matters?

The troubles:

- I turned off the captcha to see if I'd still get spam comments and yup, I got a bunch. I apologize to you, actual readers, for having it on but this spam thing is a little out of control.

- The day after the 4th I was SO SORE from the slip 'n slide. N could barely walk! When did we get so old?! 

- It looks like the preschool I wanted to send R to closed down. Their phone number and website don't work anymore. I am SO bummed out because the tuition there was only $250 a month. I want her to go to a Montessori school but the tuition at all the other local places is over $700 a month. Seriously! We could never afford that so I'm back to square one.

- It's bumming me out to have to keep Hank home and as inactive as possible. His favorite place in the world is our local 70 acre dog park and he's currently banned from all running and playing until further notice. I'm going to keep monitoring his progress until we get back from our Summer vacation at the end of July, and then it will be back to the vet to see more x-rays. I am hoping we will see healing, but if we don't (and especially if his shoulder joint has gotten worse) it'll be time for surgery. He's only one and shouldn't have to deal with this. :(

- The weather has been oppressively hot lately. How do all you guys who live with humidity do it? If we had even an ounce of humidity I'm pretty sure I'd fall over dead. We don't have air conditioning in our house (we do have two window a/c units but one is broken) and while we can keep things relatively cool during the day by keeping blinds/ windows/ doors shut, there's nothing we can do if it heats up. I always say I love the summer heat but this year it's just sapped all my motivation!

The non-troubles:

 

- We went to the Renaissance Festival on Sunday and it was SO MUCH FUN. Our friends Travis and Courtney and their girls came (they are the ones we had over for the 4th) and it was such a blast. We spent way more money on food than we should have, and I shouldn't have eaten any of the things that went into my mouth, but you only live once right?! The stomach pain was well worth it.

- N finally got my Commander fixed (one missing engine bolt and the entire car rattled when going over 50mph), and he took it to work early to change the oil! You'd think mechanics would be very on top of their own car maintenance but the truth is they're usually too busy/ too sick of working on cars to take care of their own. N is actually pretty good to our cars (especially mine) but it's hard to find time to work on them.

- I finally bit the bullet and ordered an Erin Condren planner (referral link- you should get a $10 off coupon e-mail if you sign up via that link!) and I'm so excited for it to get here. It's supposed to ship this Friday and I wish it would ship sooner! N thinks I'm ridiculous for wanting a paper planner, and yes I mostly bought it because of peer pressure, but I am pretty sure I needed this. ;)

- N cleaned out the garage today and things got more than a little redneck. The best part is that there's another crappy car sitting behind the house that you can't see.

Tuesday Troubles

Stolen (with permission!) from Jen at Ramblings of a Suburban Mom!

 

Hello out there! I've been neglecting my blog lately but thankfully it's because I've been feeling better, not worse. I've been trying to get out and about more for R's sake and we've been having a good time. I hope to get more real posts up here this week!

 

The troubles:

 

 

 - Today has been a TERRIBLE day for me as an Avs fan. Not only did we let my favorite player walk away to one one of our biggest rivals, we signed/ traded for a bunch of guys that I don't like. We did make a "big name" signing, but he's 1) old and 2) not that good so I'm really not that excited about it. That and I've never liked the guy. I have been wallowing in self pity all day and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.

- Last week I was vacuuming our family room couch when I noticed a hole underneath one of our cushions. Somehow a mouse had chewed through the entire couch! I freaked out and made N take the couch outside immediately. I'm not sure I've ever been so grossed out in my life!

- We ended up buying a new couch which is a non-trouble, but on our way to pick up said new couch N left his phone on the trailer we borrowed from my MIL's husband and it fell onto the street and probably got run over a few times. N is due for an upgrade on the 12th, so until then he's using one of my mom's old phones. It's pretty terrible which is actually sort of amazing in that you can really see how far technology has come in just a few short years.

- Hank isn't doing much better. As soon as he starts running around even a little bit he starts limping so I don't think he's healing much. I really suspect that he has the joint disease as opposed to an injury and I'm really upset. I'm going to give him another month and then take him back for another x-ray. Another x-ray and the opinion of an actual veterinary radiologist is going to be $400 and he'll likely need surgery after that and I just can't even think about it right now. I have too many of R's medical bills to pay off.

The non-troubles:

- We had an AMAZING weekend! On Friday R and I went to my parents house to bake goodies for my friend's graduation party because my parents have a gourmet kitchen. The cookies I tried to bake were a major failure, but I also made salted caramel rice crispies and they were so good! Even N liked them which was really surprising because he's super picky and hates everything.

- The party ended up being a complete blast. My best friend just graduated with her masters in education, and one of her friends did the same so they had a joint party. I don't get to see my best friend nearly as often as I'd like so it was great to catch up. And R was the life of the party. She's always very shy at first but when she warms up she is the most outgoing child ever. She was everyone's best friend and it was cracking me up. I didn't think she was going to want to stay long but she never wanted to leave! (She literally told me she was going to live in the park forever.)

 

 

- Yesterday we went to the children's museum in Denver with our good friends who just moved home after being in the Air Force. After the museum we got lunch and then came back here to hang out and we had so much fun. If N and I are anti-social on our own, we are REALLY anti-social when it comes to hanging out with other couples/ kids so this was great for all of us. We're all going to get together at my parents house for the 4th and we're also going to the Renaissance Festival on Sunday. We're trying to get in as much fun as possible before our friend starts the police academy!

- Our new couch is the best thing that's ever happened to us (ok, not literally but it's close.) I can't believe it took us this long to get a couch that's actually good quality and comfortable. We're really moving up in the world!

Tuesday Troubles

Stolen (with permission!) from Jen at Ramblings of a Suburban Mom!

 

The troubles:

 

-  My parents have gotten really into hiking and they frequently do 14ers. My dad hiked to Everest base camp last year, and will be climbing Mount Rainier next month. Well, R had a sleepover with them on Sunday and after seeing pictures of their hike she absolutely begged N and I to take her on a hike today. We chose a simple path in a canyon not 10 minutes from our house, and maybe half a mile up she goes "I want to go home and watch My Little Pony. I am SO tired of this." I was doubled over laughing at her hilarious little 'tude. Hank was struggling to so we headed back down. I'm hoping we can do a more sucessful hike in the future!

 

- Speaking of Hank struggling, that is my biggest trouble right now. A few weeks ago at the dog park someone pointed out to me that Hank was limping. It was very slight, and I hadn't even noticed it. Well it hasn't gotten better and although it hasn't gotten worse we decided to take him to the vet. He had to get an x-ray (my good boy didn't even need to be sedated!) and it showed that there's a problem with his shoulder joint. The doctor said it's either an injury that hasn't healed yet, or it's a condition called Osteochondritis Dissecans (OCD) that occurs when bigger dogs grow too fast and their cartilidge develops abnormally.

Right now our plan of action is to rule out an injury, and help him overall, by giving him an anti-inflammatory medication and a joint supplement. If he doesn't get better than it's certainly OCD and he's going to need surgery or else he could end up permanent lame. Today's exam, x-ray, and medications cost $500 and that could be just the tip of the iceberg if he needs more work done. I knew we were taking a chance getting a breed known for having health problems and a short lifespan, but you never think something will happen to your pup until it actually happens. I'm hoping he feels better and can avoid surgery for both his sake and my bank accounts sake.

- I'd especially like to save money because remember how I took R to the doctor a few weeks ago? We talked to her doctor for maybe 5 minutes and then she had a chest x-ray to determine that she had viral (as opposed to the more serious bacterial) pneumonia. Well would you like to know how much in medical bills we've received for that? Oh just another cool $500. N makes good money and yet we live paycheck to paycheck for this reason. So frusturating!

Ok enough with the negative! Here are some non-troubles:

 

- R had a sleepover with my parents Sunday night and my mom gave N and I her credit card to be used on whatever date dinner we wanted! How nice is that?! We went to this delicious pizza placed called Mellow Mushroom and I may have ordered two appetizers, a pizza, and a dessert to go and totally regretted even looking at that much food. I didn't eat much of it, but you know, it's nice to get a sampling sometimes, hahaha. It's so nice having time with just N and I. We both always miss R like crazy but she's just so much work.

 

- My hair has been cherry red for a few weeks now, and I have been getting SO many compliments on it! I don't mean for that to come across as arrogant- trust me, they're not complimenting anything else on me!- but I've never gotten so many compliments on my hair in my life! I actually thought my hot pink hair looked a lot cooler but I got a lot less compliments and a lot more weird looks. I wasn't planning on keeping it red after this dye job fades but maybe I will!

 

Remember the photoshoot fiasco? Here's our $50 picture:

 

 

 And when you zoom in on her face:

 

 

 A single tear rolling down her rosy cheek. A truly poetic moment in the dramatic and unspeakably difficult life of a 3 year old. This is another one for the senior yearbook. ;) Oh R!

 

Tuesday Troubles

Stolen (with permission!) from Jen at Ramblings of a Suburban Mom!

 

From now on out I'm going to do both a troubles and a not-troubles section for this feature. I need to add some more positivity to my life, and since this is the only feature I seem to get to these days (since Tuesdays are one of our least crazy days) I need talk about the good things in my life.

 

We'll start out with the troubles:

 

- On Sunday I drove my Commander to my parents house, and when I was almost there my dash display said "Transmission Over Temp." No lights came on, the car didn't ding at me, and it didn't feel like something was wrong so I kept driving and the warning went off as soon as I pulled into the driveway. It did the same thing when I drove it home- it came on when I was almost home, and switched off before I turned the car off (but not before I snapped a picture to send to N.)

 

He drove it to work today so he can hook it up to his scanner and see what codes it's throwing. Best case scenario is a temperature sensor has gone bad, worse case is the tranny on this car is dying and because they are very insulated units there's nothing you can really do except rebuild/ replace the entire thing. The tranny went out in my old Commander (the red one), and I joked that I'd be super upset if the same thing happened in my new one. AWESOME.

-  We brought the Trans Am to a paint place for an appraisal yesterday and they said we were looking at about $5k! We were hoping for around the $3k range but painting is really expensive so I can't say I'm that surprised. We have a LOT of saving to do!

- I almost slept through a doctor's appointment yesterday. It was just a blood draw so it wasn't that big of a deal that I was 30 minutes late, but I still felt so horrible. I totally spaced a blood draw there a few months ago and I feel like such a crazy person! They must think I'm out of control. I have an actual appointment there on Thursday to go over my blood results and so help me god I will not be late!

- Ok this is only kind of a trouble, it's more just funny: I remember when our good friends came over last year with their half Newfoundland/ half Labrador dog and I thought "oh my gosh I hope Hank doesn't ever get that big because that dog is huge!" Well we saw their dog for the first time in a year last night (our friends have been in New Mexico in the Air Force) and yup, Hank is the same size if not bigger than their dog. N says hands down Hank is bigger but I want to see the two side by side. There's no denying it though: Hank is gigantic!

- I dyed my hair red last week (think, Ariel unnatural red) and while I love the color right now (we'll see how I feel when it fades) I have gotten red dye everywhere! I wasn't paying attention to my wet hair and dye got all over my cream colored office chair. I'm so bummed out!

 

- The Avalanche not signing Paul Stastny. I can't even talk about it.

 

And the non-troubles:

 

- I love my new car so much! Except for the fact that it has really low gearing which means I can't drive it over 60mph or it will damage the engine, it drives really well and I love how quickly it takes off. ;) I may or may not have smelled burning rubber the other day. I guess you can get a ticket for spinning your tires (reckless driving) and N says if I get any tickets I'm in big trouble, haha! Right now N has to put an "overdrive tranny" in it so I can drive it over 60, but other than that it doesn't really need any mechanical work- which is so nice considering all the trouble our other cars are giving us.

 

N spent his Father's Day installing new carpet in it (because he's such a wonderful husband and also because he's super pumped about that car too), and while he did that I scrubbed every surface until it gleamed. The interior looks 1000x better now, it just needs some minor work like a headliner, new lid for the center console, and eventually the seats re-covered. The only downside to the car is that I've been wanting to spend my time outside washing it or driving it when I really should be inside cleaning my disaster of a house, haha!

 

- Last night we went out to dinner with our friends and it was SO much fun. N and I don't have many couple friends, and we're really anti-social to boot. They have two daughters that are a few years older than R, and they were so good playing with her that it just warmed my heart. They also have the cutest baby boy and I just want to steal him, haha! I may not want any more babies of my own but I'll love on other peoples babies- as long as I can give them back!

 

- I woke up feeling down today but when I saw how beautiful it was I took R out for sandwiches and cupcakes. She's been better these past few days about being nice to strangers (i.e. not screaming bloody murder at people who tell her she's cute) and it's been much more pleasant!

 

Hope you all had a great Father's Day Weekend!

Tuesday Troubles

Stolen (with permission!) from Jen at Ramblings of a Suburban Mom!

 

- Posting has been sparse around here because we have been sick! It all started with what I thought were severe allergies in R (I made a 3am supermarket run for Benadryl!) and then yesterday morning R woke up burning hot. She had a fever, aches, and chills all day and had intense nightmares (about dinosaurs chasing her) every time she's fallen asleep.

Her temperature got up to 104.4 which is the highest fever she's ever had. Thankfully she hasn't had any anything other than typical flu symptoms, and after a little bit of Tylenol her fever went down to 101.4. I know I shouldn't get worried about a fever unless it's nearing 106 or is presented with other troubling symptoms but as a mom I'll never not worry. My pediatrician has a really helpful guide to fevers:

 

Via

I've been sick too but so far it's felt like a cold. I'm hoping I don't deteriorate into a full blown flu like R, and N has been coughing too so I hope he's not in for anything nasty either. I hate when any of us are sick, and when R is sick it makes me feel so bad that I weaned her myself in January. I'd feel so much better knowing she was still getting antibodies, but that's just growing up I guess. Let's just say I'm really, really not looking forward to her starting preschool.

 

- I hope R feels better ASAP both because I feel awful for her and because this week is her recital! She's supposed to wear her costume to class this week, Saturday is her official dress rehersal, and Sunday is the recital. I thought I'd be excited about this because of how well the holiday show went but I'm not. At all. Both the rehearsal and recital are drop off only, and I won't be able to go backstage with her before/ during/ after the rehearsal or show (I walked R right up to the stage for the holiday show!) Parents aren't even allowed to watch the rehearsal, and they want the little girls there for 3 hours!

 

I can 100% understand this policy, and if R was even 4 or 5 I'd feel completely differently, but her class is full of 2-3 year olds and I just don't think the kids that young are going to handle that well. I know R, and I have a bad feeling she's going to freak out at all this. There will be parent helpers for every class, and I should have signed up to help with R's class but I was in the hospital and not thinking about it. The studio owner said if helper spots for other classes don't fill up I could do that so I'd at least be backstage, but I don't want to do that. R would need my attention.

I might pull her out of the rehearsal and show, but N is firmly opposed to this. He says I need to talk to the dance teacher (I have a feeling a lot of moms are going to feel the same way I do) and at least see how the rehearsal goes. I absolutely don't want her to not be in the recital, it'd be another huge letdown, but I don't know if I can deal with this kind of headache and probably heartbreak.

- I'm just drained right now. Physcially and emotionally. I've been putting off a serious talk with my psychiatrist for awhile now, and I know it shouldn't wait any longer. I need to change medications again because the one I'm on (that worked so well for me a few years ago and that I put so much hope in) is just not cutting it. I would love to find some sort of equilibrium, even for a little while!

Tuesday Troubles

Stolen (with permission!) from Jen at Ramblings of a Suburban Mom!

- You know what is always the biggest trouble on Tuesday? The fact that it's our "Monday" because N has to go back to work. Obviously I miss him and miss the help he provides, but R is just devastated every Tuesday morning when he's not home. Last week she woke up, went to the top of the stairs so she could peek into the bottom room where N goes every morning to watch TV when he's home, and just broke down sobbing/ shrieking "BUBBA!!! I NEED BUBBA!!!" Then she went downstairs and just collapsed on the floor and fell back asleep. It broke my heart! Today was better thankfully. She crawled up on my bed, held my head in her little hands and went, "I need Bubba come home" before passing out again. She is so sweet to love her Bubba so much but hello, I'm here too you know?! Ah the life of the not-favorite parent.

- As an update to last week's trouble, the 30k charge changed names from my stomach doctor (well, his associate that is) to the name of the hospital I was at. Which makes much more sense, and is what I expected the hospital bill to be. I also have a $1,500 claim from who I believe is the anesthesiologist, and two claims for about $150 from the radiology department. Those are small beans compared to everything else! The $135k charge is still "in process" so we'll see what happens there. I do appear to have a "maximum out of pocket" benefit to my account and it's only $3,500. Plus I've already paid $2,000 of that already with all the appointments and tests I've had done so far this year! The bills haven't started rolling in yet, so I can only pray my insurance website is accurate. And you know I'll be keeping an eye on that huge charge. Good grief!

- And can you believe my insurance was charged almost $500 for one vial of blood and a thyroid panel? What the heck? And regarding that apparently my thyroid is still hyper but I changed the brand of medication I'm on, and I think the dosage but I'm not sure how things translate so I guess I'll see when I talk to the doctor in a few weeks. Did you know being hyperthyroid can cause hypermotility where you digest things really fast?! Yeah, that's not happening over here. -_-

- Sunday and Monday Colorado decided to give a big F U to everyone who had planted flowers over the weekend, and there was a freaking blizzard! It snowed consistently for two days straight! If you know me you know I HATE snow and cold weather, but after all that happened in 2012, I am glad for any and all moisture. I'd rather out entire state not be on fire again.

- I also felt like absolute hell on both Sunday and Monday. I don't know whether I had a stomach bug, or my GP was flaring up, or my body was trying to kill me because I ate a few pieces of steak on Saturday night, but it wasn't fun. I didn't throw up, but it was just hours and hours of room-tilting, blood-running-cold nausea. It came in waves which leads me to believe bug, and if that's true than hopefully neither R nor N caught it because that's nightmare #2 on my list of emetephobic nightmares.

- I've been reading some new dystopian YA List book series for a post I'm putting together and uggh, why is everything so terrible or mediocre? Obviously I'm not ever hoping for say, Harry Potter (not really YA or Dystopian but you know what I mean), but I don't think another series as good as the Hunger Games is out of reach. I have a few more series to get through and hopefully I'll be impressed by something!

 - I really want one of the new Raspberry Peach Blossom cupcakes from Gigis but my store never seems to bake cupcakes on the website's set schedule, and I don't want to go down there if they don't have it because hello I'm not going to say no to any of the other cupcakes in front of me?! Difficult problem, right?! ;)

Tuesday Troubles

Stolen (with permission!) from Jen at Ramblings of a Suburban Mom!

 

- Alright y'all this first trouble is a real doozy. If you're not sitting down while looking at this you might want to. I logged onto my health insurance website to see if there were any claims pending from my surgeries and well... 

 

 

Those are JUST the claims from my doctor/ surgeon. They aren't from either the hospital or the anesthesiologist who bill separately. That is $164,368.68 in charges. I couldn't make this up if I tried. I did a lot of research into how much the surgery would cost (just the pacemaker though), and everything said 60k max. The pacemaker itself is only 5k and the surgery doesn't take very long. Never in a million years did I dream it'd cost this much money. If I'd have known I'd have never gone through with it.

 

I'm scared. I am really, really scared. I don't know how much we're going to be liable for when the claims are processed (they're still pending right now) but I am freaking out. Our surgery insurance is 80/20 and that'd leave us with almost $33,000 worth of bills if they even cover that much! I also don't think these charges include the hospital stay or anesthesia and if that's another god-know-how-many thousand, I am really going to lose it. If I don't lose it before we even get a bill...

 

- In other poopy health news I went to my doctor yesterday and turning up the pacer was a no-go. They want me to wait at least three months so my body can fully adapt. My brain says "I totally understand" and my stomach and heart are like "screw you we want faster results!" My appointment is scheduled for July.

 

- In news that should not be sad but is sad anyway, yesterday (after a weekend of prepping- thanks mom!) I listed all of R's old cloth diapers up for sale. There's over $500 of stuff I'm trying to get rid of, and I hope I can get rid of it fast! I want someone to buy the entire lot but I don't think that's going to happen. I already have a few people interested in different things, I just hate taking the time to split things up like this. If I get it all out eventually I'll be happy though. It's just sad to move on from something that I was so into at the time. If we were planning on ever having another baby I'd have saved these without a thought but since R will be our last and she's using the potty, it's time to say bye-bye.

 

- As you know, if you keep up with hockey, the Avalanche were eliminated from the playoffs last week (was it only a week ago? my days are running together!) in a total heartbreaker of a game. I have been planning on writing an actual piece about this season (not that most people who read here care but what the hay) but it's just been *too soon* right now. Hopefully I'll get that up this week.

 

- R's bookcase came yesterday and it's tiiiny. I mean, it fit everything it needed to fit, but it doesn't like... fill out the wall well? I don't know, this is a stupid thing to complain about. Also, the sliding sides don't stay put and keep rolling to the middle. I'm going to pick up some velcro strips and try and solve that problem myself.

 

- We still haven't painted R's room but our mortgage is due this week and N got half the paycheck he normally gets last week because of the vacation. Because he's a mechanic and is paid a flag rate (for how many hours of work he finishes, not how many hours he's there) he usually makes on average 70+ hours. During the summer when he's busy he's made over 100 hours before! But vacation pay is 40 hours a week which isn't money we could ever live on. Combine that with how much you spend going on vacations and well, we can never afford real vacations. Just hospital stays. Although if you read the first trouble we can't really afford that either.

 

- I've been reading the Maze Runner books and they are awesome! A thousand times better than those craphole Divergent books which I refuse to talk about. But the trouble is that they are kind of scary, and I am kind of a baby. I have definitely had some nightmares, hahaha! No shame!

 

Positive thoughts for me regarding those medical bills please! I need them!

 

Tuesday Troubles

Stolen (with permission!) from Jen at Ramblings of a Suburban Mom!

- WTF AVS? I AM TIRED OF THIS ROLLERCOASTER. I have nothing more to say to you.

-  Have I ever told you the tragic Tale of Two Rugs?

Once upon a time a suburban housewife was browsing Zulily when what did she spy but the absolute, most greatest, most perfect-est rugs for her house! They were the exact color grey she was looking for and best of all? She could get one in chevron and one in trellis! They would match without being identical and her entire bottom level would be tied together stylishly. The price (less than $200 a rug!) was almost too good to be true and she pressed the order button immediately, having not the forethought to consider what her husband's opinion would be of her purchase.

She waited anxiously for them to arrive- it almost seemed that they never would as it takes Zulily, on average, three years to ship something. But one fateful day her postman left her two long packages and she was thrilled! Finally everything would look alright in the house! She could take pictures for her blog and people would "oooh" and "ahhh"! The plastic wrapping was on tight and she had to stab the rugs as if she were in a horror movie to loose them from their packing bondage. And that's when she noticed the first rug... was YELLOW. Not the grey that had been ordered. Determined for at least thing to go right unwrapped the other one... And it was fraying! Aschewing the fainting couch, the wife ran to her computer and wrote Zulily a hasty e-mail.

Mere days later new rugs were delivered and the old ones taken away, and you'd think that'd be happily ever after right?! NOPE! You see, the wife had a very sweet, but very naughty puppy, who was basically as large as a house. One day this puppy, aided by his best friend the naughty toddler, decided to gnaw on one of the rugs, unraveling it as far as the eye could see! Crying, but without maiming either puppy or toddler, the wife haphazardly hot glued the rug back together and placed it going the opposite direction so that the damage would not be as noticeable.

But this, and an entire can of bitter apple spray, did not daunt the puppy. Soon he unraveled the other side of the first rug, and then both sides of the other rug! They were past the point of salvage, and as she pointed out to her husband that said they were "fine", the cream colored parts had also gotten unclean-ably dirty. There was nothing else she could do but toss them. And she did through tears of anger. Tears that tasted bitter like the perfect decorating opportunity wasted. The wife swore off rugs for good but her arch-nemesis non-textured-laminiate-flooring swayed her before she knew she was ready. Perhaps before she was fully done grieving, but the world always keeps working. Target always keeps making amazing things and selling them at amazing prices. And the wife always knew this.

And hopefully everything will be right in the world again.

(But don't worry, the saga hasn't ended yet! When choosing the "ship to store" option the wife somehow close for each rug to go to different stores!)

- R has taken to screaming/ crying "MY LEGS ARE BROKEN" when she doesn't want to do something/ do something alone. If she's really milking it she'll go "GO TO THE HOSPATAL, GET DEM CUT OFF!" (This is all the fault of her taking N's sarcasm literally.) But when I offer her Skittles? Oh those pretty little legs work just fine! We both feel like we're tricking each other here. And we both feel like we're winning but I'm pretty sure we're both actually losing. Skittles are a strange mistress.

- I finally ordered the bookcase for R's room yesterday and I'm meh about it but I needed to get it done. I got this one from Wayfair:

And it's not perfect but it'll do. Seriously how hard is it to find a bookcase that is half closed drawers, half glass drawers? There was a pretty nice on on Ikea but for $350 helllll nooooo. The doors on this slide which is annoying but it's mostly going to be for her keepsakes that I'm never going to be able to throw away (and she already has two huge shelves full of.) So god help us all I guess!!! (FWP)

- My first post-op doctor's appointment is next Monday and I'm hoping they can turn up my pacer and in doing so I'll start to get some relief. Because I still feel really shitty right now, with the addition of the feeling of a large weight buried in my abdomen, and I'm grumpy.

- I'm at a week post op and the IV bruises on my arms are gnarly than ever. I look like a serious needle drug user. It is BAD.

- I should do stuff this week but I will likely do no stuff re: pain. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Tuesday Troubles

Stolen (with permission!) from Jen at Ramblings of a Suburban Mom!

- So I have to start with very exciting news (well, for a parent anyway) that is the opposite of a trouble: Since we're going to be setting up R's "big girl room" in a few weeks, N decided yesterday that it was time to take the side off her crib to see how she'd fare. Well not only did she put herself to bed last night- and slept through the night after falling out of the bed onto the floor- but she also woke up dry! This was especially great because having fallen asleep on her own, we had forgotten to put a Pull Up on her. I can't believe how much she's growing up!

- Ok on to the troubles: This morning while R and I were snuggling in bed someone started knocking at our door. I figured it was solicitors so I ignored it. We get a LOT of obnoxious sales people in our neighborhood. It went on for awhile though, so I finally put clothes on and went downstairs, but by that time the person was gone. I decided to look out in our backyard, and what did I see? Well, what did I NOT see- Hank! I grabbed R and we went outside and called for him, and that big, dumb dog came loping down the street like he was supposed to be running around outside.

I put him inside and after a few minutes the neighbor from up the street (the person who had been knocking) and I thanked him for trying, even unsuccessfully, to rouse us. How embarrassing! This is the second time Hank has decided to take a tour of the neighborhood on trash day, he must like the sound of the trucks! The last time he did it was many months ago and we barricaded our back gate, but last week I used to gate to get into the yard and accidentally left the door ajar. He's definitely not a particularly naughty dog, and he's not an escape artist if we're around, but he's so big and conspicuous that if he decides to go out for a stroll the entire neighborhood sees him! Oh Hank!

- I got a few cavities filled yesterday (the joys of acid reflux!) and my jaw hurt SO bad yesterday when the numbing shots wore off that I decided to sleep the rest of the day. (I woke up for the blood moon though!) It still really hurts today and I'm not allowed to take any pain relief medication until my surgery.

- And speaking of my surgery, it's in six days! I can't believe it's less than a week away and I'm starting to get really, really nervous. Expect a post on that sooner or later.

- The NHL playoffs start tomorrow, and the first Avs game is on Thursday. The ended up getting home ice, which means I *could* go to a game before my surgery, but N and I decided that we just shouldn't spend that kind of money right now. I'm going to be a ball of nerves all week and I know I won't be able to fully enjoy the experience anyway. I've been saying that if we make it to the second round I'll find a way for someone to wheelchair me to a game if need be, haha.

- What happened to mailboxes that you could put outgoing packages into? You know, like the blue ones in front of the post office or grocery store? Would it really be so hard to put one of those in a neighborhood? The outgoing mailbox in my neighborhood (and my group of mailboxes doesn't even have one!) is so skinny you can't even put a stack of letters through it. I just want to be able to mail out my padded envelopes without driving all the way to the post office, uggh!

-  I guess it's time to put on clothes and drive to the post office. Putting on pants is always a trouble. ;)

Tuesday Troubles

Stolen (with permission!) from Jen at Ramblings of a Suburban Mom!

 

- Ok this isn't a trouble, in fact it's the exact opposite of a trouble but I had to share: MY INSURANCE COMPANY APPROVED MY SURGERY! I'm so relieved!

 

- The trouble with that though, is that I still have no idea how much it's all going to cost when all is said and done. I've read that it's a $70,000 surgery and we have 80/20 coverage (after a copay) which means we could be on the hook for more than $14,000. I don't even want to think about it and am pretty much resigned to the fact that we'll be paying this off forever. If it works though it will be more than worth it!

 

- R is OBSESSED with pooping outside right now. She knows Hank does it so she feels like she should be able to do it too. The other evening she went outside while our (young and childless) neighbors were outside with a bunch of their friends, and she pooped! Our fence on that side is staggered so you can see through it, but I don't think they saw her since it was getting dark. Heaven help me with that child!

 

- I need to re-dye my hair, like a week ago, and I don't have any gloves! I should probably load R up and run to Sally's but...

 

- In the battle between nausea and motivation nausea almost always wins.

 

- I know I need to make some serious dietary changes to help with my Gastroparesis, but the more I read the more depressed I become. I made a list of all the safe and unsafe foods of GP and it's awful. I have a post coming on all this later but I'm just so bummed out about it.

 

- My favorite band (Taking Back Sunday) is in town tonight and N and I have tickets! And R is slated for a sleepover with her Gigi! But I'm so anxious about going out in public for prolonged periods of time right now because of the nausea. I hope I feel ok tonight. :/

 

- I painted my nails twice last night and wiped it off both times because I kept getting air bubbles. So now my nails look really insane. Oh well.

 

- R got poop on the carpet today running to me so I could wipe her butt. -_- I thought potty training would be over once she could use the toilet! I didn't know wiping came later...

 

- I've April Fools'ed about being pregnant in the past (last year especially) and now that I realize how stupid and insensitive that is. I guess because my whole pregnancy and everything that came after was so horrible I didn't realize that what I was doing was actually really insensitive. I've repented and I'm sorry!

 

Hope you don't get fooled the rest of the day! (I really am going to Sally's right now. I've told R we'd go somewhere and there's no better way to hold yourself accountable than to make a promise to a toddler!)

 

Tuesday Troubles

Stolen (with permission!) from Jen at Ramblings of a Suburban Mom!

  

- I had big plans for yesterday and didn't follow through with any of them because N was gone more than half the day dropping off Camaro parts at his grandpa's house over an hour and a half away. By the time he got home (he also blew a hose on his car on the way home) he was tried, I didn't feel good, and R was grumpy. Weekends need an extra day because the only time stuff gets done is when N is home- and there's just not enough time in 2 days for him to do it all. Poor N.

- N's tax guy hasn't e-mailed him back in a week which is really making me mad because I want to get our taxes filed so we can get our refund! I want to know if it's feasible to do our kitchen cabinets this year and if it is then we have to get on that ASAP because IKEA is having a cabinet sale RIGHT NOW and even though the sale doesn't end for a month that still feels like no time to me.

- Or instead of getting a tax return we could sell one of the godforsaken Jeeps that were supposed to be easy fix and flips. The Commander has actually been a blessing as my car is broken and I can use it in the meantime, but the Wrangler has done nothing but completely piss me off. Not only are we likely going to lose money on it, but N has wasted countless hours working on it. We are NEVER, EVER, EVER buying someones car again in order to help them out. I don't care how mean N thinks I am for being pissed off about all of this, but this has been a disaster and I am ANGRY.

- I just got the phone call reminder that my surgery consult is next week and I'm really nervous about it. On one hand I desperately want the surgery in the hopes it will help me because I absolutely cannot live this miserably anymore. On the other hand I'm really nervous at how much it's going to cost, and the thought of years and years of payments on it makes me want to throw up (although maybe the surgery would help that feeling, haha.) It would also greatly affect our ability to qualify for a new house.

- R has been tearing down the birch tree decals in her bedroom and then stuffing them into her fishtank. WTF? Not only am I bummed because I loved those decals, but to shove them in her fish tank too?! I'm not sure what we're going to do when we get her big girl furniture and re-paint.

- I haven't really eaten anything in three days and I am struggling. The cycle is: annoying hunger - painful hunger - nauseous hunger - hunger so bad I don't even feel it anymore - feeling like I have no strength left in my body - eating - SEVERE nausea - burping up the taste of my food for the next six hours - slowing getting hungry again - repeat. Obviously this is severely unhealthy (don't worry though, I haven't lost a pound) and that's why I'm anxious to see my doctor next week. I am OVER this!

Tuesday Troubles/ Thoughts

Stolen (with permission!) from Jen at Ramblings of a Suburban Mom!

   

I'm alive!

- Ok to start out, R is on my lap right now and is demanding to listen to Miley Cyrus' Wrecking Ball OVER AND OVER! This all started when she caught me watching the video for the first time (I was curious!) and now she is obsessed with the song. She tries to sing it which is pretty cute, and it's not quite as annoying as her other obsession What Does The Fox Say but uggh.

 

- It's been two weeks on my new medication and on Sunday I upped my dose to two pills (from one.) I had been getting heart palpitations on one pill but they weren't very bad so I figured it was ok to follow my doctor's advice and increase my dose after a week. Well for the past three days I have gotten CRAZY palpitations and generally felt like hell. This morning I had crazy palpitations, and was shaking and sweating so I took my blood pressure- 150/97! This is super high for me and I was really worried it was going to keep climbing and send me into a hypertensive crisis. Luckily I was able to force myself to fall asleep again and I woke up feeling better. I'm not sure if I should keep taking two pills and hope this goes away (my doctor said it probably would) or go back to one immediately. I was really hoping this transition would be easier.

 

- Our iPad charger stopped working and I need to go to the Apple store to get a new one. That is on my list of favorite activities right under gouging my eyes out with a plastic spoon.

 

- My mom isn't here to help out this week because she's in Costa Rica! So far I've felt better enough where this isn't an issue, and lord knows she needs a break, but this is a trouble because they're in Costa Rica without me! They started taking cool vacations after I graduated high school and I'm definitely jealous. I've never been anywhere tropical before (closest I've been was Disney World so not close at all) and I'm hoping my parents take us to Hawaii one day. ;)

 

- I had a post about Gastroparesis written up but never got around to finishing it and posting it. I still intend on putting it up sooner than later but I thought I'd let y'all know that my radioactive egg test did come back abnormal and my doctor wanted me to go one more month on medication to see what my symptoms did in order to decide what surgery I should get. I go back for that consult in less than a month and I'm nervous!

- About a month ago R asked to wear my rings (I have one engagement ring and two wedding bands) and like an idiot I obliged. We were just sitting in the office/ playroom but somehow she managed to lose one of my wedding bands and I still haven't found it despite tearing every room upstairs upside down. It just couldn't be anywhere else but I have no idea where it is! I'm super bummed out.

- (Warning, hardcore FWP) N hasn't looked at my car yet so I've been driving the other Commander that he put a new motor in that we planned to fix and flip. It's a year older than my car and has more miles (on the car, not the new motor) but it's nicer inside and even has a sunroof! N said I could keep it and we could sell my car, but I'm so sentimental I just don't think I can do it! My car is like a child to me! Ok not really, but I feel very affectionate towards it (when it's not broken.)

 

 

P.S. I finally got the courage to re-dye my hair by myself and one jar of Manic Panic Hot Hot Pink later:

 

(Please excuse the weird face I always seem to make in selfies.) My hair is practically neon in real life and it's so cool looking! N has gotten used to it (he's not really one for crazy things) and R is obsessed. She demanded that she get pink hair too so I bought her a pink clip-in extension which she loves. She can wait until high school to dye her hair and then do whatever she wants. You're only young once!